Crunch, crunch, crunch

I'm not out to conquer some list of crunchiness but it seems that with each step in that direction the next few steps come easily.

At the beginning of my journey I simply decided not to take hormonal birth control. Mostly because I was afraid of what the chemicals would do to my body. It also didn't make sense to me to alter what my body is meant to do, ovulate and either get pregnant or have a period.

When I got married I was still pretty cycle stupid, it's a wonder we didn't get pregnant. We would have loved that but we also wanted some us time. Someone suggested the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. Light bulb! After ready the book I began charting my cycles.

When I got pregnant, planned mind you, I knew I wanted to try to have a natural birth. One other person in my family had a natural birth so I wasn't confident in this. However, the more and more I read I decided I HAD to have a natural birth. The only way I wouldn't is if it was a medical necessity. It wasn't worth the risk to me to ease myself of the discomfort of labor.

I also knew I would breastfeed. I made it my goal to nurse C for 6 weeks. Because most nursing issues are settled by then. When we made it that far we pressed on to 6 months. Now we're at nearly a year and I doubt we stop any time soon. I'm even open to tandem nursing.

After C was born I used natural supplements to battle baby blues, to help him with teething and now any other ailment. Even my husband sings the praises of essential oils. :)

We co-sleep. It just seemed wrong to put such a little baby alone in a crib. So from day one he was in bed with us. Even at the hospital. I'm amazed the staff didn't fuss at me. But no way was I going to let my child sleep in a portable bassinet that someone could just roll out of the room! 11 months later and he's still in bed with us. Daddy has even come to love it and will often put him in bed with us despite having a pack and play handy.

We started cloth diapering. My first try at this was a fail. I was pretty sure that my crunchy license was revoke and replaced with a crunchy permit. After Pampers started burning his butt I had to give it another try. Success! Sure we have the occasional stink issue but there's not a better feeling than knowing that we are saving money and that my LO is not at an added risk of chemical exposure and infertility.

C wears a teething necklace. People think it's cute. Then ask about it and look at me like I'm nuts. Oh well. It seems to work even if it's a placebo effect.

We have made other crunchy choices that are probably best left unsaid. People tend to get their panties in a wad if you tell too much.

In a perfect world I would be even crunchier. I would love to live in a place that we could walk lots of places. Throw C in his BabyHawk and go to the grocery. Sounds appealing since he hates his car seat. I would love to know even more about oils and supplements instead of using medication. I would LOVE to have a home water birth. I would also like to eat organic food and perhaps give up meat. The whole "no poo" thing would work for me in a perfect world. The way I see it, there's always time to get crunchier! :)

I'm crunchy because it's easy. I'm crunchy because I don't want to put me or my family at unnecessary risk. I'm crunchy because I want to be.

I'm going even further to the dark side

Well, I'm continuing my journey to being a crunchy mom! I bought cloth dipes today. Ah!

I tried pocket diapers when C was about 8 weeks old. They were bulky, had stink and leak issues and I hated them! Because I was still working from home at that point I didn't have the time or energy to learn cloth diapers. I decided to make my life simpler and use sposies.

Fast forward about 6 months, Pampers changed their diapers and my poor son's bum broke out. Despite their denial this had been the case for many moms using the new Pampers.

That initial rash cleared up but I still have this nagging guilt every time I change his diaper. What chemicals am I exposing him to? Am I putting him at risk for infertility?

These are not things I want to be responsible for. So....we're going to try cloth again. I really want to make it work this time! I'm trying hard to just view it as a part of life. I mean, disposables have only existed what, 40 years? Before then, women just cloth diapered their babies. End of story.

I think we Americans have tried to make our life as convenient as it can be. Granted that sounds good but sometimes we put ourselves at risk just to save a few minutes.

I know people think the things I do may be weird but truth be told, this is how people have been doing things for years. Maybe the most recent generation is weird because they have been bucking the system.

Rambling.....

Sounds like it's time to tend to the dipes after their first trip in the washer. Three or four more to go....

Late night ramblings of a semi-crunchy mom that's fallen off the wagon

I have fallen off the wagon. I confess that until yesterday I had not taken my supplements in weeks. I've also been eating baaaadddd. Sue me. Life happens.

Of course I'm paying for my choices. My aching body is reminding me that these choices, while easy at the time, are not worth it later.

So I'm back on my supplements and paying a bit more attention to my food choices. I am currently on a mini-vaca so you know how that goes.

