The Daddy Blog

The gDiaper and Your Baby Can Read!

2010-11-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

My wife and I decided to take the plunge into the world of cloth diapers about 45 days ago. The disposables were getting expensive, and the environmental impact is pretty high. I'm not a raging tree-hugger, but I do my best to recycle what I can and try to lighten the load I put on the environment. After all, Zoë will be the one dealing with it 40 years from now, not me.

We looked at several brands, and decided on the gDiaper. The nice thing about the gDiaper is it is the hybrid of the cloth diaper world. There are biodegradable/flushable inserts that can be purchased, as well as a hemp based reusable cloth insert. Now, the cost of the biodegradable/flushable inserts is quite high (much higher than the disposables), so we use those fairly rarely, and stick with the reusable inserts. After some trepidation about leaks, we let he go overnight in one and we didn't have a problem. She also now had a lovely cushion on her behind while trying to walk around, and we were throwing far less into the trash. That was the good. Now the not-so-good.

Diaper rash. Cloth diaper companies swear up and down that babies using cloth diapers have less diaper rash than disposables. I found this to be complete bullshit. In fact, the incidence of diaper rash with the cloth diapers was actually higher than disposables for Zoë. Perhaps she had a reaction to the hemp inserts, but even with the flushable ones she didn't fare any better. Another problem area is that if your baby is turning over/mobile, getting one of these diapers together completely will be next to impossible. In order to combat this, we planned to assemble the diapers (shell, vinyl barrier, cloth insert) to be ready for changing. This worked well in theory, but in practice (as we are both working parents) we had a hard time to keep these things assembled ready for action.

As for the environmental impact, it's a tossup. Sure we're not throwing lots of disposables into the landfills, but now we use two laundry loads worth of water (and electricity) to fully clean the diapers. Not to mention drying. The inserts are so thick, we need to run the drying cycle twice.

We're now in the midst of deciding which way to go with diapering. I have a feeling it might be a mix of both cloth and disposables.

We also purchased Your Baby Can Read, for a trial (which we now have to keep because we lost track of time to send it back....) We are glad that we had to keep it. Zoë is almost 11 months now, and is starting to understand more and more words that are used in the DVD set. Tonight the word "head" was on the screen and she put her hand on her head within seconds of the word popping up on the screen. She also waves when the word wave is on the screen, before the word is said, or a child is doing either action. Pretty amazing stuff. My wife does Early Intervention and loves these DVD's, but they are not a magic bullet. You need to be interactive with your child while he/she watches the DVD's.

And now, since Zoë has turned 10 months, she is fully mobile on both feet. She is still a little wobbly, but she's moving. It's quite fun to watch her walk. I think I'll watch more video of her walking tonight!

Six months?

2010-09-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been six months since I have last posted. Spring and summer are INSANELY busy due to my wife's desire to keep all weekends filled with as much stuff as possible. I'm honestly not complaining (much) but it does tend to grate on my nerves occasionally.

Now that fall is enroute (the trees are changing here already) I hope to have more time to post. Zoë's first two teeth did eventually pop through in July, and she was fine until last weekend. Cranky baby, spitting up, and massive drooling all point to her next teeth coming through, but not a sign of one yet.

Zoë is now being watched by a family friend and coworker of Jenn's. It's a situation that I prefer far more than her being in daycare with strangers and strange kids with who-knows-what bugs running around.

Until next time...

It has begun....

2010-03-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have last posted. Zoë is growing by leaps and bounds and things have been going well. Until now.

Teething.

Yikes.

And I thought I was cranky after a night of little to no sleep?

This is going to be interesting...

APB on a black Columbia diaper bag....

2010-01-22T16:55:00.000-08:00

So I'm still getting used to all the stuff we lug around when we bring Zoë out on the town. A few nights ago Jenn and I were shopping, and we headed to get a bite of dinner when we realized we no longer had the diaper bag in our possession. I left it on the shopping cart at Wal-Mart. Oh boy. Trudge back to the store and there it was, at customer service. It was a good laugh, that's for sure.

The "Gas Situation" continues for Zoë. I have found that changing her position frequently (side to belly to side to back, rinse, repeat) helps a bit with moving the gas. It's a helpless feeling when you can't stop her crying because of gas. As my mother reminds me, "this too shall pass". Funny Mom, funny.

