Old School Baby

Before Pickles was born I made a pledge to use only cloth diapers. since they don't have any of the fancy AIO here in Thailand, I spent a ton of time sewing diapers.  OM goodness they are soooo cute!  Unfortunately the whole thing has been a bust. We tried many different patterns and Google even designed his own before we could get a good fit, but we still have major problems. Basically we can't get the right fabric here to make the diapers waterproof and so wearing cloth means changing bedding or pads continuously!  Good Lordy the laundry that makes. Well,our motto around here is "Try, Try, Again" so, we instead of giving up on the whole cloth diaper bit we are going to give up the prefolds, and go old school.

So here is the new plan....

Back in May Dirty Diaper Laundry placed a flat diaper challenge.

Here are the rules:

• You MUST use Flats.Ok, no problem you can get them here.


• You MUST handwash them.  How is up to you.  (bathtub, sink, large wash tub, portable non electronic washing machine, or camp style washer (bucket and plunger- think churning butter) Again, no problem, we hand wash the majority of our clothes.


• You MUST air dry them.  (indoors or outdoors, makes no difference) Is there any other way??? (I haven't had a dryer in 10 years)


• You MUST limit your number of covers in rotation to 5 or less. Yikes, now I need to makecovers!


• You can use any detergent you want.  (Keep in mind that you still want cloth safe detergents)


• You can still use your nighttime diapers but I ask that you try to make flats work.  Maybe try a prefold wrapped in a flat.


• You can use disposable liners. Yeah helps for poop!


• You CAN’T use a diaper sprayer.  I thought long and hard about this one, but at an average cost of 40.00 this is one diaper accessory that is out of range for many families.  Dunk, swish, flush, or scrape! Sorry Not giving up my sprayer It's Thai culture


• You MUST start the morning of May 23 and end the evening of May 30. OPPS I'm a day late and a dollar short!


• You MUST fill out a completion survey about your experience.  Results will be published here and can be republished on your own blog. 

Can you believe that 400 moms took this challenge?? Holy Guacamole!

So, I am to late to do the formal challenge, but I figure it's never too late. Google and I have been contemplating this for months.  Prefolds are cool, but what ever happened to good 'ol diapers and rubber pants?? I used them for the Grown Ups and never had a problem, so why not use them now?  So in traditional 50's housewife style I am going to start my own little vintage baby challenge. Starting September 1st our little jungle home is going retro and using flat cloth diapers from now on.

Sorry if I don't blog for a while, I might be busy washing diapers!

Baby Carbon Steps

Sometimes I feel like I am fighting an up hill battle trying to be green in this plastic jungle.  There are so many things in our home here in Thailand that I want to change to improve our carbon foot print. Every year we try, but just get so frustrated and over whelmed that we give up on many things.  This year we agreed to try something new.After reading this article I decided that we needed a family mission statement.  I am a total 7 Habits person, and I feel that it is important to begin with the end in mind. So, family meeting time! It's not easy to sum up your life in a paragraph, but I recommended to keep it simple and don't try to over think it. Simply look at what you think is most important and what your family hopes to represent. In other words, when poeple look at you, what do you want them to see?

In order to really live this mission statement,we have decided to concentrate on changing one thing a month that we feel needs changing in our lives. It may be something to move towards lowering our carbon foot print, to a health change or maybe even a spiritual change. Heaven knows we got issues and 12 months ain't gonna change them all, but by taking them one baby step at a time, maybe we will really make important changes..  

I challenge you to join us in the baby steps to change our lives. Each moth choose one thing that you would like to change in your home or life style.  It might be using only reusable grocery bags, changing to chemical free cleaners, changing to cloth diapers or giving up meat.  You make the choices on what you feel are the most important  things that you what to change. Through out the month work on your goal and then blog about it, and send me a link to you blog. Or add your comments here.  I look forward to hearing what you would like to change and how you do it.

Although it is almost April, I am adding my journals for the past few months so you can see how we have faired.

