The Better Baby Book (24 page)

When choosing a bleach, go with oxygen bleach; it is much safer to use than standard chlorine bleach. Chlorine bleach fumes are toxic. We all know the strong smell of chlorine bleach—it really gets your attention. If you're breathing in the fumes, they are surely reaching your baby. Oxygen bleach is a great alternative that emits few fumes at all, it removes stains and odors well, and it won't ruin colored clothing.

New clothes, towels, sheets, and the like come with fragrance and chemicals from the manufacturing process. They can also be infused with nanosilver particles as a preservative. If you've ever bought a shirt and put it on right away, you might notice a bit of skin irritation—this is why. The first thing we do when we buy new clothes or household textile products is to wash them in oxygen bleach or 20 Mule Team Borax (boric acid) before using them. This removes the chemicals and nanosilver before they touch your body.

The Bathroom

The bathroom contains personal hygiene products and cosmetics such as shampoo, soap, toothpaste, deodorant, perfumes and colognes, makeup, hair dye, shaving cream, and hair spray or styling gel. Almost all of these products contain artificial fragrances (especially perfumes and colognes). The same principle applies here: natural or fragrance-free products are safer for your baby.

In contrast to dishwasher detergent or laundry detergent, personal care products come in close and prolonged contact with your skin and lungs every day. We're going to discuss a few of these products individually, but first we'd like to point out two common chemicals to avoid that you'll find in many personal care products: sodium laureth sulfate and parabens. Then we'll discuss toothpaste, deodorant, perfume, makeup, hair dye, sunscreen, other toiletries, and baby products.

Sodium Laureth Sulfate

Sodium laureth sulfate (SLS) and its close relative sodium lauryl sulfate and their cousins are used as foaming agents. They're common in toothpaste, shampoo, and soap. SLS is a corrosive chemical used to dissolve grease on car engines and garage floors, among other industrial uses. Even though SLS might make your shampoo or toothpaste foam up nicely, we've known since 1983 that SLS is toxic and can cause irritation even in small amounts. It's also another hormone disrupter (like BPA) that mimics estrogen. As such, it can contribute to premenstrual syndrome, menopausal symptoms, male infertility, and breast cancer. Lots of companies maintain that they use safe amounts of SLS—we don't agree with them. The safest amount of SLS is none.

Parabens

Parabens are antifungal preservatives found in skin and face creams. Parabens were found in more than 13,200 products in 1984. They are easily absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin. Mainstream science has long held that they are harmless and rapidly eliminated from the body, but we found recent evidence that parabens have been linked to breast cancer and hormone disruption. Ingredient names to watch out for are methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben, and E216.

Toothpaste

Since toothpaste goes in your mouth, plenty of it gets into your bloodstream, even if you don't swallow any. When choosing a toothpaste that's safe, you'll want one that is free of fluoride, SLS, and titanium dioxide.

For years fluoride has been advertised as a benefit in toothpaste, but it turns out that fluoride is dangerous for people—it's even more toxic than lead. Fluoride poisoning severely weakens bones, and there's evidence that it actually makes tooth enamel more porous and teeth
more
susceptible to decay over time.

The problem with fluoride in toothpaste is that it builds up in the body over time, so even the trace amounts in toothpaste are harmful after years of use. The kidneys can filter out only about 50 percent of one's total fluoride intake. In 1977, the National Academy of Sciences reported that an average person who consumed two milligrams of fluoride per day for forty years would contract crippling skeletal fluorosis, which damages joints and bones, by the end of that period. A 1995 study concluded that fluoride leads to lower IQ in children. Doses of fluoride as low as 0.1 to 0.3 milligrams per kilogram, well below the levels in toothpaste, can cause symptoms of fluoride toxicity, including gastrointestinal pain, nausea, vomiting, and fever.

Aside from being in toothpaste, fluoride is added to mouthwash and even some drinking water. There are fluoride pills and fluoride treatments at the dentist's office. In the name of preventing tooth decay, some pediatricians really do recommend giving sodium fluoride pills to your children. We wonder if they know that industrial fluoride containers are marked with a skull and crossbones. On January 20, 1979, the
New York Times
reported a $750,000 settlement received by parents of a three-year-old child killed by fluoride in the dental chair.

