I discovered this article today.
“Parents may be buying it because they believe that organic is healthier, but babies may have a reason of their own for preferring Similac Organic: it is significantly sweeter than other formulas. It is the only major brand of organic formula that is sweetened with cane sugar, or sucrose, which is much sweeter than sugars used in other formulas.”
I’ve been feeding Em Similac Organic since he was 4 and half months old. Naturally, when I read this, my first reaction was to freak out, throw everything I have left away, and then run out and find Earth’s Best Organic to replace it. (Earth’s Best uses sweetener found in lactose instead of cane sugar.) But then something really peculiar happened; I stopped myself.
My guess is this: parenting is going to come with many moments like the one I had this morning. And so after enjoying a good freak out, I began to settle down. I can’t protect Em from everything. I can try—I will try—but stuff is going to happen no matter how much research I do or don’t do.
In short, there are going to be hundreds of instances where I make what I feel is an educated, sound decision only to find out later it may not have been the very best one.
We have two months left of formula-feeding and then it’s on to cow’s milk. I know that I could change his formula now, or I could mark this one as a lesson learned in anxiety management, continue feeding him Similac Organic and couple that with feeding him home-cooked veggies everyday as I have been.
We’ll see how it goes. I’m hoping for the best but I will settle on better.
Let me know when you need me to start bringing back the cow’s milk from upstate. I got mad milking skills these days…
ha! Bring some back and we’ll make white russians.
This is the problem about being a parent today, TOO much information floating around, we have the internet, t.v. radio, newspapers, magazines etc all telling us something different, there are so many different philosophies out there on how to raise you child, and for every one there is, there is one in direct opposition to that one. Whatever happened to good old fashioned mother’s intuition? There are too many doctors and scientist researching this shit, motherhood is supposed to be driven by instinct, not third party information. If you think your kid needs to cry for a few days so they can sleep well for the rest of there life, go nuts. If you think your kid needs formula because breastmilk just ain’t cuttin it, give your kid formula. People shouldn’t be made to feel like they are doing something wrong because they aren’t following along the chart of child rearing and development that some guy came up with. That guy never met my kid, why am I listening to him? Mother’s shouldn’t be made to feel guilty for their choices, as long as you aren’t leaving your baby home alone to go buy some crack for the both of you, I think your doing okay. Sorry, bit of a rant…..I’m done now:)
I figure if I grew up OK after gumming my lead-painted crib and guzzling non-DHA enhanced formula, Emory will do just fine, too.
No doubt.
We were just discussing the fact (family members and I) that there is such thing as too much information. Granted, we were talking about it in relation to buying a house. (No such thing as home inspectors, chimney inspectors, etc etc back in the day) Now, it’s a wonder how a freaked out first-time homebuyer goes ahead with anything!
Of course, it doesn’t help that most houses that aren’t falling apart around here are half a million dollars. ;]
But that’s a topic for another day. Maybe. I’m kind of tired of house-hunting. heh
Yay for snubbing the hype!
Just this week I’ve been told my coffee is going to kill me… it’s going to extend my life… it’s going to cause cancer… and then it’s going to prevent cancer.
You go girl!
A couple of months ago my precocious five year old was criticizing a decision I had made on his behalf at bedtime. “Um, Mama, you should have know these pajamas would be too small,” or “Mama, you should have known I wouldn’t like this flavor of toothpaste.” Tired and exasperated I said, “Buddy, I’m doing the best I can. Everyone makes mistakes.” A few days later I was fretting over the fact that I had been trying to force shoes onto both of the kids feet that were AT LEAST one size too small. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed they were both uncomfortable for so long. My son put his hand on my arm and said,”Mama, you’re doing the best you can.” I think the sooner a parent realizes that not everything is going to always go perfectly and lets the kids in on that fact the better off everyone will be. You won’t always have the right information and sometimes you’ll overlook the information you have, but ultimately you’re doing the best you can with the resources, internal & external, that you have. Congrats for going easy on yourself this time.
So true – parenting does come with these moments. All the research and your best intentions, and years later, you discover that you unwittingly used something that was not good for your child.
The truth is everything is deadly, even the cure. Yet, here we are. Good point about lead paint. Where were we without government regulation? How did they ever cross the plains, let alone the oceans. As a 3 time parent my advice is to stop protecting and start teaching kids how to manage risks. Go to the TED site and watch Gever Tulley http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/202
Then just relax about it all and learn to love this dangerous world