7 Ways to Celebrate Baby Safety Month
September is Baby Safety Month, sponsored annually by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA). This September, JPMA is helping educate parents and caregivers on the importance of safely using second hand, hand-me-down and heirloom baby gear.
One dangerous substance that may go unnoticed: lead.Lead is a neurotoxin, which means that it affects the way your brain works, and it's especially dangerous to kids. Unfortunately, it's also invisible, tasteless and odorless-so it's virtually impossible to detect if it's in your air or water, without testing.
In honor of September's Child Safety Month, here are few things you can do to protect your family from lead:
1. Take off your shoes outside to reduce 85 percent of dirt - including lead residue - from entering your home.
2. Wet mop at least once a week, and use a HEPA filter when vacuuming. (Lead is transmitted through dust: less dust, less lead.)
3. Encourage your family to wash their hands, especially when they enter the home. Lead is most often ingested through dust on the hands going into mouths.
4. Use cold water for eating or drinking, as hot water can dissolve lead from pipes into the water.
5. - 7. Click here for more ways to protect your kids...
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About the Author:
Rachel Sarnoff blogs at MommyGreenest.com,foundedEcoStiletto.com, appeared on "Today" and "CNN," is the former Executive Director of Healthy Child Healthy World & was Editor-in-Chief of Children magazine -- all before she had kids.
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