Pinoybaby.com

Link Round-up

2012-01-15T16:26:00.003+08:00

Here are some links that we've shared on our Facebook page these past several weeks.

Why do some people learn faster? - "‎"The problem with praising kids for their innate intelligence — the “smart” compliment — is that it misrepresents the psychological reality of education. It encourages kids to avoid the most useful kind of learning activities, which is when we learn from our mistakes."

Child psychologist stresses the importance of play

Hearing Bilingual: How Babies Sort Out Language

Parents Urged Again to Limit TV for Youngest

The Guardian's Recommended reads: ages 0–4

What children’s drawings would look like if it were painted realistically

The Right To Breastfeed: An Open Letter to the SM Supermalls Management

Duplo playground. A great online game for pre-schoolers. Features are added every few months.

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Link round-up.

2011-09-25T17:48:00.003+08:00

Here are links to some parenting-related articles we've recently shared on our Facebook page:

What if the secret to success is failure? - how experiencing failure can help children

How To Help Your Child's Brain Grow Up Strong

DepEd draws up tougher policies vs bullying, violence in schools

Four surefire ways to send messages to your children

Dear moms and dads, it's been a difficult day - letter from the mom of a bullied kid

Ten things you don't know about teens and social networking - "You wouldn’t let your toddler cross the street without holding your hand, so don’t hand them your iPhone to play with for the first time without starting a simple discussion about the appropriate use of technology."

Are you buying toys that stunt your child's brain?

How to get preschoolers excited about helping around the house

Playing on a tablet as therapy

Four ways iPads are changing the lives of people with disabilities

How to talk to little girls - "This week ABC News reported that nearly half of all three- to six-year-old girls worry about being fat."

Six tips for teaching a child to deal with anger

Motherly love - some controversial and thought-provoking studies

How are your generation iY children?

You don't do much all day, do you? - a stay-at-home mom speaks out

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My Son's Bedtime List

2011-08-07T18:16:00.003+08:00

One parenting strategy I got from How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk was the idea of writing down instructions for children in order to encourage their cooperation.

I decided to try it with my son's bedtime routine. Since he'd been a baby, we had tried, unsuccessfully, to establish a fixed bedtime routine for him. It was driving us nuts, because he would sometimes stay up playing until midnight!

Finally, I called my 2.9 year old son to my side one day, and told him, "Let's make a list of all the things you do before you go to sleep." I asked him to remember the things he did before bedtime, and I wrote the following list: (1) take a bath, (2) brush teeth, (3) pray, (4) read a book, (5) turn off the light, (6) sleep. Because he can't read yet, beside each number, I drew a little drawing to help him remember what the item says. We read through the list a few times until I was sure that he understood what each drawing referred to.

Then we started putting the list into action. Every night, at around 9:15 PM, I remind him to start wrapping up whatever he is doing because, "In fifteen minutes, we're going to start doing the list." Then at 9:30 PM, I take the paper out, show it to him, and ask him what the first item on the list is. After we're done with each item, I ask him what the next item is, and so forth.

Since we instituted the list, bedtime has been a breeze. My son loves doing the bedtime list; he gets excited about it, and takes it very seriously. Most of the time, he is more than willing to drop whatever he is doing to do "the list," and he often double-checks the list to make sure he's doing everything in the correct order.

He also sees the list as a tool to help him get to sleep. Once, he was having trouble falling asleep for his nap, and he asked me if he could look at the list. I happily obliged, and though it wasn't bath time yet, we did the last four items on the list, to help him fall asleep.

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Listening to children.

2011-07-11T09:37:00.006+08:00

Last week I bought the book How to Talk So Kids Will Listen, and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. The content of the book reminded me of one of the major points that my husband and I took away from our Discovery Weekend experience, before we got married.

Discovery Weekend, a marriage preparation seminar, taught us all those years ago about the value of listening to and empathizing with your partner's feelings, and how crucial it is, too, to express your own feelings to your partner in a clear way. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen builds on the same philosophy, but applied to child-rearing.

The book doesn't simply preach the value of empathizing with children, it gives practical tips on how to go about it. Throughout the book are comic strips demonstrating how a conversation with your child can go sour if you replace empathy with lecturing, ignoring, or criticizing. It shows how simple strategies, like writing notes to your child, offering them a choice, or giving them a chance to make amends, can be far more productive and empathetic alternatives to punishment, when you are trying to engage their cooperation. The book itself is written as a workbook, with activities that invite readers to put themselves in their children's shoes.

Social norms encourage us to be empathetic with adults, but sadly, the same social pressure doesn't exist for the way we talk to children. It becomes easier to dismiss children's feelings because of our positions of authority. The book offers powerful tools for becoming a more caring, empathetic adult when dealing with any child, not just one's own. Just a few days after reading it, I've already become a lot more conscious of the way that I talk to my son, especially when he's upset or when he doesn't want to cooperate with me.

I bought the book from Amazon, and I'm not sure if it's available here in the Philippines, but if you do chance upon copies in our bookstores, I urge you to get one, whether your child is two or twenty.

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Blocks!

2011-05-27T12:34:00.004+08:00

For a few weeks, I was worried that my son was getting addicted to videos. He was going through a Lightning McQueen phase, and he would insist on watching Cars over and over again.

I've read all the studies dissuading parents from allowing young children to watch too much TV, but though we would try to encourage him to look through his Lightning McQueen books instead, my son would have none of it. "I want to watch Lightning McQueen video!" my 2-and-half-year-old would insist.

But then we brought out his wooden blocks.

He's had his blocks for a long time, and he has played with them on and off, but I guess two-and-a-half was the perfect age for him to get reacquainted with them. Over the last two weeks, he has almost ignored his Lightning McQueen videos, because his attention has been consumed by his blocks.

I am amazed by how blocks bring out his creativity. Without any prompting from me, he declared one afternoon that he was going to make a train. Over the next 20 minutes, in rapt concentration, he patiently constructed his train, working from the image of a train that he had in his head and the parts of the train he had learned from a book. And when he was done, again without any prompting from me, he enumerated for me the parts of his train: the four box cars, a front engine and a rear engine, smoke (or "fire" as he called it), and wheels. And when he was done, he applauded himself and pretended to sit on his train so he could ride it.

A few days later, when we brought out his blocks, he glanced at the identical eight long wooden bars that were on top of his train wagon. Then he said to me, "Mama, I show you how to make a piano!" One at a time, he laid out the wooden bars on the floor beside each other, so that they looked like a piano keyboard. And when he was finished, he looked up at me with excitement and began to "play" his piano and sing along. I on the other hand, made a set of drums and joined in, a mother-and-son musical band.

My husband and I brought out his Matchbox toy cars once and showed him that he could pretend that the blocks formed a road, and it was like a light went on in his head. His new project was to build the perfect flyover for his toy cars. He gathered together the triangular blocks and manipulated them in different ways, trying to balance them so they would form a ramp. When he succeeded, he happily pushed his Matchbox car up the ramp, saying "Look, a flyover!"

As you can probably tell, my son is now a huge fan of blocks, and so am I. I'm glad he inherited his father's rather than my creativity: "house" is about as imaginative as I get, whereas he and my husband think of dozens of things to do with the blocks. Blocks are probably among the oldest toys in the world, but they will forever be among the best. Share

Cloth diapers: to soak or not to soak?

2011-05-16T09:54:00.003+08:00

Over the weekend, I've answered three queries about washing cloth diapers. It seems that a lot of parents are confused about different washing instructions for different brands. "Why does Brand A say I can soak my diapers, but Brand B says that I shouldn't?"

To determine whether you can soak your cloth diapers, check what fabric your diaper is made of. If your cloth diaper has a shell made of laminated polyutherane (PUL), it shouldn't be soaked for a long time. Most waterproof shells and pocket diapers have PUL in them, as do some cloth training pants. Soaking them for a long time can lead to quicker wear and tear of the PUL: with worn out PUL, the laminate starts to bubble or slowly separate from the fabric. So if you do intend to soak them, keep your soaking to around an hour: definitely not overnight.

Diapers that are made entirely of cloth, however, with no laminate, can be soaked. Diaper inserts, contour diapers, prefolds, fitted diapers: all of these can be soaked with no problem.

With all diapers, make sure that you don't use a harsh detergent or a detergent with additives. Harsh detergents not only lean to faster wear and tear of the PUL; they also make diapers less absorbent over time.

"Oh no, it's too late; the PUL in my cloth diapers is starting to bubble!"

What if you've already been soaking your cloth diapers for some months, and the PUL in the waterproof shell is starting to bubble or come apart? Don't worry; there is still a way to save your diapers. If you have a dryer, throw them in the dryer and the heat from the dryer may reseal the laminate. If you don't have a dryer, try a hairdryer instead.

"I've been using a harsh detergent and my diapers have become less absorbent."

There's an easy solution to this as well. Cloth diaper users describe it as "stripping" their diapers when they subject their diapers to a process to remove additives and residue that have made their diapers less absorbent. One easy way to strip diapers is to wash them in plain dishwashing liquid (the kind without lotion or other additives). Dishwashing liquid is effective at removing oily residue from dishes, and it can do the same for your diapers as well. Another way is to rinse the diapers in hot water.

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Please note that these bits of advice are not meant to replace diaper manufacturers' washing instructions. Make sure that you read manufacturers' washing instructions; not following them could void the warranty that most manufacturers have for the diapers they make.

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Veggie goodness.

2011-05-15T19:54:00.005+08:00

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the organic vegetable program that our family joined. The three-month long season is over, and it's been all good.

Three months ago, before we started the program, our family would only eat vegetables around twice a week. But now we eat them everyday, every lunch and dinner that we have at home. We've learned to cook several vegetable dishes, and we've learned to incorporate vegetables into our food in different ways.

Scrambled eggs are now scrambled eggs with spinach. When we eat baked chicken, we now roast tomatoes at the same time. Stir-fried chicken or beef is now served with kangkong. I've made lots of pesto these past three months, and when we're looking for a snack, we have pesto on Fita or crackers. And when we can't think of what else to do with our vegetables, we just make some broth using a broth cube, and throw in garlic, onions, and different kinds of green leaves.

Organic vegetables are all the rage in Metro Manila lately, but my favorite thing about Good Food Co.'s program is their commitment to the farming community that produces our vegetables. My second favorite thing about their program is the vegetable-box system. Every week you don't know what kind of vegetables you're going to get. I worried at first that this was going to be a problem if I found myself stuck with a lot of vegetables I was unfamiliar with. But on the contrary, it's made me explore new recipes for vegetables, and try vegetables I didn't know I liked! The vegetables are also very fresh and last longer than the usual grocery-bought vegetables.

I admit, we don't always use up all the vegetables. As it is, our tiny household already splits the weekly subscription with someone else, and there are weeks that we still have veggies left over. When a new batch of veggies arrive we try to give away whatever we still have from the previous week, and veggies that have wilted or spoiled go straight into our home compost bin. Cheesy as it may sound, the fact that we do compost our spoiled veggies makes me feel that we are returning to Mother Earth the abundance that she has given us.

All this is for just P400 a week. (Or in our case, P200 a week, since we split it with someone else.) That's just one meal for one person in a mid-range restaurant. That's a very small price to pay for changing our whole family's eating habits--and mindsets--for the better!

Good Food Co.'s next season starts on May 21st. They now also have a salad subscription program. Find 9 other friends from your office who are interested in buying fresh organic salad greens and herbs at just P200 per week, and Good Food Co. will deliver the salad straight to your office every Thursday! For more information, click here.

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Link round-up.

2011-05-09T22:28:00.004+08:00

Happy Mother's Day, mommies! Here's a round-up of links we've shared on our Facebook page so far this summer:

Teach your kid to ride a bike

Earthquake preparation for parents

Children and emergencies: preparing your family

7 things "good parents" do that screw up kids' life (note: this is from a humor site; please expect strong language)

How do newlyweds handle combine their finances?

US preschoolers watching way too much TV

Watching TV at age 2 linked to a host of problems at age 10

Diseases to watch out for during the rainy season

If you aren't our fan on Facebook yet, you can find us here.Share

Eating well, doing good.

2011-02-19T18:30:00.005+08:00

I have a confession to make. Our family aren't the healthiest eaters. Well, we aren't the most unhealthy eaters either: we consume very little processed food (thank goodness my husband loves to cook), and we try to choose high-quality ingredients. But we're very carnivorous, and we definitely don't eat enough vegetables.

But as my son grows up, I've become more concerned about trying to make sure our family has healthier meals. So when some friends of mine told them about their organic vegetables venture, it didn't take a lot of convincing for me to sign on.

My friends put up Good Food Co. as a social enterprise apostolate for their small Catholic prayer group. While the number of organic vegetable suppliers are increasing in Metro Manila, what sets Good Foods Co. apart from most other vegetable suppliers is that it is inspired by the spirit of Community Supported Agriculture.

For the last five decades, Community Supported Agriculture has been an alternative model of food production/distribution in many parts of the world. Unlike normal market-driven models of food production/distribution, Community Supported Agriculture emphasizes ecological sustainabiity and fair trade. Customers (who comprise the community) commit to purchasing an entire season's worth of food, thereby assuring farmers of a market. In turn, the farmers produce high-quality food for the community, often using organic methods.

The risk and reward of the farmers' hard work is shared by the whole community. Every week, the consumers receive a box's worth of whatever produce is ripe, and everyone benefits from a good harvest. And should anything go wrong--if the harvest is lean or if a typhoon destroys some of the crops--everyone shares the risk too. This liberates the farmers to focus on growing quality produce and practising sustainable farming practices that are gentler to the soil/animals.

In the case of Good Food Co., I as a consumer "subscribe" to three months' worth of vegetables from their partner-farm. For P400 per week, each consumer receives 3 to 4 kilos of a nice variety of vegetables: lettuce, tomatoes, malunggay, green beans, spinach, saluyot, gabi, ginger, squash, etc.

The amount of veggies we're projected to receive is so much that in my family's case, we actually split our weekly box of veggies with a friend. We pay P200 and they pay the other P200, and the veggies are still enough to make sure that every meal we eat at home has a generous serving of veggies.

The amount might be a little more than what I would normally spend on veggies in a supermarket, but unlike supermarket vegetables, the vegetables I get are guaranteed fresh (having just been harvested: the roots are still on them!), they're organically grown, and best of all, I know that the money is going straight to the farmers who worked hard on them. With this in mind, I don't mind at all sharing the farmers' risk.

And taking the long view, P200 -- or even P400 -- is just the price of one meal at a restaurant these days. It's a small price to pay to support what I believe to be a very good enterprise.

Two weeks into this cycle of veggie subscription, my family is already eating much more healthily than we used to. We've gone beyond our old salad repertoire and now know how to make a greater variety of vegetable dishes. Just last night, I successfully made a spinach soup, and surprised myself at the amount of healthy green leaves that could be consumed in just one bowl of soup!

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Good Food Co. won the I Am a Changemaker competition sponsored by the British Council last year. Read more about Good Food Co. here.

Information on CSA is from here.

Photo by Joel R. Terrell
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Questions to ask during the pre-school hunt.

2011-02-06T01:24:00.015+08:00

One thing I've learned from researching about pre-schools is that pre-schools can be very different from one another. I'm guessing this is partly because there is no mandated curriculum in the Philippines for pre-schools. Some pre-schools have full school days; others have classes as short as 90 minutes. Some pre-schools keep their classes limited to just 4 or 5 students; others may have as many as 20 students in a class. And, as I've already mentioned before, the types of activities students do can vary immensely.

Given the vast differences among pre-schools, I'd like to share some of the things that I thought parents might want to explore about pre-schools they're looking into.

Before starting the pre-school hunt, my husband and I personally found it helpful to ask ourselves why we were planning to send our son to pre-school, and how we were hoping pre-school would benefit our child. This gave us a frame of reference so that when we actually went around visting pre-schools, we had a better idea of what we were looking for.

When we were touring pre-schools, here (below) were some of the things we looked out for. We didn't ask all of the questions I've listed below; many times, the teachers themselves volunteered the information; sometimes, we gathered the answer through observation. But the answers to these questions helped us decide where to send our son for pre-school. (I won't share where we eventually decided to send our son, but I hope that other parents looking for pre-schools find it helpful to read about our own information-gathering process.)

- Approach to teaching and pedagogical philosophy. What is the school's vision/mission statement? Does the school subscribe to a particular pedagogical philosophy (Progressive, Montessori, etc.)? How would the school's teachers answer the question: what is the purpose of pre-school education? What do they believe to be an appropriate education for pre-school aged children, and why? If you have a chance to talk to your child's potential teacher, you can ask him/her why he/she decided to become a pre-school teacher and what he/she likes about teaching. You can also observe how the teachers communicate with the pupils. (Ask yourself if the school's/teachers' answers corresponds to your own reasons for wanting to send your child to pre-school.)

- Teachers' credentials and experience. How long has the teacher been teaching? What are her/his credentials? (This is not a be-all and end-all of course! At all levels of education, there are some new teachers who are great and some veteran teachers who are terrible! Similarly, a master's degree in early childhood education doesn't necessarily make someone a good pre-school teacher.)

- Grownup-to-child ratio and class size. What is the typical class size? How many teachers/grownups are there per child in a classroom? What happens if the school has a lot of enrolees: do they open a new section, add a grownup to the class, or limit the number of enrolees?

- Types of and variety of activities. What is a typical class day like? What kinds of activites will the children be doing? Artwork? Worksheets? Montessori manipulatives? Singing and dancing? Outdoor activities? Does the school tend to emphasize academics or play or a combination of the two? And if it is largely academic-based, how are academics taught: with worksheets? With Montessori materials? With other manipulatives? (Again, ask yourself if this corresponds to your own expectations.)

- Assessment. How is assessment done, and how are parents informed of their children's progress? Are there parent-teacher conferences, and how frequently do these take place?

- Partnership with parents/caregivers. Are there programs/seminars/workshops for parents/caregivers? (I personally don't think this is an absolute necessity but I do think that having such programs reflects the importance that the school gives to the child's parents and caregivers.)

- Security, safety and health measures. What security measures does the school take? Are fetchers required to have identification cards? What is the school policy regarding children's illnesses? Have measures been undertaken to ensure the children's safety?

- Length of class session and frequency of class time. Ask yourself if you think this is appropriate for your child's age and personality.

- Classroom management. Does the teacher allow parents and caregivers to stay in the classroom; why or why not? How does the teacher handle crying or discipline problems?

- Academic learning. What kind of exposure will children get to literacy, numeracy, and vocabulary building? How are these incorporated into the class activities? (This doesn't necessarily mean that the more letters children learn, the better. In fact, I personally think that forcing kids to learn something when they aren't ready might be detrimental. But in my case I found it helpful to know how the teacher incorporated familiarity with letters/numbers/letter sounds into the children's activities.)

- Learning other skills. Think of the other things you want your child to develop in pre-school, and ask how these will be encouraged. How are children taught independence? Socialization (learning to work with other kids, learning to take turns, etc.)? School readiness (learning to listen to a teacher, learning to follow instructions, etc.)?

- Teacher/staff turnover. Is it likely that the child will be seeing the same familiar faces in school from year to year?

- Cost. How much is the tuition fee and are there any other costs (reservation fees, fees for materials/uniforms, etc.)? What payment options are there -- do you need to pay a full year's fee up front or can you pay in installments?

- Flexibility of enrollment (if this is important to you). What happens if you find out later on that the school isn't a good fit for your child? Can you pull your child out midyear?

- Special needs. Parents of children with special needs will of course have questions relating to their children's specific needs.

- Preparation for "big school" (if this matters to you). If you expect your child's pre-school to prepare your child for the entrance exams to certain competitive schools, you might want to ask about this. Some pre-schools will share their batting averages in terms of getting their graduates into particular "big schools." (On the other hand, some parents don't consider it as important whether a pre-school prioritizes entrance exam preparations, and prefer to delay the academic focus until the child is older.)

Finally. Do you think your child will thrive there? I've heard many stories from friends about how ultimately it was their child who chose the pre-school, and this is where trial classes can be very useful. Many pre-schools offer trial classes; some even allow children to join the class for an entire week or two, to help parents decide if the school is a good fit for the child.

(Photo by Anissa Thompson)

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Non-traditional pre-schooling: Montessori vs. Progressive, part 3.

2011-02-05T10:40:00.012+08:00

I visited a number of Progessive pre-schools near our house, but only had the opportunity to really observe the class at one. I won't name the school, but I'll describe the classroom activities in this post.

Before observing the class, I had had the chance to speak with the head of the pre-school, who said that the school follows "Developmentally Appropriate Practice" (DAP). The idea behind DAP is that children go through developmental stages, and in a DAP school, the focus is on making sure that the activities and materials help children to develop and maximize their potentials at each stage.

The class itself was 90 minutes long, and I was told that each session follows a routine similar to the one I observed. It was a class for 2 year olds. The sessions for older children were longer, I was told.

The classroom had a very cheery atmosphere. The walls were brightly painted, with a colorful mural on one wall, and the children's art work decorated the other walls. One wall was lined with shelves containing baskets of toys. In one corner there was a small forward-facing bookshelf filled with books. Near the entrance was a small shelf for the children's lunch boxes and shoes. Another small shelf had art materials. A long work table was against one wall, and a large mirror was hanging on another wall. The floor was covered with puzzle mats. In another corner of the class there were small tables and chair where the children could eat. All the furniture was toddler-sized.

The class had one teacher and two teaching aides.

When the children arrived, they were asked to take off their shoes, put them in their individual cubby holes, and come to the mat to join the class. For the first 15 to 20 minutes, the children had time for Free Play. Under the supervision of the teachers, the children were encouraged to get toys they were interested in off the shelves and play with them on the floor as they pleased.

After this, the children packed away the toys, and circle time began. It started with a welcome song, then the teacher introduced a theme (the theme for the day was "my body"). The teacher asked the children to sit on pillows on the floor, and the teacher read a story to the children that was related to the theme. After this the teacher led the children in a song and dance about my body.

After circle time, the teacher led the children in an activity related to the theme. For this class day, the children did some art work and the teacher and the aides helped the children accomplish the artwork. I was told that sometimes the activity was a science activity (playing with water, for example) or an outdoor activity.

After the activity, the children washed their hands and got ready for quiet time. The teacher read them another story, and then encouraged the children to bring out their pillows and lie on the mats or sit quietly for a few minutes.

Finally, it was snack time. The children put away their pillows and went one at a time to wash their hands. The children brought out placemats and plates, then the teachers helped them open their lunch boxes and eat the snacks they had brought. When they were done, they lined up to brush their teeth in the bathroom, with a teacher helping them.

