The What Nobody Tells You Files: Starting solid foods

It's that six-month milestone that first-time parents seem to universally look forward to. You know. Food.

I mean, whether you plan to go with the baby-led, self-feeding-from-the-start model or you want to catch that classic "open wide for the choo-choo!" moment on camera, you know there's going to be some mega-cuteness associated with introducing your baby to solids.

And you're mostly prepared for the thing that everyone does tell you about. You know the thing. The poop. You can't ever truly prepare for the thrills to come, but if you're cloth diapering, you probably have your diaper sprayer installed. You did that right after you bought new batteries for the camera. You're all set!

But there are certain Things That Nobody Tells You about heading down the flavorful and textured path of Babies Eating Food:

1) If you don't have a dog, keep your mop handy. This is the beginning of a years-long foray into food-on-the-floor frustration. 

At first, your baby will accidentally drop lots of food on the floor. Who could be mad about that? Her fumbly little fingers are so cute picking up that slippery, slobbered-up banana chunk. 

She'll get a little neater as time goes on, but then she'll learn... to throw. Throwing food is FUN. It gets a great reaction from grown-ups: laughter the first few times, that trademarked "I'm pretending to ignore you" face that moms can be so bad at, and, after several weeks, complete and total frustration, which is even better than laughter. After a 200-comment thread that begins with you asking your Facebook friends if it's all normal, you'll either get the throwing game under control or (more likely) she'll outgrow it.

But by then she's doing two new things: wanting to use a utensil (sort of) and rejecting the high chair. Standing in it. Leaping out of it. Refusing to eat and reverting back to food-throwing unless she's seated elsewhere. And 'elsewhere' usually means somewhere messy, especially when spoons are involved.

Some moms find that 'splat mats,' washable mats that protect the floor, work well to combat this problem. Not having to clean the floor aside, you still have to clean the mat. I think that I would be a lazy splat mat mom, and my splat mat would have to be replaced every couple weeks due to mold growth.

2) Starting solids probably won't cut down on the number of times your baby wants to nurse or drink a bottle per day (or night). Some well meaning family members might tell you that the secret to getting more sleep or more time away from your baby is starting solids. This isn't necessarily true, especially in the very early stages of food introduction. Your baby should be getting most of his calories from breastmilk or formula until his birthday, and getting too many calories from food before the developmentally appropriate time has been linked to eventual obesity and diabetes.

As they say, "Food before one is just for fun!" If your six-month old baby's solids intake corresponds to longer stretches of sleep at night, it could be coincidence, just an age thing. Or it could actually mean your baby is taking in too many calories from a source that isn't complete nutrition for him, and he's having some trouble digesting it. The latter is more likely if you're spoon-feeding (and watching the measurements on the jar rather than your baby) than if the baby is using his own hands to experiment with food (because rarely will a baby be able to instinctively overeat). Note: plenty of parents who prefer to spoon-feed are careful to read their baby's cues and always stop when the baby is ready to, so if that's your preferred method for introducing foods, don't fret. You're doing this parenting thing just fine.

3) Once they start eating, you can kiss your own plate goodbye. Practice saying this now and get used to it: Everything looks better on my plate. Everything tastes better from my plate. Everything that I put in my hand is a swiping target. What's mine is yours, darling. Even my fork. Which just fell on the floor. Oh! There's the dog.... These things just happen.

4) Food battles happen anyway. There are certainly ways to introduce your babies to flavors and textures to avail them of good chances to develop an adventuresome foodie spirit, but there's a certain level of confirmation bias involved when anyone tells you, "Well, I just did __________, and Little Jack eats everything." Sometimes your baby eats everything, but that same baby becomes a toddler and preschooler who does not. And some babies will simply reject anything green from the onset.

Bottom line: you are not a failure if your child is a picky eater or is resistant to trying (or continuing to eat) certain foods. Your friend's anecdotal advice based on her own Perfect Snowflake's preference for Cuban cuisine is not proof that you didn't introduce enough variety during infancy. As your baby grows up, you can try all kinds of methods to encourage your picky child to develop an adventuresome palate (or at least learn to choke down what's served at a friend's house even if it does have parsley on top), but some people just don't branch out until adulthood.

