Baby's First Food

We started feeding baby Brandon rice cereal around mid-February (he would be at 4-1/2 months old). Actually, rice cereal isn't considered a solid food. You can introduce rice cereal into your baby’s diet any time between the age of 4 and 6 months.

Brandon's first reaction: he opened his mouth for it, tasted a bit, and liked it. We had him try the Nestle brand starter Rice Cereal (from the free sample pack I got).

And don't listen to your mother-in-law. Giving baby rice cereal in milk bottle does not really help baby sleep better. Giving him foods other than breastmilk/formula before 4-months isn't recommended. Also, back in their generation, things aren't the same as the way it is now. It doesn't matter if my baby wakes up in the middle of the night once or twice to feed. That's normal. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night to wake up our Brandon even though he is still sleeping. Because I breastfeed, my breasts become as hard as a rock if I ever miss a feeding. So that isn't a good feeling for me.

Baby Bald Spot

Brandon is starting to have a noticeable bald spot at the back of his head. I am thinking it is from him rubbing on the “Baby Moov” head support pillow or something. I was reading online and a lot of babies have this issue due to friction at one spot when they move their heads. I was a little concerned at first and realized that this is normal. My mother-in-law thought it was cute and my brother-in-law thought it was funny.

Being a first-time parent, there’s so many concerns: like having a head support pillow to prevent flathead syndrome, but his head rubs and gave him a bald spot… or always trying to keep his hands from rubbing his face to let his cheek rashes heal (or from scratching by putting mitts on). And then again, he wants to suck his fingers due to him teething. *sigh*

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Cheek Rash

Ok, I’ve decided to make an appointment to see our family doctor about Brandon’s cheek rash. It started a few weeks ago, but I noticed in the morning that he was rubbing it so hard that it got so bad. He managed to free his arms that I tightly tucked overnight. It became a big concern to me and made me cry.

My doctor said it was baby eczema and prescribed me an ointment called Fucidin H Cream. It was really expensive, but good thing it was partly covered by company benefits. It seams to be working by keeping the redness down. We will see the results after 1 week of usage (as per the instructions).

Bottle feeding Success

We began introducing the bottle to Brandon at his 2nd month. He was strictly breastfed since day 1. We used the Playtex drop-ins with the latex nipples. We also bought the silicone slow flow nipples separately. At first, it seemed okay and then he refused. He didn’t like it much and kept pushing it away with his tongue. He would just squirm and cry. He hated the latex one because of the taste/smell of it.


We stopped for a bit and tried giving him the bottle again in his 3rd month. This time we gave him the Chicco branded glass bottle with the silicone nipple. He did okay; still refused occasionally. Then we heard about this brand of bottle called Adiri. We went to the store (Toys-R-Us) to find it. They have it, but it was pretty expensive and costing around $18.00. Thought we’d take a chance and try it and bought the 2nd stage one (for 3-6 months). He was 4 months and he is actually accepting it a little bit each day. I’d express about 1-2 ounces to it. Now I am starting to mix half fresh and half previously frozen breast milk.

Here are the many solutions we’ve tried:

* Latex nipples: does not like the taste
* Thawed previous frozen milk: does not like the taste/smell that had change due to breakdown of the fat when frozed
* Chicco bottle w/ freshly expressed breastmilk: okay; still occasionally refuse
* Adiri Bottle w/ freshly expressed breast milk: finally accepts after a few tries
* Adiri Bottle w/ half fresh & half thawed B/M: also getting used to it

Conclusion here is that the Adiri bottle works the best for Brandon and he is finally accepting the bottle. This may differ from each mother and baby.

Better Sleep

Brandon has been sleeping pretty good lately. I know there are good days and then there are bad days. Sometimes, once he falls asleep in my arms, I try to slowly put him into his crib. But as soon as I put him down, he would start crying. He still co-sleep with us in our bed sometimes at night. It is also easier for night feedings. Also I didn’t want to wake him.

Every now and then, he was able to fall asleep on his own in his own crib. Tucking him tightly and swaddling in his blanket seems to get Brandon fall asleep quicker. What I learned is that most babies sleep better being swaddled. For those moms out there, let me know if this works for you.

I also recommend these books as they give you some useful advices:
The No-cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley & The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp

Teething & Immunization Shots

Month 4

I’ve been trying to find the time to blog again, but it is a bit difficult as I need to look after Brandon 24/7. Being a mommy is more than a full time job. We try to keep him as happy as he can. As of few weeks ago, he started to drool a lot and putting his hands/fingers in his mouth. Then I figured he has started teething. His drool was starting to give him rashes on his cheeks. I changed his bibs so often. For relief, I gave him teething rings (frozed). The doctor also recommended Orajel.

Brandon also had is 2nd set (4-months) of immunization shots over the weekend. I was nervous how he would react. He did cry hard. The hubby calmed him down by carrying him and patting his back. We kept telling Brandon that it was OK and that mommy and daddy is there to comfort him. I think he had a slight fever in the middle of the night since he felt really warm; gave him some infant Tylenol drops and he was better in the morning.

Schedule of baby’s vaccinations is 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months, an so on. I will keep you updated again.

I was also concerned about a slight flat spot on his head. It is somewhat noticeable, but not severe. I hear worst for other babies about this issue they call “flat head syndrome”. I’m trying to prevent it by sitting him in his Bumbo Seat and letting him play in his Jumperoo.

Brandon is a good boy. The only time when he gets fussy is when he wants mommy’s milk. He’s a healthy boy and I’m grateful.

Some good things about Brandon:
- never spits up
- very alert at 3 months
- doesn’t have colic
- likes baths
- can sleep an average of 9 hours

Some bad things about Brandon:
- doesn’t like being put down on his own bed
- can’t fall asleep on his own
- took a while for him to get used to the bottle
- often rubs his eyes/face
- habit of sucking fingers