Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Earth Mama Angel Baby Birth & Baby Kit Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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When you give birth to a child, your nether regions go through a bit of trauma. The physics behind how a baby can physically get out of a woman’s body are astounding. And as any woman who has given birth will tell you, it ISN’T an easy feat. All of that stretching and pushing does a number on you, and most women have some healing to do after giving birth, perhaps because they had a tear or had to have an episiotomy, or perhaps they were blessed with hemorrhoids thanks to all that pushing. Or both.

Both times I have delivered, the hospitals gave me lots of topical medications to help me feel a bit better and start recovery. With Darah, I never gave a second thought to what ingredients might be in these medicines, or if there were more natural alternatives. With Layah, though, I was more prepared, and brought the Birth & Baby Kit from Earth Mama Angel Baby with me to the hospital.

This kit was AWESOME to have from the start, and two weeks after delivering, I’m still using the products that came in the kit. Here’s what you’ll find in this cute organza bag:

Items for the new mom:

New Mama Bottom Spray (1 oz). This is a cooling spray for relief from prenatal and postpartum hemorrhoids and episiotomy discomfort. It has a ZERO rating on the Skin Deep toxin database. And all I’m going to say about this product is that it feels so nice! WAY better than the stuff the hospital gave me.

Mama Bottom Balm (4 samples). This is a balm that relieves some of the same discomforts as the New Mama Bottom Spray. It also has a ZERO rating on the Skin Deep toxin database. This product works to reduce swelling in your tissues and eases pain. It also has ingredients to help your wounds heal. I have really loved this product and quickly ditched the ointment the hospital gave me in favor of this.

Organic Monthly Comfort Tea (four samples). This is designed to reduce your postpartum uterine bleeding. It’s also great to help women on their periods feel a bit more balanced. It has a F

ANTASTIC cinnamon flavor and is the best tea I’ve tried so far EVER. Totally in love with it!

Organic Milkmaid Tea (4 samples). This tea is full of herbs that can increase milk production. I have been drinking mine, and haven’t had any supply issues so far!

Natural Nipple Butter (1 oz). Here’s another product rated ZERO on the Skin Deep toxin database. I’ve been using this since Layah’s first day, and while I’ve had some soreness, it hasn’t been nearly as bad as it was with Darah. No bleeding, either!

For baby:

Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash (60 mL). Any guesses about the rating on this one? That’s right….ZERO! I have opted to not use this on Layah just yet, as it does have a mild fragrance. But in a few months I will use it, for sure. It smells awesome!

Angel Baby Oil (1oz). This has been an excellent bonding tool for Layah and me. I love to give her foot and leg massages with this product. It is unscented, so I feel very comfortable using it on her. I’ve also learned that it can be used as a cradle cap remedy, which is good to keep in mind. And it has a ZERO rating on the Skin Deep toxin database!

Angel Baby Lotion (2 oz). This is another product that I will wait a few months to use on Layah, simply because it does have a light scent (like a creamsicle, by the way…it is AWESOME!).

Angel Baby Bottom Balm (1oz). Since Layah is in cloth diapers, diaper rash isn’t really an issue. But it can be good to preventatively apply some balm from time to time, and I’m glad to have this on hand. I also recently learned that it has properties which can be effective against Candida, which causes not only diaper rash, but also thrush (which we have, of course!). I’m going to try it for this purpose and see if we can get quicker relief!

This kit has been a tremendous help to me and Layah as we have started this journey together. I would highly recommend it as a gift to any expecting mom who wants more natural products at the ready! This kit retails for $29.95.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win an Earth Mama Angel Baby Birth & Baby Kit!

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The Latest and Greatest from Earth Mama Angel Baby (GIVEAWAY!!!)

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We are big Earth Mama Angel Baby fans in our house. What’s not to love? This company offers organic personal care products that are safe for every member in the house, young and old! The performance of their products is excellent, and I think the smells are simply DIVINE!

Speaking of smells, Earth Mama Angel Baby has some products that are designed with the expecting mama in mind. Many pregnant women experience a sensitivity to smells, often lasting throughout the entire pregnancy. The Happy Mama Hand to Toe Wash is ideal for a woman in this position. You don’t have to eliminate every product with a scent from your bathroom, after all. This product contains ginger, organic lime and organic pink grapefruit essential oils, all of which will smell wonderful to a sensitive nose, helping to ease that queasy feeling and lift your spirits! Hooray!

