Organic Baby Care

Shopping for organic baby care products may seem somewhat baffling, but it is not. Keep these shopping tips in mind when searching for your baby’s next diaper, toy, health product, or meal.

Choosing Organic Baby Toys

When shopping for organic baby toys, avoid phthalates that are known to cause cancer and are associated with infertility. In addition, keep in mind that polyvinyl chloride (also known as PVC) is found in plastic baby toys. PVC has also been linked to many health ailments including cancer. Lastly, consider the materials that plush toy is made of before it makes its way into the nursery. Mostly likely (unless otherwise indicated) stuffed animals contain synthetic fibers that contain petrochemicals. While the industry standards find this acceptable, organic mommies think twice about the idea of letting their babies roll around with a toy that gives off toxic gas even after being washed.

Organic Diapers

Making the switch from disposable to organic diapers is a major lifestyle change. In the long run, however, cloth diapers are not only environmentally friendly, but baby friendly as well. Before deciding on which is best for your family, consider this – disposable diapers are filled with gels, pesticides, chlorine, and other toxins. These toxins can be absorbed through the skin of the baby and straight into the blood stream. Once a disposable diaper is thrown away, it takes up to 500 years for it to break down in a landfill. Compare that figure to organic cloth diapers that can be used as many as 150 times and then recycled into hand rags.

If cloth diapers are a bit too much to take on, consider a combination of the two. You can utilize chlorine-free disposable diapers for outings and bedtime and reserve the cloth diapers for times when you and your baby are at home. Remember, every little bit helps.

Organic Skin Care For Baby

Did you know that a baby’s skin exceptionally thinner than yours? In fact, your baby has skin that is five times thinner than the average adult. Keep this fact in mind when considering what skin care products to use on your child. Ask your pediatrician to refer you to a baby skin care product that is both safe and age-appropriate.

Organic Labels

Perhaps you have already seen the USDA “Organic” label in stores and on baby products. When you buy USDA Organic labels, you are purchasing an item that is free of antibiotics, genetically modified organisms, food additives, pesticides, irradiation, and other synthetic chemicals that are dangerous to your baby. Organic labels can be found on a variety of items including cotton, skin care items, and food.

Organic Baby Skin Care Products

Many parents are realizing just how important it is that their children eat a well-balanced and healthy diet. Along with eating, the right kinds of foods these parents are now starting to realize the important of caring for their child’s skin as well. So a large number of now preferring to buy natural organic baby skin care products rather than using the more commercial brands.

It is important to remember that a child’s skin is extremely sensitive and for those who suffer from skin conditions including eczema may find normal skin care products make the problem much worse. It is the additives and chemicals in these products which not only cause a child’s skin to dry out but which can make a skin condition they already have much worse.

Although you can purchase natural organic baby skin, care products today a large number of parents are preferring to make their own. This is because such products are quick and easy to produce. All one needs to do is get the right sorts of ingredients and then mix them together.

However, although most can be mixed together quickly and easily there are some that may require cooking before they can be used. Yet one does not need to have any specific culinary skills in order to do this. Many homemade products that one can make for use on a babies skin cannot only be applied directly to the skin but also eaten by the child as well.

The reason many parents prefer to make their own rather than buy natural skin care products for their baby as it will save them money. Also once made as long as the product is kept in a sealed container and refrigerated they can last for several months. Below we look at a couple of the kinds of products that one can make in order to look after your baby’s skin properly.

If you are parent who uses talcum powder on their child then why not make your own rather than using those that you can buy in your local grocery or drugstore. A good one contains 1 cup of arrowroot powder, 1 tablespoon of dried ground chamomile and 1 tablespoon of dried lavender. Once mixed together this can then be applied to the child’s skin and will not only keep the skin dry but also prevent bacteria from growing.

Although there are plenty of baby shampoos available, there are some that contain ingredients that can be harmful to your baby’s system. If you really want to care for your baby’s hair and scalp then prepare your own shampoos instead. To make a rosemary one you will need a bunch of fresh rosemary, 4.5 fluid ounces of unscented baby shampoo, pint of distilled water and four drops of Rosemary essential oil.

As well as the natural organic baby skin care products that we have mentioned above which you can make. There are plenty of others that you may want to consider making for yourself. A quick search of the internet and you will find plenty of different skin care product recipes that you can make using only natural organic ingredients.

Natural & Organic Skin Care and the Deception by Manufacturers

Unfortunately there aren’t many rules to break and that’s because there is no governments or authorizing bodies to ensure that ‘organic’ claims on skin care and personal care products are genuine.

The same goes for ‘natural’ It appears that cosmetic manufacturers can claim an ingredient is natural, even if the raw material has been synthesized with chemicals, heat and pressure. The resulting compound is far from the original pure substance that they started with.

And that Bunny emblem that professes the product ingredients are not tested on animals… well that only means that the cosmetic manufacturer or its’ agents have not tested the ingredients on animals for the past 5 years.

Big players in the cosmetic manufacturing industry can lobby against the introduction of legislation that would protect the consumer from unknowingly purchasing products that contain ingredients known to cause cancer in laboratory animals Not only that, they can also add a few herbal ingredients to their products and claim them to be ‘Organic’!

If you ask most consumers, many will agree that if they choose ‘natural’ and/or ‘organic’ products, they expect it to be as pure as possible. Meaning, little or no chemical action and no synthetic chemical ingredients.

The trouble is… the chemical industries definition of ‘organic’ is ‘anything that contains ‘carbon’.

That means that leaves that have rotted over thousands of years to produce crude oil and then synthesized to make skin care ingredients can be named as ‘organic’!

And so, this allows cosmetic manufacturers a loop hole.

The best way to ensure your organic purchase is genuine it to make sure there is a Certification label on the product…. That means a third party independent body has issued the proof that the products hold up to the scrutiny of an audit trail, from growth of the raw material, harvest, storage and transport and importantly the processing.

Please be aware of the bogus ‘certification’ that some companies use.

* Applying a mock up of a label created by their art department to fool unwary consumers.

* A chemical name followed by a natural ingredient in (brackets)…(coconut)

* Claiming to be ‘derived from’…there has been a chemical change to the raw ingredient by synthetic means.

* Unpronounceable chemical sounding names on products that claims to be ‘organic’

An example of the blatant cheat is the misuse of information for the chemical foaming agent Cocomidopropyl Betaine, used in many shampoos and body washes, including baby products.

Some manufactures will leave out the chemical sounding part of the name and you will see on the label ‘Coco Betaine’ and some times (coconut) following. It would be reasonable to assume that this is a ‘natural’ ingredient.

In reality, the coconut oil has been boiled with ammonia and a toxic herbicide… far from ‘natural’ and certainly no longer a pure ingredient!

There is also a problem with contamination of some ingredients during the manufacturing process. As this is unintentional, you won’t see it listed on the label.

It has been found that nearly 70% of products assessed can be contaminated with impurities during manufacture. 55% of products assessed contained ‘penetration enhancers’ they help the active ingredients penetrate deeper into the skin.

So here is an eye-opener!… 50% of all products assessed contain penetration enhancers as well as known and probable cancer causing ingredients!

To be certain a product is truly ‘Organic’ ensure the certifying label from governing bodies such as the USDA or ACO.

ALSO:-

* Don’t fall for ‘natural’ claims. * Don’t fall for ‘organic’ claims without a logo. * Read labels! * Vote out the cheats with your purchasing dollar!