How crunchy is our DDC?

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Just curious of everyone's level of crunchiness.

We're relatively newly crunchified (ever since my DD's pregnancy), but have moved fast! We eat TF, are having a homebirth, don't vaccinate, use alternative healthcare (see a Naturopath, homeopathy, Chinese medicine), cloth diaper, babywear sometimes, if the baby is a boy we won't circ, make my own homemade cleaners, and extended breastfeed.

But on the other side we aren't co-sleepers, not completely AP, my DD loves her plastic toys, and I don't think we'll do child-led weaning if my DD doesn't give it up before the new baby comes.

I find that other forums aren't crunchy enough for me and I feel like I'm constantly arguing my views. So while I'm not always as crunchy as other here, I think it's probably the best fit for me.

[rlandnl]

Originally Posted by Evie's Mama

Just curious of everyone's level of crunchiness.

We're relatively newly crunchified (ever since my DD's pregnancy), but have moved fast! We eat TF, are having a homebirth, don't vaccinate, use alternative healthcare (see a Naturopath, homeopathy, Chinese medicine), cloth diaper, babywear sometimes, if the baby is a boy we won't circ, make my own homemade cleaners, and extended breastfeed.

But on the other side we aren't co-sleepers, not completely AP, my DD loves her plastic toys, and I don't think we'll do child-led weaning if my DD doesn't give it up before the new baby comes.

I find that other forums aren't crunchy enough for me and I feel like I'm constantly arguing my views. So while I'm not always as crunchy as other here, I think it's probably the best fit for me.

We don't eat an organic TF diet, I cook hot dogs and mac and cheese too often but we do eat relatively healthily. Enough to make me feel ok about it.

We are having a hospital birth, with an OB, probably an epidural, but maybe not.

We have lots of plastic toys, and we watch tv and play video games (though we have learned a lesson with DS and will not allow video games so early next time- I am thinking 10 or so.

But we don't vax, don't circ, we AP, babywear (though we did use strollers too), extended nursing (3.5 years with DS and he weaned himself I didn't wean him), i made his baby food, coslept as long as he wanted to- which was 7 months, but this time we will sidecar the crib in hopes that it will be longer, cloth diapered and I think that's it lol

[dannic]

We're pretty crunchy in some areas; no vax, no circ, whole foods, somewhat TF diet (with allergies, we've got limitations and try to eat what we can, but whole food form), breastfeed, babywear, cosleep, homeschool...

However! I wear synthetics, I am religious, and think global warming is propaganda used to enforce draconian measures on the populace, so take it with a grain of salt! I am very health oriented and tend to be a diyer in terms of healthcare, homecare, family care.

I'm hoping to cloth diaper for real this time around.

I'm definately crunchy in my neck o' the woods, but on MDC? Who knows?

[MJB]

I think we're pretty crunchy. We are NOT TF, we love our soy foods around here. We do eat well relative to the average American family.
My youngest self-weaned at 2, but I finally cut off my oldest at 5 once he was down to nursing about once a month (and his little bro weaned).
We do baby led solids, no purees.
We coslept until they were 5 and 2 and moved them into a room together.
We babywear, I didn't even have a stroller until my oldest was 15 months and don't think they are good for babies. They are sometimes useful with toddlers, though!
We cloth diapered from birth to potty training and will again.
I had a CNM-attended natural hospital birth with my first and a UC waterbirth with my second.
We do not circ, and haven't vaxed yet (I'm considering starting them with my 7yo).
We caved last year on our no plastic toys rule. We now allow Lego, Schleich, and Playmobil. The "good plastic toys" compromise works for all of us.
We allow our kids (at their current ages, 4 and 7) 45 minutes of screen time (TV, movie, video game) a day, although it's the first thing to go when they get in trouble.
We really like the ideas of the Continuum Concept and Free Range Parenting. I'd say they describe us more than AP. We do not practice consensual living or gentle discipline-- we believe in rules and punishments.
I homeschooled my 7yo for preschool and kindergarten. He is in school for 1st grade but will probably be homeschooled for 2nd since we are moving to a worse school district. We have our fingers crossed that our 4yo will be accepted into a traditional private, academic, uniform-wearing school for K this fall.

