2012 End of the Year Tips: Part 3 - Mommy

This part three series of the 2012 End of the Year Tips is about Mommy. All about Mommy, lol

A little bit about me is that I am currently a stay home mother, with a one year old baby girl.

Did you always hear that when your baby was born that you should take naps when the baby naps? Yes, over and over and over again. Well, let me tell you that I did not heed this warning, I tried to be the perfect mother and perfect housekeeper, and perfect this and perfect that. And all it did was burnt me out which was not good for my newborn baby and myself as a new mother. Did I learn from it? Nope, I did not learn to take naps when baby sleeps. So to all new mothers or mothers with a newborn: TAKE A NAP WHEN THE BABY SLEEPS. I know easier said then done but at least try and that was what I did.

Breastfeed the baby, it is such a natural thing to do, so why not? I am still breastfeeding my one year old. There are many benefits for the baby. And there are benefits to myself as well, I lost all my pregnancy weight gain and then some. Breastfeeding is draining, and tiresome, so make sure you take your prenatal vitamins, eat well, and drink a lot.

Invest in a good supportive bra.  I do not like nursing bras, I find it a hassle to take off the clips especially when the baby is very demanding and wants milk right now. It is always difficult to take off the clips on the nursing bras as well as hard to put it back on. I like the concept of the nursing bras, but it just did not work for me. I rather, just push my bras down and always make sure that my tops are stretchy enough to go underneath my breasts.

If you can, get a extra pair of hands to help out especially in the beginning. I had absolutely refused to let anyone take care of my baby. I was the new mother that wanted to do it all by herself, because I wanted to learn how to take care of my baby and her needs. It was either my husband or I taking care of Lina<3, but mostly me. I took care of the diaper changes, changing clothes, cleaning up spit ups or poop/urine mess, bathing, and food.  Even now, I am the same way, except I am willing to let someone else watch her, like my parents, while I do chores.

Do your Kegel exercise! If you have been doing it since you been pregnant then it should not be a problem to continue it. I find it hard to do at times but is continuing it to prevent urinary incontinence. 

Go to your six week check up after the baby is born, to make sure that everything is fine.

Go out without the baby. This one was extremely hard for me to do, as I never want to leave my baby and I did not want to miss anything that she is doing. My motto is where Mommy goes, Lina<3 goes. There were two days where I actually went out without my baby and it did feel good to leave the house and not be concern about taking care of the baby.

Do little things to pampers yourself when you have time: for me it could be a taking a longer hot shower, or doing my nails, or styling my hair differently, or read a book, or read the newspaper or just lay back and relax. Pampering yourself could be just anything that you enjoy, and it does not have to be elaborate.

Have dinner with your husband/spouse/love one. This was extremely hard to do when Lina<3 was a newborn and very demanding, but I always make sure that my husband and I have dinner together (even now). Also dedicate a few minutes to hugging or cuddling in bed, because you do not want your husband to feel neglected.

When the baby got older and started eating more solid foods, I make sure that dinner includes all of us as a family as much as possible.


Well, this is the last of the part three series of the 2012 End of the Year Tips, and I hope that everyone enjoyed the three part series. Please share your tips that had helped you or your baby in 2012.
2012 is coming quickly to an end. THANK YOU for staying with Lina<3 for the past six months. All About Lina<3 appreciates all the viewers and support, and hopes that everyone had a great 2012.


Please be advised that these tips are from my own experiences and if there should be any concerns or questions regarding these tips, please speak to a professional. 

2012 End of the Year Tips: Part 2 - Baby

2012 was a wonderful year, and besides the eczema, Lina<3 had a great year. These tips will range from clothing, to cradle caps to toys, to baby gears, and more.

Breastfeeding your baby (if you can) is most wonderful thing you can do for your baby. Nursed as much as possible. It is the first and most important thing I could do for my baby. Lina<3 and I were able to bond. I enjoyed it no matter how painful or difficult it was in the beginning. Breastfeeding all the way is my motto.

