1/13/2009

One Year of ...


Today I'm excited to be celebrating our youngest daughter's 1st birthday. What a year it has been! She has brought us unbelievable joy and heart ache in a years time. I'm happy to say though that she healthy and able to enjoy her birthday like a normal one year old which brings tears of joy to my eyes just thinking about it. But that is really not what this post is about.



I'm also excited to be celebrating my one year anniversary of cloth diapering, babywearing and breastfeeding my youngest daughter.



For the past year my daughter has spend everyday but 7 (vacation) in cloth diapers. I have loved it more then one could imagine. Oh yes, you did hear me right. I hated used disposable diapers with my older daughter. I could not wait for the day she was potty trained. Now that I found love for cloth I don't mind the diapers at all. Not only is it easier for me to use it has helped my daughter from having diaper rashes and other skin problems caused the harsh chemicals in disposables. I use our cloth diapering spreadsheet to keep track of what diapers I buy and sell as well as our environmental impact. According to our spreadsheet we have saved $690 vs using disposables AND kept 3087+ diapers out of landfills! Who knew a baby's butt could be green in so many ways?



I'm extremely proud to have breastfeed my daughter for a full year as well. I would be a liar if I told you it was easy. But nothing worthwhile in life is easy. I've had mastitis twice this year and have had sever cracks that have taken several weeks to heal. In fact, I currently have one! Why would I continue to nurse my daughter having so many issues with nursing? There is nothing like the bond you have with your baby when you are holding them close to your chest, knowing that she is sometimes only comforted by nursing, and that she healthy because of the perfect nutrients only you can give her. God knew what he was doing when he created women to be able to nurse their babies.



I started wearing my daughter as soon as she came home. I use two different slings and a Mei Tai carrier. When she is having a rough day I just slide her in and off we go. I am able to get stuff done around the house while is she being comforted by the closeness to me. When we travel I feel safer having her strapped to me in a busy airport. She feels more confidant at the same time in her familiar place. It also helps me to nurse a little more discretely in public.



Is one year enough? Am I going to keep on cloth diapering, babywear and nursing? I'm very proud to be have gone this far and strive to continue both. I'm planning on cloth diapering until my daughter if potty trained. I will nurse my daughter until she decides she no longer needs it or I have to quite for a medical reason. I will continue to wear my child until she is to big.



How long did you nurse, babywear, and/or cloth diaper? Did you quite to early? Go to long?




Happy Birthday baby girl!


2 comments:

Karla (ThreadBndr) said...

I breast fed JC until he was 9 months. I wanted to go a full year or more, but he basically weaned himself one long weekend when I was sick with the flu. That really disappointed me. He went straight to a sippy cup, so we had basically no bottles (one or two for water, we started juices once he'd mastered the cup - which only took a few days).

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday little girl!!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin