Monthly Archives: January 2014

starting solids…

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The calendar is marked. January 21st is circled. Abby is turning 6 months old. Although this should be a time of excitement and joy I can’t help feel nervous and a bit sad. My little baby is no longer little, she is growing up so fast.

As nervous first time parents, my husband and I visit the library and take out every book we can find on starting solids. Of course the information we find only leads to even more confusion…go figure. Should we feed Abby all green veggies then all orange veggies? Or should we start with rice cereal? But wait! Some say that rice cereal is the devil and we should begin with free-range, organic, grain fed chicken eggs or liver. Some books even recommend feeding her exactly what we are eating. The choices were endless and everyone seemed to be an expert. The first foods you feed a baby are so important. This seemed to be the only thing the books agreed on!

After carefully reading as many books as we could we decided that her first food should be chicken and breast milk. As unappetizing as this sounded to me it had all the nutrition she required and had low chances of an allergic reaction.

We decided that we would start her solids on a Saturday morning. It was a few days before her 6 month mark but I really wanted my husband to be a part of this milestone, as it will be one of the only milestones we will have some control over. That morning he went to the store and bought Abby her organic, grain fed, chicken breast (the books scared me about all the additives so I thought we should play it safe for her first time. Thanks ‘mom-guilt’). I boiled it up in a frying pan, as it is recommended that poached is best. Then I puréed it with some breast milk. It looked like old fashioned paste, the kind that was used in schools, very unappetizing. We sat down together at the dinning room table, my husband and I with our breakfast and Abby with hers.

Like tourists at a national monument we had cameras at the ready. My husband carefully put a small amount on her spoon and brought it too her mouth. She opened wide as always, expecting an empty spoon. The look of shock and surprise on her face when she discovered that there was food was priceless. We allowed her to take the spoon and try and feed herself. With chicken covering her face and arms she banged the spoon on her tray and smiled. Chicken and breast milk was a success!

I am now infused with a sense of excitement. I can’t wait to try new foods with her and enjoy her reaction to new tastes that I have become accustom too. Time to let the culinary adventure begin!

splish splash…

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Bath time has always been a fun time for Abby. She takes such joy in kicking and splashing in the water. During our first few days at home I would pull out her small bathtub and set it up with water in our bedroom. The morning sunlight would shine through the three large windows filling the room with a warm glow. I would scoop up water with Abby’s favorite bath toy, her orange whale. This toy looks like a small cup shaped like a whale with perforated holes in the bottom allowing water to trickle out like a shower. As I lifted the whale high up above Abby’s chest she would giggles watching the water splashed down onto her skin, reaching out to grab at it with her fingers.

Soon these giggles turned into vigorous wiggles and in order to save our carpet we needed to move bath time into the bathroom. Saying goodbye to ‘sun-baths’ and hello to ‘splash-baths’. We placed her small bathtub inside our own tub, giving Abby the opportunity to exercise her legs. And exercise she did! She kicked the water until it would splash all over the floor. Rubber ducks were now a staple bath time friend. Abby would squeal with joy as her duck would come floating closer to her, splashing her hands trying to coax the duck to hurry over.

Soon the small bathtub was too small. It was time for Abby to move to the big tub. In order to bathe in the large tub Abby required a bath partner. My husband quickly volunteered for the job. This soon became their Daddy-daughter time. Every day or two my husband would run a warm bath and the two would get in and splash. It is a wonderful thing to sit downstairs taking a few moments to myself listening to my husband singing ‘baby beluga’ upstairs in the bathtub. Quickly this became a highlight for Abby. I could see her face light up when she would notice her Daddy in the tub. She waves her hands up and down with joy as I hand her over to my husband for some bath time fun!

I work hard at remembering these moments don’t last forever and before we know it Daddy-daughter bath time will be over. At least we will have some photos to remind and embarrass her when she gets older!

diaper time…

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bumgeniousBefore Abby was born my husband and I both decided that we wanted to try using cloth diapers for her.  Both of our parents had each used cloth diapers in the passed and I really liked the idea that she could use them for her whole diaper journey.  The fact that we would be saving a large sum of money and that it was an earth conscious choice also helped seal the deal.  I had heard horror stories about how they leak, that they were tricky to use and that they smell terrible.  I began to look into them in greater detail.  Most of the stories of smell and leaking were user issues or the old cloth diapers.  The new cloth diapers look and work the same as the disposable ones.  It took us a great deal of research before we settled on a brand.  Thanks to my sister-in-law who is also using cloth we were able to use her experience without having to go through any ‘blow-outs’ or other issues. We settled on the Bumgenious 4.0.

Although these diapers were some of the more expensive ones that we found, they seemed to have the best reputation and quality.  We ordered fourteen in a bright mix of different colours.  They seemed easy to put together.  We just needed to slide the liner into the pocket part of the diaper and voila! Abby seems to like them as well.  They must be more comfortable than the disposable cloth ones, the material that touches her skin is very soft.  We decided to still use the disposable diapers at night as Abby is a heavy ‘pee-er’ and often soaks through the disposables ones overnight.

Our fingers are crossed that this journey continues as smoothly (and cleanly) as it began!

to sleep perchance to dream…

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“How are you sleeping?” This must be the number one question asked to any first time new mom. Whenever people would see me and meet Abigail they would want to know about her sleep habits (or mine). For the first few months of life I could truthfully answer that we were both doing great. I was sleeping, quite well in fact. Often it felt more than when I was pregnant, as I woke up to go to the bathroom or with a bleeding nose almost nightly. Strangely enough this was not what people wanted to hear. Most people were interested in late night horror stories of screaming babies and desperate mothers. When all I could offer them was a good sleeper who woke to feed then back to bed they had a look of disappointment on their faces.  I tried to ignore it and take some pride in our sleeping accomplishments.  This however proved to be difficult.

All new mothers can attest too people love to give advice.  Although this advice is meant to be helpful it can often lead to feelings of frustration and inadequacy.  I was told on multiple occasions that I should not be nursing Abby to sleep at night.  I was ‘creating poor sleep habits’.  I brushed these thoughts aside as both Abby and I greatly enjoyed our evening feeds, I found them relaxing and it helped me to unwind at the end of the day.  We continued with our routine of nursing to sleep and for the first few months it seemed to work well.  Then the day arrived when it stopped working all together.

As Abby grew her sleep patterns drastically changed. She began to go through numerous, and sometimes what seemed like never ending, growth spurts. This began the end of our sleep honeymoon. Abby was now waking up every two hours and would on occasion take another two to three hours to go back to sleep.  She was hungry all the time and my milk struggled to keep up with her growing demand.

During these long nights I would often think about my choice to keep nursing Abby to sleep and whether or not I had helped to create ‘poor sleeping habits’. For reassurance I reached out to a trusted source of help, my mom. She gave me what I consider the best advice for any new mother…do what you think is best for your family, you know your baby better than anyone else.

As I write this I am sitting quietly in the rocking chair in Abby’s nursery. She is curled up in my arms drinking with a small smile. Although it’s 2:34 am and I have only slept for an about an hour tonight, I repeat my moms words in my head. I’m doing what I think is best for my family and what’s best for my baby.