Celebrity Parents: Nuts, Normal, or ‘Natural’? You Decide.

Celebrities take a lot of flack for their parenting choices, from the public, the pundits and even from each other. (Remember this?) Lately, too, many celebs have been (proudly) touting their natural parenting techniques, and causing quite a stir. Beyonce’s breastfeeding in public, Alicia’s pre-chewing her baby’s food, and Donald Trump is denouncing vaccines. And the media’s jumped all over it, frequently calling crunchy celebs crazy for making alternative choices which in some circles are simply the norm. Read on for my round-up of recent natural celeb parent buzz. Are they nuts, normal, or just parenting ‘naturally’? You be the judge.

Who can resist Jessica Alba? She’s purdy, she’s a mom, she eats organic food, and she recently launched The Honest Company, which delivers chemical-free and cute baby products right to customers’ doorsteps. She’s getting lots of positive attention for her natural mama ways these days, and ranks pretty low on the controversial scale. She’s making ‘natural’ more normal. That’s always nice.

Vegan, activist and actress mom Alicia Silverstone, of Clueless fame, made many viewers gag last week when she publicized (with video footage) her method for feeding her 10-month-old son, Bear Blu: mouth-to-mouth. Now, I’ll admit that, in a pinch, I’d chew up a little bit of food and hand it to Kaspar, when he was first eating mushy solids (though I far preferred to bust out the blender), so I didn’t think much of the media gasp around Alicia’s mama bird trick; I just figured the people gasping weren’t yet parents themselves. But… um… after watching the video, (see it for yourself below, or click here to view on YouTube) I’m a little grossed out. I know there’s not much of a difference between handing and spitting pre-chewed food, but for some reason, Alicia’s approach seems more weird. (That being said, I'm totally digging her blog, The Kind Life). What do you think?

Mayim Bialik -- who you probably know better as Blossom -- wrote a new book about attachment parenting, which she practices with her three-year-old son… who she’s also still breastfeeding. I know some of you think this is natural, and others think it’s no-question nuts. Show of hands?

MadMen’s January Jones (love her!) left repressed Betty Draper in the dust when she ate her own placenta – another burgeoning natural parenting trend – post-delivery. Does the fact that she ingested her after birth in capsule form land this more on the ‘natural’ side than ‘nuts’? Granted, it’s ‘normal’ in the context of mammalian behavior, but most modern humans don’t view it that way.

Just in time for Autism Awareness Month (going on now!), Donald Trump told Fox News that he believes vaccines are responsible for the spectrum disorder, which is occurring in increasing numbers of kids, year over year. Former Playmate Jenny McCarthy, whose son is Autistic, also believes vaccinations are to blame for what many call the Autism Epidemic. I’ve blogged about my own family’s experience with vaccine reactions, and my ambivalence around messing with kids’ immune systems; there was no shortage of comments on that one. Some parents say calling vaccines dangerous is nuts, while others steer clear at all costs. What did you think of Trump’s controversial statement?

Can’t wait to see how you all weigh in on this recent wave of natural celeb parenting action! Nuts? Normal? ‘Natural Parenting’ at its best? Tell us what you really think!

PS. Don't forget your daily dose of my other blog, Alt-Mama! Stop by and say hi. :-)