Children saving accounts with very low interest rate p.a. in Singapore

We wanted to start a bank saving account for our kid and I searched for reviews pertinent to best interest rate saving accounts.
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In Singapore, saving by adults and children will give near zero interest rate (hence zero motivation to save).
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What I gathered from these reviews (without the latest up-to-date reviews), OCBC is okay in terms of interest rate while DBS/POSB is the lowest.
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When we visited OCBC, we found out that the interest rate for children saving account is at 0.05% per annum (p.a.). That's equivalent earning 4 cent per month for a SGD 1000 deposit.
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There are other plans available, such as those associated with insurance/assurance scheme.
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Alternatively, there is also the arrangement that earns higher interest rate for saving accounts, e.g. zero-withdrawal criteria with minimal monthly deposit of SGD 1000. This arrangement will allow earning of 0.48 % p.a. or 0.88 % p.a. (for child who holds OCBC child development account).
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We opted for the basic saving account that earns the 0.05 % p.a. interest rate.
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Visiting the bank today made me realize that saving in the bank is not a wise decision for saving money for our children's future. I need to find prudent investment options in the near future.

OCBC saving plans.

Rashes

My kid developed eczema and we suspected it was due to contact allergy. The allergen was still an enigma but most probably came from outside the house, e.g. playschool.

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We have visited the clinic twice. The first one was at a polyclinic and the pediatrician prescribed anti-histamine syrup and steroid cream. The thing about steroid cream was that it didn't help alleviate the itch. Our kid scratched and broke the skin. We tried calamine and it was better than steroid cream. Calamine with menthol that gives off cooling sensation is the best. However, doctors would warn against over-usage of calamine because it will dry off the skin and aggravate the eczema. To prevent that from happening, we would also apply moisturizer intermitently.

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It didn't work. After more than three weeks of itchiness, we decided to bring our baby to see a skin doctor (dermatologist). 

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The doctor asked about our history of allergies and came to the conclusion that our kid's eczema is due to genetics. Although he was right, we know that genetics is not the only factor. Environment and habits are also involved in the development of eczema in children and adults.

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A study on urban versus rural suggested that habits, lifestyle and environment play important contribution to discrepancies in rural versus urban susceptibility to eczema or autoimmune disorders.

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We are currently giving our kid another antihistamine oral medication, steroid anti-inflammatory oral medication, and topical steroid creams for body and face (the distinction is due to the potency of steroid, where the face will have lesser steroid content as compared to body cream). Hope this week will see a better improvement.

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There is a great reference about skin rashes and type of rashes with their associated probabilities. Read "Rashes" by AskDrSears.

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For persistent/chronic eczema, I wouldn't suggest using steroid cream long-term because the side-effects are bad for developing kids. I would use calamine for most time and try to reduce steroid usage. I am willing to try traditional chinese medicine (TCM) or Ayurveda approach.

 

Kuih bangkit recipe

Our baby loved kuih bangkit. Unfortunately, lunar new year was over and it was difficult to get find stores selling one. Bengawan Solo has kuih bangkit and I bet it would be very delicious but a little pricey for me. Furthermore, I wanted to learn how to bake kuih bangkit so that I can make some for my kid whenever there is demand in the house.

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There are two main recipes that I consulted.

• Bake for happy kids 
• Nasi lemak lover

I followed the latter (Nasi Lemak Lover).

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It wasn't difficult to get tapioca and sago flours from Singapore. I could easily get them from NTUC Fairprice. I used the packed coconut cream and the outcome was okay. I was having difficulty finding the classic mould for kuih bangkit with bunny, tortoise etc., so I simply got one for other purposes and it worked just as well.

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Home made kuih bangkit as according to Nasi Lemak Lover recipe.

 

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The outcome was delicious.

Steroid cream will get into body for adults and children (inevitably)

I have received plenty of reassurance that topical cream with steroid will not cause any problem because the steroid will not get into the body (or at least at a predetermined rate of skin absorption), i.e. steroid will stay on the skin longer while absorption rate is controlled.
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I asked, "what about accidentally ingesting it from fingers or hands"? The same reassurance of negligible amount.
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I asked "what about scratching and breaking the skin"? The same negligible amount.
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However, steroid such as hydrocortisone will be absorbed by the body. It is important to know how much is considered hazardous (or detriment). I hope the clinical or toxicological studies on steroid cream toxicity considered the above accidental means of introducing steroid into the body (e.g. increased "absorption" due to skin tear made by scratching or ingestion by toddlers).
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Our 3 yo toddler got prescribed the following medicines:

• Elosone 0.1% (w/w) mometasone furoate which is a synthetic corticosteroid with anti-inflammatory, anti-pruritic and vasoconstrictive properties used on face. Precaution includes adrenal suppression more prone in infant and children (I had a look at a similar disorder adrenal insufficiency in children). In children, other complications are Cushing syndrome and probable stunted growth (no study on it thus far).
• celestroderm/diprocel (aka Betamethasone dipropionate) 5g is a body topical steroid cream.
• Prelone syrup taken orally. Synthetic steroid with anti-inflammatory and anti-itch effect.
• Polaramine (aka DEXCHLORPHENIRAMINE MALEATE) taken orally. It is an antihistamine.

