EVA foam play mats outlawed in Belgium & France....

[Anonymous]

Those of you avoiding plastics, do you not have mother-in-laws?

We have an epic battle every single year keeping the mountain of plastic stuff she buys out of our house. She thinks we are overly worried zealots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you avoiding plastics, do you not have mother-in-laws?

No kidding! Our son is 3 months old and instead of any of the array of nice age-appropriate wooden and natural fiber toys I compiled as options for him, she gave us big sets of vinyl "educational" sorting toys and a plastic version of a shape sorting toy that we already have a wood version of. I am going to have to air the stuff outside for weeks before the smell will go away (that's a pretty good clue, by the way: if there's a smell, it's not safe for kids to be inhaling). She is all gung-ho about education but seemingly totally uneducated about plastics for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if anyone else has heard about this. Apparently EVA foam play mats have been outlawed in Belgium and France and the rest of the EU is soon to follow. Here is one of the articles I found on it.

http://www.safbaby.com/foam-puzzle-mat-immedate-removal-in-france-due-to-toxic-formamide

My mother said she saw something on Good Morning America about this. I can't seem to find much info on this. Unfortunately, all playmats are made from EVA foam. We have the Toys r Us Imaginarium alphabet mat. I think this is the TRU/BRU brand.

Has anyone else heard about this? Not sure what we should do.

The link says that formaldehyde is added for flexibility. Most plastic toys should be fine. Try getting wrestling or wall mats as sold to schools. Those things are wiped down with chlorox for sanitary purposes. We always just used comforters on the floor for babies.

[Anonymous]

If you are interested in learning more about these issues I recommend the book Slow Death by Rubber Duckie and also visiting the website of the Environmental Working Group.

[Anonymous]

EVA foam?

What is that?

I got mine from Costco.com and spent over $130.

Is this safe?

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11600136&search=playmat&Mo=2&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=playmat&Ntt=playmat&No=2&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

[Anonymous]

PP it says it is tested to EU standards. It might be ok. Not sure.

[Anonymous]

1. agree with the PP who asks WWGrandmaD? If she didn't have the material in her house, ask yourself do you really, really need it in yours? Sure, sometimes the answer is 'yes' but not always. the wood/plastic shape sorter is a perfect example.

2. why does everyone have those foam mats, anyway? sincere question. is it to convert a tile floor into usable space for a 5 mo. old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. agree with the PP who asks WWGrandmaD? If she didn't have the material in her house, ask yourself do you really, really need it in yours? Sure, sometimes the answer is 'yes' but not always. the wood/plastic shape sorter is a perfect example.

2. why does everyone have those foam mats, anyway? sincere question. is it to convert a tile floor into usable space for a 5 mo. old?

To answer question #2, we had ours over the cement floor of our screen in porch.

Also - in 2006 BPA was news in other countries, just not in the US. My son was born in June and I asked my ped about BPA in bottles. His response was that at the time the studies were inconclusive and not to be concerned - surprise surprise 2 years later when everything is BPA free. How quickly things change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of you avoiding plastics, do you not have mother-in-laws?

No kidding! Our son is 3 months old and instead of any of the array of nice age-appropriate wooden and natural fiber toys I compiled as options for him, she gave us big sets of vinyl "educational" sorting toys and a plastic version of a shape sorting toy that we already have a wood version of. I am going to have to air the stuff outside for weeks before the smell will go away (that's a pretty good clue, by the way: if there's a smell, it's not safe for kids to be inhaling). She is all gung-ho about education but seemingly totally uneducated about plastics for kids.

Person you quoted here. My sincere advice to you is to sit down now, before she's bought so much plastic that it is a VERY uncomfortable topic, and tell her exactly why you are avoiding plastic. Personally, I don't know how much I fear plastic itself (we don't eat off of it, store food in it, or chew it in our house, but we do have some plastic toys that I have okay'd) but I don't like the cheaply manufactured plastic stuff that takes batteries. I abhor things things for other reasons, though. I think they're developmentally detrimental. I wish like ANYTHING we would have had a very explicit conversation with both sets of grandparents at an early time saying we were basically afraid of plastic. Because we waited, we now have grandparents that have bought so much stuff like that, that it's like saying "we hate what you've got us." Which sucks. Because we do, but saying so seems so darn ungrateful. My in-laws, at least, don't believe the "hype" about how plastic is bad for you. However, if we'd have said "no plastic toys, no battery operated toys" from the beginning, we would be in much better shape.

I blame my husband, who didn't want to hurt his mom's feelings. Grrrrr.

[Anonymous]

PP, thanks for your message, this is really interesting. Why do you find the battery operated toys developmentally detrimental? What do you recommend instead?

Also, in that article that someone linked to, they mentioned using natural yoga mats on the floor, which is a great idea, but does anyone think that perhaps those yoga mats aren't that safe? Any suggestions on places to get good natural fiber textiles?

