Organically Speaking

***Cloth diaper status check: 2 weeks in.  Cloth diapering rocks my world.  Babydoll's butt has never looked cuter.  BD still not on board...but coming around.  I hope.  Continue to send good vibes, friends.***

So, since I had put off writing about the wonders of vinegar and baking soda in order to write about disposable diapers, I was planning on covering that topic this week.  Fate has intervened yet again, my friends.  A random discussion in my Mommy Group (every Mommy needs a group, and mine is freakin' awesome) revealed this comment: "There isn't much difference in organic food, it's just pricier."

Whoa.  My mission was clear: educate the masses (or, my 8 followers) about why organic foods are so much better for you and your family.

I've been making organic food choices for a few years now, and I've recently stepped up my game.  Pretty much all the produce coming into our home now is organic, and we only eat organic eggs and chicken.  You know by now about our meat choices, and when we eat pasta, it's organic whole wheat noodles on our plates.

In terms of food, here is the definition of "organic:" pertaining to, involving, or grown with fertilizers or pesticides of animal or vegetable origin, as distinguished from manufactured chemicals.  And that's it in a nutshell.  Organic simply means no chemicals, no hormones, no antibiotics, no funk.  I'm going to abandon my favored list style and go with a myth/truth format today.  You don't mind, right?

Myth: There's no difference between organic food and conventionally grown food.  Can I stop right here for a second, and address that label?  The irony in that phrase f'ing kills me.  "Conventionally grown" now means that the food was grown or produced with the use of chemicals ("conventional," meaning widespread use or acceptance).  100 years ago, "conventional" meant...well, basically "organic."

Truth:  There IS a difference.  Pesticide residue on produce, in particular, is difficult to remove even with a good washing.  Pesticide consumption, even in small amounts, has been shown to weaken immune systems ("Why is my kid ALWAYS sick?"), contribute to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ("Why is my kid ALWAYS bouncing off the walls?"), encourage malignant cell growth (that's cancer, dude), and inhibit the body's natural defense against cancer cells.  Want more?  Pesticide exposure, either inhaled or ingested, can be highly toxic to small children and pregnant women.  Long-term exposure to pesticides can lead to nervous system disorders or failure.  And that's kind of a big deal.

Myth: Organic food is expensive.

Truth: Well, I won't bullshit you.  Organic food IS more expensive than conventionally grown food.  But here's the thing: if you shop for produce that's in season, it's going to cost less than if you're trying to get strawberries in December.  Organic pasta is cheap.  Organic canned beans cost only $0.75 more than their non-organic counterparts.  Organic dairy would require me to take out a loan, so for now we settle for milk with no artificial growth hormone, and when Babydoll comes of milk-drinking age, we'll make the switch for her (I don't drink milk - BD does).  I went to Whole Foods today to do my weekly shopping and look at the prices I found in the produce section:

The bag of potatoes had a whole lot of them in there, and so did the $1.89 bag of onions.  The $1.99 Fuji apples come 5 to a bag, which is perfect for me to pack in my lunch every day (of course I brown-bag it!  You had to ask?).  Whole Foods had organic strawberries at $5.99 a pound.  That price drops in the summertime, when berries are in season, to about $2.99 a pound.  Do you see what I'm getting at here?

Here are some other things to consider when you make the decision whether to purchase organic or not:

• Organic farms have healthier workers.  Think about it.  Would you be down with poison exposure?
• Organic is better for the environment.  Fewer pesticides on the farms equal fewer pesticides in the air, water, and soil.
• Organic crops are frequently rotated.  This keeps soil healthy.  Yep, soil can become unhealthy.  Soil that is healthy produces food with more nutritional value.  Seriously.
• Organic farms are small farms.  I'm all about supporting the little guy and saying "F off" to the big corporations.  Organic farming is a much more concentrated effort than factory farms; it takes a lot more work to hand tend crops instead of doing a fly-by dusting of pesticides.
• Organic is GMO-free.  I encourage you to look into genetically modified food.  Google "Monsanto."
• Look for local Farmer's Markets.  Often, you'll find fresh, organic, locally grown produce at a fraction of the cost you'd pay in a grocery store.  And you support the little guy!  I heart the little guy!  Look, I live in the freakin' desert and we have Farmer's Markets (yes, that is plural).

