3 Tips for Mothers with Babies- 2

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1. Make your baby sleep longer during the night time

I'm sure many parents have problems with their baby being awake every one hour when you are just begging for undisturbed long sleep. One interesting fact that researchers have found out is that if you expose babies to bright sunlight during the daytime, it makes your baby sleep longer during the night! I mean, what have you got to lose? Give it a try, and see if it works for your babe.

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2. Don't overstimulate your newborns

I know parents with newborns are so excited to welcome their new family member, and would like to spend more time interacting with them. Unfortunately, this may lead to parents overstimulating their young child because newborns' brain structure is still underdeveloped to digest all the stimulation on them. Thus, this can be one of the causes of frequent crying especially in the evening if the excessive stimulation during the day is accumulated.

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3. Tips to soothing crying baby

The best way to sooth crying baby=

moderately intense + continued + repetitive stimulation.

This can take the form of combining: holding, rocking, talking/singing. The combination is better than just one.

You can also try swaddling, which is wrapping the baby tightly in clothes or blankets that restrict their limb movement. This creates just enough tactile stimulation and warmth for the baby to fall asleep.

Interestingly, if you place a small drop of something sweet in their mouth, it can also induce dramatic calming effect. It doesn't have to be a whole bunch of sugar cube, just a small drop will do. :) 

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Hope these tips helped in looking after your newborns! 

For Females: Full stop Period (.) Pain

I'm sure when the dreaded Magic Day is to come, many girls already feel nauseous and scared about the prospect of period cramp.

I definitely was one of those girls. When I was younger, I could not understand what it meant by period cramp because I had never experienced one. However, starting from one day, I don't know why and how, the idea of pain came true.

The first day was always the worst. Especially when I had to get up early in the morning and rush myself, it would be painful to the point that sometimes I would just come home and cancel all the schedule for the day.


Fortunately enough, that has become the story of the past.
Of course, I still get the cramp, but it has become so much more manageable and tolerable that I don't have much trouble going about my day.

So these are my three tips that really worked marvelously:



1. Take the pill one day before.
So this may sound a little odd. Why should we take a pill even before the period starts, and hence, when there is no pain? However, proved by many people, this works wonders. If your cycle is regular, take the pill before the cramp starts. The next day when the period starts, it won't hurt so much. For those people, whose cycle is irregular, take the pill once it starts, even though there may not be any pain yet. This preventive method is so effective in reducing, say, half the pain.



2. Spread out the dose.
Last time, I used to take two pills at one go, right after the period started. However, despite having taken the pills, sometimes, in the evening, the pain will come back, and I will have to take another pill and wait until it goes away.
So after researching into the topic, I changed it to the system of spreading 3 pills over one day: one pill every 6 hours. This has reduced the pain the whole day.



3. Use heat pack products (hokkairo)!
I'm sure you have already heard how heating up your belly during period can reduce pain as well as enhance better blood let-out. I also used to use conventional heat packs whenever I'm lying down, since it was impossible to use it while you are standing up or walking. However, the breakthrough happened when my bf got me this amazing product from Japan.

So what's special about this heat pack is that you can actually attach it on the clothes (not directly on skin, but on top of underwear or shirt), and it will remain hot for more than 12 hours, without any intervention!
In fact, I just attach it on the morning, and until I sleep, it works fairly well. Using one pack per day is fairly enough.
I asked my bf about them, and he said most hokkairo  products in market are pretty the same. So I think you can get just them from any brand.



So these are the ways I overcame my monthly difficulty. Good luck to you guys as well! :)

Phobia of Death?

These are separate tracks of thoughts I had whenever I came across the idea of death. 

In my Japanese Studies class, the professor told us how Japan had constantly moved capital after each emperor's death until they settled in at Nara. 

Of course, there were many reasons leading up to these events, but one of the reasons the Prof mentioned, and stuck in my head was that traditional Japanese used to equate death to pollution, taboo: indicating, the more important person dies, the more pollution it is. 
This kind of trend is seen in many other cultures as well.

We, humans, have such violent reaction against death. Even though the prospect of death is something expected, like say, your hair growing, we still can't accept it as natural part of us, probably for so-called self-protection reason.

However, putting our common sense aside, let's consider other views of death.

Recently in developmental psychology I was learning about development of fetus, and one interesting thing came up: apoptosis, defined as genetically programmed cell death. Certain cells die selectively, as constant companion to other developmental processes. For example, fingers are produced as the result of apoptosis in the hand area. In this sense, death is regarded as totally natural part of our life that quite ironically starts from our birth.

Birth and death is inseparable.

