I was giving an eco-parenting talk last week when a pregnant-with-her-second-child mom asked me if it were true that all chicken is bathed in chlorine as part of its slaughterhouse processing. I was grossed out, appalled, and stumped. I wasn’t, however, surprised. Conventional meat is about as grim and questionable as it gets. The slaughterhouses must have some serious gunk in need of disinfecting, especially as it is done in (potentially cross contaminating) bulk. I haven’t personally used chlorine bleach in years and years and clearly would not want the food I feed my family to be dunked in it.

When I got home, I immediately started researching her query. I personally get chicken from three places: my local farmers market, a pastured meat and poultry CSA I belong to, and a butcher shop near my parents’ place in upstate New York called Fleisher's. I have never smelled anything even remotely chlorine-y about any of these birds. But apparently a lot of people have smelled the chemical on theirs.

My first mode of action was to email my CSA contact to find out what they do to “clean” poultry, and to see if they could help get me up to date on what USDA organic regulations are when it comes to chlorine (I highly doubted they permit such a caustic chemical). Then I started reading everything I could about chlorinated chickens. I had given the mom who asked my email address and she forwarded me some links. One article she sent from Britain’s Daily Mail lamenting a possible lift of a ban against US chicken pointed out that it “would have to be labeled as 'treated with antimicrobial substances' or 'decontaminated by chemicals'.” Would that we had such labels here! ...

I rarely get the opportunity to answer Organic Mom questions for family members, but my daughter’s cousin is soon-to-be born so I have had the pleasure lately. It’s tough to try to list what is most important to least important if you know that someone is only going to heed a few suggestions at best. But I have been trying.

I tend to hit the buy-an-organic-crib-mattress-that-isn’t-wrapped-in-vinyl message pretty hard whenever someone asks what to do when setting up a nursery. And I mention that cribs should be hardwood, not particleboard, so it won’t have high levels of toxic formaldehyde. When I was setting up my daughter’s sleeping space, we absolutely bought a good mattress (from daxstores.com) and borrowed a crib from my Complete Organic Pregnancy co-author/friend Deirdre. The crib had belonged to her niece and I don’t think it was entirely hardwood but it had been around for a considerable period of time, and so I felt it was amply offgassed. We were very committed (before the baby was even born) to having a family bed so I knew she wouldn’t be spending as much time in the crib as most babies. As it turned out she never spent any time in it, but that’s a whole other post. The crib moved on nine months later when Deirdre’s first daughter was born, and we still have the mattress. Her stuffed animals sleep on it, on the floor next to her twin.

If I were to buy a crib, I would absolutely spend the cash to get something from Q Collection Junior, which is not only gorgeous but very safe. The company says they’re the world’s first indoor air quality certified cribs. They’re GreenGuard certified, made entirely in the USA, of FSC-certifiedhardwood (locally-sourced solid ash), with a mattress support of 100% recycled formaldehyde-free plywood, and coated with low VOC, water-based finish. We mention the grown up furniture in The Complete Organic Pregnancy. Since then, the co-founder/CEO, Jesse Johnson, has had a baby and, naturally, spawned a baby line.

Jesse emailed me a very interesting link the other day to a report from the California-based non-profit, Environment California, recently published about unhealthy formaldehyde levels in many cribs.

It’s a crucial read ...

I’ve always wondered why I like milk so much and lately my brother mentioned a theory that people crave what their bodies are allergic to. This made some sense to me because I have psoriasis, but to give up milk (which all psoriasis diets demand) is unfathomable. Milk makes me feel full and satisfied the way nothing else can. I’ve also heard anecdotal stories, like the lead of this Salon story about raw milk, about how it can solve skin issues and jump start your immune system into working the way it was meant to.

