Oh how the time flies! It seems like I took the photos for this post just a few weeks ago and while I was getting ready to write it and post it, Alexis almost turned 4 months. Oh well! A lot has changed since then. What she looks like, what she does, our routine and our days. But in general it IS all the same: it’s a life with a young baby. Nowadays, we go outside more often, visit the community pool, play with toys and enjoy lots of tummy time. And as of May 23rd, we no longer have grandma here 🙁 That’s the saddest part. But I cannot wait till she visits again next year when Alexis is already walking ( wow! Mind blowing!).
So here we go: what our days with Lexi look(ed) like. I chose to take photos rather than write descriptions of every activity that day. It is exactly what happened and this is what we usually look like/do at home ( except for most of the time I don’t wear make up, though I should). The photos aren’t staged or posed, except for the ones where it’s obvious we’re looking at the camera. But it’s a pretty accurate account of our days at that point. Most of them were taken by me, with a remote/tripod or by my hubby or by my mom – basically whoever had free hands to snap a picture. Times are approximate. I based them off of the time stamp on the picture which could have been taken mid-acitivity. Somewhere in between all those pictures there were nursing sessions but I wasn’t able to take a picture of them except for one.
Note: It is photo heavy so I hid most of the post under the “READ MORE” link.
For some reason I am missing all the photos from the morning till her 2nd nap, so here’s the breakdown in writing.
7:00 AM– This is her usual wake up time, give or take 30 minutes. We nurse, smile, talk, kick legs on the bed and snuggle, while daddy tries to wake himself up and go down to bring us some fruit for breaskfast.
7:20 AM – Going for a walk in the neighborhood if it’s not too sunny. This is usually done together as a family or if there’s laundry to do or things to clean up one of us stays behind.
8:00AM – By then we usually come back home with some fussiness because it’s time to eat. We nurse.
8:05AM – We have breakfast while playing with Lexi on the mat (or take turns having breakfast while the other person is holding Lexi)
8:20AM – The breakfast tends to get interrupted by increasing fussiness when it becomes clear it’s nap time. I go upstairs to put her to sleep, hubby starts working.
9:00AM – Lexi wakes up from the nap ( obviously these times vary greatly, but based on the time the other photos were taken, this is what must have happened) and we have some post-nap smiles, open the blinds, play and stretch on the bed.
9:15 AM – We go downstairs to see grandma who is usually up by now and she takes Alexis and spends some quality grandma time while I finish/catch up on my breakfast while talking to hubby who comes down to eat as well
9:45AM – About this time we nurse again and go upstairs to slowly start the naptime routine.
10:30 AM– I rock her to sleep and since she is having a very fitful sleep, I am unable to put her down ( I usually try twice and if she wakes up every time, I just hold her while she sleeps), so she’s sleeping in my arms.
10:55AM – She starts waking up and I have to rock her back to sleep.
11:21 AM Alexis wakes up and I feed her half asleep. (obviously some of the first photos below are supposed to say AM not PM (oops)
Then it’s time to change and I call daddy over. We make sure that dad changes her and comes to give her kisses after every nap whenever he can, so that, even though he has to work, he still sees her and interacts her throughout the day. Same thing happens on the days that I work, but my thing is breastfeeding, obviously. I’ll write about how we split our parenting and working duties more in the future.
Once Lexi is changed, we head downstairs to say Hi to grandma. I usually put her in her bouncy chair or her new Kicking Coaster and we all talk to her.
A few minutes after, I pick her up and we walk around the house looking at pictures and talking while grandma makes some lunch.
Once lunch is ready, I leave Lexi in her bouncer to be entertained by grandma while I try to eat as fast as possible.
Then we walk over to my mom’s room and play on the Tiny Love Gym on the bed. She loves that thing and supposedly, Tiny Love doesn’t use any flame retardants on the cloth pieces, and is free of BPA, PVC and pthalates which is very different from most manufacturers
TO CONTINUE READING CLICK HERE:
Soon enough it’s time for another diaper change an I call hubby over who takes Lexi upstairs to change her diaper.
