Frugal Friday: Natural Product Discount Alerts
April 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Amazon is offering some nice discounts on natural and organic products in April, including:
Save $2 on Neti Pots (and if you don’t know what in the heck a Neti Pot is, find out cause they come in real handy during allergy season. Read about this Neti Pot system.)
$10 off Natural and Organic personal care products
Save $20 on Eco Friendly Cleaning products
Save $10 on Rechargeable batteries (this is nice because rechargeables require a bigger up front investment, but boy I love them! You know how kids go through batteries!)
Save $20 on NatureMade supplements
AND Cute Baby Shoes has a special 50% off coupon code! It is: secretsale
Just go here to shop (before April 12!) and get half off your order. Cute Baby Shoes offer soft soled leather shoes for babies and toddlers - and they are true to their name. 
ONE MORE:
GAIAM is offering $10 - $20 off your order. This one expires April 17th.
You’re welcome. 
Review: Weston A. Price Foundation Membership
April 9, 2008 | 4 Comments
Well. I just spent 45 minutes writing this review, then hit “save and continue editing” and the article disappeared. Of course, I should have hit “save and continue editing” before I had been writing for 45 minutes.
So you had better read this post and appreciate it dadgummit!
I read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
But reading this book changed me a lot. It also made more sense than anything I had ever read before about nutrition.
Dr. Weston A. Price was a Dentist. He started to notice that his patients who were experiencing tooth decay and other dental problems often had chronic debilitating illness. So, in a quest to find out the secret to health, he set out to travel the world.
Dr. Price traversed the globe - he studied isolated peoples from the Swiss to the Gaelic islanders, from Inuit peoples in Greenland to Polynesians in the South Seas. He became fascinated by the fact that these folks - as long as they were eating their native diets - had no dental caries nor did they suffer orthodontia ills. They lived healthy lives into old age with no chronic illness, and the elderly stayed sharp in mind too. He also noticed that the women had a much easier time of labor and delivery.
Despite the fact that these folks had no toothbrushes or floss and had certainly never seen a Dentist before, they had broad, beautiful smiles with almost perfect teeth! While I wouldn’t necessarily vouch for their morning breath, the fact remains that they seemed immune to dental issues that plagued even “healthy” people in industrialized nations - Dr. Price’s contemporaries.
Dr. Price was determined to find out why this was so. So he began to study their diets. What he found was that as long as these isolated people kept eating the traditional foods, the effect remained. When they strayed (often as a result of “white man” diets thanks to the missionaries - white flour, white sugar, jams, candies, canned fruits and 
veggies) they suffered quickly. The next generation would be born with crowded teeth, small jaws, maloclussions and they even became less physically attractive (how’s that for motivation to eat better? Prettier kids!).
While the diets of these people were extremely varied, they had several things in common. Some of these commonalities were:
- An emphasis on animal foods. There were no vegetarians anywere to be found. All the cultures placed a very high value on animal protein - fish, meats, organs, eggs, dairy products. They went to especially great lengths to be sure that children and women in their reproductive years had these foods.
- Lots and lots of fat. Whether is was coconut oil and palm oil or raw, nonhomogenized butter and milk, these peoples ate a large percentage of their calories as fat.
- Specially prepared sprouted grains, naturally fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut, kim chi and the like, and cultured dairy in the form of kefir, buttermilk, cultured butter.
There were a few other similarities but these were the most important. Here is a quote from the website that puts it succintly:
“When Dr. Price analyzed the foods used by isolated peoples he found that, in comparison to the American diet of his day, they provided at least four times the water-soluble vitamins, calcium and other minerals, and at least TEN times the fat-soluble vitamins, from animal foods such as butter, fish eggs, shellfish, organ meats, eggs and animal fats–the very cholesterol-rich foods now shunned by the American public as
unhealthful.
These healthy traditional peoples knew instinctively what scientists of Dr. Price’s day had recently discovered–that these fat-soluble vitamins, vitamins A and D, were vital to health because they acted as catalysts to mineral absorption and protein utilization. Without them, we cannot absorb minerals, no matter how abundant they may be in our food.”
That last sentence was a bit chilling. To think that as a mom I could take great care to feed my kids well - but missing one important element, they would not get the benefit!
Shortly after, I purchased Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats
The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the ideas of the late Dr. Price. (They’re also the folks behind RealMilk.org) I joined two months ago and am enjoying the quarterly journal, Wise Traditions, immensely. It’s far more than a magazine - this is a publication you STUDY, not read. I’m still working through my first two issues. I “read” them with pen in hand so that I can make notes to help me remember things I’m learning and can refer to in the future. And I enjoy the letters from readers all over the world immensely - they’re full of great tips and inspiring stories of people who have enjoyed tremendous health changes as a result of changing their diet to a more traditional one. I’m also very impressed with the depth of research that obviously goes into the articles. They delve deep and take a bit of work to get through.
