Alternative Parenting – Page 47 – a hippie with a minivan

Pre-Natal and babywearing classes

I completely Forgot that I am giving a Pre-natal tonight… I Just went over my notes again about the advantages of Breastfeeding for Mom and Baby and the Myths that commonly surround breastfeeding… I could say all of them by heart but I get nervous infronf of a group of people…
Colin is coming with me of course.. I can’t leave him yet with Simon, it’s not that I don’t trust him of course, I just can’t stand the thought of leaving him…

When I went by the Org. that I work with today to get some photocopies done I talked with the directror about giving Babywearing Classes in the Fall and she thinks that it is a great idea… So I might be doing that in the Fall and selling slings and wraps to the moms that attend…

Anyways… wish me luck for tonight…

LLL Conference

I went to the LLL Conference in Montreal Yestersday and it was fun… I took 3 “classes” that I thought would be interesting and fun… Baby-wearing, Tandem Nursing and Homeschooling… I got to the Baby wearing class and the girl was just another Mom that loves babywearing (which is great) but the problem was that I knew more about babywearing than her… So a few of the things that people has questions about I answered… I didn’t learn anything about babywearing except that I should start giving classes too which I think I will bring up as an idea at the CLSC Tuesday when I give the Prenatal…

The Tandem nursing class was pretty much a summary of the Book “Adventures In Tandem Nursing” which seemed to be a big discovery to her because it hasn’t been published in French… However, I have read it cover to cover a few times so again I didn’t really get to learn anything new… but it was fun to meet other Tandem nursing Moms…

The third class… Homeschooling was the best… It was inspirational and It confirmed by decision to Homeschool… I couldn’t have asked for more…
The thing that stuck with me the most was that on average a Homeschooling student does about 1 and 1/2 hours of school work a day (about the average homework time of any other student)and not only that but that with 1 and 1/2 hours of work a day an average student can finish the school year in about 4 months!
There was a women in the group that was there to know more because she often got questions about homeschooling but was completly against the idea and at the end she said that she understood things in a very different light now..
Anyways… it was great and very informative…
So the day wasn’t a loss… and I got to show off my beautiful Ellaroo and I got proffesional pics taken free with Colin…. (can’t wait to see them!)

Ramblings…. About Sleep….

Last night I has trouble going to sleep… Maybe it was the Coffee that I took mid afternoon that I am just no longer used to having (DH and I stopped drinking Coffee regularly because we don’t want the addiction) Anyways… I stayed up and checked Homeschooling sites… I am still debating with my self about how I want to homeschool but keep on reminding myself that it is ds that will take the lead and show me how he wants to be taught…
Anyways… I finally went to bed and was starting to fall asleep when Colin woke up… Dh got up (without even waking up I think) went to get him and brought him into bed… I nursed him and fell asleep right away… Something about being cuddled to a little ball of warmth just makes me relax completely… I don’t know what we would do if we didn’t co-sleep… I can’t imagine if at that moment I would have had to physically get up and get Colin back to sleep.. How do parents do that? Why do they do it?
Someone on a newsgroup I read mentioned something that really made sense to me… It is not our children that have sleep problems… it is the parents… the kids are getting enough sleep even if they wake up during the night, it the parents that are the ones losing out on sleep because they go to sleep later, and they get up at night and wake themselves up completely in order to get their kids back to sleep….
A friend of ours has two micro-preemies… born at 27 and 28 weeks (11 months apart)… her daughter born at 27 weeks is a very bad sleeper… she wakes up many times a night and they have lost so much sleep… they have tried everything to have her sleep better and longer and nothing has woked… The leave her CIO, they rock her, they have sleep therapy, drugs etc but have never brought her into their bed… I wonder sometimes how much sleep would have actually been saved if they would have done this… Why is it a bad habit for so many people? Why do people expect a newborn, or even a toddler to be in their own room in the dark and alone while they are snuggled next to the one they love… Why do they expect their children to be so independent….
Don’t get me wrong… I know that co-sleeping is not for everyone… but it is not a bad habit! It is a great tool… there are some nights that Colin wakes up quite frequently especially during a growth spurt and I don’t lose more sleep because of it… I just give him the breast without even really waking up and both of us are back asleep within seconds… Call me lazy or call me brilliant but I am just not able to accept that I have to get up during the night to tend to the needs of my children… I would rather do it from the comfort of my own bed….