[detroitgirl77]

I'm pretty crunchy here--cloth diaper, baby wearing, no circing, cosleep, AP, extended nursing, tandem nursing, baby led feeding--no jarred foods here, recycling,

[gaudynight]

We homebirth and homeschool, co-sleep as long as it works for everyone, extended breastfeed and CLW, use cloth nappies (diapers), delay/selectively vax, won't circ any boys.

We also eat McDonald's etc from time to time, watch TV (though more than I'd really like), have a limited (mostly through lack of space) number of plastic toys, do time outs and lots more I've probaby forgotten.

[somegirl99]

Compared to most of my friends/coworkers I think we are fairly crunchy.

I'm vegan with a mostly whole food diet (although DH is basically SAD). We don't watch TV apart from the occasional DVD.

Planning on no circ, s/d vaccination, babywearing, cloth diapers, baby-led weaning, probably will be trying co-sleeping and EC.

However I will be doing an OB-attended hospital birth because we live too far from any hospital to safely have a home birth, unfortunately.

When someone asks if I'm planning on breastfeeding I think I must give them a look like, "Well, duh!".

[KempsMama]

We do:

Try to eat foods as close to the source as possible, I bake a lot of our own stuff and cook almost exclusively from scratch.

Cosleep until babe is sleeping a 5+ hour stretch

We are working on going green, eliminating paper products (except tp) will cloth diaper this LO, and the like.

We selective vax

We nurse exclusively until min. 6 months.

We limit DS electronic toys and are working on limiting screen time, although this winter it's gotten out of hand. He does have plastic toys though.

I use a sling and a stroller depending on babe's needs.

This will be a hospital VBAC, we've moved since DS was born, I would never deliver at that hospital again. I had a very traumatic birth experience the first time around.

What I DON'T do is subscribe to a blanket parenting philosophy. I strongly believe each child, each mother, and each family has it's own unique needs and decisions should be made that take the entire family into consideration.

[rightkindofme]

In some ways I'm ubercrunchy and in some ways I'm really not.

Our daughter has just moved into her own bed at 20 months because her kicking me all night was preventing me from sleeping and my preggo exhaustion is just not ok with that. (Thank Dog that transition was smooth and easy.)

We are still nursing and I plan to tandem.

I do cloth diapers and I dry them on the line outside because it saves energy.

I'm somewhat fanatical about water/energy conservation to the point where I have to very consciously not lecture neighbors as I walk by and they are wasting water. (I water the plants in our yard with gray water from washing dishes. I'm kind of over the top on this one.) As a result of this fanaticism we have solar panels on our roof. We are generating more power annually than we take from the grid. Even with washing cloth diapers we use substantially less water than average households.

I am also super fanatical about recycling. I get really angry with people who don't.

I'm very free range in my parenting attitude. My daughter has been playing alone in our fenced yard since she was about 13 months old.

We did baby lead weaning and the only puree she's ever eaten is apple sauce.

I technically own a stroller but we've used it like half a dozen times. I own five different baby carriers. (And I've spent less than $200 on carriers.)

When I'm not pregnant I cook the vast majority of our food from scratch and we eat local/organic for probably 70% of our diet. I'm also big on raw dairy. I don't eat TF though. For that other 30% of our diet we eat WAY more sugar than MDC is ok with and I eat McDonald's about once a month cause I just love the taste. There is no way in hell I could be vegetarian/vegan/dairy free/gluten free/etc unless it was actually in danger of killing me or one of my immediate family. Just... no. I am pretty fanatical about avoiding HFCS for some reason.

We selectively/delay vaccinate. The only vaccines we will probably completely skip are rotavirus (because if you don't get it super early you just don't) and chicken pox. We are very into international travel and we want to go to third world countries. Given those preferences my kids will eventually need most vaccines.

I try very hard to be frugal. I consider this a crunchy habit because it spurs a lot of crunchy behavior. I look for things second hand before I buy new.

We barely use paper anything. We use family cloth for all pee.

I'm trying to start growing my own food and canning but so far this is slow going for me. Thank goodness we have a huge freezer.

I'm really into wooden toys but we do have a little plastic--mostly Duplo and plastic babies. The cloth dolls just aren't the same. Luckily my daughter seems quite patient with my wooden toys obsession.

I use baking soda/vinegar on my hair and for all of my cleaning. Works really well. I no longer use any bath products at all on me or my daughter that have chemicals of any kind. I don't think my husband will ever give up his shaving cream.

