Silikids announces the debut of a new siliskin color, info for you below…and Silikids bottles are tough enough for a tiger! An Australian distributor shared a special tiger’s tale and we were asked to share it with all of you! The story follows below.

There is a very special little boy named Kinwah who just turned one and still loves his Silikids bottle in the afternoon. Adorable!

Photos of Kinwah below as well as in Kinwah’s story.

Kinwah lives at the Mogo Zoo in the owner’s backyard and was rescued and has been hand raised ever since. He will most likely move into the zoo park full time when he is older.

Here is a recent story about Kinwah:

Mogo Zoo

222 Tomakin Road Mogo NSW 2536

Phone: 02 4474 4930

Email: info@mogozoo.com.au

Web: www.mogozoo.com.au

Winner – Best Regional Attraction – 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 & 2007 South Coast Awards for Excellence in Tourism

Siliskin debuts red “hot” siliskins!

Los Angeles-based Silikids®, manufacturer of an innovative line of silicone-based children’s products expands their popular siliskins collection of safe, silicone bottle sleeves with the introduction of stylish red siliskins.

Silikids siliskins come in universal sizes separate from a bottle. They are designed to fit a variety of large and small glass baby bottles and slide on and off for easy cleaning. These safe, silicone sleeves help prevent breakage of glass baby bottles. The translucent silicone also allows you to see the measurements and liquid in the bottle. Siliskins are hypo allergenic, have no open pores to harbor bacteria, are dishwasher and microwave safe and can be boiled to sterilize.

Siliskins are available in the new red color in two sizes, universal wideneck small and universal standard small.

The Universal wideneck small siliskin fits the following bottles:

Born Free 5oz glass bottle
Nuk Wideneck 120ml glass bottle

12oz Kleen Kanteen.

The universal standard small siliskin will fit:

Dr. Browns 3.5oz glass bottle
Evenflo 4oz glass bottle
Momo 4oz glass bottle
Nuture Pure 4oz glass bottle
Pigeon 4oz glass bottle
Lamby 4oz glass bottle

Recommended retail for either size red siliskin is $6.95. They can be purchased online at www.silikids.com or at specialty juvenile product stores nationwide along with other siliskin products in assorted colors and sizes.

About Silikids®

Los Angeles-based Silikids was founded in 2006 by two moms, Stacey Feeley and Giuliana Schwab. Silikids is the first mom-founded brand focused on creating products that are hypoallergenic, germ, mold and toxin-free and made entirely out of silicone. The Silikids collection of high quality stylish and innovative items includes Siliskins, Siliskin Bottles, Silibibs, Silipads, Siliskin Glasses and the Siliskin To-Go Glass (coming soon). For more information, visit www.silikids.com or call 1-866-789-7454 (SILI).

Ok, we’ve talked quite a bit about BPA free products (or Bisphenol A). Well, here is one press release that verifies that lawmakers are taking the toxicity of BPA seriously. The Breast Cancer Fund has just announced that the California assembly has disregarded the chemical and pharmaceutical industries scare tactics – they have big money to pay lobbyists to work for them for the “good” of their companies.

However, there appears to be only a few states that have legally banned BPA from baby products. This is listed in the release below, but I will share it here first: “BPA has been banned from baby bottles and children’s sippy cups in Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, Washington, Wisconsin, and Vermont, four counties in New York and the City of Chicago.” Considering there are 50 states, it’s sad that more aren’t doing more to protect babies and children. Let’s hope that Governor Schwarzenegger agrees to pass the bill too and that when California has officially done so, more states will follow.

SACRAMENTO, July 1st, 2010 – Today the California state Assembly passed a bill that would ban bisphenol A, or BPA, from food and drink containers designed for children ages 3 and younger. BPA, a synthetic estrogen that has been linked to breast cancer and other serious health problems, is used in some plastic baby bottles and sippy cups, as well as in the lining of infant formula cans and the lids of baby food jars. The bill will now go to the Senate for a concurrence vote (the Senate already passed the bill last year), and then to Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk.

The vote on the “Toxics-Free Babies and Toddlers Act” represents a major blow to the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, which waged an intense lobbying campaign to defeat the bill. Meeting notes leaked last year documented industry’s plans to thwart the California legislation by “befriending people that are able to manipulate the legislative process.” The San Francisco Chronicle reported that industry spent an estimated $5 million against the California legislation. (Editor’s Note: Isn’t that amount amazing?)

“The Assembly voted on the side of science and children’s health,” said Gretchen Lee Salter, policy manager at the Breast Cancer Fund, who led the statewide effort to secure passage of the bill. “The Assembly also cast its vote against industry fear-mongering and scare tactics.”