I try to buy organically as often as possible.  Here is a short list of what I *always* purchase organically:

1. Chicken and eggs
2. Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries...all the berries!)
3. Apples
4. Potatoes
5. Peaches
6. Celery
7. Fresh herbs
8. Peppers (bell - all colors, jalapenos)
9. Greens (spinach, lettuce, kale, chard)
10. Carrots
11. Tomatoes

Basically, if I'm going to eat the skin of something, I make sure it's organic.  Do your own research.  The impact of pesticides on our bodies and the environment is monumental, yet they're out there, everywhere.

My No-Booby Baby

When I was pregnant, I was positive that I was going to breastfeed my baby for at least a year, or whenever she decided she didn't want booby juice anymore.  It never occurred to me that my body (and my baby) would have other plans.  Babydoll and I seriously struggled with breastfeeding; I know most women do, in the beginning, but after cataloging the issues we had, I've come to the conclusion that feeding my baby the way I wanted just wasn't in the stars for us.  I won't get into the details; it's way more personal than I'd like to share and, to be truthful, I've just now gotten to a point where I don't cry about it every day.

Well, scratch that.  Excuse me for a moment.

OK.  Dry eyes again. 

So then, I was left with the question: "What do I feed her?"  As I said, I never, not in a million years, thought that I wouldn't be able to produce nourishment for my child myself.  I had no clue about infant formulas.  I didn't know what was best, or safest, or most reliable.  I didn't know how they were made, what additives were in them, or even all the brands available.  "Formula" was as foreign a word as...well, some foreign word I don't know. 

In the beginning, we gave her what we had on hand.  Let me tell you, when you're pregnant or have just given birth, the major formula makers will hunt you down.  I never signed up on anyone's mailing list, but multiple cans of Similac and Enfamil showed up on my doorstep.  In our childbirth class, we were given a box of powdered formula and premade bottles.  My OB's office offered me samples at every appointment.  Every time I turned my big belly around, someone was thrusting formula at me.  My plan was to donate it all to The Shade Tree, but the last trimester of my pregnancy was so eventful, I was never got around to it.

After a couple weeks of trial and error (Similac made her horribly constipated - BD literally had to birth her poops while she was screaming in pain.  We're talking hard, marble-sized, pellet poops.  God, I can't even think back to that.  My poor baby.  I also tried Baby's Only, an organic formula, but it made her puke look like cottage cheese.  We figured that probably wasn't a good thing.), we finally settled into Enfamil Newborn.  She threw it up the least and her poo went back to normal.  She began gaining weight and became the picture of a healthy newborn.  Then, after I looked into artificial growth hormones in milk, I started to wonder about the milk from which the formula is made.  Milk not treated with rBST says so right on the label.  I literally jumped off the couch and grabbed the tub of Enfamil.  I read every word on the label.  It didn't say anything about whether or not the milk was treated with rBST.  "F-word," I thought to myself.  I went online to Enfamil's website - no info there either.  "Ohhhhh F WORD!!!"

I grabbed my trusty iPhone (my "boyfriend," according to BD) and called Enfamil's 800 number.  A very nice man bullshitted me for a good ten minutes, while obviously struggling to find the answer to my question: "Is the milk in your formula treated with artificial growth hormone?"  He finally admitted that he didn't know, and since I wasn't going anywhere without an answer, he transferred me to a "product specialist."  The woman I spoke with was, again, very nice and asked how my baby was doing on the formula.  "She's doing very well, thank you.  But I just want to know if the milk in the formula has been treated or not, please."  They must not get this question often, because it seemed to take her awhile and after a couple minutes, she found her script.  She informed me that the FDA has ruled that artifical growth hormone is safe (which is why I don't trust the FDA).  "Yes, I know they have, but that doesn't answer my question," I replied.  She went on to say that no test can determine a difference between treated and non-treated milk.  By then, I'd reached my acceptable level of bullshit (it's actually a pretty low level, but she was polite, so I didn't want to get all douchey on her and ruin her day).  "Look.  I know all of this.  I could give you 20 reasons why you should never drink or eat dairy that's been treated, but I don't have that kind of time.  I just want a yes or no answer."

So here's the answer: yes, "some" of the milk comes from cows that have been treated with rBST.  By "some," I made the reasonable assumption that she meant 99.9999999% of the milk.  And I came to find out that Similac and Good Start are made the same way (except Similac Organic).

My stomach turned.  My heart pounded.  My head throbbed.  I looked down at my beautiful Babydoll, lying peacefully in my arms.  As if I weren't suffering enough guilt in my breastfeeding failure, now it was clear that I had been feeding my baby something I wouldn't feed my enemy.  Worst.Mother.Ever.

