3 Reasons Why Babies Love Upsie Daisy

"Upsie Daisy, who?" you say.

Upsie Daisy is a character on the show "In The Night Garden" shown on CBeebies (Starhub Channel 303).

Igglepiggle & Upsie Daisy

I have obviously never heard of such a show till my daughter turned 4 months and my mother-in-law felt the need to have some form of entertainment for my baby. We have a TV in every room of the house like most Singaporeans do since it's our top form of entertainment we turn to (other than the internet that is) and so it made sense to the in-laws to subscribe to the kids channels for Baby J.

It still amazes me how my baby already has a preference for certain things at such a young age. Just like how she prefers butterflies to frogs and cars to trucks, Baby J showed a love for In The Night Garden over other baby programmes.

Here are 3 reasons why I think babies love it so much:

1) Evolutionary Psychology
According to one of my psychology textbooks, Evolutionary Psychology is the application of Darwin's principle of natural selection to individual behavior, i.e. it studies how biology and environment interacts to form behavior and development in humans (Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W. & Feldman, R. D. (2004). Human Development. McGraw Hill).

Simply put, innate behaviors were believed to result from a need to survive and pass on their genes.

My evolution psychology professor even went as far as to say that this was probably why we think objects with a large, round head and big eyes are cute. Like these famous cartoon characters.

Iconic Cartoon Characters

Have you ever wonder why you would think they are cute? Why women especially would think they are cute?

According to my professor, we are conditioned to find round big heads and eyes lovable because that's how our babies look! Babies have heads that are unproportionately one third the size of their entire body and eyes the size of walnuts. They have to be that way to survive or you'll throw them right out with their constant screaming and demands. The cuteness messes with your brain and makes you think all is worth it for that ultra sweet smile.

Babies are therefore also born with the same liking for round big head stuff like themselves. Well, at least in my opinion.

2) Repetitive & Easy to Make Sounds
Literally, each character says only 2 phrases in different intonation to convey their feelings. Upsie Daisy only says 'upsie daisy' and 'tinky do' throughout the whole show and somehow that alone fascinates Baby J.

When Upsie Daisy is surprised, she says, "Upsie daisy?!" When angry, "UPSIE DAISY!!" When confused, "upsie daisy??" When sad, "upsiee daisyyy......." When happy, "upSIE daiSY!!"

As you can see, I'm very relunctant to let her watch this in the long term. I wouldn't want her to walk around with only a double word vocabulary.

3) Colourful
All babies love colour. Possibly because they lived the beginning of their lives in a very dark place so now that they are surrounded with colours, it catches their attention right away. Although babies can see colour at birth, the colours tend to come together as one, which is why they prefer to look at things that are black or white when they are newborns. As they grow older, their eyesight gets better and better. It's like a colour-blind person seeing colour for the first time. "Wow!" is probably what goes through their mind.

Anyway no matter the reason, it's interesting to note that we love what we love from birth. We are who we are, so don't let others say anything to make you forget that.

In other news, I've been featured at The Savvy Mummy's blog. If you are joining us for the first time, a warm welcome to you! =)

So True So False: Motherhood Myths

One of my favourite things to do is to watch E! News on Starhub channel 441 and they have a segment on their show called So True So False, which debunks or confirms the rumours that has been circulating in Hollywood.

As a tribute to one of my favourite TV shows, I shall attempt to do the same by tackling the myths about motherhood, E! Style.

When I first became a mother, I started hearing people tell me all sorts of stuff about pregnancy, childbirth and screaming babies and let's be honest, all of it is kinda of overwhelming and really scary.

Now that I actually had the baby, I realised, while some of the stuff I hear is true, a lot of it isn't too. Which is why I decided to share my experiences and debunk the myths in this special edition of So True So False.

Warning: Some of the following may contain nightmarish stuff for non-mothers and stuff that can only be classified as too much information (TMI). Should you choose to continue reading, please note that you are doing so at your own risk *devious grin*

1) Do pregnant woman have a glow?
This is, SO FALSE.

Women, please don't believe the Heidi Klums and Jennifer Lopezes of this world who say that being pregnant makes them look more beautiful than ever.