Lina<3 had bad, bad cradle caps. To get rid of the scaly, patchy, yellowish flakes that was caked onto Lina's<3 scalp, use this home remedy below (from Babycenter) that I found and works wonders:
 If your baby has a stubborn case of cradle cap, you may want to try an oil remedy to help loosen dry flakes:
Rub a small amount of a pure, natural oil – such as almond or olive oil – on your baby's scalp and leave it on for about 15 minutes. Then gently comb out the flakes with a fine-tooth comb or brush them out with a soft brush.
Be sure to follow up by washing your baby's scalp with a gentle baby shampoo. The last thing you want to do is leave oil on his head, which could clog the pores and cause the flakes to stick. You might try leaving the shampoo on for a few minutes before rinsing, to help cut the oil.
This home remedy does not work overnight, it needs a few weeks to work. Once the cradle caps have cleared up, I continued to brush the scalp everyday and moisturized the scalp as well. To this day, there are still some dry skin on Lina's<3 scalp, but brushing daily controls the amount of dry skin that stays on the scalp.

Lina<3 wear mostly Carters due to the fact that I find their clothes durable and does not get ruin no matter how many times it gets wash. We only buy 100% cotton clothing. I like their pajamas, bodysuits, and play outfits. I believe that the prices of clothes are decent and even better if the clothes are on sale. The snap on buttons does not comes off easily (regardless how much the clothes are wash). I had brought other brands of clothing as well but it does not last long.

With these Dr. Brown's Glass bottles, there are little to no concerns about BPA and other chemical regarding plastic bottles. These bottles are great and durable it does not break easily regardless of how many times it gets toss on the floor (would say these bottles are excellent because I thought these glass bottles appeared to be unbreakable, but one bottle out of the eight bottles that we have, had shattered when it had fell on the floor for the umpteenth time a few days ago). Does these bottles really reduced burping, spit ups, or gas that Dr. Brown's products promotes? It does help to reduce spit ups and gas. It is a hassle to wash all the compartments that come with these bottles so make sure you use the correct brushes to wash out the bottles and compartments unless you use a dish washer.

Worst brush to wash the Dr. Brown's bottles, Munkins. The brush creates a lot of soap studs, which splashes everywhere including self. The handle on the brush is too short and thick. It is hard to get it in and out of the glass bottle I have, always ended up stubbing a finger or two. The fact that this brush stands up on its own is great and does not need to find a place to put the brush. Nipple brush, I never used, and  it got rusty. The bristles on the brush could be softer.

Love links toys, toys that connect to each other and has multiple purpose is always excellent. It can help connect other toys with the links to hang down, and it rattles when connected to each other. It can be used individually. Lina<3 had these links since she was a newborn and still plays with them now.

Using a Vtech walker to assist in walking worked for Lina<3. I had read all the precautions and controversy about using walkers but decided to get one anyway. The Vtech walker's handle is a little big for my baby's little hands but she got use to it. Stay close to the baby when using the walker to walk as the baby will fall.

When it comes to picky eaters, be patient. It drives me crazy when my baby refuses to eat and the homemade food gets thrown out. Try different foods with seasonings (which sometimes works). I am trying store brought organic foods as well (which I never thought I would buy store brought foods but decided to) to see if my baby will eat it or not. However, her eating habits stays inconsistent. Try using different utensils, not just baby spoons/forks, use regular forks, spoons, and even chopsticks (if possible but be careful not to stab the baby).

Lina's<3 diaper rashes used to be pretty severe but now diaper rashes are rare. Using Triple Paste Medicated ointment for diaper rashes works wonders, it takes up about two days to clear up the redness and rash. Even when my baby does not have a diaper rash, I continue to use the ointment to prevent the diaper rashes from coming back.

I have been encouraging reading books since Lina<3 was a newborn. Her little library is continuing to grow. My baby can turn pages with some assistance and know which board books she likes best. When Lina<3 wants Mommy to read to her, she goes and pick up her favorite books ("All About Me" or "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?") and brings it to me. Lina<3 loves her board books even eats some of it, lol.

When it comes to playtime, I try to use that time to teach as well. Teaching through play is a great concept. Babies learn through play. I always use praises when my baby reach a new milestone, such as rolling over, clapping hands, walking, stacking blocks on top of another block because it tells her that she is doing well, and increases her self-esteem.

Sleeping training, should you do it? I did it with a lot of difficulty but with a routine and consistency, it worked. Is Lina<3 sleeping through the night? No, but she is sleeping better, at least 4-6 hours at a time at nighttime and naps 2-3 hours during the day. It is extremely hard to train Lina<3 to sleep especially on myself as a parent, because there was so much crying in the beginning. The crying lessens, and baby did fall asleep on her own eventually. As a new mother who was sleep deprived, it was excellent to watch my baby sleep better because it also meant sleep for me.

