Traveling with babies: Airplanes & Mayhem in Poopville

Traveling via airplane with a baby,  especially one under a year who doesn't have a regular diaper-change schedule? Here's a tip from me: 1 diaper for every hour of daytime travel. (Bring an extra 2 for any overnight flights.) Never leave for a flight without a 4 diaper minimum and a new pack of travel wipes.

It may seem like a lot but if you ever have a trip like the one we had yesterday, you'll be glad you brought them all. 

I hadn't changed his diaper for about 4 hours since leaving Newark airport and we just landed in Houston for our 2 hour layover. It was still fairly dry but who wants to sit in a kinda-pee pee diaper? So that's 2 diapers used. 

Next flight I used 3 diapers. There was a poop marathon BUT I made a rookie mommy mistake: I tried to change his diaper BEFORE waiting 5 minutes after I thought he was done. (It smelled! The Fasten Seat belt light was on. I felt lucky.) Wrong!

I even just went to the bathroom with the changing pad, one diaper, all the wipes and a little plastic bag. Not even the entire diaper bag. (Mostly it works out you don't need the entire bag with you every time. But if you don't bring it and have to change poop or peed on clothes...)

In the midst of changing him on one of those mini commuter planes where the changing table is so small it's only good for a newborn, I got the diaper on and "Blurfffppp" more came out. He was so terrified of the plane's motor noise I cringed at having to walk back to get another diaper just to do it again. But we went. 

All changed. Done, right? Nope!

He fell asleep and 5 minutes before landing--more poop! So get through immigration as quickly as we can, change again. (That was diaper #6.) And we made it through the hour car ride without incident. I used nearly ALL the wipes from a travel pack of about 70. Really. 

The two flights plus 2 hour layover was about 7 hours of travel. Then 2 hours of car rides all in all. I should have brought 7 diapers in our carry-on but only brought 6. Good thing. 

There have been flights where we brought 5-6 and only used 2-3. Still, more is better. Too much is unwieldy. 

You never know when the flight will be delayed or cancelled, or when you may need to change a diaper on your seat and not in a bathroom because you can't leave your seat!

Have children, will travel!

PS They were both very good. Must be why we keep doing it. 

Just when I think it's forever, it's going to change soon (again)

Just as I get really comfortable with always buying diapers and forgetting that she won't need them -- even though we have conversations about her going to potty train one day -- I finally realized she's going to be out of diapers sooner than I imagined.

I'm not going to get ahead of myself, and honestly I'm not really looking forward to it. I just know that she's starting to show signs of 'being ready' to start potty training. She tells me that she has to poop, sometimes. She shows me the ASL sign for changing diaper when she wants her diaper changed, even if it's a lot of pee. And I'm just impressed that this is happening, by her own momentum, at all.

Since we'll be away for 6 weeks, I've zero intention of starting to train her while not at home. But there is a potty at Abuela's house and maybe, if she shows interest and wakes up with a dry diaper, I'll start to put her on it and read her a book to see if she pees in there.

So far my entire knowledge about potty training is what few things my mom told me last week and something a friend told me last year.

As you all probably know, I can get too caught up in something if I get anxious. So, I'll get the potty training book from the library when we get home and listen to advice from other mothers while we are away. I'm certain there will be sufficient advice and tips that I may not even need a book. It really will depend on how my little munchkin takes to it and how ready she is when we get started.

Funnily enough, of all the things about being a new mom I never minded was changing diapers. I'd get tired of it some days and some poops were good enough to make me want to pass out, but honestly it was fine. I've always viewed it as a daily reminder(s) that she's healthy and everything is working -- or not.

Ok poop-tastic chat over!

Two Carolina stories from today

When she woke up at about 8am, which is about 30-60 minutes later than usual, she was in a very good mood. I went to change her diaper and her clothes, so to keep the good mood going I showed her one of her diapers that has a Sesame Street character on it with apples and bananas. (Yesterday, we were reading a book during dinner and the little girl said she liked Apples, and another page she said she liked Bananas. She also said she likes Cookies and Pizza and Sandwiches, but that's for another time.)

I said to her, "Look, it has apples and BANANAS!" (like it was the most exciting thing ever) And she smiles broadly. So I keep repeating "apples and BANANAS!" and she smiles or giggles. Then I say, "Apples and..." She goes, "anaNAS!"

It was very cute.

