Diapers and Poop - Newborn 3 of 5

Eat, sleep and poop. It's that simple. NOT!

Believe it or not, there is alot to discuss when talking about baby shit. In fact the original topics which I planned to discuss in this single post have seem to have a blow out, and require more than one post to cover. Let's go head and just talk about diapers and poop type today.

The modern disposable diaper is amazing. Soft and leak proof. Scratch free Velcro fixes this high tech marvel around your babies bottom. The gortex like one way membrane wicks liquids away from the skin. A dry powder absorbs the liquid and transforms into a gel. These things cost about a quarter each, can almost hold a gallon of water, and they will never bio degrade. Oh yeah, your baby can go through ten a day. Even the greenest parent, that use cloth diapers, can not avoid using them once in a while: in between wash, travel, longer changing intervals, and dryer skin. We try to use the more environmental disposable, though none are biodegradable. The ones that leak gel pee beads are avoided, though the only reason is I don't want little gel pee bead on my babies junk.

If you do not wish to add to landfill waste, you might chose using cloth diapers. Today's cloth diapers are much improved from the car washing rag with the extra layer in the middle held on by safety pins. Modern cloth diapers can be pretty fancy and easy to use. We use a brand of diapers called Fuzzy Bunz . They are a one size fits all diaper that adjusts as your baby grows. The diapers have a water proof outer and fleece inner. A thick removable fleece pad does most of the absorbing work. Several snaps along the outside allow for a custom fit. Our greatest fault with the Fuzzy Bunz is the fleece material. It tends to hold oders. Extra washing cycles are required in order to achieve a desired level of cleanliness.

Another popular brand of cloth diapers are G diapers . There is a replaceable section in the middle. This section can be reusable or disposable. The outer pants is suppose to stay drier, and not need as many or much washing. These seem like a better option due to the fact that you can throw away the center section or boil them, when they become too stinky. G-diapers however are not one size fits all. Thus you will have to buy several sizes as your baby grows older.

If I lived in an area with a diaper service, I would be very interested in using such service. Around here it is not even an option. Washing diapers is gross. But it is not as gross as if you had to wash your own diapers, if you had to wear them now. I don't know, just something I thought of more than once when washing the little guys stinkies. I believe that overall using cloth diapers have less of an impact on the planet, but not by much. A considerable amount of water, energy and cleaners are required to keep the diapers clean. If you use a diaper service add to it the gas required, to pick up and drop off, to the overall carbon foot print cloth diapers have. For us we seem to use both cloth and disposable regularly. Like everything there seems to be a fine balance of which to use and when. When at home we typically use the cloth diapers. When going out we use disposables for a couple of reasons. One is that you can just toss them instead of having to haul them home. Two, they tend to hold more fluid and are less likely to leak. Because of the second reason, we also tend to use a disposable at night. Finally disposables seem to keep the babies skin dryer. So if diaper rash is becoming an issue we might use the throw aways till the rash clears.

Another reason to consider using cloth diapers is the cost savings. If you calculate the number of disposable diapers needed over the coarse of your babies life, then compare it to the initial cost of cloth diapers, it is instantly apparent that there are some cost savings. What is not easy to factor in are the additional cleaning cost; water, electrically/natural gas, and cleaners. We did not find this to be a noticeable increase however. Finally you need to factor in the cost of partial disposable diaper use. This could vary greatly based on user habits. After all these points have been considered, we still concluded that we were going to use cloth diapers.

Well just how stinky is it, what should I expect. Most of us have some first hand experience with diapers. Either a little sibling, cousin...you have been around a baby. The first poopie diaper you change at the hospital will trip you out. Instead of resembling something your dog left you, it is a black tarry substance called meconium . That is what was inside your babies gut when it was on the inside. While in the interior they don't poop. Talk about not shitting where you sleep. Meconium is normal and really sticky. It doesn't smell but is very difficult to wipe off. After a few meals of breast milk, they will poop out what is best described as orange yogurt. Texture, ingredients and smell are fairly well match to the description. Not sure about the taste. This stuff is easy to deal with on a grossed out factor. It is all by design to slowly break us into the parenting thing. Wait till they are 6 months old and eating solid foods. The worse part of this yogurt poop stage is that it is not absorbed well by either disposable or cloth diapers and blowouts are common. If your baby drinks formula its poop will be more brownish. This just goes to show that formula is NOT the same as breast milk.

