Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A Miscellany of Updates

A while ago, I wrote up my conclusions from some lunchtime literature reading on high fructose corn syrup. At the time, I could not find any studies that demonstrated an actual difference between the effects of eating HFCS and sucrose. Earlier this week, a paper came out that found some differences in the effects of HFCS and sucrose- in rats. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the journal in which it was published. Derek Lowe has a write up of the paper, and one of the comments on that post led me to Marion Nestle's take on it.

All in all, I don't find this convincing/alarming enough to make me go out of my way to get the original paper, let alone change my eating habits. But then, I don't drink soda, I only occasionally indulge in other sweetened beverages such as Vitamin Water (which should probably just be called "sugar water"), and I don't have a huge amount of other sources of refined sugar in my diet. However, this is the first study I've seen that indicates that there might be any metabolic difference at all between a soda sweetened with HFCS and one sweetened with sucrose, so I thought I'd mention it. It will take much more convincing correlative data and/or some data pointing to an actual mechanism for how HFCS acts differently than sucrose to change my basic opinion (that it is refined sugar in general, not HFCS in particular, about which we should worry).

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The Binky Fairy's visit was reasonably successful. It took over an hour to get Pumpkin to sleep Monday night, and she spent at least 30 minutes of that time repeating how she wanted her binkies, and didn't want the Binky Fairy to come. I was beginning to think that I was going to have to drug either her or me, but then she just dropped off to sleep and I was able to escape from her room. Last night, we were back down to the more usual 30-45 minute weekday bedtime, and there were only a few minutes of whining about the binkies. Tonight, she just stated once that she wanted her binkies, and then dropped the subject and asked me to tell her one of her favorite stories.

Her lip is already much better.

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When I was listing the many reasons why this was a particularly silly time to be inviting the Binky Fairy to visit our house, I left off the fact that Petunia has hit her 6 month growth spurt. Monday night, I had barely gotten Pumpkin to sleep and Petunia's bottles ready for the next day before Petunia woke up for the first time wanting to eat. Last night, I lost track of how many times I nursed her. Maybe 4 or 5? Prior to this, Petunia was waking only once to eat, and had shown signs that she might be convinced to drop that, so this is quite a set back. It reminds me of the "bad old days" of sleep (or lack thereof) during Pumpkin's infanthood. I am much more sanguine about it this time around, though, perhaps because I know that it is just a phase, and that I will survive it. Perhaps because I have already figured out how to function on so little sleep.

Still, the combination of Petunia's growth spurt (and concomitant all night nursing), Pumpkin's continuing potty regression, and Pumpkin's recent decision that Daddy is not allowed to help her with anything (because apparently only Mommy knows how to properly help her wash hands) have left me feeling drained- literally and figuratively.

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Speaking of Pumpkin's potty regression.... it is not due to a urinary tract infection, and gee, it was a lot of fun finding that out. (Being an hour late to work because you were trying- and failing- to convince a three year old to pee into a cup is downright demoralizing.) Everything I've read indicates that this is pretty normal, and that all we can do is just grin and bear it. And do a lot of laundry. I have a load in the dryer right now.

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And on happier, but even more mundane, topics.... we still love our dishwasher. And the Scanpan has worked out great. Due to a poor shopping decision, we ended up with a large "standard" Calphalon non-stick skillet and a smaller Scanpan. The Calphalon one is already discoloring and clearly won't last all that long. When it goes, I'll replace it with a Scanpan, because the small one has been awesome.

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Did I miss anything? I often find myself wondering about dropped threads in the blogs I read. If I've dropped any myself, mention it in the comments, and I'll fill you in. I'm all about the oversharing!

5 comments:

  1. A couple of times Tate said it hurt to pee so I took him to the urologist who said it was his constipation that was leading to the weird peeing sensation he was feeling. But first he had to pee in a cup and he was totally stoked by the idea of peeing in a cup. Big fun. And then the doctor gave him a piece of paper with pictures of poop on it - the kind you don't want and the kind you do - and he still has it. His "poop paper" is still sitting in a basket on the back of the toilet. It's the only time I've found his pee/poop fascination to be the least bit helpful but it made for a very easy dr visit.
    Glad to hear it isn't a UTI and I hope the potty issues resolve soon. Good work with the binkie fairy. Do you think a mommy fairy will work to get me some sleep in my own bed? I fell asleep in his bed again last night, I think before he did.

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  2. mary d6:42 AM

    I was going to say the same thing -- my 3yo boy was excited to pee in the cup. It's hard enough for me to pee into a cup, so I can't imagine you trying to coax a little girl into doing it. Good for you.

    We got ourselves a Bosch dishwasher too -- partially on your recommendation and partially on the recommendation on a bunch of Facebook friends who love theirs. We love with it so. It's quiet! Wastes less water! Gets the dishes CLEAN for a change! Love.

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  3. Thanks for all the updates! I also want to hear how going back to work has been.

    Glad the Binky Fairy seems to have workedng better and that her lip is already getti. Glad Pumpkin didn't have a UTI, although I can't imagine trying to convince an unwilling child to pee in a cup!

    Sorry about the night wakings. You will get through it, though!

    I need a new dishwasher, but that's not going to happen for a while. As for pans, my MIL got us cast iron pans for Christmas, and I LOVE THEM!

    As for the HFCS, I was never convinced that it was processed the same as sugar. I just think we don't know enough yet, and I'll keep looking into the studies being done. I'm going to read the articles you linked to now.

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  4. Aubergine Kenobi4:27 AM

    It's nice to hear how some of your stories tie up, thanks!
    Glad to hear Pumpking took well to the visit of the blinky fairy, and specially that her lip is doing better now!. Like you and as per Bella's advice, I'm trying to hold on until C is closer to 3 to try that one on him.
    Regarding the HFCS issue (which is not really a big thing here in Belgium) I honestly think that the best thing is to stay away of processed food (specially drinks) as much as possible. Like you, I'm not entirely convinced that the HFCS is the culprit, since people all over the world is getting fatter and fatter, no matter if they're soda contains HFCS or not...
    I hear you on the 6-month growth spurt-regression! The only thing that kept me going here was co-sleeping, but I still was a mess (I'm just recovering now and H is 10 months). I hope Petunia doesn't keep you up for too long!

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  5. how DID you get her to pee in a cup!!??

    I wish I had heard of the Binky Fairy! I never thought Gus would give up the bink. His palate and teeth were a bit affected even tho we had the ortho-friendly kind. I let him have it forever since he had the whole jealousy-regression thing when Pea was born.

    I forget how, but he just forgot about it eventually. I think being at school all day without it helped wean him off of it.

    And then I'd keep them out of sight at home and only whipped it out when he got really sad and freaked and needed his comfort tool. But I totally would have tried to get him off it way earlier!

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