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This is the second part of Detox Your Home: In the Nursery. For Part 1, click here. For the introduction this feature, click here.
Stuff that makes it easy being green
Dapper diapers. A baby will use approximately 6,000 diapers before she's toilet trained, and each disposable one will take as many as 500 years to decompose in a landfill-eek! So choosing diapers with the planet, your patience, and your little, er, Pooh-bear equally in mind can make a big difference. One alternative to one-time-use types is the reusable cloth diaper. Much easier to use (and wash) than the lumpy wads of yesteryear, these can be made from organic cotton, hemp, or even bamboo. Cradle-to-Cradle certified gDiapers, meanwhile, are both flushable and biodegradable. Of course, if you can wrap your head around it, the greenest diapers are the ones you don't use, according to a method called elimation communication. Get more scoop from Sara Snow.
Wonderful toys. Despite the omnipresence of plastic, nontoxic toys are easy to find. A few standouts we love include the Miniature Windmill by Lehman, made of steel in the U.S.A. and adorable teddy bears made from your own recycled fabric, hand-knit from cotton, or built from wood and non-toxic paint. Netto Collection offers toys from Finland made from organic and eco-materials and non-toxic finishes, while Sage Baby has more good, clean toys than you can shake a pogo stick at.
Pure bliss. When it comes to baby's skin, it's best to think of it like a sponge, rather than a barrier. Traditional ingredients can aggravate tender tushies, bring on annoying allergies, or worse. Curious to know exactly what's in your kiddo's bath-time bubbles or staple sunscreen? Visit the Environmental Working Group's Parent's Buying Guide, which helps concerned parental units figure out which baby products-from mainstream must-haves to alternative brands-are safe to use. Fast-growing line California Baby offers an array of natural products that rank high on the list, while Avalon Organics offers a full line of products made from organic ingredients. Sara Snow shares more below.
Eating right. If making your own baby food feels right to you, the book So Easy Baby Food offers easy-to-follow recipes that will keep baby full and healthy for less than 30 minutes of your time total per week. Too busy (or exhausted) for that? HomeMadeBaby to the rescue. This organic delicatessen allows you trace every ingredient "from field to finger" and choose the prefect texture ("so mushy, good mushy, kinda mushy") for any age group.
Did you know?
- Mixing hot water with some synthetic chemicals can cause them to off-gas more easily, releasing VOCs, which are especially harmful to kids. To keep them safe, only dilute cleaners with tepid water, use natural cleaning products, and crack the windows when cleaning.
- More than 1 million children ingest at least 15 pesticides every day from fruits and vegetables. Pesticides pose special concerns to children because of their high metabolisms and low body weights.
- Many conventional disposable diapers still contain super-absorbent polymers that were banned from feminine care products two decades ago.
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