Where are my crunchy granola moms?

[luvmesometigger]

See this is me too. I have a hard time fitting in. Just the other day I was waiting for my daughter to come out of gymnastics and a lady in the waiting room had a baby about 2 weeks old in the carseat. When the baby started crying she slipped the babies bottle into this thingy called a bottle sling. and then went back to playing on her phone. When the baby starting crying she told her to stop and that she wasn't going to take her out I wanted to grab that baby and hold her. Oh here is that thingy.
http://mommyreviewed.blogspot.com/2009/09/bebe-bottle-sling-review-giveaway.html

I'm not the only one who thinks this is a crazy invention am I? I mean come on I know how crazy life can get but I've always been able to find 15 mintues to feed my baby and I'm pretty sure if they were bottle fed I would have found the time too. Alrighty, I will step off my soapbox...

I find this really sad. You really don't have 15 minutes every few hours to feed your baby?

 

[Duckiedee]

Pretty crunchy here and seem to be getting a little crunchier every day. I usually say I'm kinda 'granola-y'.

I would only be comfortable delivering in the hospital though - and wanted a epidural - birth was too fast though. Survived!!!!

And I do vaccinate.

I am pretty picky about what my family eats... mostly everything is made from scratch and I don't like us to eat anything I can't pronounce.

Loved bf'ing, 2y10months, would have went to 3yrs probably but broke my leg and ended up in the hospital hopped up on Dilaudid.

And LOVED cloth diapering - I really don't understand why more people don't do it. It is so much less a hassle than people think. So much cuter, so much softer on baby's bum, less rashes - we never had one, cheaper, easier on the enviroment, no stinky diaper genie, and for us we never had a leak or blowout. Usually kiddos train faster... I mean what's NOT to love?

 

[Sarah_Rose]

As I breastfed my (cloth-diapered, co-sleeping, wearing a hat that I crocheted out of organic cotton) DS in a sling this afternoon, at the dog park, as I threw a (recycled rubber) ball for my (grain-free, raw-fed, adopted from a rescue) German Shepherds.... I realized that I just may be crunchy.

Oh, and we drove a Prius to get there.

Edited to add: DS was born in a hospital without medication, but I'm considering a homebirth for next time, if I can. I woke up in active labor; we got dressed, drove to the hospital. I was already in transition when I got there and after 45 minutes of pushing, DS was born. I'm afraid that if I do that for a second child, I wouldn't make it to the hospital!

 

[Duckiedee]

I could see using this with mulitples, or if you had kiddos very close together, but not to play on your phone and ignore your baby. I also question the safety of it because I can see parents using it while driving and it is unsafe to leave the handle in the upright position while riding in the car.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Hmm. I might be semi-crunch. Is that possible?

I'm semi-crunchy. Maybe I'm like organic oatmeal? lol.

I breastfeed, baby wear, co-sleep, non-vax, and buy organic when I can... but then I use 'sposies, and have to have c-sections because they were medically necessary, and formula supplement because I have a very hungry, BIG baby boy!

 

[GoinToDisney]

Hmmm... I guess I'm kind of crunchy.

-No epidurals for me
-Breastfed older dd for 18 months, still going with my soon to be 1 YO
-My mattress is on the floor because the baby starts out in the crib and then we co-sleep for the second half of the night
-I babywear-- OK I have a slight problem here. I was OK with the older dd.. just a crappy nojo sling which I never used, a bjorn and the I found the Ergo. This time around, I had to have a Moby wrap, Hotsling, Kangaroo Korner fleece pouch, Maya ring sling, Maya Tie, and a water sling from Baby Ette on Etsy (PERFECT for Disney World). I use strollers too, though. Not big on swings, exersaucers are good for 15 minutes a couple of times per week.
- I used cloth dipes with my older dd for about a year off and on. I tried them for about a week this time, but I really suck at keeping up with laundry, so I flunked out of cloth diapers this time.
- I homeschooled my older dd for kindergarten.
- I eat some organic, and would like to increase the amount of organics
- I use vinegar and baking soda, but I'm also willing to use some bleach
-I don't use teflon-- I love my stainless steel baking sheets and cast iron skillet
Gosh, typing it all out, I guess I am getting more and more crunchy. I even started with wooden toys, but we still like our plastic toys too.

