Gentry – A New Mother’s Plea for Cotton

Although I was raised in rural Middle Georgia, I was not very familiar with agriculture, nor was I familiar with the fashion and textile industries. The closest Target or any major retail store was an hour away. We would occasionally make a Saturday girl’s trip to the nearest mall to shop for school clothes. Like many of us, I was fortunate enough to never have to wonder where my next meal would come from or if I would have clothes on my back. However, because of this, I also never once thought about the source of my foods or clothes. I had never thought about reading a label or an ingredient list, until the day I found out I was expecting my first child. This is the moment the saying “A baby changes everything” hit me. I changed in more ways than one.

The journey of motherhood is absolutely wild. There is so much transition that takes place, one being discernment. You care so deeply for your child that you want the very best for him or her. You become more mindful of situations you may have never thought about before. From this moment of realizing I was caring for more than just myself, but a very vulnerable baby who completely relied on me and how I lived, I began to research for nine months the importance of having an awareness of ingredients that I put in and on my body. I researched what vitamins and minerals were most important for the growth and health of my baby to supply him with the proper nutrition he needed to grow. Through this, I also learned many of the harmful toxins and ingredients we consume with or without realizing it.

I began working in the cotton industry almost five years ago. From that time, I began favoring cotton, of course. I also learned about cotton’s competitors that wanted to promote themselves as all the great things cotton is – soft, cozy, breathable, sustainable, etc. I do believe that my generation is becoming more mindful about the health of their lifestyle and environmental factors, but most of all, they strictly focus on the foods they consume without realizing the toxicity that something like polyester has on our environment and our health. That whole closet of expensive clothing made of very cheap polyester is a major contributing factor to the microplastics we consume physically as well as those our waterways when being washed. One research study concluded that the average person consumes roughly a credit card’s worth of plastic each week (Senathirajah et al, 2021)! I knew much of this information prior to becoming a mother, but like I said, I did not necessarily care about the how it affected the health of myself and my loved ones until I was expecting. I made it a top priority to consider my baby’s health, considering research that shows a baby develops the most during the first 1000 days from the time of conception (Likhar & Patil, 2022). I wanted to give my child the best I could and limit as many toxins as I could, and those from polyester being foremost. For example, I made a conscious effort to make sure that everything I bought or registered for was cotton. Think of all the things we use, especially for babies: towels, bath cloths, diapers, burp cloths, bibs, clothes, sheets, blankets, wipes, q-tips, band aids, and the clothes the mom is wearing while holding her baby. Most of their entire infant life is covered in those items, and I wanted to make sure the only fiber touching my baby’s skin was cotton. Reading the labels on these items to see what they are made from became a habit. From that day forward, we have and will continue to strive to only wear cotton.

From the very beginning, God has provided mankind with natural fibers and foods to clothe us and nourish our bodies, so we should take a harder look at product labels. I have chosen to make changes in our home for our overall health and well-being. We have gone back to a simpler way of living – eating real food and wearing cotton.  Cotton is natural, breathable, and sustainable. Next time you are out shopping, check your label and buy cotton. Not only for your own health, but also to support Georgia farmers. Without our farmers, we don’t have food or fiber.

Sources:

Likhar, A., & Patil, M. S. (2022). Importance of Maternal Nutrition in the First 1,000 Days of Life and Its Effects on Child Development: A Narrative Review. Cureus, 14(10), e30083. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.30083