Men Are Such Boobs - Part Deux

While at the security desk again last week....

Me: I need to get a temporary badge today.

Guard #1: OK, no problem.

Guard #2: (comes up from behind me and starts hovering around)

Me: (turning towards him)

Guard #2: What's that?? (pointing to the black, non-descript breast pump case slung on my shoulder)

Me: (looking down and realizing the bottom flap has come open exposing the pump) Oh, oops! Sorry!

Guard #2: Oooooh, I see. It's a radio!

Me: *spitting out my non-existent coffee* Yeah, totally. A radio. You got it.


I can see how he could have been confused. I mean, both breast pumps and old radios have a dial, right? At least he didn't ask me to turn it on!

Men Are Such Boobs

I went back to work this week and fortunately for me there is a great pumping room where I can pump breastmilk during the day so that I can continue exclusively breastfeeding the baby, even while I'm away from him.

Unfortunately, I lacked the access code to get into the pumping room so I went up to the security desk to ask for help, where two male security guards were there to greet me.

Me: Can someone help me get into the pumping room?

Guy #1: Uh, excuse me?

Me: I mean, er, I need access to the breastfeeding room but I haven't got the access code and I was wondering if you guys could let me in.

Guy #2: We'll have to radio someone to help us get in there.

Me: OK, that'd be great.

Guy #1: But we can't say "breastfeeding" over the radio. What else could we call it?

Me: (laughing out loud) Uh, I don't know. I'm drawing a blank...

Guy #2: How about "lactation room!"

Guy #1: Oh yeah - that's good! That'll work. (proceeds to radio for help)

Me: cracking up...and thinking to myself, it is such a paradox that guys can be such boobs while being so scared of them at the same time.

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On another note, have you heard of the 2007 Mother of the Year Award? Mother's Day Central (the same lovely group that brings us the 100 Top Mom Blog Awards) is holding a Mother of the Year Contest. Anyone can enter their mom to win. The grand prize winner will receive $5,000 cash plus a ton of other cool stuff. And the top 10 finalists will each receive a bouquet of Mother’s Day flowers.Go here for details on how to enter! The deadline is March 5th! I won't be able to enter myself, but I do get to be one of the judges - yippee!

*****
And...have you seen the cool stuff we're giving away just for signing up for the Green Mom Finds free e-newsletter? $100 worth of green goodies for moms and kids. Check it out!

California in Winter

(picture removed)

We were wearing shorts today and playing outside with the hose. It was that warm. WTH?

(Photo taken this afternoon. I swear.)

You Know It's Bad When....

...you're digging back (way back) into your pantry to find Halloween candy that you hid from your kid back in '07 and you're so, SO happy that you never threw it out because it's the only chocolate in your entire house and it is also the only thing saving you from going completely insane today.

Mmmmm. Four-month-old bite-size snickers really aren't as bad as you would think. And neither are the Milky Ways for that matter.

TGIF.

More Evidence Emerges About the Dangers of BPA Exposure to Humans. Pregnant Mothers, Infants, and Children at Highest Risk.

*I want to get the word out as soon as possible about this important study but I have limited time to write something original today, so I have lifted most of this post directly from media releases about the study*

Today, I participated in a media teleconference announcing the results of a new U.S. and Canadian study, "Baby's Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles". The results of this study have led dozens of U.S. and Canadian environmental health organizations to call for an immediate moratorium on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and other food and beverage containers.

Researchers have found that the toxic chemical BPA leaches from popular plastic baby bottles when heated, including Avent, Evenflo, Dr. Brown’s and Disney/First Years. Importantly, ninety-five percent of all baby bottles on the market are made with BPA.

BPA, a synthetic sex hormone that mimics estrogen, is used to make hard polycarbonate plastic. Studies conducted on laboratory animals and cell cultures have linked low doses of BPA to obesity, diabetes, thyroid disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer and other illnesses. BPA exposure is widespread and has been found in 95% of Americans tested.

BPA is also found in some toddler sippy cups, polycarbonate water bottles such as some Nalgene bottles, dental sealants, and the linings of many food and beverage cans, including all infant formulas.

A couple of additional points I would like to share from the call are:

--BPA is also commonly found in tap water sources. In fact, the researchers of this study had a hard time finding a non-contaminated water source for the study.

