How Crunchy Are You? - Page 2

[WannabeaFarmer]

Now I am not sure about this one. I consider myself sprinkled with granola
But I am not a super crunchy mamma. I couldnt do homebirth even if I wanted to(to many phsyical problems with pregnancy), I really wish I could cd but living in an apartment and having to pay for a washer and dryer-makes it not an option.
I am way more than some people I know(they call me their "hippe" mamma friend...LOL)
-We exclusivly bf for 7mo(still bfing)
-I have been wearing DD forever and still do at 18mo
-we co-sleep
-we try to do healthy foods-we grow our own veggies in season, and grow our own herbs
-We use homeopathic remedies when we can(I have my own medicinal herb garden)
This among other things, I suppose I would say that I am crunchy-and wanna be more..:

[mclisa]

I'm not nearly as crunchy as most of the moms I meet here.

[benharperfan]

In my group of friends I am by far the crunchiest, but put me in a room with many mamas on MDC and no one would likely guess that I was crunchy....you know how some people "come off" that way - well I am not one of them!

[Collinsky]

I said "crunchier than most" but it does depend on who I'm standing next to. Some mamas FAR out-crunch me. Others make me look like a raving lunatic of crunch.

We have unassisted homebirths; extended breastfeed and have tandem nursed (am nursing through a pregnancy now and hope to tn again); do baby-led solids, pretty much skipping the babyfood stage; have a family bed with our 3 kids all night every night; eat vegetarian and whole grains, but not fully organic ; wear our babies/toddlers; no vaccinations; and we're committed unschoolers, leaning toward radical; gentle discipliners, leaning toward consensual living; generally only alternative/herbal medicine (except in the case of very mainstream stitches so far); and we try to use nontoxic/eco-friendly cleaners in our home.

Like I said, our diet isn't fully organic, and we also no longer cloth diaper. We used to do full-time cloth but since we moved to an apt. with no W&D I wasn't able to figure out how to make that work for me. So we're in disposies. If it weren't for those two things which I consider to be fairly important, I would definitely say I'm super crunchy!

[mere2hayden]

I'm not really crunchy at all. I had never even heard that term until DS was two. lol

Anti-Circ
Babywear (even at 3 yrs )
Co-sleep most nights still
Selective Vax
SAHM
Mostly organic (we were Vegan up until last year - still mostly veggie)
Homemade babyfood

I only EBF DS until 2 months, then at night for a few weeks. I was really uneducated and had zero support (even from the hospital). I didn't know about LLL. I plan to EBF my next until he/she self weans. We all have sensitive skin, we had a tough time with sposies and wipes. I'm already learning to make my own CD for next baby.

Like I said, not really crunchy at all. Compared to my friends though, my parenting ways are odd. They don't understand why I do any of it, they say they just take the "easy route" and don't understand why I don't.

[amitymama]

I am crunchy by my friends and family's standards but in the middle on MDC. I breastfeed my 14 mo and will CLW, we eat mostly organic, selective and delayed vax, use a pouch sling but also use a stroller (we don't have a car so I walk or bus it everywhere), co-slept for awhile until DD decided she likes to sleep independently, make most of DD's food, anti-circ, but don't cloth diaper (we don't have a washer and dryer, otherwise I would).

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Compaired to the people around me I am cruchier than most. But here I would be mostly mainstream with a pinch of crunchy.

Non vaxing
co sleeping
bfing mostly clw
non circing
Sahm
mw attended birth center with #2

Hospital ob/gyn birth with #1
Didnt learn about slings till it was basicly to late
use sposies
we dont have limits on eating
dd is in public school and when ds is ready he will go
mostly use dr for illnesses but only when I have to

[bwylde]

I put crunchier than most. It's the food thing that's holding us back and that's because we can't afford to eat crunchy granola (unless it's in the half off bin ). Of course that will be remedied when we buy our house so we can garden. Oh, and I had two emergency c-setions which, trust me, were not wanted but very necessary!!

Some things we do are: Cloth dipes, extended/tandem clw nursing, intact DS, no vaxes, family bed (we have a queen and double, which basically takes up our whole bedroom ; the clothes are in DS's room), baby carry, home/unschool, live as green as one can in an apartment, we don't use disposable products, we have a car we hardly use and walk as much as possible, try to buy organic although it's a challenge where I live (especially financially), and we just have a really connected, respectful, loving family. I know there are more I'm not thinking of.

now looking at me, most people would be shocked I live this way. You would not pick me out of a crowd for being crunchy, trust me!!

[a(TM)?Star]

Originally Posted by rebelbets

I am not all that crunchy, by MDC standards. That said, I still enjoy MDC and feel I get a bit out of perusing this site.

I breastfed my son on demand until 15 months, when he weaned due to my current pregnancy. We've never co-slept - we're pretty mainstream about sleep around here, actually. We disposable diaper, do WBVs and vaccinate. I use a stroller - never really could get the hang of a sling - but I'm a SAHM, and I'm pretty much holding my kid all day. My son is only 17 months old, so "discipline" is not an issue with us yet, but I lean more toward gentle discipline - although not quite to the extent that I often see on the GD board. We do try to eat healthy, but I don't care to fork over the money for organics. I'm going for a VBAC for my next birth, and it will take place in a hospital with an OBGYN.

Man, now I'm worried I'm going to get banned or something.

Me too, but to most of my friends and family, I'm out there.: I enjoy MDC for the obvious reasons, I like the people, you guys are better than most I know!

[Autumn Breeze]

All that really matters is that you do your best for your family.

Who's to say exactly what "being crunchy" is about. That definition (like SO many others) is different for everyone!

