Starting infant care and things to prepare for Avalyn

Avalyn is starting infant care tomorrow (16 Aug) and I'm going to miss her so badly!

 

Though I'm feeling all emotional about sending her to infant care centre, I'm thankful that she's growing well. I'm thankful to be able to place her in the same infant care centre that Emma grows up well in. The teachers are caring and took great care of Emma. I love that they play Christian children songs and say grace when they start to eat. All I pray is for her to continue to grow well, and be safe, healthy and happy.

Over the 13 weeks, she has grown from a small baby to a pretty tough one. Since she was in my belly, she has been kicking a lot and she's still kicking a lot these days. I wonder if that's the reason why my cervix began to dilate when she was only 34 weeks old.

 @ 3 weeks

 

Following the first 2 challenging weeks of gaining weight, she has been drinking and growing really well. She isn't a chubby baby but her muscles are toned and bouncy. We didn't have much problem bottle feeding her and I'm happy that she loves her milk! She's now drinking 70 - 80 ml every 2 - 2.5 hours. She regurgitate once a while but she's holding in her milk much better lately.

 

 @ 11 weeks

 

 She's quite a manageable baby apart from her fussy hours at the evening. She has the loudest and fiercest cries I've ever heard. Now that she's coming 3 months old, she able to stay awake and contented better. She loves to observe her surroundings and getting really chatty.

 

@ 12 weeks

 

She loves to sleep and get really mad if she couldn't fall asleep. She's still sleeping a lot in the day and night.

 

@ 5 weeks

 Thankful for this good sleeper, she's clocking up to 7 hours of night time with a dream feed in between. I'm looking forward to the day she starts to sleep longer through the night!

 

We don't know how things will be when she goes to infant care centre but we trust that God is watching over her closely. Nevertheless, she might need some time adjust as she won't be given pacifier at school, and get used to taking rides in car seat, sleeping on tummies and hanging out with new teachers and friends.

 

@ 10 weeks

 

As for me, I will have another week to adjust to new routine and get ready for work on next Wed. For various reasons, I'm returning to work earlier and leaving 2 weeks in balance. Guess, the leaves will come it handy for house move, hopefully in Sept. Please keep us in prayers.

 

 

Packing list for infant care

 

While I'm packing and preparing for the start of Avalyn's infant care, I thought it might be useful to share the list of things needed. The school usually has a list, so here's just for reference!

 

1. Milk bottles

2. Expressed milk in cooler bags (or Formula milk)

3. Diapers

4. Diaper cream

5. Wet wipes

6. Towel

7. Uniform (or clothes) - yes, her school has uniformed rompers

8. Plastic bags for soiled clothes

9. Blanket

10. Mattress sheets

11. Bag

12. Cereals (for baby who started solid)

 

Her school provides cot mattress, shower gel, handkerchief and bibs. They do not encourage babies to take pacifiers so Avalyn got to learn to live without it. Thankfully, she likes it but isn't very reliant on it. Hopefully, it won't be too hard for her.

 

@ 7 weeks

 

It is useful to keep a packing list on the phone or note to refer so as to reduce the chances of missing out things. I usually have a few such list on my phone. Most the things can be packed the night before, but expressed milk got to be prepared in the morning itself.

 

Don't forget to label your child's stuff! It totally slipped my mind to order label stickers and for the time being, I have to use stationary name label before I get more durable labels for Avalyn.