Happy Baby, the leader in premium organic baby & toddler food and Healthy Child Healthy World, the nation’s nonprofit innovator in preventive health education for children, has announced an exciting partnership. Happy Baby will be contributing articles and nutritional information for HCHW outreach efforts.

“Educating parents and caregivers about food grown without GMOs, hormones, and chemical additives is more important than ever in light of the increasing rise in childhood illnesses, such as food allergies, early onset obesity, and ADHD,”

-Healthy Child’s CEO/Executive Director Christopher Gavigan

This logical yet respected partnership will make it easier for parent to research, compare and orchestrate their child’s nutritional wellness. Make sure to frequent both companies’ websites for valuable information.

Happy Baby’s complete organic line of fresh frozen baby food, cereals, finger foods, yogurt snacks, and grab-and-go pouches provides healthy yet convenient options for parents.

So you have just finished exclusively breastfeeding and are beginning the transition to solid foods for your baby. Do not be intimidated by the attention that is now needed for your child’s diet and nutritional needs. Yes, the amount and quality of essential nutrients you give to your infant/toddler is important, but there are many cookbooks, pre-packaged fresh meals and supplements to help make the transition easier for both of you.

Shaklee just recently rolled out a new supplements for babies & kid. Their Shakleebaby Multivitamin & Multimineral Powder ($21.45 list price) delivers 23 essential nutrients to your baby’s systems which helps to support proper growth. This mineral powder comes from one of the most respected wellness brand in the world. Check out its other benefits and for further information go directly to my Shaklee site. Perhaps this is the supplement aide you have been looking for. Regardless of whether or not you give your little one multivitamins, do not fall into the common parental default for making french fries, cookies and sugary juicy a staple in your child’s diet.:

• Provides a unique blend of clinically tested prebiotics to help support strong immunity*

• Star-K kosher certified

(getty images)

Though one would assume it to be, there are not many published reports that clinically validate the benefits of eating organic foods during pregnancy. The intuitive lifestyle has been growing primarily because moms-to-be want the purest and healthiest foods possible to help ensure a healthy baby. Now, The Organic Center (TOC), an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3), have taken the much needed steps of converting what many have already figured into a tangible report. In the medical and scientific world, theories and hunches do not mean a thing until it can be clinically proven or documented.

As a result of over 150 scientific studies, The Organic Center have concluded that a balanced organic diet before and during pregnancy directly benefits childhood development. Such a lifestyle can significantly reduce childhood obesity and the development of diabetes. As well TOC’s report revealed that exposure to pesticides used to grow non-organic food during pregnancy increases the risk of premature birth, low-birth weight, and neurological problems.

(getty images)

Click here to read more about the report. All of TOC’s publications, consumer guides and videos are available free of charge on their website as well. The organization’s mission is to advance scientific research on the health and environmental benefits of organic foods, and to communicate those benefits to the public.

As I am glad that such concrete information and reports now exist, I still want to emphasis, that it is still important to research the companies that stamp their products with the organic logo. With the growing demand for organic foods and the less than stringent regulations provided by the FDA up to this point, there are several companies who pose as charlatans and misuse the organic symbol and/or brand their product to appear to be the most pure, when in fact it is not. Check out this startling article regarding some brands of both Organic Soy and Dairy milk.

A little bit of research and intuition are the only sure things you can rely on to make the right food choices for you and your family. After reading the labels, you should be able to comprehend the ingredients. The more simple, whole and real the ingredients are, the better. After reading about the company, whether it be on-line, on the package or through word of mouth, you should feel comfortable about the source and comfortable about your purchase. Do not solely rely on the design of the packaging and the Organic logo alone before you make a purchase. Remember that ultimately, design agencies are paid big bucks to make consumers purchase. Make sure the companies’ ingredients, mission and practices match, if not supersede, the initial visual impact of the design of their packaging.

image courtesy of getty images

We have all heard the phrase that “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, but now researchers have discovered that apples may just help keep asthma away from your unborn child. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that out of the 20 million Americans who have asthma, about 6.2 million of those are children. While there are other contributing factors to the development of asthma, such as poor indoor air quality, this discovery is a great advancement in childhood asthma prevention.

The study which was published in the journal Thorax, found that the children who were born from women who ate more than 4 apples (hopefully organic) a week , had 37 percent less wheezing than those whose mothers did not and were 53 percent less likely to have doctor-confirmed asthma.

Dr. Devang Doshi, director of pediatric allergy and immunology at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. commented to Healthday News on this study and said, “This was a good study, but we need a lot more evidence still,” he continued on to say, “The general consensus is that women should consume a good, well-balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, and not to overindulge in any one food.”

It’s a known fact that vitamin and mineral supplements are essential for a healthy pregnancy and beyond. But did you know that most over the counter vitamins use fillers such as coal tar, sand, dirt, and soap to bind the vitamins together? The FDA only requires manufactures to list the active ingredients within their product and not the fillers. These such vitamins do not have the synergic compounds of naturally-derived Vitamins. The result is that they are neither as well absorbed nor beneficial to your body. On the other hand, taking supplements that are made from naturally-derived whole food based sources allow your body to recognize the vitamins and minerals. This results in better absorption and positive benefits.

Here are a few ways to check and see if your body is actually digesting your current supplement and whether or not it contains fillers:

1 Soak one of your vitamins in about 3 inches of white vinegar for about 20 minutes. If you come back to an intact un-dissolved capsule, then it is most likely not dissolving in your stomach. Instead it is just passing through you body and finding its place in your toilet.

2 If you see dirt floating to the surface of your vinegar, then most likely the manufacturer is using sawdust as their filler.

