Why are Youtube ads are a waste of money of advertisers?

1. Ads are annoying, we all know that. Imagine that you eagerly want to watch a video then suddenly something cuts you up, wouldn't it be annoying? Ofcourse you just want to click the Skip Ad button as soon as it appears.
2. Advertisers should position their ads on places and circumstances where customers are conditioned to view it. Is it before the video they want to watch? I don't think so. No one wants to watch your ads because they're focused to watch the video they came for.
3. Unskipped ads don't mean they've watched it. Well there's a pee break, a text message need to be read or a tv commercial to be viewed in replacement with the ads, especially the unskippable ones.
4. Seriously, the algorithm to depict what ads to show is so... "trying hard". Why would you show ads of make-up when my one year old toddler is watching her nursery rhymes video? She would just scream and cry because something's interrupting her.
5. My toddler doesn't want it! When my toddler watches youtube for nursery rhymes, she would cry whenever there's an ad and it's so frustrating, it's not helping moms, seriously.

• Will I buy that coffee in an unskippable ad? NO. I can't drink coffee.
• Will I buy that Maggi soy sauce seen in the ads? NO. I don't buy soy sauces, it's my in-law who decides what soy sauce to use.
• Will I buy Kinder Joy seen in the ads? NO. Some facebook posts say it's cancerous.

This list can go on forever but the point is I'm one of those viewers who watches a company's ad for a product but won't buy it. Just like most of us do.

Image from www.brandsoftheworld.com

1. Watching over your baby's "schedule"

Babies, especially the first year of life, have only one schedule: an erratic schedule. There's no point in trying to stick with it or even looking over it. There's no such thing as "at 8 o'clock he will fall asleep and at 10 he will wake up... then poop at 11:15...eat at 11:30...". Newborns will sleep when they want to, as long as they want to, even if it's freaking noisy in the room. Don't think that they will sleep at the time they slept yesterday. They will also cry and poop whenever they want to, and that's not in a schedule. What moms need to do is just attend to what the babies need for the moment. When time comes, around 6 months (3 months if you're lucky) their schedule will be predictable.


2. Dying to get your pre-pregnancy body.

Your pre-pregnancy body aka the good old days will remain a hallucination right after your delivery. Your tummy will be saggy and ridiculously big as if you're still preggy. But you cannot do your exercises yet because you're body is still recovering after delivery. Give your self some time. Accept that you have this ugly tummy for now but then after a year or two you can regain your body back. Patience is a virtue. For the mean time what you can do is wear a waist trimmer or girdle tightly (so tight that you could almost forget to breath) all throughout the day and even at night. This will help your muscles in the stomach regain it's tone and shrink eventually.


3. Prioritizing your baby 24/7

Who said you should attend to the monster every second of your life? Yes. You've read it right. You don't have to be there with the baby always. You need time for your self. Go on and take a bath, brush your teeth, savor your food. Just make sure to leave your baby safe or to someone else while you're doing that. Don't be guilty when you need to make that morning or evening routine. Babies can wait and that doesn't mean you love them less. If you forget to take care of your self you will be irritated and in turn you may channel the negative energy to the baby. A happy mom has a happy baby so take care of your self and be happy.

4. Worrying too much

Watching your baby sleep that you lost your sleeping time? Worried that the baby is not getting enough of your milk or wasn't able to burp? New moms worry too much about everything. Babies can survive in hostile environment. I mean, 2000 BC ago, there wasn't crib to put your baby to sleep, no formula milk, not even comfy clothes! Watch over your baby but do not exaggerate your worries. Just make sure he/she is sleeping safe, nothing that will cover the nose or else the baby can't breath. Burping a baby doesn't mean that you have to hear the burp sound. Just hold the baby upright for a maximum of 10 minutes then you can put him/her down. Milk coming out of the mouth and nose is normal as long as it's not in a form of vomit. You know vomit? It's when your stomach is forcing for food to go out of your mouth, that's not a good thing for babies. When you worry too much or panic, your judgement will be clouded. If something happens, monitor and analyze properly the situation then consult your pedia as necessary.

5. Putting your baby to sleep
Yup, you've read it right. Don't put baby to sleep. "Putting" baby to sleep means you try desperately to swing him/her to make him/her drowsy, thinking that it'll eventually lead to sleep. What I learned from my two babies (a one year old and one month-old) is that when they're really sleepy, they will eventually sleep, no matter how noisy the surrounding is. There could be some crying especially if they're over-tired but then they will sleep right away after a few attempt to soothe him/her. Usually when my toddler cries because she's sleepy, we'll just have to put her to bed, tap her bum and sing some songs, then she'll knock her self to sleep right away. For my newborn, I will just let him stay in bed and stare at the ceiling at midnight without any attempt to put him to sleep. I don't force him to sleep just because it's sleeping time. No, newborns don't know that 12 midnight is a sleeping time. If he gets sleepy, I will just carry him because, usually, babies need an assurance of safety before going to safe and there's no better place to find it than in your arms.