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We never felt confortable giving steroid cream but had to give in after seeing how unbearable the itch was. Unfortunately, the steroid cream is not as effective as Calamine solution with menthol (soothing and cooling effect). We are using these two medication alternately and prefer the Calamine over steroid cream.
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As for the oral medication, we are hoping that the anti-histamine will neutralize the histamine produced by the body.
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It's been three weeks now and any sign of recovery would be a relief.
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I hope there is no "urbanized eczema" caused by exposing children to overly clean and sterile environment. After this, we are planning to bring our kids to more outdoor activities with lots of earth, soil, and sand. Physical interaction with leaves, grass, and crawlies will be good. Some gardening will be super.
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References

• Topical steroids (DermNet NZ)
• Ministry of Health Management of Drug Overdose and Poisoning infosheet.

What to expect in newborn prolonged jaundice

There are many reasons (multifactorial) for newborn baby jaundice. Some are normal events (for Asian babies), whereas in rare cases they are due to insidious reasons.

First week

After given the green light to go home (especially with acceptable jaundice level), baby will still be susceptible to increased bilirubin (biological product that causes jaundice), especially when he/she drinks just mother's milk. There are two main means to remove bilirubin, i.e. urine and stool. If baby's urine is pinkish/reddish, it is an indication of blood/hemoglobin in urine (e.g. hemoglobinuria as experienced by our baby) which can indicate ABO incompatibility (e.g. mother's antibody is attacking baby's blood cells) which is common for parents with different blood type (see below). After discharge from hospital, parents are required to visit polyclinics to monitor their babies' bilirubin level (every two days). The result mostly will show an increase in bilirubin level (if it reaches a threshold, hospitalization and phototherapy will be required). To minimize the chance of going back to hospital, babies should be given sufficient amount of milk for him/her to pass both yellowish urine and stool. Some doctors don't encourage sun-bathing babies (but morning sun should be harmless). Alternatively, getting a portable photo-therapy assembly is good (if ABO incompatibility is suspected; good hospitals will check baby's blood type and compare it with mother's).

ABO incompatible arises when mother, father and resultant baby's blood types.

Second week

After second week when the bilirubin still persist on the high (even after healthy amount of passing urine and stool), it is still normal considering that baby's liver is still not fully functional. Visit to the clinic is still at two days intervals. There is nothing much the doctor can do except prescribe the next visit.

Third week

If the jaundice level is still high. It is time to add milk with formula. Although we wanted fully breast milk, but jaundice and re-visiting the clinic is not permitting that ideal. The best way to beat baby jaundice is to add milk with formula for the day-feeds and fully breast milk during the night-feeds. You will realize that the amount of stool will increase tremendously. Giving our baby fully breast milk at night prevents constipation (milk is mild laxative whereas formula can cause constipation). 

Normally if jaundice is still high, doctor will prescribe liver function test. Our baby has normal liver function.

Subsequently

After introducing formula at 1/3 part of daily feed, our baby's jaundice stabilized. The jaundice still come-and-go but by the look of the skin and white eye, our baby is getting better.

What we wished our hospital provided

• Blood type test on baby (we had to ask for it)
• Portable photo-therapy assembly for rent (when required)
• Step-by-step expectation if jaundice level persisted. Although the hospital encourages fully breast milk for babies, persistent jaundice is an indication that breast milk is not enough and a compromise is needed.

 
 

Good Gift Vouchers

What makes a good gift voucher?

• Discount should be more than 10 % off listed price. If the gift voucher can't provide an equivalent of 10% discount of the listed price, then it is useless.

I got this voucher with terms & conditions stating "a minimum purchase of 12 packets of Pampers/Merries diapers". There is an ambiguity in the term "packet". If it meant a pack of diapers (e.g. Pampers New Baby Diapers size S 46 diapers cost SGD 18.20), then 12 packs would be SGD 218.40! That would translate to a  3.7 % discount which is not attractive.

 Anyway, there is also Pampers New Baby Diapers (24 pieces) that cost SGD 8.80 per pack. At 12 packs, they cost SGD 105.60 and an SGD 8.00 off would translate to a 7.57% discount. Well, it's still less than 10% discount.

However, if you compare with Dutch Lady promotion of SGD 3.00 off for every SGD 8.00 spent. That translate to 37.5% discount! Way better than the first example. However, practically, I would have to buy approximately SGD 9.00 of Dutch Lady product to qualify for the SGD 3.00 off, which is still better at 33.3% discount.

This is how voucher/promotion supposed to be! At more than 30% discount. Great buy Dutch Lady!

Another good example is Old Town White Coffee SGD 5.00 off for minimum SGD 20.00 spent in the restaurant. That is a 25% discount! Although it's not possible to have exactly a SGD 20.00 bill, the voucher is still better at more than 10% discount.

Old Town White Coffee voucher worth SGD 5.00 for every SGD 20.00 spent (equivalent to 25% discount).