And then it’s her “favorite” time of the day (sarcasm here): Sleep time. This was before we had a real routine established, so I would just put her in my arms in an upright position (something she got used to from the days with reflux) and rock while shushing- the only way she falls asleep. After 10-15 minutes of that, I try to put her down into a bouncer to sleep (back then the location of where she’d sleep changed almost daily because certain things worked better on certain days and we were still searching for the magic bullet)
Of course she wakes up when I try to put her down ( she always does), so I decide to try the swing, since she occasionally falls asleep there without a peep. I try to put her in the first swing that she has never fallen asleep in, but I wanted to test it.
I sit next to her and take this time to put some make up on. I do like to look nice at home. It makes me feel better to dress in something other than sweatpants and not look all washed out, however I am probably only able to put make up on once a week. I should make a bigger effort to do that ( and shower more often than every other day lol).
Sure enough after about 20 minutes of sitting in the swing, Lexi is still awake.
So I switch her to different swing that has a slightly more upright seat that I have had more success with ( It’s amazing that two swings for the same manufacturer can make such a difference).
And voila, after about 15 more minutes she is asleep. It doesn’t always work that well, but sometimes it’s worth a try. In the meantime, I try to get some blogging done.
Two hours later Lexi wakes up refreshed with a mama who got a little bit done (finally). So we dance around the bedroom, since dancing is one of the activities that is recommended to help babies develop their vestibular apparatus ( “Active baby Healthy Brain” book). And it’s fun!
A little later I change her (sometimes I forget to call hubby to change her and just do it myself, and sometimes he’s on the phone and can’t do it at that moment, but I do try to leave that for him, so that he’d have some interaction with her during the day)
Afterwards, I dress her into one of her rompers while playing around on the bed.
Soon it’s time to eat and we nurse while lying down.
I usually cannot wait to go downstairs after her midday nap, because almost always there’s a package or two waiting for me and I LOVE getting mail.
I hand Lexi over to my mom who joins us and pick up the packages and carry them into the family room
Lexi LOVES looking at Victoria’s Secret catalogs (or any other for that matter). She’s been a fan since birth. Her favorites are blonde models wearing red dresses 🙂
Then hubby joins us and spends some time talking with Lexi
Int he meantime, I open the packages. That day I received my F21 order of clothes to wear at home (among other things). When you hang around the house all day long, you want to look like a human being so I bought some cheap leggings and tops in addition to a few Target dresses ( I am wearing one of them). Also, that was the day when I discovered my love for bamboo. I got sent a bamboo romper and onesie from Estella NYC and I am such a convert. If I had unlimited funds, I’d dress Alexis in bamboo only.
Soon Lexi starts fussing and it is time to sleep again (*sigh*)
It doesn’t last long as she wakes up 30 minutes later and we do some stretchies.
Then I carry her over to her nursery, lay a piece of fabric on the floor (because with 3 cats there’s always hair on the carpet) and give her some tummy time that turns into spit up time
I turn her over and lie down next to her.
Hubby hears us playing in the next room and comes over to say hi and play with Lexi.
They move into the bedroom
I convince him to stop working for the day and we walk outside to sit out on the porch while my mom gets ready to take Lexi for a walk.
Then we suddenly decide that if my mom is taking Lexi, we should take this opportunity to work out and Andrew goes to change while I wait for my mom.
My mom comes out with a stroller and takes Alexis.
I go back in, change and put rollerblades on. After saying Bye to my daughter, I am off, while hubby goes running.
We are back after about 40 minutes to an hour, during which time Lexi slept in the stroller. It’s getting late, so we head upstairs to start our bedtime routine. I read her favorite The Cat in the Hat book while she kicks her legs.
I decide that I want to take a big bath with her, so I undress her while hubby fills up the bath.
After a quick bath, she is out happy and ready to go to sleep or so we hope.
Andrew massages her, dresses her for the night while I towel off.
By then it’s been way too long since she has slept – she starts crying, so I rush in to take her and rock her to sleep
Then I quickly try to brush my teeth and get ready for bed, because I know that she’ll be up every few hours if we’re lucky ( every hour, if we’re not) and then up for the day at 6:30-7am, so we need any minute of sleep we can get.
