Parent Extremis

Wine! I highly suggest keeping a good bottle of cheap wine in the house at all times. It’s very nice to have a calming glass of wine after the kids go to bed each night. There are nights when that little treat renews me and lulls me into a ready-for-sleeping calm that I haven’t been able to channel sans alcohol since well before I had a baby.

I’m not at all advocating alcoholism or drinking as a means of managing the stresses of parenthood, however, it is a good coping tool! But, if you would rather consume a more benign substance, try an herbal tea or warm milk which is proven to help you sleep, and gives you a good dose of calcium and protein. Milk contains very small doses of melatonin and tryptophan that tend to have a sleepy calming effect on the body and mind.

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is not recommended, however if you are breastfeeding it can be safe, in moderation. Alcohol can be found in breast milk but the amounts are small, however, it is recommended that you have only one and no more than two drinks per day while nursing. Although, two drinks each day and every day isn’t suggested, so, you know, be smart about it. Alcohol doesn’t stay in breast milk, it does get metabolized by the body so you don’t necessarily need to pump and throw away the milk. For more information about alcohol consumption while breast-feeding, visit Bella Online.

A good nighttime tea to try is Celestial Seasonings Sweet Apple Chamomile. It is all natural, free of calories and caffeine. If you prefer an organic tea, try Sweet Clementine Chamomile Organic Herb Tea, also by Celestial Seasonings.

Julia wrote about vaccinations awhile back and she basically said everything that I felt. So perhaps you can just go read her posting and then we’ll be done? Oh… you actually want me to put actual words here? In this space? Oh. Alrighty then.

Wow. I never should have attempted such an often times controversial subject this early on a Monday, but my goal isn’t to say what I feel is right or even try to sway anyone to vaccinate or not to vaccinate. Ultimately, it is a personal decision. I will say that the arguments are in favor of vaccines as they are overwhelmingly safe. The public health defense being is at the top of PRO list, as is personal health. It is much better to let your child get a short-run, controlled fever than say, a case of the Mumps. There was an outbreak of the Mumps in 2006 which was a real reminder that we have let our guard down in terms of diseases once thought to be eradicated, or at least, totally off of our radar.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have a very extensive web page detailing recommended vaccine schedules and a chart that suggests how to catch up when vaccines have been missed or skipped for whatever reason.

The biggest vaccine controversy today is a concern that vaccines have contributed to the rise in Autism rates. However, there is no proven link. In the past two decades the number of available vaccines has grown quite a bit, and coincidentally, so have the rates in diagnosed Autism. At this point, this is really is a coincidence, there is no proven scientific research demonstrating any link.

It is difficult to watch your babies getting shots but it is ultimately better to have the sting of the shot than the disease it is preventing. Some pediatricians recommend a delayed vaccine schedule for babies who were born prematurely or who have stronger reactions to the shots. This option should be discussed with your pediatrician if you think it would benefit your child.

In the wake of a recent tragedy, a friend of a friend just lost a baby, an 18-month-old baby who drowned in a hot tub, I think it is important that we all take a minute and read over some good tips to keep our kids safe around water, specifically, pools. It’s summer time and we all want to take a dip to cool off. Young children and babies have no concept of the dangers of water and also, the double edged sword is that they are fascinated by water and can get away from us and out of sight in the blink of an eye.

The American Academy of Pediatrics makes the following statement:

A swimming pool can be very dangerous for children. If possible, do not put a swimming pool in your yard until your children are older than 5 years. Help protect your children from drowning by doing the following:

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Never leave your children alone in or near the pool, even for a moment. An adult who knows CPR should actively supervise children at all times.
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Practice touch supervision with children younger than 5 years. This means that the adult is within an arm’s length of the child at all times.
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You must put up a fence to separate your house from the pool. Most young children who drown in pools wander out of the house and fall into the pool. Install a fence at least 4 feet high around all 4 sides of the pool. This fence will completely separate the pool from the house and play area of the yard. Use gates that self-close and self-latch, with latches higher than your children’s reach.
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Keep rescue equipment (such as a shepherd’s hook or life preserver) and a telephone by the pool.
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Do not use air-filled “swimming aids” as a substitute for approved life vests.
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Remove all toys from the pool after use so children aren’t tempted to reach for them.
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After the children are done swimming, secure the pool so they can’t get back into it.
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A power safety cover that meets the standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) may add to the protection of your children but should not be used in place of the fence between your house and the pool. Even fencing around your pool and using a power safety cover will not prevent all drownings.

Remember, teaching your child how to swim DOES NOT mean your child is safe in water.

Red Cross Water Safety
Also, the American Red Cross makes the following recommendations for HOME POOLS:

I just got an email from another blogger who has a baby the same age as Noah and after reading one of my postings about finally getting the baby to sleep for a nice long period of time, things are about to hit the fan because it is just about TEETHING time. Can I get a collective sigh of URGH.

I think the baby is starting the whole dreaded teething phase. He drools like a fountain and gnaws excessively on his hand, my hand, my shoulder, the dirty washcloth in the bathtub, you get the idea. His top row of gums have puffed up in the shape of little baby teeth. The bottom hasn’t shown too much action so far.

Babies can start teething as early as three months and some don’t show any signs of teeth appearing at their one year birthday but for most babies, the little nubs start cutting through that soft gum tissue somewhere around seven months of age, just for an average.

Sometimes breastfed babies will start to bite when they are teething. They are not doing it to hurt you, but rather because their gums are sore and biting down feels good but rest assured you can teach them not to bite. Moxie has written a good piece about breastfed biters.

The teething ring pictured at the top of this article is made out of all natural maple wood. It is made in the United States and is free of chemicals, most importantly, lead but also there is no potentially toxic gel inside. It is sold on Amazon.

When your baby starts teething and you want to offer some organic means of gum soothing, consider offering them a washcloth damp with cool water at room temperature or one that has been refrigerated for awhile. The cool sensation will gently and naturally numb their gums. Some babies will take to chewing on a pacifier. Even if the baby hasn’t liked a paci in the past, consider showing them they they can chew on it now. Sippie cup spouts are just about the right size to be chewed on. Overall, just choose something safe and large (READ: NON-CHOKE-ABLE) that your baby likes to chew on. Anything that takes the edge off of their discomfort is a good option.

There are also a hot of over-the-counter medicines including Tylenol and Orajel, a benzocaine-product. It is recommended that you speak with your pediatrician before offering any of these products.

At some time or another every baby gets a bit of diaper rash. It can range from a mild irritation to severe sores in the diaper-covered area. The rash is a result of wetness being held against the skin for prolonged periods of time. Other factors include baby’s degree of sensitivity to the wetness and the skin’s ability to ward off the rash.

Noah went a few weeks before he had any diaper related issues and I was anxious to use my stockpile of diaper creams, lotions, and potions. Finally he got some redness on his lower cheeks and some irritation from being wiped so much. Babies tend to poop constantly in their first few weeks, (I hear this is more common and even more frequent with breastfed babies, but I don’t have a formula-fed baby for reference) and the frequent wiping can make the skin a little chapped too. Back then I treated his diaper area issues retroactively. I cleaned him and applied some diaper cream, anything with zinc oxide, the thick skin protecting agent.

With Noah sleeping for long periods of time at night, sometimes as much as ten or eleven hours at a time without a diaper change I was worried he would get a rash. I am proud to say he has been totally rash free now for over a month. I treat him PROACTIVELY every night with Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. After his bath I dry him thoroughly and apply a thin coating of Butt Paste to his entire hind end area and the sensitive nooks and crannies of his upper diaper-covered regions and the areas that get frequent wiping. I close up the diaper and put him to bed.

Boudreaux’s is not as thick as Desitin Original. It also has a very pleasant odor, similar I think to that of cookie dough.

Chances are you are reading this if and only if you are faced with the dilemma of a helpless infant who has thoroughly nasal passage-blocking boogers that vibrate with each breath causing a sound easily mistaken for a train plowing through your backyard and sucking on your boob simultaneously. Babies obviously can’t blow their noses and they aren’t as good at moving nasal mucous as adults are. They can’t hold one nostril and blow snot out the other one in a good athlete-type fashion until they are at least ten months old, so for now, read the instructions below, follow my ritual for baby-nose cleaning and your little bundle of snot joy will be back to his giggling little self in no time flat.

So you notice that your little bruiser has a rather indelicate nasal situation. If the booger is visible but only slightly out of reach you can try a warm wet q-tip. Be extra careful to not stick the q-tip too far into the nostril, you don’t want to hurt the baby. Using a slight twist of the q-tip the booger may dislodge and move just close enough to the opening of the nostril that you can grab it with a tissue.

If this less, yeah! less intrusive method doesn’t work, here’s the champion way to get a booger out of a baby’s nose. Hold your baby on your lap, or in a sitting position on a changing table so that you can give each nostril a quick spray of saline. Wipe any runoff with a tissue and entertain your baby for about a minute while allowing the saline to do its job of moistening the tissues and loosening the boogers. Finally, lay your baby down on his back, hold his head with one hand and the nasal aspirator in the other hand. Pinch one nostril and suction the other one at the same time. This should bring the boogers into view and you can wipe them away with a tissue. Repeat on the other nostril. Your baby will wail while this happens, could be the slurping the sound could be the discomfort of having something enter an orifice that is preferably exit only, but, the relief they gain is well worth the few seconds of discomfort. When using the nasal aspirator squeeze the bulb before your put it in the nostril, practice a few times before you actually do this procedure to get the real hang of it to minimize the child’s discomfort.

I use the American Red Cross brand nasal aspirator, available at Target for about $3.99. I like that it has an extra small tip that keeps you from pushing it in too far. It is also recommended that you suction a baby’s nose as little as possible, over zealous nasal aspiration can cause swollen tissues which actually make the baby feel more congested.