A Visit to the Paediatrician: Conflicting Parenting Issues Resolved

Today was Juan Or's appointment for the MMR (Measles, mumps and rubella) jab. Of course, before entering the paediatrician's consultation room, the nurse asked to weigh Juan Or's body weight, which turned out to be 8.1 kg - much to Mommy's dismay. Here's a history of Juan Or's body weight records:

Birth: 3.38 kg
1st month: 4.87 kg
2nd month: 6.06 kg
3rd month: 6.59 kg
4th month: 6.80 kg (first sign that Juan Or's body weight gain rate is slowing down already)
5th month: 7.12 kg
6th month: 7.35 kg
7th month: 7.60 kg
1 year (present): 8.10 kg



Finally, we were called into the consultation room and the pediatrician prepared the jab for Juan Or. Then he handed Juan Or a Barney soft toy about almost as big as Juan Or. He asked Juan Or to hug the Barney and then pressed Barney's paw which triggered a music to play. The pediatrician injected Juan Or with no time at all and Mommy was sure Juan Or didn't even realize that he was jabbed. After that, Mommy asked the paediatrician whether Juan Or's body weight gain was alright or not and the paediatrician immediately said,"It's gone case!" "Oh, dear," Mommy thought. So looks like the HUKM's pediatrician's recommendation that Juan Or's solid food be added with butter and cheese did not significantly help to increase Juan Or's body weight. So the present pediatrician recommended that Juan Or's milk be changed to PediaSure (Abbott Laboratories) for 3 months. The paediatrician said that PediaSure is a kind of formula milk that contains higher calories than other normal growing up milk and is meant for catch-up growth. After that, there were a series of questions and answers between Grandpa (who also accompanied Mommy and Juan Or into the consultation room), Mommy and the paediatrician. So Mommy has listed down the questions and answers here for everyone's benefit:


Q: Is it alright to change baby and toddler's milk powder brand?
A: Of course if you are already comfortable with the brand you are using, then might as well stick to it. But from the paediatrician's own experience, he said that his own children had used many brands before (Mommy is not surprised since paediatricians receive all sorts of free sample milk powder from various companies!) to which there was no detrimental effect.


Q: Can bathing at night cause the baby or toddler to get chills?
A: There's no right or wrong answer to it, although traditionally people don't bath babies/toddlers at night for fear of getting chills. The main thing is that if the child can take the night bath without any detrimental effects, then by all means, you can continue to bath the baby at night. But if the child can't take it, then don't.


Q: Is it alright to start disciplining (verbal discipline, not physical punishment) a child from as young as 1 year old?
A: Yes, of course. Recommended is to say with firm tone of voice. If you don't start disciplining now, soon the child is going to go over your head (and shit there!).


Q: At what age is it alright to start using children toothpaste on your child?
A: As long as your child knows how to spit, you can start using it already. The peadiatrician's own children started using it from one-and-a-half years old. The paediatrician also said that even if the child swallowed some of the toothpaste, it's alright. The manufacturer has already put that in mind when formulating the children toothpaste. If the child can't spit yet, then suffice with brushing teeth using a finger-held baby toothbrush and water only.



These questions above (except the toothpaste question) stem from differences in opinions, preferences and practices between Mommy and the In-Laws. Mommy hopes these questions and answers help (in some way or other) fellow readers out there who may experience the same conflicting issues that Mommy is currently facing with the In-Laws.


Finally, we left the clinic after Mommy paid RM70 for the MMR jab. Later in the day, Mommy single-handedly took Juan Or out to a bank in Overseas Union Garden (OUG) to settle some transactions and then headed to a Chinese medicine hall (Pasaraya Wah Seng at Jalan Sepadu, off Old Klang Road) to buy a tin of PediaSure. The PediaSure which is 900 g, vanilla-flavoured and contains FOS and prebiotics, costs RM55.90. From now on, Mommy (with Juan Or around) will do things as single-handedly and as independently as possible - don't want anyone (except Papa) to tag along or accompany Mommy and Juan Or if possible, because it's time to take charge of our own family's life and to take pride in how we manage ourselves and our young family!