Best and Safe stuff for Kids and Parents

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Its important that our little tots get the best things in life, since childhood and infancy are foundation for one's life. In our current world of plastics, pollutants, toxins and other unnamed, yet to be found factors, its best to stick with safe and non toxic products. Its not hard to get non toxic and safe products if we are persistent and looking out for information. Below mentioned are useful things we follow and some useful items we found helpful for my kid, from scourging the internet. And most things that are generally perceived as a necessity might not be required for you. So be wise and decide for yourself. Its better to keep everything simple and stupid. Also its important to see that kids enjoy and use the stuff that's meant for them.

Checking for Ingredients: 

The labels like safe, all natural, clean, bio friendly, fat free, sugar free means nothing and in most cases misleading marketing gimmicks. Labels like USDA organic, Non GMO helps but others that are just descriptive means nothing. If you see a half page of ingredients on a product that tastes heavenly, most probably you might need to avoid it. I refer EWG guide to see toxicity of all our house hold products from tooth paste, laundry to dish washers. Its a very useful site to learn more about ingredients. Even then, its better to stick to homemade alternatives and things with minimal and known ingredients.

https://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners

Household Items:

I was surprised to know that most household items were toxic if not deadly and might seep in to our body in various ways. Its better to switch to eco friendly and non toxic alternatives. Please note that any natural or least toxic product will not do a quick job and might not give you a professional look but its worth for your and your family's health.

Soap 

If you are going to be interacting with newborns, its better to avoid scented soaps or perfumes. Newborns rely mostly on smell and voice to identify mothers.

Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile Liquid Soap - Baby Unscented: One of the best products i have known. Great for newborn & adults as well. All Known non toxic ingredients. Its very versatile that it can be used for a variety of purposes like shaving, dish washing, hand soap and shampoo. Read the bottle label for other uses. You can use other flavors like citrus/peppermint/lavender etc.. for toddlers.

Laundry

Molly Suds: Great for baby's sensitive skin - No fragrance, dyes, phosphates or sulfates. No annoying laundry smell.

Dish washing

Got this one from EWG site.
Puracy Natural Liquid Dish Soap, Sulfate-Free Dishwashing Detergent, Green Tea and Lime, 16 Ounce Bottle, (Pack of 1)

General Cleaning

Baking Soda/Vinegar: Best products with variety of household uses. I have successfully used them in clearing worst greases in cooking vessels, to remove shower blockages and to stop mold in shower cloth etc...

Storage/Utensils

Non stick/hard plastic utensils are outright proven carcinogens. Other alternatives like silicone for BPA and known plastic stuff are not proven either. I wouldn't trust any thing but cast iron, stainless steel or copper vessels for cooking and storage.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/05/23/dangerous-kitchenware-lurking-in-your-home.html
Stainless Steel kids Lunch Box & Food Container

Baby Care:

Diapers

If you are in a place where you can potty train, its better to potty train as soon as possible. It will save baby and earth, a lot of things. Cloth diapers also will do the job but its more work for a feeding mother.
Bamboo nature: They are eco-friendly and made of natural materials that's gentle on baby's skin. So far the best we got. For a cheaper alternative, you can go for Naty.  Both these items give you discount if you subscribe.

Wipes

Water Wipes: Contains 99.9% purified water and a drop of fruit extract. Nothing else. Seems unbelievable but great product. Good deals on Amazon.

Moisturizer/Massage Oil/Hair

Shea butter - We got good results for dry patches during winter.
Organic Coconut oil - Best oil in the world. We use for cooking, applying for hair, massage and as a general moisturizer. Non toxic and contains loads of benefits.

Carrier

Great for carrying around kids and get things done for both parents.

Bouncer

Gravity operated. Simple design.

Car Seat

If you don't know this most car seats, beds, furniture have toxic chemicals like flame retardants etc...
Please read similar reports like below before you buy.

Mattress

For adult and infant/toddler mattresses/futons which are organic and pure cotton, you can get from futon shop. Interestingly, if you want to get a mattress without flame retardants and other chemicals in US, you need a letter from doctor. Such a world :(
Other option i found that is cheap and straight forward is Saatva, 
Go for 100% soft cotton varieties; if possible Organic. You get good ones from carter's. 

Food:

Food for Infants: WHO recommends mothers worldwide to exclusively breastfeed infants for the child's first six months to achieve optimal growth, development and health. Thereafter, they should be given nutritious complementary foods and continue breastfeeding up to the age of two years or beyond. No food trumps breast milk for newborns, infants and toddlers. I will cover this in a separate blog.

Below are things that might be helpful for everyone from kids to adults.

Cooked Food

Best food is fresh home cooked meals with natural organic ingredients. Always use organic products wherever possible. Below are some stuff that our family including my child liked.

We don't allow any refined sugar based sweets or candies in our kitchen. So these are our version of candies and sugar snacks. Our family loves dried figs, berries and raisins. We munch whenever we get a chance. 

