Car Seat Safety & Extended Rear Facing

Car seats are one of those baby items that you absolutely can not do without. And like every parent, I wanted to keep my little ones as safe as possible. I quickly became passionate about car seat safety while researching for a replacement for Pauly's infant carrier. At the time I knew nothing about convertible car seats which led me to countless hours of on-line learning. I can't remember exactly when I stumbled upon extended rear facing but, I do remember wondering why I'd never heard of it before. I had been certain that Pauly's first birthday would mark the milestone where he would ride facing forward but I quickly decided against it. Here's why:

Keeping children rear facing passed the recommended 20lbs. and one year of age keeps them five times safer then when they are forward facing. FIVE TIMES SAFER! I couldn't believe it at first. Then I went digging even further and found that the American Academy of Pediratics published a new policy in March of 2011 that recommends children be rear facing until the age of two or even longer, if they are still within the weight and height of the seat. I started wondering why it was only a recommendation and not part of the child seat laws. Then came the question of "what exactly are they testing for and how are they doing it?". I was a little surprised at what I found but you can read about Transport Canada's rear facing infant seat testing and research here.

Now, how exactly does a rear facing seat keep a child safer? Physics.
Newton's first law of motion states that "An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force". This external force is what causes the occupants to be thrown towards the front of the vehicle in a head-on collision.
When a child is rear facing, he will move towards the back of the seat and gently slide up. This keeps the child's head, neck and spine in a straight line and lets the chair absorb most of the force.
In a forward facing seat, the child (or adult) is held in place by the safety belt but the head whips forward until it touches the chin then back again. As an adult you can endure this whiplash motion because the weight of your head is only 6% of your body mass. A child's head is 25% of it's body mass which means it will pull away from the body with a force 4 times greater than that of an adults. Science has shown that even though a childs' spinal colum can stretch up to 2 inches, the spinal cord will only stretch a 1/4 of an inch, causing it to snap.  This violent movement could internally decapitate a child leaving them paralyzed.
This video will help put things a little more into perspective.

If you'd still like to read more about car seat safety, here's a great article I found on parenting.com

So, armed with the above information, I set out to buy a car seat that would allow me to rear face as long as possible. My choice was a Britax.
Since the 1970's they have been recognized as the top selling car seat in Europe, England and Australlia. Now in the USA, Britax has been the top rated car seat for safety, durability and reliability. Enough said...but I still had to know more. So if you would also like to know about Britax's integrated steel bars, SafeCell Technology, Versa Tether or other features that make this seat an awesome choice, you can read about it here.

Riley is now 9 months old, but most importantly, she is reaching the 22 lbs. limit of her infant carrier. That means it's time for me to start putting some extra money aside so I can buy my absolute fave Britax seat. The only question is, do I buy it in pink?

Boring to Busy

Life has been quite busy these last couple weeks. There have been a few noteworthy events and I've also been trying to catch up on a few loose ends.

As I've stated before, I tend to procrastinate. So it won't be a surprise when I tell you I spent an hour on the phone with three different customer service reps for three different reasons. I'll have to admit that two of the three calls went fairly well, but the third left me scratching my head.

The first call was to Phillips. We bought a Phillips Avent monitor when Pauly was born and I loved it but, after 9 or 10 months of use the rechargeable battery wouldn't keep a charge for more than 3 hours. The low battery beeping would wake me in the middle of the night so I stopped using it. I wanted to purchase a replacement but every store I went to didn't sell one. They all advised me to contact Phillips to get it. I had every intention of doing it but after a week this task was left on the back burner. Then Riley was born and when she started sleeping in her own crib it was just easier to borrow my sisters. Here's where things get frustrating. No matter where I plugged in her monitor, there was always static. Apparently she never had a problem with it so I took it as a sign to get off my ass and get mine fixed. Competing with static when your trying to sleep or watch TV is nerve wracking. So I finally called Phillips and told them what I needed. They didn't have any batteries in stock but my monitor was still under warranty so they went and shipped me a whole new monitor! It's just as good as the last and now I can watch Grey's Anatomy without background noise :)

The second call was made to Bell. It was an easy fix to my bill but one that shouldn't have happened. We'll see how things go next month.