 

[MaMa3Princess]

I am semi but getting crunchier as I go along. We co-sleep, baby wear, selective vaccinate, cloth diaper, and I have had 4 out of 5 naturally, and we are homeschoolers. We eat really not so crunchy though. I just am not a good cook LOL. Yes, we like TVbut we love to read

That baby bottle thing is reall sad. I cant imagine all the tummy trouble that thing poduces. Wow, I hate to judge but that thing looks awful.

 

[spacemountainmom]

Ok....I am about as far from crunchy as you can be and I love gadgets, but that bottle thing is about the saddest thing I have ever seen. I cannot imagine being that busy that you can't take time to feed your baby.

****shakes head sadly****

 

[erin327]

We extended breastfeed, co-sleep, baby wear, and selectively vax. But we use disposable diapers, eat too much processed food, and I had epidural hospital births.

 

[herdtoDisney]

Even the picture of the bottle-holder thing is sad. Look how the little baby has his arms out while trying to drink that bottle-like he wants someone to hold him

I guess I am sorta crunchy. I had 5 natural births, one a planned homebirth. My babies slept with us, although we had a bassinett and a crib which we used also. I breastfed all the kids till they weaned, although my babies never went past 1.5 years. We homeschooled for several years and loved it.

That being said, I couldn't stand cloth diapers and dh refused to even touch one I have always worked in some way (part time, full time, at home, everything). I never found a sling that I liked, they all hurt my back. I also never cared if their clothes were organic or whatever, just that they were clean and fit. Actually, our favorite clothes came out of hand-me-down bags that's green, right? recycling lol. I drive a van since seven people cannot fit in a Prius legally. In my defense, it's only a 6cylinder so that helps the mileage.

I never did quite fit in with any of the moms groups either. At this point I no longer care

 

[SoonerSarah]

I hate to say it, but I know someone that I would reccomend that baby bottle thing to. She's got a 2 year old and 1 year old special needs twins. But otherwise, it annoys me to see people using burp rags folded up to prop baby's bottle up.

I'm semi crunchy...
had 3 c-sections, not much you can always do about that
had a lot of issues BFing my first, with serious hard-headed stubborness, a lot more education and a lot more intelligent LC's at my disposal my 2nd was BFed until she weaned at 13 months and my baby just turned 12 months and she shows no signs of wanting to quit anytime soon.
Organic food as much as possible, only buy organic milk
don't cloth diaper, but part of that is because of DH
I do use cloth pads though, have for more than 4 years and I won't do otherwise.
And I use cloth in as many other aspects of our life as possible.
Co-sleep when wanted/needed, with the middle one it's probably part of the night several times a week

We do have a minivan, but we are 5 people and 2 dogs, and we travel a lot, to far places, and we are generally giving a teen or two a ride home a lot (DH is a Youth minister)

Getting rid of the teflon pans is something I'm in the process of.

 

[crazy4cloth]

we got rid of our teflon pans and I actually don't miss them. I used mama cloth pads too but am a loyal keeper user. Haven't used tampons in 7 yrs.

 

[crazy4cloth]

I never did quite fit in with any of the moms groups either. At this point I no longer care

I agree 100% It use to totally bother me but as I get older I'm like whatever.

Thanks ladies for making me feel somewhat normal.

 

[Ash&Wes07]

I am also in the semi-soggy category.

We co-sleep, cloth diaper, breastfeed, and babywear. We try to eat organic as much as possible and we don't use paper towels, recycle, and buy local fruits and veggies as much as possible. But, I also still buy some processed foods and we shop at *gasp* Wal-Mart.

I did have a homebirth with DS in July, but it was unintentional. I just never made it to the midwifery center!!