After they had put away their lunch boxes, placemats and plates, the teacher called the children again to gather together for their goodbye routine. The teacher reviewed the day, then led the children in a goodbye song.

In the school I went to, the teachers were very affectionate with the children, hugging them and talking to them a lot. The teachers appeared to try to encourage a fun atmosphere, and the teachers praised the children for the effort they put into their work. When one child started crying, the aides tried to soothe them, first in the classroom, and then after awhile, one aide brought the child outside until he had calmed down, before bringing him back into the classroom.

Based on my observation I think that parents who want their children to learn in a playful atmosphere, with a wide variety of activities (singing, dancing, art work, discovery) might like a Progressive school similar to the one I observed.

I do think that regardless of labels ("Montessori"/"Progressive") that a lot will depend on the individual school and the individual teacher. In that respect, I think that reading about a school is not enough to learn about it and an actual classroom observation is still immensely helpful.

Previous posts in this series are here and here.

(Stock photo by Anissa Thomson.)
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Non-traditional pre-schooling: Montessori vs. Progressive, part 2.

2011-02-05T10:21:00.007+08:00

Almost a year ago, I wrote about the things I found out while researching the difference between Montessori and Progressive pre-schools. That post is here.

Since then I've sat in a few pre-school classes. With pre-school hunting season just around the corner, I've decided to update my previous post, based on some Montessori and progressive schools I've observed. In this and in my next post, I'll talk about my experiences observing two pre-schools. I won't name the names of the schools.

I visited one "true" Montessori school near our house. I call it a "true" Montessori school, because apparently there are a lot of schools that are called "Montessori" but don't follow the Montessori method to the letter; those schools are just "inspired" by Montessori, but also bring in some ideas from other pedagogical systems.

There were a lot of things that impressed me about this school: teachers with very good credentials, and a firm and passionate belief on the part of the administrators in the benefits of a Montessori education.

The classroom I visited was a class for 2 to 5 year olds. Following Maria Montessori's philosophy, the school had mixed-age groupings: Maria Montessori's idea was that having mixed-age classes allows older children to teach younger children; it also helps younger children grow in confidence as they become the ate's/kuya's of the class.

The classroom itself was quite large, and very simple. There were no decorations, but the classroom's walls were lined neatly with shelves containing a wide variety of Montessori materials. Individual chairs and tables formed a large square, and in the Montessori tradition encouraging independent work, the chairs and tables were spaced far from each other. In the center was a large square carpet. The teachers did not have their own tables, but instead they went around and brought chairs with them so they could sit beside individual students they were helping.

In the 2-5 age group, Montessori-trained children largely do individual work. In the time that I observed the class, there was no group work. Group interaction was limited to students (mostly the 4- and 5-year-olds) conversing with one another about a movie they had watched, although the teachers (there were two in the classroom) discouraged too much chatter and reminded the children to keep quiet because it was work time. In this respect, I observed that the teachers seemed to encourage discipline among the students.

In the spirit of independent work, each child would go to the shelves where the materials were, pick out a Montessori material to work with, and bring it back either to his/her desk or the center mat, and work on it for awhile. The teachers would approach the children who needed help with their work and would guide them. Each child worked on a different Montessori material. A 3-year-old on the center mat was working with stacking blocks (I think it's called a "pink tower"). One older child was tracing his finger on sandpaper letters, and another was using pencil and paper, tracing his pencil around wooden (or were they plastic?) shapes.

When the child was done with the material, he/she would put the material back on the shelf and get something new to work with.

A two-year-old child started crying and one of the teachers tried to soothe him, first by giving him crayons to play with, and when that didn't work, the teacher carried the child outside; I'm guessing to soothe him outside.

One of the older children tried to come up and talk to me, but the teacher discouraged it and reminded the child that it was work time.

All in all, it was a very instructive school visit for me. I only had about half an hour to observe the class, but based on that, I think that parents who want their pre-school aged children to develop independence and discipline, and want their children to get accustomed to making a distinction between work time and play time, will appreciate the Montessori method.

In my next post, I'll talk about the progressive classroom I visited.

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Helping toddlers learn self-control.

2011-01-28T01:30:00.006+08:00

Results of a very interesting study have just been released. An international team of researchers followed 1000 subjects for more than three decades, from birth to the time they were 32. They found that those who displayed low levels of self-control at age 3 were likely to be less healthy and more financially insecure at age 32. Moreover, most of the people in the study remained in the same percentile of self-control through the years, meaning those with the highest levels of self-control at 3 also had the most self-control at 32. Only a few subjects in the study made significant changes in their level of self-control, usually due to major life changes, like entering a school with a lot of structure or getting remarried.

The researchers believe that the study underscores just how important self-control and self-discipline are, even at a very young age.

Coincidentally, just before reading that study (shared by someone on a local mailing list I'm a part of), I had been reading a mailing list exchange about how to discipline one's toddler.

Different parents have different strategies for disciplining toddlers. And it seems that different toddlers have different methods that work for them. Among those that participated in the mailing list discussion, it seemed time outs and counting down were very popular. Some parents threatened to take away favorite toys. Others spanked or shouted (often as last resorts). Others focused on positive reinforcement. Still others shared ways of talking to toddlers that they felt worked for them.

Wanting to know more, I did a bit of Google research on the topic. What I wanted to know was: which discipline methods are best at helping toddlers learn self-control? Some of the articles that had my attention were these:

The Zero to Three site has some great suggestions, appropriate for each stage of a baby's development. Infants can already be shown how techniques of calming themselves when they're accept. One-year-olds can be taught to label their feelings. And two-year-olds can be taught the vital skill of waiting.

This article from EmaxHealth suggests to parents that the best way to teach a child to obey his parents is to make him want to obey his parents. According to the article, this can only come about if the parent exercises respect for the child, concern, moderation, and consistency.

This article from Parenthood.com suggests that teaching independence through chores and age-appropriate self-care activites (e.g. combing one's own hair, brushing teeth with assistance) is what helps breed self-discipline.

The authors of this (pretty long) article argue that the parenting style that helps foster self-discipline is "consultant parenting." Consultant parents "boss and rescue as little as possible. They share their thoughts, but they don't tell kids what to do. They don't take on a child's problem as their own. Their strategy is to give their kids the opportunity to make choices when the consequences are small and then let the children deal with the consequences of their decisions. Ultimately, this helps a child develop self-discipline."

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My own takeaway from all these articles is that teaching self-discipline is extremely important, but discipline isn't the same as teaching self-discipline. It's one thing to make a child obey; it's another to teach a child to figure out for herself what appropriate behavior is and how to behave appropriately. Discipline can be enforced from without; self-discipline comes from within.

All this, of course, makes me reflect on my own strategies for teaching my son self-discipline. I hope I'm on the right track!

(Photo by roxinasz)
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The Big Move.

2011-01-25T09:50:00.004+08:00

Like it is with many (most?) Filipino families, our son spent most of his baby-life sharing my husband's and my bed. As a nursing mom, it made feeding simpler, and we all enjoyed the family bonding that we shared every evening.

When my son was one and a half, however, my husband and I decided that we wanted him to move out around his second birthday. Not only was our son getting bigger (and starting to kick my husband towards the edge of the bed in the middle of the night), we decided that two years old was the right time for us to wean him. By then, he was only nursing in the evenings (to sleep) and in the morning (upon waking), so it made perfect sense to combine the weaning process with moving him to a different bed.

We're fortunate to have another bedroom in our home, and we reserved that room for our son. A few months before he turned two, we renovated the room a little: we gave it a fresh coat of paint, and had some toddler-sized furniture built for him.

As soon as the room was finished, it became our son's play room. We made a big deal out of it being "Rafa's room."

A few days ago, we began Operation Moving Toddler To His Own Room. We had already conditioned our son a few days prior to the big move, by telling him that he would soon be sleeping in his own room, on his own bed, beside his own toys. Fortunately for us, he got very excited about it, so when the day came to move him, he was more than willing!

We are lucky that Rafa has a yaya, so our transition method has been to have his yaya put him to sleep at night. We were afraid, you see, that if we tried to put him to sleep, he might protest and want to come back to our bedroom with us.

The first night, he was so excited about being in his new room that he slept three hours later than usual, staying up to play with his toys! (Poor yaya!) But he eventually did go to sleep. He woke up once in the middle of the night, looked for us and cried a little, but within ten minutes, he was asleep again.

The second night, he was still very excited, and he slept two hours later than usual. But at least he slept through the night.

Yesterday, we shortened his afternoon nap to wear him out a little, and it worked. He slept only one hour later than usual, and slept through the night without a peep. We also tried spending more time with him before leaving him with yaya, and it turns out our fears that he would want to move to our room were a bit unfounded. He didn't protest at all when we left him with yaya later that night.

The interesting thing is, he now loves his own bedroom more than ours! When we invite him to come to our bedroom to play, he says no, and wants us instead to join him in his room!

So far so good.

We're playing it by ear from here. Thus far, yaya has been sleeping in the same bedroom as him, but once the routine is set, we're planning to ask yaya to leave once our son is asleep, to get him accustomed to waking up without anyone in the same room. (We'll leave a baby monitor in the room in case we need to attend to him in the middle of the night; my husband also plans to put a webcam so we have a video monitor as well.) I'm not sure yet when we'll be ready for the next step--getting him used to falling asleep on his own--but we're trying to do it a little at a time.

I must admit, though, that while we do appreciate the more restful evenings, my husband and I are also feeling the bittersweet nostalgia that accompanies letting go. Sigh, babies grow up so quickly!

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Blog reviews and that Sunday Inquirer article.

2011-01-23T18:11:00.010+08:00

Mommies love blog reviews! I know this for a fact not only because I'm a Mommy myself, but also because I read Mommy blogs and I notice that a lot of moms look online for reviews of products they intent do buy.

It's no surprise, then, that mommies are among the people who are reacting with grave concern to an article written by Margaux Salcedo, published in today's Sunday Inquirer magazine. The article is a blind item of sorts about a restaurateur, a blogger-for-hire, and the PR firm that contracted the blogger-for-hire's services.

Here's a quick summary of the article: a PR firm approaches the restaurateur, hoping to engage her as a client. She declines. The blogger-for-hire writes a glowing review about the restaurant. The PR firm approaches the restaurateur a second time, offering their services. The restaurateur still declines. A few days later, the same blogger writes a scathing review about the restaurant. The PR firm asks the restaurateur, "Do you want us to ask the blogger to retract his review? Hire us and we'll do it." You can read the whole article here.

There are many issues at stake.

One is whether bloggers should be selling their blog posts to advertisers at all. Many readers assume that all bloggers are giving their honest, unbiased reviews when they write, and the notion that some bloggers are actually hired by PR firms turns some readers off. Advertisers, however, argue that bloggers own their blogs, so essentially, they can do whatever they want with them. They contend that if bloggers want to sell their writing to the highest bidder, they should be allowed to do it.

In the US, some kind of middle-ground between the two positions has been reached. The US government, through the Federal Trade Commission, requires all bloggers who receive compensation for their posts to say so on their blogs, through a disclosure statement. Bloggers who fail to do so can be fined up to $11,000 dollars per post.

Here in the Philippines, we don't have such a rule requiring bloggers to make such disclosures. However, some bloggers voluntarily put disclosure statements on their blogs anyway, as a courtesy to their readers, and to maintain their blogs' integrity. There's a marvelous example of a disclosure statement (more like a disclosure pledge) here.*

(If you want a local example of a disclosure statement from a Philippine blogger, check out Marketman of Marketmanila.com'slatest blog post, where he reacts to Margaux Salcedo's article, and outlines his own blogging principles.)

A second issue involves the question of the ethics of the blogger/PR firm in Margaux Salcedo's story. A lot of readers want to know: did the PR firm ask the blogger to purposely write a scathing review, in order to get the restaurateur to agree to engage their services? And it they did, is that some kind of extortion?

As an ethics teacher (yes, I'm a sometime ethics teacher), it's a very intriguing issue that I can't wait to use in the classroom....

Either way, if the blogger's and the PR firm's identities are revealed in the weeks to come, it'll be interesting to see how the public will judge these events. It's entirely possible that the restaurateur may just have the last laugh.

*The Pinoybaby.com blog has had a disclosure statement since early 2010 (which is when I first heard about disclosure policies). You can read it here.

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Your child's clothes for a winter holiday.

2011-01-08T16:19:00.010+08:00

Our family visited relatives in Europe over the Christmas holidays, just when Europe was experiencing one of its harshest winters in recent history! The experience taught us a few things about preparing toddlers' clothes for a winter vacation.

To begin with, remember the cardinal rule: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes."

1. Keep the torso warm. Make sure your child will have the proper clothes for travelling to a cold climate. For true winter (5 degrees celsius and below), your child will need to be wearing at least 4 layers on his/her torso:

(a) warm underwear -- thermals, if you can find them, or at the very least, a thick sando
(b) a long-sleeved t-shirt or shirt
(c) an insulating layer, like a polyester fleece jacket or a wool sweater (do *not* use cotton for the insulating layer; cotton does not insulate at all and the cold air will just go straight through)
(d) a warm winter coat

With smaller babies the usual rule of thumb is that you should dress your baby in the same number of layers you (an adult) would wear, plus one extra layer, so consider adding an additional layer to the above list if your baby is one year old or below.

Add yet another layer or replace the shirt/t-shirt with a sweater if it's well below freezing.

2. Keep the rest of the body warm. Although the torso is the most important, make sure your child's legs are warm too: if you have warm pants (e.g. fleece or corduroy pants), that's great; if not, you can dress your child in regular pants or jeans and put leg warmers, thick knee-high socks (or two or three layers of thin socks), or thick tights underneath them.

Next to the torso, the part of the body that loses the most heat is the head, so buy a hat or bonnet for your child, especially if his/her winter coat doesn't come with a hood. A hat that can be pulled down over the ears is best.

Other accessories you should not do without are a scarf/neck warmer and gloves/mittens. For Manila residents, these fortunately are available in Greenhills.

Boots are best for the winter, but good closed shoes can work well too if it isn't well below freezing, as long as your child has thick (preferably wool-blend if you can find them) socks to keep his/her feet toasty. Choose footwear with good traction if your child might be walking on icy sidewalks. If you plan to bring your children to play in the snow, you can buy wellington boots or waterproof snowboots at your destination.

3. Have one set of winter clothes to travel with; consider buying the rest there. True winter clothes (the kind good enough for snow) for kids are hard to come by in the Philippines. Unlike adult winter clothes which one can find at affordable prices in Greenhills or at surplus stores, children's winter clothes are rarer here, and usually the only places you can find them are at branded stores like Zara. You do, however, need at least one good set of winter clothes so your child has something warm to wear as soon as your plane lands, so splurge if necessary and buy a good winter coat, and pack it in your carry-on bag. (In our case, we had a stopover in Hong Kong, so we bought a warm winter coat at an outlet store there.)

It will be a lot easier (and usually cheaper) to find winter clothes for your child at your destination, so plan to make a shopping trip early on in your holiday to buy the rest of the clothes your child will need for the duration of your holiday. You don't need to buy a change of clothes for each day of your holiday: since your child won't be sweating, you can actually dress him/her in the same clothes for two or three days in a row; however, kids being kids, bear in mind that their clothes might get soiled from spills or other things.

4. Consider purchasing winter clothes online, and check out international eBay sites for secondhand winter clothes. In our case, we were staying with relatives, so we had a shipping address in Europe. Before we left I went online and bought a good wool winter coat for my son, some thermal underwear, two wool vests and two polyester fleece jackets to be used as insulating layers.

A lot of people in countries with winter sell their toddlers' winter coats on eBay. Because children grow out of clothes so easily, and because winter is only a few months long, most of these coats have usually only been used for one season and are still in great condition. Wool coats, coats lined with down or feather, or padded and lined polyester puffer jackets are the warmest. Winter coats are usually very expensive, so the savings you get from buying secondhand can be significant.

5. Bring a warm toddler's blanket. Just in case it gets a little colder than you'd expected, it always helps to have an extra layer onhand in the form of a small blanket you can tuck into your daybag.

6. Indoor wear is important too. Even with heating, the indoors can be quite chilly for those of us who aren't used to winter, so make sure your child has some warm pambahay or sleepwear too. Thick pajamas or onesies are great if you can find them. Alternatively, you can put your child to bed in jogging pants and two layers of long-sleeved t-shirts.

7. Don't forget to factor in the windchill. Wind can make cold weather feel even colder: when it's windy a person might feel like it's as much as five degrees colder than the thermometer readings. When checking weather forecasts of the place you'll be visiting, check for information on wind as well. Some weather websites like accuweather.com and weather.com have two temperature forecasts: the actual temperature of the air, and what it will feel like after one factors in other atmospheric conditions like wind.

8. The trip home: balikbayan-box it? Travelling in the winter means you need more luggage space because the clothes are thicker. If you're afraid of your baggage going overweight when coming back home, you can save on space and weight by tossing the winter clothes you won't need in the Philippines into a balikbayan box and sending it by ocean freight. That will leave you more space in your suitcase for your shopping and pasalubong! ;)

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A Toddler's Christmas.

2010-12-08T09:09:00.004+08:00

As we enter the season of Advent, many parents are wondering what traditions they can begin with their toddlers and young children, so that Christmas becomes more than simply a time to receive gifts. Here are some of the toddler-friendly things that some of my friends do in anticipation of Christmas.

1. Teach generosity and gift-giving. When a friend of mine was growing up, her parents made Christmas a time of clearing and giving. Each child was encouraged to go through their old toys and clothes and look for items they were prepared to give away. Their family would make an annual trip to a nearby orphanage to drop off their donations. An officemate of mine encourages something similar with his young son, and urges his son to give away the toys he no longer plays with.

2. Read the Christmas story. My son has two books about the first Christmas: "Christmas in the Manger" by Nola Buck and Felicia Bond, and "The Brightest Star" by Alyssa Satin Capucilli. Both are great for toddlers, and we've been reading them to my son these past few weeks.

3. Listen to carols. Christmas is a time for carolling, and many toddlers and young children love music. You can contact your parish or church to find out if any choirs will be having carolling concerts over the season. And while you're at it, you can teach your children some carols as well!

4. Christmas crafts. Decorating the home is a great opportunity to involve young children. Children can help make an Advent or Christmas wreath, or they can make decorations for the tree. With kraft/manila paper and rubber stamps, even the youngest toddlers can make homemade Christmas wrappers for your gifts. Older children can make Christmas cards.

Photo by Alex Bruda.

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How do babies really learn?

2010-11-02T16:07:00.008+08:00

A few months ago I purchased a copy of Einstein Never Used Flash Cards. The book has been one of the bestselling books about babies' development these past few years: it was written by two developmental psychologists who wished to share the latest research on how babies and toddlers learn.

The thesis of the book is clear from the subtitle: "How Our Children Really Learn--And Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less." The authors' premise is that babies and toddlers learn best through unstructured play, and through natural interactions and conversations with adults. In the authors' view, then, the trend towards buying "baby genius" videos, flashcards, and expensive educational toys is unnecessary and doesn't coincide with the latest research on the best ways that babies learn. If anything, research shows that exposing toddlers to an overly academic approach to learning can actually make our children more stressed.

The authors devote a chapter each to describing how babies and toddlers actually learn about mathematics, language, and reading, based on scientific research. In each chapter, they explain why that popular videotape or flashcard set is not the best way to teach toddlers these skills, and instead they offer practical suggestions on what you can do in your normal everyday interactions with your child, to help them develop these skills that they are already naturally wired to learn.

For example, in the chapter about language-learning, the authors emphasize how the simple practice of reading to our toddlers helps them learn to speak. Elsewhere, in a particularly instructive passage, they demonstrate the difference between a parent who tries to advance mealtime conversation with her three-year-old and a parent who doesn't:

Child: I want bread.
Mary: (Handing over bread) Here.
Child: Mmmm.
Mary: You want more?
Child: Yes.
Mary: (Handing over bread) Here.

Child: I want bread.
Jamie: The bread is good, isn't it? Do you want one piece or two?
Child: One, please.
Jamie: (Handing over bread) Did you like the bread on your sandwich at school today?
Child: Yeah, it was good.
Jamie: The bread I used for your school lunch was called pumpernickel. Pumpernickel is a black bread. Did you ever have black bread before?

The book is loaded with similar suggestions on how we can encourage our children to learn, in just the everyday, natural interactions we have with them.

Sometimes, as a parent, I get a little pressured when media bombards me with messages about turning my child into a "brainy baby" or into a "little Einstein," and I wonder whether I should be buying more "educational" equipment to "stimulate" my son. The book is such a relief to read, because it reminds me that at the end of the day, there's really no match for simply spending some quality time with my child.

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More bargain book-shopping: the Books for Less warehouse sale!

2010-09-25T10:50:00.003+08:00

On my quest for more second-hand books for my son, I went to the Book for Less warehouse sale in Pasig.

What a find! Books for Less already has really low prices, but at the warehouse sale, their books were discounted even further. Some of their books (the shabbier ones) were as low as P10!

I spent my first forty-five minutes there picking out some books for my son ... and was thrilled to find that the eight books I had chosen totaled just around P360! (That's just the price of ONE board book at one of the bigger bookstores in the metropolis.) So naturally I went back in and chose another 6 or 7 books!

All this second-hand book-shopping makes me wonder if I shall ever buy a children's book at full price again.

The Books for Less warehouse sale runs until the end of September. The warehouse is along Mercedez Avenue in Pasig, across La Consolacion College, and they're open from Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM. The map to their warehouse is here.
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Second-hand book finds for my toddler!

2010-09-23T10:34:00.004+08:00

Since the Manila International Book Fair last week, I've been obsessively hunting for second-hand books to add to 23-month-old son's little library. Here are some of my finds:

1. I See The Moon and The Moon Sees Me. By Jonathan London, illustrated by Peter Fiore. I found this in the National Bookstore bargain bin at the Book Fair. It cost me P75. It's perfect for reading to a toddler: the words are simple, repetitive and rhythmic, and the illustrations are beautifully done (I prefer realistic illustrations to cartoons). The book is about a boy spending a day flying a kite in a field, exploring a mountain, balancing on a stepping-stones in a river, and kayaking on a lake, before heading home to sleep. My son, who loves nature (we go camping at least once a month), really loves this book. (First page: "I see the sun and the sun sees me. Hello sun, how do you be?" I know the "how do you be" line is a bit off, but this is the only rhyme in the book that's awkward.)

