I just read an excellent blog posting I wanted to share with you!   Safbaby.com just uploaded this new article on 12 ways to keep your baby and kids toxin-free in 2010.  Many of the tips will be a refresher for some (avoid the dreaded BPA is by now hopefully familiar advice for all parents), and some may be new issues you may want to consider for your family (avoiding corn syrup and food additives etc.)

Safbaby.com is run by two moms who provide great info on raising your baby in a toxin-free environment.

The article is nteresting reading for sure, with lots of links to more in-depth articles for further research. Hope it helps make your home and life more safe for your little ones!

I’m a pretty healthy eater, once was vegetarian for a few years, but since I met my snack-crazy husband and since I become a mother I seem to have developed more of a taste for sweets and junk food. Three pregnancies and drowsy afternoons of nursing definitely have made me more indulgent: with this last pregancy I was big into chocolate and almond coated ice cream bars and enormous bags of SmartFood.

But now that my baby is nearing four months I’m trying to be more conscious about what I eat so I can lose these last pounds of pregnancy weight!  So while I’m still going through a bag of black licorice a week (!) I’ve been taking advantage of the fall harvest here in Ontario and eating a lot of greens. Which I happen to like.

But I must admit, kale, although pretty, is a tough sell around my home with my meat-loving man and two little boys. I once tried to put it on pizza, which even I found horrid. I’ve tried stir-frying it as well, but no matter how much garlic I sautee along with it, it still is hard to get down.

But I know it is so good for me and for baby too, so I wanted to share a kale recipe I’ve found that I actually love!  I find myself eating it even as I’m making it, it’s so good, and for kale, that’s saying something!

It was given to me by my friend Caroline, who eats kale all the time. Her mom grows rows upon rows of it in her garden up near Haliburton. Caroline even made this salad for me once late last spring when I was heavily pregnant. It’s super easy and flexible, and even if your kids won’t eat it (mine don’t) you and your partner probably will!

• one head kale (curly or black, although I like the black or dinosaur kale best)
• one avocado (or two if you want)
• juice of one lemon
• generous sprinkling of sea salt
• tablespoon of flax oil or olive oil (you can omit this if you want)

1. Wash kale, pat or spin dry, then cut away from the spines or stems and cut into thin ribbons
2. scoop out avocado flesh with your hands and squash and mush it into the kale mixture coating the leaves.
3. Add lemon juice. Mush some more
4. Add oil bit by bit, adjusting to your taste
5. Sprinkle with sea salt
6. Enjoy!

This salad tastes great a few hours later and into the next day as the flavours marinate and penetrate the kale.

Today we have a guest post from Barbara Nyke, a Toronto interior designer who specializes in eco-friendly design:

Children have been experiencing an unprecedented rise in chronic disease and illness such as cancer, autism, asthma, birth defects, ADD / ADHD, and learning and developmental disabilities. The Learning Disabilities Association of Canada has linked many of these outcomes to unregulated toxic chemicals that we use in our homes.

The benefits of choosing a sustainably-manufactured product for your home are numerous. The top three reasons are:

1. the product has been made by not depleting the earth’s resources 
2. the company is practicing responsible manufacturing methods 
3.   the product can help to improve your home’s indoor air quality; particularly of importance for a newborn and children. 

Indoor air quality can be, and typically is, many more times polluted than outdoor air because of the hundreds of items we bring into our homes.  The important sources of air pollution in the home include, but isn’t limited to: furniture, vinyl flooring, new carpets and carpet adhesives, paints, vinyl wallpapers and household cleaning products.

Some products contain VOCs, volatile organic compounds, which are chemicals like formaldehyde, styrene, toluene, formaldehyde, and a variety of benzenes found in carpeting, dyes, pesticides, fungicides, fire retardants and anti-stain coatings; These are frequently released into the air indoors.  Considering that we spend 90% of our time indoors, this is an important element to address.

All consumers would be better off to avoid chemicals like these that are known to be carcinogenic, toxic to reproductive organs and endocrine disrupting.

