While Jasper and I are vacationing on the beach I decided to post a couple of my old favorite posts. This one seems pretty fitting to me now since by April I will have a little munchkin to try this out on.
Baby fever...and the 'crazy' thing I intend to do next time around
Now that Jasper is going to be THREE this summer (still can't believe it) I at times start to have baby fever. I have always knows I want kids- but the number changes. 3?4?5? But right now the timing Definitely isn't right. We are getting married in October- so maybe sometime next year? Who knows, but when thinking about babies I think about things I will do differently and the same next time around. Probably the biggest thing I want to do differently will shock everyone(at least Americans.) And at first it sounded crazy to me too- but after doing a TON of research on it I have come to the conclusion its Genius.
Before revealing the shocker I'm going to give a little background. I was born in florida but moved to Sweden when I was just a toddler. My dad is Swedish and mom American. We moved to the US when I was in 4th grade and I hadnt been back till last year when Drew, Jasper and I studied abroad there for 6 months. While there I picked up on some of their traditions..which is where this one comes from.
Ready? K. Next time around I want my baby to....NAP OUTSIDE! All babies in Sweden have these sweet prams (yep- we got one too) that protect the babies from all elements. In the winter they sleep on these wool rug thingys and are dressed head to toe in snow hear, and in the summer they sleep in the shade in weather appropriate clothing. Its brilliant!
At first when I heard Jaspers daycare in Sweden did that I freaked out. (Even though he was only going to be there 3 hrs a day twice a week)
Won't they freeze??-It was january and between 25-35 degrees during the day on average. Nope- they are sheltered on all sides- wearing several layers including hats, gloves, scarves and snowsuits.
Won't they get sick?? The daycare had between 15-20 kids and 5-6 adults and in the 6 months I never even saw them have runny noses or colds- which is not something I can say for most daycare children in America during the winter. Here kids are always sick with something!
What if someone tries to steal a baby sleeping outside? This was more a question for everyone else who just leaves their baby sleeping outside in the pram in their gardens and not the daycare where the children were always supervised. I'm not kidding- even in a big city like stockholm you will see prams lined up outside of cafes with sleeping children while moms are inside having 'fika'- coffee/coffee cake. Answer I got- Who would steal a baby?? And they looked at me like I was the crazy one. I love that- I loved being in a country where its safe enough to leave your babies sleeping outside and I look like the crazy one for thinking someone was going to steal a baby (because it NEVER happens there)
That was it- those were the only concerns I could come up with for why babies shouldn't sleep outside.
And here are the reasons why it's beneficial.
*There is not much better for babies/children/EVERYONE than fresh air. You can not possibly get too much fresh air.
*Many believe babies sleep better outside and sleep longer. This was always the case for my son when we were on walks- running errands outside etc.
*They also believe the fresh air makes them healthier, stronger, and maybe we should listen to the Swedes since they all do this and they have the highest life expectancy in the world. I think they might know a thing or two about living longer, healthier lives.
*People get colds in the winter because they are cooped up more inside without the fresh air--this totally made sense to me when I thought about it.
I know I sleep better when the windows are open and its a little chillier in the room. We like to crack our windows in the winter also and spend hours outside every day. Maybe thats why I can count on one hand how many times my soon to be three year old has been sick.
I don't expect most people to agree with me on this- but its something I cant wait to do next time around :)
I LOVE this and will do the same when I have children :) Especially since you live in Colorado (my fave place in the world) with it's beautiful surroundings and weather. I love this post and your reasons for justifying what should really be the norm :) Take good care and hope the pregnancy continues to go well!
ReplyDeleteI love this concept, thank you for sharing it! Will have to keep it in mind for when the time comes for my own babies :)
ReplyDeleteI say GO FOR IT! Actually, my auntie told me recently that this used to be a typical practice when she was a kid in Canada. So. Yeah. Do it.
ReplyDeleteI had a baby abroad (in Japan) and the exprience has taught me that so much of what we think is THE. RIGHT. WAY. to raise babies is not really grounded in biology or medical science. Rather, it's all cultural construct.
For example here, babies never wear shoes. Even in the dead of winter, you see tiny little feet poking out of blankets.
And babies got to bed super late 9 or 10 pm. And co-sleep till at least 3. SOmetimes till like 7 or 8.
My conclusion: there are as many ways to raise babies as there are babeis to be raised. So, do what works!