Baby Bjorn Review

Papa tried out our new Baby Bjorn Carrier One for about 2 weeks.

Here's Papa putting on the carrier for the first time.

The Carrier can be folded up and clipped up neatly into a small bundle which can fit into our backpack easily. Good for bringing it around when we travel.

Kieran on the carrier (in front).

This was when we were preparing to bring Kieran to his school performance which is a few blocks away and a carrier is better than a stroller as the place may not have enough space for parking our stroller and its not a long distance to go, so a carrier is good enough.

Kieran on the carrier (at the back). We tried that and Kieran enjoyed it when his papa played "riding horse" with him, rocking him up and down gently as he walked. Transforming baby from front to back is very easy.

Its quite easy to wear and to put baby on. One great feature is that the straps can be loosened easily. Easy to adjust baby neatly in the carrier when he's in it. That is a very important feature to make baby feel comfortable in the carrier, and to make adjustments for the adult carrying baby, like changing the bearing of the weight from the shoulders to the hips or vice versa.

Papa said the best thing about Baby Bjorn Carrier One is that it puts baby's weight on the hips, and that takes the weight off the shoulder which is a great relief.

Another good point is that the carrier can be used from infant onwards. (Looking forward to trying this with our beloved daughter Caitlin who will be joining our family in August!). There's an option to adjust the panel where baby sits on to "infant" or "toddler" level. We don't need to use an insert which could be really hot for baby in our weather. Infact, the carrier material is good. Papa realised he sweat lesser when walking with baby in carrier outside as compared to our previous carrier.

This is an all in one carrier, we can use it for all positions, back facing, front facing, back riding, etc, and we like the versatility.

One issue is that if we loosen the shoulder straps a bit, baby will be a bit lower but the weight will mostly lie on the hips which is better for the adult carrying him. Weight distribution will be better if baby is higher up. However, if we tighten the straps, baby will be higher up but the weight will mostly lie on the adult's shoulders.

Another issue is that when baby is bigger size (like our 20 month old who is about 11kg heavy), he will be sandwiched between the chest plate and the front flap (chest plate is the piece resting on papa's chest, and front flap is the piece covering baby's back) and there's limited adjustment to widen the gap between the two pieces (We've already loosened it to the max). Might be a bit more squeezy if baby gets bigger.

Other than those issues, we are enjoying the carrier very much. Carriers are great way to bring baby on the go when we want to travel light, want to go to places where we need to go up and down public transport often, or when we just don't want the hassle of having to maneuverer around the place with a stroller.

It will be great if the carrier has an added feature to let us put stuff like EZ link card, some cash, etc which makes it more convenient for us to retrieve.

Here's Kieran and Papa when we brought him to Resort World Sentosa for a Staycation. He's enjoying the front facing carrying very much as he could play with me when we were queuing to get into the attraction venues, and he could watch the fishes at the aquariums in papa's carrier easily. It may not be convenient to park strollers in some attractions, and moreover, places like Universal Studio rents strollers for $15 a day so we could just carry baby there in our carrier and rent a stroller.

Enjoyed our lovely Staycation!

Thank you, Mothercare for allowing us to try out this amazing new carrier by Baby Bjorn!

3rd trimester tired mummy & smart 20 month old Kieran

3rd trimester.

The tiredness really sets in.

I'm glad my mom comes to help so that I can occasionally hide away in my room while Kieran is with her outside. Glad my dad and my mother in law comes to help too. I can't imagine being away from Kieran for long period of time.

The haze is terrible. Even now when the PSI level is lower and not as choking as few days ago, I still feel that the air quality is not good. I'm not letting Kieran go outdoors often and I myself wear N95 or a surgical mask if its not that bad, whenever I need to send Kieran to school or bring him back, or bring him to nearby shopping malls.

Kieran is getting really smart!

2 days ago, he shocked us by reciting the Di Zi Gui （弟子規）and he's only 20 months old!