I jumped online and Googled "organic infant formula."  Earth's Best kept coming up.  Hey!  I know that brand!  I bundled up Babydoll and ran to Whole Foods.  I grabbed a can of their milk-based formula.  Recoiled a bit at the price tag.  Ran home with the new, organic, PRICY formula and prayed it wouldn't make her sick.  At her next feeding, we cautiously gave her the Earth's Best.  Then we waited.  She spit up a little bit, but no major puke fest like the other organic brand I had tried.  For her next two bottles we gave her Enfamil, because we figured it would be easiest on her teeny tummy if we weaned her from it slowly.  Over the next two days, we gave her more and more of the Earth's Best and dude, she did AWESOME with it.  Poop was good, throw up factor was minimal, and painful gas wasn't an issue.  She seemed to really like it, too.  We had a winner!

Nothing will ever make me feel like I didn't totally fail my daughter because I couldn't successfully breastfeed her, but being able to give her an organic formula that agrees with her does ease my mind some.  Now, if you'll excuse me, Babydoll is demanding a bottle of the best I can do.

Diapering The Landfills

Hi, friends.  I was going to write about cleaning with vinegar and baking soda this week, but one of my fellow mommies (Hi, Amber!) asked me to look into disposable diapers.  The timing is actually perfect, because I am in the process of transitioning to cloth diapers for Babydoll.  See?  I really will research something if you just ask.  (Another mommy friend asked me to research infant formulas, so that will be forthcoming in the very near future.  Maybe two blogs in one week!  How do I do it all???)

So, back when I was gestating Babydoll, I did look into cloth diapering her.  Unfortunately, I got some bad information and in my worn-out, hormonal, physically and mentally inbalanced state, I didn't pursue it.  I was also met with opposition from Babydoll's Daddy (hereafter referred to as "BD"), and at the time, it was much more important to me to fight with him over baby names, than what would cover our baby's butt.  Picking my battles...whatever.

We are currently using Seventh Generation's disposable diapers.  We've used them since birth.  In my opinion (and you know I'm full of them), these diapers are the way to go if you're traveling the disposable route.  They cost about the same as Pampers or Huggies, but have much fewer chemicals.  They don't have those stupid, cutesy cartoon characters on them (which was incentive enough for me).  They are chlorine-free, so they are a nice, soothing taupe color, rather than snowy white, and they're fragrance-free, so you don't get that "Grandma's Bathroom" scent like other brands" (Pampers, I'm addressing you).  Also, these diapers just generally kicked ass (ha).  No blow-outs, no leakage, no issues whatsoever.

So, if the diapers we're using are so freakin' awesome, why am I switching to cloth?  Here's one of my infamous lists!

1.  The ingredients in disposable diapers (including Seventh Generation's) are primarily petroleum-based, which is a non-renewable resource and a big environmental headache.  Remember the Deepwater Horizon disaster (big-ass oil spill) in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010?  They were drilling for petroleum, aka crude oil.

2.  Some of the chemicals in disposable diapers are carcinogenic (cancer-causing), namely Dioxins, which is a side effect of the bleaching process used in most disposables.  Dioxins are a bad, bad mofo.  The EPA lists it amongst the "dirty dozen" of environmental pollutants.  Do you want that kind of shite against your kiddo's skin?  I don't.

3.  All disposable diapers use Sodium Polyacrylate, which is a super-absorbent gel.  Have you ever changed a baby and found little crystals on his/her butt?  Those crystals are SAP that has leaked from the diaper.  It's a chemical.  Back in the 80's, a similar substance was linked to toxic shock syndrome (ladies, you know what that is, don't you?).  Yikes, dude.

4.  Environmentally, disposable diapers are a nightmare.  The Real Diaper Association estimates that somewhere around 27 billion disposable diapers are used in the United States every year.  They also estimate that 92% of those diapers end up in the landfills (hence the catchy title of this week's post).  In addition to that, it's not really known how long it takes for a disposable to biodegrade, but they estimate somewhere between 250 and 500 years.  That seems like an awfully long time to me (sarcasm is just another one of my attributes).

5.  I can't speak for every parent, but I'm spending about $50 a month on disposables.  If Babydoll isn't potty trained until, say, 2 1/2 years old (the national average), then I will have spent somewhere between $1500 and $2000 on diapers.  By comparison, I can spend between $300 and $500 on cloth diapers that will last between now and when she uses the potty like a big girl (come on, Babydoll!  Poop for Mama!).  That savings is a down payment on a car, or a jump start to Babydoll's college fund (and since Berkeley will probably cost like a million dollars by the time she's ready to go, I think the fiscally smart thing to do is use the savings for a new car now.  Right?).

