Since I started the research on plastics with the baby play mats, I decided to go a little further and dive into the topic of BPA. In Korea, I think generally the term 환경호르몬 refers to BPA but technically, it is actually a very general term that can refer to phthalates or any other harmful chemicals as well. BPA stands for Biphenol A and it is usually used for hardening plastics. So those unbreakable, shatterproof extra hard core mountaineering water bottles? Yep, those types of things. But since BPA-free has come into the spotlight in the recent years, there have been alternatives to BPA in hardening plastic. After all, all that negative media coverage on BPA and the inability to slap on a gigantic "BPA-free" image on product packaging will affect the bottom line.
BPA is also found in epoxy resins. Simply put: the plastic lining in canned foods. It can also be in your dental work, thermal paper (like your receipts), some plastic bags, and a host of other things you never knew about. Ahh! I swear, we just all need to go live in a plastic...no, a glass bubble.
So why is BPA bad?
BPA mimics certain hormones in the body, which can be disasterous for those who don't have hormones raging just yet: our babies. The FDA is okay with having a very low level of BPA in products, but still, low levels just isn't acceptable when it comes to our flesh and blood, now is it?
So how do you avoid BPA? You really can't avoid BPA entirely, but you can still try to cut a lot of it out of your lives. The first thing would be plastics. This website, 3 Simple Ways to Tell BPA free, sums it up pretty well. (1) Polycarbonate is not BPA-free (2) How to tell if something is made of polycarbonate (3) Don't count on the plastic classification numbers. Go visit the website.
The second thing would be to avoid buying canned items in order to avoid the plastic lining.
The third would be go with alternatives to plastics. Mayo Clinic
One thing that really ticks me off sometimes is when companies label their products BPA-free when that product would not normally contain BPA anyways but they slap it on their packaging so that it would sell better. It would be like saying a watermelon is BPA-free. Well, duh! Watermelon is not plastic. For example, if you walk into the zipper bag aisle in Korea, one of the Korean brands has "BPA-free" on their box. Which got me thinking, omg, have I been putting all of Luna's foods in BPA laced zipper bags all this time?!? While some plastic bags do contain BPA, Ziploc brand zipper bags do not have BPA and I don't think zipper bags generally use BPA so it's not something to worry too much about. I was really irritated by that stupid Korean company because that little box of bags probably caused another few gray hairs. ugh. unnecessary stress!
Anyways, these are the websites I found pretty helpful in learning about BPA, so check them out:
http://shine.yahoo.com/green/3-simple-ways-to-tell-if-plastic-drinkware-dishes-and-reusable-bottles-are-bpa-free-1561327.html
http://nutrition.about.com/od/ahealthykitchen/tp/bpa-free.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bpa/AN01955
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/221205.php
http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/718/1/
The last website talks about how BPA-free doesn't guarantee plastic safety. I think it is worth reading and getting to know more about the technical/scientific aspect of the health issue.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Friday, August 9, 2013
Baby Play Mats
I've been meaning to write about the baby play mats for a while but I kept forgetting about it whenever I sat down in front of the computer. We bought ours a couple months ago after visiting the play mat aisle at Homeplus every week for a month and also looking at different retailers to see if they offer other types of play mats, we bought the biggest (i think 140 x 250 cm) and thickest (1.5 cm) PVC mat online at about 90,000 won.
In Korea, Parklon is the main manufacturer of the play mats. Yes, at Costco and Toys R Us, you will see Fisher Price play mats but if you look at the mat itself, Parklon is still embossed onto the Fisher Price mats. When it comes to baby play mats, it either is made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or PE (polyethylene). I know PVC has a really bad rap with it containing carcinogens, but apparently PVC can be safe. What makes PVC dangerous is the phthalates (I kind of like saying that word. It reminds me of Daffy Duck sputtering his spit everywhere :) and the other different metals that can be used in manufacturing PVC. It's like nearly impossible to avoid PVC altogether but there are alternatives (click here for those alternatives), and thankfully, the mats made by Parklon has been certified to show that there are very little to no phthalates or other harmful metals in their mats. For their certificate, click here.
