I'm Not a Spam Blog (and Book Due)

I went to post last night (I've got several posts in the hopper- product reviews, cool new green sites, and recent news articles) and I found that my blog was chosen as a Spam blog by the devious Google robots!

It wouldn't let me post until it "unlocked" my blog and proved I was actually human. I wonder what about Non-Toxic Kids was so darn spam like? And, the first draft of my teacher book is due Wednesday, and it is *almost* done. I keep reading and re-reading it, often late at night. I just need to send it!

So, more thought provoking green parening posts will be here again soon, I promise.

Natural Mat: Non-Toxic Organic Mattresses and Bedding

It's hard when you are shopping for a new baby. What do you really need? What are the most needed items, and what are the safest, most important items you can buy for your baby?

When thinking about chemical exposures, and where your baby spends most of his or her time, the crib mattress is an important piece. Think of all the hours napping your baby spends in his or her crib, even if you do co-sleep. My 4 year old daughter is still sleeping on her crib mattress, now converted to a toddler bed.

I've written about the safety concerns of conventional mattresses here before, but certainly not exhaustively. I've been wanting to write a longer post about this for awhile. According to Healthy Child, Healthy World, conventional mattresses:

"A typical mattress is stuffed with polyurethane foam and other materials that may have been treated with flame retardants and covered with material treated with water, stain- and wrinkle-resistant chemicals. These, along with chemicals emitted from polyurethane foam, such as toluene, can contribute to indoor air pollution (not to mention how many you’re inhaling as you sleep on it every night)."

Since manufacturers aren't required to list what chemicals they use, there could be just about any chemical cocktail present in mattresses. It is up to parents to do their research.

Enter Natural Mat. They are a company based in England that makes organic crib mattresses and organic sheets. Natural Mat sent me a sample cut of the Coco mattress, and it is completely natural and odor free. No plastic or vinyl or flame retardants in sight. It is a simple and beautiful thing. It's supportive, soft and safer for your baby and for the environment. How can you beat that?

The Coco Mat crib mattress (from the website):



"The Coco Mat is the most breathable and natural organic crib mattress. It is filled with coir from the only certified organic coir plantation in the world. Coir is made from coconut husks which are coated in natural latex to make a supportive and breathable fibrous layer. The coir is then wrapped in our unique lambswool which is bathed in a mixture made from extracts of lavender, lemon and eucalyptus making it completely anti-dust mite as well as maintaining the excellent thermal insulating properties of natural wool."

This mattress is available at Goore’s for Babies to Teens online shop and Non-Toxic Kids readers can get 10 percent off (yeah!) by using this code at the time of purchase: ntknm.

Natural Mat mattresses offer lots of benefits for babies, parents and the environment:

"Better Sleep – Babies sleep better on a Natural Mat mattress! We conducted a recent customer survey and 100% of the mothers questioned stated that their babies slept better on a Natural Mat. “My baby has never slept better. Before I bought the rubber latex mattress he used to be such an active sleeper.Now he sinks into his mattress because it is so comfortable and sleeps through the night.”

Non-allergenic and anti-dust mite - More and more babies are suffering from allergies and asthma. Our natural rubber Latex is 100% non-allergenic and our unique lambswool is bathed in a mixture made from essential oils of lemon, lavender and eucalyptus which renders it anti-dust mite.

Our Natural Latex is 100% hypoallergenic and offers complete protection from house dust mites. Every Natural Mat has a removable pure cotton outer cover that can be machine washed at 60 degrees C (dust mites are killed at 57 degrees) which offers further allergy protection.

Naturally Fire Retardant - Natural Mat passes all fire regulations without the use of chemical or unnatural treatments in any part of the mattress. All our mattresses are covered in two unbleached, undyed 100% cotton covers that have no FR additives. All our mattresses comply to the new federal 16 CFR 1633 requirements.

Long Lasting Superior Support - Our durable naturally sprung mattress cores provide superior and longer lasting level of support than any other synthetic foam or metal spring. We use wool batting rather than cotton, it is a far more resilient fiber with better ventilation and insulation properties.

Handmade for you in Devon, England - Our organic mattresses are handmade from the finest materials in the world to provide your baby with the most comfortable and safest sleeping environment possible for those important first years of life.

100% Renewable - All our raw materials come from 100% renewable and sustainable sources that comply with Fair Trade policies.

Eco Packaging - All packaging used for Natural Mat mattresses is 100% biodegradable and 100% recyclable. Our carton is made from a mixture of recycled and renewable paper resources from FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) managed forests."

Natural Mat has other mattress choices as well. And beautiful organic crib sheets. I received one of these and it is soft, simple and perfect for chemical free sleep for baby. The sheets are 100 percent organic cotton.

Goodnight, babies! Sleep naturally better (and then so will your tired parents).

Vermont Action: Governor Douglas--Don't Spend Taxpayer Money on Bottled Water at the Statehouse!

We've discussed bottled water on this blog before. It is not any safer, privatizes our water sources, causes massive increased plastic creation and use, and leaves a huge carbon footprint. The facts are staggering:

According to the MSN:

"Here are a few facts about bottled water:

*The containers are made of plastic or glass. When full, both become very heavy. It costs a fortune in oil to ship heavy bottles around the country, much less around the world.

*Close to 2 million tons of plastic was used to make bottles for water last year. That manufacturing involves an enormous about of petroleum, since it is a key ingredient in plastic. In the U.S. alone, 30 million bottles a day, billions of bottles a year get tossed out. Recycling them costs another small fortune in gasoline to haul them to plants.

*Bottled water is being promoted all over the world by a host of companies such as PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Co., Nestle and Cadbury Schweppes. These companies, plus the boutique outfits such as Evian and S. Pellegrino, are staking their future on getting you to drink water from bottles since it is getting harder and harder to persuade you to drink soda and other sugared water from their cans — and it’s working.

*According to Beverage Marketing Corp., a provider of beverage-related data, consumption of bottled water has been growing by a gallon a year per capita in the U.S., and consumption has doubled in the past decade. Americans now drink more water from bottles overall than any other nation. However, we are only tenth among nations of the world in drinking bottled water per capita, trailing Italy, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany and Switzerland."

This list only begins to discuss the problems with bottled water. Here in Vermont, a bottled water company devastated local rivers, caused increased traffic and pollution in a small town, and ultimately shut down, leaving the buildings and factory behind. And we know now that bottled water is LESS regulated than tap water. There is no health benefit to drinking bottled water, and one could say it is riskier to drink it with the limited information on where the water was sourced.

So what does this have to do with Vermont? Our state government spends $47,000 per year, the equivalent of a state employee's salary, on bottled water. This when our public water systems are in such dire need of investment. When the Governor is asking state workers to take a pay cut, but allowing the purchase of an unneeded and environmentally irresponsible product, we have to ask ourselves about the priorities here.

Please join the Take Back the Bottle's efforts to eliminate spending on bottled water and call for federal-level funding for water infrastructure projects. Contact your governor by signing the petition here. Vermonters, Governor Douglas needs to hear from you!

And if you care about this issue in your state, nationally and internationally, sign the pledge at Take Back the Bottle.

Students at Montpelier High School did a taste test as the righteously deemed "Operation Plastic Removal." Read about their results and efforts to show there is no taste difference between bottled and tap water.