I'm a full-time mummy

Just found out you are expecting? Happy? Elated? Worried? Concerned? Might be the later reasons if you are still breastfeeding. At least that's what I felt when I found out I was expecting our 2nd child (Alyson) and I was still breastfeeding our first, Benjamin (he was at 20months+ then)

I was so concerned with the following:

- What if my breastmilk stops producing (trust me, it will due to hormones in pregnancy!) and my boy is still not weaned yet? How to substitute my breastmilk then?

- What if the breastfeeding causes contractions and early labors or increases the risks of miscarriages?

- What if the breastmilk is poisonous? (old wives tales)

- How to cope with breastfeeding and tummy getting bigger and me getting more and more tired?

Before you read on, do note that I am not able to advise you on how to substitute breastfeeding with formula milk as until today we are still at zero specks of formula powder at home. So, I apologise first as I really am not able to comment on anything with regards to formula milk.

Now back to whether you should continue breastfeeding during your pregnancy...

If there are no risks or complications in your previous pregnancy, I personally think there are no reasons why you should wean. I nursed through my boy until I delivered my girl in Sept 2011 and continued tandem nursing them until I weaned my boy at 45 months old. From early April 2016, I have gently weaned off our 2nd kiddo (who is 4.5 years old now) but I am still breastfeeding our 3rd kiddo who is 2.5 years old now.

I have no complications or risks history when I was pregnant with our 3 kiddos so that makes it a plus factor in my decision making to continue breastfeeding during my pregnancies. I also believed that I should not wean just because the baby is coming especially when my previous pregnancies are fine.

If you are worried about the risks of miscarriages caused by breastfeeding as some people believe nursing will trigger contractions... well, if you read up on Google, you will find out that even having sex during pregnancy will also cause contractions.

The questions you must ask yourself are:

1. Do you have risks/complications during previous pregnancy? Such as problems with your uterus or anything that can cause early labors

2. Is your baby ready to wean?

3. Are you ready to wean?

4. If either answers for question 2 or 3 is a 'yes', you need to think of supplementing your baby NOW or switching her to alternative milks and/or solids (depending on your child's age okay?) You better express and store now and/or try out formula milk before your breastmilk runs out at your 4th - 5th month of pregnancy

Now, do note that if you decide to continue nursing:

- your breastmilk will change taste during pregnancy (mine tasted sour and bitter when I tasted it at 4th mth into pregnancy)

- your breastmilk will stop midway through pregnancy (mine stopped at 5th month but our first 2 kiddos continued nursing until I delivered)

- there are some nurslings who self-wean because of the above 2 reasons, so do have a backup plan (or backup expressed breastmilk) if your nurslings are still very much into your breastmilk

- you will be very tired during pregnancy, for me, I normally lie down on my bed to rest and let our kiddos nursed (well they get to nurse and bond and comfort and I get to rest too)

- some mums will have nursing aversion (I only have mine when I started tandem nursing) so do research more and read up on what to do if this happens

- some will also worried that nursing the older child during pregnancy that they will take away the colostrum intended for coming baby. Answer is no, your body is not robot. Nature's way, your body will know if something is taken, it will be replenished. Just the same logic that when you breastfeed, your body will send signals to produce more milk. So don't worry that there is no colostrum when new baby comes along.

If you feel you should wean, I would suggest that you do it gently as you don't want your child to feel that she/he is being rejected or pushed aside to make way for the coming baby. Try to slowly replace nursing times with other bonding activities (reading books, doodling, drawing, play dough, anything to keep their mind off from nursing). The key is to keep them distracted from asking for their feed.

I did reduced my 4-5 times daily nursing Benjamin to nursing prior to afternoon nap and bedtime (total twice a day and maybe 1-2 times during sleep when he's fussy or sick) I also practised the 'Don't offer, don't refuse' method of weaning (will write a post on this later)

I am very happy I get to nurse our kiddos throughout my pregnancies as I personally believed in letting my child decides when they should stop nursing (which our 1st kiddo did at 45 months old) and I believed that it really helps to kick in the breastmilk production as my milk came in right after I delivered our girls and they have no time to experience any weight loss (due to meconium) thanks to the immediate supply of breastmilk.

** Updates 18 May 2015 - As of today, I have tandem nursed our 1st and 2nd child for almost 4 years (45 mths to be exact)

** Updates 4 April 2016 - As of today, I have tandem nursed our 2nd and 3rd kiddos for 2.5 years. I've gently weaned our 2nd kiddo (she's 4.5 years old now) and is still directly nursing on demand our 3rd kiddo who is 2.5 years old now (I'm also pregnant with our 4th kiddo now!) so I do know what I'm talking about ;)

Feel free to comment or email me if you need to, I can share with you my experiences and what I needed during my pregnancy while still breastfeeding.

I received an email sometime in the middle of December last year with a pitch to review a range of baby products and upon checking out for further details, I decided that I should go ahead to review it as I'm very intrigued with trying products that are natural and gentle for baby and I was very keen to try out the products since they contain extra virgin olive oil. So here goes my review for the "Olive Baby Products ":

Description from the product page:
"Our Olive Baby range of skin care products is all natural and gentle for your baby's skin. All of the products contain our own extra virgin olive oil from Simunovich Olive Estate in Auckland, New Zealand – an ingredient which has been used for centuries in the Mediterranean as a beauty treatment and an overall remedy for the skin.

The  Olive Baby Body &  Hair Wash has a mild formula which will cleanse, moisturise and condition your infant’s skin and hair.  Containing a nutrient-rich, hydrating blend of natural ingredients, this gentle all-over, body and hair wash is suitable for daily use.

