When it comes to raising and looking after your little bundle of joy, there are some very personal decisions involved. Feeding, changing, skin care and general care, there’s more than one way to go about it, and everyone has their own opinion on the matter. But it’s you and your baby that matter.
The All-Natural Mother Approach
A health and environmentally conscious mother will likely opt for a more natural approach. Naturally caring for your baby in today’s day and age is appealing in itself. In a world where convenience is key, you’ll find baby formulas, skin care products, and other substitutes to natural feeding to be filled with artificial nutrition and cocktails of chemicals or preservatives you can’t pronounce.
If you’re conscious about what you eat, it’s scary enough to find them in your own food or skin care products, let alone your baby’s. For the first few years of your little one’s life, their development is key, and the nutrition and diet they receive will determine how well they develop and how healthy they are. You want your infant to get sick as rarely as possible, and their weight should never be too high or too low. Their mental and physical development is at the forefront of your mind.
It all sounds like a juggling act, but you’ll be delighted to learn that a mother’s breast milk is filled with just the right balance of nutrients, fats and vitamins your baby needs, as well as antibodies and other immune system defenses your baby needs to fight against illnesses. You won’t have to substitute it with anything and has incredible benefits you can read more about here.
Breastfeeding also strengthens the bond between mom and baby and is beneficial to your health. Your body is designed to feed and nurture your baby, so it knows exactly what to do, and feeding will relieve pain in your breasts and relieve stress. For baby, they are less likely to get sick, and less likely to experience bouts of diarrhea (if that’s a hard sell we don’t know what is!). There’s plenty of other benefits that are gone into in more depth you can find in the helpful link above.
If you choose not to breastfeed or can’t do so every time, breast-pumps allow you to have a supply of fresh, natural mother’s milk available for your baby whenever they need it. This relieves you of some of the responsibility so dad or other family members can take over every now and then. One last thing we feel is useful to know, is that after baby’s 4th month of breastfeeding it’s beneficial to give them oral iron supplements. They won’t get much iron from your breast milk, and it aids in development till they can get iron from their food. For the first 6 months at least, do not feed your baby solids, water, juices or other formulas. Breast milk is all they need!
Your baby’s skin care is just as important as their diet, and you’ll probably want to keep that as natural as possible. Natural baby products, skin care, in particular, are made for their sensitive skins, crafted from natural products to moisturise and soothe the skin, preventing and soothing nappy rashes or dealing with eczema. With natural oils for moisturising and keeping skin soft and rash free, you won’t have to worry about what else is going on your and your baby’s skin.
Other natural products that are not only good for you and baby, but good for the environment as well, are cloth nappies. Any parent knows nappies are costly, and they just seem to go up in smoke soon after you buy them. A baby in their first 6 months will wet their nappy over 8 times a day! That’s a lot of nappies that need changing, that’s for sure. And a lot of materials go into the production of nappies. The result is a cycle of waste that can be readily avoided.
With cloth nappies, they are as absorbent as regular nappies to keep baby dry, and all you need to do is remove, wash, and dry them. Waste not want not, right? Cloth nappies come in a set, so you’ll always have one on hand when necessary. It saves you money and saves the environment as well. If you use natural cleaning products as well the nappies won’t irritate baby’s delicate skin either.
These are just a few ways you can keep yourself and your baby healthy and happy through natural means. Your body is fully equipped to feed your precious bundle, and natural oils, fabrics and other nutrients are more than enough to keep baby comfortable and rash free.
In the end, mom knows best; you know what works for you and baby and what doesn’t. Besides your health, your love and happiness are crucial, so enjoy your time with your baby. We know they mean the world to you, so shower them in the love and care they deserve as you enjoy motherhood.
