Did you know that harmful chemicals are often found in products specifically intended for use by infants? Chemicals of concern like bisphenol A (BPA), flame retardants, heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, per- and polyfluoroalkyls (PFASs), phthalates, triclosan, and solvents lurk in completely legal products, and are linked to increased risk of cancer, diabetes, obesity and other chronic health conditions, as well as adverse effects on development, reproduction, learning and behavior.
Creating a safe, healthy environment for your baby can be a challenge. Currently, parents are left in the dark regarding the chemical makeup of many of the items they need to care for their new babies. Because most manufacturers don't share this information voluntarily, it can be nearly impossible to tell the difference between a product made with only safe and healthy materials and one made with chemicals of concern just by looking at it, and product descriptions rarely provide enough information to make smart choices.
Check out the new Safe Baby Products Guide, especially if you or someone you know is pregnant! The Guide will provide you with the knowledge needed to make informed purchasing decisions. It gives an overview of different types of products, information on hidden hazards, resources, and recommendations. The interactive tool even includes a feature that will allows you to build an online gift registry, which can be valuable to expecting parents seeking certified safe products as baby shower gifts.
We encourage you to use the guide in 3 main ways:
To find information about a particular product, when you just need one thing.
To get a general understanding of what to think about when you buy products, set up your own baby shower gift registry, or help a loved one with theirs. You can download our recommendations on each page to keep them for later.
To build an online registry using the tools created by BabyList.
Have a question? Ask our experts at the links on every product page, and we'll reply in one to two business days. Once we have a collection of questions, we'll put them on the website to help others. We will also useyour feedback to improve the guide going forward.
The Getting Ready for Baby campaign has chosen to feature products certified by partner organization MADE SAFE. They have a robust certification process for products and companies. Their certification program is growing, and as it does, we'll include updates. For all product categories, whether or not there are certified products in each category we review, we offer recommendations for getting the safest, healthiest product possible.
Our campaign is working to make sure that one day such a guide is unnecessary - because all products for babies, regardless of how much they cost, have been formulated without chemicals of concern. Until then, we all need help finding the best products for the little ones in our lives. This is what inspired today's launch of Getting Ready for Baby’s new Safe Baby Products Guide. Like childbirth, it was a labor of love, and we hope you find it useful.