Baby shoes. Oy oy oy!

I think I would be as excited about baby shoes whether LilO was a boy or a girl. I just love to window shop and look at baby shoes online!

Yet, the choice of shoes is not an easy task. I'm not talking about having to decide which ones are cuter than others, but about picking the appropriate shoe for the foot development. So at least I know one thing: barefoot is best.

But when we need to buy shoes because I'm a germophobe and when we go out I don't want LilO to be walking on who-knows-what kind of floors... what shoes do I get for her?

For the typical French parent, it's easy: the shoe has to be comfortable, high top, and provide a good stiff support on the ankle, like the one below. These are the ones I was recommended by a children's shoe store specialist, for LiLO's FIRST steps. Agh. Could she even move her feet?

Catimini Celeste - 69€ - Spartoo.com

However, it's a very different point of view than the one overseas. You see, for the American Podiatric Medical Association, babies need a soft pliable shoe, such as Pediped, Smaller (by See Kai Run) or Robeez, etc. And that excludes the high top stiff ones you find in all baby shoe stores here.

Pediped's Originals Mimi - $32

So I'm going to take a big step here and say that I'm going to follow the APMA's advice and have LilO wear soft shoes. She's not walking yet, but as she learns to take steps and walk this year we'll be changing models and types of shoes. I need to get some shoes though, since I don't like her cute feet cleaning the floors wherever we go.  I know I'll receive a lot of looks and maybe some criticism from other parents because of my non high top shoe choice, but oh well. I'm getting used to that! ;-)

There are a lot of brands to choose from and I guess it all depends on your baby - large ankles, chubby feet, slim feet, etc. :) Here are the ones I decided to get for LilO.

Smaller, by See Kai Run - "Mira" - 40€

Petits Pas de Geants is an online store that sells a good variety of this kind of shoes for babies. Ordering them online directly from the US is possible (and the selling price is a bit cheaper), but the taxes and duties can be tricky at times and make you pay even more before you can receive the package here.

Lutin Botté has some Robeez models and the good thing about them is that there is no return cost if you want to exchange or return the shoes, compared to Petits Pas de Geant. Too bad Lutin Botté doesn't have the low heel and soft shoes variety and focuses on high tops (well, that's the French maket!)

What kind of shoes did you get for your baby's first steps?

Baby babble

Baby laughter and babbling have to be two of the best sounds in the world.

LilO has FINALLY started to babble. When we went to see her pediatrician for her 9 month appointment he had asked if she was repeating syllables (babababa, etc) and I told him she had. Once. She said "ba-ba" the evening before.

But all the other babies are already babbling.... I thought and thankfully kept it to myself.

I was obviously concerned, he was obviously not. "Perfect!", he said. No red flag since she has shown she CAN do it but will do it more whenever she wants. Just what a paranoid first time mother needs to hear.

Well let me tell you... she has been babbling NONSTOP for the past week! Very serious babbling indeed. All sorts of abababa, papapa, addddadda, mamamama, muummumaaa in every waking hour, with some isolated and clear "papa" and "mama". How wonderful this is!

Do I notice a difference of sounds when she's around me or around her dad? French vs Spanish or English. I do! Or maybe it's just wishful thinking and my imagination.  I'm enjoying it though, I can't lie. 

Back to sleep?

I've been wondering when it's considered "safe" to leave LilO sleeping on her tummy. She is now 10.5 months old.

It's been a couple of days where MLDad turns her around before we go to sleep since we find her on her stomach instead of on her back like we set her down. I have two friends who lost their children to SIDS and although we will never know what happened with those little angels, I admit I am maybe paranoid about this situation.

On the other side, I know of a lot of moms who let their children sleep on their tummies as soon as they start rolling over since they seem so sleep better that way.

What do you think?

Weaning to cow's milk or toddler formula?

Before LilO was born, I had already noticed the ready to drink infant and toddler formula in the supermarket along with the "regular" milk. While I already knew infant formula existed, I've never quite understood why toddler milk does. The other moms in an online group I belong to (mainly US based) will give their toddlers whole cow's milk when the little ones turn one year old. So why the toddler milk in France? With LilO turning one year old soon (aaaah!) I think I should figure out what we want to give her if I stop breastfeeding.

My internet research has given me some answers. Simply put, toddler's milk has a lot less animal protein than cow's milk, more iron in order to meet the toddler's needs and extra vitamins. Provided the toddler has a well balanced diet, why the extra iron and less protein?

