Best tips for eco-friendly pregnancy and baby

Plasticfreemama

Hi all,

I am due in april this year with my second child. I already plan on using reusable nappies, wipes and second hand clothes. What other tips do you have to both save money and be eco-concious with a newborn baby?

TIA!

spadoosh

Id imagine the biggest eco impact your child will make will come in the form of gifts etc from friends and family. Emphasise with them that presents arent needed or wanted, a donation to a savings account might be a better suggestion.

Plasticfreemama

Yeah I thought about it, i just find some people get offended if you mention money rather than material presents so trying to think of the best way to get this message across!

sn1987a

Can you make an Amazon baby list with items you need? Then people could buy a gift card or something you actually need?

Plasticfreemama

I am not too keen on Amazon to be honest. I try to buy less but local, we are trying a less wasteful and more environmentally friendly ifestyle at home and Amazon's practises are pretty much against what we believe in...

vulpix

I was an eco friendly Mum nearly 30 years ago and people thought I was a nutcase! If gifts are likely to be a problem ask for book tokens as you already have everything from your first child.

CompKB

If you plan to bottle feed at any point, glass bottles are available.
Avoid those bamboo baby bowls/cutlery that look a bit like plastic, I watched something recently that they are a scam and are not good for the environment.
Obviously when it comes to weaning make your own baby food, Its super easy, I do it all the time. A great tip I learnt is to freeze the baby food in icecube trays, that way you can easily portion up enough for your baby and you always have some in the freezer.
Wooden toys or just baby safe household items (wooden spoons, pots and pans etc)

I will have a think if anything else comes to mind, Id love to follow this thread for everyone else's ideas too!

rach_k

Newborns really don't need much so just don't buy anything and you'll be doing okay! 

If people might get uppity about you asking them for money or certain things, can you set somebody from each side of the family up as gate-keeper?  Maybe your mum and MIL.  Explain what you're trying to do ("we already have too much stuff" if they're not on-board with your eco lifestyle) and ask them to spread the message.  If they're anything like my family, they'll be talking to everybody anyway!  They can phrase the request to suit the person e.g. "My daughter is so lovely, she's trying to reduce plastic so she'd really love X, if you wanted to buy a gift" or "My daughter is a weird hippy, she's asked for only X if you want to buy a gift.  It's a bit odd but we're all going along with it" - whatever is needed!  

Nsky24

Buy reusable kitchen roll, And maybe try soapnuts

JessyRM

Breastfeeding for as long as possible would be my number one and then baby led weaning when it comes to eating solids.
 I tend to buy as much as possible second hand, when family and friends wanted to buy presents I'd ususally ask for books or open ended wooden toys, can't really go wrong there and they can be passed on easily. Thats assuming you have most of the big items from your first child like car seata & a pram otherwise I'd ask them to chip in for that. 

clarejones

Definitely reusable nappies! Peachi Baby have a great 'Cost' section on their product pages which breaks it all down. Basically they cost 4p per wear if you're a full-time-clother. IE way less than disposables. Their nappies are really brilliant too, btw.

I don't think anyone has mentioned this so far but a lot of councils do cash-back incentives to switch to reusable nappies. 

Just do a quick google search for 'your council' + "nappy scheme"

My council (West Berks) gave me £30 cash-back on my purchase of nappies. All I had to do was email Peachi asking for an invoice and then sent me one straight away. 

I've heard that some councils give hundreds of pounds of incentives. Swansea *I believe* has an amazing scheme.

Hope this persuades some people to give cloth nappies a go! They're really not as difficult as they seem.