Bye Bye Plastic - BPA banned

Okay, well this is a nightmare come true. In 2004, I fed my infant Son from Avent baby bottles (weren't they supposed to be the best?) and formula after nine months of breastfeeding. Now, we learn that Avent bottles, as well as formula cans, contain a harmful ingredient, BPA, found in many clear plastics (such as the Nalgene bottles Husband and I have used during hiking). I heard my first warnings a couple years ago (and moved to different bottles for Daughter) but now "a draft report by the National Toxicology Program has found "some concern" that the chemical could cause behavioral changes in infants and children and early onset of puberty in females." Furthermore, Canada has just banned selling certain products, such as baby bottles, containing BPA. Toys R Us and Walmart will ban BPA baby bottles on their shelves.

To be safe, avoid plastic bottles and products with the 7 symbol on the bottom. Fortunately, Nalgene has quickly decided to cease using BPA in its products. Read more on BPA.

It's hard to stay up on what's safe so I've added a Green Parenting blog link to my Recommended blogs list to help us stay informed.

If you're looking for additional green parenting tips, visit Baby Center: Going Green: 20 Small Steps that Make a Big Difference.

On a broader environmental note, I'm in Barcelona, Spain this week and amazed at the green design I see everywhere. It's just so startling how Europeans have been thinking this way for awhile and designing many functions with environmental awareness in mind. A short list:

• Upon entering my hotel room, I insert my key card to turn on the lights. When I leave the room with my key, they all go off. How simple is that?


• The elevators at the convention center have motion detectors and only run when you step on them. Why can't American malls, etc. duplicate this?


• Recyclable trash cans are placed on street corners and in public meeting spaces


• Many citizens drive motorcycles and have easy parking


• Public transportation (metro and trams) are clean and easy to use

I haven't been to Europe since Son was born so I'm finding that my heightened sensitivity to green living makes me see it everywhere and realize where we're still so behind in the States.

Will it take $6 per gallon gas for Moms to carpool more and avoid unnecessary trips in their SUVs and minivans? Can we start organizing local toyswaps to trade plastic instead of contributing to the production of more? Is it that difficult to compost food?

For the sake of our childrens' futures, let's get on it!

Green Cleaning Fruits and More

Ever wonder whether your fresh fruit is clean enough for your baby or toddler? Are you using the right solution? Did you wash it long enough to remove all the harmful pesticides and bacteria? Well, these types of questions have long lingered in my mind and plagued me as C. or S. bite into apples, grapes or pears. I've tried veggie washes, bathing fruit in soapy water and simply rinsing it.

Then, my husband arrived from work one day, recalling a story he'd heard on NPR on the drive home. The segment, What Does it Take to Clean Fresh Food, noted that Cooks Illustrated editors had tested water and other solutions to determine what was safest. The result? Vinegar and water. Yes, a cheap, easy to create home-based solution. The best approach is to mix one part vinegar with three parts water in a spray bottle (the kind you use for plants). Spray the fruit several times then rinse with cold water. That's it. I do this as soon as I bring the fruit home then put it in a bowl. (My son tends to grab apples at will so this way I know they're clean!)

I also use the vinegar and water solution to spray down my kids' lunchboxes when they arrive home. It wipes out any lingering odor and cleans them well. Plus, I know it's safe if any food comes into contact with the bottom of their lunchbox.

Finally, vinegar and water is also a good solution for countertops. While not recommended for granite, it's a great stand in if you're out of an alternative.

Lead Paint Toy Recall Redux - Goodwill Bans Toys

Last Sunday I took a trunk load of my used maternity clothes, children’s clothing and children’s toys to our local Goodwill drop off center. I had weeded our playroom the week before and amassed a reasonable offering of blocks, shape sorters, toy phones, pull trains and even an old Pooh and Friends See ‘n Say. Goodwill was happy to take the clothes off my hands but not the toys. The reason: Safety concerns. Yep, the lead-tainted toy scare from China has trickled down to Goodwill. The nice man loading my bags into a big blue crate informed me that they’ve long refused car seats and cribs for safety reasons, now the policy applies to toys, as well. Too many recent recalls. Too bad.

