Grandma El's review

When I began my journey in cloth diapering just over six months ago, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Like most of you, I had no idea that there were so many rules! (Don't wash with this detergent, only use special diaper rash cream....) But like most of you, I quickly found out how easy all of the "rules" are to follow.

I am very fortunate that I have two great cloth diaper stores in my area. If it wasn't for EcoBuns I probably would have never come as far as I have with CD'ing. My first trip in EcoBuns, Kellie explained to me that I needed to use special diaper rash cream. (no zinc oxide that most creams have) Thankfully, she introduced me to Grandma El's.

Grandma El's Diaper Rash Remedy and Prevention Ointment:

(This information in this section in italics is taken from the Grandma El's Website. Check out the Grandma El's website, where you can learn more and purchase Grandma El's, here!)

How It Works

Grandma El’s Diaper Rash Remedy & Prevention is a Patented Skin Soothing, and Healing Ointment. This unique Pediatrician Tested product has been used by Grandma El since 1974 to successfully treat and heal diaper rash.

Grandma El’s creates a skin softening, protective barrier which prevents wetness and stool enzymes from coming into contact with your baby’s bottom, while allowing the skin to breathe; something no other product offers. Grandma El’s promotes the growth of new skin collagen, which helps the healing process.

Grandma El has put an end to the white, messy paste, lotions, and creams. Grandma El’s knows that for the skin to heal, it needs to breathe. Other products coat the skin, and stop the skin from breathing, thereby slowing the healing process. Grandma El’s patented formula lets your baby’s skin breathe as it protects.

Recent studies have shown Grandma El’s Diaper Rash Remedy & Prevention to help in the following:

· Preventing skin breakdown

· Healing irritation and chapping· Promoting the growth of new skin collagen

· Soothing and softens baby’s skin making for a comforting experience

· Allowing skin to ‘breathe’ while protecting the skin from wetness and bacterial contamination Stopping redness, itching, pain, and soreness

Ingredients

Grandma El’s is manufactured by an FDA and cGMP compliant skin care product manufacturer. The formulation of Grandma El’s is comprised of ingredients which are derived from natural and organic origin, and contains no preservatives. Grandma El's only contains ingredients on the FDA GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) List and is Hypo-Allergenic so you can be assured your baby is getting the safest therapy.
Our ingredients:

• Anti-oxidant Natural Vitamin E , derived from Wheat Germ Oil (D alpha tocopherol acetate)
• Natural active derivatives of the plant Balsam of Peru, a known healing agent
• Salicylic Acid, derived from Willow bark and Wintergreen; this ingredient acting with Vitamin E can promote the growth of new skin
• Yellow Petrolatum, derived from naturally occurring mineral oil
• Insecticide-free Anhydrous Lanolin, a naturally occurring, allergy-free protecting and healing agent

Yellow Petrolatum and Insecticide-free Anhydrous Lanolin are FDA approved healing agents and protectants, while Vitamin E, Derivatives of Balsam of Peru, and Salicylic Acid heal and stimulate production of new cells.

Many other well known diaper rash products contain ingredients which are not on the FDA GRAS List. Some of these unproven and possibly unsafe ingredients are sodium borate, benzalkonium chloride, boric acid, calcium undecylenate, hexachlorophene, p-chloromercuriphenol, phenol, resorcinol, and triclosan. Please refer to the product you currently use to see if these ingredients are used.

DOES NOT CONTAIN BORIC ACID (Boric Acid has been removed from the FDA Safe List, yet many products today still contain it). Please visit the FDA website at www.fda.gov for further information.

What do I think?!

Pros

• Smells great! Even my husband loves it!
• Works great at prevention as well as healing diaper rash
• Perfect for cloth diapers
• Organic and natural ingredients, none of the ingredients recommended to stay away from
• Preservative free
• The tubes are just the right size! Perfect for home and travel. I have two tubes. One for diaper bag, and one for home. We have been using it about five months, and it is just now time to get new tubes.
• Has many other uses, like clearing up cradle cap and stretch-mark reduction. (See complete list here)

Cons

• This ointment does not work on rashes due to fungal or bacteria infection, or that occur when baby is sick and has the 'runs.'
• The small tube does make it easy to misplace when searching through a crammed diaper bag.

