Our Little Haven Blog

[treemom]

Also, it's times like these when there is a rant over someone else spending money on things that makes me realize:

1. I am glad I only have one child

2. I am glad he is a teenager

[Coco]

it's a dumb thing to get tied in a knot over :lol: The mommy group oohs and ahhs over details of baby products, spending lots of time talking about things that should be a non-issue. Much rather talk about what parks are awesome, or funny stuff the kids are doing, or in-law bash. Building friendships on consumerism is just so fake. Esp. back when we were so broke i couldn't pay to play. Now that we can do some of those things suddenly we have more family friends. It's just frustrating. Sorry to hijack the thread with my issues, lol. :embarrassed:

[Burpies]

Every year one of the blogs does a flat diapers hand washing challenge. http://dirtydiaperlaundry.com/tag/flats ... challenge/

Flats are the cheapest diapers to buy. They wash out well and dry readily. You could get a couple dozen flats, a couple of cheap covers (Prowrap or Thirstie's) and you'd be good to go until potty training. Flats are nice too since they are cotton they don't have the repelling issues that a micro fleece diaper would have.

I didn't use flats. I was too lazy to learn the folds, but I used prefolds and covers. We would scrape the poop into the toilet with our dedicated poo scraping soon that was kept in the toilet brush holder, maybe give the diaper a swish if it was really messy, and toss it in a hanging bag on the back of our bathroom door. We had a three times a week washing system going and our kids never had bad diaper rashes, unless they had a stomach bug or something like that. A lot of my prefolds got me through three kids and I was happy to have them when cash was tight that week and we didn't have to cut into our gas or grocery money to buy disposables.

Cloth diapering can be done cheaply, and without a washer, if need be. It doesn't have to be a competitive sport.

[lawfulevil]

I've had ones that aren't, but that means the infection gets into your jaw muscles (instead of down into the tooth) and pretty much wires your mouth shut. I was on a soup/stew diet for a week and could barely open my mouth enough to get the antibiotics between my teeth. It was more annoying than anything but would be very distressing if you were 3 rather than 23 like me.

Not taking care of your child's teeth is child abuse. Plain and simple. Abscessed teeth can KILL you. They are not a minor inconvenience.

My roommate has terrible tooth genetics, very thin weak enamel runs in her family. She also had lousy dental care as a child due to a neglectful, painkiller-addicted mother. Despite doing her best as a teenager and an adult, she NEEDED full dentures by her early 20's, but due to poverty and the incredible expense of dental healthcare, didn't get them (she still only has temporaries) until her late 20s. Years of chronic illness and weakness, malnutrition, agonizing pain, and constant infections.

Your dental health as a child plays an enormous role in determining your health forever. It's not optional. If you can't be arsed to practice and teach your children good oral hygiene, don't have any.

[clese]

Pregnant once more. Baby number eleven is blessing their way into the haven :o

[salex]

Pregnant once more. Baby number eleven is blessing their way into the haven :o

Guess that means more double shifts for daddy.....

[Cartmann99]

Pregnant once more. Baby number eleven is blessing their way into the haven :o

The caption under the first picture says the baby is due in early May. Does she normally announce her pregnancies this early?

[antwan]

Ewwww! He's so....mousy. Bet it makes him feel sooo manly to be like, "Yeah, I made 11 babies." :oops: :sick: :oops:

[nelliebelle1197]

Quick quiz! See if you can find what is horrifying in this quote; winner gets a lollipop.

Mercy has been drooling alot lately.I told her yesterday that she can take her time getting her teeth,The quicker they come the quicker they rot.Some of our babies have cut teeth by three months.I am glad that none have popped through on Mercy yet.Although,Obadiah told her that she will like having teeth.She will enjoy getting to eat big people food to which she looked quite pleased.:)

[lawfulevil]

I see a bunch of horrifying shit in that sentence!

1. She's drooling because she's in PAIN, she should have teething toys, that's WHY THEY MAKE THEM. Even just a washcloth soaked in cold water and wrung out. ANYTHING.

2. Mercy was born slightly premature (just past 37 weeks) on September 8, 2011. The post was made January 27th 2012. So not only did little Mercy understand exactly squat from these "conversations", she's a couple MONTHS from solids being anything but maybe an experiment. We understand a lot more about gut bacteria's role in solids readiness than we did when I was a baby, many health organizations and professionals agree now that babies should be exclusively liquid-fed til 6 months. Growing teeth doesn't mean you're ready to be weaned. I'm childless and even I know that!

3. They're just going to LET HER BABY TEETH ROT? BRUSH YOUR CHILD'S TEETH! My baby teeth didn't rot!

4. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?

I'll pass on the lollipop, Nellie, I'm going to go floss... again. /shudder

[ILoveJellybeans]

Quick quiz! See if you can find what is horrifying in this quote; winner gets a lollipop.

