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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Puzzling behavior

Sa'eed's behavior change is very puzzling. He's usually quite the independent one. I can leave him with his toys in the living room and go do chores or cook. Of course he would end up crawling to where I was, but he would just plop himself on the floor and do his thing.

But now, he would be crying whenever I leave him and he always wants me to carry him. Even when his dad wants to get him off of me, he'd have to literally pry the little guy away. And of course he would scream and cry. I hate to see him like that.

What is more puzzling is that it is getting harder to put him to sleep at night. One minute he would be cranky, indicating that he's sleepy and another minute he would be happily playing with toys and then he'd be cranky again. Usually I would just nurse him to sleep. Apparently that doesn't work right now. He would bite or turn away. Weird thing is, nursing him back to sleep still works if he gets up in the middle of the night. I've listed the various ways we used to get him to sleep.

Saturday: purely accidental...was watching AF Final and sitting on a 'rocking' office chair while holding Sa'eed. He fell asleep while I was rocking away on the chair.

Sunday: finished a bottle of cold fresh milk, rolled over and promptly when to sleep

Monday: a bottle of milk didn't work. Gave him some bread while sitting on the sofa, hugged and cuddled him and he fell asleep.

Tuesday: milk didn't work. Gave him fruits and bread. Went on to hug and cuddle, but that didn't work. He wanted me to stand and carry him in a nursing position (but not nursing).

Wednesday: nothing worked. Dad carried him outside the house, sat on the swing in the playground...swing, swing, swing and the little one fell asleep.

********
Updated
Thursday: tried an experiment. Sa'eed usually has his dinner before we come back from the office. Thursday night I indulged him with one whole banana, our dinner and then biscuits with a drink of plain water, soya milk and fresh milk in between. He turned out to be less cranky. But before bedtime, he insisted that I stand up, carry him, sing to him and pat him on the back. This lasted for about 40 minutes. The song that finally put him to sleep was me just saying over and over again 'Sa'eed baik, Sa'eed pandai, Sa'eed bijak, Sa'eed tido'...hu boy...go figure.

********

Each night I would try to nurse him first when he gets cranky. He would always bite or refuse to nurse. I wonder what will work tonight...any ideas?

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Sleeping like a baby

Time: 3 am
Location: Bed


Whoever coined the phrase 'sleeping like a baby' obviously never had one. Yes, I agree, you can just keep staring at a sleeping baby and wonder how did this beautiful soul came to being. Then you cuddle up next to baby because it's the most logical thing to do :) and you feel like the best parent in the world.

Next thing you know, you get a kick in the tummy and an elbow to the nose. Oh yes baby, the nightly exercise of turning 360 degrees in bed and conquering half the parents' bed has begun.

The flipping over

The mini grunts

The whining

The rolling

Oh boy...you wait and see if you need to offer the secret weapon. Most of the time you do coz you can't wait any longer for the little one to settle down. And if he does, it'll be the most awkward position you've seen a baby sleep in. But you let him be that way since you don't want to ruin your sleep.

Tido tak ingat dunia...

Other sleeping poses

A while back in Melaka...too sleepy to wait for us to get to the room sampai tido terduduk...

Favorite position

I like this picture because the way he's sleeping matches his t-shirt


Monday, May 26, 2008

Project #1 - Baby Bib

Felt like starting a sewing project after reading various blogs of mommies making their own clothes/ baby clothes. This past weekend we headed over to my inlaws' in Bangi because my MIL has a sewing machine...yeah, like I know how to use one.

Turns out that it's not that hard. Just have to remember to lower the needle and lower the thing. You know that thing that clamps on your cloth so that it doesn't move around. Since my MIL wasn't around to show me how to use it and my sisters in law aren't really sewing machine savvy, it took a bit of time to figure the machine out. Some memorable conversations..heh.

Me: This looks complicated, where does the thread go?
SIL2: Oh look...there are numbers here...just follow it maybe
(there were numbers to mark where the thread had to turn and go in)

Me: So how do you end the stitch?
SIL2: Go front and go back again. Ibu does it like that.
Me: How do you go back?
SIL2: Ibu presses something maybe.
Me: oooh...is it this button that has a u-turn sign? *after trying* Yes! it works!

