I have a near and dear friend who is getting ready to have her second son in the coming weeks. There is so much joy and excitement going on! They have waited nearly three years for this second dream of a child to come along and I could not be happier for her. We chatted over the weekend and while she already has a five year old, baby semantics have long left her. We talked about the things she still needed and wanted and she asked me some questions. With her, nothing is ever "unsolicited". We're like sisters. We help each other out and we take the other's advice to heart, even if we may not fully agree or we need to take some time to swallow it. No matter what, we rely on each other for support. She is the veteran wife and mother between the two of us, but I would be lying if I said I was not happy to have helped her out a bit this weekend. Her nerves are running high in anticipation for this new babe who is sure to spice things up around her home! Here are a few things, almost rules, that we take seriously around our home. I know many may not agree with some of them being that it's not like CPS is going to come knocking on your door if you do practice any of the following. These are just the things that are important to us. Take what you will from it.
Disclaimer: Please know that if you happen to do any of these things (or don't) I will not judge you. I know moms are judged for countless things they do or don't do, several of these items being the topic of subject, but please know that it is not MY place to judge you. You're the mom, the parent, and you make your own choices just as we do. As I have said in the past, the only things I WILL judge you for are things that break the law or are not safe/healthy. Sure, a few of these things fall into the safety category and I might give you the side eye, but I still love you. :)
- Don't put your baby to bed with a drink of any kind. Not only is this bad for their developing teeth, I also believe it is a huge choking risk. I am so petrified of Logan aspirating on his own spit let alone a drink. That sounds extreme, I know, but it happens. I also don't want to damage his teeth before he even has them all in.
- Rear-face for as long as possible. On the Today show TODAY there was a discussion about how it is most safe for children to rear-face in their convertible car seat until the age of two and/or they reach the weight limit on the car seat for rear-facing. Parent arguments for forward facing at one range from the child being happier facing forward to it being more comfortable because their legs are not squished. This is not the law-yet-but for us we will be rear-facing until Logan reaches the weight limit which is 40 pounds. Even if he is 2.5 he will be rear-facing. The studies that are encouraging rear-facing longer suggest that in the event of a collision a toddler's neck, back and shoulders are more secure and the risk of serious injury to the spin is greatly minimized (info).
- Anti-co-sleeping. We discussed before Logan even arrived and agreed that in no way for any reason would Logan sleep in bed with us. Our bed was for us, our special place, and Logan had his own bed. There are so many pros and cons to this and I am not going to rattle off what those are. But here are the reasons why we don't do it: early on there was an increased risk of SIDS not to mention we have a queen size bed and both of us were worried about rolling over onto him or him suffocating, getting too hot, etc. Now we don't do it because it is just not realistic. Both B and I are pretty light sleepers. Having Logan in the bed with us would mean that neither of us would be getting very good sleep. AND Logan rolls around and sleeps mostly on his stomach with his butt up in the air and that would just not work for all three of us.
- Delay high-allergen foods. Because B has a very serious allergy to fish and others in his family have pet allergies, we have been delaying certain foods for Logan until he is a little older. I was going to delay whole milk until 18 months but by the time he was almost 12 months he was eating cheese and yogurt no problem and we slowly started to integrate it into his formula. Just in the last two weeks he has been on straight whole milk. We took the process nice and slow and he has adjusted well. Only last week did he try a taste of peanut butter, no problem. Fish, eggs, honey, gelatin and tree nuts will be delayed until he is much older. It's clear he has sensitive skin and we want to minimize allergic reactions as much as possible.
- Delayed vaccines. I've talked about this a bit. We believe in vaccinating our children, just at a slower rate. The one and only vaccine Logan will not receive is the chicken pox vac. There is just too much crap in it and I know a few people who have had their children GET chicken pox from the vac. Also, there is gelatin in it. Otherwise, Logan is mostly on schedule. He will get MMR at 15 months. We did not want him to have to endure more than 2 pokes at once, as no one should! Plus that is just a lot of chemicals to put into such a tiny person all at once.
- We Cry it Out, sometimes. I just wrote an entire post about this a few days ago. As I said then, we only do it every once in awhile and last night was the first time in several weeks that we had to let Logan cry. He had been fed, changed, and was just really tired. Not to mention his teeth have been giving him hell for a few weeks now. I gave him some tylenol and let him play. He'd cry and finally I just laid him down. Usually he goes right to sleep but last night he was not having it. He cried for 8 minutes and was out.
1 comment:
Leave some Lovin!