2. Pajama Time. By Sandra Boynton. I got this board book from a local online store, Noah & Luke's Not-So-Used Books, for P60 (plus shipping). It's a funny book about animals getting ready for bed. The words are meant to be read in be-bop rhythm. The first time I read this to Rafa, he spent the next few minutes shouting, "Pajama Time! Pajama Time!" in delight. (First page: "The moon is up. It's getting late. Let's get ready to celebrate. It's Pajama Time!")

3. Railroad Toad. By Susan Schade and Jon Buller. I found this at the Book Fair for P100. My son loves trains, and he will happily look at any book that has trains in them. This book is about a toad who loves trains too. The illustrations aren't great, but the words are rhythmic, and my son gets a kick out of hearing this book to read to him. (First page: "I park my car by the side of the road. I grab my bag. I'm ... RAILROAD TOAD!")

4. Christmas in the Manger. By Nola Buck and Felicia Bond. Another online find from Noah & Luke's; it cost me P30 (plus shipping). The Christmas story, told from the perspectives of different "characters": the star, the ram, the ox, the donkey, the ox, the Wise Men, Mary, and finally, Baby Jesus. Very cute illustrations. I haven't read this to my son yet, but I'm excited to bring it out when Advent begins. (First page: "I am the star that shines in the east, I light the stable for man and beast.")

I want to give props to Noah & Luke's Not So Used Books. Shipment was very quick, and the nine books they sent were all in great condition. I was slightly disappointed that the "Curious George in the Big City" book was so tiny (not a full-sized book) but the transaction itself was easy. I'll definitely purchase from them again.

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Trains, trucks, and toddler's obsessions.

2010-09-17T23:27:00.003+08:00

Toddlers, I'm learning, develop amusing obsessions.

In the case of my 23-month-old son, it's trucks and trains. It all started a few months ago, on a long drive up north. My son was getting very restless after having been strapped into his car seat for a couple of hours. He wanted to get out of his seat, but since we were driving fast on the highway, we couldn't acquiesce, despite his whines and moans. In my rush to distract him before his whines turned into a major meltdown, I started pointing at all the trucks we were passing on the road. "Let's count the trucks, I said," and we started counting trucks together. He excitedly started looking out for trucks, and it kept him occupied for another hour.

Since then, my son has been fascinated with trucks. We bought him a terrific picture book about trucks from a second-hand bookstore. He very quickly memorized the names of all the trucks in the book: monster truck, race truck, dump truck .... His favorite pages, though, were the two spreads about fire trucks: ladder truck, special equipment truck, small fire truck, airport fire truck ....

From fire trucks, he soon developed an obsession with sirens. To this day, he jumps with delight whenever we pass by an ambulance, a police car, or any emergency vehicle that has sirens on it. He can mimic different kinds of siren sounds. And for a number of weeks, he insisted that we spend a few minutes every evening watching a particular Youtube video that featured various fire trucks with their sirens blaring.

The latest addition to his vehicle craze is trains. It started when I bought him a book about trains, which he asked me to read to him over and over again. From there, we started watching Youtube videos about trains (and I was surprised to find out that a lot of people record videos of trains as a hobby, and upload them to the Web). While watching some videos one day, a Youtube thumbnail of Thomas the Tank Engine caught his attention, and he asked me to play it. And just like that, he discovered the wonderful world of Thomas and Friends.

I'm in awe about how much passion a toddler can have for something. And it's a learning experience for me too: I now know more about trains and trucks than I'd ever imagined I'd care to.

One great idea I read regarding toddlers' obsessions was this: taking a page from the Reggio Emilio philosophy of education, tap into the child's fascination and use it to lead the child to learning new things. In our case, my son's fascination with trucks has given us great opportunities for learning how to count. And his fascination with books has gotten him really excited about leafing through books about Thomas the Tank Engine.

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Breastfeeding events this month.

2010-09-09T09:03:00.004+08:00

For Metro Manila-based readers: there are a few breastfeeding activities lined up this month for nursing and expectant moms.

La Leche League - Best Friends in Breastfeeding support group meeting - Sept. 11, Saturday, 11 AM - 12:30 PM, Baby Co., Podium.
La Leche League - Best Friends in Breastfeeding support group meeting - Sept. 18, Saturday, 10:30 AM - 12 NN, Rustan's Makati, 3/F Play Area
The Breastfeeding Club - Breastfeeding 101 Class - Sept. 25, Saturday, 9:00 AM - 11 AM, Medela House, 29 1st St., New Manila, Quezon City (interested parties can register with Maricel at 09154339836

Essential Newborn Care.

2010-09-01T20:24:00.007+08:00

If you're giving birth soon, you may have heard the phrase "Essential Newborn Care Protocol." If you're wondering what that means, this video explains it:

More and more hospitals in the Philippines are adopting this protocol. I've written about it in the past here.

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My 22-month-old son's favorite toys.

2010-08-21T20:50:00.007+08:00

The last time I blogged about my son's favorite toys he was only 5 months old, so an update is long overdue!

Here are some of the toys that my son (who's 1 year & 10 months old) enjoys playing with the most:

1. Play-Doh. I didn't originally think 1-year-olds could play with Play-Doh, so I'm very thankful that Rafa discovered the joys of Play-Doh at his pre-school; if he hadn't it wouldn't have occurred to me to allow him to play with it.

Even if the box says that Play-Doh is for toddlers 3 years old and above, a lot of people in the blogosphere say it's okay to let younger toddlers play with Play-Doh as long as they're supervised. That's to make sure that the toddlers don't put the Play-Doh in their mouth: they might choke on a large piece of Play-Doh if they try to eat it.

An alternative to buying Play-Doh is to make modeling clay on your own, at home. There are several recipes on the Net; here are some that you can try.

My son really loves Play-Doh; he insists on playing with it at least once a day!

2. Mega Bloks. We bought a pack of the largest-sized Mega Bloks from Toy Kingdom a few months ago, and they're a big hit with my son. They came in a zipper bag, but we transferred the blocks to a basket to make it easier for him to pack them away when he's done playing with them.

Personally I prefer Mega Bloks over Duplo for toddlers under the age of 3. I've found that Duplo blocks stick together better, but that means they're more difficult for toddlers under 3 to take apart. Mega Bloks are also a lot cheaper than Duplo. When my son graduates to the next size, though, and has more strength and dexterity to take apart the blocks, we'll probably switch to Duplo, because they're compatible with Lego. My husband and I have a lot of Lego between us (from when we were children) that we want to pass on to our son.

3. Magnetic sketcher. My husband bought my son a Megasketcher (an Etch-a-Sketch clone) a few months ago. The model he got has an eraser that automatically slides back into place after pulling it down. My son doesn't like toys that move automatically, and for the first two days, he didn't want to touch the Megasketcher because he was afraid of the automatic eraser. Fortunately, he quickly got over his fear, and the Megasketcher became a favorite.

I really feel that the Megasketcher has helped my son quickly develop pen control. Just a few weeks after buying the Megasketcher, I noticed that my son's scribbles--whether on the sketcher or on paper--were getting more and more deliberate. He can now draw circles (not perfectly, but he understands that circles are supposed to be "closed"), and I think that drawing on his sketcher daily has given him a lot of chance to experiment with different shapes and lines.

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"I Spy" with a Toddler.

2010-07-29T14:16:00.005+08:00

My son is 1 year and 9 months old. It's an exciting stage, because he's learning to talk, and he picks up words very easily now.

As my son's language skills get more sophisticated, so do the games we play at home. A few days ago we started playing a toddler version of an old game that my mom had played with my siblings and me when we were children.

In the original "I Spy" game, the "it" says, "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'C'!" Everyone else has to guess which object the "It" has in mind, by naming the objects in sight that begin with the letter "C."

Since my son can't spell yet, our "I spy" is simply about vocabulary-building and observation. "I spy with my little eye ... a book!" my husband or I say. My son tries to look around the room for a book; when he sees it he says, "There!"

Photo by Margan Zajdowicz

Yesterday, we turned the tables and asked him to be the "It." We weren't sure if he could understand the game well enough yet, but we gave it a try anyway. To our delight he caught on quickly. Since he can't speak very clearly yet, his rhyme was simply, "I py ... chuck! [I spy ... truck!]." He also didn't know that he was supposed to name something that he could already see, but no matter. We all had a fun time looking around for either a toy truck or a picture of a truck that was in plain sight. It was my son who won, when he pointed to his book about trucks and happily cried, "There!"

Yup, it doesn't cost a cent to have a fun afternoon with a toddler.

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Bargain-shopping for toddlers, part 2: 2nd hand bookstores

2010-07-18T13:13:00.004+08:00

I have such happy memories of the books I treasured as a young child. My parents gave me dozens of beautifully-illustrated Little Golden Books and Ladybird books that I read and re-read. I also had several of Roger Hargreaves' Mr. Men books, back when they hadn't become reduced to a pirated T-shirt design.

The number of children's books has since ballooned and today's parents have more titles to choose from than our parents did. But this doesn't mean that the books have gotten better. A lot of children's books I see in bookstores today are poorly-written hack jobs that appear to be nothing more than marketing campaigns for Nickeoloden and Cartoon-Network television programs. (Not that Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network shows are necessarily bad; it's just that some of the books written about the shows are terribly-written!)

Sadly, many of the regular bookstores in the metropolis simply ram their toddlers' sections with little else but these books. Some bookstores, like a Different Bookstore, choose their children's titles with greater care, but I think that's the exception rather than the rule.

Thank goodness, then, that there are a lot of second-hand bookstores near my home. I have been pleasantly surprised many times by the children's selection in some of these shops. Booksale, Books for Less, and smaller independent second-hand bookshops are my new favorite places to go book-hunting for my son. It's delightful, too, that the books are so cheap; my son's favorite book now, DK's "My First Truck Board Book," cost me a mere P350 from Books for Less. An equivalent book brand new is at least P700!

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Events for Manila-based kids and parents.

2010-07-06T22:20:00.002+08:00

Facebook is a great source of information on events for kids and parents. I've found three interesting events that are forthcoming in the next few days.

The first two are organized by Adarna Books:

Illustrators' Saturday by Adarna Books at Powerbooks Megamall, July 10. With the purchase of two Adarna books, children will get to meet some Adarna illustrators and participate in some art workshops. For children aged 4 to 13.

Storytelling Saturday by Adarna Books at Fully Booked SM North (at The Block), July 17. Children get to join a meet-and-greet with some of Adarna books' authors and illustrators.

And here's one for parents. I discovered it on Facebook but I'm linking to a different site for the information: A talk on web safety for kids (specifically with regard to online gaming), Microsoft Auditorium, Makati, July 10. The talk will be given by Carlo Ople.

Click on the links for more information. :)

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Bargain-shopping for toddlers, part 1: Daiso/Japan Home Center.

2010-06-14T19:44:00.001+08:00

I love Daiso, and other P99/P88/P66/P55 store clones. I rarely leave one empty-handed. My favorite one is in Robinson's Galleria, because of their amazing section of wooden toys, but I can spend a long time browsing any branch, trying to convince myself I need the things on display.

Over the weekend, I had a productive trip to Daiso and Japan Home Center, as I went on a shopping spree for my son. For several weeks now I've been trying to find a nice toy cooking set for him. He loves pretending to cook. His dad is the cook in the house, and whenever Rafa sees his father cooking, he stands right by him and starts pretending to prepare food also.

Unfortunately, I found a lot of toy cookware available in the toy stores too small, too expensive, too pink, or, well, just too much (I really don't think my son needs a 40-piece cookware set!). But while browsing the Daiso aisles, I found the perfect thing: an egg frying-pan that looked just like a miniature version of the real frying pan we have in the kitchen! Right beside it hung a set of plastic serving cutlery (a set of 4 for P66). In the next aisle I picked up two Melaware bowls (at P33 each) to serve as my son's mixing bowls. At the nearby Japan Home Center, I bought a plastic box to store the entire set of cookware. And ta-dah, my son had a new set of toys!

The best part is that my son loves his new cooking set! When I showed it to him, he excitedly brought it to his table and began pretending to prepare a meal for his yaya.

Note: Safety first. Whether buying toys or "real" things that are to be used as toys by young children, make sure that your purchases are safe: rounded rather than sharp edges, nothing too heavy, without small loose parts that children might choke on. Since real cookware has not been tested for child safety, you may want to bring them out only during supervised play.

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Learning moments throughout the day.

2010-06-14T11:47:00.007+08:00

In one of the email groups I'm a part of, a discussion has begun on activities that moms prepare for their toddlers. I was amazed and inspired by the long lists of ideas that the moms shared with one another. I also felt a little insecure after reading through them, because I don't have an activity schedule like some moms do, nor do I have a lot of structured activities for my son.

But after browsing through some pages of this book last night, I realize that I actually do have more learning moments for my son than I give myself credit for. The book reminds parents that learning moments are always within reach, not just during structured activities, but in the rhythm of everyday life. When I thought of it that way, I felt reassured that my son's day is rich with moments of discovery.

Here are some of the things we do with our 20-month-old son as we go through our day.

1. Trucks and Buses Car Game. This is a little game we made up a few weeks ago on a long drive to La Union, when our son was starting to get restless in his car seat. We encouraged him to try to look for all the trucks and buses on the road. Whenever we passed by a truck or a bus, we said, "Look! There's the truck/bus!" Within minutes, Rafa was happily exclaiming, "Kuck!" and "Bas!" It kept him entertained for over an hour.

2. Helping With Chores. My son often gets underfoot when we're trying to do chores, so we encourage him to help. He throws clothes into the hamper, helps carry dining napkins into the dining room, and even attempts to shine the floor with a bunot. He takes his chores quite seriously and beams with a sense of accomplishment when we're all done. I think Maria Montessori (who advocated teaching practical skills around the house at a young age) would've approved.

3. Supermarket Vocabulary Building. My son loves trips to the supermarket, and I can see why! From a toddler's point of view it must be fascinating to see all the different items neatly stacked in rows and rows of shelves. So as we're going through the aisles, we test him on words that he's learned at home or from books. One favorite is the fruit area, where we pick up different fruits and ask him to name them.

4. Counting Around the House. Throughout the day, there are opportunities to count. A few weeks ago we had a new air-con installed, and for awhile there were two air-cons in the room. So I told my son, "Look, there are two air-cons! One, two!" After showing it to him a few times, he started counting the air-cons, "Man, two!" So now, whenever there are two of anything, we try to count them, "One, two!" He knows how to say numbers up to 5, but I'm not sure if he really grasps the concept of 3, 4, and 5 yet, or whether they're just words that he rattles off. But it looks like he has some sense of the difference between "one" and "two," and he proudly counts to two whenever we engage in our counting game.

5. Outdoor Sounds. As a family, we try to spend an afternoon in the outdoors at least once a week, and those are moments when we help Rafa discover the beautiful cacophony of outdoor sounds. We point to chirping birds and mewing cats, and encourage him to copy the sounds the animals make. When the wind is blowing we have him face the wind and have him copy the buzzing sound of the wind in one's ears.

6. "Gently, gently." Our house is not very "baby-proof"; we have breakable vases and other grown-up abubot's adorning much of the house. But instead of making parts of the house off-limits to Rafa, we try to teach him to handle breakable things with greater care. "Gently, gently" is a phrase that you'll hear coming out of our mouths throughout the day. When he bangs on the glass sliding door because he likes the sound it makes, we say, "gently, gently" and show him how to touch the door with care. When he's riding his toy car and he tries to ram it into a chair leg, we say, "gently, gently," and show him how to manuever around the chair slowly.

Our everyday lives may sometimes seem boring and mundane to us grownups, but I suppose that the world is still amazing to toddlers. Having structured play is one way that we can quench our children's thirst to learn, but even without structured activities, a regular day can be filled with moments of discovery if we keep our eye out for opportunities for learning and wonder.

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Pre-school-based playgroups/toddlers' programs.

2010-05-26T12:13:00.010+08:00

After visiting the pre-school fair at Eastwood mall, I've learned that a number of pre-schools in the Philippines now have playschool/playgroup programs for younger toddlers. Whereas most pre-schools traditionally start admitting students at 2-1/2, a few now have "beginners' programs," for toddlers as young as 1-1/2.

Out of curiosity, I inquired at a few of the pre-schools in my neighborhood. My son is not yet two, and although I never thought would have considered putting my son in pre-school before the age of two, the programs at these pre-schools have me giving them a second look.

All of the teachers I spoke with explained that the programs for 1-1/2 year olds were relatively recent additions to the pre-schools' offerings, and that these were added upon the insistence of parents who wanted their younger children to have something to do while the elder sibling was at pre-school.

All the programs were distinguished from "regular" pre-school by the frequency of the classes: the toddlers' playgroups met only thrice a week. The sessions ranged from 1-1/2 hours to 3 hours long, depending on the pre-school. The age grouping also varied; at one pre-school, the program was open to toddlers aged 1.5 to 3; at another, the age range was from 1.9 to 2.5.

Some of the programs required the presence of a parent/caregiver and doubled as training programs for yayas; for others, the program involved gradually weaning the child away from the caregiver so that the child could learn to be in playschool on his own. The activities in all the programs I inquired about were similar: the children play with toys, sing songs (sometimes with a movement component), do art work, and have a brief "circle time." All of them also had very small classes: 5 or 6 children at the most.

Now, my son has already gone to Gymboree and he's currently at Musikgarten: programs that were both created for younger toddlers. After visiting the different pre-schools, I learned that the pre-school based playgroups are a little different.

For starters, they can come out cheaper than playgym/music and movement classes, if you compute it on an hourly basis.

In terms of method, I was struck by a big difference. Whereas some licensed programs (e.g., U.S.-licensed playgyms, some music and movement programs) have a fixed "script" that the teachers have to follow from week to week, at preschool-based playgroups, the teacher is ... well ... more of a teacher, devising her/his own activities and making her/his own materials for the students to use. I guess the advantage of script-based playgroup sessions (like Gymboree) is that you always know what to expect, and the quality of the session is almost the same regardless of who the teacher is. Meanwhile I suppose the advantage of a non-scripted session is that the teacher adapts the class' activities to the needs of the individual students.

In terms of content, the pre-school based playgroups are a little more conscious about treating their programs as "preparation for real pre-school." I don't know whether that's a good or a bad thing, but each teacher I spoke to described how the playgroup program helped toddlers transition more easily into daily regular pre-school later on. One teacher mentioned how the program helped the toddlers become accustomed to routines. Another said that her program already introduced some letters, not out of the hopes of getting 1 or 2-year-olds to master them, but simply to familiarize the children with some letters.

I did appreciate how one teacher emphasized that not all one-year-olds might be ready for a pre-school based playgroup. She said that she usually urged parents to take their children to a trial class first to see if the child seemed ready, and she also said that with the one-year-olds' program, their school was more flexible, allowing students to stop after a quarter, if the parents changed their minds.

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I used to think that 1-1/2 was too young for pre-school, but now I realize that many (most?) teachers are fully aware that a program for 1-year-olds is different from a program for 3-year-olds. The teachers I spoke to all seemed very careful to make sure the activities they devised were developmentally-appropriate. At a trial class I attended, the teacher simply took it in stride when a toddler stood up and wandered off during circle time; she called out to the student to include her in the activity, but she did not insist that the toddler come back to the circle.

As for my son -- he had a blast at trial class. I was surprised at how talkative and participative he was from the start, despite being with strangers in strange surroundings.

I'm still trying to decide whether to put him in a pre-school-based toddlers' program, and I really wouldn't even have considered it if my son hadn't enjoyed himself so much at his trial class. It's good to know, though, that in parents' quest to find enriching activities for their children, there is this option as well.

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Non-traditional pre-schooling: Montessori vs. Progressive.

2010-05-20T20:09:00.027+08:00

I chanced upon an exhibit of different pre-schools in Eastwood Mall today, and although Rafa is too young for regular pre-school, I picked up some brochures nonetheless. Leafing through the brochures got me more curious about the different philosophies of pre-schooling that are out there now.

Today, there are so many schooling options, compared to what we had when we were children. In early childhood education in particular, a wide variety of pedagogical philosophies are flourishing. A lot of pre-schools nowadays proudly proclaim to be "non-traditional," contrasting themselves with the lecture-heavy, direct-instruction kind of schools many of us attended as children.

Reading up on the different pedagogic methods, though, taught me that even among these non-traditional schools, there are many differences. The philosophies behind Montessori, the progressive movement, Waldorf, and the multiple intelligences approach are all different.

For this post, I'll just share what I've learned about Montessori and progressive schools, since those are two of the most popular non-traditional philosophies in the Philippines today. The two approaches have many similarities: they both believe in creating a physical environment suitable for learning; they both believe in child-centered learning; they both believe that children learn by interacting with their environment; they both deemphasize rote drills and traditional testing methods.

How are they different?

Montessori

draws mostly from the philosophy of Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori
popular in non-traditional schools in European countries
Montessori believed in fostering the intellect as the foundation for developing imagination and social relations
tries to teach independence ("Teach me to do it myself."), both in academics and in practical skills
believes that children have a natural motivation to learn; formal education helps this natural motivation flourish
activities: self-directed and structured; learning on one's own using Montessori learning materials, with the guidance of the teacher (Update: here are examples of how Montessori lessons are introduced for 3 to 6-year-olds.)
Work Time is distinguished from play time. During "Work Time" the child is allowed to go to any of the five pre-prepared work areas in the classroom each of which has materials (manipulatives, etc.) meant to help the child learn a particular concept. The five areas are: art, practical life, sensorial, language, math, and culture. At the work area, the child can choose which materials he/she wants to work with. The child may stay with one set of materials for as long as he/she likes, but is expected to put the materials away before moving on to another set of materials. The teacher avoids interrupting the children, but observes and guides them as needed.
assessment is by portfolio and teachers' written observations (source)

Progressive

draws largely from the philosophy of American philosopher John Dewey and others in the Progressive Movement
popular in non-traditional schools in the US; in the Philippines, UP Diliman's FLCD program is strong in the progressive approach (source: Teacher Tina's blog)
Dewey believed in fostering imagination and social development first, and the intellect afterwards
group approach/cooperative learning; tries to teach children to get along with one another
aims to build a democratic and diverse society (source); values the individual child's interests and needs
activities are divided into routines, and concepts are integrated into the activities (source: Teacher Tina's blog)
"Activity Time" is planned by the teacher and seeks to strengthen the various domains (physical, emotional, social, cognitive). The activity may involve art, worksheets, or other activities suitable for the group. The activities are interdisciplinary and are typically focused on problems or projects (sources: here and here)
assessment is by projects and performances/presentations and teachers' comments

It's important to note that not all schools that call themselves "Montessori" follow the Montessori method strictly. Similarly, not all schools that describe themselves as "progressive" strongly adhere to the principles recommended by John Dewey and other progressive educators. In fact, a lot of schools and educators mistakenly use the words "progressive" and "non-traditional" interchangeably. This can be confusing, because the "Progressive Stream" is just one kind of non-traditional educational approach.