I believe I covered most of the helpful tips, at least what I can recall :)


Please be advised that these tips are from my own experiences and if there should be any concerns or questions regarding these tips, please speak to a professional.  

2012 End of the Year Tips: Part 1 - Eczema

This is the first annual End of the Year Tips. The 2012 End of the Year Tips is a three part series, so please stay tune :)

Lina <3 had symptoms of eczema since two to three months of age. It was bad in the beginning with a lot of redness; cracked and moist skin between the folds; a lot of scratching and itchiness; heat rashes; dry, scaly and patchy skin; and skin discoloration. It drove Lina's<3 Daddy and I crazy and we felt so helpless. However, Lina<3 eczema symptoms have decreased over the past few months and thus less severe.

These tips listed below might have some repetitions (to create more emphasis) and it may not be news to parents with a child(ren) with eczema:

The number one thing is: MOISTURIZE, MOISTURIZE, MOISTURIZE and MOISTURIZE! Oh did I mention to moisturize. It is extremely important to keep the skin as moist as possible. If it means moisturizing every hour then do so, and trust me, every hour will become every two hours and then every three hours (I am currently moisturizing every 3-4 hours, which makes it about 4-5 times a day from the moment Lina<3 wakes up to bedtime. I always moisturize the skin with a warm damp cloth, and spritz of water from the spray bottle that I always keep next to the body lotions. After using a damp cloth, the lotions/creams/ointments/moisturizer comes next.

Must test different brands of lotions/creams/ointments/moisturizers to see which one works well. Keep in mind that each new brand of lotion must be tested on the arm for 30minutes for allergy reactions (the time limit is not limited to 30mintues and can wait longer if need to or want to and even overnight is fine as well because some allergy reactions take longer to break out).

Alba Un-petroleum Jelly--- a natural alternative to petroleum jelly. It is a great product. Great for Lina's <3 skin. Use it with the Cetaphil Restoraderm which is also works well with Lina<3. So it is wipe down with a damp cloth, Alba un-petroleum jelly then Cetaphil Restoraderm and another layer of Alba un-petroleum jelly (I find that the third layer traps more moisture in). Should put on moisturizers as soon as the skin is wet, which is the best way to trap the moisture.

For the scratching, when socks/mittens no longer works or when the baby is able to pull them off by self, then it is time to switch to the ScratchMeNot flip mittens.  The ScrathMeNot mittens are absolutely a must have. It works very well when the baby absolutely refuse to stop scratching, and when distractions does not work to stop the scratching. The ScratchMeNot mittens prevents little fingers from breaking the skin and causing the skin to bleed. The mittens are used mostly for bedtime, and as needed when scratching during the day becomes too much. I was worry that the ScratchMeNot mittens would limit Lina's<3 ability to use her hands, and set her back from reaching her milestones at an appropriate stage but it did not. Once Lina<3 got use to it, it was fine, she learned to pick up her toys with the mittens on.

Using a lot of moisturizers/creams/ointments/lotions, here's a trick: cut open the bottles when shaking does not bring out the last bit of moisturizers left in the of bottles. There's always an ounce or two left in the bottles. There are so much money spent on these products, might as well use it all, every last drop.

Should not bathe too often, especially in the winter time, it will only dry up the skin. Babies do not get dirty, a good wipe down will do (then moisturized). When bathing, use a bath thermometer to test the water and make sure it is not too hot or too cold. If baby scratches a lot while bathing, put the ScratchMeNot mittens on to prevent the scratching, do not worry, baby will get use to it and get back to playing with the bath toys.

Dress in natural fiber clothing, cotton is the best, I find. I like organic cotton. Babies should not wear unnatural fibers that does not allow the skin to breathe and can make the skin itchy. So be aware of the baby's clothing as it can affect the skin. Make sure clothing are not too tight on the skin and should be loose as it allows the skin to breathe properly.

Keep drooling babies dry. It may be hard but once drool lands on the skin and stays there, it may irritate the skin, and make symptoms of eczema worse.

At nighttime , use a humidifier in the winter as it will keep the air moist therefore keep baby skin moist and not get too dry. Lina<3 uses a cool mist humidifier.

Document all triggers and flares up to keep track of symptoms of eczema, know the best days and worse days for the scratching.

Also, parents breathe, breathe, and take a deep breath, when things does not seem to look up, or when the scratching or itchiness gets worst. There are brighter days to come.


Please be advised that these tips are from my own experiences and if there should be any concerns or questions regarding these tips, please speak to a professional.