Walk down any baby aisle of any store, and you are sure to be bombarded by a selection of products so large, you have no idea what you should be buying. How does anyone ever choose when there is so much to choose from?
For most parents, those choices are often dictated by what was gifted to them at their baby shower or what samples were given to them at the hospital. When you find a product you like, it is easy to simply stick with that. But with recent concerns being raised about the ingredients used in baby products (and popular baby brands coming under fire) the choices you make in that baby aisle can feel all the more important. How do you choose a brand of products that is safe and healthy for your baby to use?
That answer will vary based on who you talk to, and on how committed you are to keeping the products you use on your baby natural and chemical free. Often, your pediatrician can provide some good advice on the matter, helping you to weed through some of the scary claims and decide what you should really be looking for. Friends and family members can provide good advice as well, based on the research they have done and the products they personally use.
In general, though, there are a couple things to consider when searching for baby bath products. The first is that your baby’s skin is far more delicate than yours, making them more prone to rashes and dryness that can be caused by certain fragrances and chemicals. The other is, we don’t know what the safety of a lot of the chemicals used in certain brands actually is. Many of these chemicals haven’t been thoroughly tested yet. So there is reason to pay attention to what is in the products you are using, and to be cautious of chemical ingredients with names you can’t pronounce or don’t recognize.
Given the extra sensitivity of your baby’s skin, avoiding products with added fragrances is a good first start. From there, read the ingredients and look up anything you don’t recognize. Searching for products that are paraben (preservatives often used in cosmetic products, though they have been linked to potential hormone disruptions) free can be another good step.
There are a lot of natural products on the market today that contain fewer chemicals and are formulated especially with the goal of being gentle with baby’s skin. Finding a product you are comfortable with isn’t as difficult as you might think. You just have to be willing to read labels and do a little research (or ask questions of your pediatrician) to seek out a brand you like.
Written by Leah Campbell, infertility advocate, adoptive mama, writer and editor. Find me @sifinalaska on Twitter.
This information is not intended to replace the advice of a trained medical doctor. Health & Parenting Ltd disclaims any liability for the decisions you make based on this information, which is provided to you on a general informational basis only and not as a substitute for personalized medical advice. All contents copyright Health & Parenting Ltd 2016. All rights reserved.
