Gardening

Will and I had moderate success growing tomatoes and peppers in a potted garden on our patio last year. We continued the tradition Monday with what we learned about this crazy bayou climate. It was pretty mosquito-ridden, but Aengus didn't get any bites. I was covered and had to coat my legs in castor oil--fun stuff...

Aengus enjoyed playing in the bouncer while we planted. He was so proud that he could hit the little dangling animals.

Baxter wanted to be in the picture. Hopefully we'll get a better yield this time. The Thai peppers are already budding.

Tuckered out after a big day of playing. We all slept pretty well that night.

The Family Bed

Will, Aengus, and I (and sometimes, despite my best efforts, the dog) have a Family Bed. This was natural for us, and has worked brilliantly for the past 2 months. In fact, it has worked for millions of years for us mammals. Sleeping with your children is an evolutionary imperative.

I love this comic. It is almost exactly how our bed looks, minus Will wearing a mask.

If you love cloth diapers as much as I do and want to support mom-owned business, check out the Happy Baby Company, aka Pittsburgh Cloth Diapers. On Facebook, enter the discussion contest!

The "Vaccination Backlash"?

Who knew that vaccination would turn into a such a hot button issue? When I was a kid, I remember lamenting the one or two booster "shots" I had to get at the doctor's office. I also remember at least one family at my school who chose not to get those "shots". Whatever, it wasn't a big deal to my parents or any of the other parents at the school. It only came up when we all lined up in middle school to get the Hepatitis B and Tetanus vaccines. I was jealous that those girls didn't have the sore spot, but that was the end of it.

Today, the tables have turned. It has turned into an "us vs them" of vaccinators and non-vaccinators. Pediatricians have suddenly started fighting against alternative vaccination schedules the same way OB/GYNs have been fighting against midwifery in the past few years. It seems they think parents are deciding to delay or forego vaccines because Jenny McCarthy says they might cause autism. (Yeah, and we all had homebirths because Ricki Lake told us to *sarcasm*.)

In the latest issue of The Lancet, Paul Offit proposes re-education for anyone who dare question the CDC schedule. (Re-education camps...yeah...that's not treading on my civil liberties or bodily autonomy.)

“Offit suggests one way to raise vaccination rates is to make it harder for people not to get themselves or their children vaccinated. This could mean, for example, attending educational classes that teach the public what the safety profiles of different vaccines are, before they are allowed to opt out of vaccination. “You have to convince people that a choice not to get a vaccine is not a risk-free choice; it’s just a choice to take a different risk.” ”

- The Lancet

----Side issue to be discussed first: Before I'm allowed to opt out of vaccination? I can opt out of a blood transfusion if I don't want one, can request and receive antibiotics for minor infections, or even decide to never take myself or my child to the doctor. But, I can't make an educated decision based on risk-benefit analysis whether or not to inject my child without taking mandatory classes? I feel like George Orwell is rolling over in his grave right now. Meanwhile, Paul Offit most likely has a conflict of interest as a multi-millionaire who earned his money in the vaccine business. Okay, back on topic---

While it may be true that some parents fear the possible connection between vaccines/mercury/aluminum/etc and autism, it is foolish to assume that is the only reason someone would not vaccinate their child on the CDC schedule. If you talk to anti-vaxer's, you will see parents who understand that there are risks to not vaccinating, just as there are risks to immunizing your child on schedule. I would bet my right arm that parents who don't vaccinate have done 99% more research on the vaccines and diseases than your average vaccinating parent. So, Dr. Offit, if you are still under the impression that non-vaxer's are all uneducated idiots who you claim think "vaccines are the devil", here are just a few reasons parents may want to wait on vaccines for their children:

-Serotype replacement issues: if I vaccinate for one strain of bacteria, will another serotype replace it and become more deadly? will antibiotic resistance increase?

-Questions about efficacy: the mumps outbreak in vaccinated communities, for example

-Increased number of vaccines: when does a common childhood illness like chickenpox become a deadly disease requiring vaccination for ALL children? There are also no studies showing the safety of injecting multiple vaccines at one time.

-Vaccine injury: anything from a fever and uncontrolled crying (common) to the notably rare brain damage and death...leading to the next point

-The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act: should pharmaceutical companies be protected from being sued if a vaccine they produce isn't safe?

-Recalls: should new vaccines be put on the recommended/required schedule without sufficient testing? (most recently, Rotarix)

-Ingredients: mercury (thimerosal), aluminum, and formaldehyde are the most common complaints

-Allergies: vaccine ingredients such as antibiotics, eggs, and gelatin could cause life-threatening allergic reactions in children with allergies

-Religion: a variety of reasons, the most common from mainstream christians being the "human diploid cells" coming from aborted fetuses (while I am pro-choice, I understand this being problematic for pro-life people)

There are other reasons, I'm sure, as well as some that are just slipping my mind.

Will and I haven't decided exactly what we're doing for Aengus's vaccinations (other than no Hep B at the moment and no Rotarix), but whatever we decide will be just that: our decision.

