Green Options

Writers Note: I wrote Breastfeeding Experience from A Green Girl and First Time Mom …
soon after my daughter was born to chronicle my beginning journey as a first time mother and a breastfeeding one. This is a follow up as a mother of a 14 month old and still a breastfeeding mother.

The American Pediatric Association* recommends breastfeeding for at least a year, but the World Health Organization** wants the nursing mother to go longer to two years minimum; longer if the mother and baby wishes. However, when Layla’s first birthday was approaching {and some way before that}; I got asked that dreaded question, “How long do you intend to nurse?” by well meaning relatives, friends, and even strangers. Good question. I gave myself a year tops to devote to the art of breastfeeding. I just couldn’t see myself being my baby’s feeding station longer than that, but now at fourteen months; we are still breastfeeding with no intentions to wean anytime soon.

The beginning of our breastfeeding journey like for many new mother was rocky with lots of ups and downs. There were days when I wondered how I would make it up to a year; climbing a Mount Everest seemed liked an easier feat. With engorged breast, cracked nipples, and gushing milk that sprayed my baby’s face due to overactive let down; the first weeks {even months} were the most challenging. Oddly enough, as time went on; breastfeeding got much easier. I can honestly say that decision to breastfeed and continue to breastfeed was the best decision I made as parent. It really is the holy grail of parenting. I remember during my six week check up, the prenatal nurse confided in me that she nursed for years. She whispered to me with sincere conviction, “There really is nothing like it.”

Editor’s Note: Allison Wolff is the Founder of Vibrant Planet, a company that provides strategy and communications for companies and nonprofits focused on social and environmental innovation. She was also lead strategist and writer at Stone Yamashita Partners and former Director of Marketing for Netflix. This is her first contribution to GO Media.

I am the mother of a 9 month old little girl named Emerson. I struggled for years—almost to the point of having the age window close on me—with the question of whether or not to have a kid because of planet’s likely dismal future. Emerson is a “we didn’t try not to get pregnant” baby and, because she dropped into my womb with only one unprotected “oops”, I tell myself that she was fated to be here given all the trials and tribulations my other 40 year old friends have gone through to have children. A friend who is a climate scientist/astrologist/string theorist convinced me that she is likely one of the planet saving souls who has been waiting to arrive on Earth.

Since I found out I was pregnant, I have struggled deeply with what kind of mom I ideally want to be versus what is realistic given a number of difficult, well…realities. I grapple with everything from sleep and food introduction philosophies to vaccinations and what products to buy or accept from friends as gifts (i.e. I have been very particular about what I allow to enter my daughter’s mouth). I can’t wait until I have to start thinking about discipline and potty training.

I am a closet Chick-lit lover. Although I love reading the classics such as Doesteovsky, Maugham, and Hesse (my favorite writer); sometimes I need an easy and light reading that doesn’t need a dictionary as a companion. So it’s no surprise that I would totally take to the From the Hips: A Comprehensive, Open-Minded, Uncensored, Totally Honest Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, and Becoming a Parent by Rebecca Odes and Ceridwen Morrisis. Although pregnancy is a serious subject matter; I didn’t want to read the pregnancy bible, What to Expect When You are Expecting. I really had hard time making it past the first chapter. It seemed a bit too authoritative; I pictured a nagging mother instead of your best friend. But From the Hips is definitely your best girl friend talking you through the trials of pregnancy with wit and a bit of sass. Who doesn’t need a bit of humor when you are carrying around a baby 24/7?

It’s safe to say that all moms are concerned about their children’s health. They care about the air their kids breathe and the food they eat.

It’s no surprise, then, that moms are also some of the best everyday environmental heroes. Often, it’s the mom who reminds children to “eat your veggies and go outside to play.” Moms also do a lot of the shopping for environmentally conscious products.

In Korea as well as the United States, eco moms are making environmentally conscious decisions with their children’s health in mind.

A recent New York Times article about today’s “EcoMom” has caught the attention of the media in Korea, where the well-established term for green living is: chamsari, or well-being.