Day 7: Baby's First Food - The Precious Peas/Ærter/豌豆[wān dòu]

I introduced the peas to Baby FECS today. Seemed like she preferred broccoli to peas though. It could also be that she was too tired today, as I introduced this food late in the day, although she still ate the full saucer. Although t is recommended that new food should be introduced in the early part of the day, I never could get it all ready, and always ended up feeding my baby at dinner time. Well, life is not perfect, and things don't fit so beautifully together, but she survived. 

I also didn't manage to make any food for her yesterday. When the two boys (Daddy FECS and Little FECS) are home, one should think that I would get more help, and thus more things done. The reality is that I always become less efficient. Thankfully, a ripe avocado came to my rescue :-) 

I noticed that she is getting more hungry now, and my breast milk does not seem to satisfy, even though I have now increased the frequency of nursing - to the point of tiring myself out. So after more than a week of food-sampling, it looks like solid is more seriously needed now (Have to say, the Danish health nurse is right). So now I have to take the job of making baby food more seriously and plan it into my daily life now :-(

I made a cup and froze the rest in the freezer.

If you wish to see how I prepared peas, click here.

Here is a picture of her today :-)

30 October 2016 (5M7D)

J Summary (7Y7M21D): Positive Feedback from His Teachers

We had met the teachers day today. Both of his Danish and Maths teacher told us that our Little FECS is doing very well in school - among the top in his class for Danish and Maths. He is also reading very well in Danish and among the top in his class. His class has 22 students. The teacher also told us that J is highly popular, in fact the most popular person in his class. This means that he has a moral responsibility to be a good role model. We were pleasantly surprised.

Daddy FECS commented that he noticed also that J has a very strong grasp of numbers. Daddy FECS credited to my efforts in doing Montessori with him. However, I think it is more to Daddy FECS' credit. He managed to make learning fun for J in their daily day-to-day conversation. If we ask J, I am sure, he would say that it is Daddy FECS who inspired him.

This doesn't mean that Montessori is not effective. I think Daddy FECS and me complemented each other - thankfully. Montessori is really good, but I just need to make sure that I don't have too much of a Tiger Mom, and in the process of educating J, become a kill joy. It is a humbling experience, but I am still learning, and hopefully I improve.

Day 6: Baby's First Food - The Beneficial Buckwheat/Boghvede/荞麦籽[qiáo mài zǐ]

24 October 2016 (5M1W2D) Baby C loved it.

I decided to introduce buckwheat today. Buckwheat is one of the grains recommended by the Danish health authorities for babies 4-6 months old, as it does not contain gluten. Apart from that, buckwheat is also very nutritious, a very good substitute for the less nutritious white rice that we Singaporeans eat. Thus, I wanted to accustom Baby C to it at an early age.

Baby C liked it very much, and finished the whole saucer :-)

You can read about how I prepared it here.

She finished the whole saucer :-)

Here is a picture of Baby C today

Day 5: Baby's First Food - The Mighty Ginger/Ingefær/姜[jiāng]

As Chinese, we all know the mighty goodness in ginger, but it is an acquired taste, easiest to cultivate when young. 

I decided to go ahead to introduce ginger to Baby C today, although she is shy of 6 months old.

My experience is that once the window of introducing food to baby is past, it is an uphill task, and there are so many food I want to introduce to Baby C. With J, because I was afraid of the allergy that tomatoes may cause, I introduced it to him too late when he was 1 year old. Until today, he refused to eat tomatoes. He is also not fond of yogurt for the same reason. In general, experts said the window is between 8 to 9 months old, and that seemed to match my experience with J.

So if baby starts on solid at 6 months, and one has only 2-3 months to introduce 50-60 items (those items on my list), and if one also waits 4 days in between each new introduction, it would essentially be a close to impossible task.

Ginger is not on the list of food causing allergy, and in general Asian kids are not so prone to allergy.

I would like Baby C to get used to the flavor of ginger - not necessarily eating it. So I added a piece of ginger while cooking her millet puree, and then fished it out again after 5 minutes. In this way, the ginger's flavor gets into the puree, but she is not eating the ginger.

As expected, Baby C wasn't clapping her hands and asking for more. This, afterall, wasn't candy, but ginger. But she has tasted it, and it is a step towards acquiring a taste for it. Rome isn't conquered overnight.

Add a slice of ginger when cooking porridge/puree for baby.

As I want only the flavoring, take the ginger out again after 5-10 minutes, depending on how strong favor you desire.

You can read my original post on ginger as baby's first food when J was a baby here.

Toy of the Day: Sensory Cirlce (5M7D)

23 October 2016 (5M7D): Baby FECS started creeping around a little. So I placed Lamaze baby toys all around to encourage Baby FECS to creep one round

Let Baby Play with Wooden Train Set

Make a ring of moving trains to encourage baby on the tummy, to move and reach out to grasp. This is J's idea.

J improvised further by making a bigger ring and placing Baby C (5M7D) within it to encourage her to creep around. It worked like magic :-)

I used to try out all the child development on J, when he was a baby. Now he has surpassed me, and came up with original ideas that surprised me. I think he will grow up to be a very hands-on and involved father, when he grows up :-)

Here is another idea of J: Let a toy train move towards baby and see how she/he grasp it :-)
Here is a video demonstration:

It is available from Amazon:

http://amzn.to/2hOpq4z

Day 4: Baby's First Food - The Out-performing Olive Oil/Olivenolie/橄榄油 [gǎn lǎn yóu]

I chose to introduce the olive oil as the fourth baby food to Baby C. The Danish health authority advises that it is important for baby to consume sufficient fat in the diet for healthy physical and brain development, and recommended adding 1 tsp of fat per portion, whether it is butter or vegetable fat, if the baby food is not prepared with breast milk. However, it is important to use only good fats, of which olive oil out-perform all.

