Wow - I can't believe how fast summer is flying by us! I suppose that's one of my least favorite things about Seattle - the LONG rainy season and the SHORT summer... And we have kept very busy with many things, especially with growing and developing our photography business - Rich Imaging. We are trying to develop our branding and our "look" as well as doing as many sessions as we can fit in to expand our experience and portfolio. Our next task is to write a business plan and start marketing! It's a lot of work, but Mark's dream is to do this full-time and not have to work an 8-5 job, so we have to make it a priority.
Also, I am working on developing my own business! I am still trying to come up with a name, which is kinda frustrating, but my hope and plan is to someday teach classes in natural fertility awareness, healthy pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, and maybe early baby care. I also want to be available as a doula for birth and postpartum as well as an in-home lactation consultant. This is a lifelong career path for me that I plan on taking very slowly and only doing as much as I can while still retaining a good relationship with my kids. We're still planning on homeschooling too! I know, it probably sounds crazy, but I really have a passion for helping women achieve healthier births and imparting knowlege to help them make good decisions about their bodies. Anyway, the first step for me was taking the teacher training for The Bradley Method of natural childbirth. I did it this past weekend - a four-day long workshop - and now I am provisionally certified to teach classes! I'm excited! Now I just need some students... so if anyone knows someone interested in really inexpensive childbirth classes... send 'em my way!
Showing posts with label Natural Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Natural Health. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Pregnant? Want a natural birth?
I am a self-professed addict of natural birth - I love it! I love the work and I love the payoff at the end - a healthy, undrugged baby who is alert and happily breastfeeding or gazing into Mommy and Daddy's eyes!!!
I also enjoy sharing my passion for natural birth with the people around me - so much so that I decided to train to become a childbirth educator. So after about a year and a half, I am finally taking the plunge! I am currently training to become a certified childbirth educator for the Bradley Method. Mark and I went to Bradley classes before Eliza was born, and I believe that it was extremely instrumental in our success having a natural birth.
My hope is to finish my bookwork before the big 4-day training seminar next month after which point I will be a provisional Bradley childbirth educator. Then I'll need to teach 2 sets of 13-week classes before becoming fully certified. So, if you are reading my blog and live in the greater Seattle area, and would like to have a natural birth, please contact me! I will be offering discounts for these sessions and they will be open to couples who are due anytime after Dec. 1st.
A few quick stats on the Bradley Method:
- Developed as the first "husband-coached" childbirth method and truly focused on the husband-wife relationship
- A success rate of just under 90% unmedicated births
- A very complete program that covers all aspects of childbirth
- Not hypnosis or patterned breathing
For more information, see www.bradleybirth.com
(yes, their site is outdated-looking, but the method is time-tested and works!)
I also enjoy sharing my passion for natural birth with the people around me - so much so that I decided to train to become a childbirth educator. So after about a year and a half, I am finally taking the plunge! I am currently training to become a certified childbirth educator for the Bradley Method. Mark and I went to Bradley classes before Eliza was born, and I believe that it was extremely instrumental in our success having a natural birth.
My hope is to finish my bookwork before the big 4-day training seminar next month after which point I will be a provisional Bradley childbirth educator. Then I'll need to teach 2 sets of 13-week classes before becoming fully certified. So, if you are reading my blog and live in the greater Seattle area, and would like to have a natural birth, please contact me! I will be offering discounts for these sessions and they will be open to couples who are due anytime after Dec. 1st.
A few quick stats on the Bradley Method:
- Developed as the first "husband-coached" childbirth method and truly focused on the husband-wife relationship
- A success rate of just under 90% unmedicated births
- A very complete program that covers all aspects of childbirth
- Not hypnosis or patterned breathing
For more information, see www.bradleybirth.com
(yes, their site is outdated-looking, but the method is time-tested and works!)
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Cry It Out: The Potential Dangers of Leaving Your Baby to Cry
As I have developed and matured as a mom over the past few years, I have become more firm in my belief in Attachment Parenting (AP). AP is practiced in many ways, including child-led-feeding (breastfeeding if at all possible), co-sleeping, babywearing, gentle discipline, and the belief in a baby's cry. This last topic is the one I am writing about tonight. It breaks my heart that moms all over the country are fooled into believing that it is somehow healthy for their infant to be left to cry. This is typically based on an ignorant belief that an infant is trying to "manipulate" her parents. However, this theory is flawed because obviously the cry is the only method of communication that a baby has. Even until a child is 2-3 years old, their primary method of communication is crying, especially when something is wrong. To punish a child for trying to communicate with her parents is so very wrong, and can only result in a child who has lost trust in her parents to meet her needs with love.