So that was One Day with Lexi at 2.5 months. I want to say that I will do another post like this at, say 4 months, but I have to be realistic. It took me 5 (!!!) days to finish this post with the way Lexi naps. This amount of photos in a post just isn’t feasible. So I’ll do another “day in life” post, since things HAVE changed quite a bit, however it won’t be “In Pictures”.
NEXT UP:
HUGE ORGANIC GIVEAWAY
ALEXIS: 4MONTHS
should those first photos say AM?
Beautiful pictures, beautiful family. It was really sweet reading about your daily routine; it reminds me so much of those first few months after my son was born. I’m getting baby fever again! 🙂
Thank you for sharing.
Hey, chica! I wanted to see what brand of rollerblades you have! I have been looking for a pair myself, and wondered what you recommend! Thanks!
I wish I had a recommendation. These are ancient and I was actually looking to replace then with something better but I don’t know anything about them.
I love your photography and your blog! My husband and I are expecting our first baby this fall, and it’s so helpful to see what a day in your life is like. I’m also trying to carefully select baby products that are as healthful as possible, and your recommendations are always a huge help. Thanks so much for sharing your lives with us!
My day is similar with a 3-week-old. Lots of naps and a little bit of play time when we can get it in between feeding and changing diapers. I was blessed with a great sleeper, though, so lately (like, this week), I’ve been able to get more done when he takes 2-3 hour naps. Have you tried swaddling Lexi? That’s what has made the HUGEST difference for sleep for us. At first, Sebastian HATED the velcro swaddle blankets, but now he lets me swaddle him and he sleeps for hours, ON HIS OWN, which he would not do for the first two weeks. Right now, he’s snoozing in the Moby wrap.
Oh trust me- I have tried (and continue to try) EVERYTHING 🙂 She’s a 1 cycle sleeper (if I am lucky)- wakes up as soon as she cycles through sleep which is about 40 minutes. Sometimes she’ll wake up 10 minutes after she’s put down. I have a pretty good system going here to make sure she at least gets 1.5 hrs of sleep per nap so that she was happy, but it requires a lot of “parenting to sleep”. So out of an 1.5hrs nap, I usually have 20-30 minutes to myself at most.
what a busy day! I love all of the photos! I wanted to mention that the Starlight Papasan Cradle Swing (the first one in this post with the large netting and star projector) actually has 3 recline positions! You can adjust it from the back of the seat. Not sure if you knew that, but it may help since you said she does better in a more upright position 🙂
No, I didn’t know that! I wonder if that would make a difference. She is more comfortable in the other one- it’s more snug. Thanks for the heads up, I’ll adjust it to a less reclined position so that she could see around better.
what’s a vestibular apparatus?
Sensory system in your ear responsible for balance
I love your pictures, and your daughter is such a sweetheart. You have great tips about parenting and sound like great parents, but I do want to know why you would choose to show your baby Victoria’s Secret ads. Obviously she doesn’t know what they are about now, but as she gets older do you want her to see that sort of thing? I personally find Victoria’s Secret degrading because it doesn’t show real average women. I don’t know about you, but I feel like there are better bright-colored reading choices for babies.
Hey Laura! Thanks for commenting!
Babies like to see people’s faces and bright colors and when we are downstairs sometimes all that’s handy are catalogs. Like you said she doesn’t know the difference.
But I also don’t think VS is degrading to women at all. Female body is beautiful and I wouldn’t want to teach Alexis any other way. Yes models are skinny and fit, they are not your average US woman but they aren’t supposed to be. Neither are actors or celebrities- they aren’t your average folk.
Digging deeper into the whole “models have to be skinny” thing it’s pretty simple. Designers don’t need women with curves to wear their clothes- they need “human hangers” that would not “change” the shape of the clothes with their bodies. That especially applies to runways.
And in the end the advertisers will always do whatever sells their product which is “promise of well fitting clothes” :)))
I guess I just wanted to know that because I feel that Victoria’s Secret objectifies women to their bodies only. However, I don’t want to get into any argument over this post, so if you think that it’s fine for your daughter to look at the magazines, it’s up to you (but, I do have to say that I think that The Cat in the Hat is a better choice for babies). And I do know that you are an ex-model, so you probably have a much different opinion than I do!
