"Eco-Healthy" Childcare? Anyone Participate?

[SunflowerMama]

So I decided to become endorsed as an eco-healthy childcare according to the 30 steps listed below...

http://www.oeconline.org/resources/publications/kitsandtipsarchive/2007EHCCChecklist

www.ecohealthychildcare.org

http://www.oeconline.org/our-work/kidshealth/ehcc

We were already doing a lot of these things but I think this will help take it to the next level. I have already cleared out all my plastic dishes/sippies, etc. and replaced with Preserve Tableware, we don't have any battery operated toys, no recalled toys and nearly all our toys are natural, non-toxic wooden or cloth toys. I also cloth diaper for families and use organic food as much as possible and make all my own paint.

My main question is about the sanitizing solution licensing requires. For my home I clean using all Shaklee products (non-toxic, safe, etc.) but I do keep one squirt bottle with the little bit of bleach required for our diaper changing surface.

Do anyone know of any non-toxic cleaning product that licensing will approve to take the place of the bleach solution?

[Michael]

A couple of links that relate: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14969

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7967&highlight=bleach

[jenh171]

thank you for sharing that link & my hat's off to you for being so ecologically conscious. yeah!

[kendallina]

This is great--we do a lot of things to remain eco-friendly in our home, but after looking at the checklist, there is certainly more we can do. Thanks for sharing this great resource.

[Abigail]

Call your licensure and ask about a substitute for bleach. It's worth a try. I would love to know what they say because I'm not a fan of bleach myself, but we only use in for the diapering station after we use a soapy water mixture and wipe, then we use the bleach and wipe dry. Bleach isn't safe for pets either, obviously, and I have three curious little kitties I'm concerned about. Especially since they can open doors, drawers and cupboards and get into places you wouldn't expect.

[SunflowerMama]

Call your licensure and ask about a substitute for bleach. It's worth a try. I would love to know what they say because I'm not a fan of bleach myself, but we only use in for the diapering station after we use a soapy water mixture and wipe, then we use the bleach and wipe dry. Bleach isn't safe for pets either, obviously, and I have three curious little kitties I'm concerned about. Especially since they can open doors, drawers and cupboards and get into places you wouldn't expect.

I have an email into my licensing rep but I read in our guidelines that it just has to be EPA approved to kill germs. Seventh Generation's cleaner does state that it is EPA approved so I'm hoping she approves that and I'll just use 7th Generation for my diaper station and Shaklee cleaning products for the rest of the house/laundry.

I'm also going to start cloth diapering those in diapers (I have my stash of cloth diapers from when I diapered my girls) so I asked licensing if there were any extra steps I need to take when dealing with cloth diapers.

[MarinaVanessa]

Thanks for listing the website. I saved the list and am really excited to see how well (or how bad ) I am doing. I love the great tips and ideas that I got from the list. Now all I have to do is get my hunny on board ::.

[GretasLittleFriends]

I noticed the form gets mailed back to Oregon and you are from Texas. I'm wondering is this a national thing, or is this just intended for daycare providers in Oregon?

I took a look at the list and could answer yes to all but 5, and of those 5 there was one that I just was unsure of...

[SunflowerMama]

I noticed the form gets mailed back to Oregon and you are from Texas. I'm wondering is this a national thing, or is this just intended for daycare providers in Oregon?

I took a look at the list and could answer yes to all but 5, and of those 5 there was one that I just was unsure of...

It's based in Orgeon but is a national program. In the menu on the left side of the page you can go to 'find an eco-healthy childcare' and it'll show you all the facilities in the country. It's about 1400 nationwide.

I just realized the original post didn't have the site with all the info. Here it is...

http://www.oeconline.org/our-work/kidshealth/ehcc

[AnythingsPossible]

According to the checklist you can use bleach when required by your state. So not using bleach for sanitizing is not a requirement. We can use an ammonia solution that our local cleaning supply sells but I am pretty sure it isn't a natural sanitizing agent either.

[MarinaVanessa]

According to the checklist you can use bleach when required by your state. So not using bleach for sanitizing is not a requirement. We can use an ammonia solution that our local cleaning supply sells but I am pretty sure it isn't a natural sanitizing agent either.

Yes, I read that too. I'm from CA and licensing likes for us to use a bleach/water solution so that was ok. I got a 20 out of 30 . You only need to get 26 out of 30 and some of them I didn't mark off because it was stuff I just havn't thought about which I'm sure I'd be ok with (like checking all of the toys that I have for lead, checking my art supplies etc.) I'm sure that I can do 6 more, I just need to get the rest of the household on board like not using aeresol sprays (the boys use hairspray, I don't ).

Some things I wasn't sure why they are bad. Like particle board furniture? Is it bad somehow? Our entertainment center, cubbies, bookshelf and kitchen playset are made of particle board. Is it unsafe somehow? Also it says no use of candles (scented or unscented). I love candles and use them for decorating but never light them during DC hours. Another one was proffesionally installed wall to wall carpet? I have tile and carpet downstairs but our upstairs is wall to wall carpeting. If we install it ourselves does that mean it's ok to have wall to wall carpeting ? I also use febreeze (I live with boys) and also don't use it during DC hours. I'm a home daycare so I'll have to check with them to see if it counts or not if I don't use them during DC hours. If it's allowed then I make the cut no problem.

