Organic products for baby
here are some ideas

Looking for organic products for baby? - Then here are some ideas, and points to look out for when you are making your choice.

There are various organic products for baby and for children, that have come onto the market in recent times. Alongside these there are also those products marketed with claims of containing either ‘natural’, and/or ‘bio-dynamic’ ingredients. It is as well to recognize, however that not all manufacturers are as ‘upfront’ and transparent about all ingredients in each of their products – when you ‘check them out’ on the web, which is a shame – and begs the question – ‘Why is this?’...if they have nothing to ‘hide’!

Parents-to-be often go through the same thought processes when it comes to looking for safer, better and more effective products for their prospective 'little bundles of joy’. As yet, however, there are only a handful of truly organic products for baby on the market. It should also be remembered that ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ claims should be treated with caution if the product has no verifying certification, from a recognized, independent, third-party. Such verification should be in the obvious form of the 'stamp' of a recognized, third-party, certifying authority.

Interesting to note is that, as of mid-2006, some products had been launched onto the UK market with certification related to their organic status from the UK’s own Soil Association. One small caveat here – which you may, or may not deem ‘important’ – is that the Soil Association does not apply quite the same rigour to the NON-FOOD products that it currently certifies organic, as it does to food products themselves.

By comparison the certifying body ACO (Australian Certified Organic) has only ONE highly rigorous, food-grade standard for all products - both food and non-food. This at least means that you can rely on ACO certified products to be ‘safe enough to eat’ – and we reckon that must be the safest standard available today.

Whilst not exhaustive, we list below some of the products currently available that you may wish to check out. In due course we will be adding to this summary, as new products are released, and as we find out any additional feedback from users, or in the media about these products. We consider that it is more important that products are genuinely as safe as can be for baby – and that this is of over-riding importance compared with whether or not the bottle has a specific reference to baby (by word or picture) on the bottle! You will therefore note that some products below that are not specifically marketed as organic products for baby – although their mild and beneficial ingredients, and their rigorous certification has led us to include them on the list!

Briefly enumerated here in ‘alphabetical order’, the following companies now offer organic products for baby and/or children – with various claims as to application and efficacy. Nonetheless, our previously stated advice, "always to check the label" still applies –

Essential Care – offer a range of organic products for baby and Mum, which have been awarded the UK Soil Association organic certification. Order pages on the company website – contain some, but NOT a full indication of ingredients – but strangely visitors must request full ingredient listings for any products they are interested in by e-mail. We would ask - why make it harder than it needs be for folks to find out what's in your products? We hardly need say what we suspect the answer Information at www.essential-care.co.uk.

Green Baby – describe their ‘organic’ skin care range as hand-made, and using only natural ingredients. Which sounds good – although it appears that the majority of products contain only a smattering of actual ‘organic’ ingredients - be sure to check the label first for certification details and actual quantity of organic ingredients. Nonetheless there is a fair range of products for baby and a couple for Mum, too. Further information can be found at www.greenbaby.co.uk.

Green People – not to be confused with the previous company – Green People feature arrange of products which to our minds is rather questionably called ‘Organic Children’ – as we think this rather implies that these are indeed ORGANIC products for baby and children. Closer scrutiny, however, seems to show that the claims for the products are that they certified as being ‘made with organic ingredients’...but there is NO clear information about how many, or which ingredients ARE actually organic on the sales and ‘product info’ pages. This lack of transparency – as we have mentioned before – always raises our suspicions that these product stretch the boundaries of the definition of the term organic. SO be sure to check the labels and the ingredients before you buy – IF you want to be sure you are truly purchasing organic products for baby. Some details can be found at www.greenpeople.co.uk.

Lavera – have also introduced their 'Baby & Kinder' (we assume that is the ‘German’ kinder – meaning children) range. On the plus side – their website info does seem to include full ingredient listings. These products do have a number of ‘organic’ constituents but the formulations still include some elements we’d prefer not to see – such as ‘fragrance’ a term that can hide a multitude of ‘sins’ including synthetic aromas that may cause irritation and trigger allergies. This also goes for some derivatives listed as ‘from natural essential oils’ that they use, such as Limonene, which features in several of their baby range products. The safety of this ingredient, particularly in baby products, is questionable as it is known both as an irritant and to be dangerous to the environment. In EEC directives (see, for instance, notes at Wikipedia) there is a long list of negative characteristics for this substance in its pure form. Limonene has also been shown to cause kidney tumours in lab rats – although the experts say this finding is likely to have no relevance to humans’! (We'd rather avoid anything that contains sch ingredients ourselves.) Ingredients are listed on their site at www.lavera.co.uk.

Miessence – We include Miessence products here, even though they do not currently have a ‘baby and children’ labelled range as yet, because the product range is unusually, genuinely 100% natural and the skin/hair/body care range are certified organic. In fact these are the only range of products of their kind that have organic certification to food-grade standards from ACO, the main Australian Certifying body, which means they are probably the safest and mildest organic products for baby available at this time. And in this case we DO speak from experience, having used Miessence Sunflower body wash, their Intense body cream, the Desert Flower shampoo (based on Aloe Vera) and even occasionally the Shine hair conditioner – on our little girl from her being only a week or two old. They are all beautifully mild and effective products that are authentically organic. Miessence products are naturally superb for use by adults as well as babies and children (again - we speak from experience). There is also a great deal of useful and educational information on their website about toxic ingredients, as well as COMPLETE and transparent ingredients listings and substantial discounts, via the online shopping facility, for regular customers. See www.saferalternative.com for full information and e-shopping. Remember – when it comes to organic products for baby, it is NOT the fact that a label has a ‘baby’ logo or a ‘nursery’ name...it is the listed ingredients that you need to check, in order to ensure that what you are choosing will be 100% natural and safe for YOUR little one – we are happy to recommend these products based on our experience.

Weleda – is probably longest established brand amongst this selection, and they too have quite recently introduced products for baby. Although they claim to use only ‘natural ingredients’ only a certain proportion of these are actually organic. Once again checking the ingredients list is the only way to be sure. Also, just as with Lavera (see above), the 'Weleda baby' range seems universally to include Limonene. A number of the products in the range also include Lanolin (which, whilst natural – some parents may not like to see, especially if it is not certified as from organically farmed sheep as there can be nasty chemical residues from sheep-dipping and other treatments that linger in the wool and its derivatives) and Alcohol, which may pose an issue for some parents(alcohol may be iritant for some sensitive skins - and also breach certain religious preferences). For additional information about products and ingredients go to www.weleda.co.uk.

We plan to add to this list of manufacturers of organic products for baby whenever we become aware of other credible products, or find information that we think you should know about that relates to brands we feature, or that enter the marketplace. For now please use our contact form on our Organic Questions page to let us know about brands you know, you like OR dislike - or that you want to know more about.

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