EWG Report Summary

The EWG says the safest sunscreens for kids have the following qualities:

• Mineral suncreen with zinc and titanium
• No oxybenzone – potentially hormone-disrupting
• No retinyl palmitate
• No Vitamin A – may be carcinogenic on sun-exposed skin
• No spray or powdered sunscreen
• Avoid sunscreens labeled with an SPF higher than 50

We noticed in this year’s list includes an increase in easier to apply “Stick” form sunscreens, such as Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Sunscreen Stick, and the addition of more affordable options like Coppertone Water Babies Pure & Simple Lotion SPF 50 which is $14 for an 8 ounce bottle. Both are great news for moms. But, make sure to read labels carefully. For example, some Coppertone Water Babies products are on the recommended list and others are on the Hall of Shame.

Safest Sunscreens for Kids 2012

• Adorable Baby Sunscreen Stick (1.6 oz, $11)
• Adorable Baby SPF 30+ Sunscreen(6.4 oz, $22)
• Alba Botanica Sun: Mineral Kids SPF 30 (pack of 2 4 oz, $18)
• All Terrain Sunblock Kidsport SPF 30 (pack of 2 3 oz, $16)
• Aubrey Organics Children’s Unscented Sensitive Skin Lotion (4 oz, $12.50)
• Aveeno Sun Natural Protection Mineral Block Baby SPF 50 Stick (.5 oz, $10.99)
• BabyGanics Cover Up Baby Sunscreen Lotion SPF 50 (2 oz, $4.20)
• BabyGanics Cover Up Baby Sunscreen Stick SPF 50 (.47 oz, $8)
• BabyGanics Cover up Baby Sunscreen for Face & Body SPF 50(6 oz, $13)
• BabyUV/KidsUV Natural Sunscreen Blue or Pink
• Badger Baby Sunscreen SPF 30 (2.9 oz, $15.49)
• Beyond Coastal Kids Natural SPF 30 Sunscreen (4 oz, $11.59)
• Blue Lizard Baby Australian Suncream SPF 30+ (8.75 oz, $27)
• BurnOut KIDS Physical Sunscreen(4.8 oz, $18)
• Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Sunscreen Stick(0.7 ounce, $9)
• California Baby No Fragrance Sunscreen Lotion, No Fragrance Sunblock Stick, Everyday/Year-Round Sunscreen Lotion, Summer Blend Sunscreen Lotion, Everyday/Year-Round Sunblock Stick, No Fragrance Moisturizing Sunscreen Lotion, Everyday/Year-Round Moisturizing Sunscreen Lotion (sizes and prices vary)
• Carribean Solutions Sol Kid Kare SPF 25 Sunscreen (6 oz, $12)
• Color Me Pink Natural Sunscreen
• Coola MineralBaby Moisturizer Suncare, SPF 45 (3 oz, $36)
• Coppertone Kids Pure & Simple Sunscreen Lotion, 50 SPF (8 oz, $14)
• Coppertone Water Babies Pure & Simple Lotion SPF 50 (8 oz, $14)
• Dr. Robin for Kids All Natural Sunscreen SPF 30+ (5.6 oz, $19)
• Earth’s Best Sunblock: Mineral Based, SPF 30+ (4 oz, $14)
• ECO logical All Natural Baby Sunscreen SPF 30 (4 oz, $17)
• Elemental Herbs Sunscreen Kids SPF 20 (3 oz, $16)
• Goddess Garden Baby Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30 (3.5, $13.50)
• Goddess Garden Kids Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30 (6 oz, $19)
• Kiss My Face Kids Mineral Sun Stick SPF 30, Pink, Blue or White (3.2 oz, $11)
• Kiss My Face Kids Natural Mineral Sunblock Lotion SPF 30 (4 oz, $15)
• Little Forest Sunscreen Lotion for Babies & Kids (4 oz, $17)
• Marie Veronique Organics Kid Safe Screen, SPF 25 (4 oz, $19)
• Mustela High Protection Sun Lotion SPF 50 (1.67 oz, $15)
• Seventh Generation Baby SPF 30 Sunscreen (3.2 oz, $14)
• Smart Kids Who Play SPF 30+ Face Stick (.56 oz, $12)
• Star Naturals Baby Natural Sunscreen Stick
• Sunbow Dora the Explorer Sunscreen SPF 30 ($10.39)
• Sunbow SpongeBob Squarepants Childrens Sunscreen SPF 30 (5 oz, $16)
• Sunology Natural Sunblock Lotion for Kids SPF 50 (3 oz, $20)
• Suntegrity Baby Natural Mineral Sunscreen (4 oz, $24)
• Sunumbra Sunkids SPF 40
• Sweetsation Therapy Sun’n'Fun Organic Baby Sunscreen SPF 30 (5.6 oz, $22)
• The Honest Company Sunscreen
• thinkbaby sunscreen SPF30+ benefiting LIVESTRONG (3 oz, $22)
• thinksport Kids Sunscreen Benefitting Livestrong SPF 50 (6.1 oz, $16)
• Trubaby Water & Play Mineral Sunscreen
• Trubaby Everyday Play Sunscreen
• trukids: New Sunny Days Mineral All Natural Sunscreen, Sunny Days SPORT Unscented, Sunny Days Mineral Face & Body Stick, Sunny Days Face & Body Stick Sunscreen (sizes and prices vary)
• UV Natural Sunscreen for Baby, SPF 30+ (5.29 oz, $30)
• VMV Hypoallergenics Armada Baby 50+ (1.76 oz, $55)