Mild and pH balanced, Olive Baby Moisture Milk with extra  virgin olive oil and vitamin E  will help keep your infant’s delicate skin feeling protected and comfortable. This light lotion was specially formulated to guard against chapping, chafing and dryness, leaving your infant’s skin feeling smooth and soft. "

I received 2 items for my review, the Olive Baby Hair & Body Wash and Olive Baby Moisture Milk.

Olive Baby Hair & Body Wash

I like the fact that I can use this product from head to toe! Yay! I like that it is not greasy, and it has a nice citrusy lemony smell to it when you lather it onto your body. By the way I had initially thought to myself 'Small bottle, I don't think it will last long with 2 kiddos using it' and then I tried it on myself before using it for my 2 kiddos... boy I was wrong! Just a small dollop of this is enough to lather all over your body, no kidding! Once I was convinced, I tried it on my kiddos. They smell good!

Olive Baby Moisture Milk

I applied a dollop of the moisture milk lotion onto my palm and I love that it leaves a glossy finish and keep my skin supple and smooth. I do however want to highlight that the nozzle is way too high, not sure it is faulty or not...

My almost 1.5 year old girl also decided to give it a try by rubbing some of the lotion onto her body and legs. Wonderful product that keeps my kiddos skin smooth and supple (and also the comfort of mind that it is a natural ingredients product good for baby)

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/OliveTebeMY or http://www.olivetebe.com.my/

For list of stores selling this products, check out: http://www.olivetebe.com.my/Store+Locations_3_1.htm

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the products in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

I had earlier confessed that one of my 2013 resolutions (I rarely made them in my life so when I made it for this year, I'm trying to stick by it!) is to learn to cook for the family and also shared a recipe I tried out, the Szechuan Vegetable soup and Lotus Root soup. For this post, I am sharing my third soup recipe which is also taught by my dear hubby (yes! You read it right!) and one of my favorite soup since my childhood which my late mum used to make, aka the ABC Soup!

I remembered I used to love putting this soup in my plate of rice and just plain eat my rice and drink the soup as it is. Oh, that and eating the soft mushy potatoes of course!

Btw, just in case you are wondering why is it named ABC soup when there is nothing resembling the letter A, B or C found on the soup... it is because ABC in this sense actually meant the vitamins A, B and C where you get vitamin ‘A’ from the carrots, ‘B’ vitamins from the potato, and ‘C’ from tomato. Tadaaaaaa! Mystery solved!

Ingredients:

1. Pork bones (boiled for about few minutes) (** You can also use kampung chicken)
2. 1 carrot (remove skin and chopped into half inch thick).
3. Dried scallops (optional - this will add sweetness to the soup)
4. 1 potato (remove skin and sliced or chopped into chunks - based on your liking)
5. 1 tomato (quartered)
6. 1 big red onion (remove skin)
* Not in picture: Salted/preserved vegetable (called 'Tai Thou Choi' in Cantonese)

Methods:
* Clean the pork by blanching in boiling water for few minutes, then drain off the water.
* Remove the skins for the potato and carrots and then chopped them into chunks or slices depending on your liking (I sliced them about half inch thick) Do note that the potato should not be too thin as it might crumbles off and muddied the soup.
* Quartered the tomato.
* Add all ingredients into slow cooker, add enough water to cover the ingredients with about an inch more.
* Put on high for an hour, before switching to low settings for about 6-7 hours.
(Note: If you use gas stove to boil this soup, you can simmer for 1 or more hours until the pork is tender.)

Picture below with ingredients just before adding hot water into slow cooker.

Outcome:

Hubby gave me 8/10 for this soup and said it should be saltier. Confession time: I forgot to put in the salted/preserved vegetable (called 'Tai Thou Choi' in Cantonese) when I dumped everything into the slow cooker! Only realised my mistake about 5th hour into the slow cooking in low mode when I tasted a sip and found the soup to be totally bland. Immediately went to the fridge and grabbed an inch thick of the salted/preserved vegetable, sliced it thinly (so that the salty-ness can seeped out to the soup faster) and put on high temperature for my slow cooker for an hour. Thank God the soup turns out fine, though, yes like hubby said should be saltier. Whooppsss...

I drenched a few soup spoons of the ABC soup into my kiddos plate of rice and hubby asked my almost 4 years old boy what he thinks of the soup mummy made and he went 'Mmmm it's yummy!' Ahhhh... The happy feeling you get when your child tells you your cooking (and soup) is yummy and better than grandma's! Ahhhhhhh.... *floating*

Ben had a bowl of the soup the next day when I made noodle soup with it and this time, both my kiddos guzzled all the soup after whacking their noodles. so I guess it's good, just need to remember MUST put salted/preserved vegetable before start making soup! Overall, I'm very happy with this attempt and very motivated to continue practising the Lotus Root soup and also ABC soup, especially after getting compliments from my kiddos (children are innocent and they don't lie!)

Also, just want to share some tips from my hubby on soup making:

1) The meat used in the soup here is actually pork bones, there is no need to get pork with lots of meat on it if you are not going to eat it after making the soup. Best is to use pork bones with bits of meat on it so you get the nutrients out of the bones and meat.
2) Making soup using slowcooker or stove is the same contrary to many beliefs that soup made using stove tastes better. Most important is you need to blanch the meat prior to cooking else you will get the so called different taste versus stove cooking.
3) It is good to put in the meat early as we want the nutrients when we drink the soup. Some people thought of putting the meat in the final hour of making the soup so that the soup is clear and sweet but in actual fact, there is no point drinking soup that is clear and not as nutritious since there is not enough time to cook the meat to allow the nutrients from the meat and bones to seep out into the soup.
4) When you make soup in a slow cooker, you need the ingredients to be in chunks size. Too small cubes in slow cooker (especially potatoes) will end up all broken and mashed after 6-8 hours in the slow cooker.

To view my other recipes, feel free to hop over to my Recipe Library page for more info!