Baby Care - Sleeping 2 of 5

Sleeping-Get a bassinet. There are many types of bassinets with many names but they serve the same purpose; a mini crib. Find one that is stable, and has a decent pad. If it rocks/swings, make sure the pivot is sturdy and without too much play in the joint. A lock out on the pivot is valuable. "Well why not just get them a real crib, then I don't have to buy two items?", you might ask. Size is the main reason. Your newborns should sleep right next to your bed for the first few weeks, even months of its life. A full size crib might not fit conveniently in your bedroom. You might then want to try to move it further away from the room; this could be a little too far. From the babies point of view a full size crib might be too big. Having spent the first nine months of life in very the close confounds of the womb, babies need to feel close. Bassinets have high sides and often a half canopy cover to give them the cozy feel. This can make a difference between sleeping and not. And trust me, you will do anything possible that will make your baby sleep. The bassinet pictured to the right is the one we have: Eddie Bauer, assume it was bought at Target. We bought it from a used baby supply store. Fairly sturdy, however the lower portion of the legs were not. The wood is thin, and when the holes are drilled for the wheels and bolts, it leaves very little material. Our came cracked, and I did not notice until I brought it home. A little bit of epoxy and sanding and it was better than new. I assume that it was abused: dropped and bolts over tightened. It fit all of our requirement otherwise.

So what should your baby sleep in. First off, nothing should be in the bassinet. No stuffed animals, no blankets, no toys. Babies should be wrapped up in a swaddle. A swaddle is a piece of cloth that their entire body is wrapped up in; A baby burrito. This goes back to the confound space of the womb. They are more comfortable this way.

White noise, air flow, and temperature. These are three additional items help fine tune the perfect sleep environment. White noise is often a sleep aide for people who have trouble sleeping. It sounds like static on the radio and drowns out background noise and helps you stay asleep. Babies benefit from this even more than you. Again this goes back to creating a womb like environment. Their ears at the time were filled with amniotic fluid. Which from our experience of being under water sounds more or less like white noise, minus the screaming and splashing sounds of children most pools seem to possess. Sure you might dismiss what you read as "only needed if you have a prissy or fussy baby." But somewhere in your sleep deprived first few weeks of parenthood, these words might suddenly take on a different light. White noise can be generated many ways. The easiest is a small white noise generating machine found at your local drug store. Simply turning on the radio often works. You can even tune it to an "empty" station to get some white noise-ish sounds.

SIDS-sudden infant death syndrome. Though there is not a particular identifiable cause; most experts believe that most cases involves some form of suffocation. Many baby experts recommend adequate air circulation in the babies room. Some even go as far as placing a fan near the bassinet. We have found that using a HEPA filter in the room where the child sleeps kills several birds with one stone. The noise it makes is constant and soothing. Air circulation is good. The added benefit of air filtration can only be a bonus.

During the winter months we typically keep the thermostat set very cold. We then heat the living area with a wood burning stove. Our baby came on one of the coldest days in February. We naturally needed to provide some additional heat to our bedroom. The ideal temperature for a sleeping baby has been said to be between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. In order to maintain this temperature in our room we decided to use a radiator style room heater. This style of heater heats oil within it cavities and gently heats the air. It is not forced air, and does not require too much electricity. Ours had a simple controller and was cheap (<$50). Some have programmable thermostats and timers. Heating a single room in the house is much cheaper with a room heater such as this one, then trying to heat the entire house up to the proper sleeping temperature.

