Here we are at 14 months and my little one still does not weigh enough to turn her car seat to face the front, and YES, we do feed her. My little one is just long and thin, no matter how much she eats she gains very little weight her stomach swells up for about an hour. After running around playing the protruding belly disappears. No baby rolls over here. Not that her size is significant what is most important is to make sure her growth is constant, her development and that she is receiving the proper nutrition to sustain her growth.

My issue is my little one has a texture issue, go figure! At this time I would like to apologize to my parents who are not with me, but are watching over us laughing that my daughter is an extremely picky eater just as I was. 31 years and to this day I still have a texture issue, which is just the opposite of my daughter’s. I do not, will not, eat any foods that mush i.e. grits, mash potatoes, jell-o. etc…get my drift? My daughter will only eat foods that I consider baby food smooth i.e. she will not eat cream of wheat or grits, stage 3 baby food (you know made for 9 month old babies) anything with the slightest texture can be ruled out.

Thank the heavens she has taken a liking to French fries which leads me to my point. Earlier in my posts, my stance was (and still is)….. Sometime before conception, I decided against fast food for my children.

My reasons for warding off fast food makes it easy, it is not an issue of class or income. I am determined to play my part in stopping the genetic predispositions of heart disease, high cholesterol and uncontrolled hypertension that runs ramped in my family and our culture.

Replace Brown Sack Window with Brown Sack from Home;

• Pack raw cut veggies & fruit to snack on in time of a hurry
• Prepackaged fruit cups
• Dried fruits
• Prepackage cheese strips/cubes

At this point I am desperate to feed her anything solid that she is willing to accept. I have not adopted the ideal that fast food is the way to go but right now for transitional purposes it works. And this is after trying to pass her sticks of carrots etc. Back to fast food, I have even taken it a step further and slipped her some of Burger King’s chicken fries of course some of the skin needs to be removed to trick her into thinking she has a French fry. I have not abandoned my stance, I just need to temporarily alter it in efforts of building my daughter’s desire for solid foods.

Not only do I want make sure she receives the proper nutrition, I am really tired of buying baby food.  When baby food is the only thing your little one should be eating the cost of baby food is not an issue, you hardly notice. It was not until my daughter should be transitioning to solids that I actually noticed how much baby food cost. I started out making most of her baby food until the  trust was broken. Are you wondering how do you break the trust of a baby, well I will tell you. In my many attempts to feed her solids so much she no longer trust me to give her food from a bowl because I have tried to slipped solids into just about everything especially her favs. Now we are at the point if she did not witness me pull the seal on the container she is just not eating it, plain and simple.  The nerve right? As if. (ok surely I would try to slip her solids every chance I get)

Maybe I should mention the little one has a mouth full of teeth ready and waiting to chew?

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When my daughter was about three months old she started to break out with eczema on her arms, legs and stomach. Prior to my daughter I had never seen eczema, only knew the term. It did not take very long at all to figure out what the small bumps were constantly appearing.

Before my daughter’s pediatrician confirmed the breakouts were only eczema. Naturally my first conclusion was that she was allergic to the soap, which was for sensitive skin, Mustella.  So I switched to Johnson & Johnson and nothing changed, the bumps were still coming. At this point a little bit of guilt was starting to set in. I am thinking that I am doing something wrong. To add on to my guilt, my daughter started to get a rash regularly on her neck. Normally these are areas where little babies have rolls….well my little baby has been prepping for her debut at America’s Next Top Model and has never had a roll a day in her life. I guess she will just be thing for now because she will eat and eat and the only result is a tiny belly bulge for a couple of hours. At this point I am wiping both the rash and other bumps with alcohol thinking surely alcohol is the cure all for all things topical right? Not in this case. A couple of weeks rolled around it was on her face, YIKES, my daughter has a fair complexion. Once again I changed my routine and started only using water to clean her face and took extra care to make sure she only laid on her blankies that were washed in Dreft and nothing changed.

To calm my nerves we visited the pediatrician.  The doctor informed us that it was only eczema and a mild case at that. One would naturally think that is enough to put a mother’s worries to rest, not hardly! The natural response to a diagnosis is what can we do to fix this, and he offered steroids. Of course my immediate response is NO!  to a “mild case” of eczema? After speaking with my husband and the doctor
we decided to see if it worsens because in my head steroids seemed a bit drastic.

