Foam Playmats-Recent Health Warning

[~clover~]

I just got one for DS's birthday & was planning to get more... Bugger

[Miss.B]

Trini246, wish I had bought the one from Taiwan! Mine was the smelly Chinese one from Kmart....currently in a black garbage bag, hoping to get my money back when they have a huge recall.

MummyNaomi, yay for ditching the whole lot!! Luckily I had the one set only. I ended up buying a good size play mat (2 m x 1.4 m) and it has some rail track on it and some roads and buildings. DS loves it!

BugsMum, you go girl!!! I love your determination, hope it pays off! Can you annoy them from me too? I should get on the blower too, lol.

Clover, stay away from them hunni. Invest in a nice playmat, you can get plenty on ebay. I got a new one (big size) on ebay brand new for $70 and I got one for mum's house almost the same but second hand for $16.

[caixin]

Thank goodness for this thread we threw out our foam mats! Don't like taking chances like that esp since there's enough chemicals around to harm us already. We went to the melb baby and toddler show last weekend and got a Dwinguler bubba mat. We got the medium sized one for about $150. Much more expensive than the foam ones but really good quality. It's also much easier to clean as there are no crevices for stuff to be stuck in between. DD loves the colourful pictures and it's got pictures on both sides too.

[Miss.B]

Yay caixin!!!!! I'm so glad you got that nice mat. At least you know it's def. safe for your DD! Every time I walk past those shops and see the foam mats I feel sick. Hopefully the results will be in soon (no guessing what they will be) so people can throw those nasty things out!!

[fromscratch]

I am just wondering when these foam/plastic type mats that your talking about became so popular.

My eldest is almost 13 (makes me feel so old) and he played on a quilt and lambs wool rug. So I'm just curious I guess. Then we had dd 6 and I just did the same thing, I guess the mats are a new phenominon or I was shopping with my eyes shut. Which is so me, shopping with my eyes shut I mean.
My bff has them in her play room for her toddlers so I'll let her know. Thanks for this thread.

[Miss.B]

Squidipa, I've been keeping my eye on this one for a while, here is the latest :

KIDSAFE VIC NOTICE: FOAM MATS


Kidsafe Vic has alerted both State and Federal agencies responsible for product safety that some Foam Mats had been withdrawn in Belgium and France.

The status of the situation is as follows:
•This is precautionary advice to alert the public.
•Parents are advised not to panic, but instead to contact their supplier, requesting evidence in writing that their mats have been tested for formamides and detailing these results.
•Until this is known, Kidsafe recommends you put the mats away from your children.
•Formamides have not yet been tested for in any products in Australia as far as we know, but the regulatory authorities will be doing this shortly, if not already.

We have every confidence the regulatory authorities will keep the public informed.

The foam mats sold in Kmart are definitely the ones in question as they are made in China and mine stank so I assume it was full of the nasties. My mat has been long gone.

[buliej]

Clark's rubber (google) has a product called "natural rubber" - I wonder what this is? Sofie the Giraffe is made of "natural rubber" which is safe - but I can't imagine it's one and the same in terms of composition. Actually, I just googled "natural rubber" - if the Clark's version is truly this, it should be just as safe as Sofie which is awesome - assuming it's not corrupted with chemicals during the manufacturing process. I'm not convinced yet though - I may ring them on Monday because we need to put down some rubber mats for when DS starts crawling/climbing.

[buliej]

Thank goodness for this thread we threw out our foam mats! Don't like taking chances like that esp since there's enough chemicals around to harm us already. We went to the melb baby and toddler show last weekend and got a Dwinguler bubba mat. We got the medium sized one for about $150. Much more expensive than the foam ones but really good quality. It's also much easier to clean as there are no crevices for stuff to be stuck in between. DD loves the colourful pictures and it's got pictures on both sides too.

Caixin - the Dwinguler mats are made of (at least partially) PVC - that's not a chemical that is kid-friendly despite it being "allowed" under various consumer laws.

UPDATE - hmm - did some more research, apparently there are different kinds of PVC...people (i.e., purchasers who review on Amazon) seem to be OK with the type of PVC in these mats...sorry, Caixin!

[CrazyLady]

I think I'll just stick to a mat. Easier to vacuum and drag outside to hose and clean. The thing about the foam is I don't like the way it starts breaking down after wear. Also with the mould incident i'm really put off by anything thicker. The liquid would have been stuck inside and worked out. Rubber backing would be waaaaaaaay better

[Miss.B]

I love my car/train mat ladies. Just a standard kids rug with rubber backing, have had many a spill and the liquid hasn't done any damage to the good carper underneath (good ol rubber backing). I keep seeing those alphabet mats everywhere still, wonder when they are going to pull them off the shelves completely....I actually threw mine out last weekend when we did a big garage clean up. I bet they'll recall them now and I won't get my pennies back!

[LizLemon]

Not sure if someone posted it elsewhere but I only saw this today - issued back in October by Kidsafe...

Kids foam mats declared safe in Australia by the ACCC
Thursday, 13 October 2011 11:42
Kidsafe Victoria welcomes the release of test results detailing the safety levels of the chemical formamide in ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) foam mats.

The tests were commissioned by the ACCC, Queensland office of Fair Trading and Consumer Affairs Victoria when Kidsafe reported the issue in February 2011. Concerns were raised after the products were banned in parts of Europe.

The ACCC analysed the findings from 16 EVA products purchased in Australia and reported that:

•half of the products tested released no measurable amount of formamide,
•where formamide was present in the products, the amounts released were very small and;
•the potential exposure to children was calculated and determined to be acceptable levels when compared to the internationally recognised lowest-observable-adverse-effect-level (LOAEL) cited in Environment/Health Canada’s Screening Assessment.
The ACCC stated that the foam play mats available in Australia do not pose any health risks to children and are safe to be used for their intended purpose.