Lately, I’ve become consumed with all the debate and news surrounding the quality of products we use at home, on ourselves and our children, even around the house.  I’ve become intrigued with all the scandalous articles and accusations, including claims that even our good old Johnson & Johnson products are tainted with toxic ingredients!

As a parent, my number one priority is my children — their safety, to be even more specific.  I take extreme measures to make sure their surroundings are safe, by adapting our environment to their needs.  I’m careful to make sure their play area is safe, their food is organic and hormone-free, their bedroom is free of dangerous objects, our home is the right temperature, and that all chemicals and cleaning products are out of their reach.  But now, one more thing I have to watch out for??  The ingredients in their lotions may be dangerous?  The tear-free shampoo may cause cancer?  Well, I take it all with a grain of salt.  I have done my share of reading, and do agree that many ingredients in the products we use should be banned, or at minimum controlled.  It’s unnerving to know that the FDA bears no role in reviewing and, much less – approving, the products we used on our most precious little ones.

Then to add one more level of complexity to the issue, I learned one more fact recently.  Did you know that products that are labelled ‘natural’ are not the same as ‘organic’ ones?  I can’t get into the details of the differences now, but suffice it to say that to be called natural, the requirements are far less stringent than those for organic products.  Natural products include those that may have one or two natural items in them (i.e. natural oils, essence, etc), whereby organic products usually ONLY have natural products*.  So, a ‘natural’ item may still have some of those nasty ingredients we’re trying to stay away from.

I don’t want to write much more, as I’m still learning a lot on the topic, and can’t say I know a lot of the details yet.  I just wanted to post this to see if I generated some discussions from other parents, and learned more about what’s best for our little ones.  We already use mostly ‘green’ household products at home, and have decided to slowly make the transition over to the personal products we use for us and our children.  We have a lot of ‘research’ to do, and hopefully will learn a lot too.

These are some products we recently purchased, on a ‘trial’ basis, that are up for consideration.  Would love to hear about what you use, and especially about how you manage your budget with these pricier options.

xo

{Sweetest Mami}

*Please, correct me if I’m wrong someone.  It’s hard to keep all the facts straight.