How to avoid toxins during pregnancy and beyond (and why it *is* truly important!)
Okay okay okay of course the girl who sells Young Living is writing a blog post about avoiding toxins before, during, and after pregnancy but there is a good reason!
I want to start by saying this post could be…a lot. Some of what you read might feel heavy or shocking or overwhelming. I don’t want to scare you or make you feel like you need to make 297493 changes to your lifestyle (because pregnancy and parenthood in general both bring on a lot of changes!) However, my goal is to inform you the best I can with concrete information and try to make this as simple as possible for you.
You can make every single change I suggest all at once if that feels doable to you, or you can slowly make switches. While I believe everyone should try to limit their toxin exposure, those hoping to conceive and carry a baby should take extra precaution in this regard.
WHY are certain chemicals/ingredients are more dangerous than others?
Here’s the thing! Not every single chemical out there is harmful to your health or the environment! Chemicals are all around us and they are certainly not created equally in terms of their toxicity levels. Some are very toxic even in trace amounts while others a little more dosage based. How the atoms and particles are arranged plays a big factor into all of this and I’m not “sciency” enough to know more than that so we’ll leave it here. It’s nearly impossible to avoid all chemicals in our modern world, which is okay since they aren’t all hazardous to our health/planet. We should, however, do our best to limit exposure to the ones that have been PROVEN dangerous or are very much under question.
The biggest issue is that there is little to no regulation on which chemicals can and cannot be used here in the United States (some other countries take the health and safety of their citizens much more seriously and ban harmful chemicals from their products/food but in the US we value profit over people….so there’s that.)
Federal regulation around cosmetics alone has not been updated since…1938!!!!
So, until our government ACTUALLY does something about this health crisis and starts to be more proactive and vigilant about regulating toxic chemicals, it’s up to us as consumers to do what we can to limit exposure. We’ve been brainwashed to think that just because it’s sold on the store shelves or marketed as “gentle” “eco friendly” “for babies” etc that it’s safe and honestly that’s just not the case (most of the time.)
HOW they impact fertility, fetal development, and babies and parents after the baby is born.
Alright, this is the part where we talk about why it’s a good idea to start avoiding toxins in your everyday life before you’re trying to conceive. (kind of like how it’s recommended to start taking prenatal vitamins before you conceive)
Simply put, the products we wash ourselves in, clean our home with, the makeup/perfume/lotions/dry shampoos/regular shampoo/conditioner/the finger nail polish we use/what we cook our food/how we cook our food/how we grow out food/the food we eat/the mattress we sleep on/the paint on our walls and so on can all disrupt our endocrine systems (our many different hormones all needed for healthy body function and fertility- yes in men too!!!)
The nitty gritty:
There are over 1,400 chemicals that have been marked as endocrine disrupting (hormone system disrupting.)
Endocrine disrupting chemical exposure in females may result in sub-fertility, infertility, improper hormone production, estrous and menstrual cycle abnormalities, anovulation, and early reproductive senescence. (S. Rattan, C. Zhou, C. Chiang, S. Mahalingam, E. Brehm, and J. Flaws-2017)
More and more research and data is coming out that links infertility (in both men and women) directly to exposure to some environmental chemicals. Hormonal imbalances, low sperm count, and irregular cycles are becoming the new norm largely due to the widespread of endocrine disrupting chemicals found in in the vast majority of products we use, items we buy, and food we eat.
Even chronic exposure to very low doses of endocrine disrupting chemicals can cause severe health concerns. Unlike most other things in the world of toxicology, endocrine disrupting chemicals don’t follow “the dose makes the poison” theory.
On top of their ability to have major impacts on a person’s ability to conceive and carry a baby, they also have damaging and lasting affects on the embryo/fetus/baby.
On average, 232 chemicals are found in umbilical cord blood.
In a 2004 study, researchers examined the cord blood of 10 babies from across the US and were able to identify 287 chemicals. Of the 287 chemicals detected in umbilical cord blood, it’s known that 180 of them cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests.
Fetuses, babies, and children are more susceptible to the negative impacts of endocrine disrupting chemicals because their incomplete defense systems and because they are still rapidly developing.
