KEEPING HUMOR WHILE WAITING TO HATCH: VIDEOS!

While it's a warm fuzzy feeling connecting with your little tenant for 9 months, it can get infinitely boring staring off into space while you're bed-bound.

Here are some video websites I went through while surfing during The Bean/Melon's down-time (when she's not feeling out my kidneys or tracking my intestines).

You Tube ... Search Funny Commercials. Worked for me!
Ask A Ninja ... On days when your hormones are raging, "I look forward to killing you soon!" will become a favorite quote.
Aske A Ninja.com ... In case you want to check out the Ninja Mart Store. Maybe they have "Ninja Uniforms" in baby size.
Moymoy Palaboy ... Too bad I only saw them now. Would've given my happy hormones a boost. I watch them with Oona now. Start 'em young!
Moymoy Palaboy on Bubble Gang ... I can't decide if they're funnier here or during their early days. You guys decide.

WARNING: EXCESSIVE LAUGHTER MAY CAUSE CONTRACTIONS (I'm serious!) ... Yes, I am serious. It does happen. If you're due at this time, keep your celfone charged, loaded with credit and always near you. Put your OB, your hubby and your parents on speed dial, in that order (I'd recommend it!). Breathe deep and don't panic.

WEAR YOUR BABY 5: RING SLINGS

This appealed to me most! From the ever-reliable Wikipedia:

"Ring Slings

These are baby carriers that use dynamic tension, a length of cloth and metal (such as aluminum) or nylon rings. One end of the cloth is sewn to two rings. The cloth wraps around the wearer's body from shoulder to opposite hip and back up to the shoulder, and the end is threaded through the rings to create a buckle effect. The baby sits or lies in the resulting pocket. Once a sling is threaded, it can be taken off and put back on without rethreading. A threaded sling forms a loop of cloth. The wearer can put one arm and the head through the loop of cloth to put the sling back on.

When the baby is in the carrier, the baby's weight puts tension on the fabric, and the combination of fabric tension, friction of fabric surfaces against each other and the rings combine to "lock" the sling in position. This type of sling can adjust to different wearers' sizes and accommodate different wearing positions easily: the wearer supports the baby's weight with one hand and uses the other hand to pull more fabric through the rings to tighten or loosen the sling. There are 6 basic wearing positions that are most commonly used, namely Reclining Cradle Hold, Cradle Hold, Snuggle Hold, Kangaroo Hold, Hip Carry and Piggy Back. The Cradle Holds are most useful for discreet breastfeeding."

Reclining Cradle Hold using Ring Sling	Cradle Hold using Ring Sling	Snuggle Hold using Ring Sling	Kangaroo Hold using Ring Sling
Hip Carry using Ring Sling	Piggy Back using Ring Sling

Ring slings may be padded or unpadded at the shoulder, have padded or unpadded edges or "rails", and the "tail" of the sling may be open or closed. Some "hybrid" ring slings have curved seats sewn into the body, similar to the seam in a pouch. Ring slings are most closely related in use to the Mexican rebozo, the rings take the place of the knot.

Whether a user will prefer a padded or unpadded sling, closed tail or open tail, simple or hybrid body is highly individual and often simply a matter of taste. Ring slings are available in a variety of fabrics ranging from lightweight cotton calicos to silk brocade. Tencel, linen, hemp and rayon have also been used. Most common are homespun fabrics, lightweight twills, dupioni silk, and other fabrics with good tensile strength and a fair amount of diagonal "give". The rings may be nylon, aluminum, steel or other materials, but it is important that any materials used be of sufficient strength and that multiple layers of stitching be used to connect rings to fabric, as several recalls of ring slings have been caused by faulty rings (welds breaking) or stitching (insufficient stitching such that if a thread broke, there was no redundancy). Most rings used by manufacturers are either designed specifically for baby carriers, designed for high-tension situations like marine rigging or for securing heavy livestock. Lightweight craft rings should not be used. Fabrics which cannot safely hold a seam without fraying or tearing should not be used. Excessively slippery fabrics should be avoided.

Another significant point of variation is found in how the rings attach to the cloth, commonly referred to as "shoulder style". Basic shoulder styles include gathered, pleated, "hot dog" or "center fold", pouch-style (folded in half) and many variations. Which is more comfortable for a given user may depend on body shape (whether the user has rounded or square shoulders), sling fabric (some fabrics will only be comfortable with padding, others work better in a gathered, unpadded style) and user preference for a wider or narrower spread.