"Oh you have such a pregnancy glow!" people say.
Yeah right! All I see in the mirror when I was pregnant is an elephant balancing on 2-legs with red dots on my face and thinking, "seriously when the heck is this going to be over so that I can carry my baby and get on with it!" Let's face it, not all of us are like Heidi Klum or Gisele Bundchen who looked awesome pregnant. Heck if I look like they did, or had a bunch of makeup artists, hairstylists and stylists at my beck and call, I'd love being pregnant too. Seriously, who wouldn't?

Don't you realise that the pictures we post of ourselves on facebook get significantly less when we are pregnant? I know I did. Granted we are too nauseous to be bothered anyway but I also really didn't want the whole world to see my elephant-self. Pregnancy glow is so overrated!

2) When you have an epidural, do you really feel absolutely nothing at all?

This is, SO FALSE!

And by that I mean, you can still feel it when the doctor touches your you-know-what or your legs but they will not have any sensation of pain. In fact, they usually will test it by putting an ice-cold block on your legs and ask you if you can feel its coldness. I can feel the block, but I cannot feel the coldness. So don't worry, having an epidural doesn't mean you feel like you've lost your legs (which was what I had initially thought too).

Having said that, please don't feel like a failure if you choose to use the epidural! Best money I ever spent and I would use it again in a heart beat. If you need it, you need it, end of story.

3) Breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world.

This is SO FALSE!

I know from experience that this is NOT true. I myself thought that when I had the baby I'll magically know how to breastfeed her. I expected it to be hard, but I hadn't realised that it was that hard!

It's certainly no walk in the park. You need to have the knowledege, support and tools to help you be successful at it. It's definitely the most challenging thing I ever had to go through as a new mother. How many days I've cried and cried! Only my hubby knows. Although I make it look easy now, it certainly was not this way 6 months ago.

4) Does pregnancy really lead to painless and crampless menstrual periods?

Every girl who has suffered extreme pain from mentrual cramps can attest that at some point in their life, someone (usually their mother) would tell them that the pain will go away after they've given birth.

For me, this was, SO TRUE.

I mentioned previously that my period has returned and so far, I really don't feel any pain other than some discomfort that less be honest, is nothing compared to labor pains. Some mothers I asked said they still sometimes do feel pain but the intensity is not as bad as before.

So for those of you who still experience cramps every time it's that-time-of-the-month, take heart. Get married and have kids!

5) For mothers who have given birth vaginally, relations in the bedroom can continue 6 weeks after delivery.

This is SO NOT SURE.

Doctors typically give you the go-ahead to have sex officially after 6 weeks of giving birth vaginally but whether you can do the deed without feeling the pain is the big question. It is excruciatingly painful to do the you-know-what after you have pushed a 3-4kg baby out of the you-know-where. It took me 6 months before it didn't hurt and you know what? It was the same for Kourtney Kardashian, as I found out when I watched her on Keeping Up With The Kardashians (also on E!). The sense of comfort that I felt in knowing I wasn't alone was why I decided to share this with you. In our typical conservative Asian culture, 'bedroom' topics are considered squirmish to talk about. But I decided to be bold about it because mothers (and their husbands) need to know that you are not alone.

So there you go.

Now I write all this from my personal experiences and is in no way the absolute truth. Whether they are fact or fiction is still debatable among experts. But the point I'm trying to make is that myths will always be there no matter what and sometimes they could make you feel like you are less than worthy or not like other mothers. I say, don't believe everything you hear. It's always different for everyone and I guess that makes life exciting.

Enjoy every moment of it!

The Psychology of Children with Cancer

As promised in my previous post, this post is dedicated to my research work with children and adolescents with cancer at the Viva University Children's Cancer Centre (VUC3), National University Hospital (NUH).

Viva University Children's Cancer Centre (NUH)

According to Singapore's Health Promotion Board, an average of 120 Singaporean children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer each year, with about half of all childhood cancers occurring in children age 5 and below. NUH treats a number of different types of childhood cancers with the most common being Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). They also see children from all over Asia including Malaysia, Indonesia, Phillippines, Brunei, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as well as the United Arab Emirates (see map of Asia). You can say it's a gathering of an even larger mini United Nations than the Jolie-Pitt clan.

So what business does psychology have with pediatric cancer?

Firstly, I want to clarify that psychology is not about mind-reading. That's a psychic's job. Neither is it all about crazy people. Unless by crazy people you mean us, who go mad trying to explain to people that we can't read their minds, like for real! For the uninformed, psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Much like astronomers who 'read' the stars and predict when the next eclipse is going to happen, psychologists 'read' people and predict what they are likely to do in a particular situation.

