One of the gems of living in Denmark with a baby is that all new parents get a visiting nurse. This is a nurse who comes to you during the first year of the baby's life to answer questions, check on both the baby's and the parents' well-being, gives help with breastfeeding, and weighs the baby. The nurse comes more during the baby's first month and less later, but can visit any time she is needed and leaves a phone number parents can call for questions. This system takes time away from doctors, who in other places may be answering questions that a nurse is qualified to answer, and makes it easier for the parents to talk about their feelings and not have to cart their baby to the doctor's office. Estelle gets a doctor's appointment at 5 weeks and her shots at five months, but other routine visits are handled by the nurse. So far this system has worked wonderfully for us, given that as new parents we have a lot of small questions that we might not have bothered to call a doctor to ask but are still nice to know the answers to.
At this week's check-up we found that Estelle has reached 4 kilos, or 8.8 pounds, up from 7.5 pounds at birth. Here's a picture of the nurse weighing her in the "stork" fashion - using a cloth diaper to hold her. We think that her growth spurt is over, given that she is eating less frequently. She has also established somewhat of a sleeping routine, waking up every 4-5 hours at night and going to bed relatively easy. I think we're lucky in that department!
We've also started our cloth diaper system last week. Estelle is outfitted in Bummis hemp diapers and Bum Genius and Happy Heinys cloth diapers - whoever thought up the names of those diapers should win a prize for best way of making the rear-end sound cute. The diapers are great because they're one-size and grow with the baby via a snap-system. They also work just like disposables with velcro to put them on (no more old-fashioned pins), and are made of a fleece interior so the baby can't even feel it is wet because the wet stays away from the skin. We use a regular diaper pail and throw them in the wash every two days - so far it's not too gross or difficult. Also, with disposables costing about 30 cents a piece we are saving a ton of money. By my calculation we will save over $2,000 with this system, and even more if we use them with a second child. We still use paper diapers when we travel or go out for more than a few hours, though, because it's more convenient than carting dirty cloth diapers in our suitcase or backpack. It's OK to be Eco-friendly, but not if you smell like poop in public... that's where I draw the line.
Next up tomorrow: Estelle goes to the American Embassy of Denmark for her American citizenship!
