r/moderatelygranolamoms

Looking for affordable natural fibre baby clothing, that are solid colours (no logos or prints) and available in Canada without costing an arm and a leg is a challenge! Basically looking for a Canadian Honest Baby tshirt multipack. Organic preferred but as long as the fabric is 100% natural fibre, I’m not picky.

Any reccos?

My baby is almost 7 months and I'm doing a terrible job starting solids. She has a suspected dairy intolerance. I dont know where to start with what to give her. I know I need to test allergens, but her intolerance now makes me anxious to test these (or anything...) out. I read nourishing traditions, weston price website, and have tried only a couple things. Meat stock, sweet potato, blueberries, carrots and steak. Ground beef may have bothered her too.

How do you start solids?! Im afraid that my fear is making this a self fulfilling prophecy. I need to just push through.

i recently discovered i can't consume wheat for medical reasons (like, it was tested and told to me by my specialist that i can't consume it). but cross-contamination is not an issue for my personal medical issue.

i am not bothered by avoiding wheat based products, but it is really frustrating to figure out how to handle it with regard to family meals. we eat a lot of bread, bagels, pasta, etc. i feel like a lot of the gluten-free alternatives have less nutrition, so i don't really want to switch my whole family to GF when they don't need to be.

one issue is, if i make myself a GF alternative, they'll ask me for it simply because it's "special" or different. for example, we wanted to put couscous on the meal plan this week. i am certain if we all were served couscous, the kids would eat it. but if i served myself rice or quinoa, the kids would ask for rice or quinoa instead because they are more used to those foods and they see me eating it.

another issue is that it is honestly just so annoying to have to create 2 versions of meals. yesterday i made homemade mac'n'cheese and used GF pasta so we could all eat it, but like i said, i don't necessarily want to limit them to GF foods. but i also don't want to have to cook 2 pastas every time, and then have more dishes because of it 🫠

any other parents with food restrictions and how do you handle it when meal planning and prepping?!

Everytime I side lie my boobs fall out of place (old crappy Auden bra, same goes for my kindred braveley pumping bras). A cold nip every. time. I’m fed up! Maybe this is just mom boob problems. I have let this go for a year and been researching but running out of time & this very soon to be STM needs a better solution!

My 22 month son has been using PJs from Little Sleepies for most of his life. I loved how stretchy they were making it easy to wrangle him into his PJs every night. I recently put him in some of their 2 piece PJs and he seems to like those a bit better as the sleeves are not as tight on his wrists. I know these bamboo fabrics aren't the best as they are essentially rayon, and also they are all sooooo pricey. I noticed Carter's little planet has organic cotton ones (https://www.carters.com/p/toddler-2-piece-organic-cotton-ribbed-pajamas/V\_2U852710) but was wondering if they are super thick or they are just the exact same fabric/thickness as the little planet onesies? We got family Christmas cotton pajamas from Burts Bees and I'm not sure about our son, but my husband and I were both so so hot in them (we live in Florida which doesn't help). I just don't want something that is going to make him get too hot at night.

Hoping someone here has the Little Planet ones and can share your insights! Thank you!

I have a ridiculously active 2.5yo and recently ordered hanna anderson organic PJs on sale. I intentionally ordered a size too big, the shorts are loose and the top is way too loose and long, but the sleeves squeeze my son’s arms so much that he refuses to wear them. He’s in the 95%+ percentile for everything, but his pediatrician and gymnastics coach talk about how he’s actually muscular for his age, I’m only saying this because he’s not overweight or unhealthy. He’s just a really sporty little kid. The sleeves on these clothes seem ridiculous, they squeeze the hell out of his arms. Do they loosen up? I’m considering cutting them off at the seams and hemming to make tank tops

This is just a vent that I feel like others will relate to in this group!

Been having a hard time with my 9 month old with solids - he prefers milk and even then has never been a good eater. He’s getting better but most days 95% of his calories are still from breastfeeding.

We started with purées for his first few meals and then do BLW. He eats what we eat, with less sodium/less spicy. It very much doesn’t matter what we offer as he’s overall just not into food itself so it’s not an issue with what food specifically.

When I talk about this to my mom friends they always tell me “well why don’t you give him some puffs/a pouch/yogurt melt/teething cracker!”. Because….I don’t want to??? We’ve stayed away from processed foods as he eats so little that I want what he eats to at least be nutritionally valuable (high in iron and zinc, good fats, etc). Since he eats what we eat and all of our meals are home cooked, it hasn’t been that hard!

