Saline drops vs Nasal Aspirator

Our son was having breathing issues last night. It sounds like he either has a cold, or he doesnt like the new formula we are using, or its not humid enough in the room, we are trying to figure it out still. However last night he woke up very snotty, and I was just wondering, at what point do you use saline drops? Do any of you out there use them? We tried using the nasal aspirator a bunch of times but that was getting him real upset. We didnt know if we should be using the oval drops, or baby tylenol, or what. All I know is right now I just got to work, and my poor fiancee got up and breast fed him for hours last night, because that he did want and did. And he woke up a bunch of times. PLEASE HELP!

The Happiest Child on the block

So as all of you know, I have never been, nor am I now, a book parent. And no I dont think its laziness, its just the fact that I would rather hear from Moms and Dads that have been in the same situation that I've been in, and the different tips, tricks, and advice, that has helped them through it.

My fiancee isnt a book parent either, but she is a parent book reader. She loves to read the different ones, and have really really not liked some, and have loved a couple. Her favorite book has been: The happiest child on the block, and has recommended it to her baby group, and they have told her how much they love this book. She has asked me to mention it on my blog, as its the one that she feels has the best values for her.

Has anyone else read this book and agree its got good ideas in it? Do any of you have any books you would like to suggest that is one book every parent should read? Do any of you know of any books that are a complete waste of time any money? What do you think?

Friend Post Fridays - Birthing Classes

Hello everyone, and good morning,

I received this in my email yesterday, thought I would post it and see what everyone has to say on the subject. If you are an expecting parent, or have a question to post, please send it to: newdad2009@hotmail.com, and I will post it for you, like with this anonymous writer. Thanks for visiting, please check back soon,

"Hi, I have enjoyed followed your blog. I am an expecting mom with twins on the way (a little scary but also exciting). While reading Part 2 of the birth of your son, it got me thinking about birthing classes. Did you find these helpful? I am looking at taking some, but was wondering what you learn in them. Are they worth the time? Thanks for the info in advance and I look forward to your answer!"

The Birth of my Son - Part II

We walk into the final labour room, and by hospital standards, it seems like we just walked into a place bigger than my first apartment, it was huge. A couch, a huge bathroom with shower, a big area surrounding my fiancee's bed, and nice area for the baby. It was a whole lot different then what we were just in.

My fiancee, her mom, and I all felt a new feeling of being refreshed at this point. You get excited, this is it, this is the final spot, its going to happen soon. Where's the doctors and nurses, where's the contractions, where's the swears towards me from my fiancee, I soon realized I watch way too much TV. I am joking around, setting up the video camera, as I get the warning "You keep that on my face only". But everyone really is in a good mood now.

So its now about 9 in the morning and she gets hooked up with Oxycodin drip. I remembered from our baby class that this is going to start the contractions. Unfortunately when you are induced the contractions hurt more, but it happens faster... supposedly. So this happens, and pretty quickly my fiancee does start feeling them. She is breathing through them like a champ, I am doing what I can to stay calm for her. In the back of my mind I have to say, I am thinking "ohhhh so these are what contractions are", yesterday and last night when she was having "contractions" they were no where near what these were. This was alot of pain, I could see it all over her face, and there was nothing I could do. It was painfull yet exciting at the same time.

My fiancee got to the point that she could no longer talk when a contraction came. The wave came over her face like a hurricane. This goes on until about 10 in the morning and that is when they begin to check her. She is now a loose 2 or a tight 3 cm. They tell us they will check in on us in 2 hours from now, so I am trying to figure out how I can keep everyones spirits up.

Its funny, when we packed for this, we had quite a good list to work off of from the book "From here to Maternity", we got from the birth class. Which we more than covered, plus we threw in some books, my psp, and even some games. All of which we never even came close to using. I assumed there would be HOURS of waiting, which there was, but when you have your fiancee going through 1 minute of rushing pain every 5 minutes or so, its hard to concentrate on anything except trying to keep her as comfortable and relaxed as possible.

Noon rolls around and they came in to check, actually I think they were about 15 minutes late, which all of us were looking at the time thinking "where the heck are those nurses, she has to be pretty much at the 10 cm mark". So they come in and check and say, "You are at a loose 3cm or maybe a tight 4 cm". I look at my beautiful fiancee, and the look on her face of going through this for 3 hours with no real movement really. And we both recall some infamous words from her older sister.

My fiancee's older sister had given birth to her baby girl about a year ago almost to the day. Since then we have heard of every part along the way, it was really helpfull to have someone so close that had JUST gone through it, it wasnt someone that had to recall what happened even 5 years ago. Since then their Mom has told a very famous story. Her sister was in the labour room, was never induced but had been in labour for a while, hours and hours. And finally apparantly she said " **** this, gimme the epidural".