• Ubiquity to redeem the voucher. If the voucher requires the holder to travel to far region of Singapore just to spent it, then it will not be a favourite.
• Free-means-free vouchers. Sometime back, a friend received a free facial treatment voucher and went to redeem it. The outlet provided free facial treatment to half of the face (as a comparison for "before-and-after effect" of treatment). However, the other half of the face will require payment! That's a deceitful tactic (even if there is fine prints on it).
• Reasonable time/duration to redeem voucher.
• Privacy protection voucher. A voucher that requires filling in personal particulars with name, address, phone number, spouse name, children's name etc. can sometimes be an uncomfortable feeling, especially when we don't know how the personal data will be protected/safe-guarded.i

That is my list of good voucher criteria. I'll add more if I can think of any.

Just to share.

 

Engagrow A plus LeapFrog AlphaPup Learning Playset (worth SGD35)

With minimal spending of SGD200 on participating Enfa A plus products.

• Enfamama A+ 0.9 kg, 
• Enfamil A+ Stage 2 0.9/1.8/1.95 kg, 
• Enfamil A+ Gentlease Stage 2 0.9 kg, , 
• Enfagrow A+ Stage 3 0.9/1.8/1.95 kg, 
• Enfagrow A+ Stage 4 0.9/1.8/1.95 kg, 
• Enfagrow A+ Stage 5 0.9/1.8 g

Send NTUC Fairprice receipts (in single receipt dated 1 Mar to 31 Mar at >SGD200 of participating products) to Mead Johnson Nutrition (S) Pte Ltd by 7th April 2005 (deadline). A redemption slip for collection of LeapFrog free gift will be sent via direct mail (while stock lasts) two weeks after the deadline (expected date would be around 20 Apr 2015).

Redeem LeapFrog AlphaPup Learning playset with Enfagrow purchases (see participating products).

I sent mine and hope to receive the redemption slip soon (after March).

Noisy foldable bathroom door wakes baby

Foldable plastic door that you slide to open and close in the bathroom has a "clickable" catch, i.e. spring catch (I called it springy latch). It is used to fasten the foldable door in place and it makes a clicking loud noise that startle my baby.
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Going to the bathroom will have a fail-proof baby-waking effect in our household, especially when our baby sleeps in the master bedroom with a bathroom.
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There are different types of spring catch out there, with some that comes like ball bearing. I think they make clicking sounds too but I'm not sure how subtle these better quality designs are.
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The easiest to fix way would be to do away with the door catch. I removed two of them (bottom and upper ones). These catches will not affect the locking mechanism of the foldable door.
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It is much better now with the catches gone. The only difference to the door is that if you don't lock the door, a strong wind/draft will move the door.

Child height prediction

Sometimes back, I read an article about height prediction for the son or daughter of basketball player Yao Ming and his wife We Li. Note that both are 2.26 m and 1.90 m, respectively. Based on the formula given, e.g. for daughter’s estimated height = (father’s height x 0.923 + mother’s height)/2 produces 1.992 m, whereas for a son’s estimated height = (father’s height + mother’s height) x 1.08/2 produces 2.246 m. The average height of a man is 1.74 m.

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The above calculation is easier than the online version where you have to convert meter or centimetre to foot. In addition, you will have to input the child’s age and weight (in kg or pound). Fortunately, Google can help with the conversion, e.g. typing “180 cm to foot” will produce 5.9 foot.

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Online height predictor

• BabyCenter height predictor. You will have to produce child’s current age, height (in inches), weight (in pound), and parents’ height. The minimal age of child is 2 yo.

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Sometimes, abnormal growth (gigantism) could be due to benign (or malignant) tumour to the pituitary gland, in which case, there is an over-production of the growth hormone. However, the reverse is true for under-development (hypoplasia) of pituitary gland in which lesser amount of the growth hormone is produced, and thus causes dwarfism. Read more about the treatment for dwarfism (MayoClinic). Growth hormone therapy can be expensive and it is required daily for several years until the targeted height is achieved.

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An example of synthetic growth hormone therapy is Protropin from Genentech. Yearly treatment cost is estimated at USD 20,000 to USD 40,000 or more (as quoted in NYTimes dated 1994). There are other drugs out there nowadays, e.g. Nutropin by Genentech. It is best to consult paediatrician/doctors.

