Natural babies
Making the decision to have a child is a wonderful, life-changing moment in life. Having made that decision, the last thing you want is to have difficulty conceiving. Equally, you want the pregnancy to be as smooth and the baby as healthy as possible. In the modern world that means reducing your exposure to toxins, getting the appropriate nutrition and getting your life in order.
An increasingly toxic world
A 2015 article by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) blamed the rise in environmental chemicals across our planet for an increase in fertility issues and miscarriage as well as congenital defects, low birth weights, and intellectual, cognitive and neurobehavioral disorders in children.
There are now 70,000–100,000 (mostly untested) chemicals used in global commerce, the authors of the report reveal. This includes almost 800 environmental chemicals known or suspected to impact on the endocrine (hormone) system. These include dioxin and chemicals within pesticides, plastics, flame retardants, pharmaceuticals and everyday products.
“Exposure to toxic environmental chemicals during pregnancy and breastfeeding is ubiquitous and is a threat to healthy human reproduction,” the FIGO authors wrote, stating that the burden of environmental pollutants is largely being borne by children and families.
Horribly, one doesn’t have to be living near a factory to be affected by chemical exposures. Such toxins routinely contaminate our water, food supply and air, entering our bodies through breathing, eating, drinking or via our skin. Capable of crossing the placenta, commonly found in breastmilk and able to adversely affect DNA, they are in our personal care, cleaning and renovation products, toys, homes and workplaces.
One example is mercury (released from the burning of fossil fuels and medical waste and present in many everyday products). Mercury has accumulated in the environment and food chain to the extent that the main route of exposure for most humans is through eating upper food chain fish. One of the most toxic substances on the planet, mercury is damaging to the reproductive and endocrine systems and is associated with mental retardation, cerebral palsy and birth defects in children exposed in utero, as well as miscarriage and stillbirth.
Founder of the Jocelyn Centre, Australia’s first integrated naturopathic and medical clinic devoted to natural fertility management, Francesca Naish has authored The Natural Way to Better Babies, and The Natural Way to Better Pregnancy. Naish claims our fertility and, through it, the health we bestow our children, is suffering because of the growth of toxic chemicals, heavy metals and radiation in our lives. “We’re probably exposed to up to 200 chemicals before we have breakfast in the morning,” she says.
“While we need more nutrition than ever to deal with this onslaught of chemicals, the fresh food we depend upon to build healthy sperm, eggs and children in utero has less nutritional value than in the past,” Naish says. In a 2017 report to the Prime Minister, National Advocate for Soil Health, Michael Jeffery, drew attention to the issue of growing soil infertility. According to Jeffery’s report, more than 30 per cent of the world’s land is degraded because
