August 2009 Archives

This is a post about some of the baby books I've read and looked at to help us prepare for bringing home our little girl.

1. Favorite Pregnancy Book:

The Pregnancy Bible: Your Complete Guide to Pregnancy and Early Parenthood
-  It was the perfect blend of what is going on without being overwhelming or scary.  The developmental pictures are great, and offer great advice for dads as well as everything associated with pregnancy (diet, exercise, birthing, etc.)  Never felt the need to get another book after this.


2.  Name Book:

The Baby Name Wizard: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby
-  Loved this book because it isn't as overwhelming as a dictionary style name book where you can't seem to get past the B's.  Very cool and LOVE this book!


3.  Parenting Style:
-  I should start by telling you that with child rearing books for infants there seems to be two schools of thought.  One is the scheduling method, in which you put your baby on a schedule, period.  Baby sleeps from time x-y and baby eats at time z.  The other is a life in which the baby decides there own schedule, and you just follow along.  This camp generally also believes in never letting your baby really cry, and is into constant baby wearing.  The two extremes of these of course author books, and they are very much associated with the theories

• Dr. Sears:

The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition)
-  I'd like to check out the book, but in brief reviews it seems a bit too hippie baby wearing to me and letting them rule the roost.  But, many people believe in this book and love it.  Known as attachment parenting.

• Gary Ezzo and Dr. Robert Bucknam

On Becoming Baby Wise
- Never picked this book up either, but heard through a friend that it is all about putting baby on a tight schedule.  Scheduled baby.

Then...there is a 3rd way, a more moderate scheduler.

• Tracy Hogg and Melinda Blau:

The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems: Sleeping, Feeding, and Behavior--Beyond the Basics from Infancy Through Toddlerhood
-  This book was recommended to me as being the more moderate of scheduling.  I really like it.  Started to read it regularly, but felt a little overwhelmed as worried I would forget all the good advice before baby actually came.  So instead I will be picking up this book come closer to the due date. I like it because it talks about scheduling but also being relaxed about it, and also doesn't want your baby to cry it out.

• Dr. Jana and Dr. Shu

Heading Home with Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality
-  Love this book.  Simple, short, and full of all that useful info like how many times a baby poops a day.  HIGHLY recommend.


4.  Sleeping:
-  again, two methods here. Crying it out and attachment parenting.

• Dr. Richard Ferber:

Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition
-  this is a cry it out method.  That means in a nutshell that you put baby to sleep and let them cry until they do.  I don't have the heart to do this, and neither do many parents.  But those who do, swear by this.

• Marc Weissbluth:

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
-  we got this book and I have yet to read it as again I'm worried about forgetting everything by the time baby comes.  However, I picked this one because it seemed to be a cross between attachment parenting and crying it out.  I'm all about balance.  :)    The baby whisperer also goes into a way to sleep that is not completely cry it out, but more of a middle ground.  Also great advice found in the Baby Whisperer book previously mentioned.

• Dr. Harvey Karp:

The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer
-  we got the DVD.  This was recommended hands down by multiple couples.  Loved it, full of great advice.


               

Being a petite mama means that some things in life are just out of reach.  However, when things are it is easy to find a stool and make things happen.  I never thought that it would extend into baby furniture! 

When the time came for my husband and I to venture into the world of Baby Furniture Warehouse (thank you Baby Bargains for leading us to this treasure trove) I never thought that it would be as difficult as it was to find some furniture we are happy with.  We set a budget, perused the items, had a good idea what we could get for our money.  We knew drop-side rail cribs were no longer really being manufactured as they were considered to be dangerous, but we never thought that the majority of cribs would be impossible for me to use due to my petite stature.  We arrived at the store and headed straight to a recommended crib to see it in person, as we thought that is what we were going to walk away with.  When I tried to lean over the rail we were both shocked that I could barely put a baby into the crib when the mattress was at its highest setting.  What was I going to do once we started dropping the mattress?

After getting over the initial realization that this wasn't going to be as easy as pie, I started to figure out the features that seemed to make reaching into a crib more easy for me to reach into.  Here is a simple list:

1.  A low rail on one side.  Some cribs had a lower rail than others, and we just had to look around to find a good height.  There is a surprising amount of variation in how low crib manufactures will make one rail.

2.  The rail that you will be reaching over is thin.  This is difficult to describe in words.  What I mean by thin is that you shouldn't be able to set your drink on the rail.  The rail should be thin so that nothing can be set on top of it, making it easier to lean over as you aren't having to lean over something wider than you have to. 

3.  I found that a more rounded rail was more comfortable than a square one, just as a simple anatomy of something poking in your belly/ribs.

Once we had found a few cribs whose rail passed the test it was time to check out the quality of the pieces.  We wiggled them, leaned into them, and looked closely at how they were put together.  I also checked out all the matching dressers to see how they were made as well as we wanted to buy the set.  Surprisingly, some of the furniture was very cheaply made, and the price tag didn't always reflect it!  There were dressers that we liked that when we opened the drawer and applied a little weight to the bottom of it, it felt as if our hand was going to push a hole right through the drawer.  We avoided those manufactures from then on. 

In the end we really liked the Bonavita collection.  They had more than one crib that worked for this petite mama, we didn't feel as if we could push a hole in the drawers, and the cribs appeared to be solid.  I had also read some good reviews on the manufacturer in Baby Bargains and there were other petite mamas who really liked the cribs as well when researching message boards. 

We ordered the Bonavita Metro Lifestyle Crib, with matching 6 drawer dresser that we plan to use as a changing table.

