toxins

I’ve always been a little paranoid about toxins in our environment. And it seems like so many people are getting cancer, young people. Did this always happen? Or are we just able to detect more cancers now? Or is there really more cancer because we’re all being exposed to stuff that makes us sicker?

There was the whole BPA scandal where we found out that we’d all been using plastics for years that contained a hazardous chemical. Now, we still use plastic but are told that much of it doesn’t contain BPA–at least not the stuff that we’re giving to our babies. But get THIS: I saw a Nature of Things episode the other night in which I learned that BPA was replaced with BPS in plastics. Does anyone know if BPS is any safer?

In our house, we’ve switched from plastic to glass & steel. Well sort of… as much as anyone can. We got glass lock containers instead of tupperware (but the lids are plastic). We have stainless steel water bottles & coffee mugs. But when I start thinking about all the food items in my house and what they’re packaged in, it’s mostly plastic except for some glass jars and some canned goods. But even the cans are now lined with plastic, which I think has BPA in it. It would be so difficult to avoid all the plastic. It’s everywhere.

Not to mention the whole radiation issue. There’s wi-fi everywhere you go and I LOVE LOVE LOVE my iPhone and my computer. When I’m rocking the baby to sleep, I sometimes have my ear buds in while I watch a show on netflix, it makes passing the time so much easier. Maya loves the apps and she uses our MacBook computer for all kinds of learning & entertainment. So, am I irradiating my children? Is all my technology safe?

The truth is I have no idea and there’s no definitive evidence to prove that any of this stuff is really harmful. But shouldn’t we employ the precautionary principle? It seems to me we tend to use all these products & chemicals until there is a problem, and then we start to worry. Isn’t this approach totally backwards? Shouldn’t everything be tested extensively to ensure that it’s safe before it’s marketed? I know this wouldn’t suit the capitalist model–corporations would be very angry if there was increased regulation and delays in getting products out on the market as fast as possible.

But what are we to do?

cloth debate

When Maya was a baby I used cloth diapers for about 6 months. Then, we put our house up for sale and I had enough to deal with trying to keep the house immaculate for showings, and so I decided to use disposables… NEVER LOOKED BACK.

You see the switch made my life so much easier (yay!)… but it doubled our garbage (boo!). It’s kind of sickening, but I needed to do it.

Then, once daycare started, there was no choice, I had to continue with disposable diapers. I started out with Morgan using the beloved Pampers. They work so darn well! But my conscience is killing me so now, Morgan is 2 months old and I’m going to try to switch to cloth. I have all these cloth diapers from last time, it would be a shame not to use them. I used the old fashioned prefolds last time, but I also have some Mother-ease diapers that I’m excited to try out. Either way, I’ll save loads of money and garbage… as long as I can keep up with the laundry.

Wish me luck!

Sick, sick and sick!

I’ve been sick for over two weeks. First it was a head cold, then I was healthy for about two days, and now it’s a lingering chest cold. I’ve been feeling a bit sorry for myself and certainly feeling a bit surrounded by germs being an elementary school teacher by day, and mom to a toddler who is in daycare by night. It’s like a cesspool of viruses are just lurking nearby… waiting to find their way into my body.

All this is pretty awful, but to make matters worse many of my co-workers and students are now battling a flu that involves 6 hours of intense barfing. I just got a call from my principal, whose daughter is in my class, saying that she had to stay home with her daughter who is sick with this latest, most terrible illness. My teaching assistant is home with her son who goes to a totally different school because he spent most of last night vomiting. I even heard someone say that they saw a kid barfing out his car window while driving home. This is more contagious than one of those zombie viruses you’d find in a horror movie. It’s like the whole city is infected! Just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt. I’m doomed!

Witty’s

Does it get any better for a toddler than a day spent at the beach playing in tide pools?

Maya had a fantastic time at Witty’s Lagoon today playing with her friend O who is a little older.

Despite the fact that she was shivering from the cool breeze, she couldn’t stop herself from exploring the hermit crabs, sculpins, seaweed and barnacles on the rocky shore of this incredible beach. It’s days like this when I remind myself how lucky we are to live in on this incredible island!

On the way home she fell sound asleep and had a three hour nap. This is the life.

Working Mom

Going back to work was as good and as bad as I expected. I rediscovered the fact that I love my job and so that was pretty great. But, man, I was tired. Getting up at 5:30 to get myself and my one-year-old girl out the door in time to drop her at daycare and get to work on time.