The third was a call to Apple. I've only had my phone for 2 months but for some reason my USB cable stopped working. They were going to replace it at no cost but it took them three attempts to get it right. The first part was the wall adapter that the cable plugs into. The second was a USB video cable. Then finally after a third phone call I got the regular USB. Now I don't have to share one cable between my iPhone and iPad.

When I was about 8 months pregnant with Riley I was having my usual dental check up. My Hygenist noticed something peculiar and asked me to come back ASAP after the baby was born so she could take some x-rays. I did and the culpurate was two impacted wisdom teeth (I only had two btw). Since I wasn't in any discomfort and there were no cavities, we both agreed to wait a while before proceeding. So about a month ago I had my consult and two weeks after that I went in for the surgery. I was a little nervous since I'd never been under general anesthesia but it went surprisingly well. I think the worst part of it was getting the IV. When I woke up I wasn't in any pain. I wasn't groggy, sleepy or quezzy in any way. I was sent home with antibiotics and Tylenol #3. I took the Tylenol for the rest of that day since I wasn't able to nurse for 8 hours following. The next day my face was swollen but the pain was minimal. I resorted to ibuprofen twice a day for two days then didn't need anything after that. As of now my jaw is a little tender but I'm able to eat and drink normally without pain.

The second event that deserves recognition is the fact that Riley has started crawling. She was exactly 9 months old when it happened. Unlike her brother, she started on her hands and knees but you can tell she just wants to get up and walk. In the last five days she's learned to move around on her hands and feet which is amusing to watch.

And finally...Pauly turned 2!  On his actual birthday we took him to Chuck e Cheese but this past weekend we celebrated with family and friends and it was a blast. We started off at the splash pad and then made our way back home for lunch, presents and cake. There wasn't a rain cloud in the sky and it wasn't too hot. Just perfect.

Fun at Chuck E Cheese

     

Riley getting ready to party 

Splash pad fun 

  

  

   

      

 

 

 

      

Maternity Leave Gone Boring

For the last two weeks I've been wanting to blog but, I've got nothing. Don't get me wrong, I'm very busy with the usual day to day chores. It's everything else that's non-existent. Or almost non-existent.

Now that the summer weather has appeared I feel like I should be doing more. Specifically, outdoor stuff. What kind of "stuff" is where I'm stuck. Sure the daily walks, trips to the park and such things are wonderful but I'm craving more. Every so often an event comes along (the opening of the splah pad for instance) and my excitement perks up, I get there, have a great time, the kids have a blast and it's over. Then I'm left with that hole to fill.

Cabin fever? Boredom? Whatever it is I think the solution is Carpe Diem, which is easier said than done. Epically when you've got a boy who's almost 2 and an 8 month old who is trying so hard to be mobile.

Then there's the infinite to do list. And it's conjoined twin, procrastination. Instead of inventing smart phones (don't get me wrong I love my iPhone), why can't someone invent smart laundry rooms. Ones where all you need to do is toss your dirty laundry in them and that's it. The sorting, loading and folding will all be done for you? Or how about a lawn and garden that chews up weeds the second they begin to germinate? And I could really use a Rosie around the house. Or at the very least...an iRobot. But I really can't see myself paying $200+ for that fancy thing.

So onwards and upwards. Carpe Diem. Seize every oppertunity that you can. Leave the housework and daily chores for rainy days. And if you happen to stop by my place this summer, forgive me for the dust, dirty dishes, and weeds growing around every corner. It's because I've chosen to enjoy the finer things in life.

