Nourishing Mothers

I'm the mom of an 18 month old and a 2 1/2 year old.

I'm here because I have experience with natural childbirth, breastfeeding (still strong at 18 months), cloth diapering, attachment parenting.

I go organic when I can. I make almost everything from scratch. I tend to use more natural products for cleaning.

I consider myself to be an open-minded person and have been on both sides of the spectrum with many of the things I listed above. DS was a formula baby for 5 months. He wasn't cloth diapered. I had a medicated birth with him. I didn't practice attachment parenting to the degree that I do with DD.

Hi there, I'm typically a lurker but this sounded like something that I could really be interested in so here I go. I'm a first-time mom, sort of older (33) but not wiser, and possibly a member of the one and done club. My DD is 16 months old. I cloth-diapered my DD for the first 6 months, but stopped, now I'm not really sure why, and breastfed for the first 13 months. I try to go organic as much as possible, which can be challenging where I live. I ilke to learn about different ways of parenting and this seemed like a good way to do it.

I am 28 (soon to be 29 next month) mama of Gabe(9) and Lindy (20mos). We are very blessed to live in an area where it is pretty easy to eat locally & organically without completely breaking the bank.

I do not homeschool, but my son is in an awesome charter school that far exceeds most private schools I have seen. I am hear to learn more about how I can make changes to become a more natural mama, and help share with others what we have already done.

Kim - thanks for creating this board!!! What a great idea!

I'm here because we're extended BF-ing, co-sleeping, babywearing, farmer's market shopping, attachment parent-ers who live in Southern California (which seems to be one of the places in the country where most of this is common). Never planned on being AP-ers, it's just the style of parenting that developed for me and my DH naturally.

I'm excited to share my perspective and learn from all of you mamas!

Well, I attempted a natural birth but ended up with an emergency c-section. Breastfeeding didn't go so well, but there is always hope for the next LO! We do try to eat organic foods at our house. DD gets organic juice, fruits and snacks. We have not been able to go totally organic because of the cost. I very much believe in natural cleaning. There are too many chemicals in our bodies. We use 7th Generation & Babyganics products at my house as well as some "home cleaning remedies" from my grandmother. We don't totally practice attachment parenting as DD did NOT like to be worn and still doesn't but we don't do CIO. My DH is a massage therapist & we both practice Reiki (energy healing) so nature healing methods are a big thing to us. Lastly, my DD is in the gray area with food allergies. She has a sensitivity to cows milk that causes her face to break out but not enough to show up on an allergy test. Sorry that was so long!

I'm not an experienced mama, but I am an older one (32). I may not have a lot of experience with parenting, but I do have a lot of experience in life. When I was younger I made sure I lived a very full life, I was very busy with school and 3 jobs, but I made sure to have a lot of new experiences as well. So, I think I can bring a lot of life experience to the table. I have worked for 3 police departments and now I'm currently in psychology, so I can offer all sorts of different perspectives.

With Dane I never once thought about natural childbirth. If they had offered me an epidural DURING pregnancy, I would have taken it. Now, after having Dane and the horrible experience I had, I wonder if going natural the second time around would be better. Not sure, but it's something I think about. I was going to cloth diaper, and to be honest, I got lazy. I never ordered them. I can't homeschool, I have to work. Since I live in Arizona and we have one of the worst school systems in the nation, I would love to. Maybe by the time Dane is school age, I can homeschool him.

However, I do use a lot of natural products when I clean. I have a lot of food allergies in my family, so I'm pretty careful about watching Dane's diet and his reactions to food.

I think my biggest 'issue' is obesity. I've almost become obsessed about it. I come from a family that has an obesity problem. DH is big, his entire family is overweight or obese. I saw a program the other night that said that the generation that we are raising right now is going to have a lower life expectancy than us. That is the first time in recorded history of this happening. They attribute that to obesity. There are SO many health risks with being overweight. It's really sad when I go out and I see more overweight people than healthy people.

I am a Mom to one with one on the way. I am passionate about some of the aspects like BFing, baby wearing, and making my own food but new to this in some of the other areas. Hopefully I can learn some new tricks from you all.

HELLO! I am "shouting" because I am so glad you created this!

