Baby's First 30 Words!

One of the most exciting milestones of the bub has been talking. Right from the first day of conception, we always wondered if he will call mama first or papa first. And if he will walk first or talk first. The elderly will say that babies that talk first will have a good life, while babies that walk first are hardworking. My hubby talked first, and I walked first (SIGH!). Being a scientist, I am less skeptical that talking / walking first will define his entire life ahead of him. Not to mention that it is mainly hearsay and not much scientific evidence behind that comment. Nonetheless, it is fun to anticipate and bet on which happens first!

As the months built up, it became apparent that my son was more eager to process thoughts and talk rather than move his limbs. By the time he was 5 months (when he blurted his first MAMA albeit without meaning), both hb and I were convinced without a doubt that he will speak first. Sure enough, he was calling mama and papa by 9 months (deliberately, not just random mumbling); he could speak a few words by his first birthday; and now by 15 months he is learning a few words a week while imitating random words we say. (see here on what I did to try and help him speak earlier / build his vocabulary from young)

Throughout the months, I always found myself anticipating the 'next word' he would learn. I googled for the most common baby's first words - most did NOT make sense (e.g. dinosaur), while others were too straight forward (papa and mama). I tested some words and decided to teach my son a few words that we encountered daily and I thought were easy to learn (e.g. banana, lalala, mooo), but he decided to speak other words instead. I realized that every bub will choose their own first words differently, be it things they like, or sounds that they find fun, or words that they figured out the way to pronounce first. Whatever it is, don't rush them, and have fun! And if you're like me curious about what your baby will say first, here's my very own list to share :)

1. mama
2. papa
3. car
4. ball
5. moo (sound of cow)
6. bus
7. roar (lion / tiger)
8. bird
9. bear
10. fish
11. there
12. bobobo (sound of motorbike)
13. bom bom bom (sound of drum)
14. chee chee chee (sound of monkey)
15. yeye (grandfather)
16. card
17. banana
18. baby
19. star
20. jiejie (older sister)
21. chair
22. book
23. korkor (older brother)
24. cut
25. cheese
26. touch
27. hot
28. cold
29. hair
30. hulk (yes, the fictional super hero)
31. bao bei (precious darling - his pet name)
32. cap
33. poo poo

5 Tricks to Encourage Baby to Drink More Milk

I faced many times when my son refused to drink milk, or drank very little a day (note that this can be as little as 10ml out of his usual 200ml bottle now!). This problem was usually most evident during bottle feeding. I didn't like to waste my breastmilk (i.e. liquid gold), but also because I wanted my son to get enough nutrients to grow well. The first time I experienced this, was when he was teething. I didn't know he was going through that (being a first time mum, and he was teething from 5 months! too early to expect), and he ended up losing quite a few hundred grams of weight in a month. That sounds very little, but is actually rather significant, considering my son only weighs a few kilograms in total. From then on, regardless of his tantrums and his teething pains, I always tried my best to feed him as much milk as possible. It takes a truly resilient mum to do that with a screaming baby, but our love for them triumphs! Here are a few tricks I use with my son.

1. Mix it into cereal. Cereal, being dry in powder form, requires a whole lot of liquid added to it before the baby can eat it. This is the perfect vehicle to feed milk through, because usually a solid feed of cereal will require as much milk as a regular milk feed. Perfect. As long as your LO has started solids, and loves to eat solids. (mixing into other foods work as well, but cereal is the most efficient)
2. Use another vehicle to give milk. This could be a spoon (slow, but works even for newborns. That's how they feed in some nicu), syringe, sippy cup, straw cup, and even open cup. Whatever the baby is willing to drink from. Or even a mixture of all! My son takes milk from a spoon on one day, then rejects it another. It could even take a combination of all to get him to finish half his usual milk feed too. 
3. Sing songs. Or do whatever that distracts him. When babies are happy, they do (almost) anything you want them to. This works for feeding, changing diapers, showering, brushing teeth, etc. 
4. Cuddle him as if breastfeeding. This worked mostly when he was a newborn or very young, when I could trick him to thinking that I was breastfeeding him. It seems that babies seldom reject breastfeeding, especially if they have been latching on well enough most of the time. They love it, and will not reject. So if you can trick them into believing they are breastfeeding (or at least feel as comfortable), they might drink some from the bottle. I know many people say that babies are smart enough to know whether it is the bottle or the breast, but at least the comfort of the cuddle is real. 
5. Make a bread dip. I suggest this because my son loves bread. He will always take bread. So if he doesn't take milk, I dip the bread into milk before giving it to him. Same for any solid foods he doesn't want, I will just put them on top of the bread as spread, and he will eat them all the same. Find the one or two foods that your baby loves unconditionally, and use that as a vehicle to feed milk. I know some mummies recommend making things like pancakes and stuff from milk, but because I feed breastmilk, I do not want the milk to undergo high heat and lost part of its goodness. As a last resort, maybe, but I suggest searching for other non-heating recipes first.

Hopefully some of these work for you too!