I'll try to upload his super cute video soon. He could recite the first few verses:

弟子规　圣人训　首孝弟　次谨信
泛爱众　而亲仁　有余力　则学文

He can also recite the nursery rhyme:
三轮车  跑得快  上面坐个老太太
要五毛  给一块  你说奇怪不奇怪？

Hubby and I were laughing and feeling so happy when he recited all these. Kieran learns things very fast. We just casually taught him these and he picked them up so soon.


He also loves to sing and sings along whenever I sing him nursery rhyme songs. He will occasionally sings out wheel on the bus, twinkle twinkle little star and 一闪一闪亮晶晶. Its so interesting to hear him sing. Children really have super brains. Absorbs so fast! All the more I must be a good example and not teach him bad things. Or let him see me say or do bad things. There was once he kept saying 吃大便 (eat shit in mandarin) and hubby was very angry, and firmly told him no! and hit his palm. He said that the next day again and was scolded again. Not sure who taught him that as we didn't say it. Maybe papa accidentally said it and he picked it up. Parents are role models for our children and we've got to be careful of our thoughts and behaviours at all times. If I find my child is naughty, the first thing to do is to reflect upon myself (检视自己) as there must be things I have said or done, consciously or subconsciously that affects my beloved child. Understand oneself, understand the child, only then can one be a good parent. Parenthood is such a challenging and yet wonderful journey that I love!

Made in school

It was Zhong Yuan Jie which is the time when Chinese remembered the great Poet Xu Yuan who gave his life for his country. When I brought Kieran to school, they were telling stories about Zhong Yuan jie and the let the children make dumplings. Kieran brought a small dumpling home and I later let him open it and eat it on his own. I hope he had fun that day :)

Father's Day just passed. We had a great time with dearest daddy. Yun Xuan love daddy so much. He made a nice handicraft for daddy at school! Teacher Lina said he used his fingers to dot the paints onto the tie of the "shirt" and use cotton bud to put glitters on it. I asked Yun xuan whether he did that himself and he said yes. This is daddy's first Father's Day gift from our boy. I told Yilin he's very fortunate. A dad is a son's first hero and a daughter's first love. He is now both a hero and a first love.

By the way, Kieran is officially weaned off mummy's milk milk since 6 June 2013. He breastfed for 20 months. I have the urge to continue to latch him on every time! I love the feeling of latching him and watching his chubby little cheeks as he suck hungrily. It is a way of telling me my baby is still a baby and has not grown into a boy yet. But oh well... I've got to stay firm. Maybe I will reintroduce it to him after Caitlin is born and see if he still accepts it... hehe.

weaning off milk milk

I'm in my 29th week now, and its really time to get Kieran used to sleep without milk milk (latching on to me for breastmilk).

As my breastmilk supply decreases, Kieran does not really ask for milk milk anytime in the day. He drinks formula milk with a bit of milo for added taste. We added milo so that we can coax him to take it as milo and not a replacement for his milk milk, and indeed he takes to it and requests for milo about 3 times a day, and each time 160ml in the morning and 120ml at other times.

But he kind of already associated milk milk with sleep time, and my nipple becomes his pacifier. They can't supply him much food anymore but it works great as a soother for him before he goes to sleep. That is good for him but not good for me! Imagine after giving birth to Caitlin, I still have to nurse Kieran to sleep! I'll be doubly exhausted! So, its weaning off milk milk for the afternoon naps and for night feeds for now.

Kieran couldn't get used to it and started to say "No no no!" and cried when I told him, "Come. Sleepy time, but you must sleep on your own, no milk milk."

I tried to sleep beside him and pat him to sleep but he couldn't get to sleep despite being super tired, so he tossed and turned and cried angrily, even attempting to pinch and bite me if I tried to comfort him. So we have to try another method. Hubby carried him and calmed him down by telling him he will show him the stars (glow in the dark stickers in our room) and then pat him to him as he carried him in his arms. This is not an ideal case as our intention is to train him to go to sleep on his own on his bed. But since he couldn't yet, we just had to settle with this for now. At least we wean him off breastmilk now, and then try to go to the next step which is to get him to sleep on his own.