(Confession: I didn't eat tomatoes until I was 23.)

Special thanks to all the moms to gave us permission to use their cuties' likenesses in this post!

Cloth and the Working Mom, pt. II: The down and dirty at home

Photo submitted to Wiki.

Last week we dove into this whole 'working moms who manage to cloth diaper--how do they do it?' question with an exploration of 1) how to get your daycare provider on board with cloth and 2) how to keep those same childcare providers happy throughout their/your cloth diapering days.

But often it isn't the daycare question that turns a mom or dad who works outside the home--or plans to--off of cloth. It's the laundry.

Babies add laundry. They just do. When our first was born, our (pretty minimal) water bill went up by around $5/month. Part of that may have been influenced by my postpartum 'Mommy's nightly reading break' bath habit, but I know a large part of it was extra laundry. 

Extra laundry because of spit-up. Extra laundry because of diaper blow-outs (and, remember, we used disposables exclusively for the first six months--most poops were blow-outs). Extra laundry because nobody tells you this when you're expecting your first, but breastmilk sprays everywhere when a newborn with reflux pulls off mid-letdown.

So if there's already going to be all this extra laundry, is it logistically safe--and sane--to add in cloth diapers? I mean, don't they require a pre-rinse and a post-rinse? Don't some people end up having to use long wash cycles to make sure they're clean? Does it tie up the washing machine? What about drying time?

The fact is, cloth is a bit of a time commitment because the washing machine is 'tied up' for that much (but it's not really much) longer than it otherwise would have been. But there are several reasons that you'll also be saving time. In other words, the time lost is recouped, and so it's, honestly, a 'six of one, half a dozen of the other' situation. (More after the jump...)

Cloth and the Working Mom, pt. 1: Enlisting your daycare

The first obstacle that many two-income, would-be cloth diapering families find standing in their ways is the Daycare Question.

Can daycares use cloth according to the Nat'l Resource Center for Health & Safety in Childcare?

"Would any daycare or in-home sitter around here even do cloth?" 

"My friend said her daycare told her it was against the law.*" 

"We LOVE our daycare, and I just hate to ask any more of them."

Chances are, though, your daycare will be able to be persuaded, and if they're not amenable right now, they will be in the near future--as soon as they see how many potential cloth diapering families want to make use of their childcare services. After all, an estimated 25% of American families are cloth diapering now, and that number is growing! Being able to advertise as a 'green daycare' can only be a bonus in a competitive market.

What goes in the daycare bag when you cloth diaper? This stuff!

Whether you're still in the interviewing stage or whether your baby is already enrolled in a daycare, there are a few things to shore up and square away before you start sending your cloth diapered baby to daycare so that everyone--you, the daycare's director, and your baby's teachers--feels confident that cloth will work and be easy.

*There are no states in which cloth diapers are illegal for accredited or licensed daycare centers to use; however, a handful of states (not Louisiana) require a doctor's note prescribing their use.

So what can you do ahead of time?

1) Request a meeting with the director and the teacher in charge of your child's classroom; strongly request that they meet with you at the same time so that everybody's questions are answered at once and each one gets the benefit of hearing the other's questions answered.

2) Bring in a demo. Bring a diaper to the meeting that goes on like a disposable (so no pull-ons or pins), and have it assembled already if it comes in more than one piece, like a pocket, AI2, or prefold trifolded into a cover. If you're using prefolds and covers, you might want to purchase a cover for every prefold in your daycare stash rather than requesting that a cover be re-used several times throughout the day. Keep it as close to disposable diapering as you can as a courtesy.

3) Bring in your baby--or a baby doll--as well as a wet bag. Demonstrate a diaper change from start to finish! Let them know whether you'd prefer them to remove a pocket diaper's insert with their gloved hands immediately after the diaper change or whether you'll take care of that when you get home (more painful for you, but less work for them!). Show them how to fold the diaper in half before putting it in the wet bag, rather than rolling it up--this is especially important for a #2 diaper, as I'm sure you can imagine. On that note...

