Confinement: the Docbamby's way!

Hello everybodddeeeeehhhh!!!

heheheh! it's been awhile eh?? that's because my little hogger is doing exactly what mommy hogger wants him to do! Chronic hogging of one another! and i'm soooooooo loving it!!! *imagine a smiley with heart-shaped eyes please!*

So i'm here to share how the past 6 weeks went by. In our malaysian tradition, we have a thing called 'confinement' where the mother and baby is supposed to be... err... confined in the home. *duh!* And the amount of days varies apparently, famous numbers being 40, 44 or 100 days (yikes!). So with this "very sedentary" lifestyle, one is also restricted to a certain kind of diet. This however depends on different cultures, and basically your elder's knowledge. so technically, there is no standard guideline of how this works because it differs from one family's tradition to another.

Honestly, i didn't even do this whole confinement thing properly. Not because i don't believe in some of the possible wisdom behind it. But because i just look at it as an opportunity for me to rest and relax physically and mentally. so that part is a good thing, resting in the house and adapting to your newfound love. but i'm a person that finds it hard to adhere to certain rules and being told what to do when i don't want to after considering the consequences. (ok! i sound like an anarchist! haha!). so of course, if that happens, it takes out the "mental relaxation" in confinement to me. Also it has probably has something to do with the fact that i'm from a medical background where i don't recall there is anything called confinement in our medical vocabulary. so technically (and medically), the practice is not compulsory.  

But i do take the beneficial stuff from it. like eating freshly cooked foods and avoid drinking cold water. but this only lasted about one month. coz i just loooooovvveee cold drinks! haha! as for food, i didn't have any restrictions. i ate what i feel like eating. as long as it is edible. i did bathe, and no i didn't wear layers and layers of clothes simply because i remembered i live in Malaysia. -.-" I also didn't take any oral traditional meds because i'm worried of causing possible jaundice to Yusuf. But have applied some of the creams but not religiously. Hopefully, the laissez faire method i adopted in confinement does not bring any future detrimental effects on my health.  Most importantly, not to Yusuf. InsyaAllah!

As for the lil bub, Yusuf, by God's will have been great alhamdulillah! He has tolerated a lot of visitors well, especially during the aqiqah which is done on his 7th day of life. He also did well in car rides for we have taken him back and forth to my parent's place the first few weeks, and then to pavillion when he turned 1 month (yes! coz his mommy misses pavvy! hehe!) and not to mention went back to Johor when he was 5 weeks old to visit my in laws! Alhamdulillah. it is Him that takes care of Yusuf. =)

in his stroller!

a day out in bangsar village

at Johor Premium Outlet

daddy's teaching him how to hang out at starbucks!

As for his develepmental milestones, he can already lift his head in the first week. this is when i wanted to see if he could do the breast crawl (which he did!) and it's when he latched on that it happened. he could follow objects slowly with his eyes, and his rooting and sucking reflexes works extremely well amongst the others! after a month he's already 5cm longer than at birth. We have yet to record his weight becoz we don't have a weighing machine at home. (coz mommy is afraid to know her own weight!) ;P

I also adopted the little knowledge that i have on the Dunstan's baby language, and it definitely helped me figured out what he wants! and fast before he gets to the hysterical cry! the number one word he would use is "neh" for "i want mommy's milk!". hehehe. He breastfeeds well and very often too! which i love for it definitely helps prevent the engorgement. He's definitely mommy's little helper! *love!* I am using cloth diapers on him and besides the increased usage of the washing machine (about 5-fold!) than the usual once-weekly, i'm enjoying the part where i get to collect pretty designed diapers for him! thanks to my friend shairil who is my blogging mentor for this! hopefully i'll get to blog about my experience on it soon!

I guess that's all for this post. I seemed to have found a way to blog with him stuck to me! hehehe!

Mommy's lil hogger! 

Till next time! (God knows when!) =)