List Of Cleaning Products To Avoid While Pregnant

As an expectant mother, you’ve likely been extra mindful of your diet and lifestyle. However, one area that may be overlooked is the cleaning products used during pregnancy and around infants. With that said, it isn’t easy to juggle every recommendation on top of your already busy life. This is especially so when ads on social media use fear tactics to push “safe” products on new or expecting parents. Are those “natural” products actually safer? What changes genuinely make your home less toxic for you and your baby?

True, common household cleaning products contain chemicals that can be harmful, particularly during pregnancy. Since your body is changing and your baby is developing, it is a good idea to reduce your exposure to toxic substances as much as possible. But how do you navigate the onslaught of “natural cleaning products” fed to you on every platform?

You may be surprised that my journey towards cleaner products began in the same spot you are now. When I was expecting my son, I was frustrated to learn that the ingredients in everyday products were not very safe. As a result, I am here today to help you avoid the mistakes I made.

Furthermore, this post will educate you on the key toxins in cleaning products so that you are empowered to make the right decisions for your preferences and your home. Don’t worry, this isn’t as difficult as it sounds.

List Of Cleaning Products To Avoid While Pregnant

In this post, I’ll share a list of cleaning ingredients to avoid while pregnant, along with safer alternatives. Not only will you have a fact-checked list to reference, but also suggestions of products I have personally verified and used in my own home for years (yes, really).

Is It Safe To Use Cleaning Products While Pregnant?

To begin with, during pregnancy, heightened sensitivity applies not only to you but also to your baby. Therefore, the chemicals in certain cleaning products can pose potential risks to both. For instance, some substances can irritate your skin and lungs, while others may be linked to more serious issues, such as endocrine disruption or developmental problems in fetuses.

Additionally, in the US, cleaning products are not as strictly regulated as you might expect. It means that potentially harmful ingredients can still be found in products marketed as “safe.” Furthermore, the labels “non-toxic” or “natural” are unregulated, which doesn’t guarantee safety. For this reason, it’s essential to stay informed and carefully read ingredient labels.

What Cleaning Products To Avoid While Pregnant?

Today, I am focusing on the common chemicals that could harm your baby. Furthermore, I will tell you which products these ingredients are typically found in. Afterwards, I will cover how to easily avoid them. Let’s go!

• Phthalates
• Bleach-Based Products
• Ammonia-Based Products
• Products with Glycol Ethers
• Aerosol Sprays

Products Containing Phthalates

Have you heard of phthalates? Phthalates are chemicals used in consumer products to increase the flexibility of plastic and/or the longevity of fragrances. Furthermore, phthalates help the scent in products adhere better to skin or other surfaces. Understandably, people enjoy walking into a home that smells freshly cleaned, but few understand the toxic chemistry behind their cleaning product’s scent.

Despite significant research linking phthalate exposure to hormone disruption, reproductive issues, and developmental problems, they are still used today (source). In fact, I have found no specific laws preventing the use of phthalates in cleaning products. In other words, no governing body is double-checking their safety before the products are sold.

Moreover, phthalates haven’t only been linked to developmental problems in children. Thus, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study reviewed phthalates’ effect on pregnant women. The results showed that pregnant women exposed to higher concentrations of phthalates had an increased risk of preterm birth. Specifically, phthalates commonly found in home and personal care products were associated with a 14-16% greater likelihood of preterm delivery. In rodents, phthalate exposure increased prenatal mortality, reduced growth and birth weight, skeletal, visceral, and external malformations (source).

Clearly, these findings underscore concerns about how phthalates can interfere with normal hormonal functions and fetal development (source). Besides, phthalates are completely unnecessary for cleaning. They do not improve the efficacy of removing soap scum, stains, dirt, germs, or grease.

Do you believe phthalates belong in our cleaners? You can learn more about a popular fragranced cleaning brand, Method, in my post Are Method Cleaning Products Safe?. Check out my blog post on natural fragrance to learn more about specific phthalates commonly used even in “natural” products.

Top cleaning products typically containing phthalates include:

• scented cleaning sprays (i.e., multi-purpose, disinfectant, stain treatments etc.)
• air fresheners (i.e., sprays, plug-ins etc.)
• perfumed cleaning powders, scrubs, pastes etc.