There’s a chapter in Schmid’s book (he’s a naturopathic physician) about something called "the milk cure" which uses raw milk medicinally, and about how what pasteurized milk exacerbates, raw milk heals. There was a big fuss at the turn of the 20th century over the pasteurized versus raw milk debate. Physicians who prescribed milk therapeutically were horrified at the idea of raw milk not being available anymore and so they formed an organization of doctors who pushed for what they called "Certified Milk." But ultimately because big business was behind pasteurization, they lost. For the best explanation of the traditional versus industrialized milk story read this essay by Lori Lipinski. The bottom line is that pasteurization (a process of heat treating milk to kill bacteria developed by Louis Pasteur for preserving beer and wine, not milk) not only kills friendly bacteria but also destroys the nutrient content of the milk. From Lipinski: “Pasteurized milk has up to a 66 percent loss of vitamins A, D and E. Vitamin C loss usually exceeds 50 percent. Heat affects water soluble vitamins and can make them 38 percent to 80 percent less effective. Vitamins B6 and B12 are completely destroyed during pasteurization. Pasteurization also destroys beneficial enzymes, antibodies and hormones. Pasteurization destroys lipase (an enzyme that breaks down fat), which impairs fat metabolism and the ability to properly absorb fat soluble vitamins A and D. (The dairy industry is aware of the diminished vitamin D content in commercial milk, so they fortify it with a form of this vitamin.”)

So, how does it taste? ...

My apologies for writing about toilet training twice in a row but as I mentioned, it’s all potty all the time around here. While visiting grandparents in upstate New York this past weekend, we had a portable seat with us. Mere moments after arriving, my daughter let us know that there was no way she was going to use the portable seat, that she much preferred – and required – a real little potty. It’s amazing how demanding someone so small can be. We tend to spend a fair amount of time upstate during the summer, and she’s not the only grandchild who visits, so it felt like a wise idea to buy the house a potty.

My parents’ home isn’t located near a wealth of stores and so, on a swelteringly hot day (why so boiling so early in June? scary!) I found myself in exactly the sort of monstrously huge big box store I avoid as if it were my religion. I’m talking a Kids 'R' Us. The offgassing plastic toy chemicals hit us like an anvil when we walked in. But I digress. I’m not-so-secretly fascinated by the shocking amount of crap in these kinds of stores -- does any kid actually need or ask for a fake Barbie laptop? -- but also amazed by how quickly even the most suspicious consumer (ahem) can be drawn in. Life would be so much easier if only I were allowed to just go ahead and buy everything in this store, I found myself thinking after 3 minutes of inhaling the fumes. Imagine the luxury of not knowing or not bothering to read labels!? ... Need a stepstool? Get a stepstool! No research, no looking for unpainted hard wood versions. Oh, the simplicity!

Back to reality ...

We’re potty training for real in my household. It started ages ago. The kid’s paternal grandmother is originally from Finland and claims to have gotten her first son (the babe’s uncle) trained at twelve months. As with most grandparent claims (AKA family myths) this isn’t entirely true. No matter. 
 


Starting sometime around twelve months we took a little potty brought to us as a gift from a trip to Helsinki and put it with her toys. All of her favorite stuffed animals would sit on it and she became so interested in what they were doing there (and what we, her parents, were doing on the big girl/boy potty) that she managed to produce some, um, items in the potty at around 15 months. We have plenty of pictures of the rare events but she clearly had no concept of when she had to go, or muscle control, until recently (she’s now 2 years 4 months). This coupled with a very crucial factor -- desire/willingness -- has lead to serious training. She’s still in a diaper for naps (we learned this the hard way when an underweared stroller nap was sadly interrupted forty minutes in by a relaxed bladder) and overnight. The amount of potty talk (and potty related books and progress update phone calls to grandparents and rewards for "producing") is staggering. Thankfully both of her parents have puerile senses of humor and find scatological things amusing. It’s been a hilarious process and as I type this, we’re concluding our first week where she spent most if not all of the days outside in the real world (as opposed to in our apartment) in big girl underwear. She’s thrilled and proud and so are we.

She’s a "holder,” as opposed to someone who has to "go" all of the time, which has made this process, arguably still in its infancy, much easier than I expected. What hasn’t been easy? Finding said big girl underwear. It’s pretty simple these days to find the green parenting items I want and need at stores around me. Even in New York City, I do have to go out of my way for certain toys or creams or glass canning jars but eventually I locate what I’m looking for. So when my daughter announced last week that she was done with diapers, I was shocked to discover that it’s impossible to find tiny, all cotton (preferably organic and lacking marketing/ads for Disney characters) undies in downtown Manhattan. ...

