Appuntamento mensile con la pediatra

Ieri siamo andati dalla pediatra per la visita mensile. Solo due iniezioni questa volta, contemporaneamente sulle due gambe, cosi' e' stato tutto fatto in un colpo solo. Rajiv ha pianto non piu' di 30 secondi e poi ha espresso un chiaro desiderio di cibo, e' stato nutrito, gli abbiamo dato il paracetamolo e si e' addormentato nel marsupio. In questi giorni ha piu' fame del solito e forse la fame lo ha distratto dal trauma della vaccinazione.

Il peso e' 6.01 Kg, vestito. Ha preso un po' meno peso del mese scorso, ma a quanto pare e' normale che l'aumento di peso si riduca col passare dei mesi. La pediatra dice che la norma e' raggiungere un peso di circa 10 kg al primo compleanno, quindi siamo bene indirizzati.

Abbiamo anche discusso la possibilita' di introdurre qualche altra forma di nutrimento dopo i quattro mesi, tipo succhi di frutta e verdura cotta e frullata, ma la mia intenzione sarebbe di allattare esclusivamente il piccolino almeno fino ai sei mesi.

Yesterday we went for our monthly appointment with the pediatrician. It was only two injections this time, given simultaneously on the two legs, so it was less traumatic for him than last time. Also, little one is eating more than usual these days (the famous Growth Spurt?) and it seems that his focus on food distracts him from anything else.

He now weighs 6.01 Kg with clothes. He didn't gain as much as last month, but according to the pediatrician this is a normal trend. She says that the norm would be for the baby to reach a weight of about 10 Kg by his first birthday, so it seems that we are doing fine.

We also discussed the possibility of introducing next month what she calls a "weaning diet" of fruit juice and steamed and mashed fruits. However, I think I would like to postpone this to when he is six months or so and give only milk until then.

Cloth diapers (part II - technical - only for the seriously motivated)

Here is a list of the different kinds of cloth diapers that are available, in order of increasing price and supposed increasing ease of use:

• flats - also known as old-fashioned cloth diapers. These are just rectangular pieces of cloth, the more absorbent the better, that need to be folded in a particular way and pinned (although there are alternatives to diaper pins nowadays) in order to be used as nappies. A waterproof cover is also necessary, for obvious reasons (more about the covers below). I was planning to use mostly these, since it is the cheapest option, but they need to be changed very very frequently and they are not the best at containing semi-liquid material - let's not go into details here, but I'm sure you see the point.
  
  
• prefolds. This is a slightly more evolved version. They are like flats, but a more absorbent patch of cloth is sewn in the middle, so they need to be folded in a much simpler way than flats. We haven't tried these.
  
  
• contoured diapers. The next tiny step in the evolution ladder. These are still just pieces of cloth (cotton, hemp, bamboo, they start getting creative here...), but they are cut in a diaper shape so that no folding is necessary at all, although a pin or pin-like object is still required to fasten them. Haven't tried these either.
  
  
• fitted diapers. These we have tried. They look like disposable diapers, with velcro tabs or snaps instead of the adhesive fasteners. I thought it wouldn't be worth spending money on these, but some models are definitely better than old-fashioned flat diapers at containing stuff - especially crucial for small babies who only drink milk. A cover is still required, but it doesn't get dirty as easily, so it can be used through many diaper changes before it is washed. In the grainy and out of focus picture above you can see little one in his orange Kissaluvs fitted diapers (the names of the diapers are one of the joys of cloth diapering...) - the cover was removed for the picture.
  
  
• pocket diapers. Here the cover is already part of the diaper. The outer part of the diaper feels like cotton, but it is made of a waterproof material. Sewn to it is a thin layer of fleece that will be in contact with the baby's skin. In between there is some space where you can put some absorbent material - hence the name "pocket diapers". because the fleece is non-absorbent, the skin of the baby remains completely dry, like in a disposable, for the joy of babies and especially parents. Usually we put a flat diaper inside, but now we also got some "inserts" of other materials like microfiber, which absorb more and take less space. This is very good for the night, because with a couple of such inserts there is usually no need to change the diaper until morning - unless things happen that require immediate attention. To your left, little one again in his sage green Happy Heinys pocket diaper. It's a size medium, so it still looks a bit big on him.
  
  
• AIO (All In One). These are exactly like disposables, except they are reusable. We haven't tried them because we are in love (as a parent you develop strong emotions towards diapers) with pocket diapers.

And last but not necessarily more expensive...

• One size. As for disposables, usually you need to pick diapers of the right size for your baby. However, almost all the kind of diapers listed above are also available in one size versions, which have snaps and things that allow to make them smaller or bigger to fit the baby from one or two months of age until the moment of freedom from diapers. We especially like one size pocket diapers, although we do have a few one size fitted bamboo diapers (read here to know why using bamboo is going to save the world).
  

Now just a few words about covers. There are essentially two kinds:

• PUL (polyurethane laminate). This is a synthetic material, but it is breathable. As opposed to PVC "plastic pants", for example, which don't sound very comfortable and are not very commonly used nowadays. Some PUL covers are very basic and only moderately containing (in which case in the first months they are better paired with a very containing fitted diaper), but some more elaborate models have double leg gussets (like disposables) and are very efficient even for use with a simple flat diaper. No pins are required in this case, by the way. In the picture we have our little CK wearing a flat diaper covered by our trusted Imse Vimse Soft Cover.
  
