The Complete Organic Pregnancy by Dolan and Zissu: a Must Read

‘The Complete Organic Pregnancy’ by Deirdre Dolan and Alexandra Zissu has been making waves in America’s mommy circles.  Many reviews and blogs are singing the praises of this new book as well expressing concern over the hidden dangers in our environment.

The Hidden Dangers

Some of the hidden dangers addressed by the authors of‘The Complete Organic Pregnancy’are quite shocking.  Who knew that ignoring that tiny little saying on the side of your favorite bottled water that says “Do Not Reuse” could be so dangerous?  Evidently, these plastic bottles are made of plastic #1 which easily breaks down and can leach into your drinking water, and everyone knows that it’s not healthy to consume recycled plastic.

The authors point out some obvious pollutants such as compressed wood, paints, carpets and mattresses. Even that great new nail polish you got on sale last week is toxic.  Reading the label on your cosmetics can be confusing even to a chemist.  What exactly are those ingredients?  Do we have any idea what they do to our bodies?

What’s a Mother to Do?

The authors of‘The Complete Organic Pregnancy’do have lots of suggestions to live healthier and give our babies a better chance at good health.  It’s a good thing they didn’t leave out the solutions to the problems.  But before you panic, we need to keep in mind that there are things that we can do to reduce our exposure and have healthy babies.

Don’t reuse plastic water bottles.  Not only does the plastic break down, but bacteria proliferate at an alarming rate inside the little nooks and crannies.  Also get your drinking water tested for lead.

Buy nontoxic cleaning products or better yet make your own.  You can concoct combinations of liquid soap, baking powder, vinegar and water to create safer cleaning products for your home.

Choose beauty products with fewer ingredients or ones with more natural ingredients.  Those would be the ones you can pronounce and actually recognize.

Do not remodel your home, paint nursery walls or install brand new furniture or carpeting while pregnant.  These items emit toxins into the air.

Throw out your cast iron skillet.  They are made of a porous metal and as the metal heats up, these pores open allowing what’s in the pan to actually enter the pan.  As the pan cools, some particles are trapped in the nice moist dark environment of the metal and serves as an optimal breeding ground for bacteria. Yuk!


The authors of ‘The Complete Organic Pregnancy’ have tons of information and suggestions on how to have a completely organic and healthy pregnancy .  It’s a must have book for anyone who ever plans to have children.  We all want to have happy, healthy children and this book is a great first step.