Be Aware of Your Baby’s Environment

By: Kim Walls, M.S.
Founder & CEO of Episencial®







Because your baby isn’t mobile at first, the environment her skin is exposed to is fairly limited, therefore easy to control. Toxins enter the body through the skin, lungs and digestive system, so key areas of concern are air quality, toiletries, fabrics, water and food. The simple changes you make based on environmental awareness can help your baby thrive.

Ask yourself a short list of questions to think through the areas of potential risk in your home. Where does your baby sleep and play? What does she eat and drink? What clothing, diapers, linens and toiletries touch her skin? The answers to all these questions inform your ability to create a healthy environment. Using natural products helps prevent exposure to environmental contaminants, which your baby’s body must either store in her tissues or eliminate through sweat and other body systems.

Rashes, bumps and redness can be a telltale sign that your baby’s body is being exposed to more than it can handle. Sometimes, the conditions clear up themselves even if you don’t consciously change things. Other times, you have to figure out what is causing the problem and remove it from your baby’s environment. If not, you risk a downward spiral of skin problems that may cause your baby significant discomfort and weaken her first line of defense, her skin.

To help prevent the build-up of toxins in your baby’s body, you can provide her with natural and organic food that is grown without the use of pesticides and dangerous fertilizers. You can choose household cleaning products that are effective without generating ammonia vapors. You can wash her clothing without bleach and artificial fragrances. You can wash her hair and body with chemical-free baby wash.

While you can’t protect your children from everything, you can make yourself intelligently aware of your surroundings to create a more safe and healthy environment. Every choice you make can lead to greater purity and happiness for the whole family.

**Kim Walls, M.S., is the CEO of Episencial® and chief formulator the company’s skincare products and philosophy. A second-generation skin care expert from the family that developed the world renowned Epicuren® anti-aging skin care products, she now combines her activism for health and environmentalism with expertise in clinical skin care and nutritional science to develop green, effective skin care for pregnant women and children. An esthetician with more than a decade of experience, Walls has honed her perspective focusing on botanically-based skin care and transdermal nutrient absorption as a pathway to improved health and beauty for women and children. She shares her experience internationally with dermatologists and estheticians, as well as childbirth and postpartum professionals, underscoring the relationship between optimum health and skin care. Now through Episencial, she is dedicated to sharing that knowledge with new and growing families to support the enhanced health and immunity that effective, all natural products can provide.

Kim’s strong, personal commitment to organic and environmentally-responsible living is at the core of Episencial’s high standards for green manufacturing and product development. Having grown up on ranches in the Pacific Northwest and now the mother of two young boys, Kim marries her innate understanding of the importance of sustainability, her birthright in luxury skincare with her post-graduate work as a nutritionist to establish a new standard in skincare research and products that support lasting health for today’s families.

Kim is a spokesperson not only for Episencial, but also for her broader mission to support actively healthy choices for a new Vivid Green Generation™. She is a sought after industry advisor to leading health advocacy organizations including Healthy Child, Healthy World, Infant Massage USA, the Childbirth and Postpartum Professionals Association and Pregnancy Awareness Month. Kim is often a featured speaker on television and at industry events, a contributor to high-traffic websites such as Ecomom.com, www.drgreene.com, and www.mindfulmama.com. Kim is currently writing two books on healthy lifestyle parenting and has authored articles for periodicals in the health and wellness industry to create awareness of skincare as a health issue in support of Episencial’s mission.