Sumo wrestling babies

Actually, it's not what you think. We aren't over-zealous parents pushing our five-month-old son into sports (but it builds character! you can never have too much character!) when he can't even crawl. This is actually one of the cuter parts of EC (as if the BabyBjorn Little Potty thing wasn't cute enough, right? of course right).

What the BabyBeast is sporting is actually a two-piece EC-wear... I'm hesitant to call it an 'outfit,' because I'd never take him out wearing this. And 'infit?' (on an infant)

He has a prefold, folded to fit neatly between his chunky baby thighs, held up with what is usually called a prefold belt, but I call a 'stretchy headband I bought at WalMart on clearance.' (who said the MommaBeast wasn't smart?)

The point of this get-up (or 'infit') is that it is exceptionally easy to take off when it's time to potty the baby. Or, if you miss the cues and the baby potties on himself, it's incredibly easy to pop the soiled prefold off the baby and tuck a new one under the 'prefold belt/headband thing.'

Also, it maximizes the cute effect of chub.

Things they don't tell you about co-sleeping

I studied up on safe co-sleeping (as I've mentioned before) and felt like I knew it all when we started sharing our bed with our infant son. But there was something they neglected to mention on all their fancy Web sites and in their well-worded books: when you co-sleep and breastfeed, the first two rows will get wet.

Perhaps that isn't a problem later on, but at this point in our breastfeeding adventure, I let down like a garden hose on full blast, and the Baby Beast usually lets go (to prevent drowning; obviously, he's smarter than his blank expression lets on) which means the bed takes the brunt of the spray (yes, we have mastered side-lying nursing).

So, I figured the best thing I could do is either put a raincoat underneath both me and the baby (which seemed like a very crinkly, plastic-y idea) or layer the bed underneath the baby with receiving blankets and prefold cloth diapers. You can guess which one I chose.


Obviously not a raincoat

Luckily, these absorb the brunt of the blast, and I change them every evening before we crawl into bed.

So, if you're planning on co-sleeping and breastfeeding, be aware that someday a raincoat (or some prefolds) might save your sheets.

Flirtations

While out grocery shopping this evening, the woman behind us in line became very taken with the Baby Beast (who was sitting in the cart propped on either side with my purse and the diaper bag, since he has yet to master sitting up). Through the course of her cooing and awwing, she delivered a phrase I have never before heard and that tickled me immensely.

"I could put you on a plate and sop you up with a biscuit!"

I had to do a mental reset as I tried to figure out where that had come from - it was nothing I'd ever heard before.

But I've decided I like it. It's ridiculous and cute... better than "I could eat you with a spoon" because somehow the mental imagery of jabbing at a baby with a spoon disturbs me (whereas laying them on a plate and rubbing a biscuit on them is slightly less disturbing).

There's not helping it - my son is a flirt. No matter where we go, he smiles and flirts with complete strangers. I keep getting warnings that he'll hit his shy stage any day now... I will believe it when I see it.

Amusement

I have found that sleep deprivation can actually cause you to laugh at things that otherwise never would have made a dent on you. I remember the same thing happening on long summer nights in high school, but this is a whole new kind of sleep deprivation (the kind where you're almost asleep, starting to drift into a dream, and a baby suddenly snorts and tries to latch onto your thumb knuckle, as your hand was resting a little too close to his face when he decided he needed to eat).

Things that have gotten me laughing lately include:

How serious the Baby Beast looks when trying to potty.


Teething, creating a whole new face to zombies:


Dogs who know a warm spot when they see it:


No one said parenting was for sissies, but no one mentioned the kinds of things you'd laugh at when you were going on a week of 45 minute naps between feedings. Thank goodness I'm finally getting the hang of side-lying nursing, or I would have to figure out how to sleep sitting up without dumping the baby off the Boppy.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

I've heard that mirrors are good for babies' development so we decided to introduce Jacob to the mirror in the bathroom (as we, unfortunately, lack the open space to put on at floor-level, even in the bedroom). The results? Confusion and interest.

We've striven to let him watch himself in the mirror for a few minutes several times a day, because he is obviously getting some enjoyment out of it. And even if he isn't, we certainly are enjoying watching him watch himself.

I've decided that babies would make the best research projects. What is research, but watching something endlessly to make sense out of it? Babies are excellent for this.