That being said, I think we all do what we can to do right by our family. If that means cloth diapers, working outside of the home, vaxing, not vaxing :

What YOU do that is right for YOU is great! Informed Consent is the big thing for me. If you don't know your options you don't have any! Therefore, educate yourselves and decided for yourselves "how crunchy" you are.

[peaceful_mama]

well it depends--compared to my non-lll friends, i'm way out there crunchy--I have one friend outside LLL who bf'd till 2 and coslept but didn't do anything else 'crunchy' other than that, she may have had a sling. my friends mostly bf less than 6 months exclusive other than that, a couple coslept, one still is with her son Z's age I think. All of them do/did all the vaxes, I've tried to explain it and I finally quit talking about it cause they think I'm a nut.

now inside LLL I'm probably leaning toward mainstream almost, more healthy eating than some, less than others. I don't see myself nursing past some nursing between 2 and 3. we will not be going till 4-5 I don't think. but I could see tandem nursing some if I happen to have another baby before Sophie is 3. Sophie cosleeps but Z doesn't but that's child choice as much as adult, I started cosleeping in his bed and leaving and eventually I wasn't going back into his room at all. I do some vaxes, which is more than most of the LLL crowd. I wear Sophie more than I did Z. I'm not still wearing Z I don't know if I COULD with my back. A couple ppl in LLL are still wearing kids his age sometimes, but their kids are smaller too, same age but smaller.

overall I put myself as middle of the road.

[2bluefish]

Crunchy I think:
*unassisted pregnancies
*1 homebirth/waterbirth with midwife, 1 homebirth transported to the hospital, planning a UC
*hypnobirthing
*essential oils, herbs, homeopathy - vibrational healing (but I take regular meds too if needed)
*no vax, no well baby - I do do PKU and believe strongly in it
*eat more organic, whole foods than most anyone I know - but I love to eat out too - grocery shopping I avoid preservatives and artificial ingredients - except I'm hooked on soda
*breastfeed - more like mother-child negotiated weaning, I know I do things that facilitate weaning before 2 years - pacifiers, solids as *food* not for play, etc., but I don't actively *try* to wean my kids (at least haven't so far)
*baby wearing
*cosleep with newborns - but not interested in cosleeping with toddlers
*cloth diapers - but do use sposies some
*I think I use gentle discipline - but definately not consensual living
*planning to homeschool - like the Waldorf stuff, but also like a little more academics a little earlier
*milk my own goats - drink raw milk
*try to garden - still trying... herbs look good

[russianthistle]

I wrote proud super crunchy...but again, like someone wrote much earlier, it depends on who I'm standing next to...

We co-sleep, breastfeed, cloth diaper, do not vax, do not circ, support homebirth, wear our baby (well, I guess, toddler), avoid chemicals and sythetics as much as possible, make everything I possibly can from scratch, eat vegetarian, live in the woods, grow our food, eat organically, buy local food, avoid chain anything (restaurants, stores), avoid mainstream media, plan to homeschool, soon to homestead, plan to live off the grid, maintain near constant contact with my family, we treat nearly everything with herbs and/or homeopaths, love: the Grateful Dead (haha...)

but sometimes I...
wear clothes made with polyester...have a drink with coke or some other undesirable beverage...order out...eat junk food like kit-kats and 100grands...drive my car too much...

I try to be flexible when I have to be.

[redpajama]

I had to say "smack dab in the middle" because we shop at GAP.

[midwestmeg]

Crunchy but not perfect-

I am more like 'crunchy crossed with yuppie!' Anyway, I think that's what you get when you cross old Subarus, midwives, cloth diapers and a love of Patagonia products. If I'm going to spend money, then I will look for the nicest out there. :

I come by it honestly; my folks were hippies and I have just refined their techniques.

My dh is a person who grew up with depression era farmers, so conservation/recycling/reducing is his 'thing.'

Probably my strongest 'natural' belief is in good food/responsible growing practices/organics. We grow/raise alot of our food and I do all of our shopping at our local co-op. But we aren't fussy at other people's tables.

Meg

[GradysMom]

I think you need a committee to get voted super crunchy but I went ahead and put myself there... I think of it a a striving for kinda thing

[mama_bee]

ya know, i thought i was super crunchy till i came to MDC. we're still crunchier than most and getting crunchier by the day but we're not nearly as earthy as some of the mamas and papas here.

[verde]

Pretty crunchy most of the time but, as I always tell my friends, I'm not a purist in anything because there's ALWAYS exceptions to every rule.

On the one hand: we have a family bed; eat mostly organic; have organic gardens; dd gets no sugar from us but extremely occasional sugar from others when we weren't looking; wear cloth dipes most of the time but use sposies for travel; recycle as much as possible; shop at Co-ops and thrift stores; doing extended/one-at-a-time vaxing; believe in a generally gentle discipline approach; mostly SAHM but work very parttime; hardly any TV; use a sling a lot

On the other hand: will probably use public schools; have no philosophical problem with time-outs; drive cars cuz we have no choice; use a stroller when necessary.

[sfashho2]

Extended breastfeeding... on demand
Circumcision is not a choice we make for our babies
Selective/Delayed vaccinations...don't do regular WB visits
Co-sleep with our babies...don't use the crib at all

These choices are super crunchy and radical to most of my friends/family but pretty normal around here!

[TR's_mummy]

I voted in the middle, but it depends...Compared to most people I know, I'm supa-crunchy. One girl asked me what kind of diapers I used because she heard I used some kind of strange diapers--Hello, people, they are cloth diapers!!! My sister says I do everything "the lazy way"... I don't really disagree, except I think that it's I do everything the way it makes sense to.

Compared to most people on MDC, I'm barely crunchy.