How to Use the Pregnancy and Nursing Safety Brand Lists

I’ve reviewed the entire products lists of many brands, evaluating each product for safety during pregnancy and nursing. I try to be consistent within the lists, but there is some confusion about how I do things. Hopefully this post clears a few things up!

Don’t forget, if you want to ask about a product’s safety, I expect you to follow these guidelines.

The lists are optimized for the US. I live in the US, as do about 90% of those readers who read and use the site. Often the ingredients are the same in other countries, but not always. Please compare your ingredients to the ones listed.

The date updated in the post is the last time I started from scratch and reviewed every product from the brand.
• Since sometimes brands will update formulations, this process is really meant to capture any potential reformulations.
• I try to re-review an entire brand every 12-18 months at the most. Obviously this doesn’t always happen, but it’s my goal.
• This does not mean that I haven’t revised the list at all since that date. I frequently add new products to the list, or things will move around if I know of any product reformulations. I’ve gotten comments from readers saying I need to redo a list because X products were introduced since then. Except… those products were in the list. And if your product isn’t in the list, you can check the comments or make your own comment.

Pregnancy safe also implies nursing safety. But not vice versa.
•  Pregnancy is the most restrictive time because the placenta is a big filter, continually connected to your baby. It keeps some stuff, but not everything, out.
• Nursing is more liberal with what is allowed, because things need to be more actively secreted into the breast milk by your body.
• As well, once born your baby is now more focused on growing than on developing different organ systems. This is one of the biggest reasons for the change in what is safe.

What do all of the links mean?
• I am now trying to link to the product primarily on the brand’s website, with the product’s name. I’ll then try to link popular buying options later by their store name.

When the products are also featured in round ups…
• Sometimes products will also be featured in round-up posts, showcasing pregnancy safe concealer or foundation for example. I can’t go back and find all of products from a brand in different round ups. For that reason, always defer to the brand pages if there’s a conflict in safety information.

Why is there a difference between the product in the comments and what is in your list?
• Note, I review US products. You may or may not realize that products in the comments are often international, so they may have different ingredients.
• Also, sometimes the comments are older than my  last check of the brand’s products, so there may have been a reformulation in between.
• Finally, I sometimes can’t find a “reputable” source of information about a product’s ingredients. In which case, I won’t include a product in a post. But sometimes readers find ingredient lists online, and those may or may not be accurate. I’ll answer based on their list, but I don’t know how accurate their list is.