Parenthood is a wonderful, amazing, and incredibly complex new chapter in our lives. It brings along plenty of new experiences accompanied by new responsibilities. Among the first challenges that you will encounter as a newbie parent is choosing the right products like baby hair and body oil for your baby.
Having a staring contest with the wall filled with baby products can feel really overwhelming and stressful. On the other hand, suspiciously shortly after you have typed the word baby products in your search bar to check what to buy, tons of commercials related to baby products will start jumping into your social media profiles bombing you with piles of information about everything baby related. And it would have been fine until you begin to notice how much of the information you encounter is contradicting or deceiving; then you end up feeling even more confused and conflicted.
To help you win the staring contest with the baby products wall and successfully navigate the minefield that the baby product industry is, we have compiled a simple guide to advise you on your ‘journey’ and help you sail smoothly through the process of choosing the right baby products for your baby. Let’s start with the basics:
What baby products do you need?
“Diapers and shampoo, oh and must not forget the wipes” are usually the first products that come to your mind, but they are not the only ones. Furthermore, the list of baby necessities includes:
- Diapers
- Baby Wipes
- Baby Powder
- Baby Soap
- Baby Wash
- Baby Sponge
- Baby Shampoo
- Baby Massage Oil
- Baby Wipes
- Baby Lotion
- Baby Jelly
- Baby Cotton Buds
- Baby Scale
What to look out for when choosing the brands and products?
You need to look for brands whose priorities are your baby’s safety and well-being, brands that understand the baby’s skin sensitivities and are in compliance with the worldwide standards. One would think that all of them have these same priorities but not all brands are cut from the same cloth, and marketing tricks and big, flashy names can sometimes be misleading. That’s why, when you are choosing a baby product you should:
- Use reputable sources of information to verify the brand
Don’t just believe the ads, check the customer’s reviews. Furthermore, another great way to get an honest review of a certain product is to ask other parents who used it. Most parents are eager to share their experiences to help new parents avoid the troubles they faced. If you have any doubts regarding a certain product, talk to your pediatrician, this is their area of expertise and they work on a daily basis with parents who are in the same situation as you are, so their advice can be significantly insightful.
- Check the efficacy of products
Going over reviews is one of the ways to check if the product is as effective as the ad claims it to be; another one is checking whether they are clinically/dermatologically tested and approved by pediatricians.
- Beware of labels and steer clear of artificial fragrances
Beware of the labels and refrain from using any products which contain artificial fragrances because most of the time, these ingredients are the ones to be blamed for your baby’s skin irritations.
Skincare products that contain synthetic fragrances (whose true purpose usually is to hide the nasty smell of the chemicals used in the process of production) can cause not only rashes and skin irritations but moreover, their scent may linger for hours around your baby and further indicate respiratory issues. To avoid this, use products that don’t have artificial fragrances in their composition, like the Geego baby powder, which also are clinically tested, 100% talc-free, and hypoallergenic.
- Great quality and affordable – you don’t need to choose between the two.
Sometimes you are paying more because of the brand’s name rather than its quality. There are plenty of baby brands on the market that equally offer and balance great quality and affordability, so you do not have to compromise.You can have and deserve to have both!
Principles to guide you when making your choice:
- Always choose baby-friendly products
The lotion or any other product you are using may be nurturing for your skin, but this doesn’t mean that it will be good for your baby as well; on the contrary, it may irritate their skin and stir things up. Babies’ skins are more delicate and sensitive compared to the skin of the adults, therefore they need products that are specifically developed for their skins’ sensitivity. Additionally, these products need to be moisturizing and nurturing without causing any irritations and work on preventing rushes.
Good examples for these types of products would be from Geego Baby Products , one of which is the Geego Baby Daily Lotion, which is paraben, dye, and sulphate free, dermatological approved and allergy tested , rich in almond and sunflower oils which nurture and protect the skin for 24 hours; and the GeegoBaby Petroleum Jelly, which much like the lotion, is also clinically tested, hypoallergenic, free of harmful chemicals but additionally it also relieves and soothes the symptoms of dry skin and prevents skin irritations caused by diaper chafing.
- Check with your pediatrician to see if your baby is prone to allergies
If your baby is prone to allergies or rashes always check with the pediatrician if you are unsure about certain ingredients or products.
- Clinically tested, approved by dermatologists or pediatricians
Needless to say, you need products that have been previously tested and are safe to be used on your baby. Clinically tested products, like the Geego Baby Soap, are proven to be gentle and nurturing to babies’ skin; this further gives you the reassurance that your baby is not ‘part of the experiment’ so you do not have to worry how their skin will react. Getting their product tested and approved by dermatologists and clinics is also proof that the brand that produces these products is serious about making sure that their products are safe for use.
- “Natural” is not necessarily free from preservatives so look for paraben-free, dye-free, Ph-balanced, hypoallergenic labels.
These are the things you want to read about the products. Just to be clear, we completely support natural products, but in some parts of the world, there are no regulations as to what requirements a product needs to meet to be ‘labeled’ as natural. That’s why in some cases “100% Natural” does not necessarily mean 100% free from preservatives and other harmful ingredients and can still cause allergic reactions.
We suggest that you check whether the product you are about to buy contains harmful ingredients and whether it is hypoallergenic. The hypoallergenic products are specifically formulated to have the least possible risk of allergic reaction and can be used even on the most sensitive skin.
- Get familiar with common toxins and read the labels
Let us introduce you to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry where you can check the list of toxic substances; we recommend that you compare the ingredients you are unsure of with the online database to reassure yourself that you have made the right choice.
- You can use 2 in 1 product as long as they are safe and baby-friendly
If you are on a tight budget, you have no other choice but to make some compromises. But those compromises should not compromise the safety of the products! If you are contemplating between several products, then you can choose a product that offers you 2 products in 1 which allows you to save money. A great example of this is the Geego baby wash and shampoo, which is specifically made to meet the wash needs of your baby without drying their sensitive skin. You will get great quality and save money.
