Burp Cloths - reasons, uses and giveaway!

I am a fan of the burp cloth, my favorite are ones that are creamy in color so spit up blends in! I recently started making organic burp clothes with my cute embroidery and found myself with two extras. This blog gives reasons to own burp cloths, uses for them while you have an infant and beyond and then how to enter in the giveaway to win one of mine. There will be two winners!

10 Reasons for Burp Cloths

1. So you do not have to change your shirt or walk around smelling like a dairy
2. To clean up little baby messes
3. To clean up not-so-little mommy messes
4. To have the freedom of handing baby off to a well meaning person and not worry about baby spitting up all over their nice clothes! Let’s face it, sometimes we don’t care when it is our clothes but if it is someone else...
5. It fits nicely in your purse or diaper bag
6. A cover-up for nursing mommies on the go
7. A small car blanket for rainy or cold days
8. Fabric to prop up baby’s head when she falls asleep in the car seat or stroller
9. An emergency diaper changing pad
10. All the complements you will get because the burp cloth is just SO cute!

No More Baby, What Now?

1. Old burp cloths can have several uses outside of the norm. Here are my favorites,
2. Security blanket
3. Bath time wash cloth
4. Playground wipe - we live in a misty coastal beach town so our playground always has water on the slide and swings. We have to be savvy and carry around a towel to the park, these are nice and small and are already in your play bag!
5. Picnic napkins
6. And finally for the burp cloths that had too much love they can be used as cleaning towels.

Here is how to win one of my bumble bee burp cloths pictured on my page.

For Current Followers -

All you have to do is comment below that you want to be entered. To be entered twice all you have to do is suggest my blog to a friend and they follow me and then comment below that you sent them!

For Newbies (non-followers) -

It is simple, follow my blog and leave a comment below saying how you found me.

The deadline to enter is Saturday at midnight (Pacific Time), the winners will be announced on Sunday morning.

Let Me Hear You WINE!

After a long difficult day there are a few simple things I love, a soft kiss hello from my husband, a comforting dinner and a nice glass of wine. Don’t judge me, it is not every night that I uncork but once a week or so I enjoy a grape with full body and a nice nose. I live in wine country and my husband and I love to take a day every once in a while to stop in at the local wineries. As I greened my life I began to look at that once beautiful glass of Pinot Noir as a cup full of pesticides. Once I began to research grapes I found that they are one of the most pesticide ridden fruits on the market. I could not give up my friend Chardonnay so I had to come up with a solution - organic wines.

“Studies show that wine grapes are bombarded with a medley of poisons. In fact, 17 different insecticides, herbicides, and fumigants are used in wine production, many containing possible carcinogens. In California, where 90 percent of domestic wines are produced, grapes receive more pesticides than any other crop: 59 million pounds in 1995 alone, according to Californians for Pesticide Reform.” – Frey Vineyards

Organic wines are harder to find but once you know to look for them you will begin to see a few options at each store. The hardest part about locating these wines is figuring out which are friendly green. Organic wines rarely have their own section at the market so you have to either know your brands or search through each bottle looking for “made with organically grown grapes” on the label.

If you have a Trader Joes in your area they have a few options, most of them are very cost effective at under $10. My favorite has the cheesy name of “Our Daily Red”, I also like the wines from Chile. If you have a Whole Foods they carry more organic options but they usually stay local to your area so naming brands may not help you. If you happen to live in Northern California you can message me for my favorites! Here are some reasons why you should drink organic wine.

It Tastes Better

I am a wine snob! Living in wine country it just happens to you over time. Even with my snobbery I love organic wines. They have more flavor because they are closer to nature. My favorite local winery is Heller in Carmel Valley, they have the best Merlot you will ever taste!

