A whole year!

It has been a whole year. I can hardly believe it! My little man is a year old already. I have learned so much this past year, it has been full of new experiences and challenges I could have never imagined before becoming a parent. I have done things I always swore I would never do (co-sleeping for example), I have done things others said I would never do (breastfeeding and cloth diapering for example), and I have decided not to do many things I always thought were just how things were supposed to be (bottles and baby food for example).

For the past year my little man has only been breastfed, straight from the breast. He has never had a bottle, he never actually took a pacifier. For about 2 weeks he would sleep with it, then I got tired of not sleeping and we co-slept after that, so no more pacifier, he had boob and slept MUCH better. He ONLY had breastmilk for the first 7 1/2 months of his life, at which point he started reaching out and eating food from my plate. I have never spoon fed him baby food, he has always fed himself. Of course, he can't work a spoon and feed himself things like oatmeal yet, so I help him, but 98% of what he eats he picks up and feeds to himself and has since he first consumed something other than breastmilk. He loves to be worn in a baby carrier (beco for example), he likes to sit and play on the floor all on his own, he likes to help do everything that I do. He eats amazingly well for someone his age. He loves fruit, veggies, meat, and drinks water from a straw (he skipped the sippy cup). His favorite meal would consist of sautéed squash and zucchini, sweet and spicy turnip greens, roasted sweet potatoes and carrots, with roasted chicken, with ice water to drink and of course strawberries and yogurt for dessert. Those are by far his favorite foods. 

Yes, I still cloth diaper him. I hate disposables. Due to where we lived temporarily, along with some unforeseen, crazy events I had to use disposables for 3 months. Now that things are getting back to normal we are back in cloth. I have decided to keep using the disposables for nighttime and when we go places. Mostly because he doesn't like to be changed often when we are out, and that keeps him dryier for longer then the cloth ones that I have right now. Otherwise we are back to cloth. They are simply better, for a variety of reasons. 

Yes, I am still breastfeeding him. I realize he is one and isn't considered a baby anymore. It is still extremely benifical for his phycal and emotional needs. I truly hope to keep going until his third birthday. 

Yes, he is still co-sleeping. Again, this is something that is very benifical (not as much as breastfeeding, but still important) for him. When he is ready he will move to his own bed. Until then he is welcome to sleep where he knows he is safe and feels comfortable. 

I am so blessed to have such a healthy, happy child. There are so many benefits to extended breastfeeding and co-sleeping. I realize it isn't for everyone and that is a choice you have to make. However, for us the benefits greatly outweigh the challenges that come from it. Because of the breastfeeding and co-sleeping combination he sleeps 11 hours every night and has been that way since I brought him to our bed. 

This is what works for us, and I am so glad that it does. This wasn't even remotely close to how I envisioned our first year, it is so so much better!

By the way if this post makes you feel like I'm patting myself on the back, then you would be right. I am very proud of how things have gone over this first year. I am so happy to be able to say my son has never had a bottle or formula. I'm not saying it was easy, it has been far from easy. For the first three months my son never unlatched! I was either breastfeeding or he was screaming, for THREE MONTHS. After that I started getting an hour or so a day where I didn't have to hold and/or nurse him. Then finally by 6 months I was able to do a few things throughout the day without him screaming the whole time. Now at a year I still hold him quite a bit, and I still nurse him several times a day. I nurse him to sleep at night, and usually during nap time. I don't like to go very far away from home (I'm talking more then 15min) when it is just me and him because he doesn't much like being in the car seat. Things change every day though, he gets bigger, things like the car seat bother him less, and he is getting much more interested in playing instead of being held all the time. I am so happy that we have pushed through the tough days, and I am so very thankful the things that have been such a big challenge are starting to get easier as the days go by. I couldn't have even made it through the first couple of days without the good Lord and the amazing amount of support from my husband and mom.