To read more about these two approaches you can check out the Wikipedia entries on Montessori and Progressive education.

I'll update this post as I learn more about the different pedagogical philosophies, and I also hope to discuss other non-traditional approaches (e.g., Waldorf, etc.) in the future.

I've written updates here and here. In my updates, I describe my experiences visiting some schools for classroom visits.

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Helpful babies.

2010-05-08T23:54:00.004+08:00

As early as five months' old, a baby can tell the difference between a "good guy" and a "bad guy." And babies almost invariably like good guys and are turned off by bad guys.

This was the finding of a fascinating series of studies I read about in this New York Times article. (You can also watch a video about the studies here.) The researchers prepared puppet shows where puppet characters were portrayed as helpful (helping other puppets) or mean (hindering other puppets from accomplishing certain tasks). More than 80% of babies preferred the helpful puppets.

One of the researchers in the study suggested that maybe babies are already born with a basic sense of right and wrong. Of course, as the author Paul Bloom reminds us, people still need to learn about morality for their ethical sense to mature. Children still need to be taught how to discern the right thing to do in more complex situations, and how to apply notions of morality fairly to all people.

In my case, I'm always touched when my son demonstrates sensitivity to other people's feelings. The NYT article says that starting at about 1 year old, babies begin to soothe other people who are in distress. I witnessed this just this week at Rafa's music class. One of the younger babies started crying, and Rafa immediately went over and picked up her bonnet (which had fallen to the floor), and handed it to the baby.

It's fascinating, isn't it, that toddlers who can barely talk already have the empathy to try to help others!
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Music!

2010-04-28T02:22:00.006+08:00

After last week's trial class at Musikgarten, I brought my son back today to officially enroll him. Although the class we had tried was the Babies' class, Teacher Michelle said she was in the process of putting together a toddlers' class, so that's where we'll be once the class begins.

While we were there Teacher Michelle let us join the class that was about to start, the Cycle of Seasons class for 3 to 5-year-olds. Even though Rafa is only 18 months old, he enjoyed dancing and playing along with the older children. He was a little shy at first, but when the walking and dancing activities began, he was right there trying to keep up with the rest of the children.

As newly-enrolled students of Musikgarten, we also got our take-home kit for the module which included a CD (with 40+ songs and some sounds for listening), an accompanying music/activity book, and 2 pairs of rhythm sticks (1 for the child and 1 for the parent, I guess).

When we got home my husband and I, both music-lovers, listened to the CD and we were both impressed by the music. The arrangements were beautiful. Almost all of the sung songs were sung by a British children's choir, though there were also a few chanted rhymes spoken by American children. Almost all of the arrangements used real orchestra instruments (rather than synthetic/computerized accompaniment). There were folk songs and children's tunes from Italy, France, Germany, the US, England, Wales; there was also a Jewish song -- all with lyrics translated into English. There was one untranslated Korean song sung by a Korean children's choir. There were also a number of classical tunes. Rafa enjoyed the music too, and listened all the way to track 36--dancing or tapping his rhythm sticks to many of the tunes--before he asked us to switch to something else.

One of the activities in the book suggested building up the toddler's collection of musical instruments (whether homemade or not). That idea excites me, because Rafa really loves music and sounds; two of his favorite things to play with are my mom's bell collection and my husband's handheld shaker. Although Rafa has some toy instruments made of plastic, I'd like for him to play with real, properly-sounding instruments.

I'm looking forward to bringing Rafa to a regular music class, and I can tell that he's enjoying all this additional musical exposure as well.

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Doon sa Batibot, tayo na, tayo na!

2010-04-25T14:00:00.007+08:00

Great news for all Pinay moms with school-age children! Batibot is coming back!

Watching Batibot was a fixture of my childhood. I loved Kuya Bodjie's story-telling time. I chanted "Ba-be-bi-bo-bu" along with Madam Bola. I looked up to Ate Sienna.

As I grew older and could appreciate better the nuances of the TV show, I also became amazed by the care and compassion with which Batibot handled sensitive issues. I clearly remember one episode where a boy explained to Kiko Matsing that he had just come from his mom's house and was now on his way to his dad's house. Kiko Matsing was confused, but the boy explained that his mother and father lived in separate houses. I was impressed that unlike American children's shows, Batibot was not afraid to talk about issues that children were bound to face in everyday life (such as having a friend with separated parents, or being a child of separated themselves), and how they managed to talk about these issues in an age-appropriate way.

Batibot eventually went off the air, and Pong Pagong went around doing storytelling events around the metropolis. But I feel the demand for Batibot, or a show like it, has never been stronger.

On the Newlyweds@Work mailing list, of which many members are mothers with young children, many moms often ask each other where they can source DVDs of Filipino educational shows or old recordings of Batibot. While there are a lot of Filipino cartoons dubbed into Tagalog on TV, there don't seem to be many educational shows in Tagalog. Moreover, with cable TV showing English children's shows all day long, a lot of mothers are also concerned, it seems, that their children can't communicate in Filipino well.

Thankfully, TV5 is bringing Batibot back! Even though I'm in my thirties already, I can't wait to see Kiko Matsing and Pong Pagong again. And when my son grows older, I'll be happy to introduce them to him as well.

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Am I a "lazy environmentalist"?

2010-04-24T09:34:00.009+08:00

What do you think is the most effective way to help the environment? Switching to CFL lightbulbs? Bringing your own reusable shopping bags to the supermarket? Segregating your trash?

This sobering article from Newsweek.com reminds us that while all of these personal acts of environmentalism are better than their non-environmental alternatives, the only way to really reverse the damage to Mother Earth is through policy. "As my colleague Ian Yarett documents, ... every example of major environmental progress—reducing acid rain, improving air quality, restoring the ozone layer—has been the result of national legislation or a global treaty," writes Sharon Begley, science editor of Newseek. "All environmental progress has come ... by forcing people and industry to stop doing environmentally bad things and start doing environmentally good things." In contrast, given the scale of environmental damage, "changing individual behavior is pathetically inadequate."

Her message, then, is that if we are serious about saving the earth, we must not stop at greener shopping; we need to extend the battle to the front where the war can be won. We need to lobby our legislators to write tougher environmental laws. We need to support advocacy groups that fight for conservation policies.

Begley quotes journalist Heather Rogers, who calls "green shopping" and similar personal ecological acts, "lazy environmentalism." Trash segregation and using reusable shopping bags are good, of course, but if we emphasize only that, we may be lulled into a false sense that we have done enough to save the Earth. "The problem with the emphasis on changing individual behavior is this: it makes too many of us believe we have done our part," Begley says. She cites a U.S. Gallup poll which shows 76 percent of Americans buy products because they think the products are better for the environment, 90 percent of Americans recycle, but only 17 percent write e-mails to legislators urging them to support climate legislation.

Reading the article made me wonder: am I a lazy environmentalist?

I do regularly donate to an environmental advocacy organization. But all the other "green acts" I've recommended on this blog in the past have, indeed, focused more on personal acts of environmentalism without giving equal attention to the policy changes that need to be made to really make a dent in the fight against environmental degradation.

But there is something we all can do immediately, beyond trying to live personal green lifestyles. There is an election coming up in May. As we try to decide which legislators to vote for, maybe we can choose at least one lawmaker who is serious about pushing for well-thought-out environmental legislation. Thankfully, there are a number of candidates who proclaim ecology to be among their legislative advocacies. Regardless of our political colors, maybe we can try to get at least one into Congress?

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On the hunt for a Music and Movement class.

2010-04-22T20:28:00.015+08:00

My son Rafa attends Gymboree's Learn and Play class once a week, and he loves it. He enjoys the obstacle courses, songs, and the different activities. He looks forward to our weekly Gymboree "date" and often practices at home the different activities we do at Gymboree.

This summer, though, I decided he might enjoy attending a second regular class. Rafa loves music, so I began looking for a music and movement class which would suit his personality and temperament.

I've attended two trial classes so far: the Gymboree Music 2 trial class, and Musikgarten's Family Music for Babies class.

1. Gymboree Music. The Gymboree Music 2 trial class was naturally the first class we tried, because Rafa is already a Gymboree member. Music 2 is for toddlers aged 16 to 28 months. The music they use is music for grown-ups: contemporary pop and rock songs. They have a theme that changes every few weeks, and the theme for the day that we had the trial class was "Rock": the songs we sang included "Lollipop" and "Wooly-Bully."

Compared to Rafa's Play and Learn class, the Music class seemed a little more structured. The session was divided into a number of activities, with each activity corresponding to a song. For each activity, the teacher had instructions for the children to follow.

The activities included a rhythm activity where the toddlers were given rhythm sticks, an activity with a puppet, a dancing activity with bubbles, and an activity where the toddlers were given hula hoops to play with. There was also some free-play time for the toddlers to explore different musical instruments.

I personally had fun with the class, and it was nice to listen to adult songs. But --maybe because he associates Gymboree with walking around?--Rafa seemed more interested in exploring the classroom and opening the classroom lockers than listening to the teacher's instructions. He did, of course, have some activities that he particularly enjoyed, like the activity where the children played with the hoops.

2. Musikgarten. I wanted to try a Kindermusik trial class next but for some reason, none of the classes near my area matched Rafa's and my schedule! While searching for other options, I read about Musikgarten on the Internet. One of the founders of Musikgarten is the same woman who brought Kindermusik to North America in the 1970s. I had attended a Kindermusik trial class in the past, and given the shared roots of the two programs, I wondered how different they would be from each other.

In the Philippines, Musikgarten is run by Michelle Nikki Junia. When it comes to music, Teacher Michelle is the real deal: she is a professional singer and a music educator who has trained in the US. Musikgarten operates out of Teacher Michelle's music studio in Mandaluyong, Stardev Music School.

Although Rafa is old enough for the Family Music for Toddlers class (15 months to 3-1/2 years), there is no Toddlers class currently running, so we tried the Babies class instead (newborn to 18 months).

When I entered Teacher Michelle's studio, I immediately noticed the simplicity of the room. A shelf on one side of the room was filled with just a few baskets of instruments, some xylophones, some hula hoops, and a few CD players. A carpet had been lain out on the bare floor. A wall-to-wall mirror lined one side of the classroom.

I mention the room's simplicity, because I came to realize that Teacher Michelle's Musikgarten class had exactly that characteristic, and I mean that in a good way. From what I saw, the class seemed to me to be a simple, no-frills, age-appropriate introduction to music.

Two assistant teachers were also in the class with Teacher Michelle. The entire class was all about music: Teacher Michelle sang most of the songs without any accompaniment (she really does have a great voice!), except for maybe 2 or 3 songs for which she turned on the CD player.

There were a lot of mommy-baby movement activities: a lap activity, a rocking activity, some finger play. There were two activities where the babies played with instruments (rhythm sticks and shakers). There was one activity with scarves. And there were two "dancing" activities, including a free movement activity where the toddlers were encouraged to roam around the room. The pace of the whole class was relaxed and I didn't feel rushed, but time flew nonetheless.

Most of the songs we sang were traditional children's songs from around the world. Teacher Michelle also played a classical piece on the CD player for one of the dancing activities.

Teacher Michelle gave a little bit of explanation about some of the activities, but I noticed that although she mentioned the benefits that music had on babies' development, she spent just as much talk-time explaining the musical theory behind what we were doing. She also noticed when Rafa was swaying to the beat, or when he was hitting his rhythm sticks together in correct time.

When we got home, I did more research about the Musikgarten program, and my observation was confirmed. Whereas Kindermusik is often viewed as an enrichment program to help babies and young children maximize the developmental benefits of musical exposure, Musikgarten was conceived of as a progressive music education program meant to lead to real music learning.

The activities that we did at Musikgarten seemed very simple to my adult eyes, but Rafa enjoyed them a lot. He particularly liked banging the ground with the rhythm sticks and went all over the room hitting the sticks on different surfaces.

Everyone who enrolls in Musikgarten receives a take-home kit. The kit for the Babies' class includes a CD with a lot of songs, a songbook with lyrics and musical notation, a scarf, and two musical instruments.

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I'm sure someone's going to ask me about costs, so I'll mention here that Gymboree and Musikgarten are comparatively priced.

Gymboree has a membership fee and a separate charge for classes; however, it also has volume-based pricing system: the more classes you enroll in, the cheaper it gets. The flexibility of Gymboree's enrollment system also means that you can join a class at any time throughout the year, for a minimum of four weeks.

In contrast, Musikgarten can come out cheaper per class, but you have to enroll in a 15-class module/semester at a time. Each class is 30-45 minutes (compared to 1 hour for Gymboree). There's a little more stability, though, in that at Musikgarten, a baby can expect to have the same classmates throughout the semester.

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Other music and movement classes around the metropolis include Kindermusik, Kids' Music Round (another music program that originated in the US), and the music program offered by Tumble Tots.

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Household chores for a 1-year-old.

2010-04-21T17:52:00.011+08:00

When my son Rafa turned a year old, he started imitating grown-ups a lot. As I went around the house doing my domestic duties, he would follow me and try to do whatever I was doing. When I noticed this, I started encouraging him. Sometimes he would hinder rather than help, as he did once, when he transferred all the contents of the laundry basket of freshly-ironed clothes into the hamper for dirty clothes, a piece of clothing at a time!

But now, at 1-1/2 years old, there are a number of things that Rafa enjoys helping me with as I putter around the house, tidying up:

1. Wiping up his spills. This is one of my son's favorite chores. Whenever he spills something, he dutifully goes to the kitchen, asks his nanny for a paper towel, and then goes to wipe up after himself. He often misses some drops, so I or his nanny has to assist him. But when he's done, he very proudly toddles back into the kitchen to throw his paper towel into the trash can.

2. Packing away his toys. I have Gymboree to thank for making packing away a regular activity. Sometimes at home, Rafa still forgets to pack away his toys before moving onto the next activity, but all I need to do is to start singing the pack away song ("This is the way we pack away ...." to the tune of "This is the way we clap our hands"), and he comes and helps me put away his toys.

3. Putting laundry in the hamper. Rafa can't tell the difference between dirty and clean clothes yet, so I have to point to each item of clothing that I want him to put in the hamper. He happily complies, and we both cheer.

4. Dusting. This isn't really a chore because I'm not sure whether Rafa's "dusting" really gets anything clean. But he loves copying, so I have a little dust mitt just for him. He puts it on and pretends to dust the furniture; it's all a game to him!

With this headstart, hopefully Rafa will grow up to be neater than his parents are!

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Mompreneur Manila.

2010-04-21T13:02:00.004+08:00

Yesterday, I attended the 1st Mompreneur Manila Meet-up. Mompreneur Manila is the latest brainchild of Janice Crisostomo-Villanueva, one of the moms behind Mommy Matters nursing wear, Expo Mom, and the Mommy Pages directory.

Unfortunately I arrived late, so I wasn't able to catch the talk by the event sponsor, PLDT SME Nation, but I was able to catch the two main events: a talk on internet marketing by Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet, and a talk about mompreneurship by Elena Verlee, life coach, PR expert, and, as she calls herself, "serial entrepreneur."

Anton had just started his talk when I arrived and as I sneaked into the back of the room I was amused to see that a lot of moms had brought their babies with them. "Ah, yes," I told myself, "true mompreneurs! The kind who bring their babies to work!" It was also nice to see a lot of familiar faces: fellow-mompreneurs whom I've met along the way.

Anton's talk was an overview of the various digital resources that a mompreneur can use to market her business. He talked about how the Internet can help mompreneurs learn more about their market, and also how mompreneurs can use the Internet to create stronger relationships with their customers.

Elena's talk was a very inspiring sharing of her own path through entrepreneurship: how she stumbled into it by accident more than a decade ago, and how, since then, she has managed to shepherd to success a number of businesses, learning crucial lessons along the way.

After the talk, I lingered a little to talk to a good friend who was also there, and also to touch base with some fellow-businessmoms I had met before.

When I got home, I was so inspired that I decided to jumpstart a project that I've been thinking of for awhile, and finally launch my mompreneur blog called "Mommy Goes Digital".

Since I began my own business last year, I've been reflecting on how quickly this network of Philippine mompreneurs is growing. It's exciting how Janice is starting to harness this shared energy to create a stronger community of Filipino moms in business!

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A work-at-home mom's daily schedule.

2010-04-12T13:47:00.011+08:00

As a mother, I consider myself very fortunate to have found a balance between working and home life that works well for our family. I am a work-at-home mom and I also have a part-time job that I report to thrice a week, for around four hours per day. I am also fortunate because my husband and I have pairs of helping hands: a housekeeper to help at home and a nanny to help me with Rafa.

When my son was still an infant, even with my flexible work hours and all that help, there was not enough time in the day to accomplish everything I needed to do. I honestly felt like I was living day to day, and there was no other year that I felt more stressed (not even the year when I was working in an 80-hour-per week job). My son took all his milk directly from me until he was a year old, and the only way I could balance motherhood, breastfeeding, and my professional life was by bringing my son to work with me. During my son's first year, he and I were inseparable. There were a lot of joys that first year and I wouldn't do anything differently, but as any mom knows, the first year of a baby's life is very exhausting for his/her parents!

After my son turned one, his solids diet increased, and he began to nurse less frequently. I also introduced him to cow's milk, which he would take in the middle of the day. He gradually began to self-limit his nursing sessions to evenings and mornings.

He also grew in independence, and I began leaving him at home with his nanny more frequently and for longer periods. At first I started leaving him at home for 4-hour periods, then 6-hour periods, but I would still make sure I'd be home at night for his bedtime ritual.

When Rafa was around 14 months old we hit a huge milestone. I went out with some girl friends at night for the first time, leaving his papa and his nanny at home to put him to sleep. I admit I was pretty nervous the entire night! But I came home to find my son sleeping soundly.

Now, at 1-1/2 years old, we've managed to hit a good rhythm.

My son sleeps in our room, and my day begins when he wakes up. He nurses, then we spend some time playing a little before going down for breakfast. I prepare Rafa's food, then his nanny feeds him while I (and my husband, if he hasn't left for work earlier) eat. Then I leave Rafa with his nanny while I switch to work-mode: whether that means working at home, or getting ready to go to the office.

I'm usually done with my work by around 2 PM, by which time Rafa is taking his nap. After his nap, I take Rafa for some mommy-and-son time. By late in the afternoon (past five), Rafa will usually have gotten bored with me (haha) and will be raring to go outside for a walk, so I send him off again with his nanny to play in the great outdoors. During this time, I get some domestic duties done: tidying up, dusting, etc.

The only exception to this is on Thursdays, when I bring my son to play school: that's additional special time we have together.

When my husband comes home, it's family time again, and we all spend time together. My husband usually cooks at around 7:30, and we all troop to the dining room for dinner. Rafa's nanny feeds him while my husband and I eat and talk (this is our daily "date time," though we're altogether sharing the family meal).

After dinner, Rafa's nanny is relieved of her duties for the day. My husband gives Rafa a bath (bathtime is papa-son time), which usually drags on because he lets my son play in the water until his fingers get wrinkled. After that I put Rafa in his pantulog and brush his teeth, then let him play some more. A little past nine, Rafa himself gets sleepy and wants to crawl into bed. We help him wind down by looking through his picture books together, then my husband or I put him to sleep.

Weekends are family time. Whether we're in Manila or camping out of town, weekends are our time to rest, relax and enjoy each other's company. Some weekends we also have errands to do, but we also treat that as either family time or my husband's and my date time.

Parenthood is a difficult process of learning to juggle many roles: parent, spouse, worker, homemaker .... But I think that as long as our hearts are in the right place and our priorities are clear to us, we do manage to find the balance available to us that works best for our unique situation.

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Rotavirus and the Rotarix vaccine.

2010-03-30T09:11:00.009+08:00

I decided to look for more information on Rotarix and the rotavirus, in light of the Rotarix advisory in the US, and this is what I've found.

According to Wikipedia, by the age of five, nearly every child in the world has been infected by the rotavirus at least once. In young infants who are not immunized, the rotavirus can cause severe diarrhea which in turn causes dehydration, which can be fatal. Rotavirus in fact is the leading cause of severe diarrhea in infants: each year around 2.4 million children under the age of five are hospitalized due to rotavirus, and this leads to more than half a million deaths. According to the American Society of Microbiology, around 5% of all deaths worldwide of children under the age of 5, are related to the rotavirus. Around 138 million additional cases are milder, though, requiring only home care or clinic visits.

As the person gets older, the severity of a rotavirus infection decreases. Immunity builds up each time a person gets infected, so that adults are rarely infected.

The rotavirus vaccine is an orally-administered vaccine that helps prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis. The first rotavirus vaccine was Rotashield, used in the late 1990s. It was found to be 80% - 100% percent effective at preventing severe diarrhea caused by one of the strains of rotavirus, but it was pulled off the market in 1999 because of worries that it might contribute to a type of bowel obstruction in 1 out of every 12,000 infants. In 2004 two new vaccines, Rotarix (manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline) and Rotateq (manufactured by Merck) were introduced to the market. These were both found in studies to be safe and very effective in preventing diarrhea caused by rotavirus.

Last week, the US FDA advised physicians to temporarily suspend use of Rotarix after impurities were found in some batches of the vaccine. Specifically, they found fragments of a certain virus called PCV1. The virus was described as a "non-disease causing strain," and no harmful effects have been reported yet in relation to its presence in Rotarix. Two days ago the European Medicines Agency said they had no safety concerns about the oral vaccine and there was no need to restrict the use of Rotarix. It was explained that PCV1 is commonly found in meat products, and is not known to cause disease in either animals or humans.

As of now, some other countries aside from the US have also suspended the use of Rotarix including the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.

Countries that have not restricted the use of Rotarix include the EU nations, South Africa, Australia.

From anecdotes shared on the Newlyweds@work mailing list, it seems that a lot of Filipino pediatricians are now offering Rotateq to their patients instead of Rotarix, while further studies are still being done on Rotarix.

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Eight greener grocery choices.

2010-03-27T13:31:00.007+08:00

Earth Hour 2010 is tonight. We're all being asked to switch off our lights at 8:30 PM (whatever your local time is) as a symbolic gesture against climate change.

Earth Hour began in Australia in 2007 and has since become an annual tradition. Hopefully our own personal commitment to ecological awareness does not end with a symbolic gesture, though, but is expressed in our very lifestyle.