Our kid is cautious of height

I wouldn't place it that our girl is acrophobia (fear of height) because she would dare taking a few steps up the slide and no problem with sliding down afterwards. That is a great accomplishment and a no-no for strictly defined acrophobes.
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You see, as she is our first child, we tend to go overboard in protecting her and we inevitably imbued in her certain characteristics, and unfortunately being overly cautious is one of them.
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We are fortunate that she is not a rebellious and negligent kid. That is why she never had any serious boo-boo (injury). However, when a person is unfamiliar with pain, they tend to be  infrequent at attracting pain by being over-cautious.
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It is not healthy to bring up kids to be over-cautious and less daring to try. For her, she was late at picking up many motor skills, e.g. holding on to hand rail with climbing. Such coordination with the hands and legs seemed so challenging to her! I felt bad and sad seeing her immobilised with the fear of falling and deprived of carefree fun.
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Now at almost 3 yo and after several months going to the neighbourhood playground, she had demonstrated great improvements. By encouraging her to try, she had developed several basic motor skills. Her depth perception (part of child's eye development) no longer served as a weakness (inducing acrophobia) but as a needed attribute to scale height and physically interact with her surroundings (e.g. how acrobats catches horizontal bar in midair based on depth perception).
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She had several bruises but that is part of learning to rise up after each fall. As parent, I can only try to minimize the impact and nurse any wounds.
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Note
Our kid climbed up the slide and on the last few steps to the top, she crawled (on four limbs) up to the platform. Once there, she laid down on her belly and slithered (with her belly constantly touching the support/platform) to the edge where the sliding board was located. There, she inched herself up and ended up in a sitting position. Then,  I would give her word of encouragement, two thumbs up and counted to three before she slide down. Sliding down wasn't a problem.
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After several visits, she started from crawl to walking-like-duck, and finally experimented with walking upright. I was excited to see such transformation. I'm waiting for the next phase in which she will run up and zoom down the slide in split seconds. Haha.
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Just to share.

Newborn urine turns reddish brown indicative of hemoglobinuria

What is hemoglobinuria? 
Our red blood cells (RBCs) are composed of hemoglobin (red pigment) that carries oxygen and carbon dioxide in our circulatory system. If there is excess of RBC lysis (or breakdown/turnover), then our blood will have excessive amount of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin will be filtered out from kidney along with urine and because of its colour, the urine will stain reddish to brown.

Why it is pertinent to us?
Our baby had reddish to brown urine during the first postnatal week. The nurse said that it was normal to see reddish diaper stain sometimes and that upon subsequent feeding and passing of water, the stain will go away.

However, that reddish stain later served as an indication of persistent jaundice that we experienced later on. I am blood group B+ while my wife is A+ and our baby is AB+. Fortunately, we requested that our baby's blood group be tested (it was not normal routine for our hospital to test baby's blood group and we had to explicitly ask for it), or else we wouldn't have gotten this important information that facilitated the medical staff to conclude that our baby was having ABO incompatibility (and persistent jaundice).

What is ABO incompatibility?
ABO incompatibility happens when mother's antibody recognizes and attacks baby's blood cells. It seemed that mother's antibody can traverse from the umbilical cord to the baby's blood circulation.

As an example, if mother had no antigen B in her blood cells (i.e. she is A+ or O+), she will have antibody against this antigen. If baby has antigen B on the blood cells (e.g. if baby is B+, AB+), then the maternal antibody will start attacking the baby's blood cells. This causes excessive blood cell loss and increases circulating hemoglobin and its broken-down product, bilirubin.

Update

It has been more than a month and our baby still has jaundice (indicated by higher bilirubin level). We had phototherapy for 3.5 days and it didn't help to reduce baby's jaundice. Liver function was tested normal (indicated by testing the ratio of conjugated vs unconjugated bilirubin; where normal conjugated bilirubin signifies a working liver). Regular visits to polyclinic depletes our wallet but not the jaundice problem. We got to know that some parents just stopped visiting the clinic after the repetitive tests and brief "consultations" informing them numbers ranging from 180 to 210 of bilirubin level. The consultation fee was very high as compared to the price of the test itself (almost10 fold difference!), e.g. SGD 6.00 per test as compared to SGD 45.00 per consultation. My opinion is that there shouldn't be a flat rate of SGD45 for consultation pertaining to reading to parents their babies' bilirubin test results and setting another appointment for further tests!

How I wished there was an over-the-counter test kit for measuring bilirubin at home. Alas, a spectrophotometer is required to test bilirubin and that machine is not cheap to be placed in homes.

Solution
Now, we are advised to mix formula with breast milk for our baby in order to hasten the clearing of his jaundice. Although we wanted to give complete breast milk, but under the current circumstances - breast milk alone had failed to reduce baby's jaundice and thus - we are obligated to get a tin of formula and start giving mixed milk to our baby. Hope this approach will help reduce our baby's jaundice.

Jaundice test is expensive for foreign babies in Singapore

The bilirubin test is around SGD 5 to 6. What is expensive for per visit to polyclinics is the consultation fee. Add them up, a visit to the polyclinic for jaundice test is around SGD 50. That's for babies considered as foreigners (without subsidy). Note that the insurance that we got don't cover jaundice too (probably too common).
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Initially, our visit to the clinic was at two days intervals. That's SGD150 per week for two weeks for a total of SGD300. Subsequently, it was three days costing SGD100 per week for two weeks. Then it was once per week costing SGD50 per week. In total for the first month, we forked out SGD450. That did not include being admitted for 3.5 days for phototherapy (both baby and mum, latter for feeding baby). Note that our hospital didn't have portable phototherapy unit to loan parents, unlike other hospitals like KK children hospital.
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The test for the ratio of conjugated vs unconjugated bilirubin (to test for liver function) came back normal. What a relief.
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The last test showed baby's bilirubin started to increase again. My blood pressure too increased after having informed that. What was going on?
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I asked if there was any precedents and the doctor said yes. It seemed that jaundice is likely to happen especially for babies given breast milk (and more frequent for Asians). The doctor advised us to mix formula with breast milk. That would normally clear the jaundice faster. We went home getting a tin of formula and started feeding our baby that. We thought, "So much for fully breast feed".
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We will have to visit the polyclinic again next week. Let's hope for the good response.

