My favourite tool for preparing Umar's food

Masa mengandungkan Umar, I really thought I'd like that cute baby food maker for when my baby's starting solids. After extensive reading (as always, before investing) two options were at hand:

1. Baby food maker - from a few brands that i came across, the most famous would be the Avent Steamer &Blender. Others are from LittleBean and Beaba. Budget is from 200 to well over 600.

2. Slowcooker - i thought this option would  really come in handy. i mean, u can just toss all ingredients the night before and by morning it would be piping hot and ready as porridge. easy peasy. The good part is that the smallest slowcooker will cost us less than RM 100.

After having Umar, these were put out of mind until a few weeks ago when Umar's due for solids approached. By then, a third option came to mind:

3. Hand blender - this item would speed foodmaking process, i suppose. Baby food is almost always boiled / baked / steamed, i can blend it straight inside the container. This, would cost us somewhere between 300 to 400.

Under intensive discussion with my favourite guru (mak!) ehem, whilst browsing through the electrical store, i laid down my options and asked her opinion. I strongly leaned towards Avent's steamblend thingy, just because it was so nifty and easy, not to mention, cute. But I also thought the other two options were worth fighting over. Round and round i went, with umar and hariz in tow. Finally mak said, haizzz hand blender la senang... yg lain tu tak tentu pakai later. Umar dah besar ada ke nak pakai slow cooker ke babyfoodmaker lagi?

She's right about that.

Now I'm using Philips HandBlender to make Umar's food. Nak beli  Kenwood ke Bosch mahal nokkkk mak tak mampu (padahal sama je harga dengan Avent Steamer Blender tu hahaha), takpe yang penting boleh save budget, and can be used in the long run. Dan yang pentinggggggg skali kat kedai tu the best model for Philips hand blender was on sale, so we saved more! It has an extensive range of speed control, so the fastest made the smooooooothest puree.

pic from Philips Malaysia

Nowadays i made Umar's food every other day, packed into individual portions in 100ml freezersafe container. pagi2 panaskan dan hantar 2 portions ke taska, balik rumah he eats baked bananas/biscuit/a portion of porridge for dinner. kenyang anak mama, perut pun sudah gunduts ;)

Umar's first foods

Umar has just started his solid food. Baaarruuuuuu about 2 wks. From that measly experience, i can safely say:

1. Umar TAK SUKA plain porridge. Dah seminggu lebih makan kalau bubur kosong tu muka kelat kelat nak makan.

2. He likes potatoes. So far he does better with rice plus potato congee for breakfast n lunch. Awal2 tu bg potato saja lagi dia suka, tapi takut kembung maka campur nasik. Ada gaya pemakan french fries berjaya macam ayah.

3. What he loves most so far: baked bananas. Yg tu mmg dia siap pegang sudu masuk dalam mulut.

But my son being MY son, has a mind of his own. Kalau dah tanak tu, mmg dia pegang kuat KUATTT sudu tu tolak dari mulut dia. mmg takleh nak bubuh dalam mulut dia lah. haih. well.. anak sapa..

A Flip Review

Another AI2 system that umar currently use is Flip. It's a basic one-size waterproof PUL diaper cover with lay-on insert. There is an option of snap or velcro closure, and staydry or organic cotton insert. The staydry insert is comprised of 3 layers of microfibre topped with stay-dry suede. the Flip system caters for babies from 7-35lbs.


I first bought a day pack of Flip which consisted of 2 diaper covers (moonbeam and butternut, both in snap closure) with 6 stay dry inserts. i've since bought more staydry inserts, and another cover in clementine (above) with velcro closure.

Umar started to fit into Flip as he was about 4 weeks old, roughly 3.5kg. And since then, up til now, Flip has become a staple for him. i even use them on umar for night diapering, added with microfibre or hemp booster.