There are a lot of ways that we can live greener lives. Some of them are as simple as making different choices when we go to the supermarket:

1. Buy energy-saving CFL lightbulbs instead of regular incandescents.

2. Buy local instead of imported vegetables.

3. Eat less beef. Raising cattle for beef is one of the biggest contributors to global warming.

4. Buy products with less packaging.

5. Choose reusables over disposables (e.g., use reusable plastic containers instead of foil or cling-wrap for leftovers, cloth rags instead of paper towels, etc.).

6. If you must use disposables, look for environment-friendlier alternatives. Throwing a party? Instead of using styrofoam plates, use biodegradable plates made from corn-husk instead.

7. Bring your own reusable bag when shopping.

8. If you do use plastic bags when shopping, choose the biodegradable kind (many big groceries use these now), and reuse them before throwing them out.

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Natural, local, very fresh milk.

2010-03-26T10:29:00.012+08:00

My husband and I both drink milk regularly, and for years we settled with the typical commercial tetra-brik brands. However, my son started drinking fresh milk a few months ago, and I became more conscious about the type of milk that was going into his body.

One concern of mine is the presence of added growth hormones in cow's milk. An article about bovine growth hormones on Babycenter.com explains that additional hormones are often given to dairy cows "to make them mature faster and produce more milk."

US government agencies, including the FDA, have concluded that milk produced this way is safe for humans. However, many critics are still wary about it and point to conflicting studies on the subject. The use of artificial bovine growth hormones is banned in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, and the European Union. It is not banned in the US nor in China. The use of added natural growth hormones (taken from dead animals) does not seem to be banned anywhere. Most brands of Philippine commercial milk source their milk from Australia, New Zealand, or China.

To be honest, I don't mind drinking regular milk myself. However, I'm a little more worried about what effects it would have on my young son's developing system. So for the past couple of months I've been looking for alternatives to the regular commercial milk brands.

I've seen "natural milk" (i.e., milk from cows not injected with growth hormones) imported from the US in some supermarkets, but it is very expensive. Fortunately, some local dairy farms sell "natural milk" too.

The brand I buy most often is Hacienda Macalauan, because that's what is available at my nearby supermarket. Hacienda Macalauan's dairy farm is in Laguna. According to what's written on the bottle, Hacienda Macalauan milk is "produced without added antibiotics, growth hormones, [nor the] use of pesticides." Aside from regular full cream milk, Hacienda Macalauan also produces low-fat, fat-free, and flavored (vanilla and chocolate) milk, apart from other dairy products like yoghurt. The price of a liter -- around P70 --is almost the same as commercial brands.

Another brand of local milk I've tried is Mr. Moo's milk, which I discovered on the way to Tagaytay. I asked the salesgirl if Mr. Moo's milk is organic/natural and she said, "yes," so I just took her word for it. Mr. Moo's milk is produced by the GenTri Dairy Raisers Multipurpose Cooperative in General Trias, Cavite, and is available in full cream, low fat and chocolate varieties. They have two small retail stands along the Sta. Rosa Road to/from Tagaytay, and they also have outlets in Silang and Alabang South Mall. Mr. Moo's milk is pricier than Hacienda Macalauan's but they give discounts for milk that is nearing the expiry date. The fact that Mr. Moo's is run by a coop is a plus for me: it's always heartening to know that more of the profits of a business is going to the people who work the hardest on it.

Rizal Dairy Farms and Organic Farming, Inc. are sister companies that produce and sell organically-grown vegetables and natural dairy products. I haven't tried their milk yet, but to find out where Rizal Dairy products are available, you can check their website.

Finally, I read about Holly's Milk in an issue of the Sunday Inquirer Magazine a few months ago. Their website says that Holly's milk is "natural milk," but it does not specify exactly what they mean by that. Produced by Real Fresh Dairy Farms in Laguna, Holly's Milk is available from various distributors around Metro Manila and some surrounding provinces. Holly's Milk is available in full cream, low fat and chocolate milk varieties.

Natural or not, it's wonderful that milk from local dairies is becoming more available. My husband swears that milk from local dairies tastes better than the commercial brands - probably because they're fresher. I on the other hand am more than happy to lend my support to Filipino dairies to help the Philippine economy. It's also better for the environment to buy local because the carbon needed to transport the milk to you is a lot less. Finally the fact that some of these local dairies produce natural milk gives me some assurance against the bovine growth hormone scare.

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Expanded Breastfeeding Act signed into law!

2010-03-22T11:28:00.005+08:00

The Expanded Breastfeeding Act was signed into law last week! (Thanks to Jenny for the heads-up.)

I've been looking forward to this news for a long time. I even used to follow Senator Pia Cayetano's blog (she's the principal author and sponsor of the bill) about this. (You can read Sen. Pia's own breastfeeding story here.)

The new law requires employers to allow lactating moms additional short breaks to express milk. Under the new law, all government institutions are required to have lactation stations. The law also requires health workers to make sure that new moms receive are well-informed about breastfeeding. Employers are likewise encouraged to support lactating mothers, assess their needs, and provide them with information about breastfeeding.

This is truly great news for all nursing moms and all nursing moms-to-be!
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Safe babywearing.

2010-03-13T07:57:00.005+08:00

Baby-wearing is wonderful. I have carried my son in a baby pouch since he was an infant, and I love the convenience and bonding experience of baby-wearing!

Now, we all know that there are safe and unsafe ways to carry a newborn baby in one's arms. In the same way, there are safe and unsafe ways to carry a newborn baby in a sling or pouch.

First of all, make sure that the sling itself is safe. One particular kind of sling, the "bag type sling" with straps like this one, has been embroiled in some controversy. After the unfortunate death in the United States of a newborn infant, experts have criticized the bag-type sling for bending baby into a "C" position that can make it difficult for newborns to breathe.

This leads to the most important rule of all. When carrying your newborn in any type of sling or pouch, always make sure that baby can breathe freely. Babies under the age of four months do not have control of their necks yet and if their chin collapses down to their chest, this can obstruct their airways. Parents of preemies, low birth-weight twins, and babies in fragile health should take extra precautions, and the CPSC encourages such parents to talk to their children's pediatricians about baby-wearing.

For more safe baby-wearing tips, look here and here. The CPSC also has some helpful pictures of the right and wrong ways to use the cradle hold here.

My personal view is that if you're nervous about using a sling or pouch for your newborn, just wait a few months until your baby has developed better neck control (around 4 months of age), then you'll be able to use a sling or pouch with greater confidence.

Baby-wearing is a wonderful experience. But I reiterate: just as there are safe and unsafe ways to carry a newborn baby in your arms, there are safe and unsafe ways to carry a newborn baby in a sling or a pouch. Safety first!

Photo of Infantino bag-type sling from AP Photos.

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More art for kids this summer.

2010-03-07T22:55:00.003+08:00

Another art workshop for children is in the offing! Global Art center is opening in the Katipunan area in Quezon City this summer. They run an international art and creativity program for children 4 years and up. And in their words, "by up, we mean that no one's too old to have fun and learn with us!"

Global Art Katipunan will be at Unit CU-4 Prince David Condominium, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City (across Ateneo). Interested parties contact 383-6084, 0916-7396237, or globalart.katipunan@gmail.com.

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Do young children need cow's milk?

2010-03-07T09:18:00.007+08:00

A friend of mine, Dr. Philip Tan-Gatue, has a unique perspective on medicine. He is a Western-medicine trained physician, but he is also a trained acupuncturist and a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. He teaches Integrative Medicine at the UP-College of Medicine.

On his blog, Dr. Tan-Gatue recently posted a very interesting article on cow's milk and children. "Traditional Chinese Medicine holds that cow’s milk is too rich for the delicate digestive system of children," he argues, and feeding (cow's) milk to children after the age of two years is, from the view of Chinese medicine, unnecessary and can actually be harmful. He adds that "if God had intended for children to drink milk all their formative years, then their mothers should naturally produce milk for more than two years."

So where should children get their calcium, according to traditional Chinese medicine? From fruits and vegetables. The rule of thumb, then, is simple. Make sure your children have enough calcium. From where? From milk, for babies. From veggies, for children.

I wonder, though, how easy this is for Filipinos to do. Many middle-class Filipinos do not like to eat vegetables. And many children, in particular, are averse to vegetables. I often wonder--purely from anecdotal evidence--whether the reason why Filipino physicians prescribe vitamin supplements to children is because they know it's a losing battle to expect most parents to feed their children a well-balanced meal.

At any rate, a few months back, Jenny posted an article that also argued that cow's milk (including formula) can be harmful for young chidren. Jenny, a breastfeeding consultant, advocates breastfeeding and lauds the benefits of extended breastfeeding. However, she also says that based on the data, children from 1-year-old who are not breastfed do not need to drink formula milk. By that age, they are expected to be getting their nutrients from solids. If parents decide to give them milk, they can give them fresh milk and switch to low-fat milk at the age of 2 (unless they are malnourished).

On the whole, I find the milk debate a very interesting one. My son is 16-months-old and he is still breastfed. However, he also occasionally drinks fresh cow's milk. I try to get organic or natural milk for him when I can, but it isn't always easy to find in the grocery.

As someone who grew up drinking milk, I'll probably continue offering milk to my son as he grows up, unless he demonstrates symptoms of lactose intolerance. I will, however, bear the experts' advice in mind and I'll try to be more meticulous in making sure he eats a lot of calcium-rich vegetables.

This article is not meant to replace the medical advice of your child's pediatrician.

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Infant feeding station at NAIA Terminal 1.

2010-03-01T17:49:00.002+08:00

Hooray! NAIA Terminal 1 now has an infant feeding station!

I read the news here. It is located at the departure area of Terminal 1. Similar feeding stations are set to open at the other airport terminals as well.

This is great news for all moms who travel with their babies!

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Being a mompreneur ... and the Spoiled! Store launch.

2010-02-05T09:10:00.007+08:00

Looking back I guess there was always an entrepreneur in me. One of the more embarrassing stories my mom likes to tell about my childhood is when I was around seven years old, I put my ballet skills to good use and put on a one-woman ballet performance in my grandmother's compound, charging our relatives 25 cents each to attend. But after that I found more conventional ways to earn a little on the side. During summers, I would make iced candy and sell them to our neighbors. Later on, I began selling other products as well: eggs, breakfast food.

As I became an adolescent, though, my interests shifted, and the extent of my ventures was limited to the annual garage sale I would hold when it was time to clean out my closet.

When I became a mom, though, I realized that a lot of new moms' needs and wants were not being met by the businesses that were out there. And that's how the Pinoybaby Store was born. It started with diaper covers, but since then, we've grown to offer the widest range of cloth diapering products one can find in the Philippines, along with other natural parenting products as well.

Being a mompreneur has been a wonderful journey. It has allowed me to stay at home more so I can be with my son. It has allowed me to meet wonderful people--customers, associates--mostly women who are also going through the wonderful experience of motherhood just as I am. It has pushed me to keep abreast with information relating to motherhood.

It's been a little more than a year since the Pinoybaby Store launched, and since then, we've grown from being an online store to having a brick-and-mortar presence. A few months ago, we started showcasing our cloth diapering products at Spoiled! Store in Ortigas Center.

Expectant moms and new moms will be happy to know that Spoiled! Store is holding its grand opening tomorrow, Saturday, February 6. Activities will be ongoing the whole day: hourly raffles, arts and crafts activities for the kids, pre- and post-natal massages by MomMassage, and a lot more. Raffle prizes will be given hourly. A lot of items will be on sale.

Aside from Pinoybaby products, Spoiled! Store also carries a lot of other must-haves for new moms. As far as I know, they have the widest range of nursing wear, with brands like Plume, Spoiled!, Mamaway, and Mommy Matters. They carry baby clothes from Babinski Baby, Motion Wear, and Funky Feet, and bath and body products from IndigoBaby.

We hope to see you there tomorrow!

Spoiled! Store is on the Mezzanine Floor of Goldland Millenia Suites, Escriva Drive, Ortigas Center, Pasig.
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Pinoy Green Academy.

2010-01-29T18:18:00.004+08:00

Whether your eco-mindedness is limited to choosing CFL lightbulbs over incandescents, or you're a hardcore vegan who refuses to wear synthetic clothes, you'll find something useful on Pinoy Green Academy, a blog dedicated to living a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

I thought I was relatively knowledgeable about the ecological movement in the Philippines, but I was blown away by how much I have yet to learn, after browsing through the Pinoy Green Academy blog today.

The blog features news bits on eco-friendly events, eco-friendly products, as well as personal reflections on eco-friendly living. One of the most recent posts, for example, is a description of the first eco-house in Cebu, including a video clip about the house from Channel News Asia.

Interspersed among these news bits are helpful tips for those starting out on a green lifestyle: instructions on how to set up a compost pit, suggestions on how to drive in a more eco-friendly manner, etc.

Interesting stuff.

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Nursing wear!

2010-01-26T15:45:00.005+08:00

I remember in the months before I gave birth to Rafa, I was looking for nursing wear all over the city, and it was so difficult to find anything! I bought a few shirts from Mommy Matters, but other than that, the stores had very very sparse selections.

Fast forward 18 months, and now there are so many choices for Metro Manila-based nursing moms! Earlier today, I dropped by Au Lait, a newly opened maternity and nursing wear store along Wilson St. in Greenhills (across Dita Sandico-Ong's showroom). It's owned by Audrey Uy, a high school batchmate of mine, and I was gushing over the sophisticated tops and dresses that she sells (under the Singaporean brand Mothers En Vogue). I was delighted that many of the outfits work both as maternity wear as well as nursing wear, prompting me to tell Audrey that I wish I were pregnant all over again, just so I could buy some new maternity outfits!

A few weeks ago, I also just bought a few nursing clothes from Spoiled! Store along Escriva Drive. Our Pinoybaby Store cloth diaperig products are now available at Spoiled! Store, so I'm there pretty often to check on inventory. The thing is, my regular trips there have become shopping trips as well; whenever I'm there, I end up spending some time in the dressing room, trying on at least one outfit (or, as with the last time, eight outfits!). The store carries casual wear from Mamaway, Mommy Matters, and Spoiled!, and slightly more dressy wear from Plume.

So if you're expecting or nursing, lucky you! This is a great time to be a fashionista expecting/nursing mom!

Check out Jenny's longer list of nursing wear choices over at her blog.

Picture of Au Lait Maternity & Nursing Store from Au Lait.

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Life in a cup.

2010-01-23T09:40:00.003+08:00

Photo from MB.com, by Rudy Liwanag

Jenny (Chronicles of a Nursing Mom) posted this link to an article about the great breastmilk bank program at Philippine General Hospital. The Lactation Unit and Human Milk Bank pasteurizes donated breastmilk, and volunteers feed the breastmilk to the dozens of preemie babies in the Philippines' largest government hospital.

There are three ways to help PGH's milk bank. Apart from donating breastmilk, you can also donate cash which will help with their operations, or you can donate your time by working as a feeding volunteer. If you're interested, you can contact the Lactation Unit and Human Milk Bank at the 4th Floor LCB Philippine General Hospital, telephone (2) 521-8450 local 3418/3409.

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Breastfeeding research.

2010-01-19T09:52:00.003+08:00

A friend of mine found an interesting article about some new studies on breastfeeding. Researchers at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Australia found a correlation between breastfeeding and children's mental health.

Babies in their study who were nursed longer appeared to cope better with stress. The researchers noted that these effects lasted throughout childhood. The researchers followed their subjects up to the age of 14 years old.

Meanwhile, I just found out that one of the faculty members at our university is advocating local research on breastfeeding among our pre-med students. Only in recent years have I learned how scant the information on breastfeeding is in many parts of our country.

On the one hand, the number of breastfeeding-friendly hospitals is increasing, and more and more mothers as working as breastfeeding consultants.

However, I still hear too many stories of women from all walks of life holding their newborn babies the day after giving birth, trying to breastfeed, but not receiving any support nor correct information from the nurses or midwives. I look forward to the day when it becomes standard in every hospital or birthing clinic to give new mothers the information they need to start breastfeeding, should they so wish.

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Adoption.

2010-01-19T00:19:00.005+08:00

There's an American TV show I watched a lot of during my last trip to the US, called "Adoption Stories." It airs on Discovery Health. The format of the show is the same each week. The TV crew follow a couple as they go through their adoption journey, from the search until the moment they are holding their child in their arms.

It's a very sensitively done documentary, and I've often thought how wonderful it is that there is a show that educates viewers about the adoption process. I imagine that there must be some people who finalized their decision to adopt a child because of the show.

Here in the Philippines, we seem to be less educated about adoption. I'm glad, then, that Smart Parenting recently published a preliminary article on adoption on its website. It's very brief, and it will probably leave the reader with a lot of unanswered questions, but I hope it sparks more interest in the topic. I look forward to seeing more articles about adoption on local websites and in local magazines.

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Toddlers and independence.

2010-01-13T15:31:00.007+08:00

I saw a link to this video on Facebook. It's a cute social experiment done in the Philippines on children.

Although my son is much younger than the children in this video, the premise of the video made me pause and reflect on how toddlers demonstrate their own capacity and desire for independence.

My son is one-year-old, and in the past few months, he's been trying to assert his independence. He tries to do everything on his own: drinking from a tumbler, feeding himself with a spoon, putting his slippers on by himself, brushing his own teeth (although of course I need to finish off for him), wiping up his own spills ....

What's fantastic is that when he succeeds at doing something by himself, he has such a sense of accomplishment. He cheers and claps for himself excitedly.

Watching my son at this stage reminds me of what I've read regarding Maria Montessori's philosophy of education. Montessori's pedagogical theory is often summarized in the statement, "Teach me to do it myself." Young children, Montessori reasoned, are competent and capable, and, with the right environment for them to explore and discover, coupled with guidance from elders, they can learn knowledge and skills on their own.

I've definitely seen the truth of Montessori's ideas in my son. It is such a pleasant surprise for me to discover how quickly a toddler can learn new skills if we let them.

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Breastfeeding Madonna and Child.

2009-12-28T15:24:00.013+08:00

In time for the Christmas season (and in time, too, for the celebration of the Feast of Mary as the Mother of God later this week), the Inquirer published a story this morning mentioning the Vatican's approval of images of Mary breastfeeding Baby Jesus.

According to the article, the Vatican in 2008 announced that it wanted more breastfeeding pictures of the Virgin Mary.

by Andrea Solari circa 1507.

Apparently, such images were more common in pre-Reformation years of Christianity. However, sensibilities began to change with the arrival of the modern age and the Protestant movement. A Catholic News Service report from June 2008 notes pictures depicting Our Lady's naked breast were deemed too 'unseemly,' and paintings of a nursing Mary disappeared in around the 16th or 17th century. Christian historians lament that this attempt to make Mary seem less "carnal" also "diminished her human, loving and tender side."

The article from CNS also quotes Salesian Father Enrico dal Covolo, a professor of classic and Christian literature, who points out an interesting paradox in the image of a nursing Mary: "He who gives nourishment to all things, Mary included, now lets himself be nourished by her.... The Virgin Mary who nurses her son Jesus is one of the most eloquent signs that the word of God truly and undoubtedly became flesh."

As a nursing mom and as a Catholic, I find it comforting to know that Mary probably went through a lot of the same breastfeeding woes that we go through. This includes the good old baby-distracted-in-the-middle-of-nursing episode depicted perfectly by 15th century painter Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio here:

I'll end this post with this painting from 1628 by Orazio Gentileschie. It's timely, because it depicts a scene from the Flight to Egypt, which happened shortly after the birth of Christ. And if you're a nursing mom, I'm sure you can relate to this middle-of-the-night experience:

Happy Christmas to all!

(Thanks, too, to Jowan for mentioning the Inquirer article in an email to us!)

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NurtureShock!

2009-12-24T10:42:00.007+08:00

(1) How reliable are testing methods for kindergarten-age students as indicators of future achievement? (2) Will talking a lot to your baby help her to develop language skills? (3) How effective is telling the story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" at dissuading lying among children? (4) Is praising your children for their intelligence good for them?

The answers to these questions might surprise you, as they did me. I came across these questions and the answers to them in NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children, a book I happened to find on the bestsellers shelf of Fully Booked a few days ago.

NurtureShock, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, is not your typical parenting book. It reads like a Malcolm Gladwell work (The Tipping Point, Outliers) for parents. Bronson and Merryman describe some of the latest research on child and adolescent development which shatters many beliefs widely-held by parents, teachers, and education policy-makers. The studies they cite are diverse: they demonstrate how your child's friendships shape his relationships with his siblings, how getting an hour more sleep each night can benefit your daughter in more ways than you can imagine, and how a relatively new pre-school program in the US has been churning out amazing results by changing educators' understanding of what pre-school is for.

I've only finished reading two-thirds of the book, but it has already opened my eyes to a lot of mistaken presumptions I'd had about parenting. It has also provided evidence-based support for some of the notions about education I had intuited before, such as the importance of teaching young children how to think and how to become learners, rather than teaching them to memorize letters and numbers.

If you've already read the book and want more from the authors, they maintain a blog at Newsweek.com.

Now, as for the questions I enumerated at the start of this post, here are the answers:

(1) Very unreliable. The correlation between tests taken before kindergarten and achievement tests taken two years later is 40%. And the success rate for identifying gifted children based on tests taken at kindergarten is even worse: for every hundred students who are identified as gifted in kindergarten, only 27% of them will still deserve that label five years later. You're better off flipping a coin.

(2) It isn't talking a lot to your baby that most helps her develop language skills. Rather, it's responding to your baby when she tries to communicate--such by touching her immediately whenever she babbles, or naming objects that she is looking at--that helps the most.

(3) Also very unreliable; after hearing the story, some kids lied a little more than usual. "George Washington and the Cherry Tree" is a better story to tell your children.

(4) No; children who are praised for their intelligence tend to become underachievers later on in life. Children perform better when they are praised for working hard.

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What should a 4 year old know?

2009-12-19T10:13:00.007+08:00

A friend of mine on Facebook posted a link to this beautiful article. The title: what should a 4-year-old know?

"... She should know how to laugh, act silly, be goofy and use her imagination. She should know that it is always okay to paint the sky orange and give cats 6 legs.... She should know that the world is magical and that so is she. She should know that she's wonderful, brilliant, creative, compassionate and marvelous. She should know that it's just as worthy to spend the day outside making daisy chains, mud pies and fairy houses as it is to practice phonics...."

"But more important, here's what parents need to know.... That every child learns to walk, talk, read and do algebra at his own pace and that it will have no bearing on how well he walks, talks, reads or does algebra.... That the single biggest predictor of high academic achievement and high ACT scores is reading to children. Not flash cards, not workbooks, not fancy preschools, not blinking toys or computers, but mom or dad taking the time every day or night (or both!) to sit and read them wonderful books... That being the smartest or most accomplished kid in class has never had any bearing on being the happiest. We are so caught up in trying to give our children 'advantages' that we're giving them lives as multi-tasked and stressful as ours. One of the biggest advantages we can give our children is a simple, carefree childhood...."

