adrian's lavender cupcakes with lavender swiss meringue butter cream

Organically Raised – Conscious Cooking for Babies and Toddlers by Anni Daulter is a delightful recipe book created for families who want to provide the best possible nutrition via a meal prepared with love. Like many of us, Anni had an aversion to feeding her baby shelf stable, processed baby food and began making her own which led to a prosperous fresh baby food business in LA area which resulted in this wonderful book that makes the recipes, concepts and flavors available to all of us.

More than just a cookbook, Organically Raised includes information on breastfeeding, satisfying picky toddlers and the importance of meals as a mindful way of bringing the family community together. She also includes information about herbs in baby food, organic and seasonal fare, food allergies, vegan, and gluten free issues, a handy feeding journal, and inspiring “Mama Mantras” to help parents prepare meals that nurture their children’s bodies, minds, and spirits. In addition, the book carries a cheat sheet on pantry stocking and basic equipment needed to set up the ideal kitchen.

This book will help you get your children started right with whole, fresh foods. The recipes are created with fresh, organic foods that maximize the use of color, texture and taste. Awaken your child’s taste buds with many flavors and variety rather than overcooked, chemical laden, over processed jarred food. Baby foods include purees, blends, cereals and yogurts and the toddlers enter a more adventurous area with snack foods and international flavors. These meals will not cost a fortune or take any more time to prepare than any other quick baby meal or snack.

The children are as organic as the food

Author Anni notes that Organically Raised is, “A hip, holistic guide that allows parents to create delicious, healthy, and organic meals for children ages 6 months to 3 years old.” I disagree. I think the book holds soups, snacks and sweets that older children, teens and adults can enjoy. Brielle is five and could not wait to pick out recipes to try. Snacks are timeless for children of all ages. While I wish I would have had this book before Brielle was born, there is no reason that I cannot make great use of it for another five years.

Organically Raised will get you out of the rut that many parents, even those with the best intentions, usually find themselves in once they find meals that work for their kids. This is an excellent book that belongs front and center in any enlightened family’s kitchen or available to any family who cares about creating healthy habits but is not sure where to start.

Resources Section:
Want to try before you buy? Test these out:
Zac’s mac ‘n’ cheese twist
Austin’s Italian sun dried tomato wheel pasta with fresh basil, capers, and parmesan cheese
Available at Amazon.com.
http://www.organicallyraisedcookbook.com
http://www.consciousfamilyliving.com
Organically Raised on Facebook

This is a hysterical SNL/Sally Field spoof that sums up everything I loathe about drug companies in cahoots with the medical types convincing people through advertising that they “need” pharmaceuticals.

Read the whole transcript at Feministing

Raw Charcoal Amber Teething Necklace - Great for boys

Sold in pharmacies in Europe, they are starting to become more mainstream elsewhere as awareness grows. They are a very natural alternative to drugs and other over the counter teething remedies that seem to have a very short effectiveness if any.

The amber works by releasing Succinic acid into the body when worn against warm skin. Succinic acid is a natural analgesic and works as long as your child is wearing the jewelry. The amber is lightweight and warm to the touch because it is a resin, not a stone. The necklace is knotted between each bead for safety and amber is naturally a safe material and is therefore CPSIA compliant automatically.

We have unique styles in both raw (unpolished) amber and polished amber that are suitable for both boys and girls. Naturally any style is suitable for boys but it is still a necklace and many parents hesitate to put jewelry on their little boy. More and more parents are letting their boys experience the benefits of amber but if you hesitate, the the charcoal style or perhaps a double loop around the ankle will make you more comfortable.

My personal experience with Baltic amber has been so positive which is why I was so excited to add them to the store. Bianca has worn one 24/7 since she was a few weeks old. Her teething was barely noticeable for the most part. She never drooled once and I think the teething necklace had a lot to do with it. I wouldn’t dream of taking it off her until all of her teeth are in.

Brielle also periodically wears her teething necklace just for fun and fashion.

The Baltic Amber Teething Necklaces are priced at $21.00 and are currently available in six unique styles. Just for today (3/29/2010), get free shipping on all teething necklaces regardless of order amount. As always, use code BLOG for 10% off your total order.

I always assumed that I would nurse Bianca until she was 2 or 3 or perhaps even older just like I did with Brielle. Bianca sort of rewrote my plans when she started popping teeth at 3 months. Her teething has been fast and furious and now, at 14 months, she has all her teeth except for her two year molars.

Early and continuous teething has been really bad for our breastfeeding relationship. I do not have the patience (or time) that I did with Brielle so if Bianca was was fussing at the boo in any way, I delatched her and set her down. In retrospect I think I probably was too quick to remove her when she was probably hungry and needed to drink. She ended up on solids early and has been happily eating all varieties of food and drinking from both a cup and a sippy cup.