Game: Sorting beans and relativity

Sorting beans and relativity

How this game is played? First, have four types of beans (or more), and then count the number of each type, e.g. Adzuki bean (red in colour) at 5 beans, mung bean (green in colour) at 10 beans, black turtle bean (black) at 15 beans, soy bean (yellow) at 30 beans, or other beans of different shapes and sizes.

Mix these beans together and put in in a plate or a flat surface. Allow your kid to sort out the beans as according to appearance. Once this is done, as him/her to show which cluster has the least beans and which has the most beans.

Adzuki bean (wikipedia)

Mung bean (wikipedia)

Soy bean (Danielstrading.com)

Black turtle bean (wikipedia)

Strike three and I can't guess why my baby is still crying

Earlier I have written about what to do when my baby starts crying, e.g.

1. Feeding
2. Discomfort - (a) need diaper change, (b) trapped air in stomach, (c) flatulence, (d) constipation, (e) colic cries with no discernible reasons, (f) insomnia caused by discomfort, (g) awareness and stress, etc.

 The second reason baby cries is the most challenging aspect to troubleshoot. It is not that the baby will be able to cry out a code for parents to decipher based on a decoder key. I am at my wit's end trying to figure out what is wrong with our baby these few nights.

 The only suspect would be colic (discomfort in the alimentary tract), either failure to burp or having too much gas (could it be due to lactose intolerance?), tummy bloated, constipated, etc. If that is the case, there is nothing I can really do about it.

I tried patting/rubbing baby's back to soothe and induce burping (but that didn't help even after few successful burps), applying medicated oil by rubbing on both palms to make it warm before applying to baby's tummy (to soothe and help baby to pass gas, but that too didn't work), massage the back, placing baby to sleep on the tummy (back facing up), moving back and forth to promote undulating movement to soothe baby to sleep but without success. He keeps on crying... and only stop when he is too exhausted. After which, he will doze off. My wife is worried that such cries are not healthy for baby (and I concur).

The only thing that can really soothe our baby to sleep would be to let him latch on. Well, I can only stuff a pacifier to his mouth but the baby is a selective brat who doesn't fancy NUK pacifier.

It is so challenging trying to figure out and deal with baby's cries (or feeling helpless when all else failed to console our babies).

Baby colic
Wikipedia provided suggested reasons for baby colic (inconsolable cries) and here is the list.

• Stress
• Hunger
• Postpartum depression (mother)
• Trauma from hospital visits or 
• Child abuse (such as shaken baby syndrome). Violent shaking of babies will cause head trauma.

Normally baby colic will dissipate once baby reaches certain age (from 3 months and up to a year). Babies' cries are known to stimulate milk production in mothers and as family members, we should understand that baby's cries do not translate to mothers' incompetence in caring for babies. That is why I always remind myself and other members that baby's cries help to communicate with us and especially mother. If other family members are less anxious (anxiety), then the mother will not be anxious too.

Related blogs

• 2 hours intermitent feeding, diaper changes, and more.

Baby's (neonate) belly button (navel) shape and appearance

I noticed that my baby's (neonate) belly button (or navel), where the umbilical cord used to be located, is hard to the touch. When he cries, there is a depression (collapse) above the belly button. I wondered if that was normal and went to search for any information pertaining to baby's belly button and hardened and collapsed. 

To my disappointment, Google image search produced lots of babes with their belly button, or mum's with belly button or belly hardened. There were few pictures with neonates' belly buttons! Fortunately I found one (from YouTube).

Baby's belly button, showing hardened and collapsed area.

From the above picture, the region with depression isn't as obvious as my baby's when he cries. The following is my baby's belly button.

My baby's belly button and the region above the navel is collapsed (more obvious as shown above when he cries).

I give up trying to figure if this is normal because at 3 weeks old, my baby's navel is healing and that area of collapse or cave-in could be a normal process to close the gap/channel. The peritoneal membrane, muscle or whatever tissues that's supposed to be closed could still be opened in my case (which will eventually closes as the healing process progresses). Well, fortunately, there is no protrusion of the belly button or navel, which would indicate umbilical hernia in babies (or neonates), which is quite common. For more information about umbilical hernia in babies, visit WebMD. Just for my reference, here is a photo showing a baby with somewhat common umbilical hernia (but I would send my baby to see a pediatrician nonetheless). For umbilical hernia, some parents indicated that this will go away in few months time (but have to look out for complications such as infection or irregular bowel movement).

Photo sent by parents from the community in BabyCenter (link is here).

For now, I will try not to freak out considering that our pediatrician didn't suggest anything wrong with our baby's belly button. Hopefully the collapsed region will go away.


