Happy toxic-free New Year!

Now that the Babe is putting everything in his mouth I'm even more concerned about the manufacturing processes and ingredients of the products he comes in contact with - literally. Here are two great new finds that are definitely worth passing on:

1. Lovies by Bubbie Blue
Now this is a product I can get behind! First, my very dear friend Christa is one of the two co-founders, and secondly because their sweet lovies are crafted for the sleep-deprived like me! Lovies are "transitional objects" - a blanket or a toy - to help your child "make the emotional transition to seeking an alternate source of comfort." Bubbie Blue's Lovies are handmade - love that! - and made of 100% organic cotton jersey and non-toxic dyes.




2. Schoolhouse Naturals by Maple Landmark
Schoolhouse Naturals are a new spinoff from the Montgomery Schoolhouse line produced by Maple Landmark, a company based in Middlebury, VT. My Dad just sent the Babe three wooden baby rattles from the Montgomery line that are so sweet (thanks Dad!). One has bells, one has discs and another has beads. They are fashioned of hard maple and have no added chemicals and are finshed with bright, non-toxic whey finish. (The new Naturals line has finishes available in either whey or beeswax.) What I love best is how simple these "toys" are and what a lovely reminder of the fact that babies don't need tons of stimulation (have you ever seen how they stare at their fingers for seemingly hours on end?).

Confession of a Disposable Diaper Junkie

I've been using Pampers. And Huggies. Snug n' Dry. Swaddlers. Gentle Care. We've tried all the brands and all the varieties. The truth is - they work. We've had very few overnight leaks, very few blow outs. And when you can barely stand you are so tired, they are far too convenient. But this is not the commitment I made to raising the Babe. After months of filling landfills with some potent little bombs, I'm finally coming clean. Here is how we got into this mess anyway:

Blame it on St. Vincent: At the hospital
The nurses at St. Vincent's used Huggies - no doubt through an effective marketing arrangement with the manufacturer to get samples into the hands of unwitting new mothers. During my hospital stay, I don't recall changing more than one diaper. And the one time I did change the meconium filled bomb, my older brother (bless him) was there guiding me. Who was I to argue?

Learning the ropes: Week 1
Changing the Babe was like a NASCAR pitstop. I don't actually watch NASCAR so I'm not sure if those cars even stop but whatever the case, we moved swiftly while hollering commands back and forth. Huggies was still the brand of choice. We used the Gentle Care style. I vowed that once his umbilical cord dropped off we'd try something different.

Trying to break the habit: Weeks 2-5
Umbilical cord dropped off. Huggies stayed on.

During week three, I upgraded to a bigger version of Huggies. The guilt started to set in. Maybe I could just use them at night, I thought. Or maybe just on outings when we knew we couldn't manage a mess.

At some point during this period I bought Seventh Generation diapers for newborns. They are the shade of cardboard so they make you feel better about your decision. But (there is always a but), they were rectangle, not at all the shape of the Babe and they continually drooped in the back. I changed so many outfits while he was wearing those that I gave up and gave the rest away.

I then tried Nature Babycare on the recommendation of a friend. I must have been optimistic because I ordered two big bags of diapers and a case of wipes. Here is what I like about this product: "It has an exclusive 100% chlorine free absorbent material and the material against the baby's skin is based on corn instead of plastic like traditional diapers, 100% compostable, breathable and extremely kind for the baby. The packaging is 100% compostable and based on corn." Marketing speak aside, I cannot attest to the efficacy of the product. The diapers are also shaped like rectangles. The marketing team at Kimberly Clark got it right when they created the HUGGIES Brick Baby ad.

(A side note on Seventh Generation and Nature Babycare wipes: I really liked both products. They are both fragrance free and chlorine free. They are also not as wet as conventional wipes which seemed to give the Babe diaper rash. We continue to use the Seventh Generation wipes. In fact, I just bought a massive case from Diapers.com.)

