Mama's Little Toddler

It's been a while since I wrote anything on Aydein's health update. Alhamdulillah, it's been a year, and Aydein is as healthy as a bunny.

At a year old, except for the diarrhea that he got at 6 months, he has never fallen really sick, except for mild fever, flu and cough. Usually, when it comes to fever, a dose of Paracetamol (PCM) will do the trick, and as for flu, a puff of nasal spray into his nose will help. Hence, I never knew what "tepid sponging" is and a lot of other ways to bring down the temperature as I read at some of the other mummy blogs out there. This makes me nervous, because I feel like I have little experience in caring for a sickly infant!

Aydein had his 1-Year visit to the doctor last week. He was given the MMRV jab (Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Chickenpox) as well as the Flu and Influenza H1N1 shot. So now Aydein is protected against MMRV as well as H1N1, yeay!

At the doctor's visit, as usual, Aydein's height and weight was recorded, and although Aydein's height and weight was proportionate at that time, it seems that Aydein is actually slightly on the shorter side! I'm not surprised though. I mean, look at myself and Aien! We're both very petite people! And get this, Aien is actually the tallest in his family, so how la? :P My sister told me that since I've given him all the right healthy nutrition, then it must be the gene, but she also said I can help make him taller by giving him loads of protein (from white meat, red meat and dairy products) as well as calcium (from loads and loads of milk!).

Which reminds me. You see, ever since Aydein turned one, he is no longer an Enfalac baby. During the doctor's visit, the doctor asked what milk is he on now, and I said, Pediasure.

The doctor's concern with Pediasure is that it would make a baby chubby. And with Aydein's height, I can understand why she wouldn't want that happen to Aydein. Hehe. So she suggested Enfagrow A+ instead for Aydein's development and growth.
However, since we already have Pediasure stock at home, she told us to continue with it, and see how Aydein's growing in the next month. I personally love Pediasure. It smells really good of Vanilla, and I like the idea of Aydein putting on a little bit of flesh. He's lost a lot of weight from crawling actively everywhere!

So now I'm torn. Pediasure? Or Enfagrow?

Also, much to our surprise, Aydein is also affected by Carotenemia. Don't be alarmed though, the definition sounds scarier than it really is; it is not life threatening! Hehe. It is also not jaundice. It is actually a condition where a baby's skin turn yellowish due to large consumption of carotene in the baby's diet.

Orange foods, such as papaya, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and carrots, contain high levels of beta-carotene. It all makes sense because those are exactly Aydein's daily meal! In order to make Aydein's porridge taste good, I make sure that I add pumpkin or carrot or corn into Aydein's daily porridge. I guess he's got too much of Vitamin A in his system that it deposits to his skin! She suggested that we stop them food altogether for about a month, until his skin is back to its healthy normal color. :)

When I went back, I googled on carotenemia, and it seems that Vitamin A may be dangerous and even lethal when too much of it is taken in the form of Vitamin A supplement. However, natural Vitamin A, such as that which beta-carotene converts to, is harmless and is indeed very beneficial for promoting good vision and eye development as well as helping sustain healthy growth and development. No wonder Aydein rarely falls sick and can see something very very tiny as tiny as a rubber dust! Terlebih sehat sampai kulit jadik kuning! :P

For breastfeeding mums, did you know that a mother's breast milk may also become yellow or orange color? Mother's milk is full of carotene and if a Mom's diet is high in beta-carotene rich foods, her milk may take on a color change!

And finally, Aydein's gleaming white teeth. He's got 8 of them now, and another 2 poking out from his upper gum. Luckily, there were nothing wrong with his teeth. They're perfect, according to the doctor, in fact. And she said that there is no need to brush them until he's 18 months! I ni punyalah semangat nak brush his teeth that I got him a very cute & funky Jordan's Step 1 toothbrush, exactly like this.

But I guess there's no harm starting early anyway, and before Aydein's breath gets stinky like Anne's nephew, I'd better start brushing his teeth, especially when he's started sharing food with us!

When I asked the doctor what is the most recommended toothpaste that I should use (secretly hoping that it is not First Teeth as suggested by Anne since it's very costly!), the doctor immediately said, "First Teeth".

And she went on about how safe it is for children to swallow and that it is made of active milk enzyme with no fluoride and flavoured with apple and banana which makes brushing session even more fun! And since I am very obedient to each and every word that comes out from the doctor's mouth, the first thing I got from Guardian the next day, was baby First Teeth toothpaste that costs me a whopping RM25.90! Mahal gila kan! It's more expensive than adult's most expensive toothpaste!

The doctor also recommended the finger toothbrush because they're gentle to the gum.


However, since I have gotten the Jordan brush way earlier, I guess I'll just close one eye about this lah. :P Seriously, babies do not come in cheap!

Until the next entry from me! :)


XOXO.