Updated: Our baby's hernia disappeared after 3.5 months.

Pigeon baby wipes - one pull three out problem

I uses Pigeon baby wipes and there is one problem with the product, a pull of a wet tissue produces three of them in a go. If it had been the automated teller machine (ATM), I would have been happy but I was definitely not impressed. It is really distracting especially when I'm cleaning my baby. The wipes that accidentally fall to the floor is not as hygienic as I wanted wipes to be. Is there better alternatives?

Instead of relying on Pigeon, I am going to try other brands and see if the problem with Pigeon is universal or just specific to a brand. Fortunately, there are other baby wipes out there where I can do a survey and decide which baby wipes is best for the household.

Other baby wipes

• Huggies Gentle Care baby wipes.

Huggies Gentle care baby wipes

• Johnson's Baby wipes (Gentle Cleansing wipes).

Johnson's Baby wipes.

• Tollyjoy baby wipes. I don't like the official website. It is difficult to find the product as there is no search entry. Also, there is no webpage for this product. Looking at the quality of the image will remind me how awful the website is.

Tollyjoy wipes. The official web site didn't appeal to me.

• MamyPoko soft baby wipes.

Mamypoko baby wipes.

• Guardian's in-house baby wipes as well as a variety of wipes available in their store, visit their site.

Guardian's in-house baby wipes. I would definitely want to try the fragrance free wipes.

• Fairprice baby wipes.

FairPrice baby wipes.

• Watson's baby wipes.

Watson's baby wipes.

• Others. There are other baby wipes in the market, e.g. Kodomo, NUK, Combi (available at ISetan), Zappy wipes (available at Yeap Medical), Pampers wipes, Anakku wipes, and more.
• Dettol wipes. Note that I don't prefer Dettol wipes or any wipes that claims to be antiseptic. Providing a sterile environment for baby's skin is not advisable as it will bring more complications than good. 

Note
Search at FairPrice website shows return for all the baby wipes in store and the corresponding prices (accessed on 11 Feb 2015). E.g.

• Pigeon Wipes 82 pieces x 3 packs (SGD 9.85; at 4 cents per piece)
• TollyJoy wipes 84 pieces x 3 packs (SGD 7.90; at 3.1 cents per piece)
• FairPrice wipes 200 pieces (SGD4.95; at 2.5 cents per piece)
• Johnson's baby wipes 80 pieces x 3 packs (SGD 11.95; at 5 cents per piece)
• BabyU wipes 80 pieces (SGD 3.00; at 3.7 cents per piece)
• Kodomo wipes 70 pieces x 3 packs (SGD 8.80; at 4.2 cents per piece)
• Huggies wipes 80 pieces x 3 packs (SGD 9.95; 4.1 cents per piece)

2 hours intermitent feeding, diaper changes, and more

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

• Breast pump

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.

• Portable or mini fridge

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.

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.

MIDEA BAR FRIDGE~4 TICKS (minibar fridge) at SGD 119 at Gain City Singapore. This smaller less portable fridge can be installed at a corner of office area for mothers to share the cost and space. Several types at more affordable price is available and milk is stored at 4°C (good for up to 5 days).

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).

Playtex VentAire bottles are our favourite. The nipple is not too confusing and the anti-colic mechanism works for us.

• Diapers

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.

• Ambience

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.

• Activity

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).

• Cries

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.

Dengue alert in the neighbourhood

Recently, it has been hot and rainy and surely a pleasant time for mosquitoes to breed. Not all mosquitoes are bad, but the ones that carry pathogens that can harm people should be avoided.

For example, mosquitoes that carry the parasite that causes malaria belongs to the genera Culex, Anopheles, Culiseta, Mansonia, and Aedes could act as Plasmodium carriers (Wikipedia).

Physical appearance of the mosquitoes belonging to the genera Culex, Anopheles, Culiseta, and Mansonia. The Aedes mosquito is not shown. A mosquito pest control company has a site with a comprehensive description of mosquitoes and the corresponding pathogens, "Mosquito control - Mosquitoes in Malaysia" (JamesWhiteAnt).

Mosquito that carries the Dengue virus belongs to Aedes. For further information about the mode of transmission (and a brief introduction), read "Dengue transmission" (Nature) and "dengue control" (WHO).

Aedes aegypti mosquito (sourced VectorBase).

 In Singapore, active cluster of dengue outbreak can be referred to "Location of Active clusters" by DengueGovSg. Bishan and Tanah Merah currently in the red alert (with more dengue cases reported there).

Mine is at yellow alert. The National Environment Agency (NEA) officer came to visit my home recently to advise on removing probable mosquito breeding grounds, e.g. flower pots, plate, pail, slots for hanging poles outside to dry clothes, bathroom and toilet area.

The advisory note on Dengue had three important key points

1. Remove mosquito breeding ground
2. Kill the mosquito larvae and adults with insecticide
3. Avoid getting bitten (Aedes mosquitoes bite at certain time and by avoiding outdoor activities around that time would be advisable)

Dengue alert - Take immediate action advisory note from NEA. Key points are highlighted.

