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 New
parents get tons of advice from well-meaning family members who "know it all."
No matter what the topic, there will be someone in your family that thinks they
know better than you and they will not be shy about sharing it! You will get varying degrees of
advice when it comes to newborn bathing. Some sources will say you only need to
bathe baby once a week. Some say 2-3 times per week. And most friends will tell
you to bathe your baby every day! Oddly enough, I've known people to do all of
these and their babies did not suffer in the least! Of course, common sense will
tell you that dry skin on a newborn means that he is either being bathed too
frequently, or the soap is too harsh for his delicate skin. Or...
There is too much chlorine in your bath water
Well, that it's there at all is
not good- even worse is when it's especially high. Chlorination is used to
sanitize our water systems, and brings water into your home relatively free of
bacteria and protozoa. But chloroform, a by-product of chlorination is the
chlorine smell that you can probably notice when you run your tap water with no
filter. Aside from chloroform, there are other dangers in your baby's bath water
such as lead, mercury, pesticides and herbicides, among many other "things."
These chemicals are inhaled as well as absorbed through the skin. So you have
more to be concerned with besides dry skin! What will you do about the chemicals
your baby is absorbing?
Showerwise
 For chemical free bathing for
both you and your newborn, get a
Showerwise shower filter. Put the
filter on your shower, and fill your baby's bath with water from that shower
head. They are also great for toddlers who are bathing in the "real" tub. Just
fill up the water with the shower head and the bath water is clean and healthy.
If you have a toddler suffering from respiratory problems, this is especially
important. But even if you don't, PREVENT the problems before they creep up!
Many young children also like playing in the "shower" while the bath tub fills
up.
Soaps and Shampoos
How often you bathe your baby and what soap you use
are not easy things to decide. I can tell you to avoid at all costs the products
that can be found on your grocery store shelf. What we call "mainstream"
products are manufactured for the masses, as cheaply as possible, and with
products that are not safe. They are FULL of chemicals including preservatives
like
parabens that have been implicated in certain cancers. Since the products
will sit on store shelves for an extended period, they have to preserve them
with something or the products will spoil. But you CAN get products that are
natural and paraben-free. Our
natural baby care items are made
by hand by a work at home mom, and they are made in small batches and shipped
immediately.
"Truth in Bathing"
So what will happen if you totally ignore this
advice? Possibly nothing. Or maybe your child will get cancer, asthma, or
allergies...or ADD, who knows? All I can tell you for sure is that scientists
have found a LOT of problems with a LOT of things that we are using on, in front
of, or for our babies that are just not worth taking the chance. If we do
everything we can to avoid the risk, and our children get sick anyway, we will
not doubt that we did everything we could. If you don't...won't you always
wonder?
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