Cyndi's & Mikel's Baby Page
Baby Stuff

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth (on order)

Having Faith (own)

Various pregnancy books

Christine: "The Happiest Baby on the Block" DVD from Dr. Harvey Karp.

Elizabeth: Ida Mae Gaskin has a new pregnancy book out that is supposed to be fabulous. Dr. Sears' parenting books are great. If you go to La Leche League's website, they have a catalog with a lot of great book recommendations. Janet Zands also has a book about Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child (or something like that) which presents all your options- herbal, homeopathic, and conventional medicine. It's a great resource book to have...The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is a really good book to have as a reference book and to read before you start.

Sara: I love all the Dr. Sears books. There is a book called "The Baby Whisperer" which talks a lot about listening to what the baby is telling you with her body language and behavior. It is a sleep book and I don't agree with her method but I like a lot of what she says and it may give you some ideas...The Womanly Art Of Breastfeeding is nice. I liked "So That's What They're For! Breastfeeding Basics." It's light & easy reading but you may find it too campy.

These are all the ones BabiesRUs sells:
Snug Fit Bed Rail by Safety 1st
36 x 20 Bedrail by Dex Baby Products
Sure Position N Lock Bedrail by Safety 1st

Elizabeth: And for your drippy breasts in the first month of nursing! And for the lochia which will flow out of your pads at least once, if not more. Just count on the bed being a mess.

Kira: i second that you may find a need to have blankets, or extra diapers for catching extra breastmilk -- i really was amazed that it took a couple months each time for me to fully regulate in my body, and i really could soak through ten breast pads, cloth or the other kind (which i didn't like anyway)....in one short sitting. so, i found thick cloth diapers more convenient, and then just washed them often with the baby clothes, usually. i also used bath towels for that purpose.

Christine: Under The Nile Receiving Blanket. I would suggest having at least three or four of the normal swaddle blankets and we have two of the miracle blankets. It depends on how often you want to do wash-and how often your baby pees through the diapers.

I have all three of these blankets and the difference is thickness. The Little Earthlings one is thicker, like a blanket you may use to cover the baby when it is chilly in bed or in a stroller or something like that. The Aware ones and the Under The Nile ones are thin, to wrap the baby actually in when swaddling or carrying around-I find the Little Earthlings one too bulky for that.

Elizabeth: In response to Christine's suggestion of swaddling blankets- some babies HATE it. Others adore it. You'll have to see what the temperment of your little one dictates. It never worked for us.

Recieving blanket: We didn't use many of these since the babies don't sleep with them on, and they kick them off later. You just put them in heavier pajamas or double-layers of pajamas. They mainly worked for covering the baby up in the carrier.

Kira: also, i like to have lots of cotton baby blankets fwiw, i do okay personally, with ones from the gap...we are still using four of them with our three year old...I like to have at least 15 baby blankets....that way, i can layer them under baby in the bed at night, and just pull them out for laundry, if baby wets a bit through them...otherwise, we have to wash all our bedding, and that is a pain...I actually think 15 is conservative, looking at that number again.

[Re Litlle Earthlings] I say yes, you want the silly hat and numerous receiving blankets, at those prices today. i don't know WHERE you will see organic receiving blankets at that price again, unless you sew them with a great deal on the fabric.

Sara: swaddling blankets: Same thing as receiving blankets I think. These are very nice for spring babies because you can put them in a onesie or baby t-shirt and then add a blanket or two for warmth and comfort.

Mikel wants a pouch sling. New Native organic cotton sling size extra small. They run $48 but factory seconds are only $35. Color choices (in order of preference): Sea blue, natural, black.

For after 5-6 months, we liked the Ergo carrier which is structured and meant for the back but you can do it on the front too. $89.00 including shipping. Coral, Pacific Blue and Black.

Elizabeth: We had 3 slings and 1 Bjorn- one sling on each floor of the house, one Bjorn in the car, 1 sling in the car.

Sara: To go out alone you will have to use some kind of carrier. My offer to make you one still stands. I used to wear baby in the sling, lean over the car seat & settle him in, then loosen the sling & slide out of it, & buckle baby up. Then when we arrived I could slide the sling back on without disturbing baby too much. I don't know if a sling will work with your wheelchair but may be a good option for Michael if you don't go the car seat/stroller route.

