Ever since selfish cowards began poisoning or otherwise tainting Halloween candy, it seems that kids just can’t catch a break when it comes to dressing up in a new costume and reveling in the surprise and delight of neighbors, friends, and family members at the sight of children in Halloween costumes. Each year, parents need to be smart and play it safe. This year, it seems that a couple of candy recalls before Halloween trick-or-treating starts are playing spoiler.

Fortunately, one of the recalls is not dangerous to most kids, although it can be very dangerous to those who are allergic to nuts. The other Halloween candy recall for 2010 is concerning for everyone and should be taken very seriously.

It seems that certain bags of Nestle RAISINETS Fun Size Bags in 10 ounce size may contain peanuts. The candy bags already say that they were made on machines that also process nuts, so kids with peanut allergies so severe even food made on equipment that handles nuts is not safe should already be steering clear of RAISINETS. But for those with serious, but quite that serious, nut allergies undeclared peanuts can be a big deal. A severe allergic reaction can mean a trip to the hospital, or worse. (Picture is NOT a sample of recalled packaging.)

The good news for all other children without peanut allergies is that there are no other health problems associated with candy from Nestle, or Raisenets in general.

For Halloween 2010, kids with no nut allergies who get Raisinets in their trick-or-treat bags can safely eat even the packages being recalled. For those children who do get Raisinets and have a peanut allergy, it’s probably best to throw them away, or trade them with friends for non-nut containing candy.

For full details on the Nestle Raisinets Halloween Fun Bags candy recall, visit the FDA’s website at FDA.gov (remember to use GOV and not COM).

Halloween Candy Recall 2010 – Nestle Raisinets originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Just in time to make savvy parents even more concerned about candy from trick-or-treating on Halloween, there has been a recall of a popular brand of lollipop Halloween candy.

Mega Pops brand lollipops are being recalled for the vague and ominous reason that there may be “foreign particles” in the candy. If that doesn’t make you feel all warm and fuzzy, I don’t know what would.

Like most food product recalls this candy recall only affects certain bags of the suckers. These are all of the bags processed during the time that there was a problem. Customers need to compare the lot numbers on the bags of candy, or the UPC Code numbers. The catch to that, of course, is that kids getting Mega Pops suckers dropped into their trick-or-treat buckets or bags aren’t going to get a good look at the serial numbers on the bags.

If you have a bag of Mega Pops lollipops at home, then by all means check first to see if your suckers are even on the recall list. If not, then you can use them freely. You may want to think twice about giving them out as Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters though, considering that a lot of parents will be following the next bit of advice, as well.

If your child gets Mega Pops lollipops — or the any of the recalled Raisinets — it’s probably safest to just throw them away. If your child is old enough you can use this as a way to teach them that it is better to be safe than sorry. However, lessons make for very poor Halloween candy (the kind you should get your house TP’ed for) consider allowing your kid to swap out the suspect lollipop with one of the pieces of candy in the bowl your house is handing out to trick-or-treaters.

That way, children can learn a valuable lesson at Halloween without feeling like they lost out, and at the same time, they will learn that while Mom and Dad will never compromise on their health and safety, they also are not out to ruin a good time or cheat kids out of any Halloween candy.

(We do that after they go to sleep.  Hee, hee. — What? I walked around in the dark and cold too, some of that candy should go to me.)

Update: There is another Halloween candy recall for Nestle Raisinets. Fortunately, this one only affects those children who are allergic to nuts.

2010 Halloween Candy Recall Mega Pops Lollipops originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Don’t panic.

Update: It appears that all may not have been as reported by the company and regulators. An increasing number of news reports suggest the company that produced the recalled products may be responsible for several other tainted products that are also being recalled. Some of these are associated with serious side effects. Of course, panic is never a good solution, but re-check your Childrens Tylenol and other drugs to be sure they are not part of the recall without delay.

One recent news report is here

For starters, understand that the problems leading to the recall don’t appear to be the harmful type where you have to take action right now or risk permanent health problems with your child. Rather, the issues here are mostly quality control related, which doesn’t make me feel much better, but at least I don’t have to rush to the medicine cabinet with my heart racing a thousand miles an hour.

What is going on is that the Children’s Motrin or Motrin Infant Drops that you bought might:

• Not have enough of the active ingredient
• Have too much of inactive ingredients
• Contain “particles”

That last one doesn’t make me warm and fuzzy, but so far, no one with any sort of credibility is worried about it, so for now, don’t panic.

