7 Tips To Jumpstart Your Healthy New Year

If you are like most parents you care about the planet, especially the part of it surrounding your tiny human. You do your best to create a healthy home for your baby, free of harmful chemicals. Unfortunately we live in a chemical-ridden world. There may be a million changes you could make in the new year, but for your convenience and peace of mind, we’ve put together a list of 7 small yet potent changes to help you jumpstart your and your baby’s healthy life in 2015!

#1. REPLACE TOXIC CLEANING PRODUCTS  

Clean often, but clean with non-toxic cleaners. This doesn’t need to happen overnight. When your current floor cleaner, tub and tile scrub, and other cleaning products run out, replace them one by one with non-toxic ones. Read your labels carefully! If you don’t recognize an ingredient, it is probably not something you want to test out anywhere near your baby’s world. When in doubt try vinegar + baking soda, an affordable, multi-purpose cleaning method that really works!

#2. FILTER YOUR INDOOR AIR

Did you know indoor air can be far more polluted than the air outside? Anywhere from two to five times worse, according to the EPA. Below are a few tips to filter your indoor air:

• Grow indoor plants. It is one of the greenest ways to clear the air, and they will happily suck up your carbon dioxide and trade you some fresh oxygen.

• When temperatures permit, open windows a crack to let fresh air circulate. If your air quality outside is bad, you can run your air conditioning to ventilate and filter out smog.

• Buy a HEPA vacuum to filter the air while you clean.

• Buy a door mat, or set up a convenient area just inside your entrance for people to remove their shoes (provide them with nice slippers) rather than dragging in nasty germs and chemicals from the great outdoors. Much of the world’s population does this already; you won’t be alone if you try it.

#3. FILTER DRINKING WATER

Test your water for lead. If it does have lead, filter. You can buy good quality faucet filters for under $30, and it’s an excellent investment. Filtering will remove many other chemicals that are acceptable in small amounts in municipal water supplies, including the chlorine used to “purify” them; and will remove heavy metals like cadmium, zinc, mercury and copper that can damage your health. Do not use plastic bottles.

#4. CHOOSE NON-TOXIC FURNITURE

Opt for an organic mattress, furniture made of real wood finished with non-toxic compounds, and sofas and easy chairs that have not been sprayed with flame retardant.

#5. EAT MOSTLY ORGANIC FOODS

You can lower your pesticide exposure by 90% by eating organic. Know the “dirty dozen” fruits and vegetables when choosing what organic food to buy. If you can’t avoid the non-organic ones, then wash fruits and vegetables with cold water –you can use your own homemade fruit-and-veggie cleaning solution too,  and gently scrub to wash off waxes and chemical residues.

#6. SWITCH TO NON-TOXIC DIAPERS AND , BATH, AND BODY PRODUCTS

Your baby is likely to have "5,000 to 8,000 diaper changes before she’s out of diapers”. Your decision to switch to non-toxic diapers could mean a huge impact on the health of your baby and the world. Choose fragrance, dye, and lotion-free diapers to avoid exposing your baby to unnecessary chemicals. We love and trust The Honest Company.

#7. BUY MOSTLY ORGANIC BABY CLOTHING  

Go Organic! According to the Alliance of Women Scientists and Scholars,” eight of the top 10 pesticides most commonly used on U.S. conventionally produced cotton were classified as moderately to highly hazardous by the World Health Organization.” The WHO also classed three of the five pesticides most heavily used on cotton crops among the agricultural chemicals most hazardous to people’s health. Residues of these make it through the factories to the finished clothes. Your baby’s skin is thin and especially susceptible to absorbing these toxic chemicals, so do your best to limit baby’s exposure by buying organic baby clothing. We are biased, no doubt, but we love everything about Noble Carriage.