All About Your Child

Keatkeat has a very unusual sleeping habit since he was 3 years old. Every-time after his bottle of milk, he would lie on the bed and start to move his legs as if he is swimming in frog-style, or more professionally known as breast-stroke, but right side up.

I still remember the very first time I saw him stretched his legs and toes to the fullest like a ballerina (lying down), then slowly retrieving the legs back up and “Crack”, I was looking at him with my eyes wide opened as he did it continuously.

Me: “Who taught you that?”

Keatkeat: “Nobody.”

Me: “Then why are you doing this?”

Keatkeat: “The thing inside my leg….(stretching) very pain.”

Me: “You mean this hard thing?” (touching his bone literally, ‘cos he is so skinny)

Keatkeat: “Yes.”

Me: “That’s your bone.”

Keatkeat: “I want to take out my bone.”

Me: “Baby, you can’t. Bone is very important. If you don’t have bone, you cannot move, cannot walk, cannot talk, cannot run, cannot play. You cannot do anything. Bone supports your whole body.”

Keatkeat: “Then how? I don’t like it. It makes me pain.” Stretching even harder. Cracking even louder.

Me: “I guess you might be too tired. So we try to sleep earlier tomorrow, maybe it may go away.”

But days passed, weeks gone, months disappeared and now more than 1 year, Keatkeat is still doing it. Has it become a habit? I don’t think so. ‘Cos sometimes he does it, sometimes he don’t. It doesn’t look comfortable doing the action either, but after a few minutes of cracking, it does get him to sleep.

Do you have a child who has such a weird sleeping habit? Please tell me Keatkeat is not alone….

There is something that Allan and I feel very proud of as parents. We never had a pram. When Keatkeat was born, many of my friends wanted to buy a pram for him. We said no. Reasons?

– We realised that many prams turned out to be trolleys for the parents.

– Kids like to be close to their parents’ body. We knew that having strong arms is a must to be a parent. So complaining of being tired? Then go out less often.

– Its troublesome in many ways. Getting it folded and unfolded. Pushing it around in crowded areas. Finding lifts, to prevent carrying up the stairs. Taking up a big space in the boot where the space can be used for other things.

– We don’t want our kids to become lazy. (When other kids are in the pram, my kids at 1 years old, is already holding my hands, walking around the shopping centre with me.)

– To get a real good one – light and foldable using one hand for convenience, is really a big investment. Yet this investment do not give returns. After a few years, you had to throw away if no one wants to accept your 2nd-hand pram as a gift.

– Some prams are harder to clean than others. When the baby vomits some milk (which is soooooooo common and frequent), that smell can stay in that pram for days!

So instead of prams, we had baby slings. Mine was Navy Gingham Blue in colour (note: I am not getting any commission for this) Why?

– They are safe and secure.

– They keep the baby close to the mother’s body for comfort and security.

– Easy for breastfeeding. You can even breastfeed while walking.

– You can be totally hands free.

– The cloth is not too thick. So baby stays cool in it all day.

– Its machine washable.

– The cushion padding helps to lessen the weight pressed on your shoulders.

– The designs makes stains less visible.

– Its adjustable. To suit the baby or up the age of a 18 month old toddler.

– Its super affordable.

– After using it for 2 kids, its still look as good as new.

Seriously, for all first time parents, this is truly a wiser choice. In my view, that is.