Below I have pasted an article that is the summary of much research in the effects and dangers of letting a baby "cry-it-out." Here is the original link for reference: http://drbenkim.com/articles-attachment-parenting.html
Cry It Out: The Potential Dangers of Leaving Your Baby to Cry
By Margaret Chuong-Kim on March 22, 2005
Among parents of infants these days, there is constant debate about how to respond to a baby's cries. On one hand, there are proponents of the "cry it out" method, where the baby is left alone to cry in the hopes that he or she will eventually stop. On the other hand, there are the "attachment parents" who respond immediately to their crying babies and attempt to soothe them using various methods including holding and cuddling. While the cry-it-out method (CIO) has been popular in previous years, attachment parenting (AP) is gaining a foothold among new parents today. Results of studies in psychology indicate the AP approach to crying is most likely to result in an emotionally and physically healthy child.
Attachment theory originated in the late 1960s when psychologist John Bowlby postulated that a warm, intimate relationship between caregiver and infant is necessary for optimal health as well as for basic survival. As such, each individual is born well-equipped with reflexes and instincts for interacting with their primary caregiver, which is often times the mother. For example, infants quickly learn to recognize and prefer both their mother's voice and smell. As babies develop some locomotor control they display their desire to be close to their caregivers by reaching toward their mother or father to be picked up or by crawling toward them. From an evolutionary perspective, these behaviours have survival value. Babies who lack such attachment behaviours will stray from their caregivers and are more likely to get lost, attacked, and perish. An infant's cry is also intended to increase the likelihood of its survival, as a mother's instinct is usually to go to her child at the first sign of distress.
We live in an age where we can know that the baby is safe in another room, despite the loudness of his cries. Does this mean we should leave babies to cry on their own? CIO proponents often advise that babies left to cry will eventually stop, and the duration of future crying bouts will decrease. What are the emotional consequences of crying for the infant when she is left unattended? Bowlby and colleagues initiated a series of studies where children between the ages of one and two who had good relationships with their mothers were separated from them and left to cry it out. Results showed a predictable sequence of behaviours: The first phase, labeled "protest", consists of loud crying and extreme restlessness. The second phase, labeled "despair", consists of monotonous crying, inactivity, and steady withdrawal. The third phase, labeled "detachment", consists of a renewed interest in surroundings, albeit a remote, distant kind of interest. Thus, it appears that while leaving babies to cry it out can lead to the eventual dissipation of those cries, it also appears that this occurs due to the gradual development of apathy in the child. The child stops crying because she learns that she can no longer hope for the caregiver to provide comfort, not because her distress has been alleviated.
Do babies cry more when they are attended to? A 1986 study concluded just the opposite: the more a mother holds and carries her baby, the less the baby will cry and fuss. Cross-cultural studies also show that parents in non-Western societies are quicker than parents in Western societies to respond to their crying babies, and babies in non-Western societies cry for shorter spans of time. Caregivers in 78% of the world's cultures respond quickly to an infant's cries. For instance, Efe caregivers in Africa respond to a baby's cries within ten seconds at least 85% of the time when the baby is between three and seven weeks, and 75% of the time when the baby is seventeen weeks. !Kung caregivers respond within ten seconds over 90% of the time during the baby's first three months, and over 80% of the time at one year. In contrast, American and Dutch caregivers have been found to be deliberately unresponsive to an infant's cries almost 50% of the time during the baby's first three months. Infants in non-Western societies have been found to fuss just as frequently as those in Western societies, but due to the prompt response of caregivers in non-Western societies, the overall cumulative duration of crying is less than what occurs in Western societies.
According to attachment theory, many babies are born without the ability to self-regulate emotions. That is, they find the world to be confusing and disorganized, but do not have the coping abilities required to soothe themselves. Thus, during times of distress, they seek out their caregivers because the physical closeness of the caregiver helps to soothe the infant and to re-establish equilibrium. When the caregiver is consistently responsive and sensitive, the child gradually learns and believes that she is worthy of love, and that other people can be trusted to provide it. She learns that the caregiver is a secure base from which she can explore the world, and if she encounters adversity she can return to her base for support and comfort. This trust in the caregiver results in what is known as a secure individual.
Children who do not have consistently responsive and sensitive caregivers often develop into insecure individuals, characterized by anxious, avoidant, and/or ambivalent interactions. Long-term studies have shown that secure individuals, compared to insecure individuals, are more likely to be outgoing, popular, well-adjusted, compassionate, and altruistic. As adults, secure individuals tend to be comfortable depending on others, readily develop close attachments, and trust their partners. Insecure individuals, on the other hand, tend to be unsettled in their relationships, displaying anxiety (manifesting as possessiveness, jealousy, and clinginess) or avoidance (manifesting as mistrust and a reluctance to depend on others). North American parenting practices, including CIO, are often influenced by fears that children will grow up too dependent. However, an abundance of research shows that regular physical contact, reassurance, and prompt responses to distress in infancy and childhood results in secure and confident adults who are better able to form functional relationships.
It has been suggested in the past that CIO is healthy for infants' physical development, particularly the lungs. A recent study looking at the immediate and long-term physiologic consequences of infant crying suggests otherwise. The following changes due to infant crying have been documented: increased heart rate and blood pressure, reduced oxygen level, elevated cerebral blood pressure, depleted energy reserves and oxygen, interrupted mother-infant interaction, brain injury, and cardiac dysfunction. The study's researchers suggested that caregivers should answer infant cries swiftly, consistently, and comprehensively, recommendations which are in line with AP principles.
