Month: October 2017

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OUR NATURE’S CHILD STORY

Natural & Organic Baby Products

If you prefer to listen than read, this 25 minute podcast is a great way to get to know Nature’s Child.

Nature’s Child is a creation from Jannine Barron who was shocked by the amount of disposable and plastic products that she was expected to use when her baby was born. Driven to create the purest possible baby essentials range that produces little or no waste as well as costing families less, Nature’s Child are proud to set the standard and push environmental boundaries in an over polluted industry.  Our Children are precious and we know that we have a responsibility to leave the planet in a better state for them.

Initially an iconic retail store for many years, Nature’s Child now supports hundreds of retailers around Australia who passionately sell our brand of 100% Australian baby skincare. cloth nappies & new mum essentials including:

  • Breast Pads and Nipple Balm for New Mums *Certified Organic
  • Face wipes, Baby Wipes & Cloth Nappies *Certified Organic
  • Certified Organic Baby Skincare including Baby Wash, Massage Oil, Baby Powder *Certified Organic
  • Our World Famous Bottom Balm and Wonder Balm *Certified Organic
  • Gorgeous Organic Cotton Cloth Nappies

Nature’s Child is a Australian Company based in Byron Bay Northern NSW that stands for:

  • Ethical Products and Truth on Label
  • Cruelty free –  never tested on animals
  • Absolutely no petrochemicals and nothing synthetic
  • Glass & Cardboard Packaging with no or minimal plastic that is 100% recyclable
  • Palm Oil Free
  • Fragrance Free
  • Zero Waste Packaging and 100% Recylable Packaging
  • Ensuring packaging that allows you to use 100% of the product
  • Byron Bay is an amazing place to create and bring up kids

Nature’s Child is a company known for:

  • Being one of the first on line baby stores in Australia
  • Being the Very first Organic Baby Store and Cloth Nappy Retailer in 2000
  • Own Brand, Gentle, effective products that prevent skin problems by using the purest products
  • 100% Natural and Certified Organic products that soothe problem skin
  • Internationally recognised Australian organic certification that you can trust
  • Only 100% Pure essential oils with certification in our products
  • Supporting  a family cooperative in India who make our Organic Cotton Products fair trade
  • Just Beautiful Baby Products that you absolutely need in a form that won’t irritate baby or upset nature’s balance on your skin or your baby’s skin.

Nature’s Child was born in July 2000 in the beachside town of Byron Bay, NSW. It is fitting that Australia’s First Organic Baby Store was born in a town where Natural Birth is actively supported and where Indigenous women traditionally came to birth. So many births and firsts in Byron Bay!

We also have our own on line store with additional brands we trust alongside our own to bring parents the full kit of simple, essentials when caring for a baby and toddler. We promise a simple, ethical, joyful shopping experience at our on line store, not an overwhelming or choice heavy experience.

Internet overwhelm is challenging for many new parents to be so we are the calm in the storm.  We are not the biggest but we are the most ethical, the most conscious about Truth on the labels, Certified Organic, Pollution Free Packaging and Zero Waste. We don’t need to offer you a huge range, just the best range.  Read about this difference why natures child is different to other on line stores.

We encourage you to locate one of our valued stockists that may be near you HERE. If you have a local store that you think may want to stock us and that would be more convenient for you to purchase from, please let them know they can contact us. From humble beginnings in a garage in Byron Bay, Nature’s Child is the Australian Pioneer of Organic Baby Products that parents can use every day such as cloth nappies, breast pads and baby wipes. We were the first in Australia and remain the most recognised Certified Organic Baby Brand in Australia.

When our owner Jannine Barron had her first child in 1995, she was shocked by the disposable nature of the baby products on offer. They were based on a throw away mentality, made largely from plastics and synthetic fabrics, they were costly and largely pointless.

Jannine says “There are lots of reusable choices now but you have to imagine 20 yrs ago, the idea of a fabric, reusable breast pad or a cloth nappy made most people frown and look puzzled. But fortunately, a new wave of eco-minded parents and certainly our grandmothers, smiled and supported our new venture” Many reusable products now are still made from polyester or fabrics that sound natural but still actually require a lot of chemicals to grow them. We focus on Organic Cotton because there is independent certification that monitors and limits or deletes chemical use. We believe Certification is an important standard by which the eco friendly nature of a fibre should be judged.

“I knew that if we were patient and parents slowly embraced this idea, we would witness an organic and eco revolution. This is exactly what has happened 17yrs since we started!. I am just so proud of all the parents that made this a reality and for my awesome team over the years that has delivered the purest and the best to parents internationally”

We are really proud to be an Australian manufacturer of Organic Baby Products including Certified Organic Baby Skincare and Certified Organic Cotton reusable products that parents use every day. Everyone is welcome to shop direct from our website and experience our nurturing service.

