Jul
15
Filed Under: Product Reviews • Comment
If you read our other site (which is sadly neglected since we’ve been pregnant and/or giving birth, sorry), you’ll know that we LOVE the 100% Pure line of products. For me, it’s an obsession, really. I love just about everything they make, so when I saw that they had a kids line, I was ecstatic. Fresh fun flavors as well as being safe for my little ones? Absolutely! It took me a while to track some of the bubble bath down. It’s pretty popular, apparently. I ordered some of the strawberry ice cream bubble bath, and I really dig the smell. A few squirts in the tub and my whole upstairs smells like strawberries. My son loves it too!
I will give you fair warning though, like most of their other body washes and the like, this stuff is much more watery than your conventional counter parts, and of course, given that there are no SLS’s, it definitely doesn’t produce bubble baths the way we remember as a kid, but it does suffice and my son doesn’t really know any different, given that he’s never known the joys of our old favorite, Mr. Bubble.
Get it: You can order any of the 100% Pure kids line directly from 100% Pure’s website. Choose from three scents: Strawberry, Mint Chocolate Chip, or Vanilla. A bottle of the bubble bath costs $12.00, but should last you at least a few months if you’re using it regularly.
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Jul
14
Filed Under: Dear SafeMama, Product Reviews • 1 Comment
Dear SafeMama,
How safe are the new Earth’s Best diapers/ new Huggies Pure and Natural diapers?
We get these two questions a lot. I’m pretty much a devout Seventh Generation user when I do use disposables, because they work well for us (and lately, with a newborn, I’ve been using them more, just because getting around to doing more laundry isn’t really happening at this point). As a sidenote, a SafeMama reader wrote in about Seventh Generation going back to using SLS’s in their products. I just want to clarify, that this is only in cleaning products, not diapers.
Anyway, in the interest of research, I thought I would buy a package of both, and put them to the test.
Earth’s Best Chlorine Free Diapers: Truthfully, I was forced to pick these up, becuase the store didn’t have my son’s size in stock. I had read that they were softer than Seventh Generation’s diapers, and that’s probably my only beef with chlorine free diapers, is that they’re not as soft as your standard Pampers and the like. The diapers themselves work pretty well. They’re also very generously sized, to the point of running on the larger size. I have dubbed these the “granny panties” of the diaper world, because they are so large that they go halfway up my son’s back. The other thing that I don’t like, is the giant Earth’s Best label across the front. I’m not one for silly characters, or even a label, plain diapers suffice just fine, but overall, it’s not a huge deal breaker. They work well, and they’re the same price as the other diapers in the same class. Overall, great safer disposable alternative.
Huggies Pure and Natural Diapers: We get a lot of questions about these diapers, and I hate to have to be the one to be the bearer of bad news, but these are not really a natural alternative, but more Huggies greenwashing the public to make them believe. Basically, the outer part of the diaper is made with organic cotton, which is great, but the rest of the diaper is no different than a conventional disposable. They’re bleached with dioxins, and as for the organic cotton outer, there’s no law that mandates exactly how much the product has to be organic in order to label it as such. So the diaper could be made from 100% organic materials, or 10% organic materials. I picked up the newborn size for my daughter in the interest of seeing what the hype was all about, and also because they had a cord cut out (something Seventh Generation doesn’t have). However, greenwashing aside, I found the diaper to be sub par and 99% of the time it leaked. SafeMama gives this diaper a thumbs down.
So what are our top picks for disposables? Seventh Generation, Nature Babycare, Earth’s Best and Tushies. There’s also the little g hybrid diaper, which could be considered disposable, however, they’re a more expensive option.
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Jul
13
Filed Under: Product Safety • 10 Comments
Statia here, letting everyone know that Kathy had her baby this afternoon. Let’s all welcome Carter. A healthy 7lbs 9oz and 19 1/2 inches long via scheduled C-section. Everyone is doing great, though Mama is pretty sore, which is to be expected. He’s gorgeous of course, just like his big brother. Congrats Mama!