It's sometimes difficult to remember these things, so this reminder is refreshing. One thing I tell myself is that Waldorf-educated children don't learn to read until they're seven, and they turn out fine ... if not more artistic and more creative than children in more traditional schools. :)

The full article is here.

I love the final line. "What does a 4 year old need? Much less than we realize, and much more."

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Breastfeeding stress, and how to deal with it.

2009-12-12T14:07:00.004+08:00

My friend Toni over at Wifely Steps gave birth just a few months ago, and she wrote an amazing blog post about the struggles that come with being a breastfeeding mom.

"While I did read up a lot on breastfeeding, I still ~~wanted~~ needed support from others," she writes. "It was surprising how comments like 'Matutuyuan ka rin, mga two weeks.' ('You’ll dry up in two weeks.') or 'Are you sure you’re giving him enough milk? You should give him formula already' could be so demotivating. I felt like nobody believed I could breastfeed at all.... What worked for me ... [was declaring] 'Look, I want to try this out okay? This means a lot to me, and I would really appreciate if you could help me out.'"

Her blog post enumerates several different sources of stress, and she shares terrific tips on how to deal with them if you're going through something similar. You can read the rest of Toni's post here.

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My son's first big nightmare.

2009-12-07T17:32:00.002+08:00

Two nights ago, my son woke up at 2:30 AM, crying and calling "Mama, mama" over and over again. He refused to nurse. He wouldn't pay attention to me when I tried to speak soothingly to him. He kept pointing in the direction of the bathroom door, but when I brought him into the bathroom, he continued to cry. I tried changing his nappy, but it didn't work. I tried distracting him with toys, with singing, with talking; nothing calmed him. He was inconsolable for almost 10 minutes. The only thing that worked was me taking him outside of the room and putting him in a new environment.

It was the first time that that had happened. He has had nightmares before, but never one that was this upsetting. This was also the first time that breastfeeding was not enough to comfort him.

I felt bad for him, and I feel bad, too, that there is no way for me to know what his dream was. He's only 13 months old, so he has less than 10 words in his vocabulary.

I was comforted to find out the following day, however, that nightmares are common among toddlers. I had just bought a copy of Smart Parenting's Guide to the Toddler Years and purely coincidentally, I read it yesterday and stumbled upon the section about toddler nightmares. Toddlers still have difficulty distinguishing between dreams and reality, the book explained, and this is why nightmares can be so upsetting.

The book's advice was to assure the child, validate his fear, and find out the possible source of the nightmare. These weren't applicable to my son, though, since his language skills aren't that developed yet. But bearing in mind the explanation that young children can't distinguish between dreams and reality, I suppose the best thing we can do for our children is to help them feel that the reality they are in is safe and filled with love and comfort, and not with whatever scary things that are upsetting them.

Photo by Mehmet Goren.

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Pinoybaby Store items available at Spoiled! Store, Ortigas Center.

2009-12-05T02:07:00.009+08:00

Pinoybaby Store products are now available at Spoiled! Store at Goldland Millenia Suites in Ortigas Center.

The complete address is: Mezzanine floor, Goldland Milleniua Suites, Escriva Drive, Ortigas Center, Pasig. The official launch isn't until next year but it's already on soft opening beginning tomorrow. Store hours this weekend are 11 AM to 8 PM, but beginning December 7th, it will be open Mondays to Sundays except Thursdays, from 10 AM to 8 PM.

Aside from Pinoybaby Store items you can also browse through hard-to-find nursing and maternity wear, baby clothes, diaper bags, toys, and other products for the new/expectant mom and her baby, all brought to you by Pinay mompreneurs!

If you have any questions about the stocks we'll be carrying at Spoiled! Store, please feel free to send me a message by clicking here.

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Essential Newborn Care protocol.

2009-11-28T22:10:00.009+08:00

Jowan, one of the Pinoybaby Store customers whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the Expo Mom Bazaar, sent me a really interesting article about the protocol for newborns.

According to the Inquirer article there is a movement to encourage in the Philippines the same protocol for newborn care that is done in many other countries: immediately drying the baby then initiating skin contact with the mother before clamping the umbilical cord, and initiating breastfeeding immediately after delivery. This protocol is already in practice in Quirino Memorial Medical Center, Fabella Memorial Medical Center, and Philippine General Hospital.

According to the article, the new protocol could cut by almost half the number of newborn deaths, now estimated at 40,000 each year. Immediately drying the baby prevents hypothermia; delaying the cord clamping two to three minutes after birth increases the baby’s iron reserves; and placing the baby on the mothers chest or abdomen provides warmth, increases the duration of breastfeeding, and allow “good bacteria” from the mother’s skin to pass onto the newborn.

You can read the full article here.

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A few of my favorite things - #3.

2009-11-19T23:36:00.003+08:00

When I visited the US with my son a few months ago, one of the first things I looked for in the shopping centers was this product, the My Little Seat travel high chair.

My Little Seat is a chair harness for babies and young toddlers. Chair harnesses have straps on them, making it possible for your baby to sit in regular chair safely. I'd done some research online and according to the reviews, My Little Seat was one of the most popular among the chair harnesses because of its five-point harness. Other brands of chair harnesses were only three-point harnesses: they didn't have shoulder straps.

The My Little Seat travel high chair turned out to be an extremely useful purchase. My mom's house (where we were staying) didn't have a high chair for my son, and it was such a relief to be able to sit him in a proper chair during feeding time. And when we went out to restaurants, it proved to be even more useful because not every restaurant had a high chair! Having the My Little Seat meant that my son always had somewhere to sit and be fed.

Here in the Philippines, we've continued to put the My Little Seat travel high chair to good use. I've discovered that a lot of restaurants in the Philippines only have one high chair, so when there's another kid in the restaurant, some parents have no choice but to take turns eating while the other parent holds the baby (or worse, chases the toddler around the restaurant). But that is never a problem for us because we always bring the My Little Seat with us, so our son always has a place to sit.

I'm happy to say that the Pinoybaby Store is now the only reseller of the My Little Seat travel high chair in the Philippines.

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MacLaren Recall Update: Repair Kits in the Philippines

2009-11-15T15:25:00.002+08:00

According to the Smart Parenting website, repair kits will also be available in the Philippines for MacLaren strollers, beginning November 23rd.

An excerpt from the Smart Parenting article:

What if I have a Maclaren stroller here in the Philippines? Can I also avail of the hinge cover kit?
Yes. Should you opt to get a hinge cover kit, you may contact the Philippine distributor of Maclaren strollers, FBC Global Trading Philippines, by dialing (02) 994-5675, and leave your full name, contact details, and e-mail address. Look for Michelle Traqueña. Calling from outside Manila? You may also e-mail the same details to fbcglobal88@gmail.com.

You will be advised once the hinge cover kits are available. You will then receive a demonstration and briefing on how the hinge cover kits should be installed onto your Maclaren strollers. These will be conducted in FBC Global Trading Philippines branches nationwide.

When are the Maclaren hinge cover kits going to be available here in the Philippines?
FBC Global Trading Philippines is expecting the arrival of the first batch of hinge covers by the week of November 23rd.

What can parents do to avoid any stroller-related accidents and/or injuries to their child?
Just as with any other mechanical piece for children, parents should always practice vigilance so as to avoid any untoward incidents. Remember that devices such as strollers, regardless of the brand, each come with their own safety precautions and instructions, in order to prevent accidents.

See you at the Expo Mom Bazaar!

2009-11-15T11:56:00.004+08:00

The Pinoybaby Store will be at the Expo Mom Bazaar next Sunday, November 22, 2009 at the Rockwell Tent in Makati. Doors open at 10am and the bazaar will run until 8pm. Entrance fee is just P25 per person.

To find us, when you enter, we're near the back of the tent on the rightmost aisle (the same booth we had at last summer's Expo Mom).

We'll be showcasing our cloth diapering products, as well as some new products: fairly-traded wooden toys for toddlers, nursery wall stickers, and more. And some of our items will be on sale especially for the Expo Mom Bazaar!

We hope to see you all there!

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MacLaren Stroller Recall

2009-11-15T11:29:00.003+08:00

MacLaren strollers in the USA have been recalled because some models have an exposed hinge with which toddlers can hurt themselves if their finger is near the hinge when the stroller is closed.

As far as I know, the USA is the only country thus far that has issued a recall, but Jenny over at Fabnaima took the initiative to call the MacLaren distributor in the Philippines to ask for more details. According to her, there has been no instruction yet from MacLaren UK (mother company of all MacLaren products) regarding any recalls or repair kits in the Philippines.

At any rate, if you bought your MacLaren in the US, you can avail of a free repair kit (for shipping to a US address only) by visiting www.maclaren.us/recall.

Lest the recall cause any panic, note that out of 1 million MacLaren strollers sold in the US, there have been about 12 accidents. I think most parents are cautious when they open and shut their strollers, making sure that their children's fingers aren't anywhere near the stroller.

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Our son's birthday giveaway.

2009-10-28T19:50:00.007+08:00

I've written about our plans of giving some of our son's items when he turned one. After Ondoy and Parma hit, we were all the more committed to that, so for Rafa's party we asked our guests to bring used toys or art materials we could give away, instead of bringing gifts for our son.

Sorting the donations.

Our guests very generously gave a lot of toys (some brand new), books, and art materials for Rafa's birthday giveaway. We spent a morning sorting them according to age group, and then put them in boxes in preparation to be given away.

Yesterday, my son, his nanny and I brought some of the baby items to CRIBS, a home in Marikina for abandoned, neglected, and surrendered babies. While we were signing the documentation for the donation, a baby in the next room started crying, and Rafa looked up, trying to find the source of the sound. We carried him over to the window where he could peek into the newborn room and he looked with interest, pointing at the babies through the window.

Playing with a toy car before we turn it over.
(We weren't allowed to take photos of the babies.)

Afterwards, Rita, one of the staff members at CRIBS, led us to the crawlers' room, where the slightly older babies were (I estimated them to be around 6 to 14 months old). Piped in dance music was playing and there were four little boys around Rafa's age romping around the padded room and playing with the toys that were on the floor, while around 4 other younger babies were in their respective cribs. Ate Norma, the caregiver in charge of this age group, welcomed us and told us a little about the babies in the room.

CRIBS currently has around 24 babies in all, most of whom were abandoned. Ate Norma told us that unless the babies go to foster or adoptive homes, or are taken back by their parents, they stay in CRIBS until they are 2 and a half years old, after which they are transferred to other institutions for older children.

As far as I could tell, there was one caregiver for each age group. Of course, having to look after around 8 babies at at time meant that Ate Norma couldn't attend to all the babies' needs immediately. While she was tending to one baby's needs, another was crying because of a wet nappy, another was crying because she was hungry, and another was crying because he wanted to be picked up. Ate Norma expertly moved around the room, taking care of each baby's needs, but while we were there, we let Rafa toddle around with the 4 other walkers while Rafa's nanny and I did what we could to help.

One baby stopped crying as soon as I picked him up. Ate Norma explained that he was one of those babies who simply liked to be carried. Of course, I was more than happy to do the carrying. Meanwhile, Rafa's nanny went over to feed another baby who was crying for her bottle.

Meanwhile, Rafa enjoyed himself in the room. Along with the other walkers, he bounced around to the music, explored the different toys, and walked over to the giant mirror and laughed at his reflection. One of the other boys seemed to be amused by Rafa and started following him around the room, to our delight.

We stayed about 30 minutes before heading back to the office to bid goodbye to Rita. She encouraged us to come back again and visit. Visiting hours are 9 AM to 11 AM and 2 PM to 4 PM, she said.

I'd visited CRIBS before in college, and some of my friends also volunteered for a college organization that used to visit CRIBS weekly. I remember a friend explaining to me that their volunteer work was really primarily about carrying the babies, giving them the one-on-one time that all babies need.

Of course, visiting again as a mom was a different, richer experience. And bringing Rafa was great too: he enjoyed playing alongside the other babies.

Now that Rafa's Gymboree sessions are over I'm thinking of maybe bringing him to CRIBS instead, every now and then, to play with the babies there. I think both he and I will enjoy it, and I hope the CRIBS babies will too.

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Refunds for Baby Einstein DVDs.

2009-10-24T16:33:00.004+08:00

Parents in the US who bought Baby Einstein DVDs for their children will be granted a refund for the product.

Some see it as an admission that the DVDs are not educational for young babies and may even be harmful.

I wrote about the "Baby Einstein debate" some months ago, here, along with links to articles from experts explaining why children under the age of 2 should not be watching television or videos.

Of course, all of us are sometimes tempted by the marketing campaigns of various products that imply they can turn our kids into geniuses. But perhaps it's a good idea to pause every now and then and ask ourselves: why do we want our babies to be able to read a year earlier (or recognize words a year earlier, or what have you) than other children, anyway? Will that make them better or happier babies? Will that make them better or happier or more moral or more fulfilled adults twenty-five years from now? :)

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Rafa's turning ONE!

2009-10-10T10:11:00.005+08:00

My son Rafa is turning one this week! Time has flown by so quickly, and in a blink of an eye, my baby is now an active toddler!

The Pinoy Baby Store is celebrating by putting all one-size diapers on sale for a week. :)

As for us, we're just having a simple get-together at home. It was going to be a slightly bigger celebration, with a bigger guest list and catered finger food, but after Ondoy, my husband suggested whether we should forego the party altogether and just donate the money. After talking about it a little bit, we decided to push through with the party but scale it down and collect play therapy materials for Ondoy victims in lieu of gifts.

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Ondoy Milk Mission

2009-10-02T08:24:00.004+08:00

As of yesterday, PGH was able to collect 100 liters of breastmilk for their milk mission to evacuation centers.

The full story is here:

Instead of canned goods and used clothes, a team of doctors from the University of the Philippines–Philippine General Hospital is bringing a unique donation when they embark on a relief mission to “Ondoy" evacuation centers: breast milk for babies.

Dra. Maria Asuncion Silvestre, head of the PGH Lactation Unit and Milk Bank, said the medical mission aims to help breastfeeding mothers cope with the stress from the massive floods that ravaged their houses and, more importantly, to prevent the spread of diseases among infants.

Silvestre likens breast milk to a “vaccine" that can protect infants from sickness especially in disaster and emergency situations.

On Friday, the UP-PGH will have its initial mission at the Kabisig Elementary School in Cainta, Rizal, one of the areas devastated by widespread flooding from Ondoy last Saturday.

Silvestre said the news of infants catching diarrhea and pneumonia in evacuation centers prompted the PGH Newborn Medicine department and some of its partner organizations to educate mothers on how to breastfeed properly during times of crisis.

She discouraged donors from giving infant formula to the evacuees, saying this may bring more harm than good. Even raw breast milk that has not been pasteurized is safer than formula milk, the doctor said.

“In disaster areas, it’s very restricted. The centers can be unsanitary, they have no clean water. They have no way to boil (sterilize) the milk bottles. Formula milk can be contaminated because there are many sources for contamination," Silvestre explained.

More than half a million people have sought refuge in 726 evacuation centers, where disease and crowded conditions are major concerns.

According to the Department of Health, breastfeeding provides the greatest protection for infants who are most vulnerable to disease and death in emergency situations. Because of limited access to drinking water, fuel and utensils – necessities in bottle-feeding – infants and children are at risk for diarrhea.

In 2009, the DOH listed diarrhea as the tenth leading cause of deaths among infants.

“This is the PGH’s emergency response to the disaster. Our first priority is to support breastfeeding moms, to educate them, to reenergize them, so that when the mission leaves, they can continue breastfeeding," Silvestre said in a phone interview with GMANews.TV.

How mothers can help

The medical team is also asking for breast milk donations. Silvestre said breastfeeding mothers who wish to help can go to the PGH to express their milk or donate frozen breast milk at the Lactation Unit and Milk Bank of the Newborn Medicine Department of the PGH along Taft Avenue in Manila.

As of Thursday noon, the relief mission had collected more than 100 liters of breast milk.

For the breastfeeding mission in Cainta, infants up to six months old will be cup-fed by volunteers from the medical school.

“The breastfeeding moms will proceed to our designated area where they will be given some refreshments and Vitamin A. Some of them will be given breastfeeding t-shirts and they will be educated on how to sustain their breastfeeding, even though they are stressed and tired," Silvestre said.

The t-shirts, drinking water, and a cargo of pasteurized breast milk will be provided by mother-support groups like Mommy Matters and Latch.

Five wet nurses, or mothers who breastfeed children that are not their own, from the support group Arugaan are also joining the mission.

Through the endeavor, Silvestre hopes to provide mothers with the necessary knowledge in caring for infants in disaster situations.

“If the (breast milk) supply for that evacuation center is gone, at least moms can continue breastfeeding their babies. The mission is not meant to be a dole-out; it’s meant to have a multiplier effect," she said. – GMANews.TV

Ondoy relief: breastmilk donations needed.

2009-09-30T11:47:00.003+08:00

I hope all of you are safe in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy.

My family was fortunate not be hit, but I think all of us know at least one person who was greatly affected by the typhoon. I personally know more than a dozen people who lost almost everything in the floods.

If you're a breastfeeding mom, one way you can help the Ondoy victims is by donating breastmilk. Many moms in the evacuation centers are unable to nurse because of the stress they've been going through, and many babies are getting diarrhea from the formula they're drinking. If you want to donate breastmilk, you can course it through PGH. PGH will pasteurize the milk and deliver it to the evacuation centers. If you want to donate breastmilk please contact Dra. Silvestre of PGH at 0917 535 2438 or Lita Nery 0918 555 7565.

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Yaya's salary.

2009-09-22T18:46:00.004+08:00

On one of the mailing lists of which I'm a member, there has been a discussion about how much to pay a nanny. It seems to be a question that a lot of homemakers have.

Some people may not be aware that Senate Bill 1662, approved in 2007, sets the minimum wage for domestic helpers shall be P3000 in NCR, P2500 in other chartered cities and first class municipalities, and P2000 in other municipalities.

The bill also requires that a written contract be entered into by the employer and employee, that first-aid equipment and medicine be made available, and that household employees be covered by SSS and Philhealth.

As far as I know (and someone can correct me if I'm mistaken), the bill is not yet a law, because its equivalent is still pending in the Lower House. Nonetheless, I think it is a helpful guide for employers to follow. The text of the entire bill is here.

It bears mentioning, of course, that nannies' (especially those tasked with taking care of newborn babies) and cooks' salaries are usually higher than so-called "all-around" housekeepers.

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Lactation room victory!

2009-09-07T19:41:00.003+08:00

Kudos to Jenny from Chronicles of a Nursing Mom for her contribution to this great initiative at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas! The BSP has opened a lactation room, thanks to the advocacy of some pumping moms who work there.

Their story might give other moms an idea of how to advocate for a lactation room in their respective offices. An excerpt:

[Monetary Board member Ignacio Bunye's chief of staff Jennifer Joy Ong] and Claire Mogol of the BSP’s Corporate Affairs Office, according to Bunye, have been instrumental in initiating awareness on the importance of breastfeeding at the BSP.

After getting the support of other young working mothers, the two approached Ada Cruz and Daisy Sanchez of the Human Resource Management Department’s Wellness Division and suggested the introduction of a breastfeeding awareness activity at the institution.

“Their advocacy paved the way for the approval and implementation of the milk banking project,” Bunye said.

Are you a parent? Chill! :)

2009-09-07T19:36:00.002+08:00

A friend of mine shared a link to this nice article about learning to let go as a parent, as opposed to "hyperparenting." An excerpt:

Hyperparents are spotted when they are trying to educate their child from the womb, and expose them to the most intellectually stimulating music and art and literature before the kid can crawl. They obsess over everything, from whether the child is learning fast enough to how safe every single thing is to every little scrape and bruise. They are overprotective, overbearing, overwhelming to the child.

I admit, I was a hyperparent once, and still can be sometimes. It’s a habit I’m trying to break, with some success.

The rest of the article is here. I particularly like tip #10.

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Article on baby allergies.

2009-09-05T18:33:00.004+08:00

There was an article on baby allergies in yesterday's issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. One thought-provoking hypothesis mentioned in the article:

Also an interesting hypothesis (hygiene hypothesis) proposes that limited exposure to bacteria, especially in early life, due to extremely sterile surroundings may also increase the risk of allergy. So, clean environment for the baby is good, but “sterile” rooms –supposed to be a privilege of urban affluence – may deprive the babies the chance to develop the babies’ immune system.

The article doesn't say whether there is any data to support this hypothesis, though. Another useful excerpt:

The risk of allergy from milk preparations is one strong argument for breastfeeding. Dr. Smith stresses that it still remains as the best and earliest step that can be taken for dietary protection against allergy, regardless of family history. He explained that breast milk provided a naturally hypoallergenic milk protein that significantly reduces the risk of allergy. Also, breast milk contains antibodies and probiotics (live, good bacteria) like bifidobacteria that help strengthen the infant’s immune system.

Both my husband and I have histories of allergies, and my son already has eczema. I hope that he doesn't develop many allergies growing up.

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Baby and work.

2009-08-29T18:06:00.007+08:00

60" align="right" hspace=10>Judging from an Oprah episode I watched last year, one parenting topic that evokes a lot of passionate feelings is the question of parenting and working. What family configuration is best for a two-parent household with a young baby: should one parent work full-time and the other stay at home? Should both parents work? Should one parent work outside and the other work at home?

I'm glad to be living at a time when it's even possible to ask that question, because there are more options open to women and families compared to before. But I do know that this remains a difficult and controversial topic. And I don't think there's one family configuration that suits everyone. Each family has their own specific needs, and each family struggles with this question in their own way.

Like most other families, my family also went through a process of deep reflection about this. And along the way we were able to list down the questions that we asked ourselves that helped us in our decision-making process. Allow me to share some of those questions.

1. Who will take care of baby? For my husband and me, this was the most important question. Whom do we trust to take care of baby? Some families eventually decide that it has to be one of the parents (whether dad or mom) who will be the baby's primary caregiver, and so either mom or dad decides to stay home while the other spouse works. One of my friends was able to work out his and his wife's schedules so that each of them looked after the baby half the time. For some families, a grandparent (usually lola) or other relative becomes one of the baby's primary caregivers during the day. Some decide to hire a nanny whom they can trust to leave baby with all day. And finally, especially with older children, some decide to entrust their baby to a good daycare center or creche.

In our case I became our son's primary caregiver but we also hired help to assist me and to babysit for short periods, because I decided to continue working part-time (a few hours a week) and I also run a small business from home.