Commander Crank

2009-12-30T19:50:00.000-08:00

This is my new nickname for our little bundle of joy. Last night I learned my daughter was actually made up of little bits of pure Satan. 4 hours of screaming at the top of her lungs. Oh joy. Sounds like colic. After the second hour, I could actually feel my skin tightening and begin sweating. I was very frustrated, not with her, but with myself, for not knowing how to help her. But as we both read last night, this is just a phase of ~20% of babies. In two months it should be (mostly) gone. I hope its a few weeks.... the sleep deprivation is not good.

Jenn and I actually found that she likes a bath and doesn't scream during one, even in the middle of a screaming session like last night's. Let's hope she's a water person like her mom.

Parent Panic and an Epic Poo

2009-12-22T20:58:00.000-08:00

Oh my god. Last night Zoë pooed the likes of which I have never seen or heard. EVER. It was everywhere. She pooed for at least 90 seconds straight. It was unreal. I was running around trying to get things while Jenn took on the task of trying to clean her up. She got a bath. I will say no more.

Yesterday also gave Jenn and I our first Parent Panic. Zoë's umbilical cord was green and oozing. We were a little concerned with that as we know that's generally not a good sign. Call up the pediatrician, go in and he tells us it looks great. I was a bit confused, but he went on to explain that if it was truly infected the area around the umbilical cord would be red. The green ooze was normal and by the looks of things it should fall off in a day or two. Sure enough, last night it came off.

The fun continues....

The Meeting

2009-12-12T21:53:00.001-08:00

So the meeting between the dogs (Anya and Jasper) and our new little arrival went very well. We weren't too concerned with Anya, as she has been around an infant before and showed little interest. Or little man Jasper though, was a different story. For those who haven't met Jasper before he's a very timid dog, especially around strangers. It takes a long time for him to warm up to people. He still doesn't trust Jenn and I fully, so when we brought Zoë home we were a bit apprehensive. All for nothing, as he took to her very well and now is almost a protector for her. Cesar Millan's work helped us with the introduction and if anyone out there is looking for information on introducing an infant to a home with dogs, check his site out. great information!

The Feeding Bonanza Begins!

2009-12-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day for little Zoë. She fed very well all through the day, though she's having issues with feeding from Jenn. She'll latch on, but then stops. The lactation specialists here gave us a few options, but Zoë really needed to eat. So Jenn will pump and then bottle feed Zoë. Not ideal, but critical for the wee one. Hopefully she'll take to Jenn and feed from her, but we do have a good backup plan if that doesn't occur.

And with the end of today comes tomorrow, which is the return home for us. We've been in the hospital a full week now, and although most of the nurses and doctors have been fantastic... I want to sleep in my own bed dammit! For those who don't know we went through a 3 1/2-day induction period before it was decided to do a C-section. I'm not sure why the doctors were so insistent on pushing the induction to the end, but Jenn's body wasn't having any of it. We both understand a C-section isn't a walk in the park, but after 84 hours of meds, if your patient only dilates 1 cm and effaces 20%, is the plan working? I'm not a doctor and I admit that readily, but the numbers don't add up to me.

In any event, tomorrow is a great beginning for us as a family. Though there is some worry on our end. It's the day we introduce the baby to our two dogs, Anya and Jasper.

So.... meconium....

2009-12-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

All the pictures in childbirth class, all the descriptions of this stuff wasn't even close to preparing me for cleaning it. It's like tar, plain and simple. Go to your local Home Depot or Lowe's, find a bit of tar and then smear it anywhere. Then try and use a wet cloth to clean it up. Sounds like fun, right?

The best part of today though, was changing Zoë's diaper, getting her cleaned up, new diaper, swaddled and then a nice audible "poooot"! Oh yes, my daughter is SUCH a redhead.

The Beginning...

2009-12-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

So today my life has changed in the most profound way possible; I became a father. My little girl was born Saturday, December 5th at 0956, weighing in at 8 lbs 7 oz, measuring 21.25 in long. My wife and I have named her Zoë Karys. She is the most precious thing I have ever seen. I plan to share my trials and tribulations in the coming weeks and months here, and please feel free to leave feedback on what worked for you Moms and Dads out there.