(Media Invite) The New Nestle Cerelac Infant Cereal with More Iron

MEDIA INVITE

Last month 19th January 2016, I was invited by Nestle Cerelac to attend the introduction of New Nestle Cerelac Infant Cereals range with more iron and also the demonstration of Nestle Cerelac Iron calculator ~ which I personally think a very useful tool for all parents to understand baby's dietary intake of iron and to calculate whether baby has enough iron intake in a day or not!

As a parent, sometimes I do worry about my child's iron intake, does she have enough iron in her diet? Why doesn't she eat this and why doesn't she eat that? I often worry about how if she doesn't eat enough iron in her daily diet, can she grow well? How if the daily foods I provide her do not contain enough iron? I understand what other parents' worry as I'm going through the same thing. Often I think my child needs iron supplement in her diet and I was really happy when Nestle Cerelac introduced a new range of infant cereals with higher iron in just one serving. My child is no longer needing extra iron supplementary at other form. She just needs a meal of new Nestle Cerelac Infant Cereals with more iron for her growth & development. All goodness she needs come from a bowl of delicious cereal meal. Perfect!

After 6 months, baby needs more iron, hence it is important to introduce iron-rich complementary food in her daily diet to meet her iron needs. As you all know, iron is an important component of red blood cells which help carry oxygen to all parts of the body to help in the body's production of energy. Iron also has short-term and possibly long-term effects on the child's motor, cognitive and socio-emotional development, co-ordination and behavior of the child

The new Nestle Cerelac Infant Cereal with more iron contains more than 50% of daily iron in 1 serving and is packed with BIFIDUS BL probiotics and DHA, is fortified with Zinc, Vitamins A, C, B1 & Iodine as well as made with baby grade ingredients.

*30% more iron than previous recipe
**HPB recommended daily allowance for iron is 7mg for a 7-12 months baby
***1 serving of Cerelac (50g of cereal powder + 150ml warm water) provides 5mg of iron

With the Nestle Iron Calculator, you can now calculate your baby's dietary intake with a few clicks. Visit the Nestle Iron Calculator website at www.nestlebaby.com.sg/cerelac-iron-calculator

Cute Zumba performance with Bo Bear and students from Wings to Wings Dance Development Centre

Panel discussion on the Importance of Iron Supplementation by Dr Janice Wong, Mr Frances Yeo and Ms Qiuting Hong

At the media event :)

Thank you Nestle Cerelac for providing Calysta enough iron in her diet! Nestle Cerelac Infant Cereals comes in 11 different variants to cater to each stage of an infant's growth and available at all leading stores at a retail price of $4.5, $5.5, $6.5 for 225g, 250g and 350g pack size respectively

  

Calysta 6-14 months update

I think my last update about Calysta was more than 6 months ago! Gosh, how time flew by so quickly! I have been so busy for the past 6 months being a mommy of 2 young kids!

Anyway, Calysta is 14 months old now and an absolute sweetheart. She's a daughter I couldn't ask for more! She is one sweet little girl heaven sent me! I have a strong bonding with my daughter thanks to my extended breastfeeding past infancy period! I guess my 14 month breastfeeding journey is worth it! Breast milk is proven as golden liquid for baby's brains development and it really is for my case! and at this age, she's able to speak many short words like no more, no no no, cat, dog, socks, bird, poo poo, bye bye, hi, kor kor, mama, papa, auntie, go, door and so many more! She never fails to copy what we are talking! She's able to understand instructions like close the door, wear your shoes, come here, remove your socks and many more. And of course instruction to kiss mommy haha.. Couldn't be more proud of my little girl!

In terms of size, she's one petite sized little girl measuring at 76 cm and 8.8 kg at 14 months old. She has 5 teeth now! She has been eating solid well and not a picky eater so far, lucky me! and I wonder why does she gain weight so slowly. She is still gaining luckily ~ just that she's gaining at a snail's pace! As long as she is healthy, size doesn't really matter right? or does it?

Calysta has been hitting her milestones very well. At 6 months plus, she started to stand up on her own ~ holding into baby crib, furniture or something. At 7 months plus, she started crawling. At 9 months plus, she started to stand up unassisted. And at 10 months, she could move a few steps to the right and a few steps to the left unassisted. Finally, at 11 months old, she walked independently. By her first birthday, she was already able to walk fast like a little toddler girl.