With that in mind, we look at each other, and I always told her and I still told her, its her body and she makes the decision on whats best for her body. I am never going to tell her during the pregnancy, I dont think you should be eating that, or I dont know about taking that, I refused to be anything except supportive. Besides she takes way better care of her body, then I did of mine, so who am I to say anything. My fiancee had decided to use the laughing gas up to this point during every contraction, which we were told in class was the least harm that could occur to your system. And that was helping slightly, she definetly wasnt laughing though :). So I would never say get the epidural to her, its her choice. However, she decided it was time, and we got it done within 20 minutes.

We were both slightly concerned over the fact that my fiancee has a slight case of scoliosis. We did some research and they have said if your scoliosis is too severe, you will be unable to receive an epidural. We asked our baby doctor this, and we were told that she was fine to receive an epidural. We wanted the option at least. Of which we did. So then one final check from the anesthesiologist, she said , yes you are totally fine, so we were good to go.

My fiancee was feeling good within another 20 minutes. She felt incredibly relaxed, she had a button that she was allowed to push every 5 minutes that would give her a mini-shot, and even if she pushed it every 2 seconds, it would only allow it to occur every 5 minutes. Unfortunately the pain did come back because she would forget to click it for a while, which I believe happened twice. But then you get back into it, and the pain would go away. She loved the epidural.

Two oclock rolls around, well yet again around 2:15, always late, they check her, BOOM its show time, she is 10 centimeters dialated. This show is about to start. I am seriously in awe, I dont know what is going on, my mind is tired and spinning, I had to confirm with the nurse a couple times. But yes she wanted to start the pushing. Rules are you stop pushing when you are told to stop pushing. Which again, we were warned about, is an extremely hard thing to do.

Stay tuned for the conclusion in Part III.

Growth Spurts

So for the last 40 hours or more my son has been really fussy. We thought it was remnents of the immunization shots that he had on friday, but as it turns out, we now think his 3 months growth spurt has come a little early.

Last night after work, I came home to an EXHAUSTED mommy, that doesnt understand why he hasnt slept at all. I knew it was coming, but unfortunately I had to go shovel my parents walkway for them, get groceries as there was no food in the house, get money to my fiancee's massage therapist, as she had no money on her last time to pay her, then after driving home through traffic, I got home. And there definetly was no 1950's moment where my wife would be waiting with a martini glass, and I would pat the boy on the head and we would go have dinner...

I got home and all she wanted was a big hug, and she told me she still had nothing to eat all day, and havent slept all night and day. I tried to save the day saying go to have a quick bite, then go get some sleep, I will take care of our son for the night. And to be honest I had been thinking about it all day, due to his fussiness I didnt really get to hang out with him too much on sunday, which is normally a daddy day, where I get to hang out with him alot, he just wanted to basically nurse all day long. So I missed him.

So we were all set, my fiancee made herself some eggs, while I changed him and prepared for us to hang out for the night, and with some convincing due to the fact that she wanted to stay with him, she needed to sleep, so she went to be around 6:30-7. So from then on, I made myself some dinner with talking to my son, he's really quite the talker. Then we went to sit down, I got him some dinner too, tonite was a formula night. He doesnt have formula very often, but tonite was a must.

After changing him yet again, he downed his bottle of formula no problem, was burping great, and I thought awesome, I will be able to get him to go to sleep. This way, my fiancee can sleep the night and wake up at like 2 in the morning to feed him, and not just go down for a nap. So I swaddled him, and he downed a second bottle of formula (1 can of of the premixed stuff in total). Then he was still hungry, so I unfroze some breast milk we had stored, still burping great, all is good his eyes are looking SO TIRED though, i was worried he was over tired. He finished a bottle of breast milk too.

Im worried he's going to throw up now as thats alot of liquid for the little man to take in at once. I have so far watched about 14 minutes of Celebrity Apprentice that I taped, one of the few shows I watch on my own as my fiancee doesnt like it. But it has been about 2 hours since my fiancee went down. I have tried rocking him in the glider in his room, Ive tried rocking him in the lazy boy, i tried listening to this "Maternal love" CD that grandparents gave us, which has a heartbeat going and some calming music. I try, putting him down in his crib for about 20 minutes and watching his mobile, then I thought that might be too much stimulation so I turned it off, nothing he was just wide awake. Nuthin, he wouldnt fall asleep at all.

