It’s a whole new world
When you become a parent, everything changes. You discover a lot of new skills that you never knew you’d need and you ask a lot of new questions too.

You may start with the obvious questions – How much sleep do I really need...? Where’s the nearest shop with baby changing?

But at some point or another, you’ll start to ask yourself the bigger questions – How can I be a better parent? What do I want to do differently for my children? What kind of future can they look forward to?

Big questions never have short answers and every parent finds their own way to answer them. Nevertheless, happily, the answer to a good handful of those questions is ORGANIC.

It works for the small questions:

1. What should I eat when pregnant or breast feeding? Healthy, balanced, organic food.
2. What are the best foods to use for weaning? Organic foods, of course!
3. What’s softest next to newborn skin? Natural organic fabrics.
4. How can I improve my child’s eczema? Dress them with an organic cotton base layer. Okay, this question’s never going to have a simple answer, but putting organic cotton next to their skin is a good place to start.

And it works the big middle-of-the-night type questions too: 

1. How can I do my bit to make the world a better place? Choose organic.
2. What type of future do I want to offer my children? Happy and green and sustainable and yes, you guessed it, organic.

So what’s so good about organic?
By definition, organic means something natural and healthy. A great deal of time and effort is put in by both the people producing organic and by the people who certify it organic, to make sure that organic products contain not a single trace of anything nasty. At no point in its life has it been genetically modified, sprayed with toxins, dipped, mashed, or coated with anything that couldn’t be considered entirely healthy and natural. For cotton, this means that it’s grown in sustainable farmland that’s rich in both insect life and soil quality. It’s processed using non-toxic methods. It’s dyed using natural dyes and it’s finally sewn into clothing or bedding in factories that are healthy, happy, sunshiney places to be. Sounds good? That’s because it is!

The hidden cost of cotton
Buying organic often means choosing to pay a bit more than for bog standard produce. So here are some horrid factoids for you to bandy about when other parents ask you why you might decide to spend a little extra on organic...

• Conventionally grown cotton occupies only 2.5% of the world’s farmland, but uses 16% of the world’s chemical pesticides.
• Many of the pesticides and chemicals used in the treatment of conventional cotton are known carcinogens, neurotoxins and endocrine disruptors.
• 49% of the cotton being grown worldwide is now genetically modified.
• Cotton farming is also a major user of toxic herbicides, fungicides and defoliants. During processing, cotton is subjected to chlorine bleach, heavy metal dyes and formaldehyde resins , all of which can leave toxic residues which remain in the fabric and can be absorbed through the skin.

Organic heroes
Happily, there are thousands of organic cotton farmers and organic manufacturers out there, who are working together to offer an alternative to industrial agriculture and manufacturing. Growing organically has far reaching environmental and health benefits, both for the farmers, the environment, and all the people who take part in the manufacturing process. For many farmers and manufacturers, this makes going organic a risk worth taking. Nevertheless, sustainable farming and manufacturing processes represent both an investment and a leap of faith, so it’s a courageous choice.

Happily, many people just like you are taking action too, by choosing to buy organic. This simple choice creates a market in which organic farmers and manufacturers can thrive and grow. It’s also, slowly but surely, putting pressure on the larger manufacturers and distributors to expand their own organic ranges. And so it grows!

One easy answer
There are few easy answers when you’re a parent. Every decision you take for your family feels vitally important. So isn’t it nice, when, now and again, you come across an answer that feels like common sense.

Deciding to go organic means opting for healthy, pure, natural, environmentally friendly and sustainable. If only all of life’s questions were as easy to answer!