When you join WaPF as a member, you also get a handy-dandy Shopping Guide to keep in your purse when you go to the store. It helps you make better food choices and recommends specific name brands.
Another neat thing about the magazine are the resources and advertisers in the back - they’re carefully screen to be “WaPF” friendly. They don’t just accept any advertiser willynilly. So you can feel good about supporting these small, local farmers who use sustainable methods to produce organic products.
It’s scary what’s happening to our food supply in this country - the megamonopolistic food conglomerates who control (according to industry experts) 98% of the food industry are making our food cheaper, faster and cardboard-er every day. They don’t care about your health or your family’s health. Eating their food is making us fat yet simultaneously malnourished. We’re slaves to our cravings and to the hundreds of additives (some of which are put in there just to trick our brains and taste buds into craving more) that are surreptitiously put into these fake foods.
It’s enough to make a mother mad.
There is a lot more I could say about Weston A Price, and I am planning a series of articles to publish on this blog on the topics of raw milk, cod liver oil and grass fed meat. But for now I’ll just share two things about the WaP style of eating that have been pretty huge for me.
- For one, I’ve had stomach problems all my life. While a lot of this is due to stress (I put all my stress into my stomach!), I also have had issues with dairy products. Drinking one glass of milk would have me hurting.
Not so with raw milk. I can drink it all day long and never have the first stomach pain. It makes so much sense to me. Just as human breastmilk has enzymes to help baby digest it easily, raw milk contains the enzymes that make IT easy to digest. I love it and have been drinking it for several years now. Raw milk also works wonders on my cravings for sweets (probably because of the fat content).
- Secondly - soaked grains. I’ve had issues with low blood sugar and hypoglycemia since I was a kid. I don’t do well with wheat at all, but I can eat oats… but they would trigger episodes of low blood sugar. I could eat a bowl of oatmeal in the morning and be shaky and weak 30 minutes later.
However, when I soak my oats overnight (with an acid medium - such as a tablespoon of whey or sour milk in the soaking water), I can go all morning without getting hungry or feeling ill. I’m convinced that the reason for this is because since soaked grains are far easier to digest - and the body can get the full benefit of the minerals and vitamins due to a long soaking process that disables the phytates (enzyme inhibitors), I’m simply getting more nutrition from the same bowl of oatmeal!
I have already sung the wonders of coconut oil… for one, it keeps me regular. And that is a huge blessing. It also seems to help with my joint and muscle aches. My mother has fibromyalgia, and I’ve suffered with aches and pains since I was in my early 20’s, but the coconut oil seems to keep me lubricated… probably due to the antioxidants and healthy fats.
Check back later on this week for more about other tenets of the Weston A Price style of eating. And I encourage you to look into making a tax deductible contribution and joining WaPF.
Attachment Parenting International Announces New Parenting Education Program
April 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Last year on the show, I was honored to interview Lysa Parker, cofounder of Attachment Parenting International.
Attachment parenting was a word I heard a Mom say over 9 years ago at a meeting for parents who had taken Bradley Method childbirth classes. I thought it sounded so strange, but then I realized it embodied what I believed and what I had been doing with my young baby: cosleeping, nursing on cue, responding to baby’s needs, wearing him in a soft cloth carrier, etc.
API has some exciting stuff going on right now to help parents learn and keep the principles of attachment parenting and I’m happy to help them spread the word.
What Is Attachment Parenting International?
API is a non-profit organization that promotes parenting practices that create strong, healthy emotional bonds between children and their parents. Some of the changes they would like to announce include:
- A newly redesigned web site and new logo at Attachment Parenting.org;
- Attachment parenting worldwide support forums;
- Parent Education Program - a comprehensive series of classes for every stage and age of child development from infancy through adulthood;
- A new book based on API’s Eight Principles of Attachment Parenting by API co-founders Lysa Parker and Barbara Nicholson which is expected to be available this summer;
- A series of podcasts, webinars, chats, and forums with API Advisory Board members and other supporters of AP. Future events are scheduled with Dr. Bob Sears, Dr. James McKenna, and Kathleen Kendall Tacket. Check out the events page for more information.
These are just a few of many exciting things going on at API. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out for yourself.
Breastfeeding and Yeast Infection - Taming the yeast beast
March 30, 2008 | 8 Comments
Now that it’s getting warm out, it’s time for me to write about an issue that might be affecting a nursing mommy out there: breastfeeding and yeast infection (thrush). Troubles with yeast are more common in the warmer months because yeast loves to hang out in damp warm sweaty places.
