The Mom Crowd

• A Wild Ride Writing Contest

AWildRide.net is celebrating its first year anniversary with a writing contest. The theme is “What to Expect When Parenting isn’t What You Expected.” There are many prizes to win. The deadline for entries is Jan.15th. I am still working on my entry!

• Regretting your Baby’s Name on CNN.com

CNN has an interesting article on what happens when you regret your child’s name.

• ‘Web Playgrounds of the Very Young’ on NYTimes.com

Our kids may be asking to be part of virtual worlds like Webkindz and “Pixie Hollow” soon. A quote from the article ” ‘Get ready for total inundation,’ said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at the research firm eMarketer, who estimates that 20 million children will be members of a virtual world by 2011, up from 8.2 million today.” Here is another quote from the article discussing Neopets, “ ‘Parents know they can trust our brand to protect kids,’ said Steve Youngwood, executive vice president for digital media at Nickelodeon.” I am a huge fan of the web and technology, but I would never rely on a website to protect my child. That is my job.

• 4 Part Cloth Diaper Tutorial on BreastfeedingSymbol.org

I read through all four tutorials and found them really helpful. It actually made cloth diapering less scary. She actually throws all the poop in the washer with the diapers. I wonder if anyone else does that.

I just read an interesting article in Mothering Magazine about aluminum in our children’s vaccines. In the past 10 years there has been a lot of discussion about the additive of thimerosal in vaccines. Thimerosal is a form of mercury and there was a lot of speculation about whether the mercury in vaccines was a contributing factor of the increase of autism in children. There have since been several studies showing that there isn’t a connection between the two but as a precaution thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines. In the article I read it mentioned that Merck (pharmaceutical company) was aware that the mercury in vaccines was well above the recommended amount (87 times!) and that a research doctor sent a memo to the president of his division stating his concerns.

Now there is a new concern about aluminum in vaccines. Aluminum can be toxic in large amounts. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that toxicity can cause neurologic damage and can be harmful for those with kidney disease. The shocking thing to me is that vaccine makers have done no studies to show that the amount of aluminum given to infants is safe or harmful. It is alarming to me that aluminum (a known potential toxin) is considered safe until proven harmful rather than the other way around.

30 mcg of aluminum per day for a 12 pound 2 month old baby is considered a safe amount. Some vaccines have 7 to 25 times the recommended amount. For example, the Hepatitis B vaccine has 250 mcg of aluminum. The Pediarix vaccine, which is a combination vaccine of DTap, Hepatitis B, and Polio, has 850 mcg of aluminum. It is a little scary to me that my baby could get that much aluminum at one time when it is unknown how babies process an abundance of aluminum.

What can you do about it? You can ask your pediatrician to use the vaccines that have a smaller amount of aluminum in it. There is a Hib vaccine that does not have aluminum in it but you would need to find out what kind your doctor uses. You can also ask your doctor how much aluminum is in the DTaP vaccine. There are several choices that contain different amounts. Another alternative would be to limit the number of vaccines your child receives per visit and go back for a special “shot only” visit. You may want to find a copy of this article and print it off for your doctor to read and get his/her input.

I have chosen to do delay vaccines with Graham for different reasons. I decided to wait to give him the Hepatitis B vaccine until we are done with all our other shots. Hepatitis B is contracted through sexual contact, IV drug use, and the mother. I know I don’t have it and I seriously doubt that Graham will be doing any sexual activities or drug use anytime soon. I decided to space out vaccines to allow his immune system not to get overloaded. One of my concerns about the doubling, tripling, and quadrupling of vaccines is that if my baby does have a bad reaction I wouldn’t know which one was the culprit. After reading this article though, I am going to show it to our pediatrician and continue to space out the vaccines.

The pediatrician who wrote the article, Dr. Robert Sears has written a book called The Vaccine Book which recommends a delayed vaccine schedule.

I googled “new year’s baby” to get an image for this blog post, but I got distracted by the first provided link. The link led me to a documentary called, “New Year Baby.” The story is about a family fleeing genocide in Cambodia and coming to America. Read the synopsis. It is an amazing picture of what family and acceptance is all about. I hope this story gives you hope and encouragement for the new year.

Here’s to new beginnings in 2008!

Cheers!

Today was my first attempt to make my own baby food. I followed the instructions in the article McKenna wrote about how to make your own baby food in five easy steps. I also read parts of the book, “Super Baby Food” by Ruth Yaron.

I had the choice of starting Ace with avocado or sweet potato. She is half Hispanic and I craved refried beans when I was pregnant, so I went with the avocado. I tried using the food processor attachment on my blender to purify the avocado, but I had to keep stirring it to get it all mixed. I tried my mortar and pestle and that worked well. I may get something else in the future to make it easier. I added some water to the avocado puree to make the food pour from the spoon.

After pureeing the two avocados and adding water to the green goop, I poured the remainder into an ice cube tray. Tomorrow after the cubes are frozen, I will distribute two cubes per freezer bag and date each bag. Two avocados gave me seven servings of baby food.

I fed Ace some of the fresh baby food and she liked avocado! I could tell, because she would open her mouth for more. I followed the book’s instructions to feed my baby early in the day and right after partially breastfeeding her. I only gave her one side, then put her in the high chair. After she was all done with the avocado, I finished breastfeeding her on the other side. It worked. Although, I don’t want to have to partially breastfeed her before eating all the time, because it is an extra time-consuming step in the process.

I am surprised by how easy the whole process was. I know other vegetables may be more time consuming to cook, but it is not much more time than making a meal for myself. I really like knowing exactly what is in my baby’s food. It also makes me feel good that my daughter is eating fresh vegetables. What could be better than that?

Do you make your own baby food? Have you tried? What has been your experience with home made baby food?

Parents have trained their baby to give the “evil eye.”

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