Muhammad and Eczema

Salam

         Muhammad's eczema was triggered after we shaved his hair. It all started with just tiny red dots on his scalp which I mistakenly thought of heat rashes. So I applied bepanthen cream on those affected areas. It did get better for a day but came back even worse. At that point the red patches have spread to the back of his ears, under the neck and on both cheeks.

Muhammad before and after shaving

He kept scratching his face all the time that I needed to put his mittens back on to prevent him getting cuts from his fingernails. But still, I thought it was just normal for babies to have that kind of skin condition since their skin are naturally sensitive.

On top of that, I came out with my own diagnosis that the constant scratching was caused by 'something' inside his ears since he kept tugging those parts even when he was sleeping. And they were smelly too especially when he sweat a lot. So we went straight to the paediatrician. 

Turned out his ears were okay and the doctor informed us that it was all caused by eczema. I was like, errr really? They looked like normal rashes. How do you differentiate that with an eczema? But doctors know better so we questioned no more.

He suggested us to use Oilatum soap bar during bath time and prescribed a cream for his skin. I used that only when his eczema flared up because I was concerned about the formulas of the cream knowing that most eczema's cream prescribed by the doctor might contain steroid. I know a small amount of steroid would cause no harm if used appropriately. But as a mother, I want to avoid using chemicals on my baby at my level best.

Bought at Caring Pharmacy

I put effort on buying all chemical and paraben free stuffs for Muhammad which include his skin care, bottle cleansers and even his detergent. But now I'm applying steroid on his skin? So I stopped using it for a while. The Oilatum soap bar also did not work on him so I switched to Cetaphil and Sebamed.

My husband's friend suggested to use calamine lotion. I googled for its effectiveness. Most mothers claim that it does not help with the eczema but the cooling effect from the lotion itself can comfort the baby. So I bought it. I was in rush that I forgot to check on the formulas beforehand. Many brands in store do carry calamine lotion but the one that I bought contains 1% of phenoxyethanol (not sure of others) which later when I looked up for the information on the web, is not advised to be used on babies.

The one that I bought

Later, the day when he had a check up at HKL, I seek for advice from the doctor in charge. She totally disagreed with the use of calamine lotion as it would make the baby's skin even drier. Instead, she prescribed an aqueous cream to keep the skin hydrated. Other than that, she also prescribed a cream containing 1% of hydrocortisone to be applied on inflamed parts. Again, it's a steroid but I had no other choice this time.

The cream does help with his eczema when it became inflamed. Since eczema naturally come and go, we need to consistently using it and hoping it would resolve immediately. In Muhammad's case, it is still considered as mild alhamdulillah. I've seen babies with severe ones and could just pray for them because eczema could be a total nightmare for the mothers and the babies too.

After all, choosing the right skin care for your baby's eczema is a trial and error process. One product might work on one baby but not another. Always choose the smallest tub if you want to start experimenting a product on your baby. As you know, most products for eczema do not come cheap. Pheww.

Till then, Assalamualaikum.

The Breastfeeding Journey

Salam

           When it came to buying baby's stuff, the first thing that popped up in my mind was a breast pump. I do not know for sure as of why I'm so keen about breastfeeding even before I was pregnant. It could be from the blog I read. The journey of mothers out there who continue to breastfeed their babies even after they have returned to work just got me inspired. So when I found out I was pregnant, I started to further educate myself on breastfeeding.

At that point I made myself clear that I'm gonna breastfeed my son until he is two years old in syaa Allah and will never settle down with formula milk whatever it takes. Sounds easy, right? But it's not. Juggling between breastfeeding and working requires a huge commitment.

Believe me, once you get back to work after a confinement period, the only thing that wanders in your mind is the milk supply. How many oz for how many days? How many packs of milk left in the freeze? How much more do I need to pump to catch up with my baby's feeding pace? This is the struggle that I think only breastfeeding mommies will understand.

'You're not producing enough milk? Then keep pumping'. That's what they say. If and only if they know it isn't about the frequency of pumping alone. There will be a certain period where the milk supply itself goes down for some reasons (stress or hormonal changes).

In that case, I need to double up my effort. But it doesn't get easy with loads of house chores awaiting and the baby who wants to keep latching most of the time. I need to get to bed late night and sometimes wake up in the middle of the night just to pump because those are the only times I can do it peacefully without any distractions. As of now while I'm working, one session of pumping in the morning, two or three sessions at work and one last session before going to sleep would be enough for Muhammad's everyday supply. 

Despite of the tiredness, it gives me a full satisfaction knowing my baby is getting his best level of nutrition out of my hard work. Just what else is better than a breastmilk, right? That is the only motivation to keep me get going. And because of that too, I even took a month of unpaid leave to build up my milk stocks. Sacrificing a month income was a worth investment at that time so that my baby was getting enough and I could leave him in peace.

At the end, we need to remind ourselves that everything comes from Allah. I always worried about my milk supply. There was this one time it went down drastically. I was so stressed out and cried while pumping *erghh drama.

But my husband kept repeating, 'Your milk is a rizq from Allah. Stop worrying and make a dua. In syaa Allah whatever amount you produced will be enough for Muhammad. Sebab kenyang bukan terletak pada kuantiti tapi pada barakah. Susu yang banyak tak semestinya mengenyangkan. Kadang-kadang yang sikit itu lah yang buat Muhammad kenyang kalau padanya ada berkat'.

So yeah.. Those words wiped all my tears away. It just took a second to get you back on the track with the right motivation :)

My pillar of strength

Till the, Assalamualaikum.

I'm Back!

Salam

*someone has been missing for the whole year of 2017 and finally making her way back!

       How's your 2017 everyone? Mine was full of episodes. I hope it's not too late to sum up my last year's journey. *if it's still valid. Well just a quick one. 2017 has been a witness to a lot of major events in my life. Got married to the man of my dream in March and been granted with a cutie little pie, Muhammad just before we entered 2018. So yeah, from a single lady to a married woman then to a mother. Everything happened in just a year. Seriously, how easy is that? Luls. 

Solemnization day. Oh em gee my husband a year ago. So kuwuss

Some of our wedding pictures..

Reception

Le bridesmaid

Outdoor photoshoot 

The backbones

Career wise, it's been the same. I keep dreaming of resigning and be a stay-at-home mom. Every time I told my husband about my intention he would say, 'tunggu abang kaya'. Hahaha. But that's what every mom wants, right? Going to work when the baby could barely open his eyes and coming back home to him already sleeping makes you feel like you have been missing a lot of precious time with him.

Anyhow we're just lucky to have my sister who is still waiting for her housemanship placement taking care of Muhammad while we're both working. Having her around makes things a lot lot easier. Whenever my husband could not make time for Muhammad's check up or other appointments, I still have another hand to get things settled.

Back when there were just three of us, we would take Muhammad everywhere we went including groceries shopping at Tesco to my husband's office at late night when he needed to get important documents. Pheww. Fortunately, this little boy kept behaving well wherever we took him. In fact, he liked it more to spent time outside rather than staying at home. Is that a good sign? Hmm.

Our little pilot Muhammad

It's been a year since we got married, thus last month marked our first year anniversary which we celebrated at home. My husband bought a pavlova two days earlier because we planned to go back to Kelantan on the day of our anniversary which we did but returned to Kuala Lumpur again the next day since my in laws were heading to our house. LOL.

To many more years ahead

That's it for now. I guess the upcoming entries will be mainly about married life and motherhood, maybe? But before that, let's pray this one is not gonna be the only entry for 2018. Haha.

Till then, Assalamualaikum.