Thrush is one of those things that can creep up on a nursing mother and cause pain, even lead to her giving up breastfeeding. Sometimes women have no idea that a yeast infection is what’s causing their pain. It’s not understood very well and many women don’t even know that yeast infection of the breast exists. But it does!
I struggled with it for a long time when my oldest was born. At first it was just painful nipples, but because I didn’t know how to resolve it, it got much worse. The pain was very bad - I felt as if someone was sticking ice picks into my back. (This is because the yeast can colonize the milk producing glands high in the breast.) Even my shirt rubbing across my chest hurt. It felt like sandpaper.
I wonder how many moms have given up breastfeeding because they thought it was “supposed” to hurt like this?
I finally kicked it, but me, my baby AND baby daddy had to be treated. (Yes, it can be passed through THAT kind of contact too, and men are usually asymptomatic.) He and I took Diflucan, and that was enough to stop the cycle of transmitting it back and forth.
As was mentioned before, sometimes a breastfeeding mother will suffer from pain during nursing which she thinks is “normal”. But breastfeeding is not supposed to hurt. Repeat after me: pain with breastfeeding is common, not normal. If everyone knows what they’re doing and there are no anatomical anomolies (I just love saying that!), then there won’t be any pain. I had no pain nursing babies 2, 3 and 4 because we didn’t have this issue.
What often precipitates yeast troubles is that mother takes antibiotics around her birth (often in the case of a Cesarean delivery or a postpartum urinary tract infection) and comes down with symptoms. The baby may have thrush in his mouth, or he may not. He may have a diaper rash or he may not. But the baby and Mom pass the yeast infection back and forth. Baby may even be fussy at the breast. Mom thinks it’s “her milk”, and weans. This is a sad outcome.
While it is “normal” (again - in the sense of common) to experience some soreness with the initiation of breastfeeding, especially in the first time Mom, this should be little more than a temporary discomfort that goes away after the first few days or weeks. The tissue is becoming used to a new activity. It Mom is having PAIN, that is not normal and is a sign that something is wrong. Normal soreness typically only hurts when baby first latches on, then subsides as the feeding continues. Yeast hurts all the time, even when baby isn’t feeding and gets worse over time.If Mom has seen a Lactation Consultant or La Leche League leader and corrected any problems with latch on or positioning and baby’s anatomy is normal, she should suspect yeast.
This is especially true if Mom has had antibiotics, eats a high sugar diet, baby has any signs of thrush (white patches in the mouth, crying/fussing when feeding, diaper rash) or Mom’s partner suffers from yeast related symptoms (itching in the boy bits, although as I said, men usually get off scott free in this area).Keep in mind that weaning won’t make the yeast go away. It will just move to the vagina or gut if Mom weans the baby (it’s probably already there anyway), and the baby will have pain in his mouth when he bottle feeds also. Better to just get rid of the yeast altogether. Shall we?
Natural Treatments For Breast Yeast And Infant Thrush
Baking soda
Baking soda can be an effective treatment for thrush. It changes the ph of the skin, inhibiting fungal growth. You can make a paste of baking soda and water and apply it to Mom’s nipples. Rinse off before feeding the baby. Baby can also take baths with a little baking soda sprinkled in the water, which will soothe any yeasty diaper rash (it looks bright red and hurts).
Vinegar
Vinegar also kills yeast by changing the alkaline/acid balance of the skin, in the opposite way that baking soda does (obviously you would choose one or the other, not both treatments!). It can be irritating to the skin however, so care is needed. One tablespoon added to a cup of water and applied to Mom’s nipples several times a day with a cotton pad can help.Olive Oil and Coconut Oil
Olive and coconut oil are highly nutritious for lactating women and should be used daily in the diet. Both have antifungal properties and coconut oil in particular is excellent for immune system health. Coconut oil is delicious for baking, added to smoothies, used to cook eggs, etc. Olive oil is delicious in soups, casseroles, used to cook meats, etc. Olive oil and coconut oil can also be taken straight from the spoon.
Some moms have had success applying a bit of oil to their nipples. both for pain and to help heal the infection. I wouldn’t recommend leaving it on if the baby is a newborn, but it’s fine for older babies who are eating solid foods.
Don’t shy away from healthy fats if you’re in your reproductive years ladies. These two fats don’t make you fat. Nursing Mothers all over the world since the beginning of time have thrived on high fat diets. Low fat is not healthy for the lactating or pregnant woman. And eating cheap oils means the fat in your breastmilk is of lower quality.
Strict Hygiene
Fungus is very hardy. Good hygiene is important if you want to prevent reoccurence. Wash your nursing bras and pads, panties and cloth diapers in hot water and do a double rinse. Add vinegar to the first rinse to help kill yeast and prevent irritation from detergents. Wash your hands well with hot soapy water after using the toilet or changing diapers.