I understand the logic for Goodwill’s policy and am saddened that corruption along the Chinese supply chain will prevent their customers from finding inexpensive, gently-used toys in their stores. I’m also disappointed in the lack of foresight and funding for adequate regulations on US imports. But the biggest lack of oversight right now goes to the toy manufacturers who didn’t test their products. Mattel has recalled over 10 million (10 million!) toys since July.

(To see if any of the toys in your house are on this list, visit http://service.mattel.com/us/recall.asp. Make sure to click on the Fisher-Price link to a long list of toys that you may very well have. I found our little Elmo sprinkler on this list.)

At least Mattel has now asserted that it will test all toys in the future. This is something our local Melissa and Doug toy company has been doing for years. In fact, a source tells me they were accused of “over-testing” a few years ago because they not only tested every product prior to sale, but also conducted surprise visits to their Chinese factories. Turns out their prudence paid off. More worrisome now are the no name brands who don’t bother to test at all. The same source recently recalled meeting a woman who planned to start an Internet toy company with a Chinese manufacturer she’d never met. When shopping, we need to decide whether a supplier who might not be as familiar with their Chinese partners can be trusted to keep lead paint out of their toys.

In the end, it’s left to us parents to police our children’s toys for safety. How much danger are our kids in? The answer from my research is….Less than leaded house paint; more than toys that don’t contain any lead paint. Yes, it’s still worse to remodel a house built before 1978 (when lead paint was outlawed in the US) than to let your toddler run through an Elmo sprinkler. The real danger, according to an article on MSNBC.COM is that “Tiny leaded dust particles get on children's hands and feet, and the kids ingest then by sucking on their fingers.” And the ensuing disabilities can be irreversible. So, you probably want to ditch those red Thomas the Tank Engine cars your toddler’s been chewing on. And to be safe, all other recalled toys. Especially those with tiny magnets.

In the end, I've trained my kids and myself that it's easy to pick up that little Dora doll or Toys R Us trinket because it costs so little. They and I are used to easy entertainment and distraction. Unfortunately, now there's a lingering worry attached to our fun. Maybe this helps the pendulum swing a little away from mass consumption and back to basics. Try:

• Homemade play doh (equal parts flour and salt with a little water colored with food coloring)
• Real or pretend cooking
• Dancing, singing and beating on a drum made of a few coffee beans in an empty coffee tin
• Telling a story

If you received this message by email, make sure to take the poll about how many recalls you've returned!

Welcome and What about this weather??

Welcome
Welcome to Mommy Truths - my new blog devoted to giving tips based on what I'm learning raising my two toddlers (S, 19 mo. and C, 3 1/2 years). I also plan to opine about certain subjects (lead tainted toys, global warming's effect on our kids, banned cough medicines) so be prepared! Please post your feedback so we can have meaningful discussions.

Weather Warnings
Now, on to the strange weather we've been having. In four decades of living, I've never experienced 85 degree days in October! It's absurd and rather frightening. I keep thinking, this is another one of those early warning signs. At some future time, when the seasons are long gone as we know and remember them and our efforts to finally conserve energy are simply too little too late, will we look back and say "I remember when it all started..." Signs I've seen this week such as daffodils blooming along the road in October, my dead tomato plant growing two new tomatoes after basking in the summer-like sunshine, my children red-faced and perspiring while picking apples.

I'm starting to experience a nagging, daily fear for my children's future on this planet. Will they never know cool, crisp October mornings when the leaves are turning and apple picking requires a wool sweater? Will their kids play on a completely different coast line. Sure, this can simply be part of a normal weather cycle. But, come on, after having lived this long it's hard to believe.

We all need to start really thinking about the minor tweaks we can make to our lifestyles to make this planet friendlier for our children's futures. Here are some early suggestions. Please share your own!

• Stop idling when you wait in line to pick up your kids
• Look for ways to carpool
• Pack refillable water bottles or straw cups instead of purchased bottled water in your kids' lunches
• Teach children to turn lights off in rooms they leave
• Devote times to play at home versus filling days with outings to entertain the kids
• Think of more ways to be a green family and share them with others!