Most moms are surprised to learn that so many baby products are treated with toxic flame retardants. Items like strollers, nursing pillows, bouncers, and infant carriers can be coated with the chemicals which are known toxins. We know of the dangers of these chemicals here at Organic Baby University and try to teach moms how to avoid them…particularly when they are in products where they have NO benefit! Why would a nursing pillow need fire retardant? And a nursing baby will spend hours and hours on these pillows. Some days and weeks worth of hours when they are used as positioners and seating aids. So we contacted all the major companies to find out whether they use these chemicals. Here are the results. Keep in mind that smaller companies that are not listed may use these chemicals. Also, the safest materials for baby are organic cotton and wool. We have included some links to pillows we have found that are free of all chemicals including pesticides and petroleum products. Education is key in protecting your children from harmful chemicals! And your purchase is your vote to the companies about what you will accept!

We have highlighted the company name in our color code according to our view of the safety of chemical choices the company has made or the information they have provided.

• Green is for companies that have answered all of our questions and do not use harmful chemicals.
• Orange is for companies that may have given us partial answers or use no flame retardants but do use PVC for example. We will change these colors as we receive more information from the company.
• Red is used for companies that use chemicals that we believe are harmful to children.

Nursing Pillows

Boppy

Thank you for your email regarding our Boppy products.  We do not use chemicals or flame retardands on any of our products including our Boppy Pillows and Slipcovers.  We select only the highest quality materials that meet regulations and guidelines naturally instead of using additives to our products.

Bacati

We use 100% cotton percale fabrics and do not use any chemicals on them for any treatments. Cotton fibers are known to be non-allergic to Babies skin and the covers are removable and washable and also available separately if you need extra for inbetween the washes. Cotton percale fabrics get softer with every wash so the fabric feel getter better as you wash more. Very easy to care for parents who are busy after child’s birth.

My Breast Friend

We have not used fire retardants for some years, nor do we treat our products with any sort of stain, water resistant or antibacterial chemicals. We follow the highest level of safety, health concerns and government regulations. We stopped using fire retardants with our foam some years ago. We test all of our foam and products using Intertek laboratories, considered to be one of the leading independent testing laboratories in the world.  All of our tests have passed the legal and strictest safety regulations.  We continue to test all residuals for safety, and the results show that they are either nonexistent or at a level that is considered to be “non-detectable” by the laboratory, and therefore considered safest.

Leachco

No to the use of chemicals of any kind.

Dream Genii

In general we do not use chemicals on our pillows as we have no need to and all of our products are tested to international quality standards. Could I ask please ask you to be a little more specific about the particular chemicals or flame retardants you are referring too or for any further background on your enquiry so that we can supply you with further information?

UPDATE:

We do not treat our products to make them fire retardant and so we do, as most clothing manufacturers do, clearly advise on care labels to Keep the Products Away from Fire & Flames. Our products are also tested to BS EN71 Part 3 which is a Pan European standard for Toys which looks to detect the presence of any Toxic elements and Formaldehyde in the products.  All of our products pass with no detectable elements of these items such as Arsenic, Mercury or Lead. We also sign a declaration for our customers that say we comply with directives such as Azo colourants, Cadmium, Nickel, Phthalates, Formaldehyde, Bisphenol, etc.

Luna Lullaby

No we do not use any chemicals in our nursing pillows for fire retardants, stain proofing, or water repellents. We feel that any of these could be unhealthy for the baby, so we are strongly against them.

Balboa Baby

No, we do not use a flame retardant on our Nursing Pillows.  As well we do not use stain or water resistant chemicals on our fabrics.  We test all of our products at an accredited 3rd party laborator

Summary

We were pleasantly surprised that this particular market of baby products seems to have recently gotten the feedback that moms do not want these chemicals in their nursing pillows. So none of these main brands use flame retardants. If you want to also avoid the toxic pesticides in cotton and avoid petroleum products then we have suggestions below.

OBU FAVORITE NURSING PILLOWS! NO CHEMICALS! NO PETROLEUM PRODUCTS!

Holy Lamb Organics Nursing Pillows

To learn more about the dangerous chemicals in nursing pillows you can watch our videos on polyeurythane foams (they are on furniture and toys but the facts are the same)

Furniture Video

Toys/ Polyurethane Foams Video

FOR THE FULL SCIENTIFIC REPORT ON TOXIC FLAME RETARDANTS FOUND IN CHILDREN’S PRODUCTS CLICK HERE

Or you can click the links below

MARTIN, ANDREW. “Chemical Suspected as Carcinogen Is in Baby Products – NYTimes.com.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 July 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/business/18chemical.html>.

“Potentially Toxic Flame Retardants Found in Baby Products – US News and World Report.” Health News Articles – US News Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 July 2011. <http://health.usnews.com/health-news/managing-your-healthcare/environment/articles/2011/05/18/potentially-toxic-flame-retardants-found-in-baby-products>.

“Toxic flame retardants found in many foam baby products.”UC Berkeley NewsCenter: News from the University of California, Berkeley. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 July 2011. <http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/05/18/toxic-flame-retardants-found-in-many-foam-baby-products/>.

YOU CAN ALSO VISIT OUR OTHER BLOGS IN THIS SERIES:

TOXIC FLAME RETARDANTS IN CHILDREN’S TOYS: INTRODUCTION

TOXIC FLAME RETARDANTS IN CHILDREN’S TOYS: PLUSH TOYS

TOXIC FLAME RETARDANTS IN CHILDREN”S PRODUCTS: STROLLERS

DISCLAIMER:

All the information is not guaranteed, rather it was received directly from the companies via email unless otherwise noted. All emails have been saved and documented by OBU. A green rating does not guarantee that there are no chemicals in the strollers. Only free of the chemicals that we inquired about according to their company. Your purchase is your vote! If you want safer products for our children, tell the companies you will only support companies that sell safer products!