If you’re using any bottles or pacifiers, boil them before use. Throw away nipples and pacifiers after treating the thrush and buy new ones. Or better yet don’t use them if at all possible. Be sure to sanitize your breast pump parts too if you use one.
Avoid plastic backed nursing pads. They create moisture and heat which yeast loves. Use cloth nursing pads instead. Go braless when you can to let the breasts air out. And don’t use any type of soap on the breasts, ever.It’s a good idea for Mom and baby to use their own towels and washcloths for awhile. Launder them separately, using the vinegar rinse mentioned above. If it’s hot and sunny out, hang them in the sun to help kill yeast.
Wipe baby’s mouth with a clean wet washcloth or cloth napkin after feeding.
Herbal/Supplements
Garlic and Pau d’Arco have antifungal and immune building properties. Native Remedies is a good source of these and other anti candida supplements. Caprylic acid and oregano oil are also antifungal, and they’re found in Yeast Assassin.
Nutrition
Another thing that will help is supplementing with probiotics. Eat plenty of plain yogurt, kefir and cultured veggies like homemade sauerkraut. These kinds of foods contain lots of beneficial bacteria that help keep the yeast in check in the gut. It’s also very important to eliminate sugar while treating yeast infections. This will be hard because you’ll crave it something terrible! But stay strong and remove sugar, white flour, all junk food and simple carbs (white rice and even fruit) for awhile. Eat plenty of meat and protein, and tons of vegetables while you’re clearing the infection.
There are some prescription medications that you can get for yeast troubles from your baby’s Pediatrician or your OB/GYN. One is Nystatin. It’s commonly prescribed as a liquid suspension. It’s sticky and full of sugar. I hated using that stuff. It didn’t work, and it only made me and the baby and my clothes stick together like glue. And the sugar content - hello!
Another old fashioned remedy is Gentian Violet, sold in some pharmacies. I tried this one too and it’s messy to work with because it stains everything bright purple. I couldn’t take my baby out for a week because he looked like Papa Smurf. And I had to wear an old purple T shirt so as not to ruin my entire wardrobe. But it is pretty effective. There are some concerns about Gentian Violet being carcinogenic with long term exposure, but it typically only has to be used for a day or two to work so most people who care about babies and mothers say it’s ok for this short term use. It’s also very inexpensive and available without a Doctor’s prescription or even a visit to the office.
Diflucan was the ticket for me. Along with the nutrition and other self help measures listed above, we finally kicked it for good. The thing with Diflucan is that a lot of Doctors who are ignorant of how breastfeeding works will tell you that it’s not safe for nursing moms. That’s pretty ridiculous because Diflucan is prescribed for premature infants! Medications and Mother’s Milk is considered the authoritative source on the safety of various drugs for breastfeeding women and Diflucan gets the ok. As for me, we had tried everything else first and the meds helped me get relief, fast so it was worth it.
Have you ever had breast yeast and what did you do about it? Do tell!
Just When I Thought It Was Safe to Read Parents Magazine
March 21, 2008 | 8 Comments
My incredible waste of paper Parents magazine arrived in the mail yesterday. As I’ve said before, I didn’t subscribe to this publication. It was a incredible waste of trees gift from a well meaning friend. I thought there was hope for them after last year’s “Green” issue, but apparently not. I’ve thought of asking them to stop sending the magazine, but their dumb parenting advice is such great blog fodder.
Their latest bit of bad journalism was an op-ed piece on cloth diapering. First they start with the usual refrain,
“Cloth diapering is too haaaaaarrrrdddd!…”
Oh, whine me a river. Birth is hard. Parenting is hard. Relationships are hard. Life is hard sometimes. Get over it already!
While I do give the guy props for at least trying cloth diapering, I’m so very disappointed in his very (in my opinion) biased and inaccurate depiction of what cloth diapering is really like.
Parents magazine seems to have a real prejudice against everything involved with natural parenting. Of course, I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that their advertisers with the deepest pockets are formula companies, does it?) Breastfeeding is TOO hard. Don’t try to make it work. Natural birth it TOO hard. Don’t try to endure the pain (nevermind it serves a useful biological purpose and is better for you and the baby). Nighttime parenting to TOO hard. Don’t answer your baby’s cries, buy earplugs. Do not get me started on the circumcision article they published awhile back.
Women are too weak to endure the pain of birth, remember? My personal view was that if I couldn’t get through a few hours of pain to birth my kid, how was I going to get through its adolescence?
But then they got really stupid. They started attacking the environmental superiority of cloth over disposables. That’s when I got irritated.
The piece referenced a British study that claimed that cloth diapers were not more eco friendly than disposables, but anyone with any common sense could poke holes in this “scientific” study. First of all, they didn’t look at the way cloth diapers are typically used. (Did you know there is a study that said that single use disposable coffee cups were more eco friendly commuter mugs? I’m not kidding.)
