Poop Town

It seems that every parent has some funny poop story about their kid. Well, now that I have three, I might as well blog about them! I'll start from the most recent.

Diaper Fail
This happened last Monday night. Let me preface it a little by saying that we cloth diaper, as many of you know, and we love it! But after two and a half years of (literally) the same diapers, some of his pocket diapers have lost the elasticity around the leg. I'm speaking of Bum Genius, for all you clothers out there. I absolutely loved this diaper until very recently. I think I would try a different brand next time. Okay, anyway-- Peer was in the den playing while Andy and I were cleaning up in the kitchen after dinner. I peeked in on him when he got quiet and I noticed him in a weird position playing with something. But he's a toddler, so I don't take weird positions too seriously. So I went back into the kitchen and continued working. A minute later, with more urgency than I've ever seen on this kid, he comes dashing through the kitchen saying "I get some nose!" ("nose" is his word for toilet paper or kleenex) I looked in the den and there it was-- a huge gigantic poo-poo on the floor! His poop had escaped out of his diaper, down his pant leg and onto the floor. He came back from the bathroom with about two squares of toilet paper that he handed to his daddy. Poor kid, he was so sad! Luckily we have tile in that room, so it was easy to clean up. Andy reassured Peer that he didn't do anything wrong and that he did a good job by trying to clean it up himself. Sweet kid... stupid diaper.

Distracted Parents
I'm sad to admit that I do have a distracted parent poop story, but I guess it happens to the best of us. I can't remember if this was another diaper fail or what, but once upstairs when Andy and I were both looking at my computer for a minute, somehow Peer poop ended up on the carpet, after which he stepped in it, getting poop everywhere. The crazy thing is that it took us a minute to figure out what had happened. It was, of course, the smell that tipped us off. Cleaning this one up was a lot more difficult. But after a lot of scrubbing, there's no longer any trace of it.

Naked Baby
So once a few months ago, Andy took Peer's diaper off downstairs and let him run around naked for a minute while he took care of it. I was cleaning up the kitchen and all of a sudden I hear Peer next to me saying "poo-poo! poo-poo!". I looked down and realized he had squatted right there on the kitchen floor and pooped! At least I can't blame the diaper for this one...


I just realized that all these stories are in our new house... never had a poop incident in our old one. What's the deal with that?

Babywearing and Consumerism

So babywearing has been in the news lately because of a recent recall that Infantino had to do after a baby died in one of their SlingRider baby slings. As an avid babywearer, I can't resist the urge to rant a little on this topic. Babywearing is all about parent-child connection. The whole point of it is for baby and mother (or father) to be intimately connected, both physically and emotionally. The baby should be close and snug to the mother's chest. Their breath and heartbeat starts to form a beautiful rhythm. She should ideally be able to breastfeed in the carrier. The mother should be able to FEEL her baby breathing at all times, even without looking or touching. That being said, if its done right, the mother will be compelled to look down at her child constantly and gaze into his beautiful face, talk to him, and place her hand on his back and feel him breathing. In other words, babywearing, when done right, automatically lends itself to constant monitoring-- something not possible when baby is in a stroller or carseat.

If a carrier is made in such a way so that the mother can't have this experience with her child, then what's the point? If the mother wears her baby around her neck like a bag-- like a burden-- then that defeats the entire purpose of babywearing. Infantino obviously doesn't get it! They not concerned with enhancing the parent-child bond. Their only interest is in selling products to a market that they see as ripe.

There are some extremists who would throw the baby out with the bathwater on this one (no pun intended) and would advocate against all slings. This is ridiculous. Babywearing is a safe and beautiful way for parents to bond with their child and a convenient way to make life easier for mom as well. Check out what Mothering has to say about it. Let's just make sure that our motives for babywearing are right-- this includes being educated about the reasons for babywearing and especially educated about the safety of carriers. It should be a conscious choice-- not just another thing to throw on a baby registry. I never trusted Infantino products before this came out, and my suspicions have now been completely confirmed.