Fewer Sulfites

If you have headaches or a rash from wine most likely it is from the sulfites. These nasty buggers also increase hang over risk. One of the great things about organic wine is it has fewer sulfites,
“Organic wines contain less sulfites then traditional wines. Sulfites are a salts or sulfurous acids that occur naturally in many wines. It is vary rare to find a wine that does not have sulfites. Added sulfites are generally used for preservation of wines. 100% Organic wines are made with no added sulfites. The less sulfites a wine contains, the healthier it will be for your body.” - Associatedcontent.com

The Greater Good

Choosing organic wines helps the areas of our planet that grow our grapes. Organic wines are not just better for you, they are better for the planet.
“In addition to the risk of pesticide exposure to us, the consumers, there are many good reasons to support the organic wine industry: Pesticide residues contaminate ground water, kill wildlife, and put farm workers at a higher risk for cancer. Many EPA-approved pesticides were registered before health risks were known and there is a growing concern that pesticide residues can accumulate over-time and cause health problems. While many vineyards are using fewer pesticides, it is clear that most are not." - bestnaturalfoods.com

The Downsides

The nature of organic prevents wines from aging well so organic wines will be young. If the bottle says 2009, it’s okay! The other downside is cost. Unless you have a market like the two I mentioned above you might pay $5-15 more per bottle. Also, just like any indulgence it is best to drink our wine in moderation. All these considered I still love my organic wine, now let me hear you wine!

Web Resources
http://www.freywine.com/index.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/78181 top_3_reasons_why_you_should_drink_pg2.html?cat=22
http://www.bestnaturalfoods.com/newsletter/organic_wine.html
http://www.hellerestate.com/

I'm SO Spicy!

This blog is dedicated to why I love spices. The doctors never gave us a diagnosis to our infertility, the answer was just no. Dealing with infertility was very hard and after three years I am just now giving up, however, the one of the worst parts for me was the chronic pain not having a name. Each cycle I would deal with sharp pains in my lower abdomen. The episodes came randomly but were very painful. The doctors had ideas about what it could be but never a definitive answer. Dealing with pain on a regular basis was not how I wanted to live my life so I started trying different alternative medicines. I researched which foods help with circulation and cramping and began to practice yoga along with occasional acupuncture. I am happy to say that for the last year I have been almost pain free! I think it was a combination of everything I am doing but the spices could have helped. Here are my favorites with the research I found.

Cinnamon

Besides its wonderful taste cinnamon has many health properties. It is often used in alternative medicine to help with conditions ranging from menstrual cramps to nausea to circulation. Recently, there have been scientific studies to determine if cinnamon is helpful with chronic health problems. They did find a connection between cinnamon and blood sugar. After 40 days people found benefits with diabetes and high cholesterol. (altmedicine.about.com) I like to add cinnamon to most breakfast foods like oatmeal, cereal, french toast, and pancakes. I also like to top off my coffee with a little sprinkle. 

Turmeric

This very brightly colored spice is used in many Indian and Thai dishes. If you order a yellow curry this is the spice creating that vibrant yellow color. Turmeric is a root that looks very similar to ginger but most of the time it is sold as a powder. I add this spice to most of my savory foods and I hide it in all my sauces. Although it is bright in color it’s flavor can be easily masked. I add this regularly to potatoes, eggs, soup, sauces, Mexican foods, and all my Asian or Indian dishes. Turmeric is used in alternative medicines to help with MANY issues including circulation, inflammation, pain, depression, arthritis, and it is a natural antiseptic. You can read an article at healthdiaries.com which has 20 reasons to add it to your diet.

Cayenne Pepper

I am in love with hot spicy food, the hotter the better! I get funny looks from Thai and Indian restaurants when I ask them to make my food extra spicy. I can almost hear them thinking, “that white girl is going to eat MY spicy food? Ya right! I’ll give her spicy and watch her sweat.” Much to their surprise they bring the food and I happily eat it with out milk or bread. I noticed years ago that if I ate spicy food when I was in pain from an issue such as a sunburn then the pain would temporarily go away. I even read an article a long time ago on midwives who were using natural capaicin as a pain reliever in childbirth. I included a recent article in the resource section that talks about that subject.
    Most people do not have my tolerance for hot food but for those of you who enjoy a little hot then this is the spice for you! Cayenne pepper is bright red and does not have a lot of flavor, it is mostly just hot. However, even with out the addition of a flavor boost there are many reasons to add this to your food. 