One of our most challenging decisions was finding a stroller that would do all that we needed to do, and fit a petite mama comfortably as well as her tall husband.  The stroller had to have the following features:

1.  look great
2.  height adjustable handle bars
3.  not have to bend over too low to get baby in and out
4.  be able to use from infant and up
5.  light enough for a petite mama to lift into the trunk unassisted and without throwing her back out
6.  stand up when folded in order to save space in our urban home
7.  be a stroller that can handle the elements (even snow) as urban dwellers enjoying the city year-round
8.  not require us to take out a loan in order to purchase

I was amazed at the myriad of choices.  But what was functional, worked well, and could do all these things?  Our solution was the Mountain Buggy Urban Single. The handle bars were some of the most adjustable I found, with the lowest height at 31 inches.  Perfect!  It is rugged enough to take on a trail yet narrow enough to take down your favorite city streets.  The wheels are even detachable to save room in your trunk and it barely takes up any room when standing up in our living room.  My favorite part is that it can also be used for light jogging!  This was the deal closer for us as we both like to run and this will prevent us from needing to purchase a separate stroller specifically for use while jogging.  It reclines nearly flat for a newborn, and if you like you can even put a bassinet in the frame for that cute pram look.  Even the Stroller Queen recommended it to me as the stroller for us.

I had originally fallen in love with the Bugaboo Cameleon , but the price tag just made it unjustifiable for us in this economy.  The Frog is cheaper and just as cute, but the handles aren't adjustable for a petite mama and tall dad to both fit. It could work for some, but didn't work for me.  I also liked the Cameleon as it had the two-part fold and that made it really easy to carry in and out of a small, urban house.  The suspension was great as well, and we all know how adorable it is.  Problem is, when trying in person, for a petite mama it's not that comfortable to reach around both sides and remove the seat while not throwing out your back at the same time.  Since I liked the Cameleon so much it made sense to next think of the Bee .  But, being a nurse I'm very sensitive to back issues and I knew that repeatedly lifting junior in and out was not the safest idea as the seat is very low to the ground.

What about the UPPAbaby Vista ?  Wanted to love that, and it was highly recommended in Baby Bargains ; I loved that stroller, did everything we needed it to, and even came with a bassinet.  Adorable and functional.   The problem was that it was about 2 inches too tall for this petite mama.  If you are 5 foot or above, I'd say go for it in a heartbeat.  But if you are under the 5 foot mark, I'd keep looking or just head on over to Mountain Buggy.

We also are going to get an umbrella stroller, to always leave in the car for those quick trips when Mountain Buggy comfort isn't required.  It's so nice to have a second stroller that has a small footprint and is easy and quick to get out of shops without knocking things over.  The Maclaren's are always recommended, and we plan to get the Quest Sport , as it was very comortable for this petite mama.


         

Soft-sided carriers are an excellent way to peruse the sales rack at your favorite boutique.  I found one necessary for peace of mind, and for pushing a grocery cart as with a car seat on top I couldn't see very well and found myself feeling even more of a petite mama.  But finding a carrier was no easy feat.  I knew that I wanted something that would allow baby to grow and prevent the need to buy a new one, and something that would also fit my husband. It had to be functional, cute, but not so cute that my husband would refuse to wear it.  Finally, there is just over a foot height difference between us, so it had to work for both.

In the beginning I loved my organic Maya Wrap .  It let me feel baby snuggle up against me and I felt like I was keeping her safe.  I found myself using it to keep her calm and close even when I was doing household chores.  But as she got more wiggly and wanted to see more of the world, and I was ready to try something else, the Beco Butterfly II became our new carrier of choice.

We picked the Beco up as recommended in Baby Bargains as being a great carrier for petite mamas.  I had originally tried the Ergo as I loved the design and had seen them in stores, but when I tried it on it felt bulky and too long for my torso.  The Beco was perfect and didn't give me any of the back pain the Bjorn is so famous for causing.

There is an excellent chart over at The Portable Baby that compares various carriers and their features.


    

Are you aware that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety consider 10 inches to be a safe distance from the air bag?  Considering how close you sometimes have to get to reach the pedals, it was borderline for me being just under 5 feet tall in the car we currently had.  So we decided it was time to invest in a family car that had an airbag that would be more for safety and potentially less injury. 

So in the land of the petite, how does one find a car that can fit us and be safe?  The boys over at car talk gave a great list to get started in my thinking, and the following list is what came next.

Things to look for:

1.  Adjustable pedals.  We liked this feature, however, was not readily found and was only available on new cars in our limited search.  Didn't make sense financially for us.

2.  Electric seat.  High priority, really helps in getting the car to fit me.

3.  Tilting AND telescoping steering wheel.  In my past experience they all tilt, but now many of them telescope too, which was a huge help!

4.  Dual-deploy airbags.  Some car makers seem to remember that there are petite mamas like us in the world and have come up with dual-deploy airbags.  The car senses if the seat is at a close distance to the steering wheel.   If that is the case and the airbag needs to deploy--it does so with less force.  This is a really great safety feature and something we had never heard of prior to doing some focused research.

5.  Airbag on/off switch.  This exists, but being that we like the idea of an airbag for safety we wanted to maximize everything else first before resorting to something as drastic as shutting off a safety feature.

Now that you have a few basic tools in your pocket on things to look for, where do you go to begin your research on the perfect chariot?

Consumer Reports was our weapon of choice.  Tons of info broken down into model years as well, so really knew what you were getting.  Also, the car kits were an excellent purchase as we knew how much we should be paying as well as what our trade in was worth.  Excellent to walk into a car dealership knowing that kind of info before you start negotiations.


Finally, the Consumer Reports list of best cars for tall and short drivers was also a fantastic place to start looking.  It can be found here.