Flying With Baby

Hubby and I were excited as we planned this trip a few months back.. In fact, it was even before Little Tyke was born. =) We wanted LT to spend time with LT's loving paternal grandparents & see where his daddy grew up.. With the added bonus of having LT's grandparents to dote on him, this trip would be a memorable one.. Mommy started packing like 3 weeks before, and even considered taking the kitchen sink with them.. With the adding crates of stuff and appliances (namely LT's toys and everyday necessities), we find that we need to upsize our luggage to 15kg per person.

Since we would be taking the budget airline, we figured we must check what we could bring and could not.. And what services we could use.. Before booking, hubby checked if we could bring the baby pram & the safety seat that comes with it.. It says on the website that it would be free.

Mommy, being the ultimate kiasu type, called the airline to check whether we could carry baby on the safety seat as a hand carry.. As I tried calling the airline on their "usual" line, it was totally unhelpful as the answering machine dolled out inflexible options for me to choose from. After 20 minutes of listening to "letters A, press 1, letters B, press 2.." from the cold mechanical voice, I decided to call it quits and called the"premium line" at RM1.95 per minute.. [Yeah, this airline knew how to do business.. Even when you have a tiny inquiry].

Fine, the call was placed a little before 1pm today and it lasted 8 minutes.. Oh well, what's a little charge if you could get your facts straight right?
WRONG! I couldn't be anymore wrong! I was told that, I could not place LT on the safety seat, and was not allowed to take the seat on board with me.. Okay, fair enough.. Then, the staff on the other line said I have to check in the pram and safety seat, plus, if it's over the baggage weight limit, I would be charged.

I was like, "Huh?! But your website says it is okay to bring the pram."

The guy on the other line had the cheek to reply in a mannered way,"Where does it say in the website?"

I was totally flummoxed, "I forgot. It was so long ago when we checked before booking."

Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere, and that LT had begun rousing from his sleep and is now crying for mommy, I ended the call and tended to him. Now that my indignation has subsided, I went on the web to check the terms and conditions of carriage. Sure enough.. It says here:

Checked Baggage : A baggage fee is charged for the carriage of Checked Baggage, which will be charged at a discounted rate if purchased at time of booking or up to 24 hours prior to the scheduled time of departure or at a full rate at the Airport Check-in counters. A minimum of 15kg of Checked Baggage may be purchased at first instance and then in increments of 5kg. Any passenger checking in baggage which exceeds 15kgs or the amount purchased at time of booking will be charged on a per kg basis at the Airport Check-in counters. Please refer to our Fee Schedule for details on all rates. The fee is non-refundable and non-transferable.

Baby buggies, manual wheelchairs, mobility devices and walking frames are carried free of charge. There is no baggage allowance for infants, although a pram/buggy will be carried free of charge.

So there!!! Humbug to the RM1.95/minute call service!

On a lighter note, the guy on the other line says that we could ignore the "Adult and infant qty" when booking a seat. Adults being aged 2 years and above & infants aged between 9 days to 24 months. That would ensure that LT has a seat of his own, in his safety seat, strapped and SAFE by booking him as an adult. Another way to get around the system.. As taught by their own employee!

Breastfeeding Made Easy

While I was pregnant with LT, I had a comforting vision of me and baby rocking together on a rocking chair, breastfeeding. That lovely vision encouraged hubby to purchase a nice rocking chair from Ikea..

Together we anticipated LT's arrival with lovely visions of the perfect lovely, cuddly and well-behaved baby. Haha, we were 2/3rd correct except for the well-behaved part (LT's is one alert and mischievous baby..) Little did we know, or are prepared with the difficulties of breastfeeding. Everywhere from adverts on telly, articles on books to word of mouth from strangers echoed that breastfeeding is the best for babe and mommy. Yeah.. they forgot the most important part.. It takes a lot of determination, pain and confidence to pull it off successfully.

An article in Reader's Digest on October 2009 that I came across totally bowled me. I should have read that before I started to breastfeed. Many people say that breastfeeding is best, but they fail to tell the moms-to-be that it is super-difficult and it is not by instinct. Both mom and child need to learn this process and complement each other.

I dare say that I had a rude shock when I dealt with painful sore breasts, thrush and cracked nipples.. No one said anything about discomfort, let alone pain.. Everything made it look so easy.. And then it hits you.. Are you a failure being a mom? You cant even feed your child properly.. Is your child getting enough nutrition? How come you cringe each time your child feeds? Silently praying that the ordeal would be short and yet baby has enough to feed.. I cringe & grit my teeth everytime LT starts to suckle during those first few weeks.. The pain was enough to bring tears in my eyes.. That and with the added stress of "entertaining" the confinement lady really made confinement difficult.

Confinement lady was chinese, from Kepong.. At first, she said she was pro-breast-feeding, but after a few days of saying I have not enough milk & pestering us to get formula, Hubby & I felt that she wasn't walking her talk. Anyway, Hubby told her up-front not to be so negative and start encouraging me instead. She took the advice none to graciously.. She told LT after one bfeeding session, "Why? Mommy's milk not nice?" Anyway, I'll talk more about Chinese confinement and myths later in another posting..

Back to breastfeeding.. During the early weeks, both mother & child are learning about each other. Particulaly a new mom and her newborn. Me, a new moms knew next to nothing about bfeeding, only what I read in books, therefore instinct, or the lack of thereof, was not one I possesed immediately. I had no exposure to bfeeding and didnt know anything about proper latching on. LT too, had lots to learn.. Together we went thru sore nipples, bleeding and hunger (on LT's part). We were both tired and stressed out. Hormones were doing yo-yo on my moods. Sometimes I felt like crying and giving up. I prayed often for strength and perseverence, and God graciously extended them to me.. What I also found helpful during those few weeks were the encouragement I recieved from family and friends. Thank you all! =)

I'm glad we persevered thru all that.. LT is now 6 months old, healthy, strong (thank God for His blessings!) and naughty. Even though his weight is on the borderline of 25% and 50%, the ped said he's doing great. Oh, and the rocking chair from Ikea? We didn't use it all too often.. We found that armchairs from Ikea are better.. Rocking made it difficult to latch on.. But on the hindsight, the rocking chair was good to lull LT to sleep. =)