This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure page. 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,”
Safer Baby Supplies
Safe Baby/Kid Shampoo Guide
1. Babo Botanicals / 2. Carina Organics / 3. Lafes Organic / 4. California Baby / 5. Earth Mama / 6. Beautycounter / 7. Made Of / 8. Poofy Organics 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
Safe Diaper Wipes Guide
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
Safe Diaper Rash Cream Guide
1. Green Goo / 2. Babo Botanicals / 3. Earth Mama / 4. California Baby / 5. Poofy Organics We were pretty lucky in the diaper rash department, but if your baby is afflicted, you’ll want to find an organic diaper cream without chemicals (common culprits are parabens and BHA). Do Cloth Diapers Prevent Diaper Rash? My hunch is that cloth diapers are less likely to cause diaper rash than
Best: Frozen Food
If you don't make homemade purees for your baby, store-bought, organic frozen baby food is the next best thing. Frozen baby food has a higher nutrient-content than shelf-stable food (such as purees in jars or pouches), and the flavor is generally superior as well. What Happened to All the Organic Frozen Baby Food? Despite the superiority of organic frozen baby food, there are no longer many
Good: Jarred Food
Predictably, I had big plans of feeding Felix only homemade food when it was time to start him on solids. We first tried when he was six months old, but Felix had no real interest in anything besides the ultimate good stuff, AKA breastmilk, until after his first birthday. I ended up throwing away a ton of homemade fruit and veggie purees that I'd whipped up in the Beaba. Pretty soon, I was
What’s Wrong With Dreft?
This blog entry is part of our “What’s Wrong With” series, each installment of which profiles a different product and gives you the bottom line on its safety. Think of these as cheat sheets for our more comprehensive Safety Reviews (which we publish less frequently). Any laundry detergent you use will leave a residue on clothing and linens, which is then inhaled and absorbed (via skin) by the
Two Cool Things About White Sunblocks
Whenever possible, I keep Felix in the shade. When we switched from chemical sunscreens to mineral-based sunblocks, I hated the way we all looked like geishas. (Be suspicious if your "all natural" or mineral sunscreen does NOT leave a white sheen on your skin--it probably contains nanoparticles). Now I'm a convert, and when it comes to using a non-nano, all natural sunblock on Felix, there are two
A Natural Cradle Cap Cure (I’m as Surprised as You Are)
Felix never had cradle cap, but I did as a baby, and my mom employed a bunch of different natural remedies to try to get rid of it. As we all know, natural treatments aren't always as effective as the harsh, synthetic ones (I still cannot find a natural dish soap that really works as well as Dawn--can you?). So, I was stuck with a gross crusty head until I eventually outgrew it on my own. And
Baby Food Purees Review
We've at last completed the never-ending process of reviewing baby food purees. We found only one brand of jarred food that qualifies as Good Stuff, but there is no shortage of pouches that are nutritionally sound (although I worry about the effects of the plastic packaging). Frozen baby food, while less convenient than its pouched and jarred competition, is a better bet, and there are a few
