HO HO NO! How To Stay Away from Toxic Pj's This Holiday

Few things are cuter during the holidays than little munchkins in their holiday pjs.  I mean, so so cute!

 This past weekend I was browsing holiday pj's at The Gap and saw that they have two different tags on their pj's:   the yellow tag, the one I am always used to seeing and the only one I buy for my kids, reads:

"For child's safety, garment should fit snugly.  

This garment is not flame resistant.

Loose - fitting garment is more likely to catch fire."   

But, their warmer (fleece) and also cute pj's have an almost identical tag on them that is white in color and reads:" For child's safety garment should be flame resistant or snug fitting.  This garment is flame resistant."

It might seem like a second thought to stop and read these tags, however choose the pj with the wrong tag and you could be exposing your kids to some seriously toxic chemicals.   

Why do we want to avoid pajamas with flame retardants?  Just how bad are flame retardants?

100% of babies tested in the US  had flame retardant chemicals in their little bodies.  

Flame Retardants have been linked to

  • Early onset of puberty

  • Altered thyroid function

  • delayed mental and physical development

  • Neurodevelopment problems, leading to altered behavior and learning ability

  • Obesity

So, this year, make sure your kid's pjs are non-toxic and flame retardant free by choosing only choosing the yellow tag (all organic pajamas or snug fitting pjs should, by law, have this yellow tag which specify they are not flame resistant). 

Unfortunately, loose fitting pajamas are not the only source of flame retardants. Today flame retardant chemicals are commonly used on tv sets and other electronics, upholstered furniture (sofas, chairs etc), some mattresses, car seats, interior of cars, insulation, wiring, etc. The main problem with flame retardant chemicals is that they are not bound tightly to the products they are applied to and thus leech out into the environment.

Children, particularly, tend to have higher levels of certain brominated flame retardants than adults do because of  how often they are crawling, playing or laying on the floor where they are in close contact with dust, which is where these chemicals migrate too after leaching out of the products they are sprayed on.

For some absurd reason (which we won't go into here), many loose fitting pajamas contain flame retardants .  Luckily, it is easy to opt out off chemically laden pjs and switch to safer alternatives:

 Just choose snug fitting pj's or organic pj's (say no to loose fitting and flannel)! And when in doubt- just read the tags!

Among our favorite holiday pj's found online that do not have flame retardants:

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