What My Kid Did

[9]

THAT is cool. I've always wanted to learn how to surf.

[massyanksfan]

My daughter has a collection of binkies. We use them only for sleep, but keep spares for the nights that we can not find them. Saturday morning as I was getting her up, there were 6 in the crib, not counting the one in her mouth AND one in each hand. As I pulled the one from her mouth and dropped into the crib, she waved good bye to it, and placed another one in her mouth.

[Ms. Jericho]

Em was a big binkie fan as well. We have plenty of baby pics with one in each hand and one in her mouth. She was born sucking her thumb so I was urged by her doctor to give her one because he says you can take away a binkie but you can't take away her thumb. I didn't really get that because I figured if I did take away the binkie wouldn't she just go back to sucking her thumb?

She lost two binkies at the Renaissance Faire when she was two (despite having those little strings that clip them onto your shirt or wherever) and that was the end of it. And she did not revert to thumb sucking.

[Chris]

Unfortunately for my daughter she wasn't a binkie fan...she was a fan of sucking on her middle two fingers, Ronnie James Dio style...and now she's got some costly ortho work pending because of it.

[massyanksfan]

I actually got a Yankees binkie and holder as a "Shower Gift". A friend of ours, now ex-husband insisted that my daughter have it due to the fact that "You suck on a binkie, like Jeter does A-Rod!" Needless to say that he is a Sox fan, and ex-husband.

[iamnotatablelamp]

i've read that binkies can be useful in reducing the risk of SIDS, but that you should get rid of them at 6 months.

[Jason Giambi]

if you do it before they turn a year, same as the bottle, it's much easier.

[Ms. Jericho]

For Emma the bottle and the binkie were more of a security thing after she was a year old. It probably would have been much easier to get rid of them earlier and I can't stand when I see four year olds who still have them. She would take a bottle to bed with her and not even drink it. I barely put anything in it she just had to fall asleep holding it and then you could go in and sneak it away.
I have heard the same thing about SIDS but I don't know if it is true. I think SIDS is jsut a freak thing that if it is going to happen it just is. Like they say that kids should sleep on their sides. Emma always slept on her stomach. I tried for the first few nights to put her on her back or side. Once she was on her stomach she basically slept through the night.

[Chris]

My daughter had one of those wedge things that would keep her on her side....but it never worked.

I'm with you Mrs. Kennedy - if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.

My cousin died, when I was about 9 or 10, of SIDS.

[iamnotatablelamp]

not so sure i agree with that completely. since doctors started advising parents to put their infants to sleep on their backs, instances of SIDS has been reduced by almost half.

[Ms. Jericho]

I don't know if there is any proof of that statistics or any way to prove it at all. Just because doctors recommend babies sleeping on their backs doesn't mean people are doing it. It also doesn't meant that something else doesn't account for the decline. There are too many possible factors. Smoking, poor prenatal care, alcohol use, low birth weight....
You can do everything wrong and everything can be okay.
And then you can do everything right and it can still happen.
Same with a lot of things. Like Autism.

[Chris]

Well here's the deal...at least as I understand it.

SIDS is kind of a generic term. When an otherwise healthy baby dies in it's sleep, it's SIDS. Maybe the infant vomited and choked, maybe it got tangled up in blankets and suffocated, maybe had a drastic temperature rise and died that way...regardless it's chalked up to SIDS. That's my understanding...I'm not an expectant, or even an unexpectant mother so I could be way off on this.

I'm guessing that laying a baby on it's back might reduce the risk of it's airways getting blocked by various items of bedding. Perhaps. That's my guess.

But I don't think that really speaks to any of the other SIDS related causes of infant death.

Now, if there's one thing I know about expectant mothers, which Rose is, its that they immerse themselves in this stuff and certainly are speaking from a standpoint of enhanced expertise compared to where I am. But I also think there's a lot of credence to what Dana said (I'm getting these names right aren't I ... Dana is Mrs. Kennedy?) in that people are a lot more health conscious in terms of prenatal care, smoking, etc....so maybe that attributes to the drop.

Regardless, a drop is a drop is a drop, and that's a good thing.

I do know these sleeping positions change. When my daughter was born (1999) having the kid sleep on it's side was all the rage - thus the little wedge contraption. But I've heard that on the back is the way to go now.

[Jason Giambi]

with my last baby, he had the wedge, if you wrap them tight enough, they can't roll over with it.

[iamnotatablelamp]

actually chris, SIDS is the sudden death of an infant that is completely unexplained even after autopsy. yes, other horrible accidents happen, but they are explainable and therefore not SIDS.

the facts are that infants who sleep on their stomachs and sides have a much higher rate of SIDS than infants who sleep on their backs. clearly, there is much more to be learned , but if doctors and experts are recommending i put my baby to sleep on her back, i'm most certainly going to do it.

[massyanksfan]

My Sister-in-law died of SIDS in 1999 at five months old. (Story for another time...) So my wife and I did as much research as possible on the subject, including the internet, our pediatrician and books when we found out we were expecting. The back thing is the best advice that we found. There are several different products available including the wedge and a weighted swaddling wrap available that claim to prevent the baby from rolling over while sleeping. They tend to be a little more expensive than regular pj's and blankets, but from experience and seeing first hand how the loss of a child can devastate someone, they are worth every penny.

