We’ve been in India now for a full week and so far so good. The first couple of days were a bit hairy as we adjusted to the time difference, extreme noise, and cold. I know, coming from Canada you’d expect India to be hot in comparison, but coming here always makes me so grateful for central heating! During our last trip here, both Vibhu and I had trouble adjusting to the dirt and grime, the constant commotion, the very “indian-ness” of the place. But this time around, we seem to have slipped right back into a routine and the little things that I used to find so obnoxious, hardly phase me. Ok, well most everything. I still have a hard time with the noise here. Be it the decibel level at which people talk, the uncomfortable volume that TV’s are set to, or the music blasting from speakers in the mall. For the first couple of days, Kaiya would get scared and start crying when people tried to talk to her simply because the tone and volume are more intense than she’s ever experienced. But I guess I’d get scared too if people came at me shouting and carrying on like I was deaf. I often wonder how people here don’t have excessive hearing loss…or maybe they do and that’s why the volume is always maxed out here.

The Happening of Kaiya’s Week:

• She’s been eating like a mad woman. Whether its a growth spurt, a need for comfort in her new surroundings, teething, or some combination, my boobs are getting a serious workout. I keep expected Kaiya to wake up with a mouthful of teeth and 4 inches taller!

• I think we’re finally over the hump of the jet lag as Kaiya’s sleep has definitely normalized into her 3 naps and 12 hour nights routine. But with so many family members and friends wanting to pinch her cheeks, hold her close, and smother her with kisses, it can be hard to find the time to sleep. Vibhu’s sisters have had to start scheduling their visits based on her naps and bedtime. We’re a little put off that they don’t come around to see us anymore, it’s all about Kaiya!

• Kaiya has become a true Indian baby. With her daily massages from babaji, kajal application by one of her bhua’s, and wrapped head to toe in 18 layers of clothing to protect from the cold, I hardly recognize her! We brought just about every article of clothing that Kaiya owns, but Vibhu still gets harassed by his parents daily that we didn’t bring enough to keep her warm and looking nice.
• The first morning we woke up to find Kaiya’s face looking like it had been attacked by biting ants. I counted no fewer than 13 red marks on her face and ears. If it hadn’t been for Vibhu’s insistence that they were just mosquito bites, I would have convinced myself that she had contracted some nasty virus. Sure enough, they cleared up with in a few days and now I never forget to plug in the mosquito killer thingy at night.
• About 2 weeks ago, Kaiya started being able to sit unassisted in my lap. I thought it was a total fluke, but sure enough she can still do it. I’ve been told that I shouldn’t let her sit up because she’s still too young and that it will damage her spine. But that sounds to me like an old wives tale. She seems to enjoy being able to sit like a big kid and that’s good enough for me!

All bundled up, warm and cozy

Cooking away in the itty bitty kitchen

Kaiya meeting her cuz, Samath

Hanging with dadiji

About to chow down on Chole Bathura at the mall in Delhi

Helping Tauruna Bua with the laundry

Kajal love

I sit amongst the women wishing I could understand. Kaiya is passed back to me and Vibhu is summoned to go collect the cow dung. His nieces, Goon Goon and Somi, jump with glee and run out the front door after Vibhu. The women begin singing village folk songs and encourage me to sing along. I hum and sway in a feeble attempt to look like I know what’s going on. Vibhu returns with a bag full of warm cow poop and images of him reaching down into a pile of steaming shit sends a chill through my body. Greedily the women reach into the bag and with kid-like jubilation roll and shape it in their hands before sticking it onto the side of covered cooking pot. They each take turns adding their own creations to the pot until it is aptly decorated with brown goop.

A small jug of water is passed around so that the women can rinse their hands of the sticky brown slop, while Vibhu’s mom puts on the final touches on their creation. She sprinkles it with turmeric, puffed rice, and a single bindi. A bit more turmeric and a few more pieces of puffed rice make it perfect. Satisfied, they clap and sing. I sit in total shock.
Mounds of food have been prepared—spicy samosas, namkeen, and variety of round sweets made from cashew nuts, sesame seeds, the requisite boiled milk and too much sugar (at least for my liking). Once again I’m a little shocked (ok, more like disgusted) as the women begin to eat food with their hands. But cow poop is holy so who am I to question it’s cleanliness.
By this point, Kaiya is tired, probably exhausted. But like a trooper, she’s hanging in there and dolling out the smiles. Her giggles teeter the fine line of cries and I know its only a few minutes before she loses it completely.
Pallavi didi burns an almond, careful to collect the smoke on the underbelly of a spoon. The black soot that accumulates is called kajal, and is put on babies eyes. The exact reason is allusive, some say it makes the eyes strong, others say it just looks nice. One of Vibhu’s uncles said that the kajal will help to make Kaiya’s eyes bigger, because “they’re too small.” Vibhu warns me that she might cry. It was so hard for me to stand there helpless as Kaiya screamed. I wanted to snatch her away and hold her as they pried her eyes open and rubbed the kajal on. But it was over quickly and I realize now that Kaiya’s screams were out of sheer exhaustion more than the kajal.I did finally get to whisk Kaiya away from the noise, people, and excess commotion for the relative quiet of our room. As I nursed her to sleep, I apologized for all of the noise and promised that she’d get used to the constant stream of people waiting to love all over her.

I had to triple check that it’s actually Wednesday today. I’m not entirely sure how it happened or where the time went, but our alarm clock went off at 4:30am Sunday morning at home in Victoria and now suddenly it’s Wednesday and we’re in Firozabad. Somehow between 5 airplane meals, endless ticket counters, and entertaining Kaiya in airport terminals we managed to lose 3 days. How a 28 hour plane journey to India manifests into three days of travel is beyond me. But it happened.

