What is a Natural Baby Product?

What makes a baby product natural and what doesn’t qualify as a natural baby product? What is the difference between an organic and a natural baby product? For all products synthetic, organic, and natural, the FDA has a set of regulations governing what qualifies as natural, from the initial ingredients to the processing procedures for all ingredients. Although no government laws regulate what food, drug, and clothing products are natural, organic, or neither, most natural products, including many natural baby products, follow the regulations stated by the FDA. For a natural baby product, including both mattresses and clothes, the product must contain all natural fibers and be created with all natural methods, and all natural dyes must be used to color the product.

A natural product, including a natural baby product, must start out from all natural materials and must be derived from non-synthetic or made-made sources. A natural baby product, for example, must be created from recognized food sources, including plants, inorganic minerals, and animals, and this regulation excludes such harmful ingredients from a natural baby product, including parabens, phthalates, propylene glycol, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, and DEA. A synthetic ingredient, on the other hand, is one not derived from natural sources with biological or accepted processing or handling methods. In addition, if the product is being advertised as natural, the methods of derivation and the ingredients must be disclosed on the product. For example, if a natural baby product claims to be made from 100-percent natural cotton, it’s processing method should be indicated on the packaging, including being made with no bleach and containing no synthetic, or “filler,” fibers, and if dyes are used, their source should also be disclosed.

The processing of any natural product, including any natural baby product, also needs to be a natural process, as well. Processing must not add artificial ingredients to the product, and artificial ingredients include additives, colorings, coloring agents, flavorings, preservatives, antibiotics, hormones, processing aids, carriers, GMOs, or any synthetic contaminants from packaging. Also, if solvents are used in processing, the solvents must be found in nature with no artificial substances added. While many natural baby products are dyed, however, they are done so with natural dyes derived from plant or food sources. Acceptable processing methods for a natural product include cleaning, dehydrating, drying, filtering, cold pressing, grinding, chopping, natural water or alcohol extraction, roasting, heating, enzyme treatments, fermentation, hydrolysis, extraction with natural solvents, expelled pressing, steam distillation, supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, baking, mixing, cutting, evaporating, or freezing. Gamma ray irradiation can be included, as long as it is used for preservation by thermal, sound, or photochemical methods, such as microwaves, ultrasound, UV, or infrared light. If you divide up the process of how natural fibers for many natural baby products are made from, including cotton and bamboo, the process involves many of these natural processing methods.

A product, including many baby products on the market, is not considered natural if the creation process involves synthetic solvent extraction, synthetic additions, or hydrogenation. If gamma ray irradiation is involved in processing, unnatural methods for using gamma ray irradiation include preservation by nuclear or thermo-nuclear techniques. For a product to be natural, all natural ingredients must not undergo any chemical changes, such as changes in one or more covalent bonds, during processing.

A natural baby product, be it a mattress or natural baby clothes, needs to comply by these standards. Although these FDA standards generally apply to food advertised as being natural, it applies to other materials claiming to be natural so the consumer doesn’t buy any synthetic products or products containing man-made chemicals.











      Organic Baby Clothing       Organic Bedding       Organic Mattresses       Wooden Toys       Organic Mattress Information   What is a Natural Baby Product?   Natural Baby Products       Organic Baby Product      Organic Baby Products    Organic Crib Mattress Information