[Anonymous]

In all fairness to MIL's, it is Mother's also (well at least mine).

I try and slowly move the item out of sight, into the trash as quickly as possible. I feel guilty that I am contributing to the trash problem but if it does not meet the bar I have set for my kids, I will not pass it on to someone elses kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. agree with the PP who asks WWGrandmaD? If she didn't have the material in her house, ask yourself do you really, really need it in yours? Sure, sometimes the answer is 'yes' but not always. the wood/plastic shape sorter is a perfect example.

2. why does everyone have those foam mats, anyway? sincere question. is it to convert a tile floor into usable space for a 5 mo. old?

To answer question #2, we had ours over the cement floor of our screen in porch.

Also - in 2006 BPA was news in other countries, just not in the US. My son was born in June and I asked my ped about BPA in bottles. His response was that at the time the studies were inconclusive and not to be concerned - surprise surprise 2 years later when everything is BPA free. How quickly things change.

BPA was news in the US in 2006.

[Anonymous]

What is the actual level of risk? I have to admit that I don't pay attention to all this stuff. Sure, there might be a link in laboratory rats or something, but is it enough to really hurt our kids? We had plastic toys as kids and we're okay. Are you not going to let your kid play with legos? Am I the only one who doesn't get upset about plastic toys from relatives?

[Anonymous]

As your kids get older, it's harder to control the plastic in your home. Action figures, dolls, electronic handheld games, etc., are pretty hard to avoid. You can choose to be moderate in your plastic use, however, and control what you can.

As for the foam play mats: You can buy a decent sized wool rug from overstock.com for about the same amount as a foam rug, and put it over an organic rug-stop. This should provide enough padding to prevent injuries from falls, warmth to a room, and, frankly, looks a lot better than foam, which can be punctured. Wool is fairly stain-resistant, too, so you don't have to worry too much about it getting dirty, especially if you are careful to limit cups of milk to the dining area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, thanks for your message, this is really interesting. Why do you find the battery operated toys developmentally detrimental? What do you recommend instead?

Also, in that article that someone linked to, they mentioned using natural yoga mats on the floor, which is a great idea, but does anyone think that perhaps those yoga mats aren't that safe? Any suggestions on places to get good natural fiber textiles?

Let me just preface this that I am only giving you my opinion, not trying to act like a developmental expert. I've read some studies on this, but don't think there is much work out there on it. But, just like I think television is a weird medium that confuses young children under say, near two years old or so (based on my opinion only) I think these yapping toys don't do anything good for kids and, at worst, can actually damage their development. Think about it. A kid sits down with tickle me elmo and what does he / she do? Press a button. Giggle. Have a good laugh, yes, but the toy is basically playing with itself and the child sits idly by and watches or presses a button. We have this v-tech helicopter. There are tons of buttons to it, and he just puts these balls in and it says "red, green or yellow" according to which ball he puts in. He loves it, I hate it, especially because when he leaves it and moves on to another toy, the damn thing makes a noise designed to lure the child back in. A lot of the v-tech toys, especially, are like this. He also has a steering wheel toy that does the same thing. Sometimes he gets both of them going at once, and they're yapping at him and he's engrossed and I think, this is overstimulating at worst, and at best, just plain old annoying. And why do all the toys have to talk? My MIL bought him a plastic barn. When he plays with that, the animals talk for themselves. They have little plastic pieces that snap together so that the barn can only look one way. The animals can each go only into one place. Compare that to when he plays with the 12 dollar cloth barn from Ikea. He sets up the fences himself. He can put fences in the silo if he wants. The cows can hang out in the barn loft if they want, the pigs can go swimming, and he has to make his own animal noises, which is so much more fun for me, as a parent, to listen to. And I feel strongly that he's DOING more with this set than with the plastic, premade, battery operated, scripted, well, frankly: crap.

I'd much rather my child use toys that require imagination or more active participation. I like shape sorting toys for my 17 month old, he has a tea set, he has a magna doodle (thinking of plastic toys that I don't mind so much), eventually he'll have legos. He has crayons and a big pad of paper. When he was a baby, I did wooden or rubber toys only because he put everything in his mouth. Now I've relaxed on the plastic, but not on the batteries. I allow a few of those toys, but not a ton. He has tons of trucks (plastic, and from that recycled company) and cars (smaller, from a little store attached to the brewpup franklins in Mt. Rainier on Rte. 1). I like the websites oompa (I think that's a website, or a brand of toys) and I get a lot of stuff from giggle.com. Even diapers.com has some cute eco-friendly / non-yapping toys.

I'm also with another poster when I say that I hate to donate these toys because I really think they suck. I'd rather recycle them. My brother recently had a baby, though, and actively wants all these plastic things. He's going to buy them anyway, so sometimes I think I should just save him the money, give him the plastic stuff he wants, and then buy my nephew toys that I think are "better" without making an issue out of it.

It's tough to navigate the plastic / battery-operated world...