***

See our 2011 safest sunscreens for kids and 2010 post on the safest sunscreens for kids for some of our top picks stylish sun protection for kids.

Gerber and the FDA state that the withdrawn product does not pose a health or safety risk, but it does have an off odor that you may have noticed if you purchased this product. There have also been some reports of spit-up and other gastrointestinal complaints. Of course, it’s so hard to tell what causes baby’s spit-up or upset tummy, but formula that might cause fussiness is a great big fail in my book.

Only this single lot number (GXP1684) is affected and Gerber offers its support at the Parents Resource Center anytime, day or night, at 1-800-487-7763. If you have a container of the withdrawn batch, give them a call for a free replacement.

A few people have asked me offline to give an update about how the grain-free thing is going.  I’m down 12 lbs so I’d say it’s going okay!  There have been challenges – like the one I talk about here – but overall, I feel like my blood sugars must be more stabilized by eliminating grains because my energy is more consistent throughout the day.  Also, I no longer find myself feeling absolutely famished in the middle of the afternoon.  One cup of coffee now does the trick, while I was needing a venti black eye in the am and an afternoon cup to get through the day before.  Some lingering digestive issues are completely gone, too.  I will keep posting here when it’s relevant to Partum Me, but you can also get more of a blow by blow on my personal blog.

Eating for Charlie is also going quite well, as you can see above.  What’s not going well these days?  Sleeping.  Here’s the situation:  Charlie started off in a co-sleeper (an Arm’s Reach that was not attached to our bed but sits right next to it).  He slept quite well in there by himself in the early months, even when we were getting up in the night to nurse.  When he got too big for the co-sleeper but was still nursing, we switched him to a pack n play in our room.  That was all working out quite well until he got sick a few weeks ago.  He was in horrible pain with ear infections and coughs, so we let him sleep with us.  And before anyone shakes their finger at us, I should say that a) I fully support responsible bed sharing if it’s done safely and b) I am of the belief that co-sleeping and bed sharing do not create “bad habits.”  There are many, many ways to get a child the sleep he/she needs – no judging, here!

Anyway, we’ve been wanting to transition Charlie to his crib in his room for a while now because, before he got sick, he was quietly sleeping through the night.  We figured he was ready.  But ever since we transitioned him back to the pack-n-play in our room after he got better, he has woken up every night between 2 and 3 pm and cried…a lot.  At first we worried that letting him feed himself dinner was causing him to wake up hungry, so we beefed up his dinner meal and bottle routine.  Nope, not the problem.  We started bringing a bottle to bed with us to feed him when he woke up.  He loved it, but still cried when he was done.  We snuggled him until he fell back to sleep, but he was up like a periscope the second we put him back down.  And yes, we let him cry it out but man, that kid can really wail.  For looooooong periods of time!  The only thing that stopped the crying was bringing him into bed with us, the antithesis of what we want out of this situation.

