This is so exciting! Last night I took all of my Avent bottles to Babies R Us to exchange them for BPA FREE baby bottles.  It was so easy!

My Avent bottles have been getting no use since I learned about Bisphenol A and they were only approximately 10 months old.  I had heard some talk about Babies R Us doing the exchange of baby bottles so I wanted to take advantage of it. 

This isn’t an advertised product exchange, you need to take your bottles to the Customer Service desk and just ask if they are exchanging.  They give you store credit which you need to spend on baby bottles that day.  I ended up with $50 worth of brand new Born Free glass bottles!  How awesome is that. As far as I know Babies R Us is absorbing the cost of this exchange since I haven’t heard of the manufacturers offering such a recall.  This is great for Babies R Us, bad for the manufacturers.  It’s a shame the manufacturers of these brands haven’t taken responsibility and attempted to fix the problem.

My daughter is now almost 10 months and is using a sippy cup more often so these brand new bottles are going to be put away for baby #2 which won’t be a for while…

Kari
Shop at green-bebe.com

The debate over whether BPA is safe to use in baby products continues.  An article just came out on the AP; Calif. weighs chemical ban in baby bottles which summarizes the legislation in front of lawmakers in CA. Basically the law would restrict the amount of BPA allowable in all products and food containers for children under 3.

The OC Register has an article about the Chemical Industry’s opposition to this proposed law and the efforts by a chemical industry-backed lobbying group to use scare tactics in local advertising; Industry fights effort to ban chemical in baby products.

If California can pass this new law, hopefully other states or the federal government would follow. It’s disappointing that the chemical industry does what is best for them (profits) all the while knowing the truth about this toxic chemical.  Japan already regulates their baby products and food containers to the levels that California is considering, so there is no reason why the U.S. companies can’t follow suit. 

Parents need to keep talking about this issue and telling our government that this is important to us. This topic needs to stay on the front pages of our news-sources. 

Remember Parents there are BPA FREE alternatives out there.  While the popular brands that contain bisphenol A still populate the shelves of local baby stores there are BPA Free products.  We need to support those companies that care about our children.  Green Bebe offers GreentoGrow BPA free baby bottles.

Thanks everyone who came out to visit Green-bebe.com at North Aurora Days last weekend.  It was great meeting everyone!

Besides for the parents who were already looking into cloth diapers, I think we peaked some interest for a few who haven’t thought about cloth diapering their babies.  This was a great opportunity to come out and see all the cloth diapers in person.  Just a reminder that we have 2 cloth diaper workshops coming up.  Registration is available on www.green-bebe.com. In October we will be in Indiana at the Indy Baby Expo.

We had a drawing to win a free cloth diaper and the winner is Brenda B.  Congrats! 

As always please contact me if you have any questions about cloth diapering.  I am available for you.

Kari Faber
green-bebe.com

For 9 months I’ve been washing cloth diapers with Hot Water because that is what is recommended by the manufacturers of cloth diapers.  All of my other laundry I wash using cold water as I have done for a few years. 

I just read a blog that is changing my mind about washing cloth diapers using hot water, Green Breakthrough: Save Energy by Washing Diapers in Cold Water. With my cloth diaper washing, I had completely forgotten one of the reasons why I stopped using hot water with the rest of my laundry. The hot water in your washing machine (unless it has a heater) doesn’t get hot enough to kill bacteria. Think about it, the hot water for your washing machine comes from your water heater (unlike dishwashers that have their own heater).

I know that washing with cold water only is NOT recommended by most manufacturers and in most cases will void any warranties, but I’m going to try it.  The diapers in my stash I’ve had for a while now with no problems so I’m comfortable doing this.  I don’t recommend anyone new to cloth diapers use a cold wash, only test this out for yourself once you are happy with your diapers as in most cases this will void your warranty.  I am not recommending this washing, but wanted to point out another option for families looking to save money.

The best way to sanitize your diapers is to put out in the sun.  UV rays are great at killing bacteria and it’s natural!

I will report back here how it goes and if I notice any difference in my diapers from this change.