Every parent I have ever known who used cloth diapers did some or all of the following:
- They bought used cloth diapers (some or all of their stash)
- They sold or gave away their cloth diapers when the kid was potty trained (instead of tossing them in the trash)
- They used their diaper stash for a second or third or fourth (or more) baby
- They used their old cloth diapers as cleaning rags
- They made or bought cloth diapers sewn from recycled flannel baby blankets
That one thing (the almost infinite reusability of cloth diapers) blows this study out of the water because it didn’t take that factor into consideration.
Many cloth diapering parents also hang their diapers out to dry (using the bleaching properties of the sun). Most cloth diapering parents also don’t rinse every diaper (flushing afterwards would point to more water use). Even if they only rinsed the poopies, they don’t do it until the poopies are solid (around 6 months) and by then, the baby is only pooping once or twice a day anyway, meaning one or two extra flushes a day.
And if you wanted, you could time your own potty usage with changing baby’s diapers. I always did this. When I changed baby, I would go afterwards so I only had to wash my hands once after all was said and done.
You see, there is this little invention called a Washing Machine. It works remarkably well for removing all kinds of soiled clothing and I highly recommend it!
I love the quote on page 128 that says:
“Maybe, I thought, the disposable diaper is one of those inventions, like toilet paper, that the Western world just can’t live without - no matter the environmental impact. After all, if we really wanted to, we could wipe our own butts with cloth and throw the cloths into the wash every night.”
Ooh, what kind of freak would do a thing like that?
Another issue that was never even mentioned in the article is the health and safety superiority of cloth. I blogged before about being praised by my baby’s Pediatrician for using cloth, because, to quote him, disposables contribute to asthma and are bad for baby’s skin. Cloth diapered babies experience less rash and less yeast infection, and also tend to potty train several months before disposable diapered babies. There is also a concern with our little boy’s privates being wrapped up in hot plastic for the first two years of his life (or longer).
None of this was mentioned in the article. Then at the end, this little jab:
“And while I think it’s extremely important to make sacrifices for the environment, I need to be sure that my sacrifices are making a difference - especially when the thing I’m sacrificing is the most important time of all: time with Isaac.”
Oh please! Now the author gets to feel superior as a parent because he does two fewer loads of laundry a week than me. Yes, I admit it. I had to take my attention off my babies (who were usually strapped in a sling while I did laundry) to do those two extra loads a week. Poor things! The emotional pain and suffering they must have endured.
I came across this “Project Educate Parents” thread on Diaper Swappers. It’s worth a read if you want more info on why this argument is so very sill
y. Here’s another great article tackling why cloth is so much easier on the environment. Read some of the comments from cloth diapering parents to the article online.
All I’m sayin’ is, if you don’t want to do cloth diapers, at least be honest about it and admit you’re too lazy or grossed our by dealing with your kid’s poop and would rather pass along TWO TONS of biohazard waste and plastic in the landfill (per kid). Don’t come up with junk science and incredibly silly excuses already.
But, you can always make up for that by taking their recommendation to buy a diaper bag made from recycled materials. LOL!
Vax Makers Under Investigation, Belgian Parents Face Jail
March 17, 2008 | 1 Comment
Vax makers under investigation - French authorities have launched a formal investigation against two vaccine companies in reference to the Hep B vaccine.
Did you hear that Belgian parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids with the polio immunization may face jail time?
You know my favorite part of this article? This part:
“Dr. Steve Cochi, an immunization expert at the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
He said that unlike other medical problems, in which rejecting treatment only affects the individual, refusing a vaccine for a transmissible disease like polio puts others at risk as well.
“Most of the time, polio outbreaks do spill into the general population,” Cochi said.
(Emphasis mine all mine.)
Does this statement make any sense? If the polio vaccine was responsible for ending polio in this country (the facts show it wasn’t, and most cases of polio in the 1990’s in this country were caused by the OPV, the live polio vaccine), then wouldn’t unvaccinated children only be a danger to themselves? How does polio “spill into the general (vaccinated) population unless it doesn’t work?
“It is commonly believed that the Salk vaccine was responsible for halting the polio epidemics that plagued American children in the 1940s and 1950s. If so, why did the epidemics also end in Europe, where polio vaccine was not so extensively used?” — Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D.
To paraphrase Forrest Gump, I may not be a smart woman, but I know what junk science is!
Mommy Brains
March 11, 2008 | 2 Comments
Every Mom has noticed this phenomenon I call “Mommy Brains”. Forgetting a word you’re looking for, leaving the house without your wallet … I always assumed that some of this is probably just the amazing amount of stuff that moms have to keep up with moment by moment.