Have diaper, will travel: Weeks 6-8
We went to Orlando and Miami on two separate trips. How could I possibly start a new diaper routine? I rationalized

Last Spring I wrote about gDiapers , which is a pretty revolutionary concept in diapering. "Little g's" are rewearable pants (think Pull-Ups) and a flushable, compostable insert that can also be tossed after each use because it decomposes in a few hundred days as opposed to 500 years. They are made of 92% cotton, 8% spandex and no elemental chlorine, perfumes or latex. I'd read tons of online conversations between moms who were buzzing that these were a great alternative to disposables. When I was just six months pregnant, I proudly bought a starter kit.

Right around week nine I finally gave the little g's a try. The first few uses were great - no mess. I can't say I used the little swisher stick to flush the insert; I just popped the soiled insert in the garbage. On about the fourth night the Babe had a massive blowout and I promptly gave up. I think the Babe had just outgrown the newborn size which fit up to 12lbs. I found this frustrating because it meant having to buy new little g pants.

Present day
My husband asked me the other day what happened to the little g's. Guilt officially set in. I decided I would not purchase another case of disposables until I really gave this a shot. In case you are wondering, I decided not to cloth diaper before I had the Babe. If I had more space and a place to keep the soiled diapers, I probably would have tried, but with a changing table in the living room and no circulation in our bathroom, this is one compromise I just couldn't bring myself to make.

So now that the Pampers and Huggies have run out, I'm vowing (publicly this time) to give the g's another shot. I just jumped onto the gDiapers site and see they have some very cool new colors. I guess if the environment isn't motivation enough, consumerism may get the better of me.

If you've got ideas for me, or if you've tried other products you think I ought to know of, please drop me a line!

Eco-friendly baby clothes

The Babe has received some pretty fabulous gifts in his short life. Two of my dear friends gave us eco-friendly baby clothes from babysoy and Hanna Andersson.

"Babysoy is the 1st company in the world to create baby's newborn wardrobe using soybean protein fiber." In case you were wondering, soybean protein fiber is the leftover pulp from tofu, soymilk and other soy products. You can instantly tell from the site that it's an environmentally conscious marketer. The mantra STYLE + NATURE'S SOFTNESS seems to say it all.

Over at Hanna Andersson, the green story is a bit harder to find. Because I'm a nut and I read everything on every label of every product that enters this house (um, studio), I was intrigued by the Hanna Andersson tags claiming 100% pure organic cotton. The company, which has Swedish roots, embraces a European ecological certification process called Öko-Tex (sounds like echo-tex) Standard 100. In order for a garment to receive certification "every fabric, button, thread and zipper must pass rigorous tests for over 100 potentially harmful substances."

Suprisingly the website doesn't have any content about this on the home page. Given all the green marketing today, AND the fact that mommies are increasingly discerning about the products they purchase for their families, I'd say Hanna Andersson has a pretty good story to tell. It took me a few clicks to find it in the About Us section. You can read more about the process here: Öko-Tex.

Buying a greener laptop

I'm not sure when it happened - it may have been when I downloaded the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy or uploaded the umpteenth picture of the Babe that finally did it - but my much loved Sony Vaio laptop seems to be kicking the bucket. It keeps powering down and sending me low virtual memory messages that read like a Dear John letter. It might just be time to get some more memory. Or a Mac.

At the Consumer Electronics Show last year, green was the word on the street. Manufacturers of all stripes introduced energy efficient technologies for the home, the car and in personal electronics. Not much of a techie myself, I'm finding it a bit hard to research laptops that might have some green credentials.

This past June, Greenpeace released their annual electronics guide.
The guide "ranks leading mobile phone, game console, TV and PC manufacturers on their global policies and practice on eliminating harmful chemicals, taking responsibility for their products once they are discarded by consumers, and their impact on the climate. Companies are ranked on information that is publicly available and clarifications and communications with the companies." Sony and Sony Ericsson score the highest among dozens rated, making me feel a little sentimental about my Vaio again.

If you happen to find yourself hunting around online for new electronics or home/office supplies and want to consider a green(er) purchase, I've found that Super Warehouse features hundreds of products with EPA Energy Star certification. For many of us today, we're trying to find simple solutions to cut down on our overall energy consumption. I remember back in the day when Mom's washing machine had the gleaming blue star on it. I was floored by the wide range of electronics that now feature the seal. Buying products with the Energy Star is the easiest way to feel good about your purchases.

