Food for Tot

I had hoped that the time would stand still. Breastfeeding is going so swimmingly with Lily, I hate to add the complication of other foods. But the clock never stops, nor does Lily stop growing into her own little person.

In the spare moments I scrape out of my day before falling asleep I have been reading Child of Mine by Ellyn Satter and I am finding it remarkably full of common sense. It is a breath of fresh air and gives me hope that the current problems I am having feeding my 3 year old healthy food (he would live on snacks and never eat at meals if I let him) can be solved for him and prevented with Lily.

When Lily presented me with every single item on the list of readiness for food, I couldn't deny her any longer... and she ate her first food today. And what can I say? She loved it!

But one of the things Ms. Satter mentions in her book is that it is best to mix breastmilk or formula with the rice cereal to keep the child's protein intake up. Mixing it with juice or water (oops, I have always done water... I guess none of my kids have died from it yet.) can increase their carbohydrates and reduce the protein they take in. There was a little more to it, which I will probably butcher if I try to write out, but it was the first time I have really heard a reason for taking the trouble to mix the cereal with breastmilk or formula.

Now it isn't strictly necessary to start solid food with rice cereal or at the same time *I* am doing, but this is one approach. As with all aspects of parenting, it is best to educate yourself and keep in touch with your pediatrician when you have questions or concerns. That said, one of the reasons the author cites for starting with rice cereal is that the child starts out learning how to make the transition from moving food straight down their throat (as with breastmilk or formula) to knowing how to hold the food in their mouth for a moment to manipulate or chew it. Starting with rice cereal diluted with the breastmilk or formula the baby is familiar with allows you to slowly thicken it as the child understands the idea of eating better.

Now all this was to say that I found myself slightly unprepared and really wishing I had anticipated my coming needs with THIS. Of course I could use a regular ice cube tray to store some breastmilk, or even those handy little breastmilk bags, but if I am just using a little at a time, those little bags will get used up fast, and with all the current worries about plastics... well I would just like to avoid that. This handy little ice-cube-tray-with-a-cover is, to quote Cotton Babies directly "FDA-approved food-safe plastic. #4 LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) and #2 HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). Contains no PVC, Bisphenol-A, or Plasticizer". I feel pretty safe about that. And I won't have to run upstairs to pump at the last minute when it seems like a good time for a snack for Lily.

Soon we will be stepping up to new foods and textures and breastmilk for mixing won't be a problem anymore. A tool like this tray will allow me to pull aside some food before seasoning or mixing from our regular meals and chop it up and freeze a little for later. This saves me both time and money. Remember, once the food is frozen, you can pop it out of the tray and store the cubes in another container so you always have room to freeze a little bit more.

And if you have any doubts about making your own baby food, I challenge you to mash up some cooked peas (from fresh or frozen) and compare them to the peas from jarred baby food.

Jarred baby food is nice on the run, but I want my kids to know how great veggies taste!

Oh, one more thing, this little Fresh Baby Food Tray Set costs less than 20 jars of baby food. Just so you know.

The Laundry Dance

Several years ago, a friend showed me an article in Welcome Home magazine about laundry. The article was entitled, "The Laundry Dance" by Barb Warner and talked about how she worked so hard to get her laundry done.

She would pile it up on the couch to fold it but would get pulled to do some other thing and the pile would sit unfolded. After a day or two she would fold the clothes and move them to the bed so she would HAVE to put them away before she could get in bed at night.

But, inevitably, the kids would have a rough evening or there would be extra cleaning to do (or let's be honest here, a good show on TV) and she would find herself, exhausted, wanting to crawl into bed all too late anyway. So the laundry would move to the basket on the floor of her bedroom. From there, clothes would be scavenged over the next few days until everything had been either worn or unfolded again. Then she would toss in back in the pile of newly washed clothes waiting to be folded on the couch and the dance began anew.

For a few days last week, I found myself having to resort to disposables. Was I behind on my diaper laundry? Not a bit. I confess I have more diapers than could ever fit in my diaper pail, so I always wind up with some clean ones. But over the course of several days - more than a week (I wash diapers about every 3-4 days), I had washed *three loads* of diapers and had not put them away. It wasn't until I had washed the second load that I had folded any of them. Then I washed my husband's work clothes, and those were nicely folded on top of my nicely folded diapers. (That was my big mistake!) And there they sat. They moved up on my bed a couple times only to be relegated back to the basket again as another day passed. The Laundry Dance was alive and well at my house.

It happens with diapers, it happens with socks and my husband's work clothes. Having the extra loads of cloth diapers doesn't make my laundry overwhelming - although it is impressive the amount that a family of nine can produce. Sometimes there are just more important things to do.

And so the Dance goes on...

Reprints of the article can be found HERE, scroll to the bottom of that page for information.

White Onesie

A good friend of mine once pointed out to me that there is just something about a baby in a white onesie. It took me a while to really understand what she meant, but it is true. There is something so pure and perfectly simple about a baby, especially a freshly bathed one, in a white onesie.

There are millions of beautiful baby clothes out there, why something so boring as a white onesie? I think that it is because when your baby is in a white onesie, what you look at is just the baby. There is nothing to distract or embellish on just The Baby. It is just your precious child there for you to gaze on and adore.

When you give your baby a bath and use just pure water, you dry them, dress them, and snuggle them up close. You can smell that lovely fresh baby smell that is all their own. The baby doesn't need anything to make her beautiful. Just being new and alive and there in your arms is all it takes. Rosy cheeks, soft little lips, tiny ears... and nothing to take your attention away.

Even a rowdy two year old who has whined and made trouble all day can be bathed and dressed in that white onesie and suddenly you have a little cherub in your arms. Just be sure you get a good long look at him before he decorates his clean whiteness with your favorite lipstick or some chocolate sauce.

Pure and simple, all a baby needs.

My Personal War with China

Last year, when the first few recalls came out for toys with lead, I barely blinked. The toys mentioned were not toys I tended to buy on a regular basis, so I just blew it off. I did notice that a few were from brands that are well known and I would tend to trust inherently. They were big brands, brands I would look for and expect quality from. So my confidence in them was knocked down a notch, but that was about all the thought I gave it.

But as a few more recalls rolled out and Christmas was drawing nearer I began paying closer attention. I looked at all of our toys with some suspicion, especially the ones from brands I had formerly respected. Grandparents were asking what to buy the kids for Christmas and one child had an upcoming birthday. How was I supposed to add toys to my home when I didn't trust any of them?

Lily was tiny and not yet putting things in her mouth, but those days pass quickly, and virtually all of my baby toys are made in China by that company I used to trust. Max was almost 3 and no longer had a tendency to put things in his mouth, but I still didn't want to throw my support behind toys that I didn't trust anyway. For a short time I considered banning all gifts from China. After a few days surveying toy stores and internet sites it became clear that was not a viable option. It was too pricey and with Grandparents who don't shop online, it would make it very difficult for them to buy the kids gifts.

I nearly despaired of my purchasing policies making any impact on my own home let alone on what manufacturers do. But then I remembered that the smallest action can make a difference. If I don't change anything because my tiny change won't make a difference, and others think the same, then no change will come about. But if I buy a few less things made in China, and so do a few other people, then a difference can be made.

Multiply your actions. Consider what will happen if a lot of people to what you are doing. It is something I tell my kids often and it works with both good and bad things. If you spit out your gum in the parking lot you might think, "Fine, what's one piece of gum?" (other than an annoyance to whoever steps in it!) but if every person who comes through that parking lot spits out their gum... well, you get the picture. If you are walking down the street and pick up one piece of garbage it really doesn't look any nicer, but if everyone walking down that street does the same thing, it will be a whole lot cleaner.

If you use one cloth diaper a day, it doesn't impact what you spend per month on disposables much or even how much trash you throw away. At least the difference is very minimal. But if every mom used one per day, then we have eliminated a lot of waste! If I bought one less item from China this past Christmas, and I know others did too, then a change has begun.

Our major purchase this year at Christmas was a new doll house. We had several nice options. The main one in the toy store was not even very expensive. But instead we chose to invest a little more money and buy one that was made in Germany. It cost us over twice as much, but I feel better knowing that it is a safe toy and that my money didn't go to purchase another lead filled toxic toy.

I try to rotate my children's toys as much as possible to keep the mess to a manageable level. It does help a little. I have been sorting through things as they are out of sight as well and streamlining what we have to a healthy and worthwhile collection. It is so easy to get bogged down with STUFF nowadays. My children are none the wiser and have not missed a single thing that I have actually purged. I have found that there are toys that might be rotated out, but they are always missed quickly. It is always the most basic toys; blocks, dolls, cars, the toys that allow the most variety of play are missed the fastest. Then there are toys that are never missed until they see them again, in their box in the garage. So as I go along through the next birthdays and Christmases, those are the collections I will be filling out with more non-toxic, better made toys.

And now Lily is the proud owner of three very nice wooden clutching toys. (I was amazed at how she liked them. I knew *I* liked how they felt and looked better than our plastic toys, but at 4-almost-5 months, she showed an obvious preference. But now you think I'm crazy!)

One purchase at a time, we as consumers can demand a difference in what our marketplace offers us.

Cloth Diapering Times Two!

Double the Diapers, Double the Pins, Double the Savings, We are having Twins!

(35 weeks pregnant with twins)

Finding out that we were expecting twins only made me want to cloth diaper that much more! When thinking about all the diapers we would go through with twins I could not imagine throwing all that into the trash... What I mean is spending literally thousands of dollors filling landfills with disposable diapers.

(5lb. newborn twins wearing

XS bumGenius! all- in -one diapers)

Cloth diapering twins has saved me time. One of the hardest things I have found with having twins is running errands. I am so glad my time is not spent running out for diapers. I also don't have to spend my time changing my boys outfits several times a day due to explosive poops up the back. I remember my daughter in disposable diapers, we would go through 2-3 outfits a day because of messes not contained in the disposables. I don't have time to be changing and cleaning up 2 babies all day. Besides that would really mess up their matching outfits, ha ha... With the cloth diapers everything is contained in the diaper, even the really messy ones. The big question I hear a lot is: What about all the laundry? I really do not notice the laundry side of it being anymore time consuming. I still do the same number of diaper loads, (1 everyother day or two.)

(5 months old twins wearing

bumGenius! one-size diapers)

Keeping my babies health in mind is very important to me. With cloth diapers there are no harsh chemicals like the ones found in disposable diapers. There are a lot of reports out there showing just how harmful the chemicals in disposable diapers can be, some of which can leave your baby's bottom red and even cause diaper rash. My boys are over 5 months old and have never had a diaper rash.

If any of you are considering not using cloth because you are having multiples or you will have more than one in diapers, I would suggest that you reconsider for the sake of time, money, the enviroment, and your babies bottoms!

But I Wanted a Smaller Diaper Bag!

Taking the whole cloth diapering show on the road can feel like a challenge.

First of all because it does become a show. Cloth diapering is still a novel idea to most people. Even Grandmothers who never used a single disposable will be astonished that you use cloth diapers. They seem to think that it is ludicrous to use the old fashioned stuff when the ease of disposables is to be had for just a few dollars. Every time I change a diaper when we are out and about, someone pokes their head over my shoulder to ask, "Is that a CLOTH diaper?"

Secondly it is a puzzle to figure out what to pack to bring along. Maybe I overthink things, but when you have a few different types of diapers in your stash there is the potential to find yourself with a baby needing a change and a diaper that doesn't work well with the particular cover you have packed or vice versa. It's enough to make a mommy want to stay in the house some days!

Allow me to point out that using pockets or AIOs completely solves this problem. No matter what your baby is wearing, you can have a pocket diaper in the diaper bag and be fully ready for a change. But I digress.

While I was pregnant with Lily, I saw a lovely small diaper bag. I had gotten used to just being able to carry a purse around for a while and a small diaper bag seemed like it was a nice compromise. (I kept a diaper and wipes in the car for my toddler son.) But once I tried to pack that tiny diaper bag with all of the stuff needed for a newborn - a spitty one at that - I was toting around a diaper bag with stuff flowing out of it onto the ground. It wasn't specifically a problem of cloth diapering, but that did contribute. That really wasn't any more convenient than dragging around my large diaper bag.

I pouted. I wanted this to be easier. (Stop laughing!) I packed my cloth diapers away and swore to use just disposables. But I didn't really like that solution much either. I needed to get a plan for what I needed to have on hand and stick with it.

There are as many ways to pack a diaper bag as there are moms and dads, but there are some things that just never change: diapers and wipes. That is where to start. Then with cloth diapers you need a wet bag, it is just as important as the diapers themselves. Most of the time you also carry a change of clothes for baby as well. There you have it, that tiny diaper bag is already overflowing! Then you might also add a light blanket, a toy or two, hand sanitizer, pacifier, diaper cream... the list can be endless!

I don't like to carry two bags around; purse and diaper bag, so I always like to have one pocket in the diaper bag that is mine-all-mine. It holds my wallet, cell phone, calendar, and lip gloss; things I can't live without! This Christmas I discovered that the reason my cheapo diaper bags weren't cutting it was that they were cheap, if they had pockets on the inside, there weren't enough of them. I want to reaching to my diaper bag without looking and be able to find what I need. I also discovered the joys of stroller clips! Those attach your bag to the handle of your stroller instead of just having to put the strap of the bag over it and then try to hold it in place.

There is no one solution I can suggest to fix the classic diaper bag dilemma, at different baby ages, you have different needs for what you bring along. Different places you go will also require different things. A trip to the zoo will required different things in your bag than a trip to church for example.

The only advice I can offer is to invest in a really well made, well thought out diaper bag, then start with only the basics and imagine a few emergencies you might encounter. Out of the house emergencies include, but are not limited too:

Realizing that you have chapped lips
Changing baby only to have him pee all over his clothes
Being stuck in a waiting room much longer than you anticipated
Having to run an extra errand
And so many more things!

So what do YOU pack?

For fun, here is a little Diaper Bag Bingo - see how you do!

Diaper Bag Bingo: Check your diaper bag; see how many spaces you get!
C	L	O	T	H
Wet Bag	Cloth wipes	Lip gloss or chapstick for mom	Extra breast pads	Pad of paper or calendar of some sort
Pen, Pencil, or crayon	Wet Bag WITH a wet diaper in it	Extra set of clothes	Other pocket diaper (not bumGenius!)	Bottle or sippy
bumGenius!	Cell phone	Dry Diaper (Free Space)	Baby blanket or burp cloth	Crackers or cereal
Your wallet and/or sunglasses	Diaper cover	Disposable diaper	More than one type or size of diaper	Disposable wipes
Pacifier	Jar of baby food, home prepared baby food	Baby toys	Something that is a complete surprise, that you didn’t put in your bag	Diaper cream and/or butt spray for your cloth wipes

0-4: Short trips only!
5-9: Well Packed
10-14: Ready for anything
15+: How do you carry all that around?

(For the record, I got 18, not counting the Free Space, and I got BINGO down the "O" column!)

Phthalates & BPA - Two chemical compounds we should know more about

I am a cloth diapering mom, but I am also very concerned about the ingredients in other products my children use. One of my sons is very sensitive to detergents and is allergic to cinnamon. Our other son is allergic to corn and to dyes. We actually read the ingredient label now on every single piece of food that comes into our house and carefully watch all of our cleaners for ingredients that will cause reactions. I have been disappointed and surprised at the low levels to which some manufacturers will stoop to hide questionable ingredients. This issue was elevated again today when my husband, Jimmy, emailed me several articles about new research into BPA and Phthalates. The physical impact of these ingredients are often downplayed by United States product manufacturers and trade organizations, but the increasing media attention to this issue has raised the consumer awareness level and is producing an increased number of questions about the safety of products containing BPA and Phthalates.

We've been taught to be mostly concerned about soft plastic toys. However, MSNBC just published an article today about how researchers have found elevated levels of phthalates in the urine of babies just bathed, lotioned or powdered with baby products. The article mentions that artificial fragrances are a known source of phthalates. Unfortunately, my bathtub is currently full of fragranced baby products. I was very surprised to learn that the FDA does not require companies to disclose the exact ingredients in fragrance oils. This explains why we were unaware that phthalates were present in fragrance oils. As a parent, this makes me uncomfortable. As a product manufacturer, I have an ethical issue with hiding ingredients on a label.

This is an important issue for us at Cotton Babies because we recently developed and released bumGenius Bottom Cleaner, a cleansing product designed to be used in combination with reusable baby wipes and cloth diapers. The ingredient providing the fragrance in bumGenius Bottom Cleaner (for use with reusable baby wipes) is 100% natural Vanilla Planifolia. The product and the packaging are completely BPA and phthalate free.

In my travels through the issues related to plastics, I've also recently discovered that plastics can also leach bisphenol A (also known as BPA). Interestingly enough, except for bottles made by a few select manufacturers (including Born), BPA is common in polycarbonate baby bottles. Another report, published this weekend by Canada's leading national newspaper, Globe Life Health, states that boiling water in plastic containers spikes bisphenol A levels. Many parents will actually boil their baby's bottles to sterilize the bottle. Coffee drinkers to put very hot coffee in plastic travel mugs, then later microwave cold coffee in the same mug. Parents often microwave food for their child in a plastic bowl or plate. According to this article, this process can cause "a dramatic spike in the amount of bisphenol A, or BPA, leaching from containers into drinks... Bisphenol A is being reviewed because of health concerns that exposure to the hormone-like chemical could be a factor in recent health trends, such as increasing rates of prostate cancer, earlier onset of puberty in girls and declining sperm counts."

As the mother of two young boys, I find this rather concerning. I don't like to get all worked up about nothing, but found these two articles particularly concerning. We are now in the process of removing plastic sippy cups from our cupboard and moving to several non-leaching options available from SIGG and Foogo, by Thermos.

"Phthalates & BPA - Two chemical compounds we should know more about" is Copyright 2008, Cotton Babies, Inc.

It's Easier Now!

While I was in the throes of cloth diapering my newborn this time around, I realized I had forgotten how much babies pee. I think I must have blocked it out from the last few times, or maybe it is because I didn't have it written in a blog somewhere. But now it will be saved forever for posterity.

Babies pee a lot. And they pee often. Newborns pee almost continually, I think, at least it seems that way sometimes!

But then with Lily there came a day, at around 3 months, when I realized that cloth diapering had just gotten much easier. All of the sudden she wasn't peeing every 5 minutes, or pooping every five minutes either. And with great relief I knew with certainty that I had not been crazy to feel like chucking the diaper pail out the window some days, it was just that pesky newborn stage. (That newborn stage is full of loveliness as well, just not in terms of diapering.)

I didn't need to change her in the night anymore. I hadn't been changing her at night but now at least I didn't need to either. And during the day her diaper would stay dry for an hour or two before she wet again. My mind was no longer preoccupied with whether she was wet or not or whether her pee would slip out by her skinny legs. I wasn't worried anymore if 5 diapers was enough for a 4 hour outing.

But her legs aren't skinny anymore, and her system is a little more used to this whole "outside the womb" thing and it all just got a little easier to deal with.

Other stages we have gone through:

3 months to Regular Solids - Until baby is eating solids more than once or twice a day, the poo stays mostly the same (at least for breastfed babies, which are my only experience) and doesn't need to be rinsed off the diaper before washing. This is the easiest stage of all. As far as diapers go, you want something that will absorb FAST. Kissaluvs and prefolds fit the bill well. Pockets are nice to have at this time, but the real benefit of those comes later on.

Starting Solids - You just never know what you are going to get when you open a diaper after baby has started solids. For a while it may be normal breastmilk poo, then all the sudden WHAM! you get something totally different and then back to breastmilk poo again. It can be confusing! This is when having a slightly diversified stash will really pay off. But whatever you predict will come out in the diaper is totally different than what will come out in the diaper. Just have the nose plugs handy.

Toddler Peanut Butter Poo - Fully into solids now, regular meals and all that. Still have those nose plugs? You still need them! Toddlers don't have to actually eat peanut butter to have peanut butter poo, that is just the exact consistency of it. It stinks, it's hard to wipe off, and for a lot of children, it lasts until potty training. Some days you will wonder if your child will EVER have a formed poo that you can shake off into the toilet. Yes, someday. In the mean time, you will either be using lots of disposable wipes for clean-ups (yesterday I used 8 for one diaper, I kid you not!) or cloth with lots of moisture. (One wet but not dripping full sized wash cloth would have taken care of that 8-wipe diaper.) A benefit of using cloth wipes at this point is that you can clean off messy faces and hands too. Just do it BEFORE cleaning the bum. But then you knew that already.

Venturing into Potty Training Territory - Before you have even blinked an eye (or at least it seems like that once you get to that point, getting there seems to take a lot longer) you child's behavior is starting to change a little and you know that it is time for potty training. But that is a whole other post.

Hang in there, each stage passes before you know it. Constant wetness is no longer our battle at four months old, now the battle is SLEEP.