The latest craze in baby tubs..

How cute is this picture?!!

There's and article in msn today about a "Dutch" style baby tub that has been popular in Europe and Asia. Some American mom found it in Canada and now she is importing them to the US and sell them for $45 a piece (jeez..). Aside from the price, the tub is the only one out there (so far, wait a couple months, I bet we can get cheaper from China) that holds a baby in a fetal position. I just think a picture of a bunch of confused looking babies submerged in each tub is really cute...

Full article here:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30499759/

iPhone App Review: White Noise Lite

One of the methods parents use to calm their babies is by using white noises to simulate the sound babies hear in their mothers' wombs. Some of the cheaper ways parents do are by turning on the hair dryer, vacuum cleaner, bathroom fans or using the static sound from radio. If you are willing to spend money, you can also buy a white noise machine that can be attached to the baby's crib. Some of these machines also come in disguise of plushies or teddy bears.

If you have an iPhone or iTouch, there is a free application that you can download called White Noise Lite, by TMSoft. It comes with ten free white noise sounds such as Beach Shore, Oscillating Fan, Rain Pouring or Chimes Chiming. I think you can also download it from iTunes for iPod. You can also upgrade (purchase) to the full version of the application that has 40 different ambient sounds for $1.99 (more convenient than turning on your vacuum cleaner and still cheaper than the white noise teddy bear machine).

I downloaded the free White Noise Lite for my iPhone and so far the sound quality is superb. I listen to it at my office when I need some calmness (Chimes is my fave) and I can use it at night to help me sleeping as well.

For more information about this application, you can go to iTunes or their website:
http://www.tmsoft.com/iphone-whitenoise.html

Recommended (especially when it's free :))!

DVD Review: The Happiest Baby on the Block

I recently borrowed this DVD from a local libary after hearing so much about it. The author, Harvey Karp, M.D, is an American pediatrician and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine. His two books, The Happiest Baby on the Block and The Happiest Toddler on the Block, have been bestsellers since early 2000 and used many times as references in calming infants and babies. The DVD is pretty much the nutshell version of the book.

In the beginning of the DVD, Dr. Karp explains that human babies are born less developed than other mammals. He gives an example of a baby horse that pretty much can walk and run within the few hours of its birth. But for human, the limited condition of the mother's womb doesn't permit baby to develop longer inside, thus "forcing" the baby to be delivered "early". That's why he calls that the first three months of infant life as "the fourth trimester". This theory is supporting his belief that during this fourth trimester, infant still needs to adjust to the life outside of the womb and simulating the womb experience can provide him/her calm and soothing feeling.

He also believes that, in addition to other reflexes (sucking, for example), babies are born with a calming reflex, an instinct, when triggered, that instantly calms babies and tells them them that they're safe. However, not every parent knows how to trigger this reflex and babies can not do it by themselves.

His book (and DVD) provides five methods (the five S's) that can be used individually or combined to trigger this calming reflex on fussy babies (on colicky babies too) :

1. Swaddling: tight swaddling recreates the confinement of the womb


2. Side/Stomach position: holding the baby on the stomach face down (slightly angled)


3. Shushing: uses a loud "ssh" sound similar to the loud white noise that is present in the womb
   
4. Swinging (and jiggling): gentle but constant jiggling (especially of the head) is intended to remind babies of the constant motion they experienced in the womb. Dr. Karp also says we can use swingers


5. Sucking: Dr. Karp recommends the use of pacifiers or thumb sucking

Two things that Dr. Karp emphasizes:

• Don't leave babies sleeping on their stomach/face-down unattended (risk of SIDS - Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)


• Jiggling/swinging is NOT the same as shaking. Jiggling is a small, fast movement, almost like vibrations. Never shakes babies!

Does it work?

Well, since my baby is not born yet, I can not test and vouch for these techniques myself. I asked one of my friends who applied them to her baby, she said they worked, but not all the times. The prenatal class at Huntington hospital in Pasadena also teaches Dr. Karp's five S's techniques to calm babies.