--A few of the questions from reporters from the media tended to focus on whether this study was really that significant since the dangers of BPA have only been confirmed in animals. The researcher made it clear that levels of BPA they found leaching from bottles was surprisingly high and within the range to which animals respond with adverse effects. And furthermore, noting the adverse affects of BPA in animals IS a significant sign of BPA's probable risk to humans.

--The most dangerous period for BPA exposure is before birth (in the womb) and during infancy and early childhood when human body systems are still being developed and can be adversely affected by hormone disrupters. Both males AND females can be adversely affected by BPA exposure. In animal studies, some males that were exposed had abnormalities of reproduction when they grew up. Females saw changes in breast tissue that can lead to breast cancer later in life. These are only two examples of the types of health problems BPA can cause.

So with all of this information, I personally am going to:

1) Use only glass bottles with safe plastic nipples for my 6-month-old son. I go back to work next week and will be pumping breastmilk every day for him. I have found a safe brand of bottles and nipples that I like and which I will be featuring on Green Mom Finds soon, as well as offering some to give away I hope! In the meantime, if you want me to send you a link to their site, drop me an email.

2) Stop buying canned foods. It will be hard, but I'm not taking any more chances.

3) Continue using safe sippy cups for Little Guy. There are tons safer options out there now. Safemama.com has a great cheat sheet on her site. We've also featured a couple on Green Mom Finds.

Here is some more information, which I took directly from the press release:

Parents can take action immediately to protect their children’s health by choosing safer products, including plastic baby bottles made without BPA or glass baby bottles. (See www.babystoxicbottle.org for more tips.)

Visitors to the “Baby’s Toxic Bottle” website can sign a petition to baby bottle manufacturers, urging them to phase out BPA in baby bottles at www.babystoxicbottle.org.

The full study, “Baby's Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles,” is available to download for free on the website www.babystoxicbottle.org. The Canadian version of the study is available at www.toxicnation.ca.

This study was commissioned by Environmental Defence of Canada in cooperation with The Work Group for Safe Markets in the U.S., and researched by the laboratory of Frederick vom Saal, PhD., at the University of Missouri. Study results were released today in the U.S. by a broad coalition of public health and environmental non-governmental organizations including: Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, Boston Common Asset Management, Breast Cancer Fund, Center for Health, Environment & Justice, Clean New York, Clean Water Action, Environment America, Environmental Health Fund, Healthy Legacy, Learning Disabilities Association of America, MOMS (Making Our Milk Safe), Oregon Environmental Council, Sierra Club, and US PIRG.

Note that, due to server problems, the babystoxicbottles.org site will be down for part of the day.

WTF???

I cannot think of a more suitable title for this post. Just wait until you hear this.

So, as I mentioned a little while ago, I was dismayed to find out recently that the prenatal vitamins I have been taking for the last three years contain artificial coloring in them.

So I went to my local Natural Foods Co-Op to find a new brand. Now, before I go on, keep in mind that the Natural Foods Co-Op in my city is just about the most granola-y place you can go to buy anything. (And I say that with love and admiration for granola-y people everywhere.)

So, while perusing the prenatal vitamins aisle at this store, I quickly realized that the average price for a bottle of "natural" prenatal vitamins was about $20 for a 30 day supply, which is much, much higher than I am used to paying for my generic (albeit artificially colored) Kaiser prenatal vitamins.

Dismayed, but not beaten down, I was excited when I spied a bottle of 90 pills for just $16.95. "Deal!" I thought. It was the generic brand of pills put out by the Co-op itself. "I'm sure these are great!" I told myself.

Then I turned the bottle around to read the ingredients and found the following written at the bottom of the label:

"Warning: this product may contain substances known to the state of California to cause reproductive harm."

What. the. fuck.

I asked the clerk to tell me why in good God's name a prenatal vitamin carrying their label would carry a warning like this and he said he would check on it.

By the time I was done shopping, he still hadn't figured it out.

I plan to follow up by calling the store eventually.

In the meantime, I am just going to salute my favorite store of all times, Trader Joes, where I found my non-toxic prenatal vitamins for the very affordable price of $8.95. I can't believe I didn't check there first. Shame on me for not going to you first, TJ. It won't happen again.