Mommy Bloggers

Pregnancy

• Predicting The Sex Of Your Baby

  by Gerhard van Niekerk
  
  
  Couples that are already pregnant sometimes want to be surprised by whether they have a boy or a girl, while others want to know before the baby is born. There are a number of ways that couples can try to predict the gender of their child, ranging from the scientific to the silly. There are even some ways that couples can use to attempt to predict the gender of their child before conception even takes place.

• Quit It—How Smoking Harms Your Fertility And Your Chances Of Having The Healthy Baby Of Your Dreams

  Everyone knows that smoking is hazardous to health; and that the sooner one quits, the better the body is able to repair and reverse the effects smoking has had on various bodily functions and systems. Most studies and public warnings focus on the adverse effects of smoking on the respiratory and the cardiovascular systems. However, the effects on the male and female reproductive systems are often not as well appreciated despite the real damage it causes

• Rest & Recover

  Balance the Blues
  
  Most new mothers feel a little down for a few days up to a week or two. This is caused by:

• Pregnant and Beautiful

  Are you groaning about being ugly with your growing body? You can look beautiful when you are pregnant. Celebrity moms and models are such excellent examples. Don’t they just glow like beautiful pregnant godesses? You may argue that they have a personal stylist or a professional stylist at their beck and call. Well, we have some tips here to help you look beautiful too on your budget:

• Antenatal care

  Pregnancy is a period of physical and emotional upheavals. It is important that you learn as much as possible to allay your worries and to enable yourself to make informed choices and right decisions for you and your baby. This is where antenatal care plays an important role.

• Managing your pregnancy

  Pregnancy brings about an increase in the levels of many hormones in your body, particularly oestrogen and progesterone.  Progesterone relaxes your muscles and ligaments to accommodate your growing baby. It also prevents your uterus from contracting until the baby is fully developed. On the other hand, oestrogen is responsible for the growth in the size of your uterus and breasts, as well contributing to fluid retention.

• Keep fit

  If you have a pregnancy without complications, you should be able to enjoy some level of exercise throughout. You would need to select a routine that is suitable, or if you already have one then perhaps there might be a need to modify it. Do consult your doctor on what would be the most appropriate in your situation.

• Eat well

  The temptation to indulge in your favourite food is great since the additional calories could be camouflaged by your pregnancy itself. But bear in mind that a healthy amount of weight would ensure a more comfortable pregnancy besides reducing the risks of complications such as diabetes and high blood pressure.  You do not need to eat for two in terms of quantity. Just eat for two in terms of nutrition.

• Discomforts and common concerns of pregnancy

  Pregnancy causes many changes to your body. Below are some common discomforts of pregnancy, their causes and what you can do to cope with them.

• Here comes Baby!

  After nine months of pregnancy, the moment of birth is usually filled with anxious anticipation and you don’t really know what to expect.

• Cyber-smart Mums

  We have heard it all before – you become a mum, you have no time for your friends, you lose touch with the rest of the world as your life now revolves around baby. But wait, the internet is changing all that…

Motherhood & newborn

• How to Be a SUPERMOM

  by Mellisa Dormoy
  
  

  Everyone has a different definition of what being a good mother means. Most of us feel that we do not meet our own high standards and think everyone else must be a SuperMom. We’re all trying to keep things together on the outside. But it’s what is going on internally and in our homes that actually determine what kind of mom we are.

• Reading to Baby: When to Start and How to Do It Well

  By Jamell Andrews
  
  

  In the age of television, internet, and ubiquitous gadgets, there is something refreshing about the quiet act of reading a good book. And although childcare experts say reading to a child has little significant effect until he or she is around the six-month mark, it is never too early to get started. Young children may not get the same things out of books that we do, but the reading experience is valuable for a number of reasons, and reading daily to your baby is a crucial stepping stone toward future linguistic and educational development.

• Preparing For A Second Child

  by Wyatt S Doolittle
  
  
  Having a second child can make you a little nervous just thinking about juggling two kids and taking care of the family.  You may also be worried about the increased daily budget allocation you will have to consider once your second baby is born.  Although more than the budgetary concerns, most mothers are more concerned about raising two children well and helping them develop physically, mentally and emotionally.

• How do you choose diapers?

  Dr Khoo Phaik Choo, Consultant Paediatrician shares some tips on choosing diapers:

• Why My Baby Does Not Sleep Much?

  Sleeping
  

  “My baby does not sleep much”. This is one of the most common problems new mums face.

• Why Is My Baby Crying?

  Newborns cry to communicate their needs.

• The Scoop On Newborns Poop

  Something mums are going to become very well acquainted with during the starting months, is their babies’ poo!

• Newborn Pee Habits

  Mums Worries: Is orange urine normal in newborn?

• What Does A Newborn Really Look Like?

  Mums Worries: What does a newborn really look like?

• How To Change Diaper For Your Newborn

  The Basics:

  1. Wash and dry your hands.
  2. Set up a warm, clean dry area to change your baby.
  3. Prepare your supplies.
• How To Take Care Of Umbilical Cord?

  Always keep the umbilical stump clean and dry.

• Dettol Tips: Laundry

  Let’s face it.  Laundry is not sexy.  Often, laundry is a forgotten area of household hygiene as laundry areas are perceived to be clean. However, studies have shown that transfer of microbes between contaminated and uncontaminated clothing can occur during washing.  Furthermore, low temperature washing may not destroy all the germs. The lower the temperature, water volume and detergent level, the greater the risk of infection.

• Dettol Tips: Hygiene in the Kitchen

  Why is hygiene in the kitchen so important?  If you think about it, germs can be transferred from one food to another by using the same knife, cutting board or other utensils to prepare food.  What’s more, the kitchen cloth, if not disinfected, can spread germs across table tops, cutting boards, and other surfaces.

