“This one is a 14K gold and diamond studded pacifier worth $17,000 that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s daughter Shiloh Nouvel was presented by a website called Itsmybinky.com.”  — From ilovemybaby.org

Lately, I’ve been pondering whether we should give Baby Champuru a pacifier.  Maybe not the $17,000 diamond-studded one you see above, but a more humble one perhaps.

So far, we’ve managed to survive without succumbing to the temptation of putting a plug in her mouth even in the throes of early morning ear-piercing tantrums.  I will admit that it is tempting, though.  In those moments, you will do nearly anything to calm the heart-wrenching screams of your fussy newborn. Sometimes, she’ll find her own fingers and put them in her mouth, immediately quelling her cries as she sucks away contentedly on her own hand.  A few times, as an experiment, I’ve nudged her hand toward her mouth as she’s having a fit and she’ll immediately take to it, giving me a minute or two of quiet sanity.  This gives me the impression that a pacifier would have a similar calming effect.

However, I am somewhat leery about starting a potential habit that may be difficult to break later.  I’m also hesitant to give her a pacifier because of the potential for nipple confusion.  She’s doing so well with the breastfeeding that I would hate to complicate things.

We have an appointment with the pediatrician next week, so I’ll ask him what he thinks.  Moms, what do YOU think?

Numerous friends have told us that a white noise or “sound machine” is a helpful device to have to help baby get to sleep.  We saw the calming effect it had on Baby Champuru at the photo shoot we did with Lisa Hoang of Windwardskies Photography. Ever since, I have been meaning to get a sound machine and even sent Hubby on a mission to USA Baby and Wal-mart to find the elusive gadget — but, to no avail. And lucky for us, too, because we found a much better solution that cost us less than a buck.

As I was perusing the iTunes App Store, I found a nifty little application called Ambiance for $0.99 that is basically a sound machine for your iPhone or iPod Touch.  Instead of paying $20+ for an actual device, I just downloaded the application for $0.99 and hooked up a set of old Dell computer speakers and subwoofer and — voila! — we have a sound machine that sounds phenomenal.

I have been using it at night after her last feeding and it seems to do the trick.  Our favorite is the creek sound effect, which really does sound like running water just outside our window.  It’s all the benefits of having a creek, without the mosquitos.

Most of the sound machines I’ve seen online look much like a clock radio, I’d assume with the sound quality to match.  With the ambiance app, your iPod Touch (or iPhone), and a set of decent speakers, you have a nice alternative for a fraction of the cost.  So, now you have a legitimate reason to put that iPod on your baby registry!

A few people have asked me about how things are going with the cloth diapers since I blogged about it previously here and here, so I wanted to give you an update.

We have not started using the cloth diapers yet, since we received a bunch of disposable diapers as gifts from friends and family.  Also, the cloth diapers appear too big for baby yet.  The instructions on the Bum Genius diapers indicate that it will fit babies from 8-35 pounds.  Baby Champuru is still only about 6-pounds at last check.

I have to admit that the convenience of disposable diapers makes it very tempting to continue using them, except for the fact that I have already invested a good deal of money in the cloth diapers.  Also, disposable diapers can get expensive really quick.  I’ve already had Hubby run out to buy a couple of 40-packs of Pampers from Wal-Mart and they were about $12 each.  Seeing as how baby can go through 8-12 diapers a day, a pack of 40 doesn’t go very far.

I’ll probably try to put a pre-fold on her soon, as that may be smaller than the pocket/all-in-one (AIO) diapers.  Of course, if any cloth diapering mamas have any recommendations for me, I’m all ears!

For now, I guess it’s Pampers and Huggies for Baby Champuru.  And by the way, not all disposable diapers are created equal.  We got some Wal-Mart Parent’s Choice diapers in a gift basket and they just don’t seem to fit as well as the name brands.  However, when doing a price check, they’re about half the price of name brands.  If we were to continue using disposables primarily (which we won’t once baby will fit in the cloth diapers), it may be something worth considering for home use, though.

Nursing Baby Champuru takes up a good portion of my day: 40 minutes at a time, every 2-3 hours, so I’ve learned to multi-task somewhat while she’s happily quiet and busy.  In fact, as I’m typing this entry, she is attached to my boob.  I haven’t figured out how to do other things, like cooking or laundry while nursing yet, but I figure at least I can do some work (or play!) on the computer while baby is occupied.  This makes me happy.  After all, I’m all about making good use of my time!

