Babies are expensive! Clothing, furniture, formula, diapers….the list of expenses never seems ends for new parents. Hand me down clothes seem like a great way to save money. Why should you spend hundreds of dollars on clothes when baby will only wear them for a couple of weeks? Unfortunately, the toxins and dyes used in baby clothes can put your child’s health at risk. With all the risks, how are you supposed to know where to start to keep your child safe? And really, are hand me down clothes that bad? Children have been wearing them for years, surely they are safe.
So how can babies clothes be so bad? Well, manufacturers do not care about your child’s safety and well being. They care about profits. The cheaper and quicker they can make clothing, the more money they make. Unfortunately, quicker and cheaper means products that include toxins that can be very dangerous to your infant. Consider all the products and chemicals that come into contact with a child’s clothing before it makes it home? Think about the pesticides that make cotton growing profitable, the oils and sprays used in the manufacturing process and the chemicals used to make clothing crisp and ready to wear in the store. Add to that the chemicals in laundry detergents and cleaning products, how do you know what you are exposing your child to when you don them in hand me down clothes?
If you can, organic baby clothes are the best way to go. But, the expense of organic clothing can be difficult for many new parents to afford. So, if you can not afford them, what is a conscious parent to do? First, try to purchase new clothing because new manufacturing processes are safer than older processes. Besides that: Wash, wash and wash. Any new or used clothing you receive or purchase for your child should be washed to rinse out as many toxins as possible. Use a dye and deodorant free detergent to avoid adding more toxins.