₦airaland Forum

sugah:
Cool.
Dancing would not let him stand o only when he is practising his drumming skills but we still dey use torchlight find teeth.
I postponed that trip o, work tinz, ticket is still hanging sef. When be the party?

Hahaha. Find am well o. The party is gonna be the first weekend in September. Labor day weekend. Remember I had him on Labor Day 2016?

Shawbabe:
So how did your office know you're pregnant? You told HR? Which kain stupid rule is that? So if you take the annual leave, they'll chain you in the office to have your baby there? Except you went telling people your U.S plans in the office.
Anyway you're better take casual leave, go for vacation. Come back and plan your birthing trip.

Speak for yourself. You're not the only vessel of knowledge here, Jeez! And tone it down a bit would ya? Nobody is your child here, stop speaking to people like they're kids. YES. Most organizations appreciate you telling them early on that you're pregnant so that they can have time to sort out whoever will fill in for you when you're out and/or to sort out your PFL and disability benefits and most importantly to cut you some slack when morning sickness gets intense and you can do some tasks, have to go to the doctor or simply just to take a day or two off. I told them I was pregnant when I was 10weeks. Some people make the announcement even earlier.

Or she should not have said anything and let them figure it themselves with her growing belly?

mompurity22:
Hello everyone. Been ages ooo. I greet you all.


My babies just clocked 10months and no teeth yet. I was advised to start giving teething drugs like pican and Bonabebe before the tooth erupts. Abeg my people, na so?... is this a normal practice?

Please don't give them anything. The teeth will come in when they want to. My baby's sitter pressured me to tell my folks to bring me Piccan and teething powder from Nigeria because the baby will need it for teething. I grudgingly told my sister to buy me one bottle. This sitter, an elderly woman kept asking me if I gave him the Piccan and I said yes. She said he's teething because he is spraying spit and pooping not minding the fact that my son has always been a great pooper. Even me him mama, dey poop at least once or twice a day (I have always been that way)

Long story short, my baby crowned his first tooth at 6^1/2 months with no fever or swollen gums. I only knew they popped because he brought my hand to his mouth and I felt the sharp edges of the tooth. The Piccan is in a drawer in the kitchen...unopened.

sugah:
I used enfamil for my son he vomited. I was asked to get Similac sensitive something for him he vomited as well. Feddy27 recommend isomil (soybased Similac) and he doesn't vomit it. That's what we have been using. You might want to try soybased milk too.
If I even give him cereal that contains milk like frisogold etc, he vomits it.
Anyways your breastmilk supply is fantastic you no need formula. How are you guys doing?

I'll try the Isomil then. He makes a funny face, gags and then throws up when I give him the Enfamil. We are doing great oo. Already cutting teeth and trying to stand When next are you coming stateside? We are planning parry oo

brownsugars:
Mamas I greet o!

Pls between similac and enfamil which one is better?
Nb: my Lo is ok with both, but I just want to stick to the better option.

Cc: MamaOO, Alphahandmaiden, Liftedhands, Onegai, Helovesme, Zaynie, Soonest, iOmoge2 any mama with reviews pls.

I have no idea sis. My son doesn't eat formula at all. I tried to put some Enfamil that I got in the mail in his rice cereal and he kept vomiting the two times I tried. So I stopped it.
But IMO both are good. I was given Enfamil at my pediatrician's office and the hospital I had him, while we got Similac from the hospital he was at for jaundice. So I guess peds will recommend both.

The babe is cute!!
But is it only me that sees that the car seat is not properly placed or strapped! These sorts of things scares me. Maybe I'm paranoid or an helicopter mom But ever since I became a mom, I pay crazy attention to those sorts of things and these kinds of things scares me.

.

dharyor1234:
Help Needed! Help Needed!! Help Needed!!!

I never knew i would do this and at the say time shy about it, but there's no where to turn to after God and DH must not know i'm doing this.