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Jul
12
Filed Under: PVC Free, product finds • Comments Off
This will probably be my last post for a short time – baby comes on Monday so I’ll be laid up for a bit. But before I go, I wanted to post this last thing because I’ve gotten the question a few times and I had this own challenge myself. My 3 1/2 year old graduated to a real big bed, twin style! And while I went through lengths to make sure he had the safest everything – wood bed that wasn’t off gassing, organic mattress, and I even went so far as Dr. Suess organic sheets. But then there’s the problem of leaking and accidents with little kids. Even though the mattress has some great waterpoofing to it – I wanted some added protection to help me avoid a lot of washing. After all the effort I spent on making him a safe sleep environment I didn’t want to cover his organic mattress with a piece of vinyl. Kind of defeats the point, no?
So I went on another hunt to find a mattress protector that wasn’t vinyl. Easier said than done but on a whim I tried a few super stores to see what they had and what I was up against. Vinyl, vinyl everywhere! But I hit the jackpot.
A company called AllerEase makes mattress and pillow protection made entirely of polypropylene and polyethylene plastic, weaved in a manner that it is thin and has a soft material feel like those reusable bags at grocery stores. It fits the mattress well and has helped us avoid some major “wet” incidents so far so I can attest to its waterproof ability. I feel better knowing there is no vinyl between my son and his bed. Plus it wasn’t a fortune..I think I spent a total of $23 on a twin cover.
Where Do I Find It? I found mine in WalMart of all places and according to AllerEase’s website they sell them at Target, KMart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohl’s and Sears (although I checked almost all those places and only found it at WalMart… the other stores I looked in only had vinyl but perhaps its regional). You can also order them online at Amazon.com and a few other retailers.
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Jul
8
Filed Under: Eco-Mama, Product Reviews, product finds • Comments Off
As evident by our Baby Wipes Showdown we did a while ago, baby wipes can contain some pretty nasty and unpronounceable ingredients. For something you’re using daily on your baby and tossing into a landfill it’s great to be able to pick something a little less toxic and a little less tough on the earth. Of course there is always the tried and true reusable wipes, which many swear by, sometimes you need something you don’t want to worry about washing or to carry around in your diaper bag for quick clean ups.
Elements Naturals™ is a relatively new product on the market now making appearances in Whole Foods and on Diapers.com. Typical baby wipes can be made of a combination of cotton, polypropylene and other materials which together aren’t biodegradable. Elements Naturals is made of a new material called Ingeo™ fibers, the world’s first man-made fiber from annually renewable resources. From their website: “Ingeo™ fibers are free of chemical additives or surface treatments. Their production requires 68% less fossil fuel resources than the traditional oil-based materials; and with the purchase of wind power-based Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) uses 90% fewer greenhouse gases (GHG) than traditional synthetic wipes.”
They’re renewable, compostable, biodegradable, chlorine and fragrance free and don’t have a massive list of gross chemical additives on the label. The nice thing too is that they’re soft, just like any other baby wipe and they are much bigger… each wipe is larger than traditional wipes so you actually use less. They come in a recyclable resealable package so you can bring them anywhere and recycle the wrapper with your regular plastics.
Where Can I Find Them: Elements Naturals are available at some Northwest Whole Foods stores, or you can order them online at Diapers.com!
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Jul
2
Filed Under: Giveaways Coupons • 88 Comments
Ok so with the July 4th holiday approaching, along with my impending baby delivery I thought it was good time to shower you with another giveaway. All Modern Baby has very generously offered one of our readers a chance to win a great prize. All Modern Baby is a huge distributor of modern baby furniture and 
accessories online. They carry a wide range of unique items such as Baby Bjorn baby carriers and Stokke Tripp Trapp high chairs as well as a large selection of green, fair trade and eco-friendly toys and baby items to green your nursery.