A friend from the other coast accidently left a cheap toddler stroller at our house and told us to keep it. But we need an infant stroller.

Review of Stroller-Car Seat Combos.

Best bet: Baby Trend Snap N Go. Available at Amazon/BabiesRUs.

Elizabeth: How's your arm strength? I found the infant carseats/carriers great, but I couldn't carry them once the kids got over 10 lbs. With Benjamin, who started over 10 lbs, we just used a 5-40 lb carseat from teh start. However, we used the infant carseat/carrier as a secondary bassinet in the house. Benjamin slept in it for about hte first four months because it kept him more upright, reducing reflux. It was incredibly handy.

Chirstine: I had the same experience. I cannot go anywhere alone with Huck. Someone else has to carry the carseat.

Sara: Is there such a thing as an organic car seat? Maybe a cover...If you don't want baby spending a lot of time in the plastic/foam carseat I'd just get a convertable - you can get them now that go from infant through age 8 or so & that is the most economical, *except* the safety standards will change between now and then so you may end up buying a booster when s/he's older anyway.

Kira: found a nice site: www.carseatdata.org you can enter your type of car, and find data about which seats seem to fit best, and where they do, in your vehicle..

Sara: The cover is just a piece of cloth. It has no bearing on the safety of the car seat; that's in the seat body and the seatbelt straps. There may be some additional padding in the cover but it is for comfort not safety. There are also many covers with no padding, and some seats don't have covers at all & are just plastic. I know tha there are lamb's wool car seat covers...these are intended to go over the existing cover but aside from keeping the cover in place there's no reason you couldn't take the poly cover off & use elastic or something. I don't know if they come in organic though. You could also put like a blanket over the whole seat, over the original cover, with holes cut in it for the straps to go through...that would be fast & easy & at least the poly woudln't be right up against baby's skin. But I like your idea of taking the original off & using it as a pattern for an organic one, if you're able to do that. :) I just wanted to reassure you that yes that would be perfectly safe to do.

Kira: i am inclined to agree with you, but had heard differently from a couple of different certified car seat trainers about the covers being important in their design for safety purposes. when i have taught / sat in on childbirth classes, i have heard some different people now, and they all say never to do that. so, that's why i am a bit concerned. i modified veda's earlier carseats per our chiro's rec.

Christine: Hospital Grade Breast pump (I recommend the Symphony Plus if possilbe, the Classic is pretty painful)...if you do want a cheaper one, I also use the Pump In Style from Medela which is fine as a back up.

Elizabeth: You shouldn't need a hospital grade one with your plans. I've had a Purely Yours and a Pump in Style. They were really comparable, except in price, and the Purely Yours by Ameda is cheaper. I'd go with it if I had to buy again.

Sara: if you're not going to be using it often you may find hand expressing is just as good as any pump. Avent makes a nice hand pump that works well for many mothers. I've never had any luck with any pump, from the "bicycle horn" to the ones at the hospital. It is plastic, though, and I don't know if you'll find glass bottles that will attach to it. I don't know if you'd be OK with pumping it into plastic & transferring it to glass.

Elizabeth: The Avent bottles/nipples are the ones most recommended for breastfeeding moms because they are most similar to the breast shape. I don't know if any of the glass bottles work with them, though.

Christine: That is true and they work well for colic, but they are made out of the plastic that leaches BPA and they do not fit the glass bottles. - we are now using the Evenflo silicone nipples with the glass evenflo bottles or the Lansinoh bottles.

Elizabeth: We don't use bibs because I found them useless.  He coats his sleeves and pants, so bibs just don't hack it.

Sara: I didn't use bibs either.

Elizabeth: You'll want it as soon as the baby can sit up, even if s/he is not eating solids yet. You let the baby sit in it and watch you eat, giving him/her spoons, measuring cups, etc. to play with and give you two minutes to eat.

Sara: I didn't use the high chair much but you certainly can.

Christine: Onesies are very practical and Under the Nile has these great snap on shirts.

Sara: I like these shirts too, but they do ride up. I prefer onesies.