Even if you aren’t expecting, you will love the smell. I know I do! And I love the way it dispenses, as a rich foam. This is especially handy at bath time for Darah, as she is a wiggle worm and we’ve got to move fast to get soap on her!

There are some really great ingredients in this product, but what is even more important to know is what is NOT in EMAB products:
• No petrochemicals, petroleum or petroleum byproducts
• No 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde, or phthalates
• No sodium lauryl sulfate, cocomidopropyl betaine or other synthetic foaming agents or surfactants
• No artificial preservatives, parabens, phenoxyethanol, Quaternium-15 etc.
• No artificial emulsifiers

You can always feel confident about any purchase you make with this company. The only offer what is best for you, for baby and for the planet. Yay Earth Mama Angel Baby!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win Happy Mama Hand to Toe Wash! The contest will run until May 30th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

REMEMBER, YOU MUST FOLLOW THIS BLOG VIA GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN. YOU CAN SIGN UP ON MY SIDEBAR IF YOU DON’T ALREADY FOLLOW.

Mandatory entry: Tell me one other product in the EMAB line that piques your interest.

Additional entries:

1.Sponsor love: Like Earth Mama Angel Baby on Facebook

2.Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter

Be sure to enter my other currentgiveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Creating Rituals With Your Children (Earth Mama Angel Baby GIVEAWAY!!!)

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Darah and I have created some rituals that we do on a daily or weekly basis, and these rituals are very important to us both. They help us bond, they help us gauge the time of day and they provide us with something special that is just for us two.

One example is that every Friday we paint our toes. First I paint Darah’s with her Piggy Paint, and then I paint my own. She selects the colors for us both to wear. She takes this event VERY seriously. Another ritual that we have is her nap ritual. There’s an order to putting this kid down, and I won’t go into all the details, but one crucial step is that she must be kissed in between when she is picked up and when she is laid down in her crib. She is quite aware of this, and puckers her lips, even if she is in melt down mode. And it is such an important moment for me, because even if I am at my wits end with her (which is sometimes the case by nap time) we have a moment where I am very quickly reminded that she is my little love and my world.

Over the last few weeks we have developed a new ritual: lotion time. We’ve been using the Angel Baby Lotion from Earth Mama Angel Baby and Darah is a HUGE fan of it. When I squirt out the lotion, I have to make a certain noise that I just can’t seem to write down (it’s more of a noise than a sound, I think), and Darah does it, too. Then we smell the lotion on my hands. She loves the smell, which is the same smell as the Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash that we reviewed last month (orange and vanilla…yum!). Then I apply it to her legs and then her arms. Darah likes to talk about how it is, “cool, cool” (meaning that is is cold). And then she takes the pump and pretends to put lotion on her Elmo, Grover and Bunny. That’s pretty much how the ritual goes. Oh yeah, and we do this during morning potty time, and sometimes during potty time right before bed. But ALWAYS during potty time. Sheesh! Little ones really value structure and predictability. The first time I put lotion on her, she was on the potty. And I suppose I did what I listed out above. And the rest is history. Darah remembered it all for the next time!

The Angel Baby Lotion is doing a great job of keeping Darah’s skin moisturized during the dry winter months. Before we go this, I was really at a loss about what to do. I could tell she needed lotion, but I didn’t feel comfortable about putting any of my products on her…there were just too many chemicals that I couldn’t even pronounce! This is not a worry I have with Earth Mama Angel Baby products. I know they use the very best and safest ingredients!

Buy it!: Earth Mama Angel Baby skincare products are all currently 25% off, which makes this lotion just $8.21. Woo hoo!

 

Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash Review and GIVEAWAY!!

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Bath time is a nightly ritual for Darah. She starts using sign language to ask for her bath around 4pm, even though bath time is right around 6pm. She loves it so much! Darah is very playful in the tub, and really enjoys splashing around, playing with tub toys and, knock on wood, getting her hair and body washed (we lucked out on that one!).

earth mama baby shampoo Earth Mama Angel Baby is a company that offers a splendid line of bath products for mamas and babies, all made from organic ingredients. I’ve tried their Happy Mama Body Wash (with a smell that even the pregnant ladies can appreciate!). For the past month, we’ve also been using their new Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash.

