I’m a new mom who’s had to make some basic parenting choices for my daughter Song Ji. I breast feed. Luckily she picked it up right at birth. But I have used baby bottles too. A recent study found plastic baby bottles leach bisphenol A, a developmental, neural, reproductive toxicant linked to exposure to cancers, impaired immune function, early onset of puberty, obesity, diabetes, and hyperactivity, to name a few. The caution list continues. Petroleum products in her bath rinse; I can't pronounce half the ingredients that are in her diaper rash cream. The teething toy she sucks on has orange plastic filled with liquid. Some manufacturers have removed PVC from their products, especially those intended to be put into children’s mouths. But no law requires or regulates these products and few are labeled. Welcome to the world of My Toxic Baby, a documentary about my search as a new mom for safe, sane and affordable ways to raise my child in a world embedded with toxic threats.
My Toxic Baby isn’t a cautionary tale telling you the ‘do’s and ‘don’ts’ of healthy parenting. Parents and mothers especially have enough to worry about without yet another voice making them feel inadequate. This is a personal essay that aims to broaden the options that are made available to parents in the context of the chemical world we live in today.
