r/Crunchymom

I am putting this out there just to pick other people's brains but this is something thats been on my mind for a while.

My wife and I have been moderately crunchy (in terms of food) for the past few years. It started with her learning to make sourdough, and we stopped buying ultra processed foods altogether, and buy mostly organic. We avoid foods with artificial colors, flavors, additives etc.

Neither of us typically have a hard time with this lifestyle, however all up until we made the switch to "crunchy" foods, we really did eat whatever. And obviously its easy to see the benefits of eating like this, however we avoid all of the artificial nonsense like the plague.

My question is, in other crunchy peoples opinions, what is everyone's take on having a once or couple times a year crunchy cheat day/meal? Like basically for one day, giving ourselves the green light to have whatever red 40 corn syrup snack that we've been craving, knowing full well that its a one time thing and we go right back to organic whole foods. All up until this point, we won't even think about having a bite of something that has artificial additives, even though we both survived almost 30 years not worrying about it.

I just don't know if were overreacting and shouldn't really worry if we get dairy queen or Swedish fish or doritos a couple times a year, or if other crunchy people are the same, avoiding everything like its the plague.

My daughter just started kindergarten last week, she loves it and has made friends. Aside from a handful of the kids, most kids send packed lunches, as do I. My daughter has been telling me her and he friends share their lunches and eat together. She doesn't have allergies so generally this might not have bothered me but all her friend brings is ultra processed junk food. Yesterday, her friend had blue takis, red takis, Oreos and cereal for her lunch and snack. Today she had the same thing.

I'm not overly crunchy but I try hard to avoid a lot of the ultra processed snacks. For my daughter's lunch she had chicken cabbage soup with rice (she requested it, it's one of her favorites), I also sliced some kiwi, cucumbers, crackers and homemade scones for her snack. Yesterday I packed a pasta dish, mango, cucumber, yogurt pouch and cheese balls.

I'm genuinely happy that she's made friends and she's happy at school but I cannot get over the amount of ultra-processed foods she's now consuming on a daily basis. The teacher to student ratio is stretched very thin so I don't even think they can proactively monitor the kids to prevent sharing. Besides talking to my daughter I'm not even sure how to go about it... I'm honestly surprised at what people choose to feed their kids on a daily basis.

I am currently 14 weeks pregnant and I have been taking a prenatal before and during pregnancy. The company is known to use good ingredients etc but the other day I saw the B12 amount in the prenatal is 250mcg. Then I stumbled across a study mentioning high B12 in mothers may be associated with higher risk of autism in the child. Now I’m obviously anxious.
Any thoughts on this?

We all managed to catch covid last week. My 4 year old is basically over it, except for sinus drainage that she keeps sniffing and coughing out. The problem is that she's supposed to have surgery next week, and if she's still coughing too much, we'll have to reschedule. She wakes up every morning, and has to cough all of the junk out. And she continues to sniff and cough throughout the day. We have her drink water to loosen it up, but obviously on surgery day, we won't be able to do that. So I'm trying to find a way to clear it up as much as possible beforehand. So what can we do to try and get this all cleared up?

Hi all!

My 9 month old and I practice attachment parenting. I am a SAHM, we EBF, and baby wear. Surprisingly though, she’s incredibly independent!

She room shared with me until 6 months. Never had an issue with the bassinet or crib, I think she liked her own space as long as she could see me. Due to family pressure, I transitioned her to her own room at 6 months. She never really cried or had an issue with it. No sleep training, wakes up once or twice night to nurse.

Now I wake up 3 times a night to go check on her. I hate being apart from her. I’m anxious though so I won’t co sleep because I worry about SIDS or hurting her.

Now onto the question— should I keep with my unicorn sleeper or can I just bring her back into my bed at a year old? Is it safe? Can co sleeping benefit a toddler?

I am in the process of researching prenatals for my next pregnancy and would like to know what your favorites are? Bonus if it is just 1 pill a day but I know that can be difficult. No gummies please, its a personal preference.

