Being a Mummy
I've been doing this mummy thing for about 21 months now and honestly, most of the time i still dunno what I'm doing. I remember hearing a lot of mothers say they know exactly what their child's cries mean as early as 1 month old. I still don't even know what Ayisha wants when she cried 5 hours ago.
I thought being with Ayisha 24/7 would make me an expert on motherhood somehow but seriously, if i have another baby, i still wouldn't know the best way to get my child to sleep or eat or even putting on nappies perfectly - I still think her bum doesn't look right & comfortable when i put her nappies on but perfectly round & fine when Michael does it.
My main concern at the moment is her teeth. This is extremely difficult for me to say, so with great embarrassment & fear i am confessing that her top four teeth are showing signs of browning, decaying & rotting. :( I feel like the worst mum ever. The very thought of her not having her front teeth before even turning 2 made me quite sick in the stomach.
The thing is. I have never given her lollies at all. We do give her the occasional ice creams and chocolates and i've been brushing her teeth twice a day for quite some time now so i thought that would be enough. Plus, she's still breastfeeding so i thought that would somehow help keep her teeth strong, i dunno.
So i've been thinking and googling hard, to find out what i did wrong and how this could happen. There's a lot of contradictory infos out there. Some say it's the breastfeeding at night thing -which i still do, which would take me to another concern of mine that will be explained further. But some say breastfeeding should prevent it.
Most say sugar and juices are the culprits. I do admit that with the amount of traveling we've done, Ive been giving her a lot of snacks in the form of baby biscuits that apparently are still high in sugar. We do not have juices at home but when we go out, we do have them and Ayisha would have a sip or 2, or more.
Some say it's in the genes - which is the easiest way out of blaming yourself, just blame it on the genes! But my nieces and nephews didn't have rotten teeth before turning 2! So what does that tell me? BAD mother!! Poor lil squeaky. I really feel sad for her i could cry :( Especially when she's innocently giggling and smiling and all i could think of is scrubbing those teeth and how so very guilty im feeling, like i've let her down and she didn't even know it cos she's just a child! :(
I blame it all entirely on myself. Looking back, I did start giving her sweet stuff, eventho not lollies, at a very early age. I remembered when we were on the roadtrip around Malaysia and she just turned 1, i depended a lot on processed baby food and snacks to get her to eat. I keep telling myself that she breastfeeds a lot and that she didn't eat other food much but the little that she ate, might not be the best ones she had in her very early precious stage of life.
I took her to the dentist the other day. The doctor was nice. Made me feel a bit better. She didn't look worried at all and just told me that i could prevent it from further decaying and to try clean her teeth every night after feeding her.
So i've stopped buying & giving her biscuits or anything sweet and we have plain water only, at all times. She's still getting sugar from fruits and carbs so i dunno what else i could do. Tried cleaning her teeth after feeding even when i woke up in the middle of the night - not easy, not successful. It's only been a few days and i don't know if it's paranoia or what but i think her teeth are getting worse. uwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!
So if you happen to see Ayisha with no front teeth, please turn and look at me in disgust, instead of her. I am so very guilty and very much to be blamed.. I'm so sorry, Squeaky. :(
Secondly, she's almost 2 and I still feed her to sleep. If the mothers in my mothers group back in Oz knew about this, they'd think im the worst mother ever, so shhhhh! They're very big on training babies to sleep by themselves and getting them to sleep through the night, every night. Im still not able to do this. I can tell you how to do it, I've read about it too many times but implementing it is another issue. We tried once but Michael and I couldn't stand her sad sobs n crying. Maybe because she doesn't cry a lot so when she does, it breaks our heart to pieces. Or maybe we're just such babies and have to toughen up a bit, before Ayisha learns that her pouts and sad sobs would get her whatever she wants.
She started sleeping in her own bed eversince we moved into this house. It was ok in the beginning and she's been sleeping thru the night most nites. But lately, she's starting to wake up a few times and i did the only thing (easiest) i know to put her back to sleep - feeding her, which resulted in me waking up in her bed almost every morning now. Not so comfy with her getting bigger n bigger everyday. I am planning to stop breastfeeding when she turns 2 so maybe i should start the weaning process now. I have no idea how to do it and most importantly, whether or not I CAN do it. I've started resisting her a few times lately and i just couldn't continue doing it. She didn't protest or scream but gave me the saddest look ever that made me wanna cry. Im so weak.
