I'm a full-time mummy

I have been sharing some of my favorite angpow pieces on an angpow collectors group in Facebook and some members have been telling me to continue sharing my memorable stories and so I thought, why not write it down, that way, our kiddos can read about it when they grow up next time, eh?

For those of you who are not familiar or never heard of the words 'Angpow' (also known as 'ang pau', 'ang pao', 'angpau'), here is a quick definition:

Angpow = Red Packet (filled with cash inside) given during festivals

So for today's angpow story, it comes from this piece of lovely angpow:

The first thing that caught my eyes when I saw this angpow was the bicycle. I love angpows with bicycles, have a few childhood memorable experiences with bicycle and bicycle with dog.

Next thing that caught my attention is the shophouse setting, with the wooden doors and wooden windows. If you look closely, the door at the groundfloor is a wooden swinging door like those cowboy town bar door.

It reminds me of a coffee shop in my late mum's hometown. It used to be a kopitiam (means coffee shop) but the business ended sometime after. However the owner still uses the premise for mahjong venue with his friends and my late mum used to go there to play mahjong with her friends.

I remember that I often go to the shop, gently pushing the door and being careful not to be hit back by the swinging door and looked out for my mum. There were up to 2-3 mahjong tables sometime and as a young child, I tried to be as quiet as I can possibly be without disturbing the adults there.

I would sneak in to ask my mum for a few cents so that I can buy snacks and junk foods before I go rounding around the kampung (means village) with my cousins on our bicycles hahah..

Nice memories...

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I came across an article, which I find interesting and upon further searches on Google, decided to share it with you guys as I'm very interested to know your thoughts on this. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

"Babies born via C-section may be more prone to allergies and other issues because they miss out on vital microbes in mom’s birth canal — but a practice called “seeding” aims to make up for that.

Seems like there’s a new hip, must-try birth practice unveiled with regularity these days — hypnobirthing, placenta eating, delayed umbilical-cord clamping — and now, for women having C-sections, “seeding,” or the practice of swabbing a newborn with healthy bacteria collected from mom’s vagina to reap a host of health benefits.

So what’s it all about? Preliminary scientific research has shown health differences between babies born vaginally and by C-section — with those removed surgically being more prone to allergies, diabetes, asthma, obesity, autoimmune diseases, and other conditions, possibly because they don’t get coated in mom’s birth-canal fluids, which include a healthy dose of bacteria.

Trillions of microbes, collectively called microbiome by scientists, reside in our bodies — on the skin or in the gut, mouth, or vagina, where their presence plays a vital role in human health but can lead to health problems when they are out of balance or deficient. It’s why newborns who don’t get to pass through the estimated 300 to 400 species of microbes in mom’s vagina may be at a health disadvantage, according to Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, a microbiologist at New York University School of Medicine who is at the forefront of research about seeding. She recently studied 21 babies in Puerto Rico and found that swab seeding positively affected the microbiome in newborns."

I personally feel this is great news! Okay, granted, some may think I have no rights to comment this since I have no experience in C-sections but having read articles about babies are baptized to the world of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens as they pass through the birth canal, how C-section infants don’t get enough good microbes and more, I think this 'seeding' method sounds awesome!

 How does it work you wonder?

"requests for “seeding” – in which a swab soaked in vaginal fluid is put in the newborn’s mouth and wiped across their body immediately after birth – are on the rise."

I read in some articles that the thought of how this was done was quite gross but I personally feel it is no difference from how a baby was born vaginally. Babies inhale and swallowed whatever liquid, discharge, bacterias etc while in womb and while being birthed so what's the gross thing about this seeding method? I would think it this method helps to transfer some good bacterias from mums to babies, why not?

How about you? What do you think?