• Dettol Tips: Hygiene In The Workplace

  Many of us spend the majority of our waking hours at work. On average, working Malaysians spend at least nine hours each day at work. When you actually think about it, we spend more of our time at work than we do at home!  So it’s no surprise that many of us can catch colds and the flu bug from colleagues. To stay healthy at work, it’s worth spending some time thinking about the health of your workplace - where harmful germs, as well as other hygiene hazards, are invisible in plain sight.

• Dettol Tips: Hygiene On Holiday

  School holidays are here! It’s time to get the kids out of their uniform and into their holiday gear!

• Dettol Tips: Hygiene with Baby

  Babies are born with an immune system that is not yet fully developed. Therefore, you would need to protect your baby from exposure to harmful germs until their immunity has matured.

• Investing Towards Your Children’s Education Fund - Part 2

  by Carol Yip
  CEO and Founder of Abacus For Money
  www.AbacusForMoney.com
  Personal Financial Coach & author of two books, Money Rules and Smart Money-User

  Property investments for your children’s education fund
  
  You can save towards purchasing property as an education fund for your children in the future. Here are some tips.

• Investing Towards Your Children’s Education Fund - Part 1

  by Carol Yip
  CEO and Founder of Abacus For Money
  www.AbacusForMoney.com
  Personal Financial Coach & author of two books, Money Rules and Smart Money-User

  Ever wondered how our parents paid for our undergraduate education? Some of us attained our degree without our parents’ financial help, but it is safe to say that majority of us had help. For parents who had saved and paid for their children’s education, they worked hard and saved from their hard earned money. Some of them knew how to multiply their savings by investing in businesses, properties and shares, yet others merely kept their savings in the bank’s fixed deposits. Regardless, sacrifices were made to place us where we are today.

• Tricks To Faster Potty Training

  by Gabriella Gometra

  Training your child to use the toilet on their own can be a very hard task for new parents. It is important for a child to learn how to use the bathroom once he/she is old enough, and before he/she needs to go to school. There are many different ways that you can make this potty training or toilet teaching a lot easier on yourself and on your child.

• Children Obesity: Who To Blame?

  by Dr Mohammed Al Ateeq
  Consultant , Family Medicine & PHC Department Director,
  Residency Training Program , Family Medicine Chairman,
  Continuous Professional Development Committee,
  Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, College of Medicine,
  KAUHS, National Guard
  
  Weight gain in children is a health problem that cannot be ignored. It is important to point this out to the parents who have this misconception that weight gain in children is a sign of good health so much so that some mothers seek to increase their children’s weight.  Therefore, it is pivotal to stress that children face the same consequences of obesity that adults face.

• Is Watching TV Bad For Babies?

  How many of us, parents, are guilty of using the TV as a babysitter?  TV is so often our answer to keeping the kids happy whilst we go about our daily chores: cook dinner, chat on the phone, do the laundry, etc.

• Breastfeeding Myths

  by Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC

  1. Many women do not produce enough milk. Not true!

  The vast majority of women produce more than enough milk. Indeed, an overabundance of milk is common. Most babies that gain too slowly, or lose weight, do so not because the mother does not have enough milk, but because the baby does not get the milk that the mother has. The usual reason that the baby does not get the milk that is available is that he is poorly latched onto the breast. This is why it is so important that the mother be shown, on the first day, how to latch a baby on properly, by someone who knows what she is doing.

• Welcome to Motherhood!

  Parenting is a lifelong journey, and it is not a bed of roses. But every mother will agree that the experience is priceless as nothing beats coming home to a waiting baby!

  Motherhood is a magical journey of joy, sorrow, anticipation, anxiety, guilt, pain and more. Through it all, one thing remains – the satisfaction of giving unconditional love and care to another, which is the ultimate essence of motherhood.

• Get Ready

  This is probably the most exciting part of your pregnancy – shopping for the new arrival! You can’t wait to get your hands on those pretty little dresses or smart tiny suits. But, hang on! First, you need to reorganise your house, only then can you look into shopping for your baby.

• From hospital to home

  Think you have done all the necessary shopping for baby stuff and you are ready for baby’s grand arrival? Think again!

• Breastfeeding 101

  Some mums take to breastfeeding like duck to water, while other mums feel like a fish out of water trying to breastfeed! Here are some breastfeeding tips to help guide you along.

• Bath time for baby

  Babies love water! After all, they were swimming in a sea of amniotic fluid for 9 months before being born. Here’s how to enjoy a splashing good time with baby!

• Immunisation: What Every Parent Should Know

  The first year of a baby’s life is usually the busiest for every parent, with trips to the doctor’s clinic every other month. Find out more about vaccinations and why they are crucial for your baby.

• Starting on Solids

  By the fifth or sixth month, your baby will be beginning another new exciting phase in life- eating! Unless you have had a baby before, you will never quite know how challenging it is to feed a baby. Some babies seem to enjoy eating, and are happy to take in mouthful after mouthful of baby food.  Other babies resist being fed, twisting and turning in their high chair to the frustration of their mums. So if you have ever thought eating would come naturally to baby, think again.

• Baby’s First Year

  Yes, parenting lasts for a lifetime; yet nothing beats the excitement of baby’s first major milestones! Here’s what to expect in the first twelve months

• Safety First!

  Now that you have a baby in your life and his safety becomes your top priority, you can forget about keeping a designer home or the interior of your car looking immaculate at all times!

• My Special Child

  Most mums feel their world crashing down when they are told their child is ‘not normal’. Here are some tips on how to cope with a special child.

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