The quicker they rot?????? Most parents would not say that, because they expect that their child's baby teeth will not rot. Baby teeth are supposed to last until they are ready to fall out, instead of rotting before they get the chance to fall out naturally. Even if they got their first teeth at 3 months.

I think what this family really needs is toothbrushes, toothpaste and to see a dentist. I don't know what they do with their kids teeth if rotting baby teeth is something they think just happens. Do they dip the baby's pacifier in sugar and let them eat it (or Mountain Dew, like one of the Honey Boo Boo kids did with the baby), or stick coke in their bottle instead of formula. Do their kids own a toothbrush, and do they live off candy?

[formergothardite]

The quicker they come in the quicker they rot?! So maybe stop buying so much stuff at the thrift store and get your kids some tooth brushes and tooth paste and then make sure that they brush on a regular basis.

[nelliebelle1197]

They do go to the dentist. For root canals on kids under 10.

[ILoveJellybeans]

They do go to the dentist. For root canals on kids under 10.

Do they not realise that by the time your small child needs a root canal, it is too late to just be taking them now.

I bet they never go back until they have more toothache and it gets to the point where its so painful that they cannot be happy or ignore it even with the threat of a spanking for an uncheerful countenance. I bet that root canal could have been just a simple filling if they actually went regularly, or took the kid straight to the dentist when they first said they had toothache.

Do these kids take the Lauren Fisher approach to teeth cleaning? Or maybe they are the kind of fundie who thinks that toothpaste is of the devil because fluoride is apparently poison.

[Loveday]

OMG. Oh. My. God. :shock:

We had very little money when I was growing up in the 60s. My dad was lower-level Navy enlisted and my mom was a SAHM. As far as I know, dental care was not covered for dependents at the time (I do remember Mom talking about getting partial coverage for my braces in the early 70s though), but even so--we went to the dentist! Maybe not every six months, but at least once a year. I remember having my teeth cleaned and chewing the little red tablets to see where the plaque was and getting fluoride treatments (that may have been slightly later, I don't remember just when they started doing that). I don't know where Mom got the money for all this--she sold Avon for awhile, so maybe that was it--but she managed, because when SHE was a kid, she and her siblings almost never went to the dentist, and some of them have awful teeth now.

We may have had next to nothing when my brother and I were kids, but my parents made sure to take care of our basic health needs. What these parents are doing to their kids is nothing short of child abuse. :?

[Tish Cook]

And she's pregnant again....number 11.....just announced this morning.

I will admitt that I have a strange fondness for this family. They are one of my gateway families and although they may not be the brightest bulbs out there, I do believe there is a genuine love in their modest house.

PS but the doll collecting creeps me out....alot.... :pink-shock:

[nelliebelle1197]

And she's pregnant again....number 11.....just announced this morning.

I will admitt that I have a strange fondness for this family. They are one of my gateway families and although they may not be the brightest bulbs out there, I do believe there is a genuine love in their modest house.

PS but the doll collecting creeps me out....alot.... :pink-shock:

This might creep you out more:

We had just left church tonight and thankfully had not got far when we heard this little voice say to Obadiah " where is my dolly?" We did a quick search and no one remembered grabbing baby doll so we turned around and got baby back. This sweet little doll was "rescued" from a dump far away. :) Our Papa picks up treasures that people set aside at the dump. Our girls are thrilled when a little one needs a new home. I happen to agree. One can never have too many babies. Thank you Papa !!! This one really IS a FAVORITE. HAIR and all.:)

I need a bath now. And I can't even with a new baby coming into this mess.

[chaotic life]

I really wonder whether this family is on well water. This level of dental struggles are not commonly seen in the US anymore for two reasons. One, poor children in the US have medicaid, which provides preventive dental services. Two, most communities have flouridated water now.

If they have well water, they would at minimum need every six month dental visits with flouride applications topically. Some dentists would prescribe chewable flouride tablets to be used at home. Without any flouride, they would have a mess in their mouths.

[ViolaSebastian]

I really wonder whether this family is on well water. This level of dental struggles are not commonly seen in the US anymore for two reasons. One, poor children in the US have medicaid, which provides preventive dental services. Two, most communities have flouridated water now.

If they have well water, they would at minimum need every six month dental visits with flouride applications topically. Some dentists would prescribe chewable flouride tablets to be used at home. Without any flouride, they would have a mess in their mouths.

I have to wonder if they are on medicaid, what with a good deal of fundies seeing that as interference from the ebil government.

I have to add, that in my community, there is an epidemic of what is called 'Mountain Dew Mouth'. It's an unfortunately popular practice to fill a child's bottle or sippy cup with Mountain Dew or Pepsi, or even just put sugar in their water or milk. The dental problems I've seen...pretty horrendous stuff.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

Are they the food stamps are ok type or no?

