Hearing the words, “You are pregnant” is one of the most exciting news many women will hear in their lifetime. If you were like me, you quickly started on a strict diet limiting processed foods and nitrates, taking prenatal vitamins, eliminating caffeine, eating several fruits and vegetables and drinking lots of water. Sinus infection? Terrible body aches? Forget it. I wouldn’t take my chances with any medicine rated below a category “A,” meaning controlled studies show no risk or find no evidence of harm. I wanted to be as healthy as possible to grow this miracle I was so blessed to receive.
The Not-So-Clean Baby Scent
Once my baby was born, I was so excited to use many of the baby products that made my baby smell amazingly clean and fresh. Little did I know that the soft, fresh, clean smell I loved was a fragrance that hid thousands of known toxic and potentially harmful ingredients. Those fragrances and ingredients in several of the products I was using were causing harm on my baby’s body.
Companies aren’t required by the FDA to reveal the ingredients that make up their scents since fragrances are considered to be a “trade secret”. The International Fragrance Association (IFRA) lists 3,999 materials being used in fragrances compounds. Of these 3,999 ingredients, some have evidence linking them to health effects including cancer, migraines, nausea, allergies, autoimmune disorders, asthma, infertility, miscarriage, skin and eye irritations and child behavior disorders including learning disabilities, hyperactivity and ADD (attention deficit disorders) just to name a few.
We put so much effort into the sourcing of our inner body health before the baby is born, yet after the birth, we are quick to slap on several harmful ingredients that can create long term health problems.
Protect Your Baby’s Skin
Your skin is the largest organ of your body. Since skin is porous, it absorbs whatever you put on it, which can enter the bloodstream. Why else would topical applications of products like nicotine patches, muscle creams or birth control patches exist if they didn’t penetrate through the skin? Babies and young children are more vulnerable to toxin exposure because their organs and body systems are not fully developed and easily absorb chemicals through their skin. Our babies and children are being exposed to this daily through shampoos, bath wash, diaper creams, lotions and several other products we think are safe.
The only way to stop the toxic burden of these types of chemicals on our children (and entire family) is to learn about these ingredients, research, look at the labels and use brands that do their research too. If you are interested in learning more about the products I found to be safe and toxin free click here.
Resources:
http://americanpregnancy.org/medication/medication-and-pregnancy/
https://eraorganics.com/blogs/mom-and-baby/baby-lotion-toxins
http://www.safecosmetics.org/get-the-facts/chemicals-of-concern/fragrance/
