As I am getting ready and shopping for my baby number two, a big question that some of my friends are asking me is why do I choose organic cotton for his bedding, clothing and pretty much every thing and anything that he will have close contact with. I thought to myself, If half of my friends are struggling to understand the difference between organic cotton and conventional cotton and why am I paying more to get the organic kind, then there must be more parents and parents to be, who might need to know the difference. So I feel obligated to spread my knowledge and what I have learned from my years of research to more people

What to consider when buying baby clothes:

Even though there are tons and tons of cute baby clothes and bedding out there, cuteness is not the only factor when it comes  to baby clothing. The most important thing for a newborn baby is comfort. we need to pick materials that are easy to breath and soft on skin. so this alone will rule out some of the materials like polyester and nylon. the softest and most breathable fabrics for baby clothing are Cotton and Bamboo. With cotton being most widely used in clothing. I found bamboo clothing harder to find and little more pricey compare to Organic cotton.

Organic cotton Vs. conventional cotton.

Fact:  According to USDA 94 percent of cotton grown in the USA is genetically modified (GMO).

what does GMO mean and how it can effect our health:

GM cotton is engineered with one of two traits. One makes it resistant to glyphosate-based herbicides such as Monsanto’s Roundup, while the other stimulates the plant to produce a toxin that kills the boll-worm, one of the crop’s primary pests. This pest-resistant cotton is engineered with a gene from the bacteria Bacillus thurengiensis or “Bt”.

Glyphosate alone has been linked to many health risks in humans such as, Endocrine disruptor, Possible link to Autismdamages cellular DNA, and more.

Unfortunately there are a ton of controversy regrading the reliability of these studies and if GMO crops will actually be harmful to humans, but to me if something has even 1% chance of harming my family, I will choose to stay away from.

even if we forget Glyphosate, and GMO, still conventionally grown Cotton has been treated with tons of pesticides and pesticides have been linked  to a wide range of diseases such as, asthma, learning disability, several types of cancer and many more.

Pesticide residues left in conventional cotton after processing and washing:

some might argue that even though conventionally grown cotton will be sprayed and treated with tons of different pesticides and chemicals, when they get processed into fabrics and you wash them, these harmful substances will wash away.

Fact: Unfortunately once again there is a big debate between the industry saying that there are no pesticides residues left in the fabric after all the milling and processing, and the few scientific data that show residues of pesticides found in our conventional cotton fabric .

However there is one point that almost everybody seems to agree upon and that is the fact that cotton crops are grown using many millions of pounds of chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.  And research shows that extensive and intensive use of synthetic fertilizers, soil additives, defoliants and other substances wreak terrible havoc on soil, water, air and many, many living things. So it is your decision if despite every thing else you want to help protect our environment or not.

Bottom line:

Unfortunately, as of today there are no clear answers as whether GMO or BT cotton is safe to use by humans specially the fragile little ones, whose immune system has not had a chance to strengthen. 

call me a mother bear, but I like, as any other parent, to protect my children from any harm. If there is even 1% chance of something hurting my kids, I will stay away from it as far as I can. 

It is inevitable that my babies will get in contact with these harmful chemicals eventually, since they are pretty much every where in our environment including the air that we breath, but I can do my part to make sure they won’t be exposed to these at least in our home environment. 

My choice is clear. I prefer to risk my money rather than my kids health. What about you? have you made your choice? 

As always, stay happy and healthy



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