 An Irish study "concluded that a 6 months higher animal, especially dairy, protein intake at 1 year of age were associated with an unfavourable body composition (higher BMI and relative fat mass) at 7 years of age (1). Thus the "Protein-Adiposity Hypothesis" suggests that high protein after 1 year of age, (particularly from 'animal and dairy sources'), may be associated with increased adiposity and could increase the risk of degenerative diseases in later life."(http://www.aptamilhcp.ie/excessive-nutrient-intakes.html - note that this is a commercial brand's website but the studies cited do exist).

So excessive protein = possible higher BMI and fat mass at a later age. Not great!

A study published in the International Journal of Obesity suggests "maintaining breastfeeding as long as possible, and, in case human milk is insufficient, to introduce infant formulas, appropriate for age, up to 18–24 months, in order to keep protein intakes in the safe range of 8–12% within a diet adequate in energy and balanced as far as macronutrients." (http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v29/n2s/full/0803095a.html)

I have to admit I'm still not convinced! I don't know why really. Maybe because this toddler formula is not commercialized in many countries and is not seen as necessary. And culturally, it's something new for me.

I have french friends that give their children toddler formula and some that don't.  So I guess weaning is still out of the question until I can decide on something!

A book mom

I'm a book and research mom. From the moment I knew I was pregnant I started looking up information on the internet, reading books and oooh-ahhhing at everything we know about teeny tiny zygote. MLDad had to expect this from me. He knows I love reading the extremely small print from contracts to cereal boxes. So many things to learn about and ready for me to read.

So when it came to talking to LilO's pediatrician about our multilingual family he said "That's great, but LilO should only hear one language per person". I politely asked the pediatrician why he thought this was the way to go, but he really had no answer. (Specially since I had read so much otherwise with great success stories!) His answer: "It's just how it's usually done". By who? When? Doesn't matter. Why would I even question my French pediatrician's advice? Because I'm not French I suppose. I could tell he didn't appreaciate the questions, though I don't see any point in going to see a doctor if I can't ask anything - but that's just me.

Then on the next visit the Dr assured me LilO didn't feel any teething pain and that it was nonesense. Alrighty then. Bye bye now. Of course LilO was in pain at times. I know it and I know LilO better than him. And that I didn't even have to read about.

I was disappointed because I really wanted to have this dream pediatrician I'd stick with and have this long lasting trust relationship, but it didn't work out that way.

Our new pediatrician is a very nice man and although I did (briefly) talk to him about our non OPOL (one parent one language) approach he just smiled and said "oh ok". Hm. That was easy :)

I actually love being a book mom. I'd love to have all the money in the world and buy all kinds of books, but I do what I can and use the internet as much as possible as well.

One of my friends once told me that I didn't need all these books - that having a baby is all about instinct and that I'd figure it all out on my own. Well, I know there's a lot of instinct involved and I do that 99% of the time actually. But my instinct doesn't tell me or explain how LilO's brain is developing and what parts of the brain do what they do and why she goes through her different phases. I guess it's just that I read up on many things and LilO being part of our lives now makes it so interesting and fun :)

Welcome!

Hello everyone and welcome!

I am the mother of a precious almost 10 month old who is being raised in three languages at home. There are so many resources on the Internet about multilingual and bilingual families and there is so much I still have to learn on raising our daughter bilingual, or multilingual.

And it doesn't stop there really, our daughter is also being raised in a multicultural family and I'm sure there will be many things to discuss about as well as being a first time parent which is already a huge topic on its own and I'll probably be posting a lot about that as well.


We live in France and my husband and I come from different countries. He speaks in French to our daughter, LilO, and I speak in Spanish. Seeing as English is a language both of us speak very well and some of our family is only anglophone (aside from the fact that we think it's in LilO's best interest to learn English as well), we have decided that our "family language" will be English. So English is the language we will speak when all of us are together - whether LilO is paying attention to our conversation or sleeping in her carseat on a family road trip.

Yes, it's not your typical OPOL (one parent one language) approach, but we're giving this a try and going to see if we can make it work. I've been doing some research and seeing it works with some families out there. Western cultures tend to apply the OPOL system, but more than two languages are spoken in many homes in the world.

If any other parents out there are in our same situation, I'd love to hear from you!