For now, I guess if I am to bring my children out, I should at least use/wear the mosquito repellent on them. In addition, I should avoid bringing them out to sit at park's bench (and tempt mosquitoes to feast on us). I'm a B+ blood group and my kids are AB+. I'm not sure about the association between blood group and mosquito bites, but I can say that if I am among friends, I'm a "mosquito magnet". My kids are more prone to bites than me (so I can't shield them from bites by attracting mosquitoes to me instead).

Note that once an individual has been infected by dengue virus, that individual is immune against the virus. However, there are four types (or serotypes) of the virus. Immune against one doesn't preclude infection by the other three types. Also, if an individual is infected by one type followed by another at a short period of time, this individual could experience a severe immune response (due to the body memorizing the first attack and primed to give "all out" response to the second one - aka dengue shock syndrome (DSS)).

Summary

• Identify the type of mosquito that carries the Dengue virus.
• Check the information pertaining to where (or which alert level) the Dengue outbreak in my residential area is (DengueGovSg)
• What to do to prevent breeding of the mosquito.
• Protect ourselves by usage of insecticide and repellents.

Baby's PR application at ICA Singapore

When you applied for baby's birth cert at the hospital, the staff there will give you the laminated birth cert and the Singapore Immigration & Checkpoint Authority instruction/manual (known as Advisory Note containing child's name, barcode, and birth cert number) on how to register baby's immigration status. Proceed to subsequent step when you have already got baby's passport from Malaysia embassy.

First
Prepare all the necessary documents (both photostat and original).

• Both parents' passports and Singapore permanent resident (SPR) ICs (or work passes)
• Marriage cert in English (or get it translated)
• Birth cert (produced in Singapore)
• Advisory note (see above)
• Baby's passport (or letter of acknowledgement from embassy indicating that you are have submitted application for baby's passport).
• Baby's passport photos (white background printed matte). If you have your baby's photo, go to nearest photo printing shop and get it printed in matte form.

 Download and print at home relevant forms (if possible), PR forms at ICA. For baby, it will be "form 4" and you can download "explanatory note to form 4". Need to add in following documents for the application.

• Income tax notices of assessment (last 3 years) of parent
• CPF contribution (last 12 months) of parent
• Alternative to first & second would be to give consent for ICA to check these financial status. That way, you don't have to search for the IRAS notices for the past 3 years and CPF statement.
• Employment letter of sponsor (either of mum or dad) - if you can't get it immediately, the officer will waive it that day and ask for submission of that letter on subsequent visit.

 Now, for baby's SPR application, head out to ICA building near Lavender MRT station, then proceed to level 5 to get a queue number from the ticket counter at PR Services Center (or PRSC). I don't think the eAppointment from ICA will apply here (my guess considering that this is different case).

Address
Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)
ICA Building
10 Kallang Road
Singapore 208718

Weekdays 8.00 am to 5.00 pm
Saturdays 8.00 am to 1.00 pm
Sundays & Public Holidays Closed

Busy days to Avoid:
Mondays, Fridays & Saturdays
Eve of / After Public Holidays

Q-Tickets Issuing Hours:
Weekdays 8.00 am to 4.30 pm
Saturdays 8.00 am to 12.30 pm

Once you have got the number, wait to be called. When at the counter, the officer will examine all the photostat and original documents. Baby will have to be there on this day. There will be a nursery room provided for mum and baby (near the toilet). If you haven't signed the application form, the officer will mark all the blanks that needs to be filled or signed. You can also opt for giving consent to ICA to check your financial status (e.g. tax and CPF). However, an employment letter stating that the sponsor is currently with the company will be needed (you can call your HR to submit the employment letter by Fax and the number will be given by the officer). If you can't get the HR to send this letter, the officer will need this letter on the next visit. Note that the employment letter should be dated/prepared within a month of application to be valid.

Once all the documents and form are completed, the waiting time for approval would be around 4 to 6 months time. Baby will be given a white card (ICA - Disembarkation / Embarkation Card) that will be valid for 3 months stay in Singapore (and need to be renewed subsequently). If in the event that the baby needs to travel before the 3 months, then the baby will need to renew the white card regularly (until the PR application is known).

Do approach any officers there for assistance. I got most information from them and they are very friendly and helpful.

Malaysian birth cert & passport in Singapore

ICA Sg allows 42 postnatal days to finalize the passport and PR application for baby.  First thing that I did for my baby was register his birth at the hospital. Having a name and birth certificate number would be much better than to be called "son of" in subsequent transactions.
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As mother and child needed rest, we would normally be unable to proceed to register our baby at the Malaysian embassy. To add to the problem, our baby had to be hospitalized for jaundice and that took away 4 days.
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There are several good blogs sharing very useful information pertaining to going about registering for Malaysian birth cert (aka Borang W) and later, baby's passport.
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Birth registration procedure is also explained thoroughly by the embassy website.
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First visit
Today, I'm going alone to check out the procedure before subjecting mother and child to the waiting line at the embassy.  What I hope to accomplish is to get the application form (or Borang D), then fill out the particulars, and ask the relevant officers what to expect the next day. The embassy is located at Jervois Rd. To travel from green line, I would disembark at Redhill MRT, then take bus #32. At the 5th stop, disembark and travel by foot to the embassy building (as shown in Fig).

