Sunday, November 13, 2005

A new day

I decided that with every post I need to start off by saying which personality is writing today. Is it the tired, cranky, hungry, beaten down, gloom & doom me or is it the well-rested, turkey-aint-so-bad, silver lining me? It seems they alternate days, I think you can guess who wrote yesterday but today I'm all about the silver lining. So just plan on Monday, Wednesday & Friday of this week to be all about the gloom. If you want to remain in a happy mood, only read Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Since today is a good day I'm saying forget formula, we can do this! Sometimes my pessimism overshadows the progress we ARE making.

The Good:
  • 4th day with no blood visible to the human eye
  • Poop actually looks pretty normal today - not ideal but not freaky "did this actually come out of him?"
  • Most were mucus free
  • His red ring looks a tad better
  • He IS happy every day - Not always all day but most of it.
  • He does NOT seem like he's in pain or uncomfortable anymore - The last couple days he'd wake up straining but it was because of a burp. He's impossible to burp to begin with but nursing laying down and falling asleep like that seems to make it a little worse.
  • Our brief stint with reflux seems to have subsided
  • He is growing and hitting his milestones - I can officially check off rolling over from back to stomach. Before it seemed almost accidental and he couldn't get his arm from underneath him without help. But yesterday I had him on his back and came back into the room and he was in push up position. He's done it several times since. He still isn't a fan of rolling over from stomach onto his back. He does it but not frequently. Plus he's a sitting up fool, put him on his back he's non-stop crunching those abs desperately trying to get up on his own.

The Bad:

  • Poops aren't ideal like previously said - I'm sure the mucuos he's swallowing from his nose is contributing
  • The fact his red ring worsened - which could be a result of the vapor bath I gave him for his congestion, I'm sure that isn't the most gentle on a sensitive bum.
  • His poor (meaning GOD AWFUL "please just kill me") sleeping - which I was reminded that he is working on some major milestones right now which is known to disrupt sleep. Plus he has a cold.

So you see the good outweighs the bad. And the bad I can't exactly blame specifically on allergies as with babies it could be a result of anything. I have to remember "during the healing the bad will come and go, it takes TIME." Must remember that. Repeat, must remember that.

We'll keep on keepin' on with the breastfeeding as long as we aren't regressing and as long as his well-being isn't in jeopardy. I just want to be clear that while I don't think formula is evil, I can't ever recommend it over breastmilk with good conscious unless there are EXTREME situations that can't be overcome. But again, I don't think it's evil, I don't think you are a bad parent if you choose formula and I don't think anyone should feel guilty if they are unable to breastfeed. I know, totally mixed signals there but that's me. A walking contradiction. I know almost first hand the guilt that a mother can feel (plus the "what is wrong with me, why aren't I good enough for my baby" feelings) if they HAVE to go to formula when they don't want to. It's just not right to feel that way although knowing that didn't stop me from feeling that guilt all too much. But I also want people to know my stance on the issue and that me going to formula, if it ends up that way, is going against a lot of my beliefs. (Stepping off soapbox.) Hope I didn't alienate too many of you, not my intention just gotta be the real me which isn't always a good thing.

Well enough about that. Yesterday we stayed indoors most of the day so J could get over his cold. The only time we ventured out was to go to Wal-Mart to get the allergen-free fever reducer. His cold was incentive to get it, I'd hate for him to suddenly have a fever skyrocket and not having anything safe to give him. So we took him out in his snotty pajamas, I went out in the top half of my pajamas and pants that might as well be pajamas, mascara under my eyes and my hair exactly how it was when I woke up. Bryan was the only one who looked decent, almost overdressed compared to us which says a lot since he was just in jeans. We looked a mess but we were just going to Wal-Mart for crying out loud and sadly fit right in. Which by the way I hate giving them my support but they happened to be the only place around here to carry what we needed. They trapped me into giving them Bryan's hard earned money. Damn that Sam!

Do or did any of you have one of the jumping things for your babies? Like a doorway jumper or a floor version? I was thinking of getting J the Jumparoo for Christmas, I'm too scared he'll bring the house down with a doorway version. But the yoga teacher was explaining why there is much debate over them. Ignore this if you already knew, but apparently one of the muscles (can't remember which now) has to extend as they grow which is why they start off all tippy-toed. By using the jumpers you are messing with the natural progression by either forcing their feet flat on the ground, repeatedly or it could prevent them from learning to put their feet flat on the ground not allowing that muscle to extend and may end up walking on their toes for quite some time. Kids, nothing but concern ain't they? You can't even buy a toy without worrying if you are going to ruin them for life. This is why I stick to clothes.