I’m trying to recount the details of our travel, but it’s all a bit hazy….

We showed up at Victoria International Airport at 5:45am to find out that our flight had been delayed 2hours. The lady at the ticket counter handed us $20 in food vouchers as a consolation. 2 extra hours of sleep would have been better, but I appreciate the gesture. I can’t remember a single detail about the flight from Victoria to Calgary and am a little disturbed that even an image of our seats can’t be pulled up. But I do remember boarding the plane, so I guess that’s something. Got lost in the Calgary airport trying to check in for our next flight. Eventually wound up in the departures terminal and a nice guy from KLM upgraded us to Economy Plus so we’d have a little extra room for little miss. Found our gate and settled in for a 3 hour wait, devoured the veggie wraps we bought with our food vouchers in Victoria, and hunkered down to watch a movie. Oh wait, we have an uber active 3 month old, movies are officially out. Boarded the KLM flight to Amsterdam and thanked our lucky stars that we weren’t crammed in economy with everyone else. Kaiya sprawled out on the floor in front of us and greeted people with smiles and giggles as they boarded. What a cute baby we have. Good thing Kaiya won the hearts of the other passengers with her friendly welcomes, because when everyone else was trying to sleep, Ms. Kaiya wanted to chat, gurgle, whine, cry—pretty much anything but sleep. Vibhu and I spent 90% of the flight bouncing up and down the aisles, singing mismatched verses of every childhood song I could muster. The two lines of Puff the Magic Dragon that I actually know have now been permanently fried into memory. Kaiya is christened with the nickname “Bumpka” by one of the flight attendants and laughs hysterically whenever its spoken. The Amsterdam airport rocks—library with books on the culture and history of Holland, a mini museum about the making of port wine, a sleeping lounge done in absolute IKEA fashion. Oh and the tulips, mini ones, gigantic ones, fake ones, real ones. Tulip love. Our departure gate transports us to little India—huge families, loud conversations, dreadlocked backpackers. Our threesome attracts quite a few stares from the Indian crowd and Kaiya gets inaugurated into the world of being photographed by strangers. The security guard asks if Kaiya is a “half blood.” I laugh, I suppose so. 4 rows behind us two men are being sat on by KLM staff. We wait on the runway while the plane gets de-iced and inquire about the situation going on behind us. Two men are being deported back to Afghanistan after the 3^rd time they’ve illegally been found in the country. Sweet. Where’s Jack Bauer when you need him? Kaiya finally sleeps. I try to watch a movie, but can’t keep my eyes open. In between meals and movies, Vibhu sleeps too. Our nostrils are bombarded by the smells of burning piles of trash and exhaust, my eyes burn even inside the airport. The taxi driver is lost but insists he knows where he’s going. Deserted streets, dust and dirt, garbage, groups of men huddled around fires. Welcome back.

So yes, we made it. We were all exhausted by the time we arrived at the hotel in Delhi somewhere around 2am, but with a 13.5 hour time difference, sleep alluded us. After a few hours of fitful attempts to rest, it was finally late enough to order breakfast from the hotel’s restaurant. Aloo paratha is one of my favorite Indian breakfasts, but despite its prominence on the hotel’s breakfast menu (and in typical Indian fashion) today only toast and a fried egg were available. At least they had sweet masala chai.

By 8:30am we had showered, finished breakfast, read two newspapers, and still had a few hours before Vibhu‘s dad would arrive to pick us up from Firozabad. Since we were staying on the outskirts of Delhi close to the airport there was really nothing to do or see nearby. I wanted to go for a walk, but since walking the decrepit streets wasn’t all that enticing, we decided that walking around a local mall would be the best way to spend the morning. As we headed out of the hotel towards the main road, we passed a man smoking a cigarette. I didn’t even notice that he was obviously not Indian until he waved and said hello. His North American accent is what I noticed first. His dirty red jacket, long scraggly white hair, and warm smile were the things I noticed next. “Where you guys from?” the man inquired. “Canada,” I said.

“Where?” he shot back.

“British Columbia.”

“Where?”

“Victoria.”

“Me too. Up by Hillside Mall.” He laughed.

Vibhu outstretched his hand and introduced himself, I followed. Rick then invited us out to coffee at a nearby dhaba. We sipped the exceedingly sweet and frothy nescafe from our miniature styrofoam cups as Rick told us stories of his decades worth of wandering. His mumbling, animated stories about his most recent trip to Burma were enchanting and Vibhu‘s eyes filled with a look that’s become increasingly familiar over the past year. Later Vibhu suggested that our next trip to India be not just a trip to see family, but a springboard to explore Asia. I’m all in. His mounting hunger to explore the world is intoxicating and thrilling.

As we said goodbye to our new friend and unlikely neighbor, Vibhu asked for his email address. “No can do my friend. Had a run in with the US government, email’s a no go for me.” Apparently Rick had a bit of a tuffle with the American government when he was “expressing his opinion,” and needs to keep a low profile. I make a mental note. We definitely need to get together with him when we get home. We exchange phone numbers.

Our trip to the mall is completely unnoteworthy except for the fact that to get there Kaiya rode in her first auto-rickshaw. She slept through most of it, although did seem to enjoy feeling the cool air blowing through her hair.