I really hope you don’t normally put her on the counter in the bouncy seat, without the seatbelt on. When my daughter was 4 months old she was seatbelted into her bouncy seat, on the floor and tipped it over onto herself. I’d really hate to see a post with you telling us she bounced herself off of the counter onto the hard floor.
Man just thinking about her falling sends me into shivers.
No we don’t normally put her on counter unless there someone who can be with her at all times without distractions and only when we want to talk to her so that she was on our level. Now that my mom is gone, and I can’t have someone always watching her, I put a swing in the kitchen which is where she’ll be.
Rule number one of blogging, never put pictures up of things that you aren’t technically supposed to do (like putting your child on the counter in the seat).
Just know everyone does it. They just like to pretend they don’t. LOL!!
Hi Pamela! I don’t like rules 🙂
But I really am paranoid about stuff like that I only do it when one person is constantly watching next to her.
Does she ever get alone time (when she’s not sleeping) ?
Yes, when she’s on her activity mat or on my lap facing out while chilling outside. Up until recently, she was ONLY interested in people, not toys and wouldn’t have any alone time. Lately, she’s fine playing on her own for about 5 minutes, but she likes one of us sitting next to her.
hi Elena,
I just wanted to suggest a book if you haven’t already seen it – dream baby guide by sheyne rowley. We have just started using it on my 10 month old who was always rocked, held, or in a swing to sleep and it has been fantastic. It is a big read (700pages) but worth it – it’s not for under six months though but not sure if you want to check it out for the future. – just want to say though, I am not trying to force anything on you, I know what it’s like having tried EVERYTHING and getting sick of people saying do this do that etc, just a suggestion if you want to check it out. I was skeptical of it working but I followed everything and it’s been great!!!! In saying all this, you know what’s best for your baby and you are the best mother your baby can ever have!!! 🙂
She is adorable by the way – my boy is a chub chub too
“I know what it’s like having tried EVERYTHING and getting sick of people saying do this do that”
Thank you! I totally appreciate people trying to help, but I definitely have tried A LOT and some of it worked, some has not. At some point, I think some babies just don’t sleep very well.
I will check out that book, thank you! I just finished both Pantley books and have implemented a few things and they’re already working, but I haven’t gone all out yet. My only condition for any sleep methods is absolutely no cry-it-out. I just can’t handle it. It breaks me to hear her cry when she’s in my arms, but to leave her alone ( shudder). So if the book has “gentle” solution, I’m all ear/eyes. Otherwise, I’d rather suffer for now.
She is no advocate of cry it out – believe me I hate hearing my bub cry too which is why we’ve made it to nearly ten moths without him being able to go to sleep by himself. It works on interpreting bubs crys and helping them go to sleep by having strict routines during day etc. As I said it’s not for under six months, worked for us at 9 months – I couldn’t believe the first time I put him down to sleep he had one little ‘what am I doing here mum’ cry out ( literally 10 seconds) then he was asleep. What I liked about the book was that it was about everything, not just a ‘sleep book’ and also treats the baby as the intelligent little human beings they are! Good luck with everything and remember you don’t have to apologize to anyone for how you parent. Whatever works for you is great!!
i know that you’re not up for crying it out, but just in case any other mamas are having a hard time getting their baby to sleep, I thought that I’d share what I did:
Starting around 6 weeks, we would let our son cry for 5 minutes at a time. Just 5 minutes. We set the oven timer. Then I would go into his room, put in his binky, and leave. It would usually take him 1 to 3 5min cries to get to sleep After about 5 nights of doing that, he now goes to sleep on his own. It’s really wonderful and I love that I’ve given my child the ability to fall asleep on his own. He’s slept through the night from about 7 weeks.
Please do not give people this advice. No one, even the CIO sleep trainers, suggest letting a 6 week old cry, on purpose for any length of time. How cruel. Your baby would have STTN at 7 weeks regardless, not b/c you “trained” him to. You can’t train a 6 week old to do anything.
Now, if you meant a 6 month old, totally different, even though I am still anti-CIO.