The play mats made out of PE are actually cheaper than the PVC, but there are some tradeoffs. While PE is "safer" in terms of plastics, it isn't as dense as the PVC to protect your little baby's head from impact. Squeeze PE and PVC and you can tell the difference right away. PVC feels more like a memory foam, while PE feels like a packaging sponge. We were thinking that it might be cheaper to just buy two of the PE mats and lay it on top of each other but I was afraid that it might be a problem when Luna starts to run around and the mat might slip...like you know how rugs can be super dangerous when you don't put down a grip under the rug? Also, with two mats on top of each other, it would be like 3 cm tall and I didn't know how much I would like that. I already have problems with tripping over Luna's toys; I don't need another thing to be tripping over.
I think the other alternative to the mats would be the puzzle mats which I think are made of EVA or ethyl vinyl acetate. There seems to be some past issues with the use of EVA but there isn't anymore? Something like that. I don't know too much about EVA because I wasn't looking for puzzle mats. I felt like puzzle mats would pose more as a choking hazard when my Luna decides to bit a piece of it off so I didn't even consider the puzzles. Besides, if Luna figures out how to pull apart the puzzles, that would turn into a nuisance too. But you can read about EVA on these websites
http://toxicfoammats.com/
http://www.healthybuilding.net/pvc/SortingOutVinyls.html
http://healthychild.org/easy-steps/find-safe-foam-mats-for-toddlers-to-play-on/
So much to read, huh? I tried to sum it all up for you here but you might want to do some of your own reading too.
Here are additional reads:
http://www.parklon.co.kr/parklon_eng/matstory/sub_matstory02.html
http://www.parklon.co.kr/parklon_eng/products/sub_products.html#2
http://www.parklon.co.kr/parklon_eng/service/sub_service03.html
http://www.motherearthnews.com/green-homes/the-vinyl-debate.aspx#axzz2bLoQE5eL
If you're not gonna read any of them, at least read this one: http://www.green-4-u.com/2009/02/02/why-plastic-is-bad/
My one last concern for the mats is this: during the winter, Koreans turn on the under floor heaters which I do love but I hadn't thought about how the heat would affect the play mat. The FAQ on the Parklon website says to avoid direct sunlight/heat and that it should be fine in room temperature but nothing about heated floors. It does say not to clean with a steam cleaner too. I also read the FAQ in Korean too just because their English was a bit funky. I'm thinking that I will probably lay out a rug under the play mat in the winter to avoid overheating the mat and possibly melting the print onto the floor permanently.
I hope this helps you in choosing your floor mats and good luck! (As always, you should know that whether you are in Korea or the U.S., it is generally cheaper to buy online)
In Korea, Parklon is the main manufacturer of the play mats. Yes, at Costco and Toys R Us, you will see Fisher Price play mats but if you look at the mat itself, Parklon is still embossed onto the Fisher Price mats. When it comes to baby play mats, it either is made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or PE (polyethylene). I know PVC has a really bad rap with it containing carcinogens, but apparently PVC can be safe. What makes PVC dangerous is the phthalates (I kind of like saying that word. It reminds me of Daffy Duck sputtering his spit everywhere :) and the other different metals that can be used in manufacturing PVC. It's like nearly impossible to avoid PVC altogether but there are alternatives (click here for those alternatives), and thankfully, the mats made by Parklon has been certified to show that there are very little to no phthalates or other harmful metals in their mats. For their certificate, click here.
The play mats made out of PE are actually cheaper than the PVC, but there are some tradeoffs. While PE is "safer" in terms of plastics, it isn't as dense as the PVC to protect your little baby's head from impact. Squeeze PE and PVC and you can tell the difference right away. PVC feels more like a memory foam, while PE feels like a packaging sponge. We were thinking that it might be cheaper to just buy two of the PE mats and lay it on top of each other but I was afraid that it might be a problem when Luna starts to run around and the mat might slip...like you know how rugs can be super dangerous when you don't put down a grip under the rug? Also, with two mats on top of each other, it would be like 3 cm tall and I didn't know how much I would like that. I already have problems with tripping over Luna's toys; I don't need another thing to be tripping over.