[MyFillingQuiver]

We are sure a blend...I guess we're more "old-fashioned" than "crunchy"...

-We are completely centered around our faith.
-We are completely open to life..even if that means pregnancies sometimes close together.
-We don't vax/flu shot
-We don't go to the Dr for anything "preventative". I use natural medicine and supplements. We stay pretty healthy.
-We eat very healthfully, but not necessarily organic. I end up with a lot of organic, because where we are (northern Idaho) sometimes organic is the only available product. I bake bread, we eat most things from scratch. Going out to eat is a treat that doesn't happen much.
-We have very "traditional roles" in our home and it works best for us.
-We circ our boys, and I'm good with it. It was as well researched for me as our no-vax choice.
-My parenting philosophy is very much a blend. I feel driven to most AP styles anyway, but things like co-sleeping for us, tend to not happen for very long. Our kids are all on flexible schedules, they all have early bedtimes, and it's how my Dh and I have time together. I think parenting is in the heart, and that's where my faith is at..so they coexist well.
-I'm doing a homebirth this time around.
-I grew up really mainstream, so this is all in the past 15 years or so for me.
-My kids have a blend of toys, but really aren't "into" trendy things.
-I dress modestly, as do our girls. (though fashionably)
-We homeschool
I'm sure there's more, but that was lots already.

Oh, and this quote: However! I........and think global warming is propaganda used to enforce draconian measures on the populace, so take it with a grain of salt! Is exactly what we believe!

[KempsMama]

Originally Posted by MyFillingQuiver

We are sure a blend...I guess we're more "old-fashioned" than "crunchy"...

-We are completely centered around our faith.
-We are completely open to life..even if that means pregnancies sometimes close together.
-We don't vax/flu shot
-We don't go to the Dr for anything "preventative". I use natural medicine and supplements. We stay pretty healthy.
-We eat very healthfully, but not necessarily organic. I end up with a lot of organic, because where we are (northern Idaho) sometimes organic is the only available product. I bake bread, we eat most things from scratch. Going out to eat is a treat that doesn't happen much.
-We have very "traditional roles" in our home and it works best for us.
-We circ our boys, and I'm good with it. It was as well researched for me as our no-vax choice.
-My parenting philosophy is very much a blend. I feel driven to most AP styles anyway, but things like co-sleeping for us, tend to not happen for very long. Our kids are all on flexible schedules, they all have early bedtimes, and it's how my Dh and I have time together. I think parenting is in the heart, and that's where my faith is at..so they coexist well.
-I'm doing a homebirth this time around.
-I grew up really mainstream, so this is all in the past 15 years or so for me.
-My kids have a blend of toys, but really aren't "into" trendy things.
-I dress modestly, as do our girls. (though fashionably)
-We homeschool
I'm sure there's more, but that was lots already.

Oh, and this quote: However! I........and think global warming is propaganda used to enforce draconian measures on the populace, so take it with a grain of salt! Is exactly what we believe!

You and I sound a lot a like. I was so scared to join MDC because I thought I'd be the only one like this!

Hooray!

[dannic]

I LOVE legos/duplos! What would ds play with without those???

I agree that we all have to choose our own "crunchiness". In my rural town, HBing is DANGEROUS! I know of three or four of us who have here and I have to hire an out of town MW (2 hrs) if I want support. (She's awesome). I'm the only babywearing extended breastfeeder in my church.
It's all relative to me.

[naturalmomma1]

I'm glad to see that I also fit in better here than I thought I might.

Let's see...

I'm into Weston A. Price as far as food goes...I love the farmer's market and we have a garden and get our meat, eggs, and raw milk from local Amish farmers...plus joined a CSA last summer. My weakness however is sugar and coffee.

We're Christ-followers. We believe in taking care of the earth (recycling, organic, etc) but don't believe all the global warming stuff either...we AP for babyhood only, though we co-sleep for longer...just pretty non-AP as far as discipline goes.

We use natural healthcare methods.....I love my kinesiologist (muscle testing), we pretty much only go to her and she's done wonders. We don't vax anymore, and won't circ if this is a boy.

I prefer wooden toys but it's so hard to keep the plastic toys out, especially as my girls get older so they have some and they probably watch too much tv and play the Wii too much....I'm sure not nearly as much as other kids do but it still bothers me.

We homeschool.

