Creamy Broccoli Soup - Good for Pregnant and/or Breastfeeding Mommies

Since it is a Sunday and we got tired of eating out, I've decided to cook dinner tonight. We still have four chicken drumstick left in the freezer and some frozen tiger prawns bought back from our holiday in Kota Kinabalu. The drumstick are baked with peanut butter and potato chips while the tiger prawns are simply baked with butter and garlic.

Our meals are never complete without a soup. Went online to search and came across this recipe, Creamy Broccoli Soup. Apparently, this soup is an excellent dish for pregnant and breastfeeding mommies since broccoli is rich with frolic acid. And the soup is relatively easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 crowns of broccoli, chopped
• chicken broth
• skim milk
• ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Boil onion, carrot, celery, garlic and chicken broth in a large soup pot. Add pepper to taste
• Add broccoli and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes or until broccoli is tender
• Allow the soup to cool and transfer soup into blender. Add in milk and blend until smooth.
• Transfer blended soup back into pot and reheat the mixture slowly until heated through.
• Serve hot.

Preventing Rotavirus - Should Ryan have it?

Took Ryan to his paediatrician yesterday to treat his nappy rashes. I asked him about Rotavirus infection and he gave a pamphlet for me to consider giving immunisation to Ryan before his sixth month.

In a nutshell, I gathered that Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea and vomiting among babies with almost all children being infected with rotavirus by 5 years of age. It's also frightening to learn that it is common among babies aged from 6 months to 2 years, with the youngest most at risk of serious disease, hospitalisation and even death if left untreated. And Ryan is 4.5 old months now and would be 6 months very very soon. Emmm...frigthening!

Symptoms of Rotavirus infection include fever 1-2 days after infection with vomiting lasting up to 9 days. Diarrhoea or watery stool may occur up to 20 times per day and persist up to 3 weeks. This would lead to acute loss of fluid and electrolytes resulting in dehydration, requiring hospitalisation.

Rotavirus is reportedly spread very easily, highly infectious and transmitted via faecal-oral route as well as person to person via infected hands, toys, objects and surfaces.

As if this is not enough to cause anxiety, there is apparently no specify medicine or treatment for rotavirus infection and the child would have to rely on his or her own natural antibodies. All the hospital could do is to rehydrate (replace lost fluid) the child.

My paediatrician tells me that the immunisation comes in two doses of oral medicine taken one month apart. Immunisation is apparently useless after the baby turns 6 months old.

Any advice or comment from experienced parents out there on this issue? I guess I would probably get Ryan to get this immunisation at the end of this month when he goes for his next jab. Better to be safe than sorry.

Baby Bottles - Steam Sterilisation

I remembered my mum use to boil the baby feeding bottles to sterilise them. When we were preparing for Ryan's arrival, she was telling us the same thing. Of course being an ignorant parent, we were not quite sure of what other ways are available and the seriousness of the issue until one of our friend gave us a steam steriliser as a gift. It is probably the best gift that we have received and the ROI (Return on Investment) from this item is overwhelming.

As baby is prone to bacteria infection, it is extremely important that their feeding bottles be free from any contamination. If milk bottles are not cleaned properly, bacteria which can reproduced at an alarming rate will be consumed by the baby during the feeding process. This contamination is often times invisible to the naked eye and hence thorough sterilisation is essential.

There are three methods of sterilisation.

1. Chemical sterilisation where sterilisation tablets are used. This chemical sterilisation tablets uses chlorine-ions. They are fully effective if the milk bottles have been thoroughly cleaned and are totally submerged into the sterilisation solution in the absence of any air bubbles. Otherwise, there would be parts that have not been reached by the sterilisation solution. It is also important to change the sterilisation solution every 24 hours.
2. Boiling the bottles is another good method of sterilisation that have been relied on for a very long time. It is recommended to boil the bottles for at least 2 to 3 minutes. However, boiling the teats and soothers will often shorten the lifespan especially after prolong boiling. Similarly, any parts not submerged properly in the boiling water will also not be sterilised.
3. Steam sterilisation where hot steam is used to sterilise the bottles.

We find steam sterilisation easy to use, extremely convenient and safe. We have our steam steriliser in the room. Once the baby bottles have been thoroughly washed, we will place them in the steam steriliser, pour in the required amount of water, close the lid and switch on the steriliser. Within minutes, the bottles are steamed and sterilised. We can leave the bottles in the steriliser until we need to use them to feed Ryan.

Unlike boiling them with hot water, we can steam the bottles whenever we want in the room which is convenient since they are easily available to prepare for Ryan's night feeding. There is also no danger of having hot water anywhere in the room near where baby Ryan is. And the lifespan of the teats and bottles are apparently longer (or so the manufacturer claims).

For us, it is an essential item worth investing in for the health and well being of our baby.