I think the other alternative to the mats would be the puzzle mats which I think are made of EVA or ethyl vinyl acetate. There seems to be some past issues with the use of EVA but there isn't anymore? Something like that. I don't know too much about EVA because I wasn't looking for puzzle mats. I felt like puzzle mats would pose more as a choking hazard when my Luna decides to bit a piece of it off so I didn't even consider the puzzles. Besides, if Luna figures out how to pull apart the puzzles, that would turn into a nuisance too. But you can read about EVA on these websites
http://toxicfoammats.com/
http://www.healthybuilding.net/pvc/SortingOutVinyls.html
http://healthychild.org/easy-steps/find-safe-foam-mats-for-toddlers-to-play-on/
So much to read, huh? I tried to sum it all up for you here but you might want to do some of your own reading too.
Here are additional reads:
http://www.parklon.co.kr/parklon_eng/matstory/sub_matstory02.html
http://www.parklon.co.kr/parklon_eng/products/sub_products.html#2
http://www.parklon.co.kr/parklon_eng/service/sub_service03.html
http://www.motherearthnews.com/green-homes/the-vinyl-debate.aspx#axzz2bLoQE5eL
If you're not gonna read any of them, at least read this one: http://www.green-4-u.com/2009/02/02/why-plastic-is-bad/
My one last concern for the mats is this: during the winter, Koreans turn on the under floor heaters which I do love but I hadn't thought about how the heat would affect the play mat. The FAQ on the Parklon website says to avoid direct sunlight/heat and that it should be fine in room temperature but nothing about heated floors. It does say not to clean with a steam cleaner too. I also read the FAQ in Korean too just because their English was a bit funky. I'm thinking that I will probably lay out a rug under the play mat in the winter to avoid overheating the mat and possibly melting the print onto the floor permanently.
I hope this helps you in choosing your floor mats and good luck! (As always, you should know that whether you are in Korea or the U.S., it is generally cheaper to buy online)
This is when we first got our mat so the ends were curled a little bit.
It was really cute how Luna would try to "grab" the bird printed on the mat. She doesn't do that anymore....
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
9 Months Old and Things We Learned at Busan
There are a couple of things that I learned from the holiday to Busan.
1. Luna is afraid of dogs.
2. Luna is even more afraid of barking dogs.
3. Luna is terrified of barking dogs that come running to her even if she is held 4 feet off the ground and the dog can't reach her.
4. Luna is afraid of anything that makes a loud noise and comes at a fast speed towards her. For example, waves crashing on the beach. Luna would flinch and grab even harder at my skin when the waves would crash. Then again, maybe it was because she was so traumatized by the dogs the night before? But she got used to the waves. (Did I already write about this last time?)
Aside from Luna being afraid of dogs and waves crashing, there were other things I learned.
The first is that a jogger is immensely useful. When we drove down to Busan, we packed the car with all of Luna's stuff. I packed like 2 shirts, shorts, and a couple other things for myself. For Luna, I packed like half of her summer wardrode, an entire pack of diapers, her entire stash of food, her first aid kit, booster seat, jogger, and of course the carseat that was already in there. Needless to say, we didn't use most of the diapers because I usually let her roam around free because of the humidity, wore like 2 of her outfits because we were at the beach, and threw away some of her food because it just wasn't necessary and I didn't want to carry it back home after it's already been refrozen. As expected though, the booster came in handy because Korean restaurants don't usually have highchairs, let alone boosters, and her jogger was a life saver at the beach!