I have a sling, a peanut shell, and a Beco baby carrier that I have yet to try out.  Perhaps using a carrier might help me do more around the house during the day.  I’m just a little leery about putting her in a carrier while she’s so small and fragile.  Babywearing mamas, did you put your newborn in a carrier right away?  Or did you wait a while?

While I’m nursing, I’m also playing Okinawan music for baby to listen to.  I’m hoping that this early exposure will nuture a familiarity and love for her culture that will continue throughout her life.  (I’ll make her a Toru Yonaha fan yet!)  Next, I’ll have to teach her how to dance kachashi!

Champuru Nursing Must-Haves:

The green pillow you see baby lying on is a My Brest Friend nursing pillow that I received as a baby shower gift.  Let me tell you, I cannot live without it.  When I was learning how to breastfeed in the hospital, the lactation consultant helped me wedge about six pillows all around me, on my lap, behind my back, and on my sides to achieve proper nursing position of the baby.  It was frustrating, to say the least, to have to fluff and prop those pillows perfectly every time it was time to feed baby.  When I got home, I started using the My Brest Friend pillow and it made it so much easier.  The wrap-around pillow is like a platform for baby and a backrest for me, allowing me to keep my arms and shoulders relaxed.  When I was nursing in the hospital, I found that my arms, shoulders, and neck were always tense, trying to keep baby in the proper position.  With the nursing pillow, both baby and I are comfortable.

Another nursing must-have is a nursing stool.  I have the Medela Nursing Stool, which is $25.95 on Amazon.com.  I think we paid close to $35 locally. (DOH!)

Baby Champuru is doing well and keeping up her miraculous new schedule, which allows me to sleep from around 10:30 pm - 2 am, then from 3 am - 6 am.  Six hours of sleep in three hour stretches is completely do-able.  And, she hasn’t been throwing tantrums during the wee hours like she was in the beginning.  Now, she wakes up around 2 am, I nurse her for 40 minutes and she goes right to bed.  Then, she wakes up again at 6 am and I nurse her for 40 minutes and start my day after that.

She’s awake all day and reserves her fits for the daylight hours now, which is totally fine with me — it just makes it hard for me to get much done in the way of house work, e-mail, and blog updates.  I can’t complain though, because truth be told, I cherish my sleep much more than being able to maintain my OCD status with the housekeeping.

Baby amazes me every single day of her life.  I wish I could record every moment somehow, so that I can replay it in the future when she’s older and she’s not as willing to let me cuddle her and coddle her.  Oh, perish the thought!

Last night was absolutely wonderful, I really hope it wasn’t a fluke. After 10 pm, Baby Champuru woke up only twice, at 2:15 am and 5:20 am to be nursed before waking up at 8:00 am for the day. She fussed a little after the 5:20 am feeding, but did not throw her normal wee-hour tantrums like she has been. It was bliss. If she can stick to this schedule, I will be a very happy camper. We’ll see how she does tonight.

Milestone: Baby Champuru is two weeks old and her umbilical cord stump fell off today.

Hubby was the designated piko cleaner, so as he was swabbing it with a Q-tip dipped in alcohol this morning, it came loose and fell off. Hubby, already knowing the answer, jokingly asked, “did you want to keep it?”

“Um, no, thanks,” I said. There are people I know who have saved their baby’s umbilical cord stump as a keepsake. Quite frankly, I think that’s a little gross. I mean, what do you do with it? You can’t exactly press it into a scrapbook. It does seem a little anticlimactic, but stump ended up in the trash can.

I can’t believe two weeks have already passed since her birth.

As I’m writing this, it’s 6 pm. I was only able to put baby down for a nap about 20 minutes ago after countless attempts to get her to sleep all day. After trying everything to calm her, I finally resorted to swaddling her and she immediately settled down and fell asleep. Normally, she would fall back to sleep after feedings and sleep for 3-4 hours during the day. Sometimes I even have to wake her up for feedings because she’s sleeping so fitfully. But, not today. She was wide-eyed and alert all day — throwing crying fits off and on. It’s uncanny, but this started no more than two minutes after Hubby and I were discussing how she seemed to be less fussy last night. Normally, she is a nocturnal creature — turning on her tantrums between 1 - 3 am and continuing sometimes off and on until 4 or 5 am. But today, oh today, it was all day. ALL DAY. I really hope that this is an indication of a “shift change” of sorts and that she will start sleeping for longer stretches during the evening and staying awake during the day. One can hope, right?