For Crying Out Loud!

It seems many parenting techniques change all the time.

It used to be that your baby was to be positioned on their tummy; now it's their back. The time frame in which solids are introduced changes as well.

I think the key thing is to research. You have to know and understand the professionals. Will you agree with everything you read? NOPE!

Of course you get A LOT of opinions. Some wanted, some not wanted.

I have a family with a Grandma that was a nurse, a Mom that was a nurse, 3 Aunts that are nurses, a sister that is a nurse and 2 cousin's that are nurses. Needless to say there are a lot of opinions in my family. Even when I breastfed, my Mom and one Sister were very supportive, while the others weren't as much. Hard to believe that any nurse wouldn't be supportive of that. It is true that some are not. Usually because they never breastfed themselves, or tried it and were unsuccessful.

The "Cry it Out" sleep technique is now under the fire!

You can read a whole article on this topic here. Please read it!

I always felt uncomfortable letting my kiddo's cry and cry some more. It's one thing to let them cry for 15 minutes. There are times where I tried everything and it seemed nothing would calm my little one down. Usually I'd find out later that it was a tooth coming through or a nasty ear infection. Twice, if I would have waited to attend my babies, they would have been closer to death. When my youngest, Isaak had meningitis we acted quickly. We were told that, if we would have waited to get him in the emergency room, that would have been very bad for our 2 month old! My Father was the one who acted quick in regards to our oldest having a staph infection. He noticed Mica's neck getting large. I'm so glad he noticed that! If he was in a daycare, it might of gone unnoticed.

Some parents let their kids cry for hours. They believe in self soothing. That is what many articles talked about just a few years ago. The articles mentioned that if you picked your child up, that was spoiling them.

Think of it this way: Your baby has no way of communicating except for crying when something is wrong. There is no such thing as spoiling a newborn. As they get older, sure you should let them cry in their crib, but not for long periods of time.

Listen to your instinct.

Remember that your baby's only way of communicating to you that something is wrong is to cry.

Daring - No Diaper

My son has been going on this diaper strike.
He'll turn 3 years the middle of May.

My oldest son was much easier to train. He would stop what he was doing to go; my youngest is too busy. He'll even tell us that!

I've been setting our youngest, Isaak on the toilet since he turned 1.
I never treated it like a serious thing. It was pretty casual. 
He's been standing to go. He wants to do everything himself!
He's gone back and forth this whole time.
He sometimes doesn't want to stop playing to go potty.

I have found new tactics to get him to go. I say like, "Hey Isaak do you want to go look in the mirror?",  "Isaak do you want to go make bubbles in the toilet?", "Lets go look at some pictures in the hallway." Anything to get him in the bathroom.

There are a few things in my mind that get in the way of potty training:

1. Cutting teeth. Both of our kids cut teeth on the later side.
2. Getting sick.
3. Pull-Up's.
4. Lack of consistency.

Isaak would do great with training; then he'd get sick, or cut a tooth. Downhill he'd go, and we'd have to help him back up. Much like how they eat well for a week, and then go through a time where they just don't eat much because they aren't growing.

Pull-Up's are wonderful because the other people that watch him have carpet. Many errands are run throughout the day where Isaak is in a car seat. At home he wears underwear. We have wood floors. Pull-Up's are horrible because toddlers feel like they are wearing a diaper; they pee in them. There lacks the consistency.

Isaak told us that he doesn't want to wear a diaper anymore {even at night}. We're being super daring, and we're giving him what he wants {no diaper}.

He has a toddler bed, so it's a plastic covered mattress. I put down a pee pad, crib sheet, pee pad, crib sheet. That way when he has an accident in the middle of the night I can hopefully remove the top two layers instead of make a bed.

This is something new, so we will see how the no diaper thing goes. Last night I went in at 4 am, and he was wet and cold. He didn't wake up after peeing his pants. It may take awhile, and lots of laundry.