Baby Corner

[Eveline 9]

Congratulations Betti.

My husband and I have plans to try for No. 2 next summer.

[Englishsammy 17]

HEY EVERYONE! I haven't been on here for a few months!! Hayden is now nearly four months old, he's just amazing, he's such a great baby, doesn't cry too much and is always smiling!!! Oh and he already loves the ladies!!! There are some pics below which were taken a couple of weeks ago! Congrats to all those who have given birth since I left and congrats to all the newbie pregnant ladies!!! Enjoy and Good luck!!!

Sam

[Sand 5]

Ohhhh, so pretty eyes

Edited August 27, 2007 by Sand

[Lizzy 0]

He is LOVELY!!! What a calm, happy looking baby!

[Eveline 9]

Hey ladies, I was just wondering does anyone of you do the attachment parenting thing (cosleeping, babywearing, not letting them cry it out etc.) I'm getting more and more tree huggerish by the day, cloth diapering, making my own food, breastfeeding, NO PLASTIC BOTTLES or SIPPY CUPS etc. Does anyone of you have a babysling, wrap, Ergo carrier, MeiTai, MayaWrap etc (bjorns don't count, sorry).

Here's adam and me in a sling, he loves it:

[keltic 1]

Hey ladies, I was just wondering does anyone of you do the attachment parenting thing (cosleeping, babywearing, not letting them cry it out etc.) I'm getting more and more tree huggerish by the day, cloth diapering, making my own food, breastfeeding, NO PLASTIC BOTTLES or SIPPY CUPS etc. Does anyone of you have a babysling, wrap, Ergo carrier, MeiTai, MayaWrap etc (bjorns don't count, sorry).

~we did cosleeping exclusively for the first 4 1/2 months... now he sleeps in his crib (which is at the foot of our bed) most nights... but he still occassionally is in our beds...

~we dont believe in letting him cry it out either (no ferberizing in this home)...

~i would like to make some of my own babyfood, but am realistic enough to know that i cant do it all... but i will be careful about what i buy for him (no preservatives, etc)... and i want to be able to give him more variety than gerber or beechnut...

~tried the breastfeeding and it just didnt work for us (he fought it and i didnt make enough milk longterm)...

~i do use pampers tho...

~and we have the AVENT bottles which are made of plastic... ive asked around with the folks that i work with (pediatricians and neonatologists) to see if there is a need to change to glass bottles and havent found anyone alarmed by the plastic bottles...

~i dont have the babysling, he just stays in my arms most of the time... i have one of those carriers that he can face me or face outward in tho for if i need my hands free:

we have been trying to just follow his signs tho... he was doing everything to show us he was ready for rice cereal/oatmeal by around 3 months... and we started feeding him other foods about a week or so ago (5 months)... he has been eyeing what we eat and trying to grab it from our plates... he still acts hungry after drinking 8 - 9 oz of formula and eats his oatmeal... he almost sits without support and has great head control... so, hes had green beans, squash, pears and sucked on a piece of cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon (oh HOW he loved that!)... he has one tooth thats peeping thru and one that is ready to, so the cold melon must feel really good in addition to tasting so great

[JaEnglishGirl 34]

Hi all...

My waters broke early Friday morning, I wasn't sure if I had wet myself or was my water, I soon found out was definitely my waters!!

Made my way casually to the hospital, since I was only 36 weeks, thought they might very well take their time.

They decided to give me a c-section right away, at 9.20am, my son Tyler Christopher was born weighing an incredible 10lbs 2ozs.

Had only a brief glance at him, his daddy did get to hold him though, before they took him away to NICU. He had retained some fluid on his lungs and also had a low blood sugar level due to the fact I had gestational diabetes.

He is still in hospital, but should be coming home before the weekend.

He is doing really well!!

Here's a photo

[ace13 0]

What a sweet baby, AlienUKGirl! I think 36 weeks was enough! If he went to term he would have been over 14 lbs! OM! He sure is a cutie! I bet he will have little ripples on his legs! Congratulations! I hope everything is going well

Good news! First- I felt the baby!!! It feels like electric shocks. Real quick movements. No jolts or anything I can see on the surface, but I am sure that will come. It feels like I am going to have a very active baby!

Second- I heard the heartbeat again yesterday. it has gone from 166 to 168 to 152. Boy?

Third- My appointment for the big u/s is 9/25. Just 4 weeks from now we find out if we have a daughter or a son! This is all so amazing!

