As any parent will tell you, the arrival of a new baby comes with joy, laughter, and a brand new list of concerns. You want to keep them safe, healthy, and happy—and part of that includes evaluating the products you use on and around them all day. 

You read ingredient labels. You look for “all-natural” whenever you can. But it can still feel like an overwhelming task to sort through all the gimmicks and marketing to find what’s truly safe for you and your family. 

The Challenge of Finding Healthier Household Products

It’s not in your head; it’s become trickier than ever to determine whether household and personal care products are truly safe to use these days. That’s because many products in the U.S. are unfortunately not required to disclose their full ingredient lists. The word "fragrance" on a label, for example, can mask hundreds of individual chemicals, none of which have to be named.

Many brands have also mastered the art of greenwashing, using buzzwords like “natural” or “clean” on their labels without using ingredients that truly support those claims. For most busy parents, trying to figure out which products are safe for your baby can be time-consuming, confusing, and all-around exhausting—and we know you don’t need one more thing to lose sleep over.

Five Baby Steps Towards a Safer Home 

The truth is, you don’t need to overhaul everything overnight, and you don’t need to spend a ton of money to create a healthier home for your baby. Starting with small changes, like reducing exposure to plastics and harmful chemicals, can make a big impact. This is especially true when it comes to the products or surfaces your baby interacts with every day.

Below, we’re sharing five easy swaps for parents hoping to make their home healthier for their little ones. These natural baby products and household swaps are affordable and simple, making them a great place to start. Hopefully these tweaks can help you sleep a little better at night—at least until that next 2am feeding. 

1. Switch to human-safe laundry detergent

The laundry detergent you use on your little one’s clothes is just as important as fabric that sits on their skin all day. Choosing the right detergent helps ensure their clothes and bedding are clean without any harsh chemicals that may cause irritation, allergies, or hormone disruption. 

Look for a laundry detergent free of harmful ingredients. That looks like: 

• No synthetic fillers

• No fragrances

• No dyes

• No optical brighteners

• No harsh preservatives

Our Branch Basics Laundry Detergent checks all of those boxes, removing stains and keeping baby’s clothes fresh while using the power of plants and minerals. A worry-free wash is just one more way to gain peace of mind in those early days.

2. Use plant- and mineral-based surface cleaners

Fun fact: babies touch a lot of stuff. They crawl all over the floors, stick their hands on the glass doors, and put their hands in their mouths constantly. Because of this, what you use to clean your surfaces—from your floors and windows to your kitchen countertops—should be something you feel comfortable knowing your baby will come in contact with 24/7.

Branch Basics’ Concentrate is made from plants and minerals, (and made without harmful chemicals, fragrance, or hormone disruptors) so you can feel good about using it throughout your home and on high-touch surfaces. You just dilute it with water at slightly different ratios (listed on the bottles) to make our surface cleaners. 

Use our All-Purpose Cleaner to remove germs, clean baby toys, mop floors, wipe down surfaces and high chairs, clean car seats, and so much more. 

Check out our full User Guide to see all the surfaces and items you can clean with this multitasker.

3. Swap diapers & wipes for those made with healthy materials

You may not realize it, but many disposable diapers—even ones that claim to be “natural”—are lined with plastic and contain harmful chemicals. The same is true for traditional baby wipes, which may contain harmful ingredients like quats (linked to asthma and skin allergies); ethylene oxide and 1,4-dioxane (potential carcinogens); and polypropylene and PET (which can break down into microplastics). 

As any parent knows, the volume of diapers and wipes your baby goes through on any given day may seem downright impressive, so the fabric that these items are made out of is especially important. 

That’s why we love Kudos. Not only are their products made without the harsh chemicals listed above, but what’s in their products is equal parts reassuring and durable. Their diapers are made with a doctor-recommended 100% cotton liner and Total Chlorine-Free (TCF) wood pulp, and their wipes are made from 100% biodegradable VEOCEL Lyocell wood-based fibers, meaning you don’t have to worry about microplastics being absorbed by your baby’s skin during every change.

Plus, these products have been personally tested by our own little ones, and are even durable enough for those extra-messy changes.

4. Ditch the plastic for glass bottles

Plastic baby bottles have become the norm in recent years, but swapping them for glass is one of the easiest natural baby product swaps you can make. Especially if you’re heating up your baby’s bottles, glass is a much safer option, as plastic bottles have been shown to leech microplastics into the liquids inside.

Look for glass bottles free from lead, with platinum or medical-grade silicone nipples. (Some brands, like Lifefactory, even make glass bottles with silicone sleeves to help your baby grip them without compromising on materials.) 

Finding the right bottle can involve a bit of trial and error, but it’s worth it to find one that your baby enjoys and one you can feel good about using, too. Aside from Lifefactory, we’ve also had luck with

Nuk and Evenflo. And for bottle warmers, you can heat glass bottles directly in the Kiinde Kozii warmer.

5. Use a fragrance-free, sensitive-skin baby lotion

Babies are known for having ultra-sensitive skin, and their outermost layer of skin is actually 30% thinner than adult skin making it more prone to dryness. You’ll probably find yourself reaching for some type of cream or lotion throughout the day to keep their skin moisturized, so you don’t want to use anything with potential irritants.

One of the biggest things to avoid is fragrance, which is added to many personal care products for little ones, but can be too irritating for their skin. (Also, as we mentioned before, the term “fragrance” can actually mask harmful ingredients in a product, so it’s really best to steer clear for adults, too!)

Two natural brands that we’ve loved and tested on our own littles include Yoro Naturals Manuka Honey Cream and Primally Pure Baby Balm. Both are fragrance-free and made without synthetic fillers or harmful chemicals. They’re extra rich—more like balms or salves than a traditional lotion—so they work really well on dry, sensitive baby skin. You can also use pure coconut oil as a natural barrier on baby’s skin, especially between diaper changes, for an easy swap. 

Simple Swaps For Greater Peace of Mind

Becoming a parent has a way of making you look at your environment a little differently. While creating a healthier home can feel overwhelming at first, it doesn’t have to happen all at once. Small, thoughtful choices and natural baby product swaps can go a long way in reducing your little one’s exposure to harsh chemicals and creating a healthy environment for your family. 

From the products that touch their skin to the cleaners you use throughout your home, choosing safer options doesn’t have to feel like a quest for perfection; it’s about simple baby steps that can add up to greater peace of mind through these busy-but-precious years. 

Want more better-for-your-baby recs? Check out our Healthy Baby Registry Essentials.