More and more parents raise their children in the most natural environment possible. Parenting magazines give parents lots of information about the dangers of toxic cleaners and pesticide-laden foods. At the same time, these sources provide alternatives which help keep parents sane and make them feel empowered.
For instance, it is not practical to expect all parents to go completely organic with their grocery shopping. Organic food is simply too expensive. Then again, as a doctor at Parenting.com points out, choosing organic options with some foods is more important than with others because of the pesticides they retain. Parents can easily find out which ones are the most dangerous and which ones do not have to be organic.
While this idea might sound odd, the same doctor suggests exposing children to allergens in their first year. Really, take your kid to a petting zoo. You do not have to let her get licked by a cow, but at least expose her to the air where the animal hair is. Open windows so that pollen can get in. You will be doing your child a favor later on.
Our grandmothers were right: germs are good. An over-sterilized generation of children is now overly sensitive to bacteria and allergies, meaning they get sick more often than their young cousins who play in the dirt and even eat a little now and then. While no one is suggesting that parents literally give their babies a teaspoonful of soil to eat every day, what the experts would like to encourage is a more relaxed attitude when baby picks his cheerios off the ground and shoves them in his mouth.
There is a lot of hype right now about BPA and its dangers. Scientists have found evidence that BPA, a substance found in plastic, is potentially dangerous. Choose BPA-free plastic items wherever you can such as soothers and bottles.
Finally, the diaper issue: are you feeling the pressure to opt for cloth? In reality, this does make more work for the already harried parent, but there are ways to simplify life and still go green. For one thing, ‘Modern Alternative Mama’ suggests that you get organized.
If you use a bassinet for your baby in the first months, choose one that has a storage area beneath. This means that you can store diapers and paraphernalia right there, and no matter where you put the baby bassinet, you can easily find diapers, covers, inserts, etc. The other essential piece of furniture to have on hand is a changing table. Being organized is what makes the difference between staying the course and switching over to disposal diapers. Buy a table with enough room to store clean diapers, zinc cream, a small toy, and anything else you associate with changing time.
Overall, what natural parenting pundits are suggesting is that moms and dads go backwards a little bit; do things the way our grandparents did them, but with the advantage of knowing there are natural diaper cleaning services for hire.
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