Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Adios Lavender Sleepy Time Lotion

If being a new mom isn't scary enough- the news just adds to existing fears. The newest thing to scare me is the information on phthalates(thowl-ates). I know my newspaper ran an article on this yesterday and I have seen a number of articles online as well. These chemicals are found in baby lotions, shampoos, and powders. (That list is certainly not comprehensive) From what I understand the chemicals are part of the fragrance and companies are not required to list them on their labels. What is it with our country constantly trying to hide information from consumers? It is really a bunch of bulldonkey. I strongly believe people have a right to know exactly what they are putting on and in their bodies.

Anyhoo, one study has found that the chemicals are showing up in baby's urine. So as your are greasing up your LO with that lovely smelling lotion- the chemicals are going in through the skin. Do we know if this is harmful? The views are mixed and the study not really conclusive. However, I think we should always err on the side of caution. Of course this comes from a lady that stopped using antiperspirant a while back when I read about the negative side effects. Now I just smell like a lovely mix of lavender and BO thanks to Tom's of Maine Deodorant. My motto is trust NOBODY when it comes to business. Big business does not care about what you put in your body. If they did- High Fructose Corn Syrup would not be in products targeted at children or anyone for that matter! The only person you can trust is yourself when it comes to your health and the health of your family. If you want to read more on this topic, just Google phthalates and you will get plenty of info. If you are interested in using products free of these chemicals check out Arbonne's Baby Line. They are a Vegan approved company as well. Also check out Noodle and Boo! Gotta love the name.

Check out
http://noodleandboo.com/
http://www.arbonne.com/international.asp
http://cosmeticdatabase.com/browse.php?maincat=babycare

For stinky fun! On a serious note- it works pretty good
http://www.tomsofmaine.com/toms/product.asp?dept_id=500&pf_id=BW-ND

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate these reports that "studies" have been done to prove this and that but they don't actually give you a clear cut answer as to whether its true or not. I personally think that if there were a real risk they'd be pulling these things off the shelves like wildfire. I'm also the type that tries to think of all the terrible things our parents and grandparents did to us and generations before us and for the most part we're ok. My mom smoked while breastfeeding, literally simultaneously. Try not to let every report make you crazy.

Danielle said...

ok...the image of your mom smoking and breastfeeding is too much for me!!!! haha

Kellie Bonifield said...

My mom has a picture of her and a friend, both pregnant, smoking a cigarrette with their feet up on a table with their cocktails.

I think we definitely have to put all the contaminants in perpective BUT our children now have much more infiltrating their systems with 5X as many vaccines, a huge percentage increase in pesticide use, steroids, and antibiotics in our food, a huge increase in the additives business (food dyes, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, etc.) Just because one item is proven negligable in its effect (meaning, its ability to kill you in the short term), doesn't mean that the entire slew on a daily basis leads to health and well being.

I just went to a talk at my local Holistic Moms Group about aromatherapy and the moderator gave me a list of mixes using all natural ingredients for diaper rash, body wash, antibacterial wound cleaner, house cleaner and more. send me your

Kellie Bonifield said...

Anyway, my email is mommalikabooty@yahoo.com-- I'll send you the handouts as word files if you want them.