Decorating green on a budget

We all want to save money.  When it’s time to decorate a nursery, there are ways to save money, but there are also areas that we shouldn’t scrimp on.  Earlier generations relied on hand-me downs for cribs, clothing and toys.  I don’t think this sharing has ever waned in popularity, primarily for the sake of saving money, because children grow out of these items quickly and due to the benefit of recycling clothes and items.  Nowadays, there are plenty of stores that have taken this idea commercial and resell used products.

Visit  garage and antique sales to find lamps, rocking chairs and dressers to refinish and repaint.  An environmental and cost-effective paint would be a mid-cost, good quality eggshell, low-VOC, water-based paint, approximately $40.  Going this route is a an inexpensive way to have a non-odorous room, that with standard paints and oil paints can take up to a couple of months to off-gass depending on the level of ventilation.  Naturally-made milk paint is another alternative, but is costlier.

For flooring, an economical way to get broadloom on a budget is to choose an end-of-roll piece that has already off-gassed and is cheaper than buying a new cut.

-Barbara Nyke, Eco-Designer, NIKKA DESIGN, www.nikkadesign.ca

For more information on designing healthier rooms for kids, visit the Kai Kids Fall Trunk Show in Toronto this Saturday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. At 11:30 a.m. Barbara will be doing a free half-hour session for parents with time for questions afterwards.

If any of you parents out there still haven’t made the switch to natural, chemical-free shampoo, soaps, bodywashes and lotions for your families, a new study should help convince you.

A report by the  Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, released yesterday, found major brands such as Johnson & Johnson, Baby Magic, Huggies and Mustela to be contaminated with cancer-causing carcinogens formaldehyge and 1.4 dioxin. Formaldehyde can also trigger skin rashes in some children.

Babies and children are far more vulnerable to the harmful effects of toxins and carcinogens ingested and absorbed through the skin due to their small size.  Their organs are still developing, and their bodies are less able to detoxify and excrete chemicals.

These substances are contaminents that get into the products during the manufacturing process and as such, are not listed on ingredient labels. 1.4 dioxin is a byproduct of a chemical processing technique that makes products bubbly and formaldehyde is released in the bottles and containers over time from preservatives used to prolong shelf-life.

In Canada, both formaldehyde and 1.4 dioxin are on Health Canada’s cosmetics hotlist, which means they cannot be used as ingredients in personal-care products, but are allowed in trace amounts in levels higher than those detected in yesterday’s study. There are a few exceptions for formaldehyde, which is permitted as in ingredient at low concentrations to provide antimicrobial preservation.

For the study, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics commissioned an independent laboratory to test 48 common children’s products for 1,4-dioxane; 28 of those products were also tested for formaldehyde. The lab found that:

• 17 out of 28 products tested – 61 percent – contained both formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane
• 23 out of 28 products – 82 percent – contained formaldehyde at levels ranging from 54 to 610 parts per million (ppm).
• 32 out of 48 products – 67 percent – contained 1,4-dioxane at levels ranging from 0.27 to 35 ppm.

More than 60 percent of products tested contained both toxins, including Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, L’Oreal Kids Extra Gentle 2-in-1 Fast Dry Shampoo, Huggies Naturally Refreshing Cucumber & Green Tea Baby Wash, Gerber’s Grins & Giggles Milk & Honey Baby Wash. Bubble bath products branded with popular children’s characters also tested positive for both chemicals, including Barbie, Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street, Hot Wheels and Tinker Bell.

