A little update...

The little one is finally off the pacifier during her 19th month! *double applause*

It took about 2 weeks for her to get used to the days without the pacifier... It all started because hubby and I decided to pop by at my grandma's with her. I was ill-prepared and forgot to bring the pacifier along for her lunch nap. She managed to fall asleep after I told her that "Mama, forgot to bring it along". That following night she managed to fall asleep with the pacifier as well.

She started wailing during the lunch nap the next day! Evil mama decided to snip the pacifier and give the remaining to her. Without the teat portion, the pacifier was really nothing much to suck on. So she stared at the pacifier and cried "Tu-tu!!!"... Well after that the worse was over. Her night wakings also stopped unless she is over-stimulated in the day... :)

This is the 2nd and last attempt for her to quit the pacifier. My guess is the last time I tried to let her quit, she was still teething and that made it difficult for her to survive without her comfort object - pacifier...

16 months already!

Like I always like to say time flies when you are not noticing. She is already 16 months old and in another 2 months she will be 18months! For some reason, I think that 18 months is another major milstone for a child. Maybe it is because 18 months is the time where she will not be considered an infant in a childcare centre enviornment.

Most probably I will send her for weekend classes until she enrolls in a childcare centre. :)

So what has the little girl been up to recently? Well nothing really much I would say but she can walk really well. Meaning she can walk very fast as if she is running. But that also means she will trip over herself.

Behavioral wise, she acts like a "spoilt brat" sometimes. Maybe it comes with toodlers this age where they have realise the meaning of possession... Usually she will listen and follow instructions when I say "Give". But if she is unwilling and u forcefully take it, she will give a "bo kam wan" screech and "splat" on the floor. It is an all too familar scene in a toys store! My strategy is to just ignore her and walk off, leaving her "splattered" on the floor... Usually I will not snatch unless they are items she should not have in the first place (e.g. rubbish form the bin - yes, tell me why she is rummaging through the rubbish bin or dangerous items like glass cups). After about 2 weeks, she does not dare try it on us now...

I decided to train her into having "tu-tu" (pacifer) free days. According to child expert books, infants get addicted between 9 to 12 months (opps, she is beyond tat age!). Whatever the case, I decided to let her go cold turkey without "tu-tu". Her journey started on the night before April Fool's day. It was no joke really... Having to put up with her struggle. The intial two weeks were great and she settled pretty well without the "tu-tu" both day and night. Then something seem go wrong after a night stay at my caretaker's place. She started waking up every few hours, crying madly and refusing to go to sleep unless someone keeps her company in the room. I am guessing a few possibilities:
1) she is insecure because we took away her tutu and about 2 wks later, she slept overnight in an enviornment where she seldom spend nights at; or
2) she is sleeping lesser in the day, making her more cranky at night and possibly not sleeping too well; or
3) she is afraid of the dark; or
4) she was feeling hot (she has some rashes on her back which is believe to be heat rash).

Today I caved in and gave her the tu-tu after close to about 3 weeks of cold turkey. BUT it was only for the noon nap. I wanted her to zzz well for another 1 hr and see if she will sleep better tonight... Keeping fingers crossed...

1 more month to 1 year!!!

Little girl is going to 1 years old! As a mother, I am both happy and stressed up... Happy because it's a milestone worth celebrating! Stressed up because this mother realised that her little girl's birthday party is still in the "thinking stage" (i.e. no invites... only caterer is booked)! *OH oh...*


That aside, here are some of little girl's recent "first": 


Taking (more than) a step forward!
Yes! Amazing isn't it? From just 3 wobbly little steps about 3 weeks back, she is now able to take 6 to 7 steps (3 small ones and 3 to 4 hurried steps to reach mama or papa). And with lots of encouragement and praise, she seem to improve (in the number of steps taken) by leaps and bounds! It'll be fun if she can walk well by Chinese New Year next year (which happens to fall on Valentine's Day too!), both great-grandmas will be totally amazed! However, I note that her motor developments have been pretty fast.