Ring slings can be used from birth through toddlerhood, but many parents find that heavier, non-mobile babies are easier to carry in a two-shouldered carrier such as a wrap or mei tai (see below) when carrying will be extended. However, for short-term use, or for toddlers and mobile babies who want to be picked up and set back down often, ring slings can be ideal. Ring slings are also considered very good for breastfeeding, their adjustability allows them to be lengthened to allow easy access to the breast, and they can then be re-adjusted quickly when nursing is done. Ring slings are often the carriers of choice in the first months of life, when babies are small and nurse frequently."

Sounds good!

Next: Our choice!

WEAR YOUR BABY 4: BABY SLINGS

What to wear?

Being from a culture that is still exposed to baby-carrying using cloth slings, I was wondering if I could just use a traditional malong or similar piece of cloth the way some indigenous tribes still do. It was a short jump from using a blanket to secure her to us.

The malong garment is a woven length of fabric sewn together at the sides to make a wide, tubular garment. It can be worn any number of ways, has many varied uses and comes in a variety of colors and designs. Coming from parts down the southern Philippines, it is the multi-purpose garment one traditionally has from birth to death. It is similar to many other multi-functional clothing pieces (sari, sarong) around Asia.

I hunted for the malong I had when I was a kid but I remembered that it already became so threadbare as to be almost transparent. So no go. It might disintegrate, if it hasn't already.

<--- Maranao Dance to show the versatility of the Malong. Here, the Badjao girl demonstrates how the tubular cloth is transformed into a baby carrier.

Then looking in the department stores and checking out the price and make of today's malong, I am sad to say that not only are they more expensive, but they aren't made like they used to. I seem to remember that they were a lot thicker and sturdier back in the day. I would have to go to my father's home town to get one I could trust to carry Oona around.

Fortunately I didn't have to go on a long trip. I was browsing through the web and came upon different modern baby slings. Some had rings while some are tied up, but all very versatile and durable!

Modern Baby Slings

I chanced on The Baby Wearer site and checked out different styles and reliable suppliers. It made it easier to decide on what seems to be right for me, Oona and RF.

They're very reliable when it comes to carrier type comparisons, taking into consideration the products' suitability for newborns or older babies, durability, strength of the fabrics, breastfeeding-friendliness (the word!), adjustability, learnability (for us parents who are all thumbs!) and comfort.

So far, our choices were looking good. Now, I couldn't decide what to pick as they all appealed to me and the kind of lifestyle I wanted Oona to have: mobile but still developing close to us (I'm sounding like a parent!!!).

This one is by Sleepy Wrap. Yes it's an American company but with online shopping these days and overseas delivery, all you need to worry about is whether they ship to our country (they do via UPS) or if you have a credit card to make the purchase.

I love this because it seems to be so soft and comfy for both
Moms and babies. It looks to be very versatile, easily transformable into different wearing styles and very secure. I'm sure the babies are snug enough to fall asleep easily or observe the world from the safety of Mommy or Daddy!

I'm just afraid it might get too hot to wear for us in a tropical country. The loops and knots seem to be a bit complicated to me, however I'm sure once anybody gets the hang of it, it's going to be a lot easier.

I fell in love with this one though.

Isn't it so sweet?

It's the Peanut Shell by Goo-ga Style Inc. As with all parenting-friendly products, this was developed by working parents who still wanted to take an active role in raising their baby, then called "Peanut".

I imagine it to be comfy, easy to wear and snug for Oona!

Try as I might though, I couldn't find a local supplier then and it wasn't as if I could spend all my time trying to track down one pronto! I still can't find one but I don't really need it now. I already found a good match, but I'll tell you about it later!

I saw this one by Infantino but it was only perfect for newborns. It does look like a large shoulder bag, then Surprise! Inside, there's a strapped-in baby! It's really cute but for me, it's a luxury I couldn't afford. Sure it looks so cool, but after a few months, I wouldn't be able to use it anymore. Oona would be far too active to stay prone. She'd want in on the action outside her cute little bag and I'd be scared to death she'd pop out!

I know it's safe and all, but I was looking for something that would last far longer than a few months and would be able to "grow" with Oona.

Other slings and pouches I really liked:

The Mei Tai - based on Chinese Baby Carriers!

Combination Hip Sling and Mei Tai: The Mei Hip by Ellaroo

Next: Baby Ring Sling!

WORKSHOP! WORKSHOP!