“The main medicinal properties of cayenne are derived from a chemical called capsaicin. Capsaicin is the ingredient which gives peppers their HEAT. A pepper's capsaicin content ranges from 0-1.5%. Peppers are measured according to heat units. The degree of heat determines the peppers' usage and value. Generally, the hotter the pepper, the more capsaicin it contains. In addition to adding heat to the pepper, capsaicin acts to reduce platelet stickiness and relieve pain.” - healingdaily.com


Ginger

This root is more then just a Christmas time bread! It has many confirmed medicinal properties as well as a great flavor. Most of the time you find this spice in powder form but my favorite is root. I grate the root just like you would cheese and sprinkle it into pancake batter, oatmeal and muffins. My acupuncturist taught me a great trick with ginger root to help with cramping or my painful episodes. Boil water with a few cubes of ginger for a few minutes then take a small towel and soak it in the water, ring it out and apply it to the painful area. This really helps with “that time” or sore breasts. Here are some ginger facts, 
“Ginger has been well researched and many of its traditional uses confirmed. It is well known as a remedy for travel sickness, nausea and indigestion. It is a warming remedy, ideal for boosting the circulation, lowering high blood pressure and keeping the blood thin in higher doses. Ginger is anti-viral and makes a warming cold and flu remedy. Ginger is a powerful anti-inflammatory herb and there has been much recent interest in its use for joint problems.” - herbwisdom.com


 

Web Resources

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/cinnamon/a/cinnamon.htm


http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/20-health-benefits-of-turmeric.html

http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-ginger-root.html

http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/cayenne.htm


Article on peppers as pain relievers - http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-10-05/science/27964890_1_capsaicin-pain-relief-peppers

Healthy Organic Baking

Okay, guilty as charged. I often disguise healthy ingredients in my baking. But when you have finicky eaters at home you have to be creative! Here are some of my favorite ways to bake in a healthy and organic way.

Ditch the Veggie Oil

Heavily processed and little to no nutritional value. Swap it out for a healthy oil or ditch it all together. My favorite healthy oil is coconut. It give so much flavor to pancakes, brownies and cakes. Here is why coconut oil is healthy,
“The health benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, dental care, and bone strength. These benefits of coconut oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, soothing, etc.” - organicfacts.net
I also love to use it in Asian dishes I create at home like stir fry or pot stickers. It usually comes in jars and in a solid form, heat will make it liquid. I like to use raw coconut oil, the closer you are to nature the more health benefits you receive. I also love olive oil. It has the good kind of fat that our bodies need, however, not so tasty in most baking situations...yep, I tried it more then once! Let’s just say that you learn from my mistake and leave the olive oil to other dishes.
The other option is to ditch oil in recipes all together and substitute another food. Applesauce works well for this option but only in cakes. I have tried to do this with cookies, it created a very weird consistency! My other favorite substitute is yogurt. This works well for brownies and pancakes.

Add a Ingredient...or Two

You can easily hide zucchini and carrots in your baking. I know it sounds weird but I have put zucchini into brownies, told no one, and everyone happily eats them! Just make sure to peel the skin off, once your child finds a piece of green in her brownie she will not eat them again! Carrots are harder to hide because of their color. I like to puree them and add to baked goods that already have color like gingerbread. The great thing about carrots is their sweetness, if you add this wonderful veggie you can cut your sugar amount.

Choose a Healthy Flour

Not all baking flours are the same. In fact, years ago the government mandated that vitamins and folic acid be added to white flour because it had little to no nutritional value and people were becoming sick. If you see the words “enriched” or “fortified” that means that the flour was not good enough to begin with. Here are some facts,
“The truth is, so many of the good things that were originally in it have been stripped out through refinement that they HAD to add a little something back in. Now here’s the really scary part. What they are adding back into your flour is actually toxic!
Iron is one of the “nutrients” added back into enriched flour, except that the type of iron that is added in is not really a nutrient at all, but is considered a metallic iron. Metallic iron is obviously not available for use by the body, and was never meant to be consumed in the first place.
Enriched flour is absorbed by the body not as wheat or a grain, in which case your body could use the energy slowly and effectively, but as a starch. That is because the wheat germ has been stripped from the flour; the FDA specifically states that enriched flour cannot have greater than 5 percent wheat germ.” - globalhealingcenter.com
    My favorite baking flours are oat, quinoa, and coconut. I am always on the look out for new flours to play with. Here is the trick with alternative flours, I have noticed that they soak up more of the liquid then normal flour leaving the pastry on the dry side. To combat this problem I add a little extra of the liquid or I mix flours, 1/2 oat, 1/4 quinoa and 1/4 whole wheat. The other word of caution is with quinoa flour, if you only use this flour it leaves an “earthy” taste to the food. I suggest mixing this flour.