We own a few books on the subject, namely Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child or whatever it’s called.  I plan to read the relevant chapters over the next few days.  (Who has time to actually read an ENTIRE book at once these days?!?!)  But I’d love to hear some practical, real advice from parents who have had a similar situation to ours.  What did you do?  How did you do it?  And how long did it take before a) you and your partner got your bed back and b) your little one was getting the good sleep that he/she so desperately needs at this stage of life?

There are no problems with the Tylenol medication itself and bottles that have not malfunctioned can continue to be used. If you have a package that has been recalled you can go to Tylenol.com for information about obtaining a refund. You’ll also notice that Infants’ Tylenol will be gone from the shelves (again) with no word as to when it will be back. Children’s Tylenol and generic infants’ acetaminophen products continue to be safe to use. If in doubt, ask your pharmacist to direct you to a safe product.

Has anyone used the new packaging? I still have the old concentration in my medicine cabinet. I have to wonder if this problem is Johnson and Johnson’s fault or if it’s really more of a user error problem, or maybe a little of both. What do you think?

In theory I love the topic of this post. The idea of sharing my most meaningful moment from the last year. But, in reality, I have no idea how to possibly narrow down the last year to one defining moment. It was, quite possibly, the hardest, most eventful year of my life.

Almost exactly one year ago to the day, my dad was diagnosed with leukemia. Three and a half months later he passed away. Those moments were clearly full of meaning and emotion and changed my family forever.

The last year was also full of joyful moments. My husband returned from his extended deployment. Simply seeing the looks of joy on my children’s faces when they saw him is enough to leave a lasting impression on me for some time.

And, then, of course, there’s the surprise news we received last July when I learned I was pregnant. Pregnant! Baby number 3. That moment certainly left an impression (and a big belly) on me. Welcoming a new member to our family will no doubt change me forever. I like to think it’s a nice balance to the way my year began.

Tell me what your most meaningful moment was in the last year for a chance to win one of 10 complete skin care Anti-Age Systems from Meaningful Beauty.

Keep your skin looking great in every moment with Meaningful Beauty- Cindy Crawford’s break through secret for younger looking skin.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Meaningful Beauty. The opinions and text are all mine. Contest Rules.

Our NYC friends are an amazingly diverse group of talented and intelligent people – writers, teachers, lawyers, bankers, artists, chefs, record label execs. We spent a long while in Philadelphia feeling very isolated and lonely, wondering if we’d taken our friends for granted and made a huge mistake.

Luckily, after some stops and starts, we slowly acquired a small group of very awesome Philly friends.  Most of them live right in our neighborhood and have proven to be a support system as both friends and neighbors.  But most of them don’t have kids, and a few of them have made the conscious decision not to have them.  I completely respect anyone’s decision to have, or not to have, children.  But sometimes having one means I have to be much less flexible and spontaneous than I was before becoming a mom.  Plus, my daily highs and lows usually revolve around Charlie and the truth is, sometimes it’s hard to get as excited about that stuff if you don’t have a frame of reference with your own kid.

I’ve felt lucky to have Partum Me?! and some local listservs as they’ve given me a virtual support system of other moms.  Still something has been missing.  Interestingly, I found what I needed as the drama unfolded with Charlie’s daycare. As we all found common ground in our battle with an ineffective administrator, we also found a good group of moms, dads, and educators who have a pretty good time when we get together. Now, instead of wondering what our other friends are doing on a Friday or Saturday, we have invitations to brunches and family potlucks. And with that comes the feeling, after six long years, that we might have actually done something crazy in Philadelphia – we might have actually made a life here.

If you moved somewhere as an adult, how did you make new friends?  Have you found that your friend group has changed since having kids?