Here are some tips to ensure what you buy for your family is non-toxic and safe:

• Use natural and organic products. (Kai Kids carries some excellent chemical-free lines: Dimpleskins, TruKid, Bare Organics, Little Twig,  and Earth-Friendly Baby)
• Look for ingredients you recognize: jojoba oil, coconut oil, olive oil, beeswax,  glycerin, rosemary extract (a natural preservative), grapefruit oil, calendula, cocoa butter, Vitamin E oil, etc.
• Read labels carefully and avoid products you can’t pronounce and those containing: parabens, sodium laureth sulfates,  polyethylene glycol, phthalates, petrolatum/mineral oil/paraffin, glycols, MEA/DEA/TEA, PVP/ acrylates, DMDM hydantoin/ diazolidinyl urea/ methylisothiazolinone

Obviously, the price for all-natural, chemical-free and organic shampoos and lotions is higher, as the ingredients and manufacturing processes are more costly. But what I’ve found as a parent who switched to natural skincare products back when I was pregnant with our oldest son, now 4, is that natural skincare products seem to be more concentrated and last a lot longer. That means you definitely get your money’s worth. One small tin of Bum Bum Balm lasted me almost nine months of mulitple diaper changes a day, and one bottle of Organic Chamomile Shampoo & Body Wash got me through six months of bathtime for my two children!

I think it’s because the ingredients are quality and pure and there are no fillers, but I’m starting to suspect that aside from being full of toxic chemicals, conventional drugstore products are made so that you go through them quickly and will buy more!

Hello everyone and happy (belated) 2009!  I can’t believe i haven’t blogged in over a month!  Apologies all around. December got busy with Kai Kids at shopping shows, plus our own kids, Christmas celebrations and then our family got felled by a horrid virus that left us all sick over Christmas and New Years, reeling, lethargic and behind on so many fronts in our life.

But my energy is back now and I’ve a renewed enthusiasm for business, babies and blogging!  Last week Peter and I went to a kids trade show for retailers and saw some excellent new products we are thinking of bringing on board at Kai Kids.

One is the TruKid line of non-toxic, organic natural skin and hair care – safe for babies but really aimed at toddlers, preschoolers and older kids. The scents are fresh and mild, the ingredients are natural, there are all kinds of excellent  products such as a sunblock stick and a natural hair detangler  (no more tears!), and the prices are very reasonable. Look for the line in February.

We were also very interested in a new organic cotton preemie line of hats, booties, onesies and sleepers from the U.S. So far, we have not carried items for premature babies, but i can imagine that parents of such vulnerable wee ones might be even more interested than the average mom or dad in organic, non-toxic clothing for their babies. Are any of you parents of preemies? Would these be products you would be interested in purchasing? We’d love your feedback to help make our decision.

We also just put in our new order for Baby Soles crib shoes. The new line from our popular Little Soles leather shoes for babies, these are soft-soled shoes aimed at babies 0-9 months in a bunch of cute, funky styles. We’ve always loved this natural, Canadian shoe line, but recently we’ve become even bigger fans!

The Calgary-based company has just launched rigorous independent testing of the leather and soles of their line of shoes to ensure they are free from: fomaldehyde, Perfluorooctane Sulfonate, AZO Colourants, and seven toxic elements commonly found in leather: lead, mercury, arsenic cadmium, antimony, selenium and barium. They are a very socially responsible and environmentally-aware company right in line with our own philosophy as parents and owners of Kai Kids  eco-friendly online boutique.Watch for their spring/summer collection coming soon!

Last week Peter and I were working our Kai Kids booth at the Children’s Trunk Show. We always enjoy meeting our customers and talking to other parents about products, kids, and things we go through as parents!  I was chatting with a customer about using reusable wipes for diaper changes at home, and how we soak and launder them ( I blogged about this back in the summer). She was asking what we soak them with in the diaper pail, and i was telling her about non-toxic bleach, or hydrogen peroxide. I told her that we also use it to clean and disinfect toys, and she said: you should blog about that too!

Hydrogen peroxide is also known as oxygenated bleach, and it is one of the most environmentally safe chemicals on the market. It works by releasing oxygen to perform the bleaching process, and then converting to simply H2O (water and oxygen) once the process is complete. It is biodegradable.  