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General Cleaning and Sanitizing

For general cleaning and sanitizing I like to use a few different things. Sometimes I like to use castile soap as the base with essential oils as the main sanitizing agent, other times I use vinegar as the base along with the essential oils, yet, other times I use hydrogen peroxide as the base. This really varies depending on what I am cleaning and just how much scrubbing I think will be necessary.

Option 1: Castile Soap Based Cleaner

• Dr.Bronners liquid castile soap (you can use whatever brand you like, that is just what I use)
• Water
• 32oz Spray Bottle
• Optional: Essential oils. Things like tea tree, lavender, or lemon not only act as a sanitizing agent, but they smell great! 

In the spray bottle I put about 2-3 tablespoons of castile soap, 20 drops essential oil, and fill with water. Shake to mix then spray to use.

Option 2: Vinegar Based Cleaner

• White vinegar (you can use apple cider vinegar if you like) 
• Water
• 32oz Spray Bottle
• Optional: Essential oils. Things like tea tree, lavender, or lemon not only act as a sanitizing agent, but they smell great! 

Fill the spray about 1/4 full of vinegar, finish with water, add around 20 drops of essential oil. Shake to mix, then spray to use.

Option 3: Hydrogen Peroxide Based Cleaner

• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Dark colored bottle (I just use the peroxide bottle and squirt it out the tiny hole in the top)
• Water
• Optional: Essential oils. Things like tea tree, lavender, or lemon not only act as a sanitizing agent, but they smell great! 

In your container use about half and half of water and peroxide. Be sure to keep the peroxide in a dark container, if it is exposed to light it takes out the oxygen (which takes away the sanitizing properties and you basically have water).

Side notes:

• Supposedly microfiber cloths "wipe away all the germs" so you can just use them with water to sanitize. I have never been comfortable with that method, so I use microfiber cloths with any of the above cleaners and I feel very confident that it is sanitary at that point.     
• Castile soap isn't actually a "disinfectant" so to make that method "sanitize" I use a few drops of the essential oils.
  
  
  
  
  
  
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Laundry Soap and Fabric Softener

I have been making my own laundry soap for about 5 years now. Mostly because I'm allergic to pretty much every single kind at the store. Out of desperation I started making my own. Over the years it has saved quite a bit of money, my clothes are clean, my skin doesn't itch so I keep making it. Recently, I have been striving to be "chemical-free" in my home, which caused me to change my detergent recipe. This new recipe is great! It is a liquid, which I recently learned is much better for your washer, and it is very easy to make. This is one of those things I can throw together even while holding my son if necessary. I make a gallon at a time. Feel free to make a big 5 gallon bucket of it if you want, the only reason I don't do this is because I use my bucket for other things and never remember to buy a new one with a lid, and I really don't want to mess with where to keep it and getting it out. For me, one gallon at a time works great. One gallon does about 48 loads, and cost aprox: $2.21 (about .05 cents per load). If buying in bulk it cost about $40 to get all the ingredients (you can get it as cheap as $15 but it makes less detergent), however, I use every single one of the ingredients for other purposes so I buy in bulk, it makes more sense that way. If you spend only $15 on the ingredients it will make several batches (about 3-4 gallons) and you will know if you want to invest in the bulk versions next time.

 Here is what I use:

Laundry Soap

• Dr. Bronners liquid castle soap in lavender (you can use any brand, or scent) 
• Borax
• Washing soda
• Warm water
• Gallon container (I use an empty vinegar bottle)

I put 1/4 cup each of borax and washing soda into the bottle, add very warm water and shake until dissolved. Then I add 1/2 cup of the liquid castle soap. I usually shake before using, and I use around 1/3 cup per load in my HE washer.

Feel free to add a few drops of essential oils. Sometimes I add extra lavender, or if I use the unscented castle soap I will add peppermint, lemon, or just whatever smells good.


Mixing Tip:

• Once you put the powder into the container then put a little water into the container, shake, and then fill about 1/3 full of water before you add the castle soap.

Fabric Softener:

I fill my fabric softener container on my washer with pure white vingear. My clothes are soft, static-free, and they do NOT smell like vinegar. Also, I keep several wool dryer balls in the dryer to help dry the clothes faster (saves money on electric), and really helps the static if you forgot the vinegar.