So about 10:30 rolls around and finally I just barely get him to sleep from me rocking him in lazyboy, and i put him down in his bassinette in our room, half hour rolls by, I got in to bed, boom he's up. I just dont get it, he hasnt slept in a LONG TIME, and nuthin, so my fiancee gets up now and she takes over. I have to work.

All through the night she is trying different things, I am trying different things, I just dont get it, its like we are brand new parents again taking home this child from the hospital. We have no idea what we are doing, nothing is working, he just isnt sleeping. I think finally this morning at 5:30 he went down to sleep, but I had to wake up to go to work today. It was such a long night I am PRAYING that he is sleeping for my fiancee.

Im wondering if any of you parents out there went through this, if certain things work when your child is going through a growth spurt, or when they are over-tired. Im pretty sure you just have to go through feeding him a ton and dealing with it, im just wondering other peoples experiences and knowledge on the subject.

Periwinkle, Sienna, or any other Crayola colour

From a long time listener, first time caller, so to speak...

"I'm an expecting mother. I am about 6 months along and my husband and I have been considering painting the babies room as we just found out that we are having a little boy. Did anyone else deal with this situation? We live in a relatively small condo and I am worried about me breathing in those fumes... does it harm the baby? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated! "

I can tell this person, that for us, we went through the same thing when I did the babies room. My fiancee was very sensitive about scents, even though we wanted to paint the babies room, she was worried about intaking any chemical smells even paint, in worrying it might harm the baby. I learned about this kind of paint, and I can't remember but I think it was on an old Benjamin Moore paint commercial, so maybe I was sucked into it, but I can tell you from first hand experience, it worked, it didnt smell AT ALL. What you are looking for is "Low VOC", its better for the environment, and better for you.

As for proof of whether or not paint fumes actually medically harms the baby I have no idea, does anyone out there know?

Vaccinations - The few and the loud

Our son is turning 12 weeks old this week, and last thursday we had our two month vaccination appointment with the calgary health region. We knew this was coming up for a while and have had quite a few discussions about it.


First thing that came up was about an Oprah show that was on a while ago, where Jennie Garth came on, and talked about her child that became autistic after getting the "MMR" shot (of which I have learned is the coined term for Measels, Mumps, Rhubella). I of course went online and started looking at sites that talked about it, and the more I read, the more I didnt want to read about it. It seems the web is inundated with blogs and websites that talk about how adverse reactions have occurred when getting immunization shots.


Secondly, we had our 2 month checkup about a week or so ago, everything went great, he was heathly, but of course, I had all this in my mind, where I heard this term used by our doctor. "The few and the loud". Our doctor said, and of course this is true about anything, for everything that is out there, you can find the adverse opinion on it. I read recently that eating out can actually make you lose weight, when they have been saying all along, to staying home is the easiest way to cut out greasy foods. Anyways, so our doctor said to go to the Canadian Pediatric Society, read up, find out that there havent been any cases that has proven that immunization and autism are related in any way.

You could tell she has heard this before and think its rediculous that people listen to the "few and the loud" on a issue that has no fact behind it. We were also told that the vaccines for Canada and the US are also different. She couldnt tell us where the vaccines were coming from though, she didnt know off the top of her head. So hearing this did make me feel better, although I did feel I had to realize like a Michael Moore movie, just because someone says it, doesnt make it 100% accurate and true. But I trust my doctor with my son's life, at least to quite a large degree.

Lastly, my fiancee brought up a good point, that my sister in law had, which is they have a guideline of when you are to bring your child in for immunizations. 2 months, 4 months, 6 months... etc. However, this is based on simply a time schedule, what happens if your child was born premature, or is not as big as other babies, yet they get the same amount of drugs as any other child. I believe my sister-in-law waited until their child was 4 months as they were concerned about her size and this fact. Luckily our baby is in the 97th percentile when it comes to height, and 75th when it comes to weight, so we were pretty sure he was more than ok to have the shot.

I will not forget anytime soon the look he gave me when taking the three shots though. He screamed, turned beet red, cried a tear, all of which he does VERY rarely. I had to stay tough for him, keep him calm, know that he can still trust me after this, and I am trying to do whats best for him, all in the look on my face, and the tone in my voice. All while my fiancee is crying as well 2 feet away. But luckily the nurse was fast, and our little man was so strong, that 10 seconds after it was done, he stopped and began nursing like a champ. We were so proud of him.

Anyways, this was not the infamous MMR shot, so I have to say I am nervous a little for 2 months down the road. I want to know if anyone else had doubts, are there any parents that have not immunized their kids? Did they wait til later? Are there certain ones that they just didnt get? Thanks for your help as always...

