Natural Baby Products

Henry is now 12 weeks old and is settling into life very well so far.  As a fairly neurotic Mum I like to keep a strict eye on what Henry is exposed to.  He's exclusively breast fed (only the best for my boy!), wears cloth nappies and washes in chamomile tea!

Throughout the pregnancy I was very careful about what I was eating and exposing him to and it makes sense that this care should also be applied once he's been born.  For the first 6 weeks I used nothing but cooled boiled water for topping & tailing, as recommended by my midwife.  Once he was old enough I started very gradually adding things for his skin, but I was careful to only use edible substances for the first 3 months.  My thinking is, if it's mild enough to eat, it's mild enough for delicate baby skin.

So I add a cup of chamomile tea to his bath which makes his skin lovely and soft.  If he's suffering with dry skin I also add a teaspoon of olive oil and swish it into the water, but you have to be careful as it can make him a bit slippery.

I also use washable wipes for nappy changing.  I keep a thermos of chamomile tea by the changing table which keeps it warm for his little bottom and is easy enough to grab for the change bag on the way out.  I have some great wipes from www.babykind.co.uk which are terry on one side and lovely soft fleece on the other, but you could just as easily cut up an old towel.  I just wet them in the tea and use them just like a wet wipe before throwing them in the nappy bucket for washing.

Recently I've  also started adding 1 drop of lavender essential oil to the tea as it has anti-bacterial properties.  

I'm sure this policy of only using edible baby products has helped Henry - he's not had any nappy rash at all.  Wet wipes are a bad idea in my opinion for many reasons, not least because they are a chemical substance that you put on baby's skin and unlike other products you don't even rinse it off afterwards, it just sits there drying the skin out!  

Originally I chose to use washable wipes so that I wasn't putting disposable wipes into landfill, but I've been so impressed with how gentle they are on Henry's skin and how easy they are to use alongside the cloth nappies that I'm a real convert!

I'll also be doing a series of posts about natural baby products with recipes and comments on how effective I've found them to be.  Enjoy!!