Recently in New products Category

I hadn't been in a Whole Foods market in about two years. But today, I spent almost $25 (a pittance at WF, I know) on organic/nontoxic/hypo-allergenic cosmetics for my kids.

Full disclosure: As a parent, I tend to be lax about keeping synthetic stuff away from my children. I was microwaving my bottles a few years ago before anyone knew that wasn't such a good idea. And my girls were well into their toy biting phase way before the China Lead scandal.

So the point is, I have not been paranoid about this kind of thing to date. But when I started hearing about phthalates that are in something like 75% of all cosmetics, I thought a little paranoia about my kids health might be appropriate.

Phthalates, plasticizing agents added to synthetic fragrances, were found in a recent study to cause reproductive problems in small children. The study, published in Pediatrics this month, measured phthalates in the urine of 163 infants, whether they had been exposed to diaper cream, lotions and shampoos, and those cosmetics were linked to higher concentrations of the toxins. Creepy.

That's why I could justify spending $9.99 for a bottle of shampoo & body wash by Avalon Organics, and another $9.99 on a pump spray container of plant-based hair detangler made by California Baby. An added plus: the shampoo contains tea tree extract, which turns off lice. Very cool.

By the way, Target now stocks California Baby products and a few others like it, and I noticed Trader Joe's is selling Avalon shampoo for adults for about half the price it cost at CVS drugstore.

The fastest way to alienate a mother/consumer is to insinuate that you know better than she does what's best for her children, says Maria Bailey, author of “Trillion Dollar Moms: Marketing to a New Generation of Mothers.” She also runs BSM Media, a Pompano Beach, Fla.-based marketing firm specializing in that demographic.

Another quick way to lose moms as customers is to invest in advertising campaigns that circumvent moms entirely and aim straight at their kids. Read more of this fascinating Stores Magazine article at: http://www.stores.org/Current_Issue/2008/02/Edit3.asp

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File this one in the brilliant ideas I wish I'd had category. It's called Zwaggle.com (not crazy about the name) and it's basically Ebay without any purchase prices. Targeted to parents with too much kid stuff they've outgrown, Zwaggle users earn points for shipping their stuff to someone who wants it, then they can use those points to redeem stuff they do need/want. The only money that changes hands is shipping costs. I just logged on, and some users are offering to pay for shipping as well, just to find a home for their child's outcasts.

It's something that a nonparent can't understand -- and it sounds crazy. But the high chairs, baby swings and toys that your child drooled on, pooped on, played with, bit, laughed at, is saturated in sentimental value, and it's hard to just leave it on the sidewalk outside a Salvation Army store somewhere. I love this idea of getting things to people who will use them and love them!

Since the recall madness broke out this spring, tens of millions of toys have been deemed unsafe, and lots of parents -- me included -- have been buying Christmas presents on Web sites selling handmade and US-made toys. But here's an alternative I hadn't considered: the Amish.

Groups of Mennonites and Pennsylvania Dutch are highly skilled at making things by hand, since they generally shun electricity. These toys don't come cheap, but they are exquisite. Check out handmade doll cradles, wooden puzzles, pull toys and hobby horses at these Web sites:

http://www.futureheirlooms.net/
http://www.artsinheaven.com/items/amish-toys-amish-wooden-toys/list.htm
http://www.squidoo.com/amishtoys/
http://www.crafttoys.com/

Ech. I became infested with the little critters once as a teacher's aid to a kindergarten class, but I haven't had to deal with lice as a Mom yet. I suspect most mothers are less yucked out by the little parasites themselves than by the whole idea of them being anywhere near their child. Is it itchy in here?

I know, lice aren't exactly something to joke about. According to a company called Fairy Tales Hair Care for Children, U.S. schools are experiencing a lice epidemic this back to school season as the louse becomes resistant to traditional chemicals. Fairy Tales has a major stake in that being true as their main products are lice-ridding treatments. But I must admit, they carry some interesting stuff.

One I may end up ordering is a leave-in spray with Rosemary, said to repel lice. Every morning before sending the kids off to daycare or preschool, you just douse them in lice repellant. Pretty cool.

More tips for prevention:

Check your child under a bright light weekly. Look for tiny bugs or grayish-colored, rice sized nits or eggs. They will be glued to the hair shaft at an angle 1/2 inch from the scalp. Focus on the "hot spots" back of nec, around ears and part lines.

Tell your child never to share hats, combs, pillows, nap mats, sporting equipment.

Herbs such as rosemary and citronella have been shown to repel head lice.

It was bad enough when I realized a few years ago that I just wasn't going to be able to find a pair of jeans that buttoned somewhere above my hip bones unless I started shopping at Lane Bryant. No offense to anyone, but to paraphrase Erin Brockovich, as long as I have one *** instead of two, I'll wear what I like if that's all right with you.

But when it comes to toddlers, low rise just doesn't work. When little ones bend and jump and squirm, as you can count on them doing pretty much all the time, a low cut exposes the diaper -- bigtime. This is especially bad for me, since I'm, uh, embarrassed that my child is still wearing a pull up.

I suspect that many designers of baby clothes don't actually have kids of their own. So they just design the same things that big girls (women) wear, just smaller. Would that it worked the other way. Oh how I wish they made those adorable Gap tights, skirts and boots in my size!

Here in the features department of the Daily News newsroom, we have the privilege or pain from time to time of sampling new edible products. Today's kid-friendly item: A yogurt tube (uh-huh) with odd-colored contents (been there) and hyperbolic flavor names ("Blue Raspberry Rage" -- ho-hum). But this stuff from Yoplait, called Fizzix, actually has something in it that reacts on the tongue kind of like out-of-date Pop Rocks candies.
Kids who want every gimmicky treat that ever landed by a checkstand will like it, and the flavor wasn't bad. Here's the catch: The fizzy element goes into overdrive after the packet has been out of refrigeration for a while, so that even while the tube is still cool to the touch, it looks like it's going to rupture. I was tempted to let it sit on my desk for an hour or more to see what would happen (In the name of work-related research), but they'd probably make me clean that stuff out of my keyboard myself. Even without the rupture, the moment the tube was opened, it began oozing blue goo.