Friend Post Fridays

Hello Readers of my blog.

Anonymous posting that question on the Tought Tummy Times post gave me an Idea. I thought I would change things up, for every friday I will be posting something that I receive from either a loyal or a new visitor to my blog.

It will be either a quote from their favorite baby teachings book, a cute baby photo, a question that someone else out there might have, an amazing baby product you have to share with the world, or something I havent thought of. I have created a new email address: newdad2009@hotmail.com. If you want to email this address any of the above content, I will select 1 or 2 to post every friday. So start sending them in, and check back on fridays to see if maybe yours has been posted.

And as always I will be posting a new question or issue almost everyday for those of you to comment on, offer advice to myself and others like me, or , so thanks for visiting, and we see you back soon!

Diaper Genie - Worth its weight in gold...

Hello Everyone,


So as a reply yesterday to my blog of the day, an anonymous user wrote:

"I have a completely unrelated question.... As an expecting mom... what about Diaper Genies or other comparable diaper pails. Are they necessary or can you just use any sealable garbage can??"

And I would like to hear from you all out there on this issue. I will try my best to put my two cents in below, but I want to know what other people think.

We have been using the Diaper Genie Elite II, it costs about 35-40 bucks. Ive noticed it on sale a few times, at both Superstore and Toys R Us, and I think its the coolest thing ever. I am a tall guy, and so is my fiancee, and so is the diaper genie, and it has a foot pedal so no touching with your hands. Its really easy to replace the bags, as well as replacing the bag ring.

The advantages over a garbage pail:

1. There is never a smell that goes into the baby room, not even for a second, you open the diaper genie, the area with the old diapers are still sealed off.

2. Price is only a little bit more expensive, so well worth it.


3. Its just as environmentally friendly, and the bags that are used are packed full and thin plastic, so I think it might be better.

4. When you change the bags there is never any punch in the face of smell. Its so easy and quick.

5. Its taller than a normal garbage so in my opinion more ergonomical.

6. With the foot pedal its probably much better for germs. If the garbage can you are thinking of getting is going to be completely sealed, odds are it isnt easy to open, otherwise its not that great of a seal. So at 4 in the morning after getting a total of 45 minutes of sleep so far, and your baby has yet another dirty diaper. The easier, the better.

Well I hope my points made sense, I change my son's diaper most of the time when I am home so Ive done it quite a few times, and I can tell you I think the diaper genie is one of the best and most used purchases we've made.

Lets hear what everyone else thinks...

Tough Tummy Times

Lately I have been noticing that my son's neck is getting stronger and stronger. Sometimes I will be off in the distance and my fiancee will tell me, look look LOOK! Because he is 6 inches off her chest holding his head up, and she is there to catch him should he move even the slightest, but letting him work on his neck mucles. For both of us, when we hold him he does this, he tries with all his might to hold his head up when we hold him.

We have this toy that we borrowed from my fiancee's sister and brother-in-law, we have attempted to put him on it once. That was enough, he seemed too small for it as he didnt like it at all. And not too mention, as my fiancee tells people all the time " he had a four centimeter larger head than the average baby" he has a big head to hold up. Im not too sure what age group it is for, I was just told that you have to start tummy time right away, start building those neck muscles to see what you can do.

I have seen another lamaze toy out there, and there are mirrors, as shown below, but they are expensive, I am more than willing to buy them if you parents out there say yes they are awesome and they work, but I am wondering what tips for tummy time you may have. If we put him down on the floor or on a mat with nothing, he doesnt do too well, he most of the time just lays there, and gets mad pretty quickly. Any thoughts?

25 Random things ... werent so random for me.

About a month ago, I saw these were being floated around Facebook, and I was posted in one, so I felt I should have done it. I thought some of you that arent on my facebook page would like to see what a new dad wrote about the subject. Keep in mind my son was about 5 weeks old at this point.

Side Note: These are just thoughts Ive been having, take them or leave them, just been thinking them and thought this was a good way to get them out. Im not trying to offend anyone.

1. Single people have no idea what tired is. I know it sounds abrupt, but when I was single, and I got 4 hours sleep, I thought the world was over I was cranky and tired all day. Right now I would love 4 straight hours...

2. I find that people that dont have kids are alot more sympathetic to pregnant woman/new moms & dads, than (some) recent parents (THIS DOESNT APPLY TO ALL, IVE JUST NOTICED SOME). No matter what you've been through, they've been through worst, and the way they do it, is not only the best way, but the only way.

