Healthy Parenting Essentials You Need in your Life

Most of us would like to make healthier parenting choices with our kids but knowing where to start can sometimes be a challenge. With our busy lives, it’s generally easier to stick with what you know, but there are some amazing options out there to help you and your family make some healthy changes. We’ve partnered with iHerb.com to share some of our favorite healthy parenting essentials for you and some great tips for making small changes.

Our journey towards healthier parenting began when one of my sons started having some health problems. He was dealing with respiratory issues and major skin problems that left his hands and legs chapped and bleeding. It took over a year to find the source of his problems. He was sensitive to the chemicals in the products we were using in our home.

Cue the mom guilt. 

Once we started swapping out the products we were using in our home for healthier options, his symptoms slowly started to go away. He’s now a healthy and very active 11-year-old who is passionate about making sure the products he uses are healthy. I’m convinced he’s going to grow up to be a hard core environmentalist.

His experience has taught him that the things we put on or near our body have a huge effect on how we feel. The rest of us are not as sensitive as he is but we’ve all seen benefits from switching to more natural products.

Where to buy Healthy Parenting Essentials

I recently discovered iHerb, an online store that carries over 35,000 products and ships to over 160 countries. We’ve been buying more natural products for years but they had brands and options that I didn’t know were even out there so they are my new go-to when it comes to stocking up for health and beauty products for my family. They are a Google Trusted Store and their Customer Service team provides support in 10 different languages!

I love that they have a Give 5% and Get 5% Rewards program. You earn 5% for all referrals you send to iHerb, plus your referral gets 5% off their purchase so it’s a win-win. They have free (and fast) shipping when you spend $20 or more and there are no membership fees. Save your first 5% by going here. 

Healthy Parenting Essentials we Recommend

If you are looking for some healthier choices for your kids, we have a few favorites we recommend:

Supplements for kids

I’m a big fan of high quality supplements. Even if you are making an effort to eat a healthy diet, chances are you have a few gaps in your nutrition. A great supplement (or two) can really help you and your kids feel their best.

With kids, getting them to actually take their supplements can be a challenge. That’s why when I find a supplement that I really trust AND my kids like taking them, I know I have a keeper.

Smarty Pants vitamins are a huge hit with my kids and I love that they are NON GMO and have options that also include Omega 3s. They taste great so my kids don’t fight me when it comes to taking them. Anything that makes my life easier always gets bonus points.

Multivitamins are great but in the past few years I’ve realized what a difference a good probiotic can make in the way we feel. I have a few kids who have struggled with tummy issues and they almost completely went away when we started them on a good probiotic. We love Culturelle Kids because they work great and you can get them in packets that you add to your drink or food so they are easy for kids to take. Most of the time, my kids don’t even realize they are taking it because I just mix it in to the food or drinks they are having anyway.

Healthy Skin and Hair Care for Kids

When we first began looking for healthier options for the products we used every day, one of the first things we changed was our lotion. Because my son’s health issues started us on the path towards healthier living, we tackled the things he was struggling with the most first. He was dealing with extreme dry and cracked skin so finding a lotion that didn’t do more harm than good was top priority.

We discovered that regular old Shea butter worked better for him than anything else. NOW sells a fantastic Shea butter that has no added fragrance and we love it when we need some heavy duty moisturizing.

For my kids with slightly less sensitive skin who want something that smells pretty, we love any of the Earth Mama Angel Baby lotions and they smell amazing.

Once we had tackled the lotion issue, we realized that shampoo and conditioner comes in contact with just as much skin as your lotion does. I was excited to find out that iHerb.com carries Jason Natural shampoo and conditioner for kids. I’ve used some of their other products in the past and haven’t found anything from them I don’t love so I was thrilled to discovered they had a line just for kids.

We’ve been struggling with tangled hair so our go-to has been detangler. It turns out, most of them are filled with not-so-nice ingredients. We found this fabulous leave in conditioner from Beautiful Curls on iHerb.com and it works WAY better than our old, questionable detangler.

Here’s a before and after:

A little something for you

Healthy parenting starts with making sure you are taking care of yourself. This thickening shampoo from Madre Labs is helping me feel better about my hair after my twin pregnancy thinned it out. It smells amazing too.

I’ve been looking for a great makeup remover wipe that isn’t too rough on my skin and these little quick clean makeup remover pads from Jason are just what I needed. I love the size of these. I rarely used a full size wipe to remove my makeup but these are perfect and they are so gentle on my skin.

I’m a big believer that kids need to see us developing healthy habits. iHerb.com has a great selection of products for you and for the man in your life. My husband and I recognize that our kids need to see us making healthy choices so we’ve started jump starting our mornings (even those crazy-on-the-go mornings) with a healthy protein smoothie.

I grabbed a blender bottle from iHerb.com to make those crazy mornings a bit easier for both of us and help us stick to our healthy habits no matter how busy we get.

Making healthier changes as a family can be a challenge but it is so worth it. Are you working on making some heathy changes in your family?

iHerb Customers can click here to get an instant 5% discount off their order!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of iHerb.