On a playdate a girlfriend told me her doctor recommended Aquaphor. I bought it, tried it and loved it. I still use Aquaphor everyday one to hold back the eczema and secondly my little girl has THE driest skin ever. Aquaphor is the only solution I have found to keep her moisturized.

AFTER THE ONE YEAR MARK……………..

After several months the breakouts appeared less and less. I t appears she is out growing her eczema. Now that my daughter is thirteen months I cannot recall the last time she broke out at the elbows and behind her knees. Although from time to time she still breaks out at the back of her neck. When I see that she is about to break out on her neck I instantly apply alcohol and then Aquaphor to treat it.

In her early days, I used Aquaphor without letting up . I know feel more comfortable only using a regular lotion moisturizer on some days to keep her skin from becoming dry and cracking.

As an OCD Mom I constantly raid the fridge and medicine cabinets for expired goods. Anything remotely close to its due date get tossed.

Now that my little one is fairly mobile she loves to play in the restroom, germ central. She spends most of her time pulling items of the cabinets. Last week she got hold of some meds in a child proof bottle. (But this is the same child that pulls all of the child resistant plugs from the receptacle because she prefers to eat them.) Shortly after all of the pills end up on the floor and she was able to get one good lick in on a tablet before I snatched them all up. Immediately, I relocated all meds to a higher level because the childproof cap is not enough to deter her.

Relocating the medicine bottles lead to another one of my favorite pass times. Yep, you guessed it reorganizing and purging.

Here are my mommy tips:

• Even if meds are in a child proof bottle move them out of reach. Children love the sound of the pills/tablets shaking in the bottle. And the bottle is only resistant not child proof, my one year old managed to open the bottle
• Throw away meds that have expired. For your family’s sake. Old medicine’s can be dangerous, have deteriorated or just fine it is best just to speak your physician to get a new prescription if you need more of the medicine. If the med was an over the counter drug purchase a new bottle.

In the past, most people flushed old medicines down the toilet. This was done to prevent accidental poisonings of children and animals who may find medicines in the trash. But today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) no longer recommends this. Sewage treatment plants may not be able to clean all medicines out of the water. This may harm fish and wildlife.

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) recommended disposal of meds:

1. DO NOT FLUSH unused medications. Consumers were once advised to flush their expired or unused medications; however, recent environmental impact studies report that this could be having an adverse impact on the environment. While the rule of thumb is not to flush, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that certain medications should be flushed due to their abuse potential. Read the instructions on your medication and talk to your pharmacist.

2. When tossing unused medications, protect children and pets from the potentially negative effects. APhA recommends that consumers:

• Crush solid medications or dissolve them in water (this applies for liquid medications as well) and mix with kitty litter or sawdust (or any material that absorbs the dissolved medication and makes it less appealing for pets or children to eat), then place in a sealed plastic bag BEFORE tossing in the trash.
• Remove and destroy ALL identifying personal information (prescription label) from the medication container.
• Check for approved state and local collection programs or with area hazardous waste facilities. In certain states, you may be able to take your unused medications to your community pharmacy.

3. Talk To Your Pharmacist. Research shows that pharmacists are one of the most accessible healthcare professionals. As the medication experts on the healthcare team, pharmacists are available to guide you on how to properly dispose of your unused medications.

Following these simple steps can help protect your family and community, minimize a potential negative impact on the environment, and prevent the illegal diversion of unused medications.

Source: http://www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/drug_disposal062308.html

Sometime early this year one of my first post on Noir Mommies was “Sleeping the Nite Away” I wrote this article because I would hear so many stories of parents having a hard time getting their little ones a sleeping schedule. And me being the proud parent I am, just had to share my story and method with you. I started by detailing in length on at what age I started and method to date below is an excerpt from the article.

I started off with my daughter sleeping next to me in a playard/basinet…who can stand to be away from their newborn right. My daughter stayed in the co-sleeper until she was about four months, when she was too long to fit comfortably. My one mistake is that I was still waking her up to feed, every four- five hours, as if she was still only a few days old. It was right at about four months when she started sleeping through night (6 – 7 hours) without cereal in her bottle. At four months I started adding cereal to her night bottle and honestly it did not seem to increase in the length of time she slept.

