Happy Babies!

Kinderville Silicone Cups

We are having a Giveaway!  These Kinderville silicone 6oz.  cups are the perfect size and shape for little hands and little mouths!  The colors are vibrant and fun.
Kinderville Little bites cups feature a wide base and low profile to minimize tipping and spills. These little silicone cups are highly portable, easy to clean and a fantastic alternative to plastic! Bacteria resistant and, most importantly, BPA, Phthalate and Lead free!

To enter just leave a comment below on what your little ones favorite song is!  Winner will be chosen at random on Jan. 25th. US residents only.

Good Luck!

We Just picked a Winner!  CONGRATULATIONS  Latasha G.  entry #29, I just sent you a email for your address !  Thanks to everyone for entering!

EIO Kids Cup

We’re giving away an EIO Glass Trainer Cup…

Head on over to Homemade Mothering and leave a comment for a chance to win!
http://homemademothering.com/2011/11/testing-eio-training-cup-giveaway.html

How many baby bottles will my baby need? This is one of the most common questions we are asked. Let us break this down a bit.

Glass Baby Bottles w/Silcone Sleeves

If you are strictly bottle feeding you will want around 10-12 baby bottles. Depending on how often you are willing to clean your baby bottles.

If you are primarily breastfeeding and pumping into bottles on occasion or supplementing with formula you will most likely want around 4-5 baby bottles.

Most newborns will require a bottle every 2-3 hours. As your babies stomach starts to grow, and your baby is gaining weight you will be feeding your baby less often with larger amounts of breast milk or formula.

Should I buy small 4-5oz baby bottles or the larger 8-9oz baby bottles?

The small baby bottles (4-5oz.) are really nice to have at first while your baby is a newborn. One of the main reasons is that they are lighter in weight, making them easier for you to hold during feedings. Also smaller baby bottles can be used later for water or juice.

The larger size baby bottles (8-9oz) can be used from birth on, but are typically used by most parents when your baby starts drinking more than 4 fluid ounces per feeding. It really depends on your baby when you will start needing more than 4oz per feeding, but you will most likely not begin feeding more then 4 fl. Oz. for the first month or maybe even two.

As always consult with your doctor about your babies individual feeding needs.

View our selection of Glass Baby Bottles

View our selection of Stainless Steel Baby Bottles

SafeMama.com wrote about this great organization on her blog today, and with the holiday season approaching this is a must read. Here is a link to Toxic Toys R Us, a organization that is working to inform consumers about the sale of PVC-contaminated toys in Toys R Us stores.
http://www.toxictoysrus.com/about.htm

The President’s Cancer Panel released a report last week that really goes beyond what many in the medical establishment have been willing to come right out and say heretofore. Strongly advocating for better regulation of environmental chemicals in the water, air and food supply the panel states that Americans face "grievous harm" and  that the role of chemicals and pollutants as a cause of cancer has been "grossly underestimated."

Except plenty of blowback on this one. The scientific and political establishment has been challenged.

But that’s not all. The report takes aim at the dangers of chemical exposure during pregnancy by noting the 300 contaminants that have been found in umbilical cord blood and bluntly state: "to a disturbing extent, babies are born ‘pre-polluted.’ " Needless to say, the soon-to-be-born are at particular risk due to their physical size and developmental rate.

This is a big deal and we certainly hope you will be hearing a lot more about it in the coming weeks and months. We’ve talked about the lack of regulation of the chemical industry in this blog on several occasions (here, here and here), so we’re glad to see the issue receiving the light-of-day treatment it so richly deserves.

Suggestions from the 240-page report include:

• choose organic foods when possible
• microwave in glass and ceramic containers rather than glass
• check your home for radon
• filter your drinking water
• avoid well-done meats
• overhaul existing chemical legistation

Did you know asbestos has not been banned in the US? I thought it had. Not so. That’s in the report too.

More info here and here.

