I'm a full-time mummy

The last I wrote about our kiddos' playgroup session was on the last day of September 2013 (I actually blogged 1-2 weeks in advance) sharing my bittersweet memories that I won't be bringing our 2 kiddos to their church playgroup sessions as our 3rd baby is due then and I will be busy for some time settling down with 3 kiddos then.

First week of October, our 4.5 years old already asking me when will we be going to the playgroup session. I feel like a crappy mum for not being able to bring our kiddos there!

Second week of October, I was so tempted to bring our kiddos there when I backed out last minute after seeing quite a number of mummy friends sharing that their children and classmates are down with cough, flu and cold. It wasn't that I'm afraid our 2 kiddos will get it, I'm more worried that they got it and brought back the virus home and infect our newborn. So plan delayed.

Third week of October, again, backed out last minute due to the viral season still lingering.

Last week of October, I decided this is it. This is the final session for 2013 as the playgroup center follows the national school holidays session whereby schools will be closed from mid November until early 2014. I didn't see anymore postings from mummies about kiddos falling sick so I thought this is just right. Discussed with hubby for him to take care of baby Carolyn for an hour while I bring Benjamin and Alyson to their playgroup session for the last hour activities (we missed the storytelling session as we were late).

I still remember how excited Benjamin was the night before when I told him if he behaves and goes to bed early and wakes up early, mummy will bring him and Alyson to playgroup session. His face lit up literally and he reserved his Spiderman clothes for the playgroup session!

Like I mentioned earlier, we missed the storytelling session since we were a bit late. When we arrived, it was time to queue up to wash hands for snacks. Some mums were surprised to see me bringing our kiddos (for Chinese, I should still be couped up at home for confinement period) and they were surprised to see me being out and about so fast.

After the snack session, the kiddos had a short freeplay session where they get to play with some bricks (refer picture #1) while the parents and caretakers have a short tea break. I didn't join in the tea break as usual as I prefer to be near my kiddos and watched out after them (yeah, I know, I'm like a mama hen!)

The final activity for the day is costume play where all of us went upstairs into this room, all prepped up with jewelleries and costumes for parents to choose for their kiddos to try and wear and take pictures and simply just have fun!

Alyson went straight to the makeup table in the center and sat right into one of the chairs and got busy decorating herself! (refer picture #2)

Wow! I honestly didn't know where she learned all this from since I'm never the type of person to do any make up at all! (*Note: Probably she got it from my mother-in-law as our kiddos are used to seeing her getting ready with makeup and stuff in front of her makeup table)

I managed to take some pictures of our kiddos trying out the costumes and jewelleries they liked. (refer picture #3) I also snapped a picture
(refer picture #4) which surprised me and brought a smile to my face, I finally saw my 4.5 years old boy approaching a little girl in the playgroup center and heard him saying 'Hey, can I be your friend?' Wow! Social milestone!

You see, like his mummy, our boy is very shy and reserved with strangers but to see him ditching this shyness and approaching a girl asking whether he can be her friend, and mind you, I also snapped a picture of the little girl looking surprised hearing his question and then she went on to flipped her skirt sideways blushing at the same time, so so so cute! I hope this will continue and our boy will finally be able to make some new friends!!!

Looking forward for 2014 playgroup sessions!

**Personal notes: Apologies but due to my paranoia of privacy and security of myself, my family and my kiddos, I am not going to reveal what is the playgroup name, the area and so on. Apologies but like I said, I am really paranoid and with info like this being shown in public, I hope you can understand my reasons for doing so.

I started my breastfeeding journey since March 2009, when our 1st child was born and I never stopped breastfeeding since then. I breastfed our 1st child past 1, 2, 3 years old, throughout my 2nd pregnancy, then went on to tandem nursed our first 2 kiddos for 1.5 years until our 1st child self-weaned at 45 months old. As for 2nd child, she is still nursing right now at 2 years old, I nursed through my 3rd pregnancy and currently tandem nursing our 2nd and 3rd child since 1st October 2013.

With all these experiences gained in my breastfeeding journey, I decided to pen down the critical phases which I think contributed to a successful breastfeeding journey.

For my 1st post, I will start off with: the 1st hour after giving birth to your baby.