A few other things to note about fetal, infant, toddler, and childhood exposures:
a baby's organs and systems are rapidly developing, and thus are often more vulnerable to damage from chemical exposure
a developing child's chemical exposures are greater pound-for-pound than those of adults.
an immature, porous blood-brain barrier allows greater chemical exposures to the developing brain.
children have lower levels of some chemical-binding proteins, allowing more of a chemical to reach "target organs."
body systems that detoxify and excrete industrial chemicals are not fully developed.
early exposure to chemicals allows for more exposure over a lifespan and the potential for more dangerous health concerns to accumulate.
So, basically our babies are coming fresh out of the womb already having been exposure to hundreds of toxic chemicals.
“Reducing exposure to toxic environmental agents is a critical area of intervention for obstetricians, gynecologists, and other reproductive health care professionals. The evidence that links exposure to toxic environmental agents and adverse reproductive and developmental health outcomes is sufficiently robust, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine join leading scientists and other clinical practitioners in calling for timely action to identify and reduce exposure to toxic environmental agents while addressing the consequences of such exposure.”
WHAT toxins are found in.
As I mentioned earlier, they’re everywhere. But here’s a little list to give you a general (non exhaustive) idea of where you’re likely to encounter toxic chemicals in our everyday lives":
beauty products/personal care products
cleaning products: laundry detergents/softeners/brighteners, dish soaps, household cleaners, window cleaners, carpet/mop solutions, etc.
food- either in the form of how it was grown (an organic strawberry vs a conventional strawberry have VERY different levels of pesticides) or the actual ingredients in the food.
food storage/packaging. think plastic containers of any variety.
furniture: often heavily coated with flame retardants (sounds nice but no that’s just a layer of toxic chemicals), chemical ridden sealants/paints/varnishes/ etc, and/or other toxins. everything from couches, rugs, cribs, mattresses, and beyond.
cookware: namely “nonstick” pots/pans, plastic food storage containers/cups/dishes, plastic serving utensils, plastic bottles/sippy cups, untested silicone, etc.
paints/varnishes/sealants/etc.
toys: lots of plastic toys, wooden toys if coated in toxic paint/varnish, teethers, etc.
This does not mean EVERY single thing in these categories is toxic but more so that it isn’t uncommon to find toxins in these types of things. Obviously there are low/no tox versions of most of these products but generally speaking you have to be pretty intentional about seeking them out.
SPECIFIC chemicals to avoid.
Okay this list is non exhaustive but here’s a good starting point of commonly found chemicals in many of the products we use that should especially be avoided
Fragrances
Phthalates
Methylisothiazolinone & Methylchloroisothiazolinone
BHA and BHT.
Coal tar dyes: p-phenylenediamine and colors listed as “CI” followed by a five digit number.
DEA-related ingredients
Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES)
Parabens
Dyes such as Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6
Oxybenzone
Formaldehyde & Formaldehyde-Releasing Preservatives
HOW to avoid them & what to replace them with.
So, now that we know endocrine disrupting chemicals are everywhere and can negatively impact both men and women, let’s talk about how to avoid them.
STEP 1: start reading ingredient labels. of. EVERYTHING. I knoooooow this sounds like a lot to take on (which is why I’ve given a few of my favorite low tox options below- not sponsored!) but getting in the habit of reading ingredient labels pays off in the long run.
screen shot the list above of the big baddies to avoid (of course there are more but these are the common ones that you should avoid at all costs!) so when you’re shopping you don’t have to memorize which ingredients are and aren’t safe.
think: what is this toy/garment/teether/laundry soap/cereal/facial cream/chips/etc etc made of?
STEP 2: ditch the unnecessary things- perfume, cologne, candles, air fresheners, etc. (I give healthy alternatives to all of these below if you still want pleasant smells in your life but you’ll save money if you just…stop buying these things.)