3. I think that Dads that dont participate in their kids life when they are new born, and dont wake up with their kids for most every feeding, even just to change their bum and help out mom with water/clean wipes...etc, are missing out on their kids life. Even getting a small smile in the middle of the night, makes it all worth it, even though they are just smiling cause they passed gas...

4. I always thought that parents that worried about their kids sleeping where just crazy and insane, until you see your child choke... then you worry.

5. I think that having a child is the longest and shortest time of your life. Each day feels like a battle, if you make it through that one hard night, and you get them to the point of healthy, and happy, you feel like you've done your job but it took forever. Then you turn around and your kid is a month old and you wonder how is he already a month.

6. I wonder when my fiancee will be able to sleep again, and I have all the praise in the world for mothers that breast feed. No matter what you cannot sleep the night, even if you kid sleeps, your breasts get so full you have to pump it out or your supply goes down. I just think that is so nuts.

7. I love my son more than anything else in the world, just to see him brings a wave over me, and when we lay together alone, I think its the best feeling on the planet.

8. I dont know the feeling of being a Dad yet. Im not to sure what its supposed to feel like.

9. I had no idea being a parent was this much work, and you can basically do nothing unless it works for your child. Ive been trying to go to costco for 2 weeks, and I just havent been able to because other stuff comes up.

10. I think its stupid that the Health region doesnt come out to your house anymore when your kid is first born. Due to cuts in the budget they cant come out unless there are bad circumstances. When you are first home, you dont want to leave within 24 hrs, and its plain and simple STUPID to go in.

11. I realize that my fiancee and I are going to fight about alot of things when it comes to our kid's life, but I look forward to the challenge, and wouldnt want to fight with anyone else. She is an amazing woman and we have a beautiful child together.

12. I think that the in the bed crib is the best thing in the world for a newborn. It has hard plastic sides so you cant hurt your child but being in between my fiancee and I, you hear a sound, you open your eye up, he's right there to check on him, and you go back to sleep. The problem is, he doesn’t seem to want to use the bassinette right now.

13. Im missing my sister alot. It sucks having her in another city, I am so worried for her being 23 weeks pregnant. And I wish she was here to see my son grow up. Soon she will move back, just a matter of time. Still sucks alot though.

14. I don’t like to work, when Im at work I sometimes just sit thinking what’s happening at home, hows my son and fiancee doing, what are they doing, does she need help, is he ok, Im sure after time it will be easier, but I hate the feeling Im missing out on stuff. My work is awesome though, I do have to say that, theve been nothing but supportive through the things weve been through, I cant imagine working for companies that aren’t family supportive.

15. I am grateful for grandparents, I couldn’t imagine doing this without help, single moms out there without family/friends to help, I am truly in awe of you, I don’t know how you do it but you are so strong and amazing.

16. I still don’t know how to properly clean toys/stuffed animals to make them safe for my son without putting them in the washing machine, when they say don’t wash in the washing machine. So I have them pilled in the corner.

17. I feel bad when we get a gift from people that we cannot use. I guess its something I have to get over, but its still hard. I remember when I was buying things for my nephew that I thought was really cool, I now realize some stuff was silly for me to get him, and was probably never used.

18. Im so conflicted about my son's life right now, I cannot wait for him to get past all of this hard stuff, where he can sleep the whole night, where we can sleep the night as well, where we are done being new parents, and know what we are doing, and not just living minute by minute, day by day. But once that happens, I feel like it begins the next phase of parenting, and I will miss this first phase.

19. I feel like I am just at the tip of the iceberg with changing him. I know I have changed him over 150 times already, its only been a month, and he will need changing for the next 2years at least… I think, I don’t know when you start potty training…

20. I cannot wait to take my son on his first airplane trip. Unless things change it will be to Montreal, we are waiting for a good deal and a good time to go. I have issues with the pressure, and I wonder if my son will. Yet when I didn’t have a kid, I didn’t understand why parents brought their kids on the plane.

21. I used to not understand why parents would just not even hear their own kids wailing and crying out in public and they wouldn’t be fazed. Last night I was at a clinic with my fiancee, and there was 2 babies crying, and I just felt bad for the kids wondering what was wrong with them. TOTALLY different feeling then I used to have.

22. I wonder about my fiancee going back to work already… so many views on this subject.

23. I have realized how important family is to me. I didn’t think it was this important, but now I want my son to know his grandparents and aunts/uncles, and I want them to know him. It sucks how spread out my family is.