At four months I moved her back into the playard/basinet. She continued to sleep 6-7 hours, but for the duration of the night she wakes up every hour and a half wanting her pacifier. Once she turned six months, we moved our daughter to her room, in her crib (can you hear my heart shattering). Where her sleep pattern is the same, her bedtime routine starts at about 8PM with a bath, then I lotion her skin, she has a bottle in the dark, while listening to her lullaby CD in the glider. She is asleep by 9PM, but is awake again by 4AM and the remainder of her night/morning is restless until 7AM.

Johnson & Johnson’s bedtime bath and body lotion has always made a difference in the length of time she sleeps.

Me and all my infinite wisdom huh? I was a proud parent with a daughter that was to bed on time and in her own bed. Now….not so much. Since early September our lives have gotten a little busy including traveling here and there. When we travel my daughter does not adjust well to new environments. She gets extremely excited and does not want to go to sleep. It maybe a combination of new faces, sounds surrounds etc whatever it is in the air stirs her world.

The problem started with me letting her stay up a little later to visit with family and friends and take in her surroundings. The next issue is around this time I stopped taking her pack and play on every trip which meant she slept in the bed with me. These little things all sound harmless individually but put them together and you have a schedule and routine disaster.

Currently, I have a one year old that will not go to bed until we do, typically around 1-2 am, running off of 1 nap at noon, (this little girl really can go). Regardless of the fact that I started getting her ready for bed at 10pm with her normal bed time routine. If you are asking why so late? It is because I am trying to ease her away from the after midnight bedtime and then I will ease her back to sleep by 9pm. In hind site 10pm is not that late compared to 1 or 2 am.

Secondly, I have a daughter that hates to be in her bed, she prefers the warmth of us. So I have little feet in my neck and ribs all nite or an 8 hr old diaper on my forehead when I wake up. Because of course she must sleep laying parallel to the headboard and the limbs fly where they may thru the night.

Starting tonite I am reclaiming my bed and my night. I must 1.) get to my daughter to bed at a reasonable hour. This will not happen instantly. I will be back where I started, retraining her for a night time routine. I am really pushing the 10:30 bed time and then work down to 9pm. 2.) Sleep in your own bed. This may be a bigger problem because I moved the rocker out of her bedroom and she must put herself to sleep without me rocking her.

After I have remastered her night time routine I will take the paci.

Before conception I knew I wanted to breastfeed. And my goal was at the very least to be able to nurse my daughter until she was one year old. In preparation I was consumed with online shopping searching for all of the nursing and breastfeeding gear and accessories. With this shopping I bought an expensive electronic pump, travel accessories for the pump, breastfeeding covers, nipple ointment to prevent cracking to sum it up I was prepared!

After the delivery of my daughter, I refused to allow them to feed her formula and was determined for her to have colustrum. So the difficulty began, according to proper technique she was not latched on properly but we did manage to squeeze out small amounts of colostrum for her. Colostrum, the first liquid that is secreted from the breast after a baby is born, has a large number of important nutrients and benefits for a newborn.

Due to her not latching on properly, I seeked help from the lactation nurse/specialist on duty. I honestly believe this was the worst experience ever, they were very forceful and rough positioning my daughter’s head on to breast. It was so terrible I gave up on the lactation nurse and decided to try to figure it out on my own. After seeking their assistance on two occasions I refused their assistance. Luckily I packed my pump for the hospital. My daughter had not eaten very much and her lips began to become chapped and purple tinted, the nurse told me this was due to dehydration. So I decided to pump out the colostrum and bottle feed her as the nurses encouraged us to supplement with formula. All the while, we were trying to get her to latch on in the interim. Unfortunately my daughter never latched on before leaving the hospital. After leaving the hospital my milk supply was very plentiful each pumping will produce at least 8oz.

When my daughter was almost two weeks old I got mastitis while waiting at the pediatrician office with my daughter. Mastitis is an infection of the tissue of the breast that occurs most frequently during the time of breastfeeding. This infection causes pain, swelling, redness, and increased temperature of the breast. It can occur when bacteria, often from the baby’s mouth, enter a milk duct through a crack in the nipple. This causes an infection and painful inflammation of the breast. The mastitis lead to pain, decreased milk, fever and me wearing cabbage in my bra along with the antibiotics. Greatly we were able to fix the mastitis right away. After a few weeks my milk supply did pick back up a little. The mastitis is the point were I stopped trying to get my daughter to latch on, which is now my biggest regret. I also wish I would have known to try to use a breast shield to assist with her latching on properly.