I desperately in need of help, I am a #TeamApril member and a FTM. All my source of income looks opened (let me not say otherwise). I invested my money in all this online ponzi scheme and it has not yielded anything (nobody should blame me ooo, didnt know it will be like that) and yet to paid for february (though the salary, cannot cover all the expenses on ground, incurred alot of loans) and out of work as my boss said he does have enough money to continually pay my salary.

I just got tied to DH last weekend and so many expensesv are before us, accomodation and buying of necessary items for the new house, baby clothings, registration and delivery fee etc, everything just look so overwhelming but i try as much as possible not to think too much about it but its not easy

I'm soliciting for help from fellow mamas, who can help me baby boy clothings, hospital list items (though i am yet to register, but would do so tomorrow at government hospital) and necessary household items.

May God bless you and meet your need beyond request.

Thank you ma

Respond to my PM please

Mizbaby:
Hello lovely mamas, pls assist me. I'm an ftm, its just me, hubby and baby o, no mum or mil to assist me here. Ds has very dry skin, I took him to the paediatrician and was told to use eucerin and bathe him with very little soap. I had already ordered for Cetaphil, I have bought the eucerin but plan to use the cetaphil when it finishes because the on the eucerin it says avoid contact with eyes and ds rubs his face and eyes a lot.

Please who has used Cetaphil baby wash and shampoo and Cetaphil moisturizing oil, is it very good for dry skin. We are in Alberta, Canada and the weather here is extremely dry.

My baby had all you mentioned plus more: dry skin, cradle cap that terrorized me (it was BAD!!!!), eela that scrapped all his hair, plus baby eczema (he will scratch and scratch!) What helped a bit was Aveeno Oatmeal bath (calmed his skin flares down a bit) and also Aquaphor.

But all these just kept his skin condition at bay, if I stop for one day or two, it will come back with a vengeance! At a point I got desperate and asked my sister to buy me agbo when she's coming to the US. I was that desperate. I don't give him to drink o. I just bathe him with it everyday. I don't towel him after and just slather on Aquaphor immediately and Before the water dries off his skin. And in two weeks his skin became clear! And I have even stopped using the steroids his ped prescribed him for his skin. If you have anybody coming from Naija just have them bring it for you and pray that the overzealous USCIS or what they call them in Canada don't seize it.

In the meantime you can buy the big tub of Aquaphor. I think it's $22USD on Amazon. Use it morning and night. Then stop bathing him everyday. Bathe him at most 3times a week. Cos bathing then all the time strips their already dry skin of the oils needed for moisturizing. His pediatrician told me to stop bathing him everyday. Get the Aveeno Oatmeal bath too and use it to make a paste and slather it in his skin before bath. Put some in his bath water too.

YETI28:
That's why am asking na.. What if you are going for a vacation and the infant u are carrying has d American passport. I min what possible questions can come up. Since u know d hospital bill of that infant,u covered some and chip did the rest....

I understand you a bit. But your posts as still sketchy a bit in the sense that I don't know what transpired that made you take CHIP. Okay, answer these question so I can really understand your situation..
1. When did you have the baby and was that when you collected the CHIP?
2. Have you been to the US since then?
3. Have you tried renewung the visa you used to have the baby then?
4. Did you get your visa for Childbirth or just visiting. If it was just visiting.. did you send the change of intent letter thingy? Did you declare at the POE that you are coming to have a baby when you came?
5. How much was indicated on your zero balance thing and also your receipt as the total amount you paid with cash?

No vex for all my questions abeg.

justwise:
@MamaOO

My apologies for removing your last post to YETI28.

If anybody wants to apply for financial aid the question should be directed to the embassy during visa application.

Lol. No worries

sugah:
I was going to put Sophie on my shopping list till I saw onegai's post

Put Na. But make sure you tie it to your wrists when you go out. it's currently on sale at Babies R Us.

vamum:
The bolded is validation that WIC is NOT for visitors. they will be recording the person hosting you as the head of the household most likely and will be including you in the count of number in the family. These are all tactics to cheat/beat the system. Please listen to the advice of all the other mums. Anything you need to fill a form for that is not free on a table that you just pick and go is funded by some sort of agency (government or otherwise) and is most likely for legal aliens, USC and other immigrants that are not fortunate to be able to afford it.
Take time off to rest, God is your strength. Congratulations on the babies!!!!

