Favorite Natural Products - Page 3 « Back to Group Discussions

[LunaLady]

I made my family cloth out of flannel. I used a flannel sheet I had that had gotten torn.

For Rhyko's wipes I bought receiving blankets from Goodwill. They were $.50 and about a yard of fabric each, so a real bargain. I got about a dozen wipes from each receiving blanket. 

For the kitchen towels I used old t-shirts cut into suitable sized wipes.

[Jaimee]

I have a tall kitchen trash can in the bathroom downstairs where most of our bathroom needs are taken care of.  I line it with a gusseted wetbag that I bought from The Fuzzi Bunz Store, but there are others like this Planet Wise wetbag.  Upstairs in our bathroom, I have a little diaper bin that I line with a Bummis medium sized wetbag and I also have a hanging zippered wetbag in the upstairs guest bathroom.  On the back of each toilet I have a wicker basket where I store the wipes and a bottle of wipe solution.  If no one is sick, we need to wash every three days and we have a LOT of wipes.  I'd say dh and ds1 each use about 4-6 per day, dd and I probably each use 10-15 per day, and Avery might use upwards of 20 per day b/c I'm pottying him and wiping out the little potty (otherwise he would only use 10-15).  If someone is sick, then we end up washing every 36 hours or so b/c of the nose blowing.  So you can add up the possible number of wipes your family would use per day and then multiply it by the number of days you'd like to go between washings and that's how many wipes you'd need.  Every other day washing is very manageable.

Now, other families might have separate containers for pee wipes and poop wipes and use the wet pail method for the poop wipes.  But that seems like WAY too much work for me!

[LunaLady]

Jaimee - do you wash your 'kleenex' wipes with your bathroom wipes? And do you use Avery's wipes to wipe off his hands or face? I've been doing those things, but I wonder if I shouldn't.... I'd like to think my washer gets everything clean and I always run diapers/family cloth on hot and the 'sanitize' cycle of the dryer, so.... it's clean, right?

[Jaimee]

I do, but if someone is sick I add 15 drops of TTO to the wash cycle.

[ZippyGirl]

I'm usually a lurker, but I LOVE these kinds of threads.  (BTW, I have a son who was born at home on Thanksgiving morning!)  Okay, here's what we use:

• Shampoo/conditioner:  Max Green Alchemy
• Body soaps: shower gels, soaps, face soap, etc.:  Weleda bar soaps, Eminence Organics Exfoliating Scrub for face wash
• Shaving cream:  Don't shave -- instead use a midieval torture device to rip hair out; husband uses Weleda shave cream
• Deodorant:  Funk Butter mixed with a bit of Earth Mama Body Butter (so the BS in the Funk Butter won't irritate my skin)
• Make up, nail polish, etc.:  Dr. Haushka and Aveda make-up; nothing for nails
• Hair products, coloring, etc.:  Nothing
• Feminine hygiene: Breastfeeding!  (One AF retruns, I'll use Always )
• Dental care: toothpaste, floss, mouth wash, etc.:  Desert Essence and Dental Herb Company
• Vitamins and supplements:  Integrative Therapeutics Prenatal, New Chapter Probiotics, Green Pastures Fermented CLO/High-Vitamin Butter Oil, Designs for Health PaleoReds, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Digestive Bitters, Colostrum (sometimes), etc., etc.
• Dish soap, dishwasher detergent:  Earth Friendly Products
• Household cleaners: counter/sink cleaners, floor cleaners, toilet cleaner, etc.:  Water and soap for floors and countertops (can't use vinegar on our honed countertops, bath tile, or whey-based wood floor finish); Eco-Me, and vinegar where it won't strip or harm natural finishes 
• Laundry detergent and other laundry products:  Earth Friendly Products or Bio-Kleen detergent; essential oils in dryer
• Baby products: soaps, lotions, diaper cream, diapers, etc.:  Earth Mama Angel Baby bottom balm, LuSa Organics diaper wipe soluion,  LuSa sleeping potion, Weleda shampoo and body wash (for older child -- still not bathing baby), Think Baby sunscreen; no lotions for either child; Little Beetle and Firefly Diapers (Sev. Gen. when we use disposables)

[jill the pill]

I forgot to mention two of my favorite natural products.  Tate's The Natural Miracle Conditioner is amazing stuff!  It just got rid of Audrey's cradle cap in three days and you don't have to wash it off.  Its not greasy at all.  It can be used for so many things...leave in hair conditioner, body lotion, lip balm, makeup remover, furniture polish.   My other natural product that I absolutely can't live without is my bidet.  My DH convinced me to get one and he was right.  We don't even need tp anymore and no wipe or anything else even comes close to getting you as clean as the bidet.   It was great post partum also.  I will never go back!

[seraf]

Do you just dry off after the bidet?

We use different sized rectangles of jersey, flannel or terry for everything.  Diapers, mama cloth, family cloth, burps, breast pads and tissues.  The only backside any of them touch belong to the baby, tho.  

