Baby FAQ

[thanate]

...which is to say, the sort of things that get asked, not all stuff I've been pestered about.

*Due Feb 13, so if all proceeds normally arriving sometime late January or after.

*Yes, we're going to find out if it's a boy or a girl in advance; it's not as if it's going to change between now and February. We don't know yet; in the mean time, we're taking predictions. (see next post...)

*No, we're not doing pink or blue pastels; we're planning to do our best to stick to the bright crayon-box sorts of colors that are easier for developing eyes to see, anyway.

*If anybody has baby stuff you were thinking about clearing out of the attic soon, hand-me-downs are great. (but totally not necessary.)

*If anybody feels the need to give gifts (also totally not necessary), we strongly prefer handmade to store-bought.

*We have a couple name options more-or-less picked out, but nothing final yet.

*Um... ok, are there other things people desperately want to know? And people with recent experience on the eco-friendliness of diapering options, or anything else potentially useful to the small child experience, thoughts are appreciated, though I imagine I'll ask things elsewhere as they occur to me, too.

(Also, to clarify from the last post, for those who want to leave a squeeful comment about babies-- that's just fine, so long as you're not offended when I fail to try to reproduce the vaguely embarrassed "um, thanks" that I do in person in the comments.)

Comments

[cheshiretiffy.livejournal.com]

All I know about eco-friendly diapers is that cloth are cheaper in the long run but require more work and water from washing. Setting aside a rubber scraper with "poop" or such written on the handle to scrape the diapers into the toilet makes clean-up easier, but requires more water from flushing. And straight up cornstarch works awesome as a fragrance/bullshit free butt powder, but it can still irritate some babies' skin. Also, powder isn't necissary, we never powdered Dommy, we just gave him a moment after a change to dry his bottom before putting the next diaper on. He only had diaper rash when he was sick and had acidic poop.

We also never baby-proofed the house. We paid attention instead.

I have a mountain of baby boy stuff in the basement, but it's 100% store-bought. You're more than welcome to any of it you'd like, of course. I can't say exactly what's down there since most of the big stuff went to either my nieces or to Harris' friend who's expecting next month.

You do your own thing with that baby. I know you're strong and not a push-over at all, but people will push, be obnoxious, tell you what to do and how to do it. Though I do suggest you learn the "colic carry" just in case.

Making your own baby food is super easy and healthier, and you'd do a great job of it I bet. Of course, that's for later.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

I think we're ok with being stubborn about our child-rearing methods-- the most friction is likely to come from my mother in law, who has already stated several times that her entire reason for wanting grandkids is so that she can spoil them rotten and hand them back to us. I don't think she actually believes it yet when her son says no, she is not going to carry off our child and fill it full of ice cream without supervision... (fortunately, she also lives in OH and is fairly unlikely to come visit.)

If you get a chance to look through the stuff in the basement and see what's there, I'd definitely be interested in at least knowing what you're looking to get rid of-- the handmade thing is more in terms of discouraging people from going out & spending money on cute baby stuff for us-- I fully expect that the kid will end up with about as many thrift store clothes as I do, which is a fair percentage of my closet. :) But if you end up doing other stuff & don't get to it anytime soon, that is not a problem.