24. I am thankful for the amazing people in my life. My friends and my fiancee’s friends have been so supportive, understanding, and their help, gifts, visits continue to be such a blessing in our lives, we both consider ourselves very lucky. TO which we will be sending out pictures, its just taken a while. Even old friends or people we knew when we were in school that have become “Facebook Friends” that wish us well, are so nice to read when you are so drained from the day of hard work. So to everyone out there that have been there for us, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

25. I don’t know when the only subject I will talk about is babies or my son, but from this list, I don’t think Im there anytime soon :)

From A to Zinc

We just had our 2 months checkup at the doctors office and we were told that their is too much moisture in the creases of his groin to his legs. You could actually see the condensation and the slight red marks that were coming. We have quite the process when it comes to changing him but are obviously still learning.

First we wipe him down with a disposible wipe, we've been through a few brands, just gotta make sure their is no alcohol being used, and its sensitive, no fragrances, and hypoallergenic. Next we wet a cloth, we now have a stack of over 100 baby coloured wipes, to wipe off any residue that the wipe left.

Then we WERE using this Penaten Daily Protection Gel, of which I just went on the internet to attach a photo, and there are no photos out there... or a website thats in english. Weird. I know it is associated with Johnson and Johnson but its not even on their site. Anyways I am getting off topic, the first thing the doctor says is "Whats the zinc content", and I said its non-medicated. It says that right at the top, which I thought was a good thing. But our Doctor recommended a few brands. Right now we have switched back to the old favorite, the standard penaten cream:

Im wondering has anyone else been through this? Ive also heard some people only put the cream on after they've done a number 2. Is there something that really works amazingly well. Ive heard of Sudocream, Zincofax, and a few others. Just looking for a consistent, proven, one that I can stick with all the time, that works. Thanks

Painting the town red...

So next tuesday will be our 2 year anniversary. No we are not married yet, we've been together for two years, and thats a funny matter all on its own. It seems the older generation asks as soon as they see the baby, how long we've been married, and the look on their face when I say "we arent married", its like all of a sudden we are dancing around in hell, as they give the head tilting "Oh?!?". Anyways I want to take my fiancee out, just the two of us. It has been 10 weeks since our son was born, and the last few weeks Candice was pregnant, we werent out all the time or anything, and I dont know if that is too soon or not. Im wondering when you first leave your child with the grandparents. There is no way I am ready to get a babysitter, but family I feel a little better about. I know that my fiancee will be wanting to come back home right away so I am trying to think of a good spot to take her. And the last problem is, dinner sounds so boring, and a movie you cannot talk to each other, and we do not have time for both. Im guessing we will be gone out for maybe 2 hours, and Im wondering a good fun activitiy we can do in this town. When did everyone else leave their kids in someone else's care? How long we're you gone for? What did you do? Any help in the matter would be great.

Getting your child on a schedule

I know quite a few of new parents and they do all tend to say the same thing. Once you start your child on a schedule, and everyone gets into the flow of it, is when they will change it on you. They also say that once your child is on a schedule you will begin to be able to do things alot easier, you will be able to go out, and do things. You will be able to understand that when your child cries, you can look at the time and think "Oh its because you are hungry", or "No wonder you are cranky it should be your nap time".

I came to realize that he is over 9 weeks old and he is not on a schedule. My fiancee and I are doing the best we can, and rarely does our son cry, because we are always catering to him, without even attempting a schedule. And I was wondering how to even begin the process. Maybe I should stop being bothered by this as he is only 9 weeks old, and he may not go onto a schedule for a few months yet. However I want to help my fiancee out as much as possible, but neither one of us think that at this stage in the game "tough love" is the way to go. We both think he is way to young to just put him down and listen to him cry himself to sleep. Even to take him off the boob after its been a certain amount of time, saying ok you didnt drink fast enough, so now you have to wait til the next feeding and do it faster.

So I am looking for help, am I way too soon on trying to get him on a schedule? Is there some tips and tricks people have on what to do to get more time for my fiancee? Any help is much appreciated.

Move over MTV Cribs...

For those of you that have been reading my blog over the past week you know that my son is over 2 months old, actually today he is exactly 9 weeks old. Now at first he stayed in one of these:
I highly recommend it, my fiancee's sister lent it to us when our son was born, and even if I were to go buy it I would (I saw it at Toys r Us for 60 bucks). There is some controversy that we had in our baby classes (I dont know what to call them anymore as they dont call it Lamaze), people seemed to be really against the baby being in bed with them. However we both loved it because all you had to do is open your eyes when you hear a noise and he was right there to check on. It was so much better than the first couple nights of us putting him in the bassinette, I was jumping out and running over to it almost every 10-15 minutes it seemed. Then we remembered we got this from her sister, and it improved our sleep 10 fold. Anyways, he stayed in there until he out grew it, he really is a tall baby. So that lasted a few weeks, then we moved him to his bassinette.