Maya had a difficult first few days at daycare. As I had mentioned before, we chose a small daycare at the home of a friend of mine. My husband and I chose this over a bigger daycare in the same building where I work as a teacher. I knew the people running the programs at both places and they all seemed more than competent, but I just felt overwhelmingly (and my husband agreed) that it was better for Maya to be at a house with fewer kids, than in a larger, more institutional setting (even if the larger place was in the same building as my school).  Plus, the daycare at my friend’s house is close to our house (a 5 minute drive) which meant that Maya would not have to spend an extra hour each day commuting in the car with me.

So much thought and deliberation went into my decision to choose the daycare that we did. Nevertheless, I found I was totally second guessing our decision at the last minute, and kind of panicking about whether we’d made the right choice. Now, I am feeling much much better about our decision because, after about three days of mega-crying, Maya started really enjoying daycare. She bonded with my friend who runs the program, she naps on her usual schedule, and interacts happily with all the other kids. She still cries when I drop her off but I’m told it stops shortly after I leave. That said, those first few days were rough on both of us and I cried in the car a few times on my way to work. It was really hard to pick up Maya all red-eyed and exhausted from those first trying days. Thankfully, it worked out for the best. I don’t know what I’d have done if it didn’t because the waiting lists for daycares accepting kids in Maya’s age group are long. It would have been hard to find anything else.

The holidays were a nice reprieve after three weeks of work and we’ve spent loads of quality time together as a family over the past two weeks. In two days, we’re back the grind and it’ll be months before we have a break again. I am not looking forward to expending the energy that’s required of me for the next while (it’s going to be exhausting). But, thankfully, I have a supportive husband, and a great job (with a flexible employer) and all these things make this adjustment period easier to handle. So, here we go…

slowing down

As I’m heading back to work in less than two weeks, I’ve been running around like mad trying to get my life organized. In the midst of a crazy, errand-filled Sunday my husband, daughter and I arrived home to find that the power in our neighbourhood was out. We just moved into a new subdivision that is on the outskirts of town. Anyway, the power went out around 4pm and my husband suggested we order take-out for dinner in case the outage was a long one. Well, his intuition was right, the power was out for almost 7 hours.

It was just getting dark when we got home so we had just enough light to find our candles and flashlights. After we accepted that we were likely going to be without electricity for the rest of the night (and got over the inconvenience factor), we started to really enjoy ourselves. We played games with our baby girl with the flashlights. And, because we couldn’t access the internet or the TV, we had an evening of family bonding where we were all really ‘present’ for the first time in a long time. Once our little girl was in bed, my husband and I read with flashlights and then I took a bath in the candlelight (thank goodness for gas hot water heating). The whole night seemed to stretch on and on and that feeling I’ve had lately that life seems to be rushing forward at the speed of light, subsided for a while. Maybe we should turn off the power once in a while to remind ourselves to take some time away from the hustle and bustle of daily life… oh wait, isn’t that what the sabbath is about? Darn it, I thought I might have an original idea there!

Moved!

There has been a serious gap in my posting due to the fact that I’ve had to pack up the contents of my house into tiny boxes and move. We did it. We survived. It feels good to be in the new place. But I must say that I don’t know how we would ever have done it without help! So many people helped us. My husband’s best friend works at an electronics manufacturing plant and he collected empty boxes for us to use–did you know how expensive moving boxes are? He saved us hundreds of dollars. Then there were the friends and family members who watched Maya while we packed and especially my mother-in-law and her husband who came here on moving day to look after Maya and help with the unpacking. Life would have been impossible without their help. So, thank you to everyone!

Our new house is about 500 square feet bigger than our old house. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? Well, for us, the difference seems immense right now and we are really enjoying our new space. We have a great new neighbourhood. It’s still a construction zone around here because we’re living in a suburban development that isn’t quite finished. But, all the neighbours are friendly, and despite the construction, it’s much quieter than the busy road in front of our old house. Well… except for the lot they’ve been clearing today–there have been tree fallers with chainsaws outside for hours. That said, it’s only temporary. Once the construction is complete we will have a beautiful quiet place to live. I hope not to move again for a VERY long time!

Sunscreen For Babies?

The Dilemma

I keep waffling between using sunscreen on my baby and avoiding the stuff altogether. She’s six months old now and I have done all kinds of reading on the topic in an attempt to determine what’s the best course of action. I like to be outside a LOT, and it’s summer, and we’re in the midst of a mini heat wave here on Vancouver Island. So, the issue is now pressing. Some say you shouldn’t use sunscreen on a child under two, others say that it’s safe at the age of six months. I was going to just cover Maya up for the summer and avoid the sunscreen altogether, but I’m finding that covering up is not so easy; her hands, face and feet still get a little sun no matter what I do. In addition, I want my daughter to enjoy the sun a bit without being layered up with loads of clothing in the heat.