I performed two searches against Super Warehouse's vast inventory: one using the term "environmentally friendly" and another with just the acronym "EPA". Both searches called up hundreds of products: color laser printers from dozens of manufacturers including Brothers, whose products feature a reduced size and smaller footprint; HP scanners for all those pics of the Babe; Apple laptops and yes, even the newer Sony Vaios.

For a list of categories that feature the Energy Star go to: EnergyStar.gov

Happy Searching!

Crib? Check. Doula? Check? We're ready! (Part 1)

Despite the stiffling heat and humidity here in Manhattan last week, and despite rounding the corner at the 8 month mark, we had a pretty productive week here at SustainaBabe.

First, the crib: Last weekend the Sorelle Sophia crib was delivered and assembled. It looks fabulous and fits snugly in its Nook. (The Nook is basically the left hand side of our wall.)





After much deliberating, we also invested in the Naturepedic No-Compromise Organic mattress, which is recommended by Healthy Child, Healthy World, and endorsed by several other organizations. At twice the price of a traditional mattress, we weren't sure if it was worth the investment, but we figured if we are taking pains to keep the Babe away from toxic chemicals, it was the right decision. While dark greenies would probably cringe at the food-grade polyethylene waterproof cover, we thought this was a good, well, compromise.

Dressing

I've been looking at the dresser for a week and now need to do something with it. Before I can wash all the Babe's clothes and tuck them neatly in its drawers though I feel compelled to wash it down and make sure its as eco-friendly as possible. Even though the dresser is solid oak, the sides of the drawers are plywood which emit formaldehyde.

While The Complete Organic Pregnancy initially kind of freaked me out, I consulted it this week. In the nursery section the authors adivse how to treat nursery furniture that is constructed of plywood, using AFM's Safecoat Safe Seal product. It seems easy enough except for they don't sell the product anywhere in the city that I can see. Apparently, AFM has a Brooklyn location but didn't actually have the product listed on their website. Before I make the pilgrimage out there, I decided to test their commitment to "providing the best customer service in the industry" and sent an email inquiry.

Pod-size changing tables

Fortuitously, we had childbirth classes this weekend in TriBeCa and while there discovered this fun little store named Babesta with unusual baby gear.

You can tell that the decreasing square footage of the Pod is weighing heavily on my mind this weekend because the first product in the store I gravitated to was the UBI changing table. Not only is it petite and portable, it also has a spring-loaded disposable diaper dispenser with velco tabs to hold the diaper in place while the Babe is wriggling around. This won't work if we end up using gDiapers but UBI also has a basic table without the diaper feature that will suffice.



Another option I just discovered on Babesta's site Ouef gliding changing station that latches onto the top rail of a crib. At $235 it's a little steep but it does include a changing pad.



Ahh...now that I know there are some options out there the Pod is feeling a bit livable again.

Eco Nurseries

The downside to living in the Pod is that we don't have room for a nursery. Heck, we don't even have a real bedroom of our own. We're going to try to recreate a nursery by carving out a section (a wall really) and make that the Babe's space. His little nook is about 30 inches deep and runs about half the length of the Pod (approx 12 ft). I've been on the hunt for a narrow crib to wedge into his spot. So far I like the Avery from Natart (top, left). It's 30" wide and 54" long - perfect! We might wait until after the Babe is born to get it and try to get through the first few months with him in a bassinet.

There are scores of options today for mamas who want to incorporate green options into their nurseries. Sage Baby is a great NYC website for organic clothing, sustainable furniture, like cribs fashioned from non-toxic materials. I especially like the Maple (bottom, right).

My first favorite find

Confession: The new Pottery Barn Kids catalog arrived today and I wistfully looked at all the sweet baby trappings. Yes, I even dog eared a few pages. Every infant needs their own monogrammed Easter bodysuit after all.

But my favorite first find for transforming our lives and apartment for B (baby) was sent to me from a city-turned-surburban mom who I respect immensely. It's the StrollAway from MetroTOTS. The StrollAway gives new purpose to that tiny nook in your closet not yet being used, using an over the door stroller storage device.

Not that I have a stroller yet, but we're getting there...