Daddy's 1st time experience in bathing baby

On 30th Jan 2008, Wednesday evening, is a very special day for me. Our baby is now 14 days old & finally it is my turn to bath him after many detail observations on how the confinement nanny had bath him. First, I had prepared a pool of warm clean water in the baby's bath tub, then a set of baby's clothes (short or long sleeve shirt + long pants + mittens + booties), a towel, baby's oilments & diapers. I did not use any of the baby's shampoo during my first experience in bathing our baby.

Secondly, I have removed our baby's clothes & I think he knew something was very different from his usual bathing time. Both his arms & legs were very busy moving around initially, and then suddenly, he has paused his movement when i'm about to place him to the bath tub. While i'm still wondering what has happened, I felt my leg is getting warmer and that's when I see a little fountain splashing water on my pants!! Haha.. Yeah, you are right. My baby has wee - wee on me, probably he has got so worried that I cannot give him a good bath?! Haha... anyway, I did not bother to get my pants changed, and continue what needs to be done...

I first clean his face with a wet cotton ball by wiping his eyes, then the nose, around his mouth area, forehead, cheeks & areas under the neck. After that, I lay his head a bit lower so that it is easier for me to wash his head. I rinse his head with water and at the same time to make sure no water slip into his ears. At this time, I suspect my baby was scared because I noticed he grip both his hand tightly! haha.. Then I tapped some water on his chest, and gentlely put my baby into the bath tub, adjusting him to sitting position. At that moment, I was pleased to find out that he has finally trusted his dad & started to clam down (his finger has opened up). :p I then proceed to clean his body by lightly rub on his skin and splashing water on his body. When the cleaning was done, I have quickly wrap his body with the towel and pat dry the water as soon as possible. Finally, I apply some oilment on his stomach, and then put on his clean clothes with the fastest speed i could.

Pictures below was taken by my wife recording the bathing process conducted by ME! :p





Wa lah... here comes my baby in his best smell! :p

I am happy & very satisfied after completing my task even though I looked exhausted after several restless nights taking care of both my "BIG" & "SMALL' babies ... :D

Baby's Cover Shot of the day

Beautiful photos taken for the past 5 days starting from ...

Baby's 9 days old ...




Baby's 10 days old ...





Baby's 11 days old ...




Baby's 12 days old ...




Baby's 13 days old ...

Breast feeding VS Bottle feeding

Majority health professionals all over the world would highly recommend breast feeding over formula feeding where ever possible. Of course, not all women will be able to breast feed their baby, where some women may find that although they initially started out breast feeding their baby, but they are unable to continue to do so for any number of reasons (chronic discomfort, lack of milk, etc). There is no right way or wrong way when it comes to the breast feeding vs bottle feeding debate as both have their advantages and disadvantages, some of which will be explain below:-

Advantages of breast feeding:
1) Provides all the required nutrients, vitamins, and anti-infection antibodies to the newborn baby.

2) Breast fed babies have fewer infections and illnesses compare to their formula-fed counterparts.

3) Closer bond between the baby and the mother when breast feeding.

4) Breast feeding is beneficial for the mother in the areas of weight control and even as a cancer preventative.

5) Mother’s milk is more easily digest than formula milk, resulting the baby will suffer less from constipation and diarrhoea.

6) Breast feeding is free.


Disadvantages of breast feeding:
1) Not all mothers feel comfortable when first breast feeding the baby. Many mothers need time to master the techniques for comfortable breast feeding.

2) Breast feeding is more demanding physically for the mother than bottle feeding. Baby may require breast feeding every 2 - 3 hours interval & this might be very tiring.

3) Pain & may lead to sore breast (nipple crack & bleeding).

4) Breast milk is easier to digest that cause the baby will want (or need) to eat more frequently than if they were bottle fed. In turn this can lead to more diaper.

5) Self-consciousness. Some mothers have absolutely no problem with breast feeding in public or semi-public places, others are not so comfortable with the idea.

6) Lifestyle. Breast feed may lead to many restriction like limited tea or coffee, no smoking, no alcohol, etc.


Advantages of bottle feeding:
1) Bottle feeding can be much more convenient than breast feeding. Once the formula is prepared, you can feed your baby in just about any location at any time.

2) Mothers do not have to worry about their own diet as much as their breast feeding counterparts do.

3) Father can play an active role during bottle feeding. This can help to improve on the baby & father bonding.

4) Bottle feeding it is easier to monitor on how much food the baby is eating. This will not overfed the baby.


Disadvantages of bottle feeding:
1) Insufficient nutrients & antibodies from formula milk compare to breast feeding can provide.

2) Milk bottles need to be constantly cleaned & sterilized.

3) Incompatibility of formula milk that may result in diarrhea.

4) Obviously it is more expensive than breast feeding.

What is Jaundice?

Q: What is Jaundice?
A: A condition where yellowish colour on the skin and whites of the eyes were found in new born babies. In most cases, jaundice can be easily treated. But however, there are some extremely rare & severe jaundice cases can cause problems to the babies such as deafness, cerebral palsy, or even brain damage. Therefore it is important that parents consult with their health professional immediately if they suspect that their baby may be suffering from jaundice.


