Customer Reviews

The Complete Organic Pregnancy

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I received the book yesterday and am more than halfway through the book. I was expecting a book with a lot of information on the different kinds of foods and what pollutants are commonly found on them and practical ways to deal with it (in addition to buying organic). And the same for household cleaners and pollutants in the house. I am dissapointed in the book.
I didn't feel I learned anything useful from the personal stories, which are numerous in the book. Also there are alot of "one of my friends" advice, which doesn't seem all that sound. They recommend using chinese herbs a few times, and I dont' know if that is safe. I am chinese and I don't know what is in those herbs and whether they are tested in any way for purity and safety. I am also surprised that in the Omega-3 section they don't mention algae derived DHA pills. DHA is the form of omega-3 that is important for fetal brain development. I'm a vegetarian and the pills are a good alternative to fish as source of DHA since they are mercury free. They do mention flax seed oil as an alternative to fish for Omega-3, but they should know that humans convert only a very small percentage of omega-3 in flax seed oil into DHA, so flax seed is not a good alternative source of DHA. The authors also make it seem like it is difficult to find clean fish pills, but this is not so. My husband buys them from a nutrition chain store found in most malls and he's a toxicologist. I think they should have discussed what questions women should ask when trying to determine if a fish pill is safe. Also what independent testing companies they can contact.

The lack of rigor in this book bothers me, for example, the section on ultrasounds. They mention that there is some "anecdotal debate about their safety". I am willing to bet there is some anecdotal debate about everything under the sun. Do all of them turn out to be true phenomenon? No. Perhaps presenting some research would be helpful instead of just stating this "anecdotal debate" and making people worry. For example is there an increase in probability of miscarriage for women who had ultrasounds at X weeks versus those that didn't? there probably is some research on that from the days when they were first testing ultrasounds for safety.
Perhaps coming from a science research background I was expecting too much.

When my first child was born in early 2005, I spent months researching information about organic food, plastic toys and bottles, cloth diapers, etc. Now that I'm expecting my 2nd, I'm pleased to find that basically everything I painstakingly researched earlier is now available in one well-written book. In fact, I think the advice outlined in this book is not only valuable for expecting and new parents, but for anyone looking for a healthier lifestyle and home.

This book is organized into three sections--transforming (pre-conception), growing (pregnancy), and living (babyhood). In each section, the authors cover food, home environment, work environment, fitness, play, etc. The text is easy to read and accurate, and broken up by essays written by various journalists. I find these essays to be a pleasure to read, not something to skip over. The perspectives are varied and many of them are quite amusing. There is also an abundance of website recommendations throughout the book--a nice perk in any recently published book.

The best sections are the ones that cover food (which are most important to eat organically and why), your house (why not to remodel when pregnant, lead, mold, water filters, plants that can actually filter your air), beauty products (phthalates, what to toss out now), household cleaning products (what's really in them and why it's dangerous), labor (natural or epidural--a great non-judgmental summary of your options), and plastics (why they're dangerous for you and for baby). Some of the advice may be a bit over the top for the average person (can you really afford an organic mattress for you and for baby?), but their advice is sound and not alarmist at all. I'm surprised by the review "Go, Fear Culture, Go!" If it seems like there is danger lurking around every corner, it's because there probably is, not because the authors are trying to scare their readers. I have read far more alarming books about the environment and our health, and I found this one to be a great balance between telling their readers the truth about what's lurking in their aluminum cans and not making you feel helpless.

There are a few sections that I found disappointingly lacking, but most notable was that on diapers. For a book that tauts organic, healthy, and environmentally friendly living, how can the section on cloth diapers be less than two pages? There are so many great cloth diaper options and the authors really gloss over this topic. It appears that in an attempt to cover as many topics as possible, some leave you wanting more (such as the repeated advice to avoid peanuts--if there are no food allergies in your family, why?)

But I still think that this is one of the most important books you'll read while pregnant. It's the only book on the market that I have seen discuss important issues pertaining to mom and baby's health (seriously, even my own doctor had not heard of phthalates or the dangerous chemicals leaking out of my child's #7 plastic baby bottles). I only wish it had been available sooner!