Christina--have you been feeling the baby?

[keltic 1]

Diaper-Free Babies

Mon Aug 27, 2:05 PM ET

Thirteen-month-old Dominic Klatt stopped banging the furniture in the verandah, looked at his mother and clasped his right hand around his left wrist to signal that he needed to go to the bathroom.

His mother took the diaper-less tot to a tree in the yard, held him in a squatting position and made a gentle hissing sound — prompting the infant to relieve himself on cue before he rushed back to play.

Dominic is a product of a growing "diaper-free" movement founded on the belief that babies are born with an instinctive ability to signal when they have to answer nature's call. Parents who practice the so-called "elimination communication" learn to read their children's body language to help them recognize the need, and they mimic the sounds that a child associates with the bathroom.

Erinn Klatt began toilet training her son at birth and said he has not wet his bed at night since he was six months old.

"The nice part is ... really getting the majority of poops in the toilet versus having to clean that," Klatt said. "I don't have to wake up at night and change diapers or have wet sheets anywhere. That's really nice.

"And being able to travel without a big, bloated diaper bag is terrific," she said.

Some parents and toilet training experts are skeptical.

"They teach them from birth? Oh, my God!" said 40-year-old Lisa Bolcato, as she held her 5-month-old daughter, Rose, at a park on Boston Common. "When you're getting two hours of sleeps between feedings, I don't think that you have the time to do it. You just make sure that your child's healthy and happy and well-fed."

Still, the practice is common in many parts of rural Africa and Asia where parents cannot afford diapers.

In the United States, many of the parents are stay-at-home-moms, but there are also working mothers. Some meet in online groups, at homes and in public parks to share experiences and cheer each others' efforts.

Experts at the Child Study Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center say children younger than 12 months have no control over bladder or bowel movements and little control for 6 months after that.

But some parents begin going diaper-free at birth, and the infants can initiate bowel movements on cue as young as 3 to 4 months, said Elizabeth Parise, spokeswoman of DiaperFreeBaby.org, a network of free support groups promoting the practice.

And unlike some methods of toilet training, there are no rewards or punishment associated with it.

Dr. Mark Wolraich, professor of pediatrics and director of the Child Study Center, said the practice essentially conditions young children to go to the bathroom at predictable times or show clear signs when they must go.

"To be truly toilet-trained, the child has to be able to have the sensation that they need to go, be able to interpret that sensation and be able to then tell the parent and take some action," said Wolraich, who is also editor of the American Academy of Pediatrics' book on toilet training.

"And that's different from reading the subtle signs that the child is making when they have to go to the bathroom."

Parents attempt the early training to forge closer ties with their infants, to reduce the environmental impact associated with diapers and to avoid skin irritation caused by a wet diaper, Parise said.

Others were inspired by observing the practice while traveling abroad.

The practice also enables parents to get insight into an infant's development since more accidents occur if a child falls sick or enters a new phase such as learning to crawl, walk or talk.

This is because an infant may be too distracted by illness or efforts to master a new skill to communicate the need to go to the bathroom, said Melinda Rothstein, an MIT business school graduate who co-founded DiaperFreeBaby.org.

She says finding a supportive daycare center is the biggest challenge for parents who choose not to use diapers. Other problems include finding tiny underwear for diaper-free infants.

Isis Arnesen, 33, of Boston, has a 14-week-old daughter, Lucia, who is diaper-free. She said it can be awkward to explain the process to people, such as when she helped Lucia relieve herself in a sink at a public restroom.

"Sometimes I don't know what's gonna happen and it doesn't work, and sometimes I feel a little embarrassed," Arnesen said. "It makes her happy though, right? She smiles, she's happy."

ok... now, let me repeat this part...

She said it can be awkward to explain the process to people, such as when she helped Lucia relieve herself in a sink at a public restroom.

?????!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

i imagine it WOULD be awkward... ok, you dont want your kid to wear diapers... ok, fine... but in the SINK of a PUBLIC restroom????? why not the toilet? so shes an infant... but what is the cut off for when she can pee in the sink? how old before she uses the toilet?? do what you want at home, but in public???

i am all for supporting parenting choices, including breastfeeding in public, etc... but this is a bit over the top even for me!

Hi all...

My waters broke early Friday morning, I wasn't sure if I had wet myself or was my water, I soon found out was definitely my waters!!