But to fix the bottom part of the thread was a tricky subject. I'm sure there's an easier way to do it. What I did was make sure the top thread was extended, lower the needle, loop the bottom thread onto the top thread and raise the needle up. Thus the bottom thread will follow the needle and walla! it's fixed. What is the real way to do it?

I decided for my first project was to sew a bib. Sa'eed drools a river and he needs a lot of bibs, otherwise his shirt would be drenched. I used nappy cloth just because I had some. The good thing with this is it shapes easily, but the downside is that it is rather rapuh (easily disintegrates). I used clasps because Sa'eed like to pull on it and velcro ones come of easily. I bought some felt material and used it for decoration. And buttons too. The end product is pictured below. Not that fancy...maybe future ones will be fancier.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Happy Birthday...

...to me. hmm...it's belated tho.

And I got the best present ever..



FOOD POISONING!




Yepp...the works. Vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, headache, fever, body aches and leg cramps. And the little one definitely wasn't a happy camper when he tried to latch on. Oh well, alhamdulillah it took me 4 days to recover (not fully, enough to keep me sane). And thank God for the long weekend, I only had to take MC for one day.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Phases

Below are some pictures of Sa'eed in different phases of his life.

The Stepping into the World Stage.

The day he was born. April 14 2007. Some say that he was a Shin Chan lookalike. Below is a photo of Shin Chan...Yes? No?


The Michelin Stage



Exact date of this picture is November 28 2007. So that makes Sa'eed around 7 months. Notice his yummy thighs and cheeks? My sister in law once commented how his thighs look like chicken drumstick...ayam kampung, to be exact. This boy grew and grew and grew...I was almost afraid that he would be obese. He was already 9.3 kg at 6 months.


The Beginning to be Mobile Stage

Sa'eed started to roll at around 5 months and creep or commando crawl at around 7 months. We thought that he would skip crawling before walking because his legs were quite sturdy (refer 'Michelin Stage'). But he did crawl at around 10 months. We were in Pontian, Johor and this boy suddenly just lifted his butt and started crawling. And his teeth buds started to show around that time too.


The I Love Food Stage

He definitely loves to eat (alhamdulillah). Preferably off of someone else's plate :) Just last night when we got back, maktok said that he just finished his dinner. I thought he would be full...but noooOoOOo...he had to lepas gian and breastfeed before I could do anything. Then while I was making dinner, his dad made a sandwich and shared it with Sa'eed. Right after that, maktok had a plate of food and the boy of course had some too. He was asleep when we had our dinner, but if he were awake, I'm sure he'd want some too. Later, for some odd reason he woke up at around 9.30pm and Mr Hubs and I were having yogurt. Of course he had a few spoonfuls.

I started to feed him solids when he was 7 months. But only a teeny amount. For the first 2 weeks, it was only a tablespoon of food per day. He only had 3 steady meals per day at 10 months or so. But I'm glad he loves his food, otherwise I know I'd be constantly worried.


The Shedding of Baby Fat Stage

The most current picture of Sa'eed that I have. He's 12 months ++ here. He has definitely slimmed down. Only gained 300 grams in 6 months. I think it started before the crawling stage. I guess it's because he needs to make sure his body is in proportion to enable him to be mobile. For sure he's getting more active by the day. Can't wait for him to walk tho.

Hmm...I wonder if I'll still have a blog for his Off to be Married Stage...hu hu, I'm already weeping.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Daily commute


Credits: unknown, received in forwarded email

And I thought the commute to and from work in KL is bad enough. It's even worse in China! Even the attendants help to stuff people into the train.

It takes me on average 45 minutes to get to work (door to door). And it's just 30 minutes to get there by car...but this is without parking. I guess when you add in the parking factor, it should be around 45 minutes. I seriously don't mind taking the public transportation, coz it's more environmentally friendly I suppose. What I do mind if it gets delayed.

And I DO have qualms about the state of our country's public transportation. Especially the trains. The map below looks fine and dandy, with interchanges and all that jazz. It's a given that you might have to change trains at some point depending on where you're headed to. Looks ok right?


WRONG! What it doesn't tell you is that you might need to get out of the station and purchase another ticket for another train line. That is just plain annoying. For example, if you need to go to Bukit Bintang from Kelana Jaya. You take the Rapid KL Kelana Jaya Line until KL Sentral. Then you'll have to get out of the KL Sentral station, walk through a parking lot, cross the street and buy another ticket for the Monorail to get to Bukit Bintang. Yes, you can use the Touch n Go card, which I think is God sent...only if it works EVERYWHERE! If you constantly get on or off some little station expecting your TnG card to work, I wish you Good Luck.

