Kermit the Frog said, "It's not easy being green," and sometimes it seems as though this applies to living a green lifestyle as well. However, having a natural pregnancy, childbirth, and implementing green baby care routines can help you raise a healthy child. While this may take some thought and time, who better to help you prepare than Dr. Alan Greene! Kids In The House interviewed Dr. Greene to share with you some of his top tips for going green and raising a healthy baby!

A few years ago, Dr. Greene worked with an environmental group, which studied babies at the moment of their birth to determine what kinds of things are transmitted to them in the womb. “And what we found was kind of shocking,” said Dr. Greene. “We found 200 industrial chemicals in babies at the moment of birth… What that teaches us is that what's out there in the world isn't just out there. It gets into us and even into the inner sanctum of the womb.” He suggests three tips to help reduce the amount of chemicals going into your body during pregnancy. He says to check your cleaning supplies and the fumes you are ingesting through them. He encourages pregnant mothers to check the beauty care products they are using and the ingredients that are used to make them. Lastly, he encourages mothers to have an organic pregnancy and choose healthy real food without pesticides or other toxins.

Dr. Greene’s most important advice on having a healthier childbirth is to delay cord clamping. He explains that the moment a baby is born, a third of their blood is still outside of their body. In recent childbirths, doctors have been clamping and cutting the child’s umbilical cord right after birth to start doing medical care. However, this is keeping the baby from receiving much-needed nutrients.  “They would get 30% more blood in that next 90 seconds and with that they get 60% more red blood cells,” explains Dr. Greene. “They get iron that they need, they get white blood cells to fight infection, antibodies, oxygen, and stem cells.” Dr. Greene encourages all parents-to-be to create a birth plan that includes optimal cord clamping.

Lastly, even when you bring your baby home, make sure you are keeping everything as natural as possible. Dr. Greene encourages parents to get a “green" mattress for their baby, as most mattresses have unwanted chemicals in the fabrics. He also tells parents to determine what will be the best skin care product for their child. “Look for, not just negative ingredients, but actually healthy ingredients in skin products,” says Dr. Greene. And when it is time to start feeding your baby their first foods, make sure you are feeding them real foods. “I like taking an avocado or a banana or a sweet potato, mashing it up with a fork, and mixing it up with some breast milk or formula and feeding that,” says Dr. Greene. He also says to keep trying with foods they don’t like as they will come to eat them more as they keep growing. “They're not supposed to learn to like something the first time it goes into their mouth,” explains Dr. Greene. “It's the things parents care about enough to feed multiple times they learn to like.”

Do you have questions you want to ask Dr. Greene? Join us tomorrow at 1:30pm PST for “GOING GREEN WITH DR. GREENE: Raising a Natural Family,” a Google Hangout hosted by Kids In The House. Dr. Greene will be answering your questions live. Start tweeting your questions with the hashtag #KITHangout!