Due to the freezing winter temperatures the air around here tends to be very dry. The dry air can dry out the soft moist membrane of the your babies repository tract, and nasal cavities. This will in turn cause your baby wheeze and sound like it has a difficult time breathing. This coupled with the knowledge that SIDS is primarily caused by suffocation can lead to many sleepless hours listening to you babies breathing. One thing that can help out a great deal is to humidify the air. Doing so can easily be accomplished with a humidifier. Two basic type of humidifiers exist. A cooling mist and a warm vapor. If you live in a cold climate get the warm one. You should also consider filling the humidifier with filtered water. A cold mist type, uses an ultrasonic vibrator to atomize the air. This puts everything in the water airborne for you to breath; chlorine, fluoride, iron, and other minerals. A warm mist type humidifier basically heats the water and steam is released into the air. Theoretically steam is only water, and other stuff is left behind, this is the bases of distillation. However I swear I can smell the chlorine in the steam from using tap water vs. filtered water. Using filtered water also keeps your humidifier cleaner. The internals get pretty gunky and require regular cleaning. After the first few weeks, I stopped using filtered water. It was too much effort and the negative effects seemed to be minimal.

Wow you might be thinking. This is beginning to be very gear intensive. How did primitive people get by without all these gadgets. Did their babies all just die?? Well that isn't really a joke because infant mortality rates are almost nothing these days compared to what they use to be. Sure, there I go spewing unsubstantiated claims. But this is easily fact checked, if you so desire.

What about co-sleeping? Hey if the baby sleeps in my bed then I won't have to worry about half this crap. Though I know many people that have their babies sleep in bed with them, my recommendation is: DON'T, you'll smoother and kill your baby, and you will not sleep well. Ok that might be going a little far. But sleeping with your baby presents some risk. Rolling over and crushing it is just one. Your spouse can help determine if you are a gentle enough sleeper to even consider it. What is more likely is that you pull the covers over your baby. If those are not good enough reasons then keep reading. A baby, like a puppy, sleeps way more than you; 12+ hours overnight. If your baby gets in the habit of sleeping only when you do, and unless you sleep over 12 hours a day, your baby is sleep deprived. That is bad for development, since growing is only done while you are sleeping.

If a baby sleeps so much, why is it that you always hear of lack of sleep as the number one complaint of new parents. Though babies sleep alot, rarely is it continuous. The fact that they need to feed every 2 to 3 hours makes continuous sleep difficult. I read that we must have a minimum of 5 continuous hours of sleep to feel rested, or gain any benefits of sleeps. With a new born it is just hard to do so. One life saver are baby naps. In addition to his nightly 12 hours of sleep, babies typically take two naps a day. This is a great time for you to get a little rest as well. I know personally it is difficult to take this time and use it for sleep, since it is the only time in the day you have for yourself. I usually take this time to clean, work on personal projects, catch up on e-mail, or just watch some TV. But after a few sleepless weeks, nap time might be the time of the day you look most forward to.

How much of this is fact and how much opinion? Well that all depends on which Doctor, baby book author, Amish Midwife, Mother, or blogger you believe. The best is to gather alot of information and pick your own parenting style.

What to know for a Newborn- Eating 1 of 5

Recently I have eluded to the fact that I am now a father. However I have never posted specifically about it. Like other topics I have written about, I typically try to keep things based on "how to's" and gear reviews. I have wanted to discuss some of the finer points of parent hood. Not necessarily how it feels like to be a parent, or even how to be a parent, but more the gear involved in raising your little human. As a newer parent, I have categorized most things involving babies to fall into 5 subjects: Sleeping, eating, pooping, transportation, and entertainment. Hey aren't you missing some things? Why yes I am. But I either do not know enough about those subject or do not care to talk about them in my blog!

Giving birth to your child in a hospital is a great thing. They take care of everything. You can walk into a hospital in labor without any prior preparation, and the chances are good that you will walk out with a healthy child. Granted this isn't how you should do it. But the fact is that modern hospital provide the best facilities and experience needed to bring a child into this world. It is when you leave the hospital that you are one your own. This is when things get a little scary. I once had someone tell me, "you need a license to drive a car, but you don't need anything to raise a child." Unlike walking into the hospital were an under prepared you will be taken care of, the walking out of the hospital you better have "your shit dialed" before hand. The five subjects mentioned earlier are some of the basic things that will need to be addressed before leaving the hospital. Consider the next series of post to be a quick start guide to babies. This should be the minimal amount of info required to bring that baby home. More details of cool baby gear will come.