Trade Sugars

Granulated sugar is not healthy, the whiteness in the sugar is not natural and should make you cautious. Opt for cane sugar, it has a slight brown color and the sugar granules are bigger then white sugar. You can also substitute other sugars like honey or coconut sugar (are you noticing that I am in love with coconut?) Applesauce and pureed carrots can also be used to sweeten.

Wrap it up

So here it is, simple tips to make your pancakes, brownies, muffins and cupcakes a little more guilt-free. Let’s face it, life it too short to live with out these lovely pastries but making them contain some nutritional value is helpful to the whole family. If you want help with a certain recipe paste it in the comment box and I will help you out!

Web Resources
http://www.organicfacts.net
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com

Favorite Brands
Bob’s Red Mill flours - http://www.bobsredmill.com/
International Harvest Coconut Oil - http://internationalharvest.com
International Harves’s Lanka Sun Coconut Sugar - http://internationalharvest.com/products/lanka-sun

Coffee - Friend or Foe?

My one true vice, coffee. I have at least one cup a day and not much you or anyone else can say about it will stop that habit. Just so you know, this post is PRO coffee but I will talk about how to be a wise consumer when it comes to this black liquid gold.

The Battle of Corporate Coffee

I know many people out there, especially where I live are anti corporate coffee. I sit on the fence. Years ago in my undergraduate work I had a part-time job at Starbucks. After working for this company I have to say that when it comes to large corporations they do it right. They treated me fairly, provided health insurance (and with only working part time) and were flexible around my school schedule. Looking back I can also say that it was a fun job, we laughed a lot and connected with our customers. We were like a small village in the middle of the huge Orange County. So those are the positives.
Here are the negatives about large companies like Starbucks (but not Starbucks specifically, there are others too). They buy very large quantities of pesticide grown coffees from overseas. Although Starbucks has a commitment to fair trade practices you can be assured that not every company does and there might be some seedy practices going on. Coffee is in the top most pesticide laden crop, right before cotton. Bad for earth, bad for your health and bad for baby’s health while you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Why green your entire life but continue to drink pesticides? So it is for this very simple fact that I try not to stop at Starbucks too often, they rarely have organic coffee choices and since 2007 they have not had organic milk.
It is easy to go organic with your coffee, almost every brand has an organic version. I have one of those fabulous Kuerig single serve machines, who is lovingly named Mo (as in mo’ coffee please!) even my machine has organic pod options.

Pros and Cons

Okay, so you go organic and fair trade on your coffee now here are the health positives and negatives about coffee consumption. Studies I have read over the years talk about how coffee jump starts your metabolism and keeps you regular. The common argument against coffee (especially for pregnant and nursing women) is connected to the caffeine. According to my resources they say that caffeine is okay in moderation and that its consumption did not show effects in fertility or pregnancy until levels reached 3-4 cups a day. Studies that have claimed there is a connection between pregnancy miscarriage or infertility due to caffeine consumption were showing a correlation not a causation. Here are the positives that The Fertility Diet says about coffee,
    “It is brimming with antioxidants and other biologically active substances, including caffeine. Several long-term studies have shown that coffee drinkers are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, gallstones and kidney stones, and possibly colon cancer.” - The Fertility Diet
Here are the negatives, “The main downsides of coffee drinking are caffeine addiction and the fats and calories that come with the sugar, cream, whipped cream, caramel and other toppings and flavorings now put in and on coffee.” - The Fertility Diet
So here is the deal with coffee, just like any food we indulge in do it in moderation. A cup of black coffee or coffee with milk in the morning will not hurt you, in fact it will help you. However, those ice blended monstrosities are not going to help you, those only hurt you! So in conclusion, here is my tribute to coffee. Dispelling all bad rumors and highlighting the good points. To a drink I love, thank you for loving me back.