Robo Monkey Pixel Fighters (it's a mouthful, I know!) in partnership with Euphony Music Studio, is going to be holding a series of Cartooning Workshops. For those in the Makati area, enrollment is on-going! Sign your kids up or maybe even yourself later on! Check us out at our website for more details! See you!

MILK ALERT!

This is one of the reasons why I am so thankful Oona was breastfed during her infancy and how I'm hoping I can still continue being her milkmaid. Right now, Oona is mixed-fed, leaning more towards formula (SAAAAAAD MOMMY LAYA!) and solid food. I'm nearly dry now, but for 6 months she was exclusively getting her food from me.

One thing I truly regret now from being a working mom, was that my milk supply began to suffer because I couldn't feed her on demand. Back then I had a stressful job that had me in the office during the day and well into the night. Sure I pumped like mad and made sure my Medela PISO (Hehehe! No pun intended!) paid for itself, but not having Oona around to encourage the let-down made all the difference. So my milk went down eventually, that at eight months, she was having more and more formula because I couldn't keep up. By ten months, when I finally resigned from work, my milk was truly down since she also ate more solid food as well. I felt worse because just when I could be with Oona all day to respond to her needs, I had less milk to give her and she needed less as well.

At thirteen months, Oona still turns to me for comfort feeding at night. For me, it's an affirmation that we still share that bond and I treasure it more than ever! She still wouldn't accept a bottle from me and would only consent to my giving her formula when she's really hungry. Yes she's used to accepting a bottle from her Dad, her Grandma or her Nanny Rina, but not really from Mommy. I'm glad she expects me to satisfy her need for sustenance and comfort, but it breaks my heart not to be able to give her as much as her little tummy needs now.

Her pediatrician recommended Nan HA1 when she started formula feeding. According to my research, NAN H.A. (Hypoallergenic) with Protect Start^TM/ /Protect Plus^TM has added probiotics ("good" bacteria) that helps create protective intestinal flora like breastfed infants have. It promotes gastrointestinal health, helps reduce the incidence of diarrhea and has easily digestible proteins that helps reduce the risk of allergies. So far Oona liked it and has been on Nan ever since.

She then graduated to Nan HA2 which for awhile concerned us because we couldn't find it in Waltermart where we shopped. It turned out that they just changed the HA to HW, but it's still the same banana. It's getting harder to find though since the demand's high and we have to go all the way to SM Supermarket just to find Nan HW 3, which she's on now because she's past 1 year old.

The growing unavailability got me alarmed too, especially since China's milk crisis. I had to go online to check if Nestle was affected. I know Switzerland is far from China, but who knows how far these things go, right?

Apparently, all milk that was manufactured anywhere else except China is safe. Nan HA 1 and 2 are from Switzerland and Nan HW 1 and 2 are from Germany and they have passed safety and hygiene tests. Other milk manufactured here in the Philippines are also safe like those from Mead Johnson, Wyeth and Abbott and no raw material for these products come from China.

At least, knowing Oona's safe has given me room to breathe a sigh of relief. For now. That is, who's to say it can't happen again? If not the chemical scandal that China's facing now, what about another form of contamination? There are periodic recalls, protests, boycotts and the like all across the baby milk brands. From metal particles to dioxin, packaging problems to chemical imbalances in the formulation, making baby milk is very sensitive business.

It's not just China who has a problem. Nobody's really safe and I may just be a paranoid mother here, but I'm scared because this is my child we're talking about. I would be lying through my teeth if I said I was primarily scared for everyone, but having your own child makes you a little bit selfish that way. I wouldn't want to be the mother of one of those kids who developed kidney failure and died or is now seriously sick and hospitalized from melamine in a brand I trusted. My guilt would be too great, eating me alive.

My child trusts me to make decisions for her well-being and health. She trusts me to raise her as a healthy, human being. And because of that trust, she will take what I give her. I fear the day then that through this trust, that nobody should ever violate (especially me, her parent), she would be taken ill or die. I feel for those mothers and fathers, it is not their fault and should never have been their burden in the first place. They could never have known that the trust they gave their brand would be violated, in effect violating the pact they had with their children. I can only barely imagine their pain, anguish and rage.

Yes, now I truly wish I could produce milk again for Oona, if only to beat a scare I never thought of. Breastmilk is truly the best food for our babies. It's pure, unadulterated, and perfect . . . just as Mother Nature intended specially for us. But if we can't and need something more for our children, may we be saved from the heartache China's parents are experiencing now.