Over the past decade of researching baby formula, I have seen the formula market change for the better. There are now many more organic brands available, and lots of them use less white sugar or corn syrup solids than they used to.

The single biggest positive change for formula-feeding parents was when Bobbie formula came to market last year. I had long recommended European brands as the very Best Stuff, and many of my clients went to heroic lengths and great expense to source HiPP, Holle, or Lebenswert. Others who simply were not comfortable getting formula from Europe or trying a goat milk formula were left choosing from among the lesser options available here.

Bobbie solved this problem because it features ingredients on par with the European brands, but is also FDA-approved and available in the United States.

Why Bobbie Is Best Stuff

I consider Bobbie to be the best American infant formula, hands down. Here is some of what is so special about Bobbie:

• The milk used in Bobbie formula is organic and comes from pasture-raised cows.
• Bobbie sweetens their formula with lactose, which is naturally occurring in milk, not corn syrup or maltodextrin, the latter of which is still often found in most organic formula, even those from Europe.
• Bobbie meets the EU levels for iron and is the only American formula to meet EU DHA standards.
• Extra whey protein is added to mimic the whey/casein protein ratio in breastmilk, making it more digestible and easier on sensitive tummies.
• Bobbie’s formula does not contain palm oil or any GMO.

I also like that Bobbie is made in the United States (and Vermont to boot!) by a woman-run company. Breaking into the formula business is not easy, and Bobbie is the only new formula brand that’s been given the FDA green light in more than five years. They now have customers in all 50 states, and the reviews are glowing.

Your Concerns About Bobbie Formula

As I have said before, there’s no such thing as a perfect baby formula, but Bobbie is very close. Here are of the issues some of you have raised about Bobbie.

1. Bobbie formula does not contain added prebiotics or probiotics, which are in some other formulas. I probably wouldn’t rely on the probiotics/prebiotics in formulas anyways, mostly because of dosage and quality/viability of the organisms. Parents who want to supplement with probiotics should choose a high-quality product like Klaire Labs Ther-Biotic for Infants.
2. Bobbie contains soy ingredients (soybean oil and soy lecithin), but they are organic and non-GMO. The soybean oil isn’t the primary source of fat, and their soy lecithin is hexane-free. It’s very hard to avoid soy products in formula, so this is not a deal-breaker in my book.

A Pediatrician’s Stamp of Approval for Bobbie Formula

Because I am not a doctor, I like to confer with one when recommending something as important as baby formula. I trust the opinion of Dr. Dina DiMaggio, a well-respected pediatrician in Manhattan.

Dr. Dina likes Bobbie in part because she prefers her patients choose a formula that is FDA reviewed. “It ensures the formula actually contains what the label says it should contain, that the formula contains the proper nutrients for a baby’s growth and development, that the formula is free of bacterial contaminants, and that the formula manufacturers are following numerous good manufacturing practices and safety guidelines.”

Dr. Dina also recognizes the shortcomings of the FDA: “Although the Infant Formula Act ensures infant formula safety, it really hasn’t made any major updates since it was written in 1980, whereas the European Union has made updates more recently. Although many US formulas do contain DHA, it is not mandated and might not be added at the level of EU formulas. In addition, the EU union does have more restrictions around what sugars can be used in infant formula.”

(Fortunately, Bobbie hits the mark here with both the addition of DHA and the use of lactose as its sole sweetener.)

Bottom Line on Bobbie Formula

I think that Bobbie formula is a great option for formula-feeding parents who want an American alternative to the Good Stuff from Europe. Bobbie is good for full-term babies up to twelve months, babies who struggle with constipation, and babies with no known allergies or sensitivities to dairy or soy.

Dr. Dina agrees, adding, “I like recommending Bobbie to patients since it is made right here in the US (no supply issues like buying some other US formulas or European formulas!), and it is FDA reviewed, while also being a European style formula with the levels of iron and DHA that is recommended for babies. For those families seeking an organic formula, it is also organic with the main sugar in it being lactose, just like breastmilk.”

Please comment below with any questions about Bobbie, and see our Safe Formula Guide for my opinion on dozens of other brands.

Stay sane,

The post Bobbie—The #1 US European Style Baby Formula appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

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UPDATED: November 2021

Written by Maia & John

Finding a non-toxic mattress is super-important, but also super-confusing to work through. If your head hurts just looking at the length of this page, please feel free to email our Home Health Director, John, for individualized help. You can also call him at 802-613-3254.

This video is several years old (from the last time we updated this guide!), but everything in it still holds true. The only change is that Happsy mattress is also the very Best Stuff!

EXCLUSIVE NON-TOXIC MATTRESS COUPONS

The Best Discounts on our Best Stuff mattresses! We’ve negotiated these discounts for you. (See below, under Best Stuff and Good Stuff for Black Friday deals).

Plush Beds: $100 extra off, in addition to whatever other deals they’re running. Use code GIMME100.

Naturepedic: 15% off site-wide. Use code GIMME15.

Happsy: $225 off mattresses. Use code GIMME225. (With this discount, Happsy is the most affordable of the bunch.)

I hope these shortcuts are helpful for those of you looking to make a quick decision.

For the rest of you, read on for what to look for in a non-toxic mattress, the confusing world of certifications, and of course, our lists of Best, Good, Okay, Bad, and Sneaky mattress brands.

A Note on This Updated Guide

Thanks to the demands of customers like you, more and more mattress manufacturers have taken the steps to make truly safe mattresses with top-level certifications. This means that consumers have more choices – and our Best Stuff and Good Stuff categories have grown to include more brands than ever before.

We still believe that a fully-certified mattress is of the utmost importance. In this guide, we decided to give special attention to the brands that manufacture only toxin-free mattresses. Several mattress companies now have the proper certifications, but they are owned by other entities that make conventional (toxic) mattresses. Our updated Best Stuff category includes only the brands that a) have the top certifications that guarantee the mattresses they sell are free of all toxins, and b) aren’t owned by parent companies that pollute the environment by manufacturing toxic mattresses.

My Own Non-Toxic Mattress Choices

When I was pregnant for the first time, we decided to upgrade to a king-sized bed in anticipation of co-sleeping with our newborn.

Of course, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t agonize and research before making any purchase… and there was plenty to agonize over when it came to finding a non-toxic mattress!

At the time of writing this updated post, I have an 8-year-old and a 11-year-old, one of whom still spends a lot of time in our bed. I’m so glad I feel comfortable with (and comfortable on!) the non-toxic mattresses we chose, which is the Soaring Heart Zoned.

Our Top Pick for Non-Toxic Mattress

As you’ll see below, there are only three non-toxic mattress brands that qualify as the Best Stuff, thanks to their super-legit certifications and demonstrated commitment to safety and environmental responsibility.

We are both (Maia and John) now sleeping on Soaring Heart mattresses, which happen to also be the most comfortable, luxurious mattresses we’ve found.

Why a Non-Toxic Mattress Matters

I often tell my private consulting clients that their mattress is the very first thing they should upgrade when detoxing their homes. This is particularly true when it comes to a crib mattress.

The reason I feel so strongly about sleeping on a non-toxic mattress? Well, for one thing, babies and kids spend a lot of time sleeping, and even busy, night-owl grownups spend at least 25% of their lives in bed.

Moreover, there is evidence that your immune system works hardest at night, so it seems reasonable to make your sleep environment as clean as possible.

Toxins in Mattresses

Unfortunately, mattresses are loaded with noxious chemicals, including:

• Various petrochemicals. Indeed, MOST of what a conventional mattress is made of is petroleum-based.
• Polyurethane foam is the main ingredient in most mattresses. It’s composed of polyol and diisocyanate, both of which are derived from petroleum. Polyurethane is not environmentally-friendly and is dangerous for workers who work in its manufacturing.
• Flame-retardant chemicals are needed in part because polyurethane is so flammable. There is some good news on the flame-retardant front – more on that in a minute!
• Soybean foam is a Sneaky ingredient that sounds non-toxic. Unfortunately, the majority of this type of foam is still polyurethane.
• Synthetic latex, which usually made from styrene, a human carcinogen.
• Adhesives that may contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Some organic manufacturers skip the glues all together–mattresses can be bound with thread, clips, or heat.

This chemical cocktail releases VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which are linked to a host of health problems, from respiratory irritation to cancer.

A Myth About Off-Gassing

Many of my clients think that their mattresses are okay if they are old because they have “already off-gassed.” Unfortunately, this is not true in the case of foam mattresses. In fact, as the foam degrades, more PBDEs (hormone-disrupting flame retardants) may be released.

Fire “Safety”: The Most Dangerous Part of Your Mattress

Mattresses are required by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to meet flammability laws, which previously meant that they were almost always treated with bromated or chlorinated flame-retardant chemicals, typically one of the first three on this list:

• Polybrominated diphenyl ethers. PBDEs are associated with hormone-disruption, and neurodevelopmental delays, including lowered IQ. The European Union has banned the use of PBDEs in electronic devices. Studies show that children in the United States have higher levels of PBDEs than adults do. Oh, and here’s the kicker: they don’t even work very well at stopping fires.
• Firemaster 550. This nasty chemical cocktail is made with bis (2-ethylhexyl) tetrabromophthalate (TBPH). Yes, you saw that word in there: phthalate. TBPH is nearly identical to to DEHP, the phthalate banned in children’s products (including mattresses!!) due to evidence of carcinogenicity and developmental toxicity.
• Chlorinated tris. This is the notorious chemical that was removed from children’s pajamas in the 1970s because it was shown to cause cancer.
• Halogen-free flame retardants. This newer class of chemicals (such as ammonium polyphosphate, aluminium diethyl phosphinate, and melamine polyphosphate) is believed to be much less likely to bioaccumulate than bromated flame retardants. I still prefer my mattresses to be free of even these.

In addition to these notoriously toxic flame retardants, companies may use some of the following ingredients to pass flammability tests: boric acid, silica, melamine, vinylidene chloride, and fiberglass.

Are Coils Bad Stuff?

There has been a lot of online chatter in recent years regarding metal coils in beds. We paid close attention to this and did some research, and arrived at the conclusion that steel springs present no known danger.

The bottom line is that there is no reason for concern. We simply cannot find any credible evidence showing that metal coils can act like an antenna and concentrate EMFs into our sleeping bodies.

What to Look for in a Non-Toxic Mattress

Now that you know what can make a mattress toxic, let me tell you about the materials and certifications that make up a non-toxic mattress. They include:

• Organic wool (untreated) is naturally flame- and mildew/dust mite-resistant.
• 100% natural latex (made from rubber trees) is safer than latex blends, which may contain petroleum-based polyurethane. You’ll probably read a lot about Talalay versus Dunlop latex in your search for an organic mattress. In terms of comfort, Dunlop is firmer and Talalay is lighter and softer. If you’re looking for a GOLS-certified mattress (more on this below), you’ll need to choose a mattress made of Dunlop latex.
• Organic cotton (grown in untreated soil, without pesticides) can be used for batting or mattress wrapping. There is a robust debate about whether or not the herbicides and pesticides used on cotton crops will wash/bleach out as the cotton is processed. Most studies show that it does, but some folks believe that a residue remains. We believe that the risk of sleeping on a mattress or sheets made from conventionally grown cotton are tiny. Still, for the good of the planet, we should all choose organically-grown cotton whenever possible. (Sadly, certified organic cotton is costly… about two times the cost of conventional.)
• Trusted certifications from third-party certifying bodies mean that some ingredients in the mattress have been vetted by organizations committed to improving air quality. This also means a safer sleeping surface for you. However, all certifications are not created equally!

If You Can’t Afford a Non-Toxic Mattress

Let’s say that you’ve looked all the way down to our Okay Stuff category, and checked out the coupons (top of this page), and you simply don’t have it in your budget to upgrade to a safe mattress right now. Unfortunately, there’s no way to wrap a mattress to protect yourself from VOCs. However, running a robust air filter will go a long way towards purifying your indoor air. This is the one I have in my bedroom, because while I do have a toxin-free mattress, I also have other furniture and rugs that aren’t as clean. I love knowing that the air filter is mitigating the damage!

Sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish or update Safe Product Guides. Thank you so much for reading!

Non-Toxic Mattress Certifications

Sorting through mattress certifications is maddening. Here’s just some of why that is:

1. First of all, not all certifications are created equal – some offer great assurance that your new mattress will be non-toxic, while others are essentially meaningless.
2. What’s more, just because a company shows a certification doesn’t mean all of the material in that mattress is certified. One of our readers wrote to us about a mattress that contained Oeko-Tex 100 certified wool, but the company wouldn’t confirm that they solely purchase the wool from this source. Thus, in this case it would be impossible to know if the mattress you’re purchasing contains the certified wool or not (to say nothing of the other materials in this mattress).
3. Sometimes, a mattress will claim to have a certification that they don’t really have. One of the most common deceptive practices is when a manufacturer claims to have GOLS-certification for their latex mattress, and they even display the GOLS logo on their website. They might even show an actual copy of it on their website, complete with date and signatures. If, however, the certificate is not written to the same name as the manufacturer, it is not particularly meaningful. They are commonly written to a latex supplier out of Sri Lanka or India or South America. A certification written to an entity or person in Sri Lanka shows only that the latex was certified up to that point on its journey to becoming someone’s bed. Between Sri Lanka and your bedroom, all sorts of things can (and do) happen to the latex to cause it to be more toxic than the certification implies.a mattress will claim to have a certification that they don’t really have. One of the of the most common deceptive practices is when a manufacturer claims to have GOLS certification for their latex mattress, and they even display the GOLS logo on their website. They might even show an actual copy of it on their website, complete with date and signatures. If, however, the certificate is not written to the same name as the manufacturer, it is not particularly meaningful. They are commonly written to a latex supplier out of Sri Lanka or India or South America. A certification written to an entity or person in Sri Lanka shows only that the latex was certified up to that point on its journey to becoming someone’s bed. Between Sri Lanka and your bedroom all sorts of things can (and do) happen to the latex to cause it to be more toxic than the certification implies.

Best Non-Toxic Mattress Certifications

The two certifications to look for in your mattress are GOLS (for latex) and GOTS (for textiles). It’s worth repeating: the best organic mattress brands that have these certifications have the certifications written directly to the mattress manufacturer.

To obtain a GOTS certification, at least 95% of the mattress must be made of certified-organic materials, and certain chemistries are prohibited entirely, even for that other 5%. These include polyurethane foam, heavy metals, formaldehyde, and the fire-retardants listed above. A GOTS certification on a mattress means that the entire manufacturing and distribution process is environmentally-safe and socially-responsible. If you are curious about a brand that we don’t review in this guide, you can check for GOTS certification in the GOTS database.

One thing we love about GOTS certification is that in order to obtain it, a mattress must be produced in a facility that is also certified. This gives you extra peace of mind.

Similar to GOTS, a GOLS certification means that the mattress is made of at least 95% organic latex. Once again, the remaining 5% of the materials are also restricted in important ways.

Good Non-Toxic Mattress Certifications

While Oeko-Tex Standard 100 doesn’t require any organic materials to be used in a mattress, it does set limits for VOC emissions (such as formaldehyde). It also prohibits the use of dangerous flame-retardants and dyes.

Greenguard-certified mattresses have been tested, and are within limits, of certain VOCS, such as formaldehyde. Greenguard Gold has stricter standards than plain old Greenguard.

Okay Mattress Certifications

Organic Content Standard 100 just means that some of the ingredients are organic, but doesn’t ban flame-retardants or other harmful chemicals.

CertiPUR was developed “by members of the global foam industry,” although it does ban the use of some chemicals, such as PBDE flame-retardants and formaldehyde. It’s important to know that CertiPUR does not certify an entire mattress, only the foam portion.

Sneaky Mattress Certification

NAOMI (National Association of Organic Mattress Industry) was created by Pure Rest Organics, which is a mattress company, so, it is in no way independent or third-party, obviously!

The Bottom Line on Non-Toxic Mattress Certifications

Most certifications are of SOME value, but they can be used sneakily by mattress manufacturers. Manufacturers may claim to have a certification that they don’t actually have. So you really need to ask to see the actual signed certification, keeping in mind that if it’s out of date, it’s worthless. You also want to make sure that the entire factory that produces your mattress is certified free of toxins (particularly flame retardants), to guarantee that you don’t have to worry about cross-contamination.

The Best Stuff

The Good Stuff

The Okay Stuff

The Bad Stuff

The Sneaky Stuff

The post Safe Mattress Guide appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

1. Loulouka (both cow and goat) / 2. Happy Baby / 3. Kabrita / 4. Bobbie / 5. Lebenswert / 6. Serenity / 7. Holle  / 8. HiPP / 9. Baby’s Only  / 10. Kendamil

UPDATED: November 2021

I wrote this guide on how to choose organic baby formula in 2012, and have updated it more than ten times since! The great news is that overall, things have moved in a positive direction on the formula front. Many new organic baby formula brands have come to market–while others have been discontinued.

This guide will review the current organic baby formula options, including European baby formulas, goat milk formulas, and which brands I consider the Best Stuff. (Speaking of goat milk formulas–this post goes into details about why you should consider it if you’re formula-freeding, but it needs to be updated from the 2018 version, mostly to include our new favorite goat milk brand, Loulouka.)

Bottom Line: Best Organic Baby Formula

If I were formula-feeding my infant, I would choose Loulouka. Loulouka Stage 1 is free of palm oil and maltodextrin. You can read more about why I think Loulouka is a superior formula below, under “The Good Stuff.”

 

As always, my goal with this updated guide is to make choosing the safest product easy. We’ve researched dozens of brands of organic baby formula, and I hope this guide will save you time and anxiety.

Here are two ways the industry has changed for the better over the last decade:

1. Many companies have ditched corn sugars in favor of lactose. Lactose occurs naturally in cow (and goat) milk and much more closely mimics human milk.
2. Many organic baby formula brands are using lower quantities of cheap, problematic oils (such as soy and canola). They’ve increased the amount of healthier oils (such as coconut and olive).

The bottom line: infants born today will almost certainly enjoy a healthier formula than did their siblings born even a few years ago.

What About the Baby Bottle?

Here is a cheat sheet to help you choose the safest bottle for your baby, whether you are breast- or formula-feeding! My top pick is this one.

Two important disclaimers before I jump in: 

1. I am not a medical professional or a nutritionist. I’m just a label-reading mom like the rest of you, here to share what I’ve learned and which organic baby formula I would choose if I were shopping for my own baby.
2. If I recommend vendors from whom you can purchase European organic baby formulas, I am not guaranteeing that you’ll have a satisfactory experience shopping with them. I’m simply telling you the companies with whom I would feel comfortable were I looking to buy formula myself. I’m also an affiliate partner with some of them, so please read my disclosure page.

P.S. Breastmilk is Better Than Any Organic Baby Formula

Needless to say, I’m pro-breastfeeding. I have only two kids, but I breastfed for a total of 7 years, so you can do the math.

The reality is that many of my readers and clients— amazing moms with beautiful, healthy children– formula feed at least some of the time. And one thing that all formula-feeding moms want to know is, what is the safest, healthiest organic baby formula I can give my child? I hope this updated guide helps answer that question.

Best American Organic Baby Formula

If you aren’t comfortable getting a European formula, you should consider Bobbie. You’ll read more below about why I love this brand below.

What to Avoid in Baby Formula

When it comes to choosing a safe infant formula, it’s as much about avoiding the bad stuff as it is about finding the good stuff. What follows are some of the controversial ingredients and additives that you will find in most baby formula.

Even a few brands that I have deemed Good Stuff contain some of these ingredients–it’s impossible to avoid them all! Some of them are worse than others, but I mention them all here because these are at least worth considering when you are choosing baby formula.

Non-organic ingredients

An organic label alone doesn’t make a formula healthy, but avoiding any non-organic formula is a good start. Conventional formula likely contains traces of pesticides, milk contaminated with antibiotics or growth hormones, and oils extracted with hexane. Organic baby formula is almost always superior to anything conventional.

Organic baby formula cannot contain GMOs or artificial colors/flavors. Organic baby formula from Europe is even better: it must be free of sugar, corn syrup solids, and chemically-extracted synthetic nutrients. In addition, 30% of the calories in organic European formulas must come from lactose.

Soy

Soy formula is usually only recommended if a baby suffers from dairy intolerance.

If you’re buying non-organic formula, the soy is likely genetically modified. Synthetic l-methionine is added to soy formula to meet nutrition requirements. Because it is produced with things like hydrogen cyanide and other air pollutants, it is prohibited in European organic foods. This means that there is no such thing as organic soy-based infant formula in Europe.

Soy-based formula contains soy protein isolates, which my mother the health coach describes this way: “highly processed soybeans that have been chemically altered to no longer resemble a whole food.”

Soy formulas tend to have higher levels of aluminum contamination since soy sucks up aluminum from the soil.

Soy formula also contains high levels of plant-derived estrogens (phytoestrogens). In fact, the concentrations of phytoestrogens detected in the blood of infants fed soy formula were shown to be 13,000 to 22,000 times greater than the concentrations of natural estrogens. The effects of this are simply unknown.

Unfortunately, even most dairy-based formulas contain soy oils or lecithin, but it makes sense to avoid soy-based formulas unless a baby has a true dairy allergy. If that IS the case for your child, you can ask your pediatrician about Baby’s Only’s newer Pea Protein formula. Earth’s Best soy fomula contains corn syrup (as the FIRST ingredient), so this is a hard one for me to recommend even for lactose-intolerant infants.

Palm oil and palm olein

These are commonly added to formula to help replicate the high palmitic acid content of breastmilk. But the structure of the fat molecules in palm oil (and other vegetable oils) is different from that found in breast milk, and the fats are digested differently.

Palm oil and palm olein have been shown to inhibit the absorption of calcium and fat. On the other hand, plant-derived fats that match the structure of the most common fat molecules in breast milk have been shown to promote more healthy bacteria in the gut, reduce colic, gas, and constipation, and allow for fat and calcium to be absorbed better.

From what we know, only one company—Kabrita, which makes a goat milk formula—uses these more beneficial fats (high SN-2 palmitate, a.k.a. “OPO fats,” a.k.a. “structured truglycerides”), which are produced by an enzymatic reaction on a mixture of vegetable oils.

If you want to avoid palm oil, Loulouka doesn’t contain it.

DHA/ARA

Most formulas now boast the addition of essential fatty acids DHA and ARA. DHA and ARA are long chain fatty acids found naturally in human breast milk, which make up the major long chain fats in baby’s brain and nerve tissue.

We know that naturally occurring oils from food, food-based oils, and mom’s diet (in breast milk) is highly beneficial, but some studies have shown no benefits when DHA and ARA are added to formula.

The most common types of DHA and ARA extracted by the solvent hexane, a known neurotoxin, although the hexane is removed from the formula after it’s been processed. There are other methods for extraction, but these are relatively new and the jury is out on whether they are harmful, beneficial, or of no consequence at all.

Note that any organic oils in European formula cannot be hexane-extracted.

If you want to avoid DHA/ARA, avoid formulas with these ingredients:

• DHA oil
• algal oil
• cohni oil (DHA)
• alpina oil (ARA)

If you choose a formula without DHA added, but want to supplement on your own, this is the brand we like.

Note that since February of 2020, all European formulas are required to contain DHA.

Carrageenan

You will find this additive in tons of stuff in your health food store, and infant formula is no exception.

Derived from seaweed, carrageenan helps stabilize liquid formula, but numerous animal studies suggest that it leads to intestinal inflammation and colon tumors. The European Union has outlawed the use of carrageenan in all infant formula, but in the United States it appears in both conventional and organic baby formula–typically the ready-made varieties since it functions as a stabilizer to ensure the nutrients are well-mixed.

Preservatives

Synthetic preservatives are sometimes added to prevent the oils in formula from spoiling. Two that have snuck into even organic baby formula: beta carotene and ascorbic palmitate.

Synthetic nutrients

There are several synthetic nutrients that you will find in many organic baby formulas.

Look out for the following:

• Lutein is hexane-extracted from marigolds.
• Lycopene is produced with toluene, a neurotoxic benzene derivative.
• Nucleotides are produced from chemically-treated yeast.
• Taurine is processed with carcinogenic sulfuric acid.
• L-carnitine was banned by the National Organic Standards Board because of concerns over carcinogenic properties. As of February 2020, the European Union requires infant formula to contain this nutrient. (The reasoning: the nutrient is present in breast milk and infants with this deficiency can develop a variety of disorders.)

Certain sugars

Breast milk is naturally very sweet, so formulas invariably contain added sugars.

The sweetener that most closely mimics that found in human milk is lactose, but this cow’s milk-based sweetener is expensive. As a result, many manufacturers instead use plant-based sucrose, which was banned by The European Union in 2009 (except for babies with allergies), because of concerns of over-feeding and subsequent obesity. The FDA provides no such regulation on what kind of sugars can be used.

Other sweeteners include maltodextrin (made from rice, corn, or potatoes), and “glucose syrup solids,” which is just a clever name for corn syrup solids.

In 2012, concerns were raised about formulas sweetened with brown rice syrup when Dartmouth researchers found that organic baby formula made with organic brown rice syrup contained six times the EPA’s safe limit for arsenic. (More on arsenic in baby food here.)

Most organic baby formula these days, even the superior European brands, seem to choose maltodextrin as a sweetener, since it’s cheaper than lactose and helps powdered formula dissolve quickly.

My two cents on sugar: I’m not a big fan of maltodextrin, but I do feel that it’s better than white sugar or corn syrup. The best organic baby formula will contain only lactose as a sweetener.

Best Toddler Formula

If I were looking for a formula for a baby older than 12 months, I would consider Kabrita. There is strong evidence that goat milk more closely mimics human breast milk, and Kabrita is the only formula I know of that contains the beneficial type of palm oil (see more on this above).

Kabrita has generously offered 10% off for my readers with code GIMMEKABRITA. 

Buy now from Kabrita

“Sensitive” and Hypoallergenic Organic Baby Formula

For those babies who need a hypoallergenic formula, many pediatricians recommend Pregestimil or Nutramigen (both by Enfamil) or Allimentum (by Similac).

If forced to choose between these, I would go for the Allimentum since it skips the carrageenan and corn syrup. But I can’t call any of these Good Stuff since all three contain ingredients of concern and none is organic. Nutramigen is probably the very worst of these, comprised of 48% corn syrup solids!

If it were my baby, I would choose HiPP HA organic baby formula, which contains no sugar, corn syrup, or maltodextrin, and is full of good prebiotics. You also might want to try HiPP Anti-Reflux formula if your baby has a sensitive stomach. It’s made with 100% whey and no casein to prevent reflux. This site carries these versions of HiPP.

Please check with your pediatrician first if you suspect an intolerance or allergy.

We hope you’re enjoying this post! Sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish or update our Safe Product Guides.

Other Things to Consider When Choosing Baby Formula

When you’re shopping for an organic baby formula, you’ll also want to be cognizent of the whey/casein ratio, the addition of prebiotics and probiotics, A1 versus A2 milk, and potential aluminum or BPA contamination. Let’s look at these one by one.

Whey/Casein Ratio

In an attempt to mimic real breast milk as closely as possible, formula manufacturers engineer their products to have a specific whey/casein ratio. Not sure what whey and protein are? Here’s the deal:

• Whey proteins stay in liquid form in the stomach (when exposed to stomach acid)—think the watery whey that separates in a container of natural yogurt–and exit the stomach more quickly. Whey proteins are therefore easier to digest and are rarely a source of allergies.
• Casein proteins form solids in the stomach (like cheese curds) and empty at a slower rate. They are more likely to cause digestive issues and be a source of allergies.

There is controversy over the optimal whey/casein ratio for a baby formula because the ratios found in breast milk change over time: whey content is high in early lactation (with a ratio of about 90:10), and by late lactation, whey and casein protein amounts are roughly equal.

Goat milk and cow milk both have a whey to casein ratio of about 20:80. Whey protein is added to formulas to adjust this ratio.

So what is the optimal whey/casein ratio? This depends on factors such as how old your baby is (in other words, how developed his/her digestion is), whether your baby has any digestive issues (like reflux, which may be a reaction to too much casein), and whether your baby is sensitive or allergic to casein.

We also don’t really know how much of the whey and casein added to formula actually ends up being assimilated. It’s definitely worth having a conversation with your pediatrician about which formula has the right ratio for your baby, although in many instances the whey/casein ratio isn’t an issue you need to worry about. Most babies do fine on standard formulas.

Prebiotics & Probiotics

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria, and prebiotics are food for probiotics. You probably already know that good gut bacteria is key to healthy immune function.

Breast milk has natural prebiotic properties, such as its oligosaccharide content, and breastfeeding introduces lots of healthy bacteria to the breastfed infant’s microbiome. In an attempt to mimic human milk (and ride the wave of current health trend!), many formula manufacturers now add prebiotics and probiotics to their products.

There’s little research to suggest that this offers any real benefits, and the American Association of Pediatrics doesn’t officially recommend it, but they are probably also not harmful to healthy babies.

My two cents: I probably wouldn’t rely on what’s in formulas as an effective probiotic/prebiotic supplement (mostly because of dosage and quality/viability of the organisms). Parents who are really interested in supplementing with probiotics should choose a high-quality product like Klaire Labs Ther-Biotic.

Aluminum in Infant Formulas

Unfortunately, it seems like high aluminum content in formulas is pretty much ubiquitous (studies confirm this in UK and Canadian markets, and there is no research done yet on formulas in U.S. market).

It’s not clear exactly why this is, but there are a variety of modes of potential contamination: raw materials (powdered milk may have aluminum added to prevent clumpiness, for instance), additives (like phosphorous), and manufacturing processes.

It’s important to note that a lot of healthful foods we eat contain more aluminum than even that found in the most contaminated formula (which was HiPP in this study)–including fish, spinach, and many types of tea. I’m not convinced tha the amount in formula is something we need to be overly concerned about.

We also don’t know is how much of the aluminum that’s ingested ends up accumulating in the body of infants and toddlers. In adults, most aluminum is excreted, but what remains does accumulate and can cause problems in the long term.

There’s little that consumers can do about aluminum in formula, except for:

• Choosing breast milk if possible.
• Avoiding soy-based formulas, as these tend to be highest in aluminum.
• Preparing powder formula with a silicon-rich mineral water—in the U.S., Volvic and Fiji water fit the bill. Experts believe that this could reduce the absorption of aluminum across the gut of the child and also potentially help the child to excrete aluminum in the body via the urine. However, these are areas which are also being researched.

A2 Milk

BPA in Formula Cans

Good news: there is one thing you no longer have to worry about when buying formula, and it’s BPA. The FDA has finally gotten with the program and banned BPA from formula container linings. Of course, I worry about what’s being used in place of BPA, but still this is a small victory!

One Important Way to Make Formula-Feeding Safer: Filter Your Water!

Tap water may be contaminated with chlorine byproducts, weed killers, insecticides, solvents, lead, BPA, phthalates…the list goes on. Fluoride is present in infant formula, and when combined with fluoridated tap water, infant exposure levels can exceed safe amounts. I think everyone should Invest in a good carbon water filter, but especiaily if you have a foirmula-fed baby in your home.

The Good Stuff

Baby’s Only Dairy Toddler Formula

While it’s not perfect, Baby’s Only, in particular the Gentle variety, is one of the best formulas available in the United States. Here’s why:

• Baby’s Only makes an organic baby formula with no added DHA. Their other formulas include DHA and ARA extracted from egg lecithin, which may or may not be problematic for babies who react to hexane-extracted DHA.
• Baby’s Only organic baby formula is made in the USA by a family-owned business that is not publicly traded.
• Baby’s Only does not contain palm oil.
• As of 2021, Baby’s Only is using A2 milk, making it an even better choice.

Here are all of the ingredients in the Gentle formula: Organic lactose, organic whey powder, organic nonfat milk. organic canola oil, organic high oleic oil (organic high oleic sunflower and/or organic high oleic safflower oils), organic linoleic sunflower oil, organic whey protein concentrate, organic coconut oil, less than 2% of: organic sunflower lecithin, calcium ascorbate, calcium phosphate, inositol, magnesium oxide, ferrous sulfate, niacinamide, d-alpha-tocopheryl acetate, zinc sulfate, calcium pantothenate, thiamine hydrochloride, vitamin A, copper sulfate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, manganese sulfate, phylloquinone, biotin, vitamin D3, sodium selenate, vitamin B12. 

Some concerns I have with Baby’s Only:

• Baby’s Only regular dairy formula contains brown rice syrup–it’s actually the first ingredient. In response to concerns about high arsenic levels, they created a high-tech filter that removes inorganic arsenic from brown rice syrup, reducing it to undetectable levels, as confirmed by the Consumers Union. Still, I recommend Baby’s Only Gentle formula because this one is sweetened with just lactose.
• Baby’s Only formulas are technically “toddler” formula, because in order to have FDA approval as an infant formula, a company must conduct clinical trials and undergo extensive testing. Many people choose Baby’s Only even for infants, but you should check with your pediatrician before doing so.
• Baby’s Only contains canola oil (hard to avoid!).

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Bellamy’s Organic Baby Formula

This Australian formula is very similar to to the European brands. It doesn’t have DHA/ARA or corn ingredients, but it does contain soy and palm oil. It contains 97% organic ingredients, but unlike Lebenswert, the dairy in this formula doesn’t come from biodynamic farms. Unfortunately, we haven’t found a way to get Bellamy in the United States.

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 Bimbosan Organic Baby Formula

This Swiss brand of organic baby formula looks similar to the other European brands. I love the lack of maltodextrin, palm oil, corn syrup, and sugar! Bimbosan doesn’t include DHA/ARA. Unfortunately, I can’t find any vendors selling this formula.

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Bobbie Organic Baby Formula

Finally someone is producing a European-style formula that meets all FDA requirements and is now available in the U.S.

Here’s why Bobbie is Good Stuff:

• The milk used in Bobbie’s formula comes from pasture-raised cows from Organic Valley Farms.
• Bobbie sweetens their formula with lactose, not sugar or maltodextrin.
• Bobbie meets the EU levels for iron and is the only US formula to meet EU DHA standards.
• Bobbie’s formula does not contain palm oil.

Bobbie includes DHA and ARA, and while hexane is used to retrieve the ARA, it is removed and undetectable in the final product. Bobbie formula does not contain prebiotics or probiotics. Bobbie contains some healthier oils (like coconut), but does still contain soy.

Here are all the ingredients in Bobbie: ORGANIC LACTOSE, ORGANIC NONFAT MILK, ORGANIC HIGH OLEIC (SAFFLOWER OR SUNFLOWER) OIL, ORGANIC SOYBEAN OIL, ORGANIC WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, ORGANIC COCONUT OIL, LESS THAN 1%: ORGANIC SOY LECITHIN, SCHIZOCHYTRIUM SP. OIL, MORTIERELLA ALPINA OIL, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM CITRATE, SODIUM CHLORIDE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, MAGNESIUM CHLORIDE, POTASSIUM BICARBONATE, FERROUS SULFATE, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, ZINC SULFATE, CUPRIC SULFATE, MANGANESE SULFATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE, SODIUM SELENITE, CHOLINE BITARTRATE, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), ASCORBYL PALMITATE, INOSITOL, MIXED TOCOPHEROL CONCENTRATE, dl-ALPHA TOCOPHERYL ACETATE (VITAMIN E), NIACINAMIDE (VITAMIN B3), CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), FOLIC ACID, PHYTONADIONE (VITAMIN K), BIOTIN, CHOLECALCIFEROL (VITAMIN D3), CYANOCOBALAMIN (VITAMIN B12)

Buy now from Bobbie

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Happy Baby Organic Baby Formula

Happy Baby’s organic baby formula is a great option for parents who want to avoid corn syrup and maltodextrin, but don’t want to order European formulas. I put this brand as a close second to Bobbie when it comes to formulas you can buy in this country.

I love that lactose is the first ingredient in Happy Baby’s formula, and that it skips synthetic taurine.

I also like that this formula contains a nice prebiotic blend; in fact it contains nearly four times the prebiotics found in an other organic baby formula in the U.S. market.

The only negatives of this formula are that it contains soy oil and algae-derived DHA.

The complete ingredients of Happy Baby formula stage 1: Organic Lactose, Organic Nonfat Milk, Organic Palm Olein Or Palm Oil, Organic Soy Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic High Oleic (Safflower Or Sunflower) Oil, Organic Galactooligosaccharides (GOS), Organic Whey Protein Concentrate, <1% of: Fructooligosaccharide (FOS), Choline Bitartrate, Potassium Chloride, Organic Soy Lecithin, Calcium Hydroxide, Mortierella Alpina Oil, Calcium Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Ascorbic Acid, Magnesium Chloride, DHA Algal Oil (Schizochytrium), Potassium Bicarbonate, Inositol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Mixed Tocopherol Concentrate, Vitamin E (Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate), Niacinamide, Calcium Pantothenate, Cupric Sulfate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Riboflavin, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Manganese Sulfate, Beta-Carotene, Potassium Iodide, Folic Acid, Vitamin K (Phytonadione), Biotin, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol), Cyanocobalamin

Note: Happy Baby makes a stage 1 and a stage 2 formula, both of which are Good Stuff. Happy’s Sensitive Formula is Sneaky Stuff–you’ll see more on this below.

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HiPP Organic Baby Formula

The major upside to HiPP is the lack of plant-based sweeteners (it uses lactose instead). HiPP also contains beneficial probiotics. Hexane is used to extract the DHA and ARA, but it is removed and undetectable in their formula.

There are actually three versions of HiPP–one from the UK, one from Holland, and one from Germany. They are so similar that I wouldn’t worry about which one you get. The only distinction worth noting is that the HiPP UK does not contain probiotics, only prebiotics. You can read more about my thoughts on pre/probiotics above.

If your baby needs a hypoallergenic formula, I recommend HiPP HA (more on that above, too!).

