Alexandra Zissu

Click here to see this feature displayed with photos of each shoe.

I've been so caught up with unhealthy toys and baby food and formula lately, I've been neglecting my (e)mailbag. If you've written me lately, I promise to answer your question shortly. Here's one:

I read what you wrote about what Crocs are made of. I get tempted by cheap things at Target and stores like that because the kids grow out of everything so quickly, but I don't know what they're made of either. Are there green shoes for kids out there? Will they break the bank?

-Anne, mom of two

Anne, I hear you. My weakness has been the Payless website from time to time, especially when our fabulous and endless supply of hand-me-downs comes up short, or the used shoes in her current size aren't exactly gently used. I'm all for secondhand gear - what could be greener? - but I don't like putting my kid in really dinged up kicks. I especially draw the line at holes! I wouldn't wear them myself. Still, I resist the urge to go as cheap as possible and vote with my dollars by buying from companies that appear to be walking the sustainable walk.

First up, have you seen Simple Shoes? They even have those adorable soft slippers for early walkers that everyone else makes in leather. ...

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With the melamine in Chinese baby formula scandal (hopefully) behind us, I've been wondering what else might be in baby formula that could pop up as a scary scandal -- or at least given a closer look -- in 2009. Here are five thoughts:

1. Bisphenol-A

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Sometimes I get really mundane sounding emails from parents paralyzed by the overwhelming amount of unregulated, potentially toxic chemicals in our everyday consumer products. Last week someone even emailed to ask how to wash their hands! But I get why they asked (they really were trying to find out what soaps are good to use and what I do when I'm not near soap and water). I'm always happy to respond.

Similarly, a few weeks ago, a reader asked me how to polish shoes. This one made me smile, as I had just gone to my parents' apartment to shine my own. Since I began my green-formation, I have used up, recycled, or managed to throw out/give away all products from my former life that contain all sorts of undesirables. Shoe polish fits that bill - it can contain "such toxic ingredients as trichloroethylene, trichloroethane, methylene chloride, ethanol, perchloroethyleme xylene, and nitrobenzene," according to Debra Lynn Dadd, author of Home Safe Home. Since giving the stuff up, I haven't yet found a good replacement, nor have I really needed to. Still, I had somewhere to go and wanted to appear shinier than scuffed.

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Since my last post about "green" toys getting bad ratings on HealthyToys.org, the project of
The Ecology Center, a Michigan based nonprofit, I've been in a funk. It's not enough for me - as a journalist or as a mom -- to just report that organic toys are possibly as unsafe as their conventional counterparts, then wish you (and me) happy holidays and move on. I'm not ok shopping as if playing Russian roulette - Oh I think my kid will like this, hopefully it's in the 70 percent of the toys from such and such company that tested low hazard. No thanks. And I don't like the idea of leaving readers in a similar gray zone.

Warning: this is going to be a long post. Bear with me, the topic is both too confusing and too important not to explore at length. And I don't feel I've cracked it yet.

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I lost my toy tossing virginity last week. And I'm not happy about it.

Last year, I talked many parents through their anger, frustration, and anxiety as lead-tainted toy after lead-tainted toy was recalled. I calmly explained the issues regarding BPA and steered freaked out families towards safer bottles (and canned goods) as the stories about this hormone disrupting chemical popped up in just about every publication from parenting magazines to local newspapers.

But throughout all of this advice giving, I remained personally untouched. The extremely well-researched (fine -- over-researched) toys in my own house weren't being recalled. They're the tried and true green things -- not so-called natural toys.

Sure, sometimes I wish my kid could have every shiny plastic doll she develops a "thing" for, but I'm not risking it. Especially not when she's this young. In fact, since my daughter was born, we've never purchased a plastic toy (a few plastic gifts have been grandfathered into an only-in-the-car bin). I don't say this to sound smug. I just honestly practice what I preach. It's a pain in the ass but it makes me feel safe(r).

Ha.