As with Thirsties diaper covers, Flip covers are also made of breathable PUL, which enables it to be wiped clean if there's no stains and airdried before alternate use. The cutting of Flip is generous, which is thumbs-up for chunky monkeys. It has flaps on both sides to put in the insert's ends so it stays put. Umar was at the smallest setting and just upgraded to M setting at 7kg. no red marks on umar's thighs at all on this system, yeay!

inner view of Flip cover

the look inside Flip with the insert laid on

the only minor thing that i (ehem!) disliked about Flip cover is the laundry tab for the velcro closure. since its laundry tab is velcro strip sewn onto the back of the cover, it touches umar's back, and mama doesn't like the feel of it. so my solution to it was to lay the insert onto the laundry tab instead of underneath the flap, so its contact to umar's skin is minimised :)

i love, LOVE Flip staydry inserts as it is very thirsty, hold umar's pee about three hours without leaks, and easy to clean. The staydry insert is also convenient to use as it has marks sewn onto it to show small, medium and large setting. I can just fold the insert according to the marks and it fits well into the cover. nowadays i use the inserts not just into Flip covers, but also into other diaper covers as well.

overall view: 4 thumbs up! more than a third of umar's stash is made of Flip, which goes to show how much i love them :)

5month old Umar Nashwan

maybe a little late, but i'll recap on umar's milestones here.

Umar's first smile:  The first few seconds of his life :) he actually smiled first before the doctor patted him in the back so he bawled his heart out. no kidding. bukak mata, senyum, then baru nangis.

Umar's first successful attempt to turn over: 12.8.2011, maktok's birthday. He's always asleep on his side, so it's quite questionable whether he turned on his own or by accident.  true enough, at two months+ he flipped and successfully took his hand from under his chest. Since then, very few attempts were made to flip on his own. on 27/10, he managed to turn over and over and over again. he never looked back since then.

His first jump (or lunge like a spring) was made at tokwan and maktok's place, before raya haji. since then, he's been jumping nonstop whenever we hold him on his feet. seronok sangat lompat, kadang-kadang terlanggar bumbung kereta. terberenti la jugak sekejap. tapi lepas tu sambung balikkkkk... betis mantap gila!

So far yang tu jela ingat. Senyum memanjang tak payah cerita. Memang bakal heartbreaker nih! Senyum je selalu, jarang sangat meragam. Kalau meragam tu mmg ada la benda yg tak kena. Angin ke, poopoo ke, lapar sgt ke. waktu  lain, bangun pagi-pagi buta pun sengihhhhh je.. sejuk ati mama :D

a Review on Rumparooz

i received these lovelies from my beloved sspians who threw babyshower for me and aishah cum ifi's housewarming (another excuse for makan fest and gossip session!). there is another one in sunshine - bright bright orange (couldn't take the picture as it was in laundry). it was love at first sight.

the colours are the most vibrant i've ever seen! u won't see any boring pastel colours from rumparooz. love love love :)

the rumparooz i have here is the new G2 pocket diaper. each diaper comes together with a set of inserts - a small 2 layer microfibre newborn insert which can later be used as boosters, and a 3 layer microfibre inserts which has adjustable snaps.

here's a look on the inside of the diaper. it's made from soft soft stay dry microchamois. the winning feature for this diaper must be the poopscoop, the inner gusset that keeps EVERYTHING in.

umar could fit in this diaper since about 2weeks, using the provided newborn insert as the soaker. trim dan cantik. n true to its claim, the poopscoop never let anything out. another thing that i love is the laundry tab for velcro closure. its made of cloth (barely noticeable in the picture) so it's very soft and won't graze my baby's skin.

the sad thing is, now at 5 months umar is already set on L setting. why? while the crotch is narrow, providing good fit so the baby won't look terkangkang much even as newborn, the thigh casing is trim too, which is bad news for my chikenet's drumsticks.

hot and sexy umar in rumparooz only :D

overall view: thumbs up for trimness and vibrant colours. i wish i could say the same about the fit on my chunkybaby, but sadly, no :(

Thirsties: A Review

Really. i really can't emphasize enough how much i depend on these covers during confinement. In fact, the Thirsties covers were used on umar since he was born until yesterday (umar hit 7kgs. size 1 Thirsties covers 6-18lbs which means it should fit umar till about 8kgs, but his thunder thighs said differently :( )

first off, a little about the brand.

Thirsties is a USA made diaper brand, the most famous products being their range of diaper covers. There is also fitted diapers, sleeve diapers (kinda like pocket but with both ends open so the insert agitate itself out during washing) and more.

The Thirsties came either in aplix or snap closure, in sizes (XS, S, M and L) or 2-size system:

Size 1 which fits 6-18lbs (3-8kg), and
Size 2 which fits 18-40lbs (8-18kg)

Here are the ones that i used on Umar:

from left: aplix cover in Blackbird, snap cover in orchid, snap cover in storm cloud, and duo insert, all in size 1.

All three covers are the Duowrap Size 1 (i couldn't find the XS cover). the covers are made of breatheable waterproof polyurethane laminate (PUL) and wipeable, so if there's no poo stain, u can just wipe it clean and airdry for alternate use. These fit Umar since he's born (2.5kg) till 7kg at 5 months.