Complete ingredients in Stage 1 HiPP: Skim milk, Whey powder, Vegetable Oils (palm, rapeseed, sunflower), Lactose, Galactooligosaccharies from Lactose, Whey Protein, Fish Oil, Calcium Chloride, Potassium Citrate, Choline Oil, from M. Alpina, Sodium Citrate, L-Phenylalanine, Calciumorthophosphate, Magnesium Sulfate, L-Tryptophan, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate,  Stabilizer Lactic Acid, Vitamin C, Natural Lactic Acid Culture (Lactobacillus Fermentum Hereditum3), Vitamin E, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Potassium Iodate, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenate, Vitamin K, Maganese Sulfate, Vitamin D, Biotin, Vitamin B12

As with Holle, HiPP can be hard to purchase in the U.S. and expensive to have shipped from Europe. At the moment, these two  retailers have HiPP in stock: Organic Baby Food 24 and My Organic Company (for 5% off everything at My Organic Company, use code GIMME5 at checkout).

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Holle Organic Baby Formula (with Cow Milk)

This European brand of formula comes from grass-fed, organic, and biodynamic milk. It doesn’t contain a host of the synthetic ingredients that you’ll find in American formulas. It also doesn’t contain soy or corn ingredients.

I love that Holle formulas are made from milk from Demeter-certified farms. This means that the cows are pastured in organic farms, but goes beyond organic to ensrure biodiversity and sustainability.

Holle’s Bio Pre formula contains no maltodextrin, and is only sweetened with lactose. I like that the Bio Pre line has more milk fat than other formulas. This means it contains fewer vegetable oils. Stage 1, 2, and 3 contains skimmed milk and maltodextrin. (Holle Bio Pre has basically the same ingredients as Lebenswert–more on that brand in a moment!).

The ingredients in Holle Bio Pre: Whole milk**, whey powder* (partly demineralised), vegetable oils* (palm oil*, rapeseed oil*, sunflower oil*), lactose*, skimmed milk powder**, calcium carbonate, vitamin C, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, vitamin E, ferrous lactate, zinc sulphate, niacin, calcium-Dpantothenate, copper sulphate, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, manganese sulphate, potassium iodate, folic acid, vitamin K, sodium selenate, vitamin D

Unfortunately, Holle has not been approved by the FDA, so it’s difficult and expensive to obtain in the U.S. Here are three companies with whom I have affiliate relationships:

1. BabyKind Market 
2. Organic Baby Food 24 (based in Germany)
3. My Organic Company (for 5% off everything at My Organic Company, use code GIMME5 at checkout).

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Holle Organic Infant Goat Milk Formula

This formula forgoes the most concerning preservatives and the most problematic synthetic nutrients. (Formula 1 does have L-methionine).

I don’t like that maltodextrin is the primary added carbohydrate here, but I appreciate that it is organic. I gave Holle a few points for including lactose. I’m also not a fan of the palm, sunflower, and grapeseed oils, but they are organic in this case.

If you’re debating between Kabrita and Holle goat milk formulas, keep in mind that Holle goat milk does not contain whey. Because of this, Holle goat might be constipating for some infants.

Holle Goat Organic Baby Formula ingredients: Organic Goat Milk Powder, Organic Maltodextrin, Organic Lactose, Organic Vegetable Oils [Organic Rapeseed Oil, Organic Sunflower Oil], L-Choline, Calcium Hydroxide, Algae Oil (DHA), L-cystine, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Chloride, Vitamin C, L-tryptophan, L-Tyrosine, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Chloride, Iron Lactate, Inositol, Vitamin E, Zinc Sulfate, L-Carnitine, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin B2, Manganese Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin K, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D3, Biotin, Vitamin B12

Holle isn’t imported to the U.S. so can be hard to purchase. Here are three places with whom I have affiliate relationships:

1. BabyKind Market
2. Organic Baby Food 24
   
3. My Organic Company (for 5% off everything at My Organic Company, use code GIMME5 at checkout).

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Kabrita Goat Milk Formula

For now, Kabrita is approved for 12+ months (although people do use it for infants). The whey/casein ratio is 50:50, making this an ideal option for babies 12 months and older. (Kabrita hopes to debut an infant formula in the U.S. market later this year.)

I like that Kabrita uses non-GMO goat milk (from Missouri and the Netherlands) and has lactose as the primary added carbohydrate.

What really makes Kabrita stand out, however, is the fat blend that they use. From what we know, Kabrita is the only brand that uses plant-derived fats that match the structure of the most common fat molecules in breast milk. These fats (high SN-2 palmitate, a.k.a. “OPO fats”), which are produced by an enzymatic reaction on a mixture of vegetable oils, have been shown to promote more healthy bacteria in the gut, reduce colic and gas, reduce constipation, and allow for fat and calcium to be absorbed better.

For parents with children with coconut allergies, Kabrita doesn’t contain coconut oil (of course, this could change at any time, so always read the label!).

Ingredients in Kabrita formula: Lactose (Milk), Nonfat Dry Goat Milk, Goat Whey Protein Concentrate Powder (Milk), High sn2-Palmitic Acid Oil, Soybean Oil*, Galacto-oligosaccharides (Milk), Palm Kernel Oil, Sunflower Oil, and less than 1%: Tri Calcium Citrate, Mortierella Alpina Oil, Tri Sodium Citrate, Crypthecodinium Cohnii Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Hydroxide, Choline Bitartrate, Sodium L-ascorbate, Choline Chloride, Ferrous Sulphate, L-ascorbic Acid, Zinc Sulphate, Vitamin E Acetate, Inositol, Niacinamide, Calcium Pantothenate, Cupric Sulphate, Retinyl Acetate, Thiamin Hydrochloride, Vitamin B6 Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Manganese Sulphate, Folic Acid, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin K1, D-biotin, Sodium Selenate, Vitamin D3, Cyanocobalamin.

Kabrita has generously offered 10% off for my readers with code GIMMEKABRITA. 

Buy now from Kabrita

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Kendamil Organic Baby Formula

Kendamil is another great European formula, and has been made organically in the UK since 2018. Kendamil uses whole milk from grass-fed cows and doesn’t contain soy or palm oil.

Kendamil formula comes from the milk of English Jersey cows, whose milk is richer in good fats, protein, and calcium. Furthermore, Jersey cows produce mainly A2 milk.

This formula does not contain probiotics, but it does have prebiotics and its DHA and ARA are not extracted with hexane. Kendamil contains taurine, l-carnitine, and nucleotides.

The complete ingredients in the stage 1 Kendamil are: Organic whole milk, Organic demineralized milk whey protein powder, Organic skimmed milk, Organic vegetable oils (sunflower, coconut, rapeseed), Organic galacto-oligosaccharides (from milk), Calcium citrate, Sodium citrate, Potassium chloride, Calcium lactate, Magnesium chloride, Docosahexaenoic acid, Arachidonic acid, Vitamin C, Potassium hydroxide, Choline bitartrate, Inositol, Taurine, Nucleotides (cytidine-5’-monophosphate, disodium uridine-5’-monophosphate, adenosine-5’-monophosphate, disodium inosine-5’monophosphate, disodium guanosine-5’ monophosphate), Iron pyrophosphate, Zinc sulphate, Vitamin E, Niacin, Pantothenic acid, Copper sulphate, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Manganese sulphate, Folic acid, Potassium iodide, Sodium selenite, Vitamin K, Vitamin D3, Biotin, Vitamin B12

One thing that makes Kendamil special is that even their Stage 2 and Stage 3 formulas do not contain maltodextrin—almost every other formula adds this carb beyond Stage 1.

Kendamil also makes a goat milk formula that is Good Stuff.

You can buy all Kendamil varieties at My Organic Company.

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Loulouka Organic Baby Formula (Cow)

As I mentioned above, this newer Swiss formula is the very Best Stuff. Loulouka Stage 1 is free of palm oil, soy, corn syrup, sucrose, carrageenan, and maltodextrin, contains lactose, and is certified organic with milk from grass-fed cows.

Loulouka contains DHA and prebiotics, but does not contain ARA or probiotics.

Please note that the stage 2 and 3 Loulouka do contain maltodextrin. Some parents choose to keep their older babies on the stage 1–this is a decision you should make with the help of your pediatrician, but we do still consider Stage 2 and Stage 3 Loulouka to be Good Stuff.

Loulouka Stage 1 ingredients: Organic Skimmed Milk, Organic Demineralized Whey Powder, Organic Vegetable Oils [Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Rapeseed Oil], Organic Lactose, Galactooligosaccharides (GOS from lactose), Minerals (Calcium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Phosphate, Calcium Citrate, Zinc Sulphate, Sodium Selenate, Manganese Sulphate, Potassium Iodate, Potassium Hydroxide, Copper Sulphate, Iron Sulphate), Emulsifier (organic sunflower lecithin), Refined Fish Oil, Choline Bitartrate, Vitamins (C, E, A, D, B3, B5, B7, B12, K, Folic Acid, B1, B6, B2), L-tyrosine, L-tryptophan, Inositol, Antioxidants (tocopherol-rich extract), L-cysteine, L-carnitine

$45.00 — or subscribe and save up to 8%Buy Now

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Loulouka Goat Milk Formula

Goat’s milk formula is worth considering if you have a baby with sensitivities to cow’s milk (or maybe even if you don’t). If you’d like to consider a goat milk formula for your baby, our top choice is Loulouka. I like that the primary ingredients in Loulouka’s goat milk formula—goat milk, carbohydrates, and oils—meet a very high, European organic standard. Goat milk formula is not usually organic, so that makes this one special.

It is superior to Holle’s goat milk formula because it does not contain maltodextrin.

The ingredients in this formula are: whole goat milk*, lactose*, vegetable oils* (sunflower, rapeseed), calcium carbonate, trisodium citrate, microalgae oil (MILK), magnesium chloride, L-cysteine, calcium hydroxide, vitamin C, L-tryptophan, L-tyrosin, sodium chloride, iron lactate, vitamin E, zinc sulfate, niacinamide, calcium D-pantothenate, retinyl acetate, copper sulfate, thiamine hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, riboflavin, mangenese sulfate, potassium iodide, vitamin K1, sodium selenite, cholecalciferol, biotin, cyanocobalamin

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Lebenswert Organic Baby Formula (Stage 1)

Lebenswert formula is produced by Holle, and is even better.

One of the the biggest problems with Holle’s original formula is that it contains maltodextrin. Lebenswert’s stage 1 formula is free of maltodextrin, relying instead upon lactose to lend sweetness to the formula.

Moreover, Lebenswert adheres to Bioland organic guidelines for farmers and manufacturers. These guidelines are even more stringent than the European Union’s Eco-Regulation; you can read more about them here.

Lebenswert also skips soy and a bunch of the synthetic nutrients found in most of the organic formulas in America, but does still contain palm oil and canola oil (called “rapeseed oil”).

Here’s a complete ingredients list of the stage 1 formula: Organic skimmed milk, organic whey powder (partly demineralised), organic vegetable oils (palm, rapeseed, sunflower oil), lactose, potassium chloride, calcium, vitamin C, sodium chloride, ferrous gluconate, vitamin E, zinc sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, copper sulphate , Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6 , Vitamin A, manganese sulfate, folic acid, potassium iodate, vitamin K1, sodium selenate, vitamin D.

Because it’s from Germany, Lebenswert is not FDA approved, so it can be challenging to obtain here in the U.S.

I’ve vetted the several places to purchase this formula, and am happy to have established affiliate relationships with the following sellers (this list continues to be updated as the market changes):

1. Organic Baby Food 24
2. BabyKind Market 
3. My Organic Company (for 5% off everything at My Organic Company, use code GIMME5 at checkout).

PLEASE NOTE: Lebenswert organic baby formula in stages above 1 do contain maltodextrin. While these are still “Good Stuff” and on par with original Holle, Lebenswert stage 1 is superior.

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Serenity Kids Toddler Formula

Serenity’s new toddler formula uses milk that is not only grassfed and organic but also A2. It contains a lot of the Good Stuff we look for–lactose to sweeten, prebiotics, olive and coconut oils, and non-hexane extracted omega acids. It’s free of corn, rice, and soy.

You should ask your pediatrician about giving this formula to an infant.

These are all the ingredients in this Serenity Formula: Organic Lactose, Organic A2 Whole Milk Powder, Organic Galactooligosaccharides, Organic Whey Protein Concentrate, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Palm Oil, Organic Cocoa Butter, Less than 2% of: Human Milk Oligosaccharides (2′-fucosyllactose, Lacto-N-neotetraose), Organic Inulin, Algal Oil, Organic Sunflower Lecithin, Organic Egg Lecithin, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Citrate, Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Nucleotides (Adenosine-5-Monophosphate, Cytidine-5-Monophosphate, Disodium Guanosine-5-Monophosphate, Disodium Inosine-5-Monophosphate, Disodium Uridine-5-Monophosphate), Choline Bitartrate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Magnesium Phosphate, Inositol, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Methylcobalamin, d-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, Zinc Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Niacinamide, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Copper Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid, L-Methylfolate, Kelp Powder, Manganese Glycinate, Phylloquinone, Sodium Selenite, Biotin, Vitamin D3, Vitamin D2.

Use code GIMME15 for 15% off anything at Serenity.

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The Okay Stuff

Earth’s Best Organic Baby Formula

I am so happy to see that Earth’s Best has gotten rid of the corn syrup in their formula! The only sweetener is now organic lactose, making this formula almost Good Stuff. I’m still only calling it Okay Stuff because of the sheer number of synthetic nutrients.  It also contains several soy ingredients. Earth Best’s sensitive organic baby formula as well as their dairy-free version both have corn syrup solids as the very first ingredients, so those two are Sneaky Stuff.

The complete list of ingredients in the basic dairy infant formula is: Organic Lactose, Organic Nonfat Milk, Organic Oils (Organic Palm or Palm Olein, Organic Soy, Organic Coconut, Organic High Oleic Safflower or Sunflower Oil), Organic Whey Protein Concentrate, Less Than 1: Mortierella Alpina Oil*, Crypthecodinium Cohnii Oil**, Fructooligosaccharide, Lutein, L-Carnitine, Vitamin A Palmitate, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol), Vitamin E (DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate), Mixed Tocopherol Concentrate, Vitamin K (Phytonadione), Ascorbyl Palmitate, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cyanocobalamin, Niacinamide, Folic Acid, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Ascorbic Acid, Choline Bitartrate, Inositol, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Chloride, Calcium Hydroxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Cupric Sulfate, Magnesium Phosphate, Potassium Bicarbonate, Potassium Chloride, Potassium Iodide, Potassium Hydroxide, Potassium Phosphate, Sodium Selenite, Sodium Citrate, Taurine, Organic Soy Lecithin, Nucleotides (Cytidine-5-Monophosphate, Adenosine-5-Monophosphate, Disodium Uridine-5-Monophosphate, Disodium Guanosine-5-Monophosphate, Disodium Inosine-5-Monophosphate)

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Topfer Lacatana Bio

A lot of you have inquired about Topfer, and I like that it’s the very oldest of the German formulas! Still, when I drilled down on the ingredients, I don’t think it’s as good as the other European options. This is really just because it isn’t biodynamic, contains canola and palm oils, and uses maltodextrin as a sweetener.

The ingredients in Topfer are as follows: Skimmed milk, whey powder  partly demineralized, vegetable oils (Organic Palmoil, Rapeseedoil, Sunfloweroil), maltodextrine, skimmed milk powderˡ, starch, oil of Mortierella alpina, fish oil, calcium carbonate,  sodium citrate, potassium chloride, vitamin C, calcium phosphate, iron lactate, vitamin E, bifidobacteria cultures (B.breve, B.bifidum, B.infantis, B.longum), zinc sulphate, niacin, calcium-Dpantothenate, copper sulfate, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, manganese sulphate,  potassium iodate, folic acid, vitamin K, sodium selenate, vitamin D.

(Note: Topfer’s Stage Pre does not contain any sweeteners at all, making it Good Stuff!).

The Bad Stuff

Avoid any infant formulas that are not organic, for all of the reasons listed above.

Aptamil Nutura is a British brand about which many of you have inquired. Because it isn’t organic and contains corn syrup, I can’t recommend it.

Gerber’s BabyNes is admittedly super convenient, but there are lots of problems with these pods. For one, they are plastic-heavy, with lots of surface area exposure (as opposed to bigger traditional containers.) They also involve warm water running through plastic tubing and other parts in the machine. You probably know that warmth and plastic equals increased chemical leaching. Plus the pods are super wasteful from an environmental standpoint. And what’s in the pods isn’t Good Stuff anyway, with corn sweeteners and no organic ingredients.

Nan formula is perhaps the best of the Bad Stuff, since it does contain lactose as a sweetener. But this formula, made by Nestle, isn’t organic. And if you read all the way down the ingredients list, you will eventually find the corn syrup!

Two other definite Bad Stuff brands who don’t even make an organic variety of their formula:

• Gerber Good Start. This should come as no surprise. Their jarred baby food is also Bad Stuff.
• Enfamil. For some horrible reason this is the brand I chose for Felix when I needed a nursing break due to bleeding nipples and ran out of pumped milk. Wah! Enamel’s Pregestimil and Nutramigen lines (for sensitive or allergic babies) are made up almost entirely of corn syrup and vegetable oils.

The Sneaky Stuff

Bright Beginnings Organic Baby Formula, owned by pharma giant PMB, contains corn syrup, rather than dairy-based lactose, as well as lots of vegetable oils.

Enfamil Enspire doesn’t have a terrible list of ingredients (it’s sweetened with just lactose rather than corn syrup or white sugar), but nothing is organic and it has a ton of synthetic nutrients and some questionable preservatives.

Happy Baby Sensitive contains corn syrup and maltodextrin. Note that Happy’s regular formula is Good Stuff (see above).

Parent’s ChoiceOrganic Baby Formula contains maltodextrin, as well as all the other bad stuff.

Similac Organic Baby Formula is the only organic formula to contain actual cane sugar, and lots of it. Their ready-to-use formula also contains carrageenan. The only upside? Similac is free of palm oil.

Similac Advance Non-GMO Baby Formula. This marketing ploy really annoys me. GMOs are the least of the problem with conventional infant formula.

Still, I was surprised to see that there isn’t sugar or corn syrup in this formula. If you’re going for a conventional formula, this is the one to get.

This version of Similac contain galactooligosaccharides, which are prebiotics. It isn’t unlike the Baby’s Only Whey in fact, except it isn’t organic (and btw, organic by definition means non-GMO).

This version is actually better than Similac Organic, but it still contains a significant number of synthetic ingredients.

Similac Pure Bliss is yet another version from this pharma giant. This one uses dairy from grass-fed, antibiotic-free cows, but it’s not organic, and is still loaded with synthetic nutrients.

Vermont Organics Baby Formula, also owned by PMB Nutritionals, contains palm oil, hexane-extracted DHA/ARA, and organic glucose syrup solids (corn), and maltodextrin.

Whole Foods 365 Organic Baby Formula, also produced by PMB, contains palm oil and corn-based sugars.

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]]> https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/safe-infant-formula-guide/feed/ 648 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/safe-infant-formula-guide/baby-bottle-formula-from-gimme-the-good-stuff-768x768/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/toxic-heavy-metals-in-baby-food-what-you-can-do-to-protect-your-baby/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/toxic-heavy-metals-in-baby-food-what-you-can-do-to-protect-your-baby/#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2021 13:15:19 +0000 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/?p=113456 Research provided by Michael Hopkins, PhD. You’ve likely already read about the recent Congressional Report on toxic heavy metals in baby food. Below, we will provide a summary of what’s happened and what the report found, followed by our own insights (and outrage!). Timeline & Players On August 1, 2019, the FDA received a secret slide presentation from Hain (which owns Earth’s Best Organic), revealing increased risks of toxic heavy metals in baby foods, which (according to the report), the Trump administration ignored. Hain revealed to the FDA that its “policy to test only its ingredients, and not its final product, underrepresented the levels of toxic heavy metals in its baby foods.” Hain had found arsenic levels as much as 93% higher in all finished foods they tested. Because Hain had only tested raw ingredients in order to estimate heavy metal levels, this means that every item they sell containing brown rice would contain significantly more arsenic than they’d estimated. After seeing these results, the FDA took no action. In November of 2019, following reports alleging high levels of heavy metals in baby foods, the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy (not the FDA) requested internal documents and test results from seven of the largest baby food manufacturers, which are: Nurture, Inc., which manufactures Happy Family Organics, including baby food products under the brand name HappyBABY. Beech-Nut Nutrition Company. Hain Celestial Group, Inc., which sells baby food products under the brand name Earth’s Best Organic. Gerber. Campbell Soup Company, which sells baby food products under the brand name Plum Organics. Walmart Inc., which sells baby food products through its private brand Parent’s Choice. Sprout Foods, Inc. According to the report, of these seven manufacturers, the first four submitted all the requested info. The latter three refused to comply–which means that we have to call Parent’s Choice, Plum, and Sprout “Sneaky Stuff.” The report states that despite this refusal to cooperate, independent testing found “concerning levels of toxic heavy metals” in baby food from all three of these manufacturers. (It’s worth noting that Campbell (Plum) claims that they thought they had been “full partners” in the study with congressional researchers. Walmart (Parent’s Choice) says they submitted the requested information in February of 2020 and never heard from the committee again. No response was mentioned from Sprout Organics in any news stories we’ve read–and makes no mention of it on their website or social pages.) Best Stuff: Serenity Kids This line of Paleo-inspired baby food uses organic vegetables and grass-fed and pasture- raised meats. Serenity Kids is verified by the Clean Label Project, which has a very thorough and transparent vetting process. They even publish a 165-page document detailing the exact methodology they use for testing and the thresholds used. Serenity’s products are tested for over 200 different contaminants including heavy metals, glyphosate, agrochemicals, plastics, and other toxins. Dr. Hopkins verified that Clean Label Project sends all samples off to third party lab sites for testing. Right now, this is probably the only brand we can confidently call Good Stuff.  Use code GIMME15 for 15% off at Serenity Kids.   Major Findings & Recommendations 1. Arsenic, lead, and cadmium were present at problematic levels in all the brands that provided data. Nurture (HappyBABY) was the only one of the manufacturers that even had testing data for mercury, and their test data shows finished food products with as much as 10 parts per billion (the recommendation is that it should not exceed 5 ppb). The FDA and EPA set a limit of 10 ppb for arsenic in drinking water, but even the cleanest of the tested brands (Gerber) had ingredients over 90 ppb; Nurture (HappyBABY) has sold baby food with over 180 ppb; Hain (Earth’s Best) sold products with up to 129 ppb. The report did not specify levels in finished products by Beech-Nut, but found that they used ingredients that tested at 913.4 ppb and “routinely used high-arsenic additives that tested over 300 ppb.” 2. Internal company standards allow for very high levels of toxic heavy metals and manufacturers have often sold foods that exceed even those levels. Nurture (HappyBABY) has set an internal standard of 115 ppb of arsenic in infant rice cereal, which has been established by the FDA as a limit of 100 ppb. Beech-Nut had the highest internal standards for ingredients of any responding manufacturer, with some ingredient thresholds being set to 3,000 or even 5,000 ppb! Moreover, the current manufacturer practice of testing only ingredients (rather than finished product) clearly undercounts levels of toxic heavy metals present in the final products. 3. The subcommittee has “grave concerns” about Walmart (Parent’s Choice), Sprout Organic, and Campbell (Plum Organics) because they refused to cooperate with the investigation. Walmart “refused to produce any documents showing its internal testing policies, its testing results, or how [it] treats ingredients and/or products that surpass any internal standards.” Instead of providing data, “Campbell [Plum] provided a spreadsheet self declaring that every one of its products ‘meets criteria.’ Campbell declined to state what those criteria are.” Independent testing shows high levels of heavy metals for Plum Organics Multigrain Little Teethers and Mighty Morning Breakfast Bars. Sprout “did not respond to the Subcommittee at all, despite numerous emails to executives and its general information email address, as well as numerous attempts to reach the Sprout central office by telephone.” Independent testing shows high levels of heavy metals for Sprout’s Organic Plant Power Apple/Kale Puffs. 4. The Trump administration ignored a secret industry presentation revealing the increased risk of heavy metal contamination in baby food, and has failed to effectively regulate despite forming an official task force in 2017, whose purpose was meant to address this very problem. The FDA established the Toxic Elements Working Group in 2017, and it was charged with “reducing exposure to toxic elements in food, cosmetics, and dietary supplements.” The FDA claims that the Toxic Elements Working Group is focusing on metals “because high levels of exposure to those metals are likely to have the most significant impact on public health,” and “can be especially harmful to children because of concerns about effects on their neurological development.” But the working group has not resulted in new or stronger regulations to protect babies from toxic heavy metals in their food. Moreover, the insufficient and very limited regulation that does exist is in some cases unenforceable and grossly inconsistent. What follows are examples of specific data on the consumable items on which the FDA has managed to provide regulations, in order to highlight how limited and inconsistent it has been: Lead: “FDA has released guidance recommending a maximum lead level of 100 ppb in candy likely to be consumed by children, and 50 ppb in some juices. It is not sound logic to say that water is unsafe to drink if it contains over 5 ppb lead, but candy and fruit juice can be ten and twenty times higher than that limit. Unfortunately, it appears that FDA designed these limits to be protective of industry.” Mercury: “FDA has only set mercury standards for wheat, and fish, shellfish, and crustaceans, and they are high—1,000 ppb. There are no FDA protections for mercury in baby food.” Cadmium: “FDA has taken no action on cadmium in baby food. FDA has issued only one guideline for cadmium, and that is a limit of 5 ppb for bottled water. [In contrast], The EU has instituted a limit of 10-15 ppb for infant formula.” Arsenic: The FDA, EPA, European Union, and WHO have all set inorganic arsenic limits to 10 ppb for drinking water. However, “…there are only two FDA regulations for specific products—an unenforceable draft guidance issued in July 2013, but never finalized, recommending an action level of 10 ppb for inorganic arsenic in single-strength (ready to drink) apple juice, and an August 2020 final guidance, setting an action level for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereals at 100 ppb.” Apparently the level of arsenic allowed in infant cereal is 10 times higher than drinking water because this number (100 ppb) is based on cancer risk, rather than neurotoxicity or other health risks. “There can be only one safe level for inorganic arsenic in the foods that babies consume. All finished baby food products should accord with this safe level. Aside from these guidance documents for infant rice cereal and apple juice, the FDA does not regulate toxic heavy metals in other baby food products.” 5. The report concludes with the following actionable recommendations. (This is lifted verbatim from the Executive Summary): Mandatory testing—Baby food manufacturers should be required by FDA to test their finished products for toxic heavy metals, not just their ingredients. Labeling—Manufacturers should by required by FDA to report levels of toxic heavy metals on food labels; Voluntary phase-out of toxic ingredients— Manufacturers should voluntarily find substitutes for ingredients that are high in toxic heavy metals, or phase out products that have high amounts of ingredients that frequently test high in toxic heavy metals, such as rice; FDA standards—FDA should set maximum levels of toxic heavy metals permitted in baby foods. One level for each metal should apply across all baby foods. And the level should be set to protect babies against the neurological effects of toxic heavy metals Parental vigilance—Parents should avoid baby foods that contain ingredients testing high in toxic heavy metals, such as rice products. Instituting recommendations one through four will give parents the information they need to make informed decisions. Gimme the Good Stuff’s Take on the Report Hopefully, Dr. Hopkins’ summary above helps you understand exactly what’s happened. What follows are his and my major insights and suggestions on what to do: 1. No evidence suggests that these four “bad” companies (Gerber, Earth’s Best, HappyBABY, and Beech-Nut) are exceptional in any way when it comes to heavy metal contamination. Rather, they are examples of a much larger problem that applies to all baby food. Some news articles gave the impression that these four companies are somehow uniquely reckless (CNN wrote that “four leading baby food manufacturers knowingly sold baby food that contained high levels of toxic heavy metals,” for instance.) Remember that the congressional committee only asked seven companies for data and the four who submitted data were actually the ones being compliant, whereas the other three were flat out uncooperative–and then of course you still have the dozens of other baby food manufacturers who were never asked to submit data at all. 2. Trying to rank these companies into Good, Bad, and Sneaky Stuff based on this report is like comparing apple (juice) to oranges. Several different metrics are used to report levels of heavy metals across all these brands and from one product type to another, making it virtually impossible to compare them directly. For example Nurture (HappyBABY) is the only baby food manufacturer that appears to regularly test its finished baby food products, whereas the others only test ingredients. And as the 2019 secret report from Hain showed us, you cannot accurately predict heavy metal levels in the final product based on ingredient calculations. 3. Although we can’t give a definitive ranking of which companies are Good, Bad, or Sneaky, below are the notable headlines for each of these companies, (according to the report), which you can use to draw some value comparisons between brands: Nurture (HappyBABY) gets a particularly pointed critique in the report, despite being the only company that routinely tests the final product (as opposed to just testing ingredients), because they said outright in their letter to the subcommittee that “our heavy metal testing is performed as part of our monitoring program and not as a condition of product release, all of the products that were tested were sold into commerce.” In other words, they stated plainly that they will sell everything regardless of heavy metal content. Furthermore, Nurture gets called out for basically lying to the committee about it’s testing, claiming that they used a goal standard of 50 ppb lead after January 2019, and then later submitting test documents showing a goal standard of 100 ppb. Beech-Nut set internal arsenic and cadmium standards at 3,000 ppb in dangerous additives, such as their vitamin mix, and 5,000 ppb lead for certain ingredients like BAN 800. These standards are the highest of any responding manufacturer. The report points out that although Beech-Nut stated in their letter that they “rarely” accepted ingredients that failed to see their internal standards, the data they submitted contradicts that with several examples of accepted and sold ingredients that far surpassed standards (cadmium levels in their dehydrated sweet potato, for example). Hain (Earth’s Best Organics) appears to deserve some credit for being the whistleblower, even though they themselves are guilty of selling baby food with dangerous levels of heavy metals.  They were the ones to point out that the current manufacturer practice of testing only ingredients (rather than finished product) clearly under-counts levels of toxic heavy metals present in the final products. Like all manufacturers, Hain was called out in the report for setting its own dangerously high internal standards, and then routinely accepting ingredients that surpassed these standards, as well as continuing to do so AFTER giving their secret presentation to the FDA about these risks. Of the four companies who released data for the report, Gerber (surprisingly) comes off as the least guilty of gross negligence.  For each of the specific heavy metals listed, the examples of Gerber ingredients’ metal levels appear relatively low compared to the other manufacturers, and they are the only company that does not get specifically called-out for some particular example of gross recklessness.  That said, the report does list many examples of ingredients with high heavy metal concentrations; for example, Gerber used 67 batches of rice flour with over 90 ppb of inorganic arsenic. Don’t forget that Campbell Soup Company (Plum Organics), Walmart Inc. (Parent’s Choice), and Sprout Foods, Inc. (Sprout Organic Foods) did not comply with the request for data, so I am deeming them ALL Sneaky Stuff. Better Stuff: White Leaf Provisions We offer White Leaf Provisions biodynamic baby food in our online store, and their owner says: “I want to reassure you that we test annually for metals in all four baby food blends and I am happy to say that our results come in below the FDA limit that they set for rice cereal and apple juice.”   4. Nothing about these alarming levels of toxic heavy metals is unique to baby foods. The reason baby food is important in this discussion is because of the significantly increased health risks that babies face from heavy metals, due to their developmental stage and small bodies. Giving your baby adult foods does not solve this issue, unfortunately. There are, however, many things you CAN do to try to limit your baby’s exposure to heavy metals, while we wait for FDA regulation to catch up with current scientific data/standards. This article provides great details on how to avoid these ingredients. 5. In general,…
KEEP READING >>

The post Toxic Heavy Metals in Baby Food: Our Insights & What You Can Do appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]> Research provided by Michael Hopkins, PhD.

You’ve likely already read about the recent Congressional Report on toxic heavy metals in baby food. Below, we will provide a summary of what’s happened and what the report found, followed by our own insights (and outrage!).

Timeline & Players

On August 1, 2019, the FDA received a secret slide presentation from Hain (which owns Earth’s Best Organic), revealing increased risks of toxic heavy metals in baby foods, which (according to the report), the Trump administration ignored. Hain revealed to the FDA that its “policy to test only its ingredients, and not its final product, underrepresented the levels of toxic heavy metals in its baby foods.” Hain had found arsenic levels as much as 93% higher in all finished foods they tested. Because Hain had only tested raw ingredients in order to estimate heavy metal levels, this means that every item they sell containing brown rice would contain significantly more arsenic than they’d estimated.

After seeing these results, the FDA took no action.

In November of 2019, following reports alleging high levels of heavy metals in baby foods, the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy (not the FDA) requested internal documents and test results from seven of the largest baby food manufacturers, which are:

1. Nurture, Inc., which manufactures Happy Family Organics, including baby food products under the brand name HappyBABY.
2. Beech-Nut Nutrition Company.
3. Hain Celestial Group, Inc., which sells baby food products under the brand name Earth’s Best Organic.
4. Gerber.
5. Campbell Soup Company, which sells baby food products under the brand name Plum Organics.
6. Walmart Inc., which sells baby food products through its private brand Parent’s Choice.
7. Sprout Foods, Inc.

According to the report, of these seven manufacturers, the first four submitted all the requested info. The latter three refused to comply–which means that we have to call Parent’s Choice, Plum, and Sprout “Sneaky Stuff.” The report states that despite this refusal to cooperate, independent testing found “concerning levels of toxic heavy metals” in baby food from all three of these manufacturers.

(It’s worth noting that Campbell (Plum) claims that they thought they had been “full partners” in the study with congressional researchers. Walmart (Parent’s Choice) says they submitted the requested information in February of 2020 and never heard from the committee again. No response was mentioned from Sprout Organics in any news stories we’ve read–and makes no mention of it on their website or social pages.)

Best Stuff: Serenity Kids

This line of Paleo-inspired baby food uses organic vegetables and grass-fed and pasture- raised meats. Serenity Kids is verified by the Clean Label Project, which has a very thorough and transparent vetting process. They even publish a 165-page document detailing the exact methodology they use for testing and the thresholds used. Serenity’s products are tested for over 200 different contaminants including heavy metals, glyphosate, agrochemicals, plastics, and other toxins. Dr. Hopkins verified that Clean Label Project sends all samples off to third party lab sites for testing. Right now, this is probably the only brand we can confidently call Good Stuff.  Use code GIMME15 for 15% off at Serenity Kids.

 

Major Findings & Recommendations

1. Arsenic, lead, and cadmium were present at problematic levels in all the brands that provided data.

Nurture (HappyBABY) was the only one of the manufacturers that even had testing data for mercury, and their test data shows finished food products with as much as 10 parts per billion (the recommendation is that it should not exceed 5 ppb). The FDA and EPA set a limit of 10 ppb for arsenic in drinking water, but even the cleanest of the tested brands (Gerber) had ingredients over 90 ppb; Nurture (HappyBABY) has sold baby food with over 180 ppb; Hain (Earth’s Best) sold products with up to 129 ppb. The report did not specify levels in finished products by Beech-Nut, but found that they used ingredients that tested at 913.4 ppb and “routinely used high-arsenic additives that tested over 300 ppb.”

2. Internal company standards allow for very high levels of toxic heavy metals and manufacturers have often sold foods that exceed even those levels.

Nurture (HappyBABY) has set an internal standard of 115 ppb of arsenic in infant rice cereal, which has been established by the FDA as a limit of 100 ppb. Beech-Nut had the highest internal standards for ingredients of any responding manufacturer, with some ingredient thresholds being set to 3,000 or even 5,000 ppb! Moreover, the current manufacturer practice of testing only ingredients (rather than finished product) clearly undercounts levels of toxic heavy metals present in the final products.

3. The subcommittee has “grave concerns” about Walmart (Parent’s Choice), Sprout Organic, and Campbell (Plum Organics) because they refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Walmart “refused to produce any documents showing its internal testing policies, its testing results, or how [it] treats ingredients and/or products that surpass any internal standards.” Instead of providing data, “Campbell [Plum] provided a spreadsheet self declaring that every one of its products ‘meets criteria.’ Campbell declined to state what those criteria are.” Independent testing shows high levels of heavy metals for Plum Organics Multigrain Little Teethers and Mighty Morning Breakfast Bars. Sprout “did not respond to the Subcommittee at all, despite numerous emails to executives and its general information email address, as well as numerous attempts to reach the Sprout central office by telephone.” Independent testing shows high levels of heavy metals for Sprout’s Organic Plant Power Apple/Kale Puffs.