Just a side note: 

Fabric softener sheets are very hard on your dryer. The waxy junk on them builds up in the vent area and is basically impossible to remove, which eventually can be a fire hazard (and makes you use more energy to dry clothes, therefor, costing more money).

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Product review.

 The Concrobium House and Deck Wash works great. We used it on the back of our house and deck. It made a huge difference. This product was very easy to use. 

The KoolerGel

This product works as advertised. I would like to have more of it in a bag, otherwise it earned 5 stars. I used it while camping and it keep the contents of my cooler nice and cold, it make my ice last longer and worked after the ice was gone.


Easy2Hook 
This works great if fishing for pan fish. It really isn't great for much else because of how you have to tie the line.

I miss cloth diapers.

My son has been in only cloth diapers since the very first day he came home (until recently). This hasn't been without its challenges. There have been type/brand changes, and then change again once he got bigger. I'm pretty sure we have used every single style that they make. I love using cloth diapers on him. I think they are much safer and better for his skin, and I know they are loads better for the environment and my bank account.

Because of a strange series of events my son, husband, dog, cat, and I are living temporarily at my parents house. It was supposed to be for a month or two, and has turned into almost 5 months. Don't worry we are moving into our own house soon. Like I said, it was a strange series of events that brought us here for this long.

Back to the diapers. I had zero intentions of putting my son into a disposable diaper from the beginning. I would much rather make cloth work regardless of our situation. However, the washer I must use while at my parents is not cleaning the diapers very well. Actually, it isn't that it doesn't clean them it is that it doesn't rinse them well. If you have ever used cloth diapers then you understand what a huge issue this is. Not only are they smelling funny, but they aren't absorbing much (if anything). This is a major problem when the whole purpose of a diaper is to absorb! So I was faced with a decision. Continue fighting with the washer and be stressed out about this issue every day. Which was the choice I made for 3 months. I boiled the diapers weekly, I worked day and night trying to keep them like they should be. Finally, I decided to give myself a break and take the other choice. Which was to put him in disposables until we get into our house and have a washer that isn't ruining his cloth diapers. I did not come to this decision easily, nor did I give up without a fight. It has made things easier and less stressful during this already challenging time. It still isn't a decision I am happy about having to make. So very often I wish I could just make this stupid washer work like I need it to, or that the diapers didn't have to go through a crazy long process just to get back to working order. Which I plan to start ASAP when we move.

Disposable diapers are simply trash. They leak, poop oozes out of them very often, and they smell funny. Never mind how unhealthy they are for my son, and how dry it makes his skin.

I really miss using cloth diapers! Most people probably find that statement strange, but for us disposables simply do not make the cut. Even my husband says he can't hardly wait to get our son back in the cloth diapers, because they are so much better.

My breast feeding journey. The first 3 months.

From the very moment my son came into this world until he was about 3 months old he wanted to be latched on the boob. I'm not making this up! It wasn't because he was starving, it was because he is what some people consider a "high-needs baby". My personal opinion is that he is just smart enough to know that it was the best place for him to be. I will back up a bit and tell you about our day to day from the beginning.

