Image:   Some rights reserved by Athenamama

Don’t forget to click the link titles to view the complete posts on the original websites!

1.  NPR:  Study: Most Plastics Leach Hormone-Like Chemicals

Most plastic products, from sippy cups to food wraps, can release chemicals that act like the sex hormone estrogen, according to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives.

The study found these chemicals even in products that didn’t contain BPA, a compound in certain plastics that’s been widely criticized because it mimics estrogen.

Many plastic products are now marketed as BPA-free, and manufacturers have begun substituting other chemicals whose effects aren’t as well known…

The researchers bought more than 450 plastic items from stores including Walmart and Whole Foods. They chose products designed to come in contact with food — things like baby bottles, deli packaging and flexible bags, says George Bittner, one of the study’s authors and a professor of biology at the University of Texas, Austin.

Then CertiChem, a testing company founded by Bittner, chopped up pieces of each product and soaked them in either saltwater or alcohol to see what came out.

The testing showed that more than 70 percent of the products released chemicals that acted like estrogen.

2.  Inhabitots:   Baby Gaga Breast Milk Ice Cream Banned

If you were hoping to try the new Baby Gaga breast milk ice cream, which we told you about last week, it looks like you’ve missed your chance. Baby Gaga ice cream, though reportedly popular, has now been outlawed like many of the breast milk foods served at restaurants in the past. Officials in the UK took samples from the London ice cream shop and have now ordered the Icecreamists to take the flavor off their menu. The ice cream was created using the breast milk of mothers who answered an online ad, and health and safety officials banned the flavor over fears that it could contain hepatitis or other viruses associated with consuming other people’s bodily fluids.

3.  Natural Papa: I’ve Got Friends in Low Places

Sometimes, the very things which define us as being adults, such as reliability and consistency and stability, work against us.

We come to a place where we think we know all we need to know, and we end up failing to notice many of the details in the world around us anymore. And that can lead us right into a rut – to a feeling of being stagnant, of apathy, of a sense of entitlement. We are so familiar with the details of our daily lives that we no longer see them anymore. And we can’t see any alternatives in our life, either.

But kids tend toward the opposite: they notice every little thing in their environment, and they tend to see them in terms of what they could be, not simply what they are right now. There’s a lot we can learn from that.

4.  SFGate The Mommy Files: ‘5 second rule’ disproven

If you’re a parent then you’re familiar with the 5-second rule.

When your child’s pacifier falls out of his mouth and tumbles onto the sidewalk, you can safely stick it back in his mouth–as long as it hasn’t spent more than 5 seconds among the filth on the ground.

This same rule applies to any food that falls onto the ground, your kitchen floor, the playground grass.

It has long been assumed that if you pick up a fallen object quickly then it’s unlikely to become contaminated by dangerous germs. And for parents who are always juggling a million things as they push their babies along in strollers this is a wonderful thing.

But now a scientist quoted in the New York Times has debunked the 5-second rule (darn him!).

“The 5-second rule probably should become the zero-second rule,” Dr. Roy M. Gulick, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Weill Cornell Medical College, told the Times. “Eating dropped food poses a risk for ingestion of bacteria and subsequent gastrointestinal disease, and the time the food sits on the floor does not change the risk.”

5. Jessica Gottlieb: The Diva Cup Review (Mom, Dad this is all about my menstruation please don’t read it)

I gave in and tried the Diva Cup. After the pink tampon string incident I was walking through Whole Foods, spotted the Diva Cup, and thought, “Why not? It’s only $30, I’m going to waste more than that on snooty cheeses this week.” So I tossed one into my basket, and then I stopped and did a double take.

The size issue.

Apparently there are two sizes of vaginas, regular and mom sized. If you’ve given birth you’re a size large. I’m a fan of vanity sizing. If you take my size medium and toss an XS tag on it not only will I buy it, but I’ll buy one in every color and show all my friends my extra small sized clothing. I’m not proud of my behavior, it’s simply a reality.

I stood in the aisles at Whole Foods and started texting Tanis: Umm the Diva Cup comes in sizes. Do you think I could buy the small one even though I have kids? She texted back something about giving birth three times and then she might have mentioned a hot dog in a hallway. I sighed and bought the mom sized menstrual cup feeling defeated before I began.

A few days later it was time to try to the Diva Cup. I followed the directions and it was pretty easy to insert. I have yet to have an accident, and it’s become one of those things that I want to shout from the rooftops.

YOU NEED A DIVA CUP.

Periods are so civilized now. There’s nothing to throw away, nothing to hide from guests, nothing that leaks. There is no chance that your dog will come bounding down the hallway and joyfully present your UPS delivery guy with a used tampon.