Baking Soda Betty

I love baking soda. Next to Windex (don't get me started on the Windex) and coconut oil, baking soda is one of my all time favorite household secrets. The ladies in my family are Queens of Clean and have taught me well.  We don't need no fancy cleaning products. Oh no! We just need a few simple normal house hold items and we can make your house sparkle.  Infact, my Mamo, she invinted oxy clean (not that Billy Mays guy) but back in her day, they called it dundundah..... baking soda!

So here's Mamo's Cleaner before there was the Oxy:
1.Take a box of baking soda
2. pour it in a pan
3.  bake it at 400 F or 204 C
4. keep it in an air tight container (keep it tight or air will get back in)
5. Use the same way you would the oxy stuff, as a stain soak (over night) or as a laundry booster. OR>>> for stubborn stains pour a little baking soda on the stain, add some soda water and rub.

Whaaalaaaa! There you have it. the secrete to keeping your jungle brights, bright and your whites, white!

Tell them you heard it from Baking Soda Betty =)

Queen of the Diaper Pail!

My baby's not even here yet and I can't believe how many diapers I have washed. Thank goodness DH,Google, bought me a beautiful new washing machine! For the past two years I washed clothes buy hand or with a laundry service.  Now I have a lovely washer and can do it on my own. (Can you feel the excitement?)
I thought I would share some Jungle Baby washing that you can do in your own home (even in the big city)

Washing diperliners:
 No more toilet swirling for me!  Her is my #1 Tip from Thailand. YOU NEED THIS!
Let me introduce you to what we lovingly call the "Butt Squirt"

Please ignore the nasty floor, this is my outside bathroom!

So this little guy can be found in almost every bathroom in Thailand. We don't have a very good sewer system here, so you aren't suppose to flush TP. So the creative Thais installed these lovely things to there toilets. Think poor man's Bidet!   My dear friend told me when her Thai husband first went to Canada he asked why they had a but squirter in the kitchen sink!  ROTFLMAO!!!! I wonder if he envisioned us crazy white people with our bottoms over the sink????!!!!!

These are the greatest thing with diapers (or mommy's  monthly). It's so easy to install, even I can do it!  Her is a great easy tutorial for you folks over therefrom 3Strands

To clean your diapers, you just hold the poopy diaper or liner over the potty and give it a good squirt. for my diaper liners and cloth wipes, I keep a big bowl next to the toilet that I have added one small scoop of homemade oxi-like cleaner, you just toss the liner in there and let them soak over night. The diaper covers I Velcro closed and toss in the laundry basket if they aren't soiled, or simply add them to the soak bucket. 

The next morning while I am still in the shower, I dump the bucket in the shower and rinse them all out, (scrubbing if needed). Another thing we do is dump them in the bathtub water after I've taken a bath and use the water (earth friendly). After a nice rinse the liners hang out in the glorious Thai sun to  naturally bleach them and leave them smelling April fresh! Not that's not so hard!

Queen of the Diaper Pail!

My baby's not even here yet and I can't believe how many diapers I have washed. Thank goodness DH,Google, bought me a beautiful new washing machine! For the past two years I washed clothes buy hand or with a laundry service.  Now I have a lovely washer and can do it on my own. (Can you feel the excitement?)
I thought I would share some Jungle Baby washing that you can do in your own home (even in the big city)

Washing diperliners:
 No more toilet swirling for me!  Her is my #1 Tip from Thailand. YOU NEED THIS!
Let me introduce you to what we lovingly call the "Butt Squirt"

Please ignore the nasty floor, this is my outside bathroom!

So this little guy can be found in almost every bathroom in Thailand. We don't have a very good sewer system here, so you aren't suppose to flush TP. So the creative Thais installed these lovely things to there toilets. Think poor man's Bidet!   My dear friend told me when her Thai husband first went to Canada he asked why they had a but squirter in the kitchen sink!  ROTFLMAO!!!! I wonder if he envisioned us crazy white people with our bottoms over the sink????!!!!!

These are the greatest thing with diapers (or mommy's  monthly). It's so easy to install, even I can do it!  Her is a great easy tutorial for you folks over therefrom 3Strands

To clean your diapers, you just hold the poopy diaper or liner over the potty and give it a good squirt. for my diaper liners and cloth wipes, I keep a big bowl next to the toilet that I have added one small scoop of homemade oxi-like cleaner, you just toss the liner in there and let them soak over night. The diaper covers I Velcro closed and toss in the laundry basket if they aren't soiled, or simply add them to the soak bucket. 