[trailmix2014]

Regarding the dump: It could be perfectly fine. My dad worked at a "dump", which was actually a transfer site. People always brought in perfect and new stuff that my dad would rescue and bring home if he was able. It was never dirty or near the nasty garbage. So, in their defense, it could be something like that. In which case, I would have no problem with it. We have plenty of stuff that my dad 'rescued'.

[Mama Mia]

I really wonder whether this family is on well water. This level of dental struggles are not commonly seen in the US anymore for two reasons. One, poor children in the US have medicaid, which provides preventive dental services. Two, most communities have flouridated water now.

If they have well water, they would at minimum need every six month dental visits with flouride applications topically. Some dentists would prescribe chewable flouride tablets to be used at home. Without any flouride, they would have a mess in their mouths.

I don't know anything about this family, what they eat, if they brush their teeth or go to the dentist or what have you-- so the following might be irrelevant

BUT

Some people just have really, really, really weak teeth. When my sister and I were kids my mom was very good ( too good in my opinion as a kid :P ) at making sure she did everything possible to make sure we didn't get cavities: no soda, healthy eating, brushing well, flossing, frequent dentist appointments, fluoride, the whole nine yards -- I had great teeth as a kid- not a single cavity until I was a teen. My poor sister though-- she had multiple cavities at every single appointment. She also would have abscesses and root canals. One of her kids had even worse teeth- while his sister had great teeth. One of my granddaughters - whose mother had extreme HG while pregnant, has just awful teeth. And her parents are extremely vigilant about oral hygiene-- but the poor baby has already had teeth pulled and caps - and she's five. And goes to the dentist every six months. She just basically has very, very weak enamel.

I'm kind of surprised that people say they don't see that kind of extreme tooth problems with little kids. In my area you see a lot of little kids with silver caps in their whole mouth ( dentists are reluctant to do porcelain on baby teeth, as they tend to fall off or break or something) .....maybe the water is spectacularly bad in my town??

[lawfulevil]

Some of it, who knows how much, is just genetic. But. BUT. Just ACCEPTING it, and acting like it's NO BIG DEAL? That's not okay. I do my very best, but I know that ultimately there are so many factors beyond my control. Even if my health stays perfect, I could get hit by a bus. Any of a thousand totally unpredictable and unpreventable things could happen. That doesn't mean you just throw up your hands and go oh well.

I feel like if both of us were tied to train tracks, I'd be fighting like hell to get out and cursing the jackass who tied me there, and these people would be singing hymns about trusting the Lord.

[nelliebelle1197]

Are they the food stamps are ok type or no?

Unsure. I am only about half way through 2012. What I have seen is that they accept a LOT of private charity - every other post is thanking someone for food or clothing they have received. They attend this every Friday, for example:

http://www.mccc-vt.org/our-programs

And Nikki has mentioned the Lions Club or some similar organization bringing them boxes of processed food. (Which she uses and it grateful for, though it seems she is a healthier cook relative to her limited resources- she grows tons of her own vegetables, milks her own cow and even has an occasional fresh meat animal).

In Nikki & Josh's defense, the charity dinners, while they may be necessary to her family's nutritional survival, expose their homeschooled, semi-sheltered to a variety of people. Nikki also seems to try to do her own charity as well- making things for friends in need, baking for church and community charity bake sales and giveaways, donating her own things back to the charity shops. She also doesn't seem to have any shame about what they receive and is truly grateful - and not in a we deserve because Jesus kind of way. I am not even sure she realizes that people see her in poverty and might raise an eyebrow at the things she accepts. She does not have a Gil Bates gimme cause I chose to have more kids than I can afford attitude in any way.

[docmom]

I found this explanation of "weak enamel" in children's teeth:

"The process of enamel formation (amelogenesis) begins before birth, and is sensitive to physiologic changes. The enamel of baby (primary) incisors begins to harden (mineralize) at about 15 week after conception, and the process of enamel maturation is finished two months after birth. The primary eye teeth (canines) begin their mineralization at 19 weeks of intrauterine life, and complete their enamel maturation process 9 months after birth. The cells that produce the enamel are called ameloblasts, and they are very sensitive to any developmental disturbances. Evidence of developmental insults, as well as perinatal and postnatal trauma, can therefore be seen in the enamel of the primary anterior teeth.

More than 75% of enamel defects in primary teeth are considered to be developmental in nature. Most developmental enamel defects (DED) occur in the middle third of the upper (maxillary) incisors. These location of these defects coincide with the location of the so-called neonatal line. This faint line, often visible on the facial surface of primary incisors, is thought to be caused by physiologic, transient, neonatal hypocalcemia. DED of maxillary incisors can be caused by: premature birth, systemic insults at birth, early childhood infections, nutritional problems, maternal illness or drug intake during pregnancy, or genetic problems associated with enamel formation."

So it can be hereditary but it also can be due to poor maternal and child nutrition and overall health. I think most dentists would agree that there are treatments available for "weak enamel" that can save teeth and just waiting for them to rot is unacceptable.