4. The Trump administration ignored a secret industry presentation revealing the increased risk of heavy metal contamination in baby food, and has failed to effectively regulate despite forming an official task force in 2017, whose purpose was meant to address this very problem.
The FDA established the Toxic Elements Working Group in 2017, and it was charged with “reducing exposure to toxic elements in food, cosmetics, and dietary supplements.” The FDA claims that the Toxic Elements Working Group is focusing on metals “because high levels of exposure to those metals are likely to have the most significant impact on public health,” and “can be especially harmful to children because of concerns about effects on their neurological development.” But the working group has not resulted in new or stronger regulations to protect babies from toxic heavy metals in their food. Moreover, the insufficient and very limited regulation that does exist is in some cases unenforceable and grossly inconsistent. What follows are examples of specific data on the consumable items on which the FDA has managed to provide regulations, in order to highlight how limited and inconsistent it has been:

• • • Lead: “FDA has released guidance recommending a maximum lead level of 100 ppb in candy likely to be consumed by children, and 50 ppb in some juices. It is not sound logic to say that water is unsafe to drink if it contains over 5 ppb lead, but candy and fruit juice can be ten and twenty times higher than that limit. Unfortunately, it appears that FDA designed these limits to be protective of industry.”
    • Mercury: “FDA has only set mercury standards for wheat, and fish, shellfish, and crustaceans, and they are high—1,000 ppb. There are no FDA protections for mercury in baby food.”
    • Cadmium: “FDA has taken no action on cadmium in baby food. FDA has issued only one guideline for cadmium, and that is a limit of 5 ppb for bottled water. [In contrast], The EU has instituted a limit of 10-15 ppb for infant formula.”
    • Arsenic: The FDA, EPA, European Union, and WHO have all set inorganic arsenic limits to 10 ppb for drinking water. However, “…there are only two FDA regulations for specific products—an unenforceable draft guidance issued in July 2013, but never finalized, recommending an action level of 10 ppb for inorganic arsenic in single-strength (ready to drink) apple juice, and an August 2020 final guidance, setting an action level for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereals at 100 ppb.” Apparently the level of arsenic allowed in infant cereal is 10 times higher than drinking water because this number (100 ppb) is based on cancer risk, rather than neurotoxicity or other health risks. “There can be only one safe level for inorganic arsenic in the foods that babies consume. All finished baby food products should accord with this safe level. Aside from these guidance documents for infant rice cereal and apple juice, the FDA does not regulate toxic heavy metals in other baby food products.”

5. The report concludes with the following actionable recommendations. (This is lifted verbatim from the Executive Summary):

• • • Mandatory testing—Baby food manufacturers should be required by FDA to test their finished products for toxic heavy metals, not just their ingredients.
    • Labeling—Manufacturers should by required by FDA to report levels of toxic heavy metals on food labels;
    • Voluntary phase-out of toxic ingredients— Manufacturers should voluntarily find substitutes for ingredients that are high in toxic heavy metals, or phase out products that have high amounts of ingredients that frequently test high in toxic heavy metals, such as rice;
    • FDA standards—FDA should set maximum levels of toxic heavy metals permitted in baby foods. One level for each metal should apply across all baby foods. And the level should be set to protect babies against the neurological effects of toxic heavy metals
    • Parental vigilance—Parents should avoid baby foods that contain ingredients testing high in toxic heavy metals, such as rice products. Instituting recommendations one through four will give parents the information they need to make informed decisions.

Gimme the Good Stuff’s Take on the Report

Hopefully, Dr. Hopkins’ summary above helps you understand exactly what’s happened. What follows are his and my major insights and suggestions on what to do:

1. No evidence suggests that these four “bad” companies (Gerber, Earth’s Best, HappyBABY, and Beech-Nut) are exceptional in any way when it comes to heavy metal contamination. Rather, they are examples of a much larger problem that applies to all baby food.
Some news articles gave the impression that these four companies are somehow uniquely reckless (CNN wrote that “four leading baby food manufacturers knowingly sold baby food that contained high levels of toxic heavy metals,” for instance.) Remember that the congressional committee only asked seven companies for data and the four who submitted data were actually the ones being compliant, whereas the other three were flat out uncooperative–and then of course you still have the dozens of other baby food manufacturers who were never asked to submit data at all.

2. Trying to rank these companies into Good, Bad, and Sneaky Stuff based on this report is like comparing apple (juice) to oranges.
Several different metrics are used to report levels of heavy metals across all these brands and from one product type to another, making it virtually impossible to compare them directly. For example Nurture (HappyBABY) is the only baby food manufacturer that appears to regularly test its finished baby food products, whereas the others only test ingredients. And as the 2019 secret report from Hain showed us, you cannot accurately predict heavy metal levels in the final product based on ingredient calculations.

3. Although we can’t give a definitive ranking of which companies are Good, Bad, or Sneaky, below are the notable headlines for each of these companies, (according to the report), which you can use to draw some value comparisons between brands:

• • Nurture (HappyBABY) gets a particularly pointed critique in the report, despite being the only company that routinely tests the final product (as opposed to just testing ingredients), because they said outright in their letter to the subcommittee that “our heavy metal testing is performed as part of our monitoring program and not as a condition of product release, all of the products that were tested were sold into commerce.” In other words, they stated plainly that they will sell everything regardless of heavy metal content. Furthermore, Nurture gets called out for basically lying to the committee about it’s testing, claiming that they used a goal standard of 50 ppb lead after January 2019, and then later submitting test documents showing a goal standard of 100 ppb.
  • Beech-Nut set internal arsenic and cadmium standards at 3,000 ppb in dangerous additives, such as their vitamin mix, and 5,000 ppb lead for certain ingredients like BAN 800. These standards are the highest of any responding manufacturer. The report points out that although Beech-Nut stated in their letter that they “rarely” accepted ingredients that failed to see their internal standards, the data they submitted contradicts that with several examples of accepted and sold ingredients that far surpassed standards (cadmium levels in their dehydrated sweet potato, for example).
  • Hain (Earth’s Best Organics) appears to deserve some credit for being the whistleblower, even though they themselves are guilty of selling baby food with dangerous levels of heavy metals.  They were the ones to point out that the current manufacturer practice of testing only ingredients (rather than finished product) clearly under-counts levels of toxic heavy metals present in the final products. Like all manufacturers, Hain was called out in the report for setting its own dangerously high internal standards, and then routinely accepting ingredients that surpassed these standards, as well as continuing to do so AFTER giving their secret presentation to the FDA about these risks.
  • Of the four companies who released data for the report, Gerber (surprisingly) comes off as the least guilty of gross negligence.  For each of the specific heavy metals listed, the examples of Gerber ingredients’ metal levels appear relatively low compared to the other manufacturers, and they are the only company that does not get specifically called-out for some particular example of gross recklessness.  That said, the report does list many examples of ingredients with high heavy metal concentrations; for example, Gerber used 67 batches of rice flour with over 90 ppb of inorganic arsenic.
  • Don’t forget that Campbell Soup Company (Plum Organics), Walmart Inc. (Parent’s Choice), and Sprout Foods, Inc. (Sprout Organic Foods) did not comply with the request for data, so I am deeming them ALL Sneaky Stuff.
    

Better Stuff: White Leaf Provisions

We offer White Leaf Provisions biodynamic baby food in our online store, and their owner says: “I want to reassure you that we test annually for metals in all four baby food blends and I am happy to say that our results come in below the FDA limit that they set for rice cereal and apple juice.”

 

4. Nothing about these alarming levels of toxic heavy metals is unique to baby foods.
The reason baby food is important in this discussion is because of the significantly increased health risks that babies face from heavy metals, due to their developmental stage and small bodies. Giving your baby adult foods does not solve this issue, unfortunately. There are, however, many things you CAN do to try to limit your baby’s exposure to heavy metals, while we wait for FDA regulation to catch up with current scientific data/standards. This article provides great details on how to avoid these ingredients.

5. In general, these contaminants come from the raw ingredients, not the manufacturing process.
Unfortunately, heavy metals can occur naturally in certain raw ingredients, and in the environment. It’s worth noting that this is a much bigger problem now than it was before the 1940s when we began a decades-long assault on our soil, covering arable land with heavy-metal rich fertilizer and pesticides. It’s really a challenge to take them out in some cases, and that’s part of the FDA’s defense as to why there aren’t stricter guidelines. However it doesn’t change the main point about creating laws and policies that prevent these raw ingredients from being used in baby food in the first place (rather than just searching for ways to reduce the heavy metals in the ingredients) and secondly, give the consumer enough information to make an informed choice.

6. But…”naturally occurring” heavy metals may not be the only source of unsafe levels of these toxins, and we should be aware of certain problem ingredients.
The report identifies a handful of specific ingredients that had extremely high levels of certain heavy metals, and even though these ingredients might make up a very small percentage of the final product, it appears they may be driving the overall numbers up much more than pre-production calculations would predict. The specific problematic ingredients that were highlighted in the current report include: cinnamon, amylase, BAN 800, and vitamin/mineral premix. When Dr. Hopkins first presented me with this information, I thought, how is this any different from the arsenic in rice and foods? The difference is that rice is a whole food that might make up 50% or more of a final product and also tends to have high levels of arsenic—perhaps even exceeding 100 ppb. On the other hand, the specific problematic ingredients would typically only comprise a very small amount of finished product (1-2% or less), however the report shows that the levels of heavy metals in these ingredients is orders of magnitude (100’s to 1000’s ppb) higher than what you would find in rice or a sweet potato, for example. So while the report suggests that we should reconsider whether to include rice in baby foods, the authors are also pointing out that a separate but related task is to identify trace ingredients such as those listed above and remove them entirely from the baby food supply chain.

7. More than anything else, this report emphasizes the lack of effective regulation by the FDA, and is a major call to action.
If you take only one thing away from this post, let it be this: the data from this report highlights an inexcusable lack of action from the FDA (specifically, following the formation of a special task force in 2017 to address this issue, and in response to Hain’s whistleblower presentation in 2019) and an urgent need to address this public health concern. As you read above, the report goes through each of the heavy metals and points out how limited and random the guidelines are. The clearest example of the inconsistency from the FDA is that drinking water has a maximum of 1-10 ppb for all of these toxic heavy metals, but then only a handful of specific foods have set limits and generally they are much much higher. Or we could use arsenic as another example. The maximum allowable limit or inorganic arsenic in drinking water is 10ppb. Only two other items have arsenic limits- infant rice cereal and apple juice. In other words, the only category of “baby food” that has an arsenic limit is infant rice cereal–and the limit is 100 ppm. Apparently, this limit is based on the risk of causing cancer, rather than neurotoxicity or any other adverse health outcomes. If we look at the only other item with a specific limit, we see that apple juice is capped at 10 ppb.  This is a great start for apple juice but does nothing at all to address levels of arsenic in other juices, or anything else at all for that matter. And yes, arsenic IS present in other juices. For example, Gerber’s data shows a grape juice concentrate with 39 ppb inorganic arsenic, but there are no FDA guidelines at all regarding arsenic in grape juice or any other juice besides apple.

Nine Steps You Can Take to Reduce Your Family’s Risk

1. Know your farmer. While all of our air and soil is contaminated by some amount of heavy metal, growing your own produce or buying from an organic farm you trust may reduce the amount you’re consuming. Dr. Hopkins agrees that “it makes sense that soil that was never commercially farmed should be less contaminated with heavy metals.”
2. Reduce your consumption of the dirtiest foods. Unfortunately, many otherwise healthful foods are some of the most contaminated with heavy metals. Farmed fish is a major offender, and large fish like tuna and swordfish are very high in mercury. (Better fish options include trout, sockeye salmon, and sole.) Brown rice contains up to 80% more arsenic than white rice, so when you do eat rice, you should consider choosing white. Sadly, leafy green vegetables are often contaminated with cadmium. Other high-risk vegetables include potatoes, carrots, radishes, onions, lettuce, mint, and cilantro.
   

   Unfortunately, leafy greens contain cadmium.

3. Choose the right rice–and cook it like pasta. White basmati rice from California, India, or Pakistan has been shown to have the lowest levels of arsenic. If you cook rice the same way that you cook pasta–in a large amount of water and then draining it–you can get rid of more than half the arsenic it contains.
4. Minimize snacks foods for your baby. Snack foods were particularly bad in this report–including crackers, puffs, and teething biscuits. To the degree that you can avoid these (and I know this is hard!), you should. Here are some healthier snack ideas.
   

   Beans have lower levels of heavy metals than other snacks.

5. Eat a variety of foods. A diverse diet is beneficial for many reasons, and feeding your kids a range of whole foods will ensure that they aren’t getting too much of any one ingredient (and its potential contaminants). Meat and dairy–while not without their own issues–are less likely to be contaminated with heavy metals. And some fruits and vegetables–zucchini, broccoli, artichokes, tomatoes, peppers, beans, cauliflower, apples, avocados, bananas, grapes, peaches, and strawberries–are lower in heavy metals.
6. Make your own baby food. As mentioned above, this won’t eliminate heavy metals in your baby’s diet, because plenty of whole foods naturally contain high levels of heavy metals. I would skip rice cereal all together, though, and here are our resident health coach’s suggestions for rice cereal alternatives.
   

   Oatmeal is a healthier alternative to rice cereal.

7. Skip juice entirely. Apple and grape juice are among the worst foods when it comes to arsenic. There’s no reason toddlers need juice at all–so this is just a good reminder to stick to water as much as possible.
8. Peel produce. If you peel a sweet potato, you’ll reduce the heavy metals significantly, especially if you peel a little deeper than you might normally.
   

   Peeling sweet potatoes will reduce the amount of arsenic they contain.

9. Filter your water. Installing a robust water filter is one of the simplest ways to reduce your family’s exposure to heavy metals. Here’s how to choose the right filter.

The bottom line is that while there are steps we can take as consumers (and manufacturers), the most important action going forward must come from the FDA. Consider signing this this petition or contact your local and state representatives to demand action at the government level.

In the meanwhile…

Stay sane,

The post Toxic Heavy Metals in Baby Food: Our Insights & What You Can Do appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]> https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/toxic-heavy-metals-in-baby-food-what-you-can-do-to-protect-your-baby/feed/ 13 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/jarred-food/jars-with-different-baby-food-closeup/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/complete-non-toxic-baby-registry-checklist/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/complete-non-toxic-baby-registry-checklist/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2020 14:02:01 +0000 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/?p=92544 1. Safest stroller / 2. Pocket bib / 3. Rash protection / 4. Non-toxic car seat / 5. Better cloth diapers / 6. Plastic-free breast milk storage / 7. Silicone spoons / 8. Nursery air filter Pulling together this list of  all the non-toxic baby registry items a conscious parent could possible want was fun! Mostly, I’m struck by how much has changed since my last pregnancy–then again, it WAS 8 years ago! It almost makes me want to have another baby–almost. To make sure I wasn’t missing any great new inventions (turns out, I totally was), I called upon my friend Stefanie Koenig, who is a conscious mom to Marlowe, 5, and Greta, 2. Stef and I agreed on the following list of essential earth-friendly and toxin-free Good Stuff. We hope this helps you build a baby shower registry or just make sure you have everything you need for the final stage of pregnancy and early days of parenthood. Some of the items below are available in our store (and I’m working on getting more there!), and otherwise I will include a link to where you can find them. In a few cases, if you purchase an item from our link we may earn a commission from Amazon or elsewhere. By the way, if you’re creating a registry, we love MyRegistry.com, which makes it super easy to register from multiple stores rather than just one place. So, without further ado, here’s what we think you need! I look forward to your comments and suggestions of other amazing Good Stuff for a new baby. FEEDING Bottles The big rule here is avoiding plastic, which can leach chemicals. Glass and stainless steel are our top choices, but silicone is also okay. We like the following three brands the best. Hevea Baby Glass Bottles Pura Kiki Stainless Steel Infant Bottle (We recommend the insulated ones so you can take them on the go and know that the milk will stay fresh!) Como Tomo Silicone Baby Bottle Bundle How many bottles do you need? I barely used bottles because I exclusively breastfed and worked from home, so I asked Stef to weigh in to answer this. My key takeaways from our conversation are as follows: Newborns only drink 1-2 oz of breast milk/formula at a time so you want smaller bottles and the slowest flow nipple so they don’t choke while they eat. If you are exclusively formula-feeding, 5 or 6 small bottles would work, as long as you’re okay with washing some bottles throughout the day. If you are only supplementing with formula, 3 or 4 small bottles would be fine. (Having backsups is always nice.) When the baby starts drinking larger quantities, you need the bigger bottles that hold up to 8 oz and also need to switch your nipple to a higher level one, so they can get more liquid and won’t get frustrated. Again, you need 5 or 6 bottles for an exclusively bottle-fed baby, and 3 or 4 for a baby that’s also on the breast. Formula If you won’t be exclusively breastfeeding, you can use our guide to figure out which is the best formula for your situation. My top pick is Loulouka for almost everyone. Because you can’t know for sure which formula will best agree with your newborn’s stomach, I recommend starting with no more than 7 or 8 boxes. Loulouka Organic Stage 1 Burp Cloths Depending on how much your baby spits up (I had one prolific spitter and one who almost never did), you’ll probably go through between one and five burp cloths a day. If you want to do laundry twice a week, I’d have ten on hand to be safe. (You’ll find that you use them for many other messes, too.) Blaynk Organic Burp Cloths   Monica & Andy Organic Burp Cloth Bibs We recommend having 5-10 cloth bibs (sometimes I would put my babies in bibs just because of all the drool!), and two silicone bibs for when they start to eat solid foods. Blaynk Organic Bibs Milkbarn Organic Cotton Kerchief Bib Baby Bar & Co Silicone Baby Bibs Breastmilk Storage Back when I was breastfeeding and pumping, the only option for storing pumped breast milk was in plastic bags. Now, you can avoid plastic entirely with these silicone solutions. (Depending on how much milk you want to store in your freezer, you’ll probably want between 6 and 10 bags of either.) ZipTop Silicone Breast Milk Storage Bags Stasher Reusable Silicone Bags Snack-size is the best bet for breastmilk storage. Pacifiers My babies never took to the pacifier, but I am not against them. Just make sure to choose paci is made of natural rubber like the one below. Hevea Colored Pacifier Loulou Lollipop Pacifier Clip Plates, Bowls, and Spoons When choosing dishes, plastic should again be avoided, but you clearly won’t be handing a toddler a glass bowl, either. For that reason, stainless steel and non-leaching silicone are two of my favorite materials for plates, bowls, and cutlery. GoSili Silicone Bowl with Lid Thinksport Stainless Steel Bowl   ECOlunchbox Tray   Baby Bar & Co Silitensils for Infants GoSili Silicone Toddler Spoons Sippy Cups You won’t believe how quickly your baby switches from bottles to sippy cups (sometimes by 6 months!), and you’ll want to avoid sippies where liquid sits in–or baby sucks from–plastic. One plus to choosing a Pura baby bottle is that when it comes time to transition, you simply swap out the nipple top for the sippy or straw top, rather than buying an entirely new cup and tossing the old bottles. We also like the following sippy cups. ThinkBaby Thinkster of Steel Sippy Cup GoSili OH! 360 Silicone Sippy Cup High Chairs The safest high chairs are made of solid wood, and any plastic components should be free of BPA, phthalates, and polyurethane. Stokke TrippTrapp Solid Wood High Chair   Stokke Steps Chair Cushion GEAR You’ll want to make sure that strollers and car seats contain no flame retardants or other problematic chemicals. (Our Car Seat Guide provides a review of many popular brands, and the following model from Clek is our favorite.) Car Seat Clek Liing Infant Car Seat, Mammoth Milk Snob GOTS Certified Carseat Cover Stroller Joolz Hub Non-Toxic Stroller with optional Bassinet Newborn Wrap Carrier Moby Evolution Wrap Baby Carrier Beco Organic Gemini baby carrier Infant Lounger Snuggle Me Baby Lounger Snuggle Me Baby Lounger Cover Bouncer BabyBjorn Bouncer Bliss NURSERY & DECOR Crib Choose a crib and nursery furniture made of solid wood if possible, ideally with a no-VOC, nontoxic finish. Any of the dressers or changing tables from the following brands are also toxin-free, with the exception of the Ikea one. Kalon Studios Caravan Crib Romina Furniture New York Crib Green Cradle Gratitude Slat Baby Crib   Ikea Sniglar Crib Crib Mattress Choosing a toxin-free mattress, whether for a crib or a King-sized bed, can be a confusing process, and our Safe Mattress Guide endeavors to make it simpler. Naturepedic is our top-pick for a comfortable, safe crib mattress. Naturepedic Organic Cotton Lightweight Crib Mattress Mattress Blaynk Baby Organic Crib Sheet Travel Crib Lotus Travel Crib Changing Table Pad Once again, Naturepedic is our top choice for a flame-retardant free changing pad. Naturepedic Changing Pad Naturepedic Contoured Changing Pad Covers Monica & Andy Changing Pad Cover     Playmat Most mats for babies contain polyurethane foam. We chose CorkiMat as our top pick because it contains no polyurethane or flame retardants and comes encased in organic cotton. CorkiMat Comfy Non-Toxic Playmat   Nursery Rug Rugs are another place where you’ll often find flame retardant chemicals. Lorena Canals offers a large selection of machine-washable cotton rugs free of toxins. Below are a few of our favorite. (Make sure that the pad you put under the rug is made of 100% natural rubber rather than vinyl, which contains phthalates.) Hippy Stars Happy Llama   Azteca Earth Weave Rubber Rug Gripper Air Filter Austin Air Healthmate Plus Junior Filter CLOTHING & ACCESORIES Ideally, your baby will be clothed in only organic cotton. If you can’t find certified organic, then look for an Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certifictaion,  which prohibits the use of dangerous dyes and other toxins. Castleware is a brand we trust across the board. Complete Organic Layette Monica & Andy Newborn Layette Cuddle Box Onesies & Sleepers Burt’s Bee’s Organic Bodysuits   Primary Short-Sleeve Babysuit Pact Long-Sleeve Bodysuit   Primary Organic Zip Footie Pants Primary Baby Pants   Under the Nile Footed Pant Mittens Oeuf Newborn Mittens Swaddles & Blankets You’ll want to have at least three swaddles on hand, because your baby will inevitably pee through at least one each day. And you’ll find that you can never have enough cute organic blankets. Blaynk Baby Organic Swaddle Monica & Andy Organic Coming Home Blanket Sleep Sack You’ll probably want a to stock a few sleep sacks, since babies will pee (or worse) through these, too! Castlewear Sleeper Bag Socks Touched by Nature Organic Baby Socks Monica & Andy Baby Tube Socks Hats Pehr Knot Hat   Spearmint Love Organic Cotton Beanie Under the Nile Cold Weather Hat Laundry Detergent Any of the laundry soaps in our Detergent Guide are toxin-free and safe for baby clothes. The following two brands are customer favorites. Eco-Me Laundry Detergent Pure Natural Baby Laundry Detergent   DIAPERING I was certainly not a full-time cloth-diapering momma, but things have come a long way—if I had to do it again, I would absolutely give it a try! Cloth Diapers If you’ll be a full-time, cloth-diapering mom, we recommend 24 inners and 6 outters. If you’ll be a part-time cloth diaperer, go with 12 inners and 4 outters. (Your baby will need to move up to Size 2 when she hits 18 pounds) Esembly Inner Diaper Use code GOODSTUFF*10* at checkout for 10% off everything at Esembly. Esembly Outer Diaper Cover   Esembly Overnight Insert MamaSuds Cloth-Diaper Safe Liquid Laundry ImseVimse Wet Bags While this is designed for cloth diapers on the go, the large one could also used to line a diaper pail and reduce waste. Esembly Day Bag Use code GOODSTUFF*10* at checkout for 10% off everything at Esembly. Disposable Diapers If you decide to use disposable diapers (even part time), our Diaper Guide can help you choose the most eco-friendly brands. Nest is a reader favorite. Nest Baby Diapers Diaper Wipes We hope you’ll get addicted to the reusable variety, but you can register for several kinds and see which ones you like best. Jackson Reece Baby Wipes Noleo Duo Baby Wipes System ImseVimse Washable & Reusable Cloth Wipes Diaper Creams & Powder Our Diaper Cream Guide will help you choose a toxin-free product for diaper rash relief. The following are our favorites. Green Goo Baby Balm Babo Botanicals Oatmilk Calendula Soothing Diaper Cream Ora’s Amazing Herbal Unscented All Natural Baby Powder Diaper Pail Ubbi Steel Diaper Pail   Esembly Diaper Pail Powder Deodorant BATHTIME Less is more when it comes to using skin or hair products on your baby. A simple bar of soap is the most eco-friendly choice, and lotion is really only necessary if your baby has dry skin. Organic coconut oil is multi-purpose essential. Baby Shampoo & Wash   Tandi’s Naturals Gentle Herb Soap   Babo Botanicals Sensitive Baby Newborn Foam Wash Baby Lotion Babo Botanicals Sensitive Baby Fragrance Free Daily Hydra Lotion Beautycounter Baby Daily Protective Balm Baby Bathtub Stokke Flexi Bathtub Organic Towels Under the Nile Spa Gift Bag Set Under the Nile Newborn Hooded Towel Organic Wash Cloths Under the Nile Sherpa Wash Cloths Under the Nile Wash Mitt Set ON THE GO Diaper Bag Dera Design Organic Canvas Diaper Bag Esembly Petite Pouch Use code GOODSTUFF*10* at checkout for 10% off everything at Esembly. Face/Hand Wipes Babo Botanicals 3-in-1 Sensitive Baby Wipes Hand Sanitizer All Good Organic Peppermint Hand Sanitizer Spray BOOKS You’ll almost certainly be gifted many books, including multiple copies of Good Night Moon. Here are a few other wonderful first book ideas. You Are Light Here We Are The Skin You Live In A is for Activist PLAY Our Safe Toy Guide offers some guidelines for choosing toxin-free toys for children of all ages. What follows are some of our favorite toys and teethers for the youngest set. Gym Lovevery Play Gym Soft Toy Petit Collage Organic Bunny Soft Chime Ball Teethers Three Hearts VW Bus Silicone Teether Under the Nile Carrot Organic Veggie Toy Teether Rattles Haba Rattling Max Kleynimals Stainless Steel Keys Doll Under the Nile Sasha Dress Up Doll Versatile Toy Rainbow Toy Lovey Under the Nile Sleeping Lovey Doll Play Kits Lovevery Play Kits FOR MAMA Nipple Cream My own breastfeeding experience was really tough, and I hope not one woman reading this goes through the same. If you have even a little discomfort, you’ll want a safe, soothing, toxin-free balm like my favorite from Green Goo. Green Goo Nursing Cream Stretch Mark Balm Green Goo Belly Balm Sitz Bath Green Goo Herbal Sitz Bath Radiation Protection DefenderShield EMF Radiation Protection Baby Belly Band Reusable Nursing Pads Bamboobies Washable Nursing Pads Nursing Pillow Holy Lamb Nursing Pillow   Nursing-Friendly PJs Hatch Collection Organic Pointelle Set Coyuchi Cloud Brushed Organic Sleep Shirt Nursing Bras & Tanks Kindred Bravely Nursing/Pumping Tank   Kindred/Bravely Organic Nursing/Sleep Bra Maternity/Nursing Poncho Comfy Underwear Knickey Organic Cotton Undies   Leggings Cinnamon – New Mom Wear Leggings by DynaTot Milestone Block Set Modern Blocks Milestone Block Set New Pregnancy Resource Unique Footprints is an online pregnancy program that teaches you everything you need to know for your entire pregnancy and early days of motherhood. It includes pregnancy meal planning, prenatal yoga, birth and postpartum prep, fetal brain development, breastfeeding, baby care, infant sleep and safety, and much more. Unique Footprints is made up of a team of nurses, dietitians, counselors, infant sleep coaches, lactation consultants, and yoga therapists. Use code GIMME THE GOOD STUFF at checkout for a 10% discount. If you liked this post, sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish new content like this!    

The post Complete Non-Toxic Baby Registry Checklist appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]>

1. Safest stroller / 2. Pocket bib / 3. Rash protection / 4. Non-toxic car seat / 5. Better cloth diapers / 6. Plastic-free breast milk storage / 7. Silicone spoons / 8. Nursery air filter

---

Pulling together this list of  all the non-toxic baby registry items a conscious parent could possible want was fun! Mostly, I’m struck by how much has changed since my last pregnancy–then again, it WAS 8 years ago! It almost makes me want to have another baby–almost.

To make sure I wasn’t missing any great new inventions (turns out, I totally was), I called upon my friend Stefanie Koenig, who is a conscious mom to Marlowe, 5, and Greta, 2.

Stef and I agreed on the following list of essential earth-friendly and toxin-free Good Stuff. We hope this helps you build a baby shower registry or just make sure you have everything you need for the final stage of pregnancy and early days of parenthood.

Stefanie with Marlowe and Greta

Some of the items below are available in our store (and I’m working on getting more there!), and otherwise I will include a link to where you can find them. In a few cases, if you purchase an item from our link we may earn a commission from Amazon or elsewhere.

By the way, if you’re creating a registry, we love MyRegistry.com, which makes it super easy to register from multiple stores rather than just one place.

So, without further ado, here’s what we think you need! I look forward to your comments and suggestions of other amazing Good Stuff for a new baby.

---

---

FEEDING

Bottles

The big rule here is avoiding plastic, which can leach chemicals. Glass and stainless steel are our top choices, but silicone is also okay. We like the following three brands the best.

Hevea Baby Glass Bottles

Pura Kiki Stainless Steel Infant Bottle (We recommend the insulated ones so you can take them on the go and know that the milk will stay fresh!)

Como Tomo Silicone Baby Bottle Bundle

How many bottles do you need?

I barely used bottles because I exclusively breastfed and worked from home, so I asked Stef to weigh in to answer this. My key takeaways from our conversation are as follows:

• Newborns only drink 1-2 oz of breast milk/formula at a time so you want smaller bottles and the slowest flow nipple so they don’t choke while they eat.
• If you are exclusively formula-feeding, 5 or 6 small bottles would work, as long as you’re okay with washing some bottles throughout the day.
• If you are only supplementing with formula, 3 or 4 small bottles would be fine. (Having backsups is always nice.)
• When the baby starts drinking larger quantities, you need the bigger bottles that hold up to 8 oz and also need to switch your nipple to a higher level one, so they can get more liquid and won’t get frustrated. Again, you need 5 or 6 bottles for an exclusively bottle-fed baby, and 3 or 4 for a baby that’s also on the breast.

---

Formula

If you won’t be exclusively breastfeeding, you can use our guide to figure out which is the best formula for your situation. My top pick is Loulouka for almost everyone. Because you can’t know for sure which formula will best agree with your newborn’s stomach, I recommend starting with no more than 7 or 8 boxes.

Loulouka Organic Stage 1

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Burp Cloths

Depending on how much your baby spits up (I had one prolific spitter and one who almost never did), you’ll probably go through between one and five burp cloths a day. If you want to do laundry twice a week, I’d have ten on hand to be safe. (You’ll find that you use them for many other messes, too.)

Blaynk Organic Burp Cloths

 

Monica & Andy Organic Burp Cloth

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Bibs

We recommend having 5-10 cloth bibs (sometimes I would put my babies in bibs just because of all the drool!), and two silicone bibs for when they start to eat solid foods.

Blaynk Organic Bibs

Milkbarn Organic Cotton Kerchief Bib

Baby Bar & Co Silicone Baby Bibs

---

Breastmilk Storage

Back when I was breastfeeding and pumping, the only option for storing pumped breast milk was in plastic bags. Now, you can avoid plastic entirely with these silicone solutions. (Depending on how much milk you want to store in your freezer, you’ll probably want between 6 and 10 bags of either.)

ZipTop Silicone Breast Milk Storage Bags

Stasher Reusable Silicone Bags

Snack-size is the best bet for breastmilk storage.

---

Pacifiers

My babies never took to the pacifier, but I am not against them. Just make sure to choose paci is made of natural rubber like the one below.

Hevea Colored Pacifier

Loulou Lollipop Pacifier Clip

---

Plates, Bowls, and Spoons

When choosing dishes, plastic should again be avoided, but you clearly won’t be handing a toddler a glass bowl, either. For that reason, stainless steel and non-leaching silicone are two of my favorite materials for plates, bowls, and cutlery.

GoSili Silicone Bowl with Lid

Thinksport Stainless Steel Bowl

 

ECOlunchbox Tray

 

Baby Bar & Co Silitensils for Infants

GoSili Silicone Toddler Spoons

---

Sippy Cups

You won’t believe how quickly your baby switches from bottles to sippy cups (sometimes by 6 months!), and you’ll want to avoid sippies where liquid sits in–or baby sucks from–plastic. One plus to choosing a Pura baby bottle is that when it comes time to transition, you simply swap out the nipple top for the sippy or straw top, rather than buying an entirely new cup and tossing the old bottles. We also like the following sippy cups.

ThinkBaby Thinkster of Steel Sippy Cup

GoSili OH! 360 Silicone Sippy Cup

---

High Chairs

The safest high chairs are made of solid wood, and any plastic components should be free of BPA, phthalates, and polyurethane.

Stokke TrippTrapp Solid Wood High Chair

 

Stokke Steps Chair Cushion

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GEAR

You’ll want to make sure that strollers and car seats contain no flame retardants or other problematic chemicals. (Our Car Seat Guide provides a review of many popular brands, and the following model from Clek is our favorite.)

Car Seat

Clek Liing Infant Car Seat, Mammoth

Milk Snob GOTS Certified Carseat Cover

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Stroller

Joolz Hub Non-Toxic Stroller with optional Bassinet

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Newborn Wrap Carrier

Moby Evolution Wrap

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Baby Carrier

Beco Organic Gemini baby carrier

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Infant Lounger

Snuggle Me Baby Lounger

Snuggle Me Baby Lounger Cover

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Bouncer

BabyBjorn Bouncer Bliss

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NURSERY & DECOR

Crib

Choose a crib and nursery furniture made of solid wood if possible, ideally with a no-VOC, nontoxic finish. Any of the dressers or changing tables from the following brands are also toxin-free, with the exception of the Ikea one.

Kalon Studios Caravan Crib

Romina Furniture New York Crib

Green Cradle Gratitude Slat Baby Crib

 

Ikea Sniglar Crib

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Crib Mattress

Choosing a toxin-free mattress, whether for a crib or a King-sized bed, can be a confusing process, and our Safe Mattress Guide endeavors to make it simpler. Naturepedic is our top-pick for a comfortable, safe crib mattress.

Naturepedic Organic Cotton Lightweight Crib Mattress Mattress

Blaynk Baby Organic Crib Sheet

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Travel Crib

Lotus Travel Crib

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Changing Table Pad

Once again, Naturepedic is our top choice for a flame-retardant free changing pad.

Naturepedic Changing Pad

Naturepedic Contoured Changing Pad Covers

Monica & Andy Changing Pad Cover

 

 

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Playmat

Most mats for babies contain polyurethane foam. We chose CorkiMat as our top pick because it contains no polyurethane or flame retardants and comes encased in organic cotton.

CorkiMat Comfy Non-Toxic Playmat

 

---

Nursery Rug

Rugs are another place where you’ll often find flame retardant chemicals. Lorena Canals offers a large selection of machine-washable cotton rugs free of toxins. Below are a few of our favorite. (Make sure that the pad you put under the rug is made of 100% natural rubber rather than vinyl, which contains phthalates.)

Hippy Stars

Happy Llama

 

Azteca

Earth Weave Rubber Rug Gripper

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Air Filter

Austin Air Healthmate Plus Junior Filter

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CLOTHING & ACCESORIES

Ideally, your baby will be clothed in only organic cotton. If you can’t find certified organic, then look for an Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certifictaion,  which prohibits the use of dangerous dyes and other toxins. Castleware is a brand we trust across the board.

Complete Organic Layette

Monica & Andy Newborn Layette Cuddle Box

---

Onesies & Sleepers

Burt’s Bee’s Organic Bodysuits

 

Primary Short-Sleeve Babysuit

Pact Long-Sleeve Bodysuit

 

Primary Organic Zip Footie

---

Pants

Primary Baby Pants

 

Under the Nile Footed Pant

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Mittens

Oeuf Newborn Mittens

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Swaddles & Blankets

You’ll want to have at least three swaddles on hand, because your baby will inevitably pee through at least one each day. And you’ll find that you can never have enough cute organic blankets.

Blaynk Baby Organic Swaddle

Monica & Andy Organic Coming Home Blanket

---

Sleep Sack

You’ll probably want a to stock a few sleep sacks, since babies will pee (or worse) through these, too!

Castlewear Sleeper Bag

---

Socks

Touched by Nature Organic Baby Socks

Monica & Andy Baby Tube Socks

---

Hats

Pehr Knot Hat

 

Spearmint Love Organic Cotton Beanie

Under the Nile Cold Weather Hat

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Laundry Detergent

Any of the laundry soaps in our Detergent Guide are toxin-free and safe for baby clothes. The following two brands are customer favorites.

Eco-Me Laundry Detergent

Pure Natural Baby Laundry Detergent

 

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DIAPERING

I was certainly not a full-time cloth-diapering momma, but things have come a long way—if I had to do it again, I would absolutely give it a try!

Cloth Diapers

If you’ll be a full-time, cloth-diapering mom, we recommend 24 inners and 6 outters. If you’ll be a part-time cloth diaperer, go with 12 inners and 4 outters. (Your baby will need to move up to Size 2 when she hits 18 pounds)

Esembly Inner Diaper

Use code GOODSTUFF*10* at checkout for 10% off everything at Esembly.

Esembly Outer Diaper Cover

 

Esembly Overnight Insert

MamaSuds Cloth-Diaper Safe Liquid Laundry

ImseVimse Wet Bags

While this is designed for cloth diapers on the go, the large one could also used to line a diaper pail and reduce waste.

Esembly Day Bag

Use code GOODSTUFF*10* at checkout for 10% off everything at Esembly.

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Disposable Diapers

If you decide to use disposable diapers (even part time), our Diaper Guide can help you choose the most eco-friendly brands. Nest is a reader favorite.

Nest Baby Diapers

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Diaper Wipes

We hope you’ll get addicted to the reusable variety, but you can register for several kinds and see which ones you like best.

Jackson Reece Baby Wipes

Noleo Duo Baby Wipes System

ImseVimse Washable & Reusable Cloth Wipes

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Diaper Creams & Powder

Our Diaper Cream Guide will help you choose a toxin-free product for diaper rash relief. The following are our favorites.

Green Goo Baby Balm

Babo Botanicals Oatmilk Calendula Soothing Diaper Cream

Ora’s Amazing Herbal Unscented All Natural Baby Powder

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Diaper Pail

Ubbi Steel Diaper Pail

 

Esembly Diaper Pail Powder Deodorant

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BATHTIME

Less is more when it comes to using skin or hair products on your baby. A simple bar of soap is the most eco-friendly choice, and lotion is really only necessary if your baby has dry skin. Organic coconut oil is multi-purpose essential.