A site to which I often steer parents in the market for toys -- HealthyToys.org -- releases its latest results today, December 3rd, in time for holiday shopping. And to my shock and horror and disgust, more than a few toys we own apparently contain lead, arsenic, chlorine (which indicates something is PVC when it claims not to be) and other undesirables. Did I mention how angry I am? ...

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Friends and family like to query The Organic Mom. Often. And good thing - their questions often spur me to find out tips and resources I'm glad to have at my fingertips for other families and myself.

For example, this question from a good friend/mom of two popped up in my inbox over the weekend:

We are in the market for some blackout shades (or just good, effective ones) for the children's room. I remember the ones I ordered in L.A. off-gassed so noxiously we had to send them back. Any recs? Xo

I set about poking around online and calling all of my go-to sources (including my co-author Deirdre, who made her own curtains out of dark velvet flannel with cotton lining). I remember the frantic emails from this friend about said stinky shades a few years ago when her older child was an infant. She - well meaning - bought blackout curtains to help her daughter sleep and wound up with some seriously smelly fumes. ...

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I have a question for you (I searched for an answer in your blog, but couldn't find it). What's the best solution to drinking filtered water on road trips and vacation? I hate buying bottled water, so I always fill up my reusable glass VOSS bottle at home before I go ... but that only lasts so long. Then I usually just end up drinking tap water (but I hate doing that too). Do you bring a Brita pitcher or filter with you, buy bottled water, or...? I'd really like to know what the best solution to this would be.

Thanks!

Kim

Interesting question. I never buy bottled water at home not only because of the environmental impact of all of those bottles but also because I've known for years what the Environmental Working Group confirmed a few weeks back - just because its in a bottle doesn't mean it's purer. In fact, the only thing you're guaranteed of when buying bottled water is getting ripped off. A lot of (expensive) bottled is actually the same old (free) tap water you're looking to avoid. Their recent investigation found bottled water contains disinfection byproducts, fertilizer residue, and ...

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One of my most frequent suggestions on how to reduce indoor air pollution, exposure to chemical residue, and general grime - take off your shoes before entering or just after entering your home - seems like a total no brainer. It's common sense that you shouldn't trudge through the New York City subway (as I do), then track in that truly grim dirt and grime to where your baby is crawling. It used to require some coercing of our friends when they came over back before we all had kids to get them to go shoeless in our home. But now everyone I know with kids takes off their shoes. So much so that our preschool teacher keeps having to remind parents to keep their children's shoes on when they arrive at school. These kids just aren't accustomed to wearing shoes inside.

But there's a population of greenies who hesitate re jumping on the shoe-off bandwagon: dog owners. Why bother taking off their shoes, they ask me, if their dogs are trekking in the same gunk they're supposed to be minimizing?

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I have long dreaded moving my daughter into a twin bed, and not for the regular reasons parents dread this inevitable transfer. I wasn't worried she wouldn't sleep as well as she did in a crib because, truth be told, she never slept in one but rather with us in our "family" bed. Instead, I was concerned about the piece of furniture itself. What sort of wood would it be made of? What about its stain or varnish? Would there be some unavoidable join glue or otherwise hidden part of formaldehyde-filled particleboard? What kind of chemicals would it release into her air as she dozed?

So ...

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It's finally cold here in New York. Most heating systems aren't yet turned on so we've been traipsing around in sweaters and hats. Today, after a wind gust almost picked her up and blew her down the street, my daughter laughed and screamed, "I'm freezing!"

Season change is fun. It's also itchy. I have battled dry skin and eczema for years, especially on my hands. I used steroid creams to treat them before I knew better, and read enough to entice me to give them up just before I got pregnant. Phew. I even gave up peanuts while pregnant because some research (largely British) said it would reduce the likelihood a baby of a mom with eczema would (also) have allergies. I'd do anything not to pass this along to her. Well so far so good on food and seasonal allergies. But she currently has several patches of her very own eczema. Argh!

Since giving up the steroids, I have spent a lot of time testing and coming up with a list of products that work to quell the rash when it flares....

