A week after giving birth to my son, Felix, I was in crisis. Beyond the run-of-the-mill sleep deprivation, I also was still using a donut pillow thanks to what I can only guess was the most gruesome labor ever (which, by the way, my OB called "textbook" and my doula called "beautiful"). Plus, thanks to "latch issues," I was suffering from what could only be described as a semi-detached nipple.
Then there was the small matter of my shopping paralysis. Trying to figure out which products -- from teethers to bubble bath to dish soap -- were truly safe and nontoxic was becoming a source of constant stress. I'd become familiar with this type of anxiety since becoming pregnant -- I felt it when I realized that the pickled ginger I ate by the gallon to stave off nausea may have contained MSG; when, after my tenth ultrasound, I read that ultrasounds on pregnant mice resulted in neural differences among the offspring. And while I ate mostly healthy and usually organic foods, I was beginning to realize -- with the help of my good friend Google -- how little I'd thought about the ingredients in all the other stuff I was buying for my new baby. As I looked for more info, I couldn't even figure out how to spell phthalates, let alone understand what they were and how they might be affecting Felix's endocrine system, whatever the hell that was.
I became an obsessive researcher. Nothing seemed safe: from the BPA-free plastic bottles that came with my breast pump, to the mattress where Felix slept, to the lanolin cream I applied regularly to preserve that dangling nipple -- potential danger lurked everywhere. I began compiling all the information I found in a Word document, with lists of "good," "bad," and "sneaky" stuff (which is what I called all that stuff at the health food store that you think is natural but turns out to be toxic).
As you may have noticed if you live here on planet Earth, lots of companies have jumped on the green/eco/natural bandwagon and sell products with misleading labels. I used sites like the Environmental Working Group's cosmetics database and cleaning products guide to learn more than I ever wanted to know about the safety profile of the ingredients in everything I was using. Of course, surfing these sites is an overwhelming experience, which is why I started compiling my own cheat sheets.
As increasing numbers of friends of friends began contacting me to ask about the safety of the products they were using, I decided to record all of my research in one spot where anyone could find it -- and this is how Gimme the Good Stuff was born. My hope is that it gives concerned but overwhelmed moms a way to easily navigate the confusing world of "natural" products. For a super quick start, here are five easy-to-implement strategies that will go a long way toward lowering your home's toxic load.
- Avoid fragrances. If you cut out just one unhealthy ingredient in your cosmetics and household cleaning products, make it synthetic fragrance, which unfortunately makes an appearance in nearly all beauty products and sometimes shows up on the label as "parfum." Why does fragrance stink? Because it often contains phthalates, those nasty chemicals that have been suspected of causing early puberty, autism, obesity, and birth defects. Opt instead for unscented products or those that specify that they contain only natural essential oils.
The Bottom Line
Okay, we know stress is bad for both emotional and physical health. New-parent anxiety is a cliché, but the information glut of our modern era has taken it to a new level. I fully believe that the risks from environmental exposures are greater than ever before, but I also recognize that paranoia is rising right along with them. Diaper bags are packed with hand sanitizer and Epi pens, and I recently came upon foam bumpers for pregnant women to wear on their bellies and prevent damage from -- walking into pointed table corners, perhaps? My advice -- and my own goal -- is to stack the odds in our favor by reducing the known risks, and then take a deep breath and try to enjoy motherhood... whether or not I ever am able to banish every last bit of BPA from my home.
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