The market these days is flooded with baby products. You have so many choices of lotions, shampoos, diaper creams, you don’t know what to buy.
Unfortunately, out of the hundreds of products out there, very few are truly safe options for your baby. And reading the ingredient list for diaper cream shouldn’t require a Ph.D.!
Consumers want to trust that companies have their best interest at heart, especially when it comes to products for their baby, but they shouldn’t.
Gillian Deacon, author of ‘There’s Lead In Your Lipstick’, writes on the dangers on talc, a common ingredient found in many popular baby powders:
“The mineral talc tends to occur in rock mass formations that are intermingle with other magnesium silicate minerals, including the highly dangerous asbestos. Since it is virtually impossible to extract the talc rock from the asbestos during the mining process, the carcinogenic contaminant is almost invariably going to be carried over into any consumer product containing talc.”
Asbestos is not something we should be dabbing on our babies multiple times a day.
Another hidden ingredient found in baby products is fragrance.
Fragrance is on the ingredient list for wipes, diaper, shampoos, baby powders, and many more.
But what exactly is fragrance?
The Food and Drug Administration explains that
“phthalates are a group of chemicals used in hundreds of products. The phthalate commonly used in fragrance products is diethyl phthalate, or DEP.”
In a public health statement from The Agency For Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, the EPA identifies diethyl phthalates as a “hazardous substance”.
The statement also points out that research has found:
“…a decrease occurred in the number of live babies born to female animals that were exposed to diethyl phthalate…”
“Some birth defects occurred in newborn rats whose mothers received high doses (approximately 3 g/kg) of diethyl phthalate.”
While they may say one would have to be exposed to high doses of this toxic substance for it to become dangerous, when you consider all of the other products you handle and that come in contact with your baby’s skin over the course of even a week, it adds up.
Propylene glycol and its derivatives is also a main ingredient found in baby body washes and shampoos.
Katherine Martinko of treehugger writes,
“Propylene glycol is used in wiper fluid and to de-ice airplanes, and yet it is often found in baby wipes, which is not safe. Look out for polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polypropylene glycol (PPG) on labels, too.”
Our baby’s soft and sensitive skin doesn’t need to be scrubbed down with chemicals. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t need much of anything. Our baby’s skin is naturally soft and new, and minimal intervention will keep it that way.
Martinko mentions another toxin, parabens, sprinkled in our products like salt on our food:
“Parabens are neurotoxins and are linked to reproductive toxicity, hormone disruption, and skin irritation.”
Just take a look at the list of ingredients found in one of the leading baby washes – and try to think twice before you put your baby in contact with these deadly chemicals.
Johnson’s Baby Bubble Bath & Wash, Gentle Cleanser
Ingredients: Water, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Peg-80 Sorbitan Laurate, Sodium Trideceth Sulfate, Acrylates Copolymer, Glycerin, Disodium Lauroamphodiacetate, Phenoxyethanol, Glycol Distearate, Fragrance, Tetrasodium Edta, Laureth-4, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Polyquaternium-7. May Also Contain Sodium Hydroxide.