Mothers are really strong. They can endure lack of sleep by waking up every 2 hours to feed and change diaper (
or rather change diaper first then feed). I have been helping out by taking three to four slots (total > 6 hours) in feeding our baby (
starting from 9 pm, then 11 pm, 1 am, and finally 3 am). It was really challenging.
At the same time, my wife has to take care of our older child who is currently adapting to the presence of a new member of the family. Fortunately, she has grown used (
or rather fond) to the baby.
Products needed for baby
Thanks to
Ameda pump Lactaline Personal (
or purely yours), my wife could provide sufficient amount of milk to store and for daddy to feed the baby later. We keep freshly expressed milk at
4°C instead of in -20°C freezer (this prevents off-flavour of milk, our opinion).
Our baby is drinking milk at increasing volume (gradually). In just 3 weeks, he is already taking in more than 2.5 oz (approx. 75 ml), sometimes at 3 oz.
- Sterilizer, bottles, warmers
In addition, we are using Philips Avent products, e.g. single electric pump (with manual pump available for outdoor expression if power outlet is not available), storage bottles, sterilizer, and Pigeon's bottle warmer. The models that we are using (bought three years ago) now are no longer available, and had been replaced by newer models.
Nowadays, mothers are getting usb portable fridge for storing expressed milk (which is a good thing to have in the office if the common fridge is messy and moldy - or there is a chance that the milk might be mistakenly drank by someone). Just search for USB fridge and you will get returns for different types. An example is the following. Alternative, mothers can pool resources and get a mini-fridge for use in the office.
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| Coco Digital Portable USB Mini Fridge at £22.66 (Amazon). However, a much cheaper alternatives are available at Amazon, eBay, Alibaba etc. These mini-fridge runs using the Peltier cooling method. |
For information about expressed milk storage, refer to this site, "Breast milk storage: Do's and don'ts" by MayoClinic.
- Preferred bottles (we prefer Playtex)
We have tried Avent feeding bottles but our baby doesn't like it. After each feed, too much air is ingested. We haven't tried the latest version called
"natural bottles" (Philips Avent). We have tried Nuk bottles and found that the nipple is a little quirky and unnatural for babies (
nipple confusion). It is also difficult for us to feed our baby because of the nipple shape (see
Nuk bottles here and try it on baby to see if he/she likes it). Most of the time, as parents, we wouldn't want to force any bottle on babies. We would try different bottles and maintain those that our baby loves (
without nipple confusion).
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| Playtex VentAire bottles are our favourite. The nipple is not too confusing and the anti-colic mechanism works for us. |
We used to give our first baby cloth diapers with liner to wear (
in order to prevent nappy rashes). However, having two kids reduced our time and luxury to change frequently the soiled/wet diapers of our second baby. That prompted us to use commercial diapers (
we are using Huggies).
To prevent nappy rashes, we used
Vaseline Petroleum Jelly to produce a "waterproof coat" on the groin and back area. It worked better than applying
Desitin Rapid Relief (Zinc oxide cream). In addition to the above measure, we try to wash off poo poo with warm bath at least twice daily (
so that baby will feel fresh and any residual urine and dried stool is cleaned), and after the wash, we will apply a layer of Vaseline to baby.
We have not tried this but some suggested using lightly salted water bath to clean and sooth baby's skin.
I believed that having silent surrounding for baby to sleep or rest is not healthy. This is considering that nature intended to enrich our hearing all the time, with at least some background noises, e.g. crickets, cicadas, lizards, wind, ruffling of leaves, etc. In order to emulate nature, I downloaded Android apps on my smart phone and would play the "background noise" to our baby. It soothed him to sleep and even at sudden noises, he wouldn't be jolted as when he was sleeping in silent. My favourite apps are
Lullaby Relax and Sleep and
Relax Night. There are others too, but I didn't try any other considering that Relax Night has plenty of cricket noise, croaking of frogs, and others.
As for temperature, Singapore is hot and humid. At night, it is humid and cold. For our baby, we try to use the air-con to reduce the humidity and maintain the temperature at 29°C. A fan will be blowing to move the air inside our room. To prevent our baby from catching a cold, we would cover him with a cozy blanket. Sometimes, leaving the window open to let in warm night breeze is fine (
but the humidity at night can be a pain at some nights especially when we stay at lower floor of our HDB flat).
Lighting is maintained at low. We normally will switch on the bathroom light. Also, I will be holding a torchlight at night to peek in the diaper to see if it needs changing before feeding time.
There will not be too much activity in the room. During feeding time, I will try to feed baby without waking him up. When he is done, I would normally pat or rub his back to allow him to let our air after feeding. Then I will place him on a slanted baby rocking chair. On it is layered with a folded cloth diaper to prop his head. I will adjust the baby so that he is faced sideways in order to prevent any chocking if he puke milk at night. If he soil his diaper then, I will let him rest until he complains about it (
only then I will change the diaper). Having baby and parents to rest enough is crucial! If you change baby's diaper, you will surely wake him/her up (
guaranteed).
It is normal for baby to cry (
it's the only work they do in order to get food and direct our attention to their any discomfort. It takes a lot out of them to cry, which is their means of communicating with adults. Normally, a healthy amount of cry will exhaust them afterwards and they will sleep better.
However, some "experts" suggest that babies should not cry more than 5 min or else they will ingest a lot of air and that will cause tummy pain.
If all else fail in understanding their cry, we can only let babies cry to sleep. However, a prolonged cry could indicate of problem requiring medical attention).
First thing I do when baby cries is to look at the time and see if it's feeding time. If it isn't, I will check the diaper and change it when needed. I will carry the baby and rub his back to see if there is any gas trapped in the stomach or throat. Any burp is an accomplishment. If the baby still cry, I will warm my palms by rubbing them together and then rest them on my baby's belly to sooth any discomfort there. I will apply medicated oil on the tummy as well. I will also massage the belly gently in a downward motion. If baby is still crying, I will carry him and walk around the room while rocking him gently on my arms. If all else fail, I will put him gently on the slanted baby rocking chair and let him cry for a while before carrying him again and rock him gently in my arm
so that he will sleep after crying (a form of exercise for babies!).
The reason babies cry inconsolably is due to discomfort (e.g. gas in the tummy, flatulence, or constipation due to formula milk or dehydration) BUT
as parents, we have to be vigilant to ensure that inconsolable cries are not due to any discomforts that need medical attention.
That's all for now. It's a challenge being mothers. It would be nice if the dads can chip in once in a while to help. By feeding and changing my baby's diaper for two sessions, my wife gets to sleep for 4 hours uninterrupted. That is a luxury to her!
Just to share.
