Tagless Infant Clothing Causing Chemical Burns

We recently received an email from a reader alerting us to a potential problem with Carter's tagless infant clothes. Her eight month old son developed a strange sore on his back that for weeks she was unable to identify the cause of. One night, three weeks into the sore alternately healing and then opening again, she bathed her son and dressed him in his jammies.

When I changed him the next morning, I attempted to remove his pajamas and pretty much freaked because as I took off his pajamas, the skin on his upper back came off with it. It was weeping a brown fluid and as I examined the garment, it was evident that the wound fluid had VERY specific demarcations - it was only on the "tagless" carters' 9-month transparent label.

Our own initial investigations, assisted by still other ZRecs readers, make it clear that this is not an isolated incident, and is probably not limited to Carters' brand clothes. The problem seems to be with tagless clothes more generally, and I've seen specific references to clothes manufactured by Carter's, Circo, and Gerber.

An individual who identified themselves on a message board as being "involved with the manufacturing of tagless labels" said that there are two basic types of tagless labels - one made of phthalate-containing PVC, and the other containing two possible irritants:

One is a plastisol type, which is the same basic material that the large designs on the front of t-shirts is made of... the ink is a PVC blended into a phthalate... at a certain temperature the PVC melts and the 2 components form a solid... that solid is transferred to the shirt with heat and pressure... this type of ink is on the way out as phthalates are now being classified as hazardous... residual phthalate from not fully fused ink is what is most likely causing the reaction.

The other type of ink is a solventborne polyurethane that is post cured via a catalyst... typically a polyisocyanate... this ink can have 2 possible irritants... small levels of formaldehyde in the urethane or residual polyisocyanate that is left unreacted...

Here are images of one child's reaction to Carter's tags.

This issue appears to have just come on the radar recently so it seems likely that it relates to a recent development in the formulation of these inks.

There is some chatter online that Carter's or other companies may be requesting to have these clothes returned to them when they receive complaints, and that they seem to be aware of the problem but are not yet doing anything public about it.

Has this happened to you or to someone you know? If so, we encourage you to send us detailed information and photographs at zrecommends (at) gmail (dot) com. We'll post again about this matter after we've had a chance to speak with some of the companies involved, and collect whatever reader-provided information is available.

In the meantime, if you see a sore on your child that is in approximately the same location as a tagless tag, please stop using tagless garmets. If all of your child's garmets are tagless, you can tape over the "tag" using cloth tape or turn the garment inside out.

UPDATE: We have new information on this issue from Carter's, and are expanding our inquiry. Click here to read more at ZRecs' new location.

Photo by Leigh Radlowski, used with permission.

Join the ZRecs Mailing List To Win Now - Or Later!

Today is the last day to sign up for a chance to win a Britax Frontier car seat by joining our new ZRecs Newsletter mailing list. The first issue of our newsletter will be coming out on Friday, the day we'll also be launching our new network of six parenting sites, and in that newsletter we'll also announce the winner of the giveaway. More than 900 ZRecs readers have signed up so far, and we're thrilled to offer each of you the special content and insider deals that will come as our newsletter evolves.

Next month's prize for a ZRecs newsletter subscriber is pretty special. We hate to spoil secrets, so you'll have to wait until Friday to find out exactly what it is, but we will say that our October prize - which we'll give to a winner drawn at random from our full subscriber list, not just new signups - is more than three times the cost of the giveaway about to close, and is something everyone in the family can share.

Sign up for the ZRecs newsletter to make sure you don't miss our network launch edition, a tour of our new sites, and more!

FDA Finds Lead In Most Kids' and Women's Vitamins

The FDA has released the results of recent tests which indicate that almost all vitamins produced for consumption by women and children contain trace amounts of lead.

Although the FDA is not taking a position on whether the levels of lead in these vitamins poses a health hazard, leaders on the issue in public policy have consistently told consumers that there is "no known safe level of lead exposure," particularly when the CPSC has ordering mass recalls of children's jewelry in recent years.

Below are shortlists of the children's vitamins containing the highest and lowest amounts of lead. We report this with particular personal frustration as one of the brands which the FDA targeted as causing among the highest exposure levels, Nature's Plus Animal Parade tablets, is the brand of children's multivitamins our vegetarian daughter Z has been taking twice a day for more than two years.