I am Alicia, 29 almost 30!!!! Ok, I am definitely NOT the oldest mom here (just feels that way with the 30th bday around the corner) I definitely have a lot to learn, but I feel I have a bit of experience since I have nannyed many families with all sorts of parental styles. I tried to take a little from each to create my own "stye"
I Have Kaidyn who is 22 months! She is the sweetest girl! With her I had an all natural labor (even though they practically forced the epi down my throat) I EBF until she quit at 12.5 months (I was 20 weeks prego) I "wore" Kaidyn whenever possible (too hot in FL's summer) I made all her baby food, as much organic as I can find, I still make most meals, we co-slept and she is still RF. oh also I do not do CIO

Gabriel is 19 weeks, BF, co-slept, worn, non-CIO, all home made baby food (organic when possible) I had a GREAT natural labor (hehe)

I do try to use "earth friendly" products and cleaners. Oh and Kaidyn is recently PTed!!!Whoo-hoo!

Kim I always laugh because you ALWAYS talk about being older and you are only a couple of years older than me. I totally don't consider myself older Think like me....be young, because you ARE young!!! We haven't hit 40 yet mama!

KCAimee,

I turn 39 tomorrow. I already bought my purple dress, red hat, and walker.

LOL

And I guess I feel "older" than everyone else because I have a nearly 15yod and a 10yod in addition to little Nettie.

Hello! I'm a very proud 34 yr old mama of 2....and I'm not old!!! LOL!

The last few years I've really worked more on becoming more natural. With my oldest who is almost 5 I was induced, had the epi. She wore disposable diapers and ate canned baby food and lots of processed Kid Cuisine meals, canned veggies and spaghetti o's. She was BF for 5 mo until I stopped. She wouldn't eat from the breast so we EP and I got tired of it Oh and worst of all...I did Baby Wise with her. I was under the impression that my 1 week old was trying to manipulate me by crying and wanting to be held. OMG....I feel so bad about that now. Baby Wise is the devil!

Three years later Hayden came along. Similar birth, induced, epi. When she was a few months old I started looking at more natural parenting. I switched her to cloth diapers at 5 mo old and that was a big start. We started recycling everything that we can. Our city now does just about everything but glass for pick up. Glass I take up the street to a glass bin. Madison loves recycling! I pay attention to how many lights are on in the house. I stopped using most chemical cleaners, I'm going to do container gardening this year. We got a fresh beef and I'm going to start going to the farmers market every week for produce, eggs, etc. Hayden is 21 mo old and still rear facing. Hayden weaned from BF'ing at 14 mo. I stopped buying paper towels 6 mo ago. We use "kitchen cloth"...and love it!

I really think now about what I'm putting into my body and my children's bodies. I think about the impact that what I do has on the Earth. I think about the resources that I'm using. We are striving to leave the world a better place than how we found it.

I am cooking more and cooking from scratch. I'm breaking our use of processed foods...okay, cutting down. I can do without frozen, sodium ladened meals but I can't do without some snack crackers and such!

Anyway, I'm glad to be here and glad so many others are too!

I think you're right...it's having the older kids that makes you feel "older". My DH will be 41 this year and I still think of him being so young.....

BTW...Happy birthday a day early. You rock 39 girl...enjoy your last year of your 30's!!!

I'm here because you invited me to be here Kim!

I don't fit all the categories, but I breastfed for about 13 months, I cooked most of DS's food from my garden last summer and try to prepare as much of our food from scratch and not processed foods. I LOVE to garden and produce compost from my kitchen scraps, yard waste and rabbit manure. I recycle as much as I can. I use cloth bags to get my groceries. I try to use natural cleaners around the house.

I unfortunately ended up with a C-section with DS. He was a week and half over due so they induced me when I was not dilated at all, so after only making it to 4cm after 20 hours of labor I ended up in the OR. I don't cloth diaper, I plan to do traditional potty training, and don't plan to home school, but good for those who do those things.

I'm looking forward to the discussions that this board will offer!

Hi, ladies!

Glad you're all here

BTW, you don't have to be all of these things...you don't even have to be ANY of these things, just interested in learning about them is good enough!

I actually put that verbiage in the development of the exchange...but can't for the life of me find where it went???!!!