Do you check fabric details when buying sleep garments for your little one?
Another one of NZ’s leading ‘organic’ baby wear & sleep brands have started using polyester (35%) in their sleep garments. Synthetic fibres (aka plastic) do not breathe and can increase your baby's risk of overheating in their sleep. When babies overheat or sweat, they then can then rapidly cool down because their sweat cannot not evaporate through the fabric.
Overheating has been linked tosudden infant death syndrome(SIDS). Bruce Epstein, M.D., a paediatrician fromFlorida, explains the link saying: "babies sleep deeply when they're hot, making them difficult to arouse, which may increase the riskof SIDS."
Last year a large ‘natural’ NZ sleeping bag brand started mixing their merino fleece with 25% polyester. Most Australian, European and American sleep brands use polyester for the wadding in their sleeping bags and sleep suits. Or even worse, use polyester (Polar Fleece) for the entire sleep garment. Why do these companies do this? Because it is cheap. Using polyester and mixing it with merino or organic cotton drops the price of the fabric significantly. Using polyester as a filler for wadding is cheap as chips. So is polar fleece. Unfortunately, clever marketing techniques make parents think they are buying a natural and organic product because the polyester is used in combination with merino or organic cotton. It is extremely irresponsible and unsafe to use such large quantities of polyester in babies sleep garments and it is really sad to see that some of the bigger companies are misleading their customers by marketing themselves as ‘Natural’ and ‘Organic’ and making parents believe they are making a safe decision for their little ones while their products are in fact filled with polyester. Please please please read garment labels and when purchasing online, read the ‘Product Details’ to see the fabric and wadding composition. And if it contains polyester do not buy it. Polyester should not be used in babies sleep garments. It is not safe. Sleep garments should be made from natural fibres only, like merino, wool, (organic) cotton or bamboo.
www.snugbags.com
| Organic + Ethical + made in New Zealand |