It started with 25hrs of labor that led to an emergency c-section. Once I could finally hold the little man he went right for the boob. He needed very little encouragement and latched on right away. It was a bit of a shallow latch, but he was only an hour old so I was patient and let him learn. He nursed for several minuets and fell right to sleep in my arms. I loved every single second! My sweet baby was finally here, and he was latching on, things were going great! I decided to avoid pacifiers for as long as I could, I wanted him to learn to nurse well before I gave him other things that might confuse him. Little did I know, those things weren't going to make the cut anyway so it wouldn't have mattered. We did a lot of skin to skin and nursing at the hospital and after a couple of days we finally got to go home. I learned the hard way (as in he screamed at me for what seemed like hours until I washed it off) that he HATES lanolin, so I used coconut oil instead. My milk came in on day 3. It leaked all the time, everywhere. I was covered in milk, he was covered in milk, my clothes, his clothes, the bed, the couch, the floor, the rug...there was sticky breast milk everywhere! Thankfully I had purchased a pair of bamboobies while pregnant. They saved us from the sticky milk that was taking over our life. It didn't take long before I had purchased a whole pile of them!
While at the hospital I talked to a lactation consultant and had gotten some great tips on positions to nurse in, what to look for to make sure he was eating and things like that. I knew I was "supposed" to make him eat then take him off the boob if he fell asleep. The problem with that for us was that he liked to nurse in his sleep. So I decided it would be okay because I wanted to get a good supply of milk established and he wasn't happy with being taken off the boob unless he unlatched himself. He would eat, sleep, suckle, wake, and eat some more all right there doing skin to skin at the boob. I wore him in a sling and various other baby wearing devices so I could do things like grocery shop. In the car I would give him a pacifier, that didn't last long though. He wasn't impressed with any of the 10 different types of pacifiers I gave him. Which resulted in him screaming until he was out of the seat and back on the boob.
At bedtime for the first two months I would nurse him, lay him in his bassinet to sleep, and when he would wake up I would change him, nurse him and repeat until morning. I was exhausted, but before the little man came into my life I was very firm about not co-sleeping/bed-sharing. It was fine for the first couple months to have my baby in a bassinet beside the bed, but I would not let him sleep in my bed. Yeah...that was a great rule to have until I actually had a baby! Not sleeping and having what some would consider a "high-needs" baby forced me to reevaluate some things. I started researching co-sleeping, in particular bed-sharing. It turns out that when it is done properly bed-sharing is much safer then a baby sleeping in their own space. Of course a lot depends on the parents, the bed, the situation, and a lot on the personality of the baby. For us and our "high-needs" baby it sounded perfect! So during nap time I practiced the sideline nursing position for a couple of days. When I felt comfortable I even took a nap with him. Then one night I was exhausted, all the little man wanted was to be close to me, so I picked him up and laid him beside me. He nursed to sleep, I fell asleep, and we slept for 8 hours! It was amazing! At that point I started putting him to bed in the bassinet, but once he woke the first time (usually around 2-4 hrs later) I brought him to my bed and we slept another 4-6 hours. He could nurse whenever he needed and we both slept much better.
Around 3 months there is a major transition babies go through. Which causes some rough nights. He nursed even more during the day. Which I didn't actually think was possible because he nursed almost constantly as it was. The little man was suddenly having trouble going to sleep, and staying asleep. He hate the bassinet, and wanted nothing but to be held close to the boob if he wasn't latched on. This was a very short phase, it would have been much more difficult had we not read in advance that it was coming. We comforted the little man and did everything we could to help him and his developing brain through the transition. While doing that it eliminated the use of the bassinet all together. He would just lay down beside me when I went to bed.
A lot during those first three months I wondered when it was going to change. I wanted so desperately to be able to lay my sweet baby down somewhere safe while I did things like shower, use the bathroom, get dressed, or even fix something to eat. Never mind cooking, cleaning, or anything "productive" I simply craved proper hygiene and food! Of course it was possible to lay him down, I'm not saying it wasn't, however, he would scream at me until I picked him back up. I could get about 10-20min a day when his dad would hold him, as long as I stayed within a few feet of where he was. This was better then nothing and I couldn't stand to make my sweet baby cry more then he absolutely had to. When I was home alone with him and needed to fix food or do something that required me me not to hold a baby I would do it as quickly as possible and as little as necessary. I knew someday it would be different. Days would go by that I didn't mind at all, other days I was just happy we made it through and that we were one day closer to the little man being happy somewhere else besides only in my arms.
This is how we spent our first 3 months. It was extremely challenging, and at the very same time it was amazingly wonderful! When it would be too much to handle I would try to focus on the fact that had a beautiful, healthy baby that latched on great, I was making plenty of milk, he was eating plenty, and we slept 10-12 hours every single night! I knew I would be able to push through. Many thanks goes to my amazing husband that helped so very much during that time as well. He would come home from a long day at work and cook, clean, do laundry, do diaper laundry (did I mention we were cloth diapering), take the baby so I could shower and have a tiny break, bring me chocolate and make sure I was eating, make me ice water and watch whatever show I wanted on tv. He was and is simply wonderful! If the little man was having trouble going to sleep (during the transition phase) he would take him for walks at 10pm up and down the street even though he had to be awake at 4am for work. Those first few months were challenging and wonderful for all of us! I am here to say it has been very much worth it and it really does change quickly.

