feedback for "Parental Advisory: Clean Freak"
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Hi there,
you've missed the most obvious solution: breastfeeding! Formula makers still can't replicate the live immunoglobulin (antibodies) that flow from mother to baby in breastmilk. It's the best protection you can give your baby from getting sick, designed especially for that purpose by mother nature. I found with both my kids that it was only after weaning from breastmilk that they started getting gastro and snotty noses.
Even if you're more modest, you can always do a feed morning and night and still get the benefits.
posted by : aussielass on 2/27/2008 at 5:26 PM Flag For Abuse
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It's completely natural for this mom to feel this way. Every day we see something on the news about food safety and antibiotic resistance, among other public health concerns. It makes perfect sense for a mother to worry like crazy that her baby will be safe. Our culture can get really intense with the "this way is best," and parents who didn't read the latest news article will worry that they've damaged their child.
If only all parents took this much time and effort to prepare for the arrival of their children. I do think her vigilance is a way of coping with the unknowns that come with parenting--and life in general.
But too much vigilance can lead to obsession, which is very common in parents of a new baby. It's almost as though they can "see" the germs crawling around everywhere.
My youngest had to go to a daycare, and she was ill almost everytime I turned around. Now she's almost 10 and almost never gets ill. If she does, it lasts 1/4 the time it does in my older ones. I was also sick as a dog when I was pregnant with her. Pneumonia, bronchitis, pleurisy. I think it made her tougher, immune-wise.
posted by : mldubose on 8/28/2008 at 11:25 AM Flag For Abuse