Book Resources
Organic Baby, Simple Steps for Healthy Living by Kimberly Rider
The Fertility Diet by Jorge Chavarro MD, ScD and Walter Willett MD, DrPH

Are You Going to Eat That? - Why I Pay More for Organic

You should know that I LOVE food. I often joke that with my admiration of food I should be 300 pounds! I love everything about food, shopping for food is an adventure for me, cooking food is an art form and going out to try new foods is a hobby. When I “greened” my life I had to switch over my eating habits. I thought I would only have to make small adjustments, and I did...at first. I will begin to disclose mostly simple and a few not-so-simple organic food tips. In this blog I am going to talk about dairy, fruit, veggies and grains; the basics. Later I will blog about specifics like coffee, spices, meats, baking and wines.

Dairy

I can skip candy, chips and soda but what I really love is fat. Jewish roots go deep and my family has to have the butter...on everything. I love sour cream, cheese, milk and anything fatty. The one exception is ice cream, which my stomach hates but my taste buds love. When it comes to dairy is pays to go organic. A few years ago the media shead light to the horrible effects of the synthetic growth hormone used in dairy cows on not just on the poor cows but on humans as well. We are not supposed to skip our teenage years but that is exactly what that hormone does to little Bessy, then it makes her produce much more milk then her body would normally. Now even conventional milk says something like “Our cows are not treated with the growth hormone rBGH”.
But before we rejoice there are a few more things to consider. The basic rule when it comes to dairy and meat is if the animal roamed freely and lived a happy life then it will taste better. If it was in a tiny metal stall standing in its own yuk then it will not taste as good. Organic cows are fed yummy organic grass, are free to travel around green pastures and produce as much milk as their bodies feel is right. An added bonus is with organic dairy you do not have to worry about antibiotics or other medicines invading your coffee with cream.
The simple step with dairy is to pay the extra $.50 to $1.00 and go organic. These days you can find organic dairy at Target! The bigger step is to go raw. I know I may have lost some of you with the “r” word, but raw has been bullied by the media and not for good reason. Many countries still drink raw dairy products with out the rigourous standards we have here and you never hear about people becoming ill or dying from a glass of milk! Another plus is raw milk has natural enzymes which help to break it down in your system. If you find your stomach reacting poorly to cow milk give raw a chance. I drink raw milk, I am lucky enough to buy it straight from the source at my local farmer’s market. Here is what my raw milk farmers have to say,
    “Every batch of milk is tested to exceed California Department of Food and Agriculture raw milk standards for market Grade A milk. State standards require that raw milk sold to consumers contain less than 15,000 bacteria count per milliliter.
Our milk is analyzed with an onsite state-of-the-art FOSS machine, or sent to an outside laboratory for Standard Plate Counts (SPC) to assure compliance with State of California raw milk standards. Our milking teams are so proud of our low bacteria counts, we put them on our Web site for everyone to see.” - Organic Pastures

Fruit

Yes organic produce usually costs more but have you ever tasted organic fruit compared to regular? It has so much more flavor. That alone gets my vote. If you are on a budget here is the basic rule for fruit, if you eat the peel then buy organic. There are certain fruits that are very important because they are covered in pesticies and usually the farmer uses GMO seeds (genetically modified organism) which are not good. Those fruits are grapes, all berries and apples. Fruit with heavy peels like bananas and oranges do not matter as much but even my husband has noticed that organic oranges have more flavor and requests them when I go to Whole Foods.

Veggies

The rule is the same as fruit with one exception, if you eat the peel then go organic. Veggies like avocados and onions are fine. The one exception is potatoes, those need to be organic.The veggies that are also important to buy organic are tomatoes and any leafy veggie like spinach and lettuce. My all time favorite organic veggie is heirloom tomatoes, add a little basalmic and you are in heaven!