Made my way casually to the hospital, since I was only 36 weeks, thought they might very well take their time.

They decided to give me a c-section right away, at 9.20am, my son Tyler Christopher was born weighing an incredible 10lbs 2ozs.

Had only a brief glance at him, his daddy did get to hold him though, before they took him away to NICU. He had retained some fluid on his lungs and also had a low blood sugar level due to the fact I had gestational diabetes.

He is still in hospital, but should be coming home before the weekend.

He is doing really well!!

Here's a photo

congratulations!!!!!!!!

[keltic 1]

Good news! First- I felt the baby!!! It feels like electric shocks. Real quick movements. No jolts or anything I can see on the surface, but I am sure that will come. It feels like I am going to have a very active baby!

Second- I heard the heartbeat again yesterday. it has gone from 166 to 168 to 152. Boy?

Third- My appointment for the big u/s is 9/25. Just 4 weeks from now we find out if we have a daughter or a son! This is all so amazing!

nothing like that feeling, is there?

here's hoping you get good news at your U/S! do you have names picked out??

[chri'stina 190]

Anna,

Cool! I have felt some flutters but not any full on kicks yet.

My next appt was supposed to be tomorrow but it got canceled because the person I see had to go out of town on an emergency. So now I don't go until Sept 12th! I wanted to hear the heartbeat tomorrow, which I still haven't heard, only seen. And we still don't have the date for the big U/S. I'll be 18 weeks on Friday but at my office they won't look for gender til at least 19-20 weeks.

I am calling the office today to try to make them give me an appt for that, instead of me going for my Sept 12th appt and them saying, "oh come in 2 days for the big u/s". I want to know ahead of time.

Hi all...

My waters broke early Friday morning, I wasn't sure if I had wet myself or was my water, I soon found out was definitely my waters!!

Made my way casually to the hospital, since I was only 36 weeks, thought they might very well take their time.

They decided to give me a c-section right away, at 9.20am, my son Tyler Christopher was born weighing an incredible 10lbs 2ozs.

Had only a brief glance at him, his daddy did get to hold him though, before they took him away to NICU. He had retained some fluid on his lungs and also had a low blood sugar level due to the fact I had gestational diabetes.

He is still in hospital, but should be coming home before the weekend.

He is doing really well!!

Here's a photo

Congrats, what a cutie! I hope he's out of the hospital and with you very soon!

[chri'stina 190]

Hey ladies, I was just wondering does anyone of you do the attachment parenting thing (cosleeping, babywearing, not letting them cry it out etc.) I'm getting more and more tree huggerish by the day, cloth diapering, making my own food, breastfeeding, NO PLASTIC BOTTLES or SIPPY CUPS etc. Does anyone of you have a babysling, wrap, Ergo carrier, MeiTai, MayaWrap etc (bjorns don't count, sorry).

I am not 100% sure what we will do yet, but so far I plan for the baby to be in a bassinet in the room with us for a few months, because of being right there when the baby wakes up. I think the slings look cool, but I don't know if I'd actually use it. I do want to b-feed, and just hoping it works out because I know for some it's very hard. No clothe diapers, so basically I guess I am not doing the attachment parenting with the more I list things, LOL. It matters how much time I would have if I could make food or not, we probably will use plastic bottles, etc.

I know this might be controversial but I don't like the idea of bf-ing in public. I'd rather go somewhere alone to do it, not in front of people. That's just me. I have friends who are bf-ing and they always go into another room. I think they like the privacy more than anything.

I am going to ask my mom a lot of questions is what I am 100% sure of. And I turned out pretty well so whatever she did with me seemed to have worked fine.

[Magnolia31 0]

I did do pretty much all of the attachment parenting stuff. I didn't do it on purpose but later on found out that it's what I was doing. I made my own baby food, co-slept, etc. The only thing i did not use were cloth diapers. I was into extended breastfeeding and believe in self-weaning.

I could never get used to the sling - for some reason it felt like my daughter would fall out so it scared me LOL.

BTW, I am pregnant now and don't think i will do the co-sleeping this time around. My daughter is now 6 and still won't sleep in her own bed. This is one of the negative things that became of co-sleeping LOL. I think she will sleep with me until she is 18, maybe even later HAHAHA. Seriously though, it did cause some problems between me and my husband. My daughter is from my ex-husband and my current husband also has children of his own. We both have different parenting philosophies. He is not into the whole co-sleeping thing, etc. Now that i am pregnant we are working on some compromises because I am NOT going to give up totally what I believe in and he understands that.