Christine: You won't need shoes until later, but booties are better than socks in my opinion-the socks constrict the blood flow too much if they are tight enough to stay on-Sckoon makes great organic booties...these booties are just looser than the socks I have found. I got him a bunch of the Maggie's infant socks and he has giant feet so they were cutting off his circulation within weeks. These booties are loose but have a good strong elastic band that holds them on without being constricting.

Sara: A bootie is more like a bag with elastic around the top. I never used a lot of booties or baby socks with newborns because their feet were usually wrapped up in a swaddling/receiving blanket.

Elizabeth: I found Old Navy and Baby Gap socks are the only ones that stay on. Others are a waste of money because they come off so easily. Of course, they aren't organic. Baby Gap uses some organic cotton in their lines, but no guarantee on any particular items. We love Robeez (www.robeez.com) which also are the only booties/shoes we've found that stay on well. Recommendations now are against hard soled shoes when kids first start walking. I don't know if you'd find Robeez tolerable; I don't have issues with them. They aren't organic/vegan.

Sara: You won't actually *need* shoes till probably 12-18 mos. It's supposed to be best to let them learn to walk barefoot and then put them in shoes when they're good at it. But for warmth or cleanliness you may end up wanting them sooner, that's your call.

Sara: I honestly could not have enough of these -- onesies, t-shirts, and blankets. My friend went on an online shopping spree and got me tons and tons of them (all 100% cotton but not organic) and it was such a blessing not to have to worry about doing baby laundry the first couple weeks.

Kira: I am wondering if you would be happier with MORE clothing.....I personally like to have more t shirts and I like baby pants -- can require less work changing than a onesie does, and you often just have to change the bottom part of the outfit. I personally like to have maybe 25 outfits, so that loads of baby clothes are medium sized, then, and I have more time to rest between laundry loads, in that first year. You may be different. I also really really prefer the "kimono" shirts, and "kimono" style dresses, for girls / boys -- the wrap around, and tie or snap kinds of things. I ended up using those over and over with my first, as it was easier for me to dress her, esp. if I was tired or weak, and if she was fussy, it was easier, too. for my second, I sewed a whole bunch of them, many sizes, and was so happy i did. I think i had at least 5 kimono shirts for each size, and maybe more.

Elizabeth: I like a lot of clothes, too. There are days when Benjamin goes through 3-6 outfits.  We didn't need quite so many as an infant...I'm the odd one out- I hated the kimono shirts.  I preferred things that went over the head and had snaps on the shoulder.  I also like onesies more.  However, Benjamin has started sitting on the potty a lot in the past few days, which makes onesies a pain...Benjamin could not wear newborn clothes. He was 10 lbs 4.5 oz at birth and started out in 3 mos clothes. When you are trying to guess seasons, it's near impossible. The kids don't usually follow the size guides. Benjamin is actually wearing 18 mos clothes at 18 mos of age, but he's on the small side. Once they are older (like over 2) it gets to be more accurate. My 4 year olds are wearing 4Ts. However, in dresses, Julia wears a 6 in many sizes because I don't like how short they make girls' dresses. I don't want them more than an inch or so above her knee. I also don't do bare midriff shirts on her!...Ditto on the Under the Nile. I like them best of anything I've bought. Some of the other stuff isn't great.

Christine: Just wanted to tell you guys about my personal experiences with different organic baby clothes brands: my favorite by far is Under the Nile-they are reasonably priced, I believe, and their cotton is so so soft and I think they have very cute things as a bonus. Lauren Celeste (which Oprah loves and recommends) has cute things but I find not well designed for baby and the cotton is much rougher AND very expensive. Little Earthlings has really just that one fabric pattern it seems that you can see on the blanket and is a little rough but still well priced so I have a bunch of their onesies and blankets. Maggie's doen't seem to have much for kids except the socks (which Huck outgrew in 2 seconds) and the crib sheets which are wonderful. I also use a Wool piddle pad for his crib. I have no reaction to any of these brands but I don't believe I am as MCS as Cyndi and Kira are. My thinking is organic is always the way to go so if I see any organic baby stuff I usually try to to get it but when I have a choice I always opt for Under The Nile...Oh I forgot Sckoon's which is super cute and I also really like it is also very soft. I would rank it second behind Under The Nile.

