Archive for June, 2008

Toxins in the home

Published
by
amy
on June 24, 2008
in Safer cleaning products, healthy ideas, phthalate-free and safe products
. 1 Comment

Yuck, bleck, ugh! That’s what goes through my mind when I think about all the toxins lurking in our houses. Long before it was on everyone’s radar, my stepfather, a mechanical engineer, was always reminding us to be careful with household chemicals, don’t let them touch your skin, careful of the fumes from them, open the windows, air out dry cleaning and shower curtains, use nail polish remover outside!, keep the thermostat low, turn off the lights, consume less, recycle, compost- the list goes on. He earnestly drove a tiny car for years, putting along in the slow lane, while others drove bigger and faster cars. His knowledge came from years working for engineering firms and as a professor and having understanding and insight into chemicals, waste, limits on resources and their impact on the future of the environment.

What to do…

Since having my daughter more than two years ago, these matters went from subconscious, ingrained habits to a forefront priority to make sure I am doing all I can to make our home a safe place. And with the more knowledge I gain I find that many of the things he preached over the years are becoming a bigger part of what we all need to pay attention to, some of which are toxins in the home. I have dutifully draped my shower curtains outside to gas out for 4-5 days and since they been on the market been using EVA curtains instead. We compost, try to use as many non-toxic household products as possible, keep chemicals off our lawn (aka the clover patch- whatever, it’s green), rarely dry clean our clothes (only the ones that can’t be washed with water), use safer bath products. Today, we are at an advantage and disadvantage, every year there are more chemicals on the market but there is a greater awareness, demand for safer products and availability to information on how to make your home a safer environment. Everywhere you turn in your house there might be something unhealthy, here’s where to look.

This is a huge subject so I am going to list some articles and provide links to some good resources out there, including an article I wrote for a friend’s blog about indoor pollution and solutions. Please comment with any questions or ideas you might have and I will do my best to get you the answers.

Helpful Links

Top Ten Products for Your Non-Toxic Household
EcoMall’s guide to non-toxic product ingredients and safe substitutes
More non-toxic homemade solutions and recipes
The Green Guide Household Buying Guide
SafeMama’s and The Soft Landing Shower Curtain Reports
HealthyTot’s Phthalates and Safer Cleaning Posts

Chemical free, flushable toddler wipes

Published
by
amy
on June 17, 2008
in phthalate-free, potty training and wipes
. 6 Comments

pottyWe are hot and heavy with potty training these days. When my daughter turned two, she became very interested in using the potty. But it was the dead of winter, and the chilly Northeast wasn’t an inviting time to run around without your pants on. So I pushed it off until now, when days are warm and we spend much of the day outside. It has made my life a lot easier and she seems to have regained her interest.

If you’ve potty trained or are doing it, you know some days are all hits, cheers and clapping, others- many misses, a pat on the back and a “we’ll get it next time”. We are trying to use a pull-up training pant when we’re out or if she’s sleeping, no pants any warm day we are outside, and Gerber cotton training pants with the vinyl cover in the house. (I confess she hates the vinyl cover, so it is a challenge to get her to keep it on) But overall, its going well. She says “no, thank you” when I try to put a diaper on her. I have to do major reminding when she’s deep in play, all stuff to be expected. Aside from disposable and washable pull ups, we bought 2 potties the Baby Bjorn downstairs and the Boon Potty for upstairs.

One thing that I had set out to find to assist our potty training was a good chemical free, flushable wipe. I headed to Whole Foods to see if they had some, but they did not. So I hit the next best place- the internet. To my surprise there are very few, I found only two- Avalon Organics flushable wipes at a wow worthy $8.95 a container and TenderCare at Diapers.com for $2.58 per container. (each container has 50 wipes) It looks as though it is the same company that makes Tushies and its recognizable six ingredient list passes my first test. By the way, there seem to be a pretty big variety fitting the chemical free flushable wipe category available in Europe- no surprise here…
Diapers.com is set to deliver them in 2 days, so I’ll let you know what we think of them. In the meantime, good luck keeping the floors dry!

Great soft soled shoes




Published
by
amy
on June 3, 2008
in Shoes
. Closed

ssshoe2.pngBefore your baby starts walking, you’ll be putting shoes on them. Really- sounds funny, but they are good for more than just a fashion statement. They help keep socks on, thus keeping their little feet warmer, provide a little traction for the crawlers who are starting to pull up and cruise and they’ll likely wear them for their first steps. Soft soled shoes are the next best thing to bare feet for them to get a true feeling of how to walk and balance.

As a baby, my daughter was a Robeez and PediPed wearer, mostly because they were easy to find, carried at many stores in my area. Robeez were great with a huge variety of looks, and you could hand wash and air dry them, but too many washes beat them up. PediPeds were a little different, a little easier to put on but a slightly thicker sole, that was a little slick at times. But I didn’t know about the others that were out there. Well, there is also Isa Booties, very cute, non-leather, machine washable and dryable- a big plus. Their styles are somewhat limited, but they are great basic everyday looks. Then- there are these beauties I stumbled across recently- handmade soft soled shoes by Soft Star Shoes. They are customizable, have a bunch of varieties and are available in adult sizes too! I haven’t seen them in person but there quality looks great online. They are pricier than the others but they are handmade here in the states. I am thinking of getting my daughter a pair for the fall- shoes in the summer for her is tough as she’s got them off the first opportunity she gets! She is a barefoot babe all summer long.