Play Mats and Are They Safe

Is it from China? The governer recently passed a law mandating that the chemical additive called pthalates (makes plastic products soft and pliable) be banned from children's toys in Calif (it has been banned in europe for years). They are said to cause hormonal (esp testosterone)changes and liver contamination in children. This law does not take effect until 2009. There is no current law mandating the company state that there are pthalates in any product. Some companies state that they DO NOT use them, but if you do not see that you can assume they are in your product. Personally I would not use the mat. But as of now there are so many things that are harmful it is hard not to get anxious about it. I try to make good choices when I buy toys (natural materials, and pthalate free) but we can't control everything in their environment. One of the things I am really strict on is eating off of plastic--nothing hot is to go on the plastic. You can find more information on the state gov website, I don't have it handy, just google it. And I figure if the gov is actually taking this seriously, I should be too. As moms we can only do the best we can.

From what I understand, Toys R Us and Babies R Us do their own testing of products before they are put on the shelves. Therefore the mat should be safe. However, you should of course be careful if it is a foam mat since your child may bite off pieces.

We have a mat for our now 9 month old daughter that we bought due to hardwood floors. We did not have the odor problem that you are talking about. You might have a problem however when it comes to learning to get around. When she is first learning a new task, ie. rolling over, crawling, and now pulling to stand, she wasn't able to get traction. Once she masterd them it was no problem. She just needed to practice on carpet instead. We bought that foam thing you put under area rugs to keep them from sliping and laid it on top. This allows her socks to get traction when she is trying to stand up on things.

hi W.-
not to feed into the fear too much, but it is never a guarantee that your children's toys are safe. there have been a lot of recalls lately of children's toys and recently certain types of plastic are considered to be harmful to your child's (and your) health. i'd say, go with your instict. if it smells funny... put it away for awhile or maybe even return it. children's lungs and all sense organs are so much more sensitive that ours are. so if you can smell the product "off-gassing" it is probably not healthy for your child. i hope that helps a bit-
-L.

It probably has phtalates or PVC to make the plastic soft. I personally am trying to stay away from much close contact with plastic as much as possible so wouldn't want my 7 month old rolling around on it. Although I don't know how much better synthetic carpet is..... anyway, I'd see if you can track down the ingredients.

I agree w/the other mom, check to see if it's from China first. Otherwise, I'm sure it's just that 'new' smell. We had the Gymini (SP?) mat for both our boys & it was washable so see if your mat can be washed. That might change the smell somewhat.