Sources:

* Inside the Growing Practice of 'Seeding' Babies Born Via C-Section

* Would you ‘seed’ your baby? The surprising post-birth trend on the rise that sees mothers who have C-sections bathe newborns in vaginal fluid

* Seeding: The new birth trend that's all about bacteria

* The Way You’re Born Can Mess With the Microbes You Need to Survive

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I know, being a mummy blogger, it is really not easy to secure everything. Back when I first started blogging 6 years ago, I didn't know better. I happily shared pictures of our kiddos online and  on my FB page though still mindful to not show anything or give any clues to where we stay, work, go for outing etc. But after reading more and more cases of the dangers of putting childrens pictures online, I have toned down way way a lot, even for product reviews I try not to show full face of our kiddos unless absolutely necessary. Of course there are those old pictures I have posted online but moving forward, I have vowed to keep our privacy as tight as possible.

Now as parents, it is horrifying to read articles where pedophiles get hold of childrens pictures, videos and God knows what else they do with the pictures. It doesn't help when you see pictures of children innocently posted on your Facebook newsfeed, where your friends or relatives happily share (or unknowingly being tagged).

I believe that if you are serious to protect your child, we have to tightened up our privacy settings as much as possible. I'm talking about social media here, specifically Facebook okay? Things that you can do:

1. Start with your own Facebook profile settings

• Go to your profile settings and look for Privacy. Go through the items inside and make sure your privacy settings is up to date.

• You can also go to your Privacy Settings, look under Timeline and Tagging settings, on the 2nd item 'Who can see things on my timeline?' see the first item 'Review what other people see on your timeline' click on the View As and you will be able to view your profile under the pretense of someone out of your FB network.
  

2. Go through your Facebook album settings

Go to each and every one of your photo albums on your FB profile and make sure the settings are correct. Remove the check sign in the 'Friends of those tagged' entry. If you leave this one checked, when you tagged your friends in any picture in the album, their friends can also see the pictures even though they are not on your FB friend list.

3. Check other Facebook page settings

This is a bit more work but important. If your child attends any school, classes, clubs, outings etc that have their own Facebook pages, make sure you check their page. Some of them likes to upload pictures of their students / participants and shared on their page, not knowing the dangers of doing so. I have personally seen photos of children of my friends, relatives, ex-colleagues appearing on my newsfeed because their parents have been tagged by the schools / classes / clubs etc. It is so easy to look up the children if someone has the intention to do so and know what clues to look for. School badges are prominently shown. Contact details are easily found on the FB page info. Name tags can be easily read. Creepy right?

4. Check through your friends postings

• I would also advise you to housekeep your FB friends list. Only share pictures on FB with people you trusted.
  

• And if a friend or relative posts photos of your child or your family on FB and you don't feel comfortable about that, ask them to take the pictures down or to blur off your child's face or your family details. 

• You might also put in settings to notify you if your name has been tagged in a post or picture by your friend or relatives. I normally remove my name from being tagged and also not shown posts on my timeline unless I find it important to share the posts that I have been tagged on.

  

5. Start from yourself

• If you want to post picture of your kiddos, try to blur out other info.
  

• Ask permission from other parents if their child is in the picture as well, but I personally feel blurring or cropping the picture is another option as well.
  

• Do not simply join or like any FB pages unless you are familiar with their policies.
  

• Do not simply accept friends requests on FB unless you know or meet the person before. Remember that once you have accepted someone into your circle, they will be able to see your details.

• If someone from your FB circle asked you questions with regards to the pictures you posted (example: 'What school your child attends?' or 'How often do you guys go to this mall?'), refrain from answering on the thread even though they are your friends on FB. Just private message the person to reply them or ask them to message you instead. You never know who else is reading your comment. Your friend/relative might be checking FB in public or cafe and walk off to get something and leave their FB on. Scenarios, scenarios, scenarios.
  

More articles to read on this topic:

* The dangers of 'sharenting': From posting pictures of your baby online to uploading snaps of your family with location settings on ... are YOU putting your kids at risk by oversharing on social media?

* The dangers of posting photos online

*  Kidnapped teen daughter of millionaire found (read how the kidnappers target her)

Now you might say just don't post any pictures online, problem solved. True. But you need to also make sure other people don't post pictures of your and/or your family as well. So, just be as vigilant as possible.

Any other tips you would like to share?

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.