Raising a Green Baby

By Heidi Meyer

I had my first baby 16 months ago and was determined to give him a sustainable and healthy start in life.  Using cloth diapers is probably the biggest thing that I did.  The thought of the extra work and cleanup with cloth diapers can often deter people from using them.  Should this be the case, there is luckily a great option- cloth diaper services.  I use Do Good Diapers, a Sustainable Diaper Delivery Service which has worked very well for my family.  The cost of cloth diaper services is comparable to using disposables, and the services handle all of the mess (you just place the diaper in the pail like you would a disposable and put it outside for pickup once a week).  While they do drive to your home to pick-up/drop-off, which uses fuel, they increase their sustainability in several ways:  route optimization software which plans out the most efficient routes, state of the art high efficiency washers to reduce energy and water use, and carbon offsets to counterbalance the impact of the delivery van.

The food a baby is fed is another opportunity to have a “green” baby.  I chose breastfeeding, which has many benefits for the child’s health and is also a great sustainable way to feed your baby.  Breastfeeding eliminates the energy and resources used in producing and transporting formula.  Once the little one was ready for solid food I always chose organic food, which again is a great option for the baby and the planet.  Grocery stores have a large variety of organic baby and finger food.  I also made my own organic baby food, which just involved buying whole organic foods and putting them in the food processor.  Then I froze the puree in ice cube trays and stored the cubes in freezer bags.  It was easy to take out the amount I needed before each feeding, and it avoids all of the individual packaging of the jar food.

If every baby born used all new items the waste would be incredible.  Therefore, I made an effort to reuse as many items as I could for my son.  Friends gave me their hand-me down clothes, toys, and other supplies (like a carseat, swing, baby bath, breast pump, etc).  I also went to resale stores and community sales to purchase clothes and toys.

When purchasing new items, I carefully looked for sustainable ones.  I found items made from organic cotton:  clothes, sheets, boppy pillow cover and cloth toys.  Also, I used glass baby bottles and sippy cups instead of the usual plastic.  When selecting toys to purchase I look for wooden options when available.  There are many ways to “green” your baby.  These are some ways that have worked well for me!

Our Sponsors