2. Where do our hearts lie? Some families I know don't have as much of a struggle because they know from the start which choice they want. For example, I have friends who have always wanted more than anything to be stay-at-home moms, and so the minute they got pregnant, they quit their jobs and stayed home. Others have careers that they are passionate about and specific dreams that they want to achieve, and so they found a way to incorporate parenting into the path they are taking to reach those dreams. I think each couple needs to soul-search and see what their hearts tell them (although in my case, clarity about this only came after our son was born!).

In my case I decided I always wanted to do a little bit of work--whether it was part-time work or working at home--even while I spent most of my time at home while my son is still very little. I do also know that I eventually want to go back to working full-time when my son is more independent.

3. What are our finances like and what financial adjustments will we make? Nowadays a lot of couples begin their married life with two incomes: both husband and wife have full-time jobs. Considering the possibility of switching from a two-income household to a one-income or one-and-a-half income household after baby comes along means that certain adjustments will have to be made. Families may need to look for additional sources of income outside of the working spouse's regular job. Or they may have to tighten their belts, expenses may have to be rolled back significantly, projected major purchases might have to be postponed. For some families, living on one income might simply be too difficult an option and this might be the dealbreaker that makes a couple decide to continue as a two-income household.

In our case, the change wasn't drastic, partly because I still bring in some income even though I am not working full-time, and breastfeeding and cloth-diapering mean that we don't spend a lot on our baby either. (Our biggest expenses for our son are his nanny's salary, and immunizations because we have our baby immunized by a private pediatrician. Parents who want to save on immunization costs can go to government-sponsored immunization programs instead.)

4. What creative options are open to us? I think that sometimes, some parents think that the only two choices are to either continue working full-time or staying at home all the time. But one of the great things about the time we live in is that there are so many other options. Professionals can work part-time as consultants. Families can put up businesses--something even as simple and as traditional as a tiny sari-sari store--that can afford them more flexible work hours. Executives can telecommute and report to work only a few times a week. In other countries some employers are open to "job-sharing": where two people fill one job position and split the pay, so each of them does half the work.

In my case, I spoke with my employer about it and we were able to come up with a very good arrangement that allowed me to report to work for only a few hours a week. At the same time, with nothing more than a credit card and last year's 13th month pay, I was able to start a business.

I do think that in searching for creative options, it helps if a working parent speaks candidly with her/his employers. Sometimes an office culture makes it seem like a working parent has no other choice but to work the way she/he did when she/he wasn't a parent yet. But employers can be surprisingly supportive of parents. My own boss even let me bring my son to work!

=======

Of course this list of questions is not comprehensive. And families with different configurations--single-parent families or families where one parent is working abroad--will have many other complex questions to consider.

My most important realization since becoming a parent, though, is that life after you've become a parent is completely different from life-before-parenthood. Your priorities change, your needs change, even your dreams change. But as my husband said, it's a change that comes with barely any bitterness or resentment: you're happy to have this little person "intrude" into your life and turn it upside-down! But embracing that change also means embracing the adjustments that you'll learn to make with your own life as you grow as a mother or a father.

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Giving.

2009-08-22T17:04:00.011+08:00

My son is turning 1-year-old soon, and one tradition I want to begin with him is to use each approaching birthday as an opportunity to give. My idea is to ask my son, as he grows older, to choose some of his possessions that he wants to give away to other children who might appreciate them. That way he also clears some space for whatever new things he might receive on his birthday.

Of course, since my son is less than a year old now, I suppose that for his first two birthdays, I'll have to do the pruning for him. I've already given some of his old clothes to a friend who just gave birth, some others to my former housekeeper whose daughter recently gave birth, and some more to my son's former yaya whose niece is pregnant. But every month my son outgrows more of his toys and clothes, so I have another box of clothes and toys that are ready to be given away.

So today I tried looking up NGOs and institutions that look after babies' needs. I'm sharing them here in case any of you, my readers, also have clothes or toys that your children have outgrown and that you want to give away.

Cribs Foundation is a child-care NGO located in Marikina that helps two groups. They have an arm that cares for babies ages 1 day old to 2-1/2 years old who have either been abandoned or whose parents cannot care for them. They also run a residential home for sexually-abused girls ages 7 to 17 years old. They help look for foster and adoptive homes where they can place their wards.

Their website has a wishlist of things that they need. Among the baby items they need are:

Milk (S-26, Nestogen 1 & 2, Bonna, Bonamil, Nido full cream, AL 110)

Baby liquid bath soaps, baby shampoo, baby soap

Liquid soap (for volunteer’s use)

Baby oil

Baby body lotion

Rubbing alcohol (70% ethyl alcohol)

Wet wipes

Cloth diapers

GERBER safety pins

GERBER rubber nipples for feeding bottles (I don't know if this is current because as far as I know Gerber nipples are no longer available in the Philippines; I may be mistaken though)

Feeding bottle brush

Cloth materials for 25 cribs sheets

Crib mobiles

Educational DVD tapes

baby vitamin C drops & syrup

Drapolene cream

Petroleum Jelly

Zinc oxide

Disudrin, Asmalin/Salbutamol nebulas, Bactruban ointment, Ambroxol drops/syrup, Amoxicillin drops/syrup, Tempra drops/syrup, Hydrite granules/tablets, Desowen lotion, Anti-histamine (virlix & zyrtec), PZA-CIBA, Isoniazid, Rimactane/Rifampicin

Anyone who wants to help can contact Cribs Foundation at cribsnet@info.com.ph, or via telephone numbers (632)681-5921 & (632)681-8078. Their address is 30 Major Dizon St., Industrial Valley Complex, Marikina City 1802.

Kythe is a second group I looked up. Kythe famously started as a volunteer group that visited pediatric cancer patients in hospital to provide therapeutic play. It has since grown into an NGO that affiliates itself with various hospitals around the country to provide psychosocial help to pediatric patients with any chronic illness.

Kythe also has a wishlist on its website. Among the things that parents might be interested in donating are:

Inflatable Gym (with multicolored balls and net)

Little Tykes Slide

Little Tykes Playhouse

Plastic Toy Utensils (plates, cups, glasses, spoons & forks, etc.)

Plastic Toy Fruits, vegetables, etc. to match the sizes of the Toy Utensils

Big Building Blocks

3D Wood Puzzles

Giant Storybooks (Tagalog)

Nebulizer

Alcohol (70% Isopropyl)

Kythe's head office is at Room 303, Korben Place, 91 Roces Avenue corner Scout Tobias, Quezon City. They can be contacted at +632 3763454, +63 918-9072094 or via kytheinc@yahoo.com.

Finally, calls for help have been making the rounds for Fabella Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila ever since these (click here for the still-photo version) and these photos of Fabella Hospital appeared on the Internet some months ago.

A group called Moms for Moms has listed Fabella's wishlist which includes, most importantly, diapers and linens.

Finally, all of the above groups would also appreciate cash donations; just visit their respective websites for details on how to donate.

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Another interview with the author of The Philosophical Baby

2009-08-19T23:16:00.003+08:00

There's another interview with Alison Gopnick here on Salon.com (I posted a link to another one earlier). It's a rather wordy interview, but there's one particular quote that I like, because it's what I feel about parenting too:

We can't predict much about how our parenting will influence our children in the long term. Many people may achieve great things as adults, in spite of or even just because of, the fact they were miserable as kids. But we have enormous power over our child's lives when they are children. We can determine whether our children thrive as children, and whether they remember that thriving childhood as adults. Isn't that actually more important? Instead of anxiously asking will my caregiving make my son go to Harvard 20 years from now, why not proudly think my caregiving will make my son have just the life that I shape for him, right now, with my particular jokes and quirks and devotion?

Camping with a baby.

2009-08-17T09:56:00.006+08:00

Camping is part of our family's lifestyle and having a baby didn't stop us from camping. We brought our son for a daytrip to our camp site when he was just 2 months old and 2 weeks later he spent his first night in the tent. He loved the outdoors from the very start and slept more soundly at the campsite than he did back home. Now at ten months old, he's a seasoned camper. He loves the fresh, unpolluted air, the outdoor breeze and the sun.

Chillin' in his lolo's camper trailer during his first daytrip to the campsite.

What gave us courage to bring our son camping were the fact that my husband and I were seasoned campers ourselves, and that we had other friends who had also brought their babies camping from a very early age. We knew that it could be done and we had an idea as to what sort of preparation we needed to do to bring a baby camping. We were also reassured by the fact that our campsite is pretty safe: no evil bugs or scary animals, and there are resorts a short drive away should an emergency evacuation be necessary. The worst "problem" about our campsite is the unpredictability of the weather, but we were confident we could hack it. It also helped that my son was exclusively breastfed so I didn't need to worry about keeping any bottles sterile.

I personally would suggest that parents who don't camp often but who want to bring their young babies camping first camp together with people who are more accustomed to camping, so that someone can assist them should they need help. Some of my friends who've camped with babies before have started out renting a room first at a nearby resort and then just heading to the campsite during the day; some parents might be more comfortable with this arrangement too.

Asleep in the tent.

That having been said, let me share with you a list of some of the things we've found really useful to bring when camping with our son:

1. tap water - Clean water is one of the most important things you need when camping, and it's all the more important when camping with a baby. We bring our own supply of tap water (a few gallons) for washing up, giving baby a bath, etc.

2. drinking water - Again, an essential for any camper; moreso if you're bringing a baby! Even if you're breastfeeding you'll find it useful to have drinking water on hand to wash baby's rattle if he throws it on the ground.

3. layers of clothes - Weather can be unpredictable outdoors! It might be the middle of summer but bring a jacket for baby anyway.

4. sleeping equipment - The kind of sleeping equipment you need depends on where you camp and the weather when you camp. For my son, we found a sleeper (one of those little padded boxes that you can use for co-sleeping) really useful when my son was newborn. As he got older, he just slept beside me on the airbed in the tent; his papa moved to a separate foam pad. We pushed the airbed to the wall of the tent and stuffed the gap between the airbed and the tent wall with a thick towel so he wouldn't roll into the gap at night. No sleeping bags for us in Philippine weather!

5. natural insect repellant

6. baby-safe sunblock

7. baby pouch or other form of baby carrier - Useful anywhere but super-useful at a campsite.

8. baby bathtub - Yes, we actually bring our son's palanggana with us when we go camping.

9. baby wipes - Useful for dozens of things.

10. disposable diapers - As you all know, my son is usually in cloth diapers, but this is one time when disposable diapers prove really useful. Because of the scarcity of water at campsites we don't find it feasible to wash cloth diapers on the move. Of course, as with any kind of trash, make sure you dispose of it properly!

11. baby lifevest - If you're going in the water (e.g., on a boat), you'll need a lifevest.

12. shade - Make sure you have sufficient shade set up especially during the "evil sun" hours (10 AM to 3 PM). We put up tarps at our camp site so that isn't a problem for us.

13. alcohol and hand sanitizer

14. easy-to-prepare meals - If your baby is on solids you'll want to think carefully about his meals and how you're going to prepare them.

15. a first-aid kit which includes baby medicine and a baby thermometer

16. light - a flashlight or two or three.

17. a giant beach towel or blanket - Useful when our son was younger for him to crawl on. Now that he's older we let him crawl on the grass. :)

18. stroller - We actually find this really useful at the campsite! He took a lot of naps in his carrier-type stroller when he was younger. Now that he's older his umbroller is simply a very useful place to keep him safe when I need my hands free.

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Should you feed formula milk to toddlers?

2009-08-12T23:52:00.006+08:00

I don't know much about formula milk, so I was really surprised to read the answers to this question.

Jenny over at Chronicles of a Nursing Mom shares some of what she learned at the recently-concluded Milk Forum: part 1, part 2. She shared some quotes from Dr. Francesca Tatad-To, a well-respected pediatrician-neonatalogist from TMC:

Formula is unnecessary in children who are older than 1. At this age, children are expected to have a full/complete diet which may or may not include full cream fresh milk.

Fresh milk is the standard dairy recommendation for children older than 1 who are no longer breastfed, and the American Academy of Pediatrics actually recommends low-fat milk for ALL children (Except malnourished ones) older than 2.

In most countries, formula sold is really only for babies 1 and below. It is only in countries like ours where the commercial demand is strong that formula manufacturers take advantage and try to create an even bigger demand through marketing, etc.

The average toddler formula is higher in calories than full cream fresh milk and this is not a good thing. These extra calories are usually from sugar and fat, not from any added 'special nutrients'. In fact, toddler and preschool formula is often the culprit in young children who are obese and who have poor diets. The typical caloric requirement for a toddler is 1000-1200 kcal/day and the majority of this should be coming from solid food. The recommended limit for dairy/milk intake for children older than 1 is 16-24 oz or 2-3 cups a day only. This means that a toddler taking 3 cups of milk a day will already consume 40-50% of his calories in milk, leaving 50% for food. Giving your child toddler formula almost always ensures that he/she will get more fat, sugar and calories than he/she needs.

(Jenny reminds us that her post is purely for informational purposes and that it isn't a substitute for advice from a medical doctor who has conducted an actual examination of your child.)

It seems that whether or not you want to include cow's milk in your toddler's diet after he/she turns one is really your choice but that milk isn't really necessary for children older than 1 if he/she is getting his/her full needs of calcium and other nutrients from solid food. But the more important thing is that if you do decide to give your child cow's milk, it does not have to be expensive formula! Regular milk will do!

I was really surprised by this information and I thank Jenny for sharing it on her blog!

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Breast is best.

2009-08-11T23:44:00.004+08:00

Since it's breastfeeding awareness month, I thought I'd share a little about my own breastfeeding journey and the things I love about breastfeeding.

My son turns 10 months old in a few days and he's still feeding directly and hasn't had a single drop of formula since he was born. He has probably drunk expressed breastmilk from a bottle a grand total of four times; all other times he's fed directly from me.

My friends consider this an accomplishment, but I consider it more a result of luck and good fortune -- luck that I didn't have too much difficulty nursing from the start, and good fortune that I have a mom who breastfed all her children (and thus I grew up assuming I would do the same), and that I have a child-friendly job which makes it possible for me to bring my son to work to nurse him. It also probably is a blessing in disguise that my son adamantly refused to drink expressed milk from the bottle, so I ended up just being with him practically 24/7 so that I could nurse him whenever he was hungry.

There is a ton of information out there about the benefits of breastfeeding. The health benefits to the baby are endless, as are the studies that keep emerging demonstrating the wonderful health benefits to moms as well. But my reasons for loving breastfeeding are a lot simpler and more mundane ....

The savings. With the price of formula nowadays I'm just thankful that I never needed to spend a single cent to feed my son until he started solids.

The convenience. Are there things that make breastfeeding--especially direct feeding--inconvenient? In a sense, yes: I could never be away from my son for more than 2 hours when he wasn't on solids yet, and even now, I can't be away from him for more than a few hours. But I've come to see that as a blessing rather than as an inconvenience. What is undoubtably convenient is not having to sterilize bottles or worry about running out of formula or carrying a giant electric sterilizer everytime we travel or lugging around a heavy diaper bag filled with bottles when we're out. All I need when I'm out with my son are a change of nappies and a nursing bib. :)

Losing the baby-weight super-quickly.I was pleasantly surprised! And I'm skinner now than I was before I got pregnant!

The bonding time.

I also find it really amazing that everything a baby needs in the first 6 months of life is already in his/her mommy's body. Galing, 'di ba? :)

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Only 50% of Filipina moms exclusively breastfeed in the first 2 months.

2009-08-07T23:51:00.002+08:00

Disheartening news in yesterday's Inquirer.

A quote:

The Department of Health (DoH) will beef up its breastfeeding
campaign after a study revealed that only one in two mothers exclusively breastfed for two months or less.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) found that the 50 percent breastfeeding rate in 2008 was down from 53 percent in 2003; the same study showed 34 percent of infants below six months are being exclusively breastfed.

August is Breastfeeding Awareness Month!

2009-08-02T10:19:00.003+08:00

One of the best decisions I made was to breastfeed. It wasn't a decision I agonized over when I was pregnant; I had been breastfed as a baby and it seemed only natural to me that I should breastfeed my own child as well.

I went into breastfeeding as prepared as I thought I needed to be: I had read up on the subject, paid attention to the breastfeeding module at childbirth class, and bought all the equipment that I was going to need to feed my son breastmilk while I was busy working: expensive electric breastpump, storage bottles, et cetera, et cetera.

But as all new mothers realize, breastfeeding wasn't as easy as I had thought and it didn't go the way I had planned it.

For starters, I found out that breastfeeding was really difficult, especially during the first week and all through the first month! It took awhile for me and my son to learn the correct latch, and meanwhile I suffered from pain, soreness, and some bleeding. There were times I was in tears.

Next, I discovered that the sleeplessness that accompanies breastfeeding in the first month was really difficult! Yes, baby needed to be fed every two hours, but each feeding/changing could last up to an hour and a half, so I pretty much only had 30-minute periods of rest throughout the first month of my baby's life.

And finally, when it was time to introduce my son to expressed breastmilk in a bottle, he adamantly refused, wailing in anger every time we put the bottle near his mouth and preferring to go hungry for hours rather than have to suck on a piece of silicone.

But with the support of my husband, and with sympathetic friends who promised me that it was going to get easier, I persisted, and made the necessary adjustments to be able to continue breastfeeding my son. I reduced my work load, brought him to the office, and adjusted my life so I could have my son with me almost 24/7.

Today, at 9-1/2 months, my son still hasn't taken any other milk except for mine. I'm thankful that I have had the chance to continue breastfeeding him up to now, because it has been one of the most amazing blessings of my life. The bonding, the convenience, the savings, the health benefits for my son, and the speed with which I lost the baby weight (hehe!) are just a few of the things I love about breastfeeding. The best reward is the emotional one: the awe I have that my body has been capable of producing everything my son needed to survive for the first 6 months of his life, and to continue to thrive.

Breastfeeding is not for everyone, but for those that are capable and do make the decision to breastfeed, it truly is a wonderful blessing, as it has been for me!

The Pinoy Baby Store is celebrating Breastfeeding Awareness Month by slashing 5% off all purchases over P3000. Please visit the promo page for details.

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Peering into a baby's mind.

2009-07-30T16:00:00.003+08:00

"One of the things we discovered is that imagination, which we often think of as a special adult ability, is actually in place in very young children, as early as 18 months old." That's a quote from an interview with Alison Gopnick, the author of The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life.

Here's the author talking about her book:

I haven't read the book yet but the premise interests me because it straddles two of my interests: philosophy and babies! It doesn't sound like it's going to be an easy read, but I really am curious to know how babies' and little children's minds work.

Here's another quote from the Seed Magazine interview, so you have an idea what the book is about: "Two-and-a-half-year-olds already recognize the difference between moral principles and conventional principles.... These children say it’s never okay to hit someone, but whether or not you have to put your clothes in the cubby could change from daycare to daycare. They already seem to appreciate the difference between the kinds of morality that comes from empathy and the kind that comes from our conventional rules. From the time they are two, they recognize both are important but in different ways. That’s pretty amazing."

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Yaya Seminar

2009-07-23T16:04:00.002+08:00

Judith Tabaquin of Kids Haus has organized a seminar for yayas on 22 August 2009. The whole-day seminar will be from 9 AM to 4 PM at Ortigas Home Depot, Julio Vargas Avenue, Ortigas City. Details are below.

Facilitators: Teacher & Nurse

Outline :
* Developmental Stages of the kids
* Importance of teaching the kids to be independent
* Tips on how to have a smart and independent kids
* Approaches to different situations
* Personality Development & Proper Hygiene of the kids and yayas.
* Emergency Situations & First Aid
* 2 Question & Answer Portions

Inclusive of the following :
* Lunch and PM Snack with Drinks
* Modules in Tagalog-English
* Certificates and Give aways

Date : August 22, 2009 - Saturday
Deadline of reservation : August 14, 2009 - Friday

Fee : Php 1,000.00 per yaya.

For more details please contact Ms. Judith Tabaquin
at 02-4115142 or 0922-8543799.

Email address : kids_haus@yahoo.com.ph

Thank you!
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Expo Dad this Saturday!

2009-07-16T17:28:00.002+08:00

After the success of all their different events for mommies and their kids, the organizers of Expo Mom are now launching an event for daddies and their kids! Expo Dad will take place this Saturday at the Rockwell Tent.

The Pinoy Baby Store unfortunately won't be there this time (we'll be heading out of town for a family affair this weekend), but if the previous Expo Mom events are anything to go by, I'm sure this will be a great event with good shopping and demos of activities that daddies can do with their kids!

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Thirsties Duo Wraps are here!

2009-07-15T22:07:00.006+08:00

Hooray, I've received my first shipment of Thirsties Duo Wraps! These adjustable diaper covers are the latest product from Thirsties, the USA's most popular diaper cover manufacturer.

I really love the original Thirsties diaper cover. They're really super-duper leakproof, they fit my son super-well, and they come in the cutest colors! So when I heard that Thirsties was coming out with an adjustable diaper cover, I was really excited to try them out.

The Duo Wrap looks similar to the original diaper cover, except that it has snaps on the front to make the rise shorter. The Duo Wrap comes in two sizes: Size One corresponds to the original Extra-Small and Small diaper covers, and Size Two corresponds to the original Medium and Large diaper covers.

Upon closer inspection, the Size One Duo Wrap on the largest setting is slightly smaller than the Small diaper cover, while the Size Two Duo Wrap on the largest setting is slighty smaller than the Large diaper cover. However, on the smallest setting, the Size One Duo Wrap actually seems a bit tighter than the Extra-Small diaper cover, and the Size Two Duo Wrap actually seems like a smaller fit than the original Medium diaper covers.

The plastic snaps in front make the Duo Wrap look less neat than the original diaper cover: when snapped they cause the front of the diaper cover to look wrinkled. The snaps look very sturdy, but I made a mental note to be cautious when unsnapping the rise to make sure that I don't end up damaging the PUL fabric by tugging too hard on the snaps.

That having been said, the best thing going for the Duo Wrap is that it will help parents save even more money because their babies will be able to use just two sizes from birth to potty-training.

I haven't used the Duo Wraps on my son long enough to make many comments on how they hold up over time, but I'll update this review after I've been using them for awhile.

Update (7/18/09): I've discovered that the trim fit of these Duo Wraps really do make using lampin so easy. Because the Duo Wraps fit snugly, I don't feel the need to pin or clip the lampin onto my son anymore. I just put the folded lampin (or a prefold) into the Duo Wrap and fasten the entire wrap (with the lampin inside) on my son. Super-easy!

