Infants and Children

The health and development of children is most critical during the first years of life. It is important for them to eat healthy, be physically active, and most crucially, to avoid chemicals and toxins that could cause damaging health effects.

Knowing that a product contains potentially harmful chemicals is not the same as knowing that those chemicals are harming you, but that it only makes sense to choose safer products if they are available. For example, it has been documented in animal studies that bisphenol A (BPA) exposure in utero or around the time of birth can cause changes in mammary tissue. What affects animals does not necessarily affect humans, but does raise concern.

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), in a report titled “Safety Guide to Children’s Personal Care Products”, children are exposed on average to 27 personal care products a day.

Source: EWG’s Safety Guide to Children’s Personal Care Products (PDF)

What You Can Do to reduce exposures and raise your children “green”

• Become familiar with ingredients to avoid in children’s soaps, shampoos, etc. found in the Green Resources section of this website.
• Remind children to wash their hands frequently with regular soap. Avoid anti-bacterial soaps that contain the pesticide triclosan, as they are not more effective. If you feel that you must use a hand sanitizer, use one that is alcohol based.
• Consider breastfeeding – breast milk is still considered the most nutritious food for your child.
• Provide a healthy diet including 5 to 7 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Whenever possible buy locally grown or organic produce. Visit your farmer’s market, join a Communty Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, join a food co-op or grow your own “kitchen garden.” (The Green Resources section of this website offers information about locally grown food.)
• Choose products such as baby bottles, teething rings and sport bottles that are bisphenol A (BPA) free.
• Purchase toys from local manufacturers and look for PVC- and phthalate-free plastic. Solid wood toys are a great alternative.
• Teach “reduce, reuse and recycling” in the home.
• Explore the outdoors!

Recommended Reading

• Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood by Sandra Steingraber
• Raising Healthy Children in a Toxic World by Dr. Philip Landrigan

• Epidemiologic evidence of relationships between reproductive and child health outcomes and environmental chemical contaminants. Author: Wigle. Published in: Journal of Toxicology & Environmental Health Part B: Critical Reviews, v. 11 no. 5, pp. 373-517 Date: 2008

• Mythbusting: Carrots, Nitrates, and Homemade Baby Food