 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Physical Wellbeing
We all know that a newborn baby remains in a state of delicate development long after birth. We are careful to cradle a baby’s fragile head in our arms. We are careful to protect a baby’s fine skin from the harsh wind and the harmful rays of the sun. But how careful are we when it comes to shielding our babies from dangerous toxins?--And our babies are especially vulnerable.
The baby’s skin is much more permeable than adult skin.
Babies breathe much more air in proportion to their body weight and size than adults.
The permeable nature of their skin and their frequency of breath coupled with every baby’s hand-to-mouth lifestyle means that babies easily absorb toxins that may exist in the environment.
In addition, the baby’s natural defense mechanisms are neither fully developed nor fully functional at birth. The baby’s immune system can not provide adequate defense against toxic chemicals. The baby’s critical organs, such as the liver and kidney, are also under-developed. These vital organs flush toxins through the vulnerable body at a slow rate.
We need to factor the physical fragility of the baby into the design of the baby’s first room outside the womb. We don’t want to unwittingly bring toxins into the nursery when we paint the walls, when we install wall-to-wall carpeting, when we buy furniture constructed with plywood or particleboard, when we buy area rugs, drapes, and upholstery created from synthetics or treated with stain-resistant or fire-resistant materials.
We need to be vigilant. We need to know what goes into today’s products—what goes into the glue that sticks the carpeting to the floor or holds the bits of particleboard together or bonds a laminate to a surface. Does this glue contain formaldehyde? We need to know what goes into synthetics. Does the man-made concoction contain neurologically-damaging or cancer-causing agents? We do not want to unwittingly make our babies sick or stunt their growth. We need to protect our baby’s physical wellbeing.