Children's fire retardant chemicals in sleepware

[3 ladybugs]

Does anyone have any good links for why this is bad? How wide spread it is or the like?

I found this link http://www.toxicsinfo.org/kids/toys/...tSleepwear.htm However I was wondering if there is more.

I made my son's sleepwear this year because I didn't want him around the toxins and the tight fitting clothing drives me bonkers (what adult sleeps in clothes like that??). I mentioned it on my blog and a mama wanted more information about the chemicals.

Thank you for your help!

[3 ladybugs]

Really? No one has researched this on here? I thought most of the mommys on here were extremely knowledgeable about all things environmental that could happen to the little ones. That is why I posted this here and not some other site. I thought this one would get a ton of responses. Hmm....

[littleleaf]

here's an ewg link:
http://www.ewg.org/node/27359

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/e...fcshealth.html

[isaacsmum]

Originally Posted by littleleaf here's an ewg link: http://www.ewg.org/node/27359 http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/e...fcshealth.html

Only problem with those links is that PFC's and PBDE's aren't used in kid's sleepwear. I'll agree that the presence of flame retardant molecules like PBDE in breastmilk is alarming, but a different issue altogether. OP, I think what you're interested in is probably health effects of THPC (sometime called Proban). Honestly, even though THPC is a skin irritant, I don't worry much about it in textiles because it isn't likely to be coming out of the fabric in measurable quantities given the cross-linking of the molecule in the prep process. I've never seen any evidence that they're absorbed through the skin from contact with clothing. If you want to learn about potential toxicity, then I'd suggest searching pubmed.com for THPC info. My kiddo is usually in the organic cotton, tight fitting pajamas no problem, so it isn't something I worry about.

[delphinium]

This is what I know about children's sleepwear.

Snug sleepwear does not have to have flame retardants on it. My girls love Hanna Andersson snug as a hug sleepwear. It is not too snug at all.


For some reason, polyester is naturally flame retardant. My girls each have a Carter's silky nightgown that they love! I hate polyester but they don't mind.

Some pajamas, for example those from Boden, are advertised at 100% cotton but there is a symbol called Securest. That means the cotton has been manufactured with a polymer woven into it that is flame retardant. So, they can still call it 100% cotton, for some reason, but it has a polymer in it. That weirds me out and I avoid it. I think that is just a fancy name for Proban.

Here is some more info:

Cotton clothes treated with chemical fire retardants were approved by the CPSC, but untreated cotton wasn’t, and subsequent data showed a significant decrease in sleepwear and fire related deaths and injuries among children. Maybe the question of sleepwear being flame resistant seems crazy to you because you don’t smoke or you don’t have a fireplace in your home, but there are other fire hazards to small children running around in loose pajamas that you might not foresee -- stoves, candles, house fires, bbq’s, etc. (Cotton pajamas are considered acceptable for babies under nine months by the CPSC because they don’t move around as much.) Polyester lost a lot of popularity by the 90’s, and in 1996 the CPSC amended their regulations saying that cotton was okay to sleep in if they were snug fitting and wouldn’t allow any oxygen to fan flames between the pajama and the child’s skin. Some clothing companies produce cotton flame retardant pajamas by adding something called PROBAN (from the chemical tetrakis hydromethyl phosphonium chlorida, or THPC) to the fabric or garment in the finishing stages. The flame retardant is trapped in the fiber, but the cotton still feels soft. If flame touches PROBAN treated cotton it extinguishes quickly, but there’s plenty to worry about. The THPC has been linked to genetic abnormalities and damage to the liver, skin and nervous system. It also promotes the growth of cancerous tumors. Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-...#ixzz14AErxlVY

[CherryPie]

We buy only snug fitting cotton Carter's and Hanna type PJs for this very reason. No polyester. Flame retardant stuff is very toxic and easliy absorbed into the skin, and non-FR is super dangerous. I've seen polyester clothing catch on fire even standing quite a bit aways from a candle (another dangerous thing I don't allow in my home) just b/c of it being sooo flammable. The whole thing poofed into flames in a split second.

[mcpforever]

I'm going to show my complete ignorance here, but I've never understood why sleepwear should be flame retardant any more than anything else we put on our kids.

And I'm with you on the super tight stuff. I learned early on that DS1 hated getting stuffed into it and I couldn't stand snuggling up to him (cosleeping) when he was wearing polyester or treated "cotton." My mother made him a bunch of much better fitting pjs out of cotton broadcloth and cotton flannel. Now his younger siblings wear them.

[lookatreestar]

we either do organic pjs (hanna, from costco) but honestly we are an undies/diaper family

[3 ladybugs]

Thanks mamas!

I am now wondering what I should do with the one piece of clothing from my childhood I still have. I was born in 1976 and I have a sleeper that I wore as a newborn. I thought it was cool but since I have learned things from this search I wonder if it would be best that I keep that away from all future children.

The fabric that I made everything out of isn't organic. That seems very hard to find. I will wash it well though before I let DS wear the ones that he hasn't worn already though. I am not sure if straight fabric has sizing in it or not.