By the time Vibhu‘s dad arrived to pick us up, Kaiya was so exhausted that the romanticized version of their first meeting was anything but. I had visions of the joy that would dance across his face and Kaiya‘s reciprocity smile. But no, she screamed and screamed. Arched her back and wanted nothing to do with him. I hope he didn’t take it personally. The first two hours of the six hour drive back to Firozabad were a little nerve rattling as Kaiya screamed with no consolation. She didn’t want the Ergo. She didn’t want to nurse. She didn’t want to be put down, or picked up. She was hysterical and I was flustered. For the first time, I didn’t know how to calm my baby.

 While sitting in the mid-afternoon Delhi traffic, sucking in exhaust and cursing the jet lag that had taken hold of Kaiya, I forced my boob into her mouth and left it there until she took a break from wailing long enough to realize it’s presence. Quiet. Finally. I felt her body go limp as she succumbed to the fatigue. Soon I too felt my eyes drooping and happily nodded off. We woke up only long enough to stop for chai at a roadside dhaba. When I eventually did wake up, my brain felt sticky and thick. When I realized that we were just down the road from Vibhu‘s family home, the lethargic feeling disappeared in an instant knowing that just beyond the front door would be an onslaught of exhuberant family members waiting to greet us.

It’s been a trying week as the sleep saga continues. Kaiya vehemently fights sleep, or so it seems. Naps are short–no more than 30-45 minutes. And bedtime is rough, as she struggles to sleep through the phase of light sleep that follows the initial 45 minutes of REM. She wakes hysterical and I’ve tried every trick, read all the articles, devoured all the books. But nothing seems to work, that is until I give her exactly what she wants and that’s to be held nice and snug in the Ergo.

I’ve been leery to let her get too attached to the Ergo, but it seems it’s her favorite spot and who am I to neglect her of that? I’ve been warned not to let her get into the habit of falling asleep by being walked or bounced. Don’t let her feed to sleep. She needs to learn how to self-soothe. And yes, she does. But right now, as she sleeps on me, I figure she’s napping and that’s what’s most important.  She’s only 3 months old and if being in the Ergo, with her head resting on my chest is what makes her feel most secure, then who cares. As I parent, it is my job to ensure that all of her basic human needs are met, and right now if that need is to be cuddled close to sleep, then that’s what I’m going to do.

Aside from desperately trying to get Kaiya to sleep, it’s been a busy week getting ready for our trip to India. But now, with only 4 sleeps left before the big day, there are only a handful of things left on the massive to-do lists that still need to be ticked off. What’s stressing me out the most is that we have two sets of Airbnb’ers coming to stay while we are gone which means we have to leave the house in spit-shiny condition. I always make an effort to tidy up before we leave for a trip, since its no fun to come home to a messy house, but with paying house guests coming there’s a bit more pressure to clean. Vibhu’s been amazing and sensing my stressed-out grouchiness festering, he’s taken it upon himself to sweep, vacuum, mop and has even gone so far as to wash the floors by hand. Love you, V!

This week also brought the end of the snow. The streets, trees, and cars were covered in a blanket of the white stuff from Tuesday-Friday last week, and when we woke up on Saturday morning, it was like the magic snow fairy had come and with a wave of her wand, made it all disappear.

Friday evening…

Saturday morning!

We leave on Sunday morning for our grand 6 week visit to India. We’ll do our best to continue to post regular updates, but with lackluster access to internet, we may do so on India-time. But with Kaiya’s first flight (27 hours worth!), our first international trip with baby, and introducing Kaiya to Vibhu’s extended family, I’m sure there will be plenty of hilarious and probably exhausting things to recap. So until next week, I leave you with a great quote and a funny video of Kaiya discovering how fun it is to splash around in the bath!

It is the law of human life, as certain as gravity; to live fully, we must learn to use things and love people …not love things and use people. ~ Maria Montessori

]]> http://wanderingdona.com/parenting/kaiyas-year-week-15/feed/ 6 http://wanderingdona.com/eco-sustainability/plastic-diet/ http://wanderingdona.com/eco-sustainability/plastic-diet/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:52:56 +0000 Dona http://wanderingdona.com/?p=2496 Unless you’ve been living under a rock, chances are you have a pretty good idea that plastics are destroying our environment. Whales ingest plastic bags thinking its food, birds getting tangled up in it, dolphins suffocate when it gets caught over their blowholes. We’ve managed to create a giant floating island (or maybe it’s more appropriate to call it a continent, as it covers an area the size of the continental US) of plastic that circles through the currents of the pacific. Since the advent of the disposable lifestyle back in the 1950′s we’ve slowly been clogging our rivers and streams with the stuff, poisoning animals, and eliminating natural habitats with its accumulation.

Back in the 3rd grade we learned about the hazards that those 6 pack soda rings were posing to marine wildlife and were taught how to safely cut them up so that they wouldn’t get stuck around the beaks of marine birds. Since then, I’ve always cut them up in hopes that I could spare a bird or two. But despite my best childhood efforts to save the planet, I’ve inadvertently played a much greater role in contributing to plastics waste than I would have hoped.

We are a very eco-aware family and make choices that we feel will lighten our overall imact on the earth. But after watching the BBC documentary Hawaii: Message in the Waves, last night, I realized that there is always room for improvement.

The documentary offers the Hawaiian perspective on the throw-away consumerism that has gripped the world. Because of their size, location, and social history, the Hawaiian islands are a microcosm of the planet and are in a unique position to offer up advice on what we’re doing wrong and possible solutions. Many of the beaches of Hawaii have become garbage dumps, littered with trash (most of which is plastic) that washes ashore from far corners of the earth.