Baby Shampoo & Wash

 

Tandi’s Naturals Gentle Herb Soap

 

Babo Botanicals Sensitive Baby Newborn Foam Wash

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Baby Lotion

Babo Botanicals Sensitive Baby Fragrance Free Daily Hydra Lotion

Beautycounter Baby Daily Protective Balm

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Baby Bathtub

Stokke Flexi Bathtub

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Organic Towels

Under the Nile Spa Gift Bag Set

Under the Nile Newborn Hooded Towel

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Organic Wash Cloths

Under the Nile Sherpa Wash Cloths

Under the Nile Wash Mitt Set

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ON THE GO

Diaper Bag

Dera Design Organic Canvas Diaper Bag

Esembly Petite Pouch

Use code GOODSTUFF*10* at checkout for 10% off everything at Esembly.

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Face/Hand Wipes

Babo Botanicals 3-in-1 Sensitive Baby Wipes

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Hand Sanitizer

All Good Organic Peppermint Hand Sanitizer Spray

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BOOKS

You’ll almost certainly be gifted many books, including multiple copies of Good Night Moon. Here are a few other wonderful first book ideas.

You Are Light

Here We Are

The Skin You Live In

A is for Activist

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PLAY

Our Safe Toy Guide offers some guidelines for choosing toxin-free toys for children of all ages. What follows are some of our favorite toys and teethers for the youngest set.

Gym

Lovevery Play Gym

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Soft Toy

Petit Collage Organic Bunny Soft Chime Ball

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Teethers

Three Hearts VW Bus Silicone Teether

Under the Nile Carrot Organic Veggie Toy Teether

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Rattles

Haba Rattling Max

Kleynimals Stainless Steel Keys

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Doll

Under the Nile Sasha Dress Up Doll

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Versatile Toy

Rainbow Toy

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Lovey

Under the Nile Sleeping Lovey Doll

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Play Kits

Lovevery Play Kits

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FOR MAMA

Nipple Cream

My own breastfeeding experience was really tough, and I hope not one woman reading this goes through the same. If you have even a little discomfort, you’ll want a safe, soothing, toxin-free balm like my favorite from Green Goo.

Green Goo Nursing Cream

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Stretch Mark Balm

Green Goo Belly Balm

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Sitz Bath

Green Goo Herbal Sitz Bath

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Radiation Protection

DefenderShield EMF Radiation Protection Baby Belly Band

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Reusable Nursing Pads

Bamboobies Washable Nursing Pads

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Nursing Pillow

Holy Lamb Nursing Pillow

 

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Nursing-Friendly PJs

Hatch Collection Organic Pointelle Set

Coyuchi Cloud Brushed Organic Sleep Shirt

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Nursing Bras & Tanks

Kindred Bravely Nursing/Pumping Tank

 

Kindred/Bravely Organic Nursing/Sleep Bra

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Maternity/Nursing Poncho

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Comfy Underwear

Knickey Organic Cotton Undies

 

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Leggings

Cinnamon – New Mom Wear Leggings by DynaTot

Milestone Block Set

Modern Blocks Milestone Block Set

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New Pregnancy Resource

Unique Footprints is an online pregnancy program that teaches you everything you need to know for your entire pregnancy and early days of motherhood. It includes pregnancy meal planning, prenatal yoga, birth and postpartum prep, fetal brain development, breastfeeding, baby care, infant sleep and safety, and much more. Unique Footprints is made up of a team of nurses, dietitians, counselors, infant sleep coaches, lactation consultants, and yoga therapists. Use code GIMME THE GOOD STUFF at checkout for a 10% discount.

If you liked this post, sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish new content like this!

 

 

The post Complete Non-Toxic Baby Registry Checklist appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]> https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/complete-non-toxic-baby-registry-checklist/feed/ 19 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/5-ways-to-make-a-safer-prenatal-environment-for-your-baby/pregnant-maia-with-elle/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/choosing-a-humidifier-for-winter-survival/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/choosing-a-humidifier-for-winter-survival/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2020 13:26:08 +0000 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/?p=18645 2020 update: We wrote this post a couple of winters ago, but many of you are in search of humidifiers because of Coronavirus. I hope this makes shopping for one easier! This time of year, I get a lot of questions about humidifiers. As temperatures drop outside, we turn up our thermostats for relief. But that warm air is dry, leaving our skin, hair and mucus membranes parched. Add in a cold or flu, especially a sick baby, and you’ll be temped to run out and buy the first humidifier you can get your (very dry) hands on—but wait! The humidifier market is crowded with products–cool-mist and warm-mist humidifiers; big units, small units, and whole-house humidifiers; cute humidifiers for baby; humidifiers with “air washing” and UV features; etc. When I started researching humidifiers and saw all of these options, I understood why so many readers and clients ask me for help choosing one! You may have also heard about some of the health risks associated with humidifiers. They can over-humidify a space, which may lead to the growth of mold and bacteria in your home. If not cleaned regularly, the humidifier itself can be the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. And warm-mist humidifiers, also knows as vaporizers, come with a burn risk because they heat water to create steam. Many pediatricians warn against using these units near children. All that said, a good humidifier could become your best friend this winter. Here are my top tips for humidifiers–what kind to choose, and how to use it to maximize benefits and eliminate drawbacks: Choose an evaporative cool-mist humidifier. According to my research, one of the best cool-mist humidifiers is the Honeywell HCM-350. (Shoppers agree; it’s the best-selling unit on Amazon!) Warm-mist and cool-mist are the two basic types of humidifiers. Aside from the burn risk mentioned above, warm-mist humidifiers are higher maintenance and often more expensive. You should also avoid ultrasonic cool-mist humidifiers, which are more likely to over-humidify your space.  If you’re set on the idea of warm mist, consider Stadler’s HERA Ultrasonic Humidifier, which produces both cool and warm mist.  This is a good humidifier, but because it’s ultrasonic, you run the risk of over-humidifying your space. Get a hygrometer and monitor it to make sure the humidity level in your home stays in the safe range of 30-50%. Avoid humidifiers that require the addition of quaternary ammonium compounds, as they are linked with asthma and respiratory disorders, as well as skin allergies and irritation. For instance, Venta humidifiers require a “water treatment additive,” which contains the aforementioned compounds. Keep your humidifier clean! This might mean cleaning it daily or every few days. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations. I recommend using white vinegar to clean them. But don’t worry about features that kill water-borne microbes or purify your air. Some units (including the Honeywell cool mist humidifier I recommend) have UV bulbs that are supposed to kill germs in tap water. Unless you’re living off the grid, your drinking water shouldn’t have these germs. Also, some humidifiers claim to have “air washing” abilities. Studies by Consumer Reports and others conclude that these claims are pretty much bogus. Don’t rely on a humidifier to purify your air. Instead, try a natural charcoal purifier, like a Moso bag. Last but not least, start with good water. One of the most important (and overlooked) considerations when it comes to humidifiers is the water you put into the unit. Unfiltered tap water is full of all kinds of unhealthy stuff. If you use water that contains chlorine, for instance, the humidifier vaporizes chlorine and spreads it through your home. Stay sane,   If you liked this post, sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish new content like this!

The post Choosing a Humidifier for Winter Survival appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]> 2020 update: We wrote this post a couple of winters ago, but many of you are in search of humidifiers because of Coronavirus. I hope this makes shopping for one easier!

This time of year, I get a lot of questions about humidifiers. As temperatures drop outside, we turn up our thermostats for relief. But that warm air is dry, leaving our skin, hair and mucus membranes parched.

Add in a cold or flu, especially a sick baby, and you’ll be temped to run out and buy the first humidifier you can get your (very dry) hands on—but wait!

The humidifier market is crowded with products–cool-mist and warm-mist humidifiers; big units, small units, and whole-house humidifiers; cute humidifiers for baby; humidifiers with “air washing” and UV features; etc. When I started researching humidifiers and saw all of these options, I understood why so many readers and clients ask me for help choosing one!

You may have also heard about some of the health risks associated with humidifiers. They can over-humidify a space, which may lead to the growth of mold and bacteria in your home. If not cleaned regularly, the humidifier itself can be the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

And warm-mist humidifiers, also knows as vaporizers, come with a burn risk because they heat water to create steam. Many pediatricians warn against using these units near children.

All that said, a good humidifier could become your best friend this winter. Here are my top tips for humidifiers–what kind to choose, and how to use it to maximize benefits and eliminate drawbacks:

1. Choose an evaporative cool-mist humidifier. According to my research, one of the best cool-mist humidifiers is the Honeywell HCM-350. (Shoppers agree; it’s the best-selling unit on Amazon!) Warm-mist and cool-mist are the two basic types of humidifiers. Aside from the burn risk mentioned above, warm-mist humidifiers are higher maintenance and often more expensive. You should also avoid ultrasonic cool-mist humidifiers, which are more likely to over-humidify your space. 
   
   

   I recommend the Honeywell Cool Mist Humidifier.

2. If you’re set on the idea of warm mist, consider Stadler’s HERA Ultrasonic Humidifier, which produces both cool and warm mist.  This is a good humidifier, but because it’s ultrasonic, you run the risk of over-humidifying your space. Get a hygrometer and monitor it to make sure the humidity level in your home stays in the safe range of 30-50%.
3. Avoid humidifiers that require the addition of quaternary ammonium compounds, as they are linked with asthma and respiratory disorders, as well as skin allergies and irritation. For instance, Venta humidifiers require a “water treatment additive,” which contains the aforementioned compounds.
4. Keep your humidifier clean! This might mean cleaning it daily or every few days. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations. I recommend using white vinegar to clean them.
5. But don’t worry about features that kill water-borne microbes or purify your air. Some units (including the Honeywell cool mist humidifier I recommend) have UV bulbs that are supposed to kill germs in tap water. Unless you’re living off the grid, your drinking water shouldn’t have these germs. Also, some humidifiers claim to have “air washing” abilities. Studies by Consumer Reports and others conclude that these claims are pretty much bogus. Don’t rely on a humidifier to purify your air. Instead, try a natural charcoal purifier, like a Moso bag.
6. Last but not least, start with good water. One of the most important (and overlooked) considerations when it comes to humidifiers is the water you put into the unit. Unfiltered tap water is full of all kinds of unhealthy stuff. If you use water that contains chlorine, for instance, the humidifier vaporizes chlorine and spreads it through your home.

Stay sane,

 

---

If you liked this post, sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish new content like this!

The post Choosing a Humidifier for Winter Survival appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]> https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/choosing-a-humidifier-for-winter-survival/feed/ 15 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/choosing-a-humidifier-for-winter-survival/honeywell-germ-free-humidifier/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/car-seat/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/car-seat/#comments Sun, 08 Mar 2020 18:37:03 +0000 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/?p=84997 1. Clek / 2. Uppa Baby Jordan / 3. Nuna Rava / 4. Britax / 5. Bugaboo Buying a “safe” car seat for your new baby (or your toddler) should be simple, but can be confusing and overwhelming. Obviously, the primary concern is choosing a seat that will protect your baby in the event of a car accident, and I like the Wirecutter for its reviews on items like this. Of course, here at Gimme, we also feel that it’s essential to look at the chemical safety of every car seat you’re considering. Doing this within your budget can making staying sane a challenge, but we hope this guide will help! How to Use This Guide We reviewed seats from ten car seat manufacturers. Most of these did not make seats that were all Good Stuff. For this reason, you’ll note that in our list of Best/Good/Okay/Bad Stuff below, we’ve categorized the seats by model rather than brand, with the exception of Britax, as all of their seats are Good Stuff (but not Best Stuff). It’s also worth noting that no car seat manufacture received higher grade then a D in transparency in this report. This is due to the lack of public communication about chemicals and their use, and the fact that not one manufacturer has a public restricted substance list and most do not have a public chemicals policy. We hope this changes in the future. Toxins in Car Seats Some of the most concerning chemicals that can be found in car seats are: 1) Flame Retardants State and federal safety standards (FMVSS 302 and California TB 117) require all car seats and strollers to meet stringent flame retardant standards.  There are two types of flame retardants: halogenated, which include brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, and non-halogenated, which use phosphorus and nitrogen. Research shows that non-halogenated flame retardants are likely less toxic than are halogenated flame retardants. Several companies are moving away from halogenated flame retardants, and that’s great. Still, we believe that phosphoruss-based flame retardants should be considered as potentially hazardous until proven otherwise, so that seats that contain those It can be difficult to meet safety standards without adding chemical flame retardants, but it’s not impossible, and some manufacturers have been able to meet these requirements without the use of toxic materials or chemicals. You’ll learn more about these brands, below. I’m excited to see so many car seat manufacturers now offering merino wool car seats. Wool is a naturally flame retardant fabric because it is difficult to ignite, and flames are often extinguished in the fibers. Furthermore, wool does not melt, drip, or stick to the skin when it burns. 2) Stain-Resistant Fabric Treatments (PFCs/PFOAs) Stain-repelling PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid) is both massively detrimental to the environment and also linked to cancer, hormone disruption, and immune system dysfunction. Scotchguard has phased-out PFOS and has replaced it with PFBS (perfluorobutanesulfonic acid). So far, PFBS seems safer, mostly due to a shorter half-life, but studies are still lacking. Your best bet is to avoid any fabrics treated with stain- or water-repellents. 3) Shock-Absorbing Foams The foam used in cars seats serves an important function: it absorbs impact when a car accident occurs. The foam used is in almost all seats is one of the following: EPS (Expanded Polystyrene, AKA Styrofoam) EPS is typically treated with halogenated flame retardant and breaks off more easily, and thus car seats made with EPS should usually be avoided. EPP (Expanded Polypropylene) EPP foam is environmentally friendly, apparently non-toxic, and offers impact absorption and high strength properties. Also, EPP foam does not require the use of additional flame retardants. EPO (Expanded Polyolefin) Like EPP, EPO is naturally flame resistant. You might have heard about other concerning toxins in car seats, including phthalates, PVCs, heavy metals, and more. Fortunately, you can look for certifications on car seats that will ensure that these have been tested for, such as JPMA, Oeko-Tex, and GreenGuard.   The Four Best Brands for a Non-Toxic Car Seat Clek: All Clek brand car seats are third-party tested for volatile chemicals/components and all seat covers can be removed and washed. Clek is also the first and only car seat manufacturer with a recycling program so I give them extra props for that. You can see which fabrics/models are Best, Good, and Okay below.  Nuna Baby: Nuna is a Dutch company, and as of 2019 all Nuna car seats are free of flame retardants. Nuna changed the foam used in all of their car seats (except for the Aace booster) from EPS to EPO (expanded polyolefin), which is naturally flame resistant. Nuna private labels non-toxic car seats for Bugaboo and Stokke, as you’ll see below. Orbit: Orbit baby is moving towards using merino wool for their future car seat launches. These will be offered at a higher price point. Currently, Orbit’s infant car seat is Good Stuff,  and once they transition to merino wool, they’ll likely be upgraded to Best Stuff. Orbit will be launching a toddler car seat in 2020.  Uppa Baby: Uppa makes one car seat, called the Mesa. Depending on the fabric, and Mesa might be Best Stuff, Good Stuff, or Okay Stuff. You can read more about these, below. A Note on Cybex: They are not included below because we have not heard back from them. We will add them into the appropriate category when they get back to us. The Best Stuff Uppa Baby: Henry and Jordan fabrics  Cost: $350 These fabric options are made of 65% and 35% polyester and are naturally flame retardant, meaning they’ve passed federal safety standards without the use of fire retardant chemicals. This is the most affordable of all the Best Stuff, and therefore our top pick! Clek: Mammoth fabric Cost: $480 Any Clek model that comes in the Mammoth fabric is made using 100% Australian Merino Wool, with no added flame retardants. Mammoth is a body-temperature regulating, naturally hypoallergenic, breathable fabric. The infant seat is the Liing. Here’s what else love about the Clek in Mammoth: EPP foam is used for impact. The seat’s harness/foam/plastics are all free of flame retardants of any kind. This model is Oeko-Tex certified. Nuna: Pipa Lite lx Cost: $400 This model requires no flame retardants, as the fabric is a merino wool/polyester blend. The foam is EPO. The Good Stuff Britax (all models) Starting in 2013, Britax required all of its suppliers to eliminate the use of all halogenated flame retardants from all components used in its car seats and all other products. Britax continues to use non-halogenated flame retardants on all of their seats, making them Good Stuff but not Best Stuff. The infant car seat model that contains non-halogenated flame retardants is the B-Safe 35 (priced at $200-$230). Some Britax car seats (both infant and convertible) use a nanotechnology called Nanotex. This changes the fiber on a molecular level, so that it permanently resists spills, stains, and flame. Nanotex does not contain or emit harmful substances.  If you want the Nanotex version, that’s the B-Safe Ultra (priced from $230-$600). Britax recently introduced its SafeWash Fabric in Otto which is the only fabric that is machine washable (up to 30 washes) and does not contain any flame retardants. This fabric is naturally flame resistant due to the way the fabric is woven together. That model is the Endeavour (it costs $290-$310). Bugaboo Cost: $349 The Bugaboo car seat is manufactured by Nuna (it’s the Nuna Pipa model). Their infant car seat is called the Turtle. They use merino wool for this particular car seat so that’s an added bonus!  The turtle also has built-in adaptors to fit their base/strollers. Clek: Thunder or Slate fabrics  Cost: $420 While these fabrics are Good Stuff, we cannot call them Best Stuff. Thunder and Slate fabrics: Use a polyester-based fabric. Include a cryptonized treatement, which creates a built-in moisture barrier for stain resistance.  Are GreenGuard certified, which means they meet stringent chemical emissions requirements, such as being screened for various volatile organic compounds. Is treated with non-halogenated flame retardants.  Clek: Carbon or Chrome fabrics  Cost: $400 If you choose a Clek in Carbon or Chrome, you’ll be getting a jersey knit fabric that is treated with non-halogenated flame retardants but no stain-repelling treatments. It does not have any additional certifications. Nuna: Pipa Cost: $300 The Pipa car seat is the only one that can be used with or without a base and therefore is great for airplane travel. Nuna: Rava Cost: $450 The fabric on the Rava is a bamboo/polyester blend, and the foam is EPO, which means no flame retardant chemicals are necessary. Orbit Baby: G5 Cost: $480 The G5 comes in fabric from mills that are certified by the Oeko-Tex Standard 100.  This seat also: Is Prop-65 compliant and meets California’s AB1108 material standards. 100% polyester.  Is not treated with any stain-repellent chemicals or sprays.  They use EPP foam and non-halogenated flame retardants (phosphorus-based). Stokke Cost: $349 Stokke sells one car seat and it manufactured by Nuna. It’s the same as the Pipa. The only difference with this car seat is that it contains built-in adaptors to fit their base/strollers. The Okay Stuff Uppa Baby: Bryce and Jake fabrics  Cost: $300 These models are made of 100% polyester and treated with a phosphate-based flame retardant. Uppa Baby: Denny and Taylor fabrics Cost: $240 Like the Bryce and Jake, these two fabrics are made of 100% polyester and treated with a phosphate-based flame retardant. The Bad Stuff Graco (all models) Graco has several car seats at various price points. Generally, the fabric and filling materials utilized on Graco’s car seats are treated with halogenated and/or phosphorus based flame retardant chemicals in order to meet federal regulations. Graco did not provide any accreditations for chemical safety. Safety 1st, Maxi-Cosi, Cosco, and Disney Baby car seats are all manufactured by a Dorel Juvenile Group. We were unable to get very much information from them. It seems that they do prohibit halogenated flame retardants, but they do use other types of flame retardants. There are two Maxi-Cosi brands that claim to be free of flame retardants—these are the Mico Max, which retails for $350 and the convertible Magellan model, which retails for $450. They state that they’ve designed these car seats with a wool-free fabric called Pure Cosi, but we don’t understand how they achieve this without chemicals. We need more information before we can call these Good Stuff.    Stay sane,       If you liked this post, sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish new content like this!

The post Safe Car Seat Guide appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]>

1. Clek / 2. Uppa Baby Jordan / 3. Nuna Rava / 4. Britax / 5. Bugaboo

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Buying a “safe” car seat for your new baby (or your toddler) should be simple, but can be confusing and overwhelming. Obviously, the primary concern is choosing a seat that will protect your baby in the event of a car accident, and I like the Wirecutter for its reviews on items like this.

Of course, here at Gimme, we also feel that it’s essential to look at the chemical safety of every car seat you’re considering. Doing this within your budget can making staying sane a challenge, but we hope this guide will help!

How to Use This Guide

We reviewed seats from ten car seat manufacturers. Most of these did not make seats that were all Good Stuff.

For this reason, you’ll note that in our list of Best/Good/Okay/Bad Stuff below, we’ve categorized the seats by model rather than brand, with the exception of Britax, as all of their seats are Good Stuff (but not Best Stuff).

It’s also worth noting that no car seat manufacture received higher grade then a D in transparency in this report. This is due to the lack of public communication about chemicals and their use, and the fact that not one manufacturer has a public restricted substance list and most do not have a public chemicals policy. We hope this changes in the future.

Toxins in Car Seats

Some of the most concerning chemicals that can be found in car seats are:

1) Flame Retardants

State and federal safety standards (FMVSS 302 and California TB 117) require all car seats and strollers to meet stringent flame retardant standards. 

There are two types of flame retardants: halogenated, which include brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, and non-halogenated, which

use phosphorus and nitrogen. Research shows that non-halogenated flame retardants are likely less toxic than are halogenated flame retardants.

Several companies are moving away from halogenated flame retardants, and that’s great. Still, we believe that phosphoruss-based flame retardants should be considered as potentially hazardous until proven otherwise, so that seats that contain those

It can be difficult to meet safety standards without adding chemical flame retardants, but it’s not impossible, and some manufacturers have been able to meet these requirements without the use of toxic materials or chemicals. You’ll learn more about these brands, below.

I’m excited to see so many car seat manufacturers now offering merino wool car seats. Wool is a naturally flame retardant fabric because it is difficult to ignite, and flames are often extinguished in the fibers. Furthermore, wool does not melt, drip, or stick to the skin when it burns.

2) Stain-Resistant Fabric Treatments (PFCs/PFOAs)

Stain-repelling PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid) is both massively detrimental to the environment and also linked to cancer, hormone disruption, and immune system dysfunction.

Scotchguard has phased-out PFOS and has replaced it with PFBS (perfluorobutanesulfonic acid). So far, PFBS seems safer, mostly due to a shorter half-life, but studies are still lacking.

Your best bet is to avoid any fabrics treated with stain- or water-repellents.

3) Shock-Absorbing Foams

The foam used in cars seats serves an important function: it absorbs impact when a car accident occurs. The foam used is in almost all seats is one of the following:

• EPS (Expanded Polystyrene, AKA Styrofoam)
  EPS is typically treated with halogenated flame retardant and breaks off more easily, and thus car seats made with EPS should usually be avoided.
• EPP (Expanded Polypropylene)
  EPP foam is environmentally friendly, apparently non-toxic, and offers impact absorption and high strength properties. Also, EPP foam does not require the use of additional flame retardants.
• EPO (Expanded Polyolefin)
  Like EPP, EPO is naturally flame resistant.

You might have heard about other concerning toxins in car seats, including phthalates, PVCs, heavy metals, and more. Fortunately, you can look for certifications on car seats that will ensure that these have been tested for, such as JPMA, Oeko-Tex, and GreenGuard.  

The Four Best Brands for a Non-Toxic Car Seat

Clek: All Clek brand car seats are third-party tested for volatile chemicals/components and all seat covers can be removed and washed. Clek is also the first and only car seat manufacturer with a recycling program so I give them extra props for that. You can see which fabrics/models are Best, Good, and Okay below. 

Nuna Baby: Nuna is a Dutch company, and as of 2019 all Nuna car seats are free of flame retardants. Nuna changed the foam used in all of their car seats (except for the Aace booster) from EPS to EPO (expanded polyolefin), which is naturally flame resistant. Nuna private labels non-toxic car seats for Bugaboo and Stokke, as you’ll see below.

Orbit: Orbit baby is moving towards using merino wool for their future car seat launches. These will be offered at a higher price point. Currently, Orbit’s infant car seat is Good Stuff,  and once they transition to merino wool, they’ll likely be upgraded to Best Stuff. Orbit will be launching a toddler car seat in 2020. 

Uppa Baby: Uppa makes one car seat, called the Mesa. Depending on the fabric, and Mesa might be Best Stuff, Good Stuff, or Okay Stuff. You can read more about these, below.

A Note on Cybex: They are not included below because we have not heard back from them. We will add them into the appropriate category when they get back to us.

The Best Stuff

Uppa Baby: Henry and Jordan fabrics 

Cost: $350

These fabric options are made of 65% and 35% polyester and are naturally flame retardant, meaning they’ve passed federal safety standards without the use of fire retardant chemicals. This is the most affordable of all the Best Stuff, and therefore our top pick!

---

Clek: Mammoth fabric

Cost: $480

Any Clek model that comes in the Mammoth fabric is made using 100% Australian Merino Wool, with no added flame retardants. Mammoth is a body-temperature regulating, naturally hypoallergenic, breathable fabric. The infant seat is the Liing. Here’s what else love about the Clek in Mammoth:

• EPP foam is used for impact.
• The seat’s harness/foam/plastics are all free of flame retardants of any kind.
• This model is Oeko-Tex certified.

---

Nuna: Pipa Lite lx

Cost: $400

This model requires no flame retardants, as the fabric is a merino wool/polyester blend. The foam is EPO.

The Good Stuff

Britax (all models)

Starting in 2013, Britax required all of its suppliers to eliminate the use of all halogenated flame retardants from all components used in its car seats and all other products. Britax continues to use non-halogenated flame retardants on all of their seats, making them Good Stuff but not Best Stuff.

The infant car seat model that contains non-halogenated flame retardants is the B-Safe 35 (priced at $200-$230).

Some Britax car seats (both infant and convertible) use a nanotechnology called Nanotex. This changes the fiber on a molecular level, so that it permanently resists spills, stains, and flame. Nanotex does not contain or emit harmful substances. 

If you want the Nanotex version, that’s the B-Safe Ultra (priced from $230-$600).

Britax recently introduced its SafeWash Fabric in Otto which is the only fabric that is machine washable (up to 30 washes) and does not contain any flame retardants. This fabric is naturally flame resistant due to the way the fabric is woven together.

That model is the Endeavour (it costs $290-$310).

---

Bugaboo

Cost: $349

The Bugaboo car seat is manufactured by Nuna (it’s the Nuna Pipa model). Their infant car seat is called the Turtle. They use merino wool for this particular car seat so that’s an added bonus!  The turtle also has built-in adaptors to fit their base/strollers.

---

Clek: Thunder or Slate fabrics 

Cost: $420

While these fabrics are Good Stuff, we cannot call them Best Stuff. Thunder and Slate fabrics:

• Use a polyester-based fabric.
• Include a cryptonized treatement, which creates a built-in moisture barrier for stain resistance. 
• Are GreenGuard certified, which means they meet stringent chemical emissions requirements, such as being screened for various volatile organic compounds.
• Is treated with non-halogenated flame retardants. 

---

Clek: Carbon or Chrome fabrics 

Cost: $400

If you choose a Clek in Carbon or Chrome, you’ll be getting a jersey knit fabric that is treated with non-halogenated flame retardants but no stain-repelling treatments. It does not have any additional certifications.

---

Nuna: Pipa

Cost: $300

The Pipa car seat is the only one that can be used with or without a base and therefore is great for airplane travel.

---

Nuna: Rava

Cost: $450

The fabric on the Rava is a bamboo/polyester blend, and the foam is EPO, which means no flame retardant chemicals are necessary.

---

Orbit Baby: G5

Cost: $480

The G5 comes in fabric from mills that are certified by the Oeko-Tex Standard 100.  This seat also:

• Is Prop-65 compliant and meets California’s AB1108 material standards.
• 100% polyester. 
• Is not treated with any stain-repellent chemicals or sprays. 
• They use EPP foam and non-halogenated flame retardants (phosphorus-based).

---

Stokke

Cost: $349

Stokke sells one car seat and it manufactured by Nuna. It’s the same as the Pipa. The only difference with this car seat is that it contains built-in adaptors to fit their base/strollers.

The Okay Stuff

Uppa Baby: Bryce and Jake fabrics 

Cost: $300

These models are made of 100% polyester and treated with a phosphate-based flame retardant.

---

Uppa Baby: Denny and Taylor fabrics

Cost: $240

Like the Bryce and Jake, these two fabrics are made of 100% polyester and treated with a phosphate-based flame retardant.

The Bad Stuff

Graco (all models)

Graco has several car seats at various price points. Generally, the fabric and filling materials utilized on Graco’s car seats are treated with halogenated and/or phosphorus based flame retardant chemicals in order to meet federal regulations. Graco did not provide any accreditations for chemical safety.

---

Safety 1^st, Maxi-Cosi, Cosco, and Disney Baby car seats are all manufactured by a Dorel Juvenile Group. We were unable to get very much information from them. It seems that they do prohibit halogenated flame retardants, but they do use other types of flame retardants.

There are two Maxi-Cosi brands that claim to be free of flame retardants—these are the Mico Max, which retails for $350 and the convertible Magellan model, which retails for $450.

They state that they’ve designed these car seats with a wool-free fabric called Pure Cosi, but we don’t understand how they achieve this without chemicals. We need more information before we can call these Good Stuff. 

 

Stay sane,

 

 

 

---

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The post Safe Car Seat Guide appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]> https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/car-seat/feed/ 17 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/car-seat/car-seat-expiration-2160x1200/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/disposable-diapers/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/disposable-diapers/#comments Sat, 07 Sep 2019 22:40:34 +0000 http://wordpress.gimmethegoodstuff.info/?page_id=1451 My original introduction to this section read something like, “Sure, we all know we should use cloth diapers, but how realistic is that, especially here in New York City where many of us don’t even have washing machines? Thank God for these biodegradable diapers from Seventh Generation!” This was back in 2010, and I was using cloth diapers about 25% of the time (and my husband was using them never). After doing the research for this guide, I came away realizing that there really isn’t a truly “green” way to use disposables. So I started putting Felix in non-toxic disposable diapers only at bedtime or for long car rides, and stopped using the Seventh Generation disposables completely. But I had many relapses before potty training was done, and when my second son, Wolf, was born in 2013, I didn’t even attempt cloth diapers. My excuse: a busy business and two children. Valid? Not really, but at least I used diapers I felt better about (see “The Best Stuff,” below). 2019 Updated Biodegradable Diaper Guide In 2019, nearly a decade after I first published this guide, I hired Dr. Michael Hopkins, PhD, to revisit the guide and update it with some new brands you’ve been asking about. (Dr. Hopkins also helped with this amazing prenatal vitamin guide.) Michael’s Research Process Michael began by studying the existing version of this guide, and then looking at other natural parenting websites and the biodegradable diaper brands they recommend, plus the potential sources of toxins in most disposable diapers. As a scientist, Dr. Hopkins is well-equipped to read peer-reviewed studies and come away with a deep understanding of the nuances of the potential risks from various diaper materials, from chlorine to SAP to adhesives (more on all this later.) After deciding on the appropriate criteria for what would make brands Best, Good, Bad, or Okay Stuff, Michael made a many-columned spreadsheet and populated it with the list of diaper brands you guys asked us to review. For each brand, Michael calculated affordability, studied reviews on diaper performance, and double-checked to make sure that all ingredients and materials lists were accurate from the first version of this guide (in the case of Honest Diapers, for instance, the ingredients changed in 2018). Michael’s final (and the most time-consuming!) step was contacting diaper manufacturers to find out about phthalates, fragrance, chlorine, latex, and the exact materials in the top-sheet and back-sheet of each diaper. I asked him to find out if the diapers use bamboo or plastic (and in what ratios), if they use traditional SAP or plant-based fluff, what their adhesives are made of, and what percentage of so-called compostable or biodegradable diapers actually biodegrade. Once he gathered all of this information, we were able to plunk all 37 reviewed brands into a Best, Good, Okay, Bad or Sneaky Stuff category, which you can review at the bottom of this post. Your Most Pressing Question: Do even the worst disposables really pose a risk to the baby wearing them? Or is this mostly an environmental issue? This is the question I am asked more than any other about diapers, so let’s start here. Environmental impact aside, is there a risk to disposables? The short answer is, yes: diapers can pose a risk to the baby wearing them. Here are our two biggest health concerns with disposable diapers: The phthalates that may be used not only in the plastic components of diapers, but also in the glues, synthetic fragrance, and dyes. In a recent study out of South Korea, four leading diaper brands (as well as several brands of sanitary pads) were shown to all contain varying amounts (and in some cases, very high levels) of phthalates. If you’re a regular reader, you already know how bad phthalates are, and since they directly disrupt hormones, they are definitely not something you want anywhere near your children’s privates! In addition, phthalates proved to be the hardest ingredient to suss out during our investigation. A surprising number of “non-toxic” or “sustainable” diaper brands don’t actually make any claim about phthalates, and you’ll see in our reviews below that we note whether each brand is “phthalate-free.” Allergens and irritants. TBT, parabens, latex, and more are often found in diapers. These will most likely be present in fragrance, lotions, and dyes. While this is the least sensational potential risk (certainly phthalates are a much more exciting enemy), good old-fashioned diaper rash is probably the greatest actual concern for most babies wearing disposable diapers. The best way to avoid diaper rash (or a more serious reaction) is to avoid any disposables with dyes, fragrance, and lotions, and to look for diapers that explicitly state they are free of latex, parabens, and TBT. My Top Pick for Best Non-Toxic Disposable Diapers Nest Biodegradable Diapers Do We Need to Worry About Bleaching/Dioxins in Diapers? This is another question I get a lot, and it’s certainly relevant from an environmental perspective. The organochlorines present in the effluent produced by paper mills during the bleaching process are a well-documented environmental pollutant. However, in terms of a danger to the baby, you should know that the level of dioxins present in disposable diapers is: Comparable to that found in cotton (cloth) diapers. Thirty thousand to 2.2 million times lower than the average dietary dioxin exposure resulting from “low level contamination of the food supply.” (From this peer reviewed study using commercially available diapers purchased in and around San Francisco.) In other words, we are exposed to at least tens of thousands of times more dioxins from the Unites States food supply than the trace levels found in chlorine-bleached diapers. Does that mean you should buy bleached diapers? No, definitely not–the production of those suckers is really bad for the planet. But if the hospital puts your newborn in one, don’t worry; it’s not going to harm her. Total Chlorine Free (TCF) versus Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) If you’ve been educating yourself on non-toxic/biodegradable disposable diapers, you’ve probably heard that ECF diapers are basically Sneaky Stuff and that you MUST buy only TCF diapers. (Quick primer: ECF means bleached with chlorine dioxide instead of elemental chlorine. TCF means bleached using any chemicals other than chlorine, chlorine dioxide, or hypochlorite.) We are probably the only “green bloggers” saying this, but the distinction between TCF and ECF is totally not important. Here’s why: as we just said, the use of chlorine in pulp and paper mills is really an environmental issue, not a health and safety issue. Yes, ECF bleached diapers might sometimes still contain trace amounts of dioxins, but we are talking about levels that are several orders of magnitude lower than the levels of dioxins we are all exposed to by simply eating food. And here’s why it doesn’t even matter from an environmental standpoint: Although the waste products of TCF pulp is technically “cleaner” than ECF pulp, TCF produces a lower yield (it takes more wood pulp and energy to produce the same amount of finished product), effectively cancelling out the benefits over ECF. Moreover, the environmental impact of ECF versus TCF bleaching depends on the practices and procedures of the individual paper mill and how the waste products are handled. Recent reports have concluded that the theoretical benefits of TCF versus ECF bleaching have not been realized in the real world and that there is no appreciable difference between ECF and TCF. Scratch that one of your worry list! Non-Toxic Incontinence Diapers Abri-Form Junior is Abena’s line of non-toxic disposable incontinence diapers, designed specifically to fit those between 5 and 15 years old that suffer from uncontrolled urination. What Makes a Diaper Good Stuff? I hope all of this helps you guys understand a little more about what makes a diaper potentially unsafe for a baby and decidedly not friendly to the environment. Still, there are dozens of “green” or “biodegradable” diapers on the market; how can we know which ones to buy? In order for a disposable diaper to be “Good Stuff,” it must: Be free of artificial fragrance, dyes, and lotions, all of which have the potential to contain irritants/allergens/toxins and simply aren’t necessary in any diaper. Explicitly state that it is free of phthalates, since this cannot be assumed, unfortunately. These two criteria are the bare essentials if your only concern is the safety and well-being of the diaper user. (But I know you all are better than that!) Given the significant environmental impact of disposable diapers, a “Best Stuff” diaper also must: Be either Elementally Chlorine Free (ECF) or Totally Chlorine Free (TCF). For the reasons explained above. Be free of petroleum-derived plastics. There are now enough bamboo and other plant-based diapers on the market to eliminate any brand that uses petroleum in its production from the Best Stuff category, even if it poses no real risk to the baby wearing the diaper. This is a happy change from when we last updated this guide four years ago! Biodegradable Diapers: Do They Exist? By virtue of using plant-based rather than petroleum-based ingredients, the diapers that we’ve labeled as Best Stuff are inherently compostable or biodegradeable to varying degrees. Some of these brands supplement with a “bio-based SAP” or with cornstarch in the absorbent core to limit the amount of traditional SAP used. The other core component, “fluff,” is wood pulp (cellulose) that undergoes a more traditional bleaching process. Many people criticize diaper brands that market themselves as “biodegradable” or “compostable” because: Traditional landfills are inherently non-conducive to biodegradation due to an absence of oxygen, soil, and microorganisms. Compostable is only relevant when you have a way to compost where you live (keeping in mind that human feces should not be composted!), and anyone who is planning to compost their diapers will need to make sure they understand how to do this properly. Michael and I agree that, despite these concerns, there are still valid reasons to choose a “compostable” or “biodegradeable” diaper, including a reduction in use of petroleum on the production end, as well as sending a message to the industry about the demand for more environmentally sustainable consumer products. Reasons to Switch to Cloth Diapers Before I tell you which are the very best disposable diapers, here’s why you shouldn’t use any of them, even the ones I can sell you from our online store: Conventional plastic diapers contain small amounts of dioxin—a byproduct of the bleaching process. As discussed above, this doesn’t pose a risk to your baby, but it’s really bad for the environment. Even if you use non-toxic disposable diapers, you’re probably familiar with the little gel clumps that sometimes stick to your baby’s skin when you wait too long to change her. Known as SAP (Super Absorbent Polymer), some people worry about it because it was linked to toxic shock syndrome when it was in tampons. While I don’t think it causes a health risk to babies, it is not biodegradable, and thus not an earth-friendly choice. A Greenpeace study found the hormone-disrupting TBT (tributyl tin) in many diaper brands. I know we’re are all bored with the landfill stats, but the fact remains that a disposable diaper can take as long as 500 years to decompose. In response to the popular misconception that cloth diapers are just as bad for the environment as disposables (a myth propagated by a study funded by Proctor & Gamble), an independent report found that disposable diapers produce more than 50 times the waste of cloth diapers and use twice as much water and triple the energy. What About Cloth Diapers with Flushable Liners? I didn’t use them myself, but tons of readers and friends are devoted to the so-called “hybrid diapers” with the flushable liners. The Best Stuff Aleva Naturals Bamboo Diapers These also feature a bamboo top-sheet and back-sheet, and a fluff and plant-based SAP core. Price per diaper: $0.53 Andy Pandy Eco-Friendly Bamboo Diapers Andy Pandy diapers are 85.6% biodegradable, with a bamboo top- and back-sheet, and a fluff/sap core. A lot of you are fans of this diaper, so I’m sure you’ll be happy to know this is the Best Stuff. Price per diaper: $0.40 Dewor Baby Premium Bamboo Disposable Diapers This one looks pretty much identical to ECO Boom, with a bamboo top-sheet and back-sheet, a core of fluff and sap, and no PVC, TBT, alcohol, and preservatives. Price per diaper: $0.39 DYPER Diaper Subscription Like the other brands on this list, Dyper diapers use a bamboo top- and back-sheet. But Dyper is unique not only because it’s purchased via subscription, but also because it uses Sumitomo SAP for part of its core, along with fluff. Our research suggests that Sumitomo SAP (from Japan) is the very best traditional SAP on the market, so you can use less of it for the same results. We also like Dyper because the company purchases carbon offsets and uses biodegradable bags and nontoxic cardboard inks for packing and shipping. They claim you can compost these diapers at home. Overall, Dyper is probably the most affordable of all the Best Stuff. Price per diaper: $0.32 to $0.46 Buy Now from Dyper ECO Boom Bamboo Baby Diaper This compostable diaper has a bamboo top-sheet and back-sheet. The core is a combination of fluff and SAP. ECO Boom gets extra points for its non-toxic adhesives. These diapers are free of PVC, TBT, alcohol, and preservatives. Price per diaper: $0.39 Little Toes Biodegradable Bamboo Diapers Like others in this category, Little Toes feature a bamboo top-sheet and back-sheet, a fluff and SAP core, and are free of alcohol, PVC, TBT, dyes of any kind, and preservatives. Price per diaper: $0.44   Nest Biodegradable Diapers This newer brand offers a 64% biodegradable diaper that gets excellent customer reviews. It features a bamboo top sheet and back sheet, and its core is comprised of a combination of fluff and SAP. These diapers are free of phthalates and was quick to answer our questions. Price per diaper: $0.48 Poof Diapers With a bamboo top-sheet and cotton/corn-based back-sheet, these diapers claim to be completely biodegradable The print is used a non-toxic soy ink, and the fluff is unique in that it’s made of fluff and a corn-based SAP. Price per diaper: $0.42 The Good Stuff The following brands all still count as “Good Stuff” because they are Chlorine free (ECF or TCF), dye, fragrance, lotion, paraben and latex free and explicitly phthalate free. However, the top-sheet and back-sheet of these diapers are made mostly of petroleum-based plastics, so based on our new standards, we cannot call them Best Stuff. Attitude Disposable Baby Diapers I was surprised when Michael told me Attitude made the Good Stuff list! The top-sheet and back-sheet are made from a “cellulose polymer,” and the core is made of cellulose fluff, SAP, and “Bio-SAP.” Attitude claims that this is a 90% biodegradable diaper—the 10% is the plastic fasteners and the SAP portion of the core. On the downside, reviews suggest that these diapers are leaky and don’t hold closed as well as others on…
KEEP READING >>

The post Safe Disposable Diaper Guide appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]> My original introduction to this section read something like, “Sure, we all know we should use cloth diapers, but how realistic is that, especially here in New York City where many of us don’t even have washing machines? Thank God for these biodegradable diapers from Seventh Generation!”

