New thread for all Chinese mothers

[wyls]

I think this might work?!

LOL i meant the Bumbo seat!!! Oh dear!!!

LOL wyls. i have a maclaren techno xt (was ds1's) which is pretty light. but it is rather boring looking compared to some really swanky looking ones on the market right now.

yingers, answer to your question is "with difficulty". not much help i know but i always admire mothers who look after more than one all day long. i cheat partly cos ds1 is at nursery so all i need to juggle (and that is difficult enough for me already ) is the morning run and the weekends. does dd2 go to sleep in her pushchair?

csa - currently have no pushchair!!!!!!! Old pushchair was covered in mould and we had to throw it away! dd1 sits in one of those super cheap strollers when she does choose to sit. I got one a double buggy but it is impossible to push so am thinking of trading it in for a pushchair with a buggy board!

BF going badly, dd2 constanstly routing for more despite going at it for an hour and half, mum reckons I should go to bottle as I am exhausted, but I think I will give it a month to see if she settles down.

o dear yingers. sorry to hear bf is not going as smoothly at the mo. is babe a sucky baby then? hang in there if that's what you would like to do although can be difficult if mum is "suggesting" otherwise.

speaking of mums/mil, can't remember who said this but it was something to do with the fact that our (chinese) mum's generation seems to have this obsession of keeping the baby warm. went to a weighing clinic yesterday and there was this chinese mum with her parents/pils (?). it was a rainy day but not freezing. anyway, babe had 4 top layers and 2 pair of trousers. what made me laugh (although not out loud mind you) was the fact that the mother of this mum was obsessed with keeping this baby warm. the second, and i mean second, the babe was without clothes, she whipped out this blanket and covered the baby all the way to the weighing machine which was 2 feet away and back and only allowed a millisecond when she was being weighed to be without covers. what makes me laugh is that i can imagine my mum doing the same thing. LOL.

I second the Maclaren Techno Xt for a buggy - we got it for DS and DD is now in it too. I toyed around with the Phil & Ted for a bit and then sold it as we seemed to be relying on the Techno more as DS didn't want to be in the buggy anyway.

the Chinese obsession with keeping baby warm - I posted somewhere about my aunt who wouldn't open the fridge door for fear of catching a cold.

Yingers - hope the bf gets better - will she take a dummy and settle after feeding?

Got to run and give DD bath

LOL, yes that is my mum! Def obsessed with keeping baby warm. when I am trying to feed her, mum covers her with a blanket which of course helps to send her off to sleep which does not help the bf cause. And she is always reminding me to keep her warm esp her tummy!

Re: BF, dd2 does seem genuinely hungry. I breast fed her for nearly 2 hours yesterday during one feed, every time i thought she was done she would start crying for more. I then gave in and gave her some formula, she had 1 oz and settled!!!!!!! This was very disheartening.

yingers, could it be a latch issue? ie, she is not getting the milk out although she appears to be feeding?

csa - perhaps although midwife and Health visitor seem to think the latch is fine! I don't know, will just carry on and review the situation once DH and mum leave me to my own devices!

What is this obession with our chinese mums for keeping babies warm? During the summer when it was really hot, I put DD to sleep in her in her nappy and a sheet. My mum kept sneaking in and putting a blanket on her - the room temp was 28 degrees!

Yingers, sorry to hear about bfing probs. Have you tried expressing some milk and feeding DD by bottle?

ha ha. i wonder... is it just chinese mums?

yingers, you are probably absolutely right. once left to your own devices, everything would probably just fall into place. hang in there girl.

snowmum - am trying to get one of those electric ones!

the industrial size ones? i had the medela hand held electric one and hated it. having a much better relationship with my avent isis at the moment

I also used the Avent Isis. I know the NCT has a list of stockists who can rent you a hospital grade breast pump for £1/day. Might be worth checking with them?

Wyls, have you started weaning your DS yet? I had a mega shop this afternoon for fruit, veg and a mouli! Gotta start making those purees - should be a fun week!

have fun snowmum! a tip for cooking squash and pumpkins. cut them into half, leave skin on and bung it into the oven wrapped in foil. they come out yummy and easily scoopable (is there such a word?) and you don't have to battle with trying to cut off the skin to start with. how old is dd?

Hi Snowmum, i have started weaning my DS. I have been for the last 4 weeks and he's on his 5th this week. He's still on breakfast and dinner only.

I just boil everything, blend it into a mash, sieve it through the sieve and then freeze them into ice cubes.