Grains

Not all grains are counted the same. This is one section where I look more for the type of grain over organic. For breads the most healthy option is a sprouted grain like Ezekiel bread. There are also many “gluten free” options these days made with different flours like potato, brown rice and tapioca. If you think that you may have a wheat allergy there are some amazing bread choices these days, in fact, there is a whole aisle just for you at Whole Foods!
Rice is a different matter, for rice go organic. Rice crops can be heavily pesticide laden. I also urge you to explore outside of normal white rice and dive into wild and brown rices. There is a whole world of exciting and flavorful rice just waiting to be discovered. People usually shy away from these types of rice because they take longer to cook. In regards to rice, you do not want it to have a short cook time. If it does that means that the factory did something to the rice to make it cook faster like take it out of the husk. Rice takes a long time to cook for a reason, embrace the cooking time. I make short grain brown rice in large quantities and house the left overs in the refridgerator. The ratio is simple, 2 1/4 cup water to 1 cup of rice. This type of rice typically takes 30-40 minutes to cook but it reheats very well unlike jasmine rice that becomes hard. Give it a chance, I promise that the rice will be more flavorful. There are other wonderful grains like quinoa that have great properties but if you have a finicky eater at home like I do it is hard to mask something SO healthy!

Book Resources
Green Babies, Sage Moms by Linda Fassa
Ecoholic by Adria Vasil
Healthy Child Healthy World by Christopher Gavigan
Organic Baby, Simple Steps for Healthy Living by Kimberly Rider


Web Resources
http://www.organicpastures.com/labTests.html

Items That Make Life Easier

My wonderful Psychologist husband tells me that if you think you have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) then you don’t. However, if I could pick an area that I fall into an OCD panic about it would be researching and choosing all the baby products we need. I divided this blog into several parts because it would be ridiculously long if it remained in one piece. Here is how I broke it down,
Part 1 - Baby out on the town
Part 2 - Chemical free sleep
Part 3 - Why organic clothes?
Part 4 - Items that make life easier
Keep an eye out for the other sections, here is Part 4.

Items that make life easier

Years of being a nanny for children of all ages taught me basic survival skills. There are some little extras that we sit on the fence wondering if it is worth spending more money. Here are some of my eco-friendly favorites that are time tested and worth the extra cash.

Binky Leash

I cannot tell you how many pacifiers I have chased after as they roll away from me. They always seem to be everywhere that you are not, I move the couch and there’s a binky, I clean out the car and under the seat is a binky, I am searching in my purse for mints and there is a binky. The other common scenario is you are with baby who is ill-tempered for what ever reason, you give them the binky only to have it thrown and now you have a dirty binky. Depending on your experience with children you may choose to hide the binky and search for a clean one or brush off the dirt, wash it off with water from your drinking bottle and hand it back to her. To save myself from this seemingly never ending battle of the binky I began to make and carry with me at all times the binky leash. They come in different forms but the idea is always the same, one end attaches to baby and the other end to the pacifier. With binky leashes it is worth spending a little extra to get one that is organic. If you are going through all the trouble of greening your food, home and clothes then the last thing you will want is baby sucking on the chemical filled and toxic binky leash. Also, buy one that is machine washable...trust me!

Dropper Stopper

A while ago I came across a wonderful invention called a Dropper Stopper. It is the same idea as the binky leash but it is for bottles and toys and it is mainly used with a stroller or car seat. I tried to make similar items before but this was was different. The end that attaches to the bottle or toy had a mesh fabric on the inside making it slip resistant even with a bottle covered in condensation. Since we went with the very healthy glass bottles these leashes are a must have. It saves you from the “Ah Oh” game!

