(Australia-NewsWire.Com, November 15, 2013 ) Melbourne, VIC -- Children love toys. Everybody knows that. But what about tiny babies? Do they need toys as well? When should they get their first toy, and what should it be? What is considered to be safe for your little one?
These questions are being asked by all new moms, regardless what their "old school" aunts and even their own mothers advise. Lot of things have changed since we were babies, and baby toys have changed as well. This Bisphenol A Free (BPA free) Baby Teether ticks all the boxes as it's made from cornstarch.
Baby toys used to be made from natural rubber, which made sense, since rubber is soft and safe for baby to chew on. Because we all know, that the way little ones "play" is to put everything into their mouth and chew on it with their toothless gums, thus helping emerging teeth to cut through. It is sometimes a rather painful process, so babies do need to chew a lot. Rubber teething rings seemed to be the ideal thing - that is - until doctors started looking closer and saw tiny bits of brightly colored rubber being scraped off and ending up in babies mouths and their little stomachs. That didn't look good!
Worst of all were the flakes of the top layer, where colorful pigments making the bright colors were concentrated. And those pigments were often quite toxic, even if the rubber itself wasn't. Some of those rubber toys were actually only painted with a thin layer of rubberized paint, which was easily chewed off.
But in the meantime, we had innovation! We had plastic. Forget rubber! Problem solved. Not as soft as rubber, plastic was more durable, and the pigments were safely mixed into the plastic itself, so they couldn't be chewed off. Next generation of babies were happily chewing on those new plastic toys. Everyone was happy, especially toy manufacturers. Cheap plastic in bright colors was flooding the market.
But there is plastic, and there is plastic.
Hundreds, thousands of different types of chemical compounds are all called "plastic". And you guessed it - some of them are safer and more suitable for being chewed by babies then other plastics. Some are also more expensive to make, others are too soft or too hard, some even brittle. And most importantly, some are easy to cast or mold, others are difficult to get to the right shape.
The next big scare came along, when it was discovered that most baby's and children's toys (as well as the cheap food containers and millions of other things) were being made from cheap plastic containing various amounts of Bisphenol A commonly called BPA. BPA? It's good to spell out and remember this name. Bisphenol A. If it was spelled out every time, we would probably have been more careful, since phenols and their compounds are often used in disinfectants and germicides. Many phenols can be described as being outright poisonous.
But let's be careful here – it has never been proven, that BPA or any other phenol based chemicals are definitely harmful to humans to the same level as they are to germs. Big industrial manufacturers of BPA plastics claim that it is completely safe.
It's just that - with a precious new baby, you might want to be extra careful with what you will let it put into their mouth and chew on for hours on end.
This is where the new generation of baby teether (toys designed to be chewed on and salivated all over) has been developed, and is now on the market.
They are not only completely BPA free. They are not made from any petrochemical plastics, but from corn cellulose. From the same stuff you eat when you have corn-on -the-cob with your evening meal.
So they are completely safe for babies of any age, and obtainable from (BPA free) Baby Teether.
One word of advice though. Get two or more of them straight away. They have an annoying habit of getting lost, or hiding somewhere in the middle of the night, when you need them most, and your baby's little teeth are painfully trying to cut through.
About Good Karma Zone
Good Karma Zone is committed to sourcing products with 'good karma' for you, your baby and our earth. We believe less is more and even consumer products should have a low impact life cycle.