Towards the end of the film, a local free-diver collects a few bags full of plastics that have washed up on one of the beaches on Midway Island (part of the Northwestern Hawaiian islands). Midway happens to be the largest breeding ground in the world for the Short Tailed Albatross who as you’ll see in the film, are losing their habitat to our junk. What surprised me the most was that as the plastics were laid out on the beach, it was the little stuff that you don’t really think about, which is having the greatest impact. Things like toothbrushes, lighters, straws, chapstick, those tiny plastic toys you get from Happy Meals, KinderEggs, and the 25 cent dispensers at the grocery store, and the tops to our juice and milk containers.

It’s true, much of the plastic that we use can be recycled, and big props to everyone out there who does. But what I challenge you to think about is what happens to the plastic that your cereal, crackers, or potato chips come in? What about that toothbrush that you toss in the garbage every 3 months. Or the toys that your kids play with? Ever thought twice about the plastic that your meats and cheeses come wrapped in? Honestly, I’d given it a bit of thought, but until I saw all of that plastic laid out on a beach in Hawaii, I didn’t really consider myself a major part of the problem. I figured that because I dutifully separate plastics, papers, and metals for the garbage men to pick up once a week, I was doing the best I could. But I am just as guilty as most. We still create waste, stuff that can’t be recycled or composted, stuff that’s contributing to the degradation of the beaches, oceans, and natural environments that I cherish so much.

Eventually, most of what is in our homes will be thrown away. And while we may feel great about getting organized and purging the unnecessary crap, just because its no longer part of your life, doesn’t mean that it’s gone. Plastics unlike most other materials, do not biodegrade. They photo-degrade which means they slowly break down into smaller and smaller toxic bits that contaminate the soil, waterways, oceans and even our food source when they are eaten by animals.

We’ve decided that it’s time we really take a hard look at our consumption habits and try to be a bit more mindful of the things that we bring into (and eventually discard) from our home. Most of what comes into our home is food. We don’t buy a lot of “stuff,” so the kitchen is the best place for us to start. I am putting our family on a plastic diet. If it comes packaged in plastic, I’m not buying it. That means bread, cereal, ice cream, chocolate chips, tortilla chips, ketchup, mayo….pretty much anything you can think of that currently fills our pantry is out. I’m not going to go tossing plastic wrapped foods from my cupboards, but no new plastics will be walking through our door.

Last week I posted a link on Facebook about a zero-trash family in California. Their blog is a great starting point for how to avoid plastics in our day-to-day lives. Although the timing to start this isn’t great, as we are leaving for a 6 week trip to India next Sunday, but we’ll give it a go for a week and if we survive, we’ll even do a little plastic dieting in India!

So will you join us on our plastic diet? Do it for the albatross.

The Happenings of Kaiya’s Week:

• Her glorious days of sleeping 7-9 hour stretches at night have vanished. We had about 5 weeks of great sleep and now just as suddenly as they appeared, they have gone. We’re back to 3-4 wakings a night which has been a bit exhausting, but with our trip to India coming up, I figure this is just the beginning. Once we experience a 12.5 hour time difference, this will seem like a cake walk.

• Still on the subject of sleep, Kaiya’s been having a tough time falling and staying asleep lately too. I used to be able to just slip her in the Ergo, bounce around a bit and off she’d go. Now she wants to be either at the breast or in the Ergo with me actually walking somewhere. Doing laps through our living room and kitchen isn’t good enough anymore. I did the nodding off at the breast thing for a couple of days, but they turned into marathon 60 minute sessions and often she’d wake up once I managed to pull away. So last night I took to the halls. I walked up and down the stairs and hallways of our apartment building. Up and down, up and down. It only took about 5 minutes and she was out. But after I put her down, sure enough she was awake. It took 3 hours from the first time she fell asleep until she was actually asleep for the night. Ugh.

• Kaiya’s been exploring her voice a lot this week and especially loves to stand in front of the mirror to chat with herself. A couple of times she’s let out such a high-pitched squeal that she’s scared herself before erupting into laughter. It’s pretty much priceless.

• She’s also really taken up playing with a few select toys. She especially enjoys grabbing a giant wooden spoon and thrashing it around. My mom gave her a Baby Einstein piano that lights up and plays music, she loves hitting the buttons and watching the lights dance across the screen. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be adding an annoying electronic toy to her repertoire, but she seems to get a kick out of it, so I guess its ok. But I’m hoping she’s more of a boxes and pots & pans kind of girl.

• We’re currently in the midst of some serious winter weather. The temperatures plummeted and the rain clouds moved in, making for some perfect snow conditions. Snow is kind of a treat here, usually just a few days a year is all we get, and kid or not, everyone pulls out their sleds and heads for the nearest hill.  In classic Victorian form, the weather  switches from sideways blowing snow to blindingly sunny in a manner of minutes. We got caught in one of the switches from sun to blizzard, and Kaiya didn’t know what to make of the giant snow flakes tickling her cheeks. She checked it out for a minute, but quickly buried her face into my chest and hid, then wailed and wailed until we got inside. I take that as a sign that its time to relocate somewhere tropical….Kerala here we come! I can’t wait to see how she reacts to sand in her toes and floating in the ocean.

Sitting up like a big kid

For the love of music

Kaiya’s favorite chew toy

Well she’s done it folks. Kaiya has officially reached the 3 month mark and has graduated from the fourth trimester! I’ve been looking forward to this milestone pretty much from day one. The developmental leaps that are accomplished between 3 and 6 months are some of the most fun in a baby’s first year–rolling over, sitting up, and first tastes of solid foods. I’m most looking forward to the independence and exploration that she’ll seek over the next few months.

