toxins

The world is changing — sometimes for the better and sometimes, for the worse. In a recent interview, Dr. Oz said that toxins should be a primary concern for new parents. From baby shampoo to house paint and the foods we pack in our children's lunch boxes, parents have the power to make the best choices for their kids. Watch this Healthy Child Healthy World video and decide if you will promote change in your household and beyond.

Most kids turn out all right! That's something Dr. Mehmet Oz says nervous new parents should be reminded of. It's important to let children live! The cardiac surgeon and author, whose latest book You: Raising Your Child (The Owner's Manual From First Breath to First Grade) ($14) is a must read, speaks from experience, as he is also a father of four! But, I recently had the chance to chat with him about hot topics from vaccines to diapering.

LilSugar: Is the threat of whooping cough a huge issue or a highly publicized issue?
Dr. Mehmet Oz: Well, I'm worried about it. These are Victorian era illnesses that we hadn't seen in a long time. My father who is 85 had siblings who died of Whooping cough — these are not rare events in the 20s and 30s. In NYC, there was a huge outbreak of adults and whooping cough, so I got vaccinated because I'm around patients a lot, and I don't want to give them something that could potentially be lethal to them if they were getting heart surgery. I think it also makes sense for children.

My wife and I were very cautious about vaccines. Lisa is very skeptical of a lot of the information that is in support of vaccines. I tend to believe it because it's my cultural background — to look at the information and tend to trust it, but there's schisms within families like mine (let alone in society). But, I do think that if you make sure your child is healthy when they get the vaccine, keep them nutritionally up-to-date, and keep them sleeping well when they get the vaccine, they will tolerate the inflammatory condition which is caused by a vaccine because there will be some inflammation around it. The majority of kids tolerate vaccines well, and for the majority of their life (if not their entire life), they are then immune from an illness that could be life-threatening. It turns out that whooping cough vaccine does not give you life-long immunity for a lot of people, which is why you have to get revaccinated. Certainly as a child, I would get vaccinated; that's not one of these new color vaccines that people moan and groan about. These are old time vaccines that have been in use before I was born (and I'm 50) with a pretty good track record.

To see Dr. Oz's comments on peanut allergies and the cloth versus disposable diaper debate, read more

Most kids turn out all right! That's something Dr. Mehmet Oz says that nervous new parents should be reminded. It's important to let children live! The cardiac surgeon and author, whose latest book You: Raising Your Child (The Owner's Manual From First Breath to First Grade) ($14) is a must read, speaks from experience, as he is also a father of four! But, I recently had the chance to chat with him about a few important issues that should be of concern.

LilSugar: How conscious should parents be of Bisphenol-A (BPA) and how nervous should we be because it's in so many things from shampoo containers to dishes to bath toys?
Dr. Oz: I'm concerned about it. It's an estrogen disruptor. The younger the child is, the more concerned I am about it. As you get older, I'd probably relax a bit on the stuff because as an adult, it isn't all that important we don't think, but why would you take a chance? So hard plastics, I'd stay away from. Those receipts — those carbon receipts at the store — those have lots of BPA in them. Pay attention to the stuff. The big overarching concept is that you vote with your pocketbook every time you buy these things so if you are willing to buy stuff that isn't carefully prepared for you than people will keep making it! There's usually a reason why they are making it with BPA — it's cheaper.

LilSugar: Would you say BPA is in the top three concerns for a parent of a new baby?
Dr. Oz: Oh, yeah. I'd put it in top three. BPA and phthalates (in the plastics) and probably the hormones and pesticides and chemicals we find in our water and food supply now. I'd probably put those in the top three.

LilSugar: What do you think is the cause behind early on-set puberty?
Dr. Oz: I think the issue with early puberty is two things — obesity and chemicals released into the food supply because of pesticides and because of hormones given to animals. Those are the things I worry about. We throw away our prescription drugs into the toilet usually — we flush them away — but, they don't disappear, they just get dissolved into water. If you look at the water around big cities, there's almost no male fish anymore because there's estrogen compounds in all that junk and fish do not declare their gender until they are already born and maturing so they morph to that and you're getting all these female fish.

Check out other portions of our interview with Dr. Oz here!

Be spooked by lil ghosts and goblins on Halloween night, not the ingredients used to create their costumes. All Hallows' Eve can be scary for a mama who reads the list of substances used to make face paint, nail polish, and hair spray. Most commercially sold products have been found to contain lead, which can impair brain development, as well as nickel, cobalt, and chromium, which can cause skin rashes and sensitization — despite advertising hypoallergenic ingredients.

While avoiding makeup all together is the best bet for keeping tots safe, here are a few other actions moms can take to keep lil ones looking like their favorite characters without exposing them to added toxins:

• Make your own Halloween makeup with all-natural ingredients. We've found recipes for realistic looking goop (wounds, warts, etc.), face paint, fake blood, and fairy glitter.
• Create your own hair spray to achieve nontoxic spikes, Mohawks, and curls.
• Polish off lil looks with nontoxic nail polishes like Hopscotch Kids, Suncoast, or Piggy Paint.
• Seek out non-Halloween organic makeup, such as Luna Organics Pixi Kit to achieve kids' desired looks.
• Trade in mama's red lipstick for a tinted beeswax balm that is safer to lil ones who tend to ingest it.

It's uncertain how risky bisphenol A (BPA) is to humans, but I figure better safe than sorry. I threw out my potentially risky water bottles and containers but now a new study from Consumer Reports says there's BPA in my canned goods, too. Metal cans are often lined with plastic that contains BPA to protect the food.

The magazine tested 19 canned food products, finding levels of BPA in each product, including cans labeled "BPA free." The biggest culprits were Progresso Vegetable Soup, Campbell's Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup, and Annie's Home Grown Organic Cheesy Ravioli. Though the FDA has said in the past that BPA is safe in food contact materials, it's now revisiting the issue to see if BPA exposure limits should be revised.

If you are concerned about the effects of BPA, try limiting or cutting out canned goods from your diet. Also, look for foods packaged in glass, paper, or freezer bags.