 

[mrsltg]

I guess I'm a medium crunch ! I formula fed (post-partum depression) but co-slept. I used disposable diapers, but made my own baby food. I did not wear my babies, but did homeschool. I had three c-sections (two necessary, one because I was an uninformed first timer) but believe minimally assisted (ie, midwife) births are best. I would have loved to have had my third daughter at home and told my husband continuously that if I went into labor naturally he would find me in the bathtub, good luck getting me to the hospital... My oldest daughter (9.5) can now tell an adult why a minimally-medical birth is best, and wondered aloud, upon the birth of my cousin's first baby who had my cousin up and down all night, "Why don't you co-sleep?"

I don't fit in with the Moms Group, either!

 

[Mrs. Charming]

I agree 100% It use to totally bother me but as I get older I'm like whatever.

Thanks ladies for making me feel somewhat normal.

Isn't it liberating?! I just don't care anymore! lol

 

[justbishop]

I desperately try to be crunchy, but fail at pretty much all of it

Had HG (hyperemesis gravidarum) when I was pregnant. I totally had planned to excersize and eat REALLY well the entire 9 months and be all glowy and stuff, but instead I took Zofran and couldn't shower myself for the first 5 months because I was so sick.

Was dead set on a med free delivery, and did have a good 30+ hour med free run (I even made the hospital do a hep lock instead of hooking me to an IV), finally decided that I needed to get a little rest, got the epidural, and shoved DD out 3 hours later

Was absolutely excited about breastfeeding and scoffed every time I pulled a formula coupon book out of my mailbox in the last few months of pregnancy, but between DD's first days (4) in the NICU and my body's utter refusal to do what it was supposed to, that whole dream fell through too. I tried for 3 weeks, a cycle of attempt to BF for ~20 minutes, bottlefeed for ~45 minutes because the BFing didn't work, and then pump for ~20 minutes...EVERY.THREE. HOURS. When pumping, I never got more that about 10cc out of my body

I have been pretty successful with cloth diapering, though! I do consider myself a crunchy failure in that respect, though, because a true crunchy mama would use only flats, prefolds, and wool. DD's butt gets mean red with anything but poly fabrics against it, so all of our diapers are PUL pockets with fleece/suedecloth inners, fitteds with fleece/suedecloth/crushed velvet (yep, it's stay dry!) inners, and PUL or fleece covers.

ETA: as for non-kid related stuff, we do recycle most plastic, glass, and metal, use non-animal tested, natural products as much as possible, and I big sparkly pink heart my cloth pads. I only keep TP in the house for guests and DH, I use the cloth baby wipes we have. I would like to make a nice white flannel set of unpaper towels and move away from paper goods in the kitchen, but haven't gotten around to it yet. We are a 1 car family and drive a Honda Element, which I think is classified as a low emissions vehicle

 

[mrsltg]

I find this really sad. You really don't have 15 minutes every few hours to feed your baby?

Don't be too quick to jump on this one. This mom may well have PPD and might really be suffering. A lot of women, myself included, have a hard time with even the simple stuff afterward. It is sad, whatever the case may be. Hopefully this mom will get herself together one way or the other.

ETA - this is not meant to sound snarky - more matter-of-fact

 

[tinkercat]

Add me to the pretty crunchy list!

We cloth diaper, breastfeed (and extended BF to an extent), babywear, co-sleep...pretty much totally AP at our house. I had med-free deliveries and would have LOVED to have homebirths for my last 2 babies. I guess its good that I didn't though, because I had pretty bad post-partum hemorrages with each of them and would have needed hospital tranfers anyways. We try very hard not to use paper products (paper towels, plates, etc.) and I'm planning on using cloth menstrual pads once AF returns as well. We also try to buy organic as much as the budget allows.

 

[justbishop]

What about extended rear facing in the car? Is that considered crunchy? If so, than I totally succeed at one crunchy thing! We knew we wanted to RF as long as possible, but because of the way the Element is set up, it would have been nearly impossible to get her in and out of a RFing convertible seat when she outgrew the bucket, so we even spent the $300+ on a Combi Zeus 360 seat so that we could keep her facing backward for as long as possible. It swivels forward facing to put her in and get her out, and the spins around and locks into the RFing position for when we're moving. This seat has been worth every penny for us and DD is still RFing at 18 months old with no plans to turn her any time soon