Friday, January 20, 2006

A little research...

I have recently discovered that over 90% of children are toilet trained before the age of one. Of course, most of those children are not in the United States or other westernized countries. The fact is that diapers are too expensive or simply unavailable in most developing countries. I ordered the book "Diaper Free!" from Amazon to read about this phenomenon.

Basically, from birth babies are able to know when they go to the bathroom. We train them to ignore these signals by keeping them in diapers and teaching them go in the diapers. My pediatrician told me not to start potty-training Caroline. I did my own research and learned a few things. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommends that toilet training start at 24 months or later. Any sooner and you risk damaging the child. The article is here. The interesting thing about this article on toilet training is that it was supplied to the AAP by Proctor and Gamble (the company that owns Pampers) and their "Advisory Board" of Pediatricians. That's right. The diaper manufacturers (Pampers) is telling the AAP when potty training should begin. Conflict of interest anyone? AND, to make matters worse, the adivce they give conflicts with the studies that the AAP does. I am OUTRAGED!! There is a lot of the AAP site about TT and the surprising thing is that some of the conclusions do not support the recommendations of the AAP (namely, beginning after 24 months). Studies on the AAP site have shown that beginning earlier causes no problems, but results in a longer period of training. Yep, that's right. So we should just keep them in diapers until the age of four and then teach them. That will be easier.

No more Pampers for us. We are potty training now and it seems to be going well. Caroline had two accidents today and used the toilet 3 times. Yea!


Another story of the doctor giving me bad information:

When Caroline was a few weeks old, her pediatrician told me to give her vitamin supplements because breastmilk is lacking in iron. I reluctantly tried giving her the supplements (they tasted terrible) and she hated it. I then did some research and found that babies do not become anemic from exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months (anemia is the problem doctors worry about, because breastmilk is low in iron). Breastmilk is low in iron, but that does not present a problem for the baby. There is a biological reason that breastmilk is low in iron and it is a very good reason. Iron in in the body is used by bacteria and can make a baby very sick. The iron is breastmilk is bound to a protein called lactoferrin which ensures that most of the iron is absorbed (more than 70%) and is not used as a feeding ground for bacteria. Most formula is iron fortified and it has a lot more iron than breastmilk. Unfortunately, no formula can recreate the protein lactoferrin so only around 7% of the iron is absorbed. Where does the rest go? I quit doing the supplements and Caroline never became anemic. Interestingly, most women become anemic at the end of pregnancy (I did) because the baby stocks up on iron in the last months. If a baby is born prematurely and misses out on the iron in utero, the breastmilk compensates and is iron-rich for premature babies.

A little research goes a long way...

Thursday, January 19, 2006

a broken nose

On Sunday morning, Caroline was in bed with us (nursing), which is the usual thing for us. When I was switching sides she sat up in the bed and promptly flung herself backwards. Todd, still very much asleep, was pounded in the nose by our one year old. I apologized profusely, not that I believed that it was really my fault, but just because I knew that it hurt. We laid there for another few minutes before Todd said "I know it's broken." Somehow, I knew it too.

Later that morning, he went to the ER and they took an X Ray and yes, it was definitely broken. His nose did not need to be straightened or anything, so they sent him home with some pain medicine. He seems to be doing well though.

We have had something of a rough week, this week. Caroline needs my full and complete attention while she is awake (most of the day) and refuses to allow me to sit on the couch or read a book. We have been playing with crayons and play-doh and paper hats to keep her happy. She likes to eat the play doh and crayons and when you make her a paper hat, she says "hat" pretty clearly. I have been trying to keep her entertained, but it is really draining to entertain a 1-year old that has no concept of imagination. While I am sure that she will acquire these skills soon, she does not really "play" very much yet. One game that she enjoys is taking blocks out of one container and putting them in another container. I'm not certain how this is entertaining, but it will occupy her for 30 minutes or until I pick up a book to read (whichever comes first). If I dare to sit on the couch, all hell breaks loose and she lays on the floor and screams. I think I need to throw the couch away.

Sigh.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Missing Christmas photos

I have searched all over the computer and I cannot find the photos we took at Christmas. I hope that Todd hid them somewhere, because otherwise I think they are gone.

Caroline is doing really well these days and is enjoying her newfound freedom that comes with walking. She is all over the place and into everything. Her favorite thing to do is the go into the kitchen and open the cabinet containing the cornflake and cheerios and eat straight from the box (while I watch, of course). I have let her enjoy these exploits while I cook dinner and it really seems to entertain her. She will pile the cornflakes around her and snack away. The dog cleans up when she is done :)

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