Yes, a new mum will normally starts producing breastmilk around day 4-5 after labor but that does not mean you have to wait till day 4-5 to start breastfeeding! I will always advice new mums to start latching immediately after delivery! Even though your body has yet to start producing milk, starting on with the latching will send signals to your brain that, yes, your body need to make milk FASTER! And of course, latching early will also help baby to practise his latching technique and help YOU in your breastfeeding techniques too.

Here's a picture of me breastfeeding my half hour old baby Carolyn. If I have my camera or handphone with me I would've snapped an earlier photo but too bad, don't have them with me and can only rely on my hubby to take the picture (and he was busy answering calls and announcing to everyone on the arrival of our baby)

Now, the birth hospitals you are in also play a huge part in making sure you are off to a successful breastfeeding journey. If you are determined to breastfeed your child, please make sure you inform the hospital staff beforehand that you want your baby to be breastfeed and no formula feeding whatsoever. There are hospitals (private ones especially) which will feed formula milk to your baby so you need to make sure to inform the staff if you do not want this arrangement.

Also, do note that baby actually do not need feeding for the first 4-5 days. Think... our breastmilk comes on day 4-5, so Mother Nature intends for all things to be sync and work for each other in the right time. There is no need to panic that baby is hungry just because he/she is crying! Think, your baby has been comfortably coccooned in your womb for 9-10 months in total darkness, no sound, no smell etc and to be born suddenly into a world of bright lights, loud sounds, hot/cold environment etc of course baby will cry!

If you already caved into feeding formula to baby in the 1st hour itself, it is already jeopardising your breastfeeding journey! A newborn baby's stomach is VERY VERY small only and if you are not careful, you may overfeed the baby and too much feeding will expand baby's stomach and this is a vicious cycle. Stomach gets bigger with extra feeding, you need to feed more next round, so on and so forth.

There are new parents who, under pressure and influence from old folks will give in to supplementing with formula since mum is not 'able' to produce 'enough' breastmilk for baby. Do also take note that formula milk is made from cow's milk - milk meant for calf, not human baby. So it will take longer time for baby to digest the formula milk due to the higher protein content in the formula milk (which is easier to digest if it is drank by a calf) So we get the wrong perception that baby is sleeping well because he/she is taking formula milk compared to a baby who is taking breastmilk who wakes up more frequently - because human's milk is easily digested by baby and when a baby nurse, he/she will automatically stop when he/she is full (so no overfeeding here!)

To sum this post up:

Critical Phase For Successful Breastfeeding Journey : the 1st hour after giving birth to your baby.

• Starting on with the latching will send signals to your brain that, yes, your body need to make milk FASTER!
  

• Latching early will also help baby to practise his latching technique
  

• Latching early will help YOU in your breastfeeding techniques too

• Please make sure you inform the hospital staff beforehand that you want your baby to be breastfeed and no formula feeding whatsoever

That's all for my 1st post in the critical phase for a successful breastfeeding journey!

Feel free to ask and share if you have questions or feedback!

We are not really a big fan of The Berenstain Bears' apps but the moment I saw the pitch review for this app, I decided I must review it as hygiene and manners are something that I would definitely want to instill in our kiddos' life and I'm hoping we could learn something from this story app!

* Title: The Berenstain Bears Come Clean for School
* Price: $2.99
* Category: Books
* Released: Oct 16, 2013
* Version: 2.4
* Size: 37.9 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Oceanhouse Media, Inc.
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Description from the product page:

"Join the Berenstain Bears in this interactive storybook app as Sister, Brother, and Papa learn all about avoiding germs to stay healthy! Explore pictures, learn new vocabulary, and personalize the story with your own narration. Will the Bears apply what they learn and avoid getting sick at school?" 

* It is engaging and interactive and I love that we can also touch the objects in each page on the screen and the words pop out to tell you what it is!

* I used the opportunity in this app to teach our 4.5 years old boy to maintain his hygiene and cleanliness, to cover his mouth whenever he coughs or sneezes so that the virus and/or bacterias will not spread around and infect others.

* I reminded our boy that his habits of washing hands before and after snack times during his playgroup is a good example to maintain hygiene and gently reminded him to continue this good habits everywhere, not just during the playgroup time.

You can purchase the "The Berenstain Bears Come Clean for School" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"