Blessed In Love

Natural Living~~~
I try so hard!!!
What are those 'crystals' in diapers that make them so unnaturally super-absorbant that a baby can pee in them a zillion times and they'll expand to four times their usual size before even feeling wet or leaking? I always wonder. What chemicals am I putting against my son's skin? (I've tried Seventh Generation diapers, no bleach or crystals... better than the others but not as absorbant!) I try so hard to cloth diaper most of the time, but still use disposables sometimes out of convenience. Anyways, every time I throw a disposable out, I think, "that'll take 500 years to biodegrade"... is it worth it? {{Not to mention that nagging question about the chemicals in them!}} Each child creates 2 tons of diaper landfill, which will remain there for 500 years! What am I contributing to the earth, and who will my actions affect and for how long? Long before I'm gone, and my children too. Anyways, I don't consider myself a super crazy environmentalist, but I try so hard to be ecofriendly and... my driving factor is actually the health of my family. And I do get sad about what we do to the earth!

So we've been trying to eat whole organic foods for a while, not always totally successful, but we do alright! I also try to avoid chemicals in the house/yard, but since my veggie garden died, I've actually let some pesticides & fertilizers creep into the garage shelves.

Here's the point of my post! No matter how hard I try, there is so much out of our control! I promise I'm not neurotic or stressed out about this, but it gets to me when I think of it... and I have nothing against China, but I am not buying anything from there for a LONG time because it seems that all of the (MANY) recalls lately have been from there. Like I said, nothing against the country, but there is something lacking in the inspection process or the safety guidelines. So anyways, besides the millions of childrens toys that were just recalled (from China, due to lead as well)... some of the vinyl bibs that we've been using on Jake for the past 6 months were recalled because they *just* found out that they have LEAD in them! Three times the safe levels! (Lead, can cause neurological damage & death!) I'm not afraid, I know Jake is fine, but it really irks me that I bought them here on the shelves of Babies R Us and they are just now finding this out.

Okay, so I'm getting rid of the bibs... feeding him naked & hosing him off afterward :) lol No big deal. But then yesterday I read that plastic baby bottles have toxic chemicals (bisphenol A: BPA), which are released into the bottles contents. BPA can lead to cancer, impaired immune function, hyperactivity & other problems. If your bottles are heated in any way (microwave, sterilizer, dishwasher), then the plastic degrades quicker, releasing more chemicals into the contents. Lovely! Hard polycarbonate BPA containing plastics are the worst, so we should try to use safer, softer plastics, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyamide. Better yet, is glass, or an alltogether BPA-free bottle. So I'm off to Babies R Us to get new bottles/sippy cups. If you are going to do the same, go for either glass or the following brands make BPA-free bottles: Born Free (ALL theirs are BPA-free), Gerber, Sassy, and Medela. Make sure you read the labels, and that they say BPA-free.

P.S. The comment I've gotten from many... we all consumed these chemicals and we're fine. I KNOW! But does that mean I should feed them to my children!?! With cancer and especially autism rates rising to strikingly high numbers... (both with unknown causes)... why not try to live more naturally and healthily?

P.S. I'm not over-protective or controlling or neurotic- I am pretty laid back with Jake, especially when he's out with other people, because I know that things in moderation are good and a little junk food or whatever won't kill him-- but when I can help it, when he's home with me and/or I'm feeding him or changing his diapers or maintaining the home we live in, I am doing so in the most natural, healthy & earth-friendly way that I can. (And I am glad that I am the one doing most of that stuff most of the time!!!) So there's my crazy blog rant #2... hopefully this one was a bit more useful than my last! I am afraid this note will present me as a little high-strung, but oh well. I'm not. (Maybe a little more than usual when I'm pregnant, but not usually!) lol