Exactly! They asked her for the income details of her host because they're assuming that the host is the Head of Household and she and her twins (probably and her husband as well) are the host's defendants. WIC and Medicaid has a standard practice about how they calculate eligibility. For a family of four (or five if husband is included), the eligible gross in one is $44, 955 or $52, 614. If her host makes these figures or less they will qualify for Medicaid. WIC most times comes as a derivative of Medicaid, cos they use the same eligibility guidelines. If they qualify for Medicaid, they qualify for WIC.

ladee1:
Unfortunately at WIC office in Houston, we were told visitors are eligible

This is the eligibility page for WIC Texas and you clearly don't qualify as you're not resident in the US or Texas itself and do not make income in the US. You've clearly made up your mind about accepting both Medicaid and WIC like nefertitiram said above. You don't need our input. Good luck with your future visa renewals ma'am.

ladee1:
I was told I can't pay until I deliver, I had an appointment at the hospital same day I did the surgery due to the scan result as such don't think it's an emergency, am not going near Medicaid at all but for WIC, it's on US.gov site that it's ok to benefit from it, that's why am seeking clarification. Thanks for the wishes

Mom that wants to use WIC because it's stated on the Us.gov website. WIC is not for you. You don't live or pay taxes in the US. This is the WIC eligibility link for California https://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/wicworks/Pages/WICEligibilityAssessment01.aspx
Once it asks you if you live in CA and you indicate that you don't live here, it tells you, "You're not eligible"

Bisoye82:
Firstly congratulations on the birth of your babies.
As a twin mum why would you leave the issue of bill inconclusive and I believed you read a good portion of this thread before embarking on this journey.
You are supposed to have an idea of any and every kind of bill that could come up.
Then travelling at 36 weeks with multiple pregnancy is super crazy(crazy being the nicest word I could up with)because I could barely walk to the bathroom not to talk of flying and I was just holding on for hubby to come because even my Dr was ready and every single vein/part of me was already overstretched
I also remembered you were asking loads of questions before you travelled and still wait for the hospital to slap you with a bill of $24k and now you want to be knocking on financial counsellor door while you are supposed to be resting and be enjoying your babies
My point is madam your planning is not optimal at all.
As for WIC and Medicaid,honestly I don't believe it's automatic(other mama's pls correct me if am wrong) because you definitely have to fill and sign a form first
I remember I was asked/offered when I went for the hospital tour and also the paed mentioned it but I said no.
So basically the ball is in your court to do what's right by you and your family.
Congratulations once again

You're right. Medicaid and WIC is not automatic. You just have declared that you're a low income earner and may not be able to pay your bills, hence they register you for Medicaid. I know for sure that they will come to you and ask for income and personal details to determine your eligibility for both programs.

Onegai:
Sophie the Giraffe can grow mold in it (insane parents cut some up) and the manufacturer had to announce that you are not supposed to put it in water. Plus some weird babies choked on theirs (my brother says "kids whom evolution has deemed unworthy because how dumb is that kid?!" ). Also, when you lose Sophie at Radisson Blu and you are crying and mention how much it costs, more experienced parents will insult you for being daft enough to spend that much on a #$@! Teething toy and your mother will tippex your name out of her will. And your younger kids will forever hate your firstborn because Mummy spent so much on a teething toy and on Aden & Anais blankets and all the lastborn got was a fairly used tricycle from Idumota and old wrapper to nibble on.

Just talking theoretically.... Not like I did that or lost any thing... Nothing to see here, move along...