[sahm2three]

So I decided to become endorsed as an eco-healthy childcare according to the 30 steps listed below...

http://www.oeconline.org/resources/publications/kitsandtipsarchive/2007EHCCChecklist

www.ecohealthychildcare.org

http://www.oeconline.org/our-work/kidshealth/ehcc

We were already doing a lot of these things but I think this will help take it to the next level. I have already cleared out all my plastic dishes/sippies, etc. and replaced with Preserve Tableware, we don't have any battery operated toys, no recalled toys and nearly all our toys are natural, non-toxic wooden or cloth toys. I also cloth diaper for families and use organic food as much as possible and make all my own paint.

My main question is about the sanitizing solution licensing requires. For my home I clean using all Shaklee products (non-toxic, safe, etc.) but I do keep one squirt bottle with the little bit of bleach required for our diaper changing surface.

Do anyone know of any non-toxic cleaning product that licensing will approve to take the place of the bleach solution?

When my licensing inspection was going on, I told them that I do have bleach in my home and that if that was a problem with licensing then I understood but would not be using it. I gave them print outs of MSDS sheets on bleach and on the product that I use instead, Thieves Household cleaner. I printed out studies done by Brunswick Labs showing how Thieves not only kills bacteria, but is strong enough to kill black mold and also MRSA! I got the ok and got licensed. PM me if you want some more info!

[MarinaVanessa]

After checking out all of our toys I realized that I had a doll here made of plastic vinyl. I honestly didn't know about the PVC thing so I sent it home with DCB yesterday (his mom brought it for him to use at daycare) and plan on getting cloth dolls soon. That's another thing on the list I can check off.

I was also pleased to see that when I looked up the interior paint that we use to paint our house it qialified so I got to check off another box.

Right now the parent's supply bottles along with their other necesities but I decided I would use a certain kind here at daycare and so would provide them myself. If I do this and buy them before my baby comes I can write off all of the bottles I purchase as a business expense and still use them when the baby arrives . I think I'll wait until after my baby-shower since I've already added the BPA-free bottles to my registry ... who knows, maybe I won't have to buy any at all!

I can't believe how excited I am to be so close to marking off enough boxes! I think I said it has to be 26 out of 30 things on the list but it's actually 24 out of 30 so I'm almost there. Just need to find my mercury thermometer a home. I'm wondering why I even have it since I use digital ones now anyway. It's probably the pack-rat in me .

I make my own cleaners except for bleach to make the the bleach/water solution that I use (that's what's recommended by licensing) and Folex. It is Non-Toxic but I didn't read anything about it being biodegradeable so I'm kind of bummed.

[SunflowerMama]

After checking out all of our toys I realized that I had a doll here made of plastic vinyl. I honestly didn't know about the PVC thing so I sent it home with DCB yesterday (his mom brought it for him to use at daycare) and plan on getting cloth dolls soon. That's another thing on the list I can check off.

I was also pleased to see that when I looked up the interior paint that we use to paint our house it qialified so I got to check off another box.

Right now the parent's supply bottles along with their other necesities but I decided I would use a certain kind here at daycare and so would provide them myself. If I do this and buy them before my baby comes I can write off all of the bottles I purchase as a business expense and still use them when the baby arrives . I think I'll wait until after my baby-shower since I've already added the BPA-free bottles to my registry ... who knows, maybe I won't have to buy any at all!

I can't believe how excited I am to be so close to marking off enough boxes! I think I said it has to be 26 out of 30 things on the list but it's actually 24 out of 30 so I'm almost there. Just need to find my mercury thermometer a home. I'm wondering why I even have it since I use digital ones now anyway. It's probably the pack-rat in me .

I make my own cleaners except for bleach to make the the bleach/water solution that I use (that's what's recommended by licensing) and Folex. It is Non-Toxic but I didn't read anything about it being biodegradeable so I'm kind of bummed.

That's so great you're almost done checking everything off!! Don't you feel so much better?!? I spent all weekend working on the checklist and made sure the only household cleaners I had anywhere were my Shaklee products and my 7th Generation for the diaper station (my licensing rep said it was ok), I bagged up all the plastic plates, sippies, etc. I had and replaced with the Preserve tableware and just bpa plastic free water bottles for all the kids. I double checked all our art supplies/paint and toys and actually got rid of the few battery-operated ones we had. I even broke out my stash of cloth diapers from when I diapered my girls and emailed all the parents to offer that as a service if they were interested. I feel so much better for doing this and I mailed my checklist off Monday so I can't wait to hear back and get my endorsement certificate.

[MarinaVanessa]

That's so great you're almost done checking everything off!! Don't you feel so much better?!? ..... I feel so much better for doing this and I mailed my checklist off Monday so I can't wait to hear back and get my endorsement certificate.

Yes it feels great, and most of the things on the checklist we were already doing. We don't use regular batteries, we use rechargeable ones for the few toys that do need them but I'm not willing to give them up since they are multi-language toys but I do store the rechargeable batteries in a locked drawer. I already have enough boxes to check of to qualify for the certificate but before I start marking some of No's on things like candles and aeresol cans etc. that aren't used unless the DC kids aren't here I wanted to wait and see what they said. I already made a draft to be able to add this to my handbook under the "About Us" section right after "Licensed Care". It's pretty much the checklist of everything that I can a mark a yes on and figured this would qualify under the last thing on the list about educating our families since I also added tips and some info about BPA, PVC etc.

I requested a mailed check-list since the print was so small when I printed it off of the web site so I havn't gotten it but by the time I get it I hope to have everything done and answered so all I have to do is fill it out and send it in. How exciting for you!! Let us know when you get your certificate! And thanks so much for sharing!