The next morning while I am still in the shower, I dump the bucket in the shower and rinse them all out, (scrubbing if needed). Another thing we do is dump them in the bathtub water after I've taken a bath and use the water (earth friendly). After a nice rinse the liners hang out in the glorious Thai sun to  naturally bleach them and leave them smelling April fresh! Not that's not so hard!

How it all Started

So this whole Jungle Baby thing started with a simple diaper.  Or maybe lack of diapers. I knew right away that I didn't want to use disposables. Landfills, chemicals, not to mention the cost!  When "the Grown Ups" where babies Seattle (where they were born) was on this "No Disposables" kick. Which was OK, but not easy. My Dear Auntie Vi, taught me to fold the diapers, pin them one, swirl them in the toilet, then send them off to diper service. Not fun!

Fast forward to 2011.  Now we have these fancy newfangled all-in-one cloth diapers that take away all that hassle. Woopie! this is going to be so cool! Google and I set out to buy little pickles her own cutie poototie AIO just like on the internet.  That where the problem started. guess what? the don't sell AIO here. I did manage to find on brand in Rimping, but they were so crappy and cost 300 baht. (about 10$). AND Amazon won't ship to Thailand! (Are you feeling my pain now?)

so our cloth diaper making journey has began. After about 20 tries and five different  patterns, Goggle made our own lovely pattern, (he's quite the seamstress) and we have decided that we should open a little store and sell them so that others don't have to run around Thailand looking for a good diaper the way we did.

Jungle Baby Natural

Going "baby natural" was something I knew we had to do the moment I learned we were getting a baby. You see, we live in a jungle. Yes it's tropical and there are trees and monkeys and elephants, but it's not just a green jungle, it's a PLASTIC jungle. Everything here is made-from or wrapped in plastic. Sometimes three or four layers of plastic. Not only is it a jungle, but It's a chemical jungle. Everything is loaded down with what ever companies feel like putting in their products.

To make things worse, I don't speak the language. Everything is written is swirly-whirlly Thai and I have no idea what ingredients is in anything! Even familiar things may have an English name, like "Frosted Flakes". but unless it is imported, the ingredients and Thai.  We are able to get alot of imported stuff, like Seventh Generation, but it's three times what I'd pay back home. Just not in the budget, but there is no way I'm putting anything on Pickles that I don't know what it is.

Am I being crazy? Too Granola? Ober concerned?  I don't think so.  Last time I did this baby thing with "the Grown Ups" I used all the quick and easy stuff. Johnson's& Johnson's  was my pal. But I had babies with chronic ear infections, exema, asthma, colic, diaper rash, and a number of other illnesses. I'm not twenty years old now and I know, that even though I love the small of a J&J baby, I am not putting that stuff on Pickles tiny hiney!

You see three years ago I spent 16 days in the hospital here in beautiful Chiang Mai, with pestiside poisoning. My body got to the point where it just couldn't take any more of the crap that was being pumped in, slattered on, or inhaled. As beautiful as it it here, the fact of the matter is, there really are no "regulations". Just like the traffic lights, food regulations are a suggestion.  I am leary of everything now. If I can't read it, I'm not buying it.
So the need to create  my own Jungle Baby care has arisen. I am hoping here, through this blog to share, with others the lovely natural products that you can make yourself. Or, if you live in Thailand, direct you to things that have worked for me and that I trust. Hope you enjoy and use them.  Please let me know if you try my ideas and what you think!

Babe in the Woods / Evening Rituals

                                    “Peace begins on the changing table.” Ute Strub

I have always loved that quote by Ute Strub  Waldorf educator and child development expert.
As a natural parent the main thing I want for my baby is peace. But peace is not something you can teach a child, it is a feeling that it must get from it’s caretakers and from it’s environment. Every thing we do with a newborn can make or break that sense of peace and calmness.

