Formula Feeding

When and how to use it.

Breastfeeding should be your first choice whenever possible but certain circumstances like health problems, inadequate lactation, infant dietary problems, traveling schedules, may prevent you from doing so. Some mothers choose alternative feeding methods such as using an infant formula product. Commercial infant formula is a sound, nutritious substitute or supplement to breast milk and can meet your infant’s nutritional requirements.

Some guides to proper formula feeding:

Always keep bottles, nipples and caps clean. Scrub them with hot, soapy water and a bottle brush. Squeeze water through the holes in the nipples. Rinse well with hot water. Protect until sterilized by putting them upside down on a rack or in a sterilizer. Keep nipples and caps in a clean jar. Wash all other articles. Use and keep covered until time to sterilize. To sterilize, place bottles and utensils in a sterilizer with water. Boil for five minutes. Boil the nipples and caps in a separate small pan for only three minutes to avoid weakening the rubber. You may also place the nipples in a cheesecloth bag, tie the bag, boil with other articles and remove after 3 minutes. Remove all articles with tongs and place on a clean surface (it may be fresh cloth or paper towel).

To prepare infant formula, place the specified amount of pre-boiled water in the number of sterilized bottles needed for the day. Include a bottle for baby’s drinking. Screw the caps tightly and keep at room temperature until ready to feed. Don’t refrigerate. At feeding time, add the prescribed amount of milk powder into one bottle of sterilized water using the measuring scoop. Keep the scoop dry and clean in a separate covered glass jar. Recap the bottle, shake gently for 30 seconds and feed the baby.

Lactose Intolerance

If your child suffers from stomach discomfort such as gas or abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea after drinking milk, he may have a condition known as lactose intolerance.

Lactose Intolerance is the reduced capacity of the body to digest lactose, the main sugar found in dairy products. Normally, lactose is digested by the enzyme lactase that is present on the lining of the small intestine. A deficiency of lactase in the body prevents the complete absorption of lactose. The unabsorbed lactose passes into the large intestine thereby causing diarrhea. The unabsorbed lactose is further broken down by the bacteria of the large intestine, accompanies by the production of gas (hydrogen). This leads to abdominal distention and other uncomfortable symptoms.

Symptoms of Lactose Intolerance:
Stomach pain, diarrhea, bloating, gas or “kabag” in your child are the usual symptoms of lactose intolerance. Since a lot of other diseases present in the same way, it is important to determine the cause so that appropriate treatment can be given. Are the symptoms recurrent? The key is to observe whether stomach discomfort occurs after consuming dairy products. If you suspect lactose intolerance in your child, consult your pediatrician.

Treatment for Lactose Intolerance
The simplest way to prevent the symptoms of lactose intolerance is to avoid food (mainly cow’s milk and its products) that contain lactose. Remove dairy products from your child’s diet. Otherwise, you can add fat to the dairy products to delay the absorption of lactose. The following alternatives may also be helpful:

Lactose-free products – There are milk products that are formulated with the nutrients of milk without lactose content.

Lactose pills and additives – These agents provide an artificial source of lactase for the body. Lactase pills are taken before meals to help your child digest foods that contain lactose, while lactase additives are used to lower the lactose content milk.

Your child does not have to suffer from recurrent stomach discomfort. Ask your doctor about their way to deal with lactose intolerance in your child.

Love Letter Technique

One of the best ways to release negativity and then communicate in a more loving fashion is to use the Love Letter Technique. Through writing out your feelings in a particular manner, the negative emotions automatically lessen and the positive feelings increase. The Love Letter Technique enhances the letter writing process. There are three aspects or parts to the Love Letter Technique:

1. Write a love letter expressing your feelings of anger, sadness, fear, regret and love.
2. Write a response letter expressing what you want to hear from your partner.
3. Share your love letter and response letter with your partner.

The love letter technique is quite flexible. You may choose to do all three steps, or you may only need to do one or two of them. For example, you might practice steps one and two in order to feel more centered and loving and then have a verbal conversation with your partner without being overwhelmed with resentment or blame. At other times you may choose to do all three steps and share your love letter and response letter with your partner.

To do all three steps is powerful and healing experience for both of you. However, sometimes doing all three steps is too time consuming or inappropriate. In some situations, the most powerful technique is to do just step one and write a love letter.

Giving

If you want something, give it away! Does that sound crazy? You get more of what you want, by giving away some of what you have. When a farmer wants more seeds, he takes his seeds and gives them to the earth. When you want a smile, you give yours. When you want affection, you give affection. When you help people, they help you. When you want a smack in the mouth, you smack someone?!=) And if you want people to give you money, share some of yours.

Think about it. If attachment hinders the flow of good things into you life, then the opposite of that would be unattachment – to the point where we give away some of what we value. What you give away will tend to come back to you.

The balance in your bank book is not the measure of your abundance. Abundance is what’s circulating through your life. Prosperity is a flow – giving and receiving. If you have a fortune in Swiss deposits, and you’re not using it, then it’s not enriching you. Technically, it’s yours, but in reality you’re receiving nothing from it. It’s not making you abundant and it might as well belong to someone else. So the principle of give and receive holds, even here.

The trick to giving is to give without wanting anything back. If you expect something back, you are attached to a result – and when you are attached, less happens.

And you should enjoy your material possessions? Of course! Just make sure you own them and they don’t own you.

Passion

When you are about what you do, enthusiasm carries you through. When you are passionate, no one else has to motivate you.

If you open your dream restaurant, and no one comes to eat, you keep trying new recipes, ideas and locations until the place is crammed. If you run out of money first, you take your enthusiasm to someone who has more money than you – and you get a partner. You go through frustrations – and a few chefs – but in your heart, you know you’re on course. Sure you need plenty of determination, but your passion is your foundation.

Vitality comes from a sense of purpose. You owe it to yourself and you owe it to other people to do what excites you. There are already enough lukewarm people to do what excites you. They are already enough lukewarm people in the world who get burned out without having been on fire.

Following your dream is no guarantee of an easy ride. Life usually becomes more challenging, but you embark on an outer journey which starts the inner journey. You have a chance to blossom – to see who you really are.

Wherever you are, you aren’t stuck – you are a human being, not a tree!