According to a journal article, cell phone usage during pregnancy has been linked to children with behavioral problems later in childhood. The research was done by UCLA and Aarhus, Denmark. Here is a newspaper article about the research.
While the newspaper article (I haven’t read the journal article itself - but who likes to read accademic journal articles anyway) implies that using a cell phone during pregnancy causes behavioral problems in children and while that might be the case, we won’t know until more research is done.
My feeling is that there is a relationship between the type of person that uses a cell phone several times a day and a child with supposed behavioral problems. In other words, perhaps there is a genetic cause for the type of personality that uses a cell phone and that genetic trait could be passed on to a child. Basically, I think we are seeing a correlation rather than causation. Regardless of what is really taking place here, both BM and I might be in trouble since we both pretty much live on our cell phones.
Needless to say, I am trying to use this forum to pass online information that I run across that other parents or soon to be parents might find helpful. You can read the article here.
I told G about all the new subscribers to his blog. He was very excited to hear so many people are interested in his baby adventures :) I snapped the following picture during that discussion.
We hit a personal milestone Thursday night. G went seven hours between feedings during the night.
We asked the doctor about G’s seven hour night and she said that was great and to keep shooting for those long nights. If I am not mistaken, the biggest hurdle to getting a child to sleep through the night is keeping food in their belly for that length of time. G’s belly has grown quite a bit and I am guessing that is why we had success. Not to worry though, BM and I didn’t get to sleep for that entire seven hours so we are still sleep deprived :)
Every morning after breakfast, Gmoney is usually awake for a little while. During that time, he likes to look around and checkout what is going on in his kingdom. After surveying all that is his, he begins his Tai Chi rountine. This usually only involves his upper body and some outsiders often mistake his Tai Chi moves for those of a martial arts kata. Below is an image from a session a couple days ago.
Yesterday, we took G to the doctor for a scheduled checkup. We had a pretty long list of questions to talk about with the pediatrician and she patiently answered all of them and put any of our concerns to rest. BM decided she wanted to be the person asking the questions since she wasn’t able to attend the last appointment as she was still recovering from the birth. It was my job to take notes :) Bottom line… the doctors says G is doing great. Had this been a visit with the OB, the doctor would have told us “Perfect Growth.”
As part of the checkup, they weighed, measured, poked, and prodded G. As of yesterday, he weighs 11 pounds and is now 22 3/4 inches long. After all the measuring, the nurses plot the information on a piece of special graph paper to determine how the baby’s growth compares to other babies of the same age. G’s height is at the 90th percentile. Both his head size and weight are at the 75th percentile.
They used a lancet type device to poke a hole in G’s heal. Then a piece of paper was blotted with blood dots about seven times. That is for a test called the Phenylketonuria (PKU) Test. The same test was performed in the hospital and everything checked out fine, but because the test looks at an enzyme that is key to normal healthy growth, the doctors test it again at the one month visit to ensure everything is working as it should.
The nurse also took a urine specimen, although, I don’t recall what they were looking for. I do know that if anything is abnormal with the results, we should receive a call sometime in the next couple of days.
Overall, everything looks great. The umbilical cord piece is still on, but that didn’t raise any concerns with the doctor. She told us that if the cord hadn’t fallen off by the end of two weeks from yesterday that she wants to see it again. But, she did say it looks fine and that there is no reason for concern.
Anyway, I thought everyone would like an update on the growth of our baby G. Below are two photos from the visit. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
In the process of getting ready for Gman to arrive on the scene, we were given or purchased several different brands of diapers (I know, but at least I am carbon neutral through the purchase of carbon credits). The reason for so many is that we heard and read that some diapers don’t fit some babies properly and we might end up with an explosion in certain places outside the realm of the diaper. Nobody wants that :)
So, in anticipation of that, we had about five different brands in the house upon G’s arrival home. Turns out, they all seem fine at holding in the things that should be kept in a diaper. But, some of them do a better job than others at keeping his little bottom dry and rash free.
The diapers we are using right now are made by Pampers and are called Swaddlers Sensitive (they are new). It isn’t that he has sensitive skin, that we know of, rather, they do the best job of keeping him dry. But, the coolest thing for me (since I am new to the diaper thing) is that there is a little yellow line that runs across the front of the diaper that will turn green when it detects urine. So, just at a glance, I can tell if the diaper needs changing.
I don’t really know if that brand of diaper with the wetness indicator exists beyond sizes N and 1, but having that line and having a diaper that keeps G dry has been helpful for us. In the future, the line won’t mean as much as both BM and I are better able to tell by squeezing the diaper (or by smell) than we used to be.
