Back in the day (like the 50's maybe?) stay at home moms were fewer and far between because after the second world war women had to enter the work force to supplement their household incomes. So during that time manufacturing of items to ease all the stuff that was done at home began booming. For instance 1948 was when the first disposable diaper was introduced. Pampers came out with their higher absorbent diaper in 1961. Also in the 1950's the first plastic baby bottle was introduced. They were easier to use for baby sitters and in turn didn't break when accidentally dropped by the milk giver or baby learning to hold a bottle. For food, mass made powders have been made since the early 1900's but the big roll out of ready made baby food (like the kind in a jar) made its appearance in the 1920's (hmmm another war time perhaps?... maybe WW1?????) So I don't know if you got my point yet, but here it is: all these advances were made during war time, when mothers were needed to be away from the home and help their fellow man. And because of that they needed some extra assistance at home to ease the stress of supporting a family all the while feeding, clothing, laundering, babies. And I by no means am saying that mothers HAVE to be in the house now when they have babies, MANY moms out there still work and my way of baby raising would NOT work easily for them, I totally respect that the modern conveniences work for them and their babies. I'm just saying.. hey I'm not working, I'm at home, I got time so why not try my hand at what was working for at home moms before war times brought these big changes to "normal?"
Glass Bottles
I'm not sure if any of you have checked out my registry and noticed that I'm registered for glass bottles.. but well I am!! :) This one has gotten me lots of funny looks (even from my own mom.. but it was only a look she never said I was crazy even though I could tell she was thinking it hehe... but then again my mom was a working mom ((Military for 22 years)) so my theory with working moms and plastic bottles stands) from LOTS of people, but hear me out a bit before you shun the idea.. Firstly they still make them, so obviously there is still a demand for them, and by them I mean MOST bottle companies. But they also go with our parenting philosophy of longevity. Glass bottles when taken care of properly can last through many babies and still look brand new. And while yes plastic bottles could last through a couple babies (read last post's rant on longevity of plastic items) they do tend to break down after usually the use from one baby. The plastic gets all scratched up and starts to have a foggyish or cloudy look to them just from normal wear and tare. Plus there was that whole BPA scare with bottles and how it was making babies sick.. don't have to worry about that with glass bottles! Now once again I'm not saying I'll NEVER use plastic bottles, I'm just saying like cloth diapers, I think it wouldn't hurt to try them out. I'll probably have a few on hand for baby sitters or if I'm going on a day trip somewhere and don't want to risk my hubby breaking a bottle (you should see our regular glass collection.. he's been graduated to only plastic cups to use in the house a long time ago) while I'm gone. Glass bottles today do however have silicone covers to go on them to help them not be slippery and also gives them a second chance at life if they are dropped.
I'd also like to note that my goal is to exclusively breast feed. So as long as Teagan will take me, I'll be giving her, her milk from me, not a cow or formula. So I'll have a stash of my milk for her to drink from a bottle when I'm not around, but seeing as I'll be around most of the time, I don't think I'll really need that many bottles. I'm still realistic in knowing that breast feeding doesn't always work out for some moms, but I'm for sure going to give it my best shot! If I do have to for some reason stop breast feeding her before a year and supplement with formula, I may rethink the glass bottles as she'll be able to hold bottles by then and I don't need her to be like her father breaking glass all over the place! Also, after a year she can graduate to sippy cups as I wean her off me and won't need bottles when she starts to eat and drink like the big people do.
Heres a pic of some glass bottles and plastic bottles both by the born free bottle company:
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| Plastic bottle |
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| Glass bottle |
Homemade food:
The first part of my "down the isle" theory was out of necessity and ease for moms in the work force, but I do have another one that I would attach to allergies in kids. Now I definitely don't have any research on this, just a theory, so if any of you are fact checkers let me know how crazy I am! I just think that over my lifetime there has been a HUGE increase in the amount of kids with food allergies. AND there have also been a large increase in the amount of mass produced prepared baby foods. (they have whole isles now....) I'm not saying that the food companies are MAKING kids have allergies, I'm just saying maybe there could be a correlation?