Over the last few months her latch changed even more. The change was subtle but growing progressively more irritating. I couldn’t put my finger on it but I dreaded nursing her. When we would try, I would last a few seconds, holding my breath and gritting my teeth before I delatched her and took in a huge breath of relief. She would wail like her heart was breaking but seriously, it was torture. I just couldn’t take it.

If you are not a nursing mom and you want an idea of what a good and a bad latch feels like, stick your thumb in your mouth. Put it all the way in until the pad of your thumb is pressing on the roof of your mouth. Wrap your tongue under your entire thumb and pretend you are sucking honey out of your wrist. That is a good latch. Now stick your thumb in as far as your first knuckle. Wrap your teeth around both sides of your thumb and suck it back and forth quickly. That is a very, very bad latch.

Now imagine that your thumb has a zillion nerve endings and is so sensitive it can respond to a chilly room or a draft and you have an idea of how horrible a bad latch can be. With a good latch, you hardly feel a thing, with a bad one, you want to drive off a cliff.

This is how other women describe the dreaded toddler latch:

I want to cut my nipples off
I want to cut my breasts off
I grit my teeth until my jaw aches
It is like an unwanted sexual touch
Sets my teeth on edge
Like nails on a chalkboard
I am starting to dread it
I want to put my head through a brick wall

Nobody really knows for sure why a toddler’s latch will change. Some attribute it to the changing mouth size of a toddler while the breast size staying the same. Others suggest that the toddler does not fit well on a lap anymore. Others say teeth are a problem, others blame sippys and bottles. Some just think that toddlers simply develop a lazy latch because of other nutrition sources. I chalk our problems up to sippy cups more than anything. She latches on me exactly the same as a sippy cup. And it is the worst feeling you can imagine.

It hit me suddenly a few weeks ago that we had a serious problem and I was about to dry up and our nursing relationship would be lost forever. It struck me as extremely urgent and potentially tragic if I could not recover it. I want to continue breastfeeding and she desperately wants to continue to nurse. The whole development is supremely frustrating for both of us.

This is not just a daytime nursing issue. It has been affecting us around the clock. I lost my ace in the hole for sleeping. She has been waking up at all hours for the last few months, I am insanely sleep deprived. I thought it was EC related and I had been pottying her every couple hours and she was not going. Like a bolt of lightning I finally realized, she does not have to pee – she is famished.

Determined to make it work (despite the overwhelming advice to wean a 14 mo old who has trouble latching), I turned to Brielle to get my supply up. Brielle is as addicted to breastmilk as she ever was and was more than happy to oblige. She spent a few sessions a day for a few days and I seem to be back up to a high enough milk supply that I can feel it so Bianca should have plenty to drink. I also started drinking Milkmaid tea from Earth Mama Angel Baby and I noticed an increase in my supply within a few days. Most importantly, I implemented a strict no sippy rule.

It seems to be working. We went from about a 5% success rate to 60% or so. We still have plenty of times that we try, I relatch her two or three times and have to pull her off before I go bananas. Then I get screamed at which is no fun on top of the whole nursing failure. I will say however, that her latch has improved tremendously. I do not know if it is just from nursing more or using a sippy less but something is working.

I wanted to revive our breastfeeding relationship and while it appears to be resurrected, I have to wonder if I carefully considered what I wished for. I may have created a monster. Bianca is a big girl with an incredible appetite. She went from being essentially weaned to a boo addict almost overnight. She asks for it, begs for it, cries for it, lifts my shirt, feels me up and her eyes roll back in her head when her latch is good and she is getting mouthfuls of her dearest food. I may have created a monster but in the end I am incredibly grateful that the monster lives on.

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• Mothers who breastfeed beyond babyhood (guardian.co.uk)

Thanks to Gloria Lemay for the original post

This is the trailer for a new documentary on formula feeding in America. The documentary which is in the process of filming and scheduled to wrap in April of 2010 explores the prevalence of formula feeding in North America and the health implications that follow.

According to the Formula Fed America Documentary website ,

“Why are we ignoring our natural biological function of breastfeeding? Why are doctors, who more often than not agree that breast milk is far superior to infant formula, so quick to prescribe it when a mother experiences difficulty breastfeeding? Why do we continue to sexualize the breast and stigmatize its actual and intended use? Why are there not more widely available human milk banks where a mother can go and receive that precious liquid gold for her baby rather than free cans of formula our mailboxes? If infant feeding is a choice, why are we not making an informed one? This documentary will provide an insightful look into our culture’s attitude towards the breastfeeding mother and its acceptance of infant formula.”

Thanks to Dou-la-la’s blog for the heads up on the trailer.

Image Source: Leo Reynolds on Flickr

She asks a lot of questions and I always try to give her honest, accurate answers that will not only educate her but will also keep her from learning about life from her adolescent friends a decade from now.