Sesame oil is a common oil for cooking in India, which is very healthy. For roasting and frying, you can use coconut oil. For dressing you can use flaxseed oil. 

If your kid's weight is your concern, you can give them this multi nut butter. I don't advice this for adults unless you goal is to get heavier. ;)
Nuttzo Organic Smooth Power Fuel Seven Nut and Seed Butter, 16 oz

Rice

If your diet consists mostly of rice, you might want to replace it with better alternatives like Finger millet, Kodo millet, Foxtail millet, Little millet, Barnyard millet, Pearl millet, Quinoa, Red rice. They are loaded with lot of vitamins, minerals and proteins. Its good for you and your little ones. Basically most ancient and traditional grain are highly nutritious than recent hybrid rices.

http://www.chitrasfoodbook.com/2014/07/milletstypes-of-milletshealth.html
http://isha.sadhguru.org/blog/lifestyle/food/7-health-benefits-of-ragi-6-great-ragi-recipes/
http://isha.sadhguru.org/blog/lifestyle/food/

Sugar

Great sugar alternatives are jaggery (has lot of minerals), honey, unrefined palm sugar. You can never go wrong with these.

Lentils/Grams

Regularly consuming horse gram, kidney beans, green dal, chickpeas, lentils, green peas will be helpful for vegans and vegetarians. I am a vegetarian with limited dairy consumption. I find these useful and sufficient.

Nuts

Almonds, cashew nuts, peanuts, walnuts are all good. If you are worried of fat, you can consume sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds. Honestly i never worried about weight over munching nuts. In my experience it does not increase weight. You can soak in water overnight and consume. My kid loves soaked almonds. For adults, you can mix different nuts and raisins and create your own version of trail mix based on your taste.

Bread

If you regularly consume bread, you can buy a bread machine. This will save you from a load of chemicals and unknown unpronounceable ingredients. We tried and saved a lot. Also it didn't take much effort to make bread. The machine does all the work. The bread was fresh and we could use good ingredients like Jaggery, organic oils, whole flours etc...

Medicine:

Breast feeding and consuming good food will avoid most physician and dentist visits for kids. Its better to wait till the situation absolutely requires medication. I was overdosed as a kid which caused me to remain skinny till my college days. Overdosing and over the counter medicines might affect health adversely in long term.
Garden of Life Organic Prenatal - Vegan organic ingredients

Painkiller for Kids

For infants, breastfeeding soothes and calms a child in pain more than a Tylenol. If its required, please follow the prescribed doses.

Prune juice

Prune juice is recommended for constipation in kids. It is nothing but dried plums juice. Dried plums are better tasting than juice.

Made In Nature Organic Pitted Dried & Unsulfured Plums, 6 oz

Tulsi

Leaves can be used for common cold, asthma and has so many uses.

Ajwain/Omam

Used to improve digestion. Kids will like the minty taste.

Neem/Turmeric

Neem and turmeric have great medicinal value. Consuming both of them in empty stomach will improve your health and protect you from various diseases. You can add turmeric in water for bathing. You can apply turmeric as an antiseptic in minor injuries. 

Drinking water from copper vessel has a detoxifying effect on the body.

Toys:

For infants 0-6 months

Rattle Shakers
Melissa & Doug Wiggling Worm Wooden Grasping Toy for Baby
Melissa-Doug-Peek-Panda-Wooden

At this age, kids sight is not well developed. So things that make sound might attract them. They are prone to take things to mouth a lot. Its better to choose carefully what you give to them at this point. You can just give them some household things that they can chew off without worries. Pacifier might not be required if breastfeeding.

Toddlers >6 months

I noticed that the toys i choose for my kid after googling for hours just fail to impress my daughter. Things like cardboard boxes, waste papers, peeled fruit skins, mud, sand, trash that you deem as waste might seem like a favorite toy for your kids. As long as they enjoy, it should be fine. Kids need to experience and need to interact with variety of items. 
Melissa & Doug Deluxe Chomp and Clack Alligator Wooden Push Toy and Activity Walker - Beautiful toy for pushing and playing
Hape Walk-A-Long Puppy Wooden Pull Toy
Melissa & Doug Deluxe Pounding Bench Wooden Toy With Mallet
Hape Pound & Tap Bench with Slide Out Xylophone
Original Slinky Brand Slinky
Rocking horse
Wooden Doll Family Pretend Play Mini People Figures for Dollhouse
Melissa & Doug Wooden Stamp Set: Animals - 16 Stamps, 7 Colored Pencils, Stamp Pad
Spirograph Design Tin Set

Books for kids

You don't have to judge whether the books/stories/songs are too soon for infants/toddlers.
My experience is that they enjoy and try to understand them in parts. If you make it fun and a habit, they will keep coming to you to read books. This might be a great intellectual foundation that you can give them instead of tvs/laptops/mobiles.


Other books with great stories:

P.S: Since i am living in US right now, some part of this blog is mostly relevant to US demographic.  I would love to hear from you more stuff that can be added this list. Thank you.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Excellent Resources!!
February 9, 2018 at 4:03 AM
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