This past week can definitely be coined the week of vaccines. Vaccine day was looming and my internal battle of what to do was raging. After much research, reading, and debating the issue with family and friends, we finally came to the decision that we’d hold off on all but the polio vaccine. We made decide to vaccinate later, but for now, we’re confident that we made the right choice. On Monday morning, Vibhu and I brought Kaiya to the local health clinic where a handful of public health nurses were waiting around to check people in.  Nurse Betty introduced herself, checked Kaiya off the appointment list, weighed and measured her (13lbs. 6oz & 24 inches), and then showed us to the back room. Nurse Betty started right in on the benefits of vaccines and began to explain the components of the 8-in-1 shot that she’d be administering. I had to interject and burst her little bubble of enthusiasm. “We’d only like the polio vaccine today.”

A look of concern, worry, and disbelief washed across her face as she stammered, “What? Really? Ok…”

Vibhu began his schpeel about the hazards of vaccines, especially when administered all at once. Nurse Betty countered with the textbook jargon that we’ve all be force fed and made to memorize. Vaccines are the single biggest contributor to increased life expectancy. Vaccines save lives. Vaccines make our world a safer place. We mentioned that of all of the research we’ve read, what concerns us the most is the amount of preservatives that are in the vaccines.

“There are no preservatives in Canadian vaccines,” said Nurse Betty. “Only in American ones.”

“Really? Because I’m pretty sure that the majority of Canadian vaccines are produced by American pharmaceuticals.”

“No, no. There is nothing harmful in Canadian vaccines,” Nurse Betty continued.

I asked to see the product inserts. Instead she handed me the Health Canada desk reference for vaccine administrators. I flipped to the section titled, “Preservatives & Vaccines.” Sure enough, right there in 28 font type was this:

The Most Commonly Used Preservatives in Vaccines

• Formaldehyde
• Thimerisol
• Aluminum

Nurse Betty walked out of the room before I could continue our debate. I was a bit shocked and saddened by the mismatched information I was receiving. The Health Canada document clearly states that yes, there are preservatives in vaccines (even though their explaination for each paints a promising picture of health and safety!). But of the three public health nurses that I had spoken to over the past few weeks, two on the phone and now Nurse Betty, two had reassured me that there is absolutely no mercury in vaccines today and the other tried to convince me that there were zero preservatives. Anyone whose done even a tiny bit of research knows that thimerisol contains mercury, and a lot of it (thimerisol is actually 49.6% mercury by weight)! I am now even more distrustful of the health establishment than I was before going in. How can I possibly take anything at face value when I’m blantantly being lied to?

But back to my story of Kaiya’s vaccine. Nurse Betty administered the polio vaccine in Kaiya’s left thigh. Kaiya stared straight ahead and held eye contact with me as I tried to keep a smiling, brave face. But with flashbacks of Emily’s first vaccines flooding my memory, Vibhu said my face went red and my eye’s watery. Kaiya didn’t flinch, didn’t cry, not a peep came out of her. I guess it’s true when they say these things are often harder on mom than on babe.

Other than a massive screaming fit a few hours later, Kaiya seemed pretty much back to normal by that evening and has resumed perfecting her floor acrobatic technique.

Last weekend we had our prenatal group reunion. The babies range in age from 3 months (Kaiya) to the little newbies of just 4 weeks. It was fun to see everyone again sans bellies and meet the new additions!

Clockwise from Kaiya. Welcome Emmett, Kane, Odis, Elaina, Maxwell, Tyee and Elena.

She’s almost vertical!

Kaiya’s been working hard on rolling over. She’s mastered the back to tummy direction, and has a few times scared herself by rolling too quickly from tummy to back. She’s knocked her head on the hardwood floor and smashed her face into her blankets, but other than a few brief sobs, she gets right back into it. Not even the sprawl of cloth diapers in her play area was enough to contain the pees and poops anymore. With her new found positions on her belly and side, when she pees or poops it has a tendency to get on her legs and belly more than on the diaper underneath her. So as of today, we’ve started with cloth diapers full time. We are still diligent about giving her the opportunity to pee throughout the day and absolutely haven’t abandoned diaper-free, but for the sake of our laundry bill, I simply couldn’t risk anymore poop on blankets, onsies, socks, and leggings! If there are any other families out there with advice for EC with mobile babies, I’m all ears!

But do they?

My mamma brain screams caution. Warns me to read between the lines, study the journal articles, and read sources other than the nationally sanctioned, government backed WHO and FDA statistics. Talk to naturopaths. Get second, third, fourth opinions. Question everything.

Kaiya was supposed to get her first round of vaccines last month. But I hesitated to commit to an appointment date when the public health nurse called to schedule one.  I’d done a bit of research, checked sources, and followed pro- and anti-vaccine message boards online. But all of the information left me confused and more unsure than ever.

At the very least, I knew I wanted to put off her first round of vaccines as long as possible. Living in Canada as an exclusively breastfed baby, I knew Kaiya was about as protected as anyone from harmful diseases. Even moving into her toddler years, she won’t be in day care, so her risk of exposure is next to none. But, and this is a big but, travel to India will be a part of her life forever (and to plenty of other developing countries for that matter). And India isn’t Canada. Vibhu grew up with kids who had been paralyzed from polio. The drinking water isn’t clean. The risk of communicable diseases is high. My public health brain overruled the paranoid mamma side, and I scheduled an appointment.

But with her appointment coming up on Tuesday, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I was making the wrong decision. So I pulled out the books and fact checked the literature. Once again, I was in over my head.

