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Before I tell ya all about the BEST non toxic baby products for a natural nursery, I should probably tell you…
I had a baby!
If you listen to my podcasts you may have already known; however, since I’m keeping our little one’s photo and details off the internet for now (at least until age, like, three – when kids become old enough to use smartphones and have Instagram profiles #iwishiwaskidding) all I can say is