What's in Your Bathroom

Shower curtains are another product in our bathroom that we may want to revisit. Especially when you consider the amount of time you spend in the washroom. Add to this, the bathroom is usually a very warm place (which releases more gases) and that nasty curtain might be right beside your bathing little one, who is probably sucking on it every once and a while!

Vinyl shower curtains release over 100 toxic chemicals into the air in people's bathrooms, including known carcinogens and reproductive toxins, according to a new report calling for the ban of Polyvinyl chloride in bath curtains and liners.
The laboratory tests of five new PVC shower curtains, released Thursday, found 108 different volatile organic compounds were released into the air over a 28-day period, including off-gassing above the recommended level in the United States for seven days.
These compounds can cause respiratory irritation, headaches, nausea and damage to the liver, kidney and the central nervous system. Some VOCs are also suspected or known to cause cancer in humans.

sourced from www.canada.com/ Vinyl Shower Curtains a "Volatile" Hazard/ Sarah Schmidt

Further Information also at Healthy Child Healthy World

GORGEOUS AND GREEN ... HMMM

A friend of mine introduced me to a great book the other day and I just have to share it in this week's Tip of the Week. I haven't read it all yet so I guess I really shouldn't be doing this. So I will qualify by saying I am really excited about it so far... I have learned about some great facial products for women. Plus some excellent at home treatments, which is such great advice! Like a salt rub with essential oils, mmm can't wait to try it.

Hope you get a chance to pick it up:
Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano

http://www.amazon.com/Gorgeously-Green-Simple-Steps-Earth-Friendly/dp/0061575569

ORGANIC SHAMPOOS, ARE YOU SERIOUS?

With all the natural and organic products on the market some may wonder what all the hype is about. You may even question how can a soap be organic and why would I bother paying more? Believe me, I have thought the same thing. Our concern is the continued allergies in our children and cancer in our families, could we make changes in our daily routines that would begin to slow this down.

There seems to be numerous products in our bathrooms that could be seriously harming our health. Read further in this month's NOW YOU KNOW

CHECK YOUR TUNA

We seem to understand the importance of getting enough fish in our diets to help aid in good "brain" nutrition. There is also increased evidence that children should be taking more omega 3s which has started the trend of many new supplements. Although when you are trying to get it from the 'natural source,' foods, you will want to keep your levels of tuna in check. First of all, stick with light tuna, albacore has the highest levels of mercury. Some even suggest women of childbearing age and children under 5 stay away from albacore completely. Too find out more about how much you and your family should have in a week. Check out this handy calculator at EWG's website : http://www.ewg.org/tunacalculator

PROBIOTIC HELPS IMPROVE COLIC SYMPTOMS

There is a growing interest in a "healthy gut." It seems every other week the grocery store has a new product that has added a probiotic into it's food. Now there is more positive evidence for our babies to take a probiotic as well.

"Researchers from the University of Turin randomly gave 83 infants either a daily dose of probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri 30 minutes after feeding, or simethicone, a pharmaceutical control. After 7 days, the scientists reported that the average crying times of the probiotic infants were down 21 percent, from 197 minutes a day to 159 minutes a day, according to the mothers, while the crying times of the control group were only reduced by 10 percent; from 197 minutes per day to 177. After 28 days, the crying times had dropped 75 percent (51 minutes per day) for the probiotic group and 26 percent (145 minutes per day) for the control group." http://www.NaturalNews.com/021421.html

There has also been previous research that colic may have links to an unstable stomach, which would tie into this study. Although, to date all colic studies have not come up with a conclusion as to why a baby has colic nor do we know conclusively how to treat it. It wouldn't hurt to try a wheat and dairy free diet with a small amount of a probiotic and see if there were any changes.

BPA in CANNED FOODS

We have noticed that not everyone is aware of the BPA found in the linings of canned food. Unfortunatley, just when you thought you were free of Bisphenol-A by throwing out your plastic #7 bottles turns out you also need to watch out for those cans. "Food and drink cans are lined with BPA containing plastic. Beverages appear to contain less residues, while canned pasta and soups contain the highest levels." EWG, Environmental Working Group


SAFETY TIPS:

Safer alternatives are glass containers and as a reminder on plastics, #1,#2 and #4 on the bottom are safer plastics and do not contain BPA. Soft or cloudy plastics do not contain BPA. If you are looking for further information on baby bottles, look no further then EWG

Canned foods that are moving away from BPA lining, are companies such as Eden Organics

When possible, choose fresh or frozen foods

Time to start canning in the summer, yes, in those glass jars! I know another thing to add to your "mommy to do" list!

GREAT SITE FOR UNDERSTANDING INGREDIENTS IN YOUR BABY LOTIONS

Once and a while you come by a website that seems to have just what you need. A great friend passed on a very informative site that we must share with you. This site rates products by their ingredients. Therefore you can plug in to their database your latest baby lotion, shampoo, etc. and see how it fairs on the organic safety score. Sadly, some really surprised me, products that I thought were trusted, natural ingredients were anything but natural.

Please give it a try:
http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/browse.php?maincat=babycare

Also since we are chatting about babycare products, please note that a popular "no tears" shampoo is a regular shampoo yet with a chemical in the product that numbs your baby's tear ducts so they don't react.