Cloth Diaper Retailer Cooperative: A Different Kind of Back to School (and a Giveaway!)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

A Different Kind of Back to School (and a Giveaway!)

Happy September! I am Kathleen, the owner of Cottontail Baby and her sister site Mamaclothonline. We live in gorgeous, green, lake-filled Minnesota where, as if on cue, the moment Labor Day weekend and the Minnesota State Fair were over the weather turned cold with brisk winds and crisp air. Summer is done and it is time to turn our attention to more serious pursuits like school and the Vikings. I love the Fall. Maybe it is all those years of going to school with new notebooks and paper and freshly sharpened pencils but it seems more a season of new beginnings to me than Spring ever does. A chance to begin again and make good choices and succeed and write new chapters.

One issue we struggle with at Back to School is sleep. Weaning our school age kids off their summer bedtimes and into school bedtimes is a significant challenge in our home.

As if psychically knowing exactly what our family is experiencing, the Science Times this Tuesday was full of articles on kids and sleep and school and studying. I thought this blog post was a good opportunity to share a couple things I read. The first has to do with kids and sleep and weight. We all know there is an obesity epidemic in this country. We also all know that there is a correlation between getting adequate nightly sleep and weight issues later in life. The Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine entered the dialogue with another study linking lack of adequate sleep in young children to becoming overweight or obese later in life. According to the study, children under 5 who did not receive at least 10 hours of sleep each night (naps do NOT count) were almost twice as likely to be overweight or obese later in life than those kids who did get the sleep. The belief is that sleep affects hormones that regulate hunger and appetite. Fortunately for the children of the world, sleep is an easily modifiable risk factor.

There was a second kids and weight article in the Times this week. This one did not have to do with sleep being a risk factor but the mother's weight. Yes, again, it is always Mommy's fault. According to this study, excessive weight gain in pregnancy can lead to larger than average infants who are prenatally programmed to become overweight adults with all the health issues associated with excessive weight (diabetes, heart disease, cancer). According to the National Academy of Sciences, fewer than 40% of women gain ONLY the recommended amount of weight during their pregnancy. The other 60% pack on too many pounds. Piggybacking on this phenomenon is that most women do not lose all their pregnancy weight before entering into another pregnancy causing them to start off heavier and gain more each time.

A similar study of British children found that at age 9, kids of women whose weight gain exceeded their physician's recommendations were fatter than other kids, more likely to become overweight and had multiple risk factors for heart disease as well as poorer immune function. In an editorial associated with the publication of this study in Circulation, Dr. Neal Halfon from the Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities at the University of California, Los Angeles said "You can't turn around in the nine months of pregnancy what's been going on for many years of life. The preconception period is critical to placing pregnancy on a healthier trajectory."

I really liked this quote as it seemed to encapsulate what we are trying to do here on the Cloth Diaper Retailer Blog. Help families lead healthier lives for themselves and their children. We help not only by selling the tools to a greener and cleaner lifestyle but also by giving tips and hints and advice on how to make it easier and not onerous. For example, the posting a week or so ago Simple Steps to Start Canning giving tips on how to can fresh vegetables from your garden. Not only does this help in saving money at the grocer but it also allows your family to eat pesticide free produce that has not been frozen wrapped in chemical laden plastic or canned in sodium rich tin.

So, what do you think? In this season of new beginnings what changes are you going to make to help your family lead a greener and healthier lifestyle?

Giveaway

I spent some time thinking of what would be the best item from our inventory to giveaway to readers. Something that incorporated this posting's theme of new beginnings and learning and healthlier lifestyles and it became clear. A trainer! We are huge fans here of both the Happy Heiny's trainer for kids in the early stages of potty learning and the Imse Vimse trainer for kids who have mastered potty learning but still have occasional accidents.

For this month, I believe we will go with the Happy Heiny trainer. We love the Happy Heiny for being so customizable. With the Happy Heinys Pocket Trainer you can pick the color and snap option (no snaps, snaps on one side, snaps on both sides) that works best for your child as well as stuff it with as much or as little as you need. We will giveaway one Happy Heiny's pocket trainer in any regular size, color and snap option the winner desires.

In order to enter (Please leave a separate comment for each entry. If you already are a fan or already subscribe, leave a comment saying so):

1. MANDATORY entry: Stop by Cottontail Baby and check out the selection of Happy Heinys products. Tell us what you like most about the brand.

2. Follow this blog for an entry.

3. Become a fan of Cottontail Baby on Facebook.

4. Become a fan of CDRC of Facebook.

5. Join the Cottontail Baby mailing list

6. Follow the Cottontail Baby blog, Clothdiaperonline.

Thanks!