“There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to motherhood,” says Yasmine Moussa, blogger and entrepreneur. Yasmine’s blog, The Gentle Nursery, helps expecting and current moms take the guesswork out of making safe, non-toxic choices for their families. In today’s episode on The Momologist™, Yasmine breaks down how to create the best baby registry for your needs.
Yasmine explains that the first step to creating your baby registry is to decide what types of products you want and choose where to register based on the availability of those products. It’s important to include items for yourself for during and after pregnancy on your registry as well. She recommends including unique ideas such as a diaper fund, a doula fund, and other crowdfunding-style options to ensure your needs are met once the baby arrives. Yasmine dives into each area of baby care, from formula and diapers to crib mattresses and car seats, to help listeners learn what to look for and what to avoid.
Tune into this week’s episode on The Momologist™ for a conversation about making healthy product choices for yourself and your baby and how to create the perfect baby registry without getting overwhelmed. Join us as Yasmine breaks down important safety tips for mothers, so they can choose the most natural, non-toxic products for their baby. If you are pregnant, thinking of becoming pregnant, or have a loved one who is pregnant, don’t miss out on this episode!
Quotes
• “Just start with selection. Which stores are going to offer the products that you’re going to want for your baby? Really start with product selection. Look for places that offer what you want or they give you access to the products that you want through a universal baby registry.” (13:20-13:57)
• “There’s also things that are going to support you as a new mom…you also want to include things that are going to support you in the postpartum like breast pump parts, nursing accessories, parenting books. Remember, this is happening to the whole family, so you want to factor yourself in as well and don’t just make it a baby registry but really help your guests provide you with what you’re going to need.” (29:13-29:41)
• “I think the cooler thing to do is to have a diaper fund on your registry. That’s one of those alternative crowd-funding things that you can add to some of your registries. I really like the idea of a diaper fund. And the reason I think it’s good to not overwhelm yourself with a diaper stash before your baby is born is because sometimes babies react to diapers. You might have to switch brands.” (45:59-46:27)
• “Your baby’s crib mattress is the most important item to have nontoxic in your nursery because your baby spends thousands and thousands of hours sleeping in their first year of life and the materials in your baby’s crib mattress can off-gas into their breathing zone…You definitely want to avoid anything in your baby’s crib mattress along the lines of synthetic fabrics, polyester, even things labeled as eucalyptus. Vinyl waterproofing is a really big one because that’s a big off-gasser. Flame retardant chemicals. You want to look for mattresses that are naturally flame resistant using materials like wool. Avoid polyurethane film. Whenever possible in life I would say avoid polyurethane film. Ideally, when it comes to mattresses, you want to avoid products that are made in China. As far as I’m concerned, your crib mattress is where the budget should go. Do not cut corners on the crib mattress.” (51:29-52:55)
• “There’s no hard and fast rules when it comes to motherhood.” (1:12:00-1:12:03)
• “Keep the baby toys simple in the very beginning especially. Your baby doesn’t need a lot in the beginning. They really just want to see your face and do peek-a-boo. Keep it simple, especially when your baby is little.” (1:19:18-1:19:34)
• “As far as from a toxicity standpoint, it’s very important to consider what your baby’s playing with, how sensitive they are and what materials something is made from. A lot of times with babies under ten months, everything ends up in their mouth. So, during this short period of time, you really want to prioritize non-toxic toys, non-toxic materials.” (1:20:02-1:20:28)
• “I don’t want anybody to get overwhelmed. That is not the goal. The goal is to feel empowered and the goal is to feel like you have a good sense of what matters, what matters to you, and what you can do something about and what you can’t do something about. You can’t control everything. That’s not the goal. It’s to control what matters and influence what matters.” (1:25:42-1:26:04)
• “Flame retardant chemicals are generally known to be quite ineffective at reducing flammability. Certain product classes require flammability testing and resistance. A lot of mattresses, car seats, manufacturers will use flame retardant chemicals to meet these government regulations. The problem with that is that’s kind of the cheap and easy way of doing it, of meeting these regulations, passing these regulations and being able to put your product out on the market. But the problem is these flame retardant chemicals are ineffective, and really unhealthy. There are numbers and numbers of firefighters that have gone on record stating that these chemicals make fires more toxic, are not achieving anything, and are just hurting the individuals that are exposed to them.” (1:30:37-1:31:39)
• “The best advice I can give you as a mom who has been there, done it, and learned things along the way is just to be true to yourself. The only time I really regret decisions that I made is when I didn’t trust myself and I listened to other people that I thought I should be listening to. That’s when I kind of get down on myself and I think okay I wasn’t honoring myself. I know I have my own preferences. I know what works for me and when I didn’t do that that’s when I felt like I wasn’t happy with the choices that I made. Really be true to yourself. Know that you can do things differently, you can do things your own way. You can do what works for you and that’s okay. That’s perfectly a great way to start out your motherhood journey, by really being true to yourself and knowing what matters to you. Everything else will fall into place.” (1:48:33-1:49:26)
Notable Links:
Episode References:
Episode 1: Preparing For a Non-Toxic Pregnancy with Emma Rohmann of Green At Home
Episode 9: Child-Proofing In and Around Your Home with Brett Horn, founder of Charlie’s House
Website: www.gentlenursery.com
IG: @thegentlenursery
FB: The Gentle Nursery
FB Group: Non-Toxic Mommies
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Topic Links:
Crib Mattresses:
https://www.gentlenursery.com/natural-baby-registry-guide/non-toxic-organic-crib-mattresses/
Car Seats:
https://www.gentlenursery.com/natural-baby-registry-guide/non-toxic-car-seats/
Formula:
https://www.gentlenursery.com/natural-baby-registry-guide/best-organic-baby-formula/
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