Green SAHM

Today I’d like to share an article with you from Dr. Alan Greene. Especially since I’ll be having a baby again soon I love these tips!

By Alan Greene, M.D.

www.drgreene.com

Shortly after your labor and delivery, the mixed anxiety and joy of this life experience will be in your past, and it will be time to look forward to the future—to the time when your baby will live and grow in the protective environment that you will create in your home.

As you did when choosing an ob/gyn, you want to find a pediatrician who is top-notch medically. How much better if he or she is also on the journey to an environmentally sustainable perspective on pediatrics!

This may be the first time you have selected a pediatrician; if you already have children, you may have an established relationship with their pediatrician—or you may have inherited a treasured family doc from when you were a child. In any case, here are five representative questions you may want to ask politely to gauge physicians’ thoughts on things green:

1. What advice do you give to new parents about introducing solid foods?

If their first suggestion is to begin with processed white rice flour cereal or processed conventional jarred foods, they may still be working from a twentieth-century industrial mind-set. To learn more, continue the conversation by asking for their advice about introducing whole grains, fresh tastes, or organic foods. Green pediatricians are often conscious of nutrition and care about establishing the nutritional habits of today’s babies in ways that are better than those of previous generations.

2. How do you recommend treating ear infections?

If they say that all ear infections should be treated with antibiotics, they may be behind the times. The Academy of Pediatrics now teaches that, in many situations, ear infections will heal better on their own, without antibiotics (but pain relief should be given for the ear pain). The first steps toward sustainability that pediatricians often make in their practices are to reduce the unnecessary use of antibiotics.

3. How do you recommend treating eczema in babies?

If their first response is to use steroids or prescription drugs, they may not yet be thinking green. Often, a better first approach is to reduce exposure to eczema triggers or to gently moisturize the skin. Green-oriented physicians are more likely to treat the cause rather than just the symptoms and will opt for the gentlest treatment possible.

4. What kind of baby shampoo do you recommend?

If they mention a conventional brand, they may not yet be thinking about sustainable and pure products. If they mention any of a number of greener options, such as Baby Avalon Organics, Burt’s Bees, or Tom’s of Maine, that’s a good sign that they are at least aware of a variety of greener options for common baby products.

5. Do you buy organic foods for your own family?

The answers to these types of questions will help you get a sense of their own green lifestyle outside the practice of medicine. Often physicians will start thinking about green issues for their own lives before they start integrating them into their practices. If they have made even small steps in this regard, they may be more supportive of your efforts to raise your baby green.

In addition to conversations with prospective pediatricians, you can also get some insight into the green potential of a medical practice by making an office visit simply to observe. What kind of lighting is used? (Incandescent bulbs are very non-green.) What kinds of cleaners are used? (A strong scent of bleach or ammonia is the tip-off that green cleansers are not yet in use.) Are there any babies in the waiting room who are wearing cloth or hybrid diapers? (This is a good sign that other parents with environmental concerns have chosen this doctor.)

And from the comfort of your home, you can learn a lot about some physicians and their practices by looking at their Web sites—many pediatricians have them now, but not all—and by talking to other parents.

About the author: Dr. Alan Greene, author of Raising Baby Green, is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of California San Francisco. In addition to being the founder of www.DrGreene.com, he is the Chief Medical Officer of A.D.A.M. He is the Chair of The Organic Center and on the Advisory Board of Healthy Child Healthy World. Dr. Greene appears frequently on TV, radio, websites, and in print including appearances on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Fox and Friends, The Wall Street Journal, Parents Magazine, and US Weekly. Dr. Greene is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University’s Packard Children’s Hospital.

At least, it’s the word I’m hearing more and more about these days. It has come to the attention of a lot of people that plastics made with it may not be as safe as claimed. In fact, Canada is looking at regulating or banning it.

Sounds good to me. It seems like we’re taking an awful chance by insisting that it’s safe enough.

Now I know it probably isn’t leaching into my food or drinks enough to matter. But the trouble with saying it’s probably safe is that it’s admitting we don’t quite know. And when there are alternatives that are more likely to be safe, it just makes more sense to me to go with those.

It’s going to mean some changes for me. My desk water bottle is made of Nalgene, which contains Bisphenol-A. Once I have the money, it’s getting replaced. I learned long since not to use a glass often at my desk. I ruined two keyboards that way. I’m thinking of getting a Kleen Kanteen when the time comes, or maybe a Sigg, although I gather Sigg won’t say what their liner is.