This is alarming…

Washington Post:

…Of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States — from flame retardants in furniture to household cleaners — nearly 20 percent are secret…

Under the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, manufacturers must report to the federal government new chemicals they intend to market. But the law exempts from public disclosure any information that could harm their bottom line.

So in other words if a chemical is harmful to human health a manufacturer need only claim profits will be compromised to keep that chemical secret and on the market. This is a loophole you could drive a fleet of Hummers through!

From the same article:

…Of the secret chemicals, 151 are made in quantities of more than 1 million tons a year and 10 are used specifically in children’s products, according to the EPA.

This is one reason we deal only with forthcoming companies/manufacturers. We applaud the efforts of the Obama Administration and Congress to tighten this egregious loophole.

The next best thing to a glass sippy cup, Silikids most recent product is the Siliskin Glass Cup. This little 6oz tumbler is the perfect transitional tool from a regular sippy cup to a normal cup. The glass cup is a great size and the 100% food grade silicone cover makes the cup less likely to break and, provides a better grip for little hands.

We’re frequently asked why nobody makes a glass sippy cup and the answer is that very young toddlers like throwing things, especially when those things make a loud crashing noise on impact, creating an obvious safety issue. But once kids get old enough to consider drinking from a real cup they’re usually past the tossing-things-for-fun stage making the Silikids glass a nice alternative to standard glass cups.

Our daughter who is a rather opinionated 4 year old liked the colors, aqua and lime, and thought that the holes on the silicone sleeve where cool. She also liked that she was drinking from a big girl glass cup.

Of course, there will be spills and more messes to clean up than a regular sippy cup, but the comfort that I have knowing my child is drinking from a glass cup free of BPA and other chemicals, instead of plastic, makes that worth the while.

You can purchase the Silikids Siliskin Glass Tumber at The Glass Baby Bottle.

The following article was originally posted on The Glass Baby Bottle website.

Due to all the uncertainty regarding which nipples work with which bottles, The Glass Baby Bottle decided to try and help clear up all this nipple confusion

Some standard guidelines are to use wide neck nipples on wide neck bottles, and standard or regular nipples with regular neck baby bottles. Also, as a general rule of thumb, if a bottle is vented to help prevent colic it is best to use only the nipple designed for that specific brand of bottle. Vented bottles tend to leak and cause irregular feeding when a non-brand specific nipple is used.

One last note, if you tighten the collar and nipple too tightly onto the neck of the bottle, you are more likely to have the issue of nipple collapse.  Keep the collar on just tight enough to prevent the liquid from dripping out.  Babies are finicky and often times it takes trying several different bottles and age appropriate nipples before finding the best combination for your little one.

Here is a list of the bottles that we carry and the appropriate nipples that can be used:

Weego (Lifefactory) glass baby bottles have their own brand of nipples, yet are compatible with any standard size nipple. The Weego 4oz bottle is supplied with a Stage 1 nipple (0-3 months) and the Weego 9oz bottle is supplied with a Stage 2 nipple (3-6 months).

Silikids glass bottles do not have their own brand of nipples. Silikids bottles are supplied with a Slow Flow Evenflow silicone nipple.  Any standard size nipple will work with the Silikids glass baby bottle.

Born Free bottles have their own brand of silicone nipples. Born Free baby bottles are a vented bottle to help reduce gas and colic. Born Free only tests their nipples with their bottles, and do not guarantee compatibility with any other baby bottle.

Dr. Brown’s baby bottles have their own brand of nipple, and are NOT compatible with other nipple brands. Dr. Brown’s bottles come with a unique anti-colic venting system and the nipples are designed accordingly. Using a Dr. Brown’s nipple on a regular non-vented bottle can cause your baby to have feeding difficulties.

Sweet Pea glass baby bottles do not have their own brand of nipples. Any standard size baby nipple will work with the Sweet Pea bottles. The bottles are supplied with a medium flow nipple (3-6 months).

