I'm a full-time mummy

I saw this question posted by one mummy in a breastfeeding group I joined in Facebook "After BF for 7 months, my LO started to bite my nipples. Not sure if it is the caused of teething but it is very painful for me to continue BF. How to stop that? I've tried telling her (not sure if she understands ^^) and putting my last finger at the side of her mouth to open when she bites but that only lasts a while. Any mommies encounter this before? Its supper painful that I'm afraid to let her latch on now."

My immediate reply was:

"Lightly smacks her mouth with 2-3 of your fingers, must look serious and tell her immediately 'Ouch! That hurts mummy!' Give her a few seconds to think what happen (withdraw your breasts at this point), little children are very smart! After a while they will make the connection that if they bite = mummy pain = no nen-nen (aka breastmilk)"

Another idea you may try is lightly insert your pinky finger into their mouth in order to open up their mouth, do your gentlest to pull out your nipple. I normally do this when our kiddos fell asleep while nursing.

**** NOTE: For those who thinks my tip of smacking = abuse, please note that I said 'Lightly smacks'. In this sense, you use 2-3 of your fingers and pat your child's mouth. Just annoys me when people read the word 'smack' and immediately screams abuse! Weirdos...

With Ben (he's 39 months old now), I only have to do the above twice, the second time was because I was slow and he was really really hungry and accidentally bit me. Since then, no more biting episodes, even now that he is still nursing from me once a day before bedtime, he remembers and knows the rules!

As for Alyson (she's 9 months old now), I had to do this so far about 3 times and as of today, she has never bit me anymore and she's growing her 4th tooth (upper) at the moment. The last time I smacked Alyson's mouth after she bit me REALLY hard (I can actually see her tooth marks - bottom 2 teeth), I was and actually looked at her angrily and I can immediately see her face turning from playful into shock, then remorse and then she started crying. I had to calm her down after that but since then and so far, no more biting episodes.

So yes, new mums, you have to be firm and serious in disciplining your breastfeeding child if you want to spare your nipples from anymore biting incident. You CANNOT scold and smile at your child at the same time. They will not be able to know that you are serious and meant that it hurts if you are smiling at them. Or immediately offered your breast back at them.

I hope the above tips help!

How about you? Any tips to add on that you can share?

In the middle of November last year, I received an email from Lavinie, one of the owner of Babydash company about the possibility of reviewing her products and after browsing through her online store, I politely informed her that I have to reject reviewing formulas and bottle products in her store because my 2 kids don't use them. Lavinie informed me that she will keep an eye out and informed me the moment a suitable product is available for my review.

Then in early February this year, Lavinie emailed me and asked me whether I am OK in reviewing the "Happy Baby Organic Puffs (Sweet Potato)". Now, this product has got to be one of the longest I need to liaise with the sponsor in order to review! No, no, it has nothing to do with the sponsor or the product, more to my product tester hahaha... Alyson, my baby girl was still not ready for solids when I first communicated to the sponsor for this product review, so we have to put on hold this review until Alyson is ready which is around May this year. Anyway, here goes my review:

Description from the product page:
"ORGANIC PUFFS are different than other first foods on the market:
100% natural- whole grains, real fruit
1/2 the sugar than leading brands.
No artificial coloring
No artificial flavors
No GMOs
Fortified wtih more vitamins and minerals. The only baby snacks with added vitamin B and calcium, as well as Vitamin D, a nutrient which breastfed babies tend to lack.

* Sweet Potato Puffs, along with our Strawberry Puffs, are GLUTEN FREE **
* Always Organic: Never any artificial flavorings. Sweetened with 100% fruit juice. Our puffs are made with organic whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
* Fortified with vitamins & minerals: Enriched with 40 IUs (10%) of your baby’s recommended daily value of Vitamin D. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, many infants are deficient in this vital nutrient.     
* Recommended by: Dr. Bob Sears, renowned pediatrician & author of The Baby Book.
* Better Value: Our containers hold 40% more product than the leading brands. (Gerber and Beech-Nut are 1.5oz each)
* Green Packaging: They are made with 25% recycled materials, arebpa free, and are recyclable.
* We support: sustainable agriculture. No pesticides, chemical fertilizers, or genetically modified organisms (GMOs)."

Firstly, please excuse the word 'Sample' written all over the product hahaha... and don't worry, even if it is written 'Sample' the seal in the bottle is still intact and brand new. Now back to the puffs, the bottle is about 8 inches tall, easy to hold and I love the cover, easy to open and close even with just 1 hand. There are proper instructions and labeling on the bottle as well.