Through all this I am remained faithful to my limited dairy diet. Eating dairy, unlike the other two things, has immediate and drastic effects on C. I can't stand seeing that. Of course I realize an unhealthy mommy will effect C but that's not always obvious. (Tangent....coconut milk "ice cream" is wonderful!!! Wow. I need to research some coupons!)

It's interesting to me. Many crunchy choices are the easier choice but some take a great deal of effort and dedication.

For instance, in my experience anyway, choices like breastfeeding and co-sleeping are easier. Seriously, do you know how nice it is to expose a breast, latch on the child and go back to sleep. Why in the world would I want to get up, heat a bottle, come back to bed, hold said bottle and then throw my child back in his crib. Yeah right!

Other choices like supplements and healthy eating are not so easy, nor are they always affordable. Which is one reason I haven't been doing all that I should. Of course I realize that prevention will save me money on the long run but for the time being we don't have a pot to pee in let alone money to spend on organic food and countless supplements.

So for now, C is getting organic foods thanks to Grams. (My parents are awesome. My in-laws are too. Blessed!) Hubby is a lost cause and I'm trying my best to get back on the wagon and at least compromise on some things.

Oh Trader Joe's please come to my city. You would save me tons of money and provide me with yummy, healthy food (and dark chocolate pretzel crisps of course).

I better wrap this up. It's late and I tend to lose the filter on my thoughts when it's late. Here's to being a bit crunchier this week!

CIO Video

I know I just posted about CIO but the subject is on my mind. (Even House made reference to Ferberizing in last night's show.)

A mom in one of the crunchy forums I am in shared a link. It is a 12 minute video highlighting some of the PHYSICAL effects that take place when a child is left to cry.

PLEASE watch it. The facts speak for themselves!

I personally am not willing to sacrifice my child's brain growth for a night's rest. I will have many nights to sleep when my children are grown.

Video

Thought Provoking Article on CIO

This is a very thought provoking article.

Disclaimer: While I did not see anything offensive, I am not responsible for any content of the like.

Breastfeeding Article

The following article was written by Kym, a mom on another blog site I am on. I think her research speaks for itself. Please take the time to read!



I'm a strong advocate for breastfeeding. Before Andrew was conceived (before I even got married actually), I knew that one day I'd have children and I would breastfeed them. I had heard stories of women breastfeeding babies for 3, 4 and 5 years and honestly, it never struck me as odd. But what I didn't understand is why were the women who choose to do so ostracized and attacked. I knew that breastfeeding was way better than formula....they can't even be compared. It wasn't until I became pregnant with Andrew that I started doing my research and realized how beneficial it really was, and not just for the first six weeks, three months, six months...but it continued to be beneficial as long as breastfeeding was continued.

The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends that "Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.." (AAP) The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recommend that babies be breastfed for at least two years. According to the WHO, the average age for a child to wean, worldwide, is 4 years and 8 months. (WHO - Breastfeeding, UNICEF-Breastfeeding)

That is definitely NOT in line with how we do things in America. From the time our children are born, we want them independent and growing up. Most children are separated from their mothers soon after birth because they are put in a nursery at the hospital. Upon coming home, babies are put on a strict schedule, only eating every three hours. Breastfeeding is something for babies and in order for our children to be independent, they are usually weaned soon after birth for several reasons: so mom can return to work and not have to concentrate on pumping to keep her supply up, to go ahead and let our baby learn to not be comforted by food, etc. I could put in a jab at "BabyWise" here but I'll refrain. But is this line of thought and this trend hurting our society?

In countries where babies sleep with their parents, breastfeed for several years and spend their baby, toddler and early childhood years with their parents, babies are found to cry less, sleep better and gain weight better, as well as having LESS weight problems when they are older. They also have less behavior problems, issues such as ADD is uncommon and in general, children are MORE independent and self-suffient. Diseases such as breast and ovarian cancers aren't common among mothers. For more information about this, check out the book "Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent" by Meredith Small. (You can go to the La Leche League website for a review of the book.)

This research is starting to be more understood in America as well: The American Cancer Society has now begun to encourage women to breastfeed longer than the average 3-6 months to decrease their risk of breast cancer. Every year of breastfeeding reduces your risk by several percentage points. Studies also indicate that breastfeeding can aid in reducing the risk of ovarian cancer as well. (American Cancer Society article).

But what about the benefits of breastmilk for children? We know that for babies, breastmilk is, by all definitions, perfect nutrition. Breastmilk provides immunities, as well as valuable vitamins and fats. Studies done in the 1970's and 1980's show that breastmilk CONTINUES to be the perfect addition to a healthy diet.