And while I didn't get a photo of it, Jacob is also learning to reach out for things with his hands, to try and grab hold. The bathroom mirrors have tiny squidgy handprints on them, and somehow I don't mind.

A quiet moment

Few things are as peaceful as a quiet moment of nursing with a three-month-old infant. It's amazing how, as he falls asleep against my breast, I can forget that I haven't had a shower in the last two days and that we might be starting a battle with thrush and that I'm ready to eat the camera because I haven't perfected the art of making a sandwich one-handed yet.

Best of all? Once he's asleep, I can sneak my nipple free and pass out next to him. Showers and food are important, but sleep definitely matters more right now.

Sharing sleep

I knew from the moment I found out that I was pregnant that I would not be investing in a crib. In my head, when I hear the word "crib" it's usually followed by the world "death." That's kind of a negative connotation to carry around with you (and yes, i'm aware it's not politically correct to call it 'crib death' anymore. the recognized term is 'sudden infant death syndrome' or 'sids,' a name change that was brought about in part by crib manufacturers being uncomfortable with the phrase 'crib death').

Moreover, the idea of having my newborn away from me, even if just in a crib across the room, made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. So, I went with 'instinct,' and began researching safe co-sleeping.



I won't bore you with an exhaustive list of how-tos, because if you have an interest in co-sleeping then you are probably doing your own research, but I can recommend a couple of links to get you started. Elizabeth Pantley, author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution (which really is a fantastic book for parents' at their wits end with a baby who won't sleep and won't let them sleep) wrote one and Dr. Sears (who is basically The Maven of Attachment Parenting) has one here.

The BIG worries of parents who plan to co-sleep with their infant are:

Overlying, or rolling on top of the baby

I've successfully co-slept with a bundle of small dogs since I was about 19 years old. I started with a Chihuahua puppy who weighed in at a whopping 2lb when she first came home with me. I've never rolled onto a dog, and am in fact an exceptionally light sleeper.

Falling from the bed

Currently, the BabyBeast sleeps in a Supreme SnuggleNest between the Husbeast and I. The plastic sides and foam positioner prevent him from moving too far out of the Nest. Once he's bigger (which won't take long, at the rate he's increasing in size; i think i have miraclegro in my breastmilk) I'll move him over to my side of the bed with a toddler bed rail to prevent him from leaping to his doom. And even if he manages to roll out, our bed currently consists of a mattress and boxspring, so the fall to the carpeted floor is about 1.5ft.

I chose to co-sleep not only to make breastfeeding easier, not only to let myself rest secure that the baby was still breathing, but also because studies have shown babies don't suffer SIDS as often if they are sleeping close to their mother. Whether its because they hear her breathing, or never reach deep sleep due to her movements in the night, or some other reason, I don't know. But I DO know that I sleep better with the feeling that I'm doing absolutely everything I can to prevent my son slipping away at night.

I have to say that so far, our co-sleeping experience has been amazing. The Baby Beast sleeps well, I sleep well, even the Husbeast is sleeping well (not to worry, he never naps alone with the baby).

Personally, I can't imagine locking my baby into a cage in another room, where I can't listen to his breathing as I fall asleep and can't reach out to touch his warm stomach to make sure it's moving up and down with the rhythm of his dreaming breaths.

Is sleep sharing for everyone? Probably not. Is co-sleeping in the same bed for everyone? Definitely not. Does sleep sharing ask the parents to devote more of themselves to the baby? Definitely so. But most of all, sleep sharing is natural. It's been the way of infants and adults since mammals started roaming the earth (and, in case you fell asleep during your high school science classes, humans are, indeed, mammals).

If we were looking at apes, or lemurs, or even dogs, you'd see how there's a logical pattern to mother-infant relationships. Logically, it makes no sense to separate mother and infant. How is the baby to eat if its mother is absent? How is the baby to stay warm without maternal warmth? Who will respond to the infants cries in the night (other than a predator) if the mother isn't there?

So, how is it natural to put the baby in a room separate from its mother?

I guess it just makes sense to me to follow animals as my guide to infant rearing, for the most part. They don't have cribs, and swings, and walkers, and bouncers. They have to devote themselves wholly to the rearing of their young, and that includes while sleeping. So, sleep sharing/co-sleeping is to me just the natural thing to do.

Besides, it makes it so much easier to follow the age-old addendum, "Nap when your baby naps."