My personal opinion is, the five S's makes sense. In fact, this is not entirely a new concept. For centuries, mothers all over the world have used them to calm their babies. I came from South East Asia and I remembered seeing mothers there used some or all of Dr. Karp's techniques, provided they had never read his books, seen his videos or had any "formal" childcare classes. They learned from their mothers or grandmothers by experience. I guess, it is natural and proven work for generations. But sometimes, babies are just fussy, regardless. That's when a little extra TLC and patience (and another set of hands) helps a lot.

Recommended!

What do you think? Do you have any successful / not-s0-successful experience with this?
I'd love to hear from you!

Book Review: Bright From The Start

I've always enjoyed reading science and psychology books, especially ones that apply to practical knowledge. I've been reading a lot of baby-related books lately, especially concerning about the brain and mind development. For me it is fascinating to "re-learn" what we know about human. I am always intrigued with the concept of "nature" vs "nurture". Why siblings turn out differently? Why are there serial killers in the world? Is there such thing as "bad seed" or "bad gene"? Although baby is born with a predisposed set of genes from his parents,  he is still technically in a blank state. How he grows up and how his environment affects him from day one will shape him into who he is. 

Bright From The Start book by Jill Stamm explores how nurture can compliment nature. It is written from the scientific point of view but less technical (and more read friendly) than What's Going On In There? book by Lise Eliot. Jill Stamm, who holds a PhD in psychology, co-writes this book with her daughter, a neuroscientist, and provides explanations from the latest neuroscience findings as well as her own personal experience (her other daughter was born premature at 6 months and was severely handicapped). She explains what's best to shape a baby's mind is not the latest toy gadgets or baby einstein videos, but just simple nurturing such as touch, bonding, attention and communication. Baby's brain has not yet fully developed when he is born. So the first three years is very crucial for the baby's developing brain. 

In her book, Dr. Stamm provides practical suggestions for parents/caregivers on how to interact with their babies plus easy-to-understand scientific explanations behind them. One of her suggestions that I think is neat is to nurse the baby alternatively with the left and right side to encourage the building of the neuron pathway between the left and right side of the brain. The reason is when a mother nurses baby on the right side, she touches his left arm and stimulates the baby's left side of the brain, and vice versa. The better building of that pathway, the faster information is transported in the brain.

Another topic she mentions in the book is about the importance of downtime. Nowadays, modern parents are so keen in making renaissance children, involving them in jam-packed activities from tennis, math, arts, piano, soccer, gymnastics etc. There's nothing wrong with encouraging your children to be active and to experience diverse activities, but it is also important to incorporate downtime, especially when they are babies and toddlers. Not every moment has to be filled with "educational" activities. Downtime is essential for memory storing in the brain. It also gives kids a break from all the stimulation and gives them a chance to observe and analyze what they have seen or done. It supports creativity and calms them down. Otherwise, if they never experience downtime,  when they grow up, they won't know what to do with their idle times. In the book, Dr. Stamm provides some simple activities of downtime with your babies and toddlers.

She also answers questions commonly asked by new parents, such as "Should parents always pick-up their baby every time he cries?", "Are TV and computer (including einstein videos) bad for infants and toddlers?", "Is carrying baby everywhere in car seat bad for the baby?" and other topics including choosing daycare, how to talk to babies, games to play with them, and so on.

I think this book is easy to read, very educational, organized well with each topic and provides a lot of useful practical information that we can apply in our daily nurturing to our baby. It also makes me understand more about human mind and baby development and help me make informed decisions on how to raise my baby, so I am not doing so just because of hearsay or society is doing so. The book is quite thick but I highly recommend it to everyone, especially new parents who are always willing to learn to better themselves for their children.

Highly recommended!

40 weeks = 9 months?