To learn more about Seraphine Maternity, you can check out the full review of the fab Knot Front Dress and Breastfeeding Sweater. I actually wore the Knot Front Dress again this past weekend and it was just as comfortable and chic at 8 months pregnant as it was at six months along. And, I’m not the only pregnant mama who loves wearing the Breastfeeding Sweater – Jennifer Garner was recently photographed wearing it!

Seraphine Spring Collection

Seraphine recently released its spring look book and the stylish clothes are about the only thing that could make me want to be pregnant for much longer. Thank goodness they also have some nursing tops to satisfy my desire to shop! Here are some of my favorites from the new spring and summer preview collection.

Short Sleeve Wrap Dress

Panel Tie Tunic

Ruched Sleeve Jersey {Maternity & Nursing} Dress

Pleated Nursing Top

Shop! Save big at Seraphine Maternity with our exclusive discount code. Use TSM25 for 25% off your order. Shop now because code expires February 15.

This fall, students across the nation will have new clothes to return to new classrooms with new school supplies. Also new? New nutrition standards for school lunches aimed at getting more fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains to the estimated 32 million students who participate in school lunch programs. The new requirements issued by the USDA are largely based on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine and are aimed at reducing the proliferation of childhood obesity. In an effort to meet this goal, these requirements will be phased in over the next three years and also seek to reduce the amount of sodium, saturated fat and trans fats that have plagued school lunches for decades.

So what are the new requirements? If you want to see the complete set of rules affecting K-12 meals, they are available at the Department of Agriculture, but the primary points are:

• more fruits, vegetables and leafy greens
• less saturated fat, trans fat and sodium
• lunches will have upper and lower calorie limits which vary by age group
• for the first time, food and beverages sold in vending machines will have to meet specific nutritional requirements
• the small amount of tomato past on pizza still counts as a vegetable serving
• there is still no limit on potato servings
• there is no requirement for organic produce and/or ingredients

What does implementation of these requirements look like? Take a look at a sample “before and after” menu:

Click to see larger

Change, At a Cost

Of course, these changes come at a cost. Fresher, healthier meals will cost an estimated $6.8 billion over the next five years. That sounds like a lot, right? However, I’d like to see that compared with medical expenses incurred battling childhood obesity and its related conditions. Creating healthy eating habits and an appreciation for fresh food early is a win-win situation.

Do the New Guidelines Go Far Enough?

These new nutrition standards are a huge leap in meeting the needs our our children. However, due to opposition from many in the food industry and politicians from agribusiness states, the requirements fall short in many areas. Tomato paste still counts as a vegetable serving, even in the small quantity present on a slice of pizza and without consideration for the sodium present in the processed tomato product. Potatoes are considered a vegetable, without regard to their starch content or preparation. Therefore, there is no limit to the number of servings. Think french fries vs. steamed broccoli as a vegetable serving. Got it?

Here’s my soapbox moment (or what some would call my naive stupidity): During the debate and negotiation phase of the new school lunch requirements, many in the food industry and Congress have put their own well-being and profit ahead of the health of this nation’s children. I find that appalling. I find that despicable. I find that morally reprehensible. I’m watching and taking notes to make sure my consumer dollars and votes don’t provide any support to these entities in the future. hope you will, too.

What do you think of the new lunch guidelines?

Images via USDA

Next, to be brief, Charlie has the plague.  He’s had the sniffles that go around daycare infant rooms before, but this is the first time we’ve really been worried.  On Sunday, he quickly became feverish, tired, and unusually clingy.  We were in the doctor’s office the next morning after he threw up every thing that we tried to feed him and his eyes crusted over.  Diagnosis – double ear infections, pink eye, and a nasty virus.  He improves a little bit each day but we’re still warding off fevers with a constant schedule of tylenol and he’s got some antibiotics for the ears and eyes.  Let me just say that force feeding Pedialite to a 9-month old with a syringe is NOT fun.