STEP 3: review the lists below of inexpensive, moderate, and big investment swaps. and start where it makes sense for YOU. in need of a new mattress? then dig into nontoxic mattresses. run out of laundry detergent? replace it with a non toxic version. it doesn’t have to be all or nothing or all at once. you certainly CAN do it all at once if that’s in your budget but find the balance that works for you.
if you want an easy button on low tox switches for household and personal care products, I’d recommend checking out Young Living’s subscription program. While I definitely buy nontoxic stuff from many other places, I get a lot of my staples from YL at a big discount and I don’t have to constantly read ingredient labels/research/etc. They’re one of the brands I completely trust with ingredients and sourcing. If you’re interested in knowing more about Young Living/wanting 1:1 support to ditch toxins from your home send me an email or message on Instagram :)
I like to suggest a few categories of changes to make.
SMALL, INEXPENSIVE, & EASY NONTOXIC SWAPS:
vacuum/sweep/mop often: helps reduce allergen/dust/dirt/chemical accumulation. we have a cordless vacuum and i can 100% say it makes it SO much easier to vacuum on a regular basis. we vacuum literally multiple times a day. we also got a steam mop over the summer and I’m obsessed. no toxic cleaning solutions, no mess, no wasteful single use swiffer pads, no wiping dirty water all over the floor lol.
cleaning products: it should be a major red flag that pregnant people are told to avoid heavy household cleaning because of the ingredients found in common cleaning products. we breath them in, they get on our skin, we eat off of the plates/surfaces/etc that they “clean.” personally all of my cleaning products come from young living. 100% plant based, nontoxic, super concentrated so they last forever, and the thieves cleaning line is known to be MORE effective at killing mold than bleach!!!! for real!!! top recs: thieves household cleaner (we use this to clean literally every surface in our home, it’s incredibly versatile) thieves laundry detergent, and thieves dish soap! you can get them each individually but this bundle is what I would recommend to save major money and swap out quite a few toxic cleaning products!
candles and air fresheners: typically contain artificial fragrance which somehow gets listed as a single ingredient even though terms like “fragrance” or “perfume” can be any number of undisclosed chemicals. lots of candles contain paraffin wax which when burned releases highly toxic benzene and toluene (both are known carcinogens.) wicks often contain heavy metals. air fresheners also have their own line up of toxic ingredients. the easiest and cheapest swap here is just to get rid of them and not replace them with anything if you don’t feel like having scents is a big deal. but, if you do want pleasant aromas around your home, you have a few options! there are a few non toxic candle brands out there (but they can be hard to find and you need to be hyper aware of which ingredients are and aren’t safe.) I personally go with an essential oil diffuser and some quality essential oils. (I only get my oils from Young Living because they have some of the most rigorous testing standards, use zero chemicals/pesticides, and have been the industry leader for well over two decades. since EOs have gained popularity recently, there are lots of cheap brands out there but many of them are either diluted with water or another oil, made of synthetic fragrance (which is what we’re trying to avoid in the first place!) or grown using pesticides/not harvested/distilled properly.) get some oils and a diffuser here for 24%+ off! you can also easily make air freshener sprays with a few drops EO, some water, a tiny pinch of salt or which hazel, and a spray bottle!
wash clothing/bedding/etc before using: most clothing, textiles, etc are coated with formaldehyde and other chemicals before they’re shipped to prevent mildew growth and wrinkles. one of the easiest and cheapest ways you can reduce toxin exposure is to simply wash your clothing/bedding/etc before using it! pro tip: wash with a fragrance free, nontoxic detergent!
makeup: we literally look for “long lasting” and hope it doesn’t wear off by noon..so, it’s sitting on and getting absorbed into our skin pretty much all day long. my personal favorite nontoxic makeup brands are Ilia (not sponsored, but this link gets you $20 off!), Honest Beauty, and W3ll People.
perfumes/colognes: another one that sinks into our skin all day long. (even worse because we spray it right over our thyroid/major lymphatic drainage areas and on our wrists- neck and wrists are areas that often come in direct contact with a baby’s body! double whammy!) there are a few cleaner options on the market for perfumes/colognes that I haven’t tried (I’ve heard good things about Dime.) Personally if I want to smell nice I put on some of my favorite essential oils (which is cool too because I can easily and cheaply mix and match them depending on my mood/smell I want for the day.)