A few of us are qualified after vigorous clinical training to see patients with problems in the clinics (they are called clinical psychologists or psychotherapists) but the rest of us are mostly researchers conducting human experiments (sounds worst than it is really). Don't worry we are governed by a very strict code of ethics, so you don't have to be afraid that we will hurt you in any way when you participate in one of our studies.

Which brings me back to our study with pediatric cancer patients. As we all know, cancer treatment (such as chemotherapy) is necessary to cure the illness but it also results in many physical, cognitive and social side effects in children and adolescents. Doctors and medicine can only do so much for the patients physically but what about the effects of treatment on their psychosocial well-being? That's where we step in. My supervisor and I want to know how cancer treatment is affecting the children's quality of life and how their coping strategies are helping/not helping them to overcome the challenges that they face.

So we got permission from various authorities (i.e. the university, the hospital & the ethics board), joined forces with the pediatric oncologists at VUC3 and handed out surveys to parents and children asking them a bunch of psychology-related questions. Our participants were real heroes who, despite being ill, were happy to help us help them. Most people don't give two hoots about research so we're glad for their kind and generous participation. (If you ever rejected one of us because you can't be bothered then you should really be ashamed of yourself. Just saying.)

Along the corridors of the clinic where I patrol regularly to invite people to participate.

So far, our results are optimistic. Although treatment is not a pleasant thing to go through, both the children and their parents are finding ways to cope with it and most are doing well. I really admire the parents especially for their tenacity, determination and strength to fight alongside their children for as long as it takes. When we see the children walk out of there cancer-free, we rejoice with them and their families.

So other than the writing/correcting of my thesis which can sometimes be such a big pain in the behind, I do love what I do. And for those of you who are wondering what that is, well now you know.

All Things 2-in-1

I'm the kind of person that digs all things with a dual function.

Like these 2-in-1 eco furnitures and Resource Furniture's genius space saving furniture seen in this video.

Cool right? Too bad the furniture is too expensive and probably not child-proof so not good for parents with young children. I mean, our kids will probably think it's their playground or something, with all its revolving beds and stuff.

Anyway, most of my baby's stuff are 2-in-1s (e.g. baby J's trike and walker) and recently, I decided to add another function to the baby swimming pool my sister and her boyfriend got for baby J for Christmas.

Tada! It's a pool cum ball pit

We got a bag of balls from OG Chinatown which costs only S$16.90. You can also get a bag from Toys'r'us at S$29.90 although my logic is why pay more when you can get the same stuff for less?

I blew it up with nothing but my mouth and lungs! And I took only 15 minutes! However, I must warn you, you gotta have technique or you'll end up with zero air inside it like my hubby. Use your teeth to bite at the blow hole and blow out using your diaphram much like you would a trombone (which I used to play long time ago). Or you could just get a balloon pump for only S$2.90 like my mother-in-law did.

Baby J at play

She is of course too young for this since she can't even sit properly but you know her KS (short for kiasu, which is a Singaporean term that means 'afraid to lose out') mother is always making her do stuff months earlier than she is supposed to.

Plus her cousins came to visit so it was a great opportunity for them to play together in it.

Love this group shot of her with her cousins

One of these days when the mother-in-law and I are in the mood we'll actually fill it up with water and use it for the purpose for which it was created. Will post about it when we do =)

Baby's New Ride (2-in-1 Tricycle)

Like I mentioned in my previous post, we went out and got baby J a new ride.

I'd love to say that we had gone on and splurged on one of these super cool trikes...

Ferrari 2-in-1 Pedal Trike

Smart Trike 3-in-1 Zoo Tricycle (Bee)

...which would have made anyone swoon. Especially the hubby, who absolutely loves Ferrari.

(For other cool rides for babies, check out Smart Trike)

But considering we were living on one person's income to feed five people at our household, we ended up buying this trike (seen below) which pretty much serves the same function but looks much less appealing.

2-in-1 Tricycle in blue (S$69.90)

Initially I had wanted to buy the typical car version with parent handles, but it was just too unstable and couldn't take my baby's weight. Then the sales lady introduced this trike to us.

Baby J in her new ride

I personally like this very much. It is easy for me to steer it in the direction I want and is very stable. The side bars keep baby J safe from tipping over and the foot rest can support her entire weight when she stands. It also has two handles at the back for an older sibling or cousin to push the younger one. As with all 2-in-1s or 3-in-1s, everything can be taken out as your baby grows, which makes it very value for money.
FYI, the 3-in-1 is a stroller / parent-controlled trike / trike. The 2-in-1 doesn't have the stroller function.