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To read about the "second 3 months" click here.

Check out others breastfeeding stories here!

Educate yourself! Soy formula and rice cereal are terrible for baby humans!

*Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean it is right*

**Disclaimer** I am VERY pro breastfeeding, however, I realize there are choices that are made and/or situations that result in giving a baby formula. As much as I am for breastfeeding I am even more for feeding babies, and feeding them the best you can. If that means no breast milk, then at the very least I ask that you look into the formula you choose. There are MUCH better options then soy and/or rice formula/cereal.**

I wish more people would educate themselves about the food they provide for their children. It makes me so sad when I see people making very poor choices, and I know most of the time it isn't because they don't care, it is because they simply do not know better. I was at the store today and saw a young mother purchasing food for her around 6 month old baby. It made me so sad for the baby, and I really wanted to let the mom know what she was planning on feeding her precious child just wasn't the best choice. She had; soy formula (if you must use formula then try to get one with the least soy possible), rice cereal to thicken the formula (if you give cereal then please DO NOT use rice) and jarred baby food. The jarred baby food was the least concerning items. Even though I do not think a less than 6 month old baby should be fed baby food, especially from a jar, at least that is less of the soy and rice crap she will have to eat. In my opinion (and experience) it is so much better and easier to just wait until the baby is ready for food, and then give them regular people food. No need for baby food. Have you tasted that crap? No wonder kids grow up to be picky eaters. I realize this mother wasn't doing anything differently than almost everyone else these days. That still doesn't mean it is the best decision. She probably never received very good breast feeding advice or support, and I'm sure she thinks she is doing what is best. This is where it makes me the most upset though. Why don't people look into things for themselves? If she had done any sort of research on her own there is no way she would have been feeding her child such a terrible diet. It makes me want to just tell people to READ! Find out what the ingredients are, and if your child should consume those particular ingredients. Also, check even a little more into it and find out if they are physically ready to digest such things. Just because the jar/box (that by the way is trying to sell you something) says its okay does not mean it is best! As you know by now I love the quote: When you know better, do better. I think I should add to that...and spend some time learning to do better!

More info on rice cereal: Consumer Reports, the independent consumer watchdog group, has conducted analysis of a number of different rice products, finding that an array of them–including organic rice baby cereal, rice breakfast cereals, brown rice, and white rice–contain “worrisome” levels of the carcinogenic toxin arsenic. Arsenic is not regulated in food, though the government does have a standard of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for arsenic in drinking water. From Consumer Reports: Source

More info on soy formula: Other problems that have been anecdotally associated with children of both sexes who were fed soy-based formula include extreme emotional behavior, asthma, immune system problems, pituitary insufficiency, thyroid disorders and irritable bowel syndrome.
Concerns about the dangers of soy have prompted consumer groups in New Zealand and Canada to call for a ban on the sale of soy infant formula. Milk-based formula contains a better protein profile and does not flood the infant with antinutrients and female hormones. Breast feeding is best IF the mother has consumed a healthy diet, one that is rich in animal proteins and fats, throughout her pregnancy and continues to do so while nursing her infant. Mothers who cannot breast feed, for whatever reason, should prepare homemade formula based on whole milk for their babies. The rare child allergic to whole milk formula should be given a whole foods meat-based formula, not one made of soy protein isolate. Parents who invest time in preparing homemade formula will be well rewarded with the joys of conferring robust good health on their children.
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