I have given him apple, pear, banana, butternut squash, sweet potatoe, carrots and avocado so far. I've also given him some jars like creamed porridge and veg ones.

He loves them all and he's gone from 2 ice cubes to 3 cubes now at the weekend and he's still screaming for more.

I am following the Annabel Karmel's book, she's not bad.

How about you?

I also got my techno xt the other day, it's excellent, it fits into my DH car without taking the wheels off!!! Ha ha (he's got a very baby friendly car - NOT!)

Ta Csa for the squash/pumpkin tip! My DD is 5 months old and we plan to start weaning next weekend (there are allergies in family so have been delaying this).

Wyls, I have bought a mountain of apples, pears, sweet pots, carrots and a giant swede! Should be plenty to start with (hope she likes it!) Have also got the Annabel Karmel book and the Gina Ford weaning guide as well. Yet to buy the baby rice altho my sister told me I could make chinese rice porridge instead of buying the packets. Not sure whether to go the english or chinese route....

Also when do you give the solids? Before milk, in the middle of milk feed, at end or separate from milk? At mo my DD screams if we take the bottle away before she's done! I was thinking of giving her solids a little while after her milk - what do people think?

snowmum, chinese route probably more nutritious. i say probably becos i haven't a clue - just assuming freshly prepared is more nutritious although could be absolutely wrong. the english route is a definite time saver tho. no need to watch pot; no need to wait while it "steams" for at least 10 minutes after it is cooked; no need to puree if it is not congee consistency; and no need to wash the blender afterwards. guess which route i take?

oh, and another goody with the english route. you can mix baby's milk in so that would count as part of baby's quota for the day.

oh, and the oven thing? i bung in the sweet potatoes as well. hate peeling those things. gosh, i must sound soooooo lazy

oh, and have just borrowed gina ford's new baby and toddler cookbook from the library today. will let you know what's it like.

I found Gina's weaning book less complicated than Annabel Karmel's. Also I liked that Gina told you what to feed and when.

Snowmum - I think Gina recommends starting weaning at around 11am after the bottle so your baby is full, not starving and will be less averse to the feel of the new texture in her mouth.

Has anyone read Gina's From Contented Baby to Confident Child? My local library doesn't have it and not sure if I should buy it - have the New Contented Baby one but we're passed that stage now.

Can you tell I'm a Gina fan?

csa - no one could accuse you of being lazy - after all you cooked your own confinement diet and OBSERVED the rules!

I currently give my ds solids before his milk. I tend to give him fruit in the morning and then veg in the evening. I am sticking with this until he is about 6 month old and then i will start giving him lunch too. Btw, he's still on 5 bottles in 24hrs. (Approx. 30oz)

I am also hoping to make him congee/rice/noodles when he's a little bit older. I am planning to go with both chinese and english methods. It might sound mad but i have always dreamt of making congee for my kids. ha ha

To be honest, i am only using AK's book as a guide really.

Btw, you can mix the fruit and veg once your dd is ok with the food. My DS loves apple, pear and banana or squash with carrots.

Bah! Have just spent 30mins peeling sweet potatoes!! Oh well, learn thru experience...

Think I will stick to using the english route for first stage weaning and get DD onto chinese foods like congee and noodles later on.

I'm not really a Gina fan but I do find her books quite interesting and the fact that she spells out everything (what, when, how etc) very useful - altho I don't always follow her example!

3o mins!!! How much are you making? I've only used 2 and that made 2 trays and I still got loads left.

OK....maybe I exaggerated a little, by about 25 mins!!

Did take ages to push them thru the mouli thing though.... Final stage to go, gotta scoop the lot into these dinky pots for freezing. Then tomorrow we do the apples, the fun never stops in this household!

pam, you are too nice

snowmum, poor u. understand absolutely. hence, the bung it in the oven method. i know you have bought the mouli but this is my life saver. again, chop it, steam it and puree it all in one pot. and it purees it really well and take away all those fibrous stuff from the sweet pots. now i use it mainly for heating up. really convenient as you can just leave it to heat up and not have to watch over it. kind of like a rice cooker sort of idea. actually, i guess if you had the rice cooker on, presumably you could just put it in there to heat baby food stuff up too?

btw, the gina ford baby and toddler cookbook is great. take a look. much better and simpler than the ak one.

oh pam, i have the Gina's From Contented Baby to Confident Child book. didn't find it that good really. would you like to borrow it? probably won't need it in the next 5-6 months or so.