Carseats, Slings and Packs Oh My, What's a babywearer to do?

One of the tenets of attachment parenting is baby wearing. After reading all that Dr. Sears had to say about the benefits of babywearing, I was on board. I researched questions to ask when choosing a sling. I looked at exactly how these things work, and how you put it on. I compared different slings, and decided on a sling I wanted to purchase.

Then I ran into a problem. I was out of cash. So I ended up buying a sling at my local baby depot. And, I don't know, if it's because we live in Kansas or that's just the way the world is when it comes to slings, there was only one available. It happened to be the one they recommend you don't buy, but I didn't realize that at the time, and I had a gift certificate. :)

Hanna was born I excitedly tried to put her in the sling, and could not figure it out. The women at my LeLeche League meeting had told me to bring the baby and they would bring some slings, but I was just not that patient. The LLL meetings are only once a month! I finally called my Doula and she said come on over, we'll get the baby in there.

She helped me get Hanna in the sling, and it felt kind of unstable to me, but I'm assuming that's natural for a new mother and a new sling. Then Hanna started SCREAMING. What's up? Babies are supposed to LOVE their slings. I took her out and tried a few more times over the next week or two, same result every time, Screaming!!

Meanwhile we are using our car seat carrier to take her places in. But here's the problem with that, she hates that seat. As soon as I start to put her in it she starts, you guessed it, SCREAMING. Not just little baby screaming either, I'm talking hold your breath until you turn purple then do it again screaming. Then as you gasp for breath a warble comes out, then more screaming. This is a problem, since the united states government says she has to be in this if she is going to be in the car. It takes some doing but we get her calmed down, and once the car is going she usually falls asleep. She stays asleep for just about long enough to get in a store and then she wakes up and it is not long before the screaming begins again.

So now I'm carrying the baby and this crazy car seat. This is not easy. So I am thinking and thinking, there must be another way.

It is then that I think about when Hanna is the happiest, and that is when she is laying on either my chest or her Daddy's. Then I get this brilliant idea, they have carriers where they lean against your chest. That must be the answer.

I'm still out of money, but pretty desperate to leave my house at some point. I look around the local dept store and sure enough, they have two font loading carriers. My mom generously offers to buy one for me, as we are going antiquing the next Saturday.

Hanna loves it. She is happy and quiet, and falls asleep almost immediately. Woo Hoo. Here's the problem. I can't get her out of it. It's almost too funny. She's good and sound asleep and I can't get her out. I finally got her out of the carrier with arms and legs barely intact, and I look at her beautiful face, bam, wide awake, although she is bright eyed and being happy baby after such a lovely nap.

I was talking to a friend about this problem, and she told me she had a front riding carrier as well. Hers was different though, you can unclip the baby from the carrier and then lay them down without disruption. This is exactly what I am looking for. She brought it to the next La Leche League meeting and told me I could have it, as her newborn doesn't like it at all.

This carrier is fantastic, exactly what I am looking for. We still use the first one around the house, and we still use the car seat for quick trips to places that have shopping carts (she's only 9 pounds and that thing already weighs a ton!), but when we are going in and out, and need to wear the baby so she will be happy, but also need to get her in and out of the carseat we use the new one.

I still want a sling, and am hoping to get together with others at the next meeting to try some other types of slings and see if there is one that she likes.

Babywearing has proven to be a really positive thing for us, she is much calmer when being worn, and it is a surefire way to get her to sleep, even when she is her most fussy. She also seems to have an easier time getting to sleep when she has been worn during the day. I definately encourage people to try wearing their babies. AND I encourage you to get together with others who wear their babies before you buy one for yourself to see what will make your baby the most happy. There are a million choices out there, and you can do all the research in the world, but ultimately, as I am finding out, your baby will decide.

Good luck! Until next time,

Remember, You are Remarkable!
Jackie Lee :)

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July 13 at 8pm CST
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30K in 30Days

How do I get this baby to stop crying?

Well Hanna has been having some pretty fussy periods, and pretty regularly now. It seems evenings are not a great time for her lately.

I was wandering around on the web today and I ran across this article about Colic, and a very interesting viewpoint on why colic exists.