I feel almost shamed that I’m NOT giving him all these commercial baby snacks! Especially pouches - the number of people telling me he’d eat just fine if it was pouches is starting to grate on me!

Is it really that unique to not want to feed my baby snacks instead of real food??? I understand their utility and role - but as his main food source??

My baby just turned 5 months and he is SO interested in food. He’s 19 pounds, and he can sit up if he’s supported but not really independently (he leans over after 5-10 seconds). But he seems fine in a high chair.

I know the AAP says 6 months and that seems to be the granola recommendation, but my instinct is that he’s ready developmentally to start gnawing on some strips of steak and other BLW stuff. I’m not feeling like he really needs purées, but I’m not opposed to them, and he seems ready to try anything. He gets soooo excited when I eat and frustrated that I won’t share (he tries so hard to intercept me, leans over with a wide open mouth, wants to get in on the action). What would you do, what did you do?

First thing's first, the boxers: my partner loves these boxer-briefs from Hanes. However, we were hesitant to re-order after noticing the language: "MOISTURE WICKING - Cool Comfort® fabric releases moisture off your skin to help you stay cool and comfortable." After some digging, I'm pretty sure it means the fabric receives a treatment that basically coats it in PFAS even though it is labeled as "cotton" 🫠 Does anyone have recs for a similar product that doesn't contain moisture-wicking technology? 100% cotton or a slight % of spandex is fine, Bonus if GOTS but not necessary. Oeko-tex would be good too.

Second, my daughter loves these Hane's socks. I actually don't have a problem with the fabric, as far as I can tell it's good. "82% Cotton/16% Polyester/2% Spandex" and made with organic cotton. BUT she's about to grow out of the largest size, and all the larger Hanes' socks seem to be 100% polyester, which I am not ok with.

She already has socks from: Q for Quinn, Hanna Andersson, and Primary. She does not like them as much as the Hanes socks. The Hanes ones seem shorter (but not no-show), thicker fabric, more of a plush material. I can see why she likes them. Any recs for similar socks?

Again, GOTS and/or Oeko-tex would be great but not necessary, just a high % of cotton and no obvious fabric treatments like moisture wicking etc.

Any other veggie moms struggling for meat choices for toddlers? Or even non veg moms. I don’t even know how to cook meat… toddlers meat mainly consists of organic low process chicken meatballs or precooked organic chicken with fresh veg and fruits and supplemented with pouches (some are meat and fish!). Are there any other super easy suggestions??

Would like to know what everyone takes for their period!! I do not wish to use ibuprofen anymore. I put a little more info below if you'd guys wohld like to read.

A few years back I was quite unhealthy and would get completely painless irregular periods. Now, theyve been steady for years, i eat pretty okay and I work out, get enough sun, etc. My issue is over the years theyve gotten painful, only on the first day.

I figured to just take ibuprofen on the first day, and move on, one ibuprofen once a month isnt bad, right?? But, it seems like ibuprofen isnt doing it anymore and possibly making it worst.

For the uterus to contract, constrict, shed, it needs prostaglandins. Ibuprofen inhibits prostaglandins production. Wouldn't this just mean it makes it harder for my uterus to shed and do its job, prolonging my period, causing more pain? It feels like each period keeps getting more painful on the first day.

Anything helps, herbs, preventative treatment, natural medicines, etc. Thanks!!

(Ps if you guys have any tips to get painless periods back let me know lol those were good times not sure if it was healthy tho)

Hi! My baby has been somewhat slow on her solids journey because she absolutely REFUSED to pick up any food and put it in her mouth. And she was quite hesitant about us putting random new food items in there too.

So she's been mostly breastfed and eating iron enriched oatmeal with fruit puree and nut butters , and she would also eat mango smoothies, mango, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, kiwi, oranges, clementines, bone marrow, bits of chicken, bits of hotdog and some savoury purees.

This last week she finally started self feeding! Hooray! But now I'm not sure what to prep for her. We have done hot dog bits and chicken, plus fruits. She does have an allergy to egg for which she has an epi pen, so she can't do anything with egg.

Looking for advice on what your favorite finger foods are for 10+ month olds that don't incorporate eggs and are relatively easy to prep?

I have been using a new lawn guy for the past couple of months, and he’s been great. He usually just mows the lawn and occasionally trims back a tree if I ask.

