Ever heard of nipple butter? Fathers-to-be, this might be the most thoughtful gift you can give your pregnant wife ahead of her due date. And here’s why. “When you’re breastfeeding a baby every two hours, you’re skin starts to get dry and you feel very sore,” says Malika Sadani, who runs The Moms Co — a non-toxin personal care brand for mothers and infants. The 35-year-old, who is based in Gurgaon, won’t be the first to introduce the product as a part of her brand’s new bath and body range this week. But she will be likely be the first mom to have painstaking created a formula for the same.
“When we started the company in May last year, we had just four products,” recalls the mother-of-two. This was a natural pre-natal kit of a body wash, body butter, body oil and foot cream, But with orders pouring in from places as far-flung as the Andaman and Nicobar islands to a village in Aizwal, Mizoram, it wasn’t long before the company received a one million dollar series of funding — contributing to a team of formulation experts and an expanded range of products.
Each product goes through a rigorous six months of testing for weather conditions and different
skin types — before they are eventually sent to the labs at Safe Cosmetics Australia for certification.
Now that she has a team in place, Malika shares most of her research time goes into identifying natural ingredients that make for clean products that are safe to use. “Like kokum butter (one of the ingredients in the nipple butter) that restores elasticity and prevents dryness of skin,” reveals the engineer-MBA graduate,” or Murumuru Seed Butter (from a Brazilian nut) which retains moisture and nourishes that goes into the brand’s natural protein conditioner.
But before Malika became the dynamic mompreneur and solution-provider to all problems pregnancy related that she is today, she takes us back, “I was a worried mom that imported everything from diapers to shampoo to curd (Indian curd is often sweetened) for my daughters that would be sent through relatives and friends in the US.” So much so that she recalls with a laugh, “Myraah my daughter who is now six, used to tell anyone who came home: ‘Whatever you want — don’t worry you will find it in mama’s canteen!”
While a majority of the product line-up includes bath and body products, one section that has attracted a bit of attention are the ‘caffeine-free teas’ to combat acidity and cater to more nourishing breastfeeding. “Essentially these are herb blends since there are no actual tea in them,” explains Malika, who gets them sourced from Europe. Expect ingredients like blackcurrant leaves, lemon balm, chamomile flowers and fennel seeds.
As for Malika’s new year plans, her long time dream of a safe baby range including baby wash, diaper rash cream oils and sunscreen will be available
in January.
Products are priced between Rs 200 and Rs 700. Details: themomsco.com