I mentioned a few blog posts back that I am nearly six months pregnant, and as such I've started to think about some of the products I will need to accumulate and use after the baby comes. (I'm due in the first week in October.)
And one arena in which I've been getting a lot of advice and also culling together some useful web resources has been in cosmetics—everything from baby wipes to soap to detergent and sunscreen.
It's great—there are a host of helpful sites that really make choosing products less of a crap-shoot, in terms of knowing just what's in the bottle, tube or tub. Two sites I've discovered: Good Guide and Skin Deep, both which break down all the ingredients on a very scientific, user-friendly level, with ratings and reviews.
But the verdicts are often surprising! Certain brands that seemed so healthy or seemed to be paragons of perfect-for-a-wee-little-baby don't rate that well! Turns out, they may contain potentially carcinogenic compounds, have known-irritants and common allergens, or just have otherwise harsh, of-dubious-origin, pentasyllabic ingredients.
And then I got to thinking about how lax I am with what I use on my body. With regards to beauty products, I've tried so many brands of lotions, potions, creams, elixirs and tonics, and while I try to use brands that satisfy my desire to get some bang-for-my-buck and things that just feel/smell darn good…I don't sit around and analyze every ingredient! (Granted, I don't have the tender hide of a two-week or two-month old baby, but still.)
And the same goes for my food. Sure, I buy organic for certain items of produce and try to purchase free-range, grass-fed beef and similarly sustainable, healthy meats of other sorts, but I'm not vigilant in the same way I imagine I will be when feeding my baby a piece of chicken for the first time. Or a strawberry.
I have a feeling that when that time comes I'd be more likely to be adamant about ponying up for pesticide-free strawberries and free-range chicken—in part because a small baby seems so much more helpless and defenseless than my comparatively old, been-around-the-block-and-ingested-God-knows-what self. And if I had to choose who to spend the extra money on, it's easy—the defenseless baby!
So I was just wondering if other people have similarly irregular, dichotomous habits when it comes to how they feed or care for their children?
Is it pure-and-natural all the time, every time for your children and less so for yourself? How have your own habits changed when you had kids? Did it open your eyes to the potential harmful components in some of our products–and then did you clean up your own act?
Hmm, that’s a tough one. I feed my kids (ages 5 and 2) healthy, organic when possible, foods that I eat myself-and these habits I had pre-kids. But, I allow them more treats (popsicles, candy) that I would not eat. In my experience, babies are more experimental eaters, but as toddlers some become extremely picky. My 5-year-old thinks my favorite food is salad because I eat so many vegetables, yet he won’t touch one. So, though I study labels and choose wisely, I buy things like organic pop tarts and organic “fruit” roll-ups and feel kind of good about the fact that they’re ingesting something.