In Transition to Infant Milk Powder

Mommy has been exclusively breastfeeding Juan Or for about 9 months 3 weeks. Recently, Mommy started Juan Or on drinking partly breastmilk and partly infant milk powder because Mommy's current milk production ranges from 10 to 12 oz from 8 am to 6 pm per day which is far less than Juan Or's consumption of 18 to 22 oz. Previously, Mommy was able to produce 12 to 15 oz of breastmilk within that time period.

Mommy's colleague, Dr. Renee, offered to get a scoop of Enfalac from her sister-in-law who still has an infant to care for. There's also Ms. Stephenie, also Mommy's colleague and office room mate, who gave away the remaining quarter tin of a 900-g Similac (from Abbott Laboratories). Apparently, Ms. Stephenie wants to change brand to Mamex because she wants her baby to have more frequent bowel movements than currently is.

So Mommy handed the milk powder to the babysitter to try on Juan Or. The result? According to the babysitter, by drinking the infant milk powder itself, Juan Or retches or acts like he is about to vomit. So the babysitter fed him via the spoon. The next day, the babysitter mixed about two-third of Mommy's breastmilk and one-third of infant milk powder (with water), and Juan Or seems to accept it better. Of course, this time Juan Or won't drink from the baby bottle anymore. If fed by spoon, he will bite it. So the babysitter resorted to pouring a small amount of the milk mixture into the baby bottle's cap and slowly poured into his mouth. What a tedious baby! But luckily, the babysitter doesn't find too much of a trouble feeding him that way. How about Juan Or's bowel movements ever since consuming Similac? According to the babysitter, his bowel movements are daily and of the normal type - not too dry and not too wet, just nice.

Mommy is relieved that Similac goes well with Juan Or and that he accepts drinking it when mixed with breastmilk. Mommy is also relieved that Mommy doesn't have to succumb to the daily pressure of meeting the daily milk production target of about 20 oz. per day. Prior to this, Mommy's daily milk production falls short of Juan Or's daily consumption by as much as 6 to 10 oz. per day. For this reason, the buffer period of frozen breastmilk supply in the freezer has dwindled from a good 14-day buffer period (when Mommy went back to work after maternity leave) to a mere and miserable 5-day buffer period. According to the babysitter, everyday, Juan Or drinks 12 to 14 oz. of breastmilk and 6 to 8 oz of infant milk powder (with water). Mommy heaves a sigh of relief!

Juan Or in Cute Baby Overall Onesie

This early morning, Mommy felt a bit cold. Considering that Mommy's body has always been feeling hot (and most of the time sweaty!) ever since giving birth to Juan Or, so Mommy reckoned that anybody who have not gone through any major bodily changes must be feeling even colder - and that Juan Or is no exception. So Mommy changed Juan Or's T-shirt (Juan Or had no shorts on, only diapers) into a new overall onesie (size: 9 months) which Mommy bought long before Juan Or was born. This onesie was bought for only RM7.90 from Tesco Extra Cheras during one of those baby promotion. The cloth is of good quality, 100% cotton, though on the thick side, is collared, and has a cute football-cum-sports design that says,"No. 1 Player". Here is a grinning Juan Or posing in his new overall onesie (carried by his Jidek, the Second Uncle).

Watch out! He's going for Mommy's handphone camera!

Bulldog! Bulldawg!

Look at this bulldog's photo:

(Many, many thanks to Red Zena for allowing Mommy to use this handsome bulldog photo!)

And no one does the bulldog face better than Juan Or! (Yes, Mommy has tried pulling the bulldog mouth before but it looks horrible!)

Mommy recalled seeing one bulldog in Facebook's virtual pet by the name "Bulldawg". So don't say CHEESE, say BULLDAWG!

Juan Or's Handphone

Shown here is the top of the altar table - the place where all family members put their handphones or reminder notes that require urgent attention. Where handphones are concerned, from left to right, are Grandpa's, followed by Juan Or's and finally the last two on the far right are Jidek's (Second Uncle) where one is personal handphone and the other being company's handphone. Mommy's handphone was nowhere to be seen because Mommy was using hers to capture these photos. What!? Did Mommy just mention Juan Or's handphone!? Well...yes, indeed, the red colour handphone is Juan Or's handphone. What's a baby to do with owning a handphone at that young an age!?

OK, let's take a closer look.....





This is Juan Or's handphone - the one with the solid, non-reflective screen with the Ultraman picture on it. For ringtones, just press any of the buttons. The ringtones will appear in a certain order no matter which order of buttons you press. To make or listen to a phone call, just put the handphone to your ear and pretend you are making or listening to a call......

Anyway, his paternal Grandma bought this handphone for Juan Or to play.

Watch how Juan Or briefly 'danced' to the beat of the ringtone music!

Learning to Stand on Own Two Feet

Mommy was watching over Juan Or as Juan Or was playing by a metal foldable chair. Then from his seated position on the floor, Juan Or raised his arms and held the part of the chair where people sit on. Slowly and steadily, he lifted his body up while the arms were still holding onto the chair. Mommy put her hands nearby to hold him just in case he flopped back onto the floor. Anyway, Juan Or didn't flop at all and finally, he was totally standing on his own two feet! Of course his hands were still holding onto the chair for support. The only thing about his act of standing is his habit to stand on tip toes rather than on the soles of his feet. Hhmmmm.....this habit must be caused by him using the baby walker where he needs to tip-toe in order to move himself forward.

As Juan Or was still standing, he kept on glancing to his right where his paternal Grandpa was sitting and reading the newspaper. And when his Grandpa looked back at him, he would smile (or rather grin!) with delight. His smile would become even wider when his Grandpa praised him for being able to stand. Haha....so little Juan Or loved people to praise him and acknowledge his feats. Anyway, all babies are like that...praises make babies feel good and confident of themselves.


Next, Mommy will be waiting for the day Juan Or walks while shifting his hold from furniture to furniture for support.