r/moderatelygranolamoms

I have a 11 month old son. I hate toy weapons and don’t want him to have any. However, my mom has lots of grandsons and likes to stock her house with foam / plastic swords, plastic bows and arrows, water guns, etc. When all the cousins are there they are sword fighting, shooting each other, smacking each other, just being super crazy and kinda violent. I KNOW they’re kids and need to be rambunctious sometimes but I just really hate that the toy weapons have to be a part of it. I read a book about being a boy mom and one of the points is that we socialize boys to be more violent by giving them these kind of toys. The other day at my mom’s house my son picked up a little foam sword and everyone was cheering him on, encouraging him to hit things, and I just…..don’t know how to handle the situation. I don’t want to encourage violence in him. Is it enough that those kind of toys aren’t at our home and are just a sometimes thing at other people’s houses? Is it as harmful as I believe or am I overthinking this? Do you let your kids play with toy weapons?

How are y’all staying on budget while being mindfully moderately granola?

We are going through a financial audit to get back on track with our finances.

We are a family of three living in the Midwest.

We spend around roughly $1,200 on groceries. I try to by clean and organic.

Supplements $400.

Household cleaning products, body care, and natural candles $400.

My husband could care less about the granola lifestyle (he’s still supportive) so I’m carrying a lot of guilt around being the one spending all this extra money trying to keep up and not feed our family poison.

I know this all sounds egregious. I’m so embarrassed. How do you make good choices while still keeping the money in check? Or is this way of living for the rich and famous 🤣🤣

Please don’t come for me.

I still have a lot to learn about managing a household, meal planning and shopping smarter, I know with time and experience hopefully all of this will get easier.

my 2yo loves Cerebelly bars, which i am perfectly happy with.

my 5yo will not eat them. for her, i've tried: GoMacro, Larabars, Clif Bars (which I know have too much sugar anyways but she won't even eat those!), Junkless, Simple Mills (Banana Bread Bars), and it feels like a thousand other bars I can't think of. doesn't like them.

the ONLY things she has liked are: Simple Truth Chocolate Chip Energy bars (Kroger), Nature's Bakery Fig Bars, Nature Valley Almond Butter Biscuits. They all have a lot of added sugar, so I don't love feeding them to her. Also, my almost-2yo is getting to the age where she will demand the same thing that I am giving her sister, so I want to find something lower sugar for her.

any ideas? i just need them to be vegan and low sugar.

*please don't tell me to make my own; i know that's an option, and i know how to find recipes if i choose to do that, but i am specifically looking for packaged bars with this specific question.

Hi! Gen-Z Mom to a 2.5 and 1.5 year old.

I've noticed among my elder child's friends that some of her interests are considered "babyish"

Ex: a 3 year old peer of hers stopped liking Bluey in favor of KPOP Demon Hunters.

This trend is fascinating and slightly worrisome to me. My instinct is to keep kids in things more directly their age for as long as you can, and don't rush the growing up. I feel like this is an issue that has taken up speed in the age of streaming. Growing up, we only had PBS--so I only watched PBS and some Disney movies on VHS. I vaguely knew I was missing out on Disney channel/Nickelodeon, but I didn't really understand what that meant so it didn't bug me. I was very happy in my Arthur bubble. Now, in the world of all-access, kids can see ALL of the options.

So I guess my discussion question is: Parents of older kids, have you noticed any impact of a "content age slide"? Parents who have been strict about content aligning with age--do your kids feel left out/get comments from peers?

Ie, if my child's favorite TV show in Pre-K is Avatar the Last Airbender, will they be bored of it and wanting to watch teen shows at age 10? Is this how you end up with 13 year olds watching The Office and the Simpsons?

My instinct would be to delay things like ATLA and Harry Potter to ages 10+ to introduce them at a time when themes can really be understood and enjoyed as a family.

Not speaking with judgement, just trying to foster childhood as long as we can. I'm sure this is challenging for families with kids of varying ages too.

Right now we mainly do Bluey, Puffin Rock, Bear in the Big Blue House, Curious George, Wallace and Gromitt, Tangled, Moana, and Frozen. We average about two hours total of screen time per week: an occasional weekday show + family movie night on the weekend. But even the Disney movies have heavier themes I wonder if my kids are too young for. Just because kids can't fully understand the content, does it really mean the intensity doesn't impact them?

Would love to hear other parents' thoughts on the subject!

on a mission to find my kid some dance stuff that's not entirely synthetic. i know dancewear is basically all stretchy polyester but my daughter has sensitive skin and she gets so itchy in the regular stuff.

looking everywhere and its depressing how little there is. like i get that cotton doesn't stretch the same way but surely there's something in between. some cotton blend or bamboo or literally anything that breathes.

anyone found brands that do natural fibre dancewear? i'm willing to pay more for something that actually works for her skin

Most nights, my child gives me trouble when trying to put her to sleep. I try to keep a consistent bed time. She goes to daycare while i work and once i pick her up, we’re home around 5:45/6. She’ll either play outside a bit and then have dinner or have dinner then play outside, then bath, then either a little tv or just play time/story time. Then at 8 is when i start putting her to bed. She usually takes anywhere from 30 mins to an hour to actually go to sleep. I lay with her and she’s trying to play and climbing all over me.