"Yay mummy!"

There are only two disadvantages of this product. One, there seems to be something wrong with the battery compartment so although it is supposed to play music, no sound comes out of it. And two, the parent handle if not screwed on tightly may shift as you turn, making it hard to steer.
Generally still love it for its simple functionality.
Both baby J and I give this product 2 thumbs up =)

UPDATE: Recently a relative pointed out to us that we didn't put enough batteries into the compartment and so it does play music after all. Only the music is kinda noisy plus the red lights flashing out of the teddy's eyes makes it kinda scary so we hardly play the music anyway.

More CNY Fun!

We brought baby J to our friend's house three days ago for more celebrations. They have two children, their son little D and their daughter baby T.

Baby T is only 3 months older than baby J but she's a lot more mobile and active. As well as more hair *jealous*

Checking each other out...

I can tell baby J was a little apprehensive in a new, strange environment but she later warmed up to it all. As usual, the more kiddy friends she has, the happier I am.

The fun crowd

Little D really loves his rides. He has 2 cars, 2 tricycles, 1 motorbike and 1 rocking horse! I asked little D if he could let baby J try out one of his rides and he was generous enough to let her do so. He is really one very hospitable little boy. Very impressed =)

On one of little D's rides that he lent her

When I saw how much baby J loved this car, I decided I would buy one for her too. Did so today (more on it in the next post).

Let the celebrations never end!

Which reminds me, we had a nice renewal of vows ceremony at church yesterday and it was fantastic. The best thing that we can give our children is a happy and complete family. So don't forget about keeping the love alive!

Happy Valentine's Day! *hearts*

Time To Go Potty!

As you may know, I conduct research among children with cancer. In one of my questionnaires, there is a question asking parents to state the age, in months, that their child was toilet trained. From their responses, it seems like the average age children are toilet trained is approximately 28 months. This seems to be consistent with my observations of most parents. Personally, I was hoping to get her trained by the time she's 15-18 months old.

So you can imagine my surprise when my mother-in-law told me, when baby J was just 6 months old, that it was time for baby J to learn how to go potty. As baby J hadn't been able to poop for three days in a row, the mother-in-law thought it could be because her diapers were hindering her. I asked her if it was too early. She swore that she got all her three sons toilet-trained even before they could walk. Especially her youngest son, who was able to pee and poop at the same time everyday at just 1 month old. All she needed to do was plop him on the 'tam pui' (potty as she calls it) and he'll go.

I was of course impressed. If my baby could be trained earlier, isn't that better? So after our conversation that morning, mother-in-law plop baby J on the potty for the first time.

Baby J's toilet training in process..

Initially baby J didn't know what the heck was going on. I must say mother-in-law was very patient. She sat for almost half an hour with baby J, making the 'urrrggghh' sound (the same sound when you are trying to get you-know-what out of you). Baby J grew more and more impatient as she just couldn't you-know-what but mother-in-law was persistent. She continued and baby J obliged unwillingly. Even father-in-law pitied her and thought it was too early but mother-in-law was determined. She had no doubt it would work.
Then, after what seemed like forever, baby J went. She pooped in her potty for the first time!

It worked!

Basically had the same reaction.
(Credits: babyblues.com)

Mother-in-law was all, "see I told you so." I was amazed and ecstatic! Baby J was happy and satisfied. We heaped tons of praises on her.

Now she poops in her potty everyday. She even pees there sometimes too. We only use three diapers (sometimes two) a day. I know you don't believe it but I swear it's true.

I think the key to successful toilet training is not just patience. It's doing it early! Why? Because at this age, they can't walk, so they can't walk away. They can't talk, so they can't argue with you. They haven't developed a 'bond' with the diaper, so they are not 'sticky' to it yet. Perfect!

So go ahead and try it! Hopefully it will work for you too.

Let me know how it goes =)

The Seventh Milestone

What a difference 7 months make. Now 7 months old, baby J is able to do so much more than when we first laid eyes on her 7 months ago. I know it's so cliche, but I really am blessed to be able to stay home and watch her grow and develop into the little human being that she is. Some of my most memorable observations include watching baby J:

1) Sit upright by herself
I started training her neck muscles to hold her head up ever since she was just a few weeks old. I have watched medical videos of premature babies who were underdeveloped but yet were able to hold their heads up for a few seconds at a time. That convinced me that babies were able to do so if we allow their core muscles to develop. Hence, I often carried her in an upright position and supported only her back, not her neck (can look very scary to some people but rest assured I know what I'm doing).