In my 'ol student days, I remembered one time I wanted to visit a friend in London from the States where I was currently residing. I booked a ticket on Virgin Airlines and the flight only leaves from an airport in Washington DC. So, while carrying a 15 kilo duffle bag, this was my journey:

Apartment, walk to -> Bus depot, bus to -> Baltimore Train Station, train to -> DC Train Station, shuttle bus to -> Metro line, train to -> Airport

Lots of transits and multiple buses and trains, but I didn't really mind because everything was on schedule and I could time my journey perfectly. Even in London, we took the Underground everywhere. But nevertheless, I took a cab on the way back from the airport to my apartment...hehe.

Oh well, can't have everything my way, right.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

My Brother Is Awesome

My brother is so awesome, he's the most awesomest person in the whole world. One day, he saw Chuck Norris being beaten up by two bears, he simply walked up to them and kicked the bear's @ss! Chuck Norris of course begged for mercy, and my brother, the most awesomest guy in the whole world gave him that. Even untill today, Chuck Norris sents him thank you gifts every week! Last week he received a pair of Nike shoes - the expensive ones. I can't wait to see what my brother got this week!

My brother is so awesome, he's seven feet tall, and can shoot fire from his eyes! True story, once we were in 7-Eleven™ and the cashier short changed him, thanks to my brother's awesome mathematical skills, he immediately noticed that 57 cents were missing! He got angry and oh my god it was awesome! He burnt down the 7-Eleven with his FIERY EYES in 5 minutes! But nobody died, because since my brother is so awesome, he saved everyone in the area, including the Indian cleaning lady, because he's not a racist, and even if he was he'd still be awesome, but he's not.

I know he's not because once, an Indian Doctor slipped and almost fell off the 6th floor of a hospital, (which i can't remember now because my brother's awesomeness blurred everything else in my mind that day, but i'll ask him later and i know he'll remember because he has an awesome memory where he can remember everything, including the day he was born, which he tries to forget because he said it was kinda gross) and my brother who was eating raw meat (because he's a man's man and real men only eat raw meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner - they sometimes have scones for tea but that's because they are so secure of their manliness, much like my brother, who is MANLY ) in the courtyard saw the doctor falling off and jumped FIVE STORIES high to catch the doctor! The doctor was so thankful he gave my brother coupons for lifetime free medical checkups, which my brother doesn't need because he's also very healthy, and awesome.

It's really hard to describe how awesome my brother is because no matter how i describe it, he's way more awesome than that. Imagine the most awesomest person in the world, and you know he'll be twenty seven times more awesome than that person.

I'm really lucky to have my awesome brother around.

Soto Night

Last Friday, Mr Hubs wanted Soto. So this is my easy peasy version. Started after Maghrib and was done by Isya'. But this is without begedel (packed potatoes) (terlupa!!) and also kacang (peanuts).


Sup Soto (enough for 3 people)

1 liter of water
1 teaspoon jintan manis (fennel) powder
1 teaspoon jintan putih (cumin) powder
1 teaspoon ketumbar (coriander) powder
2 cm ginger (grind)
1 cm lengkuas (grind)
1 big red onion (sliced)
1 shallot (sliced)
2 cloves of garlic (sliced)
1 cube of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of coconut milk
a dash of salt
a bit of daun sup (chinese celery)

Heat up a bit of oil. Put in red onion, shallot and garlic. Fry till fragrant. Add in ginger, lengkuas and chicken stock. Then add in jintan manis, jintan putih and ketumbar. Wait a bit and then put in water. After the sup boils, add in salt, coconut milk and daun sup. You can also choose to put in a bit of sweet soy sauce if you want to. But not too much until the soup turns black. If it does, then you should go 'uh-oh'.

If you don't recognize this picture, it's shredded chicken. While you're preparing the soup, just boil a pot of water and cook the chicken in it. After it's cooked, take it out and start shredding.


This is fried soo hoon/suun/su hun (I think it is cellophane noodles). Heat up some oil (amount: as if you want to fry something). Let the fire be really high. When the oil starts to smoke, turn the stove off. Wait a few seconds and then put in the soo hoon. If the oil did not cover the soo hoon, turn it over. Make sure you don't fry it too long or it will turn hard. 2 or 3 seconds is enough...or until the soo hoon stops expanding.