As a man, there isn't much I can relate to about carrying a baby in my body for 9 months. But I do know that I care as much about the child we are bringing into this world as my wife does. We were very careful from the beginnings of pregnancy, starting at our own lifestyle habits at conception, watching everything we ate and drank. But we knew there had to be more we could do to ensure our baby have the best entry into the world. Lliving in los Angeles we constantly worry about pollution. But until my wife handed me this book, I had no idea we should be worrying about pollutants right in our own home. i think this book has saved us and our baby and will make a tremendous difference in how our baby comes into our lives. we now have made our house easily organic thanks to this book. Not only have our cleaning supplies changed, but I've recently painted with only organic paints, I've gotten rid of cheap synthetic carpets in our mud room and I won't let the exterminators into our house anymore. These were such simple and inexpensive things(cleaning with vinegar and water is really much less expensive!) for us to change that I wouldn't even have thought of without having this great reference book.

I know it might seem strange for a man to be so mesmerized by a pregnancy book, but this has made me be able to feel more a part of a healthy pregnancy for my wife than I could have ever imagined.

Great great guide.

I was expecting a thorough, fact-ridden book with loads of information about organic produce and products. While there are some helpful charts, such as the Twelve Most Contaminated Non-Organic Fruits and Vegetables, the Best and Worst Fish, or the Hazards of Household Products, I found this book overall to be unfocused and shallow, filled with uncorroborated statements like, "For swollen extremities you might give an herbalist a shot - some of our friends found them helpful." Organic for Dummies would have been a better title for this book.


At times, these writers deviate from their organic focus, giving women generic advice about what to pack for labor or how to eat one-handed when you have a baby in your arms (buy bags of organic nuts or carrots...Come on! Is this advice I need?) Or perhaps my favorite excerpt, if you do drink coffee during pregnancy buy fair-trade coffee because it "helps family farmers in developing countries gain direct access to international markets and allows them to receive fair prices on their products." These writers haven't done enough research to know how pesticides on coffee beans can affect your developing fetus, but they did manage to define Fair Trade about as thorough as my grocery-store coffee kiosk does.

Overall, I found this book to be trite and not well-researched. For anyone who already shops organic and has read informative books, your time would be better spent on the Internet doing your own Google search. Thirty minutes pulled up better research and information.

Good information here, but it is over-the-top and the tone could be more reasonable. For instance, it says "Some cities, like Portland, Oregon, have designated pesticide-free parks that are worth the trip." Worth the trip?

It also says that you basically need to get rid of all of your beauty products, because they are all toxic. Sorry to be the bearer of good news, but there are women who have worn makeup, had healthy babies, and then lived to be 100. Makeup will not kill you or your baby.

I agree with David Ethan Zoller's review that the book promotes a bit of fear culture. Before reading this book, I was already an organic/vitamins/whole foods/acupuncture/chiropractic type of person, and yet this book has me terrified that everything in my house will kill my baby.

Inhale. Exhale. Remind self that women have been having babies for years, in houses just like mine, and their babies are fine.

This is one of the silliest books I have ever read. You get the feeling that a group of neurotic friends said, "Hey let's capture all the things that we obsesses and worry about when we go to Starbucks and present our personal conversations for the world to see. Let's write our own book!" Honestly, the essays all come from a small group of mostly New York based female journalists who were obviously selected to have their essays published because they are all friends. There is not too much data or research in this book. To me, it appears that it was accepted for publication either because they have connections to the publishing world through their journalism connections or more likely somebody's daddy works in publishing and got them a book deal. So the book is filled with things like, "Don't we girls think that swimming really rocks. BUT, your skin is a big organ and chlorine is in the pool and maybe your skin could absorb the chlorine, so our advice is DON'T SWIM. If you have to swim, try swimming in the sea." This "data" followed by an essay about how one of them called the other and vented about how worried she was that maybe the mold on her shower curtain is toxic mold that could be contaminating her fertilized eggs. What is this? Their experts are "Deirdre's friend" or the New York OB they all go to. For instance, they recommend that you take off all your nail polish. Now, I am very unclear of what the danger of nail polish is AFTER it has dried and the volatile chemicals have evaporated. On the other hand, I would bet using the nail polish remover and volatizing the nail polish again to get it off would have many more risks than just leaving it alone. My speculation is as good as theirs, because their ideas aren't backed up by data.