This was back in 2010, and I was using cloth diapers about 25% of the time (and my husband was using them never). After doing the research for this guide, I came away realizing that there really isn’t a truly “green” way to use disposables. So I started putting Felix in non-toxic disposable diapers only at bedtime or for long car rides, and stopped using the Seventh Generation disposables completely.

But I had many relapses before potty training was done, and when my second son, Wolf, was born in 2013, I didn’t even attempt cloth diapers. My excuse: a busy business and two children. Valid? Not really, but at least I used diapers I felt better about (see “The Best Stuff,” below).

2019 Updated Biodegradable Diaper Guide

In 2019, nearly a decade after I first published this guide, I hired Dr. Michael Hopkins, PhD, to revisit the guide and update it with some new brands you’ve been asking about. (Dr. Hopkins also helped with this amazing prenatal vitamin guide.)

Michael’s Research Process

Michael began by studying the existing version of this guide, and then looking at other natural parenting websites and the biodegradable diaper brands they recommend, plus the potential sources of toxins in most disposable diapers.

As a scientist, Dr. Hopkins is well-equipped to read peer-reviewed studies and come away with a deep understanding of the nuances of the potential risks from various diaper materials, from chlorine to SAP to adhesives (more on all this later.)

After deciding on the appropriate criteria for what would make brands Best, Good, Bad, or Okay Stuff, Michael made a many-columned spreadsheet and populated it with the list of diaper brands you guys asked us to review.

For each brand, Michael calculated affordability, studied reviews on diaper performance, and double-checked to make sure that all ingredients and materials lists were accurate from the first version of this guide (in the case of Honest Diapers, for instance, the ingredients changed in 2018).

Michael’s final (and the most time-consuming!) step was contacting diaper manufacturers to find out about phthalates, fragrance, chlorine, latex, and the exact materials in the top-sheet and back-sheet of each diaper.

I asked him to find out if the diapers use bamboo or plastic (and in what ratios), if they use traditional SAP or plant-based fluff, what their adhesives are made of, and what percentage of so-called compostable or biodegradable diapers actually biodegrade.

Once he gathered all of this information, we were able to plunk all 37 reviewed brands into a Best, Good, Okay, Bad or Sneaky Stuff category, which you can review at the bottom of this post.

Your Most Pressing Question: Do even the worst disposables really pose a risk to the baby wearing them? Or is this mostly an environmental issue?

This is the question I am asked more than any other about diapers, so let’s start here. Environmental impact aside, is there a risk to disposables?

The short answer is, yes: diapers can pose a risk to the baby wearing them. Here are our two biggest health concerns with disposable diapers:

1. The phthalates that may be used not only in the plastic components of diapers, but also in the glues, synthetic fragrance, and dyes. In a recent study out of South Korea, four leading diaper brands (as well as several brands of sanitary pads) were shown to all contain varying amounts (and in some cases, very high levels) of phthalates. If you’re a regular reader, you already know how bad phthalates are, and since they directly disrupt hormones, they are definitely not something you want anywhere near your children’s privates! In addition, phthalates proved to be the hardest ingredient to suss out during our investigation. A surprising number of “non-toxic” or “sustainable” diaper brands don’t actually make any claim about phthalates, and you’ll see in our reviews below that we note whether each brand is “phthalate-free.”
2. Allergens and irritants. TBT, parabens, latex, and more are often found in diapers. These will most likely be present in fragrance, lotions, and dyes. While this is the least sensational potential risk (certainly phthalates are a much more exciting enemy), good old-fashioned diaper rash is probably the greatest actual concern for most babies wearing disposable diapers. The best way to avoid diaper rash (or a more serious reaction) is to avoid any disposables with dyes, fragrance, and lotions, and to look for diapers that explicitly state they are free of latex, parabens, and TBT.

My Top Pick for Best Non-Toxic Disposable Diapers

Nest Biodegradable Diapers

$57.00 – $65.00 — or subscribe and save up to 8%Buy Now

Do We Need to Worry About Bleaching/Dioxins in Diapers?

This is another question I get a lot, and it’s certainly relevant from an environmental perspective. The organochlorines present in the effluent produced by paper mills during the bleaching process are a well-documented environmental pollutant. However, in terms of a danger to the baby, you should know that the level of dioxins present in disposable diapers is:

1. Comparable to that found in cotton (cloth) diapers.
2. Thirty thousand to 2.2 million times lower than the average dietary dioxin exposure resulting from “low level contamination of the food supply.” (From this peer reviewed study using commercially available diapers purchased in and around San Francisco.)

In other words, we are exposed to at least tens of thousands of times more dioxins from the Unites States food supply than the trace levels found in chlorine-bleached diapers. Does that mean you should buy bleached diapers? No, definitely not–the production of those suckers is really bad for the planet. But if the hospital puts your newborn in one, don’t worry; it’s not going to harm her.

Total Chlorine Free (TCF) versus Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF)

If you’ve been educating yourself on non-toxic/biodegradable disposable diapers, you’ve probably heard that ECF diapers are basically Sneaky Stuff and that you MUST buy only TCF diapers.

(Quick primer: ECF means bleached with chlorine dioxide instead of elemental chlorine. TCF means bleached using any chemicals other than chlorine, chlorine dioxide, or hypochlorite.)

We are probably the only “green bloggers” saying this, but the distinction between TCF and ECF is totally not important. Here’s why: as we just said, the use of chlorine in pulp and paper mills is really an environmental issue, not a health and safety issue. Yes, ECF bleached diapers might sometimes still contain trace amounts of dioxins, but we are talking about levels that are several orders of magnitude lower than the levels of dioxins we are all exposed to by simply eating food.

And here’s why it doesn’t even matter from an environmental standpoint: Although the waste products of TCF pulp is technically “cleaner” than ECF pulp, TCF produces a lower yield (it takes more wood pulp and energy to produce the same amount of finished product), effectively cancelling out the benefits over ECF.

Moreover, the environmental impact of ECF versus TCF bleaching depends on the practices and procedures of the individual paper mill and how the waste products are handled. Recent reports have concluded that the theoretical benefits of TCF versus ECF bleaching have not been realized in the real world and that there is no appreciable difference between ECF and TCF. Scratch that one of your worry list!

Non-Toxic Incontinence Diapers

Abri-Form Junior is Abena’s line of non-toxic disposable incontinence diapers, designed specifically to fit those between 5 and 15 years old that suffer from uncontrolled urination.

What Makes a Diaper Good Stuff?

I hope all of this helps you guys understand a little more about what makes a diaper potentially unsafe for a baby and decidedly not friendly to the environment. Still, there are dozens of “green” or “biodegradable” diapers on the market; how can we know which ones to buy?

In order for a disposable diaper to be “Good Stuff,” it must:

1. Be free of artificial fragrance, dyes, and lotions, all of which have the potential to contain irritants/allergens/toxins and simply aren’t necessary in any diaper.
2. Explicitly state that it is free of phthalates, since this cannot be assumed, unfortunately.

These two criteria are the bare essentials if your only concern is the safety and well-being of the diaper user. (But I know you all are better than that!)

Given the significant environmental impact of disposable diapers, a “Best Stuff” diaper also must:

1. Be either Elementally Chlorine Free (ECF) or Totally Chlorine Free (TCF). For the reasons explained above.
2. Be free of petroleum-derived plastics. There are now enough bamboo and other plant-based diapers on the market to eliminate any brand that uses petroleum in its production from the Best Stuff category, even if it poses no real risk to the baby wearing the diaper. This is a happy change from when we last updated this guide four years ago!

Biodegradable Diapers: Do They Exist?

By virtue of using plant-based rather than petroleum-based ingredients, the diapers that we’ve labeled as Best Stuff are inherently compostable or biodegradeable to varying degrees. Some of these brands supplement with a “bio-based SAP” or with cornstarch in the absorbent core to limit the amount of traditional SAP used. The other core component, “fluff,” is wood pulp (cellulose) that undergoes a more traditional bleaching process.

Many people criticize diaper brands that market themselves as “biodegradable” or “compostable” because:

1. Traditional landfills are inherently non-conducive to biodegradation due to an absence of oxygen, soil, and microorganisms.
2. Compostable is only relevant when you have a way to compost where you live (keeping in mind that human feces should not be composted!), and anyone who is planning to compost their diapers will need to make sure they understand how to do this properly.

Michael and I agree that, despite these concerns, there are still valid reasons to choose a “compostable” or “biodegradeable” diaper, including a reduction in use of petroleum on the production end, as well as sending a message to the industry about the demand for more environmentally sustainable consumer products.

Reasons to Switch to Cloth Diapers

Before I tell you which are the very best disposable diapers, here’s why you shouldn’t use any of them, even the ones I can sell you from our online store:

• Conventional plastic diapers contain small amounts of dioxin—a byproduct of the bleaching process. As discussed above, this doesn’t pose a risk to your baby, but it’s really bad for the environment.

• Even if you use non-toxic disposable diapers, you’re probably familiar with the little gel clumps that sometimes stick to your baby’s skin when you wait too long to change her. Known as SAP (Super Absorbent Polymer), some people worry about it because it was linked to toxic shock syndrome when it was in tampons. While I don’t think it causes a health risk to babies, it is not biodegradable, and thus not an earth-friendly choice.

• A Greenpeace study found the hormone-disrupting TBT (tributyl tin) in many diaper brands.

• I know we’re are all bored with the landfill stats, but the fact remains that a disposable diaper can take as long as 500 years to decompose.

• In response to the popular misconception that cloth diapers are just as bad for the environment as disposables (a myth propagated by a study funded by Proctor & Gamble), an independent report found that disposable diapers produce more than 50 times the waste of cloth diapers and use twice as much water and triple the energy.

What About Cloth Diapers with Flushable Liners?

I didn’t use them myself, but tons of readers and friends are devoted to the so-called “hybrid diapers” with the flushable liners.

The Best Stuff

Aleva Naturals Bamboo Diapers

These also feature a bamboo top-sheet and back-sheet, and a fluff and plant-based SAP core.
Price per diaper: $0.53

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Andy Pandy Eco-Friendly Bamboo Diapers

Andy Pandy diapers are 85.6% biodegradable, with a bamboo top- and back-sheet, and a fluff/sap core. A lot of you are fans of this diaper, so I’m sure you’ll be happy to know this is the Best Stuff.
Price per diaper: $0.40

---

Dewor Baby Premium Bamboo Disposable Diapers

This one looks pretty much identical to ECO Boom, with a bamboo top-sheet and back-sheet, a core of fluff and sap, and no PVC, TBT, alcohol, and preservatives.
Price per diaper: $0.39

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DYPER Diaper Subscription

Like the other brands on this list, Dyper diapers use a bamboo top- and back-sheet. But Dyper is unique not only because it’s purchased via subscription, but also because it uses Sumitomo SAP for part of its core, along with fluff. Our research suggests that Sumitomo SAP (from Japan) is the very best traditional SAP on the market, so you can use less of it for the same results. We also like Dyper because the company purchases carbon offsets and uses biodegradable bags and nontoxic cardboard inks for packing and shipping. They claim you can compost these diapers at home. Overall, Dyper is probably the most affordable of all the Best Stuff.
Price per diaper: $0.32 to $0.46

Buy Now from Dyper

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ECO Boom Bamboo Baby Diaper

This compostable diaper has a bamboo top-sheet and back-sheet. The core is a combination of fluff and SAP. ECO Boom gets extra points for its non-toxic adhesives. These diapers are free of PVC, TBT, alcohol, and preservatives.
Price per diaper: $0.39

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Little Toes Biodegradable Bamboo Diapers

Like others in this category, Little Toes feature a bamboo top-sheet and back-sheet, a fluff and SAP core, and are free of alcohol, PVC, TBT, dyes of any kind, and preservatives.
Price per diaper: $0.44

 

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Nest Biodegradable Diapers

This newer brand offers a 64% biodegradable diaper that gets excellent customer reviews. It features a bamboo top sheet and back sheet, and its core is comprised of a combination of fluff and SAP. These diapers are free of phthalates and was quick to answer our questions.
Price per diaper: $0.48

$57.00 – $65.00 — or subscribe and save up to 8%Buy Now

---

Poof Diapers

With a bamboo top-sheet and cotton/corn-based back-sheet, these diapers claim to be completely biodegradable The print is used a non-toxic soy ink, and the fluff is unique in that it’s made of fluff and a corn-based SAP.
Price per diaper: $0.42

The Good Stuff

The following brands all still count as “Good Stuff” because they are Chlorine free (ECF or TCF), dye, fragrance, lotion, paraben and latex free and explicitly phthalate free. However, the top-sheet and back-sheet of these diapers are made mostly of petroleum-based plastics, so based on our new standards, we cannot call them Best Stuff.

---

Attitude Disposable Baby Diapers

I was surprised when Michael told me Attitude made the Good Stuff list! The top-sheet and back-sheet are made from a “cellulose polymer,” and the core is made of cellulose fluff, SAP, and “Bio-SAP.” Attitude claims that this is a 90% biodegradable diaper—the 10% is the plastic fasteners and the SAP portion of the core. On the downside, reviews suggest that these diapers are leaky and don’t hold closed as well as others on this list. We also never heard back from them about the exact materials in their polymer, which is why we’ve listed them as Good rather than Best Stuff.
Price per diaper: $0.44

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Bambo Nature Diapers

Bambo is highly regarded among green diaper reviews and is often noted for its certifications, such as “Nordic Ecolabel” and “Forest Stewardship Council.” The cellulose fluff is sustainably sourced, and combined with SAP for the core. Bambo diapers are made of around 75% biodegradable materials, but aren’t Best Stuff because they employ a polypropylene top-sheet and a polypropylene/polyethylene back-sheet. Bambo is what I used when I wasn’t using cloth diapers. These are the most affordable of the Good Stuff brands.

Price per diaper: $0.29

From: $72.99 / monthBuy Now

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Broody Chick

This brand has been discontinued.

These diapers are compostable, which of course only works if you actually put them in a compost pile, something I can’t do in New York City. The absorbent center of these diapers is made of woodpulp and a “plant-based gel,” which is just another term for SAP. Still, they use less SAP than conventional diapers, and the compostability is a definite plus. The fit of these diapers isn’t as good as other brands, and in particular, the small sizes are much larger than they claim.

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Cutie Pea Bamboo Diapers

These are 87% biodegradable, feature a bamboo top- and back-sheet, cellulose fluff, and a SAP core. Please note that Cutie Pie diapers contain aloe vera. These diapers have a wetness indicator and size labels, making life easier for those of you lucky enough to have more than one child in diapers;). Cutie Pea bamboo diapers get very good customer reviews. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get an answer about dye or prints, but it seems unlikely that these diapers contain any dyes.
Price per diaper: $0.43

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Eco by Naty Diapers

Bio-based plastic top-sheet and back-sheet. The core is made of fluff, SAP, and cornstarch. They claim it’s 50 biodegradable, and printed with non-toxic pigments. Several reviews mention a rough feel to these diapers, and I’ve never personally tried them.
Price per diaper: $0.50

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Hello Bello Diapers

This brand took some heat at launch-time for having a ton of 5-star reviews before they even went on sale, meaning that the reviews came from people who received free diapers without mentioning that they’d received free diapers. Reviews aside, Hello Bello diapers don’t qualify as Best Stuff because of a petroleum-based top-sheet and back-sheet. They feature a fluff with SAP and Bio-SAP core.
Price per diaper: $0.29

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The Honest Company Diapers

Honest diapers are often cited as being “plant-based,” but this is no longer true. It appears that Honest has changed its ingredient list sometime since 2018 to include more petroleum-based plastics. These diapers have a polypropylene and polyethylene top-sheet, a plant-based plastic and polyethylene back-sheet, cellulose fluff, and a SAP and bio-SAP core. People love Honest Diaper’s cute prints, which they claim are printed “dye free.”
Price per diaper: $0.37

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The Okay Stuff

Unless otherwise specified, the following brands are free of dioxins (they are either ECF or TCF), fragrance, lotion, dyes, parabens, and latex. However, we weren’t able to confirm that any of these diapers are phthalate-free (although most of them probably are). Unless otherwise specified, these brands are constructed using petroleum-based plastics with a core made of fluff and traditional SAP.

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Abby & Finn Diaper Subscription

The one nice thing about this otherwise just-okay brand is that for every box purchased, 30 diapers are donated to families in need.
Price per diaper: $0.25

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Babyganics Ultra-Absorbent Diapers

We sent an email to Babyganics with a bunch of questions about their diapers, and we received a message from customer service that they would respond promptly, but never any further follow-up. Babyganics uses “NeoNourish®− our own blend of tomato, sunflower, cranberry, black clumin, and raspberry seed oils. We incorporate NeoNourish® into the diaper core to help support your baby’s skin health.” Meh.
Price per diaper: $0.50

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Cloud Island (Target)

Users seem to really like the unique trifold design, which apparently makes these easier to put on.
Price per diaper: $0.13

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Cuties Complete Care Baby Diapers

This line of diapers is produced in a zero-waste-to-landfill facility, printed with “safe ink” (no heavy metals), and uses sustainably-sourced fluff.
Price per diaper: $0.20

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Earth + Eden Baby Diapers

These appear to be identical to the Cuties Complete diapers, and we think they are produced by the same manufacturer, First Quality, and sold under two labels.
Price per diaper: $0.20

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Little Journey Diapers (sold at Aldi)

Little Journey diapers deserve a special mention for being the most affordable almost Good Stuff. Little Journey’s top-sheet and back-sheet are made of petroleum ingredients, and they aren’t Good Stuff because they contain vitamin E and aloe lotion. They use fluff with SAP core and are printed without dye. We got a prompt, cordial, informative, and personalized response from Aldi, with a statement that all ingredients, including the vitamin E and aloe lotion are “thoroughly reviewed by an independent toxicologist.” Although online reviews suggest that these diapers function well, one commonly noted criticism is that they feel a little thin and “papery.”
Price per diaper: $0.13

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Made Of Better Diaper

These are ECF and free of fragrance, dye, and phthalates. They also have many impressive certifications, including ISO 9001, Social Accountability 8000, PEFC, and the Rainforest Alliance Certificate. The only reason we’ve calling Made Of just Okay Stuff is that they clearly states in their marketing that their product does the dirty work “without dirty words like petrochemicals,” when in fact there is no indication that they are made from anything other than petrochemicals.
Price per diaper: $0.34

 

Buy now from Made Of

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Nature’s Promise (Stop n Shop)

We spoke to customer service who passed our questions along, and we did get a prompt email from the manufacturer, but without any info on phthalates or added dyes.
Price per diaper: We weren’t able to find any price for these—please comment below if you know!

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Pampers Pure Protection Diapers

This is probably the brand we are asked about most, and I wish I had better news on them. I can’t call them Good Stuff because we were unable to get confirmation that they do not include phthalates. The top- and back-sheet are made of “plant-based” material, polypropylene, cotton, and petroleum-based polymers. In addition, they are labeled as “EU 26 allergens free.”
Price per diaper: $0.30

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Seventh Generation Disposable Diapers

There isn’t much notable about Seventh Generation diapers, except that they use SFI-certified fluff (sustainably sourced). Their website also states: “Seventh Generation diapers are not biodegradable, nor can they be composted. Many of the materials used are synthetic, and do not biodegrade.”
Price per diaper: $0.28

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Thrive Market Diapers

These are fragrance-free, dye-free, and phthalate-free, but not biodegradable or compostable. One element of “sneakiness” in the Thrive Market diapers marketing is that they are labeled as “Gluten Free” and “Cruelty Free,” which just seems silly given that we are talking about a diaper.
Price per diaper: $0.33

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The Bad Stuff

Any bleached diapers should obviously be avoided, although fortunately most diapers nowadays are unbleached. Here are the brands you’ve asked about most that made our Bad Stuff list.

Kirkland Signature Diapers

So here’s a brand that isn’t even unbleached! Being chlorine-free seems to be the lowest rung of the ladder in terms of trying to be eco-friendly, so these are the worst of the Bad Stuff. The only thing they are free of is artificial dyes and fragrance.

Price per diaper: $0.22 (as low as $0.16 if you buy at Costco)

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LUVs Diapers

Apart from being ECF, we can’t find anything non-toxic or eco-friendly about these diapers.

Price per diaper: $0.13

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Pampers Swaddlers Diapers

Pampers are the same diapers as LUVs, but they are latex free, if you have an allergy.

I’m really bothered by the fact that Pampers have a smell, though. This is what they have to say about that:

“We’ve asked parents all around the world which products they prefer for their babies and they’ve told us they prefer diapers with a soft, baby-fresh scent. The fragrance in Pampers is used at a very low level in each diaper and has been carefully selected and evaluated to be non-allergenic and non-irritatingto the skin.”

Eww!

Price per diaper: $0.27

The Sneaky Stuff

365 Diapers (Whole Foods)

These diapers are ECF, and free of fragrance, latex, and TBT. We are also calling them Sneaky Stuff because of their lack of disclosure about phthalates, dyes, and lotion.
Price per diaper: $0.24

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Earth’s Best Tendercare Diapers

At first glance these diapers appear to be at least Good Stuff: they use a “plant based plastic” for their top-sheet and back-sheet and a cellulose fluff/SAP/bio-SAP core. However, there is no info on whether Earth’s Best diapers are phthalate-free or lotion-free. They do claim to be dye-free, but don’t give any info on what is used for the print. There is a general absence of transparency about the composition and percentage of the diaper that uses “plant-based plastic.”
Price per diaper: $0.32

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Huggies Diapers

These diapers are ECF, and free of fragrance, lotion, latex and parabens. The label states that they are “EU 26 allergens free,” as well. I’m not moving them from Sneaky Stuff because they do not disclose any information about phthalates, dyes, or the composition of the back-sheet.
Price per diaper: $0.25

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Mama Bear (Amazon brand)

These diapers are ECF, fragrance free, latex free and hypoallergenic, but have no further information available. Mama Bear gets a “Sneaky Stuff” designation for lack of disclosure about phthalates, dyes, and lotion.
Price per diaper: $0.20

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Up & Up Diapers (Target)

Up & Up diapers are Sneaky Stuff because the label states “petroleum-free lotion” and “perfume free” as opposed to simply being lotion free and fragrance free, although we did confirm that they do not contain phthalates.
Price per diaper: $0.14

What About No Diapers at All?

Forgoing diapers all together, or practicing “elimination communication,” is clearly the greenest option of all.

Here is a story that one reader, Gillian, shared with me:

I learned about EC from a very hippie friend and initially I laughed at her. Then when my son was about 3 weeks old, he started giving very obvious cues about when he was going to poo. I would wait for him to finish in his (disposable) diaper, then clean him up. I realized that I could have just as easily put him on the potty. I tried that a few times, but before he could hold his head up it just wasn’t working for us. As soon as he could hold his head up, though, I started putting him on the potty during most diaper changes. I figured, hey – the diaper is off anyway! I was catching some pees and some poos, but there wasn’t much rhyme or reason to it. When he started eating solids he got into a good pattern of pooping every evening, so I just put him on the potty. On average, I now only have to clean one dirty diaper per week, and my longest stretch without a poopy diaper has been 21 days. I am able to catch some pees, but I’m still not great at it. My son is now 8 months old. I love not cleaning dirty diapers!

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The post Safe Disposable Diaper Guide appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]> https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/disposable-diapers/feed/ 247 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/disposable-diapers/man-shopping-in-supermarket-reading-product-information/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/pouches-of-food/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/pouches-of-food/#comments Wed, 15 May 2019 21:34:44 +0000 http://wordpress.gimmethegoodstuff.info/?page_id=1427 1. Beech-Nut organic varieties / 2. Happy Baby / 3. Sprout / 4. Plum Organics / 5. Ella’s Kitchen / 6. Once Upon a Farm / 7. Peter Rabbit Organics / 8. Serenity Kids / 9. White Leaf Provisions Soon after Felix turned one, he finally started enjoying foods other than breast milk. Unfortunately, by this point I was pretty burned out from preparing and then throwing away homemade pureed fruits and veggies that he refused to eat. With Wolfie I was way chiller and basically did baby-led weaning. But back to 2010, when I discovered squeezy fruit/veggie baby food pouches sold everywhere. Baby food pouches are much easier to handle than jars of food, and both my kids still enjoy them in packed lunches on occasion. In addition, they are probably more nutritious than jarred foods (more on this below). My Favorite Baby Food Pouches I’m partial to the 100% organic White Leaf Provisions baby food pouches because they are biodynamic. You’ll read more about this brand below, under “The Good Stuff.” A lot of you have asked about the recent studies on heavy metals in baby foods. Here’s the bottom line, in my opinion: If you avoid rice-based baby food and anything with fruit juice concentrate, you’ll eliminate most of the risk. Here’s a 2021 update. The Problem with Baby Food Pouches My only real issue with baby food pouches is that they are made of plastic. All of the brands mentioned below use the same basic materials for their pouches, which is a combination of BPA-free polypropylene (this is the part that touches the food, and what the spout is made of) and foil. Fortunately, polypropylene seems to be the safest type of plastic, and is probably non-toxic, but from an environmental perspective, it’s not ideal Glass Jars Versus Plastic Baby Food Pouches Safety & Nutrition According to the companies that use them, plastic pouches “better protect flavor and nutrients, and require lower, shorter heat times, one of the effects of which means we can naturally preserve…products without adding additives and preservatives.” Although pouches are free of BPA, substitutes for the chemical may be toxic as well. While glass is always the safest material, the lids of jarred food may contain BPA. Environment Pouches are roughly ten times lighter than a classic glass jar, so they require that much less energy to produce and ship. Pouches cannot be recycled, but they use more than 75 percent less materials than traditional baby food containers. The spouts on the pouches are #2 plastic, which is recyclable. Note: All of brands of baby food pouches dubbed “Good Stuff” below use 100% organic ingredients. The Good Stuff Beech-Nut Baby Food Pouches Beech-Nut recently went organic, and I assume this is a result of consumer demand–so, nice job! Beech-Nut makes mixed fruits, veggies, and some that just one ingredient like organic carrots or organic sweet potatoes. Happy Baby Food Pouches Many Happy Baby/Happy Tot blends contain vegetables and grains, including salba (a type of chia seed). The salmon used by Happy Baby is wild Alaskan. Note that some other Happy Baby snacks contain sugar (the yogurt snacks and some of their frozen kids’ meals). Happy Baby food pouches are widely available in grocery stores as well as on Amazon. Sprout Sprout doesn’t use sugar in any of their pouches; and none of Sprouts products contain starchy fillers. I love that their grain blends contain actual whole grains (i.e., cooked quinoa instead of quinoa flour). Sprout also avoids all fruit concentrates. While Sprout offers a range of meat blends, they also have a Plant Protein line for those who prefer only vegan options, with vegetable-based proteins from organic chickpeas, lentils, and beans. How to Get Some Sprout pouches are available in many grocery stores, as well as on Amazon. Plum Organics Baby Food Pouches Felix always seemed to prefer the Plum flavors to all other brands, his favorite being the mango and pear. Some of the newer flavors include grains–such as oats and brown rice–or organic meat and dairy. Water is often the first ingredient in Plum’s pouches, and it’s a little sneaky that the “grains” are actually grain flours (i.e., millet flour, oat flour, etc.) (One other bone I have to pick here: Some of Plum’s other toddler snacks contain sugar.) How to Get Some Plum Organics pouches are widely available in grocery stores, as well as on Amazon. Ella’s Kitchen Baby Food Pouches I like that the cardboard outer packaging (when you buy Ella’s in bulk) is 90 percent recycled and 100 percent recyclable. Some newer varieties include grains, yogurt, vegetables, and/or meat–honestly, pureed Vegetable & Lentil Bake in a pouch sounds pretty gross to me, but it’s definitely healthful! I love that even Ella’s cookies and biscuits for older kids are free of sugar. How to Get Some Here in New York, I can find Ella’s Organics in my neighborhood grocery store or at Whole Foods. They are also available on Amazon. Once Upon a Farm You’ve probably heard of this one, since it was co-founded by Jennifer Garner. I’m happy to say that Once Upon a Farm is legit Good Stuff! What makes these blends unique is that they are cold pressed to lock in the nutrients, which means Once Upon a Farm pouches are always refrigerated. How to Get Some You can buy Once Upon a Farm pouches in select grocery stores and on Amazon. Peter Rabbit Organics Baby Food Pouches These were Felix’s favorite baby food pouches, and the apple/grape was his favorite flavor. Peter Rabbit never dilutes its purees with water, but some flavors contain juice concentrate in addition to fruit purees. How to Get Some You can buy Peter Rabbit Organics pouches in select grocery stores and on Amazon.   Serenity Kids This new line of Paleo-inspired baby food. They use organic vegetables and grass-fed and pasture- raised meats. All blends are free of hormones, antibiotics, GMO’s, gluten, fillers, grain, dairy, corn, allergens, eggs, and nuts. I personally don’t think babies need to be eating meat at all but if you disagree, this is probably the best line there is! Use code GIMME15 for 15% off. Buy now from Serenity Kids 2021 update after the recent news about heavy metals in baby food: Serenity Kids is verified by the Clean Label Project, which has a very thorough and transparent vetting process. They even publish a 165-page document detailing the exact methodology they use for testing and the thresholds used. Dr. Hopkins verified that Clean Label Project sends all samples off to third party lab sites for testing. White Leaf Provisions White Leaf Provisions is my favorite line of baby food pouches–and the only brand we’ve chosen to carry in our online store. The reason? White Leaf baby food pouches are even better than organic (although it IS organic), because they’re also Biodynamic. Biodynamic farms are built to integrate every living organism within the system, and aspires to transform and maximize the health and vitality of the farm’s every aspect. A biodynamic farm aims to produce everything on the premises, including seeds, fertilizers, natural control agents for pests and even feed for livestock. Choose from a range of fruit and veggie blends–all of which are free of concentrates and fillers. We hope you’re enjoying this post! Sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish or update our Safe Product Guides. The Bad Stuff: Less Healthy Gerber is maybe the only brand that makes a non-organic version, so I’m calling that Bad Stuff. (Note that their organic pouches actually are fine!) The Sneaky Stuff Earth’s Best puree pouches, while appearing equal to the Good Stuff above, are not as clean. Even their simplest flavors (pears, for instance) are fortified with all sorts of stuff, including zinc sulfate, and citric acid. The yogurt varieties have fewer ingredients than the plain fruit/veggie blends. Baby-Led Weaning Proponents of baby-led weaning argue that babies should skip purees all together and go straight to “real” food as soon as they are ready to begin eating solids. There are tons of resources on baby-led weaning, and one good place to start is here. Read our review of frozen baby food. Read our review of jarred baby food. If you liked this post, sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish new content like this!

The post Baby Food Pouches appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

]]>

1. Beech-Nut organic varieties / 2. Happy Baby / 3. Sprout / 4. Plum Organics / 5. Ella’s Kitchen / 6. Once Upon a Farm / 7. Peter Rabbit Organics / 8. Serenity Kids / 9. White Leaf Provisions

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Soon after Felix turned one, he finally started enjoying foods other than breast milk.

Unfortunately, by this point I was pretty burned out from preparing and then throwing away homemade pureed fruits and veggies that he refused to eat. With Wolfie I was way chiller and basically did baby-led weaning.

But back to 2010, when I discovered squeezy fruit/veggie baby food pouches sold everywhere.

Baby food pouches are much easier to handle than jars of food, and both my kids still enjoy them in packed lunches on occasion. In addition, they are probably more nutritious than jarred foods (more on this below).

My Favorite Baby Food Pouches

I’m partial to the 100% organic White Leaf Provisions baby food pouches because they are biodynamic. You’ll read more about this brand below, under “The Good Stuff.”

$99.95 — or subscribe and save up to 5%Buy Now

A lot of you have asked about the recent studies on heavy metals in baby foods. Here’s the bottom line, in my opinion: If you avoid rice-based baby food and anything with fruit juice concentrate, you’ll eliminate most of the risk. Here’s a 2021 update.

The Problem with Baby Food Pouches

My only real issue with baby food pouches is that they are made of plastic.

All of the brands mentioned below use the same basic materials for their pouches, which is a combination of BPA-free polypropylene (this is the part that touches the food, and what the spout is made of) and foil.

Fortunately, polypropylene seems to be the safest type of plastic, and is probably non-toxic, but from an environmental perspective, it’s not ideal

Glass Jars Versus Plastic Baby Food Pouches

Safety & Nutrition

1. According to the companies that use them, plastic pouches “better protect flavor and nutrients, and require lower, shorter heat times, one of the effects of which means we can naturally preserve…products without adding additives and preservatives.”
2. Although pouches are free of BPA, substitutes for the chemical may be toxic as well.
3. While glass is always the safest material, the lids of jarred food may contain BPA.