My baby is having transfer issues and we are triple feeding still. I am pumping and only feeding him breast milk currently but I want to have formula on hand just in case. Does anyone have a brand they like with not horrible ingredients? I’m in Canada for context

Hey everyone! So, I've tried two different recipes for homemade laundry soap, and it doesn't fully remove the smell from my clothes (specifically my socks and the armpits of my shirts as I often sweat heavily). My first recipe was a powder soap with equal parts washing soda, borax, and shredded bar soap. The second recipe was liquid with equal parts washing soda, borax, and Castille soap in water with some essential oils as well. I thought the oils would help but they just mixed with the smell of sweat making an even worse smell. I also have tried adding white vinegar to my washes and that does help, but it doesn't fully remove the smell. Does anyone know of any non-tox/natural ingredient that might help with this?

Hi moms! I am expecting my first baby, and have always done things more naturally and not relied on our..messed up…medical system. I did get a positive UTI test back from my urine sample I gave at my first appointment. I was diagnosed at 3 years old with chronic UTIs and remember growing up always on some sort of cranberry supplement. As an adult, I try to stay on it but the last few months have been a whirlwind so I’ve somewhat been slacking. Any time I’ve taken antibiotics, my uti comes back stronger just days after a full dose. I haven’t had any uti symptoms in my pregnancy at all, so I guess my question is, is it safe to do a urinary tract flush and stay steady with my cranberry pills? I absolutely do not want to take antibiotics while I’m pregnant, even if a doctor says it’s safe. My faith in our medical system is slim to none. I’ve always healed my uti with a d-mannose flush and an apple cider vinegar/lemon/honey drink twice a day. Thank you in advance for any advice

My son strugges with some anxiety in general but our biggest struggle for him currently is bedtime. He is 4 years old and very curious about the world, loves to learn, has a big imagination, etc. He has developed a fear of “monsters” and of the dark and I am unsure how to navigate. We believe in God and have lots of chats with him about God protecting him at night, God did not create monsters and they are not real, etc. We have tried to show him empathy and understand that he is feeling scared, but he now wants to sleep with a lamp on in the room the entire night and would love if we lay with him until he falls asleep. We are doing some melatonin to help him feel calmer at bedtime, because as soon as we finish our bedtime routine he will begin to get anxious and show signs of anxiety about us leaving the room. I do not want that as a long term solution though and would love any recommendations for natural sleep solutions that helped your anxious child.

I’m newly pregnant and our house has RO water. We add trace minerals drops to our water. We just ran out and I went to buy more and out of curiosity looked to see if they were pregnancy safe, and it said lithium is not safe for pregnancy? And there’s lithium in the mineral drops?

Does anyone know more about this? Thank you for advice!!

Warning:this post is a little bit TMI because of mention of gastrointestinal

I don’t think this is necessarily crunchy, but I recently made a massive crockpot of chili to store away for a postpartum, and we have also eaten a few bowls. I used dry beans and last night when we were eating some, we noticed some of the beans were kind of undercooked, but I figured that since they cooked for quite a while and we’re soaked would be fine. well, I woke up in the middle of the night with severe diarrhea every 30 minutes along with some vomiting. I am pregnant so I’m having to really stay hydrated and eat bland to reset my stomach but from 3 AM to about 11 PM I was having some severe symptoms with small and after thinking about absolutely everything that it could be, I it was probably the undercooked beans in the chili. I think I’m through the worst of it, but has anyone accidentally given themselves food poisoning from undercooked beans and what are some things I can do to recover my gut because I was going to the bathroom for so long

I’m trying to get a Headstart on Christmas. I’ve been looking at Bella Luna toys and love their products however they’re super expensive. Shop recommended green elephant, which I’ve never heard of before. Most previous posts are specifically talking about stepping stones which with two toddlers, I don’t want Styrofoam. I’m looking at wooden toys to inspire my six-year-old‘s growing imagination. Are they any different from Bella Luna? Is there any verdict on whether or not their products are non-toxic? They look exactly the same for a fraction the price. And honestly, the price at green elephant is more fitting for the product. Thanks in advance from a tired mom with 3 youngins.

