Photo via oyvagoy.com
I’ve collected these links for your reading enjoyment:
- Almost Eden gives tips for keeping warm in the Israeli winter.
- Rafi reports about a wedding invitation asking women to dress in “shalim.”
- Leah Goodman wrote a guest post on making recipes vegetarian or kosher.
- The government is making the cell-phone companies follow strict rules about contracts. I’ve already posted about my experience with Netvision (an internet provider).
- Mayim Bialik writes in Kveller: I Breastfeed My Toddler: Got a Problem with It? Debra Nussbaum Cohen responds in the Sisterhood Blog. Unfortunately Nussbaum makes Bialik sound more extreme than she actually is, by mistakenly writing that Bialik’s toddler doesn’t eat solids at age two-and-a-half.
- Know anyone named Talor, Talori or Fruma (or not)? These parents would appreciate your help.
Wow to this one from Mayim. I certainly didn’t have the stamina for 2 plus years per child but it’s hard to argue with whatever works for the family.
Great round-up of some superb Jewish blogging.
Thanks, Sara.
I wonder if this site is really called “Park Lachish”, since there is a park in Ashdod with exactly that name. Maybe it’s Tel Lachich or something? Please check.
Anima, corrected!
What is your take on the breastfeeding at night 5-7 times per night with a 2.5 year old, as was mentioned in the article? It just doesn’t sound healthy for child or mom, in my opinion. No one is getting very good sleep, and child isn’t learning how to soothe self back to sleep.
Adena, it does sound like a lot. I don’t believe in the self-soothing theory–invented by Ferber as far as I know–all kids eventually sleep through the night without being taught.
Obviously some kids don’t learn to self sooth. maybe the whether the child needs to be taught, or just needs to not have the learning interfered with, is an open question. But, I think it’s fair to say that at 2.5 years, a child who is waking up 4-5 times a night EVERY NIGHT definitely has an issue.
@MotherinIsrael
I liked your response to Debra Nussbaum Cohen’s commentary. After reading Mayim Bialik’s article twice, I think she may be deliberately presenting her son’s nursing at its maximum. My (not-quite-two) year old may wake to nurse 5-7 times a night on occasion…but she also sleeps through the night. On occasion. Toddler behavior varies a lot from toddler to toddler, from month to month as they hit various developmental hurdles, as the parent’s expectations/reactions change, etc. I suspect my daughter would nurse more if I was not pregnant and so had more milk for her.
As for the concerns regarding the child’s non-verbal status – the very fact that he uses sign language means he has an understanding of symbolic language and its uses. Not all two year olds speak intelligibly. It does not necessarily mean they are at risk for serious problems later on.
Ms. Krieger, wonderful news about your pregnancy.
I just wonder whether the frequent wakings Bialik describes are related to a developmental delay. Mothers aren’t necessarily subjective when describing their children’s abilities.
Sorry, at 2 and half, a child who is not speaking definitely IS at risk. True, the fact that can sign for milk is a positive thing, but it’s NOT developmentally age appropriate to not speak. Especially since the child does not string pairs of words together either, something that a child this age normally does. And a two year old who is not sleeping through the night is NOT “independent” by any stretch of the imagination. Keep in mind that she specifically states that she has not slept a full night in years. In other words, this is not an occasional thing.
Sorry, what she describes is not a child who is developing in a healthy manner.
Also, a two and a half year old is (or should be considered) more pre (or pre-pre-) schooler than toddler. Nursing all night, or even once in the middle of the night, provides too many calories and stunts the development of an appetite for regular food during the day.
Batya, it’s impossible to say how many calories the child gets from nursing during the day or night feedings. Why is it worse than drinking several glasses of cow’s milk, that doesn’t have any antibodies etc.?
Well, I certainly wouldn’t give a child that age a few glasses of milk at night, either. If the child is really thirsty, some water is just fine – and the habit of drinking water when thirsty is probably one of the healthiest habits you can teach a child.
I agree about drinking water. All I can say is that several of my children nursed at night at 2 years old with no ill effects nor long term bad sleeping habits. They eventually stopped at around 3. And I don’t see why calories at night are worse than during the day.
observer, I agree about the speech–it should be checked out. Let’s hope he has been evaluated. Like Maya wrote in the comments there, it’s not related to the rest of the article.
I agree that nursing at night is not a sign of independence, but it’s fine for two year olds to remain dependent in some areas. I believe that letting them stay emotionally dependent gives them the confidence to become more independent. I don’t believe in forcing independence in small children when it’s not necessary.
One of the myths of 2yo breastfeeding is that they nurse infrequently. Some do, some don’t.
stringing two words together, yes.
“Mama, nur!”
and about the refuah shleimah update on Batya Shira bat Chasida. The Reichman family used to summer in Shiloh when Rabbi Reichman brought students to the hesder yeshiva here for a program. I didn’t know about her infection. Refuah Shleimah, I’m glad that she’s recovering.
Mayim Bialik lost me when she was quoted referring to some in her circle who believe that babies who can’t make it through a home birth should be allowed to die trying to be born – “There are those among us who believe that if the baby can’t survive a home labor, it is OK for it to pass peacefully. I do not subscribe to this, but I know that some feel that… if a baby cannot make it through birth, it is not favored evolutionarily.” http://blogs.babycenter.com/celebrities/mayim-bialiks-childbirth-regrets/ or original article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38129344/ns/health-pregnancy/
RM, that’s pretty awful.
Not just awful – dangerously ignorant. The vast, vast majority of cases where intervention is really warranted have nothing to do with the infant being “evolutionarily favored” or not. Mom’s being overweight, having a (truly not “probably”) small pelvis, baby being very large, being wrapped in the cord, etc. say absolutely nothing about a child’s “compatibility with life” (to use another catch-phrase from these folks.) Not to mention that in many of these cases, there is a significant danger to the mother. Or do that think that if mom can’t pop them out easily, she is also “not evolutionarily favored” and should be allowed to “(no so) peacefully pass”?
Observer, well put.
Wow if my babies didn’t survive a home birth, I would not have survived either. I am grateful for the medical advances we have today. If one was to have a heart attack at home would the other people there do nothing, or call 911 (In America)? One wouldn’t do open heart surgery at home would one??
I obviously do not agree with the home birth statement either.
I’m glad you responded to Debra Nussbaum Cohen’s article. For someone who makes a living as a journalist, her inability to get the facts right in Mayim Bialik’s article was pretty egregious.
She hasn’t responded yet nor corrected the article.