Looking for natural-friendly resources in Albany, NY

[purerandomness]

 My family and I are making the big move from Michigan to the Albany region at the end of the month. We have two small boys (2 years and 4 months), so I'm looking for recommendations on pediatricians/family doctors as well as dentists. We are going to have insurance through the Schenectady public school system, but I'm not exactly sure what the

Comments

[aska13]

Check out mothering.com forums under Find your Tribe. Good luck!

[purerandomness]

I forgot about mothering.com. Thank you!

[maideleh]

I ADORE Dr. Jeena Madden at the Pediatric Health Center in Schenectady. She is utterly fantastic. Breastfed and cloth diapered her own children, very natural-minded. Also young, energetic, and very sweet. We moved from Schenectady to Long Island when my daughter was 6 weeks old and I was so sad to leave to Dr. Madden.

There is no active LLL in the area, I'm afraid. There used to be one that met in Troy on the Russell Sage College campus, but it seems to have disbanded.

[purerandomness]

Thanks! This is really helpful, I will check out Dr Madden.

[princessenoire]

I love Dr. Anneke Pribis in Galway. She's a family practitioner and everyone in our family sees her. She's very naturally-oriented.

There's a Holistic Moms Network that's becoming more active up here near Saratoga, and there are a couple of LLL groups in the area that have sounded more active (although I've never been).

There are some awesome farmers' markets in the area, and a couple of food swaps (which are awesome), and some great businesses (including All Good Bakers in Albany proper).

It's really going to depend on where you'll be living and how far you are willing to travel.

[purerandomness]

I've heard good things about Albany-area farmer's markets.
We haven't nailed down a place to live yet, although our 2 big contenders are in Guilderland and one in Albany proper. Traveling for a like-minded ped is probably worth my time, though.

[dolcedaze]

We never did find a ped we really liked there, but I wasn't there long with kids.

I was briefly active in the Clifton Park LLL just after Eloise was born, which was meeting at Jonesville Methodist and very active at the time. There were several regular members of that chapter who lived in the Schenectady/Niskayuna area. It was five years ago, though.

The Family Life Center in Albany in a great resource for meeting like-minded young families.

[purerandomness]

Who was your midwife there? Hypothetically speaking, of course, because we are not thinking more children for a LONG time.

[dolcedaze]

I'll e-mail you about that :-)

[dodging_fate]

I don't know about Drs, but there are regular farmers markets in Schenectady, Colonie, Troy and Watervliet (all connected) and a fantastic co-op in Albany called the Honest Weight co-op which has really great resources if you drop in to visit :)

Good luck and welcome to the area! (and... don't neglect to check out Divinitea, an organic master tea-blender. Her shop is on Union Street in Schenectady and AMAZING. http://divinitea.com/ My fav local coffee shop also serves her teas http://professorjavas.com/