Health Canada recommends that all infants receive the first of three rounds of DTaP-IPV, Hib, Pneu-C7, and Men C at 2 months. That’s four injections meant to protect her from 7 potentially life-threatening diseases–Diphtheria, Tetanus & Pertussis (DTaP), Polio (IPV) Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), Pneumococcal Disease (Pneu-C7), and Meningitis (Men C). To a girl from the US, I’d heard vague references to these over the course of my study of international public health and visits to the travel clinic before big international trips, but in reality, they meant nothing to me. I couldn’t tell you what the symptoms of diphtheria are or if pertussis is life threatening or just simply a nuisance.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA) both recommend full vaccination schedules beginning at birth. For the most part, Health Canada piggybacks on the policies of the US, and up here, we follow a very similar infant vaccination schedule to our southern neighbors. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that “Vaccines prevent disease in the people who receive them and protect those who come into contact with unvaccinated individuals. Vaccines help prevent infectious diseases and save lives. Vaccines are responsible for the control of many infectious diseases that were once common…” But despite these lofty claims, there is a massive body of evidence that suggests otherwise.

Let’s start with DTaP, a three-in-one shot developed to protect children aged 6 weeks to 7 years from diptheria, tetanus, and pertussis.

Historically DTaP and it’s predecessor (DPT) has been the most controversial of all vaccines on the current vaccination schedule. In the 1970′s and early 1980′s parents accounts of autism, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, anaphylactic shock, and other forms of brain damage raged through documentaries, newspapers and magazine articles. As a result, many European countries stopped using the vaccine altogether (1).  Japan then developed a new “acellular” form (DTaP) of the vaccine which was thought to be safer, however, after 66 victims of the new vaccine won huge court settlements as a result of vaccine manufacturers denying adverse reactions so that the “public interest in preventing contagious diseases” wouldn’t be undermined (2), raised their initial vaccination age from 2 months to 2 years. In fact, the body of evidence has been mounting against the efficacy and overall safety of the pertussis vaccine (both DPT and DTaP) since the early 1930′s (3), but yet the agencies we trust to look out for our best interest continue to push it’s necessity.

DPT was put into general use in the 1940′s and mass immunization campaigns and mandatory state vaccine laws for entry into school were established in the 1960′s.  Interestingly enough, it was during this same period between 1946 and 1986 that Hib (a serious bacterial infection) rates jumped by 400%. Today, Hib-induced meningitis peaks in children aged 6-7 months, just after the completion of the 2, 4, and 6 months DTaP vaccine. The probable link between the pertussis vaccine and invasive bacterial infections is further strengthened by data showing that the number of cases in babies less than three months old has remained stable since 1942 (4). In 1975, when Japan stopped vaccinating babies with DPT, their  Hib-induced meningitis mortality rates dramatically declined (5).

Ok, so there is a strong correlation between the DTaP vaccine and Hib-induced meningitis. The DTaP vaccine, which has more than enough evidence against it to have it tabled by several governments, creates a necessity for the Hib vaccine. But so now the question is, how safe and effective is the Hib vaccine?

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages doctors to warn parents to look for signs of bacterial infections in their children following the Hib vaccine (6). In fact, several studies found that Hib vaccinated children are 2 to 6 times more likely than non-Hib vaccinated children to contract Hib disease during the first week following vaccination (7). Additional research has confirmed that antibody levels actually decline rather than increase immediately following Hib vaccinations, placing he child at greater risk for invasive disease. Research published in the 2000 issue of Epidemiology and Infection noted that “After the introduction of Hib immunization in children, invasive Hib infection in unimmunized adults also declined, but the overall rate of invasive haemophilus influenzae disease in adults increased.” Similarly, during the same period in the early 1990′s when the newer conjugated Hib vaccine was first introduced, bacterial infections associated with Hib disease decreased, but bacterial infections associated with pneumococcal and menigococcal disease dramatically increased.

So it seems to me, that by vaccinating against one disease we are artificially suppressing a single type of bacterial infection, while simultaneously provoking the prominence of others. By doing this, we are forever changing the face of bacterial agents and our natural ability to fight infections, thereby creating a vicious cycle of vaccine creation and deployment.

And the cycle continues. With the introduction of Hib, we now have to protect ourselves against Pneumococcal and Menigococcal disease. And hey, guess what? There’s a vaccine for those too!

There are about 90 different strains of pneumococcal disease, most of which came into existence after the introduction of the Hib vaccine. The current pneumoccal vaccine protects against 7 of these strains. Each dose of pneumococcal vaccine contains 0.125mg of aluminum. Aluminum is neurotoxic, even in very small amounts (and don’t forget that a additional 0.170mg of aluminium is in the DTap vaccine as well) and has a long history of known and documented hazards (8). In fact, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Aluminum is now being implicated as interfering with a variety of cellular and metabolic processes in the nervous system and in other tissues.” Chris Shaw, a Canadian neuroscientist shows a link between the aluminum hydroxide used in vaccines and symptoms associated with Parkinson’s ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), and Alzheimer’s. Mice injected with this common vaccine ingredient developed statistically significant increases in memory loss, anxiety, allergic skin reactions, and nerve cell damage. Shaw states,” This is suspicious. Either this link is known by industry and it has never been made public, or industry was never made to do these studies. I’m not sure which is scarier.”

Well said, Mr. Shaw.

But nevertheless, we continue to inject millions of babies every year with the aluminum-containing vaccines. So why, with all of this information do we continue to stick babies with needles? It seems like the corrupt ways of the government have infiltrated the vaccine industry too. Clinical trials and industry practices seem to be riddled with conflicts of interest.

And this is where I start to get really cynical.