While the bill sponsors are heartened that the Assembly passed the bill, they note that industry will now focus its attention and resources on pressuring the governor to veto it.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Santa Monica, and the Breast Cancer Fund, and strongly supported by Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, is a response to mounting scientific evidence that exposure to even extremely low levels of BPA can negatively impact health. More than 200 scientific studies show that BPA exposure, particularly during infancy, is associated with a wide range of adverse health effects in later life. In addition to breast cancer, BPA has been linked to prostate cancer, birth defects, infertility in men, early puberty in girls, diabetes and obesity. A main route of human exposure is through the leaching of BPA from food and beverage containers. Once in food, BPA moves quickly into the body. Babies and young children are particularly vulnerable because their bodies are still developing.

BPA has been banned from baby bottles and children’s sippy cups in Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, Washington, Wisconsin, and Vermont, four counties in New York and the City of Chicago. Connecticut and Vermont restrict the use of BPA in baby food and infant formula. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has introduced legislation in the Senate that would ban BPA in infant food packaging, in addition to other food and beverage containers. Feinstein lauded the vote: “I feel very strongly that the government-both federal and state-should protect people from harmful chemicals. I commend the California Assembly for continuing to lead by passing this important legislation to ban BPA in children’s products. I pledge to do all I can on the federal level to see that children are protected from this toxic chemical not just in California, but across the nation.”

In the marketplace, chemical manufacturer Sunoco refuses to sell BPA to companies intending to use it to make products for kids under three. Leading infant formula companies are beginning to use BPA-free packaging, six baby bottle manufacturers have pledged to stop using the chemical, and retailers including CVS, Kmart, Safeway, Toys R Us and Walmart have announced they will stop selling BPA-containing baby bottles. Still, many BPA-containing products remain on store shelves.

“We’re really heartened that the Assembly did the right thing for children, and we hope the governor will, too,” said Karen Farley from the the California WIC Association. “The California WIC Program provides, in addition to breastfeeding support, infant formula to mothers who request it and babies who need it. All mothers should be able to access safe food for their babies. It shouldn’t matter where you shop or what products you can afford. Safe infant food products should be available to all parents in California.”

“Our message to the governor is clear: We can’t wait any longer to protect kids,” said Salter. “No matter what the chemical and pharmaceutical industries say, scientists, health professionals and parents agree that synthetic hormones have no place in infant food packaging.”

# # #
The Breast Cancer Fund is the leading national organization working to identify and eliminate the environmental causes of breast cancer. www.breastcancerfund.org

Related Articles:

http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/12319#more-12319

http://californiascapitol.com/blog/?p=3317

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/media/press-releases/calif-assembly-approves-bpa-bill.html

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/sjanssen/bpa_ban_in_california_passes_l.html

http://www.ewg.org/BPA/newsrelease/CA-Senate-Votes-to-Ban-Bisphenol-A-in-Baby-Food-and-Beverage-Products

Fashionable Media Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to me, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation.

When I came across Boon Inc.com and found out that they offered bloggers the opportunity to review their products, which are BPA Free PVC Free and Phtalate Free baby/toddler products, I jumped on the opportunity so to speak. They offer bath toys, a potty bench, high chair and the dish line – 54 products in all. I chose their BPA Free dish line in orange.

We love them! They are pretty sturdy. Our son loves the little Snack Ball that has a cover that slides open to allow him access to his Cheerios (TM) or organic fluffs or O’s.

Fluid is like a sippy cup, but is not leak free. However, it is a cup that is very easy for a toddler to use and carry around (we tend to discourage that habit, at least in the house!). Both of these products have attracted the attention and comments of others in the few days that we have had them! They are cool looking and our son likes them!

I think this is my favorite besides the Snack Ball, the Squirt. Neat names, eh? This is a spoon with a tube like handle that holds baby food, or in the case of a toddler yogurt or soup (not hot soup mind you). This has made yogurt time so much less messy. An independent toddler may not allow anyone to feed him or her, and it did take our son a little bit of time to get the squeezing action involved in getting the yogurt to squirt onto the spoon section of the Squirt.

The Catch Bowl is a very good concept. It looks very much like a baseball cap, but its purpose is to catch dripping food preventing a messy table. It did work. This also has a suction cup bottom, but it won’t stick to the plastic table cloth that we use. It will stick to our table top though.

Benders are another fun utensil. The fork and spoon actually bend into funny angles! Babies won’t notice the difference but toddlers, older children and parents do and have fun with them! But their real purpose is to enable a smooth transition to beginner users. Parents can angle the spoon according to how their child is dishing up their food into their mouth.

ModWare is a toddler spoon and fork set that takes a child past Benders. Our son actually uses this set more than the Benders.

Saucer is a slip resistant divided plate that stays put and doesn’t move around as a child is eating. But like I said it doesn’t work on a plastic type table cloth.

