Happy 2010! And Some Updates.

Okay. So, the Pediatrician said that Alex is still at an age during which "discipline" will do more harm then good and it is not effective. He said that when Alex hits her head/face to simply ignore her. He said that this is a very common behavior in children Alex's age and if we ignore her it won't last long. If we try to stop her or make a big deal, she will do it more he said...He also said that biting at this age is very common and to try (as much as possible) to ignore Alex if she bites out of excitement because if we make a big deal it will encourage her to do it more. If Alex bites out of anger, we are to firmly hold her hand and say, "No bite. Biting hurts." and then go back to normal activity as if nothing happened. Some people suggested tapping her hand, etc. But I can tell you that Alex is not only not affected by that tactic but when I do that she hits me back. I think she is imitating me and I don't want to teach her to hit or to hit out of anger. I've tried doing what the Pediatrician suggested to do regarding the biting and the hitting herself behavior and it seems to work. And now that I think about it...I've been redirecting Alex when she hits me or others because she gets too excited for months now by taking her hand and stroking that persons face with it while saying, "Nice (Mommy). Do nice." She responds to it by nicely stroking that person's face. I guess what the Pediatrician is suggesting is not much different from what my gut told me to do...We are still struggling with a terrible diaper rash that won't go away! It looks so painful...We've been using paper towels soaked in warm water for wet diapers and paper towels soaked in warm water with unscented Dove soap for poopy diapers (per Pediatrician's orders). We always change her diapers frequently and make sure she is dry before putting on a new diaper. We've tried all kinds of stuff...and nothing seems to work. I even gave her a bath in Baking Soda water last night. Triple Paste is not working. Aquaphore Advance Healing for babies is not working. Per friend's suggestion I am going to try pure vitamin E and Lanolin, that is right after I try a remedy of a ground up Kuzu Root that a friend of mine says works wonders! Today I am going to let Alex run around the living room naked for a little while to let her diaper area air out a bit...I also am going to speak to the G.I. Nutritionist on Jan 6th about this to see if there is anything we can do about the diarrhea problem due to the new formula (the protein in this formula is so broken down that it goes through you the way breast milk does..) because I think this may be what is causing and keeping her diaper rash around and preventing it from healing. But thank God Alex is tolerating this formula! That's the most important thing...Thank you again for all your prayers and suggestion and Happy 2010 to you and yours!