The reason why I am glad I can review the Happy Baby Organic Puffs Sweet Potato is because my girl is 8 months old now and is definitely ready for solids and experimenting with finger foods.

I love seeing her reaction when I offered some of the sweet potato puffs on my hand to her. I love it when she got so curious and started trying to pinch the puffs with her fingers (yay for finger skills!)

And then I waited for her to get used to holding the puffs in her fingers and putting them into her mouth by herself. At first she had one of those weird looks as if trying to see my reactions whether she is allowed to put the puffs in her mouth and when I smiled and gently encourages her to continue, she went and stuffed the puff into her mouth and I hear the 'crunch' and 'crack' sounds. Sweet and cute!

And then she started gobbling them... and looked on at me when they are gone. Well, I started by giving her 2 puffs, so I decided to give a few more and yep, they are gone as soon as she managed to grab them in her hands.

I also poured out some of the puffs into a small container and labeled it with Alyson's name and informed my MIL to give this to her when she's downstairs spending time with grandma. I am obviously more relieved with these organic puffs now as I don't have to worry about my MIL giving my girl crackers and stuff.

Oh by the way, I too tried out some of the puffs and yes, they are good! I find myself munching on them as well! The mild sweet flavor on the puffs are 100% from fruit juice so no worries about giving artificial sugar to your baby!

The verdict? Definitely a good product to try for your child who is starting finger foods!

** Updates on 1st July 2012: I ordered 2 more of these puffs (strawberry and greens flavor) for my girl after she finished the whole bottle!

You can get this and more varieties of products from Babydash website at: http://www.babydash.com.my/

By the way, I have also personally try out the shopping experience in Babydash website (I did a 'mock' order of the puffs by entering my contact details and mailing address) It is very user friendly and easy to navigate around the online store. I am also able to view my 'order' details as well.

The store also sells a varieties of other products for baby and mummy, in fact, I even recommended the website to one of the mummy in my breastfeeding group on Facebook who tried desperately to look for a diaper cream product and some mummies commented that Babydash has a lot of varieties of products (especially the Earth Mama Angel Baby selection)

Also, the Babydash Team is always looking out for customer suggestions on what else to add on to the site. Customers can send in their wishlist / shopping list and Babydash will stock the items as quickly as possible at the lowest online price! They also do Fast Delivery (1-2 days) and delivery is FREE above RM149 to anywhere in Peninsula Malaysia!

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the product by Babydash 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.

This is the 2nd app I get to review from Playtend in my search to get more educational preschool apps for Ben. In case you want to find out what is the first app, you can checkout my review on ABC 123 Blocks post. Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: Counting Ants
* Price: $1.99
* Category: Education
* Updated: Mar 20, 2012
* Version: 2.0
* Size: 14.8 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Playtend Apps LLP
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Description from the product page:

"Counting Ants is a great app for early learning - perhaps the best way to help your toddler practice counting to ten on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. It's also a great way to introduce your kids to a foreign language. This app features adorable ants that zip around in their cars, while teaching kids the basics of counting in 10 languages. The app automatically rotates through five minigames to keep your toddler engaged while they learn to count.

Minigames include:
* Count the ducks
* Count the fish
* Count the fruit
* Count the train cars
* Find the number

The minigames and toddler-friendly interface make learning incredibly easy and fun. The scenes are fully interactive and simple for young children to control even if they don't yet know how to read."

What's good?

* It is engaging and interactive and I love the cute illustrations!

* I love the minigames as I think it definitely keeps the attention and interests since there are many different scenes to look at and played with.

* Ben enjoys this game as it has cars and trains in it (boyish genre, yes!) and this app will definitely be used again and again!

Room for Improvement?

* I would prefer if the number 7 is redesigned as it currently looks kind of like the number 1. My boy gets confused at times when he tries to look for these 2 numbers.

You can purchase the " Counting Ants " app from the iTunes App Store. 

I am so excited to be able to hold this giveaway for my lucky blog followers and readers! FIVE of you lucky people are going to win a copy of this educational and useful app! You will absolutely love it! Now, let's read below for the giveaway terms and conditions OK?

To enter the giveaway, kindly read and follow the instructions as stated in the Rafflecopter form below.

• You can enter either via login through your Facebook account or just key in your name and your valid email address.
  
• Please also leave your valid email address in the post comment so that I can contact you if you win this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code by the sponsor 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"