Sambal Kicap

A handful of cili padi
2 cloves of garlic
Sweet soy sauce

Mix everything in a blender.


Don't forget the mihun (rice vermicelli)! Just dump in however much you want in hot water and let it become soft.

The Forgotten Begedel

Potatoes
Minced meat (cooked)
Daun sup (chinese celery)
Black pepper
Eggs

The secret is to fry the potatoes and not to boil it. After it is fried, mash the potatoes together with cooked mince meat, daun sup, black pepper and salt if you want to. Pack the mixed potatoes into small round balls. Roll them around in egg and then proceed to deep fry them.


Yummy! Sa'eed's seal of approval...

Any resemblance?


heheh....

Monday, May 12, 2008

Tagged....better late than never :) (from Lanostzz)


Second Mother's Day. Did absolutely nothing. Ziltch. Na-da.
But thoroughly enjoyed the day.


*************************
(Note: Some of the links were lost before the tag was passed on to me. Sorry, but you can google the name of the blogs if you're interested to find their links. Thanks!)

Cut and paste the following starting here.

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)It’s real easy!Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!

The benefits of Viral Linking:
- One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode!
- Increase your Google PageRank fast
- Attract large volume of new traffic to your site
- Build your community
- Make new friends!

The Strategist Notebook, Link Addiction, Ardour of the Heart, When Life Becomes a Book, The Malaysian Life, Yogatta.com, What goes under the sun,Roshidan’s Cyber Station, Sasha says, Arts of Physics, And the legend lives, My View, My Life, A Simple Life, Juliana RW, The Callalily Space, Petra Summer in Blue, Confessions of an Army Wife Bless’ Sanctuary Happy Life, http://bless519.bravejournal.com/, La Place de Cherie, Chez Francine, Le bric a brac de Cherie, Little Peanut, Pea in a Pod, The Creative In Me, Me and Mine, Pinay Mommy, Expressions from the Heart, TeacherJulie, Sweetbites by Bang, Paul, Toni and Lance - Bridging the Distance, Our Growing Family, The Uncensored life of me, My Untamed World, Something Purple, A Detour, Something Purple, Wifespeaks, Changing Lanes, Bits and Pieces, My Chocolate Coated Glasses, God's Gift, Through the Rain, My Small World,My Life, My Hope, My Future,Nyumix's Blog , The Lings, , Life In Secret City, Gateway City Window View, This is My Life, moralle, Ripples of Rasp, Tod. Ted & Ned, MAMA RYAN, Mami Hafiy, Lanostz, ummi sa'eed

Pretty pink rose tag goes to~

phantasma
ibuhannah
adamandimran's mummy

Saturday, May 10, 2008

In Bali...

...my merry friends, not me. They left for Bali yesterday. Four of them. All single girls. The last time they went, cool headed, rational Hawa was there to make sure things are well under control...but this time around, it's without Hawa. Oh how I shudder...heh.

I need a holiday. My hubby and I particularly like Cameron Highlands. We could stay in Bala's Chalet. I loved that place as a kid...I remember the red comfy warm blankets and how one time my brother was chased by a dog outside the place. But I dread the ride up. Will Sa'eed be okay? He likes to look out the window from his carseat. I'm sure he'll get nauseous if he does that..or won't he?

Or maybe we should go somewhere like Port Dickson? Or even Pulau Redang...oh wait, what about the boat ride? Should we just go and see what happens...like how I usually do things?

Talking about holidays, I remember the time my girlfriends and I went for a road trip in the States when we were studying there. We covered North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska, all in a week. It was probably the best roadtrip I've gone to. What I remember the most was that although it was in the summer, it was really really cold in the mountains. All 4 of us girls were definitely under dressed.

Once we went hiking and found a secluded stream. Because we haven't showered for a couple of days, we thought, why not? But going into the water, it was freezing cold! We only ended up washing our feet in it...heh.

Mind you, we stayed in different National Parks every night. There was a campsite in the middle of nowhere, one was near a creek where we woke up surrounded by deer and moose and my favorite one was the one where we could lay out a mat, lie down and watch the stars. That night, we decided to buy Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Sobe drinks to pig out because it was our last night on the road trip. As we laid down and watched the stars in pitch dark, we could hear annoying dogs barking. Suddenly we heard what sounded like coyotes howling...they seemed to be really close by! And the dogs promptly quit barking their heads off.

