6 months of being a hippie mom

This post was in the making for over a month.  I’m back in the workforce on a part time basis but by sharing a family car I am not home anywhere near as much.  Sorry for the delay…

As Shammy reaches the half year mark (it’s been 6 months already?!) I love how affectionate he has become with hugs and kisses galore, it melts my heart every time.

We have survived the 6 month growth spurt, made that much more special by having a teething pain combo, the stubborn tooth is still under his gum although I can see the white.  Things seem to have slowed down though as he hasn’t tried to bite my finger off recently.

As part of this growth spurt I’ve had to do a massive changeover on his wardrobe and pack away yet another box of clothes that no longer fit. He has also graduated to the largest rise setting on his one size cloth diapers OMG!

Shammy saw a third doctor for his 6 month checkup.  As previously shared, Dr. Punger doesn’t accept our current insurance and the second doctor was fired after the first visit so here we went again into the unknown.  It was a good experience, he was very selective/delayed vax friendly and helped me work out a schedule that was less aggressive.

Shammy had not had any vaccinations and the plan was to start at this appointment, part of me still doesn’t want to vaccinate but there are various reasons for the ultimate decision which I may share at another time.  The state of Florida makes it a HUGE pain in the ass to delay or skip some vaccines when compared to not vaxing at all, maybe there is a method that I haven’t figured out yet.

I really wish to not vaccinate at all, but call me lazy or scared, the amount of pressure to do so is borderline unbearable.  It would be easy if we can homeschool and not have to deal with the Department of Health and DCF.  The best that I could do was stall a few months to help the blood brain barrier start to develop and try to skip a few and take others late.

Needless to say I was rather anxious about his first round of shots as I didn’t know what type of reactions he may have.  Now that we are on the other side of that bridge we are dealing with extreme fussiness, trouble sleeping and low grade fever, fun times… and we get to do this all over again in 3 months.

This is not a new rant but has officially reached pet peeve status.  I’m sick and tired of people comparing babies as if they’re all apples from the same tree.  In one of the websites that I belong to all of the moms of babies born in July were posting the stats from their baby’s 6 month checkup.  Nothing wrong with that, heck I’m curious myself. What made my blood boil is when some moms would cry a river over the fact that their baby was 1 pound lighter or half an inch shorter than somebody else’s baby the same age.  WTF?

Didn’t the doctor say baby is on track, isn’t he/she growing at a steady rate?  then why in the hell are you going to whine as if you have a defective baby/failed as a parent over 1 pound?    Babies don’t come out from an assembly line manufactured from the same mold like baby dolls, get over your inferiority complex already!

Another pet peeve, is strangers, specially old people that insist on touching the baby.  Back off!  Most of the time I’m wearing Shammy so this serves as a deterrent but the other day we were at a restaurant and Shammy was sitting in the stroller when an elderly couple came over to talk to him.  Immediately both my husband and I stopped eating, tensed up and watched them mentally warning them not to dare try.  We agreed after the fact that our reactions wouldn’t have been pretty nor peaceful if they had tried to touch him.  Mama Bear mode enabled!

As I was researching articles for advice on camping with an infant I was shocked to see the advice to bring powdered formula because it’s easier and remains sterile.  WTF?  #1  formula is never easier than breastfeeding, specially when camping, just whip out the boob and latch, compare that to sterilizing bottles, adding water, measuring powder, shaking vigorously, etc….   and #2 and a shock to many people: formula of any kind is NOT sterile, and the recent Similac recall fiasco should have been an indication.

I am very proud of having reached the 6 month breastfeeding milestone and still going strong. I like knowing that Shammy has never tasted formula and plan to continue nursing until he decides that he is ready to wean.