Yes, that's right, I'm going to blog about poo. And any mom out there will know that in the world of having a new baby, poo is very important. It's something you never dreamed you would be so interested in. What brought on this post about bodily functions? Well, as I was feeding Eli his first dose of prunes this morning (he thought they were fabulous) I started thinking about how poo-obsessed we moms can be. Examples:
-It starts early, in the hospital I am continually getting called into rooms to examine diapers and answer questions like, Is it supposed to be that black? and in one case, Can you look at my baby's scrotum (she didn't use that word), there is something weird on it (she thought it was a growth or something). Turns out it was just dried poo.
-The obsession continues when you bring your new baby home- my niece Eva didn't poop for a large number of days when Cammie brought her home, we thought, something must be wrong! But the nurse assured us that breastfed babies can go quite sometime. Still, we were all relieved when she finally started back up again!
-In the early months it wasn't uncommon for my sister or I to be changing a diaper (either or own kid's butts or the other's) and call the other over to check out the damage. Gross? Maybe, but for some reason we didn't even question that the other might want to see it.
-My sister has a video on her phone of Eva's 'poop face'. This is the look she contorts her face into when she is going poop, there are sounds as well and on vacation we got endless enjoyment out of watching Eva as she pooped. We are, needless to say, easily entertained!
-At six months, the babies have been diving into new foods and that brings new poo as well. Talk about exciting! It can be green, orange or in Eli's case, hard. Which brings me to why we had prunes this morning...
Perhaps the reason we are so obsessed is because we subconsciously know that poo is a great way to gauge health and well-being and if something were wrong in our little people's bodies poo would be a place to start looking for clues. Or maybe it's just a fascinating realization that something so rank can come out of something so cute. Who knows why we are so obsessed, but I for one don't think there is anything wrong about it, so don't hesitate to call me over to check out one of yours diapers, I'll be there in an instant to appreciate to mass, color, consistency! It's just a mom thing!
PS- My sister and I have two adoring mothers-in-law who both have a funny way of dealing with baby poop that I have to share. My sweet mother-in-law always refers to Eli's business as stool, such as "I think he has to stool" or "He had a small stool while you were gone" and Cammie's mother-in-law refers to it as "Doing good work" which I find hilarious and use on a daily basis now. In fact, Eli is doing good work in his exersaucer right now, one of his best places to have a stool. :)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Sleep Training
Eli has been in intensive sleep training since we returned from our MN vacation a few weeks ago and I have to say, it is going FAMOUSLY! We had him trained before, and by trained I mean laying him down awake and letting him put himself to sleep, but before we left for our two week vacation where we would be sharing a tiny cabin with my sister and her husband we kind of let the training slide....and boy was that a mistake!
Unfortunately, while we were gone things really went downhill, the boy was getting up every few hours, and while I would always try to feed him in hopes that he would quickly and quietly go back to sleep, sometimes he just wanted to cry and cry and then cry some more. Let me tell you, in a camp of just 12 cabins, everyone knew what our nights were like....and would then offer us advice.
So we tried everything. One day we decided not to let him nap more then 90 min. at a time. So that day I woke up a cranky baby and then had high hopes when I laid him down at night- he didn't get the memo that he was supposed to be more tired that night and was up just as often. Another day we tried letting him sleep for as long as he wanted with the thought that a baby that sleeps better during the day sleeps better at night. He also didn't receive that memo. We tried cereal right before bed, cereal at dinner time, cereal multiple times a day..... no luck. Finally, a few nights before we drove home my mom (IE my savior) slept with him few nights and I was able to sleep for 6 hours IN A ROW! At that point I would have paid any amount of money for sleep but she didn't charge me :) So needless to say I was anxious to get Eli home and in his own crib for some remedial training.
The first night we got back I had a talk with Eli, we hummed a few verses of the Rocky theme song to get in the training mood and then we laid him down in his crib and let him work it out until he fell asleep. PRAISE THE LORD the kid finally slept!!! We have made more and more progress since then until last night we laid him down at 9:00pm, heard a little peep from him at 10:00pm (but not enough to intervene) and then not a sound until I woke up at 6:00am when Dylan got up for work and ran into his room (all the while reviewing my infant CPR as I was sure he was dead) to check on him. He, of course, was fine and I resisted the urge to pick up the poor sleeping child and swing him around out of joy for the sleep I had!
Final thoughts on sleep training- while it is difficult for a few nights to hear the baby cry it is OH SO WORTH IT!!!! Dr Ferber is my hero and if he were here I would kiss him on the lips!
Unfortunately, while we were gone things really went downhill, the boy was getting up every few hours, and while I would always try to feed him in hopes that he would quickly and quietly go back to sleep, sometimes he just wanted to cry and cry and then cry some more. Let me tell you, in a camp of just 12 cabins, everyone knew what our nights were like....and would then offer us advice.
So we tried everything. One day we decided not to let him nap more then 90 min. at a time. So that day I woke up a cranky baby and then had high hopes when I laid him down at night- he didn't get the memo that he was supposed to be more tired that night and was up just as often. Another day we tried letting him sleep for as long as he wanted with the thought that a baby that sleeps better during the day sleeps better at night. He also didn't receive that memo. We tried cereal right before bed, cereal at dinner time, cereal multiple times a day..... no luck. Finally, a few nights before we drove home my mom (IE my savior) slept with him few nights and I was able to sleep for 6 hours IN A ROW! At that point I would have paid any amount of money for sleep but she didn't charge me :) So needless to say I was anxious to get Eli home and in his own crib for some remedial training.
The first night we got back I had a talk with Eli, we hummed a few verses of the Rocky theme song to get in the training mood and then we laid him down in his crib and let him work it out until he fell asleep. PRAISE THE LORD the kid finally slept!!! We have made more and more progress since then until last night we laid him down at 9:00pm, heard a little peep from him at 10:00pm (but not enough to intervene) and then not a sound until I woke up at 6:00am when Dylan got up for work and ran into his room (all the while reviewing my infant CPR as I was sure he was dead) to check on him. He, of course, was fine and I resisted the urge to pick up the poor sleeping child and swing him around out of joy for the sleep I had!
Final thoughts on sleep training- while it is difficult for a few nights to hear the baby cry it is OH SO WORTH IT!!!! Dr Ferber is my hero and if he were here I would kiss him on the lips!
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