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This weekend I watched Ricki Lake’s documentary, “The Business of Being Born”.  I was absolutely blown away by the clarity and gentleness by which the film discussed what is so often a messy topic: what should birth and maternity care look like?  

The film brought together the voices of OB/GYN’s, Labor & Delivery Nurses, Midwives, Pregnant women and Postpartum mothers to take a fair, unbiased look a the issues at hand.  What issues, you say?  Well, when you look at the stats on maternal mortality, infant mortality, and c-section rates, the United States trails most every ”developed” country and even lags behind certain “undeveloped” countries.  And this despite the fact that Americans put soooooooo much more money into maternal and infant healthcare!  We pay more and get less.  What’s going on here? 

You have GOT to watch the film to find out, but here’s a taste of the action from the director, “When my friend Ricki Lake approached me about making this film, I admitted to her that I was afraid to even witness a woman giving birth, let alone film one. I had never pronounced the word “midwifery” and I thought Ricki insane, as she planned the birth of her second child, for passing up an epidural in a hospital delivery.

But as I did the research, I discovered that the business of being born is another infuriating way medical traditions and institutions – hospitals and insurance companies – actually discourage choice and even infringe on parents’ intimate rites, ultimately obstructing the powerful natural connection between mother and newborn child.”

I LOVED THIS VIDEO!  If you’re pregnant, you should watch it.  It’ll give you such a realistic preview of what healthy birth looks like, including all types of normal births from vaginal to breach to medically necessary c-section.  It was inspiring to the point of tears, and entirely real through and through.  Before you make your birth plan, watch ”The Business of Being Born”!  

We know that too much sun exposure is not wise, but are sunscreens themselves really safe?  Of all the body care and cosmetics you use, sunscreens are likely to be filled with the most dangerous chemicals.  When sunscreen soaks into the skin, we absorb known carcinogens and estrogen-imitating chemicals, which can cause a whole host of serious problems.  In fact, some research has shown that countries in which chemical-laden sunscreens are most commonly used actually report the greatest increase in cancer melanoma (skin cancer). 

What’s safe?  Look for sunscreens that contain only zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.  These non-chemical sunscreens are often marketed for babies or those with sensitive skin, but they’re the best choice for all of us.  Instead of soaking into the skin, these sunscreens sit on top of the skin and deflect rays.  Here’s a list of safe sunscreens from Nature Mom’s Blog post “Safe Sunscreens for the Family” :

California Baby SPF 30 + Sunblock Stick – No Fragrance – My top pick for kids! This is a non chemical sunscreen. It uses non-penetrating titanium dioxide (no nano particles) to protect against the sun. It is also made with organic & sustainably grown ingredients.

California Baby SPF 30 – This is specially for children to be safe and it a favorite among many natural parents. I have used this on my own kids and I really like it. I usually opt for the fragrance free versions.

California Baby SPF 30 + Bug Repellent – This is a good sunblock/bug repellent combo that is DEET free.

Badger Face & Body Sunblock SPF 30 – There was huge run on this sunscreen not long ago and you could hardly get it. It is known to be one of the safest sunscreens out there.

Lavera Baby and Children Sun Screen Lotion, SPF 30 – Contains organic peach seed, apricot seed oil and calendula and protects against UV A, B and C rays with waterproof protection.

Jason Natural – Sunbrellas Chemical Free Sun Block SPF30+ – Chemical, Fragrance and Paraben Free Complete UVA & UVB Protection Ideal for Sensitive Skin.

Dermalogica Ultra Sensitive Faceblock SPF 25 – Another chemical free sunblock using non-penetrating titanium dioxide. This has a hint of color…most likely to hide the streaky whiteness of the natural titanium dioxide.

For more info and details about sunscreen safety, read Tiffani’s whole article, “Safe Sunscreens for the Family“

Many women desire to give birth without pain medication, or at least with as few heavy medications as possible.  How do you prepare yourself for that challenge?  What makes the difference between a woman who throws out her birth plan and gets that epidural and the one who manages her pain in the way she had hoped? 