Environment

1. Pouches are roughly ten times lighter than a classic glass jar, so they require that much less energy to produce and ship.
2. Pouches cannot be recycled, but they use more than 75 percent less materials than traditional baby food containers.
3. The spouts on the pouches are #2 plastic, which is recyclable.

Note: All of brands of baby food pouches dubbed “Good Stuff” below use 100% organic ingredients.

The Good Stuff

Beech-Nut Baby Food Pouches

Beech-Nut recently went organic, and I assume this is a result of consumer demand–so, nice job! Beech-Nut makes mixed fruits, veggies, and some that just one ingredient like organic carrots or organic sweet potatoes.

---

Happy Baby Food Pouches

Many Happy Baby/Happy Tot blends contain vegetables and grains, including salba (a type of chia seed). The salmon used by Happy Baby is wild Alaskan. Note that some other Happy Baby snacks contain sugar (the yogurt snacks and some of their frozen kids’ meals). Happy Baby food pouches are widely available in grocery stores as well as on Amazon.

---

Sprout

Sprout doesn’t use sugar in any of their pouches; and none of Sprouts products contain starchy fillers. I love that their grain blends contain actual whole grains (i.e., cooked quinoa instead of quinoa flour). Sprout also avoids all fruit concentrates. While Sprout offers a range of meat blends, they also have a Plant Protein line for those who prefer only vegan options, with vegetable-based proteins from organic chickpeas, lentils, and beans.

How to Get Some
Sprout pouches are available in many grocery stores, as well as on Amazon.

---

Plum Organics Baby Food Pouches

Felix always seemed to prefer the Plum flavors to all other brands, his favorite being the mango and pear. Some of the newer flavors include grains–such as oats and brown rice–or organic meat and dairy.

Water is often the first ingredient in Plum’s pouches, and it’s a little sneaky that the “grains” are actually grain flours (i.e., millet flour, oat flour, etc.) (One other bone I have to pick here: Some of Plum’s other toddler snacks contain sugar.)

How to Get Some
Plum Organics pouches are widely available in grocery stores, as well as on Amazon.

---

Ella’s Kitchen Baby Food Pouches

I like that the cardboard outer packaging (when you buy Ella’s in bulk) is 90 percent recycled and 100 percent recyclable. Some newer varieties include grains, yogurt, vegetables, and/or meat–honestly, pureed Vegetable & Lentil Bake in a pouch sounds pretty gross to me, but it’s definitely healthful! I love that even Ella’s cookies and biscuits for older kids are free of sugar.

How to Get Some
Here in New York, I can find Ella’s Organics in my neighborhood grocery store or at Whole Foods. They are also available on Amazon.

---

Once Upon a Farm

You’ve probably heard of this one, since it was co-founded by Jennifer Garner. I’m happy to say that Once Upon a Farm is legit Good Stuff!

What makes these blends unique is that they are cold pressed to lock in the nutrients, which means Once Upon a Farm pouches are always refrigerated.

How to Get Some
You can buy Once Upon a Farm pouches in select grocery stores and on Amazon.

---

Peter Rabbit Organics Baby Food Pouches

These were Felix’s favorite baby food pouches, and the apple/grape was his favorite flavor. Peter Rabbit never dilutes its purees with water, but some flavors contain juice concentrate in addition to fruit purees.

How to Get Some
You can buy Peter Rabbit Organics pouches in select grocery stores and on Amazon.

 

---

Use code GIMME15 for 15% off.

Serenity Kids

This new line of Paleo-inspired baby food. They use organic vegetables and grass-fed and pasture- raised meats. All blends are free of hormones, antibiotics, GMO’s, gluten, fillers, grain, dairy, corn, allergens, eggs, and nuts. I personally don’t think babies need to be eating meat at all but if you disagree, this is probably the best line there is! Use code GIMME15 for 15% off.

Buy now from Serenity Kids

2021 update after the recent news about heavy metals in baby food: Serenity Kids is verified by the Clean Label Project, which has a very thorough and transparent vetting process. They even publish a 165-page document detailing the exact methodology they use for testing and the thresholds used. Dr. Hopkins verified that Clean Label Project sends all samples off to third party lab sites for testing.

---

White Leaf Provisions

White Leaf Provisions is my favorite line of baby food pouches–and the only brand we’ve chosen to carry in our online store. The reason?

White Leaf baby food pouches are even better than organic (although it IS organic), because they’re also Biodynamic. Biodynamic farms are built to integrate every living organism within the system, and aspires to transform and maximize the health and vitality of the farm’s every aspect. A biodynamic farm aims to produce everything on the premises, including seeds, fertilizers, natural control agents for pests and even feed for livestock.

Choose from a range of fruit and veggie blends–all of which are free of concentrates and fillers.

$99.95 — or subscribe and save up to 5%Buy Now

We hope you’re enjoying this post! Sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish or update our Safe Product Guides.

The Bad Stuff: Less Healthy

Gerber is maybe the only brand that makes a non-organic version, so I’m calling that Bad Stuff. (Note that their organic pouches actually are fine!)

The Sneaky Stuff

Earth’s Best puree pouches, while appearing equal to the Good Stuff above, are not as clean. Even their simplest flavors (pears, for instance) are fortified with all sorts of stuff, including zinc sulfate, and citric acid. The yogurt varieties have fewer ingredients than the plain fruit/veggie blends.

Baby-Led Weaning

Proponents of baby-led weaning argue that babies should skip purees all together and go straight to “real” food as soon as they are ready to begin eating solids. There are tons of resources on baby-led weaning, and one good place to start is here.

Read our review of
frozen baby food.

Read our review of
jarred baby food.

---

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]]> https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/pouches-of-food/feed/ 57 https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/jarred-food/felix-pouches/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/baby-lotion/ https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/safe-product-guides/baby-lotion/#comments Fri, 22 Mar 2019 10:44:28 +0000 http://wordpress.gimmethegoodstuff.info/?page_id=1457 1. Babo Botanicals / 2. Beautycounter  / 3. Attitude / 4. California Baby / 5. Earth Mama I don’t think you need to slather your baby in lotion after every bath, but sometimes a baby’s dry skin will be screaming for a moisturizer. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of coconut oil, and we often put a little blob of the organic, unrefined good stuff in the bath with the boys. My Top Pick for Best Natural Baby Lotion If you’re looking for a creamy (not greasy), basic natural baby lotion with no sketchy ingredients, my pick is Babo’s Sensitive Baby Daily Hydra Lotion. DIY Skincare for Babies Many readers have written in with their own strategies for keeping dry skin at bay, often without buying packaged lotions or creams. I’m always going to be the type to buy a natural baby lotion rather than lube up my kids with pure olive oil, but these strategies are still helpful: Humidify, humidify, humidify. Lots of you suggested this. I bought an ionic humidifier to help clear Felix’s sinuses, and as an added bonus, I no longer wake up feeling like my skin is a size too small for my body. Hydrate inside out. While at other times of the year I think the whole “drink eight eight-ounce glasses of water a day” wisdom lacks sufficient research to back it up, in the winter I do feel it helps to up the fluid intake. In any event, I tend to feel thirstier when I’m stuck inside a heated apartment all day. Bathe less. One reader said her daughter only gets one bath a week and has no dry skin issues. I know that my own skin feels better when I take fewer showers, but I’m too grossed out by their germy classrooms to let me kids skip week-night bathing. Get a chlorine filter. If you have a water baby like I do, the chlorine exposure might aggravate dry skin (and carries other health risks). We use this filter in the bath and this for the shower. Apply organic shea butter. It’ll spread more easily when mixed with an oil (one reader suggests jojoba; another loves avocado). If you put the mixture near the stove while cooking dinner, it’ll melt and be perfect after a bath. Lube your baby up with olive oil before her bath to ensure silky skin afterwards (but be careful, as she will be VERY slippery while in the bath). Soap them at the end. Let your little one play in the bath first, and then after his skin becomes wrinkly, quickly use the soap to wash him. Less time in the drying soap prevents dry skin. In addition to some of the above measures, I use a store-bought natural baby lotion on Felix and Wolf after baths (which is the best time to moisturize because skin is already full of water). What About Eczema? If your child summers from eczema, this post covers causes and treatments that our readers swear by. We also love this Earth Mama Organics Eczema Cream What Might Be Wrong with the Natural Baby Lotion You Have Now Since pretty much everyone now knows that phthalates are bad, more and more cosmetics lines—especially those marketed for babies—are free of synthetic fragrance (although lots still do contain them). Other common ingredients in baby lotion include: Parabens (well-known endocrine disruptors) Ethanol (a penetration-enhancing alcohol) Phenoxyethanol (a suspected carcinogen) Even lotions sold in health food stores and marketed as natural will contain some of these chemicals. Phenoxyethanol in particular is ubiquitous in “natural” baby lotion. Coconut Oil: Refined vs. Unrefined and Virgin vs. Extra Virgin Whether you are buying it to use as skincare or as food, definitely opt for unrefined coconut oil, as the refined variety is deodorized and bleached. Refined coconut oil has a higher smoking point and lacks the coconuty smell and taste, which is why it is sometimes preferred for cooking. And while there is a distinction between virgin and extra virgin olive oil, when it comes to coconut oil, these terms mean the same thing. The Good Stuff Attitude Baby Lotions While Attitude’s baby lotion has tons of ingredients, many of which are synthetic, they all seem to be super safe. Attitude is also EWG verified. Babo Botanicals Moisturizing Natural Baby Lotion This is my new favorite line, which we are now carrying in our online store. Babo’s line of natural baby lotions are light, smell delicious (but not cloying), and contain none of the bad stuff discussed above. Babo Botanicals products are produced on a certified organic farm in upstate New York. Their lotions contain natural skin softeners like calendula and meadowsweet, and I love their new fragrance-free line. California Baby Everyday Lotion I’ve been a fan of California Baby for more than ten years, and they continue to make a great line of natural baby lotions. Enkido This Australian line makes a super yummy natural baby lotion (including Soothing, Calming, and Sensitive formulations). You’ll pay about $20 for oughly 4.25 ounces, plus another $20 for them to ship it to you, which I realize is an insane amount of money for a lotion that’s mostly made up of the same ingredients as the other Good Stuff (like calendula and organic lavender oil). I’m including Enkido on this list because I like to support one of the rare companies whose entire line is safe. Almost every single product they sell—from eye makeup remover to anti-aging cream—ranks a 0 on Skin Deep, and nothing scores higher than a 1. Poofy Organics I love that Poofy’s lotions are made to order, which means they don’t need to use hardcore preservatives (although they still have a generous one-year shelf life). This fragrance-free natural baby lotion also has some cool ingredients, including kimchi seaweed and apricot kernel oil. Buy now from Poofy Organics Beautycounter Baby Daily Protective Balm Unlike some Beautycounter products, this balm contains a short list of ingredients–mostly organic–such as sunflower seed oil, beeswax, and shea butter. It’s also garnered major praise from users! Buy Now from Beautycounter Earth Mama Earth Mama’s Angel Baby lotion smells super yummy. Shea butter again makes an appearance here, along with olive oil, aloe, and calendula. Other good stuff about this Good Stuff: it scores a 0 on Skin Deep and all the ingredients are organic. MADE OF Moisturizing Baby Lotion MADE OF’s Moisturizing Body Lotion contains no synthetic ingredients of any kind, including fragrances or preservatives. It’s also non-greasy and contains soothing ingredients like aloe vera. Buy Now from MADE OF   Pleni Naturals Pleni sent us a sample of their natural baby lotion for review. This is a balm rather than a lotion or cream, but is nice for kiddos with very dry skin. It contains mostly organic ingredients. Update: It’s come to our attention that Lac Larde has been using synthetic fragrances due to a dishonest chemist. They are rectifying the problem and we will report back as soon as their formula is safe. Lac Larde Organic Baby Lotion Lac Larde organic baby lotion is my husband’s current favorite (for himself!). Thinkbaby Baby Lotion Thinkbaby’s new baby lotion formula doesn’t contain dimethicone, so I can officially call it Good Stuff. Even though the ingredients aren’t organic, they are all low hazard We hope you’re enjoying this post! Sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish or update our Safe Product Guides. The Bad Stuff CeraVe Baby is almost what I would call Okay Stuff, because it’s free of fragrance and parabens. Still, it’s all synthetics, nothing is organic, and it contains dimethicone, phenoxyethanol, and sodium hydroxide. Eucerin Baby Body Lotion seems to have an identical ingredients list to Cerave Baby, so it’s basically the best of the Bad Stuff, too. When I wrote this guide in 2010, Johnson’s Lotions contained fragrance, three different kinds of parabens, benzyl alcohol, BHT, propylene glycol, and artificial colors. Things are much improved now! Johnson’s has responded to consumer demand (that’s you guys!), and cut the number of ingredients in their baby line by 50 percent. I also like that they disclose all of their fragrances now, rather than hiding behind the word “fragrance” on the label. Best of all, they’ve ditched the parabens and phthalates! Unfortunately, a bottle of Johnson’s lotion is still going to contain phenoxyethanol and dimethicone, both of which are considered moderately hazardous by EWG. Moreover, a few ingredients in their fragrance blend have no safety data available. Because lotion is something you slather on your baby’s entire body every day and don’t wash off, even the new version of Johnson’s lotions aren’t good enough. To give credit where credit is due, however, Johnson’s Naturals lotion is actually pretty safe. The only thing I don’t love is the hydrogenated cottonseed oil it contains. Johnson’s has discontinued its Naturals line–too bad! Aveeno (also produced by Johnson & Johnson) makes a ;Calming Comfort Moisturizing Lotion, which, while free of phthalates and parabens, contains synthetic fragrance, dimethicone, and petrolatum. The Sneaky Stuff BabyGanics Smooth Move Daily Lotion isn’t totally terrible–but it does contain phenoxyethanol (a possible carcinogen), as well as several other ingredients that Skin Deep rates at least a 3. Burt’s Bees Baby Lotion is doing some things right. They don’t use synthetic fragrance or parabens. Unfortunately, it also contains sodium benzoate, lactic acid, phenoxyethanol, and limonene. Cetaphil Baby Lotion advertises organic calendula on the front of the bottle. Unfortunately, it’s full of chemical ingredients, including synthetic fragrance. A lot of you have asked about Live Clean baby lotion. I can’t recommend it because of several gross ingredients, including “fragrance.” Mrs. Meyers Baby Blossom Lotion contains fragrance, phenoxyethanol, and ceteareth-20, which is often contaminated with carcinogenic 1,4-dioxane. Despite bragging about aromatherapy all over the label, I knew all of the Mrs. Meyers stuff smelled too good to be true (take a whiff of anything with the geranium scent—it’s heavenly), and so I asked for more details. I was told: “To answer your question regarding our fragrances – our aromatherapeutic fragrances are a proprietary combination of natural essential oils and synthetic fragrance ingredients formulated in compliance with IFRA / RIFM’s (International Fragrance Association and Research Institute for Fragrance Materials) guidelines for safety. Please note…none of our fragrances contain phthalates.” Perhaps Skin Deep would lower the score on this product if they knew that it was phthalate-free (they currently give it a 4), but I still don’t feel comfortable using it. Mustela is fancy and France and calls itself “eco-friendly,” but it also contains “perfum” (AKA fragrance). Mustela did recently remove the parabens from their products. Puracy makes a baby lotion that many of you have asked us about. Unfortunately, it contains benzisothiazolinone and phenoxyethanol. You guys ask me all the time about Tubby Todd. With phenoxyethanol and sodium benzoate, Tubby Todd not quite Good Stuff. Yes to Naturals Baby Body Lotion says it’s 100% natural, but this is flat-out untrue because it has synthetic fragrance and sodium benzoate in it. What About Baby Oil? Baby oil is generally a combination of mineral oil (a petroleum byproduct) and synthetic fragrance. According to some sources, it seals up the pores in a way that doesn’t allow skin to breathe effectively. Baby massage oils are now readily available due to the popularity of baby massage (which, along with baby sign language, I never got around to trying). This one from Badger is my favorite. Beautycounter also makes a nice Soothing Baby Oil. Check out our Hand & Body Lotion Review for some more clean lotions that are safe for kids and babies. If you liked this post, sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish new content like this!

The post Safe Baby Lotion Guide appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

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1. Babo Botanicals / 2. Beautycounter  / 3. Attitude / 4. California Baby / 5. Earth Mama

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I don’t think you need to slather your baby in lotion after every bath, but sometimes a baby’s dry skin will be screaming for a moisturizer.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of coconut oil, and we often put a little blob of the organic, unrefined good stuff in the bath with the boys.

My Top Pick for Best Natural Baby Lotion

If you’re looking for a creamy (not greasy), basic natural baby lotion with no sketchy ingredients, my pick is Babo’s Sensitive Baby Daily Hydra Lotion.

$13.99 — or subscribe and save up to 5%Buy Now

DIY Skincare for Babies

Many readers have written in with their own strategies for keeping dry skin at bay, often without buying packaged lotions or creams. I’m always going to be the type to buy a natural baby lotion rather than lube up my kids with pure olive oil, but these strategies are still helpful:

• Humidify, humidify, humidify. Lots of you suggested this. I bought an ionic humidifier to help clear Felix’s sinuses, and as an added bonus, I no longer wake up feeling like my skin is a size too small for my body.
• Hydrate inside out. While at other times of the year I think the whole “drink eight eight-ounce glasses of water a day” wisdom lacks sufficient research to back it up, in the winter I do feel it helps to up the fluid intake. In any event, I tend to feel thirstier when I’m stuck inside a heated apartment all day.

• Bathe less. One reader said her daughter only gets one bath a week and has no dry skin issues. I know that my own skin feels better when I take fewer showers, but I’m too grossed out by their germy classrooms to let me kids skip week-night bathing.
• Get a chlorine filter. If you have a water baby like I do, the chlorine exposure might aggravate dry skin (and carries other health risks). We use this filter in the bath and this for the shower.
• Apply organic shea butter. It’ll spread more easily when mixed with an oil (one reader suggests jojoba; another loves avocado). If you put the mixture near the stove while cooking dinner, it’ll melt and be perfect after a bath.
• Lube your baby up with olive oil before her bath to ensure silky skin afterwards (but be careful, as she will be VERY slippery while in the bath).
• Soap them at the end. Let your little one play in the bath first, and then after his skin becomes wrinkly, quickly use the soap to wash him. Less time in the drying soap prevents dry skin.

In addition to some of the above measures, I use a store-bought natural baby lotion on Felix and Wolf after baths (which is the best time to moisturize because skin is already full of water).

What About Eczema?

If your child summers from eczema, this post covers causes and treatments that our readers swear by.

We also love this Earth Mama Organics Eczema Cream

What Might Be Wrong with the Natural Baby Lotion You Have Now

Since pretty much everyone now knows that phthalates are bad, more and more cosmetics lines—especially those marketed for babies—are free of synthetic fragrance (although lots still do contain them).

Other common ingredients in baby lotion include:

• Parabens (well-known endocrine disruptors)
• Ethanol (a penetration-enhancing alcohol)
• Phenoxyethanol (a suspected carcinogen)

Even lotions sold in health food stores and marketed as natural will contain some of these chemicals. Phenoxyethanol in particular is ubiquitous in “natural” baby lotion.

Coconut Oil: Refined vs. Unrefined and Virgin vs. Extra Virgin

Whether you are buying it to use as skincare or as food, definitely opt for unrefined coconut oil, as the refined variety is deodorized and bleached. Refined coconut oil has a higher smoking point and lacks the coconuty smell and taste, which is why it is sometimes preferred for cooking. And while there is a distinction between virgin and extra virgin olive oil, when it comes to coconut oil, these terms mean the same thing.

The Good Stuff

Attitude Baby Lotions

While Attitude’s baby lotion has tons of ingredients, many of which are synthetic, they all seem to be super safe. Attitude is also EWG verified.

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Babo Botanicals Moisturizing Natural Baby Lotion

This is my new favorite line, which we are now carrying in our online store. Babo’s line of natural baby lotions are light, smell delicious (but not cloying), and contain none of the bad stuff discussed above. Babo Botanicals products are produced on a certified organic farm in upstate New York. Their lotions contain natural skin softeners like calendula and meadowsweet, and I love their new fragrance-free line.

$13.99 — or subscribe and save up to 5%Buy Now

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California Baby Everyday Lotion

I’ve been a fan of California Baby for more than ten years, and they continue to make a great line of natural baby lotions.

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Enkido

This Australian line makes a super yummy natural baby lotion (including Soothing, Calming, and Sensitive formulations). You’ll pay about $20 for oughly 4.25 ounces, plus another $20 for them to ship it to you, which I realize is an insane amount of money for a lotion that’s mostly made up of the same ingredients as the other Good Stuff (like calendula and organic lavender oil). I’m including Enkido on this list because I like to support one of the rare companies whose entire line is safe. Almost every single product they sell—from eye makeup remover to anti-aging cream—ranks a 0 on Skin Deep, and nothing scores higher than a 1.

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Poofy Organics

I love that Poofy’s lotions are made to order, which means they don’t need to use hardcore preservatives (although they still have a generous one-year shelf life). This fragrance-free natural baby lotion also has some cool ingredients, including kimchi seaweed and apricot kernel oil.

Buy now from Poofy Organics

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Beautycounter Baby Daily Protective Balm

Unlike some Beautycounter products, this balm contains a short list of ingredients–mostly organic–such as sunflower seed oil, beeswax, and shea butter. It’s also garnered major praise from users!

Buy Now from Beautycounter

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Earth Mama

Earth Mama’s Angel Baby lotion smells super yummy. Shea butter again makes an appearance here, along with olive oil, aloe, and calendula. Other good stuff about this Good Stuff: it scores a 0 on Skin Deep and all the ingredients are organic.

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MADE OF Moisturizing Baby Lotion

MADE OF’s Moisturizing Body Lotion contains no synthetic ingredients of any kind, including fragrances or preservatives. It’s also non-greasy and contains soothing ingredients like aloe vera.

Buy Now from MADE OF

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Pleni Naturals

Pleni sent us a sample of their natural baby lotion for review. This is a balm rather than a lotion or cream, but is nice for kiddos with very dry skin. It contains mostly organic ingredients.

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Update: It’s come to our attention that Lac Larde has been using synthetic fragrances due to a dishonest chemist. They are rectifying the problem and we will report back as soon as their formula is safe.

Lac Larde Organic Baby Lotion

Lac Larde organic baby lotion is my husband’s current favorite (for himself!).

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Thinkbaby Baby Lotion

Thinkbaby’s new baby lotion formula doesn’t contain dimethicone, so I can officially call it Good Stuff. Even though the ingredients aren’t organic, they are all low hazard

We hope you’re enjoying this post! Sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish or update our Safe Product Guides.

The Bad Stuff

The Sneaky Stuff

What About Baby Oil?

Baby oil is generally a combination of mineral oil (a petroleum byproduct) and synthetic fragrance. According to some sources, it seals up the pores in a way that doesn’t allow skin to breathe effectively. Baby massage oils are now readily available due to the popularity of baby massage (which, along with baby sign language, I never got around to trying). This one from Badger is my favorite.

Beautycounter also makes a nice Soothing Baby Oil.

Check out our Hand & Body Lotion Review for some more clean lotions that are safe for kids and babies.

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Written by Suzanne, AKA “Nana”

This post is for all of the conscious grandparents out there – the ones trying to navigate this world of natural living so that a non-toxic lifestyle can be passed down to future generations!

Of course, parenting has changed over the decades and will continue to evolve. What we thought was safe and healthy for our children may be very different from what our own children think is best for their kids.

Perhaps you, like me, are a 1970s hippie who has been making organic smoothies for half a century. Or maybe your child is the one who has introduced you to a more holistic lifestyle. Maybe your daughter freaked out when you gave your granddaughter a plastic toy or your son quietly returned the non-organic crib sheets you sent his new baby.

Either way, we can help you!

Gimme the Good Stuff is a multi-generational company, and as a grandmother myself, I can imagine how sudden demands to be more “conscious” could seem overwhelming.

If you have any inclination to learn more from a fellow grandparent and “wow!” your children by being the hippest grandma on the block, here are some ideas.

Top 10 Natural Grandparenting Tips

1. Create a non-toxic sleep environment in your home.

Children spend so much time in their beds–even when visiting their grandparents–and non-toxic bedding, especially crib or twin-sized mattress, ensures that they won’t be exposed to a range of scary toxins. Learn more in our mattress guide.

2. Wear your grandchild.

Carrying babies is so much better for their developing brains than putting them in chairs and strollers. It provides other health benefits for both the baby and parent (or grandparent!), while also limiting baby’s exposure to outside toxins. I remember singing and reciting poems to my first grandchild when I “wore” him around the neighborhood in this carrier.

3. Invest in a water filter for your home.

There are so many nasty chemicals in most tap water, and a robust water filter protects your grandchildren from chlorine, trace pharmaceuticals, and heavy metals.

4. Opt for natural laundry products.

If you make the switch to natural laundry soap and dryer balls and sheets, your kids will be thrilled to do a load of laundry when they are at your house. (Wait, maybe you don’t want that?!).

5. Buy your grandkids organic clothing.

Skip polyester and other synthetic materials, and instead choose all natural fibers–preferably organic–when buying clothing or swaddles for your grandchildren.

6. Don’t wear perfume around your grandchildren.

Unfortunately, perfume is full of phthalates. I can always tell when a scented caregiver has snuggled a baby because the scent will linger on their little fuzzy heads! Instead, opt for alternative fragrances like all-natural lotions, balms, essential oils, and soaps.

7. Avoid plastic toys.

Most plastic toys contain an assortment of toxins like chlorine and PVC, which can be harmful when babies invariably use all toys as chew toys! (Not to mention the environmental impact of mass-producing all those plastic toys!) Instead, consider gifting your grandkids higher-quality, non-toxic toys. Check out our Non-Toxic Toy Guide for suggestions.

8. Upgrade bathtime.

Treat yourself and your family by investing in conscious bath and body products. Our Safe Product Guides provide tons of product options for bubble baths, shampoos, soaps, and bath toys to provide quality bath and body care, as well as some peace of mind knowing bathtime is chemical free.

9. Make Screen-Time Safer

For your children and grandchildren using tablets, iPads, smartphones, and other screen technology, investing in screen protectors that shield radiation will offer a drastic decrease in the amount of EMFs (electromagnetic radiation fields) they are exposed to.

10. Make Mealtime Healthy.

Your kids will undoubtedly applaud you if you offer their children veggie-heavy snacks and healthy desserts, ideally using organic ingredients. Garner bonus points by sending home leftovers in plastic-free food storage containers.

Are You a Natural Grandparent?

Okay, grandmas, I want to hear from you! What other steps have you taken to be a conscious grandparent?

And parents–what other things do you WISH your parents would do to give you peace of mind about your children’s health when they are with their grandparents?

Please share below!

To your health,

P.S. Let’s not forget that studies show that simply being in each others’ company is healthful for both grandparents and grandchildren.

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I remember fondly the days before I started using natural laundry detergents….While I was never was a big fan of cologne, I used to find a man who emitted the intoxicating scent of Tide to be irresistible.

For the last ten years, Daylon’s clothes have smelled like Tandi’s Naturals laundry soap—which is to say they smell like essentially nothing, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Read on to learn more about why I made the switch the natural laundry soaps, what to look out for in conventional laundry products, and how to avoid the Sneaky Stuff.

My Top Pick for the Best Natural Laundry Soap

I thought I would never fall in love with a powder laundry soap, until I met Tandi’s. Try it. You’ll see. (Plus it has absolutely nothing concerning in the ingredients).

$19.99 – $28.99 — or subscribe and save up to 15%Buy Now

Toxins in Laundry Detergent

All laundry detergents leave a residue on clothing, which is absorbed by our skin (and inhaled). The ill effects of some of the chemicals in detergents range from skin or eye irritation to possibly much more serious, such as endocrine disruption (some ingredients are even considered potential carcinogens, but I’m not going to suggest that if you don’t give up your Tide you’ll get cancer).

Best Natural Laundry Soap for Cloth Diapers

If you’re a cloth-diapering mama, then you need to know about Mama Suds.

$17.99 – $18.50 — or subscribe and save up to 5%Buy Now

What Are the Ingredients in Tide?

Because of “trade secrets,” manufacturers are not required to disclose what’s in their laundry detergent, so the ingredient list is usually vague and not very helpful. Conventional laundry detergent generally contain the following:

• synthetic detergents, which are often made of petrochemicals
• phenols (established endocrine disruptors, of which BPA is the most notorious)
• beloved, delicious, and totally toxic fragrance (which usually contains phthalates)
• optical brighteners, which are often made from benzene, a definite carcinogen
• bleach, which contains chlorine (an environmental toxin–and possibly a carcinogen and endocrine disruptor)
• phosphates, which break down minerals and render detergent more effective, but with harmful environmental ramifications 

Dirty Detergents

A 2008 study found that of all the top selling laundry detergent brands tested, each contained at least one ingredient considered hazardous under federal law. None of these ingredients was listed on the label and the study didn’t disclose which brands were tested—annoying, I know!

Do You Need a Special Detergent for Baby Clothes?

When I was pregnant and setting up a nursery that would never be used (Felix slept with us), everyone told me to wash all of his clothes in Dreft. After a bit of research I decided against it (see below, under “The Bad Stuff”).

I’m sure there are people who separate baby linens from other household laundry–probably the same people who make their bed in the morning even if no one is coming over. While I envy such organization, I personally feel successful if a cloth diaper is washed separately from a cashmere sweater.

More importantly, if my laundry detergent is an irritant for my babies’ skin (or worse), I don’t want to use it on my clothes! My own health aside, when my boys were infants I spent about 30 percent of my day snuggling their little naked bodies to my clothed one, so I was determined to find a safe, natural laundry detergent.

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Tallow-based laundry soap works as well as detergent and may not trigger eczema.

Who Uses Powder Detergent?

I used to think no one did, but then I tried it and it turns out it works just as well as liquid. The only one I use now is Tandi’s natural laundry soap, since almost every “natural” laundry detergent brand is not natural at all. Tandi’s contains nothing concerning and works so much better than the Sneaky Stuff we used to use (I remember washing Felix’s bibs in Seventh Generation detergent and then pulling them out of the dryer and seeing food still stuck on the fronts). I didn’t think I could fall in love with a tallow-based, powder detergent, but there you go. Tandi’s is the best natural laundry detergent for babies’ clothes and mine.

Here’s a video of my dad demonstrating the super cool dispenser on his favorite brand of Good Stuff laundry soap, Pure.

The Good Stuff

The Okay Stuff

The Bad Stuff

The Sneaky Stuff

A Note on Drycleaning

Be wary of organic dry-cleaning establishments. These are almost always sneaky! Learn how to find truly safe professional cleaning services in our recent blog meh “The Truth About Organic Drycleaning.”

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Felix never drank out of a bottle due to what I called his “reverse nipple confusion.” Once he started on water (and yes, diluted juice), he happily accepted a non-toxic sippy cup.

With Wolfie, we never even tried to give him a bottle, as I didn’t use a pump the second time around. I started him on a non-toxic sippy cup even sooner.

When I was researching non-toxic sippy cups for Felix, I was at first I was psyched that every single sippy I found was BPA-free. For once, a decision would be easy! Or not.

Since I’m neurotic, I decided to do a little more research, and sure enough I found some good reasons to avoid the plastic sippy cups they sold every baby store. Actually, I didn’t even need to go digging: even back then (in 2010 or so), major news outlets like The New York Times were reporting the dangers of BPA substitutes.

Since then, more research has emerged, and it has become clear that pretty much all plastic food and drink containers should be avoided whenever possible.

The good news is that there are lots of safe glass and stainless steel sippy cups available (see below, under “The Good Stuff.”)

In the updated version of this Safe Product Guide, I also included some kids’ water bottles—since kids really use sippy cups for such a short period of time. (Tears…it goes so fast!).

My Top Pick For Sippy Cup/Water Bottle

Pura is my pick for sippy cup. Because it fits with 4 different tops, this versatile cup goes from bottle, to sippy, to straw, to sport bottle. It’s the only one I use for both of my kids, ages 3 and 7. It’s the only plastic-free cup that’s Nontoxic Certified (by Madesafe.org).

$18.00 – $24.99Buy Now

 

Is There Lead in Your Non-Toxic Sippy Cup?

In early 2017, Natural Baby Momma blogged about sippy cups containing lead, and this freaked a lot of people out. You’ll see notes below on specific bottles, but the bottom line is basically this:

1. Don’t worry about any glass bottles except Green Sprouts (see “The Sneaky Stuff”), but even if you have a Green Spout sippy, your child probably didn’t come in contact with the lead.
2. Don’t worry about any non-insulated stainless steel bottles.
3. If you have an insulated stainless steel bottle, make sure the dot on the bottom is covered with a seal (if there is a seam instead of a dot, don’t worry–your cup doesn’t have lead).
4. If you have a stainless steel bottle AND it has a dot on the bottom AND the seal is missing, toss it and call the company, but still rest assured that the chances of your child having been exposed to unsafe lead levels is low.
5. For Pura Kiki and Eco Vessel cups: if you have a bottle that you bought in the last year or so, even if it’s insulated and that seal over the dot on the bottom is missing, it won’t have lead (but still call the company to be sure).

Do Sippy Cups Cause Lisps and Cavities?

Some experts suggest that drinking from a sippy cup can cause lisps and other speech issues. Drinking from a straw will not cause speech problems, however.

Sippy cups also can facilitate tooth decay if they contain juice or milk, but this is related to the frequency of sugars being in contact with the teeth rather than the cup itself (when children have access to a sippy full of apple juice all day, for instance).

What Sippy Cups/Water Bottles Are Made Of

1. BPA. I’m lying. Every sippy cup I researched (including all the ones sold by Babies “R” Us and Diapers.com) proclaims itself “BPA free!”  Sadly, this is meaningless, as we now know that estrogen-mimickers are found in BPA-free plastics, too.
2. Silicone. This plastic substitute seems to be non-leaching and non-toxic, although I would like to see more studies conducted on silicone. Increasingly, sippy cup manufacturers are using silicone spouts or straws in place of the old plastic ones, and this is definitely an improvement.
3. Latex. Like silicone, latex is a good alternative to plastic, although because it is a somewhat common allergen, not many companies go this route.
4. Aluminum. The inside of aluminum water bottles or sippy cups are always coated, since aluminum is not considered “food safe.” This epoxy lining is usually plastic, and you should make sure that it is guaranteed to be free of BPA or its analogs (see below, under “The Sneaky Stuff,” for more on this). In addition to concerns about the coating itself, I also worry that if it were to be scratched or compromised in some way, the liquid inside the cup could theoretically contain traces of aluminum, particularly if your child was drinking an acidic juice.
5. Stainless steel. Long considered the safest material for cookware, even good old stainless steel has come under fire for potentially being dangerous: when heated, it may leach aluminum and other heavy metals into food. Since sippy cups generally contain only cold liquids, this doesn’t concern me, and if you wanted to be really careful you could avoid using stainless steel sippy cups for acidic drinks.
6. Glass. This is probably the best material in terms of safety, but it’s heavy and breakable, so most people prefer stainless steel sippies.

What About Phthalates?

Although all sippy cups and kids’ water bottles these days proudly guarantee themselves to be BPA-free, very few mention phthalates. I’ve had almost no luck getting any manufacturer to provide me with a list of all the materials they use (that includes the makers of The Good Stuff!), but the potential for phthalates to be lurking in plastic sippy cups is just another reason to stick to stainless steel or glass. That said, phthalates tend to be found in soft plastic (think bath toys), so most sippy cups are probably in the clear.

The Good Stuff

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The Okay Stuff

The Bad Stuff

The Sneaky Stuff

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1. Avoid Plastic Baby Bottles (including “BPA-free” ones!)

Plastic bottles are tempting—they are inexpensive, readily available, lightweight, and hard to break. But plastic leeches chemicals, some of which are known endocrine disruptors (hello, BPA!).

Don’t be fooled by “BPA-free” labels. BPA-free plastics that contain BPA substitutes like BPS are possibly just as bad, if not worse. Bottom line: If you want non-toxic baby bottles, you’ll never be buying any kind of plastic.

2. Choose Glass or Stainless Steel Baby Bottles

The safest baby bottle material is probably glass. Glass bottles won’t leech anything into milk or formula. Whenever possible, choose glass for breast milk storage, too.

Food-grade stainless steel is a close second to glass. Stainless steel bottles are lighter and less breakable than glass. We love Pura Kiki infant bottles because they are totally plastic-free, come in two sizes (5 oz and 11 oz), are available insulated and non-insulated, and can be converted into bottles for toddlers, kids, and adults.

3. Silicone Baby Bottles Are Okay

Silicone baby bottles are better than plastic, but probably not as safe as glass or stainless steel; research on the safety of silicone is relatively limited. We do know that silicone may leech at very low and high temperatures, so you might consider skipping silicone bottles for hot liquids and avoid putting them in the freezer. I like the Comotomo Natural Feel silicone bottle. (Note: (These silicone bags are better than storing breast milk in plastic.)

4. Don’t Forget the Nipples

Food-grade silicone is probably the safest, most durable and hygienic material for baby bottle nipples. A close second is natural rubber nipples from a credible company like Hevea or Natursutten. Definitely skip synthetic latex nipples (like these by Gerber), which can contain a number of concerning additives.

Because my babies rarely drank from bottles,  I can’t recommend a favorite in terms of efficacy. That’s why I need you guys to comment below on your favorites glass, stainless steel, and silicone baby bottles and nipples–please do so below!

Stay sane,

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Dear E.:

So the bottom line is I would recommend Holle formula as the best option, but it’s not without some problems, unfortunately (yet again it becomes clear that nothing can compare with breastmilk). HiPP is superior in a few ways, but I’ll explain why ultimately I would go with Holle below.