NIP (Nursing in Public)

OMG!! How can people be so ignorant! There has been so much talk about nursing in Public since Barbara Walters and Star Jones made really awful comments on “The View” (and then of course BW lied about them after a Protest was done!)
Anyways… What can be more natural then feeding a baby… As time goes on I am just getting sick and tired of hearing about the Guilt that is laid on the backs of mom’s that Formula feed because they are tired of hearing about the importance of Breastfeeding… Get Over it… It is proven that Breast is Best! There is no way around it and there are serious risks to not breastfeeding and risks that are associated with Formula Feeding.(Hello!! It is not even TESTED!!!) Of course we never hear about them because we don’t want to make those moms feel Guilty!! OMG Wake up and get over your selves! If you are so confidant in your child being healthy and happy on formula and you really think that Formula carried no risks and that it is just as good as breast milk then you wouldn’t feel guilty!! It is because you know that it is best but you don’t care and just don’t want to breastfeed for reasons that are completely selfish that you feel guilty… and I am not talking about the 1% of Moms that physically can’t breastfeed, or the ones that tried and didn’t have the right support etc… (They didn’t make the choice not to breastfeed, the choice was made for them and that is why formula exits)
No, I am talking about the ones that made the conscious choice not to breastfeed (or weaned very early) for stupid, immature and selfish reasons. The ones that care about taboo’s and that see breasts as sexual items or just don’t want to take the time or the “effort”… I just wish people could get over their hang-ups of the female Breastâ€¦ What do they think they are made for? If they where made solely for their husbands pleasure it wouldnâ€™t be milk in them but Beer!
Seriously… If someone wants me to use a blanket to cover my childâ€™s head while they are nursing I want them to do the same thing to their child… Formula feeders always use the worst term for NIP and I am sick of it… If I hear “She just whipped out her boob and stuck in her babies face” one more time I am going to yell “at least I am not shoving a artificial nipple full of toxic sludge into my baby, and at least I care enough for my baby to breastfeed him“
OK… Of course not all Formula feeders are like this but as time goes on there are more and more (or I am just hearing it more and more) I am tired of hearing about the right to Formula feedâ€¦ Thatâ€™s your right yesâ€¦ but donâ€™t tell me that the artificial way of feeding a child is better and should be seen and that breastfeeding shouldnâ€™tâ€¦
I will Breastfeed my Child in Public when he is hungry and when he needs it! I will hide the fact that I am breastfeeding just because it may make someone feel uncomfortable. If I am expected to do that I expect that women will no longer were Tops that show any amount of breast and that Bottle Feeding Moms will also have the same expectations put on themâ€¦ Hey I feel uncomfortable too when I see a baby being given a bottle (but guess what! I donâ€™t say anything and I just look away!!!)

Potty Training and EC…

I have had two very different little boys… Xavier was a baby that didn’t care at all if he sat in a dirty diaper all day (not like that ever happened!) As he grew he cared even less! Cloth or disposable, nothing mattered…

Colin however hated having a dirty diaper since the day he was born, he cried if he wet his diaper and cried harder if he soiled it. Then he would cry afterwards because we had to change it and he was still mad… I had heard about EC (Elimination Communication) when Xavier was young but I thought it was a little too weird for me… However, At about 2 months I was sick of changing about 15 diapers a day just for Colin alone, tired of blowouts and tired of the crying that came with it all. Colin was just so unhappy. We thought it was Colic, or gas or something but nothing helped.. so on day he got the face, the one that you just know he was going to have a blowout and I brought him to the bathroom, took his diaper off and put him over the sink and he went! From that day on we have been pottying him. He still wears a diaper but goes on the potty more often then not. The most amazing thing though was that day he became another baby completely. He became the smiley, happy baby that I knew was underneath the discomfort…

EC is amazing for us. It just makes sense like so many of the other things in Attachment Parenting and Natural Parenting. Babies have the knowledge of control and know when they need to go but are taught to use their diapers as a potty and therefore learn to suppress the feelings that come naturally from birth. Then, later on we expect them to unlearn what we taught them and to learn to listen to their bodies again. It is so confusing.

I predict that Colin will be potty trained early. He uses the potty every day and many days he doesn’t at all use the diaper that is on him.

Back to Xavier now… He is just getting interested in Potty Training.. and finally it is starting to work… Not long ago he would refuse to wear underwear and on Monday I not only got him to wear them he has been mainy in underwear since. We still have accidents and he still refuses to use the potty when he has to poo but it is a great step in the right direction.. Finally!!!
As for the next time, next child… We are starting EC at birth!

Colin – around 5 months old