Baby Legs - Leg Warmers

Remember those awesome leg warmers we all wore in the 80’s and early 90’s? Well they are out of the ballet studio and back in a very cool way. Baby Legs makes these amazing and adorable baby leg warmers which are helpful in more ways then fashion. These are great when you have baby in the carrier because they do not bunch up and leave part of baby’s leg exposed. They are also helpful when your outfit for the day is destroyed, you can pull out a pair of these and baby still looks cute. I like to use them in the winter or on rainy days as a type of layering. They come in all types of patterns and colors. Why choose Baby Legs over a different brand? They do not get those annoying fabric balls, they stay up on baby’s leg and they offer many organic options.

Wet Wipes

Not the most earth friendly invention but so helpful. To make these more green for health and for earth pick certain brands. If you think about it, you only use toilet paper when you use the restroom so why are you putting wet chemicals on your baby? The problem with wet wipes, other then the environmental impact are chemicals and toxins again invading your baby’s system. Your baby does not need anything anti-bacterial or fragranced. In fact, wet wipes could be causing your baby’s rash.
    According to greenyour.com, “Conventional wipes may also contain synthetic     fragrances as well as parabens, known endocrine disrupters that are not only detrimental to human health, but also destructive to animal hormones and development. Fragrances are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which add to air pollution, are persistent in the environment, and contaminate waterways and aquatic wildlife. An estimated 5.72 million Americans have skin allergies to fragrance, while around 72 percent of those suffering from asthma claim that their condition can be triggered by synthetic fragrance.”
Taking all this into account the facts are, they make life easier and they make baby’s bottom smell better.  So here is a compromise, skip the normal wipes and opt for brands like Seventh Generation who use only healthy ingredients. Once you get a wet wipe that is free of toxins you can wipe the food off of baby’s face and clean up the spittle on your shirt with a clean green conscious.

Wet Bags

If you are part of the cloth diapering brigade then you already know the importance of wet bags but for everyone else, here are some other uses. Wet bags are made of water resistant (no plastic please) fabric and are great when baby spills liquid down her shirt and now you have to do a wardrobe change. They are also great for those times when one diaper was just not enough to hold everything. Try to find wet bags that are water resistant but machine washable, if you buy these you can throw the whole bag in the washing machine so you do not have to unearth the mess. Kushies brand makes fun designs that are PVC, BPA, Lead and Phtalate free.

Snack Sized To Go Boxes

Plastic bags, they are everywhere. In high school I noticed that my sandwich would smell and taste like the zip bag it was housed in, especially on hot days. Even then before I knew about chemicals I knew that was gross and switched to wax bags. Years later we know what the culprit was for that smell and taste. Not all plastics are counted equal and not all of them are bad news. In fact, for a mommy on the go plastic is helpful.     

       Here are the good plastics from ehow.com “#1 -- Used for soda and water bottles. It is meant for one-time use, so don't refill these bottles. #2 -- Milk bottles. This type of bottle is safe. #4 -- Squeezable bottles. This type of plastic is safe. #5 -- Food containers such as yogurt, butter and other condiments. This plastic is safe. #7 -- Unbreakable water bottles. This plastic has been known to leach Bishpenol A (BPA) and should be avoided.”
Honestly, I can never remember which are good and which are bad so I stick with brands I trust or forgo the plastic all together. To avoid plastic bags switch to wax bags but make sure you do not get paraffin wax bags, that is still an evil chemical. You can also purchase plastic alternatives, thankfully this is a growing market and they are increasingly easier to find. I love the glass water bottles from Life Factory, they also make baby bottles. They have a cute but functional design and the glass is wrapped in a silicone sleeve to prevent cracks and breaks. The other must have are bento boxes from Laptop Lunches. They are the good kind of plastic, rarely leak and come in fun colors. I love these for packing baby snacks like raisins or crackers.

Web Resources
http://www.etsy.com/listing/70502934/organic-binky-leash-help-us-adopt
http://dropperstopper.com/
http://www.babylegs.com/
http://www.greenyour.com/lifestyle/baby/diapers/tips/choose-eco-friendly-baby-wipes
How to Identify Good & Bad Plastic Bottles | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com  /how_5004337_identify-good-bad-plastic-bottles.html#ixzz1HLl9obrH
http://www.lifefactory.com
http://www.laptoplunches.com/
http://www.babyearth.com/kushies-on-the-go-large-wet-bags-2-pack.html