This recall also affects some versions of Children’s Tylenol, Tylenol Infant Drops, Children’s Zyrtec, and Children’s Benadryl.

Even without the threat of imminent danger, if you are trying to help out your baby or child and the medicine you are giving them is diluted or otherwise less effective than it should be, that is still a very big problem.

So, head over to this website to get a list of the product numbers, serial number, or bin numbers, or whatever and check your kid’s medicines against the list to make sure you don’t have any of the recalled child medicines listed. If you do, then take them back and get the replacements.

Again, there is no need to freak out even if you have already given your child some doses of medicine from a bottle that is being recalled. It just means that you probably didn’t give your little guy or gal as strong of a dose as you meant to.

As always, it is an important parenting skill to always administer a child’s medicine according to the label or doctor’s recommendation using a good measuring device and not winging it with a spoon. For infants, get a medicine syringe to measure baby medicine and squirt it into the baby’s mouth.

See you soon.

Children’s Motrin Infant Motrin and Tylenol Recall originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Springtime is a fun time for most kids. The sunny days that finally break through after a long winter cooped up in the house make most kids giddy with anticipation. The thought of riding bikes, playing on playgrounds, and just running around outdoors being kids is one that fills both children and parents with joy. For some kids, however, spring can also bring an unwelcome return of allergies and hay fever.

What Is Hay Fever?

Exactly what is hay fever is a common parenting question. Hay fever is the commonly used term for allergic rhinitis. Allergic rhinitis is a specific kind of allergic reaction affecting most the eyes and nose. The most common hay fever symptoms in children are runny nose, or stuffy nose, and sneezing. Many kids also complain of itchy or watery eyes. Younger children might try and articulate a strange tingling or tickle in their throat or mouth.

Like all allergies, hay fever is caused by allergens that trigger a hypersensitive response from the body’s immune system. This response is characterized by the release of histamines to help ward off what the body mistakenly interprets as an infection. These histamines build up in the mucus linings of the boy, particularly in the nose, throat, and sinuses, where they trigger sneezing or itching. Unlike some severe food allergies, hay fever, and most other airborne allergies are generally harmless and disappear on their own once the allergens are present in lower concentrations in the air.

How To Tell What Child Is Allergic To

There are two ways to figure out what a child is allergic to. The first, is simply trial and error along with a small amount of record keeping. The second is to undergo allergy testing with a doctor or allergy specialist.

To find out what a kid is allergic to, parents should observe and log the severity of the child’s symptoms over the course of several days or weeks. On days when the child’s hay fever symptoms seems particularly bad, parents should check their local pollen counts. Pollen counts are typically measured as a part of a city’s or county’s clean air program. Several types of pollen are tracked and on days when kids have bad allergy symptoms, parents should log the pollen counts reported on that day. Over time, it is likely to emerge that the child’s worst hay fever symptoms correspond with high levels of one or more types of pollen.

Once parents know which things kids are allergic to, they can pay attention to pollen forecasts to get an idea of when their child’s symptoms will be at their worst and plan accordingly.

Keep in mind that people are often allergic to more than one specific allergen, so a pattern may not appear immediately. Also, high pollen count, does not necessarily mean highest pollen count, so don’t discount the allergens reported at the number two and number three positions, particularly in spring time when pollen counts are high for many different types of plants.

Treat Child’s Hay Fever Allergies

While allergies are not harmful to the child, they can be very annoying, and in some cases, actually debilitating. Parents should use their judgment in treating allergies to be sure that kids aren’t getting unnecessary medicines or other treatments. Measuring and administering medicine is an important parenting skill for dads and moms alike.

The most common allergy relief comes from over the counter medications at the supermarket or drug store. Always buy a children’s version of allergy medication for kids under age 5 and check the label for older kids who might still be too young for certain allergy medicines. Stick with “pure” or single purpose medications for kids. This avoids having them get unnecessary drugs and chemicals in their body.

So-called mult-symptom drugs are just multiple medicines combined together. The so-called Allergy Plus Sinus Pain Relief medicine, for example, is just an antihistamine and acetaminophen (Tylenol) mixed together. The problem is that if you child is not in pain, they are still getting an unnecessary pain reliever with every dose of allergy medicine. If your child does have sinus pain, treat is separately with a separate dose of acetaminophen.