Here’s what I considered when researching HiPP vs. Holle:

1. Palm oil. Palm oil is an ingredient that a lot of people worry about (suspected to affect bone density), and both HiPP and Holle contain it. However, because they each contain a blend of other oils (like coconut and sunflower), I don’t think the amount is as concerning. They do both also contain rapeseed oil, otherwise known as canola oil, which is also somewhat controversial. It’s worth noting that Baby’s Only doesn’t contain palm oil–but it does contain soybean oil, which I don’t like, so not really a huge win.
2. Aluminum issue. The HiPP ready-made formula is preferable to the HiPP powder because the latter has strangely high aluminum levels, although even the ready-man has borderline levels. (I can’t figure out why–possibly because it comes in aluminum pouches (within a cardboard box)). However, in general I actually DON’T like ready-made formulas because they contain soy lecithin (sometimes extracted with hexane…and soy is problematic anyway because of its estrogenic properties). On the other hand, the amount of lecithin is relatively small, and probably worth the trade-off. Note that the HiPP Growing Up milk in powder form actually has much lower levels of aluminum (but you can’t use that until after 12 months, and it does contain soy lecithin. Sigh). Bottom line here is go for ready-made or Growing Up milk if you do get HiPP, but with Holle you don’t have to worry about this.
3. LCP oils. The addition of omega 3 and 6 oils in U.S. formulas is controversial because of the extraction methods (super complicated issue so I’ll spare you all the details). HiPP has these added oils, but I suspect the extraction methods are probably required to be cleaner in Europe. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to get to the bottom of this, so it’s a question mark and potentially another negative for HiPP. And studies show that the addition of the oils doesn’t improve the nutrition for babies anyway, so their absence isn’t really a negative for Holle.
4. Organic practices. Both of these companies have been around for more than 50 years, and the dairy products from both come from grass-fed, organic cattle, certainly of a higher quality that anything you get here. Holle farms are certified organic and biodynamic–which I’ll simplify by saying is like organic-plus, with very strict standards from the processing all the way to the packaging. Another point in the Holle column.
5. Sugars. All formula has a lot of sugar (breastmilk is naturally quite sweet), and HiPP wins in this category, as it uses lactose as a sweetener, which is the best option (and also the most expensive). Holle uses maltodextrin (a plant-based sweetener), although it seems to use less of it than most American formula brands. And here’s an update from July 2015: Lebenswert is a newish formula under the Holle umbrella. The Stage 1 Lebenswert formula contains lactose instead of maltodextrin, and Lebenswert is now available at Little World Organics!
6. Prebiotics. This is another win for HiPP. Holle doesn’t contain these, and it’s one of the big things found in breastmilk but missing from formula.

Bottom line: Both HiPP and Holle are superior to American formulas, in my opinion. They lack many of the concerning ingredients found in most formula you get here, don’t have white sugar or corn syrup in them, and also skip some preservatives and the carrageenan found even in other organic formulas. If it were my baby, I would probably choose Holle because of the aluminum issues with HiPP–which to me is more concerning than the maltodextrin (the only major downside to Holle). The lecithin, biodynamic farming, and LCP oil issues further put Holle in the lead. And if you choose Stage 1 Lebenswert, you skip the maltodextrin as well.

In terms of where to by Holle (or HiPP): this is complicated since these formulas do not meet FDA approval. There are many online vendors (including Ebay sellers), but until I can vet that one (or several) are legit, I cannot make a recommendation on where you should purchase European formula. I hope to have this information available soon.

October 2019 update: I’ve vetted several places to purchase this formula, and am happy to have established affiliate relationships with the following sellers:

1. BabyKind Market 
2. Organic Start
3. Organic Baby Food 24
4.  Little Bundle

Stay sane,

P.S. If you want to learn about goat milk formula (including one from Holle), click here.

Standard disclaimer: The advice and opinions presented here by Gimme the Good Stuff are based on our own research process as well as current scientific evidence. For medical advice, you should see a licensed medical professional. Statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any illness.


 Manufacturers change the ingredients in their products frequently; always read labels or call companies to verify.

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The post HiPP Versus Holle: Which European Infant Formula is Healthier? appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

Written by Maia, President

UPDATED: January 2018

Guess what–you probably don’t even need a non-toxic, natural baby wash. There is no reason you can’t use a non-toxic shampoo on your baby’s body as well as his head, and most products are labeled for use as shampoo and as baby body wash.

That said, shampoos, even the ones I consider Good Stuff, generally has more ingredients than a simple bar of natural soap, so I prefer the latter for babies.

Some companies do make a separate natural baby wash that doesn’t double as shampoo. This Safe Product Guide gives you the run-down of the best and worst of these, plus recommends some great bar soaps (which, by the way, can be used on your little one’s hair, too!) and bubble baths, which I use every night for my boys just because they love it.

My Top Pick for Best Natural Baby Wash

I love Dr. Bronner’s 4-in-1 Organic Baby Sugar Soap because it lacks any sneaky ingredients and can be used on their body as well as hair.

Ingredients to Avoid in Baby Soap

When it comes to soap for your baby’s body, the biggies to stay away from are fragrance, anything ending in “paraben,” and all the obviously chemically-sounding names (like PEG-40).

Adult soaps and shower gels often include harsh petroleum-based detergents, but baby wash does tend to be gentler, if not necessarily safer. Ideally, you should choose a baby wash or bubble bath that specifies 100% natural ingredients; choosing organic baby wash is an even bigger plus.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Is Ok…Sort of

One soap ingredient that has stirred a lot of controversy is sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS).

After lots of research, I’ve decided that while I’m okay using products that contain SLS to wash clothing or dishes, I don’t want it in anything that I rub directly onto my kids’ skin because it can be irritating.

Fortunately, most natural baby wash doesn’t contain SLS. Note that sodium laureth sulfate–often found in natural baby wash–is a different ingredient all together, and one that should always be avoided as it is often contaminated with carcinogenic 1-4, dioxane.

(Here’s more on the differences between these two ingredients.)

Now that you have some basic info on what you should stay away from, here is my roundup of Good, Bad, and Sneaky body washes, bar soaps, and bubble baths for babies and kids. I hope this makes picking a natural baby wash much easier, and feel free to post questions in the comments section below.

The Good Stuff

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The Okay Stuff

The Bad Stuff

The Sneaky Stuff

Read our Safe Bar Soap Guide for other great natural soap and organic soap options for kids and grownups alike.

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Written by Suzanne, Chief Health Officer and Resident Grandmother

After Maia posted about multivitamins last summer, we were flooded with questions about probiotics.

• Should you be giving your babies and kids probiotic supplements?
• And if so, which brands are the Good Stuff?

Probiotics are a complex and fascinating topic. I’m a Certified Holistic Health Coach, but not a physician, so I’m not here to dispense medical advice. I do have some information and tasty tidbits to share, including a two-ingredient recipe for my favorite probiotic food. I’ll also share the results of the kitchen-counter experiment we conducted to see if popular probiotic supplements do in fact contain live cultures.

What Are Probiotics?

People throw around the term “probiotics” a lot. What are they talking about? Basically, probiotics are beneficial little organisms, including some types of bacteria and yeasts.

Our bodies are full of such organisms, many of which have co-evolved with our species. Each of us has our own ecosystem of microorganisms—some of them beneficial, and some of them potentially harmful.

I think of this ecosystem as a diverse garden that’s unique to every individual. For optimum health, your garden should contain a wide variety of organisms, and there should be enough good ones to keep the bad ones in check.

Even the youngest babies have beneficial organisms in and on their bodies. These “good bugs” help us in a number of ways, including enhancing our digestion, our immune function, and even our mood. The types of bacteria we have in our guts may even affect our weight.

Before refrigeration was available, people fermented foods to preserve them. Traditional foods such as sauerkraut, yogurt, tempeh, and kimchi are natural sources of probiotics.

My ancestors survived the long and gruesome trip from Europe in part because they ate a lot of sauerkraut, which contributed to a healthy gut and robust immune system. These days, we can also get concentrated doses of specific strains of organisms by taking probiotic supplements. More on that in a minute.

What Are Prebiotics?

You may have also heard the term “prebiotics.” Prebiotics serve as the food for probiotic organisms. (Problematic organisms can also feed off prebiotics, but that’s a topic for another post!) These plant fibers are found in foods such as bananas, asparagus, beans and legumes, and garlic. Prebiotics are also often added to probiotic supplements.

Why Do Probiotics Matter for Babies?

Babies have immature immune systems. Although this may sound scary, and sometimes is, it’s mostly positive. It allows them to build their little ecosystems by acquiring healthy organisms in-utero, during birth, and after birth.

Exposing babies early to good organisms helps them get a healthy start. Healthy microbes enable good digestion and an immune system that fights off infections and resists the development of allergies.

Recent research illuminates how babies acquire microbes in utero (both placentas and amniotic fluid can harbor microbes), during vaginal birth, and through breast milk. If your baby has missed out on any early opportunities for natural microbe transfer, or you’re dealing with colic or other digestive issues, you might consider a probiotic supplement.

To Supplement or Not to Supplement?

If you’ve read any of my nutrition posts before, you know I’m a fan of whole-food nutrition. Real food—not tons of supplements—is the foundation of a healthy diet. Therefore, I suggest including naturally probiotic-rich foods in your daily diet.

I’ve been eating probiotic foods for decades, and my German ancestors ate them for generations before me. It helps that many of these foods are delicious! However, I know that not everyone is as excited as I am about fermented foods. It can be particularly tricky to get infants and toddlers to eat them.

Also, some situations call for a bigger dose of probiotics. Pediatricians commonly recommend probiotics for kids who have had a gastrointestinal illness and/or been on a course of antibiotics.

If you have questions or concerns about probiotics, you should take them up with your doctor or pediatrician, especially if there is a serious illness in question.

Cultivate a Healthy Gut

Regardless of where you’re getting probiotics from—food or supplements or both—there are a couple of smart things to do to help your gut (or your child’s gut!) be a place where good organisms thrive

1. Cut back on foods that are hard on your digestion and tend to feed unhelpful organisms. Such foods include processed grains, refined sugars, fried foods, and any specific foods that don’t sit right with you or your child (cow dairy, soy, and gluten are common triggers).
2. Increase the intake of whole foods, especially those plant-based foods that are rich in the prebiotic fiber that probiotics love.
3. Avoid taking/giving antibiotics unless absolutely necessary, and avoid antibacterial products that contain triclosan (Maia wrote about this scary chemical here.

Our Experiment: Are Probiotic Supplements Legit?

One of the reasons that I like food over supplements is that the supplement industry has a spotty reputation. It largely unregulated and this leads to products that may not be pure or effective. Many supplements don’t actually contain what the label says they do, and some are tainted with contaminants. Before you choose a specific supplement product, always do your homework before deciding on the brand.

When it comes to probiotic supplements, you want a product that contains live cultures. We came up with a simple experiment to determine if five popular probiotic supplements do in fact contain live cultures. We chose four child/infant formulas and an adult one based on which had the cleanest ingredients list, as well as recommendations made by our friend Dr. Alan Green:

• Udo’s Choice Children’s Probiotic
• Udo’s Choice Infant’s Probiotic
• Garden of Life RAW Probiotics Kids
• Garden of Life Dr. Formulated Probiotics Organic Kids
• Nutrition Now PB8 Probiotic (for adults)

2021 UPDATE: If you’re looking for a clean brand for a GUMMY probiotic (much easier to get kids to take!), here is one we are taking and a version for kids.

We poured an equal amount of milk into five glasses and let the milk come to room temperature. We then sprinkled one “dose” of probiotic into each glass and waited 24 hours.

If live organisms are present, the probiotics should start interacting with the milk, turning it into something resembling yogurt. If this does not happen, it may be that the probiotics are not viable (alive). We are happy to report that all five probiotic formulas did indeed cause the milk to transform. Check out the photo! That is far beyond just separated milk–it’s alive!

Note: While all of these supplements appear to contain living organisms, our simple kitchen-counter experiment cannot vouch for the quantity of live organisms or what species are present.

DIY Sauerkraut (Just 2 Ingredients!)

Did you know that you can make your own probiotic foods with just a few simple ingredients? This recipe for sauerkraut calls for just two things—cabbage and salt. I sometimes make sauerkraut in a fermentation crock, but really all you need is a clean jar.

Sauerkraut is not just for adults. One of my grandsons loves it—maybe your kids will like it, too. In order to get the benefit of the probiotics, do not cook the sauerkraut before you eat it.

Sauerkraut

Adapted from Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients:

• 1 medium cabbage, cored and shredded
• 2 tablespoons of sea salt

Instructions:
Mix shredded cabbage and salt in a bowl. Pound the mixture with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer for 10 minutes to release juices. Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth jar and press down firmly with a pounder or meat hammer until juices come to the top of the cabbage. The top of the cabbage should be at least one inch below the top of the jar. Cover the jar tightly and keep it at room temperature for about three days before transferring to cold storage. The sauerkraut may be eaten immediately, but it improves with age.

If you want to experiment with making more fermented foods, these are my two favorite books about cooking and eating traditional foods:

• Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon
• The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-To-Table recipes for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle, by Jennifer McGruther

To your health,

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The post Baby-Biotics: What are the Best Probiotic Supplements for Babies & Kids? appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

Written by Maia, President

With temperatures feeling distinctly summer-like in much of the country, I’m not surprised that many of you are asking about my top sunscreen recommendation, and what I put on my own children.

Here’s the truth: my kids don’t wear sunscreen every day, even in the summer. Of course, if we are at the beach or even at the park for hours, I slather them up. But I’m convinced that some vitamin D is good for us, and that it’s hard to get enough from food or even supplements (if you do want to supplement, this is the one I give my kids).

You’ll have to decide how much sun, if any, you feel comfortable allowing your kids to have before applying sunscreen. Mine can handle an hour or so before they are at risk of turning pink, depending on the time of day and if they are in and out of direct sunlight (if we are at the beach midday, I wouldn’t do more than about 20 minutes). It’s worth noting that a client’s friend is a dermatologist specializing in melanoma and she feels that children shouldn’t be in ANY direct sunlight between the hours of 10:00 and 2:00.

Anyway, back to the question of the best sunscreen. I think there are two:

1) Kabana Green Screen has a short list of entirely safe ingredients (including zero chemical sunscreens and non-nano zinc oxide), and it is the only sunscreen on the market that contains added vitamin D, which can safely be delivered transdermally. If your kids wear sunscreen whenever they are outside, Kabana is a clear winner.

2) Despite my high regard for Kabana Green Screen, it’s actually not what we are using this summer. Although I figured out a way to apply it so it leaves almost no white sheen (the trick is rubbing it in VERY quickly after squeezing it onto the skin), my kids still hate the application process. Because of this, Babo Sheer Zinc Continuous Spray has been a total game-changer, and it’s all we use.

What’s your favorite natural sunscreen?

Stay sane,

P.S. We were reminded of the importance of reapplying sunscreen throughout the day after a 4-hour canoe ride resulted in pink thighs for my son–his first ever sunburn! 🙁 I felt terribly!

(By the way, this was his first canoe ride and he LOVED it, proving my mom’s point that kids need more time in nature!)

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Written by Maia, President

I hear from a lot of desperate parents whose babies and kids suffer from eczema. An estimated 10-20% of infants and kids have eczema nowadays. Maybe there is more awareness about it now (when I was a kid, we probably often passed it off as a bad case of “dry skin”), or maybe it is occurring more frequently in the population. Regardless, eczema is driving many of you crazy, and the eczema experience often becomes a physical and emotional ordeal for the whole family.

Parents I hear from are usually worried about two things—first, what’s causing the eczema, and second, what are the most effective natural eczema treatments for babies and kids? I can’t relate personally because my sons haven’t had eczema (although my oldest is allergic to peanuts, and allergies and eczema often go hand-in-hand), but I’ve listened to a lot of people on the front lines and done research.

In this post, I share what I hope are helpful perspectives and strategies, including a method developed by engineers with a suffering baby, pro tips from the genius herbalist at Green Goo (formerly Sierra Sage), and natural eczema treatments that we crowd-sourced from you, our community of readers.

What Is Eczema?

Eczema is an umbrella term for a group of conditions involving irritated, inflamed skin. Itchiness is common, and babies with eczema often have crusty, oozy patches. Eczema often shows up in the first six months of life.

There are several different types of eczema and therefore many potential solutions (though conventional wisdom says that eczema can be controlled or treated, but not cured). As you probably already know, figuring out what’s going on with your child’s eczema can be a long process that involves a lot of guesswork and experimentation.

But Won’t My Kid Outgrow It?

Friends and health professionals (and the internet) may tell you that your child will outgrow eczema. This is probably nice to hear, and it is partially true; many kids with eczema do eventually stop having symptoms as they get older. But although the eczema may go away, the underlying problems that caused it can reappear as long-term issues like seasonal allergies (hay fever) and asthma.
You may have noticed that eczema tends to run in families with histories of these conditions. It’s not a coincidence; an allergy-prone immune system is the common thread. Eczema, hay fever and asthma are known as the “atopic triad.”

What Causes Eczema?

Eczema is generally understood as a symptom of the immune system reacting to an irritant. Sound vague? This is because eczema is a broad term that describes a wide variety of skin problems with different origins. Also, even the same type of eczema can affect people in different ways. Eczema is complicated.

Tallow-based laundry soap works as well as detergent and may not trigger eczema.

The Detergent Theory

I wasn’t totally satisfied by the mainstream explanations (or lack thereof) for what causes eczema. Then a client of mine led me to an intriguing theory by a parent-activist named A.J. Lumstaine.

In the early 2000s, A.J. and her husband had a baby with a bad case of eczema, and conventional treatments weren’t helping. A.J. and her husband are both engineers, so they applied their engineering minds to the problem and eventually discovered that their son was sensitive to detergents. Not just laundry and dish detergents, but the category of chemicals known as detergents.

Detergents can be derived from either petroleum or plant sources and have become ubiquitous in all kinds of products—from personal care products to household products to even foods—since the 1970s. Detergents are not in and of themselves bad—some are toxic, and some are benign. But it seems that for some people, detergents are the cause–or at least an exacerbating factor—for eczema.

According to A.J.’s theory of “detergent-reactive eczema,” synthetic detergents can compromise the skin’s natural barrier, making it more permeable. Increased permeability means that stuff outside the body, which normally couldn’t get in, can now penetrate the skin, causing the immune system to develop new sensitivities. As a result, exposure to mold, pollen, bacteria, household dust, pet dander, etc., may cause an eczema flare-up.

MamaSuds makes a dishwasher soap that’s detergent-free.

Increased permeability of the skin also means that stuff inside the body–like its natural moisture–can get out, leading to dryness. Super sensitive, dry skin is the hallmark of eczema.

A.J. started a website in the early 2000s to share her family’s story and the results of the exhaustive research and experimentation they’ve done. She developed an eczema solution that she calls “simple but not easy” because it involves removing all detergents and detergent residues from your home environment—including the products that all members of the family use. It’s a big undertaking, but it’s worth considering if your child is suffering and you’re still searching for answers.

A.J. believes that detergent-reactive eczema accounts for 20-40% of eczema cases in infants. Removing detergents can help kids suffering from other kids of eczema, too. A.J. also shares information and solutions related to these other types of eczema on her website.

Natural Eczema Treatments

Regardless of whether you’re able to eventually “solve” your kid’s eczema like the Lumstaines did, you’ll still have some symptoms to deal with. Here is a compilation of (mostly) natural eczema treatments based on our research and the hard-earned wisdom of some of our readers:

• Try a medicinal balm: Conventional eczema treatment involves steroid creams (for inflamed patches), antibiotics (for skin infections), and moisturizers (for dryness). A well-formulated medicinal balm, like Dry Skin Care from Green Goo (formerly Sierra Sage), can hit all these bases without the yucky ingredients and side effects. (See below for more information on why Dry Skin Care has a cult following among people dealing with eczema, and some pro tips on how to use it.)

• Try coconut oil or shea butter: One reader said her friend had excellent results when she used organic extra virgin cold pressed coconut oil on her son’s skin. Coconut oil is good for eczema because it has moisturizing, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. Another natural wonder with similar properties is shea butter. Look for shea butter that is 100% natural and unrefined.

• Use a gentle soap/shampoo: Several of you wrote in to give the name of what you feel is the best soap for eczema. These include Ruby-Blue Bunny Shampoo & Wash, Babo Botanicals products, and Beautycounter’s new line of baby products. Just be aware that most of these DO contain a detergent of some kind, even if it’s a safe one. Most of you know to avoid sodium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate, but what about the newer “coconut-derived” detergents like decyl glucoside? While studies suggest this ingredient is safe, it still falls in the “detergent” category. Which is why you might want to try this next suggestion if you’re still battling eczema after using gentler soaps…

• Use old-fashioned soap: The best soap for eczema is made with simple, natural ingredients. Our tallow-based soap for babies is formulated for sensitive skin and can be used for both skin and hair. If you’re trying to rid even your clothing of detergent residue, try Tandi’s tallow-based laundry powder, which is made of old fashioned soap, not detergent. (If you like liquid laundry soap, here’s a good one that’s free of detergent.) Another popular real soap company is Dr. Bronner’s, which my mom used to wash her hair, dishes, and even her car in the 1970s!

• Apply a lotion immediately after bath time: I’m not a fan of the ingredients, but one of our readers swears by Aquaphor to lock in moisture. Another reader gets good results with Babo Botanical’s Moisturizing Lotion, which has an ingredients list that I approve of. Others have had luck with Beautycounter’s Baby Daily Protective Balm and Baby Soothing Oil.

• Try urine therapy: Yep, you read that right. Urine, which contains urea, along with enzymes, hormones, minerals, etc., can help treat eczema and other skin conditions. One mom shared with us that her daughter’s skin improved when she started applying a cotton round saturated with her daughter’s urine to the affected skin, followed a few hours later by Medicine Mama’s Bee Magic. The pee really worked; Medicine Mama’s Bee Magic didn’t have any effect on its own. It makes sense that urine would help with eczema, because urea is a common ingredient in cosmetic products thanks to its moisturizing and exfoliating properties.

• Use only natural laundry detergent: Natural laundry detergents do the job without harsh chemicals that can irritate skin. Make sure you use natural detergent for everyone’s clothes and all of your household linens. As I mentioned above, if you’re looking for a soap-based (detergent-free) laundry option, you might try our best-selling Tandi’s Naturals Concentrated Laundry Soap or MamaSuds detergent-free liquid soap.

• Soften water: Some research from Europe and other countries suggests a link between hard water and eczema. Soft water alone might not fix an eczema problem, but it can be part of an effective treatment plan (and may help prevent eczema in the first place). One of our readers saw a dramatic improvement in her son’s eczema, in less than a week, when they installed a water softener, started using Babo lotion, and switched to Green Shield laundry detergent.

Natural Eczema Treatment Tips from a Pro

Jen Scott of Green Goo

Just about every approach to eczema treatment—natural or conventional–involves some kind of topical treatment. Our most popular product for treating eczema is Dry Skin Care from Green Goo (formerly Sierra Sage). We talked with Jen Scott, owner of Green Goo and the genius herbalist behind its products, to find out more about Dry Skin Care and get her tips on how to treat eczema with the medicinal ointment.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, eczema is seen as a condition involving heat. So oils that have neutral qualities, rather than warming ones, help soothe affected skin. Jen chose neutral olive oil, sunflower oil, and jojoba oil as the base for Dry Skin Care.

But it’s the calendula flowers in Dry Skin Care that Jen calls “the powerhouse” of her formula. Calendula helps soothe and heal eczema patches thanks to a combination of anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, anti-yeast, and other anti-microbial properties. Jen believes so strongly in Dry Skin Care that she offers a guarantee; if you go through a whole container without seeing results, you qualify for a refund (so let us know if you buy some through us!).

Jen shared some great pro tips for natural eczema treatment for babies and kids:

• Empower your little patient: Let toddlers and kids apply the ointment themselves, especially if they are in discomfort and have developed distress about their eczema. This helps them feel safe and more in control of their condition.
• Start strong: When you first start using Dry Skin Care, get ahead of the inflammation by applying the ointment two to three times a day. After that, use it once a day. You only need a small amount–it’s a concentrated, medicinal salve, not a lotion.
• Treat skin right, but get to the root, too: Products like Dry Skin Care are great for treating eczema symptoms. You should also investigate food sensitivities or whatever else might be the root cause of the condition. Indeed, one of our readers said that cutting out wheat has been the most helpful measure to deal with her kid’s eczema. Another reader has seen good results from using goat milk instead of cow milk. If you are breastfeeding a child with eczema, cutting out the problematic foods from your own diet is helpful, too.

Preventing Eczema

Most information on “preventing” eczema is about making flare-ups less frequent and less severe. But can eczema be prevented altogether? Maybe. Here are two things to try:

• Take a probiotic supplement while pregnant and give your infant probiotics, like this product, especially if eczema and other allergic conditions run in the family.
• A.J. Lumstaine also suggests limiting babies’ exposure to detergents early on in life by washing dishes with detergent-free (soap-based) products. MamaSuds makes a detergent-free automatic dishwasher soap. It’s not for everyone, but some people love this tallow-based solid dish soap.

Please share what has (and hasn’t!) worked for your own children’s eczema in the comments below.

Stay sane,

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Written by Maia, President

I have three quick things to say about this:

Stay sane,

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The post Honest Detergent Contains Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, After Calling it “Toxic” appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

My six-year-old, Felix, is allergic to peanuts. Due to very low Ieg levels in his blood, we are hopeful that he may outgrow it, but it still really sucks to have to worry about it for now. (Also—what about the protective effects of long-term breastfeeding?!) I am probably as concerned about the psychological effects of a food allergy as I am about the possibility of an anaphylactic reaction, so I was relieved when my two-year-old, Wolfie, tested negative for peanut allergy.

Our allergist told us to start feeding Wolfie peanuts as much as possible to prevent the development of a future allergy (he’s at a higher risk because of Felix). Unfortunately, Wolfie is not a fan of peanut butter, so this proved difficult.

Baby Food: Finding the Good Stuff

Right around the time we found out that Woflie wasn’t allergic to peanuts, I happened to hear from a woman named Zoi Maroudas, who founded a baby food company called Bambino’s. She wanted us to review her baby food for possible inclusion in our Safe Baby Food Guide.

After looking into Bambino’s products–and receiving samples, which we fed to my 6-month-old nephew, Lincoln–I deemed Bambino’s organic frozen food the Good Stuff (see our Safe Frozen Baby Food Guide for more on this baby food as well as other brands that get our approval).

If you can’t prepare your baby’s food fresh (which I rarely did, after so much was refused and thrown away!), frozen is the next best option. It’s definitely better than the purees you’d get in pouches or jars. And Bambino’s is about as good as it gets.

Cookies for Allergy Prevention?

What intrigued me most about the Bambino’s lineup wasn’t any of the organic vegetable, fish, or high-quality meat options. It was something called peanut mani.

Zoi says these cookies contain the exact amount of peanut recommended to prevent peanut allergies in children. You’ve probably seen the headlines that Israeli children rarely suffer from peanut allergies, and the theory is that it’s because of early exposure to peanut snacks called Bamba.

Intuitively, this theory makes sense, and I would encourage all parents to introduce nuts early (after, of course, checking with your pediatrician). Bambino’s peanut mani are also Good Stuff because they are organic and are lightly sweetened with oranges and carrots instead of sugar. The idea is that you give your child one cookie each day starting at four months old to help prevent the development of a peanut allergy.

Zoi has offered to include a free gift for orders—for peanut mani as well as frozen baby food–made by my readers. Just you code GIMMEGOODS when checking out.

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Written by Suzanne, Chief Health Officer and Resident Grandmother

Okay, this a trick question, but it’s one we are asked a lot. The rice cereal that is best for your baby’s first food is…none.

Our readers often ask why we haven’t done a Safe Product Guide on rice cereal for babies. Most pediatricians still recommend rice cereal as the first food, because it’s gluten-free and almost never causes an allergic reaction. And readers think, surely there are brands that are Good, and also Sneaky ones that could be uncovered and then avoided?

It’s true that if you are going to start your baby on rice cereal, some brands are better than others (I would opt for this one if pressed), but more importantly, any boxed, ready-made rice cereal is highly processed and really unnecessary as a first food. Here’s why:

1. Most rice cereals are made from white rice. Dr. Alan Greene, who was a guest with Maia on The Dr. Oz Show last year, says that white rice cereal is nearly the same as pure sugar, metabolically speaking.
2. Many manufacturers add thickening agents like flour and starches to their rice cereals.
3. Many health practitioners recommend not giving babies any grains until they are at least a year old, as grains can be hard to digest.
4. There are concerns about arsenic in rice and rice cereals.

What about brown rice cereals or homemade rice cereals?

If you really want to feed your baby a boxed rice cereal, you should definitely opt for one made from brown rice. These certainly are a better bet, especially if they are made with organic brown rice. However, for the reason stated above, I always recommend skipping the boxed stuff and making your own brown rice for your baby to keep nutrients intact. There are a couple of different ways to make a rice cereal.

1. You can grind your rice before cooking it, making it cook faster and yielding a great texture for a baby. A recipe for this method can be found here.
2. Soak your rice instead of grinding. This is my preference because soaking rice (and other grains) limits phytic acids and increases digestibility (click that link to learn about phytic acids and why you’d want to remove them). Of course, if you soak the rice first, you will not be able to grind it, but that’s okay! Below is my recipe for homemade brown rice cereal for a baby. You can also try other whole grains for a homemade cereal—quinoa or millet both work well.

Homemade Brown Rice Baby Cereal

1. Measure ½ cup of organic brown rice (or quinoa or millet) and rinse under cold water using a fine mesh strainer.

2. Soak grains for one to eight hours to soften, increase digestibility, and eliminate phytic acid. Drain grains and discard the soaking water.

3. Place rice with 1 ½ to 2 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat and cover and simmer until the water is absorbed, about 45 minutes (or the suggested amount of time, depending on the grain you chose), without stirring during the cooking process.

5. When it is finished you can mash it further by putting it through a baby food mill or even with a fork. You can then dilute with water, breastmilk, or formula before feeding to your baby.

Oatmeal can also be made by soaking and adding extra water when cooking to make it creamier and even easier to eat and digest for a young baby.

What about foods other than grains?

Some of our readers don’t eat grains at all, and naturally plan to keep their babies on grain-free diets. There are plenty of alternatives for first foods, and Dr. Greene argues that we should NOT be starting kids on grains at all, considering our obesity epidemic.

In any case, for a six-month old baby, I would start with fresh fruits and vegetables and then as they get older, move to homemade whole grains. Here are some good options:

• Pureed fresh fruits (dried fruit that’s been soaked, stewed, and mashed is also quite sweet and tasty).
• Fresh vegetables of all kinds (steamed and then mashed).
• Sweet potatoes (boiled or steamed and mashed).
• Winter squashes (butternut, buttercup, delicata).

Some moms like to feed babies simple foods like avocado and bananas, both of which require only mashing. While this is fine, keep in mind that these are tropical foods and not local for us in the Northern latitudes. I believe they are fine to eat occasionally, but I do like to eat organically, seasonally and locally as much as possible. So for this time of year, apples, pears, and maybe some frozen berries or dried fruits would be my choice.

As your baby grows and gets used to eating, you may put a small portion of your own food into a separate dish for the baby, mashed as needed.

Below are some great baby food books that I’ve consulted since becoming a grandmother!

• Feeding the Whole Family: Recipes for Babies, Young Children, and Their Parents, by Cynthia Lair
• Super Nutrition for Babies: The Right Way to Feed Your Baby for Optimal Health, by Katherine Erlich
• 201 Organic Baby Purees: The Freshest, Most Wholesome Food Your Baby Can Eat! by Tamika Gardener
• The Amazing Make-Ahead Baby Food Book: Make 3 Months of Homemade Purees in 3 Hours, by Lisa Barrianngon PhD

Be well,

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The post What is the Best Rice Cereal for Babies? Which Rice Cereal is Good Stuff? appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

Written by Maia, President

First, read my affiliate disclosure.

As you may have seen in our updated Safe Infant Formula Guide, I recently recommended Lebenswert as the healthiest infant formula on the market (yes, even better than Holle and HiPP!). Unfortunately, it’s become harder and harder for American parents to find European formulas as they are no longer available on Amazon.

Some parents have resorted to buying Holle and HiPP and other European formula on eBay, but many of you feel uneasy purchasing something so important from unverified sellers.

This is why I decided to create a screening process to help me find trustworthy online vendors where my readers could confidently buy European baby formulas.

This post will help you figure out where to buy Holle and HiPP and Lebenswert, as well as other European brands of formula.

Bottom Line on Where to Buy European Formula

I’ve approved and established an affiliate relationship with the following vendors.

1. BabyKind Market 
2. Organic Start
3. Organic Baby Food 24 (based in Germany)
4.  Little Bundle

Please note that Gimme the Good Stuff is not responsible for the quality of either the formula itself or the experience of ordering from these vendors. I am simply saying that based on my research, if I were buying a European formula for my own child, I would feel comfortable getting it from any of them.

My Vetting Process for European Formula Vendors

I started on the websites of Holle and HiPP, and contacted the retailers they listed to see if any of them would ship to the U.S. The answer was no.

I then looked into a variety of websites that were mentioned on blogs and parenting forums as places moms were buying European formula–some of these had good reviews and others had failed to deliver the formula parents ordered. One mom told me that she drove by the address listed on one of the websites and found a boarded-up building in a bad L.A. neighborhood!

I narrowed my list down to the websites that seemed not sketchy (based on my online research), and scheduled phone calls with the owners of these sites.

Why Most of Them Didn’t Make the Cut

While I cannot say that any of these companies seemed outright dishonest–or that I truly believe anyone is taking empty Holle formula containers and filling them with Similac–I didn’t feel completely reassured by my conversations with most of these vendors.

Perhaps some of this was a language barrier (plus time-zone issues–one guy in Germany was nice enough to speak with me at midnight his time!), but in many cases I just couldn’t seem to get a clear answer on the supply chain.

I really wanted to know exactly where this formula was coming from, and how these vendors were getting it to their customers in the U.S.

Another thing I didn’t like about many of these sites is that they didn’t seem to know anything about why these formulas were superior, and in many cases they would ask that I recommend a bunch of other European products they wanted to sell to U.S. parents–most of which of course were not Good Stuff!

A Note on X-Rays

A lot of you wonder if you should be concerned about formula being x-rayed when it comes through customs (as is the case for any imported food or food ingredient). What I have read suggests that this is not a risk, and this article may be particularly reassuring to those of you who are concerned.

Stay sane,

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Written by Maia, President

I don’t eat red meat, so it’s weird for me to be writing a post about beef fat in your skincare products. I’ve actually never even really tried red meat as a food, being grossed out by it even as a child.

However, my personal and professional mission is to find the safest, purest, most nontoxic products (and the ones that have the least environmental impact), so I have gotten over the ick factor and now exclusively use beef tallow to clean my skin and laundry.

John is the best grandfather, often babysitting while I attend work functions, such as this Huff Post event last year.

Here’s How it Happened…

My dad, John Goss, is always researching and reading and trying new lifestyles and hobbies. Over the last few years, he’s been into the Paleo movement. In fact, he and my mom, both Certified Holistic Health Coaches, have tried nearly every dietary theory in existence, and they continue to dabble in many simultaneously.

My dad has always been a less-is-more and DIY type when it comes to personal care products. I was embarrassed by his crystal deodorants and homemade toothpaste powders as a kid, but now realize they are great alternatives to the conventional, toxic brands I wanted to buy at the drug store back then. (In fact, my dad is working on formulating a Paleo toothpaste—stay tuned!).

Just this month, Dad–who has been a part of Gimme the Good Stuff since its inception in 2010–launched a line of skincare and laundry products for the Paleo crowd.

Here’s what he has to say about Paleo Skincare and how it came to be:

Since the mid 1970’s, I’ve been exploring alternative lifestyle and diet choices. I’ve eaten strictly vegetarian, and been a Macrobiotic. I’ve spent some time as a raw food enthusiast, explored Ayurvedics, and dove into Sally Fallon’s theories whole-heartedly. Through all of these phases, I would take what worked for me and leave the rest behind. The result is a lifestyle built on experience.

About 5 years ago, I immersed myself in information on the Paleo movement, and a lot of the theory really resonated with me (I tend to often go back to evolution for guidance on optimal lifestyle choices). While I don’t eat or exercise strictly as a caveman like some of my fellow Paleo enthusiasts (I do enjoy beans and you won’t see me at Crossfit), I think when it comes to skincare and cleaning products, there wisdom is going back to a more basic regime, particularly one that involves beef tallow as a cleaning aid.

While working with my family on Gimme the Good Stuff and sourcing green, clean products, I realized that there weren’t really any skincare/cleaning products that merged well with the Paleo lifestyle. I teamed up with a local soap-maker, and even get pastured tallow from a Brooklyn butcher. With Paleo Skincare’s offering of bar soaps and laundry detergent, there are now options for those of us interested in simple, effective products for modern cavemen and women.

The Tallow Difference

Paleo Skincare of Brooklyn’s line of tallow products are handmade, minimally processed, and never “preserved.”

Even before my dad launched this line, I’d been selling tallow soaps in our online store for years, and they have a very devoted following among my readers. Here’s some of what makes tallow the Good Stuff, whether you are into a Paleo lifestyle or not:

• Tallow has a much smaller carbon footprint than do vegetable oils (palm oil in particular is implicated in massive deforestation). My dad is committed to using as many local ingredients as possible. He is sourcing tallow from a butcher in Brooklyn (their cattle is a few hours outside of the city.)
• Tallow soap bars last longer than all-veggie ones, and have a fluffier, creamier lather.
• Those with sensitive or dry skin love tallow soaps, as they are gentle and conditioning. Our skin is made of mostly saturated fat, and tallow is made of mostly saturated fat. The lipids in tallow are the same as those in sebum, so tallow is super skin-friendly and extra moisturizing.
• Tallow contains a host of vitamins and other good stuff (much of which is missing from veggie oils). These include vitamins A, D, K, and E, plus conjugated linoleic acid and palmitoleic acid (anti-inflammatories and anti-microbials, respectively).