For one, you have to realize that women feel contractions differently.  Some experience contractions as extremely painful, but others just feel tightness or almost nothing at all.  My friend Chihiro said she couldn’t even tell when she was contracting with her first baby, but with the second she experienced intense pain.  Prepare yourself by keeping an open mind to how easy or difficult the actual experience may be for you.  It’s completely unpredictable.

That said, countless women who experience intense pain during labor do manage to forego medicating.  Now, I realize that a non-medicated birth isn’t for everyone, but if this is one of your goals here are some tips:

1. Limit your exposure to medication opportunities.  Really.  If you don’t want to take drugs, try to avoid having them offered to you.  When you enter the labor room, personally tell the nurse that you prefer she NOT offer you medication.  Ask your birth partner to keep new nurses updated.  I heard of one woman who hung a “Don’t Offer Me Medication” sign on her labor room door.  Hey, it’s easier if you don’t have to say “no”.  If you really, consciously change your mind, I bet you’ll find the words to ask for that medication!
2. Train your mind to think of birth positively.  Birth is an opportunity to bond with your mate, work hard for something worthwhile, experience the thrilling joy of success hard-won, and embrace that new baby for the first time.  Read LOTS of natural birth stories!  This is the most enjoyable and probably the most effective way to prepare for a natural, non-medicated birth.  Each time you expose yourself to stories of women who experienced birth like you desire, you set yourself up to approach birth with a positive, confident attitude. 
3. Prepare to be flexible.   Your birth will probably NOT go exactly as planned.  Maybe your contractions will stop temporarily. Maybe your doula will not make it.  Maybe your labor will drag on for over 24 hours.  Maybe you’ll go from 2 to 10 centimeters in an hour – who knows!!!  It’s great to have a plan, but be prepared to throw it out the window.  Spend some time imagining very different possibilities and how you would like to react.  No matter what happens, you can have a fulfilling birth experience if you keep your perspective positive and take control of your choices.  In birth you are not the victim or the patient, you are the mom.
4. Gain access to alternative pain management options.  If you’re saying “no” to drugs, say “yes” to something else! Read, talk to other moms about what worked for them, and arrange for the services of a midwife or doula.  There is a rich culture of birthing aids from warm water to massage to visualizations that can make a huge difference in your perception of pain during labor.  Your labor nurse is very unlikely to be of help in this area.  You’ve got to proactively plan ahead to arm yourself with safe, effective labor tools.  Again, reading positive natural birth stories is an excellent way to fill your mind with pain management ideas. 

Bottom line: managing pain is 90% mental.  The difference between achieving your goal to birth without drugs and making a decision to medicate that you may regret is usually how prepared you are mentally.  Know that you can do this.  Focus on the positives and let every contraction bring you closer to holding that baby in your arms.

One great classic full of positive birth stories is Ina May Gaskin’s ”Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth”.  You can also find a rich resource of birth stories at Mothering.com. 

Many blessings!

Ever find yourself wishing you had more friends with young children, especially ones who shared your outlook on parenting and natural living?  Holistic Moms Network may be just what you need. 

I recently joined a chapter in my area.  I had been meaning to go for months (ok, more like a year) because they hold monthly informational meetings about quite interesting topics from organic gardening in your backyard to vaccinations, homeopathy, and natural childbirth.  The monthly meetings feature an expert guest speaker and serve as a great way to meet other natural/holistic, mindful mamas in your area.  It’s a truly non-judgmental atmosphere, which makes all the difference. 

Well, it’s been a lot of fun!  I know that the whole point of the network is to meet others who share your way of life and to live and learn as a community, but meeting these people has provoked more than one “I’m not alone!” epiphanies.  Now I’m helping to facilitate a bi-monthly book club and starting to form relationships through socials and playdates.  It’s so inspiring! 