CIO supporters tend to view their infants' cries as attempts to manipulate caregivers into providing more attention. Holding this view can be detrimental to the immediate and long-term health of the baby. In the field of cognitive psychology there exists the premise that our thoughts underlie our behavior. Thus, if we think positively about an individual, our behaviors toward them tend to be positive as well. Conversely, if we think negatively about an individual, we will behave correspondingly. Consider people in your own life whom you consider manipulative – how does that perception influence your behavior toward them?It is unlikely that the interpretation of a manipulative personality will result in the compassionate, empathetic, and loving care of that individual.Infants, quite helpless without the aid of their caregivers, may suffer both emotional and physical consequences of this type of attitude.
When faced with a crying baby, it may be prudent to ask yourself the following questions: Why am I choosing this response? Do I want my baby to stop crying because he feels comforted and safe, or do I want my baby to stop crying for the sake of stopping crying? What is my baby learning about me and the world when I respond in this manner? If I were a baby and was upset, how would I want my caregivers to respond?
References
Campos, J., et al. (1983). Socioemotional development. In P. Mussen (Ed.), Carmichael's Manual of Child Psychology: Vol. 2. Infancy and Developmental Psychobiology. New York: Wiley.
Craig, G., Kermis, M., & Digdon, N. (1998). Children Today. Scarborough, ON: Prentice-Hall.
Dacey, J. & Travers, J. (1996). Human Development Across The Lifespan (4th Ed). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
DeCasper, A., & Fifer, W. (1980). Of human bonding: Newborns prefer their mothers' voices. Science, 208: 1174-76.
Gleitman, H. (1996). Basic Psychology (4th Ed). New York: W.W. Norton.
Hunziker, U. & Barr, R. (1986). Increased carrying reduces infant crying: A randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics, 77(5): 641-8.
Luddington, Hoe, S. Cong, X., & Hashemi, F. (2002). Infant crying: Nature, physiologic consequences, and select interventions. Neonatal Network, 21(2): 29-36.
Macfarlane, A. (1975). Olfaction in the development of social preferences in the human neonate. Parent-Infant Interaction. Amsterdam: CIBA Foundation Symposium.
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. (2001). Attachment theory and intergroup bias: evidence that priming the secure base schema attenuates negative reactions to out-groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1): 97-115.
Miller, R. (2000). Dysfunctional relationships. In R. Kowalski & M. Leary (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Emotional and Behavioral Problems: Interfaces of Social and Clinical Psychology. Washington, DC: APA.
Waters, E., Wippman, J., & Sroufe, L. (1979). Attachment, positive affect, and competence in the peer group: Two studies in construct validation. Child Development, 50: 821-829.
http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/hewlett/infantcare.html
Below I have pasted an article that is the summary of much research in the effects and dangers of letting a baby "cry-it-out." Here is the original link for reference: http://drbenkim.com/articles-attachment-parenting.html
Cry It Out: The Potential Dangers of Leaving Your Baby to Cry
By Margaret Chuong-Kim on March 22, 2005
Among parents of infants these days, there is constant debate about how to respond to a baby's cries. On one hand, there are proponents of the "cry it out" method, where the baby is left alone to cry in the hopes that he or she will eventually stop. On the other hand, there are the "attachment parents" who respond immediately to their crying babies and attempt to soothe them using various methods including holding and cuddling. While the cry-it-out method (CIO) has been popular in previous years, attachment parenting (AP) is gaining a foothold among new parents today. Results of studies in psychology indicate the AP approach to crying is most likely to result in an emotionally and physically healthy child.
Attachment theory originated in the late 1960s when psychologist John Bowlby postulated that a warm, intimate relationship between caregiver and infant is necessary for optimal health as well as for basic survival. As such, each individual is born well-equipped with reflexes and instincts for interacting with their primary caregiver, which is often times the mother. For example, infants quickly learn to recognize and prefer both their mother's voice and smell. As babies develop some locomotor control they display their desire to be close to their caregivers by reaching toward their mother or father to be picked up or by crawling toward them. From an evolutionary perspective, these behaviours have survival value. Babies who lack such attachment behaviours will stray from their caregivers and are more likely to get lost, attacked, and perish. An infant's cry is also intended to increase the likelihood of its survival, as a mother's instinct is usually to go to her child at the first sign of distress.