Sara: I think you will want more than 7 shirts unless you're buying outfits/gowns as well. I guess it depends how often you want to do laundry. You'll go through a LOT of clothes in the first year so maybe you're willing to do more laundry to keep the cost down -- why spend $200 on clothes s/he'll wear for 3 months at most? My spring newborns mostly wore t-shirts or onesies and a receiving/swaddling blanket. I liked the newborn gowns very much also, so simple and comfy, and easy to change.

Christine:
this place is great-I;ve gotten a lot from them: http://store.nearseanaturals.com
I have gotten stuff from this place too (they even make custom pillows): http://www.heartofvermont.com/organic-fabric.htm

Elizabeth:
I am fairly certain this woman is MCS-friendly (and has MCS herself). http://members.ebay.com/ws2/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=lpmeadows78 I have emailed her to verify. She has a big note on one of her hemp items that it's not organic and therefore not safe for people with mcs. The above woman emailed me back that all of her fabrics except the hemp are safe for those with MCS and that she is very sensitive to people with MCS. She has many clients who are MCS.

http://www.organiccottonplus.com/Fabrics.html This one has some great deals- I love the poplin at the bottom of the page!
http://www.organiccottonplus.com/FabricsFAQ.html#Q9 This woman also replied that they try to keep their fabrics away from perfumes, oils, etc. The fact that they have a FAQ on MCS is a good sign to me. I do better with treated organic fabrics, though, so I would probably get a print and then air it out like I do with everything else. I also went through a different set of links and found other bargain fabrics on their site: http://www.organiccottonplus.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=24_32 That's as cheap as some conventional cotton fabrics! http://www.organiccottonplus.com/bargains.html This has a lot of links to a lot of sites that sell organic fabrics. http://www.greenpeople.org/OrganicCotton.htm I haven't used either/any of these sites.

Sara: I found a (clean) cloth diaper was a great baby toy for say 3 mos & up. A small wooden block is also good for very young babies. Tiny ones don't need a *whole* lot of toys in my experience...just something to hold & look at. Starting around 4 mos they need a bit more and it can be a frustrating time from 4-6 mos until baby learns to sit up & can entertain herself a bit more.

Kira: besides the cloth diaper idea, if you can find pieces of cloth that work for you to be around ( i found naturally dyed silks, and other chemically dyed silk scraps actually seem okay for me) babies can like them a lot. I don't use silk with a real small baby (*choking hazard),.....but you will "know" when they are old enough to safely do that, ime.

You can also make very very simple dolls with a square cloth. i purchased some good books on dollmaking, and that is one of the first kinds, just tie with yarn for a neck, and stuff in the head with organic cotton, wool, cloth, etc. very simple, and many babies are extremely happy with this. www.bobandnancy.com is one good place for these books, there are many others. titles i like and have are: toymaking with children,by freya jaffe, i believe, and Maricristin Sealey's dollmaking book, forget name, and its packed. good illustrations, encourage recycling clothing into dolls, very nice books.

Christine: Baby bouncer chairs are great for putting baby in while running to the bathroom or are cooking. He also loves his swing right now.

Elizabeth: Skip it. Use a bouncy seat or exersaucer instead (though plastic, something you are trying to avoid). We simply childproofed a room and put up gates. It works much better. You will have to childproof anyway.

Elizabeth: Gates are a big financial investment if you get good ones, but they have been worth every penny we spent on them. We have no floor lamps, no coffee tables, bookcases are bolted to the walls... all things Mikel can start doing now because it's easier before the baby arrives! You will also eventually have to babyproof kitchen cabinets, etc.

Sara: Gates vs playpen -- really depends a lot on your house. If you can't easily put up a gate in the kitchen doorway, for example, a playpen might be a better choice. They are nice for out of doors when you can't be chasing toddlers, and for travelling also. You'll have a good 6 mos after the baby's born before you really have to worry about this, but it's good to plan ahead. You will want a gate or a door with a cat flap between baby & litter boxes. Bathroom doors can be left closed or you can gate off the bathroom, or there are toilet locks & cabinet latches to babysafe the bathroom. You can make your own gates or half doors too, out of whatever safe materials work for you. Hinges on one side & a hook & eye lock at the top, with the gate high enough that baby can't reach over it easily...we made one of these in Michigan for an oddly shaped doorway. Much cheaper than orderng a custom made gate. Wooden frame with a cloth cover.