By the way, Pampers' website crashed my computer.  Twice.  F you, Pampers.  You and your DryMax can go to hell.

*Earth's Best also makes a more eco-friendly diaper (they use corn and wheat by-products to absorb moisture).  We tried them, and they just didn't fit Babydoll well.  Plus, we got a few leaks (probably because the fit was bad).  They also use inks and dyes.  No bueno.

I can't wait for my first order of cloth diapers to come (any day now)!  BD is still hesitant about using them, but I think once he sees that the all-in-ones I ordered are as easy as disposables, he'll be cool with it.  Send good vibes, friends.  I really want this to work for our family.

As always, feel free to ask me anything (within reason).

This Season's Hottest Accessory: Your Baby

I love wearing my Babydoll.  What am I talking about, Willis, you ask?  "Wearing" your baby means you shun the stroller or baby bucket in favor of carrying your baby against your body in a sling or wrap.  I wear Babydoll when we're out shopping, or for a walk in the park, or around the house while I'm cleaning (whaaaat?  Exposing the baby to toxic chemicals?  No way, dude.  Vinegar and baking soda.  Next week.  Stay tuned, pal.). 

There is a plethora of benefits to wearing your baby.  The main reason I wear Babydoll is because I treasure her so greatly, I want to be as close to her as possible, as often as possible.  Wearing her against my body, she gets my body heat, can hear my heart beat, and gets the comfort of being cuddled with her mama, while leaving my hands free for things such as blogging.  For a newborn, there is nothing more resemblant of the womb than babywearing.  The natural rhythm she became accustomed to while in utero is mimicked when I wear her, which brings her comfort and security.  Babywearing has been practiced for centuries; back in the day, before baby monitors and day care, mothers had to keep their babies close to ensure the baby's survival, while still being able to labor, either in the fields or in their homes.  The solution?  Wrap that baby to your body!

There are so many products available which enable you to remain in constant contact with your beautiful baby.  Here's the lowdown:

1.  Moby wrap.  Very popular amongst the babywearing set.  The Moby is one long piece of fabric, which is wrapped around the mother's upper body, and encloses the baby in a variety of holds.  It's excellent for mamas who breastfeed.  I have yet to master the Moby.  Incidentally, you can make your own Moby for a fraction of the cost.  See here.

2.  Ring sling.  My current favorite.  This is a fully adjustable sling that can fit almost any body type.  There are TONS of ways to wear your baby in a ring sling, from newborn to toddler.  They are easily packable, in a diaper bag, purse, backpack, etc.  I carry one in my car and keep one in the house.  Loooooove the ring sling.  By the way, it's totally easy to make your own!  Unless you're me and can't sew for shit.  In that case, make friends with someone who can.  Always good to broaden your horizons, right?  Especially when it works in your favor.

3.  Pouch (or pocket) sling.  My other favorite.  Non-adjustable, but usually sized to fit your body.  The pouch works in a similar way to the ring, although there are not as many holds that work in pouch.  I love my pouch when Babydoll is sleeping; I can slip her into cradle hold and go about my business.  Check out this cuteness when we went to lunch with my brother, sister-in-law and awesome nephew last weekend:

"No pictures, please.  Contact my publicist."

4.  Mei tai.  I have no experience with this carrier, so I can't say much about it with any authority (a lot of what I say has no authority, but I bullshit pretty well).  I know some mamas who absolutely love this kind of carrier; it's like an adjustable backpack that can be worn front or back.

5.  Infant carrier.  There's the super expensive Baby Bjorn, or the moderately expensive Ergo, or the somewhat reasonable Boba (which I just purchased at 70% off on Zulily.  Woot!  Mama loves a sale!), and a lot of other brands.  This is a backpack style carrier; it's very comfortable for daddies who don't want to rock a sling or wrap (and Babydoll's Daddy is the reason I bought the Boba).  This kind of carrier is best used for an infant who has established head control.  Nothing worse than a bobble-head baby hanging off your chest.

I had this epiphany a few days ago: 9 months wasn't long enough, so I'll keep holding my daughter until she asks me to put her down.  If that means I'm carrying around a 15 year old, I'm cool with it.  I wonder what I'll wear to her prom?