I am reluctant to label Hanna's behavior as colic. Not sure why. I think I just refuse to have a colicky baby. I know, it's crazy, but, well, it's true.

But anyway, back to the article. I found it on DrGreene.com, and here's the link to the whole article.

Dr. Greene states that colic is a necessary part of family integration. He believes that people would just go right back to their normal ways, habits, schedules after a couple of weeks if a baby would just be quiet and cooperate.

That's where colic comes in. The baby gets fussy, loud, frustrating, and makes her family stop and take notice. The new family must take time to figure out what makes baby happy, and what calms them down, thus interupting their normal routine and forcing them to develop new routines which include the new member to the family.

Now this is a very interesting idea. I can definately see how this could be true. As much as I love my new little one, I am definately eager to get back to my routine, my work, my life. I was actually managing to do that when she was quiet and angelic during the day and the evening. Now with this daily fussiness, I am drawn away from my normal schedule and find that I am spending time with her, thus developing new routines, that are center around her.

To tell you the truth, if she had not started getting so fussy, I probably would have worked her into my schedule and continued on as I had pre-baby. Now I no longer have that choice. She is one smart little chicklet! There have been so many other areas where our thinking has definately changed and become more family oriented, but my day to day schedule had not really been one of them.

I am feeling much closer to her, and becoming less frustrated with her fussy periods once I started looking at the positive aspects of our time together.

Yesterday, as she was screaming at the top of her lungs, I picked her up and kissed her on the cheek, and she stopped wailing, just like that. I thought to myself. "I did that." and that felt pretty good. All she wanted was some snuggling time with her mom, and as long as we were snuggling she was fine.

It must be pretty scary to come into this big wide world after being in such a safe cozy environment as a womb. It seems to me that the only thing that remains constant is mom. So it only makes sense that when things get a little scary or overwhelming for a little person, they would expect mom to rearrange her schedule and pencil in snuggling time from 9p to 12a.

And that's exactly what has been penciled in to my new "family" schedule.
9-midnight, Snuggling time with Hanna.

It's quickly becoming my favorite time of day!

Until next time,
Remember, You are Remarkable.

Jackie Lee :)

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30K in 30 Days

When's this baby gonna sleep?

Hanna will be 4 weeks old in 2 days. Which begs the question, "When's this baby gonna sleep?"

I have come to realize that with an infant there are no two days alike.

One day, she sleeps, eats, sleeps, eats. (not such bad days as there is plenty of time for me to get some work done.) Other days she eats, sits quietly making nice faces, eats, sleeps. (again not such bad days.) Then there are days when she eats eats eats eats, screams, eats eats eats, dozes, eats eats eats, screams (we're having one of those days today, and they are not such great days. Luckily daddy just came home and is trying to appease her for a while) So I have come to the conclusion that there is no rhyme nor reason in this infant sleeping business.

Which is unfortunate because I am a rhyme and reason kind of girl. So I went on a hunt today during the one nap she took to get some info on helping my little angel sleep, which means at times mommy gets some sleep too.

Here's a couple things I found, that I hadn't realized in the front of my brain yet.

Help baby distinguish day time sleeping from night time sleeping.

• let baby take daytime naps in well lit room, with noises of the day around
• make night time sleep in a dark, quiet room
• give baby a warm bath before night time sleep
• change baby into sleeping clothes before night time sleep
• give baby a massage before night time sleep.

Keep an eye out for signs of tiredness:

• eyes closing
• quieting down
• losing interest in people or toys

Your baby may have others, so keep an eye out for them. If you notice these signs and put your baby down right away it will be easier to get them to sleep. Remember your baby can't put themselves to sleep, so they need some help from you, some snuggling, singing, rocking.

The more tired a baby gets the more difficult it will be for them to fall asleep.

Babies make sleeping sounds:

This was a big one for me, that I only started to realize in the last couple of days/nights.

When a baby is asleep, they may grunt, whimper, or even cry, and they are still asleep! It's important to distinguish these noises from crying due to hunger or other needs not being met. If you resond to their sleep noises by picking them up you may wake them and this may upset them further and make it more difficult to get them back to sleep.