The Medical Community

I saw our doctor today and asked her opinion on the matter, and she stated that the concerns surrounding the supposed toxicity of sunscreen are in the “lay” community and not in the medical community. My doctor is a mother of four little kids, and she asserts that she readily uses sunscreen on her children. She says there’s no causal link between the ingredients in sunscreen and cancer. I want to believe her. But I also recall not so long ago that everyone was claiming that BPA in plastic water bottles causes cancer and such claims were not widely recognized until long after the rumors started. Now, there is a clear connection and BPA is everyone’s worst enemy. So, should I not then apply the precautionary principle just to be safe?

Middle Ground?

In an attempt to find a solution, I started reading online about sunscreen on various “green” websites. After some research, and discussion with other new moms facing the same dilemma, I found that there are some sunscreens that are considered safer or less toxic than others. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) cautions against the use of sunscreen here, especially those that contain the active ingredient oxybenzone. However, the Skin Cancer Foundation refutes this claim here where they insist that oxybenxone is safe to use. The EWG has compiled a list of “safe” sunscreens for those who want to minimize the risk of exposure to potentially harmful chemical ingredients. This list which rates each product also takes into account how effectively a sunscreen blocks UVA and UVB rays from the sun–some sunscreens are non-toxic but don’t protect the skin from the sun. Some good bits of info on safe sunscreens were also found here. In light of this, I decided to go to Planet Organic in search of some “safe” sunscreen for my baby girl. I decided to ask a representative who works there and knows a bit about their products for a recommendations, and she immediately cautioned me against using the sunscreen on Maya and she tried very hard to convince me not to use it until she was at least 2 years old. So, just when I thought I’d made up my mind, here I was being swayed once again in the other direction. The woman at the store asserted that when our society began widespread use of sunscreen the rates of skin cancer actually increased, whether this is actually true, I do not know. She made mention of her ‘training’ but I don’t know exactly what kind of training she was referring to. In the end, I purchased a zinc oxide based sunscreen by a company called Badger (which has a fairly good rating from the EWG, as long as I go with the SPF 30, as the SPF 15 doesn’t block UVB rays effectively) and I may or may not use it on Maya (although I’ll probably use it on myself). Despite finding lots of information on the use of sunscreen for humans, there is little literature out there denoting the safety guidelines specifically set out for babies. I remain frustrated, confused and a little annoyed. Perhaps ignorance is bliss. What are other moms out there doing to protect their babies from the sun? UV suits & sunhats? Hiding indoors? Obessing over shade? One things is certain, there is a causal link between sunburns at a young age and skin cancer, so Maya needs sun protection, the big question is what is the best approach?

Teething Alternative

At almost six months of age, Maya’s teeth appear to be on their way, as evidenced by some seriously extreme drooling, as well as some tears and pulling at the gums. It’s pretty obvious when Maya has an episode of major teething pain because she cries suddenly and uncontrollably for no apparent reason, which is very out of character for her. She was experiencing quite a few these teething episodes over the past week, and I was giving her infant tylenol to alleviate the discomfort. Then, my sister mentioned that she found homeopathic teething drops to be very helpful for her babies (she now has 3 school-aged kids, so she’s been through it all). I went out and bought a homeopathic teething product called Camilia which I found at my local grocery store. I have only felt the need to use it on one occasion with Maya, but I will say that it seemed to relieve her pain more quickly and effectively than anything else I’d tried before.

As an added bonus I got something for myself called Luffeel. Luffeel is a homeopathic remedy for seasonal allergies which have hit me pretty hard as spring has come into bloom. Since, I’m still nursing Maya, I don’t want to take pharmaceuticals of any kind and this homeopathic stuff is working surprisingly well so far. My husband suspects it’s just the placebo effect… even if it is, I’m getting relief and feeling great!

This all made me wonder: how do homeopathics work? Some interesting reading was found here and  here where the basic principles are explained.

The Wasp Nests and the Waspinator

This year, it appears there’s been some sort of peak in the wasp population… at least there is in our backyard. We had one nest that was started last year, and already two in the works this spring. We’ve been lucky enough to find them early and nip them in the bud–i.e., my husband was sent out with a pesticide in hand that traps them in the nest and suffocates them. I usually don’t allow the use of any kind of pesticides in my yard, but when it comes to wasps I make an exception, especially now with Maya spending time out there. My biggest worry is that a wasps nest will be built somewhere that we can’t readily see and will be large and well-established by the time we figure it out. So, I’m looking for ways to prevent this from occurring. In the interest of doing things as naturally as possible, we’re going to experiment with something called the Waspinator which is an artificial wasps nest that you hang in your yard. Supposedly the Waspinator will deter wasps from building a nest because they are territorial insects and will want to avoid spending time near an enemy nest. Hopefully this works… I’m open to any other ideas for preventing this problem from recurring. Anyone?