Thirdly, i know i didn't want her to be addicted to TV but she's already addicted to 'Despicable Me'. We watch it almost every day. Again, i tried to resist it & distract her but when she looked at me to say 'rararara (as per minions) me', i can't help myself. Sometimes i even prompt her to watch it just so i can see her rolling her tongue to say 'rararara me'. Besides the minions, she's also currently obsessed with a particular Glee episode, the one where the oh-so-cute Sam Evans performed Justin Bieber's 'Baby, baby' song. She'd make me repeat and dance with her and because i like watching that part too, i gladly obeyed. So ok, someone punish me now!
I have a long list of other unfavorable mummy behaviours but the paranoia side of me is telling me to stop as i don't wanna risk Ayisha being taken away after being voted the worst mummy ever. Not to mention how embarrassed I truly am of myself already.
WIth all my incompetencies, I thank God that Ayisha is still healthy, happy and growing. She's been doing so much all on her own, she even made me feel better about being her mum. In all honesty, i think she's doing a much better job taking care of me than I am of her. So, thank you Squeaky, i love u so much!
I thought being with Ayisha 24/7 would make me an expert on motherhood somehow but seriously, if i have another baby, i still wouldn't know the best way to get my child to sleep or eat or even putting on nappies perfectly - I still think her bum doesn't look right & comfortable when i put her nappies on but perfectly round & fine when Michael does it.
My main concern at the moment is her teeth. This is extremely difficult for me to say, so with great embarrassment & fear i am confessing that her top four teeth are showing signs of browning, decaying & rotting. :( I feel like the worst mum ever. The very thought of her not having her front teeth before even turning 2 made me quite sick in the stomach.
The thing is. I have never given her lollies at all. We do give her the occasional ice creams and chocolates and i've been brushing her teeth twice a day for quite some time now so i thought that would be enough. Plus, she's still breastfeeding so i thought that would somehow help keep her teeth strong, i dunno.
So i've been thinking and googling hard, to find out what i did wrong and how this could happen. There's a lot of contradictory infos out there. Some say it's the breastfeeding at night thing -which i still do, which would take me to another concern of mine that will be explained further. But some say breastfeeding should prevent it.
Most say sugar and juices are the culprits. I do admit that with the amount of traveling we've done, Ive been giving her a lot of snacks in the form of baby biscuits that apparently are still high in sugar. We do not have juices at home but when we go out, we do have them and Ayisha would have a sip or 2, or more.
Some say it's in the genes - which is the easiest way out of blaming yourself, just blame it on the genes! But my nieces and nephews didn't have rotten teeth before turning 2! So what does that tell me? BAD mother!! Poor lil squeaky. I really feel sad for her i could cry :( Especially when she's innocently giggling and smiling and all i could think of is scrubbing those teeth and how so very guilty im feeling, like i've let her down and she didn't even know it cos she's just a child! :(
I blame it all entirely on myself. Looking back, I did start giving her sweet stuff, eventho not lollies, at a very early age. I remembered when we were on the roadtrip around Malaysia and she just turned 1, i depended a lot on processed baby food and snacks to get her to eat. I keep telling myself that she breastfeeds a lot and that she didn't eat other food much but the little that she ate, might not be the best ones she had in her very early precious stage of life.
I took her to the dentist the other day. The doctor was nice. Made me feel a bit better. She didn't look worried at all and just told me that i could prevent it from further decaying and to try clean her teeth every night after feeding her.
So i've stopped buying & giving her biscuits or anything sweet and we have plain water only, at all times. She's still getting sugar from fruits and carbs so i dunno what else i could do. Tried cleaning her teeth after feeding even when i woke up in the middle of the night - not easy, not successful. It's only been a few days and i don't know if it's paranoia or what but i think her teeth are getting worse. uwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!
So if you happen to see Ayisha with no front teeth, please turn and look at me in disgust, instead of her. I am so very guilty and very much to be blamed.. I'm so sorry, Squeaky. :(
Secondly, she's almost 2 and I still feed her to sleep. If the mothers in my mothers group back in Oz knew about this, they'd think im the worst mother ever, so shhhhh! They're very big on training babies to sleep by themselves and getting them to sleep through the night, every night. Im still not able to do this. I can tell you how to do it, I've read about it too many times but implementing it is another issue. We tried once but Michael and I couldn't stand her sad sobs n crying. Maybe because she doesn't cry a lot so when she does, it breaks our heart to pieces. Or maybe we're just such babies and have to toughen up a bit, before Ayisha learns that her pouts and sad sobs would get her whatever she wants.