In Waldorf-thinking, children come from the spirit world, where they have been cared for peacefully for by loving, gentle hands. They are tiny gifts from heaven and it is our job to continue that loving environment for them.

With this in mind, shouldn’t everything we do with our new baby be given the utmost thought? It can be very difficult in this fast paced, technology world to slow ourselves down and focus on one single task, giving it our 100% undivided attention, but our child is worth that attention.

Babies have four basic bodily senses; life, touch, movement and balance. We need to be aware of the senses as we prepare to care and nurture our baby. During feeding, bathing, and changing times speak calmly and quietly to your baby, using slow and considerate movement. Be aware of what you are doing and saying and give your baby the complete attention he needs to feel safe and secure.

So how do we begin this “changing table peace”? Establishing a rhythm to what you do each day creates security and peace for a baby. So lets begin with a bathing ritual.

Contrary to popular belief, babies don’t need daily bathing. They just don’t get that dirty and water and soap can be drying and irritating to baby’s skin. I start my bath ritual after the umbilical cord has fallen off and healed about every other day. Before that it is sponge baths on my lap, and Indian baby massage

For me personally I always end my day with a nice relaxing bath, so this is the time I feel is best for my babies. I think it is a wonderful relaxing way to end the day. It also helps to signal the brain to begin winding down and preparing for sleep. I can remember Zippy, who has severe ADHD, at 2 years floating in the warm tub totally relaxing, letting the cares of the world drain away. She actually couldn’t sleep without her night time bath. (my mother, Mimi and I are the same way!)

So, I have my bath ritual in the evening about an hour before the baby’s bedtime. It is important to begin preparing carefully for the experience before even touching the baby. Prepare yourself inwardly to give the baby your undivided attention. In an unhurried, loving and peaceful mindset, gather the things that you will need and preparing the bathing water,
Here is my ritual;
• First you need to select a bathing area. I like the kitchen sink personally, but in Thailand we do not have hot water in the kitchen, but we are fortunate to have a bathtub, so for Pickles it will be the tub. Where ever you choose, the room should be warm and draft-free and the lights should be low. Candles are nice if you like. I enjoy lavender candles in the bathroom, as it helps relax you.

• Turn off the phone so that you will not be tempted to leave baby unattended "just for a moment."

• Prepare “bath kit”. You will need:

•  Two wash cloths
• A mild soap( In Thailand I suggest Sabu Sabu Natural Body Care)
• Cotton balls
• A hooded towel
•  Massage Oil ( I use virgin coconut oil)
• Diapers
• Clean clothes/ PJ’s

I like to keep these in a small basket beside the tub, all together and ready to go.
How I would LOVE to live in America so I could try these!

Wild Roots on Etsy!

 

When the bath is ready it is time to gather the baby. Announce yourself as you enter the room. Before you touch the baby speak in a tender, soft voice. As you gently lift the baby, tell her what you are doing, what is going to happen and what is going on around them.
I am not a baby tub fan. For myself I want to be in the tub with the baby. So for us, I believe what will work best is for mommy (or daddy) to be in the tub and for Daddy to gather the baby and gently pass her off to mommy.


Babies are often uncomfortable at the beginning of these rituals. They want their warm, secure feeling back. So, they often cry the first couple times. (The Grown-Ups never cried they all LOVED baths) If we handle them peacefully from the beginning they will begin to recognize the safety and joy and learn to rust us more and more. Soon, those cries should turn to happy gurgles.

After the bath, wrap the baby in a soft warm blanket and snuggle them close. (This will be our pass back to daddy) I like the idea of putting them in the sling for a few minutes to help them return to their safe “cocoon world” . Remember to continue talking to the baby quietly telling them what you are doing.

At the changing station, lovingly and thoughtfully apply oil to the baby’s skin, in a slow, gentle massage. I read somewhere an article comparing rubbing your baby with oil to the anointing with oil in the Biblical times. (still practiced in India and other parts of the world) This was a sacred ritual to show the love and gratitude of the practitioner to the recipient. (used all my big words in that one!)

Swaddle the baby or put them in their sleeping clothes and then take a few minutes to play quietly or sing to her. This will probably be our pass back to mommy time, so that baby can be nursed and lulled off to sleep.