At three months, my milk supply began to decrease all the way to about a total of 2 oz from both breast at each pumping. I began to take fenugreek, mother milk and lactation tea’s and increased my pumping with no increase in my milk supply. I also stopped going to the gym hoping that increase in testosterone was not the cause of my decrease in milk. To no avail my milk supply did not increase. Many women that I speak with that had a bout with mastitis within the first one to two months have had difficulty regaining and maintaining their milk.

However, I continued to pump, determined, even though I was only producing one bottle a day. Providing any amount of breast milk I could a day was the goal. My plan to provide breastmilk has not changed therefore the plan was to continue to pump as long as I was able to produce.  Most of the day she was feed enfamil formula and whatever amount of milk produced.

RELATED STORIES
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The Right Mix: Formula & Milk

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Meet up with the Central Florida Noir Mommies & Noir Kids!

Saturday, October 31st at 11:00

Meet Fellow Noir Mommies in your area. Find Noir Kids of all Ages.  Birthday World offers activities for children of all ages; bounce houses, trains, roller coaster, carousel, flying bananas, tubs-o-fun, mini golf, games and much more. We can not wait to see you there.

Birthday World
Oak Groves Plaza
995 North State Road 434
Altamonte Springs, FL 32174
(407) 657-2000

Price: $16 per child (cash only)

Price includes pizza, juice, playband and 10 tokens

Please RSVP

We are 10 months now and I am strategizing on the method on how to get rid of the bottle. I am certain I do want to toss the bottle around the age of one. Most pediatricians suggest children should be weaned off the bottle at one year old.

Benefits to weaning:
• Children using bottles are more likely to develop tooth decay
• Children who drink from a bottle may have improper dental development
• Children who depend on bottle feedings may not consume enough solid foods to meet their nutrient needs
• Children who are not weaned from the bottle may not develop appropriate feeding skills

There appears to be two schools of thought amongst Mommies on how to get rid of the bottle
1.) At age 1 go straight to the sippy cup and cut out the bottle cold turkey
2.) Wean your little one off the bottle slowly

With each step and growth point for my daughter I choose to ease her into the situation and not an instant drastic change. At this point it feels as if I am merging the two schools of thought together. I have been weaning my daughter from the bottle slowly and I have been trying feeding her more and more from the sippy cup. I initially introduced the sippy cup at about 5 ½ months with apple juice. (Although I did break a No-No, I gave her juice from the bottle and the sippy cup especially if we were out and about it is an issue of convenience). It took some time for her to get use to the sippy cup. So I took the normal route gave her the sippy cup to play with, but that did not work either. Then I realized it was the hard spout that was the issue. She was going from a soft flexible nipple to a hard rigid piece of plastic that is shorter than what she is use to sucking. Confused? Maybe. After buying several brands of sippy cups from Dr. Browns, Nuby and then Born Free – all with different types of nipples/spouts. Hands down Nuby offered the nipple that was closest to her bottle. Nuby is also the hardest to suck from (we had the same problems from their bottles) to this day the Nuby sippy cup is still in her play pen as a toy. I tried several other sippy cups, but the Born Free sippy is what she took to with the most ease. Born Free also came in flow stages just as a nipple would. Most importantly, the Born Free is sold at my supermarket along with the interchangeable nipples.

Weaning my daughter off the bottle is much more than a change of apparatus. Removing the bottle is also going to change our nightly routine. Currently after she is washed down and dressed, I rock her while she has her good night bottle which normally leads to her falling asleep. I always remove the bottle if I see that she is getting sleepy before the bottle is empty and replace the bottle with a pacifier. Falling asleep drinking increases babies risk of an ear infection.

Now, instead of giving her a bottle as I rock her to sleep she will have a sippy cup before bath time. And with getting rid of the bottle also comes the pacifier (which is both Mommie and Daughter’s best friend). To ease her through the break up I will give her lots of hugs and kisses.