Then this morning at the park she was wandering around and more and more little babies started to arrive. (It was around the time just after younger babies wake up from their first morning nap.) She was starting to do things I normally say 'no' to -- so I knew she was starting to get a little tired. I suggested we go to the stroller for "a cookie and juice".

Like usual, she goes, "Cookk! Juze!" (cookk is for cookie)

I say we should go to the stroller to get "snack and juice" and she just runs off. She goes towards the park exit. I said again "The snack and juice is in the stroller. Let's go to the stroller." She's saying, "Juze! Juze!" as she keeps running towards the sidewalk, then takes a right turn and keeps going down the sidewalk.

Apparently she wanted to have snack and juice at home and was heading there as fast as her little running legs could carry her.

I grabbed her, got her in the stroller and headed to the store and then home with cookies and juice!

Lots of fun.

Speaking of food, we've finally gotten her the chewable calcium supplements that she needs. (The liquid one I bought last week was wrong. Sigh...) Still having trouble with milk -- broke out in a face rash last week. And I need a new toddler multivitamin. The one we have is the same as when she was an infant and it's not really all that complete. Any suggestions?

Thanksgiving in NJ and the holiday weekend

We went to my parents place for Thanksgiving. It was just the 5 of us since Diana is in LA, and only dinner (well, lunch) for 4 since Carolina doesn't eat Thanksgiving food yet.

Miss Carolina wasn't really into sleeping in a bed that wasn't hers. She did nap, sort of. Then went to sleep around normal time, but after waking up twice inside of 5 hours, she decided she wanted to stay awake. So we took turns going to put the chupon back in her mouth and try to get her to fall asleep over the next hour to hour and a half. Sometime around 2am she fell asleep, for 5 hours. Phew... At least there was some decent sleep even if the three of us were totally tired the next day. But it was different, and a little better in some way, than the month before when we stayed over without Ismael over Halloween.

As Julia says, in a few months it'll be different. Not necessarily better, might be, but definitely different.

I'm completely expecting that when we get to Mexico for two weeks, it'll be different in ways I can't imagine now and then when we return it'll be different again.

At least, every month, it is different. Mostly for the better as far as I am concerned.

Today is her 6 month 'birthday'. Hooray!

Carolina has taken to sucking in her bottom lip. I think she feels the little teeth coming up. It's a little strange to see her like that since it really does change her face and she's not smiling or talking when she does it. She was pretty silent that way yesterday on the way back from Target. The entire bus ride.

Speaking of Target. We bought some diapers there. Not Target brand, I'm not ready to try store brands yet. But we bought a HUGE case of Pampers from Toys R Us, which I love (Pampers not TRU), and they smelled kind of funny. And when she peed in them they smelled almost like paint thinner or paint. It was the kind of smell that goes to the back of your throat and gives you a headache behind your eyes. Or at least did me. So I wrote to Pampers, they're looking into it. We may get our money back. I hope so, those huge boxes of diapers are kind of expensive even though they are cheaper per diaper.

In the meantime we've tried Luvs (not too much of a fan but willing to finish using the pack) and just bought Huggies without fragrance and organic cotton. I honestly was more interested in the lack of scent than anything else. Why baby diapers MUST come with some fragrance, I'm not sure. I know it's to mask the pee or poop smell, but the mix of "baby powder fresh" and pee or poop is actually headache-inducing. At least for me.

So we'll keep trying out different brands in case the Pampers saga doesn't end the way I hope.

And we're about to start introducing formula. SLOWLY...

A nighttime bottle has gone disastrously so far, but we'll keep at it. Sometimes. It's hard to hear her cry so heartily and earnestly and know that I could just feed her myself and she'd be fed and asleep inside of 6 minutes. So I need to get determined about it and just do it.

Ok, she's up again.

we have sleep!

I don't think I've been this proud of another human being, ever! Okay, well, maybe pride isn't the most overwhelming feeling. Relief? Gratitude? Ok, some pride... she slept for 5.5 hours at a stretch last night. Was asleep a little before 8pm and then woke up around 1.30am. She was STARVING. Kid hasn't eaten that much, latched on that well, and then promptly went back to sleep. FOR ANOTHER THREE HOURS! Ate like a champ again, and then slept ANOTHER TWO HOURS!

Apparently once you get a five-hour stretch, you have "sleep through the night". I'm not sure whose night amounts to only five hours, but you know, whatever, it's progress!

Seriously, I could get used to this.

I'm not expecting to. I'm actually expecting it to be a cruel joke, whereby she wakes up every 2 hours tonight. But man, it was great to experience it and know it's possible.