4) Be prepared with clear answers to the poop question. It's best to tell them, "Don't worry about the poop. I'll take care of it when I get home." Some daycares, especially corporate ones, will have company-wide regulations about cloth diapers that include the workers not being expected to remove feces from the diaper to put it in the toilet, as this takes extra time away from the children they are minding and can just plain (and understandably!) gross them out--even more than having to change dozens of diapers a day. As long as the only difference between a cloth diaper change and a disposable diaper change is where the diaper goes (in a wet bag rather than in a trash bag), they simply can't object! If the daycare assigns each child a cubby hole or a hook, have them keep your wet bag there.

5) Let them use disposable wipes. They'll throw them away with the disposable diapers and wipes they'll be using for other children, and it will be easier for them than worrying about a wipe solution. If environmental friendliness is paramount to you, gWipes are biodegradable and made with friendlier materials than the leading brands.

6) Provide ample, mess-free cloth diaper-safe diaper rash treatment. We love the soothing simplicity of Butt Balm by hosie naturals. Request that the balm only be used when your baby's diaper area is irritated, not as a matter-of-course 'just in case' barrier treatment. Even a cloth diaper-safe balm can be used too often and lead to build-up being left behind on your diapers; it's also just not as frugal to use it when it isn't needed. Cloth diapers are chemical-free and gentle on your baby's skin... No barrier necessary!

7) Send your baby with only one style of diaper. A single brand might make it even easier, but if you have a varied stash because you're still finding out what you like, try to pack the same style of diaper every day. If you're sending a diaper with a snap closure, include a diagram paper-clipped to the diaper that indicates which snap settings will best fit the diaper to your baby--with a friendly note about how you wanted to make the diaper change quick and easy for them!

When you get home: it's time to deal with the poop.

Want to hear a daycare experience straight from a cloth diapering mom's mouth? We'll wrap up the first installment of Cloth and the Working Mom with Jill's tale:

We interrupt this series for a little bit of Christmas!

Christmas? 

Close enough!

The temperatures are dropping--South Louisiana has been experiencing the blustery cold of 65-degree mornings, after all. Break out the hot cocoa!

But if you're wondering why we're seemingly skipping Fall and moving right along into the merriest season of them all, you may have missed what our CEO posted to Facebook yesterday:

That news kind of made me want to order flowers for the UPS man.

Here's the thing:

It's only been in recent months that we, as a company, have grown enough to even be able to stock this kind of limited edition stuff. If you've been a client or fan for several years, you know how disappointing it was for your consultant to have to tell you, "I'm sorry, I won't be able to get you that new, fancy print! I really wish I could!" 

But that's what's so great about sticking it out and being in this for the long-haul. These three-and-a-half long (but so short!) years, we haven't stopped steadily growing. Our product line is expanding, and we have an ever-lengthening 'wish list' of new products to look into for the future. (In fact, if you ever want to ask us to look into a brand you already love or that you're interested in trying, and you'd like to be able to purchase through your consultant or from the Lake Charles retail location, please feel free to shoot us an e-mail!)

So the future looks bright. But today, in this Christmas-y moment, we're so relieved and thrilled that these long-awaited, backordered Tots Bots EasyFits V3s are making their way to us, we're so excited and impressed that the SoftBums Calendar Bums color is a gorgeous and fashionable ebony, and we're so enthused by the response we've received lately to gDiapers, because they haven't always gotten a lot of love, and they're quickly becoming one of our most sought-after lines! 

Want to know more about these limited edition, while-supplies-last offerings? Check 'em out in these photos, courtesy of our Lake Charles representative and her iPhone, and on our Web site:

Limited Edition EasyFit commemorative Olympics prints, "London" and "Jubilee," plus "Three Little Pigs," just one of the fairy tale-themed prints in Tots Bots' new "Every Nappy Tells a Story" line:

 SoftBums' September-only Calendar Bums series Omni in stylish Ebony:

And, just in time for college football, the extra-adorable limited edition gStyle, "gUniversity":

Have you ever received 'fluffy mail'? You know that feeling of tearing into the package? Well, for us, it's every bit as exciting to receive inventory for the store as it is to receive a fluffy package on your front stoop. You can see why Monday felt like Christmas in the Home Office!

