As a kid, I had hand-me-downs from my elder sister. Sure, I wanted the new things, but I was taught to be content and suffered relatively little for my non-with-it-ness. Now that I have three children of my own, I buy most of their things second hand. In this economy, it’s the wisest use of money. As it turns out, it appears that buying second hand is also the healthiest for my kids.
The German Bundesinstituts für Risikobewertung (BfR, or National Institute for Risk Assessment) has warned that children aren’t small adults. While this may sound like common sense, many people don’t let the real truth of that statement sink in completely. Children are indeed small, but the way their bodies react to things is vastly different than the way adult bodies react to the same things. The BfR explains it like this:
Risks for children must be assessed differently from risks for adults. When evaluating potential risks from chemical substances, risk assessors must bear in mind that in relation to their body weight children have a larger skin surface, eat more and breathe more rapidly than adults. In line with their age they have an elevated metabolic rate and their bodies ingest larger amounts of certain substances more quickly from the gastro-intestinal tract. Contaminants, which are only broken down slowly, can act over a longer period. Source
So what does this mean when it comes to buying for baby? That the chemicals used in manufacturing toys and clothing for infants and children may be at levels that don’t affect adults, but may affect your baby. Formaldehyde and flame retardant chemicals have been dissipated via evaporation and repeated washings by the time the furniture, toys, and clothing that contain them come up for second hand sale. When you think about it, it’s a real savings – of money and your child’s health.
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