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Back to School Time- Eco & Healthly Top 10

Published
by
amy
on August 26, 2008
in Uncategorized, healthy ideas, reading and safe products
. 2 Comments

After being in school for so long, it’s hard to shake the feeling I get at the end of every summer. School’s impending start: the cooler nights, back to school adverts, back to school deals and sales. I remember the dread of summer’s end, excitement for a new year, seeing my friends everyday, what to wear? what will my teachers be like? But I have a 2 1/2 year old, and although we looked into and applied to the few 2 yr old programs in our area, she isn’t going to school this year. Between the lottery system for placement slots and the other expensive options, she’s home with me. In lieu of attending school this fall, I am going to do some quasi-home schooling. My loose plan is to spend two days a week focusing on something, like nature, math, reading etc. and build it into our day through constructive play.

Nonetheless, school is on her radar and she’s interested. She sees school buses, and loves them (what’s not to love about a huge yellow vehicle filled with kids). She knows the neighborhood kids go to school and misses them while they are there. We live near a high school and she sees kids with backpacks, so she had to have one. And our wonderful mother’s helper, Zoe, even bought her back to school supplies for her backpack and they pretend to play school together and line up the dining room chairs like rows of seats on a bus. I have to say, as excited as I am for her eventually to go off to school, I also fret the day as I squeeze her extra hard when she role plays with me and bids me goodbye as she boards her pretend bus.

I know many kids are about to have that first day of school. So I’ve been hitting some of my favorite blogs to see what they are saying. I am picking my top 10 best Back to School articles with healthy, green ideas for your preparations and reading pleasure. Good luck on the first day of school!

1. Healthy Breakfast Ideas from Green and Clean Mom with great ideas to give your kids a good start to their school day
2. 12 Fabulously informative articles on Back to School in Great Green Style from The Daily Green
3. Back to school: Are we ready? Are we non-toxic? from The Environmental Working Group
4. Eco and Budget Friendly Back to School from Healthy Child, Healthy World
5. Safer Lunchbox picks and reviews from Safe Mama
6. Information and idea packed Eco-Friendly School Days from Nature Moms
7. Back to School Eco Style from EcoFabulous
8. Fabkins cute re-useable napkins giveaway for your kido’s lunchbox at Green Mom Finds
9. The Green Office’s school kits for eco kids of every age
10. Back to School 2008 shopping guide from the always fun and trendy Cool Mom Picks

Bug Off! Keeping mosquitos off your kids…

Published
by
amy
on July 1, 2008
in Bug Repellant and safe products
. 4 Comments

mosquito-3.jpgMy daughter came in Sunday with a big mosquito bite on her forehead. With all the wet, humid days in the Northeast recently, we’ve had a burst of bug births, so I was frustrated but not surprised by its appearance. I had dressed her in long sleeves and pants, and we were outside only for a brief time, but that didn’t keep them from getting to her. After one day, the bite swelled up to a pretty impressive size, so I decided to take her to see her pediatrician. He said it wasn’t infected, just that she had a local reaction, and to watch it.

But during the appointment we got talking about bug repellants for kids, tots and babies. I told him we’ve been using California Baby Bug Repellant Lotion, and had pretty good results (although, not 100%). He said it’s OK, safer to use but not as effective as products with DEET. I winced, knowing it’s not too good for you. He agreed, but said it’s quite effective against mosquitos and said there might be times it’s necessary to use (when we are in a marshy area, when there has been heavy rains, standing water, and horses in the area, or illnesses like Triple-E and West Nile, etc.) He concurred that DEET is a potent chemical that can be harmful, esp. to children. It’s their disproportionate surface area to body weight ratio, this is the same reason that things like parabens, phthalates and BPA’s are potentially more harmful to babies and kids- their absorption is much greater than ours. These are still harmful to adults too, but more so to little ones.

