After the disappointing BPA debacle with the Sigg bottle recall, many of us became wary of all plastic and steel bottles “No BPA” claims. If it ain’t glass, there is always that chance….

Which is why the Bamboo Bottle, which I read about on Treehugger this morning, is the glass solution many of us have been waiting for.

Basically, it’s %100 safe glass on the inside, wrapped handsomely in fast growing, sustainable bamboo, for the inevitable drops. Simple. Easy. SAFE.

With the blog response that I have seen so far – I have to think that a toddler sized version can’t be far behind.

Let’s hope that Whole Foods (which they must be hounding for distribution), is clever enough to put these on their shelves.

Happy Monday!

I hate the term “Sippy Cup”.  I don’t like “baby” words – and “sippy” sounds facile.

But.

This is a “sippy cup” (though we all managed without them) – that is made of glass, and therefore worth a mention. You won’t have to worry about the leaching of anything, and glass is just, simply, safest. As it’s for children, the EIO cup is wrapped in protective silicone, for those inevitable drops – in all those garish colors baby things seem to be covered in.

Brilliant housewife again proves “necessity is the mother of invention”.

Snifter, please.

Now that Alden is eating solids, we have begun brushing his two budding teeth with the Green Sprouts BPA, PVC & Nitrosamine free finger toothbrush. Soft Landing has a line of BPA and other initial free toothbrushes for the entire family, which I suggest you buy in bulk.  They also seem to carry every endocrine disrupting chemical free thing on the planet, so it’s an important site to keep bookmarked.

To learn more about endocrine disrupting chemicals, and why you want to try to limit their gender bending he/she causing ways – read HERE.

As Quentin Crisp so aptly put it: Health consists of having the same diseases as one’s neighbors.

Ta!

My son is utterly uninterested in rattles yet – but I love that Green Sprouts, a wonderful little company that makes all the things that a mum used to buy in plastic, out of safe, non-toxic cornstarch resin, has a yummy one.

In addition to rattles, they make food bowls, bottles, pacis and more. All products are also BPA and PVC free.

Of course, the beautiful silver rattle that his Tia Stacy gave him is also BPA and PVC free.  Bless her.

I’ve been using the Medela pump, and bottles, for the last several weeks.  Since Medela touts itself as a non-BPA bottle all over it’s website and materials, I was confident, secure, happy and smug that I was being a good mummy.

Not so fast your smugness.

Imagine my ire, fear and general FURY when I came across a post on www.Safbaby.com, that alerted me to fact that Health Canada (the Canadian version of the FDA), had in fact tested supposedly non-BPA bottles and found – oh, surprise, surprise, bloody BPA. All sorts of Cuban vulgarities were spewed, and on the phone was my smug mug within moments.

I got a hold of a fellow at Medela, sent him the offending links, asked him to cross his heart and hope to die (as I was ready to kill someone), that his bottles did NOT have BPA, and waited, with milk in GLASS Born Free bottles, for his response.  Though he tried to assure me on the phone that all Medela bottles were BPA free, this is the email – in it’s entirety, that he sent me back:

“Medela is committed to safety.

All Medela products that come into contact with breastmilk are manufactured with BPA-free materials.

We are looking into the recent Health Canada report.   Health Canada sent Medela the following statement “the Department has no concerns with respect to the safety of baby bottles made from non-polycarbonate plastic or bottle liners”

Independent health experts have also confirmed that at these reported miniscule trace amounts there would be no health risk associated with exposure.”

Now. I don’t know about you, but what the hell does “miniscule trace amounts” mean? I can tell you that it’s too expletive ambiguous for this green mama, and had me clutching my glass Born Free bottles like Dorothy Parker and the last glass of champagne at a New Years party.

Either ya does, or ya doesn’t. Period. The end. Full bloody unambiguous stop.

So.

I am still using the Medela pump, but you can bet your Hanro clad bum that I’m storing my sons milk in glass from now on as I’m tired of the lies.

Honestly.

These are INFANTS for blanks sake! “miniscule” adds up to body burden! The EXACT thing I’m trying to keep as bloody low as possible!

