Natural Baby Lotion

Babies have extremely sensitive and thin skin. Because of this, it’s important to choose the right lotion to use on your baby. If you have a new baby, your pediatrician has probably told you not to use sunscreen or bug spray on your baby for the first six months. Why is that? Because human skin has the remarkable ability to absorb what we put on it. Unfortunately, our bodies don’t know the difference between good products and harmful chemicals, so it absorbs anything we put on!

Babies have thinner skin than children and adults, and they also have smaller vital organs, so it’s extremely important to take great care when choosing baby products.

Since almost all parents put lotion on their baby’s tender skin every day, it’s important to choose only natural baby lotion. Here are some tips to consider when choosing lotion for your baby:

~ Pay close attention to the ingredients in your lotion. Water should be the first ingredient in any lotion. If you see an ingredient and you don’t know what it is, check it out before putting in on your babies skin.

~ Watch closely for phthalates. Phthlates have been proven to alter reproductive development in animals and testing on babies has shown high concentrations of phthalates in their urine after using lotions which contain this chemical. Look for natural baby lotion that specifically states it is phthalate-free.

~ Watch your babies skin after starting any new lotion for rashes or irritation. If your baby seems to be reacting negatively to any lotion, even natural baby lotion, stop using it immediately.

As manufacturers start to understand the potential harm of some traditional items, more companies offering natural alternatives are emerging. Here are a few of my favorites:

Burt’s Bees, a well respected company that specializes in natural products, offers Natural Baby Lotion for just $3.99. What I love about Burt’s Bees is that they don’t use petroleum ever, the clearly state all of their ingredients, and they tell you exactly what percent natural each of their products are (the baby lotion is 98.87% natural). They also use eco friendly packaging on all of their items. If you like Burt’s Bees, they have a great Baby Starter Kit available for only $12.99 that includes lotion, shampoo, soap, dusting powder, baby oil, and diaper ointment.

No matter what lotion you choose to use, make sure that you take the time to check the ingredients and consider choosing only natural baby lotion for your little darling.

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Glass Baby Bottles

I have talked about the benefits of switching from plastic bottles to stainless steel, or metal water bottles. It’s good for the environment and there’s been growing concern over chemicals in plastic that can “leach” and get into the human system.

Years ago, our mom’s used to feed us with glass baby bottles. In recent years, bottles started to be made almost exclusively from plastic – which made a lot of sense from a safety standpoint. Glass often breaks when dropped and could injure a baby or a small child. Plastic was definitely safer.

But, with the recent concern over BPA in plastic, many parents are considering a return to glass bottles for their babies.

Here at My Lil Green Dress, we’re all for using glass bottles, they can be recycled easier than plastic so not only do they have health benefits, they are also a more eco friendly choice.

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Let’s start with going over why you may want to consider going with a natural or organic mattress.

First, the exterior of a mattress usually consists of a cotton cover. Here’s a quick newsflash for you. Cotton is the most heavily sprayed crop in the world. Lots of pesticides are used on cotton crops and unfortunately, the pesticides that are used on most of them contain lots of extremely harmful chemicals, some of which are known human carcinogens. When cotton is harvested and then used to make the thousands of items that we buy, all those pesticides don’t magically disappear. So, avoiding cotton that was ever treated with pesticides is a good thing. It’s good for the people who use the product and it’s good for the environment.

Mattresses are also required to have a fire barrier. Fire barriers are a good thing and you can be sure that all mattresses have them. Have you ever stopped to wonder how the fire barrier is made? Yea, I never thought about it until recently either, so don’t feel bad if it hasn’t been at the top of your priority list. Basically, most fire barriers are made by treating fabric with chemicals. Some of those chemicals are toxic. The more you can avoid chemicals, the better off you are.

Now that we’ve covered what’s wrong with a lot of mattresses; I’ll quickly explain what constitutes a natural crib mattress.

First, the mattress should have a cover that is made with 100% organic cotton or some other renewable fabric that isn’t treated with chemical. Bamboo is also a great choice.

Second, the fire barrier should either be made of wool, which is a great fire retardant, or treated with non-toxic chemicals. Obviously, wool is better as no chemicals are required.

Last, if you can find a crib mattress that utilizes any recycled material, that’s a good thing. For example, if a mattress has steel springs, check to see if they are made with recycled content.

Now that you know what a natural crib mattress is, you’ve just got to figure out where to buy one. Unfortunately, my favorite eco friendly mattress company, Keetsa, doesn’t yet make crib mattresses. If you’re in the process of making a baby, and you’d like to do it on an organic mattress of your own, be sure to check out my post on Keetsa mattresses.

Back to finding a natural crib mattress, the best one that I have found is the Naturepedic Organic Crib Mattress.

Naturepedic Organic Mattress

It’s a bit pricey at almost $350, but it meets all of the criteria needed to be considered a true natural crib mattress. It also has 242 coils (made with 70% recycled steel, no less!), which is well above the suggested amount. Last, it’s extremely well-made and high quality.

If you are looking for a less expensive mattress, check out the Affordable Organic Cotton Crib Mattress. It’s a bit more reasonably priced at $259. The trade-off is less coils. The coils in this mattress are not made with recycled steel, but if you can give that up, it’s a great buy for the price and it’s still an eco friendly option.

Affordable Organic Crib Mattress

Are you using a natural crib mattress? Which one? How do you like it? Share your experiences here!

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Here are some interesting facts about disposable diapers:

~ The average baby goes through more than 6,000 diapers in his first two years of life.

~ More than 18 Million diapers end up in landfills every year and they can take up to 500 years to completely decompose. Yes, that means that diapers that you wore, possibly decades ago, are STILL decomposing.

~ The average family will spend something like $1,600 on disposable diapers each year that their child wears them.

The FuzziBunz Pocket One Size Cloth Diaper diapers utilize a pocket system, which allows parents to add additional absorbent padding as needed. The use soft microfiber which helps to keep your baby’s buns dry and rash-free. They are also extremely easy to clean and reuse.
They cost less than $20 per diaper. At first that may sound like a lot of money for just one diaper. But if you think about how many diapers you’ll go through in just your baby’s first month of life, it quickly becomes obvious that cloth diapers are a serious money saver in the long run. I estimate that I’ve saved at least $1,500 per child.

I’ve got to admit that I love the cute colors that these diapers come in as well. You can get them in a wide range of colors.

No matter what brand of baby cloth diapers that you ultimately decide to use, I urge you to at least give it serious consideration. Cloth diapers that you wash at home are by far the cheapest, but there are also diapering services that will drop off clean diapers and wash your dirty ones each week. If washing dirty diapers makes you cringe, this may be a better option for you.

Choosing to use baby cloth diapers will save you money and you’ll feel good that your baby isn’t entering the world and immediately creating waste!

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