That, and a bit of God-given amnesia. How else could you explain that a woman could go through pain for hours to birth a baby, then the moment he’s born forget it instantly? (Some even go so far as to turn to their partner and utter, “Let’s do this again as soon as possible!”)
Turns out there may be something to this whole Mommy Brain thing. Researchers have found that Momnesia is real, and due to several factors, including plummeting estrogen levels, sleep cycle changes, and change in focus (mom can notice when something is “off” in her infant before anyone else can).
I am finding that I have a hard time finishing sentences lately. It bothers me a little because I used to consider myself to be a good conversationalist whereas how I feel somewhat insecure because of my inability to find the right word quickly.
What about you? Have you had a funny (or not so funny) Mommy Brain moment? Has Mommy Brain gotten better for you as your kids get older?
To The Young Mother at Wal-Mart Today
February 22, 2008 | 15 Comments
First, a bit of background.
Today my Mom decided to go to Wal-Mart. My Mom doesn’t drive much, so I drove her. First I dropped her and the kids off (brave woman she is!) there and went down the road to Curves to grab a workout while she shopped.
When I went back in the store and caught up with her, at least 35-40 minutes had passed. I heard a young toddler (maybe 10 months to 15 months) screaming. The sound hit me like a brick across the head almost as soon as I entered this large Super Wal-Mart. It was disturbing and distracting, so much so that I had a difficult time even concentrating on what I was doing (finding my mom and children).
When I finally caught up to my party, my Mom looked rather shell shocked. Not by my kids mind you - by the screaming tot.
“That baby has been screaming since we got here. It’s making me sick. Can’t she just pick the baby up?”
Now, the screaming was already getting to me and to have been listening to it for 40 minutes must have been too much. Even my kids were talking about it.
The screaming came closer, and I said out loud to my kids,
“Sometimes, the baby just wants to be held.”
Yeah, I admit it. I said it a little too loudly, hoping you would hear and feel some shame. Because I don’t think you’re cool. I don’t think it’s peachy that you’re “showing that baby who’s boss!” or some other parental b.s. that must have been running through your head.
And then it became obvious that you were making no attempt to comfort your child. You slowly saunter by the row where I’m standing, stop and say:
“You’re being rude. You try doing this alone.”
And that’s where your assumption would be wrong litle missie, because my reply was:
“Actually, I DO do it alone. And I have FOUR. And they’re not screaming.”
Another day, I might have responded differently. What I should have done is offer you some assistance. I should have approached you and said something along the lines of:
“You must be having a hard time. Is there anything I can do to help? I know what it’s like. I’m a mom too.”
It’s just that when you let your baby cry for over 40 minutes and make no attempt at all to comfort him, my compassion and empathy for your helpless young child overrided the part of my brain responsible for rational thought.
My mammalian/reptilian brain took over. The momma bear in me came out. You’re lucky I didn’t give you a big swack across the head with my big momma bear paw and run off with your cub.
You see, I have this instinct that runs as deep in me as the blood that courses through my veins (as you might have guessed, I think I inherited it from my mother. My big sis, also a mom of 4, inherited a similar affliction). When I hear a baby cry, it’s like a bolt of electric shock being applied to the base of my spine. I have to get up and DO something to comfort that baby.
And at the very least, I wouldn’t take an unhappy/sick/overtired/hungry baby into Wal-Mart and then ignore his cries. If it was an emergency, that’s one thing. But you weren’t acting like that. You were acting like you just couldn’t be bothered to attend to his needs. The fact that it was so obvious that your baby’s feelings didn’t matter was what bothered the rest of us so.
Of course, maybe I’m assuming too much.
Maybe the baby was sick. Maybe you were there waiting for your baby’s prescription to be filled and that’s why you were taking your sweet time sauntering through the aisles for 40 friggin minutes like you were on a jolly holiday waiting at WalMart. Maybe your baby has some neuorological issues that cause her to scream like that. Maybe you don’t have anyone you trust to watch your child while you fill this prescription for said life saving medication.
But I doubt it.
Because if any of those things were true, you would have said that in your defense. Instead all you could come up with was that I was being rude.
p.s. Today I was leaning into the ”I don’t care what you think” continuum of motherhood styles. Maybe it was because the topic of people who shouldn’t breed was on my mind after co-hosting Mom’s Morning Show today, in which Kelly spoke about a young couple who were telling their hospitalized tot to shut up and were fighting like cats and dogs. Kelly handled another, similar situation far better than I did.
What about you? When you see negligent or bad parenting in action, what do you do?
Natural Moms Podcast #74
February 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment
This week we are joined by Monica Salazar of Familia Libre. Monica is an Urban Geographer from Quito, Ecuador. She is a natural parenting advocate, online business owner and mother of a 3 year old son.