Now that has beeen quite the challenge. We have questioned a lot of things as to why he struggles in there so much. Its almost near a window and we dont know if its cooler over there, we dont know if maybe we give off warmth when he was in bed with us, maybe he liked the sound of us breathing, who knows. So for a few weeks it seemed he slept in the bassinette for about 2 hours, then in our arms for about 5 (most of the time with holding a soother in his mouth).

He has been sleeping through the night for about 2 weeks now, which we think is pretty good. I have learned that "sleeping through the night" for a child means about 6 hours. I never knew that before I became a parent. When I was a bachelor, sleeping through the night meant about 12 hours. But regardless we were both getting pretty good sleep now, so all was on the upswing.

But now it seems like the last 2 nights, hes been sleeping on his own in the basinette, for many hours, no more holding him in the middle of the night, and it seems like he is doing so much better at it, and I have been pushing my fiancee for a while now that he should be in his crib. His room is right next to ours, we have monitors all ready, and his room has been setup for months now. I am unsure as to whether we should continue his progress in the bassinette, or should we move him to his crib and get him used to his bed for the final time.

Some articles say by the 6 week mark he should be in his crib. Some articles say he should be there by 6 MONTHS. Im wondering everyones thoughts, as this is a delicate matter for all. My fiancee is very upset about it, as she sees him as being so little still. Tonight is supposed to be his first night in his crib. I guess we will find out if that happens. Please post your comments, let me know what worked for you...

Does drinking milk affect your breast milk supply?

So I dont know if it is an old wives tale, or actually does work, but apparantly someone has said that your production of hind milk is affected by the amount of milk fat that you drink. I want to know if anyone else out there has heard of this theory or not? We drink skim milk at home, and apparantly if we want our soon to get more of the good stuff, we need to up that. I want to know what you all think?

Soothers... just to quiet the baby?

We have been having a discussion lately about soothers (susses, pacifiers...etc). How soon do you introduce them? Is it just to shut the kid up from screaming, or does it actually help them. Sometimes we find our son just wont relax until we give it to him, however, we dont know if we are starting a trend that will go downhill really fast, and he will be obsessed with them, and cannot sleep without one... for years. Anyways, thoughts about how soon you introduced a soother to the child? Do you regret it? Was it hard to take it the soother away from the older child?

To Swaddle or not to swaddle

My son is now just over 2 months old, and we are struggling with ways on how to swaddle him. I have met some people that have decided that swaddling is not very nice to them, makes them feel clausterphobic. But my son seems to get out of normal swaddle blankets, every night, and my fiancee is nervous he will get the blanket over his head. We have tried this new sleepbag/swaddle with velcro combination, but that seems a little extreme. And the sleep bags we are unsure of if he is too young.

Anyone have any thoughts, or new ideas?

Johnson & Johnson Products - Good or Bad?

So I've been having the same discussion with a lot of people and I was hoping to get some closure and some clarification on this matter once and for all. What do people think of Johnson and Johnson products? Specifically baby shampoo and lotions. There have been stories about how they have used their name, and the fact that they have been around for so long, that people should trust their name and product. However, the ingredients they have used have changed over the years and now it isn't as good, or new research has shown that it irritates the skin, or worst. I am just looking for some clarifications, Anyone?

The Birth of my Son

So my son turned two months old today and I cant help but reflect back on the past two months as the longest and shortest time of my life. It seems like just yesterday our son was being born, insert flashback sequence here...

So I went to work on a Tuesday morning, just like any other Tuesday really. It was a cold day in January, but not bad for Calgary really. I drove in as I always do, feeling really tired from only sleeping about 5 hours the past two nights in a row. Got into work, everything was calm, and I sat at my desk in a daze thinking somehow I got ready and got into work, and I don't know how I did it being such a zombie right now. Two hours later I get a phone call from my fiancee at home...

My fiancee was mid way through her 38th week of pregnancy and she was really uncomfortable all the time. She also had something called P.U.P.P.P.s which is just this horrible rash that happens to a small percentage of pregnant women in their last stage of pregnancy. So on top of being sore and big, she was itchy all over, but could only take a certain cream that the doctor prescribed that really didn't do all that much for her. Needless to say, she was done, and wanted to get this show on the road.

On the phone she tells me she lost her mucous plug in the middle of the night, and shes been having contractions for the past hour that are about 5 to 10 minutes apart. I almost drop the phone, and say "Oh my god" about 19 times, and realize my work is open concept and allot of people are looking at me right now. So I tell her, I will come home now. I go over to my boss, who is having a meeting with someone and say "Its Time", he says "Time for what?", I tell again, "No, IT'S TIME", he says "Ohhh, ok goodbye and good luck", and I pack everything up and leave to go back home.