3 Take a dry vitamin and wrap it in aluminum foil and bake it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. If you see some black goo creep out, that signals coal as filler.

Here are 3 products on the market that use whole foods as their base for their supplements and stand out from the average supplement such as Centrum

Honestly, I have only and only use Shaklee supplements (when I remember to take them ;P. After seeing & learning about the company on Treehugger, Healthy Child Healthy World, Oprah, Dr. Oz and its website, I became an independent distributor and brand loyalist for it made sense to me. They have both a multi-vitamin with an iron and non-iron formula (more practical for men).

Please use this information provided as an educational, perspective expansion resource for determining your options and making your own informed choices. It is not intended as medical advice or to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any specific illness.

The FDA has reached their conclusion that levels of melamine alone or cyanuric acid alone, at or below 1 part per million (ppm) in infant formula do not raise public health concerns. Traces of any amount, especially those above the FDA’s minimum raises alarm in my mind as well as many others I am sure.

Melamine is widely used in plastics, adhesives, countertops, dishware, whiteboards. Because melamine is rich in nitrogen, companies who are trying to increase their production of formulas add the substance to increase the apparent protein levels of their product. This in addition to diluting the raw milk with water. It is not naturally occurring and is not approved to be directly added to food in the United States. Though, somewhere in the world of governed loopholes, melamine is approved for use as part of certain food contact substances. This does leave legal room for traceable levels of melamine to show up in certain food commodities.

Behind the scenes, the FDA had conducted tests over the past several months on U.S. made formula. You can check out some of those results here. Some definite red flags from the report show that melamine and cyanuric acid, a related chemical were found in the baby formula made by U.S. manufacturers Abbott Labs, maker of Similac; Mead Johnson, maker of Enfamil; and Nestle, maker of Good Start. The sad and alarming news is that these 3 brands make up 90% of all of the formula sold in this country.

Shortly after the China infant formula contamination scare, Nature’s One made it a integral operational process to test each production run of their “Baby’s Only Organic” and “PediaSmart” products for Melamine. The products are manufactured in the U.S.A. with no milk protein or dairy derivatives purchased from China.

They also are the only carriers of organic lactose free milk based formula, Baby’s Only Organic® Lactose Free. It is a great solution for parents who wish to avoid soy proteins and for babies who are lactose intolerant. Instead of corn syrup, which is found in all other lactose free formulas, the company uses brown rice syrup. The formula is designed to address common digestion problems that result in fussiness, gas and bloating. You can only purchase here and the company offers free shipping if you buy by the case or they have a maximum shipping rate of just $5.95.

Of course I have to mention that the healthiest, sustainable, economical sense for providing your baby with the nutrients and goodness he or she needs is breastfeeding. Here are just a few benefits of breastfeeding as referenced from the NRDC:

• Breast-fed children are more resistant to disease and infection early in life than formula-fed children
• Breast-fed children are less likely to contract a number of diseases later in life, including juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and cancer before the age of 15
• Mothers who breastfeed are less likely to develop osteoporosis later in life, are able to lose weight gained during pregnancy more easily and have a lower risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer

Water is an unsung hero throughout the duration of one’s pregnancy. Not only does it help to build new tissue & carry nutrients to your baby, it also keeps your baby floating in its cushion of amniotic fluid and prevents the uterus from contracting before its time. This, along with several other reasons, is why it is so ever important to make sure you intake in the purest water possible.

While several people live in new construction residences, many, especially city dwellers reside in buildings which have old pluming lines. One can look at their governmental water rating systems and see statements which claim their drinking water is pure and/or enhanced with fluoride or chlorine, and one could be alarmed after hearing about traces of pharmaceuticals in our water. At the end of the day, aside from the condition of the water, the water still has to be transported through your building’s pluming and that process can contaminate your water even further. The point I am trying to make is that it is very important to take action and do our part to grab hold of the reigns to our overall health by taking a few extra steps.

There are several ways to filter our drinking water and transport that filtered water around. From over the counter mounted filters, to below, there are various effective products within several price ranges on the market. Do make sure you do your research for certain filter & systems can leach bacteria in the water if its instructions aren’t followed carefully. A bit of background research is highly suggested, or consulting a consultant about such purchases is suggested as well. After you have your filtered water, take it with you to your office, the gym, or just on the go with one of these eco-friendly containers.

All of these tips are for everyone and can easily be incorporated into the lives of infants to retirees, but especially for women with child, clean water is essential for a healthy pregnancy.

First Juice, packaged in BPA and Phthalate-free containers, is the first juice for infants and toddlers that is significantly lower in sugar and calories than traditional juice offerings. Best of all, it is organic.

“First Juice was created based on a broad range of scientific and consumer research into the development of early childhood taste preferences, nutritional insights, and safety concerns from pediatricians and other experts, and most importantly — parents,” explained David Glasser, First Juice, Inc. Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “First Juice offers parents convenience, sound nutrition and the reassurance that they are making the best juice choice possible for their children. As parents ourselves, we have created a juice beverage and a no-spill package that we wish existed years ago, when our kids were younger.”

The First Juice bottles are recycle code #1, the most widely recycled plastic. Though the bottles are easily recyclable, the company encourages consumers to be eco-effective and reuse the 8 oz. sippy cups and refill them with their 32 ounce bottles of the juice.

First Juice is available nationally at Whole Foods Market, Wild Oats, Babies “R” Us and Toys “R” Us, The Food Emporium, and on www.diapers.com. Currently there are only two flavors, Apple+Carrot and Banana+Carrot.