I was appalled to see the following ad over at PhD in Parenting:
The new “Gold Standard”? Sigh. I took Annie’s advice and headed over to BabyMilkAction.org to send an email to Nestle:
Dear Dr. Gayle Crozier-Willi,
I am having an awfully hard time understanding the new ad I just saw for your infant formula, which states that it is “the new ‘Gold Standard’ in infant nutrition”. I would like to take this opportunity to assure you that the only gold standard in infant nutrition is breastmilk - infant formula, especially in less developed areas, is proven to be very costly - in both healthcare dollars spent and, more importantly, lives.
I will be highlighting this new violation of the WHO code on my website and will be encouraging my friends and family to boycott your company and its products.
Sincerely,
Kim Schellingerhoudt
Won’t you join me in advocating for those who cannot advocate for themselves? Feel free to use the form email on the Baby Milk Action site, the email above, or write your own!
By kim ( June 27, 2010 at 8:49 am) · Filed under Uncategorized
Is anyone else offended by the excessive use of the label “anarchist” on this site? I hardly think that every person who was protesting the G20 summit could be considered an anarchist.
By kim ( June 26, 2010 at 8:48 am) · Filed under Uncategorized
When I began transitioning Gwen from nursing to sleep for naps to cuddling and rocking, I began to sing. At first, I had no idea what to sing to her - but then, a lullaby from my childhood came back to me …
Sweet and low, sweet and low,
Wind of the western sea,
Low, low, breathe and blow,
Wind of the western sea!
Over the rolling waters go,
Come from the dying moon, and blow,
Blow him again to me;
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.
Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,
Father will come to thee soon;
Rest, rest, on mother’s breast,
Father will come to thee soon;
Father will come to his babe in the nest,
Silver sails all out of the west
Under the silver moon:
Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep.
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson
My mom used to sing the first verse to me (I didn’t even know there was a second verse!) when I was a child and it’s tune is ingrained into the very fibre of my being. Now, when Gwen is settling down for her nap …
“Fing, Mommy.”
“What do you want me to sing, Gwen?”
“Low, low.”
And I begin to sing, and she sings along with me in her sweet little girl voice, echoing the words … “Low, low. Beet, low. Win … sea.”
After once or twice through the verse, I begin humming it, and watch and as my pretty one slips into sleep.
My dad takes a ridiculous amount of vegetables to work every day to snack on. My mom packs them in plastic baggies (the fold-top kind) and he, sadly, throws them away every day. (I know. It hurts me, too!) My mom said she’d bought him some re-usable containers and he complained that they took up too much space and thus wouldn’t use them. So, for Father’s Day, I decided to take it upon myself to make my dad a reusable snack bag.
My old design was alright - but I really don’t like velcro. Why?
if you pack a snack with crumbs, it gets all in embedded in it
it closes when you don’t want it to
it’s hard for little hands to open or keep open
it’s loud
it’s irritating to sew, and lastly
it’s a plastic product, and I’d like to be able to make these out of completely non-plastic supplies
So, I took to the internet and checked out various designs. I adapted some of what I saw and came up with the following - keep in mind, it’s a large bag … I’m planning to make some more soon that aren’t quite so big! The bag is two layers of cotton with ripstop nylon in between to give it some water resistance.
The bag closes by folding over both layers of cloth and securing the flap to the body with a button and a loop of cotton yarn - yay for renewable resources! (Yes. The button is plastic. But it could be wood!)
This snack bag measures around 20cm x 30 cm on the smallest setting - 20cm x 40cm on the largest.
I hope he uses it every day and loves it! When I make my next one, I’ll do a tutorial
By kim ( June 21, 2010 at 9:23 am) · Filed under Uncategorized
Hubby,
It’s hard to believe this is your THIRD Father’s Day. The first we celebrated when Gwen was just a week or so old - now we’ve got a rambunctious toddler and a very smiley 4-month-old to celebrate with.
Thank you.
Thank you for being an amazing support to me throughout my pregnancies. Thank you for the long walks and shoulder massages. Thank you for the hours of counter-pressure during my labours and the encouraging words while I birthed our babies into the world.
Thank you for looking at our children and seeing that they are perfect. Thank you for playing with Gwen and making her beautiful giggle ring out through the house - and thank you for bouncing with Gil when he’s upset and mama’s arms need a break.
Thank you for being willing to learn more about gentle discipline and peaceful parenting. For nodding in agreement when I decided to use cloth diapers and talked about co-sleeping, and for giving EC a shot. Thank you for not thinking saying I was crazy when I wanted to breastfeed past a year, or through a pregnancy, or tandem nurse, or nurse past TWO years.
Thank you for the hours you put in reading Gwen stories and getting her to sleep at night. Thank you for snuggling with her when I can’t - for kissing her on the head between pages of a book, for rough-housing with her, for gratefully accepting the pretend tea and “cheese sammiches” she makes for you, taking her out walking, and for calling her honey pie, pumpkin, little miss, sweetheart, beautiful.
Thank you for holding Gil while I shower/sleep/make dinner/eat dinner/wash dishes/nurse Gwen … you get the picture. Thank you for being excited to see his smiley face and for calling him chunky, big guy, mister, handsome.
Thank you for going to work everyday and for providing our family with the necessities - and then some. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to stay home and be with our children.
Thank you for being a fantastic father, husband, best friend. I can’t wait to see what the next few years will bring
I just got back from Little Bird’s Nest program (storytime for kids 0-3!) and after chatting with my good friend, the owner of Re•Diaper, I realized it’s high time I put up a review of the beautiful Little Beetle Organic Wool Underwear we bought for Gwen a few weeks ago.
When Gwen first began to make it through the day with taking herself to the potty when she needed to go, we decided it was high time to introduce the need to wear underwear, along with the concept that, unlike diapers, one should not urinate/defecate in them. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s funny. With Gwen, I found it so easy to carry her around everywhere in a ring sling or mei tai. With Gil, even wearing the mei tai was getting difficult! After attending a babywearing meeting last month, I was re-introduced to wraps - or simple pieces of cloth (SPOC). I tried out a friend’s Storchenwiege and was in LOVE with how comfy it was to carry Gil! I messaged her a few days later to ask her to send me some of the hot wrap deals on TheBabyWearer.com’s forums, since I am new to wraps and couldn’t wade through all the acronyms!
She promptly sent me a few wraps that were good deals and I hurried to get in touch with one lady who was selling a vintage Girasol wrap. I bought it a few days later and waited anxiously for it to be delivered! It came on Friday and is beautiful!
It’s so smooshy and soft and comfortable! What a difference a quality wrap makes for your back! I’ve yet to get uncomfortable wearing him in this!
And I figured out this weekend why it’s been so difficult to wear him and carry him around all day … my tub-a-lub is 18lbs! (Gwen was 17lbs 6oz at a year.) He’s wearing mostly 9-12 month clothes now, although the other day he wore an 18-month button-up shirt. The boy is a week shy of 4 months!
I know I ordered a chubby baby and all, but my goodness!
