Family
Published on December 4, 2018
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Raising eco-conscious babies, way more than a trend!

written by Gmaids

Photo by Picsea on Unsplash.

Since we started our company, we have always been interested in the type of ingredients contained in the cleaning products that we use at home. In that journey, we’ve discovered the great benefits of green products, as they are not harmful to anyone at home (including babies and pets) and the lifestyle choices that come along once we’re ecologically conscious. We contribute to the care of natural resources that are irreplaceable and invaluable but we expose our entire family to it.

Before our daughter was born, we made the decision to develop a natural and ecological upbringing, because it contributes to keeping our baby healthy. It definitely nurtures an ecological consciousness and lifestyle in her as well.  We listed 3 areas to focus on: skin, wearables (including diapers and bedding), and home environment (including fragrances and cleaning products).  We also prioritized filtered water and organic and non-GMO foods to minimize chemical exposure while nursing.

SKIN

After reading studies from the EWG on how the blood from the umbilical cord of newborn babies have over 200 chemicals that are toxic to the brain, nervous system and their general development, we became really passionate about educating fellow parents on the importance of taking ownership of our endocrine and emotional health, ditching and switching personal care products, and cleaning up our homes without toxic fumes.

For starters, we began to avoid the constant use of conventional diaper creams and baby washes. A great tool is the Think Dirty app and the EWG Deep Skin Database app to scan what’s currently in your home and when shopping at the store. We can also find personal care products made with natural resources—aka plant-based—without parabens and endocrine disruptors at convenient prices. Products such as shampoos, oils, body milk, creams, cleansing wipes, and ecological sunscreens, are best when they’re free of phthalates, synthetic fragrances, petroleum derivatives, and dyes.  It’s 2018 and with all the new products available it’s relatively easy to truly pamper our babies without the added chemical burden.

WEARABLES

Diapers

Conventional diapers are highly polluting and the chemicals and materials they are made of can cause irritations or other skin problems to our babies’ bums. Cloth diapers are the least expensive if you think long-term and have the lowest environmental impact. When you add up the nearly 4 million babies born per year in the U.S. and that each one uses on average 2,200 diapers by the time they turn one, the amount of diapers that go into the landfills every month is in the billions!

But let’s face it, when there are other caregivers involved, additional health conditions take priority, and travel is frequent we need to have multiple options available.

So in the name of sanity, sustainability and for practical purposes, I split diapers into 3 categories:

  1. CLOTH – gDiapers, bumGenious. 
  2. DISPOSABLES BIODEGRADABLE  –  Little Toes.
    (100% compostable that decompose in 180 days, made from wood or plant pulps, or sugar derived plastics, chlorine-free, phthalate-free, fragrance-free, alcohol-free, latex-free,) 
  3. DISPOSABLES ECO-FRIENDLY  – Bambo Nature, Honest Company, Parasol Co, Seventh Generation, Naty.
    (not 100% biodegradable but chlorine-free, phthalate-free, fragrance-free)

The best alternative truly depends on your family’s dynamics. Some families stay at home others get support from relatives and daycares. For us, it is to use disposables and a hybrid of cloth with compostable liners (no laundering of poopy diapers needed!).  

Biodegradable disposable diapers, although they are more expensive (which you can offset by buying in bulk), they have considerably less degradation time than the traditional ones and fewer to none skin reactions. These are made with materials that come from natural resources like wood and plant pulps or sugar derived plastics, and free of chemical substances like chlorine. Little Toes, for example, are made from bamboo fibers and are 100% biodegradable.

When we are at home, we opted to use reusable cloth diapers, with compostable liners, which are easier to clean (and flush), and blend the best of both worlds. These “hybrid” ones are the gDiapers. Our friends who have only used cloth ones rave about the bum Genius.

Now, when we have to make a quick run because, life happens, and we don’t have our top two choices, we use disposables that aren’t biodegradable but have disclosed a complete list of ingredients and don’t have unnecessary chemicals that can cause a skin reaction.

Jennifer Labit has shared her research detailing each ingredient found in the disposable diapers, check her site here: https://jenniferlabit.com/?s=diapers&submit=Search

For baby wipes, Jackson Reece are 100% compostable and live up to their “kinder by nature” motto without parabens and chlorine. Water Wipes are also a clean option with 99.9% water and fruit extracts and also work great those first sponge baths. If you like your baby’s bum to smell like botanicals after a dirty diaper change, the YL Seedlings wipes are great since they only use plant-distilled essential oils. You can also check the ingredients in the wipes from the eco-friendly diaper companies mentioned above.

Clothes

When starting, get organic pajamas and bedding (including mattress, protector, and sheets). Honestly, that’s what newborns wear 90% of the time.

HOME ENVIRONMENT

Remember, the body and brain of our babies are more vulnerable to the toxic effects of cleaning chemicals if there is a perfect time to start cleaning our homes with natural products is when our children are babies. Here’s a live link with the cleaning products we use at Gmaids http://bit.ly/gmaidsproducts.

At home, we also use what we use at Gmaids, the Thieves line (especially during the cold season), and Branch Basics. Here’s a great article from then on how fragrances are the new second-hand smoke. Their oxygen boost is also a great product to treat stains in the tubs, grout, and sinks—and baby clothes! We also switched any synthetic fragrances or candles for purely distilled essential oils that we can add to our cleaning bottles for an added and lingering scent (how to get pure oils http://bit.ly/gmaidsoils).

It’s our heart to walk you through this journey and share with you these clean, safe products and lifestyle every day. So, share this empowering information in your social networks so that other moms and dads can learn and reference back to it too.

If you want us to talk about a particular topic or if you have a cleaning tip that you want to share, leave us your comments it would be great!

Subscribe to our blog, you will always find natural cleaning tips, and other tips that will help you in the routines of your daily life. Stop complicating yourself with the housework, try our professional ecological cleaning service, you will love it.

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