So back to my main point. I need a holiday.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

A review on breastpumps

This review is from my own experience in using breastpumps. Hopefully this will help some new mommies out there. This is mainly for working mums, but even if you are a stay-at-home-mom, you might need at least a manual pump in case you get engorged or if you need to leave baby at home to do groceries or for a dinner rendezvous with hubby.

Snow Bear Electric Pump

USELESS...don't even attempt to try it.


First Years Manual pump (package as pictured above)

Cost: Free (My cousin's kind hearted wife gave it to me because I was having an ultra hard time pumping for Saeed in the hospital when he had jaundice). Bought at Toys R Us if I'm not mistaken.

Time: 20 to 30 minutes

Pros: Anytime anywhere since it was manual, very comfortable

Cons: Long time to pump (pumped every 3 hours, about 3 times at work: 9.30, 12.30, 4.30), tiring too
Sometimes milk would get into the ‘pump head’, which cannot be dismantled to be cleaned

*decided to buy another one due hygiene issues when milk started to leak into the head


Avent Isis Manual Pump (pump + a few bottles)

Cost: ~ RM 200

Time: 20-30 minutes

Pros: Anytime anywhere since it was manual, very comfortable
Can pump straight into Avent (or other wide necked bottles), don’t have to transfer milk to other bottles to be given to baby

Cons: Long time to pump (pumped every 3 hours, about 3 times at work: 9.30, 12.30 and 4.30), tiring too


Spectra 3 Electric Pump

Cost: Used this at the hospital during one of Sa’eed’s check up (I think it’s about ~RM 600 for complete set, but only ~RM 400 for the pump body + 1 set of tubing/bottle *thanks mommyadam for highlighting this)

Time: 10-15 minutes

Pros: Double pumping

Cons: No battery pack, have to depend on electricity outlet
Have to buy 2nd set of tubing and pumping horn separately (not that expensive)
Bulky (can leave it at the office and have manual pump at home)


Medela Pump in Style Advanced (package as pictured above)

Cost: RM 1688.00

Time: 10-15 minutes

Pros: Double pumping, saves time (very important for me since missing 1 ½ hours per day to pump is a bit too much)
Can pump straight into typical narrow necked bottles; don’t have to transfer milk to other bottles to be given to baby

Cons: Need electricity outlet (but has battery pack (or car adapter, sold separately), uses 10 batteries, lasts for about 10-12 pumping sessions)
Earlier models can be noisy

Note: most brands now have double pumps. I think Avent's is about RM 1800, not sure about First Years

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Fun answers...

...to when your significant other asks the question:

Why did you marry me?

  • Only coz you asked...
  • The other guys/girls I stalked found out and got freaked out.
  • You owned a Toyota Prius Hybrid with 45 mpg mileage...how could I resist?
  • There was this bet...*pause*...and I lost.
  • You were the only guy/girl tall enough for me.
  • You weren't living with your parents.
  • My mother liked you out of the 5 guys/girls I was dating.
  • Yeah...what was I thinking, right?
Haha...okay, time to do real work... :) Guess which one I used on my man?

aaahh...labor day weekend

Yeah I know, the public holiday for labor day was only on Thursday. Hubs and I took leave on Friday and it was a looooong weekend. Full of activities and eating out :)

Thursday
Went grocery shopping at TESCO in the afternoon. Ran into makcik there, but weirdly enough Sa'eed was scared of her...and the boy sees her everyday! Maybe because she had her scarf on. Oh yeah, before that we went to have lunch at Secret Recipe because I wanted cake. Hubs had an office gathering with SR cake, so I had to even the score. The waiters there were really efficient (or is it due to lack of anything to do?). Everytime Sa'eed dropped the spoon he was playing with, one of the waiters would come running and replace it.

Later for dinner, we went to Andalus at Jalan Damai, Ampang. It is an Arab restaurant. We went with my parents and maktok. The food was delicious. I had tabouleh, chicken kebab with rice and yogurt....yummy :) If you ever go there, make sure you get the mango juice..it is definitely superb...pure mango!

