Foam Playmats-Recent Health Warning

[beckoes]

i have one of those alphabete ones, all different colours, like a big jigsaw...is that the one? I didnt get it from Kmart, i think ours is just a crappy one from the reject shop in our local area. i wonder if its the same, no idea where it was made......thats very worrying! think we will take ours away just to be safe!

[Nai]

We had these for both DD's and they are now in the attic - I guess I will be putting them straight in the bin now!

[Swoop]

If you look at the packaging for most of them they actually say that they're not safe for under 3's. You can buy some from one of the online baby stores which are supposed to be safe - they have swirls rather than alphabet - but they were about $150 from memory so we just went without!

Thanks for posting this Miss.B, I have lots of friends with these mats.

[Sterla]

I think I heard about this a few months ago - I packed ours up as soon as I heard, but this was after DS chewing on them constantly when he was younger .

[Kazzo]

It's post's like these that make me glad that I have joined BB. Thank you so much for informing us. I have used these and packed most away except a few left out, now they are all going straight into the bin. My mother bought them for DD1 and she is the person always ringing to tell me about bad products and what is best to use so this really did slip past her.

[OceanPrincess]

Ours never made it out of DD's drawers... Bought them, packet said they had to be washed before use, couldn't be bothered washing them all ( ) so they have sat there for 18mths or so!!

Will be turfing them now!

[OceanPrincess]

Ladies just google bubba mat. They are sold by a crew called Soft Mats, they have a great website (just add the dot com dot au) and the bubba mat is safe for kids, non-toxic and durable.

They are made in Aus, but they are pricey... Be warned!

[Pretty Butterfly]

Yep, the ones Ad and I found today were made in China, said for 3 yrs and up, and Ad just said it also said to wash them with warm water before use... They were the bigger squares, with the pop out alphabet letters....

I seriously couldn't believe the smell of them though....

[Gigi]

i actually bought a Big W 'laptop rester" thingy a few weeks ago, it was in shrink wrap, once i took the shrink wrap off, the item smelt SO strong, i couldn't bear to have it inside the house. So i sat it outside for a week, to "de-smell" it - and it STILL really stunk (in a chemical way). so i took it back for a refund, citing the reason "chemical smell so strong i could not bear to have it near me" - which they accepted.

I put this experience in this thread, cos i'm now thinking "how many OTHER products are made, using these dangerous chemicals?" These strong chemical smells give me migraines, so i have strong motivation to avoid them.

As for other options (when you ditch the foam mats)
- sheepskin rugs (for young bubs who are lying and rolling
- nappy free time mats
- a quilt
- wool floor rug
- cotton floor rug

for the person with the decking that gets slippery, rubber mats - you can get rolls of this stuff. cut out design.

i brought up bilby as a young bub in a place with concrete floors and lino, so i do understand about hard, cold floors. and used pillows/cushions on the floor alot when she was learning to sit up. Having a soft zone in her large playpen helped too.

She grew up in a home with hard floors and no foam mats, we found it do-able.

[~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]

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

[helle]

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.

Smell it. If it smells like condom it's a win XD.