Now, you don’t want to go disinfecting crazy, as germs are good for kids and babies to help build up their immune systems. But there are some things, that you just want to feel are squeaky clean.  So,  if you haven’t already tried it, hydrogen peroxide is great around the home – use it on grungy compost bins, mold on the shower curtain, sanitizing cutting boards after chopping up raw chicken, cleaning the toilet bowl,and, it’s gentle enough that you can also use it on your baby’s toys – especially after she’s had a bad cold or virus and you don’t want a repeat!

Simply buy a bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide from the drug store, grocery store or natural food store. You can also find natural baby disinfectant in some baby stores that sell cloth diapers, but it is usally triple the price. We found a much cheaper alternative: in our house we use the All Natural Liquid Bleach by Nature Clean – it just contains water and 5% hydrogen peroxide. When you are disinfecting toys, just pour a1/4 cup or so  in a bucket and fill the bucket with warm water and clean away!  Or mix some with water in an empty spray bottle.

If you want more specifics on strengths and how much to dilute for various cleaning tasks, there is an excellent web siteI found all about Using Hydrogen Peroxide.

For the past year or so many of us have read or heard about the dangers of the chemical Bisphenol A, used to make hard polycarbonate plastic. Today a new study piles on even more evidence that BPA should be banned.

Just after we launched our online store Kai Kids last November (fully stocked with glass and BPA-free plastic baby bottles and sippy cups!) studies about BPA leaching from containers, baby and water bottles and chew toys hit the mainstream press. Parents everywhere –those who could afford it, that is — started tossing common brands of sippy cups and plastic baby bottles and searching for safter, less toxic alternatives.

The word last fall was that BPA can be a hormone disrupter. Animal studies had shown links between chronic, low doses of BPA to obesity, diabetes, thyroid disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, reduced sperm count in men and other illnesses, and that the most dangerious periods of exposure were in the womb, during infancy and early childhood.

Today comes news from the respected Journal of the American Medical Association that people with higher levels of Bisphenol A in their bodies also have higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and liver abnormalities!

The team of British and American scientists compared the health status of 1,455 men and women with the level of BPA in their urine. Participants with the highest levels were nearly three times more likely to have cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest levels, and 2.4 times more likely to have diabetes. Higher BPA levels were also associated with abnormal concentrations of three liver enzymes.

So, if you still haven’t gone through your family’s plastic paraphenalia to weed out items made with BPA and other dangerous chemicals (usually clear, hard plastics and anything with the # numbers 3, 6 and 7), now is a great time to get the job done!

Our house is still not a completely plastic-free zone, but we’ve tried to wean ourselves of our plastic addiction by searching out safer, old-school alternatives: stainless steel and bamboo baby utensils (my Little Guy’s fave is my dad’s silver babyspoon engraved with Grandpa’s name Bruce), ceramic bowls and plates, Klean Kanteen water bottles, BornFree BPA-free baby bottles, Pyrex and stainless steel food containers, plus we wash and reuse any plastic bag or ziploc baggie that is still lurking in our cupboards and drawers.

It takes a little effort, and in many cases, more money, but in the end, you are investing in products that are usually more durable and often also recyclable, plus you can’t put a price on your childrens’ health and wellbeing!

This morning I was lucky to be be interviewed for an article for iparenting.com! The reporter was asking me for tips on green living with your family, especially for easy ways to go green without spending a lot of money. Unfortunately, although prices are starting to come down, eating organic, buying organic clothing and natural skincare etc. still does cost more than conventional goods, mostly due to the high production costs of organic farming, sourcing natural ingredients and materials, and ensuring fair labour practises.

But there is a lot you can do for your family’s health and the planet’s, that doesn’t cost a fortune. I find myself doing so many things that my grandmother did: reusing plastic bags, using a reusable shopping bag, cleaning with lemon and vinegar and baking soda, trying to make food from scratch instead of relying on heavily-processed convenience food.

Since we had our Big Boy three-and-a-half years ago, I realized that I’ve found many ways to go green and save money in our household, which leaves a bit of extra to spend on what i think is really important: buying organic apples, potatoes and red peppers (to avoid the dirty dozen fruits and vegetables most heavily laden with pesticides), hormone-free meats, organic milk, and chemical-free natural skincare products.

