Childhood revisited

Some days, I’m surprised I survived infancy. My crib had slats wide enough to pass a Coke can through, I slept on my stomach, never EVER used a carseat (or even a seatbelt!), and when I was a whopping three days old, the hospital sent me home wearing a bracelet with a lead bead.

Now that I have my own children, I am a safety fanatic. I try to follow all the carseat, nutrition, and sleeping recommendations. When The Girl was born, I only ever used Avent bottles because the lactation consultants recommended them. The Boy is three months old now, and I’d stocked up on Avent bottles, soothers, pump, and sterilizer soon after he was born.

And suddenly they’re not “safe.” I’m panicked, really. Have I really, truly been poisoning my children? Every time I’ve cleaned and sterilized those little plastic bottles and nipples, miniscule amounts of Bisphenol A have been seeping into their little bodies. At first I thought what was good for The Girl must be good for The Boy as well, but I finally broke down today and returned all 19 bottles and the sterilizer. I suppose $7.99 per bottle is restitution enough should they develop cancer or tumours or poor math skills because of all the chemicals.

It makes me think of other things though. What else isn’t “safe” in their little lives? Lead paint in toys. Deet in bugspray. Even nightlights apparently cause cancer now. We may wake up tomorrow and learn that laundry soap causes Alzheimers. Or that the white dye in diapers causes prostate cancer. Who’s to know?  There must be a middle ground between paranoia and denial, usually referred to as common sense, which sometimes is not as common as it should be. So for now, we’ll use the new plastic bottles. And skip the nightlights. And tighten those seatbelts just a little more snugly.