Non-Drug Allergy Treatment Alternatives

The best hay fever treatment is often to stay indoors with the windows closed. Running a central air conditioner or just the fan attached to the furnace will clean indoor air from allergens as they get run through the furnace filter. (Spring is a good time to change your furnace filter, for this very reason. Be sure to buy one that filters small allergen particles, or you’ll just be blowing them around your house.)

Bad hay fever might indicate the need to do additional laundry of bed sheets and clothing to remove pollen and dust that are deposited there by the body. Hypoallergenic soap like Dreft can be useful.

Keep in mind that the histamines caused by hay fever build up over time in the child’s nose and elsewhere. These histamines are still present once the child comes inside. Even though the body has stopped making histamines, the ones that are already there can still cause hay fever symptoms like sneezing. A nasal flush can sometimes speed the process of clearing out histamines in the nose.

Allergies in Children – Hay Fever originally published at Undefeated Daddy

One of the most frustrating conditions for parents, especially new first-time parents, to deal with on babies and toddlers are rashes.  The difficulty is that because of their nature, rashes are easy to spot and difficult to ignore.  Whether it is skin redness, little spots on baby’s skin, or a rough texture on your toddlers arms or legs, rashes trigger a parent’s instinct to do something to fix it.

Unfortunately, the great majority of toddler rashes and baby rashes are non-specific skin conditions that require no real medical treatment.  It is frustrating to take baby to the doctor only to hear them say that it isn’t anything to worry about, and is probably just dryness or an allergic reaction to something.

Online medical research about skin rashes on babies and kids isn’t any more help.  About all anyone will find is the advice to try and figure out what is causing the allergic rash and to remove it from the baby’s environment.  This isn’t as easy as it sounds and can end up causing even more consternation among parents.

Cure for Baby or Toddler Skin Rashes

Since most rashes are non-medical allergic reactions of the skin, all any parent can do to make them better is try and reduce the allergens in the child’s environment.  Fortunately, this can be a relatively simple process for most skin allergies.

Whether it’s red skin, bumpy skin, or rough skin, the culprit is most often either bedding like sheets and blankets, or clothing.  The most common causes of such skin reactions is the perfumes, dyes, and preservatives in laundry soaps or bath soaps and other cleaning supplies.  Removing these irritants from baby’s life is actually fairly easy.

Healing Rashes With Laundry Soap

First, start by washing all of the child’s clothing AND bedding using Dreft.  Other companies make laundry soaps that are supposedly as free of irritants and chemicals as Dreft is, but since there is no way of knowing whether or not the latest “allergen free” or “pure” laundry soap is in fact just as good as Dreft, don’t take the chance just yet.  If you want to try a cheaper version of child laundry soap, do it later after you’ve eliminated baby’s rash and can judge whether or not the other laundry soap causes its return.

If comparing two products, always buy the one with no parabens.  Parabens may or may not have a cancer risk.  However, there is no doubt that parabens are a sign of cheap, low-cost, formulation and manufacturing since their only purpose is to allow a multi-year shelf life. 

You can find parabens on the ingredients list.  They will have names like methylparaben, propylparaben, or something similar.  It doesn’t matter what the chemical name is in front, a paraben is a paraben.  So anything-paraben is garbage.  If you can’t find a no parabens product, try a health food store or organic food store like Whole Foods. 

As a last resort, buy the product that has parabens the closest to the end of the list since ingredients must be listed from most to least by law. You’ll have to make a guess about whether having four different types of parabens lower on the list is better or worse than having one paraben higher on the list since their is no way to now how much they add up to.  This is one reason why you are better off just getting something without parabens instead.

Make sure and wash everything baby uses.  Otherwise, baby might still have the skin rash because of one blanket even though everything else is not causing any problems.

Be sure to wash any baby bedding including a child’s favorite blanket or wubby or whatever in HOT water.  Only hot water kills dust mites which might be the cause of the child’s skin rash.

Use the second rinse feature of your washing machine to give baby’s blankets, sheets, and clothes an additional rinse.  Don’t add anything like fabric softener, just get a second water rinse to ensure that everything possible is out.

Next, dry baby’s clothing and bedding without any dryer sheets or other additions to the dryer.  Yes, they’ll be staticy and wrinkled, but that isn’t the primary concern for this step.

