Having a baby can be one of those moments where you really start to look into the products you are using on your children, it certainly was for us. We are led to believe we need all kinds of products and creams to care for our babies and children and it just isn't true. In fact you can care for your baby with water, castile soap and a nappy balm when needed.
With our first baby, we never knew you could make your own baby wipes (or anything really) and we ended up getting the only safe baby wipes we could find - from America. Luckily Brad was over there a lot for work, so he would bring large amounts home with him. We started to learn about using essential oils and making our own products when our 2nd child was just over 12 months old. It was remarkably quick and simple and the wipes we made were so good - and we never had any issues with nappy rash!
There are so many products that are marketed for babies and children and sadly many of them have very questionable, if not dangerous ingredients used in them - even though they are said to be safe. Using a natural option can sometimes mean you need to pay more for a product and that can add up.
If you are open to making your own products, you may find you will save a lot of money and also reduce the exposure you and your baby have to ingredients that may not be the best.
There are 3 simple solutions to making often highly used products for your baby.
NAPPY BALM
A nappy balm creates a barrier for your baby's bottom and the moisture in the nappy, while also providing relief for any redness or inflammation.
Here is a recipe for a very simple, but also gorgeous nappy balm. This is such a beautiful balm, you may find you want to use it on yourself!
What you need:
40g Coconut Oil (not Fractionated Coconut Oil)
40g Organic Shea Butter
10g Bees Wax
30g Zinc Oxide
15g Organic Bentonite Clay
1 teaspoon of Carrier Oil (e.g. Fractionated Coconut Oil or Almond Oil)
5 drops Lavender essential oil
5 drops Frankincense essential oil
Glass Jar/s (2 x 120ml jars is ideal)
What you do:
Place the Shea Butter and Bees Wax into a glass bowl (e.g. Pyrex) and gently melt over heat using a double boiler method.
Once the Shea Butter and Bees Wax has melted, add in the Coconut Oil and Carrier Oil and mix until well combined. Make sure the beeswax is fully melted or the balm may be gritty.
Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add in the Zinc Oxide and Bentonite Clay and mix well. Allow mixture to cool. It turns pink! It's so cool.
Once cooled add in the essential oils. It is important to allow the mixture to cool before adding the essential oils so that the therapeutic qualities are not destroyed by the heat.
Mix the ingredients together and spoon into the jar/s.
Let the mixture set further overnight.
BABY WIPES:
It can be easy to grab a packet of wipes from the shops to have on hand when they are out and for those MILLIONS of nappy changes. Not only can store bought wipes be very costly, they can also contain some questionable ingredients.
What if you making your own wipes was simple and effective?
You can make a disposable or reusable option by simply substituting the paper towel in the recipes with cloths that can be washed and reused, thinner ones can be better. You may like to roll or fold the cloths in a way that makes them easier to get out of your container each time. We have used bamboo cloths previously and they work well. You could even cut up an old towel or use some old cloth nappys.
What You Need:
1 roll premium paper towels
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon Fractionated Coconut Oil
3 drops Lavender Essential Oil
3 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil
3 drops Frankincense Essential Oil
What You Do:
Cut the paper towel in half width wise with serrated or electric knife. You can use half the roll now and half later or make up 1 for home and one for the nappy bag.
Combine water, essential oils and FCO in a small bowl.
Pour mixture over paper towels and cover with airtight lid. Let mixture absorb for 10 minutes.
Turn container over and let sit for another 10 minutes.
Remove and discard cardboard tube. Pull wipes from center of the roll when ready to use.
Store in an airtight storage container/empty wipe container/wet bag. If making reusable ones, remember to take a zip lock bag to place any used, rinsed wipes in to bring home to wash!
FOAMING BODY WASH
You do not need to use soap to wash your baby, warm water and a cloth is often all that is required. However, some instances a little bit of soap may be useful. Simply using castile soap on its own will work, but making a foaming soap can be a lot more economical and you can add essential oils to it for some extra support if you want.
What you need:
Castile Soap - approx 1/4-1/3 of the volume of the container you are using
Filtered water or Cooled boiled water
Foaming pump bottle (you may like to make up some travel size ones that can be used as hand wash when out and about too!)
10 drops of essential oils (optional - you may like to use lavender, frankincense, tea tree or roman chamomile.)
A teaspoon of a carrier oil (e.g. Fractionated Coconut Oil, Almond Oil, Jojoba etc.) This is optional and is included to provide some extra moisturising.
What you do:
Place your essential oils into the foamer pump bottle.
Slowly add the castile soap to the bottle so as to minimise any frothing at this stage.
Add carrier oil (optional).
Fill the remainder of bottle with filtered water or cooled boiled water, leaving room for foamer pump top.
Replace foamer pump top and shake gently to combine the ingredients.
Give these simple DIY recipes a try as you may find they save you lots of money, are lovely to use and help you cut out toxins in another area of your life!
