Hello again, Readers! Has it already been one week since the first Raising a Green Fledgling post? Sorry for the delay, but things have been busy at Nature Canada – and at home – lately!

As promised, this second part in the series will describe what my wife and I – the “we” in this series – did to create a healthy, harmful chemical-free environment for our baby prior to her arrival, in three steps*. I won’t talk about food-borne synthetic chemicals in this post, but check back later.

1. Taking stock. Have you ever looked at what goes into the cleaning, personal care, decorating and maintenance products you use around the house? Several years ago we did a rough inventory of the synthetic chemicals to which we were being exposed in common household products. The list included exotic-sounding chemicals like dioxins, sodium lauryl sulfates, parabens, phthalates and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) flame retardants, among countless others. The David Suzuki Foundation is one of several groups with a list of commonly-used chemicals to which you should limit and/or prevent exposure. These sorts of chemicals are used in anything from product fragrances to product preservatives.

But why limit exposure to them? Well, many of these chemicals are ubiquitous, such as PBDE flame retardants in pillows, furniture and even on children’s clothing, and they have been shown to have various negative impacts on human health. These can range from mild skin irritation, to reproductive effects and even cancer – start at Health Canada’s website for more information. Given that we were planning to eventually start a family, we also worried about the potential for fetal exposure to chemicals during pregnancy.

2. Making changes. We gradually reduced the number of products containing harmful synthetic chemicals we brought into our home. This meant reading ingredient labels very closely (though many chemicals are unlisted) and choosing more natural alternatives to certain products, like soaps, toothpaste and shampoo. There are a number of companies helping Canadian consumers to choose more natural alternatives to everything from personal care products, to cleaners and even home decorating supplies, including Green Beaver, Nature Clean, Seventh Generation, Burt’s Bees, Avalon Organics, Beauti-Tone Natura paints, and many, many others**. We also recycled and disposed of our BPA or bisphenol A-containing plastic products and switched to metal or glass containers for food and drinks.

As the time came to decorate our daughter’s nursery, we chose as many healthy, environmentally-benign products as possible, such as low-VOC (volatile organic compound) paints, organic fabrics, natural cleaners, rugs made from natural materials and low-VOC plastics.

Now that our daughter is here, we’ve tried to find as many ‘natural’ baby care products as possible, too. I’ll write about our diapering strategy in the next couple of posts, but for now I’ll report that we’re using a highly effective natural disinfectant spray to clean surfaces she’s exposed to outside the home, such as change tables. We also use small amounts of tea-tree oil to limit offensive odors associated with soiled diapers.

3. Resisting temptation. There is lots of aggressive marketing for products that are not necessarily ideal to have in your home. Lots of “product W leads to result X, saving you Y dollars and bringing you Z satisfaction”, with no mention of the harmful synthetic chemicals present in product W. Despite the limited marketing around natural alternatives to common household products, they often work just as well. You just have to do without the excessive perfumes, soapy suds and almost effortless results you get with harsher products.

There’s no way to completely avoid one’s exposure to synthetic chemicals in modern society, no matter how hard we try. Not to mention, this lifestyle choice still comes at a premium and is not possible for everyone to afford. Then there’s the issue of availability – I grew up in a small town, so I understand this aspect very well. The key is really to become more aware of the synthetic chemicals in your home and workplace and to ask whether or not you understand their potential effects on your health and that of the people around you. If not, look for more information and start asking retailers to provide product information to you.

Over time we can all create healthier, more natural environments in which to live, work and play.

Next week I’ll be back with a post on thinking about how to gradually connect our little girl to nature as she gets older.

Photos: A. MacDonald

*DISCLAIMER 1: I’ve provided a general, non-exhaustive overview of some steps I took to reduce levels of synthetic chemicals in my home. This post is for information only and should not be interpreted as lifestyle advice or judgment. I also acknowledge the difficulty in fully explaining all the caveats, concerns and considerations around harmful synthetic chemicals in such a brief post. I welcome any feedback and suggestions on what I’ve shared and acknowledge that there are many different and equally (and more) successful approaches to achieving the same goal.

**DISCLAIMER 2: The companies specifically named and web-linked above are provided as examples only, based on my personal shopping experience. In no way does my mentioning them in this post represent Nature Canada’s endorsement of these companies and/0r their respective products. Readers are encouraged to do their own research into commercially available natural products.