BeeGreenGuide

It is interesting to note that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) has occurred only after WWII, from about 1950 on. This is the period of time when polyvinyl chlorides (PVCs) began to be used in the manufacture of baby crib mattresses. SIDS is not found in developing countries where natural or organic sleeping surfaces are the norm. It occurs only in developed areas of the world.

PVCs contain phosphorus, antimony, and aresnic. Common household mildew and mold combines with these and produces lethal gases that are 100X more deadly than Hydrogen Cyanide and 1000X more deadly than Carbon Monoxide.

I am in no way affiliated with this website, Safe Crib Beds , but the information here is complete and astounding.

Buyer Beware is again the answer, but without appropriate labeling you will never be able to know what you are buying. What a travesty, to have the chemical additives legally required on bedding, and no labeling to tell us what the chemicals are. Not even a warning label to advise…

I heard the tales about the chemicals during the 1980s when my children were babies, and I always used a rubberized waterproof cotton mattress pad with a cotton quilt layered over it on the crib mattress, and a cotton sheet over everything. (I don’t know if that helped dissipate gases, but I suppose living in a drafty old house did.) In those days you could still go to a fabric store and buy fabric from a bolt that was labeled “not child safe” or “not approved for sleepwear”. That sounds like a foreboding warning, but it just means that the chemicals had not been added to the fabric or fibers.

These “unapproved” but safe fabrics are still available; be sure to check the labels on the bolts before you buy.

The specific sleepwear flame retardants are not in the fabrics; however other manufacturing chemicals are. The other chemicals are additives that make the fibers move through the machinery faster and more accurately, as well as sizing and conditioners and treatments used during dye applications. Always Pre-wash fabrics before you sew with them to remove the sizing, etc. Buy 100% natural fiber fabrics with 0% polyester content for baby items. Wool and cotton are natural fibers, as are linen and silk. Poly-fluff items and acrylic fleece are on my “NO” list for babies, simply because they pill and fuzz, and the broken fibers are easily inhaled or ingested by a baby.

Remember, unless a fabric is 100% cotton, wool, linen, or silk, it contains some type of PLASTIC or chemically derived fiber.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS