Wednesday 6 February 2013

The Un-Crunchy Mom

    While pregnant and after I was a very un-"crunchy" mom. I may have had some ideas of birth and child rearing that fit in with the crunchy granola moms but mainly I was not crunchy at all. Now I start noticing my ideas and views and wishes seem to be lining up more and more with those moms. Breastfeeding past a year, buying organic, baby led weaning and the like never even crossed my mind for a millisecond.

      At first I was sure I would do crying it out if needed as sleep training, well he hasn't been a great sleeper since the 4 month sleep regression (some nights are great), well I not only keep putting off sleep training but when I think about doing crying it out I make up my own lighter type of version with picking him up. The only part being kept in my mind is letting him cry a few minutes giving him a chance to settle down on his own, or letting him fully fuss it out if he isn't crying.

     I never thought about solids before but when it came time I decided I would be making the  purees AND using organic produce where possible. I never bought organic products before and never really cared. Plus I have tried purees 4 times so far  and I kind of wish that I had never done pureés but rather baby led weaning (BLW). Im too scared to fully do BLW but I think I will add BLW type foods and elements into how I feed him. For example, my son has started eating every hour to 2 hours about a month ago (except for nights) and after a few really bad nights (ever since I decided to take a break on solids) I began to think maybe adding solids will ensure he is less hungry and wont need to feed so often at night (and during the day but that is less important). Soon we will try avocado chunks, exciting to see if he will like it more then pureé.

Diapers. Disposables obviously, right? Well I thought it was nuts some ladies wanted to put that much effort and time into non disposable diapers. I mean, our moms did it and they think disposables are AMAZING and hey baby items keep progressing and making things easier for mom. Well, my son seems to have kind of sensitive skin. He gets reddish often enough, not a full blown diaper rash, he had 1 diaper rash that went away in like a day or 2 but he gets redness. I began caking on diaper rash cream even more then I used to but he still gets reddish sometimes even if slightly. I'm thinking "Great, who made these disposables *rolls eyes* I wish I could have done cloth diapering part time." Well yep thats I more thing with which my mind has totally been changed. I think cloth diapering 24/7 would be hard but I wish I could have done it during the day and only used disposables at night. Its cheaper and your child isn't sitting in chemicals and plastic all day. At the moment I am sitting here anxiously awaiting a cloth diaper I ordered to give my son a break each day from being in disposables. Plus yesterday a cloth diaper Bummis Swimmi diaper arrived. I was so excited it was like waiting for my birthday!

Next on the list is labouring. Hospital  check. OB-GYN, check. Epidural, if needed. I remember when I was reading birth stories when pregnant one girl wrote her mother in law said midwives are witches, well I didn't go that far but I was like "WHY in the world would you NOT take an OB". "Why would you do a water birth". I laughed at Lamaze breathing and the list went on. Well, next time I'm thinking of maybe going with a midwife so that the types of things I had wanted and put in my birth plan were followed more closely. I mean I loved my birth experience last time but maybe if I was more ready and had a carer who was more natural centered I would have had less interventions (even thought I did not have WAYYY too many but I did have some). Plus I hear water is very relaxing during birth, maybe I wont do a water birth but maybe I can get a room with a pool next time.

Next on the list. I always respected and thought the hardest job was being a stay at home mom. Well now I want to be one more then ever. *sigh*

Organic, healthy, natural products. I never really cared at all. Well now I am soo excited about the Little Eco-Footprint boxes I subscribed to. I will learn more and sample better products for my son. Why not pick the healthiest best choices for our little ones.

TV. Why cant little ones watch a little every once in a while. Well now I am like the guardian of the television. Whenever my son has view of it, I turn him or stand in front of it. No TV till at least 2 years old. He has his whole life to watch TV.


What I have not changed my mind on is: co-sleeping, home birthing. These are not for me. By the way I am not saying all  crunchy moms do all of these things either. Also not all moms change their minds nor am I particularly saying they should. Sometimes formula feeding may be the best choice because of the stress and problems with breastfeeding, sometimes co sleeping is and sometimes your child will tummy sleep if you want them to or not. Main thing is even things you are sure about are not a given, your mind may just change as your child grows. Now if your husband also allows you to buy the things needed for changing your mind all the time. haha just joking M already let's me get so much baby gear and I love it!

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Now for an update on the solids situation

    2 days ago I decided to try avocado  He had had a horrible night and kept waking up hungry. I decided with solids maybe he wont be so hungry in the middle of the night. I know, I know they say solids do not aid sleep but I still hoped. So sweet potato was tried about a week and a half ago and I decided this time to try another food: avocado. So I mixed it with a tiny bit of breast milk and mashed it. He made the ewww face again but he did not push any out of his mouth and he got more in himself then he did with the sweet potato. I call that relative success  I worry though that he does not like the consistency of pureés so I wonder if I should do BLW as I mentioned. Yesterday we did avocado pureé with a tiny bit of boiled water (mashed with a potato masher). Today I may try and give him an avocado chunk and see how that goes. Today is the 3rd day of avocado so we may try banana tomorrow. Remember with solids at first it is recommended to wait 3-5 days before trying a new food so that you know if there is an allergic reaction what the allergy is to and what to avoid.



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