She started sleeping in her own bed eversince we moved into this house. It was ok in the beginning and she's been sleeping thru the night most nites. But lately, she's starting to wake up a few times and i did the only thing (easiest) i know to put her back to sleep - feeding her, which resulted in me waking up in her bed almost every morning now. Not so comfy with her getting bigger n bigger everyday. I am planning to stop breastfeeding when she turns 2 so maybe i should start the weaning process now. I have no idea how to do it and most importantly, whether or not I CAN do it. I've started resisting her a few times lately and i just couldn't continue doing it. She didn't protest or scream but gave me the saddest look ever that made me wanna cry. Im so weak.
Thirdly, i know i didn't want her to be addicted to TV but she's already addicted to 'Despicable Me'. We watch it almost every day. Again, i tried to resist it & distract her but when she looked at me to say 'rararara (as per minions) me', i can't help myself. Sometimes i even prompt her to watch it just so i can see her rolling her tongue to say 'rararara me'. Besides the minions, she's also currently obsessed with a particular Glee episode, the one where the oh-so-cute Sam Evans performed Justin Bieber's 'Baby, baby' song. She'd make me repeat and dance with her and because i like watching that part too, i gladly obeyed. So ok, someone punish me now!
I have a long list of other unfavorable mummy behaviours but the paranoia side of me is telling me to stop as i don't wanna risk Ayisha being taken away after being voted the worst mummy ever. Not to mention how embarrassed I truly am of myself already.
WIth all my incompetencies, I thank God that Ayisha is still healthy, happy and growing. She's been doing so much all on her own, she even made me feel better about being her mum. In all honesty, i think she's doing a much better job taking care of me than I am of her. So, thank you Squeaky, i love u so much!
She's doing this shape sorter thingy all by herself now
On an important call
Haven't got a telekung that fits her yet
All comfy with her floaties on the very 1st day! Wouldn't let us near her.
Comments
Azian
Anon: hahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Yan - stop it. You are exactly the Mummy that Ayisha needs. Not bad, not perfect - but HER Mummy.
I know what you mean about night feeding - unfortunaly it does involve tears. But I can tell you that even after only 2 nights - Jack is settling back down after waking & being denied after about 10 minutes. You just have to stay strong & block out the tantrum.
Extremely hard but not impossible.
You are not a bad mother, you have just been ill-informed. If i may share something on baby tooth decay.
Tooth decay happens when bacteria in the plaque changes the carbs/sugar in food or drinks into acid and this acid would erode the enamel. After a few hours, the saliva will neutralise the acid and the 'erosion' would stop. But kalau selalu sangat acid exposure for e.g. snacking non stop, on-demand bottle/breast feeding, this can make the enamel of the teeth be lost and gradually you'll get cavities. Btw, beastmilk has higher sugar content compared to cow's. Memang it's good for babies but it's the on-demand feeding part that is the culprit.
Kalau tak berus gigi, lagi teruk kerana bacteria load in the mouth is higher.
Fluoride in toothpaste helps to make tooth enamel less susceptible to the acid attack. So fluoride is good, especially kalau dah ada early signs of decay. But because it can also affect the development of permanent teeth, the amount applied is very important. Only a pea-size or kacang tanah size because young children cant spit out. Anything of that amount is safe for kids. Please jangan percaya media or people telling you that fluoride is bad for kids. It's the amount that has to be controlled.
Lagi satu, there's a product called toothmousse (originated from Ozzie!) which is basically a gel/cream/mousse that has high content of calcium and phosphate (what tooth enamel is made of). Only needs to be applied 1x/day, at bedtime. It neutralises the acid in the mouth and helps to promote loss ca and po4 to the tooth surface.
i would also like to share this article :
http://www.hmetro.com.my/articles/Bersihkanmulutselepasmenyusu/Article
Sorry ye Yan, menyibuk di sini..i have always been your silent reader.
Cik Kiah: thanks soooo much for the info! truly...it helps! :)) thanks ya!