We live in an age where we can know that the baby is safe in another room, despite the loudness of his cries. Does this mean we should leave babies to cry on their own? CIO proponents often advise that babies left to cry will eventually stop, and the duration of future crying bouts will decrease. What are the emotional consequences of crying for the infant when she is left unattended? Bowlby and colleagues initiated a series of studies where children between the ages of one and two who had good relationships with their mothers were separated from them and left to cry it out. Results showed a predictable sequence of behaviours: The first phase, labeled "protest", consists of loud crying and extreme restlessness. The second phase, labeled "despair", consists of monotonous crying, inactivity, and steady withdrawal. The third phase, labeled "detachment", consists of a renewed interest in surroundings, albeit a remote, distant kind of interest. Thus, it appears that while leaving babies to cry it out can lead to the eventual dissipation of those cries, it also appears that this occurs due to the gradual development of apathy in the child. The child stops crying because she learns that she can no longer hope for the caregiver to provide comfort, not because her distress has been alleviated.
Do babies cry more when they are attended to? A 1986 study concluded just the opposite: the more a mother holds and carries her baby, the less the baby will cry and fuss. Cross-cultural studies also show that parents in non-Western societies are quicker than parents in Western societies to respond to their crying babies, and babies in non-Western societies cry for shorter spans of time. Caregivers in 78% of the world's cultures respond quickly to an infant's cries. For instance, Efe caregivers in Africa respond to a baby's cries within ten seconds at least 85% of the time when the baby is between three and seven weeks, and 75% of the time when the baby is seventeen weeks. !Kung caregivers respond within ten seconds over 90% of the time during the baby's first three months, and over 80% of the time at one year. In contrast, American and Dutch caregivers have been found to be deliberately unresponsive to an infant's cries almost 50% of the time during the baby's first three months. Infants in non-Western societies have been found to fuss just as frequently as those in Western societies, but due to the prompt response of caregivers in non-Western societies, the overall cumulative duration of crying is less than what occurs in Western societies.
According to attachment theory, many babies are born without the ability to self-regulate emotions. That is, they find the world to be confusing and disorganized, but do not have the coping abilities required to soothe themselves. Thus, during times of distress, they seek out their caregivers because the physical closeness of the caregiver helps to soothe the infant and to re-establish equilibrium. When the caregiver is consistently responsive and sensitive, the child gradually learns and believes that she is worthy of love, and that other people can be trusted to provide it. She learns that the caregiver is a secure base from which she can explore the world, and if she encounters adversity she can return to her base for support and comfort. This trust in the caregiver results in what is known as a secure individual.
Children who do not have consistently responsive and sensitive caregivers often develop into insecure individuals, characterized by anxious, avoidant, and/or ambivalent interactions. Long-term studies have shown that secure individuals, compared to insecure individuals, are more likely to be outgoing, popular, well-adjusted, compassionate, and altruistic. As adults, secure individuals tend to be comfortable depending on others, readily develop close attachments, and trust their partners. Insecure individuals, on the other hand, tend to be unsettled in their relationships, displaying anxiety (manifesting as possessiveness, jealousy, and clinginess) or avoidance (manifesting as mistrust and a reluctance to depend on others). North American parenting practices, including CIO, are often influenced by fears that children will grow up too dependent. However, an abundance of research shows that regular physical contact, reassurance, and prompt responses to distress in infancy and childhood results in secure and confident adults who are better able to form functional relationships.
It has been suggested in the past that CIO is healthy for infants' physical development, particularly the lungs. A recent study looking at the immediate and long-term physiologic consequences of infant crying suggests otherwise. The following changes due to infant crying have been documented: increased heart rate and blood pressure, reduced oxygen level, elevated cerebral blood pressure, depleted energy reserves and oxygen, interrupted mother-infant interaction, brain injury, and cardiac dysfunction. The study's researchers suggested that caregivers should answer infant cries swiftly, consistently, and comprehensively, recommendations which are in line with AP principles.
CIO supporters tend to view their infants' cries as attempts to manipulate caregivers into providing more attention. Holding this view can be detrimental to the immediate and long-term health of the baby. In the field of cognitive psychology there exists the premise that our thoughts underlie our behavior. Thus, if we think positively about an individual, our behaviors toward them tend to be positive as well. Conversely, if we think negatively about an individual, we will behave correspondingly. Consider people in your own life whom you consider manipulative – how does that perception influence your behavior toward them?It is unlikely that the interpretation of a manipulative personality will result in the compassionate, empathetic, and loving care of that individual.Infants, quite helpless without the aid of their caregivers, may suffer both emotional and physical consequences of this type of attitude.
When faced with a crying baby, it may be prudent to ask yourself the following questions: Why am I choosing this response? Do I want my baby to stop crying because he feels comforted and safe, or do I want my baby to stop crying for the sake of stopping crying? What is my baby learning about me and the world when I respond in this manner? If I were a baby and was upset, how would I want my caregivers to respond?
References
Campos, J., et al. (1983). Socioemotional development. In P. Mussen (Ed.), Carmichael's Manual of Child Psychology: Vol. 2. Infancy and Developmental Psychobiology. New York: Wiley.
Craig, G., Kermis, M., & Digdon, N. (1998). Children Today. Scarborough, ON: Prentice-Hall.