Up for grabs is a Pixel Organics Footie Sleeper made with 100% certified organic cotton and water based dyes that use a low-impact processes to minimize environmental impact. Available in sizes 0-3 months to 12-18 months.
Along with it you’ll get an item we list on our Safer Dishware Cheat Sheet … a Skip Hop Mate Stay-Put Place Mat and Plate in your choice of Blue, Pink or Orange. This Skip Hop set is BPA-free, Phthalate-free and PVC-free and top rack dishwasher safe… and cute!
How to Enter
Visit AllModernBaby.com and tell us what item I haven’t talked about above you’d be interested in by leaving a comment on this entry!
For an extra chance to win, follow http://twitter.com/safemama and tweet this giveaway with an @safemama included. Come back and leave a separate comment letting us know where the tweet is so we can count it!
Contest open to US & Canada residents. One winner will be selected at random. Entries accepted until midnight EST on July 9th! Good luck!
Giveaway Closed. Thanks to all who entered and congratulations Jen on picking up the prize!
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Jun
29
Filed Under: Giveaways Coupons, Product Safety • 67 Comments
One of the questions we get often around here is “What is a safe way to control bugs?” and up until now I only had home remedies and natural tricks to share. I discovered EcoSMART online and ordered myself a few products to try out. They carry a full line of pesticides that are based solely on essential oils and the natural oils plants use to defend themselves against pests. I admit to being skeptical. So far my home remedies were, at best, mediocre in preventing or controlling pests in my house and in my garden.
My real first test came when we had a lovely patio put in with tumbled pavers. This patio changed my life… we spend hours out there playing and eating, especially during our Florida winters. But with that came small weeds that wedged in between and ruined my patio chi. My husband of course wanted to go on a rampage with a bottle of weed killer. Instead I tried EcoSMART’s Weed and Grass Killer. In a day all those pesky weeds were shriveled brown nothings that were swept away with a broom. I felt so victorious! When the box arrived I was immediately aware of the strong scent these products have but since thats the only “drawback” I’ll take that over chemical pesticides any day.
EcoSMART has a ton of products utilizing organic plant oils to control and tame pests and weeds, safe for use around kids and pets, which put me at ease. I’ve since used the ant and roach killer with perfect success as well. Totally impressed with EcoSMART!
Win It!
EcoSMART is giving away a can of EcoSMART Organic Ant Killer, a great product to kill ants and all types of household bugs, to TWO lucky winners. To enter:
- Visit EcoSmart.com and tell us which product you would love to try in a comment on this post.
- For an extra entry, follow us on Twitter.com and tweet our giveaway “Win EcoSMART Organic Ant Killer on SafeMama.com @safemama” (or something of that nature). Leave a comment here so your extra entry will get counted!
Giveaway open to US residents. 2 Winners will be chosen at random. Entries accepted until Midnight on Friday July 3rd 2009! Good luck!
Congratulations to Kristen and Becca for picking up a can of EcoSMART Organic Ant Killer. Thank you EcoSmart for the giveaway and thanks readers for entering and participating. More to come!
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Jun
25
Filed Under: Articles, Bisphenol-A, Chemicals • Comments Off
I was going to let this slide but I’ve heard the same few phrases a few times and now I’m thoroughly annoyed. These phrases include things like “activist hysteria” and “BPA has been around for 60 years, don’t you think the FDA would have taken notice if it was harmful?” and “activists in the blogosphere are creating unnecessary concern” and my favorite “There is no evidence that BPA in consumer products ever harmed a child or adult.”
Oh, really? That’s twice today I’ve read articles stating that there is no scientific evidence that BPA can harm anyone and that “activists” are just creating unnecessary hype. Let’s review some of this non-existent scientific evidence shall we?
