Trying to feed healthy in a junk food world

So right before I was going to take the first step in furthering my education, the new fiscal year starts and with it comes a drastic budget reduction and my hours at work have been slashed by 67%, so much for paying bills or doing anything else.

At least I still have my Breastfeeding Counselor course to look forward to.  I recently took an 81 question pre-test to determine if I needed to take the full course starting at the basics or if I could go straight to the accelerated course, IBCLCs are the ones that would usually take this test.  The test was open book but because of the constraints of trying to finish it quickly before the toddler destroyed the living room I only got to look up one question, as a result I am very proud that I scored 93.75 on the test given that I didn’t get to research or review my answers.  I’m still waiting on my grade for the essay part but it looks like I am definitely going on the accelerated course.

One of the side effects of becoming a parent, and something that I’m pretty sure happens to everyone (probably to a lesser degree) is the creation of strong opinions on methods and subjects.  If you’ve read anything on this blog before this you know what my big issues are.  I am opinionated and I have to get it out, hence the beauty of having this blog.  I can get the vents out of my system without abusing someone in particular with my rant and whoever doesn’t like it doesn’t have to read it, it’s a win/win in my book.

This system works great on most aspects, I am able to keep my mouth shut when I see a mother feeding formula, leaving their baby in a bucket for hours or buying them a McDonald’s happy meal.  But there are some things where it’s much harder for me to be quiet, improper car seat use, feeding horrible crap to an infant, specially before they’re truly ready for solids and physical violence.  I have no qualms about intervening in a blatant case of child abuse as defined by the police but it’s much harder the rest of the time.

After all, what do I know?  I only have 1 kid and some of these people have been around the block more than I have.  Just because I read a bunch of books, participate in a bunch of forums and try to educate myself more than the average parent doesn’t give me a license to attack the mother that is giving a lolly pop to her 4 month old or the father that is holding his baby in one arm and a cigarette in the other.  Yes, there is a LOT of tongue biting involved.  All the more reason for me to be grateful that my husband agrees with me and that I have this venue for when ranting to my husband alone doesn’t cut it.  It is still a conscious effort to not to turn into the parenting police.

I am not perfect, I am sure that I have been judged the same way by other parents that were kind enough to stay quiet and I thank them for that.

Which part do I suck at the most? that would have to be food.  Even though Shammy doesn’t know what candy, ice cream or McDonald’s is and he thinks that a cookie is a rice cracker, I feel like a failure when trying to present food in his high chair.

His father and I don’t have the best eating habits and we don’t want to just give him a slice of pizza, this means that sometimes Shammy has a separate menu from us.  It’s annoying to prepare a micro portion of something and try to make it balanced and quick.  Making big batches and using leftovers later is not really feasible because he’s the only one to eat the stuff so there is always something going to waste.  It’s always a conscious effort to make sure that I include enough fruits and vegetables.

At least I like to think that he eats better than a lot of kids I see on the street but breastmilk only offsets so much.  Add to that the fact that he is now starting to develop that typical toddler pickyness and sometimes that meal that I spent 20 minutes preparing just for him ends up on the floor and I’m scrambling to figure out what I can feed him.

At least another toddler trait that he’s developed and I’m loving is that he is now big on hugs ::heart melts::

And because I sometimes feel like I am going around in circles trying to defend my opinions from other’s attacks, this installment’s rant has a familiar theme as there has been a lot of debate lately over my support of enforcing the WHO Code for Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.

I support a woman’s right to choose to feed her baby formula, but I absolutely do NOT support the drug company’s “right” to be in the delivery room, handing out products that are only designed to stand between the mother and her breastmilk.

And contrary to the popular (misguided) belief, the UNICEF “Baby-Friendly” hospitals are NOT denying access to formula, or even preventing women from receiving free formula. It is still there for the mothers who need it. Those who don’t have a medical need for it can elect to purchase it just about anywhere. Those who cannot afford it can get it through WIC. If your baby really needs it for medical reasons, insurance will even help pay for it.