Weaning Afeef - Part 2

Hati mak mane yang tahan tgk anak die kelaparan. Afeef mcm xcukup by just milk feeding. Last two days, luahkan kat my mom psl Afeef mcm dh nk kene start on solid. And the conversation goes like this:

My mama: Bagila makan, I dulu you all semua I start solid at 4 months..

Me: Aikk? Aritu mama ckp jgn sibuk2 nk bagi awal, tunggu till 6 months..bagi organ2 die cukup matured baru bagi..

My mama: Eh bile mase plak I ckp mcm tu?

Me: Ade...sebab tu Aishah tahan xnk bg Afeef solid sbb takut mama marah.

Mama: xpenah la I ckp mcm tu..klu ade mesti I igt..u all semua start 4 months nape plak I xbg Afeef start at 4mths?

Adehh..xkisah la janji Afeef dh bole makan, upon getting greenlight from my mom, meloncat2 rase hati nk bagi Afeef baby cereal. So yesterday lunch time lari KLCC jap cari teat with cross-cut hole for thick feeding. And today before going to work, I gave him a thin mixture of cereal in his FM. Surprisingly (for an unfussy boy like Afeef) he was so upset when he tasted the cereal mixture, mcm kene makan ubat. Padahal Afeef klu makan ubat bukan main suke, siap hisap2 syringe tu mcm botol susu. Maybe he was too hungry and sleepy that he refused other than BM and the teat hole was too big that he can't controlled the feed flow and asik mcm nk tersedak je so he was stressed out.


Masuk hari ni, dh 4 hari Afeef x berak. Risaunye Mama..normally Afeef will berak at least twice a day, at most 4-5 times. Banyakkan? Afeef inherits dat (rajin berak, dat is) from Mama and Babah which makes the three of us: Keluarga Berak hehe..

Weaning my Afeef

Baby experts recommend weaning babies at the age of 6 months, however, my "semangat" boy seems to show signs that he's ready for weaning at the age of 4 months old:


1) He can sit up


2) He can hold his head


3) He shows curiosity (terliur!) when he sees me or his Babah eating at the age of 3 months plus


4) He likes to put things into his mouth and love sucking his two hands and sometimes he sucks them soo hard that he didn't realize he has pushed his hands too deep into his mouth that he choked and he always bite his hands while sucking smpai berbekas merah.

5) He is still hungry after a bottle full of FM feeding.

6) My BM is not enough for him for a feeding period.

7) He has not just doubled, but double-and-a-halv-ed his weight!
Now I am torn. My Mama strongly advised me to start at 6 months however Afeef has shown the above signs. I should have asked his Paed at his 4 months visit. After discussing with Hubby, I think we shall start on his Solid at 5 months that is after his 5 month visit to the Paed.

Ramadhan is around the corner

This year my Ramadhan will be different from last year. Last year, for the first time in my life (okay, kat SHAHPekan dulu macam ni jugak tp xdela menghayati sgt sbb kecik lagi huhu kecik sgt..), I had tadarrus every night after tarawikh with Abang's family until 1am and tarawikh would always be at Masjid Taman or sometimes Masjid Kampung Baru.

This year, I have Afeef around to be taken care of. The likelihood of me having a chance to have my Tarawikh at the masjid is a far cry. Unless someone in the house is 'mamnuk' (wow lame dah xckp this word), only then I can go to the masjid. Due to that, I have printed Panduan Solat Tarawikh by Jakim dengan jayanya pakai printer office hehe semangat betul (xpe boss bole dpt pahala ape..). On the other hand, tadarrus at BK house shall be work on. Because Afeef has an adult sleeping pattern, only longer (he sleeps straight from 7pm to 6am next morning and only wakes up when he's hungry and will sleep back while feeding), then I can just put him on Ateh's bed while tadarussing. I am so looking forward to this year's Ramadhan, may this Ramadhan be filled with more Ibadah insyaAllah.

Afeef caught flu

At around 3am, I was awakened by the sound of Afeef deep throaty coughing. From the sound of it, I know it’s a bad sign. I don’t want him to spend another night at the hospital, with H1N1 virus spreading around the globe and even in Malaysia, the hospital would be the last place that I want Afeef to be. The coughing continued until it’s already 7am, the time for me to be off to work. Abang suggested that we bring him to his Paed this very morning; we don’t want it to get any worse. Actually he has started showing signs since yesterday evening; I thought that might be the reason of why he was soo asleep at the park as he was actually not feeling well. I called the office to request for an EL for the day.