Deodorant and Antiperspirant

Commercial deodorants typically contain artificial fragrances. When the high amount of sweat in the underarm area mixes with this fragrance, the harmful chemicals in the fragrance are easily absorbed into the body.

Antiperspirants contain forms of aluminum, typically aluminum oxide, and that's how they work. Aluminum oxide is a potent astringent that closes the pores and stops you from sweating. It works pretty well if that's your goal. The problem with this is that the armpit is a central lymph area where the body seeks to eliminate toxins by sweating. If you prevent sweating in that area, the toxins that would have been eliminated are pushed back into the body (right near the lymph nodes). Not only is this unhealthy, it is usually occurring on a daily basis with almost no break at all. Furthermore, aluminum itself is toxic and has been linked with respiratory and neurological problems.

Many people have tried natural deodorants and complain that they don't work. We have a surprise for you: you'll probably find that when you detox and eat the low-sugar diet we describe in this book, underarm body odor will start to decrease on its own, and your need for strong artificial deodorants and antiperspirants will decrease. As always, the health of the outside of your body tells you how things are going on the inside.

Perfume, Cologne, and Eau de Toilette

Have you ever felt a bit queasy when someone wearing too much perfume entered the room? Most of us have. Designer fragrances are made of neurotoxic chemicals made from petroleum products. They're made to linger in the air and on clothes for months. Petroleum chemicals typically make up 80 to 90 percent of a bottle of perfume. It's a good idea to avoid fragrances during pregnancy. Even secondhand exposure is a bad idea. It's so well-known that fragrances make people sick that they're frequently banned in schools, hospitals, and offices.

Makeup

Makeup often contains parabens, SLS, heavy metals, and other toxins. Blush often contains propylene glycol (antifreeze), which is known to produce allergic reactions. A 2007 study found that up to one-third of lipsticks contain lead in amounts above the FDA limit. Lip glosses frequently contain toxic fragrance, which in this case is not just inhaled but eaten in trace amounts on a daily basis year after year. In forty-five years, a user is likely to swallow two pounds of lipstick or lip gloss. Mascara usually contains parabens. Nail polish contains toluene, which can affect the kidneys, the liver, and the heart. Formaldehyde is also an ingredient in the hardeners used in nail polish. Nail polish remover contains acetone, a known toxic irritant.

Since makeup sits on the skin all day, it seeps through the pores and into the bloodstream, especially if it mixes with sweat. It's best to avoid any makeup that is not natural and organic, especially during pregnancy. Remember: if you can't eat it, it shouldn't be touching your skin. This goes especially for products like makeup that have prolonged contact with the skin day after day.

Hair Dye

Hair dye often contains toxins like acetate, ammonia, coal tar, parabens, pthalates, and SLS. Women who dye their hair are exposed to these chemicals soaking into their scalps for hours every four to six weeks for years. Stylists who come into contact with the dyes day after day are especially at risk. Studies have shown that black hair dye is the most harmful because it contains harsher chemicals and sometimes toxic metals.

It's wise to avoid using hair dye altogether or to use one of the few safe brands free of toxic chemicals. We list those on
www.betterbabybook.com/hair
. At a minimum, if you use a toxic hair die, use it in such a way that it doesn't come in contact with the scalp. Some doctors recommend refraining from hair dye during the first trimester. But if not during the first trimester, then why during the second or third or while nursing? These chemicals build up in the body and the brain over time. A little now, a little in six weeks, and a little more six weeks after that turns into a lot over ten years.

Sunscreen

Sunscreen and sunblock lotion sometimes contain estrogen hormone disrupters like camphor. Many of these products also contain titanium dioxide as the active ingredient. Titanium dioxide is a harmful metal that is sometimes used as a white dye in products like toothpaste and food coloring. Many sunblock lotions use the nanoparticulate form of titanium dioxide. The nanoparticulate form is made of very small molecules that are easily absorbed through the skin and can cross the placenta and even penetrate into individual cells in the body.

