I traveled a lot during pregnancy and always opted out of the full body X-ray to protect Tommy from unnecessary radiation in the womb. One TSA employee, who was not pleased to see I requested a pat down said, “Your cell phone gives off more radiation than this thing.” Was this true? Was cell phone radiation bad for babies? Moving forward, I tried to keep my phone away from my belly regardless of the merit to his comment.
Once Tommy was born, I quickly realized how often I would be relying on my cell phone for work and how regular it was to have him breastfeeding or sleeping on my chest and emailing with my free hand. I was constantly thinking of the TSA agent’s comment and my sweet newborn’s health.
Then I got an email from a company named Belly Armor. They make apparel and accessories that shield everyday radiation with a specific emphasis towards pregnant moms and babies. Their product line includes blankets, nursing covers, baby hats, maternity t-shirts and more, including boxers for men to protect even sperm!
They sent Tommy a hat and me a nursing cover for when I’m nursing and need to do a little work and we love them both. Tommy was not happy about this photo being staged… he wanted the real deal but mamma didn’t want her boobs on the internet.
Today, March 1st, Belly Armor is launching a campaign to encourage parents to turn their handheld devices #onairplanemode to #reduceradiation. For every tweet, blog, and Instagram shout out that includes these two hastags, Belly Armor will donate $1 to Healthy Child Healthy World, a subsidiary of Environmental Working Group (EWG) whose purpose is to create education resources so parents can make informed decisions to protect the health and develop of children. EWG is wildly addicting if you haven’t visited their site before. I use it to find safer makeup, household products and more. 
This post isn’t sponsored but I was sent the two items mentioned above.
The radiation from cell phones is non-ionizing and low energy. Non-ionizing does not have the same potential to damage tissue and DNA like ionizing radiation (x-rays, for instance). I’m a nuclear engineer and I understand the public does not have a good grasp on the science behind the radiation. Even ionizing radiation at low levels has a very low potential to cause cancer (I’m talking from actual radioactive materials). If you fly frequently you would receive far more unmonitored cosmic radiation (ionizing) or if you live in Denver, CO at altitude you will receive far more exposure to ionizing radiation. Also, if you live in a location that has high levels of naturally occurring radiation in sand/soil/rocks then you would receive ionizing radiation.
This video is a great look at radiation and putting it in perspective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRL7o2kPqw0
I wouldn’t normally put together such an extensive comment, but as someone who has education on the types of radiation and its biological effects I feel compelled to say something. I understand the desire to do the best you can to care for a young child and protect him and putting down the cell phone is probably good for mental/emotional health. I personally thing the product above sounds convincing and it looks professional, etc but I think it is misleading and doesn’t have the actual science behind.
Glad you took the time to comment. I hear people sounding the alarm over wifi and health and never know what to think about it — is our research behind since the widespread use of it is still relatively new, or are we just freaking out Food Babe-style? Up to a certain level, precautions seem reasonable, but when people use material like the above to argue that schools shouldn’t have wifi…I don’t know.