Get to Malaysia embassy by bus. Dotted line is bus route while the solid line is by foot. The embassy is starred. Alternatively, I tried walking to the embassy from Tiong Bahru Plaza and it took me less than 15 min to reach.

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Reached the embassy at 11.30am. I went to the security booth and asked the officers where to get Borang D. He directed me to the consular office. I swapped my driving license for a security pass.  Inside the building, there will be a staff manning a desk who will assist applicants to fill and submit a complete form. I asked for a Borang D. On an attached slip will state what are required during submission. I asked for the best time to reach the embassy. He said, babies will have priority and there will not be a queue, hence come at a convenient time.

This is the front page of Borang D with instruction on how to fill the form and also what to bring along for birth cert (aka Borang W) application.

There seems to be a minor change to section C of the form. Instead of filling in children's particular, you are supposed to fill in particular of either one parent.

Note that those blanks that is not applicable, just fill in "Tiada".

Second visit
Once I have filled in the particulars in borang D, and I have prepared the photostat documents (and clipping along with originals), passport photos of baby (2 pieces with white background), one each of parents' passport photo, I proceeded to Malaysia embassy again.

For submission of borang D, baby, mummy and daddy have to be there. Once at the embassy, proceed to the consular office and meet the person who passed you the borang D. There are two staffs who are really friendly and extremely helpful. They will be able to help you if you have all the needed documents.

Baby will have to get his/her thumbprints stamped on the borang D. Then, all the necessary photostat documents need to be clipped together (this will be done by the staff there). Next, you will have to leave your Malaysian ICs (both parents) and baby's birth cert behind for processing. The officer at the counter will ask for payment (it was less than SGD 12 for me), and then provide a chit stating that two ICs and a birth cert are withheld for processing (there will be a collection date stated on the chit). The officer will ask parents to register with the embassy office at Official website of high commission of Malaysia, Singapore website and then print the submitted form during the next visit to collect the baby cert (a new step because for our previous application, we didn't do this).

Go to the Official site of High Comm Malaysia, Singapore and click on the "e-consular" tab. Proceed to filling the online form. When you are done, print out the submission and remember to bring them (both daddy and mummy) along during birth cert collection.

Next, proceed to the passport/immigration section and move to counter 10 (you will have to queue). When you are at the counter, ask for the form to apply for baby passport. The officer will ask for the photostat of ICs, passports (there is a photostat machine if you don't have copy of these documents), and baby's passport size photos (two pieces) and he/she will ask to see the baby (for verification). Allow the officer to verify the baby's photo with the baby. Once done, the officer will provide a chit with the queue number and further instruction on what to bring along on the next visit (which is the day you collect the birth cert or Borang W). Baby will not need to come on next visit if the photo has been verified by the officer that day.

All in all, you will have a chit for collecting birth cert (Borang W) and a chit (with queue number for proceeding with baby's passport application once you have the Borang W). Note that photostat machine and photo taking booth are available in the embassy. The only thing you have to prepare prior to visit embassy would be the baby's passport photo (it would be challenging to get your baby to open his/her eyes while looking straight to the camera).

Third visit
It took about less than a week to collect the birth cert (Borang W). I went to the consular office (baby and mummy stayed at home), and proceeded to collect the birth cert. Then I headed directly to counter 10 of the passport application section. I showed the chit and the officer took the corresponding folder (with the queue number printed on the folder) and asked for the necessary documents (photostat and original), e.g. parents' M'sia ICs, SPR ICs, passports (if not provided earlier), and baby's borang W. Once these documents are tallied and clipped together, another chit with queue number will be given. Wait for the queue number and proceed to the counter for passport application. The officer will ask for the payment (SGD 42) and then pass you a chit informing the collection date/time for the passport (it will be at 2.30 pm onwards).

Fourth visit (if you were late in sending the application form like I did, i.e. around 11 am, then you will have to return the next day)
Last visit, I came early around 2.15 pm and waited at the embassy compound. The door opens at 2.30 pm. An officer there said that he will call us by the Q number (the one that I got from the security booth before entering the embassy compound). The chit with the number is for referring to the folder/passport application.

After the call and later queuing to get to the counter, the officer at the counter will pass the passport to me and ask me to verify the details. I looked at the name (okay), the birth date (okay), sex (okay), height (okay), and the last one was "identification number" which I was not familiar with. The officer said the number is the same as birth cert's number. I proceeded to tally that number with Borang W (okay). Done and signed the form for acknowledgement.

Last, re-check all the original documents and make sure I have retrieve all of them (especially considering that I'm holding my wife's and kid's documents and hence making a bulk of them. Having a folder to keep all these is helpful).

Phew (a sigh of relieve), everything is done at Malaysia embassy. Next stop, ICA near Lavender MRT station.


Related blogs

• Baby's PR application at ICA Singapore
• Malaysian birth cert & passport in Singapore