 

Here is our Changing Station. No, it's not very Montessori (It should be on the floor) but, we have this beautiful cribs that friends brought from America that I wanted to use. And if you didn't know, I have MS so I don't trust myself standing up from the ground with the baby. I think this is a great solution. The crib isn't just sitting there empty and I don't have to worry about dropping Pickles on her little head!

 

These baskets hold the cute little cloth diapers I have made (20 small, 20 med , plus 4 NB and 3 larger ones) and the diaper liners. We have a bit of a problem with little tiny mice  (and bunnies)right now, I just keep making them!  The big pink pig is definitely NOT Montessori. That's Stick Pig, and he is the hero of the children s books I have been writing... so he gets to stay!

One final Thought....
Dr. Henning Kohler, A Steiner professional,teaches his patients that infants have a need for nourishing and warming acts of bodily care. He says : ”These acts must be done with a true inner participation.”
If we dedicate ourselves to these acts with an unhurried, patient foresight and a personal inner quiet, we are helping our baby become at home with their body and to fell trust and joy in the world and with the people around her.

And that’s all I got to say about that! =)

Babe in the Woods / Evening Rituals

                                    “Peace begins on the changing table.” Ute Strub

I have always loved that quote by Ute Strub  Waldorf educator and child development expert.
As a natural parent the main thing I want for my baby is peace. But peace is not something you can teach a child, it is a feeling that it must get from it’s caretakers and from it’s environment. Every thing we do with a newborn can make or break that sense of peace and calmness.

In Waldorf-thinking, children come from the spirit world, where they have been cared for peacefully for by loving, gentle hands. They are tiny gifts from heaven and it is our job to continue that loving environment for them.

With this in mind, shouldn’t everything we do with our new baby be given the utmost thought? It can be very difficult in this fast paced, technology world to slow ourselves down and focus on one single task, giving it our 100% undivided attention, but our child is worth that attention.

Babies have four basic bodily senses; life, touch, movement and balance. We need to be aware of the senses as we prepare to care and nurture our baby. During feeding, bathing, and changing times speak calmly and quietly to your baby, using slow and considerate movement. Be aware of what you are doing and saying and give your baby the complete attention he needs to feel safe and secure.

So how do we begin this “changing table peace”? Establishing a rhythm to what you do each day creates security and peace for a baby. So lets begin with a bathing ritual.

Contrary to popular belief, babies don’t need daily bathing. They just don’t get that dirty and water and soap can be drying and irritating to baby’s skin. I start my bath ritual after the umbilical cord has fallen off and healed about every other day. Before that it is sponge baths on my lap, and Indian baby massage

For me personally I always end my day with a nice relaxing bath, so this is the time I feel is best for my babies. I think it is a wonderful relaxing way to end the day. It also helps to signal the brain to begin winding down and preparing for sleep. I can remember Zippy, who has severe ADHD, at 2 years floating in the warm tub totally relaxing, letting the cares of the world drain away. She actually couldn’t sleep without her night time bath. (my mother, Mimi and I are the same way!)

So, I have my bath ritual in the evening about an hour before the baby’s bedtime. It is important to begin preparing carefully for the experience before even touching the baby. Prepare yourself inwardly to give the baby your undivided attention. In an unhurried, loving and peaceful mindset, gather the things that you will need and preparing the bathing water,
Here is my ritual;
• First you need to select a bathing area. I like the kitchen sink personally, but in Thailand we do not have hot water in the kitchen, but we are fortunate to have a bathtub, so for Pickles it will be the tub. Where ever you choose, the room should be warm and draft-free and the lights should be low. Candles are nice if you like. I enjoy lavender candles in the bathroom, as it helps relax you.

• Turn off the phone so that you will not be tempted to leave baby unattended "just for a moment."

• Prepare “bath kit”. You will need:

•  Two wash cloths
• A mild soap( In Thailand I suggest Sabu Sabu Natural Body Care)
• Cotton balls
• A hooded towel
•  Massage Oil ( I use virgin coconut oil)
• Diapers
• Clean clothes/ PJ’s

I like to keep these in a small basket beside the tub, all together and ready to go.
How I would LOVE to live in America so I could try these!