Lastly, linking up nicely from the previous sentence, my father had told me long long time ago about how some Buddhist or other religious people view death. They actually see it as the same of giving birth. 
According to them, babies still inside mother's womb resist coming out to the world because they are afraid. They think they are dying, since they think coming out to the real world for them is going to end their life. However, that's not the way we see it, right? For us, it is, in fact, the beginning of our real life. 
Of course, this statement has no empirical support whatsoever, but just an opinion of other kinds of people out there. And I really like this idea. It comforts me. For us, death is something horrible and something we do not ever want to happen to us. However, if we see death in this perspective, it can be seen as the mere transition period into the new beginning.

Even though we may not remember anything about us when we were in the womb, we still regard that fetus as us. Can the same thing apply? When we die, we may not remember having been a human living on Earth, but isn't that still us, just like the way we are still the same person or self as the fetus?


I don't know. This is all confusing. But I like thinking in that way. And after having recently watched The Island, I am thinking, to us, is The Island our death?

Some tips for Mothers with Babies- 1

1. Educating babies in womb? Unlikely.

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Unlike common belief (or how parents wish), there is no point teaching fetus specific content while in womb. It's because they have not yet developed such complicated brain structure to absorb the specific content. 
Instead, what the mothers can do is to keep on talking to fetus so that they get familiar with the mother's voice better. After they are born, the mom-baby bond will probably develop faster due to the earlier familiarization. I think this saves a lot of trouble on the mother's side, being worried over educating their unborn fetus!

2. Easier labor for babies? no need~

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During labor, mothers go through much pain because they have to stretch tissues. However, this does not mean babies also experience that much pain when they come out. This is because unlike stretching(mothers), squeezing(babies) is much less painful.

Also beside that, it's always better to stay away from obstetric medication because it can prolong labor, which will accordingly cause longer oxygen deprivation on babies' side. In worst case, it may even lead to more brain damage, less attentive babies, poorer muscle tone, and less vigorous reflexes.

3. Newborns take nap half-awake! 

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Unlike adults, even when newborns are taking a nap (not the long night sleep), their brain is not entirely disconnected from external stimuli. This was shown by a study whereby researchers turned on some language speech sounds during their nap, and after they got up, they could recognize speech sounds. (This was displayed in 'habituation' which means babies showing less response to old stimuli than new, probably because they have lost interest already)

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Regarding the last fact, I can't help but envy those babies' brain that doesn't get disconnected even during the nap! I know that skill would have saved lots of trouble, time and boring reads. But at least I know that even I had such magical talent when I was younger, in fact, everyone here as well! :) 

Tip to Homemade Yogurt

Homemade yogurt with cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds and blueberries.

I have been eating home made yogurt for about a year now and it was only really recently, last month, that I found out you shouldn't use metal spoon when eating yogurt! They were saying metal spoon kills yogurt bacteria or something like that (though I don't know the full story). So if you want the full effect of yogurt, make sure you eat it with either wooden or plastic spoon.


Having said that, I don't know, honestly, even before I was using metal spoon, I felt like yogurt had certain effect on me alright especially when it came to toilet business. (Was all that mere placebo? really?!) 


Anyways, if you are interested in making homemade yogurt at home, I recommend this product: 

Contains: 2 packets of yogurt enzymes + 4 packets of powdered Collagen

My bf got it from Japan. The collagen powder tastes so so yum when you eat it with yogurt. Sadly, it's run out now so I'm trying to get a powdered collagen somewhere in Singapore to sustain my daily eatery, but so far it turned out to be a failure. 

* How to make it

You put one packet of yogurt enzymes and 500cc milk (whether full cream or low fat) in an air-passable container for 24 hours around 20-30 degree Celsius. After that, you can eat your first batch of yogurt. For the subsequent makes, just take 1/10 of the made yogurt and pour 9/10 of milk. Leave it for about 10-12 hours. And your next batch is up for eating!

It's a really good snack that can substitute fatty chocolates and biscuits. Also it's better to eat it after meal so that it can also help with digestion. (I think.. feels about right.)

Happy yogurting everyone :)

(Finally) Enjoying University!

I used to be a university hater big time. The pathetic part was that I was blaming the university, not me for not having provided the fun university experiences. However, after having realized one simple trick, I got to at least enjoy my university life with so much less stress. And it's so simple!

The trick: Stop doing the things that people tell you to do.

Do it only if YOU want to do it. Decide for yourself whether you like doing it or want to do it, for yourself, by yourself. Don't let others decide whether you should do this or not, despite of your individual preference if you are ready to be responsible with your actions.

For me, growing up in a fairly typical Asian family, I just followed what my mom told me to do obediently. I naively thought she would take care of everything and neglected thinking for myself. In fact, it was more convenient since you didn't have to be responsible with your decisions. However, when I came to university, which she had previously promised would secure everything, or anything I needed, I found out, in fact, it was a whole lot of different story. I was all on my own. It was new, and it felt scary.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I really thank my mom, for having given me such instructions. University is important (at least to me) and I am glad I made it this far. But what I should have done earlier was also to live for my own happiness and joy. Mine had been pretty much delayed (unless it came incidentally) until I was in university. And I realized now it was not my mom who was ordering me to do this and that, but myself who had gotten so used to putting stress on my own shoulder. 