Anyway.

There you have it.

Fair and balanced reporting.

Over to you….

In searching  for a BPA, PVC, Phthalate free baby toothbrush, I came across Soft Landing, which is a brilliant company that sells plastic wares (for you, baby and pet), without PVC, BPA or Phthalates.  Ah, the face of the future. Watch and learn MBA students….

For the indesisive and those who like “samples”, they have perfect little baby packs of things like safe bottles…

eating service

or bath toys…

Honestly, these cats have everything you could possibly need. And any company that realizes that furbabies need safe toys too, I heart…

This is one of my new fave sites - and I hope you’ll forward it along to new and seasoned mums alike.

Bookmark for stocking stuffer time.

Happy Monday!

I have just tossed our two Sigg bottles that I bought hoping to avoid the BPA that we would be exposed to by using plastic water bottles. 

This was of particular importance to me as I am pregnant, and I TRUSTED these bottles to spare me the anxiety of drinking out of plastic for these critical months.

My trust was misplaced.

Last week, Sigg issued this statement which claims that only post August 2008 Sigg bottles are ACTUALLY BPA free – I missed this earlier statement last year as I was not pregnant, and quite frankly, didn’t care – in which it seems that they do admit the possible presence of BPA in thier bottles.

Why do I care as a pregnant woman?  BPA (Bisphenol A), is an endocrine disruptor, it can mimic the body’s own hormones, which is increasingly being linked to sexual organ development and:

“The first study of bisphenol A’s effects on humans was published in September 2008 by Iain Lang and colleagues in the Journal of the American Medical Association.^[11][59]The cross-sectional study of almost 1,500 people assessed exposure to bisphenolA by looking at levels of the chemical in urine. The authors found that high bisphenol A levels were significantly associated with heart disease, diabetes, and abnormally high levels of certain liver enzymes. An editorialin the same issue notes that while this preliminary study needs to be confirmed and cannot prove causality, there is precedent for analogous effects in animal studies, which “add[s] biological plausibility to the results reported by Lang et al.” SOURCE

If you see anyone with the children’s versions, do make sure – even if you look a right loon, to ask the parents if they have heard about the statement.

Lesson #5: You can only trust glass.

This is not a torture device – it is a bathtub, inspired by the tubs used by those eccentric Europeans.

Needless to say, it’s BPA, PVC, phthalate and lead free (yes, those things are in conventional plastic tubs), but, most importantly, it seems that babies love being in warm water up to their chests, and in the fetal position – both of which are accomplished in the Spa Baby.

I haven’t bought one of these space age looking things, but they are also BPA/PVC free. (My only concern would be that baby might reach up and touch a still warm spout.  I still have a scar from having done just that.) I do love the name: the Puj Tub (it makes me lust for a curry). It doesn’t seem that anything larger than a baby or Shih Tzu could fit in one, though.

And what to wash the dear one with?  Natural sea sponges (best brought back from the beach holiday you should squeeze in before the baby), and any soap (when he is old enough), that has a “0″  rating from the Skin Deep database.

For a yummy and cozy dry off, organic towels  from Under The Nile are just the thing.

Note: For those of us having winter babies, rather than worry about creams and lotions, just consider using extra virgin olive oil. It’s been the safe choice of mother’s for 4ooo year - and soaks in gorgeously apres bath. (Any oils that contain nuts, such as almond or sunflower, are to be avoided until they are cleared by the Doctor of not having nut allergies.) 

Let me know if you use the Raj, and love it.

Though not one of things that mamas dream of buying, you will need a basic baby care kit. Seems easy enough, no? No. Most of the baby kits that you will find use BPA , PVC and Phthalate riddled plastic and bits. Yuck. But this kit, which I ordered from www.Giggle.com, is free of those evil lurkers.

You may also get (modern looking) safe baby care kit products from www.zo-li.com.  They have a BPA, PVC, Phtalate free battery operated nasal aspirator – though I am going to wait and see if I can’t manage with the old fashioned bulb that comes with my Giggle kit.

This is the perfect shower gift for a Pisces. They have that whole Florence Nightingale thing going on.