toiletries/personal care products: again, we order a lot of this from young living because it’s easy, effective, smells nice, and saves us money. a few other favorites are dr. bronner’s soaps, primally pure skincare line.
feminine care products: because of course women’s health products are made of/coated in toxins. ya know, the stuff we stick right in/on our vaginas? anyways, I haven’t had a consistent period since the end of 2019 due to pregnancies and breastfeeding but here are a few of my old go to’s for nontoxic feminine care
soaps: first off- just ditch the summer’s eve. it’s incredibly toxic and unnecessary. plain and simple your vagina is not meant to smell like a field of flowers or a fresh summer breeze. (if you truly feel like there is foul odor coming from down under check with your health care provider!!!!!) wash with unscented soap instead (I like dr. bronner’s unscented castile soap)
pads: opt for organic cotton. thankfully organic cotton pads and tampons are SO much easier to find than they used to be!! the last thing you want/need in a pad (or tampon) is for it to be made of rayon/polyester/be coated in artificial fragrance. I’ve often purchased the Rael brand, L., or LOLA. There are so many brands available now of nontoxic/sustainable pads/tampons (at places like walmart and target too!) a quick google search “nontoxic pads” can also help you narrow down your search.
tampons: same deal as pads except instead of just on/near your vagina it’s IN your vagina. brands I like are L. and LOLA.
menstrual cups: my go to for several years before my period hiatus. I’ve had the same diva cup for a lonnnnnng time but since then there are many more brands available to choose from! sounds messy and gross but once you get the hang of it it’s actually amazing how well they work and how much waste they eliminate from the environment!!!
reusable period underwear: so I bought some of these when I did end up getting my first period back after ruth was born (I’ve literally only had three periods since she was born) and thought they would be a good option. They ARE! but, the brand I bought contains PFAS (forever chemicals that never ever go away) which is not readily available information on their website (see, everyone is out to pull one over on you and make you think their products are safer than they really are) I’m going to buy some new ones for postpartum bleeding and for when I eventually get my cycle again and will likely go with one of these brands:
take your shoes off at the door: reduces the number of pesticides/herbicides, chemicals/gasoline/etc etc etc getting tracked through your home! we have hardwood floors throughout a good amount of our home so I tend to wear comfortable slippers/house shoes inside during the winter and only wear them indoors.
deodorant: often contain aluminum, fragrance, my two personal favorites that I cycle between (because I feel like I’ll use one brand for a while and love it and suddenly after a few months feel like it doesn’t work any more?? so I switch every so often) young living mountain mint, young living valor, and most scents from american provenance. edgar bought a mix 5 pack from them awhile ago and I don’t remember what the scents are but I borrow them when I need a switch and have been very pleased!)
open windows regularly: the air inside our homes is 3-5 times WORSE than the air outside. open those windows and let the fresh air circulate!!
diapers/wipes: it always makes me sad/mad that baby products are coated with chemicals but alas here we are. lots of diapers/wipes are made of plastics which emit VOCs. many contain phthalates, parabens, bisphenols, the fluorinated compounds known as PFAS, artificial fragrances/lotions, and flame-retardant chemicals. they’re also often bleached. personally we chose to invest in non toxic, sustainably made cloth diapers (investment up front but waaaay cheaper in the long run!) we love them!! we also often use organic flannel wipes and just wash and reuse them. but we also use disposables overnight/on the go and feel good about dyper diapers and nest diapers. for wipes we’ve mostly just done reusable organic flannel wipes but have used dyper wipes, naty wipes, and water wipes if we’re on the go!
food: I completely understand that going all local/organic/plastic free might not be in your budget! (it’s not in mine that’s for sure.) I try to get as much organic as possible with as little plastic packaging but I always make sure to prioritize getting the EWG’s dirty dozen (12 fruits/veg that contain the highest levels of pesticides) organic and buying their list of the clean 15 (15 fruits/veg that aren’t sprayed as heavily/don’t contain many pesticides) find the clean 15, dirty dozen list here. if you eat meat/dairy I would personally recommend getting all organic if you can swing it. we get a LOT of our pantry staples from thrive market because they’re cheaper than at almost any store, almost everything is clean/organic/etc. and there’s the added bonus that it gets delivered to my door ;) (use this link to get 40% off your first order!!!!!)
