Liquid Sunshine in a Dropper

It is recommended that all babies receive Vitamin D drops. When it came time for us to buy our drops for Spencer I wasn't very pleased with the additives found in the average drops. For example some brands of infant supplement include among their ingredients, butylated hydroxyanisole, “BHA”, which is described by the National Institutes of Health as “Reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”. No thank-you! Further more- the average supplement requires an infant to be given a 1-ml dropper full of sugary liquid. Plus, since they aren't used to sugary substances this can make them gasp and cough.

I came across a Canadian made product called "D drops" a natural drop in a glass bottle with no additives, sugars, etc. available at Capers, Choices, London Drugs and Shoppers Drug Mart. D drops only contains vitamin D and purified coconut oil. So all you need is one Euro-drop onto a soother or even your nipple before breast feeding. Less liquid, no additives but the same required amount of vitamin D 400IU's. Fabulous!

For more information take a look at their website:
http://www.ddrops.ca/index.html
http://well.ca/brand/ddrops.html (also available online through well.ca)

Diapering~ An Act of Love

I believe that diapering is an act of love. It is just one of the many things we do to care for our babies. So it makes sense that the diapers we choose should preserve our babies environment, health and well being. For more on the reasons to choose cloth and more info. on the Fuzzi Bunz in particular please view my July post "From Fuzzi Bunz to g-Diapers"

Over the last 3 months Chris and I have learned: disposable diapers leak a lot, g-diapers leak less, and cloth Fuzzi Bunz (when used correctly) don't leak at all. You will love the Fuzzi Bunz! They are super effective, easy to use and easy to launder. I have only had a couple leaks and both were my fault. To avoid leaks you need to have the diaper tightly fastened. Also you must make sure that the fleece lining is not sticking up/out of the back of the diaper. It must be tucked into the elastic or pee can wick out and onto clothing.

If you use only Fuzzi Bunz and wash the diapers daily you will need 12 diapers. This works fine for Chris and I. If you want to wash every 2nd day then you will need 24. I also bought the "monkey doodlze" small zippered dirty diaper bag for when we are out and about, one of the large draw string diaper bags for at home, one additional bamboo diaper insert (a thin but 'thirsty' insert great for adding to the diaper along with the micro fiber insert for long evening sleeps), and some cotton bum-cloths for wiping. So when we change Spencer we use a warm water soaked cloth wipe(no chemicals, harsh soaps, or fragrances), toss it in the dirty diaper bag, shake the diaper liner into the dirty diaper bag and then drop in the diaper shell. The breast fed baby's poopy diaper can be tossed into the washer with hot water and the right soap. This makes it easy for laundry time- We just dump the dirty diapers and wipes into the washer and shove the bag in too. Once they are washed all but the diaper bag can go into the drier. Once your baby starts eating solid foods we have to shake the poo into the toilet before washing. This can be a problem with some cloth diapers... because the poo sticks to the diaper. Not the case with Fuzzi Bunz! The fleece fabric allows the poo to just fall right off- no sticking. I just love this system! So simple and it produces zero stinky dirty garbage.

One more thing. Be sure that you buy the proper laundry soap. These diapers will lose absorbancy if you: use the wrong soap, fabric softeners, bleaches, or too much soap. I use the Nature Clean Powdered Soap found at most Safeway stores as well as Choices Markets. If you find that your diapers start to lose absorbancy due to soap build-up try washing them in hot water with 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup baking soda. Wash and then rinse in hot water too.


I bought our Fuzzi Bunz from New and Green. This local online store is fabulous. You will love their website. It's full of great info. on cloth diapering:
http://www.newandgreen.com


Visit this link to view the large number of Fuzzi Bunz accolades:
http://www.fuzzibunz.com/news.php

Zzzzz Precious Sleep

A valuable lesson I've learned from the baby whisperer- for the first 3-months it's very important to utilize the three S's: Swaddle, Suck, and Shhhhh.

The swaddling can be difficult. In my case Spencer hated having his arms wrapped-up. I quickly learned that if he was swaddled he would sleep for 6-hours straight... un-swaddled he would sleep 3-hours maximum before waking! So long as he was good and sleepy I could then lay him down and successfully swaddle him. From there- sleep sweet sleep! Below are a couple swaddles that I really love. Both are iParenting Award Winners. The Kiddopotamus swaddle can be used in the car seat and The Miracle Blanket is a one size fits all.

Kiddopotamus Swaddler (available at TJ Kiddies)
http://www.kiddopotamus.com/p_org_swdl.php


The Miracle Blanket (available at Crocodile Baby)
http://www.crocodilebaby.com/qs/product/17/5585/158244/0/0
http://www.miracleblanket.com/ (demo on how to use)


Babies love to suck. It's a natural reflex that comforts them greatly. As soon as you have successfully established breast feeding it is safe to introduce a soother. I love the soother! Infants have not learned about manipulation and so always have a real reason for crying- hunger, tummy-pain, gas, tired or a dirty diaper. Once you've exhausted all possible solutions for babies unhappiness... in comes the soother! It almost always works. It's particularily helpful in the car!

A couple soothers that I really like: The Soothie by Children's Medical Venture's and the natural rubber soother. Both molded one piece soothers that are free of harmful toxins.

http://www.soothie-pacifier.com/ (Also available at Babies R Us)

http://www.ethicbaby.com


Lastly- the sound "Ssssshhh" acts as white noise similar to what baby heard in-utero for so many months. This sound can be very soothing to a new baby who is not used to silence.