Continue to do all of your toddler’s laundry in this way so that nothing comes back into contact with him or her that.

Healing Diaper Rash

Also, change baby’s diapers and wipes.  Try using one of the Huggies brand diapers if you are using others.  No matter what the label says, other diapers like Pampers have some sort of perfume or chemical in them that Huggies don’t seem to have.

To prove it, open a bag of Pampers or other diapers and put them in an enclosed space like a drawer or cabinet with the drawer or door closed.  Leave them overnight.  Then, open the cabinet and smell inside.  You’ll get a whiff of something, and that might be what is causing baby’s diaper rash.  (I haven’t experienced the same thing with Huggies, either the regular diapers or the Huggies Comfort Fit diapers.)

Also, switch to one of the “Free” diaper wipes.  You want one that has no perfumes AND no dyes.

While you are at it, buy a tube of Lotrimin.  Lotrimin is a fungal killer, or fungicide.  Most of the really painful looking bright red diaper rashes have some component of yeast infection with them.  Using the Lotrimin kills off this element.

Remember to change and wipe baby often when they have a diaper rash.  Most diaper rashes are caused by the chemicals in the child’s urine.  The longer they stay in contact with the skin, the more likely they are to cause a rash.

To get rid of a diaper rash as fast as possible, use non-perfumed diapers and wipes and change baby a lot.  By a lot, I mean too often, maybe every half-hour, but at least every hour, whether the diaper seems full or not..  At each of these diaper changes, put on some of the Lotrimin.  This will ensure that the toddler or baby’s skin gets the maximum possible amount of time without any urine chemicals on their skin and also that any yeast is killed without being able to re-spread.

Baby Rash and Toddler Rashes originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Nothing really “gives” you cancer.  Your body’s cells react to certain chemicals or events in ways that lead to cells mutating into cancer cells.  One of these chemicals is BPA, also known as bisphenol A. Yet, this chemical is likely in the baby bottles you are using to feed your child baby formula or pumped breast milk, or in your toddler sippy-cups and spill-proof cups and yes, it is increasing their risk for cancer.

How can this be?  Isn’t the FDA supposed to regulate chemicals like these and keep greedy, corporations from poisoning us and our children.  The answer, is yes they are, but no they don’t.  Unfortunately the FDA has become increasingly political and subject to undue influence from outside interests. In this case the plastics industry and manufacturers of plastic products.  So, BPA is not safe.  BPA causes cancer.  The government doesn’t care.  Well, the US government anyway.  BPA is banned in Canada by an apparently less tainted government agency.

In over 100 studies performed around the world by numerous well respected scientists, universities, and research centers, BPA was found to increase the risk of cancer.  In just 2 studies, BPA was shown to be safe.  Guess who paid for those 2 studies?  The Plastics Industry.  And, based on those 2 studies the FDA approved BPA as a safe chemical to use in making all kinds of products including, BABY BOTTLES!!!!

Make no mistake, this conclusion is undisputed, BPA does cause cancer.  What the plastics industry argues is that the amount of BPA you get when you use products with BPA in them is not enough BPA to cause cancer.  In other words, yes, we are using a cancer causing material in our plastic products, but don’t worry because there isn’t enough of it to hurt you.  Yeah, I feel safer already.

Actually, this doesn’t this sound really familiar?  Oh yeah, replace BPA with smoking and Plastics Industry with Tobacco Industry and you have a replay of the “debate” about whether or not smoking causes cancer.  It is the exact same blueprint.  Use industry studies to produce “results” that show something every non-industry funded study in the world shows to be dangerous and then pretend like that is a real conflict of science and not a sham.

My dad told me that no long ago in this country there was a notion that when it came to children and babies, that safety is what mattered above all else.  That meant if there was even the slightest doubt that something wasn’t completely safe, then it wasn’t done.  That is why baby food used to only come in glass jars, because we knew for sure that it was safe.  These days, it seems that the government and the FDA especially seem far more interested in protecting their big corporate donations than in protecting our children, who let’s face it, don’t really contribute very much money to political campaigns.

The FDA even refused to require that products be labeled so that people could make their own decisions about BPA!  I guess we regular people are just too stupid to know what is and isn’t good for us, so we can’t handle having truthful information about what a bottle does or doesn’t contain printed on the packaging.

