little feet, big sky

As if nutrition during pregnancy isn’t confusing enough, there’s more than plenty misleading advice on eating fish while pregnant. Some say eat more fish, as it’s a great source of lean protein and high in valuable omega-3 essential fatty acids, important for brain development and more. Others say to avoid it for possible mercury contamination, possibly linked to autism and other developmental disorders, or for environmental concerns with overfishing, etc.

So when standing in front of the seafood section at the grocery store, or when eating out, how do you know what to choose?

I’ve come to rely on the Green Guide’s Smart Shopper Fish Picks, from National Geographic. It’s a handy list of seafood choices ordered into three categories: YES fish, NO fish and SOMETIMES fish. YES fish are selections that are either low in mercury (L) or not overfished or farmed destructively. SOMETIMES fish are either moderate in mercury (M) or recovering stocks, and NO fish are either farmed destructively, overfished and/or high in mercury (MM). The list makes distinctions between species from different locations (ie., Atlantic vs. Pacific cod) which helps to make local choices, as well as other important facts like farmed, trap-caught, wild-caught, etc. For example, while Atlantic mackerel is low in mercury and listed as a YES fish, the note that it’s “purse seine-caught” reminds me that this method of fishing often captures other than the intended catch, such as dolphins or turtles, and also can lead to catching more than can be transported or processed, leading to waste and overfishing. I don’t think it’s a fair tradeoff for my child to be mercury-free and healthy, if there’s not much of a world left for him or her to enjoy!

On a side note, I would suggest pregnant women stay away from farmed fish. While it may seem like the healthier or more ecologically-friendly option, farmed fish often are limited in room, which makes them more susceptible to disease, which in turn leads to the use of antibiotics. Not only does that imply our consumption of said antibiotics, but run-off from fish farms contaminates fish and sea life in the wild.

If you have a mobile web phone or PDA, add a bookmark to the mobile version of the Fish Picks guide: m.thegreenguide.com/fish.mhtml.

Personally, I’ve been disinterested in most fish while pregnant, though I’m still happy to eat shellfish and such. Has anyone had any interesting stories with eating seafood while pregnant?

At the end of the day, I feel I get better value from my magazine subscriptions than from purchased books. The content feels fresher, the material more quickly digestible and the portability is pretty good. By far, my favorite parenting magazine has been . The articles are insightful and well-written and the commercialism kept to a minimum. Perhaps the only thing missing would be a little more diversity in content, but that could be said of most magazines.

I was going to recommend Cookie, but on hindsight, I remember now just how commercial it was. (Not to mention the editorial focus on mothers being fashionable rather than competent. Think Cosmo for the newly initiated.) Rather like the FitPregnancy I’ve been subscribed to for the past year, it’s as if the articles are there to provide spacing from pages and pages of ads. Though, I must admit, that for a mainstream magazine, FitPregnancy has been pretty good on writing balanced articles (if you can call ten sentences an “article”) with favorable mentions of homebirth, breast-feeding, etc. It’s just not enough for me to recommend when every three pages is an ad for formula.

A one-year digital subscription to Mothering saves trees and is only $12. :-)

Any other parenting or pregnancy magazine recommendations?

The spouse and I met up with my sister for lunch breakfast this morning at 888 Seafood for dim sum in Monterey Park. When she got out of the car, she was excited to show me mangosteens she had found at the nearby Ranch 99, a chain of Chinese supermarkets. The spouse loves mangosteens so we planned to stop by on the way home and pick up some.

Only that we got to the nearby Ranch 99 and couldn’t find them! We called my sister who explained that they’d gone to the Hawaiian Supermarket instead and bought them there. Doh. We scored some lychees and a frozen, but promisingly fragrant durian at the 99 Ranch and headed over the Hawaiian Supermarket for the mangosteens. (That place is a zoo on the weekends!)

It’s because there are no comfortable shoes in sight when you leave your Crocs 300 miles north at your mother’s house and your Tevas are just too much on/off work to wear around the house. Bleah.

I opened the box of Lansinoh lanolin to put in my nightstand drawer and being the kind of freak that reads all the silly packaging materials, I noticed a statement on the insert that suggested using Lansinoh while pregnant to help prepare your nipples for breastfeeding. Of course, being in the organizing mood at the time, I just went “huh, that’s interesting” and tossed out the insert.