Highest Lead Exposure Levels (Ages 0-6)

• Nature's Plus Animal Parade Shake (Powder)
• Superior Multi Age (Powder)
• Nutraceutical Pedia Power (Tablet/Capsule)
• Physio Kids Multilogics Chewable (Tablet/Capsule)
• Ola Loa Kids (Powder)
• Nature's Plus Animal Parade (Tablet/Capsule)
• Vita-Big-Kids (Tablet/Capsule)
• Wonder Laboratories Formula Nineteen (Tablet/Capsule)
• Clinicians Choice Chewable Daily Multivitamins (Tablet/Capsule)
• Dynamic Health Multi for Children (Liquid)

Lowest Lead Exposure Levels (Ages 0-6)

These have no lead, according to FDA tests:

• Natrol Liquid Kids Companion (Liquid)
• NF Formulas Liquid Pediatric (Liquid)
• Twinlab Infant Care (Liquid)

These contain the lowest detected levels, but still had some:

• Windmill Bite-A-Mins (Tablet/Capsule)
• Kids Liquid Dolphin Pals (Liquid)
• My First Flintstones (Tablet/Capsule)
• Natural Wealth Children's Chewable Multivitamins Plus Extra C (Tablet/Capsule)
• Uno Diario Ninos (Tablet/Capsule)
• Flintstones Plus Immunity Support (Tablet/Capsule)
• Natural Wealth Children's Chewable Multivitamins (Tablet/Capsule)

We'll continue reporting on this issue as it evolves. For a complete list of vitamins for young children, older children, pregnant women, and adult women, visit the FDA's report.

Taking Better Photographs of Kids: Two DVDs Can Help

We've been fans of reader Maya Henderson's personal blogging as well as her engagement and participation as a reader of Z Recommends for some time, so we enthusiastically accepted her offer to review Me Ra Koh's photography instruction DVDs for parents. Maya blogs at springtree road.

I've always been interested in photography, but there was a time when I let the technical aspects scare me away from learning how to take good photos. But once my daughter was born in 2005, I found that I couldn't stop taking pictures of her with my little digital point-and-shoot.

My excuse for the massive quantity of photos I was taking was that we lived a state away from our families and they wanted to see our baby grow. But eventually I realized that I enjoyed taking photos solely for the sake of taking photos. Having photo albums of pictures only marking birthdays and vacations weren’t enough for me anymore.

I got a Nikon D80 in May 2007 (Amazon's current best price is a bit under $900 for a Nikon D80 body and lens kit), and for the first four or five months, on the rare occasions I dared to venture out of auto mode, I was disappointed in my photos.

If you know what I mean, you should get to know Me Ra Koh.

Me Ra and her husband Brian own a successful wedding photography company, Me Ra Koh Photography. They’ve been very successful at building their business over the past few years, but even more interesting to me is the way they work to empower women with their cameras.

The couple has set up a website, Refuse to Say Cheese, where they sell several photography-related products, including two DVDs: Refuse to Say Cheese and Capture the Story and Outside the Green Box: Understanding Your Digital Camera.

If you want to step out of the "birthdays and vacations" tradition, check out Refuse to Say Cheese. Me Ra has been both a writer and a teacher and she uses some of the principles of storytelling and applies it to photographing kids. The DVD is about 40 minutes long and in it Me Ra talks about three basic elements of storytelling: capturing conflict, details, and setting. She tells you what she means, why it's important, and then gives you an exercise to do on your own, showing her own examples to illustrate the exercise.

While I felt that I was already doing most of what she says on this DVD, it was a nice refresher for me. If you’re not used to thinking like a storyteller when it comes to the photographs you take but would like to start, you should get a lot out of this DVD - and it'll work for you whether you have a point-and-shoot or a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera.

Outside the Green Box, the second DVD in Me Ra’s series, is for those people who have bought a DSLR and aren't entirely sure how they work. Her point is that cameras are not as hard to use as people make them out to be; we shouldn't allow ourselves to be intimidated by them. And she's right.

Here’s a photo I took right after I got my new camera, May 7, 2007. I took this inside on auto mode with a flash.

Outside the Green Box has turned things around for me.

The DVD runs around 40 minutes, so it's not going to be as thorough as a class or workshop, but the fundamentals that you need to get started with your camera are there. She starts with a basic lesson, showing you how to change lenses and naming a few camera parts and telling you what function they serve. For people who aren't technically inclined, she encourages you to pause the DVD often if you find yourself getting overwhelmed.