Overall, I love it! I highly recommend this to everyone! Ready to try some samples before you buy? Try here. *Note, at time of review, the site was out of free samples, but advises to keep checking back*

What's a guy to do?

I nurse in public like it's my job. Then again, it kind of is. It is my job to keep my baby fed. I still remember the first time I cleared a room. Baby A was about a month old, and my old roommate from Denver had come home for a visit with her boyfriend. I bundled up baby A and took him over to her parent's house to visit. Of course he was cluster feeding, so of course I had to feed him.

I'm a professional nurser. (Like I said, it's my job) I wear two shirts. I use a burp cloth to cover any thing that may be seen while baby A is trying to latch. I don't mess around.

But the look of horror on the boyfriend's face still surprised me. I have never seen a person jump up so quickly. His face turned red and he went to head (I mean run) out of the room. Followed by roommate's sister and other friend. (He mumbled something about not being able to look at another woman's breast in front of his girlfriend.)

There I sat with my long time friend while I fed my baby. The friend that I had spent many late nights at the bar with. The friend I had left in Denver (along with the party lifestyle) to return home to Michigan to get married and have children. The three of us were all alone. I give my friend props for staying with me. We could hear everyone laughing; having a good time in the other room. It forced her to chose between her old roomate that she hadn't seen in a year, and everyone else. (I'm not going to lie, I'm glad she picked me.)

So what's a guy to do?

I'm a huge lactivist. But I understand not everyone else is. I appreciate that not everyone has seen a woman nurse her baby. Men especially, can feel a lot of stress in this situation. Let me offer some advice.

1. To stay or go?

Stay were you are. If Mom starts to nurse in front of you, it's because she thinks its normal. If she wanted to be cast off from the group, she would leave. Let her enjoy your company. She's surrounded by baby talk all day. Don't take grown up time away from her!

2. To talk, or not to talk?

Follow her lead on conversation. Some babies are easily distracted. Others could nurse through a tornado. Men have no way of knowing this, and to be honest, moms don't either. It can change from day to day. If mom wants to talk, talk to her. If not, keep checking your Facebook on your phone.

3. Where to look?

Babies are cute. And for the most part, so are the containers their milk come from. Stare if you must. The same rules apply to bottle fed babies as breast fed babies. If you would look at a baby eating from a bottle, feel free to look at the nursing baby. If you shy away from babies in general, check your Twitter on your phone. These containers are often cuter than a bottle, but just as you wouldn't take a bottle out of a baby's mouth to suck on it yourself, don't ask the baby to unlatch so you can admire them up close.

In summary:

If a mom wants to nurse in front of you, take it as a compliment. She thinks you can handle it. Go with the flow. And if you're going to look, just make sure it's at the baby. Never, never ever look at a nursing mother's stomach!

When to start solids?

Baby A turned five months old Sunday. He is still exclusivly breastfed. Expect for the doses of Tylenol after the vacinations (one was oral) and the gentian violet, he has never had anything other than milk in his mouth.

Well, there was that one time when he was two months old, and his Aunt thought that he wanted watermelon. She put watermelon juice on her finger and stuck it in his mouth. Twice.

I was not happy.

This is the aunt that has a child. The aunt that flipped out when her baby (who was already eating solids) was given an oreo cookie. Now, I understand, watermelon is the lesser of two evils. But baby A is not eating solids of any kind.

Then there is my mother.

My sisters and I were started on rice cereal around 3 months old. So she is less than pleased that baby A hasn't started solids yet. She keeps pushing it. She was pretty sure we would come home from his four month checkup and announce that his pediatrician recommended us starting him on solids. But no such luck.

So that brings us to this weekend. My mom gave baby A frosting. I'm not sure how much. But it really got to me. To the point that I teared up a bit.

