Parenting woes #2

I haven’t been a father for long but I have pro tips to dispense to young parents.

Number 1: when your child is sick, make sure you call the paediatrician the day/night before to make sure that his/her clinic will be open the next day.

My wife learnt this lesson the hard way. She turned up at the paediatrician’s one day, only to discover that it was unceremoniously closed. Needless to say, she was livid.

If you intend to have kids, make sure that there is more than one paediatrician in your town. There is only ONE paediatrician in Yishun and she has a habit of closing her clinic. Guess who took his daughter to Ang Mo Kio today?

I know that Ang Mo Kio has at least two paediatricians because I called one up and the receptionist said that they would be closed. Thank goodness the second paediatrician was open for business; otherwise, I would have to play the telephone game.

Next pro tip: make sure you live reasonably near your parents. So I got my father to join us at the clinic today. Killing two birds with one stone. Fulfilling two KPIs in one day. But seriously, an extra pair of hands to hold your baby helps keep your sanity, I swear.

Anyway, for the scientifically inclined among you, my daughter was down with a virus the previous week. So her intestines are strained, which leads to her having diarrhoea because they cannot digest the formula milk well.

See, this is the kind of real-life stuff that we ought to teach in primary school. I mean, I know that if we have diarrhoea, it’s because our large intestines can’t absorb water well. But I don’t know enough to draw the link to lactose-containing milk.

TIL soy milk doesn’t contain lactose; goat milk still contains lactose. Guess who spent an inordinate amount of time at the supermarket trying to find a can of lactose-free milk?

But that was not the shocker today. The slap that Fate threw in my face was that the infant care centre didn’t accept my baby girl when I wanted to deposit her in the afternoon. Apparently, diarrhoea will spread among babies.

I actually expected to have the afternoon to myself. BAM! It was gone in a flash. I just went home, put my girl in a stroller and staggered dazedly to Northpoint City. If you are my student, you would know where I sought comfort at. Yes, I had lunch at Long John Silver’s - it showcased my soul food.

Which leads to my last pro tip: just don’t schedule anything. Keep plenty of white space in your calendar. Murphy’s Law has a vicious tendency to bite me in the ass.

Sigh. Sianz.