Lmaoooooo. Your story just made me howl. You just described me the night. I bought Sophie last week oo, my son took it to daycare and till today I have not seen it in his diaper bag. I dey go mad for them tomorrow.

realdentist:
Good morning mums. I'm now officially a member of this group. Yaay! My Ds is 8 days old and I want to buy an electric breast pump. That manual na punishment abeg.
Pls I'd appreciate reviews about electric breast pumps u've used.
Cc onegai, rofemiguwa,beyedew, jazzyjazz, helovesme, iomoge2, liftedhands, beyedew, alphahandmaiden, other sabi mamas

I use the Medela Pump In Style double electric and it's really a live saver. I've used it everyday for the past 6 months, 4-7 times a day and it has never disappointed. It's fast too. I get 6-20oz (depending on the time I pumped last) within 20-40 mins.

helovesme:
erm. . . . to provide suitable suggestions, please do you mind answering the following questions?

1)what part of nigeria do you stay?
2)what is your educational background?
3)will you describe yourself as an introvert or extrovert?
4)how many kids have you got and what are their ages?
5)will you be able to sort out childcare arrangements during the day as this will allow you focus on your business?
6)what are your hobbies/interests?
7)are you active on social media (especially instagram, twitter and snapchat)
8 ) can you describe yourself as creative or fashionable?

business is not all about buying and selling goods. you can also provide services and make cool cash. for example, organising home lessons for kids is a provision of service. operating a creche is a provision of service.

there is cool cash to be made in Nigeria these days if you know how to go about it.

i will give you a few examples:

1)there is a lady that charges 30,000 a month, £100 a month and $140 a month for people who want to lose weight. all she does is provide meal plan, coaching, mentoring, exercise routine, etc. these services are provided via WHATSAPP!! if you want a face to face consultation, then she charges more. this lady is based in nigeria but she has clients all over the world and she is making cool cash.

her selling point? HERSELF !! she was able to lose weight and she started her business by posting 'before and after pictures' on INSTAGRAM !! from there people started contacting her, she began posting pictures of people on instagram she had successfully coached and lost weight. she is constantly advertising her services on instagram during her FREE instagram account.

now just imagine if she has 5 subscribers a month to her weight loss plan. ignore her rates in pounds and dollars. that's a cool 150,000 NAIRA!! meanwhile, a 'new class' starts every week. so just imagine if she has just 2 customers a week.

2)i found my current tailor from a picture posted by bellanaija on INSTAGRAM. the last time she sewed for me, she charged me 20k for skirt and blouse (express service sha). for non-express service she charges nothing less than 10k and trust me she has got lots of customers. you know the funny thing, SHE DOES NOT SEW!!! all she does is sketch a design (or just shows the customer a previously sketched design) and then she passes it on to the girls she recruited to sew for her (she has got a shop). she also supervises them to make sure the dress is sewn properly.
once a client wears one of designs, she uploads a picture and quickly tags bellanaija. if she is lucky, bellanaija reposts it.

3)you find people on social media selling bowls of assorted stew, soups, jollof rice, etc. i stumbled on one recently that advertises fried snails, panla, fried offals, etc which she packages and ships to clients in Nigeria and all around the world.

starting a business is not always easy. however, if you are good at what you do, versatile and consistent, the business will succeed.

Al I managed to grab is the tailor part. Abeg, can yiu hook me up with the tailor? I need a good tailor that can sow well, not like the kongo styles Nigerian tailors sow for you.

sugah:
Babes how far na@mamaoo

Babe, I dey oo. How far? Where have you been? I'll send you a chat in a few

hunniesuzie:
Thank you for this. I'm currently augmenting with formula and I really want to stop. My baby also falls asleep easily when I BF so I've been expressing more so I can monitor his quantity. Your supply is WOW! I was able to get 5 oz this morning for the first time, see me rejoicing. I usually get 2 oz per session. He's 2 weeks old and eats 3 oz per feed now. I've been storing in Medela bags but I think using bottles is better especially when I resume work

The key to more supply is to pump more. Once you pump more frequently, your body is signaled to produce more cos the baby need more food apparently. I started out by pumping 2-4 ounce at a single pump, and I would pump every three hours or so. Then supply started increasing as I went along. I was also exclusively pumping at that time because baby was in the NICU for jaundice. I also deep freeze in Dr Brown and Nuk Bags and some tiny 4oz bottles I got from the NICU. I am even thinking about donating some of the frozen milk away cos I have more than 500oz frozen(I don't think baby is gonna drink it cos I still produce enough per day) and I don't wanna throw it out as they are nearing the 6 month mark.

brownsugars:
MamaOO pls I want to ask some questions; am also doing exclusive but mehn the thing is not easy at all...am almost at the verge of giving up. Maybe some tips will help set things in perspective for me.