But somehow, it creeped back into my mind as I was oiling the belly and breasts towards the end of this morning’s shower – should I skip the vitamin E oil on the boobs in the shower and start using Lansinoh instead? How exactly does lanolin “help prepare” your nipples prior to their future role as suckers-for-a-lifetime? Soften them? Toughen them? I’ve scoured the Lansinoh site for that insert message, but couldn’t find it or any reference to using Lansinoh while pregnant. Hmm, back to doing things the old-fashioned way…

Lanolin is an emollient, which translates to “softener” in my brain; Wikipedia seems to agree with me on that one. According to the encyclopedia god, emollients have three properties: 1) the oil ability to block moisture from escaping, 2) some humectant ability to help the uppermost layer of skin retain more water, and 3) lubrication for the skin against other things. (Like little vampire baby gums, I’d imagine.) So Lansinoh, being “100% pure lanolin”, works like a barrier cream to protect your nipples while breast-feeding from drying, cracking and such. In pregnancy, I’m guessing it probably helps to do something of the same so that you’re less likely to start out the gate with dry nipples.

So maybe I could still use regular food-safe body oils for a similar purpose while pregnant, but have you ever felt lanolin? The stuff is thick and gunky, and I supposed I’d better get used to it now. I like the idea of using a little expressed breastmilk to treat sore/dry nipples, but it seems that doesn’t always work for everyone.

If you have any experience using Laninsoh either while pregnant or while breastfeeding, please share! I’m a curious critter for this stuff… :-)

I have to admit, I’ve been struggling with the clothing issue in the past couple of weeks. I flat out refuse to buy more maternity clothes for just another four weeks. But I’ve noticed that even my biggest maternity tops are starting to rise up a little at the bottom as they valiantly try to cover my belly. :-( So last night, with 7 minutes to take a shower and get ready for dinner out at a small Italian place with friends, I randomly tossed on my cheap but reliable maternity jeans from Mimi Maternity, my white American Apparel bandeau dress and a denim jacket bought on sale from Old Navy Maternity. Voila! Insta-outfit!

I think I’ve covered what maternity clothing I had before, but now I’m actually near the end and should share what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. Tragically, I must admit that some of these brands are not at all eco-friendly. :-( In hindsight, I wish I’d been more prepared as my body changed, and therefore less desperate to just get something that fit. *sigh* Next time.

What’s worked:

• Cheap tank tops and tees from Old Navy. I bought half a dozen on sale and have worn them the most. They’ve held up awesome through machine washes and wear.
• Maternity jeans from Mimi Maternity. These have also held up pretty good. The “secret fit belly” elastic has probably stretched a bit, but it’s still perfectly elastic. I’ll probably pick up an extra one when we get to the next bun in the oven, as I’ve practically lived in these for the past 6 months.
• Spa pants from lucy. A nice variation from jeans. Looks like light cargos, but stretchy, breathable and comfortable. Though I do untie the drawstring when sitting down. Perfect for lounging, running errands or prenatal yoga.
• Organic underwear from American Apparel. Just so comfortable!
• Victoria’s Secret IPEX wireless bra. No, I’m not a VS fan – I only buy bras every 3-4 years and I had these already. But being wireless is a huge plus with expanding boobs, and these have been really comfortable to wear. I read somewhere that it’s the changes during pregnancy that ruin breasts, not breast-feeding, and the more you can do to support & take care of them while pregnant, the better.
• Random pajama bottoms, screw the tops. They don’t fit anyway and I figure going around bare-chested at night is good preparation for those early breast-feeding days, right? :-)
• Crocs & Tevas. Easy to slip on and off and comfortable to wear. Free shipping both ways from Zappos.

What’s not worked:

• Elastic-waisted pants. If they’re tight enough to keep the pants up, then they’ve been too tight for comfort once sitting down.
• My favorite SmartWool tops. Itchy on a nerve-desensitized belly. Really annoying over the course of the day.
• Shoes that require socks. I’m up for the Olympic-scale task of putting on socks no more than once a day. No more than that.
• Old Navy Maternity Hoodies. Ugh. Cut like a moo-moo, and ridiculously thin. Don’t waste your money.
• Nightgowns. Nothing is more infuriating than trying to turn or get comfortable in bed with a dress-like thing twisted and bunched up around you.
• Some underwear. Some of mine, the more fashionable ones, sadly, get tight around the legs at times. *sigh* Of course, this never applies to the “granny panty” ones, does it?