This training led to her being able to hold her head up without support at 2 months old. This also later culminated in her ability to sit without support at 4 months old.

On musical cars just outside Vivocity

1st horse ride on merry-go-round

People often ask me if I wished she would hurry up and walk but my response will always be 'no'. She has the rest of her life to walk, but only a few months of her life where she is just lying there and happy to do so. I do however, wish for her to sit on her own asap so that I don't have to keep carrying her whenever I want to eat. The earlier she can sit in a baby chair, the better for my arms.

Which brings us to #2..

2) Eat at the dinner table 

Baby highchair from Ikea (S$69)

As she is eating porridge on top of her regular milk, she joins us at the dinner table where I feed her and eat my own food as well. She likes to copy our every move from putting the spoon in our mouth to drinking from a cup.

She can sometimes get really cranky at the dinner table, being bored and all and this is where highchair toys come in.

High chair toy from TOYS'R'US (S$16.90)

I particularly like this one from TOYS'R'US as it has music, twirly things and even a mirror. The suction rubber is also large enough such that it will stick well to the table. This is important as it prevents babies from yanking it off and accidentally hitting themselves with it, which was what happened when baby J was playing with the Fisher-Price high chair toy that my mum got for her for christmas. It only costs S$16.90 but can be very bulky and heavy to lug around as compared to the one from Fisher-Price.

Dinnertime is now slightly better whenever she is well-behaved, which I heard will not last so better enjoy it while it lasts I suppose.

3) Drink from a cup with straw
My baby is kind of weird. She only drinks milk from the milk bottle. Refuses to drink anything else that drips from it, including barley and water. So the only way to feed her water is with a spoon, which is really slow. Thank goodness she still gets enough water from breastmilk or she will be severely dehydrated.

Then one day I tried letting her drink from a straw, half expecting that she couldn't. To my surprise, she was able to slurp up the water, albeit with lots of coughs since she still hasn't really mastered it yet.

Cup from Pigeon (S$13.90)

So I bought her this cup from Pigeon (which they sell at various stores) and she has been drinking water from this ever since. Although it's relatively more expensive but definitely worth the money. It is extremely light, colourful and doesn't leak. Best of all, its round handles can spin 360 degrees to allow you to tuck the handles in when not in use so that it doesn't take up space in your bag. Perfect!

4) Pull to stand

Training her to walk...

Recently I realised that whenever I held her hands when she was sitting down, she instinctively pushes her hands into mine, leans body forward and tries to stand up. As you know there are generally three kinds of babies: crawlers, rollers and those that skip straight to walking. Mine is the third type. So might as well start training her to walk, which she loves to try since she gets this overwhelming applause from spectators nearby. Guess we all instinctively thrive on the approval of others.

Anyway, very soon baby J will be baby no more and I will definitely miss this quiet and obedient side of her.

It's such a cliche but it's so true, my baby grows up way too fast!

CNY Celebrations Part 2

Last Saturday both the baby and I dressed up to go to church for service and then to a CNY party at our friend Soon-to-be-Mrs P's house.

Baby J in the same pink dress to maximise its use since it can only be worn at this time of the year

She just loves this colourful cushion-y play area at the nursery in church. 

Peek-a-boo!

She seems to at least try to crawl when she is on it. Was contemplating on getting one but decided against it seeing its sheer size and possible cost.

Later we met the C family at the CNY party where baby J met baby I again.

Happy families

The very first time when baby J met baby I was when he was only a few days old at the hospital. Now baby I is 2 months old and weighing 6kg! He'll soon catch up to baby J, no doubt about it!

Can't wait for them to grow bigger and play together. Baby J doesn't have many playmates her age so I'm always happy for her to meet and play with other kids. Baby I is such a cheerful chap, I'm sure they'll have loads of fun together in future when they can both run and jump around.

Twas a fun CNY for baby J =)

Baby J's 1st CNY

It's the first time baby J is celebrating Chinese New Year (CNY) this year and she's really excited. With 3 reunion dinners and lanterns everywhere, who can blame her?