  
• Fleece/Wool. It is a bit counterintuitive perhaps, but these material make the most leak-proof covers. And supposedly the most comfortable, because they are very soft. They are quite bulky, though, so they are recommended for night time use. I had bought a couple, but I haven't had any need for them yet. I think they probably become more useful with older babies that can wet through as many layers of diapers as you can think of wrapping around them. Apparently a pocket diaper with enough stuffing and one of these covers is the best choice in that case, but as I said, I wouldn't really know from personal experience yet.
  

Enough for the moment. I hope that the pictures of little one hanging in front of the webcam made it tolerable to read all this stuff. I will leave our personal diaper experiences for another post.

Just a few links in case you are really interested in using cloth diapers:
Diaper Pin - A website with useful reviews of cloth diapers and related products, lists of (mostly US) stores and advice.
Diaper Hyena - Another website dedicated to cloth diapers: the articles are especially well researched, nice to read for reasonably scientifically minded people
Jillian's Drawers - This is a nice online store (one of the many, but one that
I like). Apart from actually buying diapers, there is nice - and honest it seems - advice about what diapers are best for what kind of use.
For Shalini: a couple of online diaper stores that I could find that ship from your part of the world:
http://www.mamut.com/stellerommet, http://www.kenguruloftet.no/.

Foto di oggi

Sempre con la webcam, purtroppo.

Musical preferences

When we went to Calicut last time we bought a CD of Malayalam songs and poetry for children. In fact I am quite proud to say that I picked it myself, with my amazing shopping instinct that breaks through the barriers of language... Anyway, it seemed like a good thing to try, since we are always looking for tools to help in the task of raising our child trilingual.


The CD is very well made: it has both religious and non-religious songs, sung by a variety of different voices and you can choose if you prefer to display predominantly on the screen the lyrics or some simple animations that illustrate each song.

Once as we were playing the songs for Rajiv we noticed that he was looking at the drawings on the screen, so we put him on his tummy facing the screen - both baby and laptop on the bed - and he stayed there silently for a long time staring carefully (now maybe I am reading to much into his little focused expression...) at the figures that appeared as different songs were played.

He was quiet until we played what S. tells me is a lullaby. This is accompanied by pictures of a mother with a child and our own little one started trying to reach for the figures on the screen, pushing with his legs behind him and making cute enthusiastic noises. I think that maybe it's because he likes looking at faces, or maybe he can tell it is the picture of a baby? Or maybe he just likes the song?

Cloth diapers (part I)

***Warning: this is the first of an unusually boring series of posts***

As many of you already know, we have made the brave decision to try and use cloth diapers for the little one. We have used only disposables for the first month - thinking that it would be unwise to create more work for ourselves at that point - but now we have gradually shifted to using almost exclusively cloth.

My mother initially was very doubtful when I told her about my plans, but it is widely accepted in my family that my brain does not function in the usual way, so she didn't put too much effort into trying to make me see reason. I had similar reactions from other people and I confess that I avoided mentioning it to some of my friends because by then I was feeling a slight sense of embarassement.

Here in India it is different, because lots of people use disposable diapers only when they are away from home. In fact more than once we have been gently reproached by people - including the lady who cleans the house and a few complete strangers - when we have been caught using disposables. On the other hand, when we do use cloth diapers, we sometimes meet a little bit of diffidence nevertheless, because those that we use don't always look like the good old-fashioned nappies that everybody knows and loves. More about this later.

(As an aside, one of S.'s collegues has commented when we mentioned we that we needed to change Rajiv's cloth nappie: "Why do you need nappies at all? This is India!". Now if anybody can explain this to me I will be grateful... )

At the same time, our struggle to find the right diapering strategy to preserve our sanity has gone on without rest. So since it is such a central issue in our life with the little one, it seems to be worth writing about it. Also, recently somebody has asked us to share some of the information we have collected about modern cloth diapers, so I have decided that for lack of anything better to post at the moment (camera still giving troubles, so no cute pictures available...) I will dedicate a few posts to cloth diapers and our experience with them so far.

TO BE CONTINUED...

From the webcam

This is is a picture of Rajiv from a couple of days ago. Sorry for the low quality, but as I mentioned I am having troubles with my camera, so this was taken with the webcam.


Questo e' Rajiv un paio di giorni fa, seduto di fronte al computer con il suo papa'. La foto e' stata scattata con la webcam, quindi la qualita' e' non e' molto alta. Purtroppo sto avendo qualche problema a far comunicare la mia macchina fotografica con il computer, ma spero di potervi mostrare presto quelche foto un po' piu' nitida.

Canzoncine e filastrocche

Ho trovato un sito che sembra molto carino, con un sacco di testi di canzoni per bambini e altre cose che non ho ancora esplorato per bene. Oggi per esempio io e Rajiv abbiamo cantato "Papaveri e Papere":

"Lo sai che i papapaveri son alti alti alti..."

Fa tutto parte del piano per far ascoltare un po' di italiano a Rajiv, nella speranza che lo impari.

Nota per Emiliano: ho anche trovato il testo di "Un milione, due milioni, tre milioni di anni fa...", cosi' finalmente so come fanno le altre due strofe!