I particularly want you to think about this quote from Energy and Commerce Chair John Dingell that I read over on TreeHugger:

“There are serious health concerns about whether Bisphenol A is safe, not only for adults, but for children and infants,” and is concerned that the Food and Drug Administration’s policies on BPA are “entirely dependent on two studies’ that are both funded by a subsidiary of the American Chemistry Council, which represents plastic resins manufacturers.”

It seems to me that we’ve been burned by that kind of a situation before.  Of course the manufacturers’ studies show that it’s safe enough. So long as the dangers aren’t too obvious, it’s easy to say that. But what about long term?

Anyone really enjoy being a lab rat?

Yes, I suppose this does sound a little paranoid or some such. But I’ve given this a lot of thought, and it just makes sense to me to allow caution to rule.

I haven’t been to a doctor or anything, but given that the pain I had the other day from my sinuses, that I cleared up with nasal irrigation, I suspect I’m beating back an actual sinus infection. I’ve only had one before, so not much to compare it with, but I can’t explain in any other way where such intense pain would come from. And I’m not going to the doctor to confirm it, so it remains a guess, not a diagnosis.

It’s not a one-treatment solution, of course. Even antibiotics can’t do that. But I’m irrigating at least twice a day, often 3-4 times, and while I’m still dealing with astounding quantities of nasal mucus, it’s decreasing and the pain is under control with no medications.

Since I’m allergic to amoxicillin, I’m glad to not need antibiotics. Don’t want to mess with them unnecessarily.

I did have to smile the other day at the store reading the labels for the premade mixes for Neti pots. The label announced that it had a patented combination of sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. For those who don’t recall high school chemistry, that’s table salt and baking soda… basically what I’ve been mixing up at home. Nothing fancy about it.

I think I just about have this bug beat. I’ve been getting lots of extra sleep (hate losing so much work time, but I need to get well) and that seems to be helping as well. I’ll be keeping that up until I quit getting so darn tired so early in the day. It’s not even 11 in the morning in my area, and I’m already debating a nap.

I hate being sick!

Technorati Tags: nasal irrigation, sinus infection, neti pot, home treatment

Um, wow. This one pretty much surprised me, even though I’d heard from my mother and uncle that nasal irrigation really does work.

I started out this morning with really painful sinuses. I was pretty much in tears from the pain. I’d done a bit of nasal irrigation a couple days before, but the results hadn’t impressed me that much.

I think today I hit it just right.

I used a squeeze bottle I already have. If you read much about it, you’ll hear about Neti pot, but the squeeze bottle worked just great for me. Neti pots are plenty affordable though, if you would rather go the traditional route.

My mix is about 1/2-1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda in a 8 ounce bottle full of lukewarm water. Some people recommend sea salt, and many say to skip the table salt if it has iodine or anticaking ingredients added to it, as these may cause irritation. And who wants to increase the irritation when you’re trying to beat a sinus infection or cold?

Have a lot of Kleenex or cloth handkercheifs ready.

Tilt your head over the sink and to one side. Put the squeeze bottle or Neti pot firmly to the nostril on the upper side and let the water flow in. You do not want to use a lot of pressure when doing this. You want the water to flow through your nostril, into your sinuses, and out the lower nostril. This feels really weird.

Make sure you breathe through your mouth.

If you can stand it, let the water stay in your sinuses for several seconds at least. This can help to really loosen things up.

Allow the water to drain. Dry off your nose and start blowing. When I did this, I was amazed at the sheer quantities that came out. Do not plug either nostril as you do this.
Repeat on the other side.

If you make your mixture too salty, it can irritate. You’ll get a sort of lasting stinging sensation in your sinuses. It goes away after a while, thank goodness. And don’t be surprised if you feel about like you snorted some sea water. That’s about the nearest I can come to describing the sensation after letting the water drain.

You can do this up to every 2 hours or so, or the traditional Ayurvedic practice is to do it twice daily, even when you aren’t fighting a cold.

I think the problem I had the first time I tried this was that I was so tightly congested at the sinus entries that I didn’t get past it. First time I tried it, the water just came straight back out the same nostril. I gather that if I had kept at it, I could have broken through the congestion and gotten this to work.

But today, what a difference! The pain was gone immediately.

I can feel some of the pressure rebuilding now, about 5-6 hours later, so I’ll be repeating soon. I love it when I find a natural remedy that allows me to forgo a doctor’s appointment. The pain was bad enough today that I would have gone in if it hadn’t cleared up so delightfully. Hopefully repeating over the next few days will solve the problem.

Technorati Tags: nasal irrigation, home treatment, Ayurvedic, sinus infection, neti pot