Hellobee Boards

Hmm.. We are big recyclers and eat a lot of organic food. We bring our own bags to the store. We avoid fast food and are very liberal politically. I BF for 13 months and made my own baby food. We sorta co-slept and and very anti-spanking.
BUT: we use disposable diapers, LO hated baby wearing, we are VERY pro vaccine, I'm very wary of all things homeopathic such as essential oils and amber necklaces, we allow him to watch TV and he does have occasional junk food. Oh and we give/take medicine for pain and I loved my epidural and will do it again!
I said a 5.

We BF beyond 2 years, did CIO, loved baby-wearing and the stroller, made my own homemade organic purees, try to avoid plastics, watched TV before 2... so somewhere in between.

I'm a 10! I'm silky-smooth!

I'm a full time working, hospital birthing, formula feeding, disposable nappy using, puree loving, jarred baby food buying, unlimited screen time allowing, stroller-using, crib sleeping, sleep training, sugar-feeding, vaccine pushing, plastic worshiping mummy! I don't think twice about giving E paracetamol medicine. You couldn't pay me to home school. I keep my toddler on a leash.... and I don't care who sees!

9--and not 10, just because I did EBF for 4 months and I babywore occasionally.

I voted 8: we use disposable diapers, we didn't make their baby food, they were 100% formula fed after about a week, I had a csection with my first and didn't even consider a VBAC with the 2nd. We sleep trained. We are big fans of medicine. No co-sleeping. They love screen time, and in sure there are more things. But...I did use an amber teething necklace with DD, I loved wearing my kids, but that was more out of convenience. Loosely did BLW, and RF past a year(where around here it's much more common to flip them at 1)

@Cherrybee: ok, so if you're a 10, then I'm a 9! Pretty much all the same except sleep training.

Is recycling really considered "crunchy"?! Even the most silky people I know recycle... actually, I don't know a single person who doesn't. I guess I find many of these distinctions really arbitrary.

Like a 6. I babywear, I'm pro-vax, I BF past a year, I buy organic baby food and milk, I loved my epidural SO MUCH, I use the stroller for running, I co-slept with my first, half the time with my second and not at all with my third (she doesn't like sharing her sleeping space).

I think now that I have three kids, I'm much more silky...and I realize being "silky" or "crunchy" doesn't matter. My kids are loved. That's all that matters.

Except vaccinating...that one is important still haha.

8?

We roomshared, but not bed shared until about 2 months. Sleep training at 4 months. Switched from BF to FF at 5 months when my elimination diet just couldn't fix the bleeding, but had hoped and planned to BF to 2ish. Mostly homemade purées here, but buy pouches and cans to supplement. And that's mostly because I am cheap. I have zero fear that the babyfood companies are trying to unload their worst produce on my baby. Pro-vax, and pro-Western medicine. Anti-Weston Price, Dr. Mercola, and the Food Babe. Tylenol over teething biscuits and Amber necklaces. We baby wore a lot in the beginning, but now spend most of our time on the floor. Have a very slightly used stroller and am unsure whether it will be used this summer or if Babywearing will reign supreme again (probably depends on my ability to figure out back carries). I also take her into stores now in her bucket seat because it is too cold to fuss with a carrier. I used to love wrapping, but my mei tai is just so much easier. Disposable diapers. Pacifiers. Some screen time. C-section (although there was no other option). Eat organic for some stuff, but mostly am just not concerned. Give zero sh*ts about GMOs. Absolutely recycle! Just ordered PolyViSol drops and am not overly concerned with the dangers of plastic as compared to the dangers of broken glass. I thought I'd be super crunchy, but am so not. And there is no way I will homeschool.

I'm with @Rainbow Sprinkles: on this one I think. I lead a very crunchy lifestyle but like to add in some silky stuff now and again to save my sanity.

Homemade/natural cleaning products. Organic or homegrown/farm fresh/local food, raw milk, cloth diapers. No processed/boxed food. EBF except when I lost my milk supply at 5 months with my first due to pregnancy. Cast iron and stainless steel cookware. Babywearing. I bedshared for first 6 months with both kids. Homemade baby food. We eat soaked grains. Very pro WAPF. Acupuncture and chiropractic and homeopathy! Attempted home birth with my first. Breastmilk and coconut oil fix (almost!!) everything.

