Maybe We Can All Rest Assured?

Back in May I posted about our decision to buy a Naturepedic organic cotton mattress for the Babe. There is an interesting article in The New York Times today sourcing toxicologists who suggest that standard mattresses probably don't "leach out" chemicals in quite the scary way we might have thought.

The challenge is that while outter layers may be made with natural fibers, there is no telling what lies beneath. Manufacturers were contacted for the article but few were able to give specifics on the actual composition. Unlike the food industry, which regulates at least the claims "organic" (there are no regulations for terms like "natural"), the mattress market does not require manufacturers to meet certain criteria to use a claim.

The accompanying chart lists many of the products currently on the market, their marketing claims and actual contents. The Naturepedic faired pretty well, because polyethylene is better than other outter layers but it is noted that it is still a petroleum-based product.

Eating in the Dark

Last night we ate dinner in the dark. No, this was not my way of saving on electricity, as green as that may have been. No, this was our way of not waking the Babe. Ridiculous? Read on.

When we first brought the Babe home he was a champion sleeper. I thought he simply took after my husband who can sleep at any time, at any place and through any amount of not-so-ambient noise (vacuuming, frying food, jack hammers, you name it). Everyone told me babies sleep a lot but ours slept a LOT and I figured he was special - every new mothers right. Then, when all the relatives left and my husband went back to work, the Babe stopped sleeping. Rocking a 10-lber to sleep everyday took all of my patience and about an hour for a precious 15 minutes of down time.

Over the last few weeks the Babe's daytime naps have improved. By that I mean, he takes them! Now, I can gently rock the Babe a bit, put him in his crib and he will slowly put himself to sleep for a good 2 hour stretch. Trouble is, he's a tremendously light sleeper. Last night, when we finally sat down to dinner at 9 pm after a leisurely walk in Central Park, a bath and a story. I had dimmed the lights by his crib (and our coffee table where my healthy dinner awaited) to soothe him. Looking forward to a quiet evening, we clicked on the TV.

And then ...

A wimper. I scrambled for the mute button ... Another wimper. I guess the flickering from the TV was flashing into his crib.

So there we sat. Barely talking. In the dark (ok it wasn't pitch black but still). I keep asking my friends when the Babe will finally sleep through the night but in a way I'm dreading the moment he drops off at 6pm not to wake until morning. I'll turn into a librarian or something - constantly shushing people. Will I be able to cook dinner? Talk on the phone? Type?

Who knows. For now, I'm too sleep deprived to worry about it.