She wakes up at about 7:15. Somewhere around there, on her own. Her daycare teacher told me she’s napping around 11 usually because she puts herself to sleep basically. And the provider tries to get her to take a second nap later in the day because she’ll be tired but she fights the nap. Then when i pick her up, she’s falling asleep before we get home no matter how much I’m talking to her or singing her freeze dance song to her. Every single day. And I’m guessing this plays a part in her fighting her sleep at bed time. But I’m also worried that if I give her a later bed time, she’s not getting enough sleep at night. I’m just not sure what to do to make bed time smoother to where she’ll just go to bed and not fight it or play so much.

She’s 1.5

My 9 month old is breastfed and loves having milk and/or snuggles through the night. I’m up about every 3 hours with him, but never do co-sleeping, just room sharing. Sometimes he sleeps in longer stretches of 4-5 hours.

I’m aware that I’ve created some strong sleep associations that probably need to be changed, but sleep training or allowing any kind of crying will shatter my heart into a million pieces. I just feel like it goes totally against my motherly instincts, and my anxiety is through the roof as my husband and I are discussing starting some kind of sleep training.

Does anyone feel like I do? Did you ever regret sleep training? Or did you ever regret NOT sleep training?

Because honestly, it just feels SO much easier to me to just do the 5-minute feed or short snuggle before everyone goes happily back to sleep. Any time I try to do anything else (hold/rock/back rubs), I feel WAY more exhausted/frustrated and my baby is just more upset. And when my baby is upset, I’M upset, and I’d rather feel tired from broken sleep than upset. Plus, I’m also the kind of person who believes that your baby can FEEL when you are upset, and that doesn’t help anyone either.

So I would appreciate any advice or stories you’d like to share

I’d also like to add that he is physically very active all day; he’s crawling, standing with and without pulling up, walking while holding onto furniture…is it also possible that he’s just needing more calories through the night because he’s so active? I feed him a big dinner to try to get him really full before bed (2 purée pouches of food plus breastmilk)

Y’all we are getting hit with daycare costs on top of a mortgage on top of having to pay student loans back now with the high cost of just about everything being the cherry on top!

I’ve been steering clear of fragrances and picking more “responsible” choices at our local co-op grocery store throughout my pregnancy to now with our 6 month old. But I realize that what I spend for a month or two of shampoo/conditioner I could easily get a year’s supply of Pantene from Costco.

Editing to add- our daughter has excellent skin while my husband and I were really bad eczema and diaper rash kids. Our moms have commented about how our daughter doesn’t smell like Johnson’s and Johnson’s baby products and how they miss it- but can’t deny that her healthy skin is probably due to avoiding the fragrances and questionable ingredients. So I do believe there are benefits for her to keep on track with more granola choices!

Are conventional products really that dangerous? Does anyone have any thoughts on how to make affordable but responsible choices? I was hoping to keep things as “clean” as possible while breastfeeding but our budget can’t really handle that. Thank you!

Vinegar damaged the grout in our tile floors, and I need to clean my bathroom floors which are old tile and grout because they get super disgusting and are unfortunately white so you can literally see the filth. Plus, dog hair.

What are your best low tox recommendations for tile and grout floor cleaning?

Hi I’m a FTM to my rainbow baby and want to be as low tox as possible. Do you keep Borax in your household and do you use it for your baby’s laundry like their clothes and cloth diapers? I saw some new information that makes me wnat to stop using Borax but the cloth diaper subreddit was making me think I’m crazy and it’s fine to use. curious how other low tox and moderately granola moms think

EU heavily restricted Borax for everyday consumer and you cannot buy it in stores like the US due to its toxicity to pregnant women, kids and unborn babies.

Any recommendations for a hiking or outdoor backpack, that can also function as a diaper bag? Our generic diaper bag zipper broke, and I’m looking for something that can function as a diaper bag, but also be used beyond the baby years.

I cannot feed my kid the school food (or, in the past, the daycare food). It is so over-processed and not "food" to me. I grew up eating healthy, and the menu is so bizarre to me to feed growing children. I know the reason is for the lack of funding for ingredients, labor costs, time constraints. I just can't send a little growing child to school and have them eat packaged powder donuts for breakfast (like the kind you'd get at a gas station). Or funnel cakes for breakfast (I grew up viewing that as the type of things you'd eat once a year at the fair, not once or twice a week). Lunch is things like hot dogs, deep-fried pizza bites, deep-fried chicken nuggets that seem to be mostly filler, etc. The healthiest options are like, seriously hamburgers and pizza. Sides are mostly canned fruit in sugary syrup, and some veggies like carrots (that the kids don't usually eat). Snack time in the afternoon is stuff like cosmic brownies and little debbie cakes. It is SO over-processed and unhealthy.