We have a Baby Trend Expedition ELX travel system (jogger plus infant carseat combo), the old version. This jogger is quite horrible because the front wheel wobbles. A simple search of reviews on this jogger will let you know right away that this jogger wobbles when you reach a certain speed but I'm not the one who tested it out before buying it so I guess I can't complain. However, if it isn't used for jogging, it's actually quite great. Korea's uneven pavement and no-sidewalk kind of streets are horrible for those strollers with the dinky plastic wheels but this jogger's 12 inch front and 16 inch rear tire wheels are wonderful for rolling over pretty much anything. At the beach, we actually rolled the jogger on the sand to our parasol (and I REALLY wish we had more pictures of this) and it didn't sink in like a car stuck in mud. With the wheels being so big, I also didn't have to worry about sand getting in the bearings, though I don't even know if there are bearings on these wheels. With all the overpacking I do, this jogger let me take all of my unnecessary stuff with me to the beach with Luna still strapped in. I love it. I also had the opportunity to take this jogger hiking several months back. Now, when I say hiking, I am not talking about a 10 degree incline. There were parts of that mountain where it was like a 30 degree incline with a rock laden trail. We went up and down the trail for a total of an hour and a half and if it hadn't been for the jogger, I might have not made it down the mountain! The doubts that I had about having a jogger in Korea all dissipated for sure last week when we wheeled that baby out on the sand. This jogger might not see as much use on a normal basis because of the wobbly wheel, but when we go on our adventures, it is truly a life saver. I guess when I do start running in the fall, I will just have to learn to turn the jogger on a fixed wheel. I am sure that is going to be a circus act until I get the hang of it or run on the Han River where the trail never turns.
One of the things we purchased for this trip was an inner tube for Luna. Like I have expressed before, I really wish we took more pictures while we were there, or at least before we deflated the tube when we got home. We purchased this at Toys R Us in Jamsil for 23,900 won because we didn't want to buy the infant one for 32,000 and not be able to use it after this summer. I can't say whether this tube was good or not because it was just too big for Luna. The box says that it is for 36 months and up so it is completely my fault for not getting much use out of it at the beach. When you sit Luna in it, there is about 5 inches of space between her and the tube in front of her so I have to actually hold her in the tube. sigh. Luna is totally not used to feeling weightless so she was freaking out in the tube and she had nothing to grab onto so I think that stressed her out even more. The rolling "waves" didn't really help either. The waves were too strong at Haeundae so we tested this out at Geojedo but I think we were in the water for a grand total of 5 minutes before we decided that the beach was too dirty and Luna didn't like the tube. We are going to test this out again soon so I'll put it up when we do.
1. Luna is afraid of dogs.
2. Luna is even more afraid of barking dogs.
3. Luna is terrified of barking dogs that come running to her even if she is held 4 feet off the ground and the dog can't reach her.
4. Luna is afraid of anything that makes a loud noise and comes at a fast speed towards her. For example, waves crashing on the beach. Luna would flinch and grab even harder at my skin when the waves would crash. Then again, maybe it was because she was so traumatized by the dogs the night before? But she got used to the waves. (Did I already write about this last time?)
Aside from Luna being afraid of dogs and waves crashing, there were other things I learned.
The first is that a jogger is immensely useful. When we drove down to Busan, we packed the car with all of Luna's stuff. I packed like 2 shirts, shorts, and a couple other things for myself. For Luna, I packed like half of her summer wardrode, an entire pack of diapers, her entire stash of food, her first aid kit, booster seat, jogger, and of course the carseat that was already in there. Needless to say, we didn't use most of the diapers because I usually let her roam around free because of the humidity, wore like 2 of her outfits because we were at the beach, and threw away some of her food because it just wasn't necessary and I didn't want to carry it back home after it's already been refrozen. As expected though, the booster came in handy because Korean restaurants don't usually have highchairs, let alone boosters, and her jogger was a life saver at the beach!
