.. specifically your views on the world of child rearing!
A few years ago, I would quickly turn my nose up at the notion of being a "crunchy" mom. But looking at my registry, and the classes I signed up for, I'm not sure when that attitude changed!
First it started off with cloth diapers. Maybe this came about as inspiration from one of my friends who made her own. They were SOO cute, and after a LOT of research, I found that cloth diapers are a LOT cheaper, and not that bad for maintenance. I guess I already use fleece as bedding for my guinea pigs, why not have a reusable poo container for my kid too? Plus, I can use a lot of the cleaning tips for diapers for cleaning my pig's fleece -- what's safe for baby, should be safe for piggies too, right? (at least the vets typically say so!)
I filled my registry with EVERY single BumGenius pocket diaper that BuyBuyBaby carries. I don't care about gender specific colors -- I want the cute rainbow of colors they have! I've also joined a co-op on Facebook where I can buy various diapers to diversify my stash with, at discounted prices. It's rather addicting buying all sorts of cute diapers of different styles and patterns -- but my addiction might rule out one of my original important factors of using cloth: COST SAVINGS. Oops. :) So far I'm alright, as I've only bought 8, two of those are newborn sized bamboo fitteds, and the rest are one sized Alva pockets.
I also never imagined I'd breastfeed. I guess I had taken a feminist approach and the familiarity of formula feeding so it wouldn't have to be me feeding the baby, not to mention that the idea of having a baby latched onto me would give me the heeby-jeebies. But.. somewhere along the way, I decided "maybe it won't be so bad". I started doing research, starting finding that there were a lot of pro's to it, and the con's were something to easily overcome. I took a class on it last weekend, and now I feel super ready to take on this task! I also discovered that my work has a designated lactation room, and the day care across the street where little Manatee will stay during the tax season has a nursing room. So maybe the first few weeks of just me (to avoid nipple confusion and all) might be difficult, but, another notion recently seemed to appeal to me..
and that's cosleeping. Baby wants to be fed at 4am? And again at 5am? No problem. Roll over, put boob in baby's face, and I don't even have to get up out of bed. Sure we'll have to buy a bigger bed to reduce the risk of rolling over on Manatee, and Snoopy may not be able to sleep with us for a bit (not sure she'd even want to)... but man, oh man does that sound like it will make life easier!
I've also been considering making my own baby food when Manatee is ready for solids. Is it a cost thing? Maybe. Is it a nutrition thing? Possibly. Before I know it, I'll be buying organic foods, or doing all of my grocery shopping at Whole Foods.
Man, when did this become me? When did I become eco-friendly? When did I begin to care about things that I never EVER cared about before..
Come to think of it, when did I become slightly domestic?! Baking? Knitting? Now considering attachment parenting? WHO IS THIS PERSON!
Whole Foods isn't exactly "eco-friendly". They're a great example of greenwashing.
ReplyDeleteThe reusable cloth diapers, though, ARE. As much as baby poop grosses me out, good on ya for going the good route. And bamboo! Awesome. That stuff is a grass that grows like no other. We need more stuff made from it.
There's still a lot of concern about co-sleeping. If I recall there was a correlation between co-sleeping and SIDS, but I'd have to check that to see if that's a correct assertion.
Breast is best! Lotsa reasons. Pump yer boobs if you need to bottle-feed, but there's some really important biological stuff that goes on with tit juice. I do recall a study showing that while kids who were breast fed did measurably better than those who were formula fed, the difference was not large. The kids that got left behind were those who did not feed on one or the other exclusively. Seems switching between is correlated with measurably lower developmental achievement. That said, the study did not show that anybody was rendered a mouth-breathing invalid as a result.
What are your thoughts on Attachment Parenting? Personally, it gives me the creeps. It just seems so wrong. Kids are NOT an extension of a parent once you've kicked them out of your uterus. They are individuals. Helpless and utterly dependent at first, yes, but still individuals. Babies as young as 4-6 months are able to learn a few basic sign language words, so they're at least moderately self-aware very early. It also seems that there's a strong correlation between the stuff that Attachment Parenting advocates, and the extremes to which Helicopter Parents take it. Gyech. Kids gotta learn to be independent, or they'll never be self-sufficient.
Heh, see how much I know about being green? For now, I still just shop at Meijer. When I have the energy to wake up earlier than 11 on a Saturday then I’ll be off to some Farmer’s Markets – but that’s mainly just to support local farming.
DeleteAnd I love bamboo as a fiber. I’ve knitted some socks with it, and they just feel fantastic! They have a lot of the same properties as wool, minus the lanolin.
I haven’t actually read up on Attachment Parenting, but I have heard that term thrown around a lot when reading about co-sleeping, breastfeeding, and cloth diapering. I would like to think for now that when it comes to the ACTUAL parenting aspect, methods will reflect my parents and my in-laws, because I think Brendan and I turned out alright :)
As for co-sleeping, I haven’t made up my mind on it. I know there are a lot of safety concerns regarding it, and frankly it’s something I need to research more. At this stage in the game, I like the idea of it – but things will change once the baby is actually here and I ACTUALLY have to deal with trying to sleep at night!