Dacey, J. & Travers, J. (1996). Human Development Across The Lifespan (4th Ed). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
DeCasper, A., & Fifer, W. (1980). Of human bonding: Newborns prefer their mothers' voices. Science, 208: 1174-76.
Gleitman, H. (1996). Basic Psychology (4th Ed). New York: W.W. Norton.
Hunziker, U. & Barr, R. (1986). Increased carrying reduces infant crying: A randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics, 77(5): 641-8.
Luddington, Hoe, S. Cong, X., & Hashemi, F. (2002). Infant crying: Nature, physiologic consequences, and select interventions. Neonatal Network, 21(2): 29-36.
Macfarlane, A. (1975). Olfaction in the development of social preferences in the human neonate. Parent-Infant Interaction. Amsterdam: CIBA Foundation Symposium.
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. (2001). Attachment theory and intergroup bias: evidence that priming the secure base schema attenuates negative reactions to out-groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1): 97-115.
Miller, R. (2000). Dysfunctional relationships. In R. Kowalski & M. Leary (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Emotional and Behavioral Problems: Interfaces of Social and Clinical Psychology. Washington, DC: APA.
Waters, E., Wippman, J., & Sroufe, L. (1979). Attachment, positive affect, and competence in the peer group: Two studies in construct validation. Child Development, 50: 821-829.
http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/hewlett/infantcare.html
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Side-by-Side Vaccine Comparison
This is a side by side comparison of the CDC vaccine schedule from 1983 and 2007. Wow!!! I recently read a great article in Mothering Magazine (Jan/Feb 2008) about aluminum in vaccines, and the dangers that it imposes on infants. Very interesting! We don't vax at all at this time, for many reasons, and our children have hardly ever been sick. Their immune systems are very strong!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tough Times Parenting
Those of you who know me well know that I am a firm believer in attachment parenting. I wear my babes in a sling or mei tai (as long as my back will cooperate), I breastfeed on demand, hopefully until they wean themselves (Eliza had to wean early as I lost my milk in pregnancy), we co-sleep, and my entire being cringes at the thought of the "cry-it-out" method. I have always made it a point with my children to respond to them as quickly as possible in any time of their distress because I believe in their cries. Crying is the only way babies have to communicate with us, and by responding to them quickly I am telling them that I am concerned about their well-being. I want them to trust that if they cry to me, I will answer. I firmly believe that by building this kind of a foundation early on, my children will have a solid trust in me as they grow up.
So, that being said, this is what has been going on around our home lately. First, some background. Eliza was a "bad" sleeper. For the first year of her life, she woke up every hour and a half to two hours all night long, and she wasn't easy to get back to sleep. When she was around 10 months old or so, we realized that she was taking in an inordinate amount of calories during the night, and her body was legitimately hungry during all of those wakings. So we began weaning her off the night feedings and increasing her caloric intake during the day. It was a hard road, especially combined with the unplanned forced weaning from breastfeeding that occurred when I became pregnant with Judah and lost my milk. She also was a bad napper, which made it even more difficult. I was a frazzled, frustrated mess until she started sleeping for a few straight hours at night, which happened around a year old.
So back to now: Judah is a much better sleeper than Eliza was. When he was 3 months old he started sleeping for 4-5 and sometimes even 6 hour chunks during the night. I was so happy - this was how babies were supposed to sleep so that their parents didn't lose their sanity! But a few weeks ago, this dream began fading and he started waking more and more frequently. He's been getting up every hour or two all night and unlike Eliza who would nurse and then be rocked or walked back to sleep, he wakes up and will sometimes nurse and other times will just cry until I pick him up, take him out of the [warm] bedroom, and pace around with him. I am having flashbacks to my frazzled self with Eliza, crying out of despair and losing my temper for no good reason. Not willing to return to that sleep-deprived state, I decided that something has to change. So, last night after we were all tucked in for bed (we 4 all sleep in the same room), Judah woke up wailing, just an hour after he last nursed. I knew he wasn't hungry. I took him out of our room, into the living room and made us a makeshift bed on the floor. We proceeded to spend the night on the hard floor. He cried on and off for an hour that first waking, as I lay next to him and lovingly rubbed his back, patted him, sang to him, and reassured him. The next time he woke up, a few hours later, he nursed thoroughly and went back to sleep with hardly any fuss. Then he awoke again an hour later and cried for 20 min or so, again with me trying to comfort him.
I know this might sound mean to those of you who are strictly against letting a baby cry. And it probably sounds ridiculous to any of you who's baby cried it out at 2 months old. But I refuse to leave my baby alone to cry - I do want him to know that I am there with him and that I'm not going to abandon him in his time of need. At the same time though, I also know my child enough to know that he doesn't need anything - he just wants to be held and rocked and walked around every time he wakes up. I also know that however a baby falls asleep, that is what they will expect when they wake up. So unless I want to be rocking him every hour, I need to find a new solution. So it looks like we'll be spending a few nights on the living room floor. Hopefully this will fix a few things, and then we can return to our family bedroom with daddy & big sis!
