It’s so exciting to get that positive pregnancy test and know that in only a few short months you’ll get to be a mama. You walk down the baby aisles at Target and start picking out your favorite onesies, sound machines, maternity clothes…and then also choosing between things like sling or a structured carrier? Cloth or disposable diaper? And then the really confusing part…what care products? Which are poison and which are safe and beneficial for my baby? I’m going to share our favorite natural baby products with you here and maybe I can make that process just a little bit easier for you.
Warning: Parenting comes with a wave of guilt and anxiety producing decisions.
Don’t let it get to you. Make the best decisions you can for your child at the time. If you learn something new, do something different. Know better, do better.
So if you start digging and you find out that something you’ve used wasn’t as “clean” don’t get down on yourself for it. Choose something else and move on. We are all doing our very best.
No-Go Ingredients
I’ve got a little cheat sheet here to get you started. It’s by no means perfect or as extensive as it could be, but I wanted you to have a place to get started that doesn’t feel completely unattainable.
- Artificial colors >> Learn more.
- Diethanolamine (DEA) >> Learn more.
- formaldehyde donors >> Learn more.
- Parabens
- Pthalates
- Propoylene glycol
- Sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) >> Learn more.
- Sodium lauryl sulfates (SLS)
- Toluene >> Learn more.
- Triethanolamine (TEA) >> Learn more.
For starters I usually have people download the free Think Dirty app on their phone. (This app by no means is perfect – but it’s still a great starting place). Go around your house and start scanning your products….are they coming up clean or toxic? For an extensive Clean Home Challenge try out my Ebook. I walk you through all through getting the toxins out of your home.
What We Use
Diaper Cream – Make your own or Buy it Ready-to-Use
We have three different things we’ve mostly done over the years.
Make our own Diaper cream (see the recipe here) or we make a Booty Spray for diaper change time. For that we put Fractionated Coconut Oil in a glass spray bottle with a few skin happy oils like Lavender, Tea Tree (Melaleuca), Frankincense, and Roman Chamomile. We used these recipes for years before doTERRA came out with diaper cream – and now we mostly use that.
doTERRA Diaper Cream ?
It’s got the best >>>Jojoba Seed oil, Beeswax, Shea Butter, Safflower, Lavender Essential Oil, Carrot Seed Oil, Tea Tree Oil, and what else? Zinc Oxide.
This stuff seriously works. We’ve used it on a wide variety and severity of skin irritations and we’ve always been able to overcome with this stuff. It’s easy to spread and it gets the job done.
☀️ another purpose….
Do you know what Zinc Oxide and Carrot Seed Oil have in common? Go google those two ingredients and see what DIY recipes pop up ? We keep it in my purse all the time – but especially in the summer. It’s great for park days, the zoo, the amusement park, and more. And we’ve found that it works. ✌️
Hair and Body Wash
We have always just used EWG or Think Dirty suggestions and try to keep the products to the lowest rating possible (aka nontoxic and in the “green”). We for awhile use Bronner’s plain soap. We knew it was safe – it wasn’t a product we loved though.
Then for awhile we switched to having the kids use our adult doTERRA body wash or soap bars. That was a great option and it was definitely more pleasant.
NOW though we use the doTERRA Baby Wash.
Want the softest soap EVER to use on your babes? This is it. No joke. This stuff is so gentle and soft. I used this on my brand new newborn! It’s got Apple Fruit Extract and Shea Butter making this soap sooo super soft. And it smells like bedtime ?….no joke…it’s got Roman Chamomile and Lavender plus a hint of vanilla. It’s exactly what you want to put in your babies.
What makes it different? It’s lack of toxicity. (Its ingredients are all rated a 1 on EWG) ✌️And the essential oils in it are REAL. You might use a “better” brand now but they contain crappy synthetic essential oils that are doing more harm than good. Yuck ?
Zero guilt cleaning my babies with this stuff.
Keeping Hands Clean
You can find a few of my favorite Hand Sanitizing recipes here!
We keep Sanitizer with us at all times! And we don’t use the bad stuff. yuck.
Smooth Skin
This is another one of those products that we go back an forth between homemade and buying a pre-made product. We love both options.
We do like to just throw together a raw coconut oil mix with some skin soothing oils like Geranium, lavender, Frankie-Boy, Tea Tree, and Yarrow|POM. It’s a great way to get the benefits of a raw coconut oil but also add the essential oils that we specifically need. It’s super personalized.
It IS super convenient though to have some pre-made and ready products around the house. Plus they tend to be softer! Our favorites are doTERRA’s body butter, the Rose hand lotion, and the moisturizing cream.
These are my top personal care products that we use on our babies with confidence! I hope this helps give you a jump start to know what to look for and what not to look for in your products to keep your baby safe.
doTERRA Essential Oils
I recommend only one brand of essential oils. Please do not use these tips if you are going to go out and buy the cheapest brands that you can find. When it comes to essential oils, you get what you pay for. There’s hardly any regulation on the essential oil market so you have to do your due diligence when purchasing oils. After research, I fell on doTERRA. DoTERRA holds themself to the highest purity and safety standards on the market -plus they hold themselves to fair trade and sustainability practices.
You can learn more about doTERRA’s CPTG (Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade) standards on my blog post about it.
You can get doTERRA essential oils for full price here. Or you can get a costco-like wholesale membership and pay 25% less than retail. Learn more about the wholesale membership here.
