Anyways, this has a point. Now that baby is coming I have thought a lot about what I want and don't want to do as a mother. Unlike some stubborn women who insist they will ONLY do such and such and would NEVER do such and such, I know life doesn't work that way. I know I have all these GREAT ideas and may only follow through on 3 of the 50 so mothers feel free to roll your eyes at this mother to be, but I want to *try* cloth diapering, I will breastfeed for as long as I can (despite the fact that the CF community is super discouraging about breastfeeding. *tear* Although my doctor is all for it.), and I want to baby wear (GASP!), and then it gets even weirder.
After doing research I have decided only to use California Baby products on my baby in the beginning of life. If she is allergic or something then Bert's Bees, but I won't be buying all those "typical" baby brands. I don't want to use lotion since babies are sponges and they absorb everything you put on their skin. I don't want her skin to absorb all those chemicals in the first weeks of life.
I figured I was a product of my environment and that other mothers would think I was crazy. (Maybe I am, when I found out I was pregnant I replaced all our products with natural organic products such as soap and shampoo, toothpaste, etc. I refuse to wear nail polish till baby is born and I threw away makeup that was made in China, sorry China!). Last night I took a newborn care class at my hospital. Now keep in mind this is a hospital not a birthing center and guess what they said!!
- Don't use lotion on your newborn- they don't need it and they absorb everything you put on them.
- Baby wear- babies love it!
- Use California Baby or go to ewg to find other safe products.
- Make your own wipes or rinse store bought wipes since they are full of preservatives and you don't want that on your baby!
Basically, my hospital is so kinda hippieish too and it made me so happy to know that we are on the same page. It may be a result of where in the country I live (but I will never tell!) or it may be the world is turning a little hippieish, but this mama to be was thoroughly impressed!!
I'm in many ways the same way! I always joke about being a hippie. ;) I will say though, the reason breastfeeding is so discouraged in the CF community is just because so many people really CAN'T do it. As much as I am a hippie, I'm not sure that if I get pregnant I am going to try to breastfeed (and if I do it definitely won't be exclusive), because both my energy issues and my malabsorption are so serious. And I have a lot of friends who, at the end of their pregnancies, were hospitalized in super critical health. So I think it's not necessarily discouraged per se, but that people want you to understand that there are options and that it's not worth sacrificing your health or your baby's if it's not working out. But if it IS, then by all means, go for it!!! You are gonna be a fantastic mama. :) Do you know Jenny Livingston? You should talk to her - she loved breastfeeding and is a big advocate for CF breastfeeding.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand that breastfeeding can be very hard on a CF body and some women with CF should absolutely NOT breastfeed, but I feel that many CF moms seem unsupportive of CF breastfeeding (or maybe I am being overly sensitive) because of their own experiences. I guess I never expected to have such a healthy pregnancy and so I feel more optimistic about successfully breastfeeding than I would be if this pregnancy had been really hard on my body. With that being said if I can only breastfeed for 6 weeks then so be it. If I didn't have CF (and no other breastfeeding complications that sometimes arise in "healthy" women) I would breastfeed well past the first year, but I know that is highly unlikely with CF. I have been meaning to e-mail Jenny...I might do that right now! Thanks!
DeleteI always suspected you to be slightly hippyish :) Maybe that's why I like you so much!
DeleteWell then you were totally right! ;) And as far as weight goes - I have had the same experiences as Megan. Over the last 3 or 4 years, I've gone from a fairly normal healthy-ish diet to cutting out nearly all processed foods, lots of produce, almost no refined sugar, etc. The first year I gave up sugar for Lent I was SUPER worried when I brought it up with my doctor, fearing that she'd think it was a horrible idea, but she was actually really supportive and said that as long as I could maintain my weight, she thought it was a great idea. I've never lost weight from healthy eating, I'm proud to say. :) I'm also frustrated that so many people seem to think that eating a junk food diet is best for CF, when in reality that causes SO many other problems!
DeleteI think it is awesome you gave up refined sugar!! I have the worst sweet tooth and so I definitely indulge in sugary foods once in a while. I have been really trying to avoid it during the pregnancy, but I am far from perfect!!
DeleteI think it is awesome you haven't lost weight. I saw no difference in my weight when I used to eat a lot of junk (early college years) and when I got older and started learning more about nutrition. The other thing that gets me annoyed is when people say healthy food is too expensive. Have they ever looked at dried lentils or dried beans in bulk? Talk about cheap and healthy.
I love this post so much. I'm so similar in my ideas of how I want to welcome my child into the world those first few months. I LOVE the baby wear idea, and I also want to breastfeed as long as possible. I'm all for natural all the way. We've been making a huge shift in our diets, and it has made me feel so much better! We have cut out preservative-filled foods and increased the number of veggies and fruits in our diets. I've been eating a lot of homemade veggie pizza, and cutting back on meat. Surprisingly, my weight is doing well even with the changes. I love that you're about being all natural...I've recently found myself feeling quite hippy-ish as well..and I love it! You're going to do a FANTASTIC job as a mom! I can't wait to hear ALL ABOUT IT!
ReplyDeleteYay for making healthy changes and it is great your weight is maintaining! I think a lot of people assume junk food = good weight for CFers when some healthy food have higher fat/calories than similar junk food. Whole wheat pasta has more calories than white pasta. Who knew?