Pls how many times do you express and how much BM do you get at each pump?

Also how many oz of the expressed BM was your DS taking at that 7wks and how much does he take now?

How do you also manage with night feeding. Do you give expressed BM when he wakes to feed at night or do you just put him to the breast?
And does he sleep long at night with just the BM?

Yeah. It's really tasking and can be stressful too. I think my saving grace was that I produce a LOT! When I say a LOT, I mean it. In the initial stages when I just gave birth, I was producing 40-45oz a day. When I read somewhere about how to regulate milk supply, I decided to try it and reduced my pump sessions from every 3 hours to just 3-4 a day. With 3 or 4 pumping per day, I do get 28-35ounces. Depending on my diet.

At 16 weeks, I think he was drinking 4oz or so, but when I took him to his pediatrician at 16-17 weeks, she complained that he gained just 2pounds in two months.
And that I should up his feed to 5-6ounces. I ramped up my pumping sessions and I get like 30-40oz a day. He drinks like 5-6oz now at 6 months. Sometimes he's real hungry and when I give him his 5oz bottle, he still ends up drinking extra 2-3oz because he's still hungry. But the time between his next feed after that one is much more longer. PS: He is right on target with his weight and not overweight at all. He is also in the 90th percentile for height. 60th percentile for weight.

Concerning if the breastmilk lasts him through the night. Yes, it does. I usually feed him a bottle or breastfeed him right before he goes to bed around 9. I try to give like 5-7oz and that lasts him till around 7am the next morning. He's pretty much sleeping through the night me except for some days (maybe 1-2 nights a week). If he wakes up, I sometimes get him out of his crib and breastfeed him (he sleeps off pretty fast when breastfeed) or warm a bottle and feed him that way. Either way, it doesn't take up to 30min to get him back to sleep.

jazzyjazz:
Really? I think I'll not give him. The nurse told me to give him before the immunization and her reason was that 6th week immunization is usually very painful for babies and can make them feverish

And I hate to give him drugs anyhow

I guess it depends on your healthcare provider and yourself. If you feel comfortable with it or not. My baby is 6months old and he's has like two rounds of vaccinations or so. At 8 weeks and 16 weeks. They didn't even mention giving him any medication and at the one he had at 8 weeks, I tried to give him baby Tylenol but he spit it out. So I didn't bother again. He didn't cry or fuss at all after thre initial cries when he got stuck with the needle. His temperature was alright and he just slept a lot. So I didn't bother with any medication the next time he took his vaccinations and he was fine and dandy.

juliao:
Thanks ma for your response.. does it mean the fridge has to be on all the time before o can comfortably store it in there or how long can it be kept outside the fridge when it's been refrigerated for say 5 hours?

From my researches, breastmilk kept in a cooler bag with ice packs and stay fresh for a day. Just make sure the ice pack is completely frozen before you put the milk inside the cooler bag. It also helps if the milk itself is already cold before putting it inside the cooler bag. I personally have travelled long distances with milk in my cooler bag for my baby and it stayed very cold for more than 8hours. So you should be fine. You can buy the cooler bags and ice packs in store or online. They have quite a few selection on Amazon. I used the Medela ice pack and Skip Hop Cooler bags and they have held up nicely.

juliao:
Good evening mamas. Please I need ur kind input on an issue Dats been bothering me.. I will be starting work in a few days time and my 11weeks old baby has been on exclusive.. I want to know if it's possible to express breast milk dat will last upto 12 hours or should I just augment her feeding with formula even tho I had really wanted to do exclusive feeding for her considering the circumstances surrounding her birth.. really confused right now...please help a FTM.

