Madeleine’s achieved another milestone –

Her first illness.

I’m shamefacedly admitting that Madeleine is over a year old and has never been sick. Not because it makes us bad parents or anything, but because I know all you folks out there who have experienced the trauma of a sick child don't want to hear any bragging like that. We’re pretty happy with her health record- not looking forward to vomiting and diarrhea and sleepless nights – and were hoping to continue the streak a bit longer.

And we sort of can, but sort of can’t.

 This week’s poll is up and running! I want to know: how often did you call your pediatrician in the early days? Did you talk only at well-baby visits? Call around once a month with a new parent question? Are you on a first-name basis by now? I want to know! And FYI – there’s no right answer. Pediatricians are used to hearing from anxious new parents, so don't be embarrassed.

As always, you don’t need to be a registered user to vote; simply click and submit to have your voice heard! The poll’s up all week on the right-hand side of the page, just below my navigation buttons.

The results of last week’s poll are in, and this has to be the most evenly-voted poll yet!

I was interested in hearing how you all dealt with that newborn fussiness, and every item I listed was voted for pretty consistently; there was no clear winner.

What does this mean?

It means when you’re desperate, you’ll try anything, and no amount of baby gear is too much if it buys you five minutes of peace.

“American Baby” recently published a good article summarizing three different “methods” of parenting and dealing with the sleep issue: co-sleeping, scheduling, and self-soothing. It’s up on their website now, and is a decent look at all three ideas.

My girlfriend Bev was interviewed for the co-sleeping part of the article. Her family is a fantastic example of how attachment parenting works for some people. And for the record, her son Danny is almost 2 years old now, and moved to his own bed recently with no problem.

I wouldn’t be, well, me if I didn’t weigh in on the article’s three methods, so here goes.