Don't forget: head to the Find a Rep page and click on your local consultant's name before loading your cart! Be sure to contact her if you have any questions about anything--that's what she's there for, after all.

Most of all, we want to say that we're utterly grateful to our clients and to our hard-working consultants, because our steady growth is a result of your loyal and enthusiastic response to our efforts to expand and improve our business model and our product selection. We wouldn't be able to offer the most fun parts of participating in the global cloth diapering community--like the special, limited edition stuff!--without you.

"Can it be done?": Cloth diapers and the working mom

I had the pleasure of 'meeting' a professor and online/distance learning coordinator for a major Chicago university on Monday night... in the weekly #clothdiapers Twitter party.

That's right: a mom with a demanding full-time job outside of the home--and academia rivals the world of corporate business in terms of demands placed upon those who hold management positions--uses cloth diapers. Not only does she use them, but she loves them enough to pop in for cloth diaper-themed Twitter parties and contribute to the conversation. (And since she's a social media and online communications prof, believe me, we retailers, bloggers, and manufacturers eat up her tweets like candy!)

One of our own cloth diaper consultants, Jill C. in Kinder, La., works a full 40 hours as the assistant to an anthropologist on a tribal reservation here in Southwest Louisiana. (Among her many responsibilities is maintaining a greenhouse garden--how cool is that?!) Jill was hesitant to get started in cloth because she worried that she wouldn't have time to add the laundry to her home routine and because she was anxious that her family's chosen daycare, which she was very satisfied with, wouldn't take kindly to the idea.

Our Facebook fan Emily, an expectant mother, expressed her concerns about working and using cloth diapers this way:

Well, Emily and company, how about this?

Over the next three weeks, our blog will focus on ALL the how-tos of cloth diapering while working outside the home full-time. We'll leave no stone unturned: whom to approach at your daycare and how, exactly what to teach the childcare providers so that they feel empowered and confident while cloth diapering your baby, what kind of diapers to send to daycare, when to schedule your cloth diaper laundry, where to seek support for troubleshooting should the need arise, why you should make sure your commitment to cloth diapering isn't causing the rest of your household chores to suffer, how cloth diapering even with limited time at home will benefit your home life, and anything else you can think to ask!

And, just for fun, we've decided to announce the winner of the $10 gift certificate right here on our blog today! The winning photograph can be found after the jump...

Partying with eLeMeNO-Pee!

You may know your local eLeMeNO-Pee representative as someone who provides one-on-one cloth diaper education and support. Maybe she was invited to speak to your childbirth class, maybe you were connected to her through your doula or pediatrician, or maybe you just ran into her on Facebook.

But did you know that she can party like a cloth diaper rock star?

You can read about the basic structure of an eLeMeNO-Pee home party here, but I thought it might be fun to show you a recent party that I was able to attend and document!

(Please excuse the cell phone photography. Ahem.)

We started just after 4 pm after munching on chips and salsa, fresh pineapple, and bakery cookies. Our hostess had arranged for extra seating in the living room for her 13 guests, who were all pregnant mothers, mothers of young babies, and mothers of these mothers! (However, many of our parties also include daddies--it's a lot easier for the couple to make the leap into cloth diapering when they receive the education at the same time.)

Jenny H., the consultant for the party, kept a small stash of demo diapers nearby as she introduced and explained each system and style of modern cloth diaper. She began by explaining that everyone knows why cloth diapering is a smart choice, but what's so overwhelming is the how. Guests agreed and sat forward in their seats, waiting for their questions to be answered!

Goodies galore sat waiting on the dining room table for curious hands; meanwhile, guests chuckled their way through Jenny's "Reader's Digest" version of the journey cloth diapers have taken from old-fashioned flats, pins, and pull-on plastic pants to the many inventive, convenient, and fashionable styles available today.

Jenny demonstrated laundry for the group, loading a FuzziBunz hanging diaper pail and unzipping it into an imaginary washing machine to demonstrate the mess-free method for transferring dirties from pail to washer.