No. You don't need to augment her feed with formula if you don't want to. I have a 6 month old that is also exclusively breastfeed and I started work when he was 7 weeks old.
What I did was to express, into bottles. To reduce the risk of contamination and infection, I got almost 10 bottles. After I express, I measure exactly how many ounce he drinks in a feed into each bottle. So I might have like 6-7 4oz bottles filled with breastmilk. That way, the daycare lady does not have to handle the milk directly. All she needs to do is warm it up before he takes it.

I pack all the bottles filled with milk into a cooler bag and keep it cool with ice packs. Once I drop him off, the milk still in the cooler bag with the ice packs go straight into the fridge.

So if you know of a crèche with fridge/freezer facilities alongside steady power supply, that should be your go-to. I did have to teach my daycare provider how to handle the milk, not to shake it, how warm I wanted it and not to feed him leftover milk. Everything was settled in a week. Good luck

lomwe:
I have been silently following this tread and wish to add some clarifications having lived and worked in America long enough. Please take every discount a hospital gives you for "self pay" or the one a doctor gives you for his service. A discount from a doctor is simply a shortchange on his labour to get more clients. Nothing concerns government inside. We all know by now that hospital and doctors fees are distinct and separate.We also know that Doctors don't deliver in their clinics only in Hospitals in which they are consultants.

However, i think the misunderstanding is going to some community clinics like Access Health, Hope Clinic, Ben Taub etc and getting a hospitaal dicount of the basis of "low income earner". This is where the problem lies for two major reason

1) When you declare a low household income to fit into a the poor American dicounted healthcare, you are invariably saying you are working and making income (those hospitals don't bother to check your immigration stauts) This voilates your B1/B2 visa.
2) It also means such individual has made a recourse to public funds. Remember these low income clinics will at the end of the year during tax file your name as one of those they provided healthcare to and ask government to make up for half of the money you did not pay. Government will then check you out and find out that it was a foreigner who has made a recourse to public fund. These process may a take up to a year or two but surely it will come out. So please avoid it except you don't mind a subsequent ban to US.

Thank you.

God bless you. You're the only one who seems to have a lot more insight into this discount or no discount ish. Take all the doctor provided discount.. because the more people they can attract with their low fees, the more money for them.

My problem and my pepper body only comes when people declare low incomes to get services from community clinics and hospitals that was set aside for low income earners in the US. These people work and PAY TAXES (emphasis on "Pay Taxes" to the system. They just do not make enough for them to be able to access the healthcare that they need. Why take advantage of such systems when it was not set up for you in first place and you had already declared thousands of dollars available for childbirth at the embassy. It's just not fair. Yours truly will not even be offered services in those kinds of clinics because once they run my name and my social security number, they know I have insurance, earn more than the income bracket of the people that they provide services for and that I do not simply qualify.

I don't blame other people When I see them angry about people who come from outside the US and declare low incomes to correspond to whatever the exchange rate is with their country's currency, just so they can pay less. People on this thread are still even good, shebi we all pay for the services and get zero balance letters or whatever. I know at least two people that had babies in the US last year and didn't pay a dime. All bills paid via Medicaid. That's just annoying.

Mel403:
Hello everyone, happy Sunday to us all.
Thanks janet101 for replying me.
Pls more questions;
My husband travelled and stayed back in the us even after his visa expired will it affect my chances of going to the us for b1b2 visa. We have 2 kids. Please response will be appreciated.

YES. You sef reason am.... which right thinking VO will give you and your kids a visa when your husband s and is currently here illegally? They will think you intend to migrate. Even if you don't have such intents.

Until your husband can file for you people to come legally, the US should not be one of the countries you should considering visiting. You might be lucky though. And you go for an interview where the VO doesn't ask where your husband is located and what he is currently doing