[Jason Giambi]

Rose, Do yourself a favor and pick up a dvd called the happiest baby on the block. You will thank yourself for it.
I wish we had it for all 3.

[iamnotatablelamp]

Thanks! Just ordered it at amazon. I'll add it to the collection. Also ordered Laugh and Learn about childbirth.

Me and Vin decided against doing a child birth prep class. Vin doesn't have any time this summer and quite frankly, I feel like I could learn just as much from a video at home for a fraction of the cost. Plus, you can prepare as much as you want, but you have no clue how your actual birth is going to turn out.

[Jason Giambi]

you got that right. we went for the 4 weeks or whatever, and in the end, we ran it on the fly. Do take a tour of the hospital, that is worth it, and they can answer any questions you have.

[Chris]

Oh I hear ya, Rose. You're exactly right. Like I said, when my daughter was born, it suggested to put her on her side. Apparently that has changed in the following years.

Thanks for the education on SIDS - I was way off.

[Jason Giambi]

May 28, 2008 9:39:12 GMT -5 iamnotatablelamp said:

Thanks! Just ordered it at amazon. I'll add it to the collection. Also ordered Laugh and Learn about childbirth.

Me and Vin decided against doing a child birth prep class. Vin doesn't have any time this summer and quite frankly, I feel like I could learn just as much from a video at home for a fraction of the cost. Plus, you can prepare as much as you want, but you have no clue how your actual birth is going to turn out.

I also have some other DVD's for you, I'll get my wife to make copies of the Baby Einstiens..... the music is relaxing, and my son loves them.

[Ms. Jericho]

I didn't do lamaze or any of that and didn't need it. Then again, I didn't do anything "textbook." Like baby food.


Anyway, Emma apparently has a little "boyfriend" in Pre-K. I noticed that after school on the playground he always runs over to her and says "tag your it." Then at a classroom party I noticed he was holding her hand during story time until the teacher's assistant broke it up. The other moms started teasing me about "Emma's boyfriend."
So today at her little "graduation" she was sitting next to him and my mother who usually takes her to school told me that was her boyfriend and I said I knew.
I did not know how smitten Emma is until my mother told me that she asked "Grandma, how do you know when you find the person you want to marry?" My mother tried explaining to her that you had to know them for a long time and like the same things and so on until Em cut her off with "Well I already found who I am going to marry."

[iamnotatablelamp]

that is just too cute Dana! although part of me would be dying inside thinking ahead to all the teenage boy drama ahead of me!

so, this isn't a story about my kid, but one of my sister Dana's kids - her 6 year-old Julia.

she recently has a birthday party at school and while all the kids are hanging out eating cupcakes, the teacher asks them who there favorite person is. most of the kids say mom and dad, my teacher, etc. one kid actually says george bush! ugh. then my little neice Julia is last and she says... "ME" (as in herself!).

Nice work Jules!!!

[MSBNYY]

The kid who said George Bush rules!!!

[$heriff Tom]

Part of the thing at Emma's school yesterday was letting everyone in on what you want to be when you are older. Emma is now picking "zookeeper" which is along the lines of her old "marine biologist" fancy, but finer honed.

But check this out - one boy said he wanted to be "John Cena." Another said he wanted to be "Christian Cage." Yet another said, "Spiderman or John Cena."

Emma later confessed that if she was a boy she would have picked "a wrestler" but she does not want to be a "girl wrestler." Speaking of girl wrestlers, she is a big ODB fan, of all people.

[Jason Giambi]

Bush has been a major disappointment.

[massyanksfan]

Rose, my wife liked "The Nursing Mothers Companion" if you are so inclined to nures. The Boopy...I think that's how it's spelled...is great too. I used it when I gave my daughter bottles after she stopped breast feeding.

[Ms. Jericho]

I think she likes ODB because she is the least girly of the girl wrestlers.

And yes Rose, the "boyfriend" thing is cute now when she is five. When she is twelve or thirteen and tells me she has a boyfriend there will be a lot more questioning from me about what exactly that means.
I was also pleased that while the other boys aspire to be Jeff Hardy, John Cena, Spiderman or Batman, the boy Emma decided she is going to marry wants to be a plumber.

[Chris]

When my daughter was younger, she swore Mickey Mantle would be her boyfriend one day.

All she knew was that he's my favorite Yankee ever, and any imagery of him was from books or video depicting him in his prime. She had no comprehension of him getting older, drunker, meaner, and eventually deader.

[iamnotatablelamp]

for the first time today, i felt my baby's in utero hiccups. craziest and cutest thing ever.

[crazilyz]

May 29, 2008 9:37:29 GMT -5 $heriff Tom said:

Emma later confessed that if she was a boy she would have picked "a wrestler" but she does not want to be a "girl wrestler." Speaking of girl wrestlers, she is a big ODB fan, of all people.

GLO was the bomb when I was in high school.