Advice from People Named Liz

From my sister Liz. 3 times mom

Okay, just a little baby info that I thought you should know if you don't
already. Sam (need to call him or her something and it works for both
sexes) may get some acne after a couple of weeks. It only lasts for a few
weeks. The picture I attached shows how much Leah got. (we lovingly call
her pizza face but not in front of her so we won't hurt her feelings)

Dana will also want you to know this, when we saw our first video of how to
bathe a baby before we took Sydney home, the video showed the person
washing the baby's bottom and then a bit later it showed them washing the
baby's face. According to Dana, this is a big no, no. Under no
circumstances do you wash the bottom before the face or at least use a
different wash cloth.

From a PBI colleague, Liz
I was just reading your tyke blogg site - lovely.  Seemed a bit complicated to put on a comment so some tips Ive picked up along the way...(be warned though, I have been fairly hard-core with the environmental stuff and alternative parenting so some ideas may not be your cup of tea).

We used cloth nappies (what aussies call diapers) for almost the whole time with Themeda.  Even when we went to Ireland (a 17+ hr, 3 flight, journey) we used cloth nappies (I cut up old towels from the op-shop and threw them out as we went - I figured it was better than throwing out the plastic nappies).  One down-side with cloth nappies is that as the midgets get older, the amount they pee in the night can be more than the nappy can handle and may affect their sleep.  Using disposables at night can help.  In Australia you can also get biodegradable nappie-inserts that have super-absorbant gel stuff in them and you can put them in your compost, they were called Weenies, maybe something similar is available in Vancouver.

A lot of people think you need to wash/soak cloth nappies in some fairly toxic stuff and wash with hot water but it just isnt true.  For shitty nappies, we scraped the poop down the toilet (or sink depending on consistency - life gets very candid after having a baby) then soaked the nappies in cold water with a little tea-tree oil, for a good 24 hours roughly, then bunged them in the machine.  We always did cold-water washes and only used soap-flakes as a detergent.  Our nappies were fine and Themeda never had any UTI's or other problems.

Also, you dont have to use soap at all for washing babies (or grown-ups for that matter).  Even gentle soaps are pretty full on for baby skin and can mess with their natural skin/oil balance.

Most baby oils are often petroleum based and are best avoided.  Any edible oils are good.  I read you got the tip on talcum powder - a definate no-no - but if you have to use a drying agent (we never bothered) potato flour or arrowroot are fine.

Highly recommend paediatric osteopathy.  Delivery can put babies backs out a bit which can lead to colic and other sleep-depriving ailments. Even if you dont suspect anything, a visit every 6 months is great insurance against future spinal/muscle problems - Themeda loves going and completely blisses-out at the osteo's.

Check out immunisation really thoroughly before committing either way.  There is a heck of a lot of propaganda around it and some fairly dodgy "scientific" claims made about it's benefits.

Sounds like you guys are op-shoppers too.  I have boxes for the 'next-size-up'. ie when she was due I had 000, 00, 0 boxes which I could just add to when I found good stuff. I have continued that on and always keep an eye out for clothes for her 'next-size-up' box (now full of size 5, 6 and 7 stuff).

We are a fairly chemical free house and have always let themeda have access to normal germs (ie she could eat dirt etc), believing that it is essential for a healthy immune system.  We also dont take her to doctors for common colds/flu etc.  Maybe as a result of all this (maybe just luck) she is incredibly healthy, has no asthma or other afflictions, unlike every other kid I know!  We also didnt immunise which we also think has a lot to do with it but its a fairly contentious issue so I would never encourage anyone either way - just to get informed.

if you have trouble with sleeping, dont hestitate to find a sleep-school (whose methods you like) - they saved our sanity (or the little bit that was left by the time we found out about them).  If you have no luck I know a great book about it.

Cant think of other words-of-wisom (?) and this is getting long enough.  Best of luck with it all.  That old saying of "they never said it would be easy, they just said it would be worth it" is spot-on for child-rearing.