If you are a business owner or therapist wanting to stock our range of organic baby products in your store, you can purchase from one of our valued Distributers.

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION

Since we began, a lot of competition has come into the baby products market and use the word “organic” on their packaging. Unless you see a certification logo on their products, please do not compare us! Our independently audited Organic Certification is your guarantee of purity and honesty in our claims. Our ingredients cost more because we only  source from Certified Organic Farms which means absolutely NO GMO or Toxic Chemicals used in the growing process. This guarantees you an independently audited, truthful claim of purity.

            

 

If you are enjoying your visit to our site, please take a moment to read about what motivates us.

The Nature’s Child Vision

To honour the beauty and wonder of pregnancy, birth, babies and childhood. To do this in a way that cherishes our natural instincts, our natural environment and its resources.
  1. Empowering parents, pregnant women, their partners, their children and the community through our products, retreats, educational seminars, practitioners, workshops, publications and conferences.
  2. Selling products for pregnancy, babies, children, home lifestyle of exceptional quality that are convenient for busy lives without costing the earth
  3. Making it easy for parents to enjoy organic, earth-friendly shopping.
  4. Wowing every customer with the unique beauty and quality of every product.
  5. Honouring children’s natural intelligence by providing creations that promote self-esteem, inspire imagination, promote self-confidence, leave room for creativity and honour their whole being and their individual potential.
  6. Providing personalised customer service of the highest quality in a family-friendly work and shopping environment.
  7. Building a socially and ethically responsible business structure from which all this can grow and be possible.

“Change the World – One Purchase at a time”  

 Jannine Barron – Ecoprenuer, Change Maker and Founder of Nature’s Child, 2001

 What Does Earth-Friendly Mean?

  • Containing ingredients that are biodegradable

  • Paints and oils on toys and furniture that contain no chemicals

  • Creations that help you to relax, meditate and trust your intuition

  • Are grown and manufactured so no harmful chemicals are used

  • Promote bonding and closeness in your family

  • Recycled materials are used

  • Recycled or plantation timber used

  • Washable not disposable

  • Compostable and Wormsafe

  • Greenhouse friendly

  • Packaging can be recycled or reused

How Can Earth-Friendly Shopping Help The Environment?

Since having children, I have realised the simple decisions I make every day such as what to eat for breakfast, what medicine to use on my sick baby and whether I put a cloth nappy or disposable on them, is a powerful decision; because billions of mothers all over the world are making those same decisions as me, every day. The choices we all make are intimately connected to the health and welfare of our environment. Thus our lifestyle choices directly impact our future world. While one purchase alone may not change the world’s environmental crisis, it can influence human behaviour enough to impact events that can. For our future survival, we must seek and offer sustainable solutions, the heart of which involves recycling more, eliminating chemical use and wasting less. I like to support small home-based businesses. What I love about most of the creators of the products you find at Nature’s Child, is that they are parents, inspired by their children to create beautiful products and to work flexible hours that suited family life. Cant find what you were looking for? If you need a product that we don’t have on our site, email us now and we will find the product you need or refer you to where you can find it. Email: orders@natureschild.com.au

A request for help with packaging meeting consumer demands of packaging and quality control is still challenging for manufacturers of earth-friendly products. To be positive about the need to use plastic packaging sometimes in the interest of protecting the products you receive, our manufactures have made efforts to use bags and boxes that can be recycled and reused – so if you receive a product in a plastic bag, please recycle by re-using these bags for as long as possible! If you order a bottle or jar from us, our first choice at Nature’s Child will be to pack it in shredded paper in a box. If you receive it in plastic bubble wrap instead, it will be because someone has sent me bubble wrap and I prefer to recycle it instead of throw it away. Please do the same. Please re-use any other packaging that arrives to you from us If you have any suggestions about how we can improve our packaging to be more earth-friendly, we would love to hear from you. And I know that some of my manufacturers are struggling to come up with more sustainable ideas for their product packaging and would love to hear from you too! That goes for any suggestions you can help us with to make us honourably earth-friendly!

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Have a Blessing Way

Have a Blessing Way
A Blessing Way is a wonderful alternative to the traditional ‘baby shower’ that is held for a woman approaching birth. The Blessing Way ritual (also a fun day out with the girls) literally blesses the way for the mother to be ready for childbirth. As a community, you welcome the baby that is coming soon and confirm the support that you are willing to receive from your community of friends and family.

Traditionally, a woman invites those people closest to her, in whose friendship and wisdom she trusts. You can invite friends to bring a plate of food and/or a gift if you like, but a special ceremony as part of your day is the central feature of a Blessing Way.