Bleach-Based Products

Next, bleach is a powerful disinfectant, but its fumes are harsh on the respiratory system (source). Not so surprisingly, women using bleach for home cleaning are at increased risk of developing non-allergic asthma (source). Furthermore, a study conducted in Japan with over 78,000 mother-child pairs showed that pregnant women who used a daily disinfectant had a significantly higher risk of asthma in their offspring (source).

That aside, inhaling bleach fumes can also irritate the mucous membranes of your eyes, nose, and throat. Not to mention bleach is corrosive, easily stains clothing, and produces extremely toxic fumes if mixed with vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and other typical house cleaners. In my opinion, it’s best to avoid bleach whenever possible, especially while pregnant.

Beware that some brands advertise themselves as “bleach alternatives,” but are far from non-toxic. For example, Fabuloso cleaner is labeled as a bleach alternative. However, its ingredients use several ethoxylated surfactants and glutaral, a preservative that is a respiratory sensitizer (source).

With that said, you don’t have to live in a house full of germs! If Clorox or other beach-based brands are what you normally reach for, continue reading below for my favorite safer disinfectant.

Top bleach-based cleaning products to avoid:

• chlorine bleach
• bleach-containing toilet bowl cleaners (e.g., Clorox)
• bleach-based disinfectant spray and wipes (e.g., Lysol)
• bleach-based scrub powders (e.g., Comet).

Ammonia-Based Cleaners

Whether or not you are familiar with its name, ammonia is a common cleaning ingredient found in both household and industrial products. Specifically, ammonia is a toxic substance that is highly effective at breaking down dirt and other tough substances. Consequently, it is widely used in cleaning products. However, like bleach, ammonia can irritate your lungs and skin upon exposure (source).

Moreover, limited data exists on the effects of ammonia exposure during pregnancy due to ethical restrictions from deliberately exposing a fetus to ammonia, but animal studies suggest potential risks. For example, a study involving rodents concluded that gestational exposure to ammonia causes oxidative protein damage in the neonatal rat brain and leads to long-term cognitive impairment (source). While more research is needed to determine the exact exposure level at which this may apply to humans, ammonia’s poor safety profile warrants caution. Therefore, it’s advisable to avoid ammonia whenever possible.

In addition, many pregnant women report heightened sensitivity to strong odors, and ammonia fumes can trigger nausea and headaches in instances of prolonged use (source). This is especially relevant as ammonia is commonly used in streak-free glass cleaners, where some inhalation is expected and the task can be repetitive.

Once again, some “ammonia-free” products may contain equally concerning alternatives, like ethanolamine. A good example is Easy Off Oven Cleaner which replaces ammonia with ethanolamine, another chemical that is not safe to use during pregnancy. As discussed in my List of Chemicals to Avoid During Pregnancy, ammonia alternatives like ethanolamine can still pose significant risks.

Typical ammonia-based products include:

• glass cleaners with ammonia (e.g., Windex)
• some general-purpose cleaners containing ammonia
• some heavy-duty oven cleaners (or contain toxic ammonia alternatives).

Products With Glycol Ethers

Next up is a chemical group many have not heard of – glycol ethers. Glycol ethers are included in cleaning products because they are potent solvents that can dissolve both water-soluble and oil-based stains. Consequently, these properties make glycol ethers ideal for removing tough grease and residue.

However, the downside is that some of the glycol ethers (e.g., ethylene glycol monomethyl ether or ethylene glycol monoethyl ether) carry a high concern for reproductive harm and negative impacts on fetal development. Furthermore, these health problems have been observed across several animal species and were statistically significant to both males and females (source).

Typically, it’s unethical to conduct studies exposing pregnant women to toxic chemicals, but observations have been made in workplace settings and foreign countries. For example, workers of an enameling factory were studied who used solvents including glycol ethers, and the rate of birth defects significantly increased among the offspring of enamelers.  Not only that, a French study found that prenatal exposure to glycol ethers resulted in significantly reduced neurocognitive abilities in children (source).

Furthermore, many of the reproductive issues observed in animal studies resulted from exposure levels below occupational health and safety restrictions (source). In my opinion, glycol ethers, even in lower concentrations, are not safe to use during pregnancy. Particularly so, when safer alternatives exist, which we will discuss shortly.

Common household cleaning products that may contain glycol ethers are as follows:

• carpet cleaners and stain treatments 
• window cleaners
• all-purpose cleaners
• disinfecting wipes, and
• floor cleaners.