Baby Led Weaning

It's been about a month since starting Riley on baby led weaning and I've concluded that it's not for us. Or mainly it's not for her. Mostly the decision was based on the fact that she just wasn't interested in feeding herself 100% of the time. Example; she loves bananas but she will only devour them from a spoon. Give her a chunk of it and she will squish it and throw it away. Example #2; sweet potatoes. She'll eat a few pieces on her own but 2 or 3oz. in puréed form. This list could go on and on. But on the flip side, she does like chewing her food too. She loves bread, chicken noodle soup, pasta and Cheerios. Since she likes the best of both I've decided to compromise. So as of now, Riley is eating large fruit and veggies in puréed form and small fruits and veggies in whole form. I let her feed herself if she seems interested but so far her interest is short lived.

All in all, Riley is doing fairly well with this whole solid food thing. There are days where she doesn't want much more than milk but, I think that has more to do with teething than anything else. Overall I'm happy that she has a pallet for a variety of foods. What I've found is that she really loves eating mixed meals. Blueberries go down OK but they're a lot better mixed with apples and pears. So for now, the journey continues and hopefully the results keep getting better.

The Journey to Solid Food

When Riley was born, she latched right away and was breast fed without incident until just before she was 2 months old. At this time she started getting fussy at the breast, latching poorly which led to painful nipples and within a couple of days I developed cracks. I had tried everything I knew to do and decided that if I wanted to continue breastfeeding I was going to need some help. So I made an appointment to see Jill, the lactation consultant at Milton District Hospital. She told me Riley and I likely had thrush and would need to be treated with Nystatin drops and Dr. Jack Newman's APNO.

Now if you've never had to deal with thrush, you might think of it as an infection. Just take your meds and the problem goes away in 7 to 10 days. Not so. The problem is, yeast can easily reoccur and can get out of hand quite quickly if you're not careful. You need to keep things sterile, cool and dry. Here's what I had to do:
1) Pump milk to relieve engorgement and bottle feed Riley. Those first couple of days were really painful and I had to forgo breastfeeding in order for my nipples to heal enough so they wouldn't crack when Riley latched on.
2) Every time Riley had a bottle, it had to be sterilized before she used it again. Along with the bottles, the breast pump, soothers and any toys she happened to put in her mouth had to be kept sterile on a daily basis.
3) If my breast pads got wet, I had to change them ASAP. Keeping things dry is key to keeping the yeast in check. I also had to be careful with bibs and clothing. If it was drooled on, it had to be changed.
So after 4 weeks of this I was so happy to have a baby who was latching properly and gaining enough weight. There were times when I wanted to give up but my weekly appointments with Jill gave me the encouragement and strength to keep going. I can happily say Riley was exclusivly breastfed for six months and we both enjoyed it. I was lucky that my bout with thrush was a mild one and I sympathize with mothers who have to deal with recurring symptoms.

Now at six months old Riley has started eating solid foods. It was a milestone I had been anticipating because, while I was pregnant with her I discovered Baby Led Weaning. This is introducing foods in pieces big enough for her to grab and eat herself. It is advised that babies be at least 6 months of age and have lost the tongue thrust reflex. To test this reflex, Riley's first solid food was puréed sweet potato. She didn't do too well which completely burst my bubble. It took her just over a week to master swallowing puréed food. A few days after that I reinflated my bubble and jumped into baby led weaning.

I cut butternut squash into fries and steamed them. It started off well but after a few pieces, Riley didn't seem interested. I wondered if it was the squash she disliked or the fact that she had to feed herself. So I went into the fridge and cut up some pear. She did a little better and ate about four pieces. Since then she's had peas, actual fries, Cheerios and carrots. I'm still not sure if she's digging this baby led weaning thing.  I went back to puréeing some food and it's hit or miss so I've decided on no more mush.  It may be the fact that she doesn't want to be on a feeding schedule.  I did breast feed on demand so maybe she'll eat solids when she wants and not necessarily at specific mealtimes.  Although the theory behind baby led weaning is that baby will eat when she's hungry and until she's full, I'm really going to have to pay attention to her hunger cues and keep a variety of foods available to her.  My next attempt will be rutabaga...keep your fingers crossed.

As promised, here's a couple pics of Riley's first tooth. And I must add that as of today, she has cut her second tooth!

about a week after I noticed the tooth.

a couple of days ago