Safe, softer, sleeping

Now that my daughter is getting older (she's edging quickly towards 2 1/2) her mattress, organic in all it's glory, is feeling a little on the firm side for her tossing and turning little body. I'm finding her sleeping on her side and back more and more, so I started looking for a mattress topper to soften it up a bit. Not as easy of a task as I thought it would be. Finally though, I found one, at Ecobaby.com.
Since growing bones grow best on firm mattresses, their recommendation for softening up a firm mattress without adding too much give was one of their organic plush pads, made of natural wool attached to a cotton backing, so as to be humane. My daughter sleeps in a Stokke oval crib, and they even make a pad for her mattress.
Here's to hoping both she, and I, will be catching a few more Z's.

Truly Green Grass

When we moved from New York, where our fire escape was our yard, to Miami, where we actually had a real yard, we started to think about how to treat our grass without making it dangerous for our daughter to play in. Most fertilizers, weed killers and bug killers are chock full of nasty toxins you don't want your kids anywhere near, and since our children probably eat more grass from the yard than they do veggies from their plates, it's important that we make it safe for them.
There are several brands and types of organic fertilizers, including some that are specific to vegetable gardens and others to lawns and flowers. Scotts Organic Choice Lawn Food is one that I found to be readily available at local hardware and home stores like Home Depot and Ace.
Of course, the results may be a little slower-going than with traditional fertilizer, but like with all good things, a little patience pays off. We noticed a big difference after applying it three times, with empty patches filling in and greener, fuller grass.
Seems like a small thing we all can do to make our children and our planet a little safer.

Safe sunblock

Being a melanoma survivor myself, I'm rightfully obsessed in choosing the right sunscreen for myself and for my daughter (especially since she got her mama's light skin).

The best resource for picking the safest sunblock for your little one is the Environmental Working Group's Cosmetic Safety Database http://www.ewg.org/whichsunscreensarebest/2009report

Topping their list for kids' sunblocks are Heiko's natural Zinc Oxide 40 SPF sunblock. It's pricey at almost $40 a tube, but when you consider that most sunblocks you find in drugstores contain Oxybenzone, a hormone-disruptor, it seems like $40 well-spent. It does contain lavender so you may want to consider Loving Natural's (below)or another at the top of the EWG's list if you have a boy since lavender and tea tree oils may boost estrogen and hamper androgens (male hormones).
Also at the top is Loving Natural's 30 SPF, which is a more-affordable $23 a tube.

When you buy either through the above links to Amazon.com, you'll be supporting the Environmental Working Group.

Also worth mentioning, since most sunscreens don't put it on their packaging, is that you need to apply sunscreen 15-30 minutes before sun exposure, and re-apply every 1-2 hours or after swimming.

Sleep tight, organically

My husband and I recently bought a new King-size bed to accommodate our part-time co-sleeping daughter. Even though she always starts out in her crib (also outfitted with an organic mattress), she nearly always ends up in our bed during the night, so we decided that our mattress should be organic too. We went with a SavvyRest natural rubber mattress. It's three layers of mattress actually. We were able to try it out at a retailer near us and decided on a soft layer of Talalay rubber on top with two layers of Dunlop (firm and medium) on the bottom. Now we're all sleeping like babies, when the baby is sleeping that is.