Q: How Jaundice can be developed?
A: Jaundice is caused by too much of a compound called bilirubin in the baby’s bloodstream. This bilirubin can be taken care by the baby's liver by turning it into bile in the intestines.

There are possibilities where newborn babies’ liver may not be sufficiently mature enough to take care of this function by itself and hence, the increase number of bilirubin will then cause yellowish colour on the babies' skin.

Other than that, breastfeeding may also cause a baby to develop jaundice. There are cases where substances found in the mother’s breast milk may affect the efficiency of the baby’s liver, thus helping to increase the amount of bilirubin in the baby’s bloodstream.


Q: What are the symptoms of Jaundice?
A: Jaundice usually becomes apparent in a baby, first few days after birth. The yellowing of the skin will first appear in the face & whites of the eyes, then gradually spread all over the rest of the body.

There is a quick home test that we can perform:
Press lightly with your fingertip against the tip of your baby’s nose, or against the forehead. If the skin is white (regardless of your baby’s skin colour) at the point of the depression then jaundice is not present. If the color is yellowish, then jaundice is present and you should contact your doctor for advice.

Otherwise, there are two methods can be perform by the doctors, which are the skin test and blood test. The blood test is more accurate but obviously it is more stressful for the baby. The blood is normally drawn from the fingertip of the baby.


Q: How can we treat Jaundice?
A: There are several ways in treating Jaundice as below:-

1) As a newborn baby’s liver develops, it will become increasingly efficient at taking care of the levels of bilirubin in the bloodstream, and the yellowing color will gradually reduce within a week or so.

2) Using Ultra-violet light either from phototherapy (espeacially for premature babies or babies with significant higher level of bilirubin) or direct expose to morning sunlight for a short period of time. UV light able to break down bilirubin in the bloodstream & makes it easier for the baby's liver to deal with it.

3) For Jaundice cases that cause by breastfeeding :-
i) the doctor will either advise the mother to stop breastfeeding for a period of time or
ii) to advise to feed the baby more often, but with lesser amount in order to help the baby to pass the excessive bilirubin in his/her stools more regularly.

Both the above methods 3i) & 3ii) may takes up to 2 - 3 weeks to see the result, but there is still a possibility that Jaundice may reoccur. Therefore, parents are required to keep a close eye on the color of their baby’s skin, and consult a doctor or health professional if suspect any sign of the Jaundice has returned.

Birth Certificate

Today, I went to JPN at Puchong Utama to register for my baby's birth certificate and his MyKid Card. The whole process took about 40 minutes only and i have the baby's original birth certificate in my hand. However, baby's MyKid card will only be ready for collection about 1 month later.

Starting from Day 1 itself, there are lots of our caring friends & relatives eager to know our lovely baby's name. Some of them even have requested us to post our baby's name here when we have one for him. Well, both me & my wife would like to take this opportunity here to say a million "Thanks" for all your concern & supports. We really feel glad and touch deep inside our heart.

And, with this post, we would like to announce that our baby's name is called Loke Zheng Yuan (陆政元). All of our family members like this name very much. The middle name "Zheng" is used to follow baby's elder cousin whom now staying in Singapore (Loke Zheng Long). We have decided not to select any English name for the baby at the moment. We will just call his chinese name as 政元. :)

This is our baby 政元, posing with his best smile before the camera. Picture was taken on Day 9 after delivery.

Baby's 1st Check-up

Today, 24th Jan 2008, our boy is having his 1st check-up. His paediatrician is Dr Lim. As I know, the paediatrician has been assigned when the baby is born. We are happy to know that Dr. Lim will be our baby's doctor because we have heard that he is a very good peadiatrician.

As usual, we register our baby at the registration counter. Minutes later, he was called by a nurse to measure & record his weight. To my surprise, our baby has gained approxiamately 0.22kg from his initial weight.

After an hour of waiting, finally it is our turn to have our baby's check-up. This is the 1st time I get to meet Dr Lim in person & from the first impression has made me like him very much. He looks very kind and friendly. :)

Overall, our baby is healthy. Heart beat is normal, the lung is OK & there's no sign of jaundice. We told Dr Lim that these 2 days we had noticed some red patches the baby's body, arms & legs, which we suspect is caused by the baby oil we used few days ago. Dr. Lim said that this is a very common problem especially for new born babies. He has adviced us to temporary bath the baby with water only, and not using any baby shampoo, lotion or baby oil. He has also prescribed a cleansing solution for us to bath the baby & ask us to monitor our baby for few days. We really hope that with these our baby's skin will recover asap. If the problem still persist, we will have to bring our baby to Dr Lim for further inspection again. Otherwise, we will proceed to our next check up and vacination that falls on 6th March, 2008.

Picture below was taken when we were waiting in the hospital. Luckily our baby was sleeping soundly until his turn.

Isn't he so CUTE ??!!!

Stemlife Report

Sms received on Friday morning (18th Jan, 2008)

"Eddie & Chiak Theng, Congratulations for your newborn baby. The cord blood volume is 37.8ml, stem cell count is 328 million cells. This amount of stem cell is sufficient to store. Wish you, your baby & family members healthy & happiness"

from Stemlife

Day 7 Progress

Today our baby is 7 days old. The picture was taken this morning after he has finished his early breakfast. We noticed that he can now respond to voices, his eyes will open wide when we are closer to him, start consuming more (about 2 1/2 ounce each feeding, with 2 to 3hrs interval), his poo-poo volume is getting more & it is banana yellow in colour, knows how to use his crying tactics (Not only he will cry for milk, but will cry to request for hug hug time as well) haha...




Spending some good time with our baby after finishing his early meal ...







Video Clip taken on Day 7 (Baby Yawning in Action)

Touch of Love

There are 2 poems that I found best describe the relationship between me, my wife & our baby. I would like to share it here with you ...


Poem 1: Time Well Spent

See tiny fingers and tiny toes,
Bright baby eyes, cute baby nose;
Hear baby gurgles and baby sighs,
As Mom and Dad sing lullabies.

Life is changed, but that's okay;
It's fun to spend glad hours each day,
Taking time for all the good,
That comes along with parenthood
By Joanna Fuchs @ http://www.poemsource.com/




Poem 2: A Baby Changes Things

A baby changes things;
They’ll never be the same;
Your life is filled with wonder,
Since your little miracle came.

There’s lots of things to do now,
But with the new tasks you face,
Your family gains more love,
And bonds time will never erase.

By Karl and Joanna Fuchs @ http://www.poemsource.com/





p/s: all the above pictures were taken on Day 6.

We hope we can do it

For just only 5 days after the delivery, both me & my wife already having a hard time adjusting our lifesytle to suit our baby. It is not an easy job to become a baby's parents especially when dealing with new born baby & without any experiences at all (1st timer like us). KK always quote to me that "Being a dad & mum is so Great!". A nurse from SYMC also told us before that she started be more tolerate & have better relationship with her mother after she experience the same delivery experience after she gave birth to her baby. We both agree & actually feel the same as well.

Just by sitting beside & see how our confinement nanny do her job is always the easiest way to learn, but I believe we will still become "kelam-kabut" when the time comes to us to do it ourselves.

For example, how to handle our baby during his sun bathing in order to prevent from jaundice ...

... how to breast feed or bottle feed our baby using infant formula milk ...




... more importantly, how to bath the baby ...




... how to change diaper when baby has poo-poo ...




... how to solve on baby's hickup, changing clothes, what to observe when baby cries, & many many more to learn ...

The bad news is that our confinement nanny only works for us for about 2 weeks and she has to return to her hometown at Taipeng for CNY celebration. Her last day will be on 2nd Febuary, whereas our baby's full moon celebration falls on 16th Febuary. In between this period, who will become our nanny??!! Without much choices, I guess I have to take up the responsibility to become my wife's & our baby's nanny for the rest of the day until our baby's full moon.

Thanks t0 my parents who has requested help from my hometown relatives and neighbour to help out in the remaining confinement period. For example, my aunty will be helping on bathing my baby, my neighbour will be helping on the confinement meal, my parents will also engage a cleaning service to take care our laundary & cleaning the house, & many more. I'm really grateful for all these helps, and hopefully, everything will go on smoothly until baby's full moon.

Pictures below was taken on Day 5 where our baby's "Leng Chai Sui Gu" (Uncle) & "Leng Lui Sui Kim" (Aunty) posing with our baby before heading back to Sungai Petani, Kedah




... and here comes his "Cute cute Ah Yee" (Aunty) posing with him as well




Video clip taken on Day 5 (Bathing)

Home Sweet Home

All of us especially my wife were waiting anxiously to discharge from hospital as early as possible on Day 4. She even keeps reminding me to get to the hospital at 8am sharp. Despite my best effort, me & my parents finally arrive there around 9am but we were still early for discharge, therefore all of us did spend some happy time with our baby before bringing him home.

... You will always see my mum with a big smile eveywhere she goes ... whenever she is with her grandson ... starting from the ward room ...

... smilling all the way from the hospital lift heading towards the main lobby ...

... even when she has entered the car ...

... & even when our baby has arrived home safely ... sleeping on his new bed ...

And this is me, my wife & our baby posing in our room ... Baby fell asleep pretty soon, may be he feels very familiar & homey as he entered our room?? HAHA!!

It's time for changing his diaper ... and fyi, my baby can poo-poo for more than 8 times a day. That has not included his wee-wee some more. :D

Beside, the colour of our baby's poo-poo will change from one colour to another as he grow older. Starting from black (najis terlonggok), to green, then to orange & finally to banana colour. You wanna watch what colour of my baby poo-poo ? Check out the picture below... it's still greenish in colour... :p

Video clip of our baby taken on Day 4 (Diaper changing in Action)