A cloth-curious guest got her hands on a modern cloth diaper for the first time while her mother looked on, curious and then amazed. Having some of your support system at a showing with you is a wonderful way to get your team on-board.

After the brief demonstration, everyone headed to the 'showroom' to get a second look at the styles and accessories that interested them the most. This is when mamas really get a feel for the 2-3 styles they want to try. Jenny had her Kindle Fire available for any guest to browse our Web site and check out all the available color, print, and laundry scent options!

Jenny and a guest discussed newborn diapering in further detail; some mamas were interested in cloth from Day One, while others thought they might wait until one-size diapers fit to get started. Jenny's job is to validate that both of those paths are great options--cloth diapering is a lifestyle choice, but it's one that can be seamlessly integrated into family life!

As Q&A wrapped up, guests sampled the delicious scents of our Hosie Naturals product line, which features organic, plant-based mom-and-baby skincare ranging from cloth diaper-safe "Butt Balm" and wipe solution concentrate to a labor-augmenting body oil and a stretchmark-reducing belly butter, while Jenny was available in the next room for guests who wished to purchase products or receive a complementary eLeMeNO-Pee registry consultation.

Looks like fun, doesn't it? It is, and hosting an eLeMeNO-Pee party comes with lots of rewards that graduate based on the party sales total. In fact, our Home Office is currently developing a quarterly 'specials and hostess incentives' schedule that will make hosting a party even more rewarding!

Here are some tips for hosting a successful eLeMeNO-Pee cloth diaper party:

1) Invite dads, and encourage them to come by letting them know that your partner will be present. Your guests will be more likely to invest in a starter stash if they are able to talk over the financial benefits with their husbands.

2) Invite from lots of circles. Chances are you know expectant and brand-new parents who don't know each other. eLeMeNO-Pee parties are a great way to introduce potential new friends and to get questions answered that you might not have thought to ask.

3) Have some munchies available, but don't stress about the snacks. Everyone will be focusing on the products, anyway, and you'll find you have leftovers no matter how little you think you're preparing. Go for ease for yourself and pregnancy-friendly for your guests.

4) Be ready to start your stash. Look over the current hostess incentives. Have a sales goal in mind and invite other friends and acquaintances who are motivated to jump in! Party attendance carries no commitment, so it doesn't hurt to have guests who are early in pregnancy and just wanting to get a feel for cloth, but your party total will be higher (and you'll receive more rewards!) if your guests are the adventurous types who are ready to order 'a starter stash.'

Ready to host a party? All it takes is contacting your local eLeMeNO-Pee consultant or setting up a virtual party with the Home Office. Simply book, invite, learn, and earn your rewards!

The What Nobody Tells You Files: Baby names edition

They bring joyous smiles; they bring agonizing indecision. They bring about intense conversations; they enlighten us more to our partners' aesthetic sensibilities than anything else: more than planning the wedding, more than decorating the first home, more than choosing the tunes for a road trip, more than anything. They prompt us to spend hours at work making long lists under our desks. They are probably the best non-medical reason that ultrasound technology has become the industry that it has become.

What am I talking about?

Baby names, of course.

It's ok to admit you bought a copy.

You know, many of our readers are first-time expectant parents, and you've probably all heard of the What to Expect series. I want to let you in on a little secret, though: as with all things pregnancy, birth, and baby, there's a little category of information regarding baby names that I like to call What Nobody Tells You.

If you've already been talking baby names, you're probably in list-maker mode anyway--so let's go with a list! Here are five common truths about naming your baby that nobody's going to tell you.

1) Understand the Principle of Inverse Proportion. Yes, just like in math class. There's an inversely proportional relationship between the emotional closeness that a person purports to hold with you and the rudeness with which he or she expresses an opinion about your choice of name for your soon-to-be-born offspring. Be prepared to hear everything from, "Well, that's a new one!" to the slightly skeptical, "And you're going to spell it with the 'e'?" to the flat-out incredulous, "You're gonna name him... that?" Best of all, be prepared to hear those things from your closest friends and family members... and from the extended family members you haven't seen since your cheeks were pinch-worthy, but who are suddenly calling to check up on you because they heard you were havin' a little boy and just wanted to know what you were thinking of naaaaming him, darlin'! You know, for the monogramming. Then be prepared to be handed a list of clearly more suitable alternatives, "In case you change your mind."

