Congrats on your impending arrival!

I admit to sticking my head in the sand because it just got to be too overwhelming. It's bad enough reading the articles that pertain to what's slowly killing adults* but finding out Yet Another Thing is harmful to our kiddos? Sigh.

I happen to be very lazy and, in cases like this, it's probably working in my favor. For example, Hobbes (almost three) gets about one bath a week. Sometimes not even that. Long story as to why but he's not suffering from the lack of it and has limited exposure to the shampoo i recently learned is harmful to his health.

When he was an infant, he got the occasional bottle. We used some Dr. Browns, which i now know to be on par with Three Mile Island's toxicity. Eye roll. On the advice of a friend, i didn't heat the bottle (see above, re: laziness) and he took it, no fuss. I usually washed them out by hand, occasionally sterilizing them in the dishwasher. So, looks like his exposure to that particular danger was minimal as well. Whew.

In addition to being lazy, i'm also cheap, plus i wanted my kid to develop a broad taste for food. With that reasoning, most of the food he ate was made from organic stuff in my freezer or refrigerator. (It really wasn't difficult - as i said, i am LAY-ZEE. If i can do it - cheerfully, even - anyone can.) I did buy a handful of jarred baby food to have on hand for travel but rarely used them. Another bullet dodged inadvertently.

I also used homemade wipes (water, baby oil, baby soap, white vinegar). At first, i made them with half rolls of paper towels but switched to soft rags (from DH's hole-y boxer briefs and a flannel shirt).

By making stuff yourself, you know exactly what your child is being exposed to, i.e. you have control.

We also use(d) cloth diapers mostly, for a variety of reasons, although for the first few months, i admit to keeping him in disposables more often than not. He did (and still does) wear a Huggies Overnight for bed. And when i opted for a daytime disposable, i used Seventh Generation. They aren't cheap which helped me with the whole using-them-sparingly deal. He's potty trained now - i can probably count the number of non-nighttime diapers i've used in the last six months on one hand.

Anyway, i try not to get too worked up about things because it seems like, no matter how careful we are, somewhere down the line, some study will come out "proving" whatever it was we did was horrifically wrong for our little darlings. You just can't win - not that you shouldn't try to do your best, but i think common sense goes a long way. If something doesn't feel right to you all, don't do it. Sounds like you all are on the right path already.










* Every day, a new death threat. Yet the population continues to grow. Curious.