Typically a pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks, calculated from the first day a woman has her last period. The conception itself is typically 2 weeks after that first day of period, although it varies from woman to woman. So during the first two weeks, technically a woman is not pregnant yet. If a woman is 10 weeks pregnant, that means the baby is actually only 8 weeks old.

That's why if you ask expecting parents how far along the pregnancy is, they usually will answer you in weeks, not in months. Otherwise it will be too confusing because 40 weeks equals to 10 months. If someone says she is 7 months pregnant, then you would think she will be due in 2 months, which is not true because 7 months = 28 weeks, thus she still has 12 weeks to go (or 3 months to go). 

Talk about math problem!

Baby Ultrasound Pictures

I am lucky that my OB has her own ultrasound machine at her office. So every time I come in for my monthly check-up, she gives me an ultrasound for free. It is not big but you can still hear the heartbeat and see the baby moving and all. 

Here are the two "best" ultrasound pictures of our baby. It is hard to make it, even for me hehe...

Baby's ultrasound pics at 10 weeks pregnancy (baby age 8 weeks)

Note: baby is upside down, look a bit like tadpole, you can see the big head and tiny limbs

Baby's ultrasound picture at 22 weeks pregnancy (baby age 20 weeks)

Note: just the head from side view

DVD Review: Baby Human - Geniuses in Diapers

Baby Human is such an informative yet fun-to-watch educational program. This show explains why babies behave the way they do, what physical development or motor skills they can do at each milestones, what we can do as parents to help baby achieve that, etc.

 

The show is divided into several segments: To Talk, To Walk, To Think. Each segment educates viewers to understand the science behind an infant's development, both from the physiological and psychological perspectives. They also show experiments done by the leading universities to back up the findings, such as how baby learns about object permanence, color, 3 dimensional depth, etc.

If you like science and want to understand your baby better and also enjoy documentary-type show like Discovery Channel and the likes, you would love this DVD. I just found out they will release the Baby Human 2 that explores the mind of the baby, revealing how they think, communicate and observe. I am so excited, can't help it, it's the nerd in me :)

Highly recommended!

What's in a name?

I notice when people find out that I am pregnant, the first question they ask is "how many months/how far along are you?" Then the second question will be "is it a boy or a girl?" Then the next question is "do you have a name yet?"

Answering the first two questions is easy, but the third one always make me stammering for answer. Who knew finding a name for your baby-to-be is such a difficult task, not mentioning the pressure to find the "perfect" name that won't mess him/her up in the future. To think about it, it is such a heavy responsibility for parents, as the name will follow the child for the rest of his/her life. I can't understand parents out there who can easily name their kids "Hitler", "Adolf", "Demondlyn" or "Talullah Do The Hula" without blinking an eye. What are they thinking? Do they hate their child so much or were they smoking crack?

I have tons of girl names ready even before I was pregnant. Beautiful girl names are easy to conjure. We have the freedom to be as creative as we can be, even making one up without having to worry about the implications. Society tend to accept unusual girl names as exotic, beautiful, unique. Look at the celebrities' children names out there: Coco, Apple, Violet, Serephina, etc etc. I have reserved Madeleine, Sydney and Aurelia amongst others for a long time.

But when we found out we were going to have a son, my husband and I didn't have any reservations for boy names. With boys, it's a bit tricky naming them. My personal thinking, I like a unique but traditional name and can't be too creative otherwise my poor son will be made fun off throughout school years (and beyond). 

So in the quest for finding a name for my son-to-be, here are the general rules I apply:

1) the name has to sound manly and carry a "weight" to it..u know, elegant and aristocrat-y

2) does not resemble any word (or animal) that can be made fun off 

3) have a positive connotation to it, i.e. no famous villain names or someone we know that we don't quite like to share a name with our child

4) can be shortened for a nice sounding nick name

5) has a meaningful meaning behind it, i.e. a gift from God, etc..