Drinking from the straw!
To this, I would say "FINALLY!!!". I have been trying so hard over the past 2 months on and off to get her to drink from a straw. Yesterday, she finally drank from the mag mag straw! That was after my dad's suggestion last week to feed her water using a real straw. i.e. put a straw into a cup of water. With one finger on the end of the straw, lift it up and put it in the baby's mouth. If she bites, release a little so she knows there is water. If she  drinks from it, release the pressure from the end. The first few times will be messy, i.e. the water will leak out from her mouth. But who cares... 2weeks later, she's drinking from a straw! :) I am so proud of my little girl...  

And another update!!! 

In the "good books" of the Tooth Fairy
Yes, she is one of tooth fairy's well loved child. Since my previous post about her teeth... I am updating that post again! She is having her 7th tooth! Explains her crankiness and excessive drool... And, "sa jiao"-ness (reads whining all the time and wanting people to carry) and not to mention the whatever-I-have-in-hand-goes-into-mouth behavoir... While it's great to have teeth, having 3-4 cutting at one go can be distressing for her (and for me too!). I have been brushing her teeth and gums using the Banana-Apple Flavour First Teeth Toothpaste religiously! This was even before her first tooth emerged.   

Updated chart: 

 

 Ref: http://www.diyfather.com/files/baby_teeth.jpg
*left refers to her left  

Are you sleeping???

Sleeping through has always been a concern among most parents. It was a concern for me as I had to return to work after my maternity leave and I did not want my girl to be waking up in the middle of the night. Upon a recommendation by my friend, I bought the book called "The New Contented Baby Book" by Gina Ford (she has a special link http://www.contentedbaby.com/ which you can check out).

In her book, she mentions about the importance of establishing a feed and sleep routine for the baby. In her routines, she also teaches you how to make transitions from month to month and how much sleep the baby actually needs at different stages. I did not follow her routines to the bone, but I took up the general concepts. While I do not know if it was my baby or the concepts I tried, she managed to sleep through 2 weeks after my confinement lady left. She was only one and a half month old.

The general concepts which I followed include:
1) Giving at least six full feeds a day
[My confinement lady fed on demand and she could be drinking every 2hrly. I changed my baby's drinking pattern by giving her more and she slowly stretched to drink every 3hrly. I also believe that by taking enough in the day, my ger is less likely to wake up for milk in the night. My colleague once told me that if I give my ger formula for the last feed, it will allow her to sleep longer. I do not know if it's really the case but it did not work for my ger. She still woke up at about 6 to 6.30am for her milk...]

2) Give night feeds only on demand

[My ger's last feed will usually be before 12 midnight (which is a NO-NO a/c to Gina Ford). I consider any milk feeds after 12 midnight, a night feed. So you may ask me "What do you mean by on demand?"]

For me, I learnt the meaning of on demand one night when I heard my ger went "Eh... Eh". I quickly woke up, ran to the kitchen to get her bottle of feed and warmed it up. Pulled her out from her bed, stuck the teat in her mouth. Of course, my ger did not put up a struggle. She quietly drank and only took one ounce! It occured to me that the sounds were made by her when she was stiring from her sleep... After this incident, I stopped listening for her "Eh... Ehs...", instead I waited for loud crys which were a confirmation from her that she wants milk. Luckily, I realised it early else I will be creating a "natural alarm clock" in her mind that she needs to be fed when she stirs...

3) Do not do more than necessary during the night feed

(You do not want to wake your little baby up and settling her after you have changed her! So there is no need to change your baby's nappies if it is not super wet or soiled. I invested in a better and more absorbent diaper so that I did not need to change her diaper in the middle of the night. Of course, you should change her diaper during the sixth feed!)

4) Allowing baby the ability to differentiate between night and day

(This is arguable. I did not exactly do anything special. Only after my confinement lady left, did I let my girl sleep in a dark room for her naps. Some people said that the sleep enviornment for day naps and night sleep should be different. But when I was home alone with baby, her sleep enviornment were as what Gina Ford recommends - in a dark quiet room. Sadly, she does not have this luxury at my MIL's place - the quiet part.)

5) Allowing baby to fall asleep on her own and to go back to sleep after stiring

(Perhaps, she had already gotten into the habit, she needed to be patted to sleep. This I "cured" after one month. Most of the time, I would be a "bad mummy", letting her struggle and cry a little so that she can get to sleep on her own. It is not recommended that the baby be allowed to "drink to sleep" when they wake up in the middle of the night unless they are hungry! When the baby stirs, try not to create a habit of patting her or putting her soother back.)