I surprisingly woke up quite allot at this point, Ive had 2 extra large coffees, my nerves are flying all over the place, but somehow I am driving quite calmly. I expected to act like a lunatic like in sitcoms and movies, but I remained calm, called my parents to tell them what is happening, called my best friend and let her know, and drove at a good pace home. While I was driving I remembered when she told me she was pregnant, thinking wow, that seemed like it was just yesterday, I don't understand how this is happening so soon.

I get there, and nothing is happening. Her contractions she says aren't very strong, and we start timing them for a while, but nothing very repetitive. From this point we watch it for about 2 hours, and finally I just say, we have to call your doctor, I need to talk to someone who knows whats up. The receptionist says on the phone, if you lose your mucous plug, you should go in as it may get infected. So we went to the hospital.

Again, driving surprisingly calm, I remember so many instances of movies and shows where babies are born in vehicles, and it just wasn't like that, yes my fiancee is having contractions but really nothing that serious it seemed. So we get to the hospital where we are meeting her parents at the hospital, her Mom is the other helper in the room other than myself. They admit her, and we go through the process of waiting, then they check her out, and we are sent home, with the following conditions to come back; 1 - If there is excessive bleeding, 2 - If her water breaks 3 - If contractions are steadily at 2-3 minutes apart.

We get home around 4pm, contractions have stopped at this point. I call my boss, tell him it was a false alarm, and let him know I will be coming back in to work tomorrow. All four of us sit around and talk about what has happened. I fill my parents in on whats occurred. She begins drinking Raspberry leaf tea that she bought, as we were told that would help induce labour. We order some Chinese food, its funny, everyone I know has a food that "starts" their labour, they all say the same thing, "You want to start going, go have a ", and at first I was thinking oh maybe we will try that, then I realized, the meal probably has nothing to do with the actually beginning of labour, it just happened to be the meal they ate. Anyways, we have the Chinese food, and my fiancee begins getting contractions again.

At first they are few and far between, we don't really do much about them, but she has probably had 4 cups of tea at this point, and she is feeling something. We are all playing "the dice game" as its referred, I don't know the name of it, its just something to pass the time as her Mom is not leaving her site, her Mom has a feeling the baby is coming and doesn't want to go home. From 8:45pm until 10pm we had over a solid hour of contractions that are less than 5 minutes apart in between, some as low as 1 minute. So we go back to the hospital.

On the drive over, which is lets say a little more than "legal" driving, but still way less than a high speed chase, she finds that her contractions come to a halt. We go through the same process as earlier that day. Admitted, checked, hook her up to the machine that measures her contractions, and they are 10 minutes apart, still way too far apart. They say "Go for an hour walk around the hospital, see if helps move things along". Now keep in mind, its knocking on midnight, you have a pregnant women, that is almost 39 weeks pregnant, that is itchy all over, is extremely tired, and now you are telling her to walk all over the hospital, you can imagine how this goes over. So we take things slow, the four of us walk around with allot of stopping, massaging, and coaching, an hour goes by very very very slowly.


So we get done the hour, FINALLY, we go back to the room, they check her in, again, she gets hooked up to the machine, again, and we try to rest. We all start talking how its just not happening, we are going home soon, there is no point in being here, you can see on the read outs still 10 minutes apart. Then the nurse comes in and says "Ok still nothing we are going to send you home, but your doctor is here and wants to talk to you" Our family doctor happened to be at the hospital that night, and she was going to come in and talk to us but was in the middle of delivering a baby so we were going to wait. So I start putting my fiance's shoes on for her, she hadn't done that herself in over a month, I put my jacket on, then our doctor showed up.


The doctor says she had a talk with the obstetrician, and they said due to the fact that her PUPPPs is in the state its in, shes 38 weeks pregnant, and there is some stages of labour occurring they want to induce you. The cutest part was when my fiancee says, "you mean right now? Could we not go home and come back tomorrow after sleeping?" To which the doctor replied "Yes now, not tomorrow". So we all get comfortable again, and wait for the final room to open up.


Around 6-6:30am rolls around, my fiancee is sleeping uncomfortably in the bed, there is a chair that resembles a dentist chair and a lazy boy combined, that her mom is sleeping in, and there is an office chair from 1982 in there, so I am sleeping on the floor. Needless to say salvation came knocking on that door saying, we are going to the final labour room, and I am overjoyed to get outta there.

Stay tuned for the next part of the story...