Kieran's Childcare centre has 4 cases of HFMD since opening. Its a new centre. I'm glad the principal is very open with us regarding this. I checked Kieran's hands today and was worried to find a blister on his palm. Hubby and I discussed a lot about HFMD, I did a lot of research and reading on it, and we thought about how we should deal with it if it really happens to Kieran. The complication is that I'm pregnant now and we know in 3rd trimester, although HFMD will not cause miscarriage, and will not easily pass on to adults anyway, there may have a chance that the newborn baby will get it. And we are also worried that in future, Kieran may pass the virus to his sister while she's still young. After observing for awhile, we decided that it shouldn't be a blister but a mosquito bite because his usual bites look like that, and if its HFMD, he should be having more than one blister. I checked his feet. They are fine. He's having dry and peeling skin on his palms and feet though. I think maybe the antiseptic hand sanitiser the centre uses is too drying for his skin. I've stopped using Kirei Kirei hand wash for him at home too, and uses his body wash to clean his hands. Hopefully the peeling will stop. I also applied some moisturiser on his feet before he sleeps today.

Poor Kieran had to cry so much these few days. Cry during the morning at the school gate coz he wants mummy, cry during the afternoon when he can't get milk milk for his afternoon nap, and cry at night when he can't get milk milk before he sleeps. Oh yes, he also has a old time habit of waking at about 3-4am at night to suckle on the nipple for a few seconds before he goes back to sleep. So now, he still wakes up at 3am to toss and turn. For the past few nights, he can toss and turn for a while and then goes back to sleep on his own but yesterday he was banging on the door and wanting to find mummy for milk milk! Hubby who now sleeps with Kieran instead of me, carried him until he sleeps and then put him back onto his bed. Let's hope tonight will be better, and he won't wake up in the middle of the night but sleeps through!

Kieran is eating a lot lately and has grown quite chubby at his cheeks. Teacher reflected that he could eat a lot at school, and when he returns home, its non stop eating again!

My heart aches whenever I send Kieran to school. I hope for one day when he will tell me he enjoys school and then my heart will not ache so much. Today he did painting with his hands, and music lessons, and he told me he played with cars (he usual favourite). Teacher showed me pictures she took of him doing the activities. She said he's getting better. I do hope so! This week, he started to accept showering at school which is great. I'm glad to know he's improving much. Just hope to see him tearless when I bring him to school and when I bring him home. Now, I'm keeping him to half day schedule. I don't really want him to stay too long in school as I know sleeping on the mattress which will only be washed once a week, will increase chances of him getting viruses which may threaten my unborn baby, and he hasn't really learnt to sleep on his own yet, so it will be lots of unnecessary tears for him if he has to sleep on his own at the child care centre.

That's all for now... Back to sleep time. Super tired! Tomorrow is another trying day...

First day of school

Today is officially Kieran's first day of school. He was eager to go in and play, kept asking me to open the gate, and even said goodbye to me. But when the reality that mummy will not be accompanying him sets in, he cried. The teacher said he had been crying on and off. I peeked at him at the corner of the window. He kept crying and saying "Mummy mummy...". I saw the teacher feeding him a watermelon and told him that after he ate the watermelon mummy will come to bring him home. He said "ok" to teacher and ate the watermelon. Teacher said he talks a lot and ate a bowl of porridge. Teacher fed him to eat. He looked happy when teacher brought him to me. The down side is his water bottle was lost among the stuffs and he refused to drink water because they put water in his milk bottle to feed him and he never drink water from there. Good point about the school is teachers are kind, didn't shout to the kids and will patiently feed them and ensure they eat. I checked his body to ensure that there's no injury and asked him if he had fallen or anything.

I happily bring my little boy home, took him to the playground first, and then home to bath and nurse him to sleep. Poor little boy cried a lot today. I gave him milk and lots of water when he's back.

Hopefully today will be better, and hopefully he won't cry when I am changing him into uniform or bringing him to school tomorrow. Good luck to me!