If Paul Offit's suggestion seems like too much of an invasion on your health and bodily rights, take a look at webpage for The American Rally for Personal Rights.

The Witching Hour

One of the things they don't tell you about when you become a new parent (I'm finding an increasing number of these things popping up in the last few weeks) is the Witching Hour. I take offense to the name by the way, or should I be able to handle this situation better? This so-called "Witching Hour" is basically a period of an hour or more where your baby will just cry as if they are hurt and there isn't much you can do about it.

Aengus's hits sometime between 3-5pm or so and goes until 6-7pm, unless you can trap him with a nap beforehand. Most of the time, Will conquers the Witching Hour with the Moby wrap and a trip outside. Aengus cannot resist the snuggle. I, however, tend to use what my son considers my greatest assets: the breasts--I basically keep him eating until he lulls off to sleep.

Today, I was not so lucky. And, I was foolish enough to try to take him with me to the lab for some research. (Naive, I know.) He was not pleased. I left after I couldn't console him with bouncing, the Moby, or even the breast. The fussiness continued until just before 6, when he finally settled after eating for an hour and a half and I was able to put him next to me on the couch for a nap.

Activism: Breastfeeding Edition

It seems like every day I see another news story about a woman being discriminated against for breastfeeding in public. The latest happened in a Target store in Detroit to a mother breastfeeding her 4 week old while shopping. Last I checked a 4 week old baby isn't going to wait (and shouldn't have to) until a more "convenient" time to eat-especially if it's only inconveniencing strangers who are worried they might see some side boob.

Facebook got in on this at the beginning of this year when the website took down any photo that showed a woman breastfeeding. Now, I could see this possibly being totally justified if Facebook had a policy against showing areolas (despite the fact that Facebook took down pictures of women breastfeeding that showed no part of the nipple) or had nudity standards, but this is not the case. Take a peek at some of the photos on facebook as of Dec. 2, 2009 that are not deemed "obscene".

From one of the Jessica Alba fan-pages. Definitely has more pics of her in semi-nude poses.

From the Women in Photography page, which has at least 1 other photo of a partially nude model

From the PETA page-which has many other nude and partially nude women often in provocative poses. Don't get me started on the feminist issues I have with this.

The saddest part is that these are some of the pictures previously taken down. I don't know about you, but they don't look too "obscene" to me.

Now, I personally have no problem with female nudity (if not done as an objectification of women to serve an agenda--I'm looking at you, PETA) or male nudity, but if people are going to get all up in arms because a woman might have an inch of her breast exposed at the park, Toys-R-Us, or at an amusement park, then maybe they should be more concerned about the nudity on magazine covers, in the lingerie store advertisements, etc. However, I don't see these busybodies complaining about the lingerie ads in target--just the nursing mother.

Ok, so maybe you are offended by all this media nudity and still think breastfeeding is obscene. I'm sure you have some common comments and arguments that I would like to refute.

• I don't want to see it. Simple: don't look. It takes 2 seconds to turn your face. I get grossed out by kids picking their noses in public, but I don't scream that they should be kicked out of the store, or wherever. I just turn my face and grimace. Feel free to do the same!

• Cover the kid up with a blanket! First, do you like to have your face covered up while eating, drinking, or trying to breathe in general? It's hot under a blanket! Should a baby feeding from a bottle be forced to put his little head under a blanket? Meanwhile, I don't think you should put things over an infant's face that could possibly restrict air flow-especially while eating.

• Go to the bathroom to do that. Again, would you want to eat, or even sit, in a public restroom for longer than the minute you have to when using the toilet? It's gross in there. I don't want to smell public restroom for 10 minutes while my kid eats, and I'm sure he won't either. Not to mention you shouldn't expose infants to e. coli in the restroom if possible.

• Go out to your car. Why, so the people in the parking lot can complain? It's not always convenient. Women often do nurse out in their cars, but if it's 20 or 105 degrees F outside, I don't want to sit in the car. Or, if I'm in the middle of my shopping, I'm not going to abandon my cart and sit in the car only to start all over again just because you can't draw your eyes from trying to catch a glimpse of my nipple so you can complain to the store manager.

• I don't pee/poop/insert bodily function out in the street! First of all, I'm glad to hear this. Next, it isn't at all the same thing. I promise women don't leave a snail trail of milk behind them wherever they go just because they're lactating. Not to mention that unless the woman has a blood borne illness (in which case she probably won't be breastfeeding anyway), you don't have the same element of disease involved. Breast milk might even heal a common illness you have if it gets on you.

• I don't want my son/husband/boyfriend to see your breasts! To me, this is the most sad argument of all. It hurts me to hear of women being so influenced by the media and other outside influences to regard the breast as a purely sexual organ. I assure you, most men do not get aroused seeing a baby attached to an exposed breast. Besides, we as mothers should be teaching our sons that women and their breasts are not put on earth only for the sexual pleasure of men. If you teach him that breasts are not only sexual, but life giving and perfectly evolved to feed children, then he will gain a new level of respect for women as a whole.