So, that being said, this is what has been going on around our home lately. First, some background. Eliza was a "bad" sleeper. For the first year of her life, she woke up every hour and a half to two hours all night long, and she wasn't easy to get back to sleep. When she was around 10 months old or so, we realized that she was taking in an inordinate amount of calories during the night, and her body was legitimately hungry during all of those wakings. So we began weaning her off the night feedings and increasing her caloric intake during the day. It was a hard road, especially combined with the unplanned forced weaning from breastfeeding that occurred when I became pregnant with Judah and lost my milk. She also was a bad napper, which made it even more difficult. I was a frazzled, frustrated mess until she started sleeping for a few straight hours at night, which happened around a year old.
So back to now: Judah is a much better sleeper than Eliza was. When he was 3 months old he started sleeping for 4-5 and sometimes even 6 hour chunks during the night. I was so happy - this was how babies were supposed to sleep so that their parents didn't lose their sanity! But a few weeks ago, this dream began fading and he started waking more and more frequently. He's been getting up every hour or two all night and unlike Eliza who would nurse and then be rocked or walked back to sleep, he wakes up and will sometimes nurse and other times will just cry until I pick him up, take him out of the [warm] bedroom, and pace around with him. I am having flashbacks to my frazzled self with Eliza, crying out of despair and losing my temper for no good reason. Not willing to return to that sleep-deprived state, I decided that something has to change. So, last night after we were all tucked in for bed (we 4 all sleep in the same room), Judah woke up wailing, just an hour after he last nursed. I knew he wasn't hungry. I took him out of our room, into the living room and made us a makeshift bed on the floor. We proceeded to spend the night on the hard floor. He cried on and off for an hour that first waking, as I lay next to him and lovingly rubbed his back, patted him, sang to him, and reassured him. The next time he woke up, a few hours later, he nursed thoroughly and went back to sleep with hardly any fuss. Then he awoke again an hour later and cried for 20 min or so, again with me trying to comfort him.
I know this might sound mean to those of you who are strictly against letting a baby cry. And it probably sounds ridiculous to any of you who's baby cried it out at 2 months old. But I refuse to leave my baby alone to cry - I do want him to know that I am there with him and that I'm not going to abandon him in his time of need. At the same time though, I also know my child enough to know that he doesn't need anything - he just wants to be held and rocked and walked around every time he wakes up. I also know that however a baby falls asleep, that is what they will expect when they wake up. So unless I want to be rocking him every hour, I need to find a new solution. So it looks like we'll be spending a few nights on the living room floor. Hopefully this will fix a few things, and then we can return to our family bedroom with daddy & big sis!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Natural Living: An Update
I've had several people ask me about the results of my ongoing quest for a more natural lifestyle, so I decided I should post an update here.
First of all, I have been no-poo for about 3 months now. I only use a mild baking soda rinse - about half tablespoon baking soda dissolved in a half-cup of warm water. I actually usually only use half of this per rinse, and I do this twice a week. The rest of the time I just rinse my hair with water. I also don't use any kind of conditioner which has been just fine for me!
I did, in fact make and use cloth menstrual pads for postpartum use. I liked them - so much softer than paper. And they were easy to care for too - I rinsed them after use and washed them with Eliza's diapers. I'm still considering the Diva Cup too, we'll see...
I did drink a lot of red raspberry leaf tea during my pregnancy, but didn't use the strong mix during labor. I think it helped because my labor was fast and easy (relatively speaking) and I didn't have much bleeding at all.
Is there anything I'm forgetting? Let me know if there is!
First of all, I have been no-poo for about 3 months now. I only use a mild baking soda rinse - about half tablespoon baking soda dissolved in a half-cup of warm water. I actually usually only use half of this per rinse, and I do this twice a week. The rest of the time I just rinse my hair with water. I also don't use any kind of conditioner which has been just fine for me!
I did, in fact make and use cloth menstrual pads for postpartum use. I liked them - so much softer than paper. And they were easy to care for too - I rinsed them after use and washed them with Eliza's diapers. I'm still considering the Diva Cup too, we'll see...
I did drink a lot of red raspberry leaf tea during my pregnancy, but didn't use the strong mix during labor. I think it helped because my labor was fast and easy (relatively speaking) and I didn't have much bleeding at all.
Is there anything I'm forgetting? Let me know if there is!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Almost Ready for Baby!
Wow - this past 8 months has flown by! I am now just shy of 37 weeks gestation which means the baby could come in a week or could wait another 4! I've stopped nannying and am now a full-time stay at home mom, which has been wonderful for Eliza and I. It has been so nice to focus so much of my time and energy on her. She has developed a lot with the extra attention - learning her shapes and colors and lots more words. It will be hard to learn to split my attention between two children, although I'm sure it will be wonderful in its own way!