First and foremost, this soap works. Darah gets cleaned from head to toe with it, and it takes care of all the food and dirt that somehow manages to cling to her throughout the day.

Second, the smell is FANTASTIC! Some people avoid scented soaps for their babies because those smells are created using harsh chemicals. Not so with this product. It is scented with organic vanilla and organic orange oils. It smells like a creamsicle! I’ve tried several different bath products over the years (I really should say hundreds…I’m a junkie) and Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash is easily in my top 5 as far as smell goes.

Third, the pump formula is extremely convenient when we are bathing Darah. We can easily squirt out some foam right onto her body or her head and we don’t accidentally get too much product, as we sometimes do with more traditional bottles.

We love this product and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants the best for themselves and for baby, but who would love to have something scented on hand.

Buy it!: If you’d like to try the Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash, you are smart to do so. And getting for a discount is even smarter! use code Itsablog20 for 20% off! The 5.3 oz bottle is $10.95 and they offer a 34 ounce refill, as well!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need read will win a bottle of Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash! The contest will run until January 16th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States and Canada. Limit one entrant per person, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me one product in your home that you want to replace with something less toxic, but haven’t yet. Why haven’t you?

My answer: I still have a closet shelf full of body washes that contain ingredients I have since learned are not so good for me or the environment. The frugal gal in me is reluctant to pitch them/donate them, though, since they are already paid for! But I’m not replacing them with other similar products. When they are gone, they are gone! And they are never used on Darah.

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Like Earth Mama Angel Baby on Facebook
2. Blogger love: Subscribe to Stuff Parents Need via RSS or email

Be sure to check out my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my home page.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Earth Mama Angel Baby Happy Mama Body Wash Review

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I recently had the opportunity to try a refreshing body wash from the company Earth Mama Angel Baby. The product I tried is called Happy Mama Body Wash, and I love it! It has a fresh, ginger-fruity smell, yet it is not overpowering. While I’m not pregnant, this body wash is absolutely perfect for those of you out there with a bun in your oven. From the website, “Earth Mama Angel Baby’s exhilaratingnew body wash is safe for pregnancy and ideal for noses that are sensitive from morning sickness. With fresh Ginger to combat queasiness, Happy Mama Body Wash is USDA Certified Made With Organic ingredients, including zangy organic Lime and organic Pink Grapefruit essential oils to give spirits a lift, in a naturally safe organic olive oil castile soap base. No harsh detergents and zero toxins mean it’s safe for pregnant women and the whole family.”

earth mama body wash I remember so well that I had to be careful which products I used in the shower during pregnancy, lest I have to leap out suddenly and run to the toilet to vomit (sorry, there’s just no polite way to write that!). When it is time for baby #2 later, this baby wash will be on my “must-have” list, for sure.

Even if you aren’t pregnant, though, this is still a wonderful product. I love that all of the ingredients are safe for everyone. If you have a baby and are short on space in your shower, you can both use this at bath time! You can also take it with you when you are traveling and want to save on space in your suitcase…it’s gentle enough for the little ones and has a smell that grownups will love!

Buy It!: Happy Mama Body Wash can be purchased at Earth Mama Angel Baby for $10.95. While you are on the site, check out all their other terrific products for pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding and baby!

Edit: This giveaway is CLOSED.

Win It!: Now is your chance to win a little slice of happiness for your shower routine! One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win Happy Mama Body Wash! The contest will run until July 3rd at 7:59pm CST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States.

Mandatory Entry: Tell me one other product that Earth Mama Angel Baby makes that you’d also like to try (or have tried!).
Additional Entries:

1. Subscribe to my blog via RSS, email or Google friend connect (only one extra entry, even if you subscribe more than one way)

2. Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter (leave your Twitter ID)

3. Follow Earth Mama Angel Baby on Twitter (leave your Twitter ID)

4. “Like” Earth Mama Angel Baby on Facebook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own.