On the show, Monica shares the benefits of avoiding age-spatial segregation. By wearing our babies and letting our young children accompany us as we interact through life, we can teach them how to behave appropriately in our culture and they gain important social skills.
She also relates the dangers of age segregation and points to the abuse suffered by children at the hands of their parents as well as the behavior of many teenagers as evidence of this. Integrating children and older people leads to more understanding, empathy and respect. It also gives others an opportunity to observe good parenting in action, which has obvious benefits for the younger generation.
Listen on the natural moms talk radio site or download the mp3 here. Read the transcript of Children and the Urban Environment here.
Children and the Urban Environment
February 18, 2008 | 1 Comment
Carrie: I am joined this week by Monica Salazar all the way from Quito, Ecuador. Hi, Monica.
Monica: Hi Carrie, how are you?
C: I’m very good. We were chatting before, that this is the first time I’ve called South America. This is a treat!
Our topic today is Children and the Urban Environment. You are an Urban Geographer, and I’m not really familiar with what that term means. So before we start would you mind explaining a little bit more about what that means?
M: Urban Geography is the study of all the activities and everything that happens in an urban environment. I made my thesis on spatial-socio-economic segregation in my city, in Quito. Then I got interested in age segregation that is present now in the urban environment.
C: Ok, so from that background, you became a Mom. You got interested in natural parenting and babywearing, and so that obviously had a big impact on how you thought about the city and urban areas and the way that we operate in the city. So how did you make that leap – and how did that affect how you felt about the urban environment – becoming a mother?
M: I got pregnant in the beginning of my Master’s studies in Urban Geography. So as I was studying about the city, its structure, problems, activities, I was also living my pregnancy and a few months later was taking care of my baby. So I was also very interested in parenting issues. The information I was processing was a mixture of the Continuum Concept, scientific articles on Geography, breastfeeding videos and babywearing instructions. So I started to realize that – it became so obvious to me that if we solve children’s problems then the problems of society will be solved as well.
So as I resolved to become a natural parenting advocate, to warn not only parents but everyone in society about the importance of showing respect for children, of including them in our lives and of being aware of their needs.
C: You talk about age segregation. That’s obviously something that goes on in most of industrialized society, we kind of cordon off children to preschool and school and playgrounds and certain areas and adults in the workplace. What is your opinion of that in a culture and society? Do you see a problem with that?
M: Yes, the study of segregation among people in general has proven that segregation is the cause of conflict, misunderstanding, violence, lack of communication. But in my opinion when the segregation is among the young and the aged it could be even worse because if adult people, mature people cannot stand segregation; young people who are needing our care; they are more vulnerable to this situation.
So in my opinion the consequences are already present in the astonishing amount of cases of child violence and family conflicts, all of the problems relating to young people nowadays. Some teenagers having been alienated from urban life from early years often show behaviors as if they just came from Mars! They don’t know how to observe almost any urban rule, they don’t know how to greet, they don’t know how to talk to adults, they don’t seem to care about the environment or other people’s needs. So I think this is what could be generalized if we continue to segregate young people.
C: Ok, and that makes sense to me . Because as a homeschooling mom I can see that there is a lot of misunderstanding in the community about homeschooling. One of the issues that are brought up against homeschooling is the socialization issue. Which to me seems - it seems ridiculous- to me that my children would not be socialized well by spending time with me and with other adults. In my opinion, that would help them to socialize and learn appropriate behaviors. But for some people they think that that is a problem. So what you’re saying to me is backing up my own belief about that, that having children integrated with adults helps them to learn social skills. Would you agree?
M: Absolutely. When you take your child with you and for example with babies, one way to integrate them to the urban environment is to hold them in arms or in a sling, so they can see what is happening in real life. Instead of leaving them at home or carrying them in strollers where they cannot be totally aware of what is happening. And then you meet another mom and you greet and say “Hello” and “Thank you”, and you help other people or check out a book from the library, and they are observing us, they are learning us. I would say that this is the best classroom, the best way to teach them how to be good citizens in the future.
C: I totally agree. You sent me a beautiful report, or a file from your website, http://www.familialibre.com/ and I’ll make sure that I have that available on the website. (Note: You can download it here.) You show yourself and other mothers going through their daily activities with their babies and their children on their bodies, and it’s just a beautiful example of that. Anyway I totally agree with what you’re saying.
So what are some of the benefits – you talked about some of the negative things that come from this age segregation – but what are some of the benefits to society as a whole of integrating children into the urban environment?
M: In my opinion some of the benefits to avoid segregation and encourage interaction between people of all ages are to encourage understanding and respect among people. A great benefit of having kids and their parents around is that, parenting skills can be taught to younger generations.