Because the Duo Wrap is very trim, Thirsties recommends it for daytime diapering. For double-stuffing at night, Thirsties recommends the roomier original Thirsties diaper cover instead. Both the Thirsties Duo Wrap and the Thirsties Diaper Cover are available at the Pinoy Baby Store.)

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The Playschool Hunt, part 2

2009-07-12T16:29:00.004+08:00

Today my husband and I brought our son to his second playschool trial class, this time at a nearby Gymboree. He took the Level 2 (6 to 10 months old) play class. There was some singing and movement, some time for physical exercise around the obstacle course, and a short bit for "parents' sharing" where parents exchanged thoughts about their experiences regarding some aspect of childcare.

The pros:

Probably the most important: my son enjoyed himself immensely. He was smiling and squealing and babbling happily throughout the hour.

The hour was full without feeling too rushed. I thought the pacing of the activities was good.

The age range of the class wasn't too wide, so the activities were well suited to the developmental ability of the babies in the class.

The teacher was very good.

The physical space is great. The padded play area is very spacious, and my son loved the obstacle courses.

I liked that there was time for parents to interact with one another.

I know that this depends on the Gymboree branch and class schedule, but the class we joined was pretty small, which was nice.

The cons:

Gymboree is pricier than other playschool programs. There's a membership fee and an enrollment fee, and it isn't cheap.

Medyo hardsell. At least 3 songs had the words "Gymbo" or "Gymboree" in them. The entrance to the play area also had several Gymboree-branded toys for sale. And the skeptic in me (the skeptic who is married to a marketing expert) couldn't help but wonder whether the parents' sharing portion--as nice as it was--was also doubling as a kind of FGD for Gymboree's marketing efforts.

It's in a mall, and the path from the mall elevator Gymboree is lined with toy shops. I'm just fortunate that my son is too young to drag us into any of the toy shops. Fortunately, the class started before the other stores in the mall were open so there weren't too many people.

On the whole, though, I was very happy with our hour at Gymboree. And my son enjoyed himself so much that when we got into the car afterwards, he fell asleep within five minutes.

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The Playschool Hunt, part 1.

2009-07-09T17:30:00.003+08:00

I decided to start looking for a playschool to enroll my son in. At 8-1/2 months, he's getting very mobile and very excited to explore the world, so I thought it might be a nice time for him to start going to playschool. Most playschool programs for babies his age only meet for about an hour once or twice a week, which is great: any more frequently would be just too overwhelming!

My long-term goal is to eventually be able to leave him with his nanny at playschool for an hour or two while I go to my part-time job (I work 3 hours a day, 3 days a week). Right now, you see, I bring my son to work with me. It's great and he enjoys it (he either wanders around the office accompanied by his nanny, or sits on a puzzle mat and plays), but as he's learning to walk I'm beginning to wonder whether a more child-friendly place would be a better place for him to hang out at while I'm working. My short-term plan is for me (or me and my husband) to bring him to playschool myself for a few months, and then when he's comfortable with playschool, start having his nanny bring him while I'm at work.

So I've decided to shop around and look for a playschool program that will suit my son. If I find one that suits him, then great! If not, then no rush ... I'll keep bringing him to work with me until he's a little older.

At any rate, last weekend, my son and I attended our first trial class at a nearby Kindermusik.

There were a lot of things I loved about Kindermusik:

I like the idea of a music program for infants!

The teacher was really good.

The proximity: there's a Kindermusik that's walking distance from my house!

The locations. Unlike some playschools that are located in malls, a lot of Kindermusik classes are located in residential areas, which I prefer.

No hardsell! Unlike some programs that try to squeeze their brand name into every song, the Kindermusik activites aren't commercialized at all! I.e., you don't have the teacher saying "Kindermusik" in every other stanza.

Variety of music: I love that Kindermusik uses songs from different musical genres and from all over the world, mixing traditional well-loved children's songs with songs I've never heard before.

Relatively affordable, compared to some other playschool programs.

There were, however, a few things that made me decide that Kindermusik isn't the perfect fit for my son right now:

The only class that fit my schedule coincided with my son's nap time. I toyed with the idea of changing his nap time to be able to squeeze in Kindermusik but then I realized that I should be looking for a program that suits him instead of trying to bend him out of shape to suit the program.

I think my son found the class a little too fast-paced. Maybe a fast-paced class suits some babies, but when my son's playing, he likes to sit still and concentrate on just one thing for a long time. Kindermusik quickly moves from one activity (which lasts about the length of one song) to the next. My son would just be getting used to one activity (e.g., playing with the shaker) and then it would suddenly be time to move on to the next one.

So will my son and I join Kindermusik? Someday when he's older I'll definitely give it a second look, but right now, I'll look around a bit more and explore other options. I'll keep you all posted on our progress. :)

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An adjustable diaper cover!

2009-07-02T10:24:00.006+08:00

When I exhibited the Pinoy Baby Store's cloth diapering products at Expo Mom 2009, there was one question I got several times: "Wala bang adjustable diaper cover?" A lot of moms were really impressed with the Thirsties diaper cover and were fascinated with the creativity of the one-size diaper ... and were looking for something that combined the ingenuity of the two ideas.

It seems Thirsties has read those parents' minds, because they've just come out with a great new product: the Thirsties Duo Wrap!

My initial order of Thirsties Duo Wraps are still on their way here from the US, so I haven't seen the product up close. But the idea is simple: the same Thirsties effectiveness, now in an adjustable diaper cover. According to Thirsties, they spent 6 months developing the new product before finalizing it.

The Thirsties Duo Wrap comes in 2 sizes. Size One fits babies 6 to 18 lbs, and Size Two fits babies 18 to 40 lbs. Each size has snaps so that you can adjust the rise as your baby grows. The Duo Wraps are trimmer than their original diaper covers, so they're great for daytime use but might be a little tight for when you need to double-stuff your diapers with extra inserts. For night-time stuffing, Thirsties still recommends its original line of Thirsties Diaper Covers.

I can't wait for my order of Duo Wraps to arrive so I can try them out on my son and give more comprehensive feedback. If you'd like to be one of the first Pinoys to try the Thirsties Duo Wrap on your own babies, you can pre-order the product from the Pinoy Baby Store!

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Parenting Seminars

2009-06-23T13:10:00.001+08:00

My husband and I haven't attended any parenting-related seminars other than the childbirth class we took when I was pregnant. But it's great to know that there are so many regular parenting seminars and courses that interested parents can attend around the metropolis.

Here are just a few I've heard of around Manila:

(1) The Parenting Company, run by Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan, holds regular parenting workshops for different stages of parenting. The Parenting Company can be reached at +63 2 9445918 or via email at theparentingcompany[at]yahoo[dot]com.

(2) The Love Institute run by Maribel Sison-Dionisio and Pia Nazareno-Acevedo offers seminars on different kinds of relationships, including parenting. They're based in Quezon City and can be reached at +632 4364-143 or via inquire[at]theloveinstitute[dot]com.

(3) EduChild, an affiliate of the IFFD is a group that started out holding parenting courses for parents of PAREF school students, and now holds similar courses for families and parents all around the country. (Thanks to Mec from the N@wie mailing list for the heads-up on this one.)

(4) The Center for Family Ministries offers workshops on what it calls "Positive Empowered Parenting," as well as other seminars. CEFAM is based in Quezon City and can be reached at +63 2 426-4289 to 92.

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Happy Fathers' Day!

2009-06-21T09:19:00.002+08:00

Happy Fathers' Day to all dads!

"Today's fathers may well take parenting as seriously as their mates, but unlike many moms, dads don't view it as a competitive sport. Instead, the new attitude of 21st-century fatherhood is hands-on and involved, but with a hint of playfulness."

The rest of the article from USA Today is here.

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Flying solo with an infant.

2009-06-02T20:48:00.004+08:00

Last weekend, I faced a major mommy challenge: going on a long-haul flight with my 7-month-old son and no other companion. We flew four hours from Manila to Japan, had a 3-hour layover at the airport, then flew another 11 hours to the US. It was difficult, but thanks to my son's good behavior, it was less difficult than I thought it would be. I was also able to pick up some pointers along the way:

1. If you can afford it, get the baby his/her own seat. Babies under 2 are allowed to fly on an adult's lap, and my own son was a lap baby. Fortunately for me, the flight from Japan to the US wasn't full, and the seat beside me was vacant. Oh wow, it was such a luxury to be able to give my son his own seat! Since my son can already sit up unassisted, I could put him down on his seat (seatbelt fastened) long enough to be able to eat. I think most airlines allow you to bring a car seat for your baby's seat.

2. If you can't get the baby his/her own seat, then ask for a bulkhead seat and a bassinet. The bassinet was a lifesaver for the Manila-Japan leg. I put my son in the bassinet when he was asleep, and I was able to go to the restroom. I also put him there for a short time while he was awake, and he enjoyed having his own little space to sit in. :)

For my Japan-US flight, there was something wrong with the bassinet in the plane and I couldn't use it, but I nonetheless had the bulkhead seat. (The bulkhead seat is the front seat of an airplane section; instead of a another chair in front of you, you're facing a wall.) The additional legroom meant that my son could sit and play at my feet. I put a beach towel on the floor in front of me and used the airplane pillow to cover the electrical outlet and the lifevest strap that were under my seat so my son wouldn't be able to grab at them.

3. Consider bringing sandwiches for yourself, especially if you can't get a bassinet. If you don't have a bassinet then your baby will be on your lap the whole time and you won't be able to eat regular airplane food. A sandwich hwever can be eaten with one hand.

4. Bring a beach towel or blanket. I brought one and it was really useful. At Narita Airport in Japan, I put the beach towel on the carpeted floor at the waiting area by the gate and my son played on it during the layover. I also used it on the flight so my son could play on the floor at my feet.

5. Bring a small bag for your essentials that you can keep by you on the plane. My carry on was a backpack but inside that backpack I had another smaller bag which I pulled out during the flight while my backpack was stowed overhead. The smaller bag held diapers, wipes, a toy, my son's meals/snacks and sippy cup, hand sanitizer, and our passports.

6. Consider disposable pull-ups. As you all know my son is usually in cloth diapers. But for the airplane ride I brought disposable pull-ups (the smallest size they have in the groceries is Medium). I found it a lot easier to put pull-ups than disposable diapers on my squirmy son while we were in the cramped confines of the airplane lavatory.

7. Find out beforehand which airplane lavatories have diaper changing tables.

8. Bring a change of clothes for you and your baby. My son almost NEVER has blowouts ... but Murphy's Law: on this plane ride he just had to have one, barely 2 hours after our plane took off!!! Good thing I had an extra onesie for him in my handcarry.

9. Feed your baby during takeoff and landing. Apparently the swallowing helps with popping ears.

10. Bring a stoller or carrier for your baby. You need to have your hands free for filling in customs declarations and things like that. I personally didn't want to have to worry about a stroller in the airport so I carried my baby in a pouch. Most airlines will also allow you to bring an umbrella stoller as a carry-on (you hand it over to the flight attendants right before you board the plane and they stow it for you).

11. Prepare your baby's food in advance. My son is breastfed but is also on solids already, so I did my best to prepare as much as I could in advance. I bought small disposable containers of rice cereal, small disposable plastic spoons, and a small bottle of distilled water. When it was time to feed my son, I just opened a container, poured in some water to mix, fed my son with a disposable plastic spoon, and after he was done, I threw everything away.

12. Board early if you're bringing an infant. Some airlines still have passengers with small children board first, but even if the airline you're flying doesn't, ask nicely whether you can board while business class is boarding. I did and they let me. It gave me more time to prepare my essentials bag and stow my handcarry.

13. When your baby takes a nap, use the lavatory whether or not you feel the need to! It's very difficult to use an airplane lavatory while carrying a baby! (Be sure to secure your baby in the bassinet before you leave your seat!)

14. Accept help. :) There were a number of friendly people who helped me throughout the flight. Someone at the airport who helped put my luggage onto the belt for the X-ray machine, the flight attendants who helped me with my handcarried bag, two seatmates who actually carried my baby for a few short moments while I was fiddling with my handcarry and a man who handed me his pen when I couldn't find mine for my departure card . Accept help and be grateful for it. :)

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Ecomarket in Market Market.

2009-05-16T09:24:00.003+08:00

For months I've been scouring websites looking for natural and organic products for my family and home. Online shopping makes it super-convenient to buy items not available in regular supermarkets.

There are some items, however--like bath and body products--that you want to be able to look at or smell up close. For this reason, it's not surprising that bath and body products do so well at bazaars, where customers can actually open testers.

But I don't always have the time to track bazaars and follow them around the metropolis. Fortunately, the enterprising group behind Ecomarket (Market Market, Taguig) has made it easier for shoppers by bringing a lot of these natural/organic brands of homecare and bath & body products--most of which have developed cult followings online--into a small brick and mortar space on the ground floor of Market Market!

Though I'd heard of Ecomarket before, it was only at Expo Mom 2009, where they had a booth, that I finally was able to get a close-up look at the lines they carry. They sell a lot of the brands that already have a fan base of customers who get them online, at bazaars, or through direct sales: Messy Bessy, Leyende, Indigo Baby's bath and body lines, Wild Organics, All Organics, Victoria, Plantex, Human Heart Nature, et cetera.... What's great about Ecomarket is that like Echo Store (a few hundred meters away in Serendra), they bring together these brands into one space, and they have testers for their products so you can smell or spitz them to try!

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Laundering cloth diapers - part 3: stain removal.

2009-05-15T08:20:00.002+08:00

What about stains? To remove mild stains, old-fashioned sun-bleaching will work. Just leave the cloth diaper in the sun, stained side up.

For tougher stains, turn to lemon or calamansi. Just squeeze a little onto the stain, then dry in the sun again, stained side up.

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Laundering cloth diapers - part 2: stripping cloth diapers.

2009-05-15T08:12:00.005+08:00

Oops! You made a mistake: you used a detergent with a lot of additives, or you accidentally poured some fabric softener into your last cloth diaper laundry load. Now what?

One sign that your cloth diapers have a lot of residue is that they might have become a little less absorbent than usual or have started to repel moisture or leak more easily.

If this is the case, try a process called stripping your diapers to remove excess residue.

The easiest way to strip cloth diapers is to boil them in plain water for about 10 minutes. (Boiling diapers also fluffs them up a little making them more absorbent. Slight shrinkage is completely normal when boiling diapers for the first time, and is to be expected.)

Another method is to wash them in a few drops of dishwashing liquid (avoid using dishwashing liquid that has hand moisturizing ingredients, because that will just exacerbate the problem). Dishwashing liquid cuts grease, which can help to remove oils and similar residue that might have been left behind by detergents.

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Laundering cloth diapers - part 1: detergents.

2009-05-15T07:55:00.004+08:00

When people buy cloth diapers from me, I often get questions on what detergent to use. Some North American cloth diapering websites actually have charts listing which detergent brands are best to use for cloth diapers; unfortunately, the detergent brands available in the US are different from the ones here and I haven't tried enough brands here to be able to make such a chart.

I always tell my customers, however, that there are certain kinds of detergents that they should try to avoid using when washing cloth diapers:

1. Avoid detergents that leave a lot of build-up and residue. Detergent build-up and residue decreases absorbency. Residue is usually caused by additives such as brighteners, fabric softeners, stain guards, and natural additives like citrus extract of grapeseed extract. Bleach also decreases absorbency because it breaks down fibers.

2. For newborns and babies with sensitive skin, try to avoid detergents with enzymes and artificial fragrances. These can be harsh on baby's skin, as can bleach (Zonrox/Clorox).

3. If you want to go the extra mile for the environment, also avoid artifical fragrances made from petroleum. Most of these are non-biodegradable.

To battle build-up, if you want you can occasionally soak cloth diapers in water and around 1/4 cup of baking soda for around 10 minutes before washing in detergent. Baking soda battles build-up, helps remove stains, and also helps to soften the cloth diapers without leaving residue. If your cloth diapers have elastic on them, however, don't do this too often, because baking soda can wear out the elastic.

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Belated Happy Mothers' Day! And some parenting resources.

2009-05-14T09:32:00.005+08:00

Belated happy mothers' day to all moms! I apologize for not having been able to update this blog during mothers' day or thereabouts. The Pinoy Baby Store had a booth at Expo Mom 2009, so I was quite busy!

One thing I was reflecting on at Expo Mom is how great a time it is to be a parent. As I've realized over the past 6 months, being a mom can be overwhelming, and contrary to what people think, there is no parenting instinct that suddenly kicks in and makes moms and dads overnight experts at parenting. Rather, parenting is learned, figured out, stumbled into.

Fortunately, nowadays parents have a lot of help. Whereas many of us are lucky to have our kids' lolas/lolos/titas/titos giving us tips on parenting, there is also, aside from those traditional channels, a wealth of other resources we can turn to. Just to name a few:

- mailing lists/discussion groups (the Newlywedsatwork mailing list, for former W@wies, is a great resource for newbie parents

- online bulletin boards (the PEX parenting forum, the Smart Parenting bulletin board, and the parenting forum on Summit's GirlTalk are some examples)

- classes (childbirth classes, breastfeeding classes, and classes at hospitals [The Medical City holds regular free seminars on various parenting topics])

- websites (like Baby Center Philippines)

- books

... and so much more.

Parenting can be very difficult, but there's a lot of help out there!

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Better sleep for baby in just 90 minutes.

2009-05-04T15:22:00.003+08:00

I first heard about Polly Moore's The 90-Minute Baby Sleep Program when browsing for parenting books on Amazon. Since then I've visited her website several times, but it was only recently that i finally purchased her book.

How I wish I'd bought her book sooner!

What makes this book special is that the author, Dr. Polly Moore, is actually a sleep specialist; she is a neuroscientist and Director of Sleep Research at California Clinical Trials in the USA. The ideas she writes about in her book are based on her the sleep patterns she observed with her own children, coupled with her professional expertise on sleep.

The central theory of the book is very simple: babies go through a 90-minute cycle of wakefulness and sleepiness. What this means is that if baby wakes up at 7 AM, she will be sleepy at 9:30 AM. If, at 9:30 AM, you don't put her to sleep, she will enter a second cycle of wakefulness and become alert again, only to become sleepy again 90 minutes later (at 11:00 AM).

Dr. Moore's observation is that most babies (and adults too!) sorely lack sleep. Many parents, unaware of baby's sleep cycle and sleepiness cues, fail to catch that 5 to 15 minute golden period when baby is sleepy, and instead let baby go into another cycle of wakefulness and sleepiness. The result is that many babies are not well-rested. This in turn translates not just into crankier babies, but babies who become even more difficult to put to sleep at night due to overtiredness and fatigue.

Based on this knowledge, Dr. Moore thus develops a very simple-to-follow plan for helping baby go to sleep according to her natural sleep rhythm and get the correct amount of rest she needs for her age. The plan is simple, scientifically-backed, and easy to implement.

I started following a loose version of the plan based on what I had read from Dr. Moore's website, when my son was still newborn. It was fantastic; I always found it really easy to put my son to sleep, and he very quickly developed a daily routine. Now that I have the book, I'm thrilled about the additional ideas she shares for helping baby to sleep and for "sleep-training."

I honestly think that if there's only one book you're going to buy about putting baby to sleep, this should be it!

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Potty-training and cloth training pants.

2009-05-04T10:53:00.003+08:00

I don't remember my potty-training years. I was potty-trained when I was a year old, as most from my generation were. I do remember occasionally still wetting the bed at around 3 years old, though: I remember how much of a hassle it was. In the middle of the night, my sleepy mom would go into the bedroom I shared with my brother, armed with fresh sheets and a pail of soapy water. She would have to take off the sheets, scrub the mattress and put new sheets. I remember how the whole hullaballoo would wake up my elder brother as well.

In recent years, disposable pull-ups were invented, and after going through babyhood in disposable diapers, many toddlers now wear pull-ups. Although Pinay moms still potty-train their kids at around one to two years old, I've seen many three-, four- and even five-year-olds still wearing pull-ups, either because they aren't yet fully potty-trained or because their parents want an in-case-of-accidents solution for going out.

Since I made the commitment to use cloth diapers, it's but natural that I should also make the commitment to continuing with cloth all the way until potty-training. However, I'm a little daunted by the traditional Filipino method of suddenly putting a toddler in underwear and then chasing him around the house with a mop and pail to wipe up his accidents. And that's why, while doing research on potty-training, I was thrilled to find out that cloth training pants are now available as an alternative to disposable pull-ups.

So I'm happy to announce that the Pinoy Baby Store now carries cloth training pants. I made sure to look for the best brand available, and you can read more about the brand we carry on the Pinoy Baby Store website.

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Helen Keller and the word "water."

2009-04-26T00:26:00.007+08:00

There are stories that are so powerful that they change the way you look at the world.

One of the best stories I've ever heard was a story recounted by one of my Philosophy teachers in college. It's the story of Helen Keller and how she learned about words.

Helen Keller, as many of you probably already know, contracted an illness before she was two years old that left her blind and deaf. Yet unlike many deafblind people who spend their lives in forced isolation from the world, Helen went on to become an acclaimed author, activist, and an inspiration to millions. And the wind beneath Helen's wings was her teacher, Anne Sullivan.

As soon as Anne was hired as Helen's teacher, she immediately went to work trying to teach the child the concept of words. One of the first words that Anne tried to teach Helen was the word "water." She would put Helen's hand in a bowl of water and then would trace the word "water" on Helen's palm. She did this over and over again, yet Helen still appeared unable to understand the relationship between the letters being spelled on her palm and the object she was touching.

One sunny day, Anne and Helen were walking outdoors, when Anne saw a water pump. She led Helen to the water pump and put Helen's hand under the spout. She pumped the water onto Helen's hand. This time, Helen was not just dipping her fingers into a bowl of water, she was experiencing the running, gushing water splashing onto her hand. Just as she had done before, Anne traced the word "water" onto Helen's palm. Immediately, Helen understood! The letters being traced on her palm referred to the experience of water! And from then on, Helen progressed dramatically, learning new words easily, and learning to communicate with the rest of the world.

I love this story because it emphasizes that life is meant to be experienced actively rather than passively: we're meant to experience moving, gushing, running water, and not just stagnant water in a bowl. As an educator, I've always loved how this story affirms that the best teacher is experience--rich experience.

And now, I am a parent at a time when parents are under so much pressure to buy the next great educational DVD that will supposedly turn their kids into academic geniuses. Helen Keller's story, however, is a gentle suggestion that when it comes to helping our kids to learn, perhaps there is still no substitute for leading our child out of the study room and simply allowing them to playfully and happily discover the rich, exciting, wondrous world of experience that is out there.

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