6) if possible, biblical names

7) a bit unique and not belong to the top 10 names (so common that everyone's kid is named that)

8) if possible, with an S initial (this is more like hubby's wish list so the kid's initial can be S.C, as in USC)

9) rhyme well with the last name

10) not a name already used in our family or by our close friends' children (don't want to be called copycat, you know)

Everyday, hubby and I throw each other out names that we can think of but nothing close to our liking. Most of the time we cringe or make funny faces. We google baby names and read several baby name books to no avail. It is so tiring and frustrating, especially with the due date approaching and people asking. It does not mean we don't have any candidate names, we do, but so far we don't feel (yet) any of these names bring that special feeling when we hear it. I want my son to have a name that suits him. Like finding that perfect soulmate or house, you know that feeling that make you scream, "Yes, that's IT!" So we are going to keep compiling candidate names but we'll probably decide on one when the baby arrives. I have a feeling, when we see our baby's angelic face, in his deep slumber, we'll finally find it, a name that will make everybody happy and content. 

Gadget Review: Babyplus Prenatal Education System

I admit I am a sucker for gadgets. It's in the gene; my dad, grandpa and brother are all like that too. So one day, when I was browsing the internet, I stumbled upon this website: babyplus.com. Basically, it is a small player that you wrap around your belly and it plays 16 different variations of sounds that resemble a mother's heartbeat. Pregnant mom can wear it for an hour, twice a day, starting on week 18 when the fetus hearing has already developed in the womb. This sound pattern, which they claim is safe, strengthens the baby's auditory and teaches the baby to recognize the different heartbeat pattern aside from the mother's. Now, I am not so sure if you can teach a fetus anything at that stage, but Dr. Brent Logan, the inventor, claims his 25-year of scientific research on cognitive development has proven that babies born with Babyplus system is:

-) more readily nurse

-) more relaxed and alert at birth

-) able to self soothe

-) more interactive and responsive

-) and other long term development and learning abilities in life

A lot of books and websites suggest parents-to-be to talk and sing to their baby starting when the baby in the womb. Some also suggest to play classical music to the baby when the baby starts being able to hear external sound at week 18-20. Communicating with the baby is so beneficial for the baby's future language and cognitive development. Besides, babies usually love hearing their parents' voice. So, I thought the Babyplus system might share similar foundation on this concept. Although I don't know if it's a hoax or it actually works, as long as it does not harm the baby, I thought why not try it. So being a gadget sucker, I bought it from eBay heheh...(see my husband rolling his eyes there).

My experience:

I have been playing it for almost two weeks now, an hour in the morning and an hour at night. When I play it, my baby seems to be "listening". He got quiet and not moving so much, I thought maybe either he is listening or the sound actually lulls him to sleep :) 

My rating:

Since I don't know the result Babyplus claims until the baby is born, I cannot really say if I would recommend this product or not. I guess if you are the curious type like me or if you have $100 to spare, go ahead and try it.  Anyway, there are still other cheaper ways to communicate with the baby. For example, I still talk and sing to the baby throughout the day, play classical music to him, and lately Frank and I have been reading the children bible stories at night as well. 

The First Kick

I started feeling the baby kicking in the womb at about week 18. It started soft in the first few weeks. A few flutter here and there daily, they felt like gas popping in the lower abdomen of my belly. The baby usually kicks when I am sitting in my desk at the office and at night when I am resting watching TV or in bed. I heard mother's movements actually lull baby to sleep but when the mom is at rest, the baby is aware and awake. Now, in my week 25, the baby's movement has gotten much stronger and more often. He also kicks higher above the navel now. Sometimes he kicks (a strong thud), rolls (feels like something rolling underneath my belly skin), punches (softer thud) and hiccups (a series of constant thuds). The baby's movements do not feel painful at all. These little rolls and kicks actually create a bonding experience between mother and the baby. Sometimes I feel as if the baby is trying to say something to me. At night whenever I toss left and right in bed, I can also feel the baby rolling inside to adjust himself. I feel so lucky and blessed to get to experience this miracle of life.