Aerosol Sprays

Clearly, aerosol sprays are convenient. However, they also release fine particles less than 50 μm in diameter that can easily be inhaled. Particles of this size are small enough to stay airborne for an extended period before they settle on environmental surfaces or enter the respiratory tract (source).

To clarify, aerosols present two potential problems. First, aerosols are commonly used to spray a wide array of potentially toxic chemicals, which alone can be harmful to mother and baby (such as the ingredients mentioned in this post). However, because aerosols disperse chemicals in tiny particles, the likelihood of inhalation increases. Therefore, aerosols can increase the exposure of harmful chemicals to the mother and fetus.

For example, this study shows that prenatal exposure to cleaning products and disinfectants, especially those containing toxic chemicals like solvents and certain cleaning agents, has been associated with respiratory and developmental concerns (source).

Furthermore, this study illustrates that both sprays and aerosols release fine particulates. However, aerosols require twice as long time to ventilate from a room after spraying, compared to sprays (source).

For these reasons, I suggest you avoid aerosols. Very often, comparable non-aerosol options exist. Furthermore, aerosols are not environmentally friendly and generally not recyclable (source).

Cleaning products that normally come in the aerosol form include:

• aerosol glass cleaners
• aerosol disinfectants, and
• spray air fresheners.

What Cleaning Products Are Safe To Use During Pregnancy?

Fortunately, you don’t have to sacrifice cleanliness for ingredient safety. There are plenty of safe cleaning alternatives to conventional cleaning products. Below are a few ways to clean your home without exposing yourself to harmful chemicals:

• fragrance- free options
• DIY natural cleaners, and
• cleaning products verified by I Read Labels For You.

Fragrance-Free Options

As we discussed above, phthalates are extremely prevalent in scented cleaning products, even those labeled as “natural fragrance” or “fragrance derived from natural sources.” This is because those terms are unregulated and may not be entirely true.

An example of a brand known for its scents is Mrs. Meyers. In fact, I have met many health enthusiasts who believe that it is a natural brand. Decide for yourself by reading my post Are Mrs. Meyers Cleaning Products Safe?.

The easiest tip to remember is to select a fragrance-free option if you are unsure of the ingredients or haven’t thoroughly researched the company. While some pure essential oils, extracts, and safer synthetic ingredients exist, you might want to do your due diligence on the company first. As I explain in my blog post on hypoallergenic perfumes, most “safe” synthetic scent ingredients are largely understudied, and even essential oils have safety considerations.

Instead, opt for fragrance-free cleaners, or an I Read Labels For You approved safe cleaning product. (Learn about my 5 step process when ranking ingredient safety.)

DIY Natural Cleaners

Next, simple cleaners made from basic ingredients can be just as effective as toxic store-bought cleaners. For instance, DIY recipes involving vinegar, lemon juice or baking soda can be effective and inexpensive. I have experimented with several recipes in my own home. Keep in mind that it is not a good idea to use undiluted vinegar on natural stone, grout, or painted surfaces, as the pH can cause wear. Also, despite what some bloggers say, vinegar is not a true disinfectant.

On that note, there is an important distinction between cleaners and proper disinfectants. Simply put, proper cleaning removes debris and most germs, while disinfecting kills germs. There is a time and place for both.

Just like properly washing your hands is superior to using sanitizer, cleaning can often negate the need for a disinfectant. For example, when you wash your dishes, you don’t need to disinfect your dish soap. Instead, dish soap ingredients attract fat and loosen debris when washed. Consequently, you rinse off the germs, food, and other residue. Similarly, you can clean sinks, bathtubs, showers, and other surfaces without the need for disinfectants when you scrub and rinse them.

However, if you are not looking to make your own cleaners or fuss with labeling containers, I understand. Up next are some cost-effective options for safe cleaning.

Cleaning Products Verified By I Read Labels For You

To start with, my favorite versatile cleaning solution is Branch Basics Cleaning Concentrate (READ15 for 15% off). As always, I study the ingredients and manufacturing practices in depth before trying or recommending a brand. I have used Branch Basics for several years now and highly recommend you do as well. Plus, a major perk is that you can dilute it to make an all-purpose cleaner, hand soap, laundry detergent and so much more. Nothing is as versatile, and Branch Basics starter kit is everything you need to get rolling.