Although using sunscreen might be safer than getting a bad sunburn, it is far healthier to expose your skin to the sun every day you're pregnant, right up to the point before you get a light burn. This lets your body make the most active form of vitamin D3 called vitamin D sulfate. Supplements do not create this form of D3. In addition, the only form of cholesterol that can cross the placenta to form a baby's growing brain is cholesterol sulfate, which is formed when you expose your skin to sunlight. A lack of sunlight will limit the amount of tissue building blocks your baby gets. One theory ties a lack of sunlight in mothers with a higher risk of autism. It is simply a bad idea to avoid the sun or wear sunscreen when you're pregnant.

Other Toiletries

Shaving cream usually contains parabens, but it also contains a chemical called DEHA, which is known to cause cancerous tumors in mice. Many body soaps contain propylene glycol, which is easily absorbed through the skin and can depress the nervous system. Antidandruff shampoos that contain zinc pyrithone might be a risk, too—rats given zinc pyrithone for two weeks developed deformities. Considering that hair sprays are breathed in during application and sit on the scalp for hours thereafter, we couldn't find a safe one that actually worked.

Baby Products

Baby products, including diaper cream and sunscreen, often contain more than twenty-seven chemicals that aren't proven safe for babies. Diaper cream can contain sodium borate, and sunscreen contains oxybenzone, two toxic chemicals that can accumulate in a baby's body and have adverse effects. Oxybenzone is an endocrine disruptor that could cause imbalance in a young baby's hormone system. We made sure that everything contacting our baby's skin was natural and chemical-free. If we didn't know what all of the ingredients were in a product, we didn't use it. Our kids get a reasonable amount of sunshine on bare skin, then put on the most natural sunscreen of all, a shirt and a hat.

Shower Curtains

Vinyl shower curtains are a big source of estrogenic chemicals in bathrooms. Select polyester instead.

The Garage, the Basement, and Other Rooms

Gasoline, diesel, kerosene, fuel oil, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers like Miracle Grow, weed killers like Round-Up, strong cleaning chemicals, hand soaps, and the like are all toxic and can produce toxic fumes. It's best to store them in a shed or a structure that is not connected to your immediate living area.

Carbon monoxide is a deadly odorless gas and a by-product of fire, so any type of gas stove, heater, car exhaust, or burning device can produce it. The easy solution to carbon monoxide is to install detectors in your home. If you have a basement with cracked walls or floors, it's a good idea to check for radon, another toxic odorless gas that forms from uranium in soil and rock.

Common household items like carpets and even some furniture and bedding contain poisonous chemicals and fire retardants that give off gas over time into the air you breathe. New paint and furniture anywhere in the house can raise the level of toxins in your circulating air. Pay particular attention to buying nontoxic furniture.

If these articles burn, they release enormous amounts of toxins. Breathing in just a small amount of this type of smoke from a house fire could be devastating for your fetus, so smoke detectors are also part of making a nontoxic home.

Fluoride lurks not just in toothpaste and nonstick cookware like teflon and T-Fal but also in microwave popcorn bags and stain-guarded clothing, furniture, and carpets.

Most of us have heard a lot about lead poisoning but may not be familiar with all of its sources. It's a good idea to check older pipes (your water supply), paints and imported miniblinds (air quality), and crystal dishes (your food). Lots of decorative crystal dishes are made of leaded glass that transfers lead into your food.

You may think that you're far away from these chemicals, but we encourage you to double-check. In 2004, researchers found traces of cosmetics, pesticides, gasoline, garbage, and burned coal in the umbilical cords of ten newborn babies they tested.

Avoid Cat Litter

Studies have shown that it's important for pregnant women to avoid cat feces. The reason is that a strain of bacteria called
Toxoplasma gondii
is excreted in cat feces. If a pregnant woman contracts
T. gondii
, this bacteria can result in severe health problems for the developing fetus. If you have cats, it's important to avoid cleaning their litter box while you're pregnant. It's also important to get your cat tested and treated if necessary before you get pregnant. Indoor cats that don't catch mice and birds are at much lower risk. We even recommend using gloves when gardening and thoroughly washing any garden vegetables if you have a problem with stray cats using your garden as a litter box.