Did I overreact? Maybe.

I know she means well. I know that she is excited because this is her first Grandbaby. And she does so much for us. She watches him whenever we need her to. She spoils him like crazy. She loves him silly. I know she does everything out of love.

So, where do you draw the line? What battles do you fight and what do you let slide?

Nursing at Graduation

I was recently asked to be a guest blogger for cloth diaper addiction. She is doing a series on nursing. I thought a long time about what to write, and finally settled on a blog about nursing support. It was a toss up between that and nursing in public.

I don't think enough people talk about nursing in public. It is a huge milestone for a breastfeeding mom. A lot of my breastfeeding friends will pump to go out so they don't have to lift their shirt in front of strangers.

I'll admit, the first time I did I wasn't very prepared. My son was less than two weeks old and we were out watching my sister Dutch Dance at the Tulip Time Festival. We had just gotten done getting my son's newborn pictures done and he was hungry. So I just sat down on the sidewalk and prepared to nurse.

My sister saw what I was about to do and gawked in horror. "You are NOT going to just whip them out for the whole world to see are you?!?!!?!" Her comment really got to me. I wore two shirts like most other women will advise. One to pull up, one to keep my tummy covered. I even put my stroller directly behind me to block the view of anyone standing in the grass behind me. What my sister didn't realize is that her comment made me so frazzled, that I couldn't relax enough to get my son to latch on.

That's when my mother stepped in.

It was the beginning of May and still chilly, so I had brought a couple of blankets. So she grabbed a blanket to help me cover up. I felt so embarrassed to have my mom standing there holding a blanket over me. My face was red, my son was hungry and fussy, and I just couldn't get things right. I ended up mostly giving up and nursing in the car. (Not as easy as I thought. A Ford Focus was not meant for a car seat AND a mom nursing in the back seat. I may have covered the window with milk)

After that, I refused to leave my house for more than an hour and a half. I was not going to feed baby A anywhere other than the privacy of my own house. (The only exception to that was at my mom's house. I could nurse perfectly fine in front of my family.)

Then came my aforementioned sister's graduation from high school. Almost a month to the day since my last NIP attempt, I was going to be in a stadium surrounded by hundreds of people for at least two hours. I knew this was my best chance to get over my fear. First, my sister would not be around to make comments. Second, it was my sister's graduation. I wasn't going to miss it!

This time, I set myself up for success. I practiced at home and worked on coving up with my shirt. Baby A never liked a blanket or cover. Even at home, he would wiggle and try to get out from underneath it. I gave up trying and worked with what I had. I also attended a nursing support group once a week, and saw how other mom's didn't use blankets, but that I really couldn't see any of them at all once baby was latched on. And latching on only took a second or two. I practiced undoing my nursing tank and sliding it down only when baby A was at my breast ready to open his mouth and latch on. I even found the best place to put my nursing pad was to tuck it just inside the cup of the tank on the side I wasn't nursing on.

When my son began showing signs of hunger, I realized I had missed on minor (ok major) detail. Graduation was held at the football stadium. We were in the stadium seats. That means that people were be sitting behind/above me looking down at the field...and my boobs.

I took a deep breath, and proceeded to go through all the steps I had practiced. Elbowing the 20-something guy sitting behind me. Oops. I took another deep breath and continued. I got my son latched on. YAY! I nursed him through the opening speeches. I laughed at the great stories told. (The valedictorian made life comparisons to Sponge Bob Square Pants. I won't be forgetting that speech any time soon)

When my sister's name was called to receive her diploma, I was holding a sleeping, content baby, who slept right through my cheers for her.

I've been nursing in public without fear ever since.

First time Thrush Part 2

The verdict:

Gentian Violet is worth the wild goose chase. One "dose" did the trick!