We use cloth napkins and oil rags (they were new when we got them) for napkins and kitchen stuff.

[jill the pill]

yes, just dry off! 

[augustmom]

I use Melaleuca products. EcoSense cleaners, laundry.  I use their Vitality Pack Vites and Omegas. Plus I take spirulina supplements, and probiotics, too. 

[KayPea]

ZippyGirl, you mentioned that you haven't been bathing the baby yet. Do you clean the dirty parts (ears, hands, bum, neck cheese etc) with a moist cloth or anything, or just leave baby be? I've been feeling a bit of Mama-guilt for not washing baby enough. I wipe him out of the tub all the time, but we only do tub time every week or 10 days (right now it's been 2 weeks.)  We got into this habit with DD, who HATED bath time like we were trying to dip her in acid, even though Oren quite likes the bath. It's also much harder to have lovely mama-baby bath time with a toddler around too. 

[Abraisme]

I only wash Coralie about once a week.  I put a tiny bit of organic baby shampoo in the water and clean her dirty areas (neck, bum, ears, etc).  I only use shampoo on my toddler about once a month, but she takes a bath every few days.
 

Originally Posted by KayPea 

ZippyGirl, you mentioned that you haven't been bathing the baby yet. Do you clean the dirty parts (ears, hands, bum, neck cheese etc) with a moist cloth or anything, or just leave baby be? I've been feeling a bit of Mama-guilt for not washing baby enough. I wipe him out of the tub all the time, but we only do tub time every week or 10 days (right now it's been 2 weeks.)  We got into this habit with DD, who HATED bath time like we were trying to dip her in acid, even though Oren quite likes the bath. It's also much harder to have lovely mama-baby bath time with a toddler around too. 

[jbk21]

i do this too.

Originally Posted by Abraisme 

I only wash Coralie about once a week.  I put a tiny bit of organic baby shampoo in the water and clean her dirty areas (neck, bum, ears, etc).  I only use shampoo on my toddler about once a month, but she takes a bath every few days.
 

[Jaimee]

We clean dirty parts with a bit of Dr. Bronner's (it's in my wipe solution).  Avery gets bathed maybe once a week, sometimes less.  My other kids get bathed almost every day since they get quite dirty playing outside, at school, and when eating (ds1 gets food in his hair almost everyday).  Frequent bathing can be good for eczema prone skin (provided it's followed by something that seals the moisture in) and we're all eczema prone around here.

[jill the pill]

I bathe Audrey only once a week and just give her a wipedown with water and a washcloth in the meantime.  Anyone have any suggestions for what to put under their neck when it gets red?  Vaseline works great but I really don't want to use it.

[Jaimee]

Anything water repellant would be good.  So oils (like apricot, coconut, etc.), lanolin, Alba's unpetroleum jelly, etc.

[Abraisme]

I've used the natural version of Butt Paste.  It always works quickly.
 

Originally Posted by jill the pill 

I bathe Audrey only once a week and just give her a wipedown with water and a washcloth in the meantime.  Anyone have any suggestions for what to put under their neck when it gets red?  Vaseline works great but I really don't want to use it.

[ZippyGirl]

Originally Posted by KayPea 

ZippyGirl, you mentioned that you haven't been bathing the baby yet. Do you clean the dirty parts (ears, hands, bum, neck cheese etc) with a moist cloth or anything, or just leave baby be? I've been feeling a bit of Mama-guilt for not washing baby enough. I wipe him out of the tub all the time, but we only do tub time every week or 10 days (right now it's been 2 weeks.)  We got into this habit with DD, who HATED bath time like we were trying to dip her in acid, even though Oren quite likes the bath. It's also much harder to have lovely mama-baby bath time with a toddler around too. 

I wipe him down every morning with a moist cloth and make sure I get all of his bum and folds cleaned out really well.  I use California Baby powder or Earth Mama Angel Baby Oil in his folds to try to keep them nice and clean.  If I miss this step, he definitely gets cheesy.  But, I have to say, he always seems really clean and has a nice, sweet baby smell!  I did end up giving him his first bath a few days ago because we had been traveling, and he got a little funky.  The bath dried him out a bit, though, so I feel that the wipe-downs are a good route for him in particular.   

[Jaimee]

I just made deodorant!  I used the recipe that (I think) Christina posted.  It was so easy!  I can't wait to try it!

 

[Jaimee]

Okay, so I've been doing the OCM for about three months now and there was about a 2 week period in there that my skin looked pretty good.  Otherwise, my skin has been bumpy, more pimply, and sort of ruddy color since starting the method.  I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong (I've been following the directions, though perhaps not leaving the warm washcloth on as long), have the wrong oils (I'm using castor and jojoba), wrong mixture of the oils (I'm using 1 part castor to 2 parts jojoba) or if my skin is just not happy with this method.  I'm about ready to throw in the towel, but thought I'd post for suggestions first.

[Jaimee]

On the bright side, the deodorant is still working great!