Claire – you trained you tiny baby that they couldn’t rely on you when they were crying for you. CIO is awful to be used on an infant so young. I agree with Leah below, if you wanted to do this with a 6 month old, fine. But at 6/7 weeks old they SHOULD NOT be STTN so why are you trying to force them?! They need to wake to feed/be changed etc. People need to realize that babies wake up and need to be taken care of and that moms will lose sleep over it. Stop fighting nature.
**off my soapbox**
Elena – Love the pics! Especially you guys in the tub cause your little one just has the cutest smile on her face.
What a sweet post…love all the photos. 🙂 I wanted to follow-up on your last post regarding diapers…cloth diapering is not happening at our house for a variety of reasons, but I’m committed to finding the most eco friendly option out there. Hands down the best diapers I have tried are those from honest.com. Yes, they’re more expensive than others, but they truly are the absolute best–softest, most comfortable (they have stretch to them like regular diapers), cute designs, chlorine free, biodegradable…the list goes on. Just thought I’d share this with you–your sweet pea is just about a week older than my little man. 🙂 Cheers!
I truly think you are misreading her cues. It seems as if you think when she cries that she is either sleepy or hungry. And that’s not always the case. Sometimes babies just get bored, Or cold. Or hot. Or whatever. She looks WIDE awake in the picture from 1:00. It seems as though she was not sleepy and that’s why she didn’t fall asleep until almost 2. So I don’t really think it’s the swings’ fault. I think she genuinely was just not ready to sleep.
And my kids would never be able to fall asleep if I was sitting right next to them the whole time. Lying down next to them? Yes but not if they were in the swing (which is where my daughter naps daily. But the swing is in her room with darkening shades and I put her in, give her her lovie and walk away and close the door).
I truly think you and her would both benefit from trying to keep her awake longer. I think that’s why you are struggling and naps are such a battle. She’s simply not tired enough.
But take that for what it’s worth.
I’ve gone through that scenario too. I put her to sleep at the first sign of tiredness (which isn’t crying mind you, that’s usually too late and she is overtired). If I wait any longer I’ve learned that it becomes a battle more than it has to.
She looks wide awake by the way because she snoozed on my shoulder while I was rocking her.
Then again, she was not ready for a nap. Been there, done that
I disagree. Read up on “second wind” when it comes to infant sleep.
Loved this post. Just looking at all those pictures of tiny Alexis makes me get all sentimental. My daughter is almost nine months, and life is just so different than it was when she was as young as your baby.
Just want to say, hang in there with the sleeping “issues.” My daughter refused to sleep anywhere except on me–or very occasionally in her stroller–until she was about seven months. I tried so many things to get her to sleep on her own, and it just didn’t seem to work. She had a lot of naps on a nursing pillow on my lap while I attempted to get work done on my laptop. I wasn’t interested in letting her cry herself to sleep, so napping on my lap became our routine. In the end, it was just something she outgrew, but there were days it was really hard for me.
Lexi is adorable, and it looks like you’ve found a nice groove. How awesome that your husband can work from home and interact with your baby throughout the day. I know my husband would love to do that.
Thank you for that! I am able to put her down nowadays but she still wakes up after 40 min at which point I rock her to sleep again until she’s had enough of a nap and wakes up happy and refreshed. We had just started to do better on night sleep but then 4 months wakeful hit and now I think she’s teething.
It’s good to know that even the most persistent arms nappers do grow out of it.
tBoy do I think you are brave for being a blogger. I’m not sure I could handle opening myself up to the criticisms and well-meaning (and sometimes not so much) advice of more than just those folks I run into while living my life. I appreciate that you display pictures not just of the perfect things that you do, but also the human. Like a previous commenter stated re: the seat-on-counter– we all do these sorts of things and just like to *pretend* we don’t. I would defy any parent alive to honestly post photos of his or her daily life and not have anyone spot one of these parenting failures or omissions. We are not perfect. Nor should we be; one of the beautiful things I have come to believe of parenthood is that our children can become wonderful because, in spite of, and WITH us. The most, and maybe the only, important thing on that journey is that we are not doing it alone. If we parent while holding the ideal of doing the best for that specific child in mind, and we let that child also guide the paths that our parenting takes we should be able to stand tall and bravely face whatever another might say about our choices. Whether I agree with you, or not, whether we are the same, or not; I DO think you fall solidly into the camp of those parents facing life with their child(ren) in mind. Thanks for being brave enough to share your journey with others whatever their opinions.
