Our Baby and the Environment - Part 2

In the last post I discussed some of the ways we are being environmentally friendly in raising our baby.  Today I'm going to discuss the Top 4 Ways we aren't being Green in our baby raising (I'm sure there are more ways, but I can only think of 4 off the top of my head - sorry):

1. Having a baby in the first place - the world is overpopulated enough as it is and there are plenty of children in need of good homes.  Yet we're having a baby anyway and we planned it.  All I'm going to say is, oh well.  Don't worry, though, I'm not going to pop out 14 kids like a certain California mom.  One, two tops, and we're done.  Family planning, it's the next best thing.

2. Clothes, bed linens, etc. - As nice as it would be to have all organic cotton clothes and bed linens, it just isn't going to be.  For one thing, with organic, your choices are limited.  You can find a lot on the internet, but still not as much as normal clothes and they are about twice the price (or more) than regular clothes.  And if you're buying online, you're also paying shipping fees.  Just not all that realistic if you ask me.  I do plan on buying clothes at second hand shops and using hand me downs, but I'm not going to go nuts on organic only brand new clothes and bedding.  There are just too many cute outfits out there to go organic only.

3. Toys - Like organic cotton, environmentally friendly toys are not in abundance at our local Targets and toy stores.  Also, like organic cotton, they are quite a bit more expensive.  Not to mention that once our baby reaches a certain age, I doubt s/he will care that Barbie/GI Joe (or whoever is popular with the kids these days) isn't made of all natural products.  One thing, though, that I will be anal about when it comes to toys, will be baby toys and teethers that s/he will potentially put in his/her mouth.

4. Baby Mobile - This summer (hopefully before baby comes) we'll be getting rid of Tim's car and getting a new (to us) car.  As much as I would like to get a super gas efficient Toyota Prius or similar, it just isn't practical for us.  We need something in which we can haul around the baby and the dogs.  SUV's aren't great on gas or the environment, unless you go with a hybrid and they are too expensive for us at the moment.  SUV's also aren't really our style.  So we're most likely going with a station wagon.  Not great on gas, but not horrible either.  Dogs can ride around in the back and the baby doesn't get his/her face licked the whole ride.  Everyone's happy - at least in our family. ...Okay, maybe Tacy won't be so happy with this new arrangement, but she'll have to get used to it.

Our Baby and the Environment - Part 1

In the last year or so I've started trying to be more environmentally friendly.  Switching to recycled paper towels, tissues, toilet paper; using environmentally friendly cleaning products and soaps; energy efficient appliances; and switching all our lights to CFL's are a few of the things we've done to do our part.  We plan on continuing to do our part once baby arrives.  Here are the Top 5 Ways we plan to raise a Green baby:

1. Breast Feeding - Not only is this the healthiest way to feed to our baby, but it's Green, too.  Less trash, less water usage to clean bottles.  Plus, after reading all the recent articles about BPAs in plastics and lining canned foods, it's BPA free (as long as what I eat is BPA free.)  Not only is this environmentally friendly, but also friendly to our bank account and could save us anywhere from $1000-$4000 in the first year.  As The Bloodhound Gang like to say "Hooray for Boobies!"

2. Plastics - Some of the most toxic chemicals, it seems, goes into plastics.  I have no doubt the manufacturing of plastics is horrible on the environment, not to mention that every time you turn around there are new chemicals in the plastics that are hazardous to our health.  BPA's today - who knows what tomorrow.  In lieu of plastic bottles, we are going to go with glass bottles with silicone sleeves to prevent breakage.  I've read good reviews about these sleeves from moms whose babies like to throw the bottles on their hardwood floors.

3. Crib Mattress - Warning: this one is going to be long - Nancy sent me the book 'Raising Baby Green' by Dr. Alan Greene.  The section about mattresses I found to be rather disturbing.  Here's what he has to say, "PVC, the surface material used in nearly all baby mattresses, is widely considered to be one of the most toxic and environmentally unfriendly plastics in use today."  He goes on, "Phthlates, associated with asthma, reproductive effects, and cancer, make up 30 percent by weight of the PVC..."  Then there are the flame retardants, "...a typical baby mattress is also treated with toxic fire-retardant chemicals such as antimony, arsenic, and phosphoruos.  Various biocides are often added as well."  He goes on to discuss the foam and the toxic chemicals in that, but you get the idea.  The fact that conventional baby mattresses are so horrible, not only for the environment, but for our babies, is rather unfortunate.  Hopefully more people will go the organic route and eventually we can find organic mattresses at competitive prices at our local Wal-Marts and Targets.  

Because organic mattresses are somewhat pricey, we are going to our local second hand children's stores to buy our nursery furniture, which is also good for the environment.  Reduce, recycle, reuse!  

4. Skin Care - Pretty much just continuing what we've already started in using environmentally friendly shampoo, body wash, etc.  Again this goes back to the manufacturing of chemicals.  There are plenty of brands that are sold at Target or the grocery store, so these aren't as hard to find as they once were.  

5. Diapers - We all know how horrible regular diapers are for the environment.  They just sit in our landfills for hundreds of years taking up space.  There are a few alternatives - cloth diapers and flushable diapers.  The thought of cloth diapers just makes me think I'd be doing laundry every day.  Instead I've found a diaper that has a cloth outer covering and flushable inner liner.  After last year's debacle with our sewer line, I'm hesitant to throw anything other than toilet paper down the toilet.  But that's okay, because these liners can be thrown away and they break down in 50-150 days.  Yay!  One thing about these flushable liners, though, is they don't hold as much, therefore at night, I will probably go the cloth diaper route and use a thicker liner specifically for overnight use.  

12 Week Update

We've made it past the first trimester.  Today was my 12 week appointment with the midwife.  All is well with me and in the womb.  My weight, blood pressure, and urine are all good.  The midwife used the fetal doppler and I was able to hear its heart beat.  Its heart rate was 160 bmp this afternoon, which is consistent with the heart rate during the ultrasound.  She also said the baby's location is in the right spot for how far along I am.  Other than that we just went over any questions I had and then I was on my way.  She said it's normal for brushing my teeth to cause me to throw up and if that's the only time I do, then I'm lucky.  Hopefully in this next trimester I will be able to brush my teeth again without feeling the urge to purge.  I haven't started showing yet, but I'm thinking in this next month, I probably will.  Luckily, most of my pants are loose around my waist, in order to fit over my hips, so I should be able to continue to wear them for another few weeks.  

I'm still going to yoga class and the midwife said I could continue throughout and it's not necessary to go to a prenatal class.  I'd like to, but the prenatal yoga class around here is downtown and twice the price I pay for my normal class, but only meets once a week, instead of twice.  My instructor is really good about telling people how to modify poses (there are some older ladies in the class with back or knee problems) and is aware of my pregnancy, so I am just going to keep going to her.  I've also been walking the dogs about four days a week and will probably step it up to six days a week in the coming weeks.  

We were able to get the ultrasound video onto our computers but now we're having trouble getting it uploaded to the internet.  So maybe I won't be sharing the videos with you, only the pics.  Oh well.  Once I have the next ultrasound done in about two months, we can burn the two videos to disc and send them to the grandparents.