And this can be confirmed by any breastfeeding advocate. They will tell you the fact that a mother who has had the opportunity to observe other breastfeeding mothers will make the whole breastfeeding experience easier, right? That’s the same with most parenting practices. The more we see parents with their kids, the better are going to be our parenting skills because we have more information. So if you don’t know about baby slings for example, the more you see a happy mom with a happy baby in a sling, the more chance that you will babywear.
I think that the number one benefit to have happy kids around is that our urban environment will be enriched with such teachers because we know that kids have such enormous potential, they have such innocent minds. You as a mom will confirm that the things that we learn with our kids are amazing. When I was not a mom, I would not think the way I think now. That benefit could be also transmitted to society as a whole.
C: Yes I agree. That’s very true. And one of those things that we learn when we become a mother is how to slow down and enjoy the moment. And I think we struggle with that, as adults we focus on producing all of the time whereas children are very into their moment to moment experience of life. And sometimes we struggle with that internally to slow down and stop and smell the roses so to speak the way that children do. And the more we adopt that way of being in the world, the easier we find that transition to motherhood.
I can definitely agree with what you’re saying – that can benefit society as a whole. It’s a different dynamic when you bring children into a space. I was just reading on the internet yesterday about a group that is taking babies into the schools, and they’re saying that it has an impact on bullying. That when older children spend time with babies and toddlers, it helps them to overcome bullying. Isn’t that interesting?
M: Absolutely. Being around kids makes your behavior better, because when kids are there, your language is better. Everything is – you try to be your best do your best, especially when young kids are around. The presence of kids could make us aware of the importance of creating a good environment for all of us. Because if kids are there, we are going to be aware that they are going to be the future leaders of the society, and we have to take care of them. It’s not only a theory that kids are the future of our cities. Because we are going to see, and we will try to respect that. We will try to take care of the environment and make a better place for them and their health… and we will benefit from that better place as well.
C: You mentioned breastfeeding earlier and how children who are raised with breastfeeding as their normal experience are going to have fewer challenges if they decide to breastfeed their own children. Or in the case of a boy, he normalizes breastfeeding. That’s the normal thing. My sons talk about how when they get married, they want their wives to breastfeed their babies!
One of the issues we have here in this country, and I don’t know if it’s so much an issue where you live, but we give lip service to the concept that breastfeeding is best for mother and baby and the world. But, women often have issues when they’re out in public, meeting the needs of their babies. So what can we do when we’re with our child, to make sure they have a healthy experience in the urban environment? Public breastfeeding would be a big part of that – what are your thoughts on that?
M: I think it’s useful to ask ourselves, “Does my child know my friends?” “Does he know my workplace?”, “Does he know what my job is about?”, “Does he visit regularly the same places that I visit?” So, with small children I recommend that they be carried as much as possible before they are able to walk and even later, so that they feel that they are a part of this environment. And as well, whenever children start learning through their parents, especially the mom, so to give them the opportunity to see the adults, greeting other people, saying hello, is a way of teaching them, of making sure they are having a good environment.
But it’s as simple as making sure that our children are going with us as much as possible, and to observe the behavior that we want to teach them: to be good citizens, if you want. I don’t mean to suggest to be extremely aware of making them participate in the activities of the city.
It’s not even necessary to encourage them to greet or to tell them how things work unless they ask you, because the simple fact that you are interacting with the urban environment, and the fact that you are taking your child along with you, will make him or her assimilate the urban customs. Like the culture, the good manners, throughout the adult participation.
C: What you’re talking about reminds me of the work of Jean Leidloff, who wrote a book called The Continuum Concept. Are you familiar with her work at all?
M: Yes.
C: That was definitely an eye opening book for me, it was one of those things that once you read it, you view everything differently afterwards. It was just amazing to me how the parents that she observed behaved with their children. Things that we kind of take for granted – that they did not have to teach their children because their children were with them, and the children just learned how to be in their culture.
Just the example of when the parent would take off walking through the forest, they never stopped to wonder if the child was following them. They took that for granted and the child always did follow them! And they just seemed to understand that that was the thing to do, it is the thing that is done. And that was so interesting to me, that they didn’t have to train their children “Ok, you need to follow me now…” .
M: Actually by reading The Continuum Concept and at the same time, studying segregation in cities, that’s when I started thinking about this problem in the cities. I took The Continuum Concept and just linked the two kind of studies.
C: Yes it’s a fascinating topic to discuss, and this has been a really interesting conversation Monica. And we’re actually going to be having you back on the show in a couple of weeks to talk about your pot-in-pot method of keeping food cool. And I’m not going to give it all away now, we’ll save it for the next conversation, but for those who are interested in saving money and reducing their impact on the environment by lessening the amount of electricity they use, that will be an interesting discussion and I’m looking forward to it myself. Thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it.
M: Thank you Carrie.
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