I guess thanks for saying that!
I don’t think something like putting a bouncer on a table constitutes a parenting failure as long as it’s done using your brain. Manufacturers put those warnings on because they have to. But any thinking parent would NEVER put a seat on high ground and leave the baby alone. It’s just common sense like anything in parenting. Noone can tell you what is best for your baby because they aren’t in your situation.
And I guess that’s why I am not afraid to put it all out there. I don’t judge other parents. They all do the best they can in their situation even when I’d do differently. So when I write posts I assume other people don’t judge either. That they’d give me the benefit of doubt. That’s naive of course because as I am finding out the mommy world is full of underhanded insecure people and that’s sad. But I refuse to “amend” what I write or change how I do things to suit those women. There will always be people who judge you.
Loved this day in life with Lexi and you guys!
Pity grandma has left, but cool that she’ll be back to enjoy walking and running Lexi (ouch for the back).
Alexis is SO CUTE! I love fat babies. My son is a super-chunky baby, too. When I go places with him, old ladies come up and say things like, “That baby is well-fed and well-loved.” I love that. I can tell that Alexis is well-fed and well-loved, too.
Have you thought about joining a Mom group? It can be really helpful to spend time with other women who are facing the same sorts of challenges. And it’s fun for the babies to hang out together, cause babies love to look at other babies. It’s also nice to get out of the house and spend time with people who understand if your baby starts fussing and being impossible. I know it’s hard with her naps being like this, but that’s the great part- she can nap on you there, or you can put her down or whatever or even leave abruptly if you have to. No one will mind.
I definitely will join a group somewhere down the line but as it is I can’t go places with Lexi. She won’t fall asleep outside of home. She has to be rocked in a rocker or all hell breaks loose. I wish she could JUST fall asleep on me but from day 1 she’d only sleep if she was rocked (10-15 min and then you can put her down most of the time)
So it’s just not something that’s feasible right now.
She won’t even fall asleep in her car seat. If she is tired while we are driving , she’ll scream/cry so bad that she’d start chocking and run out of breath, but Is unable to fall asleep.
It’s horrible!
So I’ll wait till it improves.
Hi Elena!
I know where you’re coming from…my son won’t sleep in his carseat or stroller either. We just started controlled cry-it-out because it got to the point where I couldn’t even rock him anymore, he just fought it and fought it which shows us he has sleep issues and just doesn’t know how to fall asleep. We tried everything too, and noone could get him to sleep while he was held, which is why we chose to try thr cry it out method. The first time was horrible, and then we had support from both grandmas who came to the rescue and let my husband and I leave the house, and from then on, he is able to fall asleep on his own so much quicker and it’s only day 3!! Now I cuddle him for a bit before he gets too upset, then lay him down. He may fuss for a bit, but I rub his back, leave, come back in a few minutes and pop the soother in. We’re getting 3 hour naps now and he is so happy! Now I just can’t wait till he can fall asleep in his stroller or carseat so we can venture out more. I hope that with him being able to fall asleep on his own that this will help. It’s frustrating being trapped at home all day!!
Oh man!
We’ve been making some progress with falling asleep. The same long routine for EACH nap helped. She now falls asleep without crying if we do everything right, but we do have to rock her. I am working on that too. 1 step at a time. I just can’t handle CIO, controlled or not. I’ve read both Pantley books and so far they’ve been very helpful. That’s how I am now getting her to sleep better. We’ll see. But thanks for the comment- you can’t imagine how helpful it is to know that other people are going through the same thing.
She’s dressed. At this age there’s no difference between clothes she sleeps in and plays in. I just change her based on temperature and if she spit up/leaked though.
Gorgeous pictures!