Smitten Baby glass bottles do not have their own brand of nipples. Any standard size baby nipple will work with the Smitten Baby bottle. The bottles are supplied with a slow flow (0-3 month) silicone nipple.

Green to Grow baby bottles have their own brand of nipples. In addition, the Gerber NUK nipples work both with the regular and wide neck baby bottles. The bottles either regular or wide neck are supplied with the appropriate slow flow 0-3 month silicone nipple.

As for Adiri baby bottles, the nipples are an integrated part of the baby bottle itself. The Adiri bottles come in three different stages, to best suit your baby’s needs.

Minnesota has become the first state to legislate a ban on Bisphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles and sippy cups.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the FDA continues to maintain the chemical is safe.

Other states (California, Connecticut) are set to follow suit and this precedent by Minnesota will only serve to make further bans more likely. Canada has already banned BPA from numerous baby and toddler products.

Unfortunately, even in Minnesota, you’ll still have to wait until 2010 before the ban goes into effect.

While we applaud these efforts we must point out that most (all?) proposed bans target only a very small range of products used by infants and the youngest of children. Important product categories such as feeding and food storage containers, amongst others, are still not being addressed, not to mention the continuing risk of BPA in older children.

You can read more here and here.

There is no firmly established definition of nanotechnology but this extremely diverse field could simply be described as the science of the extraordinarily small. A human hair is 80,000 nanometers wide and nanomaterials are commonly accepted to reside in the 100 nanometer or smaller range. In short, nanotechnology operates at the atomic and molecular levels.

Nanotechnology is a very promising field and it seems almost certain that humankind will benefit, perhaps greatly, from further study. Equally certain is that some applications of nanotechnology will prove to be dangerous to human and environmental health. Unfortunately, as with commercially produced chemicals, we are once again putting the cart before the horse in a big way. The following lists just a few consumer products already utilizing nanomaterials:

• Food (nanofood) & food packaging products
• Many agricultural products
• Kitchenwares
• Clothing
• Sunscreen
• Makeup
• Household appliances

In order to keep a huge topic manageable, the rest of this post will concentrate on the food, food packaging and agricultural applications of nanotechnology.

Nanotech In Our Food Supply, Really?

As frequently occurs with any new and exciting technology a debate is brewing between the keep-government-regulation-out–of–my-hair-so-as-not-to-stifle-innovation crowd and the let’s-make-sure-this-stuff-is-safe-before-releasing-it-on-unsuspecting-consumers crowd. As of this writing, the “innovators” and big business are winning.

If you don’t believe that consider the current state of affairs in the US:

• No nanotech-specific regulation or safety testing is required before nanomaterials can be used in food, food packaging or agricultural consumer products.
• There are no labeling laws relating to nano ingredients that are in our food supply or its packaging.

In essence, the public’s right to make up their own minds regarding the consumption of nanofoods and materials is being usurped in much the same fashion as with genetically modified foods. This is, in the classic sense of the word, an outrage.

I’m no Luditte. I’m all for innovation. I support clean energy, stem cell and, yes, nanotech research. But it is equally outrageous that we would not regulate a potentially dangerous new technology in any way, shape or form before unleashing it on the public. It is the height of recklessness and clearly a sop to the usual monied interests.

Furthermore it is a false choice between requiring safety research and encouraging innovation. Research does not stifle innovation, it creates it! It is research that will show us the way forward as well as the paths to avoid. This is a far superior approach to creating instant profits by using the public as a beta tester.

Make no mistake, the pressure from industry to use and develop nanotechnology will be enormous, and I’m actually fine with that. But if I’m any sort of observer of such things, they won’t want to be regulated – at all. And therein lies the problem.

Two last points:

• Enormous amounts of money are going to be made in the field of nanotechnology in the decades ahead.
• On the smaller half of the nanotech scale, 50 nanometers and smaller, the laws of the universe as we know them give way to the bizarre and largely mysterious laws of quantum physics.

Did I mention I favor regulation of nanotechnology?