- Yale School of Medicine: Found that BPA affected brain function and caused mood disorders in monkeys (perhaps someone should tell Yale that they don’t count as scientists)
- University of Cinncinati: Found that BPA disrupts cancer treatments
- Journal of American Medicine: Doctors in London published their findings that linked BPA to heart disease and diabetes. (”…found that the 25% of people with the highest levels of bisphenol A in their bodies were more than twice as likely to have heart disease and, or diabetes)
- University of Cinncinati: Found links to BPA and Metabolic Syndromes (which if untreated can lead to coronary artery disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.)
- Yale School of Medicine: Found that BPA impairs brain function. After extended BPA exposure, primates had lost nerve cell connections in the parts of the brain that control memory, learning and mood.
- North Carolina State University and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Found that exposure to BPA at levels the EPA has determined are safe resulted in early onset of puberty, which is a known risk factor for breast cancer and other mental and physical health problems. Data also show higher levels of exposure to BPA can lead to significant ovarian malformations, including cysts that likely indicate infertility.
- University of Cinncinati: BPA caused abnormal heart rhythms in female mice and rats in the lab setting.
- North Carolina State University and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Discovered a connection between exposure to BPA and early puberty and reproductive health problems with female lab rats who were given doses of the chemical “equivalent to or below the dose that has been thought not to produce any adverse effects. (Biology of Reproduction)
And the list goes on and on… If that’s not enough scientific evidence that Bisphenol-A needs to be re-evaluated for safety than I don’t know what people like Ms. Whelan from Forbes Magazine or Dr Gilbert Ross of the American Council on Science and Health who seems to think there “isn’t a shred of scientific or medical sense in the proposed ban of bisphenol-A“ needs to hear in order to consider that perhaps just because something has been in use for 60 years doesn’t mean that there aren’t underlying effects that people are experiencing in their normal lives that may have been caused or enhanced by over-exposure to chemicals in our daily lives. Could they be right? Maybe! And I hope they are… I wish I could be that confident that chemical makers and the FDA had my best interest at heart. I wish I could just blindly trust the way they do. I’d probably sleep better at night if I could just leave my health and safety up to other people rather than opening my eyes to what’s going on around me.
It’s hard to tell why John Smith developed Diabetes at the age of 60. Could it be BPA? Maybe, maybe not. But as a consumer and a parent and a human being… I don’t want risks from chemicals to up my chances of developing health problems later in life. Nor do I want to expose my kids to something that *might* create reproductive problems for them in the future. MAYBE is not good enough for me.
Those of us who write about and talk about pushing for this change are not trying to be alarmist, or to just have something to be hysterical about. We’ve read the studies, we’ve looked at the research and we’ve wondered “what if”. We also have recognized that living without overexposure to BPA in our lives is 100% possible. Does that mean less money for companies who rely on BPA? Sure. Do I care? No.
Living with blind faith that “regulators” are protecting me and everything I touch is safe for my health and my family is just not something I will ever do.
Related articles:
- New Research Links Bisphenol-a to Metabolic Syndrome
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Jun
23
Filed Under: Giveaways Coupons, Skin Care • 80 Comments
I’m often accused of being overly critical of product ingredients. People write in to me saying things like “What am I supposed to use now… MUD?“. I swear I’m not analyzing every ingredient in products to make your life difficult. But the more we discover about chemicals the more natural the products I prefer become. Are you going to die immediately if you use a product with Phenoxyethanol in it? Probably not. But I’m finding that more purely natural products are out there and available to us.
A good example is Clean George! I fell for Clean George a while back when looking into hand cleansers and sanitizers. What I discovered is that alcohol based hand sanitizers kill both bad and good germs on your skin making you more susceptible to the very things that make you sick. We need to practice good hand washing habits and when we can’t use a hand cleanser that can clean and protect your hands until you can. Using Tea Tree oil, which has antibacterial properties is used to clean off the icky without harming the good stuff that helps keep you healthy (and soft). Not to mention alcohol based hand sanitizers can be dangerous to little kids (especially if they decide to eat it).
