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| Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care: Volume 2 in the Bestselling Green This! Series (Green This!) | 
 enlarge | Author: Deirdre Imus
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $0.49
You Save: $15.46 (97%)
New (61) Used (32) Collectible (1) from $0.46
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 69326
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 1416541241
Dewey Decimal Number: 649.1
EAN: 9781416541240
ASIN: 1416541241
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Wake up and smell the toxins April 25, 2008
7 out of 13 found this review helpful
What a breath of fresh air! If you're like me, you're always trying to raise your child well, but never really sure you're doing everything you can. In many ways, this book is a light down that dark path of parenting, as it's filled with ideas on how to give your kids a safe and healthy life. Even if you are not pregnant yet, there's worthy advice. For example, one early chapter points out that any woman planning to have kids should avoid flu shots containing thimerosal.
My daughter is 14, so I was especially interested in the chapter about teenagers. It opened my eyes to the potentially toxic ingredients in cosmetics and other personal care products -- carcinogens like formaldehyde and diethanolamine, and neurotoxic heavy metals such as lead and mercury. I learned that it makes little sense for me to make sure she takes an organic apple in her lunch every day if I'm ignoring the toxic body spray she mists on herself every morning.
The book is divided into two sections, with a resource guide at the end:
One: The Wake-Up Call
1. A letter to parents
2. The role of the environment in our children's health
Two: From Utero to University
3. Preparing for pregnancy
4. Eating right for two
5. Pregnancy and birth
6. Developing your baby's palate
7. Infancy and early childhood
8. "Green" pediatrics
9. Off to school
10. Adolescence and beyond
11. Beyond the home: Community activism and outreach
 Very disappointed July 9, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
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.
Not the best choice July 23, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
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.
 Scary book July 27, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
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."
I'm a "tree-hugger" but I hated this book. June 11, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book is horrible. It's so unrealistic and condescending. Don't bother with this one!
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