Reply to Massive paranoia about flame retardants in baby gear and hubby is angry! HELP!!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've decided that better to just not buy unnecessary items, such as swings, nursing pillows, and some others. I'm pregnant with my second child now, and it hurts me to know now that the nursing pillow I used with my son was full of fire retardant chemicals. I'm not going to use such items this time around. I'll use the organic latex pillow for nursing. It will most likely be less comfortable and who knows if it's really doesn't have any flame retardants, but I can only hope. I'm going to use a swing. The car seats are all flame resistant, but I just will try not to have baby in them unless we are driving. I will rather wake her up to put in a sling that have her in that car seat now. Strollers... why in earth strollers need to be fire resistant? I have heard of anybody catching fire while pushing stroller down the street! Maclaren strollers claim to be fire retardant free. I'll research some more and perhaps will trade my strollers on one double Maclaren stroller. I got my son a crib from solid wood and mattress from Naturepedic. It has some fire retardant but natural and seem to be close to harmless. Naturepedic has info about its fire retardants on their website. It's not cheapest mattresses, and my husband wasn't thrilled either, but I managed to convince him, promising to compromise elsewhere. I buy organic crib sheets and decided to live without a bumper, since it's a dust gatherer anyways. If you do want to have an affordable organic crib set, check out Walmart again, they have a cute one. Although just the other day, I found out that its bumper filled with resin treated polyester, and some resins contain formaldehyde in them, and there is no way knowing with what kind of resin did they treat this bumper. I definitely buy organic PJ's and some of the clothes. Walmart has some affordable organic PJs. They do not state whether the organic cotton staff wasn't processed or dyed later with chemicals, but I figure at least if it's organic cotton and not flame resistant, it's all ready a better deal. For changing pads, I just put water proof sheet on the bed and change my son. It works just fine, and I don't have that ugly changing pad out all the time. Check out places like Loehmann's, the other day I found a bunch of adorable organic clothes on sale there. Whole foods has some cute organic clothes also, and they average to cheap compare to internet prices, and you don't have to pay for shipment and can read all the labels on the spot. For our upcoming baby we wanted to get a bassinet for the begining, since we don't have space for another crib. After extensive research I've decided to purchase a plane moses basket without bedding from Toadpoolbedding for 30$, get a bassinet mattress from Naturepedic for 59$ backs and get an organic bassinet sheets. I'll probably do some more research to make sure it's a right decision, but for now it seems as a most affordable and healthy option among bassinets. Playards isn't really necessary unless you want to use it as a bassinet. Naturepedc has some playard mattresses too. My son would never sit in playard, so I'm glad I've never purchased one :-).

Honestly, I wish I could sell our sofa, or rip out our carpet in order to get rid of most flame retardant staff, but it's not possible at the moment. I'm trying to calm myself down by saying that at least I'm educating myself on the environmental problems, so for future purchases I can make better choices. And whenever time will come to change big staff, I'll choose safe products. Ultimately, my house will be come cleaner and safer, and hopefully kids will be okay too. As for now, I just try to vacuum, dust, and ventilate as often as possible, and get rid of all the little unnecessary staff that we can live without. My latest big purchase was a laptop. I made a mega research and decided to go with an HP model, since it was brominated fire retardants and PVC free (although Macbooks are also free of those things).

It's not an easy road to look for safe products. It's often frustrating for me that I can't just go to the store and grab the first thing I like, that I have to make an extensive research before purchasing anything. But I believe in the work I do. I believe it's better for my kids and the world. The more parents will start making conscious purchase and asking companies questions about their products' safety, the more affordable and available organic and healthy products will become. The world will just be a better and healthier place for our kids and grand kids. Good luck on your not so easy road! I think you move in the right direction, but try to find compromises with your husband, perhaps slowly feed him with facts, offer getting organic crib mattress and skipping the playard. If it would be only me and my husband I probably wouldn't quite as horrified with things like flame retardants, but my mama bear instincts drive me crazy with a thought that my kids may get some health issues later in their lives due to the exposure to toxins in childhood. All I can do is to keep my sanity, and make one step at a time.[/quote]

I think you should honestly considering seeking help from a trained professional and I'm not trying to be snarky.  If you want to rip out your carpeting you are going down a slippery sloap.

Our parents put us in unsafe cribs, substandard car seats in cars without airbags or anti-lock breaks, painted the house with leaded paint, let us roam the outdoors without sunscreen and through time we've learned that cerain things should not be used.  However, making yourself a homebody because you are paranoid about leaving the house is not healthy for you or your family.  Your child will never experience camping, a hotel room, friends homes or even school.  There is plenty to worry yourself about but you have to make sure you're not going overboard.  Please consider talking to someone who can help manage this with you.[/quote]

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