Thinking Baby Shower Gift? For Baby's Sake, Think Organic. Think Phthalate-Free

I know it’s a mouthful…phthalates. In fact, it’s almost like the sound one makes when one sticks one’s tongue out to give someone a "New York Raspberry." And isn’t that appropriate? Phthalates are nasty chemicals found in many popular baby shampoos, lotions and powders. That’s right. All those brands you see on your local drugstore shelf…those brands we’ve trusted for decades to be safe for our babies…contain phthalates. Shame on you Johnson & Johnson

You may have heard something about this mentioned briefly on nightly news, but it bears reiterating and highlighting. A new study reported in the Journal of Pediatrics found that 81% of the 163 infants they tested had measurable levels of phthalates in their urine.

Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana from the University of Washington, who was one of the researchers working on the study was quoted as saying, "At this time, we do not know what the potential long-term health effects might be, but there is a large body of animal studies to suggest developmental and reproductive toxicity from phthalates and a few human studies with changes in health outcomes as well." Yikes!

Her recommendation to us mothers? Decrease our use of lotions, shampoos and powder for our babies. No joke.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could suddenly stop washing my child’s hair or neglect her dry skin. Luckily there is a viable and quite lovely solution….organic, phthalate-free baby lotions and shampoos. There are more and more of them appearing every day in heath food stores, hip baby boutiques and online. Companies such as Earth Mama Angel Baby and Little Twig take great pride in claiming they’ve never had phthalates in their products.

Even luckier, some website, like ours at LoveBlessings.com, and a few others, combine these organic lotions and shampoos with organic baby clothes and create baby shower gift baskets suitable for every new baby. When shopping for baby shower gift baskets, read the list of contents carefully. Many companies use chemical-laden drugstore brands.

When chosen well, a gift basket for a new mom filled with organic and nurturing product makes a perfect gift for mama and baby and introduces them to an alternative to the toxic chemicals found in typical baby products. Many women are still unaware of the health risks of these chemicals and their babies may, unfortunately, pay the price of that lack of knowledge.

We can also demand that manufacturers remove these, and all toxic chemicals, from all products that come into contact with our most precious possession…our children.

Victoria Loveland-Coen is an author, mother-of-twins and founder of www.LoveBlessings.com, a site that offers women a combination of free parenting tips and articles along with artfully created baby shower gift baskets, organic baby clothes, lotions and shampoos.