Mama Rose's Naturals: Small Business Promotes Natural Baby Care

Rosetta Thuresson, owner and founder of Mama Rose's Naturals, shares valuable insight on running a small environmentally friendly business, and the importnance of using natural products on babies.

1. When did you start and what got you started?

I began Mama Rose's Naturals about 4 ½ years ago when my daughter was a baby. She became extremely ill at 3 months old from a horrible virus and pneumonia. I began searching for remedies to assist in her recovery, and was unable to find products that I was satisfied with. So I began making my own herbal products for her. Our friends and family loved what I was making, and I turned Mama Rose's Naturals into a business. After much work and quitting my ‘day job,' the products I created for my daughter Francesca could be found in over 100 retail locations by the end of that first year!

2. Why do you love what you do?

I love helping people. Before becoming a mother, I worked as a social worker assisting children and families. Working with our customers and with herbs, I am able to continue helping people in a way that is beneficial to my role as a mother. It is extremely rewarding to offer products to families that I know were created with love and wholesome nutritive ingredients that I chose carefully for my daughter's health. It always overwhelms me when customers share their appreciation of Mama Rose's Naturals products and personal stories with me. I can't tell you the number of babies with horrible eczema I have seen, which the itchy, red, inflamed skin had disappeared within 2 weeks of using Mama Rose's Naturals products. That alone keeps me loving what I do!

3. What are some examples of products that are relatively new/or unknown that would be helpful to new parents?

Mama Rose's Naturals is very excited about our new outdoor products, including all natural chemical free sunscreen and insect repellent! All of Mama Rose's Naturals products have been made with the purest, most organic ingredients available, including these unique new products. Our Sunshine Spray Skin & Diaper Care is our best selling product, and receives incredible raves by new parents. It is an antibacterial spray which is also aromatherapeutic. It can be used as an all natural diaper wipe solution, or to sooth diaper rash, skin irritation, burns, bug bites, cuts, inflammation, eczema, cradle cap, you name it! You can spray it in the room or car if baby is fussy or colicky. Mama's use it as a facial toner, hair detangler, or for postpartum vaginal recovery. The list goes on and on!

4. Perhaps more on 'why mothers should use natural products, address concerns, costs?

Most skin care products are filled with harsh, potentially dangerous chemicals that are absorbed directly into our bodies through our skin, and wash down our drains into the earth. Some of the most harmful chemicals are found in synthetic fragrances, dyes, and certain preservatives. Other ingredients that can cause skin sensitivities are sulfates and numbing agents found in soaps, or talc used in baby powder. There is certainly a difference in cost between synthetic and natural products. When using organic ingredients, the cost goes up even more dramatically. Here are some of the reasons.

Your average over-the-counter product found in the grocery store is mass made by the thousands by large companies. The ingredients used are typically 100% synthetic, which is very inexpensive in comparison to natural ingredients. These large companies are able to create these products and sell large quantities of them to distributors extremely inexpensively.

Products that use natural ingredients certainly cost more to make. Natural ingredients are created by human hands, not engineered by large machines. ‘Natural' is not the same as ‘organic'. When ingredients or products are labeled ‘organic', the farms where each ingredient is grown and processed have to be certified as using no chemical pesticides. This certification process is extremely costly and time consuming for the farms offering organic ingredients, which reflects in the cost.

Packaging and manufacturing is also far more expensive for smaller companies than for larger companies. All of these factors calculate into the final cost of each product. As a manufacturer, it is certainly difficult to compete with the larger companies when creating natural and organic products. However it is pleasing to know that we offer a product that is one-of-a-kind, as well as helpful to skin and the environment. Our customers seem to appreciate it as well!

To learn more about natural products for babies and new parents, please visit Mama Rose's Naturals