Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care: Volume 2 in the Bestselling Green This! Series (Green This!)

The second volume in the New York Times bestselling Green This! series, Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care is a complete guide to raising healthy kids. Environmental activist and children's advocate Deirdre Imus addresses specific issues faced by children in every age group -- from infants to adolescents and beyond. With a focus on preventing rather than treating childhood illnesses, Deirdre concentrates on educating and empowering parents with information such as:

• How to make sure your child is vaccinated safely

• Which plastic bottles and toys are least toxic

• How to lobby for safer school environments and support children's environmental health studies

• Advice from leading "green" pediatricians and nationally recognized doctors such as Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.

Chock-full of research and advice, Growing Up Green makes it easy for you to introduce your child to the "living green" way of life.

---

All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Scary book, 2008-07-27
I started reading this book with a neutral/positive attitude and after reading a quarter of it I was totally alienated. The author makes sure to quote experts for straightforward ideas such as "fetal alcohol syndrom is difficult to detect at birth." Yet for more controversial ideas, no sources or basis other than her opinion is given, such as "I never eat fish." Well, good for her, but why? I am well aware of the dangers of mercury, but never have I heard any advice on going without fish given its benefits for mothers and unborn babies such as the omega 3s. Same thing for her advice about dairy. Every day I read about experts lamenting the lack of calcium in growing kid's bodies and yet Ms Imus claims that given that non-organic dairy has problems, we should go dairy free. I would think that the benefits of organic dairy would outweigh its costs, but for some reason her sense of propriety has been offended by all things dairy. She thinks that fruits and veggies are all you need, but she does not talk about how to replace the missing protein and calcium if you forego meat, fish, poultry, dairy, and also vitamin supplements... Someone who wants to follow her advice may cause serious developmental problems on their kids. I am all for raising vegetarian or vegan kids, but in addition to talking about how to exclude things from our diet, shouldn't we also consider how to replace what we exclude?

I agree with others who hated her book about her advice on breastfeeding. Her book should be banned or sold with a disclaimer such as "NOT approved by XYZ medical association" for her claim that organic formula may have benefits over breastfeeding. After reading this, I would not be surprised if she claimed that "babies should not be held because mothers are carriers of all sorts of chemicals. If you really have to hold your baby, be sure to use organic mittens."


4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Not the best choice, 2008-07-23
This book does provide some useful links and ideas but it is mostly a testament of what worked for the author personally and for her one and only child. The book is preachy and light on facts, heavy on opinions. I was horrified by her remarks that state breastfeeding may not be the best choice due to toxins in breastmilk. She does her readers a real disservice by presenting this idea and giving links to organic formula. According to La Leche League International, a reputable authority on breastfeeding, human milk is still the best choice. Also there was not much information on cloth diapering -- the author glossed over the idea saying she could not keep up with the laundry rather than giving resources or facts about a great green idea. I am glad I got this at the library and saved my cash for better resources.


4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Very disappointed, 2008-07-09
When I ordered this book, I was so excited to get it. I am always looking for resources that support my decisions for a healthier life style and give me more ideas to implement those choices.

As the mother of three, I have always tried to give my children the best start in life - from good prenatal care, unmedicated births and exclusive breastfeeding to making my own baby food, not vaccinating, buying healthy foods and limiting their exposure to media.

I was appalled to read Imus' very limited and very uninformed information on breastfeeding - which I had assumed would be a very large part of "Growing Up Green." After all, what is "greener" than that? True, there are some toxins present in breastmilk, but what about the toxins and artificial ingredients in formula? What about all the toxins and wasted resources that go into making the formula? What about all the waste that goes into landfills from the packaging of formula and the bottles that must be used to feed the formula? I can't think of anything LESS "green" than that, not to mention the fact that infant formulas have been recalled many times due to contamination. To even imply that artificial feeding (organic or not) is in some way better for our children than breastfeeding is ludicrous.

Imus also writes about how unhealthy our diets are, which is totally true for most Americans. However, she fails to discuss that a mother who has a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods is exposing her child to various tastes through her breastmilk and is therefore more likely to have a child who will develop a taste for these foods.

She mentions several times about the childhood obesity epidemic and the rise in various childhood illnesses such as asthma, allergies and diabetes, yet fails to mention that breastfeeding has been proven to prevent obesity and these other childhood diseases that she speaks so often about. Not only is breastfeeding healthier for children, but also for mothers. Research shows that breastfeeding significantly reduces a woman's chances of pre menopausal breast cancer.

Perhaps one of the most important things Ms. Imus neglects to mention is the fact that breastmilk provides antibodies and immunities to protect our children from various illnesses. That is something that infant formula has never been able to replicate - and probably never will. Breastmilk is a live food, a perfect food. For someone who speaks so often of the importance of making whole foods a part of our diets, she is doing a real disservice to the women and children of this country by suggesting that artificial feeding is in any way equal to or better than breastfeeding simply because there may be toxins present in a mother's milk.


0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Excellent Resource Material for New Parents.... , 2008-06-24
I found this book very helpful... very readable, and I've referred back to it a few times. I didn't purchase it like it was.... the be-all end-all this is what we need to do... book. I've taken some of her ideas and suggestions to heart (in fact the natural ear ache remedy works) and those that don't fit w/what we can do right now... we'll work our way towards them (or not). I didn't feel as though she were lecturing, but I also agree w/quite a lot of her views, particularly w/regard to vaccines and the BPA and Phthalates in plastic which I go to great pains to avoid... altho i'm not a fanatic about it...you can only do what you can DO and that's really what I got from the book. It's better to do what you can... and be aware!

I'd also recommend Healthy Child Healthy World and The Vaccine Book, I've found them all to be great resources as a new Mom.


0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

What an excellent resource!, 2008-06-23
Deirdre does an excellent job outlining positive ways to remove toxins in your child's enviornment. All the resources for what you need is in one place!

This book now is part of every baby shower gift and should be a way of life. Its practical and can help you take the necessary steps to improving your childs enviornment and health.

Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.