"Research has shown that second-year milk is very similar to the first-year milk nutritionally (Victora, 1984). Even after two years or more it continues to be a valuable source of protein, fat, calcium, and vitamins (Jelliffe and Jelliffe, 1978).

The immunities in breast milk have been shown to increase in concentration as the baby gets older and nurses less, so older babies still receive lots of immune factors (Goldman et al, 1983). A study from Bangladesh provides a dramatic demonstration of the effect these immunities can have. In this deprived environment, it was found that weaning children eighteen to thirty-six months old doubled their risk of death (Briend et al, 1988). This effect was attributed mostly to breast milk's immune factors, although nutrition was probably important as well. Of course in developed countries weaning is not a matter or life and death, but continued breastfeeding may mean fewer trips to the doctor's office." (Nursing Beyond One Year)

Research also indicates that humans were created to NEED breastmilk for several years to thrive.

"Our past has produced an organism that relies on breastfeeding to provide the context for physical, cognitive, and emotional development. The human primate data suggest that human children are designed to receive all of the benefits of breast milk and breastfeeding for an absolute minimum of two and a half years, and an apparent upper limit of around 7 years. Natural selection has favored those infants with a strong, genetically coded blueprint that programs them to expect nursing to continue for a number of years after birth and results in the urge to suckle remaining strong for this entire period. Many societies today are able to meet a child's nutritional needs with modified adult foods after the age of three or four years. Western, industrialized societies can compensate for some (but not all) of the immunological benefits of breastfeeding with antibiotics, vaccines and improved sanitation. But the physical, cognitive, and emotional needs of the young child persist. Health care professionals, parents, and the general public should be made aware that somewhere between three and seven years may be a reasonable and appropriate age of weaning for humans, however uncommon it may be in the United States to nurse an infant through toddlerhood and beyond. (A Time To Wean)

(Of course, while these are mostly health benefits, there are many more! Emotional, mental and personal benefits, articles discussing these can be found on the websites listed at the bottom.)

The thing to realize is that the nursing relationship is a very personal relationship between mother and child. As long as the child continues to benefit from nursing, so shall the mother and breastfeeding should be allowed to be continued. Unfortunately in our Western culture, breastfeeding is seen as immodest, weird/gross and something for "babies". There have to be laws in place to protect a mother's right to breastfeed. That is truly a sad statement about our culture. Human milk truly is the best thing you can feed your child. The nutritional values do not disappear because the child turns one.

I have planned on nursing Andrew until he decides to stop nursing. I really could care less about an "appropriate" age to stop nursing a child that falls in line with the "American" way of parenting. The fact of the matter is, breastfeeding remains beneficial to both the baby AND mother as long as the nursing relationship continues. It's the way God designed us!

Other resources:
La Leche League International

Kellymom

Dr. Jack Newman

ProMom

Vaccines

Vaccines seem to be a controversial topic. I hesitate to even bring it up for that reason. However, I do think it's worth consideration by all parents. So regardless of your current stand please be open minded enough to read what I have to share.

It is incredibly appealing to think about a simple injection that could protect your child from several deadly diseases. Unfortunately, such injections are not without their own risks. Though these risks are often blown off by medical professionals for various reasons not to be discussed at this time.

At one point the controversy was regarding Thimerosal. For the most part this has been removed from vaccines. The new issue at hand is the content of aluminum. The following link is to an article that can state the facts far better than I can. It's written by Dr. Robert Sears. He wrote the "Vaccine Book" and is a practicing pediatrician in CA. When reading his book I found him to be unbiased in his presentation of information.

Is Aluminum the New Thimerosal

Dr. Sears is pro-vaccine in general but has encouraged parents to consider a selective or alternative schedule. If following the AAP's schedule your child's system will be bombarded with aluminum containing vaccines. Are you convinced this is safe?

I feel like the choice of whether to vaccinate my children or not is one of the hardest choices I have had to make. One one hand, I can choose to fully vaccinate my child and risk harmful effects of the vaccines that cannot be reversed. On the other hand if I choose not to vaccinate I am possibly putting my child at risk for contacting one of the various diseases that the vaccines could protect my child from getting. For this reason, the choice is very personal. Each parent must review the information and decide what risks they are willing to take.

It is my hope that those reading this will read it knowing my sincerest motives. It is not up to me to judge your decision on this matter. But I do hope you are willing to give this issue a second glance to insure you can be confident in your choice.

Once again, I have no issue with others making different choices as long as they are informed decisions.