Struggling with Blessings

By now you'd know that there's no doubt that gabe is derod's son, in the bottomless pit sense. He's generally easy to feed and just about eats anything I wave at him. Actually, the reality is that he'll look at you with open mouth and ahhhhh his way to whatever you are waving at him.

Gabe's popularity stakes are not too bad. He gets doted on by lots of people in church. Being the mother that I am, I've no problems passing him around to those who want to carry him on Sundays and there are times he gets taken to another storey and I've no problems with that either. I've also been quite adamant to train him socially, such that he won't develop into a sticky little one, so church is really a good way of exposure.

But combine the two blessings and the parents come face to face with a struggle.

You see, yesterday alone, gabe was fed lots of stuff without my permission nor my knowledge. Other than his milk and lunch, and some wholemeal bread the orforgods kindly shared with him for breakfast, the rest were not scheduled and pretty disturbing to me:

Oneh oneh. I'm not sure if it was served with the coconut but a well-meaning old lady of great-grandmother status popped it into his mouth before anyone could react. Good thing was, her daughter was there to stop any further feeding and proceeded to remind that the fella was only seven months old.

Chee chiong fun. I seriously don't think that oily foods dipped in sweet sauce is very healthy and appropriate for an infant.

Coffee cake. We've been instructed to keep eggs away from a baby's diet till much later. Cakes are therefore a no-no, let alone coffee cakes.

And all these without my knowledge! Somehow, derod happened to be within sight when they happened and told me about it much later. I'm not sure the extent this has to play for the event that we were to encounter that night but it seems to be the only unusual thing, leading me to conclude that its part is possibly great.

Gabe, who has slept through till morning since his fourth month, woke up in the middle of the night. Twice. On extremely rare occasions when this happened, I'd nurse him and pop him back into his cot, and he'll sleep through without any further protests. Yesterday, despite being given milk and comfort, he refused to go back to sleep and protested with LOUD crying which reverberated through the room at alarming volumes. We had to pat and sing him back to sleep. That was 2.30am. At 4.30am, we had to resort to breaking a rule: taking him to bed with us. Even then, his crying didn't really stop; he tossed and turned and grumbled and the three of us hardly slept.

Other than tummy discomforts, I can't really explain why or how this happened. Even if this is not a result of the foods, I'm still uncomfortable about the whole thing. But how do you manage when you know people had good intentions and they are just doting on him?

While we mull over this issue, could I plead with you dear friends, to please help me to stop any feeders when you happen to be a witness? Here's a thank you in advance, and any tips on this struggle are greatly welcomed.