Friday
In the morning we went to Sa'eed pedi because he was due for his 12 month jab...chicken pox and something else which I can't remember. And he was also beginning to become a little ball of eczema, so we had to get that treated. Alhamdulillah I can clearly see that his skin is getting so much better. I bathe him with EUBOS for baby and also put on cream for extra dry skin and also put on Emolet cream for spots where the skin is more reddish. Eczema runs on my side of the family and unfortunately Sa'eed inherited it.

Later in the day after Friday prayers, we went to visit our cousin's wife in the hospital. She had a surgery to remove some implants in her back. Alhamdulillah I could see that she was recovering well. My dad saw the titanium implants they took out, but I didn't get to see it. Oh well, she would probably blog about it when she's up to it. Then we went over to my inlaws' house in Bangi. They're still in Gambia, but hubby's siblings were there.

Saturday
A day of lepak-ing in Bangi. Woke up late, ate late, didn't do much.

At night we went to eat at Uncle Chilli's in Amcorp Mall with hub's family (5 other siblings, 1 uncle, 1 grandma and 1 brother inlaw). I haven't been to AM for ages. The last time was probably when I was in highschool eons ago. The food at UC was good. We ate rice with tons of lauk-pauk (other dishes). Then after that we went back to TTDI.

Sunday
My camera is better....yaay. The psycho camera only accepts high end batteries and non of the cheapo stuff...hmmmph. Anyways, here's a picture of Sa'eed and his new hairdo.

Borderline girlish...or is he already there? gaaaah

In the morning after breakfast at home, we went to have brunch...yupp, you read it right..we went for brunch after having breakfast with my parents, brother and his family. It was at The One in TTDI. It's a nice kopitiam place. I had nasi lemak with rendang ayam and it was fabulous. Sa'eed had egg sandwich. He was very picky that day, he would refuse to eat the soggy part of the sandwich. And the only reason why it's soggy is because of his own saliva.

After brunch the three of us headed to One Utama. Hubby got a pair of pants and I got a little something for me too. And I got Sa'eed a pair of army pairs (because I really like Idraki's pair) and cheapo PJs for RM15. Below is a picture of Sa'eed modeling his PJs.

My lips pouty enough for you?

Later that night we went to Bora Asmara in Sg Penchala with hubs' family coz his grandma wanted to eat there. I feel like the quality of food there has somewhat deteriorated (this judging by the low quality of my favorite Blueberry Wild drink). And they changed the music guys from the usual group. One of them was smoking in the air conditioned room we were in. I was so annoyed and kept staring at him. But of course he kept on puffing away.

That was it. Our long, fun filled and food filled weekend :D And today I slave away in the office...ho-humm.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

What do you think?

From www.kellymom.com

"If your baby is older than 9-10 months and still breastfeeds regularly (at least a few times a day), and is expanding his interest in solid foods, he does not require any additional milk (formula, cow's milk, soy milk, rice milk or the equivalent nutrients from other foods).
Instead of additional milk you can offer your child solids, with water or juice (no more than 3-4 ounces a day) and any expressed milk you may have stored.

The dairy industry has done a great job at convincing us that our diet is lacking in something if we don't drink cow's milk! Cow's milk is really just a convenient source of calcium and other nutrients - it's not required. There are many people in many parts of the world who do not drink cow's milk and still manage to get all the calcium, protein, fats, vitamin D, etc. that milk has to offer. Too much cow's milk in a child's diet can (1) put him at risk for iron-deficiency anemia (because cow's milk can interfere with the absorption of iron) and (2) decrease the child's desire for other foods.

After the age of 12 months (or sometimes later, depending upon your child), milk becomes a more minor part of your child's diet. If you have a child who refuses to drink regular milk and is no longer nursing regularly, you can offer yogurt, cheese, and ice-cream as substitutes. Also, you might put milk into various food products: pancakes, waffles, French toast, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, and baked goods. Added protein may be offered via creamy peanut butter and a well-cooked egg yolk; calcium may be derived from calcium-fortified juice or green vegetables. More info here on many other nondairy sources of calcium."

My milk supply has been dwindling and I can only get around 3 oz per day at work. This article has given a little bit of perspective in assuring that it's okay for my baby to have regular milk if my EBM runs out during the day. And I do nurse him after I get home from work, so insyaAllah it should be okay :D

But what do you think? Is it just a marketing ploy to give cow's/formula milk to babies after 12 months? Do they really need it or not?