Remember: if babies are sleepy, they will sleep no matter what.

To avoid depression that you're baby's so fussy and sleepy but doesn't want to go to sleep, guide him/her to sleep when he or she is tired. This will make sure that he/she won't be over tired. This is tricky, sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don't. You just have to practice, trial and error would do, don't worry, if he/she cries, eventually he/she will stop crying, that's their nature.


This will be a good read for expectant and new moms: http://www.smartparenting.com.ph/pregnancy/labor-and-childbirth/life-after-giving-birth-expectations-vs-reality-lfrm

I brought my beloved (yes, that adjective is necessary) one year old to her pedia earlier this day because she's constipated. Every time she poops, she exerts a lot of effort, cries and turns red. At first, I googled about this and look for suggestions to ease her constipation. I got results that said it was just normal, to just give plenty of water, etc. How could this pain be normal? I gave my baby lots of water in a day but it did not helped. So we finally decided to bring her to the doctor which told us that, it's not just about the water intake but the fiber intake that would ease constipation.

Apparently, according to doc, the cause of my baby's constipation is that she is not getting a balanced meal. I'm guilty about this because I got so busy with my work that I was not able to monitor my baby's food intake. She should be eating food that consist of fiber-rich food such as vegetables and fruits, mixed with proteins and carbohydrates in one meal.

The doctor have me a list of of food that will help soften her stool:

• Camote
• Green Peas
• Peanut
• Prunes
• Papaya
• Yogurt
• Corn
• Oats (Mixed with baby's milk)
• Mango
• Green leafy vegetable

Doc also recommended to change our milk from Progress Gold to NAN Optipro 3. She said it was a common complaint from parents that once they changed their milk to Progress Gold 1-3, their babies constipate.

Hope this helps. :)

Chopsuey is great because it consists of vegetables and proteins but make sure to prepare it healthier by using less oil.

For new moms like me, there are some newbie mistakes that we make. When I first learned that I'll be having a baby girl, I got so excited like a little girl waiting for her doll. I browsed the net for possible clothes to buy. I've bought some, around 1% of the overall clothes I put in my wishlist, and disregarded most. Here's a list of my personal insights when buying clothes for your little ones:

1. Choose comfort over style

• In my experience, always go for clothes made in COTTON. It is soft and gentle on my babies' skin.
• If I buy clothes with mixed fabric, I still choose cotton as the main fabric. Fancy dresses are no-no's if they are made of heat-inducing materials.
• I tried to buy this beautiful cheap dress without thinking if my baby would like its "feel". The result is that everytime I put the dress on, she freaks out like there's something disturbing her. The dress ended up as a display in our closet.

2. Buy size 2-3 months advanced than the current size of your baby.

• This goes to shoes also. Babies' feet are rapidly growing that's why it's good to buy shoes with size allowance. Make sure that they can still use the shoes even with extra space.
• When my baby will about to turn 6 months, I bought a cutie sleeveless top with bow on it having  a size for 6-month old babies. When my baby tried it on, it doesn't fit her and she freaked out that's why it also ended up as a display (and waste of money) in my closet.
• This formula worked well to me:
• If your baby is newborn, you may buy clothes for Newborn (NB) - 3 months.
• If baby is greater than 3 months old, buy clothes 2-3 months bigger than her size. For example, for 6-month old babies you may already buy clothes in 9-12 months category.
• If the clothes are too big now, don't worry there will come a time that it will fit already (very very soon).

3. Don't buy too much nor too few clothes 

• First of all, your newborns don't need to go out more often to avoid viruses that's why they won't need too many fancy clothes.
• Second, newborns until infancy up to toddler years, your baby will wee, spit out, vomit, get wet and get dirty a lot so make sure you just have enough clothes.
• During their 6 months onward, I found the need to buy additional going-out clothes because I tend to bring the baby out more often already.

I think that's all I can think for now. I will update this list if ever I remember something. Post a comment if you think I missed something. Back to baby sitting duties now!

Dress we bought for baby's 1st bday party

from http://zuribabycouture.ph/collections/tutu-set/products/good-as-gold