Eating-From the start this should be the easiest. Us mammals have this newborn feeding system built in right from the start. To not use it is foolish, and irresponsible. Baring some short fall, not breast feeding a newborn child is rob it of not only of the perfect baby nutrient, a special concoction of disease prevention, and establishment of a soothing mother to baby bond nothing can substitute. It is odd how many women think breast feeding is weird or even gross. HELLO what do you think those things are for anyways. Not for some drunk guy to motorboat at the bar.

Very little gear is involved with breast feeding. A burp cloth to catch the babies spit up. Nursing pads to catch any leaked milk. And a breast pump to store extra milk for when the mother is not there to feed the little one.

For the first couple of days of your child's life no milk might be produced by the mother. Instead a yellowish oily liquid will express from the breasts. This is called colostrum. Don't worry, it is not defective milk. Instead it is a super concentrated fatty substance designed just for a new borns needs. Feed it to them, they'll love it.


Of course this nursing thing can be difficult at the start. Most hospitals have a lactation consultant. Use them. Get them to coach you, or even over look what you are doing. Don't just assume that you and the baby are doing it right. For a first time mother, you are a rookie and so is the little one. Pointers from a specialist can make all the difference in the world. Think about joining a local lactation group. Even if you think you know everything about breast feeding, I am sure you will still gain some info. If not directly about breast feeding then about other baby related things that might be happening in your community. This can even act as a friend finder or support group. La Lecha Leagueis an international group who's mission is to help mothers breast feed. Through their site you can often find local lactation groups.

Some new parents believe that their babies should be feed on a schedule. A strict one of every 2 or 3 hours. With no variation. We have found this to unrealistic. The baby should eat within those time periods as a guideline. Surely you would not want a baby to go more than 3 or 4 hours without a feeding. However, if it has only been 1 and a half hours and the baby is crying for food. FEED IT! This isn't summer camp cafeteria, where the doors open at noon and close at 1. If your baby is hungry and you don't feed it, it will lose the desire to eat. Then when the scheduled time comes it will not have the same apatite and eat as much as it would have done otherwise. Now forcing the baby to eat when it is not hungry can then be frustrating. With out scientific study to back this up, we have found that babies who are feed on a schedule are typically more irritable and smaller than those who are not. In the first several months of development a child needs to know that you will be there for him. That his needs are meet. This establishes trust and a bond between the parent and child. Feeding a baby when they are hungry is a key part of this processes.


Before leaving the hospital, the basics of feeding the baby should be worked out. In some rare cases breast feeding just does not work due to developmental issues, which I have no experience with. These cases are best left to medical professionals to address. But for most babies, their feeding needs for the next 6 months are entirely taken care of by breast milk. They do not even need water. They need no other source of nutrition, expect vitamin D. Vitamin D is produced when skin is exposed to direct sunlight. Babies should not be getting that much sun.

And the best part breast feeding it is that it is FREE.

The power of the SUN

Solar energy. What is there not to like about it. It's free, clean, and renewable. Though most of the time we think about turning light into electricity or heat, we often forget about one of the oldest forms of solar power: clothes drying. When I was a youngster, almost all of our clothes were dried in the sun. We never thought of using a gas or electric dryer unless it was raining out.

Pluses to drying your clothes in the sun include: free, great smell, and disinfecting. Cons to sun drying of your clothes include: time consuming, sun bleaching, and stiffness.

I had some time this weekend to wash a load of baby clothes. Instead of using the dryer I opted to line dry the items. Though I could have used a foldable drying rack, the cable railing of the deck provided amble drying space.

The first step was to wipe down the line. Being outside, even lines which appear clean will cause a mark on white clothes. Next I hung and affixed a clothes pin to each article of clothing. After several hours, I took the clothes down and threw them into the dryer for a quick fluff. This softened the clothes and removed the unwanted starchiness of line dried clothes.

We often go to great length to save a buck. Coupon clipping, DIY project instead of hiring out. But line drying clothes is a easy way to save some money, and our earth, while have great smelling clothes.