Which leads to the next “my baby is really a tot now step” not rocking her to sleep at night. I have been trying to prepare my daughter for laying down on her own and going to sleep without me rocking her because I wanted to enforce this at one. Right now ….well let just say it is a work in progress. When I lay her down and she is not quite sleep she immediately stands up (regardless of how many times you lay her down, she will not stay) and ends up not going to bed at 9PM but more like 10:30 – 11:00PM. Not to mention the crying if she finds herself in her crib awake – God Forbid, right?

TIPS FOR WEANING

Gradually introduce the sippy cup

When you start giving your baby juice put the juice in the sippy cup. Your baby may not take to the sippy cup initially but give the sippy cup to your baby to play with.

Nipple Selection

For your start cup select a sippy cup with a softer nipple similar to a nipple for a bottle. After the baby drinks from that nipple with ease introduce a harder shorter spout.

Diluter the Bottle

If you are still giving your baby a bottle dilute the contents of the bottle whether it is milk or juice water it down. This way your child will prefer the contents of the cup.

One Bottle at a Time

Start giving your baby a morning sippy cup, once this has gone over well. Change the midmorning/afternoon bottle to a sippy then afternoon, then evening (wait at least a week between each substitution).

With all parenting techniques and practices consistency is key.  Switching back and forth from bottle to cup only will confuse the child once you start continue to move forward.

My first bout and I am defeated. I am not defeated because I was unprepared. I was not mentally ready for this fight and it did not help that I was under the weather. I started preparing well in advance.

Long before my daughter arrived, I purchased plenty of first aid and medicine kits for the just in case. If babies r us and Target sold it I bought it, God forbid it received a lot of mom reviews and ratings over a 3.  I would rather spend the money so I have it when she needs it versus she needs it and I am unprepared scrambling to find a store and what I am looking for.  I am a planning, list making, preparing fool; I am a Mommie that plans to plan.

I am grateful that her first bout with illness is at 10 months and not earlier, I contribute this to breast milk. The saddest thing to watch is her nasal passage congestion and she not knowing to do about it. She is so confused with the congestion in her nose and snot running down her face. I, myself hate being congested. I can deal with a chest cold for a month of Sundays but I can not function with nasal congestion. It is the most frustrating thing ever, I instantly become anxious when I can not breathe thank the Lord I do not have asthma.

The first night I realized she was not feeling well I tried to put her to bed, but every 45 mins or less she would wake up again when she normally sleeps through the night.  After running to her beckoning bellow  to pacify and rock her back to sleep 5-6 times I finally took her from her bed and laid her next to me. Even then she woke up every 45 mins short of breath, panting, coughing and crying. This continued until the morning. Thankfully she slept a lot peacefully during the day because we both needed the rest.

To deal with my baby’s nasal congestions:

• Saline drops in each nostril, as directed. We are using Little Noses because I have the medicine kit.
• Suctioning her nostrils
• Electric Vicks Vaporizer
• Baby Vicks Vapor Rub on her nose
• The Humidifier has been running none stop
• She is sleeping on a pillow to keep her head elevated for drainage
• I am alternating dabbing a warm wash cloth and toilet paper to remove the running snot from her nose. I do not want to irritate her little nose by rubbing or blowing as I would my nose.
• I tried to show her how to blow her nose by blowing my nose because the entire household is sick but she only laughs…so much for that.

In addition the little running nose my daughter has a pretty mean cough going but I believe the cough is to be attributed to mucus. Again, my little one has no idea what is going on that when she coughs now there is a large lump of gummy liquid at the back of her throat. As soon as I hear her cough and the mucus rattle I try to run to her get her to spit it out. She always swallows before I have the opportunity to remove the mucus. I imagine it is her natural instinct until she is older and I can teach her to spit out the mucus.

I am delighted there is not a fever associated with this small bout, so I am not giving her any meds. I have attempted to increase her liquid intake particularly juice (vitamin C) and water.

It is such a strain to see your baby sick knowing that you are not able to fix the problem immediately. Sure there is a proper routine for every illness but there is still the waiting time until your little one is back to normal. To see her crying from her coughs and sneezing makes me wish I can take her illness away, I am willing to be congested for her.

