Womb to Bloom - Maternity & Beyond

We all swore we would never do it. We won’t be those parents who discuss baby poop. And we all end up doing it anyway. What we didn’t realize before we had children was that the contents of a dirty diaper (or lack thereof) often have a direct correlation to the health and happiness of our babies. So, poop is important. We chart it. We discuss it. We call our partners in from another room to look at it.

Seriously, you can learn a lot about what is going on with your baby based upon his diaper. Before you leave the hospital and then again at your baby’s first visit to the pediatrician, your health care providers will talk to you about your newborn’s bowel movements. Frequency, color, consistency – these are all things to note.

Just a few weeks ago, I was clipping one of my twin girl’s fingernails and took a huge chunk out of her fingertip. Her finger started bleeding, she started screaming, and I felt like the worst mother in the history of the universe. I talked to my friend about it, and she admitted that she always seems to clip her baby’s fingertips along with her fingernails.

She told me not to worry about it because if you don’t clip her fingernails, they’ll just get so long that she’ll scratch herself and start crying then. So pretty much you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. That is the case with a lot of baby grooming. They hate it, and you hate seeing them miserable, yet it has to get done.  

As a new parent, I toiled over the decision of whether to use cloth or disposable diapers.  I knew that disposable diapers were fast, convenient, and would fit my “Mile a minute” lifestyle perfectly. I also knew that the cost of using disposable diapers would add up fast.

I didn’t want to shun the idea of using cloth diapers because I wanted to do my part for the environment, and save a little money in the process. But the idea of adding extra work to my already hectic life didn’t exactly scream, “Come to me.” 

I’ve had friends who’ve used cloth diapers with great success and others who hated them. Since I have never been the type of gal to go on the experiences of others, I had to see for myself if using cloth diapers on my twins would mesh with my lifestyle.

It starts off as this little white flake in the center of your baby’s perfect little head.  You try and brush it off, but that just makes more flakes appear.  And before you know it there’s a snow storm of white flaky skin all over your baby’s head, all over his clothes, even all over you!  What the heck is this!

Its cradle cap, which is a type of scaly rash caused by some of mom’s left over hormones.  Cradle cap can rear its ugly flaky head within the first few weeks of your baby’s life.  Cradle cap is typically found on top of the baby’s head, and appears as patchy scales.  But be forewarned; attempting to brush away these red scales can lead to a massive outbreak of white flakes- not unlike confetti at a Catholic wedding.   Cradle cap can sometimes spread to your baby’s ears and eyebrows.