And for an update, I have been shampoo-free for almost a month and a half now, and only cleanse my hair with baking soda every 4-5 days. It's amazing to me that it takes that long to build up oils! I still haven't switched to a natural alternative to conditioner, so I still use commercial stuff when I cleanse with baking soda. But it's still a good transition for me. I could never go for any length of time with oily hair - it totally grosses me out; so I'm very glad that the baking soda enables me to not shampoo and still cleanse.
Following are a few photos from recently:
Here is Eliza playing our new electric piano - she couldn't avoid music even if she wanted to in this house! But she really loves music as much as Mark and I do, which we're glad of.
And here are a few photos that we did to capture my pregnancy (at Bothell Landing Park):
Lastly, this is Eliza and I relaxing in our birthing pool which we were testing out before our baby's birth! She's gives the best kisses, and she gives them so freely!
And for an update, I have been shampoo-free for almost a month and a half now, and only cleanse my hair with baking soda every 4-5 days. It's amazing to me that it takes that long to build up oils! I still haven't switched to a natural alternative to conditioner, so I still use commercial stuff when I cleanse with baking soda. But it's still a good transition for me. I could never go for any length of time with oily hair - it totally grosses me out; so I'm very glad that the baking soda enables me to not shampoo and still cleanse.
Following are a few photos from recently:
Here is Eliza playing our new electric piano - she couldn't avoid music even if she wanted to in this house! But she really loves music as much as Mark and I do, which we're glad of.
And here are a few photos that we did to capture my pregnancy (at Bothell Landing Park):
Lastly, this is Eliza and I relaxing in our birthing pool which we were testing out before our baby's birth! She's gives the best kisses, and she gives them so freely!
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Going Natural
For the past couple of years, I have been on a slow journey toward more natural living. It was kick-started with my introduction to home-birthing. Suddenly, a door was opened to me to a world of people who thought outside the typical box of consumerism and modernism. We started trying to eat more organic and less-processed foods.
Soon after, I became pregnant, and eating healthy was even more important as it affected my unborn child as well as myself! I realized that the way I treated myself had a direct impact on the lifelong health of my child. What a gift to be able to give! I stopped drinking caffeinated coffee and have never returned. I get just as much pleasure out of a good cup of decaf and no side-effects! With pregnancy also came the research into childbirth. I studied home-birthing and unmedicated birth. I learned about what your body does during labor, what causes pain, and what causes most complications. Mark and I took Bradley classes during the last trimester also, which was a great benefit. I found a great midwife who believes in the body's ability to birth naturally and who is also a grounded believer in the Lord.
Eliza's birth was amazing! It was difficult - more than I expected to be honest - but totally worth it. I can't imagine being drugged up for such a life-changing event! Now with a newborn in the home, I had yet another reason to research natural living. We exclusively breastfed for Eliza's first 9 months of life. She never touched a bottle and didn't even eat solids until about 9 months (except for little nibbles here and there). She has never had a vaccination - not even vitamin k or eye drops at birth and has a very strong immune system. When she started eating table foods, we started her with fruits and vegetables - not rice cereal. After some study, we found that fruits and vegetables are much better sources for nutrients that babies need than cereal which was stripped, broken down, and supplemented with artificial "nutrients".
Other than nutrition, we also have sought out more natural solutions to other parts of health. In the beginning, we only used Seventh Generation diapers - disposable, but not bleached and processed with the harsh chemicals that regular disposables are made of. When Eliza was about 6 months old, I decided to switch to cloth diapers. I decided this because I found it to be healthier for their skin, more cost effective, and not really that much work! After lots of reading, I decided to get the Fuzzi Bunz diapers and loved them! They were so soft and it was a great feeling that we were reusing them instead of filling up a dump somewhere.
Also with natural health came natural parenting, which is very closely intertwined. From the beginning, we followed the mindset of attachment-style parenting. We carried/held Eliza as much as possible and used a sling frequently. We attended to her with every cry, nursed her when she wanted, and kept her in bed with us. It may seem like a huge investment to some, but it is worth every minute. She is a very sweet, sensitive, thoughtful child and is very close to us. And with her personality, she needed that kind of parenting. She would become rebellious and upset if we didn't keep her so close. She has such a huge need for quality time! That's okay with me though; it has taught me to be a more sensitive person also! Anyways...
Now I'm working on making myself more natural! For the past 10 years (at least) I have had my daily shower, complete with shampoo and conditioner. Lately I've been reading a lot about training your hair to go without shampoo. Shampoo essentially strips your hair of all its natural oils and moisture, and then conditioner replaces it with more artificial chemicals. Your hair becomes dependent on shampoo because it has to work so fast to replace those oils that it lost. Therefore, you hair gets over-oily in a day or two when it wouldn't otherwise. Anyway, back to me... I have always had to shampoo every day of my life. Recently, I decided that I don't want to be so dependent on so many chemicals and started trying to stretch the time between shampoos. I went to every day and a half, and then to two days. I just went 3 full days without shampoo and it was so cool! I was amazed to see how long it took my hair to become oily! Pretty soon, I'm going to quit shampooing for good and use only a little baking soda. Baking soda is much more gentle on the scalp and provides a gentle transition from shampoo to no-poo. Anyway, I'll have to keep you posted as I make that part of the change - it will be interesting!