When we first wrote this article back in 2001, it was the only article on the entire internet that we could find. Being from Byron Bay, a Blessing Way was normal. Once again, Byron Bay is a place of initiative around intuitive birthing rituals. These days, lots of websites have written about a blessing way. Articles such as this one from BELLY BELLY are informative.History of Blessing Ways

Blessing Ways are traditional to North American Indians according to Mystic Mama. The Indigenous people of the America’s are said to have celebrated and honoured the transition a woman makes when she moves from maiden to mother. This rite of passage is the second ‘blood rite’ for a woman, the first being her first menstruation. It is a time of receiving for the mother to be, a time where she is nurtured and honoured by her community of women.The Blessing Way Ceremony acknowledges the commitment and energy involved in being a mother and gives her a time where all the energy is available for her to receive. This ceremony can be given to a woman each time she has a child, as with each child comes a new level of commitment and surrender.

The key is for the ‘mother to be’ to allow herself to receive and ‘fill her cup’ as deeply as possible. The Blessing Way is also a powerful way to assist in the mother’s preparation for birth. It gives other mothers present in the circle the opportunity to share experiences. Often it is a time when the ‘mother to be’ can express any fears or worries in a safe and sacred setting and receive the support she needs. Here are some ideas that you can include in your special day as you create your own personal memory.

When the birthing woman goes into labour, all women in her Blessing Way circle are contacted through the phone tree and each woman breaks the thread and sends a blessing for an easy birth. This circle of women can then be contacted once the baby is born and be invited to support the mother in practical ways that allow a new mother to relax and bond with her baby, which is her priority right now.

We suggest you choose only one or two of the following rituals that best suit your community of friends. A Blessing Way Ritual is always best remembered when it is the right length of time, and needs to consider that the women in the Blessing Way circle may have young children of their own at home being minded.

Blessing Way Bead Ceremony – Each woman is asked to bring a bead for a blessing necklace. At some time during the ceremony a bowl is handed around the circle and each woman gives her bead and a blessing for mother and baby. At the end of the ceremony one of the women threads the beads together and gives the necklace to the mother to have with her during the birth. This gives the mother-to-be a connection to all her women friends when she is birthing.

Binding of the wrists – The woman running the ritual brings a reel of wool or fine thread. The colour is usually red to represent blood. This is bound around each woman’s left wrist by the woman who sits to the left of her. As each woman binds the thread on the other woman’s wrist she says ‘ from women we were born into this circle, from women we were born unto this earth’. This ritual is symbolic of the thread that connects us all as women. It also keeps each woman tuned into the birthing mother as she leads up to her time and reminds them to send her positive, loving energy as they all see their red string every morning until the baby is born. Once each guest has delivered her helpful post-natal task for the birthing mother, the red string can be removed.

Massaging the Mother – Take along some lush, pregnancy friendly, massage oils and be sure to give her the full treatment with as many women as possible joining in. Brush her hair, give her a facial, whatever indulgence she wants.

Flowers – Flowers are symbolic of nature’s abundance and beauty, just as a woman is when she is in her full pregnant bloom. Be sure to ask all women to bring flowers and create a beautiful alter with them. A flower crown is a beautiful thing to have for the mother-to-be.

Singing – The singing of songs to celebrate woman, pregnancy and birth is a beautiful way to honour and share at a Blessing Way. Each woman may bring a song or poem or instrument to play, or you may have a talented friend who can lead the group in song.

Belly Casting – A kit is usually the easiest way to ensure success with a belly casting. I suggest you do your cast in private and then have it at the Blessing Way circle as a group activity to decorate. Alternatively, you can create the Belly Cast as part of your Blessing Way Ceremony (kits are available from www.natureschild.com.au in our pregnancy section).

Prayer Flags – Flags are a beautiful way to create a lasting memory of a Blessing Way ritual. Each guest is given a piece of fabric of equal size to decorate. You will need fabric pens, sewing materials, fabric scraps etc so your guests can create a unique prayer flag specifically for you and your baby (kits are available from www.natureschild.com.au in our pregnancy section).

Post Birth Support

On the day of the Blessing Way Ceremony have a close friend take the names and contact details of each woman present to be put on a ‘support roster’ for bringing meals after the birth. Each woman brings one meal (ensuring the ingredients are breastfeeding friendly) to the new mother and helps out in any way she can when she drops it off – e.g. dishwashing, clothes washing etc. This support is invaluable for the new mum at a big transition time in her life.

Add your own ideas inspired by this list to create a day that suits your own personality and celebrates your unique wisdom and experience!

This Article was first written in 2003 and edited with new links in 2016