Swimming With Baby- Freaks Me Out

Miss A has been swimming a lot this summer. Splashing around... Learning to kick... etc. etc

IT FREAKS ME OUT.

First, she licks the water with her tongue out like a dog... Then she insists on dunking her face in until she realizes, WHOA, I CAN'T BREATHE! She holds her head up high, freaks out slightly, and then when she is okay, she does it again.

And again...

And again...

I panic. What happens if she can't breathe again? Then what? Slap her back... Try and get her to choke out the water? And if that doesn't work? CPR. I don't know how to do CPR!!

IT FREAKS ME OUT.

We use life jackets and baby floaties but it doesn't prevent Miss A from dipping her head in the water. I'm glad she's not scared of the water but like I said... IT FREAKS ME OUT. My fear haunts me throughout the rest of the day and night after swimming because I am so paranoid about the WHAT IFS...

So to calm my nerves, I'm going to re-watch these emergency rescue videos I posted earlier and relearn infant CPR. If there is anyone else paranoid about swimming with their baby, I recommend them to you as well!

Mommy Loves Yoga

My mind is calm and clear. All of my stress and worries have disappeared. I feel as if a button was pushed to completely refresh my body. I have waves of calming sensations pulsing steadily throughout my body. I am totally chill. And I LOVE IT.

How did I achieve this awesome state of being?

Yoga Cat doing one of my FaVe positions. I own this 2012 calendar too. I am a freak, I know. LOL

I just finished a session of Yoga X from my P90X workout program. It is an hour and a half long session focusing on flexibility, coordination, and balance through four different sections. It includes Moving Asanas (flowing transitions between poses), Balance Postures, Floor Poses, and Yoga Belly 7 (abdominal/core work). Yoga X is intended to be more intense, which is probably why it is so lengthy. My goal is not to convince you to try Yoga X but to urge you to try yoga in general if you haven't already. This is one of the few ways I can bring myself back to reality and gather my composure when the pressures of motherhood, family drama, and life stresses hit full throttle. Somehow I am able to gather my remaining strength and focus in on moving and breathing my way through the various yoga positions. It is almost like I both "zone out" and concentrate on perfecting the poses during the workout. I get a huge relieving wave of sensations and just utter calmness within. I can't explain the feeling entirely but it is awesome!! It's definitely some form of (much needed) meditation.

I'm not sure why I never wrote about yoga during my pregnancy but I did do prenatal yoga workouts throughout my entire pregnancy. I was determined to calm my mind for my developing baby (Miss A who is already 9 months!) I wanted to create a relaxed, peaceful atmosphere for her, especially since I (like many!!) had many major emotional meltdowns. I practiced different yoga moves like the infamous Kegels during squats to help prepare my pelvic floor for child birth. Also there are many poses to alleviate lower back pain like Cat Pose and also to help with circulation and sciatic nerve pain. For pregnancy, I can't recommend a better workout! Well maybe swimming... that relieves you of your massive body weight! :P

But I think yoga is especially ideal for mothers who need a personal time out from everything after a lonngg day of crying babies or lazy husbands. (hehe :P) The people who tend not to like yoga are those that haven't had much practice with workouts that require flexibility and coordination. This is not a reason to steer clear of it though! I promise that with practice you will learn to move through various positions and reap the mind clarity benefits as well. Don't make the mistake of thinking yoga is for lazy people, because you do get a GREAT workout. It may seem boring to those who don't like to meditate or move slowly through workouts, but all I can say is to just give it a chance.

IT IS AWESOME.
This mommy loves yoga because it is the ultimate cure all. The panacea for ALL life stresses.

May sound extreme but I swear it is true. I guess you won't find out until you try it for yourself!

Is It Healthy for Your Baby to Eat Cat Food?

This is an important question here. Is it healthy for your baby to eat cat food... or more importantly is it unsafe??

Miss A insists on gobbling down as much cat food as she can get her paws on. I often catch her with bits of soggy pieces of cat food all over her chin. When I pick her up and set her all the way across the room, away from the cat food, she immediately army crawls back as fast as possible. She desperately tries to snatch another piece of cat food before I pick her up and move her back across the room again. Once I do, the race back to the cat food happens again and again... and again.

You are probably wondering why I don't just block off the area around the cat food. Well... I've done that. It's like my cats and baby have teamed up though. She still manages to get some cat food. I don't know if my cats are playing with their food and bat the pieces into Miss A's reach or if they personally paw-deliver pieces to her! It's the most disgusting thing in the world but yet Amelia makes a game of seeing how much she can shove into her mouth without me noticing. When she gets quiet, I instantly know she is up to trouble and probably sitting in the corner shoving pieces of cat food in her mouth. Gross.

Babies! 

We feed our cats (and baby?) Purina Cat Chow, the indoor formula. Here are the ingredients listed in this delicious concoction.

Ingredients:

Corn meal, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, soy flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), powdered cellulose, animal liver flavor, soybean hulls, malt extract, calcium carbonate, phosphoric acid, salt, choline chloride, potassium chloride, taurine, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, parsley flakes, niacin, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2), copper sulfate, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite. I-4500
Let's take a closer look at a few of these ingredients. I am no scientist so you will have to bare with me.

