Episode 147: The Importance of Natural Products for Babies

doTERRA: Having a new baby brings so much joy, but can also be very stressful. Figuring out the best products to use to care for your baby can be overwhelming. Thankfully, doTERRA has natural alternatives you can trust.

Welcome back to Essential Oil Solutions with doTERRA, the podcast where you'll hear exciting, useful, and simple everyday uses for essential oils from experts in the field. If you like what you hear today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. We always appreciate hearing from you.

Today, we're excited to talk to Stacy Paulsen about how she incorporates doTERRA products into her baby care. Stacy, thank you so much for being here with us today.

Stacy Paulsen: Thank you for having me!

doTERRA: This is a really fun topic, and I also think it's one that people don't know a lot about. So my first question for you is why is it so important to use natural products with babies?

Stacy: It's a great question and not one that I considered much—I have six kids—when I first was having kids. As I learned a lot more, I found that the best way to support healthy, vibrant babies, not just as an infant, but as they're growing throughout life, is considering nutritional aspects and chemical exposure. I think that that's a huge part of our health is—especially for babies where they're so small, and we kind of live in this chemical age, that natural products, that they're pure and natural, they generally don't have the toxins in them that can be overwhelming to our kids.

I often think of the most natural form of nutrition for babies is breast milk, and what our mothers eat and expose themselves to—personal care products, chemicals in our home—those often get passed along to our babies.

But then also thinking what we're actually putting on our babies, what they're breathing in within our homes, and the different needs they have, the more natural they are, which means fewer toxins. So this means we're not putting a burden on these little ones to combat those toxins. Their energy and nutrients can be more focused on growth and development, which means a stronger immune system, fewer challenges with digestion, healthier respiratory system, all those things come into play.

doTERRA: Absolutely. Now, if I'm new to this watching-out-for-toxins world, what kinds of ingredients do I need to watch out for, specifically when I'm choosing baby products?

Stacy: This is a great question! Again, I think a lot of moms nowadays are a lot more aware. I wasn't when I first started having kids. And so some of these things are very shocking. So I'm going to cover a few of the specific products to be thinking about, but then also ingredients within those and that we can take 100% responsibility for them because we have access to so much information now.

Helpful Apps

And I’d recommend if you don't have the apps, there are two free apps to use if you're concerned about products and what's in them and what's good was not because you may not remember all the things that I share, the Think Dirty app and then the EWG, and the Environmental Working Group app, which are nice because you can pull up products, and they can kind of tell you what's in there.

Mineral Oils

But baby oils, so we always like to have our babies nice and slicked up and soft and all that. So mineral oils are generally when there's mass production of baby oils, that mineral oils are contained in there, and byproducts of petroleum refinement is how we get mineral oils. And it’s because they're cheap and easy to find, but they clog up pores and they prevent the skin from breathing, which hinders the natural release of toxins and blocks absorption of beneficial ingredients when we apply them to the skin. Thinking, “Baby oils, what's in it?” Reading the label there.

Phthalates

Baby lotion is another one that’s often used. So fragrance is usually one of the ingredients that are put in baby lotions. And why fragrance is generally a sign of something bad is because they contain phthalates, and phthalates are synthetic fragrances. And so most fragrances, there's about 75% of the products, when they say fragrance contain phthalates. And phthalates, they're again another byproduct of petroleum. And there's a big push to eliminate phthalates from products. And so you can read those labels, so if it's phthalate-free, then you know that it doesn't have those harmful ingredients in the fragrances.

Parabens

Also with baby lotion are parabens. So parabens, again, are another thing that is harmful. It's something that can help as a preservative for personal care products, but it can be an irritation to the skin. And they're actually banned in Europe, in the European Union. And so, I mean, they're not banned in the United States, but a lot of companies are now just removing them themselves, so thinking about those.

Inorganic Cotton

And then another thing to consider is cotton, cotton clothing. Unless it's organic, there's a lot of chemicals found within cotton to be able to process that. So we have softeners, brighteners, heavy metals, flame retardants, formaldehyde, ammonia. And so when we're putting those clothing, that kind of clothing or blankets around our babies, whether they're touching the skin or if they're breathing them in.

Talc

And I'll just mention a couple of others I won't go into detail on. But this is a big thing for me because kids are so, like, we have to take care of them. They can't do this themselves. But talc is something that you'll want to avoid. And so thinking about the cleaners, toxins within the cleaners.

BPA

And then BPA, so this is another one I want to mention with plastics because BPA is in a lot of baby products, so whether they're chewing on something that's plastic or if it's a baby bottle or canned foods, they will often line the inside of the canned food with plastic. And so there has been a big push to avoid BPA. Things are starting to be labeled BPA-free. But just being aware of that—use glass instead, ceramic, those kinds of thing, just kind of being aware of that because our babies put everything in their mouth. So those are, again, chemicals that we want to avoid.

doTERRA: Well all of those are incredibly helpful and really great things to watch out for. When you're looking for new products, because obviously there's a lot of things on the market that you don't want around your baby that are including a lot of those toxins, what options does doTERRA have for those natural baby products?

Stacy: So they have three specific baby products, which I'm so grateful that we have now. Before, we had to just kind of figure it out, and so the Baby Hair & Body Wash, the Baby Lotion, and then the Baby Diaper Rash Cream.

doTERRA Baby Hair & Body Wash

So the Baby Hair & Body Wash is great. It has vanilla extract, Lavender, and Roman Chamomile essential oils. And what I love with doTERRA is that they have—like those products are CPTG Certified Pure Tested Grade®, and so third-party testing to verify there aren't any contaminants within these. They use East African shea butter, which is just a great fatty acid that helps support a baby's soft skin. So it's natural. I just love it. It smells amazing!

doTERRA Baby Lotion and doTERRA Diaper Rash Cream

Also, the Baby Lotion contains those same oils and the shea butter and works phenomenally well.

And then the Diaper Rash Cream. I cannot speak enough about this. Before this, it was really hard to find something to put on a little baby’s bum if they needed it. And so this has non-nano zinc in it, which protects the skin, but then it also has Lavender, carrot seed, and Tea Tree essential oil that creates this balance that soothes the skin and also works in concert with shea butter for moisturizing. It works really well.

So those are the three specific baby products that doTERRA offers, and you can buy them, like, in a pack or separately. And I just love them. They smell great!

doTERRA: And for you personally, how do you like to utilize whether it be the specific baby line or other doTERRA products with your babies?

Stacy: Our household is all doTERRA, just because we trust them as a company. Natural doesn't necessarily mean it's good and healthy and pure of toxins. That's just a marketing term that can be used. And so I love that I can trust doTERRA and how they validate what they're using. And if new technologies come out or new studies come out that change ingredient product, they will do that. And so I really love and appreciate that.

dōTERRA Lifelong Vitality Pack^®

So from day one, using their Lifelong Vitality was huge for me as a mom who breastfeeds babies. And so I wanted to make sure I was getting the nutrients that I needed that are going to be passed along to them.

But we changed everything from cleaning products to personal care products for myself because I know that that was getting passed along. But I put things in my purse, in my car, in travel kits, in our suitcases. They go everywhere, obviously in the diaper bag.

Kids Oil Collection and doTERRA Touch Oils

And I love that they have the Kids Oil Collection and the doTERRA Touch oils. So these are pre-diluted in roller bottles, which is nice and convenient, whether I'm applying them to baby's feet or on their little tummy or their back. Or if I'm putting in diffusers—so just thinking about all the ways that we can support these little bodies.

And like I said, I have six kids and so multiple ways we're using them. But some of my favorites are either Lavender Touch or Calmer^® Blend. So these are great for soothing, calming.

And that was always one in the diaper bag. DigestZen^® or the Tamer^™ blend, this is great for support. Sometimes they just don't tell you what they need. And so being able to just pull that out and put a little on their stomach, it has been phenomenal as a mom.

Stronger^™ blend or the doTERRA On Guard^® Touch is great.

doTERRA Breathe^®

And then Breathe blend, whether I'm putting a little in a diffuser or if I'm really being a little bit on their chest, you know?

doTERRA Balance^®

And then one that I still make myself—and hoping doTERRA will put it in a bottle—is Balance blend. So I‘ll dilute that, put it in a roller because I find this is one of the best blends! It's great. It was my diaper cream before the Diaper Rash Cream came, which totally beats it. Yeah, so that's some of the things that we use, just go-to's.

doTERRA: Well, all of those sound amazing. And it sounds like you have found ways to use those doTERRA products to definitely make your life as a mom a little bit easier.

Stacy: Yeah, definitely. It was—my first four didn't have oils, and it was a completely different experience, not just like their experience, but me as far as confidence and what I was doing and using and the support they gave. It just really empowered me as a mom.

doTERRA: Absolutely. Well, Stacy, thank you so much for being here with us today, for sharing a little bit of your expertise about using these doTERRA products with babies.

Stacy: Thanks!

doTERRA: Thanks for joining us and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you liked what you heard today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. Also, if you want to try any of the products you learned about, go to doterra.com or find a Wellness Advocate near you to place an order today.