Natural Family News

A recent study in Singapore showed that children who were breastfed decreased their chances of short-sightedness by 50%. I think there may be an error in the percentages reported in the article, as they don’t seem to match the percentages. The summary of the study does not say how long children should be breastfed to decrease their chances or whether longer periods of breastfeeding would offer greater protection. The initial study was a very small population, but there are plans to conduct a more in-depth, larger study. You can read more here.

Hybrid owners are experimenting with plugging their hybrids in to increase their already good gas mileage. By plugging them in and charging battery packs in the trunk, the cars can get up to 250 mpg. Read more

So, far this lecture tour is not coming anywhere near me, but I so wish that it was. What a great idea! Leave it to Whole Foods and Mothering to start promoting the organic lifestyle to Moms before they give birth. I would have loved a Whole Baby kit, instead of the formula-endorsed bags we were given at the hospital. The lecture tour will educate mothers about nutrition, including information on how to make your own baby food. You can read more about the Whole Baby program here.

For better or for worse, 73 year old organic farmer Arthur Harvey has succeeded in a lawsuit which will require organic manufacturers to use even stricter standards. Many organic companies are upset that the ruling will mean that they can no longer use the organic label if their product contains any synthetic products. Will this help or hurt organic consumers? At this point, it’s hard to say. Will organic manufacturers forced to label their products “made with organic ingredients” cut back to the bare minimum of 70% organic ingredients? Or will they find ways to produce organically those ingredients, such as pectin, that are now unavailable in an organic form? read more

Indiana sounds like a great place to homeschool– very few regulations and even less oversite. Indiana superintendants would like that to change. Once again, we have bureacrats who are concerned about “what about those who aren’t schooling? Ultimately, they’ll end up a burden on the state.” So, I have a proposal for the educators of Indiana, or any other state, for that matter. When they start graduating a 100% literate population, they can start looking at whether homeschoolers are being properly educated. You can read the article here.

A newly published study found that women who had undergone a cesarean section were less likely to get pregnant again. However, it didn’t examine whether this had anything to do with infertility or if it was the result of a lack of desire to have another child. It could be that if a woman had a hard recovery from the c-section she might be reluctant to put herself in the position of possibly going through that again, or that women who are not planning to have any more children may be more willing to agree to a c-section. Regardless, it’s an interesting read.

You can see the article here

If this study is to be believed, then breastfeeding moms should be calm, cool, and collected. The study measured levels of cortisol in women who were breastfeeding versus women who were bottle-feeding as they were exposed to stressful situations. Consistently, the breastfeeding moms had lower levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. As a side benefit, this should have some weight loss implications, as well, if the infomercial for Relacore are to be believed. Several weight loss products on the market claim to supress cortisol production, which causes weight to accumulate in the belly area. So, the next time you’re feeling stressed out, just grab your baby and settle in for a nice long nursing session. You can read more about the study here.

Black Rhino organic coffee is teaming up with CureBreastCancer.org to develop co-branded packaging for a line of coffee that will soon be available online. A percentage of the proceeds will go to breast cancer research. Read more.

Ethicbaby.com Launches Natural Baby Store Online for Concerned Parents

Victoria, British Columbia – July 22, 2005. Finding healthy, environmentally-friendly baby products can be a difficult task for concerned parents. “Your everyday baby stores only seem to carry a few brand names, but how do you know the products are safe for your baby?” says Sheri Murray, a loyal Ethicbaby customer. Ethicbaby.com is a new, online store meeting the growing demand for healthy, natural baby products.

“We just followed our hearts – we wanted to offer parents and grandparents a healthy alternative and complete peace of mind when purchasing baby products”, say expectant parents and store owners, Kate and Jeff Dorion.

Ethicbaby.com offers a fairly-traded product line from around the world including, certified organic cotton clothing and bedding (India), stuffed toys (Egypt), wooden toys made with non-toxic paints (Germany), natural baby skin care (Australia), parenting books (Canada), baby gifts and engaging music for both parents and babies (US).

The vision behind ethicbaby.com stemmed from a desire to provide retail support to parents choosing a healthy, sustainable lifestyle. Trained as a pediatric occupational therapist, Kate’s mission is to educate parents about both baby development and sustainability issues. “Having a baby is a major trigger toward healthy living, and a great opportunity to educate parents”, says the co-founder. The online baby store features an education series and a section of natural parenting books.

The couple began re-evaluating how and what they purchased for themselves, and like most expectant parents, thoughts turned to product choices for their child. “We need to care where purchases come from,” says Jeff, “it is imperative that we sell products that promote fair-trade labour and green business practices.”

A member of Coop America and The Values-based Business Network (VBN) in Victoria, Ethic Retail’s merchandise selection criteria ensures products only come from socially responsible suppliers, thus supporting solid business practices.

Ethicbaby’s natural baby goods can be purchased at http://www.ethicbaby.com. For more information about the parent company, Ethic Retail, call (800) 706-ETHC or visit http://www.ethic.ca.

My kids are at my Mom’s house today, so I just happened to be watching the Today Show this morning. They did a segment on breastfeeding, which for the most part, was positive. They pointed out that the AAP encourages exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and that children should really breastfeed until at least 2 years of age. They highlighted the benefits for mom and baby. All in all, it was pretty well done. The main points can be read on the Today Show site.

However, female talk show hosts should just quit talking about breastfeeding altogether, I think. First Barbara Walters opens mouth, inserts foot about mothers nursing babies on airplanes, and on today’s segment Katie Couric was just about as bad. First, she went on and on about how hard it is to breastfeed. While she did encourage women to seek professional help if they were having difficulties, she made it seem like breastfeeding was one step away from torture. Then there was the end of the interview. After it was pointed out that babies should be nursed until 2 years of age, she said “But when they can ask for it, they’re too old, right?” The doctor responded with something like “It varies from mother to mother.” And Katie’s reply? “That sort of creeps me out.” She did follow up with “to each his own”.

So, ladies, perhaps it’s time for a bit of education, or a letter writing campaign, or a nurse in. It’s sad to me that it’s the women in the media who, more often than not, are the ones who torpedo the Moms who are just trying to provide the best possible life for their children.

The video of the interview, including the comments mentioned above, can be seen on the Today Show’s website.

For those of you who read a lot of birth things, this article may contain some really familiar phrases, but, like the author of the story, I had to ask “what monkey?” I thought this was a great article about the homebirth process. It contained statistics and reasons for homebirthing, but mostly it was just a father’s journey through the process of pregnancy that ends in homebirth. Read it. You’ll be glad you did.

I saw an article today on the best worst foods today- that is the best foods that will drive you to an early grave. It brought up a couple of questions in my mind. One was “why is an article on foods in Forbes magazine”.

The second question was “why does this list involve primarily things that only old and/or rich people would eat”. For example, duck confit. Duck confit? I honestly don’t know anyone who has ever eaten duck confit or who plans to eat it in the future. Foi gras? Sure, I’ve eaten that. When I worked art gallery openings in college. There were more pedestrian foods, such as french fries and hamburgers, that made the list. You can read the full article here.