10 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Glad that your day seems better today.

6:00 PM  
Blogger AnnieM said...

We bought a Jumparoo and I think i was worth every penny! We started with the one that hangs in the doorway, but I always worried he'd hang himself ( I know, pretty freakin morbid, but I swear becoming a Mom automatically made me paranoid). I thought it really helped with the constant-desire-to-jump-stage that J will soon be at.

6:23 PM  
Blogger Erin said...

We had a Jumparoo for Benjamin... he LOVED the thing. The directions say to hang it so their toes are just barely touching the ground. I always wondered why that was and now from reading your post, I'm guessing that's why.. (the extended muscle thing) Anyway, he loved it, spent time in it just about every day bouncing all over the place from four months to about eight months... he started walking at 8-1/2 months so I'm going to wager a guess that it didn't hurt his development at all! :)

8:17 PM  
Blogger fuzzypeach said...

glad things are looking better today:)

re the jumpers, we have a doorway jumper. my sister has the floor jumper, so i'll give you a little contrast-and-compare: the floor version is much easier to get the baby in and out of, oh my goodness. It takes up more space. also comes with more noisy flashy stuff which isn't my style but pearl is certainly entranced by it, perhaps because we have no such stuff here! With the doorway jumper, she can spin around and kind of walk a few steps which she LOVES. So good things about both. And bad. I guess.

I heard that they were bad because the hanging-by-the-crotch thing puts too much weight on their spine. I only leave Pearl in it for ten minutes at a time. All things in moderation and all that.

I like having it because now that she has outgrown her bouncy seat, it's somewhere I can safely put her down... she will cry sometimes if she's left laying down.. and give my arms a break as she is ALWAYS wanting to stand/jump.

There are my somewhat disjointed thoughts on jumpers.

9:21 PM  
Blogger M said...

We have the Jumperoo. We got it as a shower gift for Ava but Em spends more time in it than she has! Em was a preemie so we went for followup visits at 6 mos, 1 year, and 18 mos to check her progress and the occupational therapists told me the jumpers are ok for a little while at a time. For the feet/muscle reasons you mentioned, obviously baby shouldn't be in it for prolonged periods at a time, but as active as he sounds, it may be a fun treat for him!

10:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm glad that today's a better day. Re the jumperoo - I bought my son one when he was a little over 3 months. He had really strong legs and always insisted on jumping when he was on anyone's lap. To save arms and to give him some time to play I bought the door jumper. My fear was him bonking his head too hard on the sides, but he did great. Since he was so little I placed a blanket behind him for a few months. I know that many would be shocked, but he was so happy in it. He walks great and a strong climber now at 16mos. We have tons of great photos of him jumping. He even got to a point when he jumped forward and backwards. Do what you think will work best for you and J.

10:41 PM  
Blogger Mrs. Flinger said...

It does sound like there's a bit of hope there. I do hope it just keeps going that direction. You've gone through so much already...

Now, I totally recommend the jump thing. We didn't get one but our babysitter has one and LB LOVES the thing. Would've been great earlier on. :-)

11:33 PM  
Blogger mamaloo said...

We had a good old fashioned Jolly Jumper that hung from a door frame. Kieran LOVED it.

And, yes, they are horribly harmful and crippling - if you leave your child in one for hours at a time! I"m sure, like all good babies, even jumping will get boring for J after 20 minutes or so.

Keep on keeping on!

11:25 AM  
Blogger Kiki said...

Sage loved loved loved the jump up thing. We had the door version and it didn't seem to hurt his walking ability. I remember him jumping on his tip toes mostly. He was in that from 5ish months to 10 months and the only reason we really stopped using it then was because we moved and our apartment doorways won't work with it. It was the best $3 garage sale find ever! And I am disappointed that our next baby won't be able to use it. I kind of remember that if he wasn't jumping, his feet weren't completly flat either.

1:14 PM  
Blogger Jaymie said...

I just came across your blog!!!
That jumparoo thing, I also heard that all the jumping makes their little brains go shake shake shake in their heads or something...but I think the majority of us all were in one of those at one time or the other...and we turned out fine now didn't we!?

1:23 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home