By Carie Moore
Last night I was at my son’s t-ball game. I came down the hill and BAM, it hit me. The smell of pink baby lotion, a newly opened package of diapers, and the special baby detergent took me back. They say at some point most women hit an age where they’re in between new mom and grandma, and I must be there. You know you’re done but you could have another if you REALLY wanted.
When I think about that now, I think back to all the things moms do between baby #1 and baby #when-will-they-be-18-and-move-out?! I was smack dab in the middle of college when I had my first. Things were totally different between him and my last, who I had when I was in my late 30s. I nursed all my children and supplemented with formula. Today, trying to buy formula and picking out baby food makes regular grocery shopping look easy! Before it was just a jar in 3 stages, some rice cereal in a box, and a few different formulas. Now we worry about allergens and tolerances.
It’s important that our pediatricians know all about agriculture because for a lot of these new moms, this is the only advice they’re going to get and they’re going to believe it and anything they read in all the magazines that get sent after your initial doctor visits.
I gave two of my kids soy formula. They weren’t allergic to regular formula, but I had a pediatrician I trusted and was advised breast milk is more easily digested than regular formula and soy formula is more like breast milk. There was nothing wrong with my children. There was nothing wrong with the regular formula, which we switched to when we went exclusively formula later on. For a short time, they needed the soy, but it didn’t mean they always had to have it. And it didn’t mean it was bad to use a milk-based product either.
From breast feeding to the 5 second rule off a farm kitchen floor, if it truly would harm my child or family, I would speak out against it. I haven’t found a product or “kind” of food that is better or worse than its counterpart nutritionally. When it comes to feeding my family – at any age – it’s about the product, not the label.
I feed my family the same bananas now as I did 20 years ago and the same applesauce, hot dogs, pizzas and sweet potatoes. If it isn’t broken, you don’t need to fix it. In fact, I’ve never seen the U.S. food supply as “broken.” My kids don’t need specially grown food to be healthy and happy.