I diluted the Gentian Violet by mixing one teaspoon GV and one teaspoon water. (The internet said that 2% is too strong and can leave ulcers in baby's mouth). I used a Q-tip and "painted" the inside of A's mouth and tongue. Poor guy has never had anything other than breastmilk (and one dose of Tylenol at his last round of shots) and this weekend he has had Tylenol, a oral vaccination, and now Gentian Violet. He was not too pleased with the taste of it. He gave me the most pathetic look I have ever seen!!!!

Anyways, right after I painted his mouth I fed him. The intention was to pass on some of the GV to me. But when I took him off, I didn't see any one me. But I wasn't having any symptoms myself, so I didn't bother to go get another Q-tip and paint myself.

It wasn't as messy as what I thought it was going to be. I had no staining of A's clothes. But he is a spitter, so I am working on getting a few purple stains out of some burp cloths. :)

After about 24 hours, he didn't look like he ate a grape Popsicle anymore and the white had vanished along with the purple!

I did run all of the binkies and toys that he chews on through the dishwasher twice.

Looks like we made it through!

First time thrush

I've heard all about it. But it has usually just gone in one ear and out the other. Right along with everything about sore and cracked nipples. It just didn't apply to me. And if it didn't apply to me, I didn't really care that much. But now I'm regretting it a bit. Ok, a lot.

That's right. My poor baby has thrush.

I attend a weekly breastfeeding support group at a local hospital. They talk about thrush at least twice a month. I have only missed two sessions sense my son was born. So I have heard a lot about it. But I never really worried about it. I am past the sore and cracked nipples, so I didn't think I had anything to worry about.

And then Andrew got some white patches on his tongue. On a day that his pediatrician has off. So I went to KellyMom to find out everything that I could about it. There was a lot off good advice there, but sometimes, you can have too much information. So while I was waiting to the doctor's office to figure out which on call to call, my mom called. Apparently, my youngest sister got thrush all the time. As she was telling me all about failing with Nysatin and finally using the "old fashion" treatment that the doctor told her about as a last resort I remembered my sister having purple lips all the time.

Thus began the "wild goose chase" for Gentian Violet. My doctor told the nurse to tell me to use Lotrmin. When I asked her about Gentian Violet, she told me that my doctor said it was an option, but that it is very hard to find in this area.

He was right. I spent two hours on the phone. I started with every health food store in the area. After I called everyone, I moved on to pharmacies. I was working my way down my list when my husband called. He picked up a prescription at a pharmacy by his work, and they didn't have any in stock. He was going to try stopping by one more on his way home. On his way to the one he was going to try, he saw a Rite Aid on the same side of the road that he was on. So he pulled in there randomly. And they had it!!!

We will see how it works tomorrow!

Another trip with cloth diapers

I am back! My computer was unavailable for a while. But now I'm back!

A and I went on our first out of state trip with cloth diapers last month. We are about to do it again tomorrow. This time we are bringing my husband! :) We are headed up to see my side of the family. Most of whom have not met A yet. I'm super excited. I'm much more confident in this trip than the last one.

1. I know I'm not going to be away from A this trip. Last time was a business trip. My sister came along to watch A while I was in seminars all weekend. I'm so excited I don't have to bring any milk or my pump with me. It's so much less stress not having to figure out how much milk to pack!

2. My husband is coming with me this time. This means that I don't have to drive this time! I can sleep while he drives! Maybe my first nap in quite a LONG time. :)

3. This trip is more for relaxation. Baby A is going to get to meet my extended family for the first time. I get to see my family for the first time in a long time. The last time my husband and I went up was last January for my Grandparent's 50 year anniversary.

4. I know that cloth diapers on a road trip is not that bad. The last trip, A had two explosions on the way down to Cincinnati. The van did not stink at all. :) I had read a lot about people complaining their car stunk on a road trip with cloth diaper. But we road for 7 hours with at least one dirty diaper, and neither of us noticed a stink.

5. I've done it before, so I know what to expect. Doesn't it always seem that it's more scary to do something you have never done before? This time, I've done it before. I know babies can change and are unpredictable, but I have high hopes for this trip. So I'm much more relaxed.

It feels good to be back! Expect much more great posts soon!