And at 1 year plus, she can sing a song "na na na na..." with a tone, is able to talk or fight back with her big brother, able to follow what we are doing. Able to dance, run, scream, throw temper just like a little toddler does! She's growing up too fast! She loves headbands, loves to get her hair done, loves to see herself in front of mirror! She's one girlie girl, just like her mommy! She's also one soft hearted little girl who will cry if we scold her or raise our voice at her. She loves softness and gentleness, that's her personality!

She's always feel inspired by what her brother doing. If her bother does something, she must do it too. If her brother has something, she must have it too! I guess siblings competitiveness starts at very early stage, isn't?

She's trying to stay by her brother side all the time and often her brother EJ feels annoyed by her following him and her staring (at him doing something). Often, she is being pushed away by EJ and often, we hear loud crying from this girl (she falls down)!

Another thing I love from Calysta is she's really obedient and she can understand instructions very well. I hope she will always stay as an obedient daughter to her mommy & daddy when she grows up, just like she did when she was a little girl. When mommy screams & means "no, don't touch" she wouldn't dare to move an inch, often standing still & crying on the spot. Adorable! She pretty much understands "YES'' and ''NO", a character that makes her more matured comparing to other toddlers at one year old.

She loves music too, well I mean adult music like K-POP, English songs, etc ~ not nursery rhymes kind haha.. She loves to dance to her favorite music :) She is just simply one adorable girl everybody will adore :)

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

13 months

Kissing mommy when mommy asking (or without asking her). She's truly one little sweetie!

14 months

Little doll is turning 2 end of this year. Time flies like crazy! At the moment, I'm still enjoying every single bit of breastfeeding moment with her. One day she will wean, one day she will not need my breasts to fall asleep. But not today! Don't grow up too fast, little princess!

Update about EJ & his activities & his moments

(Super Long Post!)

I think I haven't been updating stuff about my kids for so long. I don't know why these past a few months, I just want to stay away from blogging and give myself a break until I'm ready again.

It's like too much to update but too little time hahaa..

My son, EJ is 2 years 9 months old and my daughter, Calysta is 1 year 2 months old. As you can tell both are toddlers with only 1.5 year age gap (19 months to be precise). both are active and need full attention from their mommy, so every day my life is all about my kids and my kids. I can hardly have time for myself. I wonder how other mommy bloggers can manage their time between blogging and kids. I'm just too tired at night to do any blogging!

I think I have not been particularly updating about EJ since he turned 24 months old. Oh gosh, where did time go? Overall, for the past 1 year, it has been awesome having them in my life and I couldn't imagine my life without my 2 kiddos. So this post is mostly about EJ! (But I think mostly every post is also about my kids lol!)

Here's how it's like with 2 toddlers under 3 years old:

7am: both are awake!. EJ has his milk for breakfast (he doesn't want anything in the morning except milk). Calysta latches (yes, I'm still breastfeeding her!) and she has her breakfast (bread + cheese or pancake, muffin etc.. she's not a picky eater luckily!)
8.30am: sending EJ to his nursery
9am: EJ enters nursery and mommy goes back home to take shower & have her breakfast. Calysta has her shower too
10.30am: picking EJ up from his nursery
11am: EJ goes back home
11.30am: EJ & Calysta have their lunch
12pm: EJ taking shower while Calysta has her first afternoon nap
1.30pm: both have their afternoon milk
2pm: Activities time for EJ
3pm: Calysta latches & has her mid-noon snacking
4pm: we will go for walk/playground/shopping etc
5pm: kids have their dinner. Yes they normally have early dinner
6pm: kids taking shower together
7pm: kids getting ready for bed & have their milk
7.30pm: Good night. Lights off & kids are sleeping

The rest is mommy's me time! mommy deserves a longer me time, right?

Activities with EJ at 2pm:

I love (and EJ loves too) to do activity time with EJ and I believe those activities can improve his motor skills and enhance his memory. It doesn't have to be expensive. Mostly, I bought his activity stuff from Daiso or preschool activity books bought during supermarket sale. Cheap stuff can entertain toddlers too.

sticking the leaves to the tree, sticking & arranging fishes, turtles & starfish to the aquarium, matching colors & shapes, etc..