Clean George is natural, alcohol free and comes in 3 scents: Lovin’ Lavender, Mint-alyptus, and Grapefruit n’ Sage and is packaged in 100% post consumer recycled plastic.
Win One!
We’re giving away a bottle of Clean George to 2 lucky winners. To enter:
1. Visit CleanGeorge.com and find out what Broadway play the creator use dot star in and leave a comment on this entry to let us know.
2. For an extra entry follow us on Twitter and tweet our giveaway. Leave a seperate comment on this entry to get your extra entries counted.
Two winners will be chosen at random. Open to US residents. Entries will be accepted until midnight on June 30th, 2009 EST. Good luck and thanks for entering!
Giveaway Closed. Thanks for entering! Congratulations to Jess and Cate for picking up a bottle of Clean George! More giveaways coming soon, stay tuned!
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Jun
22
Filed Under: Car Safety, Product Reviews, Product Safety • Comments Off
When I had my first son and It was time to graduate him to a larger car seat I did what any parent does and scoured the Internet for the best seat possible. Reading Consumer Reports and comparing the safety features of the seats available. I even tried with all my might to get the sales rep to point me in the direction of the best seat, which they aren’t allowed to do. I ended up purchasing a Britax Marathon at the time.
One of the things I love and trust about the Britax company is their intense commitment to safety and the fact that they are continuously working on improving the seats they have to include features that make parent misuse less of an issue. Did you know that 90% of car seats are not installed properly? That’s worrisome, and I know that the new safety features Britax keeps coming out with are helping to reduce the errors we can sometimes make.
Last time we reviewed their Britax Boulevard CS they had included their new Click Safe feature that lets you know the child is buckled in properly. When strapping in your child and pulling the tightening strap to make the shoulders and lap restraints snug, there is an audible “CLICK” to let you know they are truly snug and safe. My first Britax didn’t have this feature and having that feature now is a huge help, and I feel better knowing my son is in there correctly.
Their new Britax Advocate CS has this wonderful feature as well as a bevy of safety features that we feel make this seat one of the more superior brands of car seats. The Advocate allows you to keep your child rear-facing up to 35lbs, making it easier to keep your child rear facing for a longer period of time. Despite the AAP recommendations still remain that the child remain rear facing until 1 years old at at least 20 lbs, there is evidence to suggest that the longer a child can stay rear facing the safer they may be in an accident… they are now recommending age 2.
The new Advocate CS also has new patented Side Impact Cushion Technology that greatly lessen the danger to your child as well as the passengers riding along side them in the event of a side impact accident… it reduces the impact crash energy by 50% which is important due to side impact crashes being some of the most dangerous. According to Dr. Laura Jana, a pediatrician and mom of three, cars are not designed to protect children in side impact crashes, so the seat you select should have the best protection available.
On top of all the safety features the Advocate CS has a load of other features that make this seat one of the best in my opinion. We had a chance to check out a sample and were greatly impressed with the ease of use. You are able to manually adjust the strap height and head restraint protection without completely dismantling the seat (like some others I’ve used). I know, because I tried it. I am the worst when it comes to adjusting features like this and I was able to adjust the harness height without any trouble. I sincerely think that all that “un-doing” to adjust seats is dangerous.. the less you have to fiddle with the better. I also never have to untangle the 5-point harness thanks to their Tangle-Free harness.
It’s no secret that we love Britax and when it comes to your child’s safety, this is one place that buying the best is a critical purchase. As with any car seat, I think it’s vital to have your seat checked by a Certified Child Safety Seat Inspector for ultimate safety (and peace of mind). Many cities have a at your local fire department. They may have monthly events where you can visit and have your seats checked or you can sometimes schedule appointments.
Look for your local Child Safety Seat Inspector on SeatCheck.org or at USA.SafeKids.org.
Related articles:
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