Healthy Child Healthy World recently published “The Toxic Takeover of Baby Nurseries: Chemicals of Concern Found in Almost Every Common Product and Furnishing,” a staggering report featuring a long list of toxins in everything from baby shampoos to cribs to wipes and their potential health risks to babies.
Also, in just 7 minutes you can watch The Story of Cosmetics from the Story of Stuff Project about the harmful chemicals – some cancer causing! – that manufacturers put in our personal and baby care products.
The sum of these studies — and many more — points to an important truth: we can no longer turn a blind eye to the toxic ingredients our children are exposed to every day.
Let’s recap: Why should parents care about household and cosmetic ingredients?
The Healthy Child report echoes many studies that link chemicals toxins to the rise of childhood allergies, asthma, autism, birth defects, obesity, and leukemia, and more.
How is this possible? In our post on chemical body burdens, we explained that overexposure to synthetic toxins can weaken a child’s already vulnerable immune system, making them more susceptible to disease and infection.
Think about it: babies are like sponges, consuming air, water and food at rapid rates. They’re also carpet crawlers and taste testers of everything within reach, getting up close and personal with the toxins in our world.
How can you find the safest products?
The use of hazardous products creates a hazardous environment for your baby.
Fortunately, there are safe solutions available and resources to help you find them. A couple of our favorites are the Environmental Working Group’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning and the organization’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database.
Other helpful product education sources include:
- The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
- Healthy Child, Healthy World: Labels 101: How to Read a Cleaning Product Label
How to make healthy babies in a toxic world.
Healthy Child confirms that toxins “… pass through the umbilical cord making pregnancy an extremely vulnerable time of development…”
At GetzWell, we can help protect you and your baby from these chemical threats with a program we call “Greening the Womb.” We’ll make recommendations based on your nutritional needs, toxic exposures in your home and workplace, sources of stress, prenatal/perinatal psychology, family health history, etc., to help you have the healthiest pregnancy possible. This sets the stage for the long term health of your child which is why we want to be involved before your baby’s born.
For more details, we invite you to our read our Greening the Womb Intro and Greening the Womb, Part 2 posts.
Make healthier choices for you and your baby.
We believe that the best way to safeguard your baby from toxins is by making your home, and your womb, as toxin-free as possible. GetzWell can help you every step of the way with our nutrition and “greening the womb” consultations. Give us a call today at 415.826.1701 to get the ball rolling.
