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.

I just received today a virtual petition for the Breastfeeding Promotion Act, H.R.2819 via Care2 and The United States Breast Feeding Committee. You can sign it today too here. As of the moment I am writing this post, the total signature count is 6358. The ongoing goal is to reach 10,000.

Though the act was 1st presented to the Senate June 11, 2009, it still has not been getting the attention it deserves. This is where you come in.

The Breastfeeding Promotion Act (H.R. 2819, S. 1244) includes five provisions:

1. Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace.

2. Provides tax incentives for businesses that establish private lactation areas in the workplace, or provide breastfeeding equipment or consultation services to their employees.

3. Provides for a performance standard to ensure breast pumps are safe and effective.

4. Allows breastfeeding equipment and consultation services to be tax deductible for families (amends Internal Revenue Code definition of “medical care”).

5. Protects the privacy of breastfeeding mothers by ensuring they have break time and a private place to pump in the workplace (applies to employers with 50 or more employees, see text of legislation for details).

May we thank Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (NY) and Senator Jeff Merkley (OR) for the introduction of this act to the Senate. If you would like to read more technical info about the act or learn further information , please visit here.

This is very sad story to post. With hardly any warning, the Bellevue Birth Center has officially closed. It is important for me to post this to bring attention to the fact that our resources as women are dwindling in the New York City. A big rally cry and call to action is needed. Though Bellevue was known to accommodate lower economic bracket and those on Medicaid, the services and sacred support that Bellevue offered are the same services and support that every birthing mother should have.

If only the conscienceness of the mainstream was penetrated with the awareness and knowledge of the impact birthing centers have on the birthing mother as opposed to the hospital setting and linear western standards, then they would not be so quick to give a brief sympathetic look over that the “Poor Women’s Haven” (as titled in the NYT’s article) had to close its doors due to low funding and awareness.
Birthing rights and options for all women are in jeopardy. And overall women’s health & educational reform needs to take place. Not just for women from certain demographics, all women, and men who have or plan on having children. That’s basically everyone. How the children of this world are brought/birth into our reality realm is a sacred experience and journey and moment that needs to honored, encouraged and celebrated as opposed to jeopardized, standardized and dehumanized.

Now, there are three remaining natural-birth centers in New York City, The Birthing Center at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, Manhattan, The Brooklyn Birthing Center, Brooklyn, and the Morris Heights Women’s Health & Birthing Pavilion, Bronx. All of which are stretched in various boroughs with only a certain amount of birthing rooms.

Thankfully the Eli Manning Holistic Birthing Center at St. Vincent’s and the free-standing The New Space for Women’s Health are underway to be developed and build. Both free standing and in hospital Birthing Centers need to be adopted into America’s healthcare system. The idea of the C-section rate nearing 1 in 2 and more and more babies having drugs streamed into their not even day old blood systems as a normal commonality is disturbing.

What do you think are the best outlets for self awareness of the body’s design for birth?

(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.

Eli Manning became a rock star in my eyes when he lead the NY Giants to their Superbowl win in 2008. Now, I will be calling him a hero.

Eli Manning and his wife Abby announced today their undisclosed donation for the new state-of-the-art $10 million dollar Eli and Abby Manning Birthing Center at St. Vincent’s. The couple, who currently do not have any children, told the Daily News, “”We wanted to make it a special place to bring new life into the world… For Abby and I, it’s about being part of that, to make sure all the parents have a comfortable experience.”

The center will focus on natural childbirth and holistic care such as acupuncture and is slated to take five-years to complete. This renovation of St. Vincent’s existing obstetrics unit into a state-of-the-art Birthing Center will connect the sciences & compassion. St. Vincent’s has a strong tradition of midwifery, natural childbirth and holistic care. It also has one of the lowest C-section rates in the city. Thom Filicia of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” will be designing the upgrades to the patient rooms, waiting areas and postpartum suites .

The hospital will be holding a Baby Ball at Cipriani,Wall Street on June 18th to raise funds for the center as well. Click here for more information on the event and stay tuned for more information about the new center.

This is very inspiring to see such change in Manhattan.

While this documentary is only 7 minutes, “Do You Doula?” is a short documentary film with a powerful message. Brawny Lads Productions created filmed & edited the piece for a video challenge sponsored by Birth Matters Virginia. There are 43 more short films in the contest for which I will be reviewing, highlighting and voting for over the next few weeks. Check out the rest of the films here on Birth Matter’s Facebook page and help them pick the winner.

“Do You Doula” discusses the role of doulas and the importance of doula support during childbirth in a very moving way. The black background and the way it is shot transfers all of the viewer’s attention to the stories shared by the interviewees. Though there have been several documentary style films which highlight the birth world, i.e. midwifery, home births & hospital births, to my knowledge, there has never been any documentaries style films specifically telling the story of doulas.

Watch the film here via you tube. Share your opinions here on The Green Doula and on the Film Maker, Marcus Adams’s Youtube page.

Help the R Baby Foundation raise funds for grants that have the potential to save thousands of babies’ lives. The R Baby Foundation was co-founded by parents Phyllis & Andrew Rabinowitz. The couple lost their beautiful daughter,Rebecca, after just a few days of birth. Doctors diagnosed her symptoms as a common cold, and she was repeatedly sent home. Had her symptoms been treated, she may still be here today. They as well as the wonderful team behind this non-profit charitable organization are fighting to ensure optimal care for little ones across the country.R Baby Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that newborn babies, primarily those in the first month of life suffering from viral infections and other infectious diseases, receive the highest quality of care and service through supporting education, research, treatment, training and life-saving equipment.

Here are some alarming facts from gathered from the organization’s website:

FACT: 1 in 141 babies die in the U.S. each year. Babies within the first 28 days are twice as likely to die as older babies. Source: Center for Disease Control

FACT: There are approximately 20,000 newborn deaths within their first month of life and close to 30,000 in the first year. Source: WebMD

FACT: Babies born in the US are twice as likely to die than many other developed countries, including Sweden, Japan and Spain; the United States is ranked 36th among 196 nations.
Click Here to see how the US ranks in Infant Mortality Rates…
Source: World Health Organization