•  Wyeth-Lederle Laboratories, the company that developed Prevnar (the currently used pneumococcal vaccine) and stands to gain the most from its universal use among children, provided a grant to pay for the studies that “proved” the safety and efficacy of the shot (9-10).
• Drs. Steven Black and Henry Shinefield of Kaiser Permanente, the scientists who oversaw the major clinical trials used to “prove” the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, are closely associated with American Home Products, the parent company of Wyeth-Lederle Laboratories (11).
• Dr. Kathry Edwards, an outspoken advocate of Prevnar, was paid by Wyeth-Lederle Laboratories $255,000 per year from 1996-1998 to study Prevnar (and other pneumococcal vaccines). Yet, she sat on the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee as a full-time member helping to recommend which vaccines to license (12).
• Dr. Jerome Klein has been paid by vaccine manufacturers to testify against vaccine-injured children. He has often convinced courts that any relationship between vaccinations and death is “merely coincidental.” He was also the chief editor of a vaccine website promoting Prevnar–a forum that was provided by an “unrestricted” grant from Wyeth Lederle Laboratories. Dr. Klein was also member of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee that recommend vaccines to the government.

Do you want me to keep going? The list goes on and on.

When the CDC added Prevnar to the recommended childhood immunization schedule, the manufacturer stood to make $300-$500 million per year. Seems the good old American greenback speaks louder than ethics.

I haven’t yet touched on the final two vaccines recommended in the 2 month vaccine schedule, Menigococcal and Polio.

The vaccine for meningitis has a similar track record to the others mentioned above–it’s a relatively rare disease (affecting only 1 or 2 people in 200,000) that can be treated with a course of antibiotics. Unfortunately the prevalence of meningitis has increased as a result of the introduction of the Hib vaccine, but still Canada reported only 126 cases in 1998. Studies have shown that antibody levels decline markedly within the first three years following vaccination and that the vaccine is completely ineffective in children under two years (13). And as with most of the other vaccines given at 2, 4, and 6 months, when given in combination with another vaccine, the body’s ability to produce antibodies is diminished 5-10 fold, and thus further negating the purpose.

Polio has been eradicated throughout much of the world, and for families living in developed countries, it is of no concern. But in 2011, the WHO reported that it is still endemic in 4 countries–India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. While I believe polio is much harder to contract than we have been led to believe (95% of people who come into contact with the disease will never develop symptoms), the mere fact that the disease continues to ravage villages in rural India is concerning. Vibhu and I agree that the risks of the polio vaccine are worth taking to ensure that Kaiya is not exposed.

Yes, diseases are serious. I don’t take them lightly. But I also have serious concerns about vaccinations. I’m concerned about the number of recommended vaccinations, which at this writing is around 36 — compared with 10 in 1983. The first vaccinations were developed to treat smallpox, which had a 30% fatality rate. Contrast that to the newest vaccinations to prevent chicken pox, which has a 0.001% fatality rate, and has a lower risk of complications in children than adults (who will be more at risk of the disease now because the vaccination protection will likely wear off by adulthood.) I don’t believe trying to eradicate all disease is a good paradigm for health.

I haven’t entirely ruled out vaccinations for Kaiya. If I go back to work and have to put her in daycare, I would consider it. If I’m not able to breastfeed her until he’s at least two, I will also consider it. As we continue to travel overseas, I will consider the risks and weigh our options. And I will consider it if we decide to send her to public school. But for now, with Kaiya at home with me, I am able to breastfeed her and in a few months, introduce her to nourishing food. I will be able to expose her to lots of healthy germs and exercise her immune system by allowing her to get minor illnesses. There’s no guarantee that she won’t suffer a devastating illness, but there’s no guarantee of that even if I do vaccinate.

I wouldn’t call myself anti-vaccination advocate, I am simply an advocate for making an informed choice.

Conclusion: We’re opting out of DTaP, Hib, Pneu-7, and Men-C and opting in for IPV (Polio).

References

1. Storsaeter, J., et al. “Mortality and Morbidity form invasive bacterial infections during a clinical trial of acellular pertussis vaccines in Sweden.” Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 1988;7:637-45

2. Miller, N.Vaccine Safety Manual For Concerned Families and Health Practitioners, 2008. p. 135

3. Miller, N.Vaccine Safety Manual For Concerned Families and Health Practitioners, 2008. p.116-17

4. Bjune, G., et al. “Effect of outer membrane vesicle vaccine against group b meningococcal disease in Norway.” Lancet 1991;338(8875):1093-1096.

5. Mortality statistics, Japanese Ministry of Health.

6. American Academy of Pediatrics. “Policy Statement:Haemophilus b polysaccharide vaccine” AAP News (November 1987):7.

7. Miller, N.Vaccine Safety Manual For Concerned Families and Health Practitioners, 2008. p.321

8. Dear, KB., et al. “Vaccines for preventing pneumococcal infection in adults.” The Cochrane Collaboration: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (John Wiley & Sons Ltd.), 2007(2).

9. Harvard Medical School Office of Public Affairs. “Researchers find use of pneumococcol conjugate vaccine for children could reduce disease-related costs.” News release: March 14, 2000. www.hms.harvard.edu/news/releases/0300lieu.html

10. Horwin, M. “Prevnar: a critical review of a new childhood vaccine:potential conflicts of interest in testing, promotion, and approval.” (September 19, 2000). www.vaccineinfo.net

11. American Home Products: 1997 Annual Report. www.ahp.com/annrpt97/sreport3.htm

12. Conflicts of Interest in Vaccine Policy Making (Majority Staff Report). Committee on Government Reform, US House of Representatives (August 21, 2000):17.