Also with manufactured foods comes the unknown of what is going into your baby's body. Yes we can read ingredients and it says "with real chicken" but that just makes me think like I'm reading the ingredients for my dog's food bag. Why go and buy a jar of "turkey dinner" for my baby when I can make a turkey dinner (I'm a house wife remember.. I have time for this) for me and the hubby and just give her pieces of turkey and veggies and what not that I prepared from scratch that I know what is in them? Plus it will save me money! Then I get the question of what if she goes to grandmas or some place... well have ya heard of packing a lunch? If you can do it for a kid, then you can do it for a baby? Yes, I'd just pack a little pack of food for her duh, no need to go and buy crap that I don't know what's in it! I make my husband's lunches, what's one more for a little one?
On that note, I'm still debating WHEN I'll actually introduce her to solids but when I do I'll be doing it with the baby led weaning method. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you breast feed your baby until at least a year old and not to introduce any food for at least 6 months. But heres mine (and some other doctor's thoughts on that). If your baby doesn't have any teeth, then why introduce food? Yes I can make mushy food and give her that but if she's getting all the nutrients she needs from my milk then what does giving her mushy foods do nutrition wise for her? (all it does is change her poop color!) So what I'm probably going to do is wait until she has some teeth (which is usually around 6 or so months anyway) then I'll introduce her to foods. And baby led weaning just simply means to let the baby feed themselves from the start. No doing the choo choo or air plane with mushy foods and a spoon. All you have to do is introduce them to food that is an appropriate size for their little hands and let them explore. Around that age they are reaching and grabbing and sticking everything in their mouths anyway! So like the toys, instead of doing the action FOR her, she'll be learning to feed herself and teaching herself to CHEW instead of just swallowing mush. The plus side to this method is babies who lead their own feedings are less likely to be picky eaters later on and more open to trying new things. Also again you'll know what EXACTLY your baby is eating.
AND finally on the subject of baby eating, we are going to go sugar free for her first year, unless it's the natural sugars that come in her fruits and foods. We are going to strive to keep our baby away from any sweets, as in her first cake will be a frostingless cupcake on her first birthday. Then, even after that she'll have a limited sugar intake. The biggest benefit of this is she won't develop a craving for sugary foods (I hate it when I see toddlers screaming for candy) and discourages picky eating; she'll be less likely to only eat sweet food and form a pallet for healthy food. A mom's dream come true would be to go to the grocery store and have her kid ask for veggies instead of "fruit" snack gummies."
Elimination Communication:
I think I may have mentioned this in an older post but if not EC is basically potty training your baby from birth. YEP its possible! The theory is babies don't like to be wet or soil themselves hence crying when they have a wet diaper. Basically the parent learns the baby's cue or "tells" (like in poker...) for when they are about to "go" and then takes them to a little potty or the big potty with an insert (not as a infant though!), or some even just go to the sink because infant poos aren't solid (I think that's gross..) and does a sound cue for "going" and eventually they will associate the sound with the action. And through being in tune with your baby, much like understanding their cues for being hungry you can pick up on when they have to go. Then, eventually the baby will know you know these cues and be more likely to hold it until you are around them. There's a book that explains like three different approaches to this technique. There's the full time committed person who really is hung ho for their baby never needing diaper (ha, not me, I'm a realist) then there's the people who do it part time (like not when the baby is being cared for at day care, only at home) and then the other is the person who uses it as an option to just help the open communication with the little one about going to the potty.
I'm kinda of between the second and third options. (this is WAY better explained in the book The diaper free baby then I can really explain it) I would LOVE if I could have Teagan not needing diapers, or as many diapers earlier then the average potty training age (around 2 years old) but I'm also realistic and know that not all idea out there are for all babies. If anything, if I can get her comfortable around the potty so it's not some crazy new idea when potty training actually happens, that would be great! But there are people out there (check youtube) who's babies no longer poo in diapers, only pee, and if that is something we could do that would be great!
Well that's all for this post!
Until Next time!
Bre and Teagan (the bump)
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