Where to Buy Paleo Skincare Products

Well, of course you can get the Paleo Skincare lineup in our online store. It is also available at One Stop Paleo Shop, and will soon be carried in a variety of brick-and-mortar stores. To learn more about the mission, ingredients, and process behind Paleo Skincare, you can visit www.paleoskincare.nyc.

$9.99 — or subscribe and save up to 5%Buy Now

$9.99 — or subscribe and save up to 5%Buy Now

$24.99Buy Now

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Written by Maia, President

My big project for the next few weeks is going through all our Safe Product Guides and updating each one with additional information I have learned since their original publication, plus of course adding new products that have entered the market (or changed their formulas) and are Good, Bad, or Sneaky.

A recent email I received from a reader (pasted below) prompted me to start with the Safe Nipple Cream Guide.

In addition to a reminder that lanolin creams should be avoided, the new Safe Nipple Cream Guide features a couple more products that I’ve rooted out as The Sneaky Stuff.

Thanks as always to all of you who write to me with your own stories. I hope the following reader email will help someone with similar symptoms who is unable to find answers.

Stay sane,

Read our Safe Nipple Cream Guide

This lanolin-free nursing balm is the Good Stuff!

Hi Maia-

I just wanted to tell you I was so happy to find your article about lanolin and the problems with it!  During my fifth pregnancy I developed an absolutely horrible lesion, raw-flesh based rash on both my nipples, which ultimately required me to stop nursing completely because the doctors thought I either developed a severe infection, or worse: Paget Disease (it was THAT horrible).

I had two rounds of IV antibiotics, multiple visits to a cancer center, along with guilt and despair beyond belief because NO ONE could figure it out.  After months of this I decided to turn to a dermatologist because nothing was working.  The course that I was told to follow after the IV treatments, sonograms to determine nothing was wrong internally and a biopsy to confirm it was in fact NOT cancer was to continue to treat my sore, inflamed open nipples with lanolin.

I went to the dermatologist figuring they would tell me to continue to “stay the course,” and that eventually whatever it was would clear up. He told me something completely different… He looked at my nipples and said, you are using lanolin aren’t you?  I said yes.. I was told to keep my nipples moist to avoid friction.  He gave me a combo steroid/antihistamine cream and said throw the lanolin away!  I did, and within a week my nipples were significantly better, within a month the rash and all were completely gone!  On my follow up visit with the dermatologist he said I had developed an allergic reaction to lanolin that tends to build up in your system over time (most likely from nursing over the years) and your body could no longer tolerate it.  It’s common among women with wool allergies as well as those allergic to synthetic materials such as latex.

That was roughly 3 years ago, and sadly at the time, the lanolin issue was well “talked about.” For years it was pushed to help save nursing moms, to “relieve” them; pushed by doctors, nurses, nursing consultants.  Everyone.  I was devastated that I spent that much time and pain over a product that I was allergic to.  I will never forget what I consider unnecessary pain and the unfortunate demise of nursing my child because a few “professionals” chose to ignore the simple truth in front of them.

I apologize for the longevity of this response, but again – I really did want to say keep up the wonderful articles and know that they truly help so many!

Best,
L.

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Essentially, Honest’s formula is the same as the rest of the Jessica Alba product line: definitely well-intentioned, definitely better than most conventional stuff, not quite Sneaky Stuff, but not quite Good Stuff. When it comes to this formula, here’s what we discovered:

The Good

• It’s mostly milk. I like that Honest’s formula’s first ingredient is actual organic milk. The only other American-made formula I recommend to clients, Baby’s Only, has brown rice syrup (a sweetener) as its first ingredient, so this is a plus for Honest.

• It contains lactose. It’s also great that Honest formula contains lactose as a sweetener, which is most similar to breast milk, but which many companies have stopped using because it’s pricier than other forms of sugar. (Unfortunately, Honest also uses corn syrup to sweeten this formula—more on this below.)

• It skips some synthetics. The synthetic nutrients found in Honest’s formula are less in number than is the case for other organic formula brands. Some of these additives are not allowed in organic products in Europe, so it’s nice to see an American brand leaving them out.

• It doesn’t contain hexane residue. The biggest plus to Honest formula is that the DHA they use is actual fish oil rather than hexane-extracted oils from algae and fungus (as is the case with most formulas, even organic ones).

• It’s free of carrageenan. Honest’s formula is free of carrageenan (which is found in some organic formulas). Derived from seaweed, carrageenan helps stabilize formula, but numerous animal studies suggest that it leads to intestinal inflammation and colon tumors. The European Union has outlawed the use of carrageenan in all infant formula.

The Bad

• Corn syrup. The biggest bummer about Honest’s formula is that it contains corn syrup (cleverly called “organic glucose syrup solids”). Honest uses mostly lactose to sweeten their formula, but I assume they blend with corn syrup because the latter is much less expensive.

• Palm oil. Honest’s formula also contains palm oil, which is not properly absorbed by infants, and may contribute to decreased bone density. Even the European formulas I recommend (HiPP and Holle) contain palm oil, but it should be noted that Baby’s Only formula does not.

• Soy. Honest formula also contains soy oil and soy lecithin. I’m not into soy for babies, since it is a source of phytoestrogens, which may have negative health implications. Worth noting: Baby’s Only also contains soy, as does HiPP. Holle is the only soy-free formula, which is part of the reason it’s our number one formula pick.

• Synthetic preservatives. Honest formula contains two synthetic preservatives that some experts say should not be allowed in organic products: beta carotene and ascorbyl palmitate. Baby’s Only doesn’t contain these two, and nor do the European brands we recommend. I’m not convinced these are particularly harmful in the concentrations present in formula, but they aren’t natural and their effects are unknown.

Whichever Formula You Choose…Filter Your Water!

Tap water may be contaminated with chlorine byproducts, weed killers, insecticides, solvents, lead, BPA, phthalates…the list goes on. Fluoride is present in infant formula, and when combined with fluoridated tap water, infant exposure levels can exceed safe amounts. Invest in a good carbon water filter.

What Are the Best Infant Formulas?

After all the research I’ve done (I’ve written about formula here, here, and here), there are only four I would consider feeding my baby, and yes, Honest is among them. In order of preference, the best infant formulas, in my non-doctor opinion, are:

1. Holle (in particular the Lebenswert variety)
2. HiPP
3. Baby’s Only
4. The Honest Company

While difficult and expensive to obtain, the European formulas win out because they are both made with milk from grass-fed cattle, and have a simpler and more natural list of ingredients. I still consider Baby’s Only the best widely-available formula in this country, but Honest is a pretty close second, only losing out because of the corn syrup and palm oil it contains.

Baby’s Only remains our top choice amongst American formulas.

We feel that HiPP formula is superior to anything you can get in the U.S.

Holle remains our #1 choice for infant formula.

Honest Formula is better than most organic brands sold in the U.S.

Stay sane,

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Written by Maia, President

This post originally appeared a guest blog for Dr. Alan Greene’s website.

Have you ever ordered a “healthy” item from a fast-food menu? A salad at these places might consist of a pile of anemic iceberg lettuce topped with chicken fingers and drowning in ranch dressing. An educated consumer would know this isn’t health food, of course. But this same consumer might be surprised to learn that the BPA-free baby bottle she uses to feed her infant is more dangerous than its counterpart with BPA.

The health risks posed by environmental toxins in consumer products have gained mainstream media attention, and companies are responding–sometimes in ways that are truly beneficial to their customers, and sometimes in ways that protect their own bottom line but don’t move the needle in terms of human health.

This series of posts profiles some super sneaky items in your home–stuff you probably bought thinking it was the safest choice for your family, but in reality—just like the iceberg-fried-chicken-ranch “salad”—is just an example of brilliant marketing.

The good news is that, in all cases, there is a relatively easy way to remedy the problem—simple ways upgrade your purchases so that you are truly getting the good stuff.

Sneaky Stuff: BPA-Free Baby Bottles & Sippy Cups

The dangers of the chemical plasticizer bisphenol A are now common knowledge (and range from cancer to early puberty), and many baby and children’s products proudly proclaim themselves BPA free. In fact, BPA was banned from U.S. baby bottles in 2013.

This seems like a good thing, but in a twist of irony, it turns out that a new BPA-free plastic baby bottle or sippy cup might be even more dangerous than the old one you were using. That’s because most manufacturers are using bisphenol S (BPS) in place of BPA, and emerging evidence suggest that this chemical is worse than it’s predecessor.

What We Know About BPS

At first, it was believed that BPS had less tendency to leach from plastic, and the assumption was that this made it a safer choice. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Here’s some of what makes BPS scary:

• Like BPA, BPS is found in the blood of the majority of Americans, meaning it indeed is leaching out of plastic products and into our food and water.
• BPS shows a relative inability to biodegrade, which may mean that once it is absorbed into the human body, it’ll stay there for a longer period of time than BPA would. In addition, it is more likely to persist in the environment, making external exposure more likely.
• BPS (like BPA) does its damage primarily by mimicking estrogen in the human body, which is why these types of chemicals are known as “hormone disruptors.”
• Even tiny concentrations of BPS (as in, one part per trillion) can alter the function of a normal cell, potentially contributing to everything from diabetes to asthma to cancer.

The Big Problem: Lack of Regulation

The real issue isn’t which chemical compounds are the most dangerous, but the lack of government oversight when it comes to our exposure to these chemicals. At the moment, there is no requirement that these compounds be tested for safety before they enter the market. It’s an “innocent until proven guilty” model, and of course isn’t limited to BPA. As consumers, we have to be suspicious about what’s lurking in “phthalate-free” plastic toys and “paraben-free” cosmetics, too.

So What Can You Do?

I advise all of my clients to ditch the plastic bottles, sippy cups, plates, and utensils their kids are using. Fortunately, there are great options for stainless steel or glass sippy cups and baby bottles—both of these materials are non-leaching and safe. For plates and utensils, we like wood, enamel, or stainless steel.

Some of my clients love Como Tomo’s silicone baby bottles, and based on the evidence we have so far, silicone appears to be safe and non-leaching. Still, I prefer glass or stainless steel (I sometimes find that silicone imparts a taste on food or liquid).

What are your favorite brands of plastic-free sippy cups and bottles? Please share!

Stay sane,

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The post Sneaky Toxin Alert: BPA-Free Bottles & Sippy Cups appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

Written by Maia, President

Last year, I helped actress Jordana Brewster design a beautiful, nontoxic nursery for her now 9-month-old son, Julian. (I worked with a talented interior designer, by the way–I can pick the safe stuff, but designer I am not!). In addition, I helped Jordana select the safest baby essentials–diapers, wipes, bottles, and skincare–for her son. Once Julian was born, she tried a range of eco-friendly, natural disposable diapers, and her favorite was Bambo Nature. She liked the design, the fit, and the lack of leaking. Now, Gimme the Good Stuff is pleased to offer Bambo diapers in our online store.

Is there a truly eco-friendly disposable?

Let me be clear: I sell Bambo disposable diapers, but I encourage all my clients to try cloth diapers! When it comes to the health of the planet, there is no question that cloth diapers are superior to disposables–even the greenest, cleanest disposables on the market. But, if you’re going to use disposables (I use them myself, for a variety of reasons), Bambo Nature diapers are the safest and most responsible choice. Here are ten reasons why:

1. Bambo is the only brand of diapers certified to be 100% free of chemicals and all known allergens. This means that no chemicals are used during raw material sourcing and production, and that there are no toxins on the diaper itself.
2. Bambo diapers are free of all additives, including dyes, inks, latex, glues, perfumes (even essential oils), preservatives, lotions, plant extracts, etc.
3. Bambo guarantees that they are environmentally friendly, and have voluntarily elected to undergo strict, rigorous environmental inspections of entire lifecycle of their diapers, from raw material to production to consumption to waste. Inspections include a review of all raw material suppliers, business partners, distributors, and subsidiaries.
4. Abena, the company that produces Bambo diapers, only uses state-of-the-art renewable raw materials. The wood used for the pulp in the diapers is derived from sustainable forestry (where more trees are planted than felled). Tree farms are carbon sinks where the trees absorb CO2 from the air.
5.  Abena is remarkably open and transparent, and they publish a complete list of ingredients, including a Health Certificate and Life Cycle Assessment.
6. Abena manufactures Bambo Nature in Denmark with machines that they own and operate. Almost all other “eco-friendly” diapers are made in China.
7. Bambo diapers actually work as well as Pampers. Bambo Nature is designed to reduce the likelihood of rash. These diapers are breathable, highly absorbent, well-fitting, soft, not bulky, and features a wrapped core, which concentrates absorption where it’s most needed, and uses less raw materials by reducing waste.
8. Bambo Nature diapers have earned the following awards and certifications: Nordic Swan Eco-label, The Forest Stewardship Council Label, The Dermatologically Tested Label, Asthma & Allergy Association, ISO 14001 Certification.
9. Bambo Nature is a signator of the UN Global Compact.
10. Bambo Nature was rated the #1 Best Diaper in the U.S. by BabyGearLab.com, and the Most Eco-Friendly Diaper at EthicalConsumer.org.

BOTTOM LINE: We should all be using cloth diapers. But if we don’t, we should be using Bambo Nature. 

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The post A Better, Safer Disposable Diaper appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

We get multiple emails a day asking about Jessica Alba’s line of baby and household products, The Honest Company, whose mission is “to reduce the ubiquitous presence of toxic chemicals in our our natural environment, man-made environments, and our personal environments.”

It seems that Gimme the Good Stuff readers are all dying to know: Is The Honest Company truly good stuff?

I’d feel comfortable using most of the products in the Honest line (and give my private clients the green light on the diapers, which people seem to particularly love), but unfortunately there are a couple that are Sneaky: namely, the hand wash and the dish soap. Honest Auto Dishwasher Gel and Honest Laundry Detergent are questionable as they have undisclosed ingredients (see below).

I think Jessica Alba was coming from a sincere place when she created this company, and the website is more or less transparent, with a few vexing exceptions (see below).

Some people might not like the following:

• The diapers contain SAP (less than conventional brands, however).
• Some Honest products contain the preservative sodium benzoate.
• Honest products are not 100% natural–they all contain a variety of synthetics, although for the most part these are synthetics that seem to be safe.
• Some ingredients don’t have any safety data available (sodium lauroyl oat amino acid, for instance).
• SNEAKY: Honest Hand Wash contains phenoxyethanol. This isn’t the very worst ingredient, but not the Good Stuff. Honest Dish Soap contains cocamidopropyl betaine, phenoxyethanol, and methylisothiazolinone.
• MAYBE SNEAKY: Honest Laundry Detergent contains “100% biodegradable anionic coconut kernel-oil based surfactant” and the Honest Auto Dishwasher Gel contains “biodegradable low foam surfactant.” No one at the company can tell us any more detail about what these ingredients are, other than that they are “corn-based.” We’ve called several times.

Bottom Line: This stuff is much better than anything conventional you will buy, and stacks up well against most natural brands. Avoid the dish soap and hand wash.

Oh, and here are our picks for:

• Hand Soap: Sonett or Eco-Me
• Dish Soap: Sonett
• Dishwasher Detergent: Seventh Generation Powder (avoid the gel)
• Laundry Detergent: Sonett (liquid) or Tandi’s Naturals (powder)

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The post The Honest Company by Jessica Alba: Good, Bad, or Sneaky? appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

Written by Maia, President

My husband is a stem cell research scientist, and people always find this impressive. And yes, I definitely find myself bragging about it whenever everyone else is talking about their husbands’ work in private equity or whatever. But secretly I find most topics around stem cell research to be kind of boring, or at least too esoteric to enjoy in my current sleep-deprived state.

Unless of course stem cell research is focused on autism. And BPA. Turns out my husband’s colleague is studying both of these things, and so I stalked him down to have a chat.  Here’s what I learned from Dr. Christopher Fasano, Director of Research & Development at the Neural Stem Cell Institute, about BPA’s possible links to autism, whether BPA substitutes are safe (nope), and how we can avoid exposing ourselves to this havoc-wreaking toxin.

Dr. Christopher Fasano

MAIA JAMES: What does BPA have to do with stem cells?!

CHRISTOPHER FASANO: Stem cells have the ability to turn into every cell in our body. In my lab, we take stem cells and guide them down the path of brain development so we can better understand the events that occur. The brain is a tremendously complex structure and its fetal development must occur in a precise way at the precise time. Anything that alters this can result in severe problems like miscarriage, mental retardation, to more subtle–but still serious–disorders, such as autism. In a human, the brain begins to develop at around the fourth week of pregnancy; that is super early. Because of this, it has been really difficult to understand these early stages and to investigate what happens when we come into contact with toxins, like BPA. With a whole bunch of evidence suggesting BPA and other environmental toxins can have an affect on brain development in animal models, testing this directly in a human system is so important. That is what we do in my lab. We have created a model of human brain development in the culture dish, and are investigating how toxins like BPA might mess with brain development.

MJ: Wow. So are you finding that BPA does in fact mess with brain development?

CF: Unfortunately yes. Now, I must stress this is a model of human brain development created in the lab. But, our preliminary data suggests that BPA exposure during the early periods of fetal development can affect brain development.

MJ: Ugh, so what sort of diseases might be related to BPA exposure?

CF: BPA exposure has been linked to numerous diseases including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, male impotence, and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

MJ: What other chemicals are hormone-disruptors, and can you explain in simple terms what a “hormone-disruptor” even is?

CF: Hormones travel through the body and act as chemical messengers.  Like a lock and key, hormones will bind to specific receptors to bring about their function. Hormones are secreted in response to the environmental and to orchestrate developmental and reproductive changes. Hormones can have a big effect in small doses, thus they need to be tightly regulated and any small disturbance can lead to big changes. Hormonal balance plays a critical role in the reproductive process thus alterations early in development can have dire consequences. Hormone disruptors are chemicals that at certain doses, can interfere with the hormone system in mammals. HDs have very similar structures to hormones in our body, thus tricking our body into thinking there is more or less hormone present.  BPA looks remarkably similar to the hormone estrogen and can severely alter the estrogen-signaling pathway, which in turn can cause some of the problems I mentioned.

Bottom line: Avoid ALL plastic

MJ: Okay, so it sounds like BPA is definitely scary stuff, but it seems more and more that plastic products don’t contain it. If a baby bottle says “BPA free,” is it safe? 

CF: No. In fact, studies show they may be worse than a bottle produced with BPA!  If a product is going out of their way to tell you that it is “something free,” you should always question what they have done to make it that way. For example, a lot of companies have replaced BPA with BPS. BPS is virtually the same thing and in fact, studies show that BPS shows a relative inability to biodegrade, which may mean that once it is absorbed into the human body it may stay for a longer period of time. In addition, it is more likely to persist in the environment making external exposure to these toxic fumes more common place.  I always tell people to make a conscious effort to avoid plastic all together if you can, at least pregnant women and young babies.  And whatever you do, never microwave plastic bottles or containers as the BPA and BPS are released 55 times more rapidly when heated.

MJ: So aside from plastics, are there other high sources of BPA (or BPS) exposure that readers might not already know about?

CF: Shopping, ATM, and gas receipts have really high levels. Canned foods. Oh yeah, toilet paper…remember those receipts I mentioned? A lot of them get recycled into toilet paper. Pizza boxes, blenders, food processors.  You get the idea. It’s everywhere.

Switch to stainless steel sippy cups and bottles

MJ: Ugh again. So is the situation hopeless or can we actually affect our exposure to this stuff?

CF: I wouldn’t say it’s hopeless, but it takes vigilance. There are some easy things you can do, and some more difficult ones. Drink tap water, or use stainless steel or glass water bottles. Avoid using plastic utensils. Stay away from microwaveable meals that come out plastic containers and stick to freshly prepared foods. Do not store your food in plastic Tupperware. Instead of using a plastic coffee maker or getting some from you local corner coffee shop, use a French press or an all glass coffee maker. And one of the hardest…avoid all canned foods. For your children, avoid as many plastic toys as possible, and if you must use plastics avoid the ones with the numbers 3, 6, and 7, on the product.

Even if you follow all of these, BPA will inevitably show up in your body; traces of it are found in random places, like eggs and milk. However, following these suggestions will definitely help.

MJ: Thanks so much for sharing this grim information with us! Seriously, though, this is super important. Where can we learn more and how can we support your work?

CF: The Environmental Protection Agency has a lot of information on BPA and other toxins and how it can affect your health. Of course sites like Gimme the Good Stuff are a great resource as well. For more information on my current research regarding BPA and brain disease, feel free to contact me at chrisfasano@neuralsci.org.

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The post What’s More Dangerous Than BPA? An interview with Dr. Chris Fasano, Stem Cell Scientist appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

1. Under the Nile / 2. MilkBarn / 3. Hanna Andersson / 4. Kate Quinn Organics

If you’re a Gimme the Good Stuff reader, you likely to try to eat organically grown food and are taking steps to eliminate toxins in your home. So it probably seems like a no-brainer to insist on organic cotton clothing for your kids. But organic clothing is harder to find than the regular stuff (although becoming more and more available), and it’s significantly pricier. And what happens when your baby shower gifts are all really cute, non-organic onesies? My private clients ask me all the time: How important is it for my kid to wear organic clothing?

My Top Pick for Best Organic Baby Clothes

Under the Nile is a small family business that offers some of the best certified organic baby clothes on the market. I like that they don’t have slogans, logos, or cheesy prints on anything, and that they are super soft and simple.

$35.99Buy Now

What is “Organic” Cotton?

Crops that are grown using organic methods means a lot to the environment, as well as to all the hands that actually work with and among the plants. Cotton that is not grown organically is treated with pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. Harvesting organic cotton is much safer for the workers who pick it, and those living near cotton crops won’t have pesticides in their water sources. Plus, the producers can’t use GMO crops.

But in terms of the person wearing the clothing? The toxins used to farm the fiber are almost certainly washed out in the processing of the fiber, so you’re unlikely to get much pesticide exposure by wearing those clothes.  I still tell my clients to wash everything before their kids wear it, because young children are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of pesticides, and we know that exposure has been linked to the development of ADHD. (There are many other good reasons to wash your clothes before wearing them, which I will get to in a minute.)

Bottom Line: You’re not exposing your kid to a lot of pesticides by putting him in a regular cotton T-shirt, but the chemicals washed out of the cotton that made his T-shirt ends up back in our environment. And you are exposing him to a lot of other gross chemicals in that conventional T-shirt, as you’ll read below.

Other Toxins Used in Fabric Treatment

Under the Nile’s line of organic baby clothes are GTOS certified.

Most clothing is produced with synthetic dyes and is treated with toxic chemicals to provide wrinkle resistance, stain resistance, fade resistance, static cling resistance, etc. In fact, that “new” smell in clothing usually indicates chemicals–and if the smell lingers after a washing, the chemicals haven’t been banished. Here’s some of the bad stuff found in some conventional fabrics:

• Benzidine-based “azo dyes” are synthetic colorants, some of which may release carcinogenic amines (ammonia derivatives). Certain azo dyes have been recognized as human bladder carcinogens and are also detrimental to the environment. In particular, o-dianisidine is a classified as potentially cancer causing in humans.
• Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen (although unregulated in this country), and is used in clothing to prevent wrinkling. Many popular brands of baby clothing have been shown to contain formaldehyde in concentrations as high as 18,000 ppm (parts per million). Supposedly, up to 20 ppm for babies is safe, but I’d prefer zero, thanks. Short-term exposure to formaldehyde in fabrics can lead to a condition called contact allergic dermatitis, which is just a bad rash, but still no fun. In 2013, Minnesota became the first state to ban formaldehyde in certain baby products (lotions, soaps, and shampoos)–let’s hope more states follow.
• Perfluorochemicals (PFCs) are a group of chemicals that work to repel water and stains, in particular grease. According to EWG, PCFs break down into a toxic blood contaminant called PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), and they are ubiquitous (over 90% of Americans are shown to have PFOA in their bloodstream). PCFs are found in cosmetics, household cleaners, packaged food containers, microwave popcorn, furniture, paper plates, and nonstick pans, amongst other places. In clothing, PFCs are usually lurking in wrinkle-, water-, and stain-resistant clothing, including those with Scotchgard and Gore-Tex tags.
• Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) are cheap surfactants sometimes used in the textile industry. They are also yucky hormone disruptors that wind up in our water supply when we launder clothing that contains them.
• Phthalates–yup, they are even in our clothing! Children are at a significantly higher risk than adults when it comes to phthalate exposure, and phthalates are often found in clothing dyes and in plastisol prints.

Can organic clothing contain these chemicals?

Up until recently, yes. A manufacturer could take organically grown cotton and dye it with toxic colorants and then treat it with formaldehyde to prevent wrinkling. In 2011, the USDA ruled that textiles (including mattresses) labeled as “organic” have a third-party certification, ideally GOTS, which ensures that the entire production process is gentle on the environment and on the person wearing the garment.

Wolfie at 6 months, in a Zebi organic cotton romper.

Organic Clothing Certifications to Look For

Organic standards for clothing are still not as clear-cut as they are for food. That said, buying organic cotton garments greatly reduces the likelihood that you are exposing your baby to endocrine disruptors and carcinogens when you lovingly wrap her in a brand new swaddle blanket.

You should continue to wash all clothing and blankets (using non-toxic laundry detergent) before use, preferably multiple times (but really, does anyone actually have time for that?!).

When buying organic cotton clothing, make sure the company has a third-party certification to back up their claim. In the US, solid organic certifications include:

• The USDA National Organic Program
• The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)
• The Organic Trade Association (OTA)

If a company claims to use “natural” dyes, make sure they are certified by the Oeko-Tex Standard 100, which is the strictest out there.

The Good Stuff

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The Bad Stuff

The Sneaky Stuff

Want to Know More?

• To learn more about azo and other dyes, check out this study and this report.
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides more information on formaldehyde and its impact on our indoor air quality here.
• Ed Branigan, International Coatings’ Print Applications Manager reminds consumers of a very important aspect of labeling products: “ink doesn’t need to be free of phthalates in order to comply with CSPIA restrictions…some manufacturers may list their compliant products as “non-phthalate” when in reality the product still does contain phthalates, just not the six restricted ones.”
• Be sure to check out this resource from Green America on organic clothing and the textile industry.
• To learn more about children and pesticides, click here.
• In 2011, Greenpeace published a report on Toxic Threads: The Big Fashion Stitch Up. This is a great tool for those interested in learning about the toxic chemicals, dyes, and worldwide cycles of bioaccumulation that occur thanks to the manufacturing of clothing.

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The post Safe Baby Clothing Guide appeared first on Gimme the Good Stuff.

UPDATED: October 2016

A Waldorf School Fantasy…

Before I gave birth the first time, I had visions of a nursery filled with toys that were exclusively produced in Europe (preferably by hand) with nary a Fisher-Price label in sight. I pictured blocks made of unfinished hunks of oak, sheepskins for “activity mats,” faceless woolen gnomes, chunky beeswax crayons, and perhaps a wooden rocking horse and a miniature red wagon for when my young Waldorfian reached his toddler years.  

And a Playskool Reality…

Fast forward a year or so and our living room was brimming with beeping, flashing, talking plastic, most of which glistened with saliva from frequent visits to Felix’s curious mouth. While the majority of these eyesores were gifts, I’ll admit to buying more than a few battery-operated plastic diversions, generally with high hopes that they would entertain Felix long enough for me to pluck my eyebrows.

At this point, with Felix now 7 years old and Wolfie almost 3.5, I have admitted defeat in this battle–Legos, Transformers, Playmobile–there is more plastic in the boys’ room than there is air.

So while I’ve strayed pretty far from my prenatal principles in some ways, I did remain vigilant about the safety of those toys meant specifically for chewing: namely, teething toys. (I realize that some might call this a silly distinction. Even when he wasn’t cutting any teeth, Felix had a major oral fixation—an unsurprising fact considering I’m one of those people whose desk is littered with masticated pens, some of which may or may not be leaking more saliva than Sophie the Giraffe…but enough about me).

My Top Pick for Best Non-Toxic Teether

The Hevea natural rubber teethers win here, since the panda teether was the only teether Wolfie ever liked!

$9.99Buy Now

The Importance of a Non-Toxic Teether

I’ve spent lots of time yanking cell phones, sponges, shoes, and chalk out of both my children’s mouths, so it was nice to have something I could encourage them to chew on when they were teething. While both of my boys’ teeth tended to come in without much drama, some of you probably have kids who experience real teething discomfort, and for you, safe teethers are a must.

Beware of…

• Teethers made in China. We have tons of Chinese-made stuff (85% of toys are produced there, so it’s hard to avoid), but painted Chinese teethers could contain lead, and plastic Chinese toys probably contain phthalates.
• Teethers made of PVC. Most of the teethers that can be chilled in the freezer are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a plastic that is softened with phthalates.
• Plastic teethers of any kind. Even if they say BPA– and phthalate-free, plastic teethers may still be toxic–all plastic is probably hormone disrupting.
• Teething biscuits. I used to give these to Felix in an effort to chill him out in the car seat, but my pediatrician says they pose a choking hazard because they can snap in half in your baby’s mouth.

Instead of any of these above, you should look for teethers made of unpainted wood, 100% natural rubber, organic cotton, and silicone.

The Good Stuff

Camden Rose Non-Toxic Teether

For a really safe, non-toxic teether, get a U.S-made unfinished wooden teether. We like the Camden Rose wooden teether. You’ll pay a reasonable $10-$15, but you’ll probably have to find it online. Waldorf toy stores generally carry Camden Rose products. All rattles and teethers are made in the U.S. of unfinished maple or cherry wood, which can be polished with beeswax (available on the Camden Rose website). One major downside of these teethers: My kids weren’t that into chewing on them! Give them a Made-in-China plastic ducky that smells like baby powder and they would go to town on them, but apparently they didn’t dig maple or beeswax.

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My Very Own Rattle

Another wooden teether we love is My Very Own Rattle (yes, it’s also a rattle), which has been made by hand in Vermont since 1979.

Unlike other wooden rattles, this one is made from one solid piece of wood (so does not contain any glue). There is no finish of any kind applied to the wood, just a unique, sanding and polishing process, so there is never a concern about what the baby is getting in his or her mouth beside pure, natural, non-toxic northern hardwood.

$25.99Buy Now

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Sophie the Giraffe Non-Toxic Teether

If you have a baby, you probably already have Sophie the Giraffe, the ubiquitous and overpriced French squeaky toy that doubles as a non-toxic teether. You can find Sophie almost anywhere, where you’ll shell out almost $25 for her, leaving you surprised and disappointed if your little one doesn’t sit contentedly in the corner for the next week doing nothing but sucking on Sophie’s cute little face. I love that Sophie is old-school (she’s been around almost 50 years), rubber (painted with food-grade paint), and made in Europe instead of China. What I don’t love is that each of my boys had limited interest in her, for chewing or playing. Sophie is available everywhere, including Amazon. Sophie now has a bunch of friends made by the same manufacturer, Vulli. These are safe, too.

And what about the mold? I’m neither surprised nor worried that parents have found mold inside of Sophie. Here’s why.

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Under the Nile Non-Toxic Teether

Under the Nile produces beautiful clothing, linens, and toys, all GOTS-certified. Made of and filled with organic Egyptian cotton, their teething carrot is dyed with vegetable or metal-free dyes. (Lots of dyes are loaded with heavy metals–like copper and chrome–which can cause various health problems when they accumulate, especially in tiny, developing bodies). Under the Nile is committed to fair trade, and their teething carrot is reasonably priced. Chewing on cloth doesn’t seem all that appealing to me, but I have seen babies who love these. You can buy this teething carrot in our store and in baby boutiques around the country.

 

$12.99Buy Now

 

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SweeTooth Non-Toxic Teether

I gave my nephew, Lincoln, this non-toxic teether after the company sent me a sample for review–he loved it! The co-founder of the company, Adam, is clearly committed to the safety of his products, insisting on manufacturing in the United States with only class 6 silicone.  The top part of this teether is medical grade silicone, which is technically implantable in the human body, and the bottom is food grade silicone, which means it’s safe for oral contact. Both varieties are FDA approved as well as CE Mark approved (which is the European, Australian, and Canadian version of the FDA). For every batch of silicone Adam receives, he also gets a Certificate of Analysis confirming that its physical properties meet the standards. The ice cream and cone components of the toy are bonded together during the molding process, so no glues or chemical adhesives are ever used in production.

For now, you’ll need to buy the SweeTooth non-toxic teether on the company’s website, where you’ll pay $15 for one.

 

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Hevea Non-Toxic Teether

Wolfie loved the Hevea panda teether that my mom got for him on his first Christmas. This 100% natural rubber teether was the only one of all of the above that got a lot of use in our house. Other companies make similar natural rubber teethers–including Calmies and CaaOcho. Natursutten also makes a safe
rubber teether—but avoid their “Chill It” variety, which is made of EVA (see “The Sneaky Stuff” tab).

You’ll pay around $15 for one of these Hevea pandas, and we offer them in our store!

$9.99Buy Now

 

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Other companies making safe silicone teethers include Lifefactory and ZoLi. There are also of course the popular silicone teething necklaces.

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The Bad Stuff

The Sneaky Stuff

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Written by Maia, President

Updated: November 2016

Hair washing was a pretty pointless exercise for Felix for the first several years of his life; he was bald until 2. Wolfie has a bit more hair, so we use a tiny dab of Farmaesthetics Fine Herbal Cleanser as a shampoo for him about once a week.

Even once they are sporting longer tresses, babies and toddlers really don’t need baby shampoo at bath time. As babies, both my kids have gone weeks without anything other than warm water in their hair, and their scalps never were greasy–honestly! I will admit that sometimes their little heads did smell slightly like a puppy, but I sort of like it.

Now that Felix is 6, he likes to shampoo his hair every time he showers. The natural baby shampoo brands listed below (under The Good Stuff tab) are perfect for babies and kids alike (and even grownups, if you aren’t that picky!).

My Top Pick for Best Natural Baby Shampoo

I don’t use shampoo on my kids often, but when I do, my pick is Babo’s line of safe, delish-smelling shampoos.

$12.99 — or subscribe and save up to 5%Buy Now

The Truth About Tear-Free Natural Baby Shampoo

When avocado blobs (or worse) end up in your little one’s peach fuzz, reach for a natural baby shampoo that doesn’t  brag “tear-free” on the label. “No cry” shampoos typically–though not always–contain a formaldehyde-releasing chemical called 1,4-dioxane. Note that most of the baby shampoos recommended below are eye irritants.

Natural Baby Shampoo Equals Natural Body Wash

In general, there is no need to buy different products to clean different parts of your little one (with the exception of his teeth, if he’s got any). The shampoos below will work just fine on your baby’s body.

(If you do opt for soaps or bubble baths in addition to baby shampoo, read about their safety in our Safe Baby Wash, Soap & Bubble Bath Guide.)

The Good Stuff: Natural Baby Shampoo

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The Bad Stuff

The Sneaky Stuff

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By Maia, President

UPDATED: JUNE 2017

I didn’t intend to use non-toxic baby wipes at all, and assumed that in addition to exclusive cloth diaper usage, I’d be employing a washcloth and warm water at changing time.

Um, yeah. As soon as I experienced the convenience of the disposable wipe, wringing out poopy rags was a thing of the past.

Because of the frequency with which we use baby wipes, the fact that they are used on the most delicate area of a baby, and the fact that we don’t wash the area off after use, I think it is imperative that we choose truly non-toxic baby wipes.

In terms of the environment, no disposable wipe–including the “eco-friendly” ones I will recommend below–is a green choice. Only water and a washcloth can be considered truly eco-friendly.

My Top Pick for Best Non-Toxic Baby Wipes

Like everyone who tries Jackson Reece wipes, I was instantly hooked. Not only are they nontoxic and earth-friendlier, but they have the perfect amount of moisture. Even with kids out of diapers, I still keep these around for wiping hands and faces on the go.

$4.99 — or subscribe and save up to 3%Buy Now

Ingredients to Avoid in Baby Wipes

If you are like me and have a hard time depriving yourself of the convenience of disposable baby wipes, your best bet is to avoid anything scented, since “fragrance” or “parfum” almost always means pthlalates (known endocrine disruptors). Additionally, many conventional wipes contain parabens, and some also contain phenoxyethanol, a suspected carcinogen. In particular, “natural” or “organics” wipes might contain phenoxyethanol as a preservative.

Ingredients You Won’t See Listed on Baby Wipes

In addition to the ingredients you’ll see listed on the side of a package of wipes, there are a number of other chemicals that may be included—contaminants and byproducts of the production process for some of the ingredients that go into the wipes. For example:

• Polysorbate-20, a common preservative, is often contaminated with carcinogenic 1,4-dioxane.
• 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol (the preservative in the old Kirkland wipes, although they recently removed it) releases carcinogenic formaldehyde.
• Tocopheryl acetate (synthetic vitamin E that’s used as a skin conditioner) is produced using hydroquinone, a skin toxicant and potential carcinogen.

Alternatives to Disposable Diaper Wipes

Since Felix was born in 2009, a bunch of new brands of biodegradable wipes have popped up—and they are remarkably effective, superior in terms of earth-friendliness (ideally, they should be flushed or composted), and safer than other “natural” brands of wipes. Most aren’t reviewed by Skin Deep, but I’ve researched the ingredients and explain any concerns below.