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I've been told over and over again - wrongly, I feel - that being an organic mom is only for the elite. I counteract this claim constantly, and have written here about being a frugal organic mom. The current economic situation has certainly meant I've been thinking more and more about living eco-cheaply. Still, for the most part, the audiences I've been speaking to lately haven't been requesting information on how to go green and save green at the same time.

This week, however, I'm going to talk to some pregnant teenagers, some of them homeless or formerly homeless. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity. As I prepared for the talk, I went over my general talking points and was encouraged by how little editing I had to do. True to claim, most of my top ten (which is really a top umpteen) list can be done with very little cash. Some of my most important suggestions are even free -- taking off your shoes before or just after entering your home doesn't cost a cent and goes a long way towards minimizing chemical exposure indoors. Below are ten other areas I always talk about; none of these suggestions are more expensive than their conventional counterparts:

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Like most parents these days, I'm very concerned about the toys I bring into my home, and even more concerned about the toys other people bring us as well-intentioned gifts. We don't actually have very many toys (less is more...) but I try to mainly buy wood, largely unpainted, and from small companies that disclose where they manufacture their goods. If I'm in the market for something only available from a new-to-us brand, I always research it on HealthyToys.org as well as Consumer Reports before I shop. And I never, ever go into a toy store with an I-want-it-all-now toddler. If I happen to have her with me when I'm toy shopping, I explain very carefully that we're only in there for something specific, usually a gift for someone else. But, as with all of my best laid plans, they're just plans. We live in the world. Not everything is controllable.

The fact that my daughter has fallen madly in love with Calico Critters falls squarely in this realm. ...

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Some green-leaning parents who are concerned about effects of vaccines, but convinced enough of their safety by current science that they do not want to forgo them altogether, take other, much less drastic measures. They stretch the timeline of when the shots are given, so their children are a bit older for the brunt of them. And they split up the MMR (measles mumps and rubella) vaccine into three single-dose shots instead of giving all three at once.

But on parenting boards across the internet, there has been a bit of a panic lately as families who have gone the split-them-up route are finding themselves two/thirds done with no sign of the third dose available anytime soon. In the New York area, I'm hearing, the rubella component is on backorder at many pediatricians' offices and in neighboring pharmacies known previously to carry it. This comes at a time when schools are asking for forms proving students are up to date with their vaccinations. This creates quite a conundrum.

Parents are now facing the possibility of having to give their child the combined shot they worked to avoid, on top of the two individual dose shots they've already administered, in order to be up to date....

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When I was growing up, my mother was always after family members to turn off lights in rooms they weren't using. It's a common sense policy I'm pleased she nagged into me; now it's second nature. Last week I was having (Irving Farm) coffee with a green leaning architect, Julie Torres Moskowitz , who contributed an essay about building a nontoxic nursery to The Complete Organic Pregnancy at one of my favorite green leaning local spots, The City Bakery. As we caught each other up on our latest projects, and chatted about the overabundance of greenwashing, especially in the building supply arena, a bakery worker with a tray full of votive candles walked around the space, placing one on every table. It was seriously odd - not only have I never seen candles at The City Bakery, it was 10:30 in the morning. We half-joked about the economy being so bad that they had to resort to flames instead of electricity. Our conversation shifted for a while, and I forgot about the candles until suddenly the lights went out and the candle-toting server wooshed by lighting wicks. ...

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When my daughter was very young, I didn't let her in the sandbox at our closest local playground. Sometimes she would come home from a grandparent-initiated visit to said playground with telltale grains in her shoes and I'd try to grin and bear it. (My own mother would get an earful!) But my gut feeling was the thing was a cesspool of germs, roundworm eggs, pesticide and car-exhaust residue, lead dust, general city filth, old Band-Aids, rat shit, and worse. Why oh why would I willingly allow my kid to dig into that, then stick her filthy little adorable fingers in her mouth!? I get that sand play can help intellectual development, but, um, I'm pretty good about making up for what she might lose out on in the sand. I remember an article in