DeleteI will let you now how breastfeeding goes. I took a bunch of classes and am meeting with a lactation consultant within the first hour of her birth (unless she is a middle of the night baby) so hopefully we will be successful. And only time will tell how my CF will handle it, but I am sure I will update you!
You should check out the documentary "Bag It" if you haven't already seen it. It sounds like it's right up your alley! It's about a man who initially wants to research the effect of plastic bag use on the environment, but once his wife becomes pregnant, his research takes him so much further. Check it out!!
ReplyDeleteSounds awesome! I will have to check it out while I still have time to sit through a whole movie uninterrupted! :)
DeleteYes yes yes! To all of this!
ReplyDeleteI'm a nanny and we cloth diaper the baby, and honestly I love it. Every time I take a load of diapers out of the dryer and fold them, I'm get this feeling of "Imagine if all of these went into the landfill as plastic!" and I fall in love with cloth diapering again. ALSO, he's never had diaper rash (and he's 10 mnths now), the diapers are sooo soft, absorb so well, and are really easy to clean once you get the hang of it. I do think it comes down to your preference of diaper. I personally love the pocket style just because the all in ones seem to take forever to dry. We use fuzzibuns and I can't say enough great things about them! We also have some gumgenius ones and I like the fact that they velcro shut for easy changing vs snaps, but they're a little less user friendly than the fuzzibunz. I'm not sure how much you've looked into it, but to clean cloth diapers you can get a sprayer that attaches to your toilet for getting the poop off, and I would recommend Bac-Out (an all natural enzyme remover) to spray the diapers afterwards. Oh and we use a cotton, hemp blend cloth wipes too. We have a spray to make them moist, and they've worked out great. (Spray is basically distilled water, witch hazel, and one other thing that I'm blanking on)
California baby = love. I haven't found a single product from them that I don't like. Plus, I don't know if you've smelled their products but they smell devine!
I love baby wearing (I'm sad the baby I nanny for is so into crawling and walking he never wants to be in his sling anymore ) it's comfortable, and it's convenient! You can get so much more done with baby all cozy on your chest, and both hands free!
My fiance and I have recently joined a local farm co-op for fresh local veggies and we're just made the full switch into only buying free range chicken/organic & free meats. After buying grain-fed chicken, we stepped it up to the full free range chicken and it was like filet mignon of chicken. Crazy good! We're also eating less meat and more beans, etc.
Alll in all I was in love with this post. You mentioned a lot of things I feel strongly about and I think you're going to be an amazing mother!
Thanks for your response! I love hearing from people that cloth diaper. Even though I am 28 most of my friends are either pregnant or not having kids yet so I have very few people who cloth diaper. I am trying to buy a variety when they go on sale and will decide when we use them which brands I want to invest more money in, but I will absolutely pick up some fuzzibunz. I bought the enzyme sprayer, but have yet to purchase the toilet sprayer. That is on my list of things to buy.
DeleteToo bad we have CF and don't live near each other because how cool would it be me and my little Peanut and you and the baby you nanny to be in a playgroup and you could teach me all the ways of caring for kids in cloth diapers and baby wearing since you experienced it all!
Sounds like you've got some great ideas and it's also good that you are willing to be flexible on things if they don't work for you. We are using a cloth diaper service for the first six months for this baby and it's amazing. I'm also on the same page as you for so many things. I think like people just seem to find each other on these blogs.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised at the CF against breast feeding thing. I breast fed my daughter and am also with my son now. I have to say it does take a toll on your body and for me it also means that I'm still getting sick like I was when I was pregnant. With my daughter I lasted 4 months before I had to go on IV's. This time I'm hoping to go for a full year if possible. I've also had a hard time of it because my baby has jaundice so I've had to give him as much milk as possible to try and flush it out. It's a lot of pressure on the mom. I say for sure go for it and don't let anyone elses experiences put you off. All of us CF mom's are so different and have such different experiences! Can't wait til your baby comes.
So great to hear you breastfeed! And 4 months is great! Were you able to take any oral meds while breastfeeding when you get infections? All my maintenance meds are safe for breastfeeding, but not sure about if I get a flare up and need orals. I am also glad to hear you liked cloth diapering! I love to hear from real moms that something works well or not so well for that matter!
DeleteI think I agree that like minded people find each other's blogs. I never realized there were so many of us "natural" CFers out there!
I am so happy your little man is here and I hope that you are able to breastfeed as long as you and little man want to! I think about you and your little family lots and hope you are all doing well!
Hello. I keep checking your blog and am getting very excited for you! It really could be any day now! Both mine came 9 days early. As for breast feeding I took orals after about 2 months with my first but was just too sick by four months and had to go onto two sets of IV drugs. This time round I'm back on orals(same as I took while pregnant) but feel really good. Have to say it's exhausting and you can't do anything else!! My little guy loves the "boob" and feeds every 2-3 hours around the clock!! Hopefully he'll be able to go a bit longer soon.
ReplyDeleteAs for cloth they totally rock, especially the diaper service. No washing or anything : ) don't know what I'm going to do after the six months are up though : (
Still here and still cooking baby. I so hope she comes a little early now that I have hit 38 weeks!! Good to know orals are okay during breastfeeding. I figured my life will be breastfeeding for quite some time after she arrives, but I am so impressed you are doing so well especially with your little guys demand!
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