Sunday, September 7, 2014

Because Babies Care...


 Who doesn't love a baby? With their soft and chubby skin and such innocents, who could not care about them? Well it turns out there are people who hate babies, these people work for corporations who sell you your baby care products! Many products you would never have suspected, are actually loaded with toxic chemicals. Soap, shampoo, conditioner, and bubble bath could all contain cancer causing chemicals. Just think, you could be bathing your baby in a soup of toxins! The argument of the corporations is there is such a small amount of these chemicals that it couldn't possibly harm them, plus it's only getting put on the skin! In case you didn't know, our skin is our largest organ and anything put on it can easily be soaked into the blood stream. Here are some products to be wary of.


Baby Powder 
  • This is a somewhat unnecessary product since whatever you use is bad, because of the fine dust you and your baby can breathe in. 
  • Baby powder containing talc should never be used as there are many reports that breathing talc in can cause lung irritation and cancer. It is also said to cause ovarian cancer, so mothers please read the labels and avoid this ingredient! Here is a list on EWG for all products containing talc. 

Diaper Cream 
  • Vaseline is a big no no, and has another lesser known name, petroleum jelly. Petroleum jelly is a byproduct of the oil industry! I for one wouldn't trust that for treating rashes! 
  • Burt's bees actually is not quite safe because it has two potentially cancer causing ingredients, vitamin A acetate and zinc oxide.
  • To make your own diaper cream here is a recipe, I would only recommend using arrowroot powder in this instead of zinc oxide. This may take a bit more work than just buying diaper cream, but what mother wouldn't take the extra time and effort for her baby? 

Lotion
  • Again, avoid Vaseline as this is sometimes also sold as a lotion. 
  • On the whole I'd avoid all of Burt's Bees products since, on EWG they are all ranked not so good. Weleda, Aveeno, and Johnson's are other companies to not buy baby oil/ lotion from.
  • If you really want to use lotion on your baby all you really need is coconut oil and shea butter. Here is a great recipe for a lotion which can also be used as a diaper cream.    
Shampoo and conditioners 
  • Shampoo and conditioner can contain many harmful ingredients such as fragrance and formaldehyde releaser. All in all, steer away from these products and try to make your own instead. 
  • Click here for a good recipe for baby shampoo, and here for another quick and easy shampoo and conditioner combination.    
Baby Soap 
  • Baby soap or body wash, is practically the same as shampoo and conditioners. It has the same undesirable ingredients, that would be best if avoided.
  • Here is a great recipe for homemade baby body wash. 
Bubble Bath 
  • Bubble bath is an unnecessary addition to bath time, and can contain many unsafe ingredients. Granted there are a lot of safe products that you can buy online. Check out EWG skin deep data base to help you find some safe products.  
  • Now many of these products found on EWG you can simply make yourself! Here are some ideas for a safe home made bubble bath. This excerpt is taken from motherhood.modernmom.com "You can make homemade bubble bath a few different ways. One of the simplest is to combine 1 cup of baking soda, 1 cup of cream of tartar and 1/4 cup of cornstarch with a few drops of essential oil, according to Mother Earth News. Cox recommends combining 1/2 cup liquid soap, such as Castile soap, with a tablespoon of honey and one egg white to make an old-fashioned bubble bath. You can also make a generous batch of bubble bath using the Apartment Therapy website's method, which combines 4 cups of water, 4 ozs. of Castile soap and 3 ozs. of glycerin with your favorite essential oil." I have never actually tested this recipe, so if you're willing to try it, please share how it turned out. 
 Always remember to read the labels while your shopping, not only for baby products, but for any personal care items that you might buy. There are two simple rules for not buying something, if there are more than one ingredient you can't pronounce or don't know what it is, or if there is no ingredients label at all. 

Resouces 
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