This will be our first homebirth with a CNM. My girls were both born in the hospital drug-free with a CNM..the last was a water birth.

We cloth diaper and I nursed my girls for 2+ years.

I eat waaaay too much fast food when I'm pregnant and I have a severe weakness for Amish baked goods during farmer's market season. LOL!

It's taken me about 7 years to get this crunchy. I keep adding on every year.

In a nutshell, we're crunchy Christian conservatives.

[naturalmomma1]

Oh, what's TF diet stand for?

[babycatcher12]

We are sure a blend...I guess we're more "old-fashioned" than "crunchy"...

This. (I borrowed a few of your ideas, since they kind of went along with ours).

Our faith is the center of our family and helps govern our decisions.

We believe children are a blessing and we don't limit the other blessings God gives us, so why limit the blessings of children (no we're not trying to be the Duggars. )

We selectively vax, but do most of them.

We have a pretty family friendly ped, so we do go for well child checks.

We eat very healthfully, but not necessarily organic. When I'm pregnant I crave way more fast food than I need.

Going out to eat is a treat that doesn't happen much.

We have very traditional roles in our familiy. (Although I do currently work outside the home part time. We are hoping that will change in the near future.)

We circ our boys, and I'm good with it.

Our parenting philosophy is very much a blend.

We feel fairly in line with the "AP" side of things. We cloth diaper, exclusively breastfeed until 6 months at least and continue breastfeeding until either I or baby is ready to stop, really we just kind of go with the flow when it comes to breastfeeding. This is the first time I've BF while pg.

We co-sleep sort of, but didn't necessarily intend to start out that way, it works for us right now.

I often wrap or have baby in a sling.

I make our own laundry soap and natural cleaners.

We have lots of plastic toys, but don't usually buy them for our kiddos. Although we donate most of them but the boys still play with legos, k'nex and a few other plastics.

DH and I both grew up really mainstream, but we've really researched and found what's right for our parenting style and our family.

We homeschool (a first for both our families).

We are planning a HBA3C for this birth.

I really believe parenting styles really don't fit neatly in a category. I really think that it's a mishmash of what works for each family and can even change as a family changes and grows. Heaven knows our parenting style has changed since our first child was born.

Interesting post! I enjoy reading everyone's responses!

--Erin

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Originally Posted by naturalmomma1

I'm glad to see that I also fit in better here than I thought I might.

...

In a nutshell, we're crunchy Christian conservatives.

We seem very similar! I'm so excited to see so many like-minded women in here.

Originally Posted by naturalmomma1

Oh, what's TF diet stand for?

Traditional Foods. There's a whole forum on here for it under Nutrition and Good Eating.

We aren't hard core with it, but we do local, grass-fed or pastured meat, raw dairy, homemade bone broths, natural sweeteners (raw honey or maple syrup), and soak most grains and beans. The idea is to eat the way our ancestors ate and gain the health benefits from it. If it's something that sounds interesting, I recommend reading Real Food by Nina Planck as a great introduction.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

I just reread and saw that you follow WAPF...that would make you TF! Welcome to the club.

[naturalmomma1]

Ahh yes! You're doing better than I am so far...still learning. I need to learn how to use natural sugars more...especially since I LOVE to bake! Thanks for the book rec! I do have Nourishing Traditions but have yet to dive too deep into it. But we do several of the TF things so far...also need to figure out the grain soaking thing. Little by little!

[MJB]

Wow, MDC is really leaning heavily towards the Christian conservative demographic these days.
I'll add that my husband and I are both pro-choice feminists, we don't believe in gender roles, we are a multiracial family (black/white), we believe in evolution, global warming, and birth control. We're atheists and raising our kids as such. We're anti-Weston A. Price, I don't eat dairy or beef outside of pregnancy (and no pork ever).
In college I majored in women's and gender studies and minored in pan-African studies and my husband had the same, but with major/minor reversed. We both participated in many of the anti-globalization protests of 2000-2003. We're crazy radical punks.

[babycatcher12]

Originally Posted by MJB

Wow, MDC is really leaning heavily towards the Christian conservative demographic these days.

Interesting take, to me it's always seemed more of a "whatever floats your boat" kind of place. (Which is what I love about it!). I have always felt respected in my choices and can usually find a place to fit in. It's really one of the few online forums where I felt like all were pretty well accepted and respected.