Renzo's development - Month 01

Renzo went for his first vaccination on Sep 14 at the polyclinic right opposite our block, which is the 2nd dose of Hepatitis B injection. Fortunately he did not cry out loud, brave boy!! The doctor did a brief check on him and commented that he's growing very well. I did asked her advice about Renzo's sleeping and feeding pattern, apparently our little boy is eating a bit more than what he should take at his age, but sleeping a lot less than most newborns. But it seems that even the doctor can't do much about it since every baby is different. We will just try our best to establish a proper routine for Renzo so that hopefully he can be fed every 3 hours and between feedings he could fall asleep easily.

The past one month is really tough for each and everyone of us, including Win, my mother and myself. Okay not just us, even my sister. Kelly came to my place a few times to help out, and even my little niece Cherry loves to sing song and pat Renzo to sleep (see our little helper in action - shaking Renzo's milk bottle).

My in laws did give quite a lot of comments about how to handle Renzo, such as giving him sarong so that he could have sound sleep especially during daytime. But I insist not to give in because I am afraid that as a result, Renzo will not sleep without a sarong, so it is going to be even tougher for us especially when we need to bring him out. Now then I realised that I am really particular about anything related to Renzo (that's for sure, he is my precious little boy). I would say that it is not easy to look after this little guy but it all worth the efforts. Good habit must be built since young, so sometimes we just have to let him learn through the hard way.

Here's Renzo's development during the past one month.
01 Month vs. At birth
Weight: +1.505kg
Height: +4cm
Head Circumference: +4cm


Major development:
1. When he is hungry for milk, he cries and swings his hands. From 11 days onwards, when we put him in sitting position, he knows it is feeding time so he stops moving around, and when we tell him "coming coming (in chinese as that's what my mother always says), he stops crying and wait for his milk bottle to be served.

2. On day 11, he started to turn his head from one side to another while sleeping, and I only realized it the next morning.

3. On day 12, he started to reject milk by pushing his milk bottle away with his little hands. Of course he does this once in a blue moon, we wish he could do this during every feeding so we could get his cue immediately and do not need to worry about overfeeding him.

4. On day 14, he laughed out loud to himself while asleep, with a funny sound, and his whole body was shaking, he still does this every now and then, that's so cute as long as it does not happen at midnight, haha..

5. On day 19, he tried to lift up his head for the first time.

6. On day 21, started to recognize people, especially my mother who feeds him often.

7. On day 27, "Potty trained!!", he pooped and peed into dustbin twice when I removed his diaper and hold him in position.

Daddy Chan and Mummy Chan's worries:
1. Renzo is not sleeping much especially during daytime
On average he sleeps about 11-14 hours in 24 hours time, but for baby at his age, they should be sleeping around 15-20 hours instead. Of course this is not going to affect his development, just that we as parents or carer need to spend more time looking after him. The unfortunate fact is, he can just wake up crying because he needs to pee, burp or even just fart.

2. Sensitive nose
I asked for malay massage service which is a 5 days session, but right after the first session, I realised that with the wraps on me, I could not even cuddle him properly and those herbs are making him agitated. So I immediately called it off and for now, I guess I cannot even do things like rebonding my hair or a pedicure session, I am sure Renzo is very sensitive to the smell of chemicals, just like his father.

3. Vomiting
Yes I meant really vomiting, not spitting up a mouthful after feeding. There were at least 3 to 5 times that Renzo vomit out at least more than half of the feeding and even through his nose. This is the most scary part for me so far. And because of that, my mother dared not to feed him for a few days. Now he is getting better, and also we are trying to limit his milk intake since serious vomiting could be due to overfeeding. And based on our record, yes it is quite true as those few times he really drank a bit more than usual. And because of frequent vomiting, we have to change his nappy only before feeding, or else he will easily puke his milk out when we move his body. Luckily he still can sleep with pee and poop on his golden butt, although not always..

4. Awake after bathing
His bathing time is usually around 730-8pm. And we noticed that usually he eats a lot after bathing, which supposed to be normal. But it seems he will just ask for more and more milk and refuse to sleep till about 10pm. Thus the feeding after bath can drag for more than 2 hours. And the more we feed him of course the higher chance of him vomiting everything out. So we decided to change his bathing time to about 930pm instead, and hopefully he will fall asleep easily after feeding.

5. Passing motion
Renzo had no bowel movement on Aug 27th, and I called the nurse immediately but was advised that it is alright, and I only need to bring him to doctor if he does not pass motion for 3-4 days. Luckily on the next day he pooped quite a bit. And he even had a record of pooping 8 times a day, that's where the nickname "Poopersaurus" from Daddy Chan originated from. But now with slightly less milk intake everyday, he has about 2-5 times of bowel movement a day, and his stool is soft, yellowish and seedy, which supposed to be quite healthy.

Pic courtesy of Renzo's Godpa, Mike Tan (http://4stillangles.blogspot.com/)
Now we just wish for his better development at month 02...