But a note about bamboo fabric- it may be luxuriously soft but to get it like that it’s treated with a disturbing amount of chemicals. I know how health conscious you are, and I don’t think you’d want that stuff anywhere near your sweet baby!
http://organicclothing.blogs.com/my_weblog/2007/09/bamboo-facts-be.html
Bamboo the plant is wonderfully sustainable; bamboo the fabric isn’t so easy to categorize. There are two ways to process bamboo to make the plant into a fabric: mechanically or chemically. The mechanical way is by crushing the woody parts of the bamboo plant and then use natural enzymes to break the bamboo walls into a mushy mass so that the natural fibers can be mechanically combed out and spun into yarn. This is essentially the same eco-friendly manufacturing process used to produce linen fabric from flax or hemp. Bamboo fabric made from this process is sometimes called bamboo linen. *Very little bamboo linen is manufactured for clothing because it is more labor intensive and costly.*
Chemically manufactured bamboo fiber is a regenerated cellulose fiber similar to rayon or modal. Chemically manufactured bamboo is sometimes called bamboo rayon because of the many similarities in the way it is chemically manufactured and similarities in its feel and hand.
Most bamboo fabric that is the current eco-fashion rage is chemically manufactured by “cooking” the bamboo leaves and woody shoots in strong chemical solvents such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH – also known as caustic soda or lye) and carbon disulfide in a process also known as hydrolysis alkalization combined with multi-phase bleaching. Both sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide have been linked to serious health problems. Breathing low levels of carbon disulfide can cause tiredness, headache and nerve damage. Carbon disulfide has been shown to cause neural disorders in workers at rayon manufacturers. Low levels of exposure to sodium hydroxide can cause irritation of the skin and eyes. Sodium hydroxide is a strong alkaline base also known as caustic soda or lye. In its dry crystalline form, caustic soda is one of the major ingredients of Drano. This is basically the same process used to make rayon from wood or cotton waste byproducts. Because of the potential health risks and damage to the environment surrounding the manufacturing facilities, textile manufacturing processes for bamboo or other regenerated fibers using hydrolysis alkalization with multi-phase bleaching are not considered sustainable or environmentally supportable
Wow! Thanks for the info. I’m pretty sure all/most my bamboo stuff is organic but now I’ll definitely double check!
Even if it’s labeled “organic bamboo”, that doesn’t mean it didn’t go through the conversion to rayon process with all the chemicals. It means it was grown organically. It’s actually quite sneaky and sad. They actually just passed a law that says in the next few years manufacturers have to start labeling their bamboo goods “rayon from bamboo fibers” or something like that. From what I’ve read, anything that is that super wonderfully silky soft bamboo is rayon from bamboo and bamboo linen, which is the mechanical way of making fabric, isn’t nearly as soft and is more stiff and scratchy. I haven’t found a single clothing manufacturer that mechanically separates. 🙁
It doesn’t bother me QUITE as much because I am working off the assumption that a lot of the chemicals wash out, but even your organic bamboo clothing most likely went through the process that the previous poster described.
Well, that’s a huge bummer. Once she’s about 6 months old, we’ll be doing non-organic clothing as well. But I wish I had realized that bamboo was made differently.
I know, right?!?! Me too. Especially with all the bamboo diaper stuff I had that touched her sensitive booty! 🙁
You will be fine. I had that kind of baby–only slept an hour or so at a time, couldn’t take him anywhere, etc. It gets so much better. SO MUCH better. He is not even 1.5 years yet and I can’t even begin to tell you how much more interesting and easy he is.
I’ve been a silent reader for a while, never posted a comment, but has been following your blog for a while now, I have to admit, I admire your patience ! It’s funny because I have 2 kids (3 years and 6 months) and both of them were soooo easy (like sleeping through the night at 3-4 months, and seating quietly in their bouncer or play yard the entire day while watching me walking around the house ! I have to admit though now that my son is 3, he is quite a handful!
Lexi is a doll by the way !
I know this might shock some people…but both my girls slept so much better on their tummies! They both had reflux, and even though the spit up diminished quite a bit by 4-5 months, it was still bothering them. The reflux can go up just as far as the esophagus and cause discomfort, even if you don’t see any spit up. We got an Angelcare monitor which is a little pad that goes under the crib or bassinet mattress and if the baby were to stop breathing an alarm would sound. I really trusted it and felt comfortable enough for my girls to tummy sleep. Instant sleeping through the night!
These pictures are gorgeous!