Life in the world of ~~~ Breastfeeding, Babywearing, Co-Sleeping, Cloth Diapering, Natural Birthing, Attachment Parenting, Questioning Vaccination, Autism, The Feingold Diet, Organic Eating, and More!
I am getting a new baby carrier! My mom gave me birthday money, which is more than enough to cover a custom carrier :) So now, I have to make a choice. That is proving to be the hard part. That, as well as the limited availability - and choosing my fabric.
The Pure Baby (PB) is almost 2 years old yet also slim, so I need to choose a toddler carrier that is big enough yet not too big. Additionally, as a petite mom, it is important for me to get a carrier with petite straps. From my research, it seems that our best choices are as follows:
(1) Petite Toddler Dream Carrier
(2) Toddler Bamberoo Deluxe
(3) Kanga XT
I've heard super reviews of the Kanga XT. A big selling point is that it allows for "arms-out" for the baby. PB is a fan of "arms-out", so it would work quite well. But, our big problem here, is that the customs list for Kanga XT is full and probably won't open again for quite a while. So, I'm watching for a used Kanga XT to become available, but they are proving to be few and far between. And, chances are that it will be next to impossible to find a used Kanga XT with petite straps.
The Toddler Bamberoo Deluxe also has a big following. Bamberoos are beautiful carriers. The Toddler Deluxe Model is supposed to be very comfortable and is available with petite straps. My apprehension is that it may be too big for PB. I'm trying to figure that out right now... Bamberoo has two custom slots available each week, but the hard part is getting one of those custom slots.
I think that the Petite Toddler Dream Carrier is going to be the one for us. Through my research, I've determined that this smaller toddler version will not overwhelm PB's small size. The "petite" refers to the baby, but Dream Carriers are available with my needed petite straps. Dream Carriers have a couple custom slots available every two weeks, so they are a bit more difficult to acquire.
The next Dream Carrier custom slots will not be available until next week, so wish me luck in getting a custom slot!
A couple days ago, our family went on an outing, in our effort to further celebrate my birthday :) My older boys chose the place, as they knew I would greatly enjoy watching them have tons of fun. We went to a local theme park that offers attractions such as a train ride, an elevated climbing course, an obstacle course, a rock wall, and a big play barn.
The older boys' most favorite is the elevated climbing course. In the last two years, my oldest son has gone from being quite nervous about it, to now whizzing right through with no fear. My middle son has always been a monkey, though, and he loves it :)
PB's favorite is the big play barn, especially since he is really too little to do anything else aside from the train ride. He loves to say "Hi dog!" to the pretend animals in the barn, while giving them pats. So cute :) He also has great fun on the baby slides.
The Pure Mom had a birthday a few days ago! Lots of family fun at our house :)
The night before my birthday, my husband and The Pure Baby's (PB's) two big brothers baked my birthday cake! This was their first attempt at baking. Due to my oldest son's special diet, we are not able to buy cakes. And, I've just gotten really tired of making my own birthday cake. So, this year I suggested that my husband and older boys bake the cake! The three of them baked a yellow cake, covered with butter frosting :)
Although the cake did not turn out perfectly, I greatly appreciate their loving effort :) Somehow, the frosting was more of a glaze, with most of it pooling on the cake dish. Something must have been off with the cake itself too, as it was quite dense. PB actually ended up have tummy pain through the night and was a bit constipated :(
My birthday itself was a super day! My husband and PB's two big brothers provided a surprise breakfast of Einstein bagels and coffee. Then, in the evening, my husband grilled his gourmet blue cheese hamburgers, followed by the special birthday cake and gifts :)
In 1989, a fully vaccinated five year old had received a total of eleven vaccination injections, consisting of three different vaccines.
In 2010, the CDC and AAP recommended vaccination schedule requires five year old children to receive 36 vaccination injections, consisting of eleven different vaccines.
Since 1989, the vaccination schedule has acquired eight new vaccines and 25 additional injections of vaccinations.
Want to know what happened after 1989? Think Hillary. Think Hillarycare. And one must not forget to Think Autism.
Yes, autism rates have skyrocketed since 1989.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, 1980 showed a California autism rate of 1 in 2272. In 1994, the California autism rate had drastically risen to 1 in 480.
According to the CDC, the US 2007 autism rate was 1 in 150 while the US 2009 autism rate was 1 in 110.
The Pure Baby (PB) and his brothers love to play in the snow!
This time, PB got to wear the real snow suit instead of the newborn bunting that barely fits :) I finally weeded my way through our lovely critter-infested attic to find the snow suit.
PB's favorite snow accessory is the snow shovel! He loves to move the snow around with his kid-sized shovel.
The big brothers enjoyed building a snow fort, though my husband (who grew up with real snow) found it to be a bit humorous!
We know a nine-year-old boy who just got his fourth set of ear tubes. When I heard he was going in for his fourth surgical implantation of ear tubes, I was a bit shocked and amazed. That is just a lot of surgeries, anesthesia, and ear tubes for a young boy! And what it the reason for all of the ear tubes? He has repeated ear infections that are pretty significant.
