Saturday, December 23, 2006

Cleaning Around Your Natural Baby

Last week I was sitting with my family at Subway when the young man working there had nothing better to do than spray Windex all over the door right next to the table where we were sitting. You can probably guess where I'm going with this. My eyes bulged out, my temple pulsed and before I even said, "What is he DOING?!" I think he got the hint. Yes, my next few bites tasted like Windex and I really didn't appreciate it!

Last year when I was with my children at a children's gym, someone was cleaning the "Sibling Room." While I appreciate the attention to cleanliness and the attempt at providing a sterile environment for my children to "enjoy," I made it clear that this was not an acceptable practice to clean while children were in the building- and never with BLEACH! Yes, they were cleaning with bleach, the old standby when you want to dis-infect. I had to step outside to breathe. (I have a sensitivity to chlorine after competitive swimming my entire life and packaging chlorine for my dad's pool store).

So it's obvious that people "out there" don't have much concern for safety or health when it comes to our children, or US for that matter when cleaning their establisments. But that doesn't mean we have to accept that for our own home! There are tons of cleaning products on the market, most of them unsafe. But how do you know where to turn? While I do purchase some cleaning products from Ecover, 7th Generation, and other brands, the only way to safely guarantee the safety of what we are using around our babies and children is to make our own cleaning products.


If you are interested in trying this, you want to check out these non-toxic cleaning instructions. This is a great way to get motivated to use safe products, which is important for little ones, especially during pregnancy. Did you know that dangerous chemicals have been found in newborn's cord blood?! This dispels the long-standing myth that our bodies protected babies from the environmental toxins in our air, and possibly answers why childhood cancers are on the rise. So now more than ever, it is important that we are especially vigilant about the products we bring into our home and use around our children. Make your own cleaning products and never worry that your cleaning products are harming your little ones!