According to Dr. Jay Gordon, babies sleeping on a safe surface with sober, nonsmoking parents respond to their parents, and the parents respond to them. The chance of SIDS occurring in this situation are close to zero. Babies in a crib or in a room away from their parents, on the other hand, will breastfeed less and are at greater risk of infections, including life-threatening ones. The medical profession, as it often does, is approaching the entire idea of the family bed backward. A baby in the same bed with his or her parents is surrounded by the best possible surveillance and safety system. It must be the responsibility of the manufacturers and proponents of cribs and separated sleep to prove that such disruption is safe, not the other way around. Read the original article on Mercola.com

The Washington Toxics Coalition yesterday released a study which is being called the first of its kind. The project tested nine pregnant women from Washington, Oregon and California for levels of toxic chemicals in their bodies, and thus being exposed to their fetuses. This study was completed in collaboration with Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center and the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition.

The women were tested in their second trimester of pregnancy. Every woman tested was found to have levels of bisphenol A, mercury, phthalates, and perfluorinated -- or "Teflon" -- chemicals in their blood. The chemical levels are alarming because the chemicals tested are known to impair brain development, disrupt hormone levels, cause reproductive issues, and lead to cancer.

 
In the aftermath of a report revealing that popular Johnson & Johnson baby care products contain carcinogens, a coalition of environmental, health and consumer groups are demanding the company remove the toxins from their product line.

The chemicals in question are 1,4-dioxane and preservatives that release formaldehyde. A letter was sent to Johnson & Johnson by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and was signed by nearly 50 groups representing about 1.7 million members, from the Environmental Working Group and Friends of the Earth to the American Nurses Association and Physicians for Social Responsibility, according to an Associated Press story.

Connecticut's attorney general says six companies have agreed to stop manufacturing baby bottles that contain Bisphenol-A (BPA). Some studies have indicated that BPA may be harmful to infants.

Attorneys general from Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey sent letters last October to 11 companies, asking them to stop using the chemical. Avent, Disney First Years, Gerber, Dr. Brown, Playtex and Evenflow have agreed to the request. The companies stopped manufacturing bottles with BPA a couple of weeks ago.

Suffolk County, NY, recently became the first county in the nation to vote on a ban of baby bottles and toddler sippy cups made with BPA.

Read the original article.

A new study shows that one dose of caffeine -- just two cups of coffee -- ingested during pregnancy may be enough to affect fetal heart development and reduce heart function over the entire lifespan of the child.

In addition, the researchers also found that this minimal amount of exposure can lead to higher body fat among males. Although the study was in mice, the biological cause and effect described in the research paper likely applies to humans as well.