I took this photo after I viewed Me Ra’s DVDs, January 26, 2008. It was taken inside at a museum, and I used aperture priority for this one.

The core of the DVD is her discussion of the three main parts of photography: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. As in the first DVD, she outlines exercises for you to do in each section and gives examples of her own work. These were really helpful to me and, after watching the DVD twice, I had ventured out of the "green box" and was shooting in aperture priority instead of auto. When I downloaded my photos to the computer, they were finally beginning to look closer to how I had imagined them.

I was very pleased with what I learned from Me Ra. It's basic information, but I went from figuring I always had to use a flash inside to knowing how to take decent pictures inside at night using ambient light instead of a flash, which I felt was a major accomplishment.

Taken August 4, 2008, outside, using manual settings.

If you are a brand new DSLR owner finding yourself overwhelmed by all that you know your camera could do if you could only find the right combination of buttons and dials to press, Outside the Green Box can help you acquaint yourself with your camera so that you can experience some success in your photography. Then, if you choose, you can go on to learn more of the technical information from there.

Me Ra also publishes a blog that has a whole section called Photography Tips for Moms. In it she shares photos and offers exercises, samples, and "recipes" for photographs she's taken.

The videos described here are available from Me Ra Koh's Refuse To Say Cheese website for approximately $30 each or $50 for the pair. She also offers workshops around the country.

You can see a set of photos showing the progression of Maya Henderson's photography after watching Me Ra Koh's videos. You can also see additional photographs at Maya's blog, springtree road.

Tonka Sand Truck Sale

Tonka's line of "Sand Force" trucks are on sale at Amazon.com at the moment and a couple of them are quite a steal. This front-end loader (it's Amazon, not Tonka, that gets the name wrong) is regularly $15 but is on sale for $5.

There's also a sandbox-friendly dump truck marked down to $5 and a fire engine and water tank truck (both also designed for sandbox use) that squirt water. The fire engine is selling at about $10 and the water tank truck is down to $7.50.

Amazon.com also has a deal with the BillMeLater service that could get these $5 items to you for $4, but we've never used that service and tend to shun new, unusual lines of credit, regardless of who might be extending them to us. It's hard enough to keep on top of the bills we have, and $5 is a great deal. I guess if you're already using BillMeLater on Amazon and pay it off each month it's no different from the credit card you're already using when you shop online.

Don't Let Go: Balloon Releases and the Environment

How does this picture make you feel?

If you've recently been tempted to release a balloon with your child as a way of commemorating a loved one's passing or to offer "well wishes" for someone in need of them, we'd like to take a minute to encourage you to seek a different way to express your feelings. The alternatives may be less telegenic than releasing one, ten, or one hundred balloons into the air, but helium balloons - even latex ones - can pose a serious risk to marine wildlife, despite manufacturers' claims to the contrary.

For a rundown on the hazards balloons can pose in the environment, check out this EarthTalk Q&A, or this information provided by the UK Rivers Network.

To us, there doesn't really seem to be any more of a qualitative difference between individual and mass balloon releases than there is between illegal waste-dumping by industry and littering by private citizens.

Yes, there is a difference of scale. But our personal actions add up, and they also send a message. In the case of a recent balloon-release meme on blogs we've been reading, the release of individual balloons is passing on a message to children that makes us cringe.

It's an otherwise admirable gesture of solidarity and hope that is hard to speak out against, and we don't feel comfortable naming names.

So we're looking at the flip side of this issue, and are working on a post about environmentally-conscious ways to send messages of hope for those in need or to commemorate lost loved ones. We'll be publishing it on our new blog the Tranquil Parent, which launches in early September.

As we collect our own thoughts, we'd like to hear from you. What are your favorite forms of remembrance or gestures of hope that don't take a toll on the environment? Are there any practices you once followed that you have replaced with more environmentally-friendly alternatives,? Any that make you feel a bit guilty but for which you haven't yet found a suitable substitute?

We'd like to keep this conversation focused on alternatives, rather than waste time or hurt feelings by passing judgment. Any ideas you can share in the comments here, if we choose to highlight them for readers in our upcoming post, will be presented in that same spirit.

Photo by Brendan Adkins, shared via Flickr.