Olive oil has a strong taste, so I am excited to see if Baby C will accept it. I mixed it with a portion of broccoli puree saved from yesterday.

She ate the whole saucer full, unlike yesterday, where she ate only 6-7 scoop. What a difference when introducing the same food again. She seemed to like it a lot. Here is a video:

You can read more about how I prepare it and olive oil as baby food here.

References:

Mad til Børn: Fra skemad til madpakker, Gode råd og godt at vidt

http://canigivemybaby.com/olive-oil/

Let Baby Touch Leaf

From 3 months old

This is a touch sensory experience for baby with leaf. J plucked this leaf from our balcony this morning and gave it to Baby C to feel and touch :-) Trust the little brother to think up of sensory activities for Baby :-)

23 October 2016 (5M7D): But the little rascal at 5 months old, is at the exploring stage and likes to mouth everything, so we had to take it away from her, and only let her touch with supervision. It would have been easier if she was 3 months old.

Day 3: Baby's First Food - The Brilliant Broccoli/花椰菜[huā yē cài]/

For babies from 5 months old

I chose broccoli as the third food to introduce to Baby C (5M6D) today 22 October 2016. It is more usual for moms to start with carrot or potato. But as carrot is sweet, I wanted to start with the less sweet stuff. I gave carrot as the first baby food to J, when he was a baby.

J has no problem eating broccoli, so I don't think it is so crucial the order of introduction. But then, although J eats broccoli, he is not totally that fond of it. So I am thinking that I would like to establish the liking for broccoli right from the start, before the sweeter food such as carrot, banana or apple.

Broccoli has a strong taste, so I am taking a risk whether Baby C would like it. I imagine that since it would be her first time tasting it, she would turn her head away and pull a long sour face. But it takes at least three tries, before a good habit is established, so I am prepared to bite my teeth.

I was excited to see her reaction. To my pleasant surprise, it wasn't so bad. I don't think she is so crazy about broccoli, but she was willing to eat it, although she seemed to prefer eating the spoon to broccoli. Here is a video of Baby C getting her first taste of broccoli :-)

I steamed the broccoli instead of boiling it. Steaming is a Chinese method, said to retain most of the nutrient, compared to cooking by boiling. However, if time is a constraint, boiling is perfectly fine. Actually, it takes the same time to boil and to steam, but steaming requires more equipment. Here is how I prepared the broccoli for Baby C.

Actually I would have preferred to give her kale or spinach, since these are the most nutrient packed vegetable, but because of the high nitrate in green leafy vegetables, which is not so suitable for young babies, I will wait with it.

Here is a picture of Baby C in her snowsuit today :-)

Aboard Flight Crib + Baby Gym

9 October 2016 (Week 21: 20W7D): Idea from the neighbour passenger how to make a makeshift crib complete with cover (using the flight blanket)

9 October 2016 (Week 21: 20W7D): I improvised further and turned it into an activity gym with toys

9 October 2016 (Week 21: 20W7D) - Turned out to be a hit with Baby C as she loves to grasp at objects now

Day 2: Baby's First Food - The Magnificient Millet/Hirse/小米 [xiǎo mǐ]

Baby C (5M5D) got millet as her second baby first food today 21 October 2016 at 11am. But she was too hungry, so I stopped and nursed her first. Then we tried again at 11.30am. This time, she was willing to eat. We were very excited to see her reaction, whether she would like it. But she didn't have much reaction. She was a little tired. She didn't finish all, but she took 7 teaspoonful, which was a good result. J took only one teaspoon, when I fed him solid in the beginning. After feeding her, I put her to nap.

You can click here to see how I prepared it.

Here is a picture of Baby C today :-)

Day 1: Baby's First Food - The Awesome Avocado/牛油果[niú yóu guǒ]

Baby C (5M4D) got a taste of solid food for the very first time today 20 October 2016. I initially wanted to wait until she is 6 months old, but her rate of growth has decreased (although she hasn't lost any weight, still at 7.68 kg) and has been woken up at night every 2 hours. The nurse said that maybe this is a sign that she is hungry and ready for solids. So there goes my honeymoon period. Will be busy preparing food for her.

For baby before 6 months old, introducing solid should be treated more like food sampling, rather than full force eating solid food. This is because it is best that baby should get its food solely from breast milk for the first 6 months.

I chose avocado as her first food. I am treating it more like giving her food-sampling, rather than really feeding her solids, as I think it is best that she gets her food intake solely on breast milk until she is 6 months old. We were all excited to see her reaction, whether she would like it. Baby C seemed to like it. She finished the whole saucer :-)

You can read about why I have chosen avocado as my baby's first food and how I prepared it here.

Here is a picture of Baby C today :-)

Reflection about Life...

From life's first breath... to grey white hair... 

From stroller... to wheelchair...

From joyful days... to tears-filled eyes...

Jesus holds our hands every step of the way...

Flying miles back home to bring cheers as a Besøgsbaby for Ah Ma...