And yet occasionally I will use a disposables, I'm not worried about a little screen time, and I think pouches and my stroller are SO handy for being out and about!!

I'm pro parenting that works for you and your kids!

@blackbird: I see it as considering the perception (of others) as to how crunchy or silky we are, not how we see ourselves.

I don't think there is a political correlation. ew. lol

I'm a pretty silky parent. Maybe an 8 or 9?

The main thing for me is, what works for our family? There are certain things that I feel are really important or healthy, and I try to go with, what I think, the best option is. I don't really care if it falls on the crunchy or silky scale. With that said, all my decisions seem to fall on the silkier side of things.

I'm a pretty silky smooth parent. LO came into the world via a scheduled c-section, and although I have no issues with natural remedies (and do sometimes use them), I have zero hangups turning to "big pharma" when I need to.

I do plenty of crunchy things, I guess, but I don't do them because I subscribe to any particular parenting philosophy. I babywear because it works for LO (no complaining/trying to escape/whining) and it's comfy. We began to co-sleep because I was going back to work and needed LO to STTN - it worked, and we've just continued with it. We eat whole, real foods because they taste better and because I like supporting local farmers and local retailers over big box, when I can. I use "natural" products on LO because she (and I) have sensitive skin, but not because OMG shampoo has chemicals in it.

Meh, I guess at the end of the day I just think of myself as a parent. I do think "crunchy" is an en-vogue label right now for many.

Before lo arrived I had plans to make my own baby food, cloth diaper, ec, baby wear which all fell by the way side. I think I'm a 5 or 6 now.

@Cherrybee: haha love it!!

@Mrs. Toad: Gotcha. I'm sure a lot of these factors vary a lot by region.

More silk than crunch. Probably a solid 7-8.
On the silky side I: Think pain relief and c-sections are a-ok during birth, vaccinate on schedule and am 150% behind vaccines in general, use disposables, have no problem whatsoever with age appropriate screen time on TVs and iPads, trust western medicine and science and use pharmaceuticals when directed to (although I believe not all providers are created equal, and am fussy with who I will see and believe in being a self-advocate), don't really buy into avoiding gender stereotypes apart from reinforcing that it's ok for boys and girls to like and do stuff that 'isn't marketed for them', believe in sleep training and routines, don't co-sleep, am fine with formula feeding, will let my child eat McDonalds, and will smack as a last resort.
On the crunchy side I: Live a clean lifestyle and incorporate supplements and health foods into my diet, care about recycling, avoid certain ingredients and irritants in body care and cleaning products and buy environmentally friendly products whenever it is practical to do so, love baby-wearing (more for convenience) and believe in play-based learning.

So many ways to raise wonderful children!

I planned to be crunchy before L was born! I was all set to be a baby wearing, homeade puree makin, ebf to at least a year, cloth diapering, mostly stay at home, totally anti-cio mama. And then life and my particular baby happened and it got real silky real fast. Cloth diaper dropout, exclusively formula fed by 4 months, vaccine loving, Johnson and Johnson no tears shampoo CIO baby is thriving though and I'm happy it worked for our family. I do try to give her healthy food but have a very everything in moderation approach and it's rarely organic! And we don't really do screentime but that's because she could care less about the tv. It's usually on as background noise but very rarely to kid's shows because she's too busy destroying our apartment. So I'm a pretty solid 9. But I have friends that are 2s! You gotta do you

ETA: oh, and my plans for a med free birth went totally out the window after 2 weeks of early labor. Epi please! My only regret is waiting 12 hours of active labor to get it!!

I think I'm about a 7?

Most of the crunchy things I did were out of convenience. We bed shared for months because that's the only way we could get any sleep. I breastfed for 7m but then lost my supply. I tried to CD but failed. I babywear because I like it, but we're both kind of over it at 15 months and 26.5 lb. I do make my own baby food sometimes with leftover veggies. And no screen time for about a year.

Right now with all these snow storms I'd LOVE it if the kid would sit and watch cartoons! I formula fed for 5 months and feel no guilt. We did CIO and have a kid that sleeps 12 hours a night. I love my stroller, I give Motrin for teething and pro vax all the way.