Groovy looked like a panda to our four-year-old . It is another fun product because it helps separate dips and sauces from the main meal. Quite often children are affected by the looks of food, so this helps keep things separate and allows them to “dunk” at will.

I think Boon Inc. has some creatively fun products that children and parents will love.

For more information about Boon Inc. please visit www.BoonInc.com

We received free coupons in exchange for writing a review about Tribe All Natural Hummus but that in no way affects my opinion of the product. This is my honest review.

Our family had heard of hummus and even seen it, but we never understood it or knew how to use it until this year. A pitch came across my desk for Tribe All Natural Hummus and in it they mentioned that hummus would be a healthy snack that can help prevent craving attacks during pregnancy due to the high levels of protein it contains. That got my attention!

So while hummus may sound unappealing and even look gross to some, it will provide extra protein an expectant mother needs – remember increasing protein in the first trimester may help keep nausea at bay. Plus the added benefit of staving off cravings because your nutritional needs are being met when you are eating healthy and getting enough protein (and other vitamins and nutrients too in your other meals.)

Tribe offers a variety of flavors in their all natural line – 14 to be exact. Then for all of us who are making the shift towards eating more organic foods, Tribe has an organic line of hummus as well. Vegetarian moms will also want to check this product out because hummus will give them a boost in their protein intake too.

The results from our family’s first taste of hummus? Most of us really took to it. We tried Tribe’s Classic All Natural Hummus, as the Tribe brand was hard to find and not available in all the flavors. We basically ate the whole container in one sitting with a bag of organic tortilla chips! It was really good. We didn’t know that the hummus was made out of beans. The Classic was made from chick peas, but we have since seen another variety made from navy beans, so no wonder it’s a healthy snack! Think about all the fiber too. So we have definitely become hummus eaters and recommend that you give it a try as a healthy alternative to the chip dips out there. A friend also just told us this week that it may be used as a mayo substitute in sandwiches, which we have yet to try, but thought it was a great idea.

Fashionable Media Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to me, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation.

We received the Tot Talk Learn to Count placemat to make mealtime an educational opportunity and fun too. As you can see from the above photo, it has a cute design with the front featuring 12 different insects an a corresponding number to represent the amount of insects for that number. – 1 Caterpillar, 2 Praying Mantises, 3 Rhinoceros Beetles, 4 Cicadas, etc. On the backside of the placemat there is the English, French, Spanish and Chinese words for each of the insect names and a little box for children to write in the correct number of insects that they count and even color with wipe off makers or crayons. It also features numbers 1-12 in all four languages too.

Our 4 year-old daughter really likes it. She likes hearing the different languages, well, at least the ones that we know how to pronounce like English, Spanish and French. We are not familiar with Chinese. Even our 2-year-old will join us when we are going over the insect names, counting and saying the numbers in the different languages – All the while trying to say them with us!

We are very happy with Tot Talk product we received. They not only offer a variety of educational placemats but other educational materials too. Visit www.TotTalk.com for more information and details.

We have been covering quite a few mealtime ideas lately just because of the resources coming our way. But Disney FamilyFun Magazine might be a neat little “extra” to tuck into your Mother’s Day gift. It looks like it will be a great little resource for families. Who doesn’t want to learn how to cut back on their food budgets? And what mother doesn’t appreciate easy meal ideas? So here’s what Disney is telling us about their new issue:

Disney FamilyFun understands that the evening meal can be the best part of a family’s day – and the busiest. That’s why we’ve created the special collector’s issue, Dinnertime!, which hits newsstands today, Tuesday, May 4.

Filled with over 98 easy recipes, these pages gather the best dinner ideas from our 19 years of publication. Every recipe is
family-tested and approved. Dinnertime! makes family meals simple and stress-free with chapters offering specific solutions to common dinner dilemmas, including:

* Cheap eats: savory $$ savers

* 30-minute meals

* Picky eater pleasers

* Break out of your rut: rethinking old faves

* Dishes that teach kids cooking skills

And because family meals aren’t just about the food, Dinnertime! also serves up a generous helping of fun: conversation starter games, dinner-hour crafts, fun at the table, and more!

Dinnertime! is available for purchase on newsstands and at www.familyfun.com/dinnertime.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Freschetta. All opinions are 100% mine.

We recently were given the opportunity to try frozen Freschetta FlatBread . We tried the NEW Zesty Italian Flatbread, Brick Oven 5-Italian Cheese and a 4 Cheese Naturally Rising, since the store we shopped at had a very limited quantity. I really wanted to try their other NEW pizza Garlic and Spinach, but the store did not have it.