We have a Baby Trend Expedition ELX travel system (jogger plus infant carseat combo), the old version. This jogger is quite horrible because the front wheel wobbles. A simple search of reviews on this jogger will let you know right away that this jogger wobbles when you reach a certain speed but I'm not the one who tested it out before buying it so I guess I can't complain. However, if it isn't used for jogging, it's actually quite great. Korea's uneven pavement and no-sidewalk kind of streets are horrible for those strollers with the dinky plastic wheels but this jogger's 12 inch front and 16 inch rear tire wheels are wonderful for rolling over pretty much anything. At the beach, we actually rolled the jogger on the sand to our parasol (and I REALLY wish we had more pictures of this) and it didn't sink in like a car stuck in mud. With the wheels being so big, I also didn't have to worry about sand getting in the bearings, though I don't even know if there are bearings on these wheels. With all the overpacking I do, this jogger let me take all of my unnecessary stuff with me to the beach with Luna still strapped in. I love it. I also had the opportunity to take this jogger hiking several months back. Now, when I say hiking, I am not talking about a 10 degree incline. There were parts of that mountain where it was like a 30 degree incline with a rock laden trail. We went up and down the trail for a total of an hour and a half and if it hadn't been for the jogger, I might have not made it down the mountain! The doubts that I had about having a jogger in Korea all dissipated for sure last week when we wheeled that baby out on the sand. This jogger might not see as much use on a normal basis because of the wobbly wheel, but when we go on our adventures, it is truly a life saver. I guess when I do start running in the fall, I will just have to learn to turn the jogger on a fixed wheel. I am sure that is going to be a circus act until I get the hang of it or run on the Han River where the trail never turns.
Hiking/strolling with the ladies at Namhansanseong
One of the things we purchased for this trip was an inner tube for Luna. Like I have expressed before, I really wish we took more pictures while we were there, or at least before we deflated the tube when we got home. We purchased this at Toys R Us in Jamsil for 23,900 won because we didn't want to buy the infant one for 32,000 and not be able to use it after this summer. I can't say whether this tube was good or not because it was just too big for Luna. The box says that it is for 36 months and up so it is completely my fault for not getting much use out of it at the beach. When you sit Luna in it, there is about 5 inches of space between her and the tube in front of her so I have to actually hold her in the tube. sigh. Luna is totally not used to feeling weightless so she was freaking out in the tube and she had nothing to grab onto so I think that stressed her out even more. The rolling "waves" didn't really help either. The waves were too strong at Haeundae so we tested this out at Geojedo but I think we were in the water for a grand total of 5 minutes before we decided that the beach was too dirty and Luna didn't like the tube. We are going to test this out again soon so I'll put it up when we do.
Annnndddd finally, we get to Luna's pictures! You get to see all the pictures I took of her today because none of them really came out well because she moves around too much and she wouldn't let go of that cup. Happy nine months to my precious baby!
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Holiday in Busan
We went on our summer holiday this past week to Busan and it was fun, a bit crazy, and tiring. The good thing is that we got to stay at my aunt's place so that meant that we spent no money on food and lodging while we were there. yay!
I don't know what's up with this area but the beach right in front of us was really empty but the beach area in front of the blue parasols (which were to the right of us when facing the beach) were packed with people. Being that we were there at noon, there were less people out there in general but even still the difference between the red parasol (our LTE Warp parasol) and blue parasol (Nivea parasol) areas was quite stark. Maybe the waves were a little stronger where we were? Husband pretty much slept the entire three hours we were there. Luna slept a good chunk of time too, so I got to play in the beach, by myself of course, but I really didn't care. I got my itch to go to the beach scratched so I'm happy.
I ventured out in my one piece suit and looking at the picture, my tummy flap doesn't look all that bad but I guess I owe it to the fact that this suit is a tummy-control suit. :) Don't you love my face?! While we are on the topic of physical appearances, I was really really impressed by the fact that there were women out in bikinis without cover ups having fun and playing on the beach when I know Korean society would judge them for having "less-than-perfect" bodies. Kudos to them!
Aaannnnd the following is the ONE FAMILY PICTURE we took the entire time we were there, before Husband and Luna conked out. Isn't this picture horrible?! OMG. But what am I to do? It's the only picture we have of the three of us from that day. Looking at all the pictures now, they're all pretty bad in terms of quality, except for Luna's picture. sigh. Busan is pretty hot and the sun is really strong there. I guess all the smog in Seoul shield us from the sun's harmful rays. haha anyways. remember the sunblock! And if you use the non-sweatproof one, you will end up looking like Husband here with the sunblock all coming off with the sweat. With Luna, we used Baby Aveeno and it was pretty good. Of course, Luna had on a long sleeve shirt and a hat with my big head also shielding her from the sun when we actually went into the beach. sigh. I really wish we had a picture of the beach.
