I love this website. I checked it out after you mentioned it in another post a few weeks ago. I have since pulled everything out of my bathroom, drug it over to the computer, and looked it all up.

What a great find. Thanks Regina!

yay! Thanks Hippy mom. I'm glad you found it helpful. I use it as a guide for all my new stuff - I've even found some brands I've never even heard of that turned out to be really good products.

If anyone finds a product that they love and doesn't cost a fortune, post it!

I just found out from my mom that my niece who is 9 and only 4 months older than my daughter, has started getting her period! I had heard that it has become a more common thing for younger girls who ingest hormones in their food and in milk, but pthalates and other hormone mimickers are in their personal care products, too.

My SIL was horrified! They didn't know what was wrong because developmentally, nobody would have thought the cramps she was having would be from this. There is no history in either families for early menstration, either.

It just boggles my mind that we don't have more information made available to parents. We all need to understand what these things are doing to change our childrens' bodies! Shouldn't that be part of the well baby visits? My niece's doctor wasn't shocked and even informed her parents, now that it is too late that all of these hormones that our children are exposed to are making this a lot more common.

What can we do? Believe me, people don't listen to their crazy liberal sister who tries to tell them this stuff earlier.

California Baby products are shockingly expensive. When Miles first started showing signs of eczema we used them, but ten dollars for a little bottle of bubble bath was too much for us to bear. We stopped using bubble bath and just used Dove sensitive skin soap on him from then on.

My nieces are both 11 and as far as I know haven't yet menstruated. I know for a fact that neither family has done anything out of the ordinary in so far as limiting their exposure to products.

I'm not too strict about soap bubbles but I am a strict organic milk mom. Not as strict about cheese, though I probably should be!

Ah, we do our best.

California Baby is $, but Burts Bees isn't as bad. Dove does not rank so well, but it's certainly not the worst offender, and at some point one has to pick & choose where to be cautious. We use the Cal Baby wash but I just put a teeny bit in E's bath so it lasts a while. Luckily he's not a big bubble bath kid. I use Burts Bees shampoos & conditioners on E. They are neither cheap nor $, and I can sometimes find them on sale at CVS for about $4 a bottle. This got a super rating: AUBREY ORGANICS EVENING PRIMROSE & LAVENDER SKIN CARE BAR and it's only about $4. It requires research, but you can can affordable, good products. Do not assume b/c they are labeled "natural" or "organic" (or at WHole Foods, etc) that they are not harmful! Check it on the database to see. Several companies like Burts' are working together to est. an industry standard on "natural". That will be welcome.

Sadie, that's crazy! These big coporations have too much at stake to allow news that their products cause hormonal issues to becoome common knowledge. Everyone assumes (as they should) that the FDA would not allow dangerous products into our system. The truth is cosmetics are hardly regulated at all!!!!!!! There are tons o chemicals in those products, and the industry is left to regulate itself with the exception of things like lead. We all know how well self-regulation works ;) Mention to anyone who refuses to believe that we absorb this stuff through the skin those progesterone creams. Or how about birth control patches. The skin is not an all-powerful barrier.

Seems like just yesterday that I was Alternadad's "crazy wife" mentioning to the family that transfatty acids were very dangerous. Most people didn't really believe that for a long time, either, and my family thought I was nuts. All you can do is gently try to offer your knowledge, and hope they'll consider it.

Sadie - I was nine, too. That fact alone puts me at higher risk for osteoporosis. Oh, joy. I don't know how much hormones in milk affected me - I quit drinking it entirely when I was three or so - but they seem to be in, oh, everything else. We had to use estrogen cream on GirlWho from the time she was 1 year old until she turned 5 for a legitimate medical reason, but that plumly freaks me out, too.
I'll have to check in to some of these kids' wash products. I like Burt's Bees, but the plant and flower based ingredients and such make my eczema go bonkers. I might as well go roll in clover. I hate having multiple products around, so I try to buy stuff that she and I can both use. Of course, she wants the Cosmic Blue Raspberry crap at the store. Blech.

Mamawho, Did you develop early? I guess the lack of regular signs of puberty are what lead the doctor to suggest that it was external hormonal influences. I just feel so bad for her because my brother and his wife are not great at talking openly about sex. She didn't even know what the hell a period or sex were (well I'm sure she knew what her friends told her it was and what she had seen in inappropriate movies, but not the real clear facts)! This had to really freak her out.

I reached my full height, 5'4, at 10 and was in a regular, albeit A cup, bra at 8.5. Yeah, I was a little ahead of schedule. There was no sex talk at my house - ever. I got a pamphlet that told me about Kotex pads with belts when I got my period. I lived with my grandma. In a bubble stuck in 1965. I just thought I had hurt myself or something. I was a little freaked out, too, but no lasting damage done. Now I know how not to handle that with my daughter.

Ahem. I think the men will be staying out of this one.

mamawho, you're right about the eczema getting triggered by natural stuff. Miles seemed to do best without anything much at all. We still use fragrance and dye free detergent and whenever we're at my mom's we're reminded of why because he always has a flare up after sleeping on her fresh smelling sheets.

My husband balked at the price of organic milk when I first bought it. I mentioned the fact that Ana could potentially hit puberty earlier if she kept ingesting hormones and, instantaneously, he got over the cost.

Regina, I'm really digging Cheapster lately! You've yet to feature a product that I haven't immediately coveted. I'm not sure if that's a good thing...

It's not conspicuously labeled as such, but Lactaid milk is hormone free as well. It's a bit pricey, but is occasionally less than some of the organic brands.