I also decided that I'm going to make cloth menstrual pads for myself for use postpartum. I have the supplies already, and the thought of cloth instead of paper is very appealing, especially when that area is so sensitive!! I might even switch to the Diva Cup, we'll see!
I'm also trying red raspberry leaf tea for this pregnancy. I read an article about its use during pregnancy and labor and how much it can help the birthing process. So I ordered it in bulk and I'm going to drink it every day between now and then. There's also a formula for a very strong tea (one ounce of tea leaves in a pint of water, seeped for 30 min.) to drink when you start to go into labor that I'm going to try too. If this works well, I'll definitely blog about it!
Okay, that's enough for now - I'm going to pick up the house and drink some tea!!
Soon after, I became pregnant, and eating healthy was even more important as it affected my unborn child as well as myself! I realized that the way I treated myself had a direct impact on the lifelong health of my child. What a gift to be able to give! I stopped drinking caffeinated coffee and have never returned. I get just as much pleasure out of a good cup of decaf and no side-effects! With pregnancy also came the research into childbirth. I studied home-birthing and unmedicated birth. I learned about what your body does during labor, what causes pain, and what causes most complications. Mark and I took Bradley classes during the last trimester also, which was a great benefit. I found a great midwife who believes in the body's ability to birth naturally and who is also a grounded believer in the Lord.
Eliza's birth was amazing! It was difficult - more than I expected to be honest - but totally worth it. I can't imagine being drugged up for such a life-changing event! Now with a newborn in the home, I had yet another reason to research natural living. We exclusively breastfed for Eliza's first 9 months of life. She never touched a bottle and didn't even eat solids until about 9 months (except for little nibbles here and there). She has never had a vaccination - not even vitamin k or eye drops at birth and has a very strong immune system. When she started eating table foods, we started her with fruits and vegetables - not rice cereal. After some study, we found that fruits and vegetables are much better sources for nutrients that babies need than cereal which was stripped, broken down, and supplemented with artificial "nutrients".
Other than nutrition, we also have sought out more natural solutions to other parts of health. In the beginning, we only used Seventh Generation diapers - disposable, but not bleached and processed with the harsh chemicals that regular disposables are made of. When Eliza was about 6 months old, I decided to switch to cloth diapers. I decided this because I found it to be healthier for their skin, more cost effective, and not really that much work! After lots of reading, I decided to get the Fuzzi Bunz diapers and loved them! They were so soft and it was a great feeling that we were reusing them instead of filling up a dump somewhere.
Also with natural health came natural parenting, which is very closely intertwined. From the beginning, we followed the mindset of attachment-style parenting. We carried/held Eliza as much as possible and used a sling frequently. We attended to her with every cry, nursed her when she wanted, and kept her in bed with us. It may seem like a huge investment to some, but it is worth every minute. She is a very sweet, sensitive, thoughtful child and is very close to us. And with her personality, she needed that kind of parenting. She would become rebellious and upset if we didn't keep her so close. She has such a huge need for quality time! That's okay with me though; it has taught me to be a more sensitive person also! Anyways...
Now I'm working on making myself more natural! For the past 10 years (at least) I have had my daily shower, complete with shampoo and conditioner. Lately I've been reading a lot about training your hair to go without shampoo. Shampoo essentially strips your hair of all its natural oils and moisture, and then conditioner replaces it with more artificial chemicals. Your hair becomes dependent on shampoo because it has to work so fast to replace those oils that it lost. Therefore, you hair gets over-oily in a day or two when it wouldn't otherwise. Anyway, back to me... I have always had to shampoo every day of my life. Recently, I decided that I don't want to be so dependent on so many chemicals and started trying to stretch the time between shampoos. I went to every day and a half, and then to two days. I just went 3 full days without shampoo and it was so cool! I was amazed to see how long it took my hair to become oily! Pretty soon, I'm going to quit shampooing for good and use only a little baking soda. Baking soda is much more gentle on the scalp and provides a gentle transition from shampoo to no-poo. Anyway, I'll have to keep you posted as I make that part of the change - it will be interesting!
I also decided that I'm going to make cloth menstrual pads for myself for use postpartum. I have the supplies already, and the thought of cloth instead of paper is very appealing, especially when that area is so sensitive!! I might even switch to the Diva Cup, we'll see!
I'm also trying red raspberry leaf tea for this pregnancy. I read an article about its use during pregnancy and labor and how much it can help the birthing process. So I ordered it in bulk and I'm going to drink it every day between now and then. There's also a formula for a very strong tea (one ounce of tea leaves in a pint of water, seeped for 30 min.) to drink when you start to go into labor that I'm going to try too. If this works well, I'll definitely blog about it!
Okay, that's enough for now - I'm going to pick up the house and drink some tea!!
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