food storage / dishes: start swapping out any plastic containers, dishes, cutlery, water bottles, bottles, thermoses, etc for glass, tested silicone, or stainless steal. we love these leak free food storage containers.
laundry: most commonly found/popular laundry detergents/softeners contain lots of chemicals that stay on your clothes which then get absorbed into your skin/system! fragrance, SLS, optical brighteners, formaldehyde, bleach, dioxane, etc. are all EASILY found in laundry products and are all toxic in one way or another and are all 100% unnecessary to having clean, good smelling laundry! we use the thieves laundry detergent because it’s safe and effective and you can dilute it quite a bit so it lasts a very long time! a few other laundry swaps: use wool drier balls in place of chemical ridden dryer sheets/fabric softener, use thieves bar soap to spot treat stains, use peroxide for blood stains, and lemon essential oil to whiten whites!
MID LEVEL SWAPS:
bedding: again, we spend a LOT of time in bed, so investing in some organic sheets (or at least any sheets that AREN’T some kind of poly blend) can go a long way! organic cotton, bamboo, and linen are all great options!
clothing: if possible (and in our budget) we try to buy organic/sustainably made clothing if we’re buying brand new items. some places are definitely more ethical/sustainable than others but we do our best to find what works for us and items we truly love. clothing sits on our body all day and our skin absorbs what it’s made of/what it’s been sprayed with. our bodies literally absorb PLASTIC when we wear clothing made of plastic materials. so while I try my best to get myself better options, I was adement that our new baby would only wear organic clothing and no plastics/polyester/acrylic/etc. a few favorite brands (again, some better than others and some more affordable than others): pact, h&m conscious line, vetta capsule, love & confuse linen, everlane, kate quinn, gap organic.
toys: a few of our favorite nontoxic toys/teethers are from oli & carol and hevea. (babies and young toddlers by design put everything in their mouths so getting chemical free toys/teethers IS important! and as they grow they’ll still constantly be in close contact with their toys so this is always going to be of importance. does it mean every single toy that comes into your house/your little one plays with has to be top of the line nontoxic? no, don’t stress yourself out like that. BUT trying to find some balance is a good idea. for toddler/kid toys we really like this montessori based subscription (non sponsored but this link gets you $20 off!), brentwood home play couch (a more eco friendly/low tox version of the nugget play couch), and bannor toys.
cookware: most nonstick cookware releases chemicals when heated (and even more if scratched!) plastic dishes are a general pass for me (even bpa free because there’s something else questionable taking the place of bpa) so we use stainless steal pots and pans, a cast iron pan, and recently bought this non toxic non stick saute pan because after many years of making eggs and pancakes and french toast, etc on the cast iron/stainless steal pans we never mastered not having them stick/get crispy. we’ve had it for a few weeks so far and love it!
BIG, INVESTMENT SWAPS:
mattress and/or crib mattress: while we personally didn’t end up using our crib mattress much, it did give me some comfort knowing my baby wasn’t breathing in/sleeping on a pile of toxic chemicals. we went with this crib mattress! for our own mattress, edgar and I bought a tuft & needle king a few years ago because it was decently low tox and within our budget! and it is SO comfortable!!
rugs: opting for natural fibers is a good place to start- wool, jute, cotton. better yet if it’s organic/fair trade/sustainably made! we’ve gotten a couple rugs from west elm over the years that are all great quality and sustainably made.
furniture: this is one area we personally haven’t made any major swaps in yet! we’ve gotten a lot of IKEA furniture over the years which does tend to be slightly less toxic/use more sustainable materials than most other brands but they certainly aren’t perfect either.
And that’s it! of course there is more I could add to these lists but this is a very lengthy list already and most certainly a good starting point. Have questions? Don’t hesitate to ask! And best of luck to you during your pregnancy and postpartum journey!