While I have no problem giving her answers to topics that other parents avoid like the plague, I have a few topics that I am exceptionally passionate about. One is routine male circumcision and yesterday Brielle hit the nail on the head.

The last thing I want to do is perpetuate the craziness that has made natural far from normal and the normal people far from natural. I also need to convey the truth without inadvertently bashing the people in her life who are either circumcised or chose to circumcise their own children.

She knows that cats and dogs have retractable penises. Yesterday she asked me (out of the blue),

“Does “so and so” (a male friend of hers) have a penis that disappears like Blackers?”

Me: “Um, no…”

Brielle: “It is always outside??” (At this point I don’t know if she is doing mental comparisons to the cat or to female genitalia, but she is pretty surprised either way.)

Me: “Well, yeah. Not all boys are outside all the time. Boys are born with it hidden but lots of boys have surgery to take away the part that hides it.”

Brielle: “Who does the surgery?” (she is fascinated at this point)

Me: “Doctors”

Brielle: “All boys have the surgery?”

Me: “No, lots of them though”

Brielle: “How do they do it?”

I was at a loss here. I know that they strap down the helpless, screaming, hysterical infant and crush off the foreskin with no anesthesia after literally tearing it away from the glans. I can’t tell Brielle that. She will have nightmares (I know I do). I am rarely at a loss for words but I really did not know what to tell her. I finally said:

“Um….uhh….they sort of cut it off.”

Brielle: “Maybe they use a special penis knife”

Me: “Yeah, they kind of do”

Brielle: “Why?”

Me: “What??”

Brielle: “Why do they do it? Why do they do the surgery?”

Sigh………..Now what do I tell her? Because it is a hugely profitable industry? Because some parents prefer amputation to soap and water? Habit?? Because parents don’t do the research first? Because ‘they’ can? Because some parents think their children are property? The best answer is probably ‘Because they don’t know any better’. I just said:

“Because they want all the boys to look the same.”

Mayim Bialik on What Not To Wear

Mayim recently appeared on What Not To Wear in the makeover spotlight. I saw the previews but it never occurred to me to watch it because who knew she was 100% AP? I found out after the fact when reading a post by Summer from Wired for Noise. Summer raved about Mayim Bialik and I thought “Who the heck is that?!?”…so I read it and realized “Oh yeah, BLOSSOM!”

As it turns out, Mayim was babywearing in the show, concerned whether or not the new clothes were breastfeeding friendly or not and just overall super-duper AP.

It gets better.

After the show, she was interviewed by Celebrity Baby Blog and it turns out she homebirths, has a primarily vegan diet, practices co-cleeping (bedsharing), practices elimination communication and does not vaccinate!!! I love this woman! She also breastfeeds exclusively past one year. NO solids for one year.

Tons of celebrities are vegetarian or vegan. A number of celebrities babywear because lets face it, babywearing is very cool. A few celebrities breastfeed past the first few months (and admit it) and a tiny number have homebirths. A few notables don’t vaccinate or use alternative vaccine scheduling. I have never, ever heard of a celebrity mentioning, much less practicing EC. I have never heard of a celebrity breastfeeding exclusively past one year.

Mayik started EC-ing her second child at 2 days old. She talks about elimination communication during her CBB interview:

“The entire concept is not to potty train them, it’s not to do reward and punishment, I don’t clap my hands and say, “Good job.” It’s a very Zen, meditative experience of learning the signals, being able to respond to the signals. The level of communication you can achieve with an infant is really profound.”

Mayim also discusses childbirth with CBB:

“Fred, yes, was born at home, and Miles was able to watch the whole thing from his high chair while eating granola. Fortunately it was a very fast labor because I think Miles would’ve been bored if it was longer than the hour and a half it was. He loves it, he still talks about it.”

In reading other interviews and blogs, I discovered that she obtained her PhD after Blossom ended and she is also is devoutly Jewish (self described cross between Orthodox and Conservative, Conservadox). In fact, one of the reasons she chooses the skirts below the knees and the sleeved tops is for modesty reasons. Unfortunately these explanations were cut from the final version of What Not To Wear and the end, they made her out to be a frumpy mom with no fashion sense rather than an incredibly passionate, highly educated woman who stands up for what she believes in and walks the walk.

According to Allison from Jew in the City who is a personal friend of Mayim’s and also appeared briefly on the What Not to Wear episode :

“In my five seconds of fame, I said something about Mayim Bialik not being a messed up child star and instead raising a family and getting a PhD. All the stuff I mentioned about modesty not having to equal frumpiness and how I (the Orthodox Jew) had been encouraging her (the celebrity) to put herself together and find the perfect balance of cute, confident, and covered, was missing.”