First, we had a reunion dinner at my mum's house 2 weeks ago.

Then, we had steamboat and nice Shabu Shabu at our house with immediate family members last Sunday.

Staring longingly at the feast that she still can't eat yet

Cousin C & Cousin D came over to join us and baby J had fun playing with her cousins.

Baby J & Cousin C

We had our third reunion dinner on the actual CNY eve at her paternal grandfather's house. 

Tiger in rabbit's clothing...

Then it was the actual day of CNY.

3 generation of girls

We dressed her up in this pink traditional Chinese dress and headpiece that our friend Soon-to-be-Mrs P bought for her. It's like she knows it's an important day or something. Like she can smell it in the air and feel it in her bones. She woke up extremely happy and in a wonderful mood. Especially receiving Hong Baos (red packets). Who doesn't? *laughs*

From all of us here,

Happy Rabbitey Chinese New Year!

The Necessary Evil

Do you recognise this famous walkway that is always used as the location for shooting hospital scenes in Mediacorp's TV dramas?

Credits: Wikimedia.org

Well it's actually not a hospital per se but a bridge on the second floor that links the Health Promotion Board (HPB) building on the left to the National Dental Centre (NDC) on the right. Many people (even cabbies) also do not realise that the HPB building actually houses the Outram Polyclinic at the 2nd floor as well.

And so it was on the 1st day of Feb, the baby and I made our way to this place for our visits to the doctors. Yup 'our'. Mother-in-law took baby to the left, to the left, for her usual vaccination and I went to the right for my dental appointment.

It was a day of dread for both of us. Well baby didn't know, but when she slowly realised what was happening, the dread spread across her face like wild fire.

It is like what I always say, a necessary evil. You hate it but you still gotta grit your teeth and do it for your own damn good. Much like labour, come to think about it.

Back to my baby's vaccination. The moment she was positioned in the grandma-holds-leg-real-tight-with-fleshy-thighs-exposed-to-nice-lady-with-long-transparent-stick pose, she started struggling and yelling. "Get me out of here mummy, pleaaaseee!" was what I think she said. Then she looked at me with the most pitiful eyes I have ever seen.

I chanted under my breath, "necessary evil, necessary evil..."

Then it was my turn to see the dentist for the 2nd time since I took off my braces way back in 2003. The 1st was 3 weeks after I gave birth. My concerned mother was worried for me and the condition of my bad gums. She insisted that both the sister and I visit the dentist asap. She even made the appointment for us so we had absolutely no excuse whatsoever.

I had been postponing it for the last 7 years. From as young as I can remember (which is really young) I HATE going to the dentist. They prod and poke and nag about how you have to brush after every meal (and I eat like 5 times a day, which meant brushing 7 times a day - seemed ridiculous to me!) Anyway, I had this warp idea that bad gums was inherited and there was nothing I could do about it.

But something about giving birth and being a mother that changed my whole outlook to dentistry. During my visit to the dentist, they warned me that if I don't start flossing, I'm going to lose my teeth. I don't know why, but this time I took it very seriously. For the first time in my life (and I kid you not) I started flossing every night before I sleep. I think maybe it's the mother instinct kicking in. You know the familiar, "it's ok if I die, but now that I have a baby I cannot die cos she needs me" instinct.

So anyway my gum problem was real serious. It was way more serious than the common Gingivitis. I had something called Periodontitis, which meant the accumulation of plaque and bacteria has caused the gums to be inflammed and the bone that holds my teeth to literally disintegrate.

Credits: oakridgefamilydental.com

Healthy gums are not supposed to 'peel' away from the tooth, so there should NOT be a pocket (seen in the picture above). At the most the pocket should only be 3mm deep but some of mine were 6-7mm deep. Yup, it's bad.

So anyway, the dentist recommended me for deep cleaning and surgery, which entails pulling back the gums and thoroughly cleaning the teeth on the inside and then patching the gums back (under anesthesia of course!). She also said I may have to have surgery to replace some of the bone that was loss too. After all the treatment, I should be able to get a nice set of gums, for the first time in my life actually. Haha.

Will let you know how it all goes in June this year (which is my next earliest appointment).

So to make sure baby J does NOT have to go through the same thing I now have to go through, I already found her a dentist and will start bringing her to see him when she turns 1 years old =). Better to be safe than sorry like me.

If you're not visiting your dentist regularly, you seriously should. Don't say I didn't warn you =)