On Second-Hand Stuff.

As a follow up to my post on budgeting, I thought I'd mention my recent love-affair with second-hand stuff. For Tristin, I have access to a fantastic store called Once Upon a Child. If you've never been there, or don't have one in your city/province/country, the way it works is this:

1) Bring in whatever your child doesn't wear/use/play with anymore, provided that it's clean and in good condition.
2) The salesperson will appraise it, and give you cash or store credit.
3) Shop for new clothes/items/toys for your child's current developmental stage.
4) Lather, rinse, repeat! You can basically get a whole "new" wardrobe for your child every 3-4 months for around $20, if you're smart and careful!

For myself, I mostly rely on friends who are clearing out their wardrobes or buying new furniture, and then, there's always classified websites.

Now, don't get me wrong; second-handing is A LOT of work, if you want to REALLY make good. But it can be done! I've been burned a couple of times, but overall I've come out ahead - and that feels pretty darned good!

On Doctors.

Short post here.

Today was Tristin's 9 month checkup with our family doctor. Head, 97th percentile. Weight, 97th percentile. Height.... 60th percentile. Oh well, he's short and chubby. Doc's opinion is that Tris is healthy and happy, quite precocious as far as his standing/walking and babbling go. He asked the usual questions: still breastfed, no bottles or formula? (Nope.) Never a bottle in bed with him? (Um, see last question.) What and how much/often is he eating for solids? (This was kind of a longish discussion, since Tris is actually a bit behind on this front ever since his bout with a tummy bug last month, but the conclusion was just to keep doing what we're doing as far as offering several times a day, and encouraging finger foods and food play.)

And finally, the kicker: Is he sleeping through the night? (Nope, not even close. Still nursing 3-4 times/night.) Wait, HOW many times per night? (3-4 times. Cluster feeding from midnight to about 4.) Oh. Um. Does he take a pacifier? (Nope, never could get him to take one.) Huh. Well.

And then he asked the best question ever:

Do you mind that he's nursing that often? (Not as long as I get to nap during his afternoon nap.) How long is his afternoon nap? (2.5 hours, almost exactly.) And you feel that you're coping OK? (Like I said, I'm ok as long as I get a nap.)

Best conclusion ever:

Well. Ok then. Sounds like it's not really a problem; he is obviously using nursing to soothe himself back to sleep, and as long as you don't have much of a problem with that, we don't really need to worry about it right now.

I know for many mums, this would seem like a bad answer. However, in a world where breastfeeding past 6 months is an accomplishment, and breastfeeding into toddlerhood is actually frowned upon, it's kind of refreshing to know that Tristin's doctor has a bit more of a worldly attitude about it. Many medical professionals (including the several in my immediate family) are of the opinion that if a baby isn't sleeping through the night by 8 months of age, there is Something Wrong. Which usually translates into Mum is Doing Something Wrong. Which usually translates to weaning, something I, and certainly Tristin, have no interest in doing right now. So it's nice to hear a doctor say, "Hey, if it's working for you, no problem. If not, then we'll see what we can do about it, ok?"

On Breastfeeding.

At 9 months of age, my son has never even tasted infant formula. I am justifiably proud of this fact, and so will be blogging about the remainder of our breastfeeding journey (hopefully another year or so!). There is a wealth of breastfeeding information out there. Most of what I'm going to say here won't surprise you. One thing definitely will, so I'll get it out there right now:

Feeding on demand is for crap.

At least, it was with my kid. My nipples would have chapped, dried out, cracked, and eventually fallen off by the time Tristin was 2 weeks old had I nursed him on demand. Demand, for him, was 8-12 hours a day. Not 8-12 times, mind you; 8-12 hours. He wanted to be latched on every second that he was awake. It was so bad that by the time he was 4 days old I'd broken the first cardinal rule of breastfeeding and bought him a pacifier, for all the good that did - by that point it was too late for him to start using one. So, I gritted my teeth and put him on a nursing schedule, and stuck to it until he was 5 months old. It was a pretty generous schedule, as feeding schedules go; at each feeding, he was allowed to nurse until there was no milk left, or until he spontaneously let go, and feedings started every 3 hours. Our days looked something like this:

6 AM: Wake up, nurse, hang out singing/reading/playing/watching the news.
7:15 AM: Dirty diaper. (This diaper was usually epic, as Tristin got the hang of not pooping overnight by the time he was about 10 days old.)
7:30 AM: Nap.
9 AM: Wake up, nurse, change diaper, hang out.
10:30 AM: Nap.
Noon: Wake up, nurse, change diaper, walk.
1:30 PM: Nap.
3 PM: Wake up, nurse, change diaper, hang out.
4:30 PM: Nap.
6 PM: Wake up, nurse, change diaper, hang out - this hang-out lasted quite a bit longer than the others all day long, because Tristin settled into sleeping longer hours at night by the time he was two weeks old. I think it was because of the nursing schedule, in all honesty.
8:30 PM: bath, pj's, book.
9 PM: Nurse (to sleep)
3 AM: Nurse.
6 AM: Lather, rinse, repeat.

I started him on the feeding schedule when he was about 4 or 5 days old. It sucked at first; he was fussy all through the evening, and the only way to appease him was to keep moving: dancing, walking, bouncing, rocking, or (as a last resort) buckling him into his carrier carseat and swinging him, since he didn't have much use for the actual baby swing we got (for free, thank goodness!). He got used to nursing by the clock within 3 days, and typically only started fussing about 10 minutes before feeding time. By the time he was 8 days, he started sleeping more at night than during the day. By 2 weeks, he was sleeping for 5-7 hours in a row, from 9 PM to 2-4 AM, consistently. I credit the schedule; it is well-documented that a bedtime routine is important to establish good sleep habits. I am of the opinion that it is equally important to have a routine pretty much all day.

And for those who argue that breastfeeding on demand is the only way to ensure your baby is getting enough to eat when exclusively breastfed, I leave you with Tristin's monthly weight gain to date:

Birth Weight: 8 lbs, 7 oz
7-day Well Baby Checkup: 8 lbs, 4 oz
9-day weigh in, prior to circumcision: 8 lbs, 10 oz
1 month: 11 lbs, 12 oz
2 months: 15 lbs, 2 oz
3 months: 17 lbs, 15 oz
4 months: 21 lbs, 1 oz
5 months: 22 lbs, 4 oz (began solids at 5 months, 2 weeks)
6 months: 23 lbs, 7 oz
7 months: 24 lbs, 5 oz
8 months: 24 lbs, 14 oz
9 months: 25 lbs, 4 oz

(9 month weight added Feb. 8, 2009, after today's doctor's checkup!)