Fortunately, the lie is beginning to unravel.  A consortium of scientists have reported that the finding that BPA is safe is suspect at best and a sham at worst, especially in babies and children.  The lead scientist from one of the studies used to “prove” that BPA was safe has said publicly that her research was flawed and even so, was never designed to offer proof that BPA was safe in anything other than the reproductive systems of rats. 

Unfortunately, by the time the FDA gets around to doing the right thing, your baby could have been exposed to thousands of feedings from BPA tainted bottles.  Since the FDA did not require labeling of plastics you can’t be sure if a bottle does or does not contain BPA unless it is labeled BPA-Free or Does Not Contain BPA.  So, buy only baby bottles (and all other hard plastics) that are labeled BPA Free.

In the meantime, assume that all plastics not labeled BPA Free are cancer causing plastics.

Or, even easier, just remember one of these handy reminders:

NO BPA FREE label = CAUSES CANCER, DO NOT USE

CAUSES CANCER UNLESS LABELED BPA-FREE!

BPA Gives Babies Cancer – FDA Doesn’t Care originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Whether it is to help with a cold that’s causing nasal congestion, or to help with a rash or dry skin, or even for chapped lips, sooner or later, you’ll end up needing a humidifier to help with the health of your baby.  Getting the right humidifier is easy if you understand some basic concepts and information.

Which is better, warm humidifiers or cold humidifiers?

As you do research on humidifiers, you’ll come across conflicting information and recommendations.  Part of that is because a lot of that information is old news, based on humidifier models that are not made anymore.  The other part is because both main types of humidifiers have both pros and cons, but it is easy to break them down.

Warm Humidifiers Versus Cold Humidifiers

The main decision is warm humidifiers vs.. cold humidifiers .  Here is where you’ll find a lot of info that is grossly out of date or only applies to very specific models.  For example, no one makes warm humidifiers anymore that expose the heating element even if the unit is knocked over.  Instead, the heating element is safely tucked away inside and cannot be accessed without deliberately opening it up using tabs, dials or other features that will not be workable by even the smartest toddler, let alone a baby.

Basically, the two arguments come down to safety versus bacteria.  Warm humidifiers, as their name implies, use warm steam to produce humidity.  Heat equals the potential for burns. 

Cold humidifiers use either ultrasonic waves or air blown across wicks to send humidity into the air.  Bacteria grows best in moist environments like on a humidifiers wick, or in the water tank itself.  Turn on the humidifier and it blows not just humidity into the air, but that bacteria as well.  Ultrasonic humidifiers also end up sending a white dust into the air.

Choosing the Right Humidifier For Baby

If you keep a warm humidifier out of baby’s reach, then there is no need to worry about burns or bacteria.  If you clean a cold humidifier properly every week, then there is no need to worry about burns or bacteria.

See what is going on here?  Either choice is fine IF you use it responsibly.  The problem, of course, is that people aren’t always responsible.  So, the choice comes down to you.  Are you more likely to not clean the humidifier every week?  Or are you more likely to not keep the humidifier up on a shelf or table?

For us, there is no contest.  Our lives are busy enough without worrying about constantly cleaning a humidifier.  So, we use a modern warm humidifier with the heating element tucked away and protected, and we keep it up on a shelf with the cord behind the furniture.  There is no way for our 2 year old to even touch it, let alone knock it over.  No bacteria, no danger.  Problem solved.

You might be the other way.  If you can’t think of good places to put your humidifier other than the floor, then you are probably better off with the cold variety and making sure it gets frequent cleanings.

Best Humidifier Deals Online

If you are going to shop online, shop via the Health & Beauty categories, not the Baby categories.

Most reputable retailers put their products in the Health & Beauty because that is primarily where they belong.  Shifty retailers make sure to put theirs in Baby knowing that uninformed parents might come looking there instead.  You’ll find the same products but at a higher price.

If you want some starting points, here are some good ones from Amazon.

Baby Health Skin Care – Understanding Humidifiers originally published at Undefeated Daddy

So, our pediatrician has posted a warning on the main page of their website regarding certain plastics and their potentially dangerous nature (for all of us, not just children).  It seems that certain plastics can release cancer causing chemicals, especially when microwaved. So, they are recommending that everyone avoid type 3, 6, and 7 plastics.  To find out what kind of plastic something is, look on the bottom (usually) and find the recycling code.  It is the number in the middle of the 3 arrows around in a circle (the standard recycle symbol).  If that number is 3, 6, or 7, no one in should be using it for food or drinks, especially your children.  That goes double for heating anything in 3, 6, or 7 plastic.  You shouldn’t be using them either, but you aren’t a defenseless baby, so make your own decision.