Poultry By-Product Meal: This is chicken that is rejected for human consumption. This means the chicken is dead or old and dying. It includes bones, offal, undeveloped eggs, and feathers.

Corn Gluten Meal: By product of corn used as an inexpensive protein source used mainly in animal feed.

Animal Fat: Animal fat can't be too bad for your baby seeming how breastmilk is at least 50% animal fat. The animal fat in cat food is likely to be chicken or turkey fat. It's essential for giving the cat energy. Also it enhances taste!

Animal Liver Flavor: Harmless flavor that Amelia especially loves.

Soybean Hulls: Another by product meal from the soybean meal industry. This is added to help reduce hairballs.

Several Vitamins: Babies don't really need vitamin supplements if they are eating their fruits and vegetables, along with formula/breastmilk. But the body will just flush out the excess vitamins anyways. So I say it's harmless.

I honestly should have stopped researching at the poultry by product meal ingredient. I feel sick to my stomach and I'm not even the one eating the cat food! The purpose of cat food is to provide CATS with a healthy meal especially formulated for their body's nutrition needs. Cats are different from humans. (In case you forgot... like I do occasionally.) So of course Miss A should NOT be eating cat food!

However, Popular Science wrote an article that answers my initial question.

No it is not healthy to eat cat food... on a regular basis. It does not provide the essentials nutrients needed for the human body. 

It may be consumed safely though. So you know, I am not trying to rationalize why it is okay to let Miss A eat cat food. I will constantly be making sure she eats as few pieces of cat food as possible! I hear my mom used to eat dog food as a baby. This kind of behavior must run in the family. Haha! :P

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To make up for her cat food eating behavior, I try to include a healthy diet by making some of my own homemade baby food. Tonight it was Peas & Lima Beans. I bought one bag of frozen peas and one bag of frozen lima beans. I cooked them and pureed them in the blender with some water. I mix in some baby cereal too when I feed it to her. Sound gross? Miss A had it for dinner tonight and loved it...

I use Munchkin Fresh Food Freezer Cups to store leftovers in the freezer.

Maybe you'd prefer cat chow?

NASTY. That is soggy cat food on her face...

Infant Choking & CPR Training

Do you know what to do if your infant starts choking and cannot breathe?

That is a very, very scary thought I hope to never experience. My baby is always crawling all over the floor and while we think it's clean, she manages to find the smallest objects to put directly in her mouth! So far she has shoved cat food, a hair clip, paper, and other unidentifiable objects into her mouth. We immediately scoop the object out of her mouth with our finger but it is scary. Once she even started to gag but we are lucky she has never actually choked yet. We make an extra effort to pick up everything on the floor, but she seems to have a better eye than us... being floor level and all.

My friend Candace is a certified nurse assistant and today she showed me some videos from her work trainings related to infant safety. (ProCPR.org) She received certifications through this company. I will paraphrase three important emergency procedures for those with babies in their households. Be sure to watch the video links so you fully understand how to perform them. It is well worth the time spent learning and watching these videos.

Infant CPR
If baby is not breathing, please call 911 immediately!
If baby has no pulse, begin CPR.
Use two fingers on the center of the chest, on the sternum, between the nipple line for 30 compressions followed by giving baby 2 breaths.
Repeat until 911 help arrives.
Please watch the video.

Conscious Infant Choking
Baby is conscious.
Support baby's face, head, and neck, and tilt the baby so the head is lower than the torso.
Slap baby on back, between the shoulder blades 5 times.
Flip baby over and use two fingers to perform 5 chest thrusts.
Repeat back slaps and chest trusts until object is removed or until baby becomes unconscious.
Please watch the video.

Unconscious Infant Choking
Baby is unconscious. Please call 911 immediately!
Use two fingers on the center of the chest, on the sternum, between the nipple line for 30 compressions.
Check for object.
Give baby 2 breaths. If breaths do not go in, reposition airway and attempt 2 more breaths.
Continue 30 compressions, object check, and breaths until object is out and infant is breathing, or until 911 help arrives.
Please watch the video.

Please watch these important videos from ProCPR.org if you are unfamiliar with infant emergency procedures. These videos are free and up to date.

I believe it is extremely important to be trained in CPR and First Aid. Accidents happen all the time. You can never plan on when you will have to perform an emergency procedure to save someone (your baby???)'s life. I planned on doing taking classes during my pregnancy but could never afford the Red Cross trainings. I just discovered you can take safety courses and become certified through ProCPR.org as well. The courses are 100% online and they offer several different training programs that are very affordable. I even have a discount code for anyone who chooses to take a course or two.

My discount-code is CPR-Amelia.

Here are the classes that they offer.
Healthcare Provider (BLS) Adult, Child, and Infant CPR/AED
Workplace Adult, Child, and Infant CPR/AED & First Aid
Bloodborne Pathogen Prevention Training
Workplace Adult-Only CPR/AED and First Aid
Healthcare Provider Adult / Child / Infant CPR/AED (BLS) & First Aid
Awareness Level CPR Course for Students