The Holistic Moms Network (HMN) is a relatively new, national non-profit dedicated to connecting parents who are passionate about natural health and green living.  HMN has 120+ chapters across North America. HMN encourages families to parent from the heart, trust their instincts and make informed healthcare decisions.  To see if there’s a chapter near you or for info on how to start one, visit www.holisticmoms.org, or call (877) HOL-MOMS.  
 

On Sunday night I faced a defining mothering moment.  I told my daughter that she couldn’t have Koolaid like the other kids at a weekly dinner social.  I hated doing it, but figured that I’m going to have to say “no” in a social situation at some point.  I was afraid that Koolaid might become a weekly occurance at the social and I’m not OK with Koolaid as a regular drink for my three-year-old.  Aria took the disappointment well, especially since I pointed out that she could have some homemade carrot cake for desert.  She asked me about it later and I explained, “Every mom has to decide what is a healthy choice for their child.  In our family we don’t drink Koolaid because mommy doesn’t think it’s healthy.” 

When you’re pregnant, it’s having the self-control to forego your favorite deli sandwich and miss-out on the goodies at social gatherings from sushi to soft-cheeses.  You look forward to getting back those off-limits indulgences once baby is born, only to discover that with nursing and feeding a young child you’re faced with a whole new level of diet reform.  After all, it’s up to you to eat the right foods to make your breastmilk nourishing and safe.  And, once your baby is eating table foods, you realize that your entire family needs to model healthy eating habbits if baby is going to form his own. 

Saying “no” to junk food is choice we face every day.  I especially enjoyed a recent post at Nature Moms Blog, “Healthier Kids: Moving Beyond Pizza and Hot Dogs”. If you’re looking to reevaluate your family’s eating habbits and take baby steps to healthier foods, her article outlines some good guidelines.  You can also enter to win a cookbook from Holistic Moms Network.  I want one!

I just read an article in Fit Pregnancy that’s worth sharing: studies show that pregnancy, not breastfeeding is what’s behind saggy breasts.  OK, no one wants to talk about it, but the fact is that things aren’t usually on the up and up, so to speak, after a woman embraces motherhood.  A common misconception is that breastfeeding will cause sagginess, especially lengthy (i.e. super-healthy) breastfeeding.  That’s just not the case, according to a study out of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.  Apparently, prior nursing, number of babies nursed, or nursing duration didn’t show any link to droopier breasts.  On the other hand, pregnancy itself showed up as the culprit!  When your breasts swell with pregnancy, the skin is stretched and some consequental sagging is to be expected.  While some women feel that their breasts are larger from a pregnancy, others feel that they are smaller or the same size.  “But the experience of breasts becoming more droopy is pretty universal,” according to assistant professor Brian Rinker, M.D.  Well, that’s life, ladies.  Our kids are worth it, hands down! 

A little review…  BPA, a common component in clear plastic, is a hormone-disrupting synthetic estrogen. According to the studies (like this one: http://www.chej.org/BPA_Website.htm) even at very low doses, BPA’s mimicry of estrogen caused prostate and breast cancer, early onset of puberty, obesity, hyperactivity, lowered sperm count, miscarriage, diabetes, and altered immune system in animal studies.  It’s not hard to see that this hormone-like chemical could be the reason for growing concerns in our culture including: fertility problems, cancers, and early onset of puberty. 

Media attention has been focused on BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups.  But BPA-free should begin during your pregnancy!  While your baby is developing in the womb, he or she is especially susceptible to environmental toxins and poisons.   Here are some steps you can take to safeguard your child’s health.

Cooking & Storing Containers:  BPA leaches from plastics during routine use and especially when a product is heated.  It is not wise to cook, store, or serve in these plastics.  Many plastic containers will reveal the plastic type in the recycle triangular symbol at the base.  Protect your baby by examining your storage and cooking containers.  Plastic types 6 or 7 probably have BPA content.   Plastic types 2, 4, and 5 are considered safest.  Sometime a container does not have a plastic symbol, but don’t assume that high-quality products will be safe.  My Tupperware Rock n’ Serve and Heat n’ Serve containers (both meant to be used in the microwave), were made of plastic type 6 – BPA contaminated plastic.  I discovered this after contacting the company because no information was revealed on the product.  Whenever possible, replace your plastic containers with glass or metal options.  All plastics leach to some degree and who knows what future studies will reveal. 