13. CDC. “Prevention and control of meningococcal disease: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). May 27, 2005 / 54(RR07);1-21.

It’s no stretch to say that the past year and a half has been by far, the biggest 18 months of my life. Here’s a quick recap:

• August 2010: Vibhu and I both quit our secure, well-paying albeit incredibly boring and unfulfilling jobs in PEI
• September 2010: Sell just about everything we own, pack up the few belongings that actually hold some sentimental value and drive due west for Vancouver, BC. The hope is that we’ll fall in love with the city and eventually call Vancouver home. Well, Vancouver was not love at first sight. We were overwhelmed by its sheer sprawling magnitude and quickly decided it wasn’t for us. Spent 2 days in Victoria and after meeting Rob and his daughter Sarah through couchsurfing, felt right at home. After 24 hours we decided we’d put down roots on Vancouver Island for a while.
• October 2010-February 2011: Popped over to India to get married, spend time with family, do a bit of traveling, and explore the potential of jumping into the guesthouse business.
• February 2011: Returned to Victoria with no job or place to live and announced to the world that we were expecting a little bambino in the fall.
• March-May 2011: The job search was slow going and stressful, not to mention the constant reminders from my mom that we’d be incredibly lucky to find any sort of employment in these tough economic times.
• May 2011: With a little perseverance and charming personality, Vibhu is hired with UsedEverywhere.com for a job that he has no experience in and makes the switch from game programming to web development. I breathe a sigh of relief that I don’t have to worry so much anymore about finding employment and can focus on getting ready for baby!
• July 2011: Open our home to guests through Airbnb. For three months, we rented out our living room to Israelis, Australians, Europeans and even to the handful of Americans who actually have passports.
• June-September 2011: Summertime in Victoria–Frisbee, CS meetups, gardening, beaches, camping, surfing, lots of new friends, music festivals, and a rapidly growing belly.
• October 2011: Kaiya Sol makes her entrance and despite her squished purple head we still fell instantly in love.
• November 2011: Vibhu experiences his first traditional American Thanksgiving. Yum, yum.
• December 2011: My dad surprises us with a visit, Vibhu is granted a 10-year visa for the US, and we get to spend 2 weeks at home for the holidays.

Looking forward to 2012, we don’t have nearly as much on our plate which will be a nice change of pace.

1. Spend long weekends cycling and camping around the Gulf Islands.

2. Learn enough guitar to play a few campfire tunes.

3. Continue to increase my fluency in Hindi so that I can at least have basic conversations with our family in India.

4. Have a kick-ass garden that produces at least 50% of our summertime veggies.

5. Find my blogging niche and increase readership beyond family and friends.

6. Focus on building stronger friendships and community with the new people in our lives.

8. Explore Vancouver Island through cycling, paddling, running, hiking and camping, and introduce Kaiya to the world of nature and outdoor adventures.

9. Visit one new country.

What do you hope to accomplish this year?

Well what can I say? Being home is fantastic. Waking up in my own bed and drinking my favorite tea before Kaiya greets us with a morning smile, picking out our weekly produce out at The Root Cellar and walking down to the village to buy eggs and chat with John, catching up with friends at coffee houses and reconnecting with neighbors who I only know through passing on the street. Navigating 6 lanes of highway traffic in Sacramento made it perfectly clear just how lucky we are to be in Victoria. Our quaint little life in Cook Street Village is nothing short of wonderful.

Our first two days back have been spent almost entirely at home unpacking and trying to find space for all of the new clothes, toys, and gifts that we stuffed into the car. We asked for no gifts for Christmas, but with a new baby, well that’s next to impossible for adoring grandparents and loving friends to abide by. So although we came home with way more than we had hoped to, I do appreciate the thoughtfulness of the gifts this year–handmade lotions and soaps from Hanalei, Tibetan prayer flags and wind chimes, books to inspire travel, tubs and tubs of hand-me-down clothes for Kaiya, and a vintage Schwinn for long-weekend cycling trips to the Gulf Islands this summer.

The quiet and the lack of people threw Kaiya for a bit of a loop during the first 24 hours at home. I don’t think she knew what to make of it all–or the lack of it all, I should say. She’s been sleeping a lot more than usual too, so I think a growth spurt is on the way. That, plus impending colds festering in our throats has all of us in a bit of a hibernation mode. I think hibernation is exactly what I was craving. But tonight, we’re having our friend’s Peter and Alison over for the first of our weekly Indian dinner and guitar lesson nights. We cook, they teach us how to play guitar. Seems to me like a great way to spend Wednesday evenings!

Kaiya’s big development this week is movement. For the past couple of weeks, she’s been practicing rolling up onto her side. She’d often hang out on her side, taking in the new perspective and opportunity to chat with her bear or reach for her ball. I guess she’s had enough of the side-lying position and has taken to flipping herself all the way onto her tummy. While she hasn’t quite developed the strength to easily get her arm out from underneath her chest, she doesn’t seem to mind. This new trick has afforded her not only the ability to navigate completely off of her play mat and onto the wood floor, but also offers a new challenge for grabbing at playthings and getting them into her mouth. The whole diaper-free thing has suddenly become more difficult (aka messy!) too. Rather than lying her on top of a single flat cloth diaper, I now have to strategically place 3 or 4 diapers under and around her in hopes of catching her pees and poops!

Along with improved moving skills, it seems the age of putting things into her mouth has arrived as well. This is something that I didn’t expect to happen so quickly, but be it my finger, her thumb, or a favorite toy, it seems Kaiya has discovered just how much more fun things are when she can feel and taste them with her mouth. I think it might be time to start baby-proofing the house!