I changed her diaper after her swim/bath at about 5.30pm last night, and then again when she woke up FULL OF POOP at about 6.30am this morning. 13 hours, one diaper. Man that diaper never worked so hard!

It wasn't as full of sleep for me as I thought it might be. I kept waking up to check the clock and see if she was still alive. Really, I did. I heard parents say this and thought, not me! I'll be so grateful for sleep and so tired, I'll sleep through it.

No way... I was waking myself up with a bit of panic, feeling like I overslept for exams or something. Then looking at her crib in the darkness to see if I could see her. I couldn't see her breathing but there was something about the way she was lying there that was reassuring she was still alive.

We also started "swimming lessons" in the bathtub last night and again this morning. We'll be doing it every morning until she can hold her breath underwater and is ready for the big pool. I can't wait for her to be a little swimmer! I'll bet she will sleep really well once she can swim and use up all that energy.

Speaking of swimming, we're going to the beach with my parents next weekend. I hope she likes it. She'll basically experience sitting, well laying (since she can't sit yet), on sand, hearing the waves, and watching things at the beach. And maybe a little ocean water drizzled/dripped on her head and belly. But no swimming. Probably just a nap.

Fingers crossed there is minimal meltdown in the car seat on the way there and back.

A call out to parents: nighttime poopy diaper, to change or not to change?

The most funny, but least oppotune time of smiling is at 4am after that feed and she's done a big poop... so I'm changing her diaper. Not always a poop time. Sometimes earlier at 1am or 3am but it has the same affect...

There is only a small nightlight but she can still see me. I know you're not supposed to look at them or talk to them during sleep times. So it's all I can do not to laugh.

I've just started to see if I can tolerate not changing her during the night and just feeding her. She's still at about 4-6 feeds a night and changing her after a poop seems to help wake her up. Not something I want to do. But then I feel guilty she's in her poop.

Ismael keeps reminding me that if she DID sleep through the night already I wouldn't be getting up to change her and she'd have to wait until morning anyway. And it seems that by using some Triple Paste the red from her butt goes away very quickly.

I've only done this one night. Should this be the new "way"? Or should I change her when she poops no matter what?

PS I must have slept almost enough since I had a dream! Spike Lee was directing a movie on the street I was walking across and he tells me to change her only when necessary since I'm blocking his shot. I'll do what Spike Lee says, just need to know what "necessary" means! :)

Is doing a baby registry supposed to be stressful?

Normally, I can shop online with the best of them. Find all the great deals, sort out travel arrangements, and get really nice gifts without much stress or fuss. However, figuring out what we want for the baby has turned into one of the most stressful conversations we've ever had. And having people ask me, "So where are you registered?" makes me uncomfortable since I'm not registered anywhere and there isn't any one store that has all I want.

Part of this is just anxiety about the baby coming and, never having had a baby before, I don't know what I really need. So I've started to ask some friends of mine whose judgment I trust. What gets me frustrated, once I start thinking about everything, is how much furniture, clothes and things a baby needs. After having moved so many times in the past 8 years, I value not having a lot of things.

And how much of it is just going to fill up a landfill and be toxic. Not everyone understands how I feel about this, and I'm not on a quest to convert anyone. I never liked, for example, the idea of changing a baby several times a day with disposable diapers that are made from plastic and turned white by chlorine.

Yes, yes. I know it's more convenient and costs less to buy disposable. And when I have my own, I'll be too exhausted to care. That may very well be true, but for someone who gets a little stressed every time I think about the fact that my apartment building doesn't recycle all plastic number 1 and 2 -- just soda and milk bottles. I think I'll feel too guilty to not at least try to use something more environmentally responsible. Whether we can afford it, is something else entirely.

That alone makes me annoyed. Why is it that the upfront cost for a disposable diaper is so cheap and the price in the store isn't weighted with the environmental and health cost of that dirty diaper decomposing over potentially hundreds of years? Yes, yes. We're relatively affluent, live in big US city, I can afford (financially and values-wise) to feel this way. Blah blah blah.

I don't care. I cringe when I think of how many disposable diapers we're going to use with Tiny Dancer. So since this is something I can get my head around (more easily than which crib to buy), I started to look online.

This morning I found these things called gDiapers: http://www.gdiapers.com/shop/ and I'm willing to give it a go. So the next time someone asks where I'm registered, I'll still not have an answer but at least I know what diapers I want to start using.

Let's see how strident I am 6 months from now...