He gave me some safety tips in using products with DEET:
• only use products that contain no more than 10% DEET on children
• spray it on their clothes, avoid getting it on their hands and on any cuts
• dress them in light colored, long sleeves and pants (avoid bright colors and flower patterns, too)
• avoid being out when it’s buggiest, dawn and dusk
• more prevention tips

He said I can stick to the all natural alternatives when bugginess is low to moderate. So here’s a DEET-Free Insect Repellant Shopping Guide with many great choices.
The Green Guide’s Insect and Mosquito Repellants overview
About.com Pediatric Advice about bug protection and repellant
HealthyTot Store with DEET-Free repellants
Click Here for a free sample of the Don’t Bite Me Patch

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

Sunny days are here again!

Published
by
amy
on May 20, 2008
in Sunscreen, healthy ideas and safe products
. 3 Comments

calbaby.jpegSo you know what that means- sunscreen! Last year I wrote a post on my venture to find a safe and effective sunblock for my fair-skinned little lady. I had read loads of reviews and articles on what was the least harmful, yet most effective choices out there. Last year I didn’t know about Skin Deep (the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetics database/guide), but have used it a ton in recent months. So I am hitting it again to check up on my sunscreen picks.

Last year we used Blue Lizard for Babies and Mustela 50SPF and so far they were pretty good picks. Mustela did make their top ten, and both ended up with 0 sun hazard but 3 chemical hazard and and overall score of 1. (you want the number to be 0,1,2 - low is good) Both of these picks contain zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which the EWG is skeptical of as the best, but they are still better choices than chemical sun blockers. Evidence has shown that chemical sunblocks are absorbed into the skin while mineral blockers like zinc and titanium stay atop the skin. From what I have read, some of the problems with zinc and titanium is the actual production, they have to use many chemicals to separate the particles and removing ore that are very harmful to the environment.

There is lots more somewhat complicated and in-depth scientific research and info out there that I shutter to try to explain accurately here, check out this article at Skin Deep. Best advice- hit the Top 10 list and limit sun time for you and your little ones. Reminder- keep sunscreen off the little babies (6 months or so and under), just keep them out of the sun.

See Skin Deep’s Top 10 Best Sunscreens for babies and toddlers
Dangerous sunscreen chemicals explained at The Green Guide
As usual- a good, safe, easy to find pick: California Baby (we love their bug repellant)

Handmade, Phthalate-Free, All Natural Soap Review




Published
by
amy
on April 25, 2008
in phthalate-free and safe products
. 1 Comment

In my post a few weeks back about phthalates, I provided a link to a site called Serendipity Soap Company and their Wildly Lucky Soaps. They are a small Colorado based company that makes high-quality handmade, phthalate-free soaps. So I placed an order a few weeks ago and my family and I have been soaping up with them and we ready to give you our review.

We bought Bergamot Lime, Lavender, and Pear for me and my husband, and for my little one we bought Night, Night Baby, Sweetheart Baby and Twinkle Baby. Because my husband oft complains that the soaps I buy smell too girly I went with a couple of their “soapdude” approved choices. The package arrived a little late - no big thing for me, I would have never noticed, but they were nice to include some free samples to make up for the delay.

My husband is pretty happy with the subtle scent of the Bergamot Lime and the Sweetheart Baby is so pretty smelling. Since I love the smell of my little girl just as she is, there is just a light sweet smell post tubby (as she says). I also need to mention that my husband and daughter have pretty dry skin and they both seem less itchy and irritated. The soaps use olive oil and shea butter which are pretty kind to skin, so we already notice the difference.

Did I mention the soaps are phthalate-free! The other things I love about this soap (you know what’s coming)- it’s a mom-owned and operated company, it’s handmade and you’ll recognize every ingredient on the wrapper. At $5.50+, the bars of soap are little expensive if you’re used to getting the major brands at your local grocer but the bars are quite solid and should last you a while (longer than the typical buck-a-bar varieties) just make sure it’s kept out of a puddle in the dish. But you’ll feel good that this is not only good for your family and the environment that you can support a small company with a very nice product.

And they have a blog loaded with great info: Serendipity Soap Dish
Some entries you might want to check out:
Johnson’s Baby Cream–not so good for baby
What’s the difference between Phthalates and Parabens?
Feeling ambitious? Make your own! Soapchix Soap Making Tutorial
(wish my best friend Holly lived closer to tackle this one)

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