I always let my LO partake in classmates' birthdays and holiday treats and such, as I don't want him to feel left out. And to me an occasional unhealthy treat is not a big deal. For instance, if we go to a birthday party or a picnic, I let him eat things like hot dogs, loads of cake, etc. But we don't eat that kind of thing regularly at home on a regular basis. It's the *daily, 2 meals and 1 snack a day most days of the week being unhealthy* that I have a problem with. And the few other parents who do pack throw like bags of chips and a luncheable and oreos in the lunchbox and call it a day.

I grew up eating, like, real food, with limited sweets. That's how we've fed LO, and he's an adventurous eater who is WAY less picky than other kids his age, and fine with eating way healthier. I've known other parents who did what we did when their's were babies and toddlers and who were great eaters, then had them eat daycare food and school cafeteria food for convenience, and the kids suddenly got used to that and now refuse to eat anything but chicken nuggets and gogurts and stuff. I really do not want that to happen to my kid.

If it was just him, he'd happily keep eating mostly heathly foods made with whole food ingredients. But it's hard not to notice a cosmic brownie in a plastic package right beside you.

I'm exhausted from providing breakfast, lunch, and snack every. single. weekday. AND supper most nights because hubby is still working, so if I don't do it, supper would be too close to LO bedtime. It would be easier if I could at least do breakfast at home, but it's not realistic with how early I need to get to work. And he's at the age where he's not happy eating similar things all the time, and wants more variety at lunch and such of things to nibble on, as everyone else has a zillion things on their cafeteria tray (theirs mostly unhealthy).

It was one thing when my mom would pack us a lunch every day for school, but I have to back lunch AND breakfast AND snack.

What suggestions of easy breakfast, snack, and lunch foods do you have that are less processed, more healthy, but also can compete with the "convenience store" type options his school surrounds them with? Preferably stuff that doesn't take a ton of time to prep, as I also work full time and am having to get supper on the table as well? (I already do cold leftovers of supper the night before sometimes for a main lunch entree). Or, anyone just wanna commiserate with me about how unhealthy food is pushed on kids so much as "kid food" (when my kid happily eats a wide variety of adult food from all over the world that's mostly healthy and whole foods-based when not having this "oh kids will only eat pizza and nuggets" stereotype shoved at him).

Hi all. My baby just turned 10 months old last week. I exclusively pumped for about 8 months and we have been using freezer stash since. I wasn’t paying attention as things at work picked up and am shocked we are almost out of milk and now I’m panicking. She currently eats 3 meals a day and drinks five 6 oz bottles. We are going to cut it down to 4 bottles because sometimes it’s hard to get her to finish the bottles anyway, but I’m not sure what to do to get us to her one year mark. I am truly moderately granola, and am not against formula. I guess I’m just nervous because everything with solids and breastmilk has been going so well. I have never really given her super processed food besides pizza crust to chew on maybe twice, a few pieces of sourdough toast on occasion and she does have Greek or whole milk yogurt every day. Other than that I make all her solids at home. What would you do if you were in my situation?

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 LO is 3 months old. Right now we only use the pacifier for naps and bedtime, plus the occasional time we’re out past bedtime (like a family BBQ that ran late) to keep her calm.

For those who’ve been through this:

**•**	When do you use the pacifier vs. hold off?  
**•**	If we eventually want to phase it out, what do we do when we’re out in public and she’s fussy? Just use it anyway, or soothe other ways (walking, rocking, etc.)?

Would love to hear what worked for you!

With 2 littles and everything going on in the world I feel like it’s only responsible to get an emergency plan together. However, I feel overwhelmed trying to account for every contingency (I know it’s not possible but that doesn’t lessen the anxiety!) and dont know where to start. Most of the prepper resources I’ve come across also seem geared towards a different demographic than moderately granola moms, like a lot of emphasis on meat (I worry more about how to get vegetables and fruits during an emergency) and defending your property from looters (call me naive but I prefer to believe in the good of my fellow humans). Has anyone in this group found a good resource they jibed with or can offer tips from their own prep?

Setting up baby’s nursery. Do I use shelf liner? what’s safer to let clothes touch wood or use some sort of liner? Appreciate any feedback/help :)

Hello! Long time lurker and first time posting but had a question on what postpartum supplements you all take to help replenish nutritions lost during breast feeding?

For context I am 4 months PP and recently have started losing my pregnancy hair and noticed I’ve been bruising more easily. I currently am taking a post natal supplement, collagen, and magnesium glycinate but considered stopping the latter two. Most of my meals are Whole Foods and I have definitely increased my calorie intake while BF.

I have seen lots of ads for colostrum recently - specifically the brand Cowboy Colostrum and the Ballerina Farms protein powder which includes colostrum.

I’m too scatter brained with a 4 month old to do a ton of research so was wondering what others were taking and thoughts on the above brands that include colostrum.

My son's room has an area rug that I've only ever vacuumed. I know traditionally carpet cleaner can be pretty toxic. Are there low tox solutions for giving carpet a deeper clean?