But, this post isn’t really about the diaper we use (we buy them at Target for those that want to try and they cost about double a normal diaper I think), it is about the little drawings and characters that are on the diaper. You see, all the diapers we have and all the ones we have seen in the stores have little cartoon characters on them. The funniest to me is Winnie the Pooh, but you also have Elmo, Cookie Monster, or just some fluffy clouds. For the life of me, I don’t really know what the purpose is of those drawings.
If you don’t already know (I do have readers that don’t have kids), a newborn doesn’t really have the ability to see clearly for some time. The newborn’s vision will gradually improve over time until they are eventually able to track movement with their eyes and recognize faces. A newborn baby should be able to see high contrast black and white items about six to eight inches from their face. We have some really cool high contrast cards we us to entertain G but the diaper isn’t one of them. You see, the diaper drawings are very light with pastel colors, which means even if the child could somehow disconnect their head and look down on their fancy diaper they still likely wouldn’t be able to see the drawings. So why are they there?
I am sure you know the answer. They are there for the adults buying them. Apparently, the baby industry is a zillion (I made that up) dollar a year industry and the diaper section is a large portion of that industry. What better way to sell a diaper to a parent than to put a super cute Elmo drawing on them. So, like dog toys, the diaper people make them cute for us, the parents. Go figure.
Don’t you just love that movie? It is one of my all time favorites next to Contact and the Goonies :)
Seems like each day is the same for G. He usually does about six or seven feedings a day for a total of about 22-25 oz a day. He sleeps about fifteen hours a day and is awake (or in between being awake and asleep) for the rest.
He usually has two good awake times a day where he will be awake for about an hour at each stretch. The first is right after his morning or mid morning feeding and the second is usually right after his mid to late afternoon feeding. These are our favorite times since it allows us to interact with him and see him smile and explore with his little eyes. It is at this time we talk to him about all the fun things he will get to do real soon like taking out the trash, keeping the pool clean, and cutting the grass. He just nods with acceptance and keeps on rockin’.
After dinner and before his final feeding of the night, we’ve been placing him on a play mat. He is usually tired and fusses a little bit, but the purpose of that awake time is to keep him up before his bedtime feeding in hopes that he will be better able to go to sleep. Apparently, babies don’t know how to go to sleep on their own. In fact, yesterday, I was reading about a three year old that has never gone to sleep - I cannot imagine.
G usually gets a touch fussy when it is time to feed him. At that time we usually take him back for a pre- feeding diaper change. It is while changing the diaper that he is most active. He kicks and squirms and just generally tries to keep anyone from wiping or otherwise covering his bottom. But, once a new diaper is on, he usually quiets down a touch as he knows food is just around the corner.
Yes, G usually has fussy periods during his 24 hours. Those fussy times usually last about 30-45 minutes and eventually he settles down and falls asleep. The truth is, G isn’t really a very fussy baby and we count ourselves as being very blessed, but I can tell you it is still frustrating for both BM and I to have one or sometimes two to three of these fussy periods a day. I have no idea how parents who have a very fussy baby are able to make it without pulling all their hair out. Hopefully, things will continue down the path of least fussiness for us, but if not, I am sure we will cope and still love our bundle of joy.
Speaking of hair, G’s hair has started to fall out. He was born with a full head of baby hair and BM and I talked about going ahead and getting some dreadlocks started. But, since it is going to fall out to make way for his permanent hair, we thought we should wait. Speaking of locks… did you know it takes years to get those things to grow in and I believe they naturally form if a person does nothing to their hair over time. Alas, both G and I are loosing our hair so I am on the lookout for that spray paint hair in dread style :)
We are also trying to play with G each day, but he isn’t really in love with any toys or music yet, but I am sure his time will come. Every now and then we catch him sneaking a peak at whatever is on the Apple TV (House, The Office, CSI, Tiki Bar, Hell’s Kitchen, etc.) and, when he is up and really wide eyed, we can tell he likes to look at us with those curious and loving eyes.
Well, time for me to run. G is in his swing next to me and he is articulating through some amazingly talented grunting that he wants you all to know he says Hello.
One of the new features we have setup on the OSK blog is a system that allows you to subscribe for updates - and it is easy. Go to the Subscriptions Page and give us your email address and choose to subscribe. If at anytime you want to usubscribe, just return to that page and enter your email address and unsubscribe.
Believe me, we hate spam as much as you so you don’t have to worry about us spamming you are selling your email address to anyone.
I still don’t know why we don’t have a day dedicated to all blogging Daddies but that is another post all together :)
BM is going out today to see a movie and do a little shopping with her mother. I told her, I think they need to go see Baby’s Momma (ha, get it BM :)
In the meantime, both G and I wanted to wish all you mothers out there a wonderful mother’s day. You deserve it considering all the sleepless nights and dirty diapers you have put up with :)
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