Wild Roots on Etsy!

 

When the bath is ready it is time to gather the baby. Announce yourself as you enter the room. Before you touch the baby speak in a tender, soft voice. As you gently lift the baby, tell her what you are doing, what is going to happen and what is going on around them.
I am not a baby tub fan. For myself I want to be in the tub with the baby. So for us, I believe what will work best is for mommy (or daddy) to be in the tub and for Daddy to gather the baby and gently pass her off to mommy.


Babies are often uncomfortable at the beginning of these rituals. They want their warm, secure feeling back. So, they often cry the first couple times. (The Grown-Ups never cried they all LOVED baths) If we handle them peacefully from the beginning they will begin to recognize the safety and joy and learn to rust us more and more. Soon, those cries should turn to happy gurgles.

After the bath, wrap the baby in a soft warm blanket and snuggle them close. (This will be our pass back to daddy) I like the idea of putting them in the sling for a few minutes to help them return to their safe “cocoon world” . Remember to continue talking to the baby quietly telling them what you are doing.

At the changing station, lovingly and thoughtfully apply oil to the baby’s skin, in a slow, gentle massage. I read somewhere an article comparing rubbing your baby with oil to the anointing with oil in the Biblical times. (still practiced in India and other parts of the world) This was a sacred ritual to show the love and gratitude of the practitioner to the recipient. (used all my big words in that one!)

Swaddle the baby or put them in their sleeping clothes and then take a few minutes to play quietly or sing to her. This will probably be our pass back to mommy time, so that baby can be nursed and lulled off to sleep.

 

Here is our Changing Station. No, it's not very Montessori (It should be on the floor) but, we have this beautiful cribs that friends brought from America that I wanted to use. And if you didn't know, I have MS so I don't trust myself standing up from the ground with the baby. I think this is a great solution. The crib isn't just sitting there empty and I don't have to worry about dropping Pickles on her little head!

 

These baskets hold the cute little cloth diapers I have made (20 small, 20 med , plus 4 NB and 3 larger ones) and the diaper liners. We have a bit of a problem with little tiny mice  (and bunnies)right now, I just keep making them!  The big pink pig is definitely NOT Montessori. That's Stick Pig, and he is the hero of the children s books I have been writing... so he gets to stay!

One final Thought....
Dr. Henning Kohler, A Steiner professional,teaches his patients that infants have a need for nourishing and warming acts of bodily care. He says : ”These acts must be done with a true inner participation.”
If we dedicate ourselves to these acts with an unhurried, patient foresight and a personal inner quiet, we are helping our baby become at home with their body and to fell trust and joy in the world and with the people around her.

And that’s all I got to say about that! =)

Jungle Baby

I have decided to write a small serious of baby raising info mostly for my husband. This is the first time he will really ever be around a baby, and as smart as he is, he don’t know nothing ‘bout birthin’ no babies.

My husband is a brainiac. My students (middle schoolers now ) nicknamed him “Google”. They figure, if you can’t find out about something call Mr. Chevy and he will know the answer. He is a plethora of useless knowledge, well not all useless, but he has stored in his brain millions of little tid-bits of information.

I love my husband and his big ol’ brain but it can be quit annoying at times. Try playing Scrabble with a man who has memorized the dictionary!( Last time I threw the board in to the ocean so I would never have to play again!) So, anyway, as much as he knows he has never been around babies, so he really has no clue. I figure he spends ¾ of his day glued to the computer, so maybe the best way to help him understand my ideas on baby raising, I should put it out there on the world -wide internets. Maybe this was he can connect with it easier =)

So I am going to be writing a series of “articles’ of what I believe is the best for baby. I am not an expert, although I have been a teacher for 25 years, so I think that counts for something. But, while I am not an expert, my ideas do come from theologies that have been researched and proven, mainly the teachings of Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner and from my experiences working with children and raising my own. Again, these are MY ideas, (most shared by many). Not everyone will agree with them. If you don’t your CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM is welcome, but this is a loving, peaceful blog, so no hatefulness please.

Namaste