So here’s my green tip for this week: reusable baby wipes for diaper changes. Since Big Boy was born I have tried to avoid conventional disposable baby wipes – they are wasteful and full of alcohol and chemicals that aren’t good for the environment or a baby’s sensitive bottom.

At Kai Kids, we sell some wonderful organic cotton flannel Bum Wipes made by a mompreneur I know in Thunder Bay. Or you can just use old facecloths. I’ve used the same batch of about 15 cloths for almost four years now – with many messy, dirty diaper changes, believe me – and they are still good to go with no stains! At diaper change time, I just fill a small plastic bowl with warm water, soak the cloth, wring it out and wipe. I don’t use any soap.

Then i toss the cloth into a diaper pail with some water and a little non-toxic natural bleach (made from hydrogen peroxide) or you can use some white vinegar). Every two days i wash them in hot water. And voila, four years and two baby boys later, my two have never had many diaper rashes and think of all of the money I’ve saved, not to mention needless paper products diverted from the landfill!

Now, I must confess, that when i’m out and about, in my diaper bag i do carry a small pack of disposable wipes from 7th Generation. But i use them sparingly. If you want to be really virtuous, you can put a damp cloth in a ziploc bag for diaper changes on the go. Another great product to have in your diaper bag is Kai Kids’ all-natural Organic Diaper Spray – just a little on a cloth or your baby’s bum will help get things clean and fresh and it’s very moisturizing as well.

If you have any tips on green parenting I’d love to hear them so please share them here or email me at nancy@kaikids.com

We are currently looking for two things to use on our own boys and add to our store at Kai Kids: a natural, baby-safe bug spray, and a chemical-free, effective sunscreen. We have a few we are looking at, but I thought I’d ask if any of you readers and customers have a favourite that you would like to recommend?

We look first for a non-toxic, natural product, and we favour those made in Canada if possible. Plus, we are careful to only stock products that have been manufactured in a sweatshop-free environment. If it’s biodegradable, then even better!

We would love to hear your suggestions, either here on our blog, or via email at info@kaikids.com

Get ready for summer!

As if parents don’t have enough to worry about already what with toxic baby bottles and lead in toys, this week it was reported that many common brands of baby shampoo, powder, creams and lotions contain high levels of dangerous pthalates, a chemical used to stabilize fragrance and soften plastic.It’s the same chemical found in many plastic and vinyl baby teethers and bibs, which is why at Kai Kids we only sell organic cotton teething toys and bibs.A study in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics revealed high concentrations of these hormone-disrupting chemicals in the urine of the babies studied between 2000 and 2005. All had detectable amounts of at least one type of phthalate, and more than 80% had seven or more types. The babies in the study had more than four times the amount in their urine than babies whose parents did not use the products.More than half the mothers in the study reported using baby shampoos on their infants within 24 hours of the urine tests, and about one-third had used lotion, and 14% used baby powder.The more the mothers used the various products, the higher the levels found in their babies’ urine, leading researchers to suspect that the skin absorbs and transfers the chemicals into babies’ bodies. The highest levels were found in babies under eight months old.Exposure to pthalates could reduce testosterone and alter reproductive organs. Very scary. And Canadian and U.S. manufacturers aren’t currently required to list pthalate contents on their packaging!When you are shopping, look for products labeled “phthalate-free,” or check labels for common phthalates, including DEP and DEHP. I recommend Earth-Friendly Baby, a natural, organic, chemical-free baby skincare line from Australia that we recently started to carry at Kai Kids. No pthalates and a label that lists all of the ingredients!When we had Kai three years ago, I had read about pthalates and tried to find natural babycareproducts that didn’t contain them. But it was only recently that I weaned myself off of lotions and my favourite perfume, which are both full of the toxic chemical. But happily, it’s now easy to find safe, nice-smelling alternatives for the whole family.-N