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Have a Healthy Baby – Make better choices about baby bottles, toys, and household cleaners.
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Our kids are getting sicker at alarming rates. A healthy baby is what everybody wants; to know that you are doing your best to protect them from all harm. One leading researcher says that we are conducting a vast toxicology experiment on our kids with the tens of thousands of new chemicals that have recently come on the market, many of which are now even found in fetal blood. From the moment you find out you’re pregnant, all your choices take on new importance. Now you are wondering what is in those diet sodas and snacks. All you know is you want a healthy baby and for he or she to grow strong. Our babies are struggling with more and more new chemicals and additives than ever before. • The rate of childhood asthma has skyrocketed, and the death rate among children from asthma has doubled. • The incidence of acute lymphocytic leukemia in children increased more than 27 percent between 1973 and 1990. • The incidence of childhood brain cancer increased almost 40 percent between 1973 and 1994. • Autism, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and hyperactivity disorder in children have risen at alarming rates.
Why is this happening? The causes are complex and not fully understood, but the nation’s leading child health researchers say it’s no coincidence that these changes have occurred during the same decades that tens of thousands of new chemicals have come onto the market – chemicals used daily in homes, schools, and everywhere else. But why are they apparently affecting children so profoundly? Because, according to the researchers in a 21 year study currently underway, pound for pound of body weight, children drink more water, eat more food, and breathe more air than adults. In addition, because their bodily systems are underdeveloped, they are less able to handle or get rid of toxic compounds that adults. And they are close to the ground and are constantly putting their hands and everything else into their mouths!
Article: Caution -- Baby Shampoo NOT Very Gentle and Shown to be Loaded With Toxins!!
More than half of the baby shampoo, lotion and other infant care products analyzed by a health advocacy group, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, were found to contain trace amounts of chemicals that are believed to cause cancer. Some of the biggest names on the market, such as Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo and Baby Magic lotion, tested positive for 1,4-dioxane or formaldehyde, or both. The chemicals, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has characterized as probable carcinogens, are not intentionally added to the products, and are not listed among ingredients on labels. Instead, they are likely byproducts of the manufacturing process. Formaldehyde is created when other chemicals in the product break down over time, and 1,4-dioxane is formed when foaming agents are combined with ethylene oxide or similar petrochemicals. The organization tested 48 baby bath products such as bubble bath and shampoo. Of those, 32 contained at least one of the chemicals, and 17 tested positive for both chemicals.
Sources: Washington Post March 13, 2009
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By now, most responsible moms stop smoking, stop drinking alcohol, stop using caffeine, and stop using over-the-counter and prescription drugs when they get pregnant. They want a healthy baby and know that these things can be harmful during pregnancy. But we live in a world awash in chemicals and that means the baby in the womb is awash in them, too.
Chemicals found in umbilical cord blood
The problem is that when these bottles are washed, even gently or scratched, they leach out a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA, a hormone-disrupting chemical that mimics estrogen and has been associated with problems such as early onset of puberty, diminished sperm count, and hyperactivity, among others. Even more BPA leaches out of these bottles when you warm them, which is exactly what we do when we’re getting milk ready for the baby.
Is it dangerous? A Centers for Disease Control study found BPA in the urine of nearly 95 percent of the people they tested, The younger the subject was, the higher the concentrations. And the median level of this chemical in those tested was higher than that known to cause harm in animals.
The polycarbonate plastic bottles have a 7 inside the recycling triangle on the bottom. It is safer to use polyethylene or polypropylene (1, 2, 4, or 5 on the bottle bottom) if you must use plastic. But glass baby bottles are the safest and they are tough! They are easily cleaned and safe for a healthy baby!
Bottle nipples made from rubber, (typically yellow), have been shown to leach N-nitrosamine, a known cancer causing agent, when in contact with saliva. Plastic nipples contain phthalates, which can cause liver, kidney, and testicular problems. They are used in hard plastics to make them soft. Don’t use them. Use silicone. Silicone nipples are widely available and contain no phthalates. A step toward a healthy baby!
Click here to see many styles and colors of baby backpack diaper bags.
Safe Toys To have a healthy baby, he or she needs toys. But there are dangers here, too. The soft plastic ones typically include phthalates, and the hard ones sometimes contain lead. The European Union has banned several phthalate compounds, including those used in soft plastic toys, which end up in the baby’s mouth. The state of California has banned them, too, effective in 2009, and several other states have legislation in the works to do the same. Why are individual states having to pass such laws? Because the U.S. government, so far, won’t. In 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued an unprecedented number of recalls for toys contaminated with lead, mostly in their paint. Most of the recalled toys were made in China. But 80 percent of all toys are now made in China. Choose carefully.
There are harmful chemicals in laundry detergents that can irritate your baby’s sensitive skin. They can also irritate adult’s skin, too! Switching to green cleaners and detergents is a step toward having a healthy baby. |