Hey ladies, I was just wondering does anyone of you do the attachment parenting thing (cosleeping, babywearing, not letting them cry it out etc.) I'm getting more and more tree huggerish by the day, cloth diapering, making my own food, breastfeeding, NO PLASTIC BOTTLES or SIPPY CUPS etc. Does anyone of you have a babysling, wrap, Ergo carrier, MeiTai, MayaWrap etc (bjorns don't count, sorry).

Here's adam and me in a sling, he loves it:

[Magnolia31 0]

Breastfeeding can become a challenge but when you master it, it's so rewarding. I tried nursing my daughter when she was a baby but could not get her to latch on. I tried for days and finally gave up. However, I did not want to be a quitter (i am very determined) so after a few days of giving up, I told myself I can do it. I tried again and this time her father helped me - he is a pediatric nurse so he was experienced. he actually gave nursing classes with fake breasts back in the day LOL. At first i had too much pride to ask him but in the end he showed me how to get my daughter to latch on.

It was painful for the first 2 weeks and I sometimes cried while breastfeeding her. later on as she got older I couldn't get her off the #######. LOL

Hey ladies, I was just wondering does anyone of you do the attachment parenting thing (cosleeping, babywearing, not letting them cry it out etc.) I'm getting more and more tree huggerish by the day, cloth diapering, making my own food, breastfeeding, NO PLASTIC BOTTLES or SIPPY CUPS etc. Does anyone of you have a babysling, wrap, Ergo carrier, MeiTai, MayaWrap etc (bjorns don't count, sorry).

I am not 100% sure what we will do yet, but so far I plan for the baby to be in a bassinet in the room with us for a few months, because of being right there when the baby wakes up. I think the slings look cool, but I don't know if I'd actually use it. I do want to b-feed, and just hoping it works out because I know for some it's very hard. No clothe diapers, so basically I guess I am not doing the attachment parenting with the more I list things, LOL. It matters how much time I would have if I could make food or not, we probably will use plastic bottles, etc.

I know this might be controversial but I don't like the idea of bf-ing in public. I'd rather go somewhere alone to do it, not in front of people. That's just me. I have friends who are bf-ing and they always go into another room. I think they like the privacy more than anything.

I am going to ask my mom a lot of questions is what I am 100% sure of. And I turned out pretty well so whatever she did with me seemed to have worked fine.

[Magnolia31 0]

Breastfeeding can become a challenge but when you master it, it's so rewarding. I tried nursing my daughter when she was a baby but could not get her to latch on. I tried for days and finally gave up. However, I did not want to be a quitter (i am very determined) so after a few days of giving up, I told myself I can do it. I tried again and this time her father helped me - he is a pediatric nurse so he was experienced. he actually gave nursing classes with fake breasts back in the day LOL. At first i had too much pride to ask him but in the end he showed me how to get my daughter to latch on.

It was painful for the first 2 weeks and I sometimes cried while breastfeeding her. later on as she got older I couldn't get her off the #######. LOL

Hey ladies, I was just wondering does anyone of you do the attachment parenting thing (cosleeping, babywearing, not letting them cry it out etc.) I'm getting more and more tree huggerish by the day, cloth diapering, making my own food, breastfeeding, NO PLASTIC BOTTLES or SIPPY CUPS etc. Does anyone of you have a babysling, wrap, Ergo carrier, MeiTai, MayaWrap etc (bjorns don't count, sorry).

I am not 100% sure what we will do yet, but so far I plan for the baby to be in a bassinet in the room with us for a few months, because of being right there when the baby wakes up. I think the slings look cool, but I don't know if I'd actually use it. I do want to b-feed, and just hoping it works out because I know for some it's very hard. No clothe diapers, so basically I guess I am not doing the attachment parenting with the more I list things, LOL. It matters how much time I would have if I could make food or not, we probably will use plastic bottles, etc.

I know this might be controversial but I don't like the idea of bf-ing in public. I'd rather go somewhere alone to do it, not in front of people. That's just me. I have friends who are bf-ing and they always go into another room. I think they like the privacy more than anything.

I am going to ask my mom a lot of questions is what I am 100% sure of. And I turned out pretty well so whatever she did with me seemed to have worked fine.