And then we went a little more down the road where this windmill was, looking over the ocean. Of course, getting there and getting out of there also took quite a bit of time because of the one lane road and gazillion tourists like ourselves.
We left home around 11:30 am, got to Yeoju Premium Outlet and spent about an hour and half there (and finally got myself a purse), and left for Busan from there at 3 pm. It rained cats and dogs for pretty much the whole ride there and we were super worried that we would be dealing with such horrible rain for the entire stay there, but as the Koreans say, like a lie, the rain stopped right as we got into the city. My aunt didn't believe me when I said over the phone that it was raining and I wouldn't have believed myself if I hadn't just driven through it! Anyways, by the time we got into Haeundae, it was 8:30 pm. It took us five and a half freakin hours to get there because of the rain. ugh. So Tuesday was a complete bust in terms of seeing Haeundae in Busan.
At dinner, she sat quietly eating her snacks and sticking them on her face unintentionally.
The next day, we got up, had breakfast with my aunt and uncle and slowly headed out to the beach. I really wish we took more pictures but when traveling, picture-taking doesn't seem to be my thing. I guess I tend to enjoy more of the moment than to remember to take the picture. Anyways, we rented a parasol on the beach. We were a little bit left of the Novotel Hotel when facing the ocean. The rental fees were actually quite cheap and a little unbelieveable. It's 5,500 won when paying with card and 7,000 won when paying in cash. I know. Strange, right? I actually asked the guy twice and then straight up said, "It's cheaper when paying with card?!" haha The prices are the same at all parasol rental places.
With the morning light and humidity, this is how the picture came out!
My little baby in her first swimsuit :) hand-me-down
Bright high noon
I don't know what's up with this area but the beach right in front of us was really empty but the beach area in front of the blue parasols (which were to the right of us when facing the beach) were packed with people. Being that we were there at noon, there were less people out there in general but even still the difference between the red parasol (our LTE Warp parasol) and blue parasol (Nivea parasol) areas was quite stark. Maybe the waves were a little stronger where we were? Husband pretty much slept the entire three hours we were there. Luna slept a good chunk of time too, so I got to play in the beach, by myself of course, but I really didn't care. I got my itch to go to the beach scratched so I'm happy.
Aaannnnd the following is the ONE FAMILY PICTURE we took the entire time we were there, before Husband and Luna conked out. Isn't this picture horrible?! OMG. But what am I to do? It's the only picture we have of the three of us from that day. Looking at all the pictures now, they're all pretty bad in terms of quality, except for Luna's picture. sigh. Busan is pretty hot and the sun is really strong there. I guess all the smog in Seoul shield us from the sun's harmful rays. haha anyways. remember the sunblock! And if you use the non-sweatproof one, you will end up looking like Husband here with the sunblock all coming off with the sweat. With Luna, we used Baby Aveeno and it was pretty good. Of course, Luna had on a long sleeve shirt and a hat with my big head also shielding her from the sun when we actually went into the beach. sigh. I really wish we had a picture of the beach.
The next day, we said our goodbyes to the aunt and uncle and headed towards Geojedo. As pretty as it was, I don't think it was really worth the hours of driving to get to the place we were trying to get to. Everything was great until we got to 3 miles away from our destination. Driving those 3 miles took us an hour. That's how heavy traffic was on the one lane road and at the destination. It was some pebble beach and I think this might be the only picture that we have from there... (we are such horrible picture takers :)
And then we went a little more down the road where this windmill was, looking over the ocean. Of course, getting there and getting out of there also took quite a bit of time because of the one lane road and gazillion tourists like ourselves.
By the time we left Geojedo, it was 8:30 pm. We finally got home at around 2 am. It was a long and uncomfortable ride because I was sleeping uncomfortably in the car, but it was a long and tiring trip for Husband from beginning to end because he drove the entire time. I have no right to complain but I did. Sorry Husband and thank you. In conclusion, I have decided that when traveling with a baby, we have to go somewhere not too far and plan to stay at only one location. Also, plan to travel during off-season because traffic is not cool and super no fun when with child.
This is the last picture. I swear. It's Luna and her Great Uncle taking a selfie. Look at those twos' eyes. hahahahaha
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