Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the love of my life. (OK, the first love of my life.)

Love,
FCiF and the second love of my life.

An Adoption Story

Last week at work, I noticed a little boy who seemed to want to chat. Always one to engage a cute little man, I asked him how he was doing. He replied, "Fine," and asked if I had any sisters. I told him I did and told him her name. He told me he had a little sister and told me her name. Then he called her over. He was blue eyed. She appeared to be Guatemalan and maybe 4 years old. He tenderly guided her with his hand on her back. Then he said he had two other sisters and pointed them out across the way. They didn't physically resemble the other two either. I asked if he was the oldest as he had the air of the authoritative and protective big brother.

He replied with head held high, "No, I'm not the oldest, but I'm the first!" Then he told me all their names and a little about each. He was so full of pride for his family and so excited to share their details. He warmed me to my toes. Adoption is such an uplifting and splendid institution.

Optimism squashed

Yeah so i was going to blog about how awesome "sleep training" was going in that little man can put himself to sleep in the crib, sleep in the crib for extended periods, and wake up without crying. But then the 6 month growth spurt started... on top of teething. Yeah. Poor little man.

Car Seat Suggestions

Since apparently our son is a giant baby compared to what we were, he won't fit well in his infant seat much longer. Thus we are on the look out for our next car seat. Some important points:

1. It must fit well in a Honda Civic
2. The fabric won't be cloying and overly hot.
3. Safe rear facing as heavy as it can go (remember - giant.)
4. Not completely awful to move from car to car.
5. Under $200

And any other points you care to enlighten me on. Have some input?

Friends Schmends

Someone tell me again why it's stupid to cry over friends who weren't your friends to begin with? Why does it still hurt so much? I'm so very lonely. Apparently we should have lived on the west coast of Florida if we wanted good friends nearby.

Nah. We don't like to feed our baby. Thanks.

Could someone please tell me what peoples' obsession with adding rice cereal to my breast milk is? I'm getting pressure from daycare, family, passers by.... According to my research, live enzymes in breast milk break down the cereal before the baby can drink it anyway. And on top of that, it's a myth that it adds more calories to help them sleep better. The amount you're supposed to add contributes 5 calories. Five measly calories. My milk does better than that. And he sleeps at night just fine when he's comfortable thank you. (see Jen? I'm learning.) We've been doing exactly as our book and doctor say and trying the taste of some of the stage one foods to see if he's interested after a normal feeding. So far he just gives us a crazy look and tries to push it back out. Don't worry public at large. We won't starve him. Sheesh.

Anyone want to share their solids stories with me?

Pampers Responds!

I'd like to note that LaToya from Pampers was kind enough to note my blog entry. I never imagined that! I usually write open letters just to vent without any real hope of a reply. Thank you LaToya, and I am reposting her response from the comments section with my reply following:

I’m LaToya from Pampers. I’m so sorry your family had this experience. I have two little ones so I can imagine your frustration having to worry about your new baby. Our number one purpose at Pampers is about caring for babies, so these comments mean a lot to us. The Swaddlers Sensitives do contain the Dry Max technology but only in sizes 3 and 4. The mesh liner is available in the smaller sizes, as it’s used to keep the runny mess away from infant’s skin. As the baby gets bigger, their “poo” is more formed and the mesh liner is no longer needed. In fact, before we removed the mesh liner from Cruisers, we tested both liners with moms and moms actually preferred the new, softer liner opposed to the mesh liner. A small amount of fragrance is added, however, between the backsheet and therefore is not touching the baby’s skin. But a “chemical smell” is not expected at all. These diapers are indeed sensitive. Swaddlers Sensitives has more lotion and both the ears and outer cover are breathable to help maintain the natural healthy look of your new baby’s skin. I hope this answers your questions. When you get the time we would like for you to call and tell us more about your experiences (1-877-256-3265). We may also be able to give you more answers. Again, I apologize for your experience and I hope you call us soon.

I'm happy to see that Pampers has put a lot of thought into their products. I have a few problems with the assumptions made for the sizes 3 and up however. My baby is in the 90th percentile for height and the 75th for weight. That means that he grows out of the mesh liner before his poos become more formed. Furthermore, according to many doctors, a baby's main mode of nutrition to at least 6 months is supposed to be breast milk (no formula). Breast fed babies tend to have more watery stool than formula fed and solids fed babies. Since my son is under 6 months, he still has that kind of stool and the new liner does not work as well for it, yet he's outgrown the 2s. I imagine that happens for a lot of babies, and the large number of babies onto formula by that age may have skewed your results for expectation of need in the liner.

I'd actually rather not have lotions, perfumes etc put into a sensitive diaper as you never know what a sensitive baby's skin may react to. And even though our son is not sensitive per se, we don't want to expose him to skin products of which we don't know the chemical composition. The chemical smell was quite strong to me compared to the earlier Swaddlers and another brand to which we've switched. It smelled like a very harsh version of baby powder and actually made my Mom draw back quickly when I handed it to her to smell. We tried the diapers on the assumption that perhaps the problems noted with them were blown out of proportion or were restricted to certain batches or certain babies, but when we noticed him getting more red than usual and then noticed the few little bumpy patches on his normally fine skin, we stopped using them.

It is becoming much more common and dare I say even "fashionable" for parents to use whole, sustainable and environmentally friendly products as often as possible. Therefore, the expectation of a sensitive diaper is going to be much higher I believe than ever before. I would use cloth almost exclusively if his daycare would agree to it. Alas, that isn't always possible.

But I thank you very much for your response. You have definitely earned my respect by doing that. I think, though, that you may need to look into at least opening up some of your older lines without drymax again to gain back many customers. As I said before, your diapers were fine without it. And blessings to your little ones LaToya.

Thanks!
FCiF