And now that I'm making decisions solely for myself, my world became colorful. 

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It's not like all of a sudden, I don't feel overwhelmed by the workload and play all day long. I still do feel like there are lots of things to do and I do my work on time. However, now those things comprise only a small part of my life and I fill up the rest with the things I like doing, be it just hanging out, visiting museums/parks, or even doing nothing! 

Last semester was the first time I actually put this into practice. My bf who was observing me all the while, was telling me how cunning I was (jokingly) to just cram before the test, and so on. But whatever it was, I had such a wonderful semester, really enjoying my life and my youth, feeling my own limits and capabilities. Surprisingly, although I was so happy and stress-free, the results were not so bad, compared to the times when I was so stressed out to the point where I just wanted to leave the school and live a life of a waitress in a remote island or something like that.  

Maybe the point was that, I only learned what I wanted to learn. When there were interesting things from the course, I would be absorbed, discussing this issue and just having fun learning fascinating things. And that felt much more worthwhile than stressing myself and having wasted another potentially pleasant semester learning things that I will quite certainly forget after exams. (yes, that was the way I was 'learning'!)

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Anyways, having fun at university won't result in such horrible situation as long as you were responsible enough. All I'm saying is, there is no point unnecessarily stressing yourself.

Hope this posting helped anyone who is currently going through what I was going through a year ago. 

Happy semester everyone :) 

Exploring Mount Faber @ Harbourfront

It was not the first time to attempt exploring Mount Faber. Last time I went there, it was in the middle of weekdays (I generally don't like crowded weekend parks), in the afternoon, a girl alone, and it was vacant beyond expectation, to the point I got scared! So maybe it's a good idea to bring along a friend or visit on weekend when it's more crowded.
So this time round, I brought one friend with me who is pretty well versed with the park and we went on a long but refreshing walk :) 

Entrance to Mount Faber right after getting out from Harbourfront MRT exit A

Be careful of branches falling :)

Love the jungly and exotic feel!

Stairways to heaven.. but a bit too long

Beautiful greenery from the mid-point

Yup, cabs and cars do come up here! Even some tourist buses!

Majestic tall trees

Lonely looking bench. Maybe because of the cloudy weather.

Cute orange flowers peeping through

Lovely sun light through the leaves

Pretty orange ivy flowers all over the roof!

Some big and generous looking trees lining up

Love the gentle blow of the breeze

Wall paper looking really sticky plants!

Famous Henderson Waves to Hort park (though the two parks are not near at all!)

Amazing architecture with natural wooden blend

View that looks down to city (of course, where is not a city in Singapore!)

Way down down down. Much easier walk definitely

Ominous looking sky! with dark surrounding trees

I love this shalala tree! so typical Chinese paradise like.

Accidental exploration turned beautiful!

The way to Terrace Garden or Garden Terrace.

Looking backwards.. 

Old looking building with an old grandpa taking a walk.

We thought of stopping in the middle but he gave us the courage to go up! If you are seeing this by any chance, thank you!

Lovely viewpoint looking down to city. Must be gorgeous at night!

Pretty tree with interesting patterned leaves

Yellow cheerful flower saying hello :)

The way down to somewhere.. Must be Hort Park?!

Unexpectedly long canopy walk

Walk surrounded by all sorts of trees. So pretty

These two monkeys suddenly started playing/fighting and thanks to one gentleman, we walked right behind him and he was so kind enough to have helped us go pass them! Thank you!

My friend thought the mid path could have been a beautiful waterfall.
Maybe a new idea for Singaporean government?

So jungly! Love the messy nature vibe.

Somehow I prefer these kinds of plants to colorful flowers. They give me a sense of serenity and composure for some reasons

One tree in the process of worshiping the Sun

Cloudy yet best weather! and Thank you God for not giving us the rain!

Pretty looking school. These students must be so lucky to have been surrounded by these wonderful flora.

A huge giant tree that must have been standing here for more than hundreds of years. (hopefully it's not artificial.) 

Couldn't choose which was the better one

Hort Park lounge! Beautiful place! Though at this time there was no water due to cleaning.

Playground for the kids, but still in construction

Hort Park was really pretty too but I was too tired to go up the park after having walked for three hours. I think I really gotta build stamina!

Anyways, it was a really cool (literally) eco-friendly daytrip :) It's a shame that although it's so near my place I rarely come over here! Hopefully I will get to visit this park more often! Next time, I'll aim Hort Park and Kent Ridge Park!