Mom, Baby, and Earth Friendly Products
Many products today (both edible and inedible) are manufactured with chemicals or altered natural ingredients that harm both our bodies and the environment. While one product choice of one person will not impact either greatly it is the additive and cumulative effects we should consider. It is safe to say you will not drop dead nor develop a deadly chronic disease if you eat a candy bar containing ingredients like red 3 or yellow 6 and your baby will probably be just fine crawling on those colorful foam alphabet mats. This section is for those concerned about what happens if you eat that as well as other processed foods daily in place of real, nutritious, food? And what about your baby wearing conventional disposable diapers, teething on plastic rings, drinking warmed liquids from plastic bottles, and crawling on foam mats? Day in and day out these choices affect our bodies in subtle ways that accumulate over time into those chronic diseases and weakened bodies we so readily accepted as a normal part of aging (aka decades of toxin accumulation and malnutrition). Environmentally, when we create or throw out these products – where does the waste go? Both the byproducts and the end products. Recycling is a step in the right direction but also far from ideal – different waste is generated in breaking down of these products. (see Toxin Toxout for more information).
All food products are covered under “Nutrition to Grow a Baby” and “Food Facts”. This section is for nonedible products only. The chart below is a sampling of chemicals that affect us the most, how they affect us, where they are found, and an example of a natural alternative. There are many natural alternatives and my focus is not on finding them all, instead, I’m providing links to those who took on that task. I myself refer to them in my ongoing quest to live greener and post on my Facebook page
and/or Instagram any noteworthy finds.
Additional information about synthetic fabrics such as polyester and nylon:
Safer baby products:
Laundry product safety and alternatives:
All things organic and fair trade:
Sources:
Columbia University Article on BPA and Asthma
Columbia University Article on BPA and Obesity
Dr Christopher Bray Blog on BPA
Journal of American Society of Nephrology
Wellnessmama (she includes links to research documents such as ncbi abstracts)