This got me thinking about the apparent ear infection epidemic among children. Ear infections are always such a hot topic among moms of young children. It seems that pretty much all kids are getting repeated ear infections and a good amount of children are getting surgical implantation of ear tubes.
So why is this happening? Why so many ear infections? Well, it is probably not what you would expect. According to Richard Moskowitz, M.D., vaccinations are the cause of the great ear infection epidemic. Vaccination causes mucosal immunity to be weak, often leading to ear infections in children. Otitis Media (ear infection) is the buildup of water in the ear, which often requires tubes for drainage. Amazingly, the particular strain of Otitis Media that is running rampant today was not known until the late 1940s and early 1950s. And guess what big event happened in the 1940s? That was when the massive vaccination programs began in the United States.
And we've got more startling information about ear infections. At least half of all American children have had Otitis Media by their first birthday. More than 40% of kids get repeated ear infections by age 6. Otitis Media accounts for 26 million visits to physicians each year. About 1 million children have tubes implanted into their ears each year.
And, there is even more to the story. Otitis Media is almost always treated with antibiotics. Antibiotics lead to yeast and gastrointestinal dysbiosis. And, what issues do almost all children with autism have? Yes, that would be yeast and gastrointestinal dysbiosis. So, there seems to be a definite antibiotic = autism connection. That will be a topic for another day...
During our third baby’s pregnancy, I was diligent in caring for myself and for our unborn little baby. Our DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) nutritionist guided me toward the healthiest options for vitamins during my pregnancy. Additionally, I ate only organic food and avoided all exposure to chemicals and vaccinations. Even though I am Rh Negative (and my husband is Rh Positive), I refused the Rhogam injection during my third pregnancy. It seems that giving Rhogam during pregnancy is actually an American pharmaceutical company money-making technique, as European countries only give Rhogam to Rh Negative moms after birth and then only if the baby is Rh Positive. (Pharmaceutical companies are claiming that 70% of babies born to Rh Negative Moms and Rh Positive Dads will be Rh Positive. In our family, only my firstborn is Rh Positive. My second and third babies are Rh Negative. I guess we must not be participating in those statistics!) Our third baby is Rh Negative like me, so I never required a Rhogam injection with his pregnancy. It is important to remember that not only does Rhogam contain “trace mercury” but it also contains other preservatives and is a blood product. Additionally, through my third pregnancy, I used Natural Progesterone Cream to help build a healthy and smart baby. Studies have shown that babies exposed to Natural Progesterone Cream during gestation have much higher IQ’s than babies who are not exposed to Natural Progesterone Cream.
Although born in a hospital, our third baby’s birth was both non-medicated and free of intervention. I originally was hoping for a home birth, but due to my husband’s apprehension (and a bit of my own fear), I ended up birthing in a natural-birth-friendly hospital. Our third baby’s labor was the first labor for which I was not induced! He was our first baby who was allowed to be born when he was ready. And wow, his labor was so easy compared to that of his brothers! I did not begin feeling truly uncomfortable until 20 minutes prior to our third baby’s birth, which is about the time that I entered transition. The pushing stage of his birth lasted only a quick seven minutes! The Pure Baby (PB) cuddled with me immediately and began breastfeeding in his first couple minutes. He began his life of co-sleeping on his first night in the hospital, sleeping beside me in my hospital bed. I mostly chose to co-sleep at the hospital so that PB would not be taken from me by the nurses and “accidentally” given a vaccination. I know of cases where that has happened, so I knew that I needed to be vigilantly protective of my baby. I made absolutely sure that my third baby never left my sight!
Soon after his birth, PB was found to have a posterior tongue-tie. Ugh. That was not a fun thing for our sweet little one. After not regaining his birth weight, our lactation consultant looked into PB’s mouth and diagnosed his posterior tongue-tie. It was apparently preventing him from getting a good latch while breastfeeding, thus greatly limiting his intake of breast milk. The lactation consultant sent us to a local surgeon, who clipped PB’s posterior tongue-tie. It ended up being only a partial clip, but the procedure greatly and immediately increased PB’s breastfeeding technique! Since there was remaining tongue-tie and the local surgeon was apprehensive, we followed up with a second posterior tongue-tie clipping (at three months) by a well-known tongue-tie clipping surgeon in New York.
During his first few weeks, PB wore Tushies disposable diapers, which contain neither gel nor bleach. He then transitioned to cloth diapers, which is what he is wearing today. PB also uses cloth wipes. For bath, PB uses an organic baby wash. After bath, we massage him with organic baby oil.
In compliance with his religious vaccination exemption, PB has received no vaccinations. He has been co-sleeping since his first night. At 21 months, he continues to be an avid breast feeder, in addition to eating a diet of organic foods. He loves to play but still spends much of his day baby-wearing or in my arms.
Toys have been a big concern of ours, considering most toys are sadly made in China. China is just not known for safe and healthy products, so we avoid China-made toys for PB. We have found non-toxic and lead-free toy choices in the European toy brands such as Playmobil, Lego, and Haba. PB has loved his Haba teethers. Another of his favorite European toys is Sophie the Giraffe!
All of this is why we call him THE PURE BABY! We’ve tried to do everything right for him, thus keeping him pure and healthy! He is happy and amazing and smart and full of delightful little chatter!
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