The first three years are very important for the growth and development of your baby. She is growing physically, mentally and emotionally and learning so much about her body, her family and the world around her. They learn about these things by sticking everything into the mouth no matter is it is good or bad.

As parents, it is our responsibility to protect our children from harmful, toxic elements in the environment. Why do we give babies plastic toys that have toxic paints on them along with the danger in the plastic, due mainly to phthalates (pronounced tha-lates).

Plthalates help make toys soft and pliable enough to be twisted or sucked yet durable enough to survive a 1-year-old's grip? Your baby chews on these soft toys that use non-organic cottons, regular dyes and the stuffings are often petroleum based foam. Wooden toys are most often made from the dust or chips of wood that are glued back together. The glue is toxic and the wood is most often pine, which emits harmful vapors that can stimulate allergies and other health problems.

What happens with these toxins and how are affecting your baby? Anything a baby can touch will go into the mouth some way or another. The baby will absorb these toxic chemicals thru the mouth, the hands, skin; they breathe the air these toys are in. As many toys age they begin to crack and become brittle, this is due to the phthalates breaking down and the small particles become airborne and your baby and you are now breathing them in.

These foreign objects irritate the nose, eyes, lungs, and even the skin causing allergies, asthma, colds, and rashes. These toxins can cause brain developmental problems, autism, endocrine and hormone problems that many affect your baby through out her life. We as parents need to take charge and protect our children from these dangerous chemicals.

What can we do? When purchasing toys, make sure they are organic. There are many organic toys that babies may chew on that will stimulate the mind, allow them to teeth on and are completely harmless. The cotton, wool, stuffing and dyes are organic or non toxic and the wood is a hardwood. There are toys from apples to zebras and everything in between. Your baby doesn't need a plastic toy that will poison her, just creat a safe environment by going organic.