The DuoInsert is made of two parts: 2 layer microfibre topped with stay-dry microfleece, and a bottom part made of 5 layer jersey-hemp. these two parts are connected with snaps, so u can unstick them and they dry faster after washing.

here is how it looks like in the duowrap.

my take after using the system for 4 months?

on the duowrap:

easy to use, the wipeable feature made it a breeze. u can just lay on any type of soaker (but NOT microfibre insert!) on it, snap your baby in, and voila, all done. until umar outgrew his duowrap, i love to pair it with FLIP staydry insert (review coming up later). in terms of using aplix or snap closure though, i must say that it's a personal preference. and i prefer the snap ones, since the aplix easily folded under umar's belly and cause leaks.

on the insert:

although hemp is reputed to hold a LOT of liquid, sadly it didn't work out much for umar, even when he's about a month old. these days i separate the two parts and they are excellent as boosters for umar's night time diapering.

overall view: thumbs UP!

Clothdiapering a Newborn

When i first got pregnant, mak advocated on using the traditional lampin masa berpantang, and at least masa cuti bersalin to cut the cost of using disposable diapers. i was a little apprehensive, knowing how pemalas i am and kesian mak nak jaga kitorg masa pantang tu. but i was little curious when i came upon the term cloth diaper at babycenter community forum.

more and more i read, regarding the whole myriad of CD systems available. it was overwhelming, at first, especially the jargons used. AIO, AI2, pocket. what's the difference between insert AND soaker???? what's the difference of fabrics used to make these cute stuff? THERE'S ACTUALLY FABRIC MADE OF BAMBOO???

to name a few.

on and on i read, and did a lot of research to avoid disappointment (and waste of money). at first, the thought of using one size cloth diaper was very tempting. but the more i read, the more i came upon mothers who failed to use the one-sized ones since newborn, mainly because after all, newborns are very small, and the cutting of onesize CD just don't cut it.

at 26weeks i finally decided that i would use lampin and small sized diaper cover during confinement, and when my baby finally fit, the one-size CD would be economical.

during confinement, i used lampin, folded macam kapalterbang tu (the proper term is origami fold), lapik dengan liner, with thirsties cover XS or duowrap size 1. tak payah pakai pin/snappi pun (buat rugi beli je), sbb lampin tu tak bergerak pun dlm cover. umar was snug and happy in them. memang kena banyak kali tukar, sebab umar is a poopertrooper, and lampin cepat basah so baby kurang selesa. on the other hand, we experienced zero diaper rash episode. yeay!

malam still pakai huggies though, sebab tak confident dapat bagi umar pakai lampin dgn selesa malam2.

i also used thirsties duo insert, but since Bonnie (of mycheekyboo.com) ada 2 keping je size 1, tu je la rezeki umar. but more on that later :D

First post on Umar's CDing Journey

I did say I wanted to post on umar’s adventure in cloth diapering kan.. eheh, my bad.

Umar start pakai lampin biasa+diaper cover around his 4^th day, I think. Nak bagi pakai CD yang one-size still too big untuk umar, dah dia kecik comel je 2.5kg, and one-sized ones usually tagged for 8-35lb (±3-15kg). I bought a few diaper covers that are suitable for 6-18lbs, so the fit lebih cantik.

After much MUCH reading and researching and browsing through online sellers to find the best deal (for I am an avid bargain-hunter), here are the list of diapers that I’ve already bought before delivering umar:

1 Thirsties cover in size XS

3 Thirsties Duowrap cover in size 1

3 dozen flats/ lampin

2 Thirsties duo Insert in Size 1

A day pack of Flip (2 one-size (OS) Flip covers with 6 stay-dry inserts)

the links i provided is where i bought the respective items.

N during babyshower that my dearest friend Ya threw for me and Aishah, I’ve got:

3 Rumparooz G2 OS pocket diapers

1 Freshbots fitted diaper in size S

There are a few websites that I always refer to when in doubt or have a lingering question in my head:

www.clothdiapermalaysia.com

www.allaboutclothdiaper.com

www.diaperpin.com

from then on, i slowly bought more and after 4months, this is how umar's stash looks like:

not much, but enough to fully CD umar. i've since kept away the flats for my coming niece/nephew :D

i'll keep different posts on CDing a newborn, and reviews of each brand okies. later!