Infant CPR

This may have been our favorite day of the Babies Unit. Before we started the unit I was looking around online seeing if there were any Infant CPR courses we could use as a field trip. And it turns out none of them are for younger children (there were a couple for age 12 and up; most were for 15 and up!). I'm not really sure why they don't teach CPR to younger kids, honestly (seems like ages 8 and up would be totally capable!). It is not complicated at all, and maybe they think the kids will do it wrong, but it doesn't seem like it would be WORSE for them to do it wrong than for them not to do anything at all! And I guess younger kids may not be babysitting yet, but it's not like you could only use CPR if you were the sole caretaker. Anyway! In my search, I saw that the fire station had these "CPR anytime" kits you could buy. It's the CPR course on video, plus a little blow-up baby to practice on. The kits were $40, which I was prepared to spend because I thought it would be so useful. I've been in CPR classes lots of times and I've always planned to teach it to my kids.

But when I called about the kit, the secretary told me they had a bunch of last year's kits left over, and she could let me have one of those for free. Yay!

The video was great. One of those perky narrators and lots of chances to practice, plus zippy music to perform your chest compressions along with. :) It taught us how to treat a baby who is conscious but not breathing (Abe is doing back blows above; I don't know what Sebby is doing!) and then what to do if the baby loses consciousness. Malachi was able to remember and perform all the steps, and even Daisy got the general idea, though she wasn't really strong enough to do the chest compressions. The baby has a little clicker in its chest so you know where to put your fingers, and can hear a click when you are pushing hard enough. We loved our little inflatable baby.

After we were all pretty competent, we role-played a whole bunch of different situations. The children LOVED this. Their favorite part was when you are supposed to tell someone (if you aren't alone) in an urgent/serious voice, "You! Call 9-1-1 NOW!" and, the video instructed us "Say it like you mean it!" They loved that so much.

Sebby listening for breathing

Malachi blowing into baby's mouth and nose (you can see the chest rise and fall if you're doing it right)

Chest compressions for a conscious baby

Baby being carted off in a stretcher once the ambulance arrives

I felt like this was a really worthwhile activity, and it makes me feel like Abe and Seb will be more competent babysitters (they really did master the skills, I thought), not just for me, but when they babysit for other families. And I like the fact that we now have the DVD and the baby to practice on periodically, in case we forget what to do.

How to fold Handkerchief Babies

On one of the days we were talking about babysitting, I taught the children how to make these little handkerchief babies my dad used to make for me in church. He always carried a handkerchief, and since most people don't anymore, maybe this isn't even a useful skill, but I've always had good memories of my dad making these babies, so I wanted to pass the knowledge on! They are supposed to be two little twins in a cradle. (We made this other kind of handkerchief baby during our pioneer unit---they are cute too, but they require some sewing. The handkerchief babies I'm talking about now are just folded, like origami.)

Here's how you make them:

1. Fold a handkerchief or bandana diagonally in half, into a triangle

2. Roll it up from one corner, stopping at the halfway point

3. Roll it up from the other corner to meet the first roll

4. Fold the rolled handkerchief in half from the top

5. From the top (pointed) corner, pull just one side apart from the other side

6. Keep pulling, not quite all the way

6. Flip it over---now the babies are "face down" in their cradle

7. Lean the babies back against their cradle so they are "face up." Nestle them in and rock them back and forth!

Here is Malachi sweetly rocking his little babies. :)

Diapering contests

Abraham is the only one of the children that changes diapers for me currently (although no more diapers now! For a couple more months anyway! Hooray!) but I've thought for awhile that Sebastian is certainly capable of it. For when we get a babysitter outside the family, I've usually kept a pack of disposables on hand, and either of the older boys can handle those, but the cloth diapers are just a little trickier (more tucking and tugging required), so we needed some practice.

I used to use pins, but the Snappi is easier, and I'm more confident having the children use that.

And I have a couple diapers with snaps, so Malachi got to practice with those.

Of course the hardest part of diapering is doing it to a wiggling baby, but I felt like this was a useful exercise even on the stuffed animals. The boys did really well. And they liked having diapers on their animals; they thought it was cute. :) When the baby comes I will certainly put them to work---and I'll feel confident that they can do it!

Swaddling contests

I wanted the children to learn some practical baby-related skills during this unit, so we did several activities related to that. I figured it can only make them better babysitters someday (and Abraham is already quite good!). First we learned how to swaddle, and then we had contests for who could do it fastest, tightest, etc. We talked about soothing babies, how to tell what they need, different ways to keep them happy, and what to do when they just won't stop fussing. ("Never shake a baby!") We may have manhandled the "babies" (mostly stuffed animals) a little, but such is life. We had lots of fun. :) Nothing is sweeter than watching my babies take care of their babies!