I searched and searched for cream to help her. I found a few that did: California Baby's Calendula cream, Badger Balm, and Eucrein.
So last night while at the Green Mom's Carnival Twitter party, I heard that there had been some drama about California Baby products. They'd gotten themselves in some HOT water with the parent community.
What!?
I have been touting California Baby as a solid non-toxic brand for years. It was started by a concerned mom, and is now available in Target and other mainstream places. I'd been happy to see their success, and feel like their products were clean, safe, and trustworthy.
I also loved that CA Baby products rated well on the Environmental Working Group's database-- scoring mostly ones for safety (a good score).
Once you have a strong green mom following, companies, don't mess it up.
Turns out, many moms had been complaining about reactions their babies were having from CA Baby products recently, especially about the California Baby Calendula cream. Lots of parents (in the order of 60-75) had apparently been making complaints on the California Baby Facebook page and were told there had been no reformulations of the product.
After more complaints, CA Baby reps said that there had been small changes to the formulations. So, they went from saying there were no changes, to yes, there were "small" changes. Not exactly truthful.
Next, a dialogue happens about what changes, including the addition of a questionable ingredient, sodium benzoate. Notably, this is a preservative most of us are buying brands like California Baby to avoid. It looks like there is not a lot of information about this chemical or if it is safe. EWG lists it as a one, of very little concern, but lists more research needs to be done.
In response to the flood of complaints, and the denying of reformulation, then admitting to it, California Baby puts out an apology.
And then they apparently deleted everything from their Facbook page. Complaints, responses, and the apology. Gone.
Wow. Did they not realize that the majority of women in this country are social media users, and hold the purse strings? In an era of connectivity, where trust and word of mouth (twitter, Facebook, blogs, and comments) means everything, how did they think that would play?
We are the green parents-- the ones that look for transparency. You know, listing all the ingredients in products not because you have to, but because it is the right thing to do, and we should know what we are putting on our kids. By the way, I think everyone should have to list the ingredients in just about everything-- for cases like this and many, many others.
We rely on each other's advice-- what works, mom to mom. The boots on the ground mean the most. That's why so many mom blogs are so successful!
And we don't like our voices silenced, or in this case deleted.
So, social media and mom-management 101: Respond kindly. Be open and honest. Apologize. And mean it.
Sound familiar? It's what we teach our kids everyday.
This post is based on the great writing of fellow mom-sleuth bloggers who brought this whole issue to my attention.
*The Safe Mama has an excellent post about which products are affected, and an overview of what happened. This post is loaded with insightful comments from consumers too.
What to use instead, if you want to switch? Or if you little one is having a reaction to the reformulation?
*Earth Mama Angel Baby products
*Badger Balm products
*Dolphin Organics Products
If you are having trouble with a California Baby product, or would like to learn more about this issue, you can visit this Facebook page.
Some parents have had success bringing products back to Whole Foods, if a CA Baby product is causing a reaction on your little sweetie. Please let me know if you have noticed the reformulation, or if you have any questions, and I will try to point you in the right direction.