A friend of mind just called to tell me that she happily, but unexpectedly, just found out she’s nearly three months pregnant. She wanted advice on how to get organic immediately because even if she hasn’t been all that organic up until now, she’d prefer to hedge the bets of her unborn child. In this column we talk about lots of specific organic parenting ideas, but I told her that the following eight things will cover the big picture and if she does them she’ll be able to catch up quick.

1. Food

Start eating whole foods (as close to how it came out of the earth as possible), paying attention to which items are more and less toxic. Meat is high on the food chain and therefore more toxic; vegetables are lower. For information on joining a community supported farm check out Local Harvest. Avoid packaged foods and try to eat a varied diet that includes plenty of protein, calcium, whole grains and folic acid. (Take a daily vitamin with folic acid as well to be sure you’re meeting the requirement.)

2. Water

Test the tap water at home for contaminants and deal with it – a Brita-style carbon carafe pitcher will take care of most issues. Stop drinking bottled water and carry your beverages in something safer like glass or stainless steel – there are great water bottles at SIGGand Klean Kanteen – to avoid chemical-leaching plastic, as well as help save some earth.

3. Air

You can’t always control what you’re breathing – the carpet at the bank or toxic bathroom cleaners at work – but wherever possible (in the car, at work, at home) open the windows and keep your environment as well-ventilated as possible. ...

The Independent newspaper reports on a new study that has found that mothers using cell phones can increase the risk of having kids with behavioral problems due to radiation exposure. While it's almost impossible to live without a cell these days (a huge ad for a cell phone company runs right alongside the online article), these findings may give pregnant women pause.

The study talked to the mothers of over 13,000 children in Denmark about their cell phone use during pregnancy, as well as their children’s use of them up to the age seven. It found that even using the handset as few as two or three times a day can raise the risk of their children having hyperactivity, as well as difficulty with conduct, emotions and relationships.

From the story:

"They found that mothers who did use the handsets were 54% more likely to have children with behavioral problems and that the likelihood increased with the amount of potential exposure to the radiation. And when the children also later used the phones they were, overall, 80% more likely to suffer from difficulties with behavior. They were 25% more at risk from emotional problems, 34% more likely to suffer from difficulties relating to their peers, 35% more likely to be hyperactive, and 49% more prone to problems with conduct."

Apparently the results of this study surprised one of its authors, Leeka Kheifets (who had previously expressed doubt about the risks of cell phones) which could possibly legitimize it some. In terms of my own life I'll do what I can to keep calls short the next time I'm pregnant ...

I’m not a morning person. Never have been. My daughter is a terrible/odd sleeper but the upshot to her late nights is that she wakes up late (for a kid), too. If I had to do morning duty, her schedule makes it possible even for me. But I’m actually not "on" in the mornings as I tend to do most of my writing late at night or in the morning before her father goes to work. All of this preamble is getting to a story, I swear. I happened to wake up with her one morning over the long weekend so her father could have a much deserved sleep-in. I do like the opportunity to be in charge of her breakfast and we have fun things we make together just-us-two on these rare mornings. We especially like to make buckwheat pancakes that I load with all sorts of goodies (flaxseed oil, wheat germ, organic eggs, blueberries etc.) and make them even more special by dotting the resulting misshapen things with (the most miniscule amount of) maple syrup that comes from someone near our CSA farm.

Lately, the kid wakes up most mornings requesting yogurt before she even says good morning. This is what she asked me for. She has always been on the tiny side – weight and otherwise – for her age so long ago when we were a bit concerned about this, we gave her packaged baby yogurt. I went back and forth on the decision to do this for a while – I’m not someone who willingly gives the kid sugar and baby yogurts are oddly loaded with the stuff. But she wasn’t eating plain whole fat yogurt, even with organic fruit preserves stirred into it, so I gave in. I wanted her to have the extra calories and fat. Sadly these things are a bit addictive and we’ve never been able to wean her off of them. So I’ve accepted them in our life, especially as I'm not doing breakfast and don't have to witness her devouring them daily. I'm rarely an out-of-sight-out-of-mind mom, so this is a big concession. 