Pregnancy is of course a terrifying time and an awe-inspiring miraculous time. You are creating a life within you and as mothers we are carrying the awesome responsibility of this. It is all too easy to fall off the deep end and give in to neurotic worrying. This group of immature girls seems to give in to it hook line and sinker. I think if they didn't each have horrible pregnancy experiences they would be dissappointed because they would lose cache in their toxic little circle of friends and have nothing to gossip about. I think it is an extremely unhealthy and unproductive way to face a major life transition.

So, in reality, it is true that there may be many things that could legitimately be harmful that have not yet been research and there truly is a paucity of data on this topic. Since there often is no data, we are in the land of speculation and these girls (and I use the word girls purposefully to highlight their immaturity) have spent a lot of collective time thinking up things which could potentially be harmful. They will certainly have thought of some hazards you have not thought of and might want to take into account. Is it a sophisiticated, balanced, reasonable presentation? Absolutely not. For instance, is it reasonable to advise that women not swim because of the unclear risk of chlorine exposure, even though swimming has clear documented benefits for pregnant women? Is their remedy to go swim in a lake or the sea realistic or responsible? I think not. On the other hand, if it hadn't occurred to you that chlorine might be harmful, it might be helpful to consider it and factor it into your own personal risk/benefit analysis. That's why it got two star and not zero. It will be up to you to supply the maturity they are so obviously lacking.

I LOVE this. Itąs as if that smart, funny friend of yours who always
has the inside scoop on everything decided to research the heck out of all things pregnancy and write an amazing book about it. The authors donąt preach or lecture at you, they just tell you what you need to know ­ but with warmth,encouragement, and a sense of humor.

The whole thing leaves you feeling like a regular person with a regular
life who really can reasonably and realistically make the changes needed to set up the safe, healthy, nurturing home (in the womb and out of it) that such precious cargo deserves. FINALLY someone has sifted through the overwhelming amount of information a concerned pregnant woman (or a dad, or a grandma) is presented with, and whittled it down to a short, sweet, truly enjoyable, ESSENTIAL guide to a healthy conception, pregnancy, and birth. And for that, my baby and I are truly grateful.

I am a professional childbirth assistant (so I've read lots of pregnancy books!), and pregnant with my first baby, and this has been absolutely the BEST resource ever for anyone interested in organic and natural living! It is full of great information, all in one place, and tons of websites listed for each topic, which is even more useful! Any pregnant woman wants information about the "healthiest" or "best" whatever, and this cuts out a lot of the leg work by giving you the resources and information you need. Also a great resource for anyone trying to get pregnant... lots of things you wouldn't think about changing ahead of time. BUY IT!!! You won't be disapointed.

This was the one book I was missing in my library! It is an easy, fun read, loaded with excellent information about how to avoid the chemicals out to harm us and our offspring. It can be a bit overwhelming at times since, while reading, you realize that it is almost impossible to protect yourself from all of it. What I like about this book, and what put me at ease from the very first page, is that the authors are realistic and DO realize this, and basiclly tell you to do the best you can. But you will definately have the information you need after reading this book, the rest is up to you.
Also, the book is a great resource for websites with all the information you need, from organic foods and clothing, to the pollution levels in your particular State, and everything in between!
I recommend this book to anyone serious about making changes in your lifestyle, not just for the sake of your baby, but also yourself.

The whole time I was reading this book I felt incredibly lucky that I had bought it. Every few pages I found a piece of advice or warning that made complete sense, but which I would never have thought of or known about on my own. I'm not a granola chomping vegetarian by any stretch, but the stuff in here made me feel like I was learning what I needed to get a head start on basic, common-sense, good parenting (e.g., not repeatedly reusing the Poland Spring bottle on my desk for water from the cooler when its own label says not to reuse it and studies show that kind of plastic breaks down over time, leaching into my water the very chemicals that are being -- you guessed it -- found in breast milk!). There are a ton of things like that I learned in the book that caused me to make little, easy adjustments that make me feel like I'm doing everything I can to care for my baby before she's even born. I also liked the many diaries written by women sharing the joys and tribulations of being pregnant and giving birth. I'm so happy that I found this book. And who knows? If something I learned helps protect my baby, it will certainly be the best $10 I ever spend.