Going Green For Baby

Today I was on Texas Living on KTXD in Dallas/Fort Worth, showing off a few ways you can go “green” when it comes to baby care.

There are several ways to green your care for baby, but I focused on just a few categories- diapering, feeding, sun protection, and bath and body.

Here’s the video of my segment, and a more detailed list is below.

Diapering

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know I’m a huge cloth diaper advocate. You can check out all my posts on the cloth diapering here. Cloth diapering isn’t what it was for our parents or grandparents. There are SO many options on the market, and they seem to get easier and easier. It may not be an option for everyone, but even busy working parents may be able to squeeze in time to cloth diaper at home.

Traditional disposable diapers can take up to 500 years to decompose in a landfill! So every one you can keep out of the landfill makes a big difference.

On today’s show, I’m showing off one my favorite cloth diapers – bumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers and all in ones.

If cloth diapering isn’t for you, there are great disposable diaper options out there, too. Disposable diapers from The Honest Company are biodegradable/plant-based, and made free of chlorine, phthalates, PVC, perfumes and other nasty chemicals found in big brand disposable diapers.

You can order a monthly diaper bundle, delivered to your door, for $80 a month.

And no matter if you use cloth diapers full time, part time or not at all, it’s always good to have a natural (and cloth diaper friendly) diaper cream on hand. On today’s show, I’ll have some Balm Baby with me. It’s organic, vegan, and packaged in a recyclable glass container. I’ve also enjoyed using Burts Bees in the past.

Feeding

The easiest way to control what your baby eats, and to be sure they are getting unprocessed, whole, healthy food is to make it yourself.  And while making baby food may not conjure up images of anything “easy,” I assure you it’s not rocket science, whether it’s baby led weaning or purees.

If you choose to offer purees, it doesn’t take an expensive baby-food-making system. If you already have a food processor, you’re good to go. The only other things you’ll need are a steaming basket and some containers to store your food in.

On the show, I’ll have some glass and polypropylene containers by Green Sprouts. I’ve also had luck with freezing purees in ice cube trays and storing the cubes in freezer storage in the past.

Of course, we don’t always have time to make our baby’s food. I used a lot of Plum Organics and Ella’s Kitchen food pouches with Leyna, and I loved the convenience! These are our go-to options for dining out with baby.

And nothing beats the ease of tossing a banana in your diaper bag, and letting baby nom on it at your destination.

Sun Protection

With the warm months ahead of us, the time our kids spend in the sun is only going to increase. It’s so important to keep sun protection on them, but many of the sunscreens on the market are full of toxins.

My favorite resource for learning more about the sunscreen you’re using on your family is the EWG’s Skin Deep Sunscreen Guide. Type in the name of any sunscreen and find out the Hazard Score, which rates the ingredients in each and how toxic they are.

I’m super excited to show off a new product on the show by Goddess Garden. It’s a continuous spray sunscreen, made from a formula with an EWG hazard score of 1 for very low. And those of us with mobile kiddos who are itching to jump into pools and sprinklers know how great the ease of continuous spray sunscreens can be!

This product will be available at Whole Foods and Walgreens.com in March of this year.

Of course, never overlook the importance of keeping your kids covered with hats and even rash guards (swim shirts). You can find many of these with built in SPF.

Bath and Body

What we put on our babies’ bodies is just as important as what we put in it.  I’ll have a line from Dolphin Organics with me today on the show, which contains no artificial ingredients, and it’s labeling makes it very clear for parents to see exactly what they are exposing their children to, be it an organic or natural ingredient.

This line is also free of parabens, chemicals used as a preservative in many cosmetics which have been shown to link to breast cancer and to mimic estrogen.

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Going green never has to be an all or nothing ordeal. Take as many steps as you can to limit the toxins your baby is exposed to and do what feels right for you and your family. These are just a few suggestions of how and where to start.

Another fantastic resource is HealthyChild.org.

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50 Things to Do Before You Deliver: The First Time Moms Pregnancy Guide
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