Today he texted me when he was finished and said, “be careful with your son. I put chemicals around the bushes for ants,” and told me to wait 24 hours before letting him outside. He said also sprayed my driveway and the walkway to my front steps with weed killer.

I thanked him for letting me know and told him that we prefer not to use any chemicals since my son plays outside so much, and that we don’t want anything like that used at our house going forward. He apologized and said “The one I made wasn’t that strong.”

I’m not worried about him doing it again since we had that conversation, but now I’m kind of spiraling knowing that stuff is all over my driveway, walkway and around my bushes. I also don’t know how much I trust his 24-hour recommendation, especially since one of the products he used was homemade if I’m understanding correctly? I’ve always considered my self moderately granola (are we using the term scrunchy? haha) but this one particular area (weed killer, pesticides and other harsh chemicals in that nature) is my one hyper fixation fears after learning about glyphosate and its dangers. It’s on my mind a lot also because my neighbor has a pristine yard that is heavily treated as well, I usually try and stay indoors when I see her landscapers arrive.

Am I overthinking this, or would this make you uneasy too?? What would you do from here? We are already a strict no shoes inside family. Is there anything I can do before letting my son play outside again?

I’m just so so bummed.

I am so done with healthy baby diapers… my son blows out of the back every day.

I need a diaper with a high back. How are freestyle diapers? Or coterie?

We're interested in a home that backs onto a forest preserve, but across the street from the forest is another row of homes that back directly onto a golf course. The house we're considering is about 320 feet from the edge of the golf course property.

It's been difficult to find homes that are more than a mile from any golf course, so I'm trying to figure out whether 320 feet is considered uncomfortably close from an exposure standpoint.

The home uses lake water, so it doesn't share groundwater with the golf course. From what I've been able to learn, the golf course does not use glyphosate, paraquat, rotenone, chlorpyrifos, or maneb, but it does use 2,4-D.

My main concern is long-term health risks from pesticide drift, particularly the risk of Parkinson's disease and cancer. Is 320 feet away from the golf course still a hard no when most of the homes are within 1 mile of the golf course?

Asking from the perspective of a frugal/minimalist mom : ).

We ended up receiving a pack n play as a hand-me-down for free. Also had registered for a new one and got as a group gift. Should we keep both and leave one at my parents’ house? They are not doing regular childcare. This would be for when we go to their house 45 min - 1 hr away.

Or should I return the new one and just keep the hand-me-down at our house because by the time we’d ever use one at their house, baby could have stopped using it at our place because they’ve transitioned to the crib? So then ours would move to their house? Or we could just pack up and take ours there (isn’t that the point, that they’re portable)? OR if we REALLY find we want two, just buy a second one secondhand to save $$? Am I overthinking it? 😂 What do you recommend? Thanks!

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Hi! My 13 year old daughter is making lots of new friends in the same age range who likely eat "normal" food. It turns out that our house is the fun activity house and they keep coming back (individually and in groups!) which I'm happy about.

However, I'm not really sure what to feed them?

Because we are SO WEIRD.

"Hi! Welcome to our house where we have home-made cashew cheese!"
"Would you like Nutritional Yeast on your Popcorn? Oh! You don't know what Nutritional Yeast is. I don't really know what it is either, but it is cheesy and nutty."
"Oooh! We have 4 flavours of granola! Would you like them with our coconut yogurt? We can add frozen berries if you like!"

One thing I am already successful with: Quesadillas, with diary cheese from Costco. Even though they don't care that the tortillas I'm giving them have no folic acid (folate = yes, folic acid = synthetic = no). Or Nachos!

When I was their age, I ate Totino's Pizza Rolls, Nestle (ew!) Strawberry Quik Milk, Poptarts, and Toaster Strudels. Oh, and Bugles on my fingers! And, I just can't even do that (to myself OR them!).

There has to be SOME happy medium, eh?

Something between "Twinkies and Ding Dongs" and "Here are carrots and three flavours of hummus!"

I'm happy to have SOME carrots, celery, hummus, but what else can I feed them?!

Thank you in advance for helping me be the "cool" Moderately Granola Mom.
("Cool" is probably not the word they'd use to describe me.)

Are you waiting til baby is closer to 7/8 months etc / is there any reason I wouldn’t start putting it on the day she is six months).

Also I use thinkbaby w my toddler. Any other recs?

(this is Reddit so need to explain that obv I will keep her in the shade always and as much as I can!)