What is in the baby food? Can you even pronounce the items listed on the back of the jar less known understanding what they are. I really do not think I want to purchase and eat many items that are good for two years after I purchase them. Most food items are not suppose to last for two years. Who knows exactly what are in the jars, are you now thinking we have been eating it for years and we are ok ? The answer is yes, we are ok but there is better. I admit that popping the lid on that prepackaged baby food is convenient and less time consuming. And I often pop the lid when out and about during the day running errands, when traveling and on vacay and I often pop the lid when I am too lazy to cook.

The bigger picture is you could be providing your baby more wholesome and nutritious food while saving a buck. Hopefully by now we try to avoid the canned sodium, excuse me I meant canned goods and at the very least purchasing frozen vegetables. Purchasing fresh veggies may not always be financially feasible for most.

Here is an easy plan; Whatever veggie you are making with dinner add an extra serving for your little one. In my household we do not eat salt.  When I make veggies for the family I cook them with out any salt. Those who want  condiments are welcome to season to their taste after the food is done. For her protein, which is all poultry until she is old enough for seafood. I normally just cook her a small portion separately without seasoning.

Decrease or Eliminate the Cost of Baby Food

Prepare an extra serving of the meal’s veggies and fruit for your little one. Baby food gets expensive this is a cost you can eliminate by DIY.

Increase your Veggie Intake

Having to cook veggies for the baby may increase your veggie intake. If you previously were one that would bypass veggies for a single or double starch with your entrée you now are already cooking a veggie for your baby you might as well partake.

Know what you are eating

As a society we have totally become reliant on the FDA to monitor our food for us. And a good job they do. Just because items are edible and not detrimental to your health does not necessarily make it good for you to eat. Take the mystery out the jar.

Stage 1 Foods

• Carrots, Peas, Squash, Zucchini, Green Beans, Apples, Pears
• Wash, peel and cut into small pieces
• Put in sauce pan, add water
• Cover and Boil until soft

Blend food in the your blender, add water from the saucepan or add water or breast milk (the water level should not exceed the amount of food in the blender, add enough water not to jam the blender but not too much to make the food watery)

Stage 2

At this point I added brown rice to my baby’s diet so I used the rice cooker and steam to cook food for her

• Cook brown rice in the rice cook
• I used the top steamer to steam mix veggies while the rice was cooking
• For protein I purchased individually wrapped chicken breast and bake with only water
• Once the chicken breast, rice and veggies are done I would add breast milk or water and blend

**It would be great to purchase organic veggies and fruits

Save baby food jars, they are good for storing home made baby food if you are going to be out for the day.

Freeze left over baby food, or place in the fridge and use within 3 days

After the months of continuous drool finally, there are teeth!

Early in the teething process the cotton bibs were getting so wet it was best to switch to the bibs with the plastic back. I could not keep up with the laundry to continuously wash a daily  load of bibs because they are wet with drool. Not to mention my daughter onesie underneath bib was constantly getting soaked with the bib.

Now onto hygiene, with these little teeth clearly there must come so responsibility to keep these little teeth clean, right? Right.

As soon as your baby has teeth, clean your babies teeth and gums twice a day with a wash cloth. At about a 1 year to 18 months of age, you should start using a soft baby toothbrush and a small dab of toothpaste that does not have flouride in it.

Obviously this is a fight to get the wash cloth in my daughter’s mouth to clean. In addition to the entry struggle I think she now realizes these little pegs are sharp and piercing and thinks that it it hilarious to bite down.

I find that cleaning her teeth is easiest integrating with her morning and evening grooming.

Potty training for me was the last step on my milestone list… I figured if I could get through the potty  training then, I was home free. They say boys are harder to train than girls, but I beg to differ. My son,  who is now 14 was very easy. The moment he turned 2, I said to myself and him, this is it! No more  pampers. Out I went, happily to get the pull ups. I made him feel like he was the biggest boy in town. He  struggled in the beginning but he soon realized he didn’t like walking around with wet cloth on him. It      took him all of 2 month to get it right!!

Now my “princess” daughter, was the total opposite.  She didn’t mind one bit! I secretly think I enabled her a little but she didn’t help the situation at all!!! She wore those pullups like pampers for 8 months. I needed some backup support, so I called in a pro. My mother n law. She had that princess potty trained in a week. Yes, a week. I ask myself daily what did I do wrong and the answer is I DON’T KNOW!

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