I took a nap this afternoon. Fighting a sinus infection meant I was woozy and in no condition to play with JED.When I woke up and was conscious enough to go out and look for them, I discovered that tired little Muffin had fallen asleep. I felt bad because I hadn't caught up with him the entire day and I wasn't going to be able to do so till tomorrow morning.
It drove home the point that for me, as a mom, sleep was important. It was one reason why I stopped teaching at school. I couldn't teach and parent on 4 hours of sleep a night. I don't get very much more sleep now but I don't have to be coherent on my feet for long stretches of the day and that goes a long way in helping me. It might sound selfish but I am much less cranky, much more willing to do fun things with JED and much more tolerant of their rubbish and shenanigans.
Tangentially, there have been many in the family who have suggested that I night train Muffin. That way, I wouldn't need to waste money on diapers and that money could go towards something else. While austerity is a big deal to me, this was one thing I was reluctant to do. Night training Muffin meant that I would have to get up to bring him to the bathroom. I remember when we were intensively night training the twins, Packrat and I would take turns to get up and haul them to the bathroom. By morning, both of us looked as if we were battling a newborn again. And truthfully and others may disagree and judge me for saying this but all that night training wasn't really worth it. Till now, the twins still go through the night with more than occasional accidents and that actually means we have a lot more laundry to do in the mornings. The amount of Febreeze we use on their bed and the number of times their sheets get washed, I am certain, comes up to the same amount as their diapers cost.
And the truth of the matter is that the diapers that Muffin is using aren't exactly the most expensive on the market. He uses Drypers and it is a somewhat recent discovery. When the twins were little, Packrat refused to go anywhere near Drypers. Then, they had plastic tape, that when we removed sounded like poor quality scotch tape; that also meant that they didn't re-stick well . So we stayed well away till I saw a sample of their new ones with the flex tape that works like velcro. On top of that, the prints were adorable. Acorns (Muffin started off on the L size) and elephants (The L size he is on now), what's not to like?
Now it was easier to convince Packrat to switch to Drypers since they were reasonably priced and often sold on offer as a two pack. That two pack, because we only use one a night, lasts a long time. And the ditzy me also loves the fact that there are elephants on his bum. Hang on, I've said that already.
Disclaimer: Muffin's diapers were a gift from Drypers and neither he nor I got any monetary compensation for it. Apparently, if you go to the Drypers Singapore Facebook Page and ask nicely, they might give you a couple of samples too.
Technorati Tags: JED, night training, Drypers
It drove home the point that for me, as a mom, sleep was important. It was one reason why I stopped teaching at school. I couldn't teach and parent on 4 hours of sleep a night. I don't get very much more sleep now but I don't have to be coherent on my feet for long stretches of the day and that goes a long way in helping me. It might sound selfish but I am much less cranky, much more willing to do fun things with JED and much more tolerant of their rubbish and shenanigans.
Tangentially, there have been many in the family who have suggested that I night train Muffin. That way, I wouldn't need to waste money on diapers and that money could go towards something else. While austerity is a big deal to me, this was one thing I was reluctant to do. Night training Muffin meant that I would have to get up to bring him to the bathroom. I remember when we were intensively night training the twins, Packrat and I would take turns to get up and haul them to the bathroom. By morning, both of us looked as if we were battling a newborn again. And truthfully and others may disagree and judge me for saying this but all that night training wasn't really worth it. Till now, the twins still go through the night with more than occasional accidents and that actually means we have a lot more laundry to do in the mornings. The amount of Febreeze we use on their bed and the number of times their sheets get washed, I am certain, comes up to the same amount as their diapers cost.
And the truth of the matter is that the diapers that Muffin is using aren't exactly the most expensive on the market. He uses Drypers and it is a somewhat recent discovery. When the twins were little, Packrat refused to go anywhere near Drypers. Then, they had plastic tape, that when we removed sounded like poor quality scotch tape; that also meant that they didn't re-stick well . So we stayed well away till I saw a sample of their new ones with the flex tape that works like velcro. On top of that, the prints were adorable. Acorns (Muffin started off on the L size) and elephants (The L size he is on now), what's not to like?
Now it was easier to convince Packrat to switch to Drypers since they were reasonably priced and often sold on offer as a two pack. That two pack, because we only use one a night, lasts a long time. And the ditzy me also loves the fact that there are elephants on his bum. Hang on, I've said that already.
Because he is much older and he only uses the one diaper a night, I don't worry so much about diaper rash. But I have realised that when Muffin strips off his own diaper in the morning (he doesn't like the feel of it on) and I sleepily grope his bum (Ok, I'm his mom and I'm allowed to!) to check if his diaper is full, I've been met more than once with an exceptionally dry bum.
So why would I want to go through the trouble of night training him right now? I will freely admit that when the nice people at Drypers sent me a couple of packets to test drive on him, I was most thrilled that I had more reason to hold off the night training that I'm constantly nagged about.
I think he will go through the night dry when he is ready for
it and I'm not going to push it to just save money. The only reason I
would love for him to go diaper-less is more about the carbon footprint
than the cost to my pocket. And if he isn't ready, all that washing and
laundering will similarly contribute to the already large carbon footprint. I am
also quite sure that my coping mechanisms to deal with the sleep deprivation will
similarly balloon the carbon footprint. Once again, first world problems. I would love to buy diaper credits if such a thing still existed (It did a while ago but I can't find seem to find the site anymore).
So apart from that, I make little apology for choosing sleep, sanity and diapers over deprivation, insanity and wet beds. That way, I wake up in the mornings a little cheerier and much more willing to plan adventures with them.
Technorati Tags: JED, night training, Drypers
