If you want to ensure that your baby gets the best possible start, living healthy should be one of your biggest priorities. Those nine months are crucial for your child’s bright future.

Here are Dr. Joseph Mercola’s simplest and most practical healthy pregnancy tips gathered from over three decades of experience in health care:

• Get healthy daily doses of omega-3 fats – Dr. Mercola believes that getting adequate levels of omega-3 fats are the single most important dietary influence on prenatal health. Omega-3 and its derivative, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), are critical to a child’s development. Deficiency of this essential fat can cause unexplained emotional, learning, and immune system disorders, and increases the risk of a child being born prematurely. Omega-3s also help mothers deal with depression during pregnancy.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels – Vitamin D has been shown to influence over 2,000 genes in your body. It is believed that about 85 percent of Americans are deficient of this important nutrient, and that getting enough vitamin D through healthy sun exposure can decrease your cancer risk by 50 percent.
• Get regular exercise – Unless your doctor has told you otherwise, exercise should be a part of your health routine while you’re pregnant. Studies show that exercise decreases the possibility of premature birth. Women who exercised at the same rate throughout their pregnancies were shown to have larger placentas than their more sedentary peers. The volume of the placenta is an indicator of its ability to transport oxygen and nutrients to your baby.
• Eat for vitality and health – “Eating for two” during pregnancy is a very misleading statement because obesity can wreak havoc on your health, cause complications throughout your pregnancy and affect your unborn child, Dr. Mercola warns. It’s important to your health and to your baby’s to keep your weight within reasonable parameters. Eat a well-balanced diet consisting of adequate protein, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables (preferably fresh and organic). Green leafy vegetables are rich in folic acid, which helps reduce the chance of your child being born with brain and spinal cord defects. Raw eggs are another important food for pregnancy because they are a rich source of protein, carotenoids and choline.
• Avoid vaccinations – You should avoid all vaccinations while you are pregnant, as well as having your baby get any shots after birth. Vaccines contain mercury, which, even in low concentrations, has been associated with impaired energy production, impaired brain cell function and increased free radical production in the brain.
• Remove your mercury amalgams – It would be best to remove your mercury amalgam “silver” fillings BEFORE you become pregnant, but if you’re already pregnant, it is probably best not to remove your fillings until after you deliver.
• Minimize your exposure to chemicals inside and outside your home – Studies show that pesticide exposure increases the risk of autism, reproductive abnormalities, childhood learning disabilities and miscarriages. Common household chemicals like aerosol, bleach, carpet cleaner, etc., can also harm you and your baby. Use only the safest cosmetics because over time, toxins in your personal care products can affect you and your child’s nervous and reproductive systems, and cause other health issues so it’s best to look for natural and organic products.
• Avoid exposure to phthalates and BPA – These two chemicals have been linked to birth defects, shortened pregnancy and for being “gender-benders” – substances which cause male humans and male animals to take on female characteristics. Phthalates are added to many products, including food containers, hair spray, insect repellent, moisturizers and nail polish while BPA is also used in food containers, baby bottles and soda can linings.
• Treat severe gum disease – Numerous studies reveal that pregnant women who suffer from gum disease are more likely to have premature birth. Animal studies also shown that periodontal infections impair fetal growth.
• Get enough sleep – Along with a healthy diet and regular exercise, sleep also plays an important role in your overall health. If you lack sleep, your baby’s wellbeing will also suffer.

But there’s something rearing its ugly head in the middle of this cozy picture because your child’s bath products may be exposing him/her to cancer!

Yes, you’ve read that right. Many baby and children’s care products have been found to contain the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.

The non-profit organization Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC) tested different kids bath products and discovered that:

• 17 out of 28 products or 61 percent contained both formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, including Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, Sesame Street Bubble Bath, Grins & Giggles Milk & Honey Baby Wash and Huggies Naturally Refreshing Cucumber & Green Tea Baby Wash.

• 23 out of 28 products or 82 percent contained formaldehyde at levels ranging from 79 parts per million (ppm) to 610 ppm. Baby Magic Baby Lotion had the highest levels of formaldehyde.

• 32 out of 48 products or 67 percent contained 1,4-dioxane at levels ranging from 0.27 ppm to 35 ppm. American Girl shower products had the highest levels of 1,4-dioxane.

So much for being labeled ‘gentle’ and ‘pure’ because there’s nothing gentle about formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.

Toxic Chemicals Make Bath Time Hazardous!

Formaldehyde is a colorless and flammable industrial chemical used to make building materials and household products and is also used as a disinfectant and preservative. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified it as a probable human carcinogen under high and prolonged exposure.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer also included formaldehyde on its list of known carcinogens.

Aside from the risk of cancer, your child can also develop rashes when exposed to formaldehyde. But that’s the least of your concerns.

Dr.Sheela Sathyanarayana, an environmental health pediatrician at Seattle Children’s Hospital warned that kids become “extremely sensitized” from formaldehyde exposures, and with each new exposure, bigger reactions follow and could possibly make their skin sensitive to a variety of substances aside from formaldehyde.

On the other hand, 1,4-dioxane is a petroleum based contaminant described as a probable human carcinogen by the EPA and an animal carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program. It has also been linked to birth defects, is a suspected neurotoxin and kidney and respiratory toxicant.

Because formaldehyde is released from some of the chemicals used as preservatives and 1,4-dioxane is a byproduct of chemical processing, the FDA does not require manufacturers like Johnson & Johnson to list them as ingredients on the product labels.

Since you won’t find formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane on the labels of children’s bath products, the CSC advises consumers to be wary of these ingredients, which are likely to contain either of the two toxic chemicals: peg-100 stearate, sodium laureth sulfate, polyethylene and ceteareth-20, quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, diazolidinyl urea and sodium hydroxymethoylglycinate.

But your child is not the only one in danger. If toxic chemicals have found their way to kids bath products, personal care products for adults are also not safe from contamination.

Data from an Environmental Working Group (EWG) study on the safety of personal care products show that the average adult uses nine products that contain 126 different chemicals. Also, over 250,000 women and one out of every 100 men use 15 products per day on the average.

The EWG found that:

• Only 28 of the 7,500 products in the study were completely tested by the cosmetic industry’s self-regulating Cosmetic Ingredient Review Board

• One-third of all the products tested contained at least one ingredient that fell under the category of human carcinogen

• 71 percent of hair dye products evaluated had carcinogenic coal tar as an ingredient

• Close to 70 percent of the products reviewed were found to include ingredients that could be tainted with impurities associated with cancer and other health complications

• 54 percent of the products violated the safety recommendations proposed by the industry’s self-regulating panel. Unsafe ingredients were discovered in diaper cream, products for damaged skin and in spray products

How to Avoid Toxic Personal Care Products

Dr. Mercola explains that putting chemicals on your skin is actually worse than directly ingesting them because the enzymes in your saliva and stomach help break down whatever you eat and flush it out of your body but the chemicals you put on your or your child’s skin are absorbed straight to the bloodstream without being filtered. You’re at the mercy of the toxins.

His rule of thumb for personal care product safety? Don’t put things in your skin that you wouldn’t even consider eating!

You can visit the EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database to find out if your family’s personal care products are safe.

Choose quality organic products for your skin and beware of those only pretending to be organic.  Remember that your skin reflects the state of your health.