To add: I already have Sarah silks, open to any other suggestions to inspire creative play!

My husband and I have really started trying to become more involved in church since having our son (9m) but I’ve really been struggling finding other moms I can really relate with at all. I’m pretty “crunchy” and really weird about my baby doing certain things others do. I really got to learn more about a lot of the women in our group at a event this weekend and they were letting their babies crawl all over the smelly stained church carpet and touch each other with snot going down their face and I was so uncomfortable. I haven’t let my son go to the nursery for many reasons that I won’t get into but they all do. They also talk about a lot of the products I use like they are too bougie for them and use things I would never use on my baby. For instance, I use everything free and clear, no questionable chemicals or scents. I also make his baby food and exclusively breastfeed. I don’t buy processed foods and I do think organic is important. I just find myself sitting there in silence because I know nothing I say will be appropriate I guess. I am not judging them- to each their own- but I feel extremely alienated. I personally am the way I am because I feel like I am supposed to protect my baby from sickness and I don’t want to purposely put things in or on our bodies that aren’t good for us. I guess I’m just looking for advice because this has been really tough for me.

As a lesbian mom co-breastfeeding I do not understand how some of y’all breastfeed on your own. And I’m saying that as someone who was the sole breastfeeding parent for my previous two kids, now teenagers, that I nursed through the preschool years. I’m EXHAUSTED. This baby only sleeps attached to a breast and my wife and I are constantly doing this ninja style move where one of us rolls away and other jumps in and tries to get a breast in baby’s mouth before she wakes up. I did this before, alone, why is it so hard now?? I’m older now (mid 30s versus early 20s) but holy crap how do y’all do it 😭😭😭

Hi everyone,

I'm feeling really anxious and would love to hear from parents who have been in a similar situation. * not looking for medical advice!* .

My 20-month-old (currently unvaccinated) was gently stroking a kitty with my help, in a forest/park in Greece. Completely unprovoked, the cat grabbed at his arm for a second and "bit" into it - If youre familiar with cats, it was this "warning bite". There are two tiny superficial marks, they bled only very briefly and are very superficial.

I've been spiraling about tetanus ever since, because the cats in this forest do live together with a ton of peacocks and ducks and are probably in a lot of contact with their poop as well as digging in the forest ground etc. - Basically everything that is risky 🫤

We are only here on vacation and flying back to our home country tomorrow. Would it be enough to get this checked out at home? Has anyone had a similar experience with a very superficial cat scratch/bite? How did it turn out? I'm looking for real experiences and reassurance while we get home. Feeling very guilty.

Thank you.

As the title says I’m looking for an app or a way to nicely track my cycle. My previous app has a class action suit due to selling info. Yes, I know I can use pen and a calendar but I am 8 months post partum and my cycle isn’t consistent yet so a tracking app is nice.

If formula fed, what formula were you giving them?

Edit: if you could also say if they had vaccines or the vitamin k shot that would be great too.

I have a 2 week old who is dealing with gassiness. We are doing all the exercises to help her burp and fart and though they work she is still in pain trying to pass gas/poop. Any recommendations on clean simethicone brands? Every one I see online has sugar, flavors, and gums in it. Or has anyone had luck with gripe water?

Any other recommendations for what I could incorporate into my diet to help ease her tummy (she is breastfed).

TIA!

Dealing with hand-foot-mouth for the first time. I know the virus just has to run its course but was wondering if anyone has any remedies to help with comfort through it for a 2 year old!

Things I’m doing:
Calendula/lavender salve for sores
Manuka honey (recent study shows promising effects of propolis on length and severity of illness)
Elderberry syrup
Probiotics (just leaned that the viruses that cause HFM are enteroviruses)

TIA!