Know a handful of John Paul's? So do I!

2) There will be name repeats in your circle. This is something I was turning over in my head recently. I tend to run in a circle of young Catholic families who are growing every year or two. Young Catholic families who are devoted to the same saints who wrote the same books and spoke the same quotations that we all enjoy passing around to each other on our preferred social sharing networks... and, you know, the very same saints that we all want to name our children after! I'm sure the same could be said of any other social circle where the the families involved are likeminded in terms of faith, or intellect, or aesthetic sensibility. At a given diocesan function, I could potentially run into: one friend whose son's name is, first and middle, exactly the same as my son's, two friends whose daughters share the same first and middle names, two friends whose sons are named in honor of the late Pope John Paul II, one friend whose son's middle name is our without-a-doubt pick for our next son's first name, and one friend whose son's middle name is our without-a-doubt pick for our next son's middle name. Substitute "saint" for "punk rock icon" or "Old Testament figure" or "Civil Rights leader" and you can see how this might translate to your circle. So, go ahead: agonize over that perfect name (because you will), and, by all means, take into account the popularity of your favorites, but don't stress too much. It's bound to happen. You have excellent taste, after all.

Maybe his taste is just "beyond."

3) Your husband's taste really is that out-of-touch... and sometimes that is cutting-edge after all. I'll never forget my husband campaigning to name our first baby Janice.  I'll never forget my relief when that ultrasound revealed that Janice would not, after all, remain a candidate for his name. But, you know what? I bet that Janice sees a comeback in the near future. I'm seeing other names that I've previously stereotyped as "office lady" names--Wanda, Maxine, Betty, Marian--popping up in certain pockets of the US. So if your husband suggests something that isn't even on your radar, it's a good idea to try to consider it. And when you're asking your family members what they think, remember the Principle of Inverse Proportion.

4) Even John, Mary, Aiden, and Madison will have to spell their names for somebody someday. It's a noble goal, this, "We really want a name that nobody will have trouble spelling or pronouncing, because this will be our child's name for the rest of her life!" I get it! That's a great reason to skip over Chrysanthemum or Aeschylus. But take it from a plain old Laura (everybody knows how to spell Laura, right? Wrong): your child will have his or her name misspelled, mispronounced, or misunderstood by some receptionist or telemarketer somewhere. Don't limit your options--or eliminate some of your favorite contenders--because you're afraid that the general public won't know what to do with the silent 's' in Isla or with the vowels in Seamus. If you love it, use it, and let the world learn something new about phonetics!

5) Your child may go through a period where he dislikes his name. I remember asking my mom what all the names she considered for me were--and every single one of them sounded more glamorous and lovely to my eight-year old ears than the name I had to write at the top of every paper that crossed my desk at school. I wanted to be Elizabeth, Rhiannon, Mary Margaret... anything but Laura Lynn. I think I hurt her feelings, even though what I was trying to do was compliment her taste. My three-year old sometimes tells me he doesn't want his name to be Dominic any more, because he wants it to be Power Ranger. Can you imagine? 

You know you watched it when you were pregnant.

If you're remembering all of the emotional and mental investment that went into choosing the perfect name for your new bundle--the love and care, the hours and the lists, enduring the spousal negotiations and the raised eyebrows from your loved ones as you whittled down your lists so that you could impart the one thing that would endure once the nursery walls were painted over and the cloth diaper stash was sold off, once the gown was donned and the cap was tossed and the small baby who was growing inside of you and kicking you in the ribs during M'Lynn's speech at the end of Steel Magnolias is suddenly a tall, bearded man driving away in a luggage-loaded two-door, headed for wherever his dreams and his limited savings account may take him--if you're remembering all that (and you're a mom, so you probably are), it will sting when, at some point along the way, your child expresses a desire to change his name. Don't worry.

You can call your child Power Ranger or Pinkie Pie for a while. No matter what you call that baby, she will always call you "Mama." That's the reward you get for all the hard work you'll do. Choosing the perfect name is only the first assignment.