Most of our family preferred the Zesty Italian, it just had more flavor. I found the sauce flavor of the 5-Italian Cheese odd, but I am use to a sweeter homemade sauce that we make ourselves using a puree or tomato sauce with our own sea salt, organic cane sugar and spices. As my son would say, homemade is BEST! Our girls enjoyed it and the break from helping make dinner for our crew!

Freschetta frozen pizzas are purely a convenience food and I won’t deny that it isn’t the most healthiest meal to feed my family, but it certainly helped on a night that we were crunched for time and had to be out the door soon after my husband arrived home.

As much as I appreciated the convenience of the Freschetta pizzas that we received, I have to say that they were not the best frozen pizzas we have ever tasted. Our girls enjoyed these pizzas and the break from helping make dinner for our crew! Our family tends to be pizza connoisseurs and know what we like about pizza, whether it is take out, frozen or homemade versions!

Thank you Freschetta for the opportunity!

Visit www.freschetta.com for more information. They even have some coupons available on their site that you can take advantage of too.

Fashionable Media Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to me, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation.

We had the privilege of trying Veggie Patch’s Meatless Meatballs this past weekend. They were very good and we could not tell they were not meatless! The children all enjoyed them and there were no complaints. It made a easy, tasty meal.

Ingredients include: Textured Vegetable Protein (Water, Soy Protein Isolate and Concentrate, Wheat Gluten, Wheat Starch), Carrots, Soybean Oil, Egg Whites, Contains Less than 2% of Onions, Inulin, Spices, Sea Salt, Potassium Chloride, Dextrose, Hydrolyzed Protein (Corn, Yeast, Wheat), Modified Vegetable Gum, Calcium Carbonate, Vegetable Fiber, Garlic, Yeast Extract, Natural Flavors, Caramel Color, Cultured Dextrose.

Veggie Patch uses only non Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) soybeans, which is definitely good to know. Just google GMOs to find out more about them and the controversy that surrounds them. What concerns me in the ingredients list is “natural flavors” and “caramel color”, which have been know to be hidden MSG. I won’t go into all that is involved with MSG, googling it will turn up information if you really want to do the research.

Resources:

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html

A couple of weeks ago we featured the Mutsy Easy Grow High Chair. Now, Mutsy is hosting a sweepstakes that will enable all those who enter a chance to win an EasyGrow High Chair. Here are a few of the details, but be sure to read the complete details and enter at Mutsy’s Facebook page:

Prize Details

Win a Mutsy Easygrow High Chair – This innovative new child seat brings life to your interior and gives your child a safe and comfortable place at the table. Both the seat and foot rest can be easily adjusted to perfectly fit your child as he or she grows. Eating tray and bumper bar are included along with a flexible seat reducer and a 5-point harness. The chair’s unique tilting feature allows for the dinner tray to fold down and away for baby to be easily placed and removed from the seat.

Winner will have choice of an Easygrow or Easygrow “Next” chair.
Prize Eligibility:
Only persons residing in United States and Canada who are at least 18 years of age can enter.
Sweepstakes Starts:
April 01, 2010 @ 02:00 pm (EDT)
Sweepstakes Ends:
April 30, 2010 @ 11:59 pm (EDT)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mutsy/66396965669?v=app_2813432365http://www.thefashionablebambino.com/?p=5503

If you are looking for a functional high chair that will last long-term, then I think Musty has it. Take a look….

EASYGROW “NEXT” CHAIR-NEW!

The evolution of the Easygrow, the extraordinary high chair that grows with baby, continues with the debut of the Easygrow “Next”. The Easygrow “Next” features a sleek brushed aluminum finish and unique dinner tray tilting feature. The chair’s comfortable molded plastic seat features a luxurious suede-like texturized feel. The tilting feature lets the tray fold down and away from baby allowing for them to be placed and removed freely from the seat. This pioneering new highchair brings life to a home’s interior and offers a child a safe and comfortable place at the table. In addition to the dinner tray features include a bumper bar, flexible seat reducer and a 5-point harness. The flexible seat reducer allows use of the chair from the time baby can sit on his or her own. Both the seat and foot rest can be easily adjustable and can accommodate children from the time they can sit unaided to 12 years of age. Easygrow “Next” is lightweight at just 16.5 lbs., allowing for mom or dad to easily position the chair anywhere they want.

Available in: Navy and Brown

Recommended Retail: $249

EASYGROW HIGH CHAIR-NEW!

The new lightweight and durable Easygrow features a shortened wheel base designed to take up less room. Additionally, the new dinner tray tilting feature is offered along with an easily adjustable seat and foot rest. Easygrow can accommodate children from the time they can sit unaided to 12 years of age. A flexible seat reducer is included which allows use of the chair from the time baby can sit on their own.

Available in: White or Dark Grey

Recommended Retail: $199

These new high chairs may be purchased at www.Mutsy.com