Sunday, October 28, 2012

Hello Winter, Bye Fleece Pajamas

I used to love getting my baby all ready for bed in his cuddly, warm, so soft fleece footies at night.  But then I discovered the regulations that baby sleepwear over the age of 9 mos must either be flame resistant OR snug fitting cotton.  Where we have primarily switched over to snug fitting cotton, they don't bode well for winters in NY.  Especially with a toddler who refused a blanket!

So I've found yet another project to research on.  It seems that every blog I've hit up on the subject, has a comment involving a story about a 6 year old girl who sat too close to a fireplace (in another version of this story it was a birthday candle) in her nightgown and up in flames it went.  Why it is a nightgown next to the fireplace and not an ordinary dress causes me to question, what if it was a normal dress?  But anyhow, I don't want anyone getting any ideas that all childrens' clothes should be doused in chemicals, it's just that the story sounds a little off to me.  In each story, the method of fire is different.  But I guess the point here is invoking fear, not really the method.

But the story does make you paranoid... polyester is highly flammable. Fires are incredibly terrifying. In our home, regardless of polyester, we don't use open flames-end of story.  So back to the pajamas.  Most childrens' clothing manufacturers now state that they do not chemically treat their fire resistant pajamas, they don't have to because it is how the fibers are stitched together that make it flame resistant or fire retardant or whatever.  HOORAY right?  Well, no, that is not good enough for me.  So I did more digging and what I found was this... while the truth may be that they don't "treat" their garments, the other truth is that they don't have to, as flame retardants are already adhered to the fibers of the fabric in the manufacturing of the fabric itself.  It's really enough to drive you insane.

So, this winter, we decided to jump aboard the incredibly expensive wool wagon.  We purchased a lovely pair of wool footies made in Germany from a store called Nuno Organics.  It hasn't been cold enough to try them out yet, but I am in love with them already!  They may not have the smooth minky feel of his old fleecy jammies, but they are soft and cuddly and we can't wait to try them out! Wool is naturally fire resistant, so they are legal to sell and can get your mind off of that what-if nagging feeling.  We could only afford one pair though (we also purchased a long sleeved wool onesie as a back up) and they need to be hand washed-therein lines the downfall.  The owner of the store recommended not letting your little one play around to much in them in order to extend the life of them as well, in order to be passed down.   And of course, I will have a full update on the performance of our woolies once it gets cold enough to really give them a go.  We are spending Christmas upstate... what a perfect testing ground!

And as always, for more information or to see just where I come up with this stuff, please visit http://www.pediatricsafety.net/index.php?s=fire%20retardant