Actually, you should probably get used to never microwaving food in plastic at all.  Apparently, microwaves release potentially toxic and cancer causing chemicals from ALL plastic, but just in amounts that are deemed “too small” to worry about.  That doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy, I don’t know about you.  It isn’t that much trouble to transfer stuff to a glass or ceramic bowl or plate before throwing it in the microwave.

Plastics Danger originally published at Undefeated Daddy

As a dad, you care about things in a different way for your young child than you do for yourself.  I buy the cheapest shampoo I can find that doesn’t make me thing it is recycled dish soap and I don’t give a darn what is in it.  But, when it comes to my little girl, things are different.  I figure I’ve built up some immunity and other ways of dealing with the world of chemicals that pour out of your average soap bottle, but she’s my little baby, and she’s delicate, and I don’t want to be putting a bunch of junk on her delicate skin.

No Parabens

Still, there is a difference between doing right by your child and getting suckered into every crazy tree-hugger scare out there.  Just because something isn’t organically harvested by virgin butterflies with specially coated wings doesn’t make it a bad thing.  On the other hand, there are plenty of products out there using sweet innocent sounding names that are no different than the 3 for 99 cents bottles lower on the shelf.  It’s kind of like those “microbrews” that are made by Coors and Budweiser.  Yeah, those are delicately hand crafted in multi-million barrel quantities.  As if.

Turns out there is an easy way to separate your cut-rate garden variety giant manufacturer running the cheapest combination of chemicals they can find down the conveyor belt, and thoughtfully formulated products that are gentle for your sensitive baby.  If it has parabens, it is the junky mass market mix.  If not, then it is likely good.

Basically, parabens are chemicals which extend the shelf-life of a product by keeping down the bacteria count.  Sounds ok, right?  Except we aren’t talking about normal shelf-life here, we are talking about FIVE YEARS!  You want five year old shampoo?  Me neither.  I certainly don’t want to put it on my daughter.  There’s more.  Ask anyone, anywhere, who is concerned about people’s long-term health AND who is not bound by structure of having undeniable proof before they are supposed to give you an opinion and they will tell you that parabens are cancer causing chemicals.  The key here is that there are a whole group of people out there who are not allowed to tell you what they know unless they have rock solid data to back it up.  In this case, that means collecting years of data for thousands of people and then showing that the people who use products with parabens have higher cancer rates than those that don’t.  That kind of thing just doesn’t happen over a weekend.

Here is the data you need to know.  Parabens have been found in cancer tumors.  Parabens are also scientifically proven to be estrogenic.  Estrogenic means that they increase one of the mechanisms that cause cancer.  Technically, this doesn’t add up to proof.  One more fact should make this obvious to anyone who has two brain cells to rub together and doesn’t work for the cosmetics industry or politicians who get big money from the same people (I’m looking at you FDA).  Parabens are not produced in the body, nor found in nature.

Allow me to connect the dots.  Your body doesn’t not make parabens and there are no parabens on anything you eat or breathe.  So, there is only one way they get into your body, and that is from the products you buy and put on your skin where the parabens get absorbed.  From there we know that parabens are in cancer tumors.  Ever hear of Vitamin C being found in cancer tumors?  I didn’t think so.  Technically it is possible that the parabens are just randomly somehow innocently in cancer tumors.  I guess you have to decide who’s being naive.

Cancer or No Cancer, The Good Stuff Is Paraben Free

Actually, it doesn’t matter.  Whether parabens are dangerous or not is moot.  Parabens is the cheap way to make something.  It is your proof that the company just went with the big tank of “this usually works” instead of putting some effort into it.  This is true for adult and baby products, but especially for baby products where there is A LOT of concern about a baby’s sensitive skin.  When designing a product for a baby you should be thinking, “What can we possibly leave out to make this product even safer and better?”  If you are asking that question, you are leaving out parabens.

Now, you can sort out those products.  If it is called Super Caring Mom Formula and it has propylparaben and mehtylparaben, then you know that it is actually Super Non-Caring Company Hoping to Make a Buck With a Good Name. 