So, on this morning, I gave her her yogurt, which she ate in 3 seconds flat. Then she requested another one. I declined, distracted her with some fresh-from-the-farmers-market (unsprayed!) strawberries and went into the kitchen to start the pancake process. I rinsed out the yogurt cup and absent-mindedly looked at the bottom of it before tossing it into the recycling bin.

To my shock and horror there was a number 6 on the bottom of it!!!!!!!!!! Aaaaaaack! 

For those of you who don’t follow plastic numbers, 6 is polystyrene. Styrene is a possible endocrine distrupter/carcinogen. (For information about what each of those recycling code numbers means, see this decoder from The Daily Green.) It’s a plastic we tell readers to avoid entirely in The Complete Organic Pregnancy. It’s something I go out of my way to avoid. I had never looked at the bottom of the babe’s yogurt cups because it never occurred to me that Stonyfield, the environmentally-concerned company that makes her organic baby yogurt, a company so concerned with recycling that they give their old cups to another company to turn into toothbrushes, razors and the like (Recycline.com), would ever in a zillion years use plastic No. 6. Needless to say I was seriously pissed off.  ...

Warm weather means warm-weather gear. I’m currently fielding questions about and eyeing the least toxic/most natural alternatives for everything from beach toys to charcoal to bug sprays to weatherproof outdoor furniture. One thing I’m currently having some trouble finding the right alternative for is shoes, specifically shoes that can go from sidewalk into playground sprinkler to beach and back to sidewalk. I want them to hold up in water and I don’t want them to degrade when sun/sea/sand particles start to beat them up so that they’ll be leaching whatever material or dyes they’re made of onto (blistered, sometimes scraped) little baby toes.

There’s one big contender in this category and it’s one most parents seem to choose. When the weather heats up, all little feet seem to be sporting Crocs. But what are these colorful cushy things made of? Good question. The company didn’t email me back with an answer when I inquired. Which is never a good sign. Maybe my credentials aren’t fancy enough to write back to? Maybe they’re made from something they’d rather not share?

In the absence of direct response, I resorted to research. Their site says: “Think Crocs are made of rubber? Your friend is adamant they're plastic? You're both wrong. Crocs are made of PCCR, a closed-cell material that virtually eliminates odour. No one will clear a room with smelly feet if they are wearing a pair of Crocs. The material also discourages sweating, making Crocs even more comfortable.” A quick Google reveals nothing, as PCCR is some sort of “proprietary” blend Crocs makes, likely a petroleum-derived foam. ...

Recently my co-blogger Lexy Zissu wrote about how she came to the decision to use gel-free disposable diapers. She followed up with a post aboutcloth diapers. Like many New Yorkers, she lives in an apartment without a washer/dryer and instead of swaddling her daughter in chlorine-heavy diaper-serviced cloth, she uses gel-free disposables [her post includes a variety of options but she prefers Tushies. I also used Tushies on my daughters until I moved into an apartment with laundry and was able to finally make the exciting move to cloth. Understanding the cloth diaper world required some trial and error, so to save you some of that expense here’s the skinny on what works best for me.

As Lexy mentioned, there are tons of Websites and online forums discussing cloth diapering, but they can be time consuming and confusing. I was at the Green Expo in New York a few weeks ago and booth after booth displayed soft, touchable, lovingly designed cloth diapers. I held their downy cotton between my fingers and was psyched I’d be buying some soon, but my car’s meter was about to run out and I knew it would take more than ten minutes to figure out what to get. If so many companies now make these beautiful diapers and so many women buy them, I knew they had to have simplified the process, I just needed to figure out how.

Turns out it’s not that confusing. Just avoid fitted diapers. They’re made of lovely fabrics that are often too gorgeous to ignore (Bamboozle, Little Beetle, Happy Hempy, but they’re useless without a diaper cover, an added step that hides their beauty anyway. Also, if it’s not you who will be changing all these diapers you want to try and make it as easy as possible on the people who are – babysitters, grandparents, husbands, etc. I put my 5 month-old in a Little Beetle fitted diaper and she leaked through to the mattress. When I tried it again with the diaper cover I found that the diaper was just too soaked. It can’t be comfortable or conducive to sleep, and since she’s prone to diaper rash I knew this would eventually lead to trouble.

So, here’s what I do recommend ...