Take Classes at Green Baby Diaper Service

There is a lot going on at Green Baby Diaper Service, so we're calling this week "What's New Week." We're going to tell you about all the plans we have for the fall to bring you more. Here's a preview:

Green Baby is going to start consigning used cloth diapers, hosting all types of classes, holding a fundraiser, and putting out a monthly calendar of events.

Lots of exciting stuff.

There are several classes scheduled to take place at Green Baby Diaper Service. Below is a list:

How to Soothe a Crying Baby with a Moby Wrap and a Butt Pat

I posted something about the butt pat on my blog recently. Basically, it goes like this:

1. Baby cries
2. Mama puts baby in a carrier
3. Mama bounces around and pats baby's butt
4. Baby calms down and goes quietly to sleep

It works. Every. Time.

The only time it hasn't worked is if I'm trying to avoid nursing (as sometimes occurs after I've nursed every hour on the hour in the middle of the night and I think baby is just nursing out of habit) but baby really wants to nurse. Then I have to give in and nurse.

During last Friday's babywearing class, I had a sweet mama with an even sweeter 2-month-old baby who wanted to learn how to use the Moby. Of course, attending a scheduled class with an infant isn't always what the infant wants to be doing at that given time. And when infants don't want to be doing something, they cry.

The little sweet pea was a little sleepy, and he wanted a nap. So I held him while mama got the moby situated. He knew I wasn't his mama, though. I didn't smell like his mama. (I smell like natural deodorant, after all). But I did the only thing I knew how. The butt pat. It worked. Little sweet pea was instantly relaxed.

So if you're wearing your baby and baby isn't all that happy about it, or it's time for a nap and baby is being fussy, try the bounce and the butt pat. I love being able to show mamas how to adapt to baby's crying, especially when they're getting used to something new like a wrap.

You can even do it while you already have one child in the wrap. This is what I looked like. (fake baby alert... we didn't think to get a pic while I was holding sweet pea and Little M was asleep in my own moby. But you get the gist). It just took a butt pat and a bounce and both babies were happy:

Benefits of Babywearing: Digging Deeper

When you hear about the benefits of babywearing, you often hear how babies who are worn cry less and learn more. If you have any experience with babywearing, this makes sense. I have worn both of my babies since they were born, and it’s an uncanny way to soothe them when they are fussing—even more than nursing or rocking them. And I always heard that babies who are worn cry less. But I couldn’t help but wonder why.

And I know you can’t spoil a baby by holding them too much, but I always wonder what kind of habits my parenting will build. When my first son was a baby, I couldn’t help but wonder: would wearing him lead him to want to be held more as he grew older? My son is a creature of habit (if you have a toddler, you know what I’m talking about) and he certainly likes to be held, but I’m glad I’ve given him all the benefits that babywearing provides. Did my wearing him make him be the kind of kid who always wants to be held? I don’t know. I kind of think that’s the kind of kid he always was, which is why he liked to be worn so much.

It all finally came together for me while I was reading the book “What’s Going on in There?: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life” by Lise Eliot. She explains how the first senses to develop are touch and the vestibular system—the system that detects motion and position—and how stimulating these senses decreases stress levels in babies and can actually make them smarter.