January 16th, 2008 | Children, Computing, Parenting | 2 Comments
My sister called me today. She wanted to know if there’s an easy and effective way to make Internet surfing safer for kids. That means blocking websites with adult content, violence, unsafe chatrooms and virtually any stuff that’s deemed unsuitable for kids. Her children, aged 7 and 4, are very computer savvy. Browsing the web is literally child’s play these days. It’s very important to keep unsafe content out of their reach.
I thought I’d share with you a simple way to prevent your kids, and everyone else in the house, from accessing malicious websites. For adults, weeding out pornography sites is easy but phishing websites are much harder to detect. Phishing refers to dummy websites setup by pranksters to steal your private data like usernames, passwords, credit card details and such.
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January 15th, 2008 | Babies, Pregnancy | No comments
You should have your bags packed 2 weeks before your due date. Here’s an idea on what to take to the hospital. Bear in mind, you don’t have to include everything that is listed. If you’re one to travel light, phone your maternity department beforehand and ask what they provide when upon admission.Do not worry too much about forgetting something. You could always send your husband or ask visiting family members to bring them.
For yourself :
January 12th, 2008 | Health, Parenting | No comments
When I found out I was pregnant, I started to avoid second-hand smoke as much as I could. Until now, I would get up and move to another table if someone close by lits up a ciggarette. Call me a health freak, I don’t care. I just don’t want my baby inhaling ciggarette smokes. She’ll have plenty of time to deal with second-hand smoke when she grows up. Until then, I’ll gladly be responsible for the air she breathe now.
My husband and I went out for breakfast this morning. We took our baby Clarisse along. It’s a Saturday morning and the food court was thronged with people out for a morning meal. We sat down and 5 minutes later, two men sitting on tables beside ours lit their ciggarettes. We have not ordered our food, so we left for another table and hoped no one around us would smoke.
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January 11th, 2008 | Babies, Children, Diet, Health, Parenting | 38 Comments
G6PD deficiency and jaundice
Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, one of the most common metabolic disorders afflicting newborns, requires special dietary care for both babies and their nursing mothers. Babies born with G6PD deficiency means their body lacks a specific enzyme, G6PD. Without G6PD enzyme, red blood cells have a shorter life spans when exposed to certain chemicals, usually found in food and drugs. Hence when red blood cells are destroyed (anaemic hemolysis) it will cause anaemia, resulting in dizziness, pale-skin, persistent tiredness, headache, tea-colored urine, abdominal or back pain.
Newborns are by nature born with excess amount of red blood cells. Their bodies will break down excess red blood cells and this process creates bilirubin, a waste product which their liver needs to dispose of. Often, their immature liver are taxed when excess bilirubin are required to be disposed from the body. This causes jaundice which is very normal in newborns. However, newborns with G6PD deficiency, with more than normal excess of bilirubin needed to be extracted from the body, taxes the already overloaded liver even more. As a result, they often experience higher and prolonged levels of jaundice than normal newborns.
How do you care for babies with G6PD deficiency?
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January 9th, 2008 | Babies, Parenting | 2 Comments
Ever since my baby Clarisse was born, everyone says I’m going to spoil my baby just because I pick her up and sooth her everytime she cries. Yes, I can’t leave my baby crying without attending to her, and this made us an easy target for opiniated individuals. It’s so easy to jump to conclusions. They are entitled to their opinions but I beg to differ.
You’ve probably heard that studies shown babies less than 6 months old end up crying less when they get a quick and consistent response everytime they cry. By responding to your baby’s cry, they get a sense of being secure and their needs would be met by loving adults. A sense of trust between guardians and babies would grow which makes them feel safe. Hence, babies will grow up to be more confident, independent and eager to learn and explore.
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January 8th, 2008 | Personal, Toys | No comments
Somewhat off-topic but interesting to know which DVD format your kid’s movies will be produced in the near future …
My husband and I have been holding off buying a new video player for quite some time now. We’ve been observing the movie industry and the fight between the next generation of high definition DVD formats: Sony’s Blu-Ray vs Toshiba’s HD-DVD formats. Although the format war has been tipped towards Sony’s Blu-Ray favour, Warner Bros Entertainment Group recently revealed that they will be ditching HD-DVD in favour of Blu-Ray. Needless to say, Warner Bros’ decision is a major blow to Toshiba’s HD-DVD format and pretty much confirms Blu-Ray DVDs will be the format of the future. Warner Bros switch effectively puts more than 70% of Hollywood’s products on Blu-ray.
So if you’re wondering buying a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player soon, I think I can safely suggest Blu-Ray is the way to go. Here’s an idea for your kid’s birthday present: Sony PlayStation 3
. It can play Blu-Ray DVDs too 
January 7th, 2008 | Children, Health, Parenting | 5 Comments
Respiratory infections such as flu or a common cold are known to affect toddlers younger than five years old an average of 10 times per year. Those who are sent to day care, nursery or pre-school have a much higher chance of developing colds. On the bright side though, the common cold or flu is their body’s way to ward off viruses and they recover, your toddler’s immune system would’ve developed antibodies againsts these familiar viruses.
Barring complications like severe sore throats, ear infections, high fever or pneumonia, toddler’s common cold or flu usually doesn’t require a consultation with the paedatrician. Viral infections can’t be cured medically. Parents will have to let their toddler’s cold run it’s course and bear with the symptoms. Your child’s body will heal itself. What you can do is to relieve your kids from the discomfort and here are some home care ideas to provide such relief:
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January 6th, 2008 | Babies, Household, Pregnancy | 7 Comments
The following Feng Shui tips are meant to help couples who have difficulty conceiving, despite being medically fit in reproductive health.
Poison Arrows afflicting the main door and bed
Look out of your house and check if there’s any ‘poison arrows‘ pointing directly towards your main door. Poison arrows in Feng Shui refers to sharp and pointed structures which inflicts bad chi to the lives of afflicted inhabitants. It can be a sharp angle of a building, edge of a wall, pillars, trees, table corner and such.
Within your bedroom, observe and find poison arrows pointed towards the bed.
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January 4th, 2008 | Babies, Diet, Health, Personal | No comments
I started my baby on solid food when she was 4 months 3 weeks old. Up until recently, her solid diet is solely pureed rice. Just plain white rice, to be specific.
Consumption of brown rice seems to be on the increase among my friends and family. Yesterday I read an article and some forum discussions that brown rice is highly nutritious as it is not processed and stripped of it’s natural goodness.
I’ve been eager to introduce brown rice to baby Clarisse’s diet so yesterday, I bought a packet of organic brown rice under the brand of Radiant Whole Food for her. According to the label, this organic brown rice is not polished and most nutrients are intact. It also very digestable and good source of protein, vitamins and minerals. I don’t know how true is it, but I will try it out for a week.
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January 1st, 2008 | Babies, Parenting, Personal | 1 Comment
My baby Clarisse can now sit up on her own for more than 5 minutes on a go. And she threw a couple of surprises in the past few days.
First, she suddenly performed three sit-ups in a row from a lying down position. It happened after her bath, while I was powdering her and getting her ready for an afternoon nap. She wanted to roll sideways but I pinned her legs down. And then she pulled herself up to a sitting position just like what grown-ups do in the gym.
And in the past few days, when baby Clarisse is sitting in her baby crib, she would lean towards the side rail, pull herself up from sitting to a kneeling position and admire the room’s view. However, she couldn’t get back to a sitting position afterwards and will slide back to a lying down position. Now that she’s starting to pull off a stint like that, it’s time to make her bed lower and those crib rails higher for safety’s sake.
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