Breastfeeding and the hippie (or not) Mama

Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival! This post was written as part of The Breastfeeding Cafe's Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Today's post is about the environment and breastfeeding. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th through the 31st!

In my circles, I’m the hippie. I’m a nurse who prefers home remedies. I’m the labor and delivery nurse who had my babies at home. I’m the professional who prefers to make home-cooked meals. I’m a breastfeeding proponent and an avid recycler.

The environment is important to me. I believe that we need to protect it.

And….I’m lazy. When planning on having kids, my husband (someone far more lazy than me) and I had this discussion:

Him: “I think we should use those G diapers. They have this inner part that you remove with the poop and pee and put in the toilet and break it up with a stick. Then, you just wash the rest.”

Me: “No.”

Him: “I thought you were into protecting the environment.”

Me: “I was. Then, I saw the future and it looks like a pile of diaper inserts covered in poo and pee in the toilet, dirty diapers all over the laundry room floor, no diapers to put on the baby, and a husband incessantly saying ‘I’ll get to it in a bit.’ I am not spending my day stirring the toilet.”

We used disposables.

To be honest, breastfeeding had nothing to do with the environment for me. I just wanted to breastfeed my babies. For a person working full-time, breastfeeding requires a lot of “stuff”. Since I had to pump and store and bottle-feed breast milk, I’m sure I created more of an impact on the environment than a mom who formula fed.

Oh the bottles; Being a hippie (in relative terms only), I was hypersensitive to all of the concerns about one type of bottle or another. As a result, I changed bottle types multiple times and replaced all my bottles each time.

From my hippie ethos, I wanted to make my own baby food. I bought the food mill and storage containers. Then, the lazy reality stepped in and I just fed my kids food. I never bothered with baby food at all. It was so much easier to just feed my kids the curry I was eating.

Overall, I would say I had a negative impact on the environment. Not just breastfeeding, but having a baby in general. Like so many other plans before I had kids, the plan to protect the environment couldn’t hold up in the harsh light of reality. The same goes for all of those things I thought I would never do as a mom:

“I’ll never give my kids sugary snacks as a reward.”

“I’ll never give my kids mac and cheese for dinner.”

“I’ll never let my kids watch TV.”

“I’ll never give my kids something they scream for.”

And on and on…

I may not be the best mom in the world, but I’m a truly horrible hippie.

• Sara @ the Momzelle blog-The environment and I, am I a future green mom?
• Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-Breastfeeding Carnival Day 2: Eco-breastfeeding
• Shelly @ Lousy Mom-Breastfeeding and the Hippie (or Not) Mama
• Renee @ Just the 5 of us!-Granola Anyone?
• Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl-I Breastfeed For My Kids
• Timbra @ Bosoms and Babes-Green Milk
• Natasha @ Natural Urban Mama-Word of the Day: Eco-breastfeeding
• Laura @ Day by Day in Our World-Eco-breastfeeding
• And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Jeana Jones-Save the Planet: Breastfeed!