On to today’s topic…

Somehow we get Parenting magazine.  We didn’t subscribe to it, but we get it.  I rarely read it because, after giving a couple issues a try, I find that it promotes the sort of competitive, finger-wagging parent interaction that I abhor.  So I suppose I was not surprised when the latest issue came and my husband approached me with a shocked look on his face as he showed me the cover:

A whole issue dedicated to geniuses?  Raising the next STEVE JOBS??  (Or at least a really, really bright kid – in case your kid just isn’t quite good enough to be the most successful technology mogul of his generation.)  The article itself isn’t that bad, although it strikes me as a little dismissive of the idea that it’s ok for parents to not give in to the pressure to overschedule their children with extra curricular activities that might give them a leg up on Harvard admissions before they even hit kindergarten.  The author talks about an “it” factor that was unique to Steve Jobs and asks the question, “What can you do to help your child get it?”  The article goes on to outline practical (and not very surprising) things that parents can do to give their kid a leg up.  Although, if a parent doesn’t yet know that reading and talking to your child are important developmental tools, their kid has more to worry about than being the next Steve Jobs.  Of course we should praise results (as opposed to constantly telling our child how generally smart he is), celebrate curiosity, and make use of moments in which we can teach our children.  It’s sort of insulting that a magazine would imagine that a large portion of parents wouldn’t know these things.

What frustrated me most about this article was the pressure of it all.  It seemed to say that it is completely up to us, as parents, to do what is necessary to make our children super successful.  While I certainly feel a sense of responsibility over Charlie’s future, it’s a joint venture with our educational system, our family and friends, Charlie’s own talents and abilities, and society at large.  It makes me sort of angry that a magazine that speaks to so many parents out there is placing all of the responsibility (and thereby all the blame) on parents to make their children into the ultimate superstars from day one.

Am I crazy to just want Charlie to be a kind, generous, outgoing, and happy person?  Does my motivation have to be an extreme desire for my son to be rich and famous?

I was a kid who started off slowly, but took off like a shot in middle school, moving into all honors and AP classes by the time I started high school.  But I had my struggles before that. Thank goodness I had a mom whose goal wasn’t to make me the next Steve Jobs. She focused on making me the best that I could be, the best I wanted to be.  When I had trouble with reading comprehension, she had me read the newspaper to her as she made dinner and then explain what each article was about.  Multiplication tables were made easier with games that we played at home with objects around the house.  When I asked a question, she always tried to get me to figure out the answer myself even if it meant that we picked up and went to the library (pre-internet, of course) to research it.  She didn’t do all of that because she wanted me to be the next famous CEO.  She did it because she was a parent and that was all the motivation she needed.  My mom’s only long-term goals for me were that I grew up to be a good person, an independent woman, and active member of my community.  Whatever level of success I wanted would come naturally if I had those three abilities.  That’s my outlook for Charlie, too.

]]> http://theshoppingmama.com/2012/02/my-baby-is-the-next-good-person/feed/ 4 http://theshoppingmama.com/2011/11/cpsc-bumbo-safety-warning-recall/ http://theshoppingmama.com/2011/11/cpsc-bumbo-safety-warning-recall/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:16:42 +0000 Shannon http://theshoppingmama.com/?p=25214 As parents, we are “on” all day, every day.  As a result, we look for tools to help with our primary job – keeping our children safe.  There are a number of tools we use each day, from cribs to car seats.  However, we should always remember to use these aids according to the manufacturer’s instructions and with a lot of common sense.

Case in point, there is a new advisory from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission regarding the use of the Bumbo baby seat designed to aid children who can support their own head with sitting.  Despite a previous recall, a redesign and labeling, Bumbo International is once again urging parents and caregivers to refrain from placing Bumbos on elevated surfaces.  With vigorous movement children can fall from the seat and suffer great injury including skull fracture, concussion and broken limbs.  To view the media release and learn more of documented accidents and injuries, please visit the CPSC.

Bumbo features warnings about using its product on elevated surfaces prominently on the seat itself and on the Bumbo.com website, yet new accidents and injuries continue.

Please remember, Bumbo seats should always be used on flat, floor-level, padded surfaces and should never be used with a child who cannot support his/her own head or who can maneuver out of the seat.  And most important, Bumbo seats (and all other child products) should always be used with parental supervision.