Image Source: celebrity-babies.com

According to Jewcy:

“In the decades since she stopped playing Blossom Russo, Bialik has not sat still. She’s earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience and has undertaken cutting-edge studies at UCLA as one of the top researchers of Prader-Willi Syndrome in the field….She’s also testing the waters of going back into acting, with recent appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Bones. And she’s also in the middle of another big revival: she’s experimenting with being an observant Jew.”

I find that I have so much in common with Mayim’s parenting. We both even had babies born in the caul! Other than the fact that her sons are circumcised , she is hands down the best example of gentle, natural parenting in the public eye that I have ever seen.

Watch the full episode of What Not To Wear featuring Mayim Bialik.

Image Source: EraPhernalia Vintage on Flickr

What makes these sleep books great from an attachment parenting point of view is precisely what the name implies. These solutions don’t involve the much abhorred “cry it out” method that leaves your helpless, trusting infant to lay in bed screaming until they puke, give up or pass out.

Attached parents will pretty much do anything to help their little ones sleep without resorting to these cruel, unnatural tactics.

Attached parents are less likely to need help getting their children to sleep in the first place because parental closeness, breastmilk, babywearing and cosleeping are all exceptionally conducive to sleep.

That said, the sling may get your baby to sleep but you might not want to wear your heavy baby for their entire nap so you need help transferring out of the sling or detaching from the breast. That is just one of the many issues that Pantley addresses in The No-Cry Nap Solution.

The No-Cry Nap Solution by Elizabeth Pantley

Pantley offers sleep guidelines by age for both nighttime and daytime sleep with a number of examples for each age group. It is not intended as a rule but as a rough guide to see if your child approximates the sleep recommendations for her age.

I like a lot of things about Pantley’s book other than the fact that she does not advocate crying it out. First of all, Pantley has a very supportive, gentle and kind writing style. She does not judge parenting methods and is very much in favor of “doing what works”. For example, on page 154, Pantley says:

“If your baby falls asleep nursing, drinking a bottle, or sucking a pacifier and then you are able to put him into bed where he takes a nice, long nap, then nothing needs to change.”

Pantley does not criticize or offer a list of rules. Rather, in her friendly and helpful way, she helps you uncover clues and cues that your child may need more sleep, when the signs suggest they are sleep ready and real life solutions to try.

Lastly, I like the fact that while Pantley is very understanding of all parenting methods including formula feeding, she comes across as pro-breastfeeding, mentions breastfeeding her own children and not only recognizes breastmilk as the ultimate sleep inducing food but doesn’t knock it as a legitimate way to get your baby to sleep.

The only thing I do not like about this book is that it is a “sleep book”. It may be the best available but sleep books in general fill nervous parent’s heads with “shoulds”, guilt and self-doubt. One of the worst things I ever did with Brielle was read a sleep book when we were quite happy until that point. It made me very nervous about what I perceived to be her “lack of sleep” and I started all sorts of crazy modifications into our routine because I was trying to force her to sleep at 7pm. Sigh. I wish I never laid eyes on that book. Pantley addresses this issue herself however on page 22:

“Address only those problems that are true problems to you, and don’t create or imagine problems because someone else thinks you have them, no matter if that person is family, friend, or expert.”

Thankfully I don’t personally need this book because I let Bianca lead her nap times by showing me when she is tired and I create an excellent sleep environment. I treasure the opportunity to wear her and/or breastfeed to sleep. I know the baby phase is just a blink in my life and I enjoy every second I get to hold and baby her. I do not pay one iota of attention to hours, times or schedules. Both her naptimes and bedtimes vary and that works great for us. She is always in good spirits so we are happy.

Brielle on the other hand was simply a terrible sleeper. Although the “shoulds” from that other book haunted me for years, I believe that I could have utilized a number of tips from Pantley’s book to get her to sleep when she was tired because she would fight sleep like it was her worst enemy. It took me years to get her sleep situation ironed out and any tips would have been very welcome.

If you are an attached, gentle parent with spirited children or difficult sleeping situations then I highly recommend The No-Cry Nap Solution as an excellent resource that may offer you a kind and loving solution to your naptime woes.

The CDC is actively working on a Swine Flu (H1 N1) Vaccine for the fall flu season in the United States. They are going to be recommending that every American have two Swine vaccinations on top of the regular flu shot they already receive.

The additional Swine Flu Vaccine is being recommended as a ‘booster’ because there is no known immunity in the human population to this new multi-species variation of flu.

That is three doses of thimerosol, three doses of other unknown additives, chemicals and neurotoxins to allegedly prevent what is a relatively mild illness which is actually preventable by basic hygiene practices.

In the attached video clip you will see, Dr. Nancy Snyderman in a Today show appearance telling us to “trust the government and health officials”. Eeek! The only thing I will be trusting is in the skyrocketing profits at Big Pharma.

My daughters and I will be getting these vaccines over my dead body.