Going Green During Pregnancy: Giving Your Baby a Healthier Start!

Blog by Jennifer Hankey, President of Organic Baby University

If you are trying to conceive or are trying to figure out what you REALLY need to avoid during pregnancy to help protect your unborn child from what may cause autism, ADD, ADHA, asthma, childhood cancers and other conditions? Well, there has been a new response from doctors in the last few months about what may be causing these conditions. In fact, two new statements have put the damaging effects of chemicals to children, especially exposures during pregnancy to light!

Recently, according to the New York Times, a new study has just been released linking autism to environmental factors. Doctors have been saying for years that autism is caused by genetics, in fact, they stated that over 90% of autism was caused by genetics. This didn’t make much sense considering the autism rates have risen from 1 in 10,000 30 years ago to less than 1 in 100 today. Groups concerned about the chemicals that have been introduced into our environment have been trying to bring the attention to the damage that these chemicals cause without much support from the medical community. It is hard to believe that genes could change so quickly! In that same time frame over 80,000 new chemicals have been created and dispersed into our environment and bodies and less than 200 have ever been tested for safety! They are in our personal products, our homes, our food and water, medicines and medical procedures. In fact, the average woman is exposed to 126 of these chemicals every single day! Doesn’t it make more sense that something that has obviously changed so dramatically in the same time frame should be considered as a factor in this terrible condition!

Well, finally it seems that doctors are willing to admit that environmental factors may contribute to at least 58% of the cases, and that genetics contributed to only 38% of cases rather than the over 90% as originally estimated.

The scientists particularly caution pregnant women about what they expose themselves to during pregnancy as they believe this is a major factor in environmental exposure. Many environmental factors will hopefully come under scrutiny now with this new information. With conditions other than autism on the rise during this same time frame when so many changes to our environment have taken place: including asthma (by over 80% during this same time frame), ADD, childhood cancers and learning disabilities (now 1 in 6 children), we at Organic Baby University hope this will lead to more research on these damaging chemicals. It is important when you are pregnant not to assume something is safe unless proven otherwise, rather to err on the side of caution and assume something may not be safe unless proven safe.

Second, the American Academy of Pediatrics has sent out a press release calling for an “overhaul of the nation’s chemical management policy because the current system fails to protect children and pregnant women, who are most vulnerable to hazardous chemical exposures”. Finally, the medical community is coming to realize that environmental factors are a huge factor in the deteriorating health of our children, starting before they are even born. In fact, the Environmental Working group tested the cord blood of newborns and found 287 chemicals in the cord blood of newborns. Of those 287, 180 are known to cause cancer, 217 are considered toxic to the brain or nervous system and 208 are known to cause birth defects.

Sounds pretty scary huh? So what can you do?

Pregnancy is not the time to be stressed out all the time…it is a time to rejoice and be excited about your growing family! All you need is some education and simple changes to help protect you and your family. Find out where these chemicals are and how to avoid them. It doesn’t have to be terrifying, expensive or difficult. In fact, it should be quite the opposite! It really comes down to simple product switches and lifestyle changes that are often completely free! And easy! For example, buying a few plants and opening your windows isn’t that hard or scary after all!

 

Article provided by Jennifer Hankey, President of Organic Baby University. Organic Baby University provides additional resources for moms and videos on their site for moms who want to learn more!

To learn more about where these chemicals are found and how to avoid them visit http://www.organicbabyuniversity.com to watch fun, animated videos in their Organic Pregnancy Class and Organic Baby Class! They also have guides and checklists, safe product recommendations, exclusive coupons and more! We will teach you everything you need to know including super simple, inexpensive or free ways to make the world a safer place for you family.

 

References:

“Autism study finds link to environment, even in womb .”St. Louis Sports, News, Jobs, Classifieds, Entertainment & Weather. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 July 2011..

TARKAN, LAURIE. “New Autism Study Implicates Environmental Factors – NYTimes.com.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 July 2011..

National Institute of Health: Fact and Data Sheet- Asthma Statistics http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/lung/asthma/asthstat.pdf

Szabo, Liz. “One in six children have a developmental disability – USATODAY.com.”Your Life: Health, Fitness, Food & Self – USATODAY.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 July 2011..

” Childhood Cancers – National Cancer Institute .”Comprehensive Cancer Information – National Cancer Institute . N.p., n.d. Web. 5 July 2011. .
“News Highlights – April 25, 2011.” AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS WEB SITE. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2011..

” EWG Report || BodyBurden 2 – The Pollution in Newborns .” EWG Home | Environmental Working Group. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2011..

Tags: chemical during pregnancy, children, green living, green pregnancy, healthy baby, healthy pregnancy, how to be green, organic, organic pregnacy, save green

Category: Go Green America TV Segments, Go Green Pregnancy