EJ did some finger print, coloring & painting, sticking whales, ships, jelly fishes, etc, scrambled & pretended to throw papers to dustbin by sticking it, etc. He also matched colored eggs (good for motor skill, memory & coordination), sticking itcy bitcy spider's legs, coloring & matching numbers (I find this is a super effective way for him to learn numbers, not only he will know how to recite numbers but he will remember & recognize numbers as well!

 

I find that simple activity like coloring & sticking colorful papers is good for toddler motor skill & his brains development. As toddler below 3 is still developing their hand muscles & coordination, encouraging him to do artwork can stimulate his brains I believe

he did some cars & wheels color matching (because he likes cars and I want him to find activity time interesting). Doesn't matter if some of it he couldn't stick it into a straight line or the wheel colors don't match ~ I believe every individual child has his/her own creativity

 EJ made turtle & crab and he learned numbers too (yes again & again)

 Butterfly & sheep

 Fish EJ made using his hand print and polar bear using cotton he scrambled & pasted.

 Sorting out colors can be fun for a toddler too

Paper Plate Lady bug colored & pasted by EJ

EJ made this flower himself & told me "give daddy"

 

EJ's painting. Love the super cheap water colors from daiso that are easily washed off and I also use ice cube tray with cover. I can store the left over paints for next use!

EJ ~ 24 months to 33 months

24 months ~ cars & vehicles obsession. He's never ever bored! Not once! There's always a space for a new car!

24 months

 Cheeky boy!

26 months

Loving blocks & legos toys

Baby puff is yummy!

 28 months

29 months

He still likes mommy to baby wearing him

 growing up well, 16 kg & 102cm at 2 years 5 months old

Loving his puppy soft toy he named "brownie"

30 months

31 months

Been asking us to get him a pet, instead we got him a bunny toy & he was pretty contented!

32 months

33 months

EJ moments:

Feb 2016:

Apparently EJ has secret admirer at nursery. So there's this 2 year old little girl at his nursery who has just confessed to him just now hahaha.. Little girl's auntie asked her "is EJ your boyfriend?" Little girl answered "yes" Little girl's auntie: why did you say so?" Little girl: EJ handsome Me: lol According to the girl's auntie, the girl has been mentioning EJ a lot at home that she likes EJ because EJ is handsome hahaha.. And apparently she remembers EJ only and is protective towards EJ. Like when the girl's brother teased her : I call EJ & hit him" the gal would scream "nooooo.. Can not!!" And she also said EJ is naughty because he throws things in the class but she still likes him because he's handsome hahaha.. And I asked EJ too "is K (the girl's name) pretty?" EJ nodded "pretty" Toddlers are just so cute & innocent!   Jan 2016   My sweet little EJ, sometimes an angel, sometimes a little monster. Apparently yesterday he was being punished by his teacher for being naughty in the class for throwing toys, making loud noises & pushing his friend. So he came back home & I lectured him ALOT & he did this to Calysta (then I knew he was actually being punished) EJ: (holding Calysta's face just like teacher did when she talked to ...her student seriously) "Mei Mei, one more time, one more time... Corner, stand there.. One more time.." EJ: "Mei Mei, naughty.. One more time, corner, sit, stand there..." (Kept repeating & repeating the same sentence to his sister) I didn't know whether to laugh because he was naughty in a cute way or what! Naughty boy followed what teacher did to him hahaha Dec 2015   So proud of EJ meeting another milestone at 2 years 8 months old. Perhaps other toddlers his age have talked fluently but I have been waiting for this milestone to happen. And he surprised me. Yesterday he said "Auntie, open the door please" (asking our helper to open the baby gate, so he can enter the kitchen) "I sit baby chair" (when I put him in his high chair to eat dinner) "My eyes pain"... (when the light is too bright) "Okay done" (when he's done doing something) "Thank you & please help" (he always say those words) It's a good start and I hope I'm going to have a talkative toddler soon   Nov 2015   EJ is really funny! 2.5 year old likes to ask questions he already knew the answers but would like to test you! EJ: what is this? (Pointing at panda picture) Me: it's a panda EJ: I know Me: .....