Drink Bottles:  It’s sad but true that your favorite Nalgene bottle emits BPA!  That’s right, Nalgene has long loved and used polycarbonate plastic, which can only be produced by using BPA, to create bottles that are transparent, hard, and particularly shatter-resistant.  During pregnancy, we all drink a lot of water – or try to.  Replace your water bottle with a stainless steal option.  Guyot, Klean Kanteen, and Sigg all make portable water bottles designed to protect the purity of your water.  At Euphoria, we recently purchased the Guyot and we love it!  Also, don’t simply reuse those plastic bottles in which bottled water is packaged.  Those bottles are packaged in type 1 plastic, which is completely safe for single use but completely unsafe for multiple uses.  Type 1 plastic is designed to break down quickly for recycling purposes.  At home, check that your drinking cups aren’t made of type 6 or 7, and drink out of glass whenever possible.

Canned-Foods:   This area is a little more challenging, but just as key as the others.  Did you know that many canned food manufacturers line their cans with plastics or resins that include BPA?  And, unfortunately, there are no government safety standards limiting the amount of BPA in canned food.  The Environmental Working Group (EWG) sponsored a study with an independent lab that examined 97 cans of name-brand fruit, vegetables, soda, and other commonly eaten canned goods (http://www.ewg.org/reports/bisphenola).  Over 1/2 of the cans included the toxin BPA.  Tragically, canned infant formula was the worst offender.  The lab reports, “analysis of our tests reveals that for one of every five cans tested, and for one-third of all vegetables and pastas (ravioli and noodles with tomato sauce), a single serving would expose a pregnant woman to BPA at levels that fall within a factor of 5 of doses linked to birth defects — permanent damage of developing male reproductive organs.” If you’d prefer NOT to eat food marinated in BPA, your best bet is to eat less canned food.  Another option is to contact your favorite canned food manufacturers.  For example, I visited the Muir Glenn website and quickly discovered that they line their cans in an enamel, not plastic. 

Weather you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, or caring for a precious new baby, I’m sure you care deeply about protecting the health and well-being of your family.  We all do.  Would it anger you to discover that some of the cosmetics you routinely use contain chemicals with confirmed links to cancer, organ damage, contamination, allergies, and more? 

I hadn’t thought much about the cosmetics we use, but a book I’m reading pointed out that the skin absorbs the products we use.  Afterall, that is how topical medications work or patches for smoking and birth control.  Lotions, serums, diaper creams, etc are designed to soak into the skin.  Come to think about it, it does make sense to use products that are safe enough to eat, if possible.  If you care about ingesting pesticides, shouldn’t you care about using chemical-laden cosmetics too?

I know that this opens up a whole can of worms, but I seem to be doing that a lot lately.  I simply don’t believe that the status quo is always best.  Nor do I trust government regulatory systems to protect my health.  It’s hard to know who to trust really.  Do you ever feel that way?  But, I digress.  At any rate, my common sense tells me that cosmetics that contain tried & true natural oils, extracts, etc are safer than the latest chemical concoctions.

My research led me to a fantastic website sponsored by the Environmental Working Group, http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/.  You can type any ingredient and most product names into the database to receive a report on its toxicity or safety with plenty of information regarding specific risks, studies, and alternatives.  Wow!  Before long I had ALL of our household cosmetics piled up on my desk.  My “toss” pile was significantly larger than the “ok”.  And, really, none of my products were great.  Even many “natural” or “organic” skin care lines have some products that rate badly for toxicity.  You really have to know your ingredients or use a site like Skin Deep (link above) to be sure you’re making a healthy, safe choice. 

What made me most furious was that my Balmex diaper cream contains a key ingredient rated as “Not safe for use on infant skin” by an independent cosmetic review board.  That ingredient is also restricted in Canadian and European cosmetics and prohibited from food in the USA.  And I’ve been slathering this cream on my baby’s bum for how many years!?!  That’s it, we need a whole new skin care line for babies at Euphoria – pronto!  A new line called Earth Mama Angel Baby is due to arrive next week.  And that’s good, because my Balmex diaper cream and Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Nourishing Milk Lotion are already in the trash!

If you’re a pregnant career woman, this article offers a wealth of links to blogs and resource sites that will help you navigate the complexities of maternity leave, job-searching, child care and more: http://www.businesscreditcards.com/bootstrapper/balancing-work-and-family-100-resources-for-pregnant-career-women/  Many blessing as you embark on this new challenge!

I’m so excited for my best friend who is pregnant with her first baby!  Talking with her has me thinking about how overwhelming it was to create that first baby registry.  There were so many choices and so many products.  My second baby is now almost one (shock, gasp, sniffle) so I feel that I’ve earned the right to give a little advice on making a baby registry.  Here’s my list of what I wish I hadn’t registered for, what would have been a better choice, and why:

1. Conventional crib mattress Organic, Non-toxic crib mattress – the concoction of chemicals emitted from vinyl crib mattresses is ridiculously unhealthy for developing little bodies.  And baby spends so much time sleeping on that mattress!  Ditto on the organic mattress protector, since conventional ones are made with vinyl.
2. Baby sling & Bjorn front carrier Beco Baby Carrier – would have been the only carrier I would have needed from birth to age 3+.  Also would have been more comfortable.  I never did like the sling because of how it swings away from the body.
3. Disposable diapers BumGenius Cloth Diapers – there’s no area in which we wasted more money or dealt with more unnecessary trouble than in this one.  All that money in the trash and all those messy disposable diaper explosions could have been avoided.
4. Avent baby bottles/pacifiers Safe BPA-Free Bottles/Pacifiers – at the time I was completely unaware of these concerns.  Now I would never think twice about spending extra money on safer feeding and soothing choices.
5. Boppy Any other Nursing Pillow – I have found the Boppy to be the least helpful pillow for breastfeeding.  The rounded surface is all wrong!  Look for a nursing pillow that is flat on top so you’re not constantly repositioning baby.  
6. Gerber Baby Body Care Natural, higher-end Baby Products – one bottle of baby wash, shampoo, lotion, etc. will probably last you the entire first year or longer.  If I had known, I would have splurged on some nicer products.
7. Conventional Receiving Blankets Large Swaddling Blankets - typical receiving blankets are only large enough to wrap a newborn.  I swaddle my babies throughout their first year as a sleep cue.  Um, I needed some bigger blankets!
8. Extra Bottles for Freezing Milk Glass storage or milk freezing trays – I’d feel best about freezing extra breastmilk in glass containers for health reasons, but another good option would have been Sensible Lines Milk Trays.  It’s nice to freeze in super-small portions so that you don’t have to defrost more milk than you need.
9. Infant gowns Footed Sleepers – many parents love gowns for easy changing access.  We hated them because we felt they were too drafty for our winter babies.  When it comes to baby clothes it’s wise to save receipts and hold off on washing everything until you see what you prefer to use. 
10. Zooper highchair Wooden Highchair - at the time I couldn’t imagine spending as much on a high chair as popular wooden models demanded.  Now there are many affordable versions.  Wooden highchairs are easier to clean, fit better with modern decor, and are a safer food surface too.  You’ll be looking at that highchair a LOT!

It’s definitely true that my revised baby registry would have been more spendy than my original one.  At the time, my husband and I were shocked by the costs of gearing up for baby.  If you’re in a similar situation I suggest you look into getting your first-choice items secondhand through consignment stores or eBay.  You will probably find products in wonderful condition that end up costing you just as much or even less than those second-rate items you might have compromised for brand new. 

Happy shopping!