Our very 1st Garden Portraiture

Saifulfiena called last night asking the best time to shoot Afeef, I suggested 8 o’clock in the morning, which is after his morning bath. Afeef is always in a good mood and wide awake after his morning bath. On the contrary, this morning, Afeef slept all the time we were at the Bukit Jalil Recreational Park. The weather was quite inviting for just anyone to take a nap there, redup, mendung and the sun was not too hot, suam2 manja je. No wonder he is so fast asleep. He was undisturbed by us lifting him up, putting him in the stroller, and on the grass, slumbering peacefully enjoying the cool morning breeze. Penyudahnya, mama and babah die yg sibuk posing maut, sayang je..

Afeef’s Feet-Eye Coordination Skill

Yesterday Afeef has shown a new skill with his hands-eye coordination. This time he has upgraded to feet-eye coordination. While I put him on my lap, he finally discovered that he has feets, cute moving feets! Actually he has noticed them before (about 2-3 weeks ago) when I put his rattle socks on but back then he only stared at his rattle socks for a while and look away. This time around he stared at his feet for quite a long time, at first with curious look and later developed into a determined look, trying very hard to reached his feet with his hand, dengan mulut and lidah terjuih2 penuh kegeraman hehe…I helped him with reaching his feet by holding his hand while telling him that it’s his feet that he’s touching, and he looked satisfied for being able to touch and learn about his feet!


Afeef is getting more and more familiar with his Babah and Mama now. If he sees his Babah walking by or sitting beside him doing something else, he’ll keep on staring at his Babah and his eyes will follow his Babah until his Babah turns smiling towards him and he’ll smile and squeal excitedly with his hand and feets kicking vigorously at seeing his Babah. Although I was holding him, he is more interested with his Babah if he’s in playing mood. But if he feels a little hungry although he was playing with Babah at the moment, he will start crying upon seeing me. Like when I came lying beside him this morning while he was joyfully playing and giggling with Babah, he immediately turn his head towards me and start to cry beggingly with his tongue tersentil2 mcm nak susu, and simultaneously turned his body towards me ignoring Babah. Once he’s full, he’ll turn his head away, looking for his Babah’s existence. He knows, Mama means food and Babah means fun! Clever boy…

Educational DVDs for my Genius Boy

Afeef is developing as fast as his rapid growth. His IQ and genius match his extra tall and extra well-build body. I noticed he doesn’t pay as much attention if I switch on to cartoons as when his Babah switched on to news, political talkshow and sports. He seems to prefer serious and intellectual show than some silly cartoons. I think it’s time for me to buy him some educational DVDs. I’m thinking of buying him Sesame Streets DVDs as I’ve grown up watching them and my Mama told me that I actually learned ABCs solely from it!

After much considerations and research on online shops, I’ve narrowed down my choices to 2 brands of educational DVDs namely Sesame Street (as I’ve planned earlier) and Baby Einstein. I’ve tried watching Baby Einstein on Youtube but don’t find it appealing and interesting at all. However, looking at the babies on Youtube who seemed to enjoy watching Baby Einstein made me have a second thought on it and would consider perhaps a DVD first, Baby Mozart maybe, just give it a try and see whether Afeef can appreciate it as much as Bernama TV!

This afternoon I watched Gugu Gaga Erra on Youtube during lunchtime as I was fasting and didn’t go out for lunch. Erra brought her baby to a Baby Photography session. I’ve always wanted baby portraiture of Afeef. Yes we owned a DSLR, but the photos that we took are hardly the three of us, it’s always either Afeef and I or Afeef and his Babah. At last, I’ve victoriously persuaded Abang to asked for a quotation from Azlee Samad, his photographer friend (Abang thought the idea was just a waste of money) while I asked for Kak Zubye (my ex-senior in SHAHPekan) and Kak Tini (Mama’s ex-student in Pasir Gudang), both are professional photogs too and comparing all three, we thought Kak Zubye offers the cheapest. Alas, Kak Zubye was really slow in correspondence as she always didn’t return my call nor did she replies to my email and text. So in the end, we unanimously decided to not have baby portraiture at all. However upon seeing Gugu Gaga, my wish for having portraiture of Afeef while he’s a baby, just the three of us, became even stronger. That night I almost forgot to bring up the subject until hubby suddenly burst out to me that Saifulfiena another photographer friend of his, would like to take outdoor portraiture of the three of us for his portfolio for the Pameran Pengantin next week. What thrills me more is it is for free!! What a pleasure coincidence! We actually are doing him a favour although at the same time we appreciated it so much! I am so gonna buy new garments for Afeef tomorrow.