Dry baby skin rash and blistered nipples

This is another post on the miracle properties of calendula balm.

Umi had a terrible dry, peeling rash on both cheeks, that developed at around one month.
I didn't put anything on it, until, as last resort, I dabbed on some calendula-infused olive oil. I had been keeping it to make bottom balm, according to my earlier post.

The rash looked better immediately, and had totally disappeared in two days. This was after weeks of having it.

I also never got around to posting about this at the time, but the same calendula balm for the nappy rash was magic for my blistered nipples during the early weeks of breastfeeding. I stumbled on this after trying pretty much everything else. What I did was, I put lanolin on the nipples before each feed. This made the nipples soft and the feeding easier. Then after finishing feeding on each side, I slathered on the calendula balm. Those persistent and excrutiating blisters soon cleared up! Calendula is an edible flower, so no need to wash it off before feeding again.

For the balm, just put freshly picked or alternatively dried calendula petals in olive/sunflower/almond oil and leave, covered tightly, for three weeks, shaking the jar daily. Make sure there is no water on the petals and no air pockets in the oil. Strain and voila! You have calendula-infused oil. Heat this with beeswax to melt the wax, and cool to solidify.

Practical Parenting

I forgot to mention this (so much other stuff on my mind...like pondering how my tiny newborn got suddenly so substantial), but I started a monthly column in Practical Parenting magazine.
The November issue has the first column - but I think the December issue is already on sale! I never even got to see the November one.
December's has ideas for a more sustainable gift list (and one that won't break the bank).
I must admit, I inspired myself! :)

deconstructing conventional wisdom

I was recently visiting my Dad who had been reading a book by his favourite biologist, Desmond Morris - Illustrated Babywatching. I read it while I was there for the weekend. It's absolutely fascinating, full of baby-related trivia such as why babies are called babies, why they cry, and how quickly they learn to recognise the smell of their own mother's breastmilk.

But one section I thought could be amended. The section on toilet training averred that, among other things, baby chimpanzees start to hold themselves away from their mothers when weeing only once they are about two years old. Until then they urinated on their mothers. This was the sole piece of biological evidence Morris gave for saying that human babies had no control of their elimination processes (or sphincters).

However, Umi is now nine weeks old, and I have held her over a pot to do wees and poos from her first day of life. At the beginning I would undo her nappy, which would often be dry, and straight away she would wee, stimulated by the cool air. But from about six weeks on, she had enough control to wait until I held her over the pot. At night she would keep her nappy dry between feeds. At other times, she'd make a special noise so that I would give her a 'potty opportunity'.

I think human babies are born having the awareness of when they eliminate. EC is about recognising small signs of this awareness and acting on them. It's not the same as toilet training.
Morris says you can't 'teach' an infant how to toilet. Of course - neither can you teach a baby to cook and use a knife and fork. However, you can help a baby to eliminate hygienically and comfortably, just as you can help a baby to access milk.

Seems a no-brainer, really.

Flannel Fings nappy

Do you like the sassy denim nappy Umi is modelling here on my mum's lap?














Tricia, who has a wonderful blog, sent this to Umi for her birth-day. Look, Tricia, it still JUST fits! The design of the all-in-one interior is really clever and fantastic for fast drying (though I didn't photograph that as Tricia tells me the current design is a bit different.)

But best of all I think is that this beautiful nappy is made entirely from reclaimed fabric - denim and flannel. Lovely and soft!

It arrived in a bag made of jeans (I'm going to sew a strap on and call it a shoulder bag) inside a compostable plastic wrapping (lucky, as it arrived in the rain), and included a pile of lovely soft face flannels made of reclaimed fabric, that reminded me of a simpler, prettier life. Tor loves these flannels - he sucks them in the bath. So much nicer than cheap terry towelling.

A box-full of 'new' toys, without spending a cent!

Do you know how to provide your small child with a whole lot of fresh toys without having to go out and buy them?

Just do as I did this morning and have a big toy-cleanout. Whether you are putting them away for the next child or taking them to another family or a charity (I was planning all three), pack up your child's most neglected toys and put them in a big box or bag. Or just get them out of their old dusty hiding-place and shine some daylight on them.

If your child is like my three year old (and I suspect they are), they will immediately grab the toys and start avidly playing with them. They will declare undying attachment to the said toys, and absolutely veto your taking them away :)

I had one particular pull-along wagon of unpainted blocks, of strange shapes which didn't really lend themselves to any particular building task, that I picked up at a charity stall. Torsten has never ONCE played with it. Today, 'rescuing' it from the throwaway heap, he found it fascinating!

Anyone else witnessed this phenomenon?

It kind of shows that it's not the toys, but the child's interaction with them (depending on his stage of development) that makes the play.

Elimination Communication

I didn't blog about this or write about it much in the book. The reason was simply that I didn't have any first-hand experience with it. But elimination communication (a fancy way of saying holding the baby over a container or toilet when you think or she signals that she's about to 'go') is my latest news in bringing baby up more sustainably.

I am proud and happy to announce to everyone who may not already know it, that EC is possible and easy and really fun - right from the birth of your baby!

Read about EC at Wikipedia or on Ingrid Bauer's site.

I guarantee it to be thought-provoking!

There's a limit to how much I can blog with one hand while delicately balancing a sleeping baby on the other, so I'll have to be expanding on this later!

Umi's birth

Our baby girl, Umi, was born Monday evening in the water at home. A lovely, undisturbed, instinctive birth.












I am all the more passionately persuaded of the wonder of home birth - I want Umi to have one herself!

Newborn Nappies

Something welcoming about a pile of fresh nappies, isn't there?

I find old (used) fabric the best for making nappies as since it comes pre-washed it is extra-absorbent. But recently Mum gave me this lovely stripy flannelette to make something for the new baby (no, Cutie still hasn't arrived yet). I had an old pattern piece sourced online, but it's no longer available free >..< However, according to my brother-in-law Greg, who since the birth of his first baby two weeks ago is my biggest nappy-making disciple, this pattern is excellent:
http://www.thenappynetwork.org.nz/images/shars_newborn_fitted.pdf



I used sewn-in soakers made of well-used microfleece from an old quick-drying towel. An overlocker was handy for finishing off, but Greg is sewing his inside-out then finishing the edge by hand.











Fitted nappies are a funny shape so when you've finished cutting out you'll probably have lots of left over fabric. Turn it into soft baby toys!
I stuffed this with wool fleece and put a little bell into it.
A friend says to use Kindersurprise egg containers, if you come across any. Fill them with rice or something that rattles, and use instead of a bell.
If you don't stuff them too full they can be used as building blocks too :)

Making scrap fabric into birthday cards

I asked rhetorically in an earlier post what to do with bits of embroidered fabric that I was loath to throw out. Well, I've thought of something!

Some folded cardboard and a pot of paste, oh and a few squares of coloured handmade paper, and I had myself some greeting cards in time for Mum's birthday and Father's Day.

Since I had the paste and stuff out anyway, I looked around to see what other bits of fabric, crochet squares and buttons I could stick on more cards.

It's funny that I kept these tiny scraps of fabric and misshapen crochet done while I was trying to master a new stitch, but it doesn't feel so silly now.

Book signing in Katoomba

Blue Mountains Books in Katoomba is hosting a book signing next Saturday at 3pm.

I'm going to show-and-tell how to implement some of the ideas in the book.

The address is 66 Katoomba St (about a third of the way down the main drag of Katoomba, on the left-hand side of the road going away from the station.