I just realized this recently with Hanna. I assumed that because she was making noises in the middle of the night she wanted to eat. One night it took me a minute to wake up and stumble over to the crib, and by the time I got there she had quieted down and was sleeping again. So the next time she started making noises I waited and sure enough she settled down and went back to sleep.

Sometimes she even wails pretty loud. Those times I get up and put my hand on her back or on her head before I pick her up. Sometimes she quiets down and sometimes she doesn't. When she doesn't quiet down I realize she is telling me she is hungry or wet and we get her diaper changed and nurse.

If I get to her quickly she doesn't wake up all the way and she goes back to sleep quickly and easily, making it easy for me to get back to sleep as well, because, I'm not quite all the way awake either.

So I'm going to try some of the suggestions that I have found today and see if we can make some sense out of this newborn sleeping. If not, I've heard it doesn't last forever!

Until next time,

Remember, You are Remarkable!

Jackie Lee :)

30K in 30 Days

DPT Vaccine, Yes or No?

Last week I took Hanna in for her first check up. She had gained one pound, 6 ounces and grown 2 inches since we brought her home from the hospital a week earlier.

I was pleased to see she was gaining and had grown, and began to feel more comfortable about how our nursing was going, and have since become more relaxed about the process, and am just nursing on demand, which feels good to me.

During our visit, the doctor reviewed when our next visits would be, and mentioned that at her two month visit she should begin her vaccinations.

I was a little nervous about having this conversation with the doctor given our recent experience with medical professionals and my daughter. I mentioned that we would have to talk about her vaccinations, that I was leaning toward not vaccinating, except for maybe the polio vaccine, which I still needed to do more research on.

To my suprise and amazement, the doctor was open and friendly about this decision. She encouraged me to do the research and come and talk to her about my decisions, and we could work something out that would be right for my child.

She did encourage me to do more research on the DPT vaccine, as there was a large outbreak of Pertussis (Whooping Cough) in our area last winter. She did mention that she had been born at a good time of year, but it might be a good vaccine for her to have.

She was so positive and cooperative with me, that I took her advice and I did some research in regards to the DPT vaccine. I also did some research regarding homeopathic remedies for Whooping Cough.

There is a lot of information out there, I will give you links to the complete article that I found most informative, and I will share the main reasons I have decided against getting the DPT vaccine here.

Here's the article I found most informative, I got it from NVIC website.
http://www.nvic.org/Diseases/whooping.htm

The first point that hit home for me, as with the mumps outbreak here in the midwest, vaccines don't always work.
"The state of Washington reported 162 cases in ten months in 1984; there were no deaths, no cases of brain damage, and 49 percent of the cases aged 3 months to 6 years had been appropriately vaccinated for their age with DPT. In 1993, Cincinnati reported that 40% of children who caught pertussis were vaccinated appropriately for their age."

The second point is possible reactions to the vaccine:
"Since its development in the mid 1930’s and its widespread use by the late 1950’s, there have been repeated reports by parents and medical researchers that children were dying or being left with medication resistant convulsions, mental retardation, learning disabilities, and physical handicaps after reacting severely to pertussis vaccine. Fifty years of scientific literature in medical journals and books has documented the history of these reports."

The last of which are the "other high risk children"

"Child has had cerebral irritation in the neonatal period (such as head trauma at birth from a difficult delivery."
"Child has a personal or family history of severe allergies (such as eczema, asthma and, especially, allergy to cow’s milk."

In my opinion two of the risk factors for a severe reaction is more than enough for me.

I also found that there a multitude of homeopathic remedies for Pertussis.

Here is an excellent website I found during my research on pertussis:
http://www.hpathy.com/diseases/whooping-cough-symptoms-treatment-cure.asp

Between homeopathic remedies, my kinesiologist, my homeopathic practitioner, and of course the law of attraction I feel safe in not getting Hanna the DPT vaccine. I also feel confident in my ability to talk to the doctor and tell her why I have made that decision for my daughter.

Until next time,
Remember, You are Remarkable!

Jackie Lee

Coming soon: Conscious Pregnancy and Parenting
A program to assist people in eliminating myths and misconceptions, provide information, support and knowledge to allow families to make informed choices and feel confident in their pregnancy, birthing and parenting decisions.
For more information please feel free to contact me