The Floor to Play Audit

The best place for a baby is on the floor. Rolling, tummy time, pivoting, and crawling all happen on our floors.

It's important that we give them lots of floor time to help with gross motor development, building core strength, and even sensory processing.

Unfortunately as they get to a crawling stage, they are not only getting their hands and knees also over the floor but they are putting what feels like absolutely everything in their mouths.

The long and the short of it is that synthetic chemicals or anything with fragrances stay on the floor long after the cleaning solution has 'cleaned'.

Some examples:

- Fragrance is a catch-all term that can hide hundreds of undisclosed chemicals and phthalates which are known as endocrine disruptors.

- Quats or Quaternary Ammonium Compounds: these are also found in mainstream antibacterial floor cleaners and floor wipes which are designed to continued to keep killing germs after its been wiped over the floor, and means our little ones can absorb them through their skin.

- Harsh Surfactants: Petroleum-based cleaning agents that don't rinse away easily which also can be absorbed by a babies skin or their mouth.

Here are a couple things to audit in your floor cleaner:

Is fragrance listed?

Does the floor feel sticky or overly shiny after cleaning? (That's chemical film)

The best swap is to transition to a pH-neutral, plant-based, rinse-free alternative.

Some good swaps can be found at Biome directly through Biome Eco Stores:

The Low-Tox Cleaning Swap: Biome Cleaning Bars

The Product: Biome’s Concentrated Multi-Purpose or Floor Cleaning Bars (Clove or Eucalyptus).

Why it works: They are 100% plant-based, palm-oil free, and completely free of synthetic surfactants or hidden fragrances. Because they dissolve in water at home, they eliminate single-use plastic bottles, ticking both the health box and the environmental box.