How to Spot Parabens

The good news is that it is easy to spot parabens.  Turn the bottle around and read the ingredients.  They are listed under “Inactive” or “Other” ingredients if the product has active ingredients.  They will have a chemistry word in front of the word paraben.  Common ones include: propylparaben and methylparaben, but it really doesn’t matter – anythingparapen is garbage.  Find something else.

You don’t have to shell out big money for better products.  Sometimes just changing formulas or regular brands is enough.  Maybe Johnson & Johnson is chock full of parabens, but Dove isn’t, or whatever.  If you do need to go to special brands, try the Vitamin Cottage if you have one.  They seem to be a pretty decent deal for stuff like this.

Getting the Right Stuff originally published at Undefeated Daddy

My father infamously tells the story of a day when he was in the Army, that an officer came up to him and asked if they taught him to wash his hands in basic training. To which my father replied, “No sir. They taught us how to not pee on our hands.”

If you knew my father, you would know that this story is certainly true. He has a point. The fact is that assuming nothing goes awry, your journey to the bathroom is really no different than the rest of the rooms you walk in and out of each day. I read somewhere once that in office buildings, the bathrooms are usually the cleanest space in the office. The reason is that most cleaning contracts specific that the bathrooms be cleaned completely each day while the break room may be specified to have the floor mopped every other day, the counters cleaned weekly, and the refrigerator handle…well, never. (If I were you, I’d take an anti-bacterial wet wipe to the fridge handle, microwave handle, and the door knob every once and a while.)

The Bathroom Isn’t Important

I told the famous army story in the presence of a research scientist who informed me that the universally known wash your hands when you use the bathroom rule has nothing to do with the bathroom (or your bathroom body parts) being any more contaminated that others. Rather, frequent hand washing is the number one way to prevent the spread of germs including colds. He said that numerous studies have shown that the people who wash their hands most often get the least colds. The reason is that while the cold virus is airborne, it isn’t very long lived in that way. If someone sneezes on you, then yes, you can count on getting sick. But, if they sneeze in the hallway and you walk through the area even three minutes later, any virus left in the air is probably so weak your body’s immune system will take it out before it infects you.

The way you usually get sick is that someone who is already sick somehow transfers the virus onto their hands. (I won’t go into details.) Then, they touch something like a door knob. Then, you touch the door knob. Now, at this point there is still a chance for you to not get sick. The virus can’t enter your body through the skin. It has to make contact with some opening like your eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. So, if you wash your hands before you touch your face, you may never get sick. Also, since you will be touching other stuff (the copier, for example) you would be spreading the virus to others who use the copier after you. But, if you wash your hands before you get to the copier, then you not only won’t get sick, but neither will the other people.

So what is the deal?

Well, the bathroom is where the water is, and the soap, and the towels. If they told you to wash your hands every hour, that wouldn’t work so well. Depending on where you were, there might not be a way to wash your hands at that time. If they told you to wash your hands every time you used the drinking fountain, there would be lots of people who never use the drinking fountain. But, everyone uses the bathroom multiple times per day, and there is always soap and water there even if you are out in the world. So, if everyone washes their hands every time they use the bathroom, then everyone is washing their hands at least a few times each day. Bingo, a rule to pass down to our youngest children to help keep them healthier.

Wash Them All The Time

Until your baby is mobile enough to touch public surfaces on their own, the only way they can be exposed to colds and other infections is from you. Their immune system is way weaker than yours so that “weak” cold virus that never makes you sick can make your baby sick. If it’s on your hands when you come home from work and you touch your baby — Bam! Sick baby.

So, make it a rule to wash your hands every time you use the bathroom (whether you pee on your hands or not — I don’t think that kind of training is exclusive to the military.) Also, wash you hands every time you transition environments. That is, wash your hands right before you leave work. We’re talking computer already off, phone on voice mail, bag on your shoulder, straight from the bathroom to the car, no stops. Then, wash your hands right when you come into the house BEFORE you pick up little Timmy or tousle his hair. That way, you won’t spread those germs into your house. It might be going too far, but I’d change clothes too.

Start washing your hands more often right now. Your baby will be sick less often than they would otherwise, and you’ll probably find that you get sick less often too. It’s a winning two-fer.

Wash Your Hands All The Time originally published at Undefeated Daddy