I'm looking for answers to three big questions...
1. Our guys are almost too big and too squirmy to continue using the change table. When parents change their babies on beds, the floor, other random surface do you always use a change pad? If so, do you leave them (and diapers and wipes) in various locations around the house?
2. I finally saw Away From Her earlier this week and thought it was really well done - moving and touching without being maudlin and filled with good performances especially Gordon Pinsent (much more so than Julie Christie, who is beautiful but her performance wasn't nearly as nuanced as Pinsent's). Anyway, if Julie Christie's alzheimers is progressing as the movie demonstrates (can't find her way home, doesn't recognize people, etc.), how is she able to sustain a new love interest? How can she remember the new guy, even after a lengthy separation? It's coming close to ruining the movie for me.
3. Nearly every self-respecting mother I talk to claims to have made their own baby food. I'm in the grocery store yesterday and jars of organic baby food are selling for 57 cents. So, why would I make my own?
- Nutrition? There are no ingredients other than the vegetable and water in the jar.
- Safety? The risk of feeding contaminated food to your baby is astronomically low. The risk of me contaminating the food at home is pretty low.
- Cost? Pretty insignificant, at least at the low quantities the kids are eating now.
- Make me feel like I'm being a good parent? Seems like a stretch.
10 comments:
I have a couple of changing pads to be able to whip out and change Will. Although, quite frankly, he's more squirmy on the floor than on the table. (I want to avert poo flying around!)
Anyhoo - I went with jarred organic food. Was way too busy to do my own (even though I bought a book called Super Foods that gave details on how to make your own!)
Have not seen Away from Her yet.
i think that if/when i produce karl lagerfeld juniors, i'd make my own just because i'm that kind of d.i.y. crazy.
have you guys heard of "baby led weaning"? it's this technique where you skip baby food and cereal entirely, and just let your baby feed itself softly cooked "spears" of food.
Karl is always trying to out-do me.
I have not heard of "baby led weaning" -- although you should know that Little Ze is still to this day trying to gorge himself with huge chunks of good.
Jules is almost 4 months and we just got around to getting a change table! Before we changed him wherever or in a bay windowsill. We usually used a changing pad except on the bed (now that we don't get sprayed anymore).
57 cents sounds like a good deal, but I think you can probably make 4 times as many meals for that much (mash carrot, put in ice cube tray, etc.). Depends how cheap you are. I have Scottish roots. :) Our baby group discusses weaning next week - will let you know how the Brits do it.
lc
Honestly, we still use the change table for the sake of our backs and can imagine using it till Sophie is going on 2. I would suggest having one set-up on each floor and take each dirty bum-bum there. The more they squirm, the greater the likelihood of poop ending up somewhere you never notice - until someone else spots it...
Mike likes to make baby food. I "cheat" and feed Sophie out of a jar every couple of days. But it's easier once they can chew a bit ad you can just keep your own veggies in the pot a little longer.
Mind you, I'm off to see the nutrionist this morning for the allergy crew and she might tell me that I am way off base!
- Tiff - Can't believe I mentioned a movie you haven't seen yet. Don't tell me you've turned your back on Canadian films!?
- Ms. Lagerfeld - I hope you have kids soon, if only to see photos on your blog of your latest baby food concoctions! Never mind baby-led weaning, I was reading last week about diaper-free babies - you're supposed to just intuit when your child is going to go. Some parents are in serious need of a hobby or something.
- Linds - I guess you're closer to your Scottish roots than I am to mine!! The kids tried strained grean beans from a jar this morning and totally loved it. Can't believe they prefer beans to apples or bananas.
- Jo - Hope the nutritionist goes well. You guys have had too much bad luck with food.
Hazel, a good point was made about a changing table and the health of your spinal cord. It is more difficult to be haunched over the baby in terms of changin the diaper! Use the distraction method to keep the squirm level down (loud bursts of singing tends to instil moments of calm from my kids). Away From Her is on our queue for Netflix! I certainly have not turned back on my Canuck heritage I loved Ellen Page in Juno and am quick to tell my fellow Americans that she is from Canada! Plus I loved Julie Christie's shout out to Sarah Polley at the SAG Awards!!
Anyhoo - Karl tried to make baby food for my babies -- they rejected her efforts!
Change tables: We used them until the kids were in pull-ups. We found it kept the squirming down because they had no place to go and we did have mobiles on top of the tables. With the cloth, it was the only way to keep everything in one place.
Alzheimers: Patients with advanced disease live in the present. I think it is beleivable that she could sustain a "love interest" at the home. I agree with you that it is less likely that it would persist through the separation, but I think it is still plausible.
Babyfood: I made my own in the ice cube trays at the beginning becasue my pipsqueeks would share one carrot ice cube for a whole meal. By the time they ate more, we went more to mashed stuff and used some jars. I always used jars for the meat- yuck!
-Beth
Hi again,
Just back from baby group. The arguments we were given for making our own baby food are as follows:
1. You should give one vegetable at a time at first so they distinguish between different tastes- often jars are mixed puree and taste is indistinguishable.
2. You can control the consistency so that they progress to eating lumpy and thicker things (but you could also add baby rice to make thicker).
3. They say that "some babies" if fed mainly jars later refuse family foods and it is difficult to give them a well-balanced diet. Not so sure about that one.
There you go. But I don't know what is in the jars here - maybe not the same options as you have. All I can say is that here, a huge amount of the food in supermarkets is prepackaged and not so appetizing....
xo
A change table is the biggest white elephant in the baby layette, in my opinion. We got rid of it after Jared, and never used one for Jordyn (we use the bed in her room with a giant change pad underneath). We keep a stash of diapers / wipes around the house, and have become very adept at the lift 'n wipe.
Away From Her was a good movie -- a convincing performance by Julie Christie. Juno is my "movie of the year". Atonement was overrated, not sure why it's nominated.
Baby food -- I made my own initially because Jordyn had some trouble digesting solids, and the naturopath suggested some starter foods that are not easy to find. She's doing much better now, and we have switched switched to jarred food (organic).
Justine
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