Alternatively, if you prefer a ready-made, more specialized cleaner, Pure Haven makes an excellent Surface Cleaner. I also use this in my home and love the ingredients. Actually, I am a passionate supporter of Pure Haven and their unwavering commitment to the strictest safety standards in every category. If it’s a Pure Haven product, rest assured it’s safe.

Next, when dealing with particularly difficult stains on laundry, I use Pure Haven’s Master Blaster stain remover. Hands down, this is the most effective stain remover I have ever used! Plus, you won’t find glycol ethers or aerosol packaging with Pure Haven.

Lastly, since I can’t have you walking away with Windex still in hand, my favorite, easy-to-use glass cleaner is Pure Haven’s Glass Cleaner. This handy solution uses only fully disclosed and safe ingredients. When I use it with a dry cloth, my glass windows and doors are always streak-free and sparkling. Goodbye, ammonia!

A Safe Disinfectant

Without a doubt, there are situations that call for disinfection. When a disinfectant is necessary, I reach for bleach’s non-toxic cousin, hypochlorous acid. It’s an EPA-approved disinfectant, used by surgeons, dentists, and parents (source and source). To make a long story short, this disinfectant has been in use for years. In fact, they even used it in hospitals during WWI. Within the last two decades, hypochlorous acid has increased in popularity and is now common in many medical applications (source).

Thanks to modern technology, you can now make hypochlorous acid at the push of a button. In my home, you will find this Force of Nature Starter Kit which I reach for any time I need a completely non-toxic disinfectant. As time goes on, I am confident you will notice how many applications hypochlorous acid is good for (psst. When did you disinfect your keyboard or cell phone last?)

Practical Tips For Reducing Exposure To Cleaning Chemicals

Despite our best efforts, toxic chemicals can still find their way into our homes. To help reduce your exposure while cleaning, here are a few practical tips:

• ventilate your home
• wear gloves, and
• limit the use of a disinfectant.

First and foremost, ventilation is key. Always clean in well-ventilated areas; opening windows and doors allows fresh air to circulate, which helps dissipate any fumes or lingering odors. In fact, this is a good idea because according to the EPA, the air inside our homes is more toxic than outside, even in large cities (source). To learn more about how to keep your indoor air clean and why it is important, read my Comprehensive Guide To Mobile Air Purifiers.

Additionally, consider wearing gloves while cleaning, as this can reduce skin contact with potentially harmful chemicals. With that said, even safe cleaning products can sometimes irritate or dry out sensitive skin when used frequently.

Furthermore, try to skip unnecessary disinfectants. Unless there’s a specific bacterial issue, most surfaces don’t require disinfectants. If you can adequately scrub the surface with a cleaning concentrate or soap and rinse, it should be free of most germs. Thus, you can create a safer and healthier cleaning routine by following these steps.

Conclusion: What Cleaning Ingredients Should You Avoid While Pregnant?

Concerning Chemicals In Cleaners Include Phthalates, Bleach, Ammonia, Glycol Ethers, And Aerosol Particles. Instead, Pregnant Women Can Benefit From Using Fully Disclosed, Fragrance-Free, Ingredient-Reviewed Cleaners And Hypochlorous Acid For Disinfection.

In conclusion, reducing your exposure to certain cleaning products during pregnancy is a proactive choice that helps safeguard your health and avoid harm to your baby’s development. Sadly, conventional household cleaning products can contain potentially harmful chemicals like phthalates, bleach, ammonia, glycol ethers, and aerosol sprays. Each group of chemicals carries specific concerns. However, by educating yourself about these potential dangers and taking proactive steps to reduce your exposure, you can create a safer home environment.

Fortunately, you can easily replace these toxic ingredients with safe and affordable products. You can make at home simple scrubs and sprays to tackle a variety of surfaces. My go-to cleaning choices are Branch Basics Cleaning Concentrate (READ15 for 15% off) and Pure Haven Cleaners. However, when surfaces need disinfection, I recommend the Force of Nature’s hypochlorous acid.

In all sincerity, I hope this helps you navigate this busy chapter of your life. If you’re curious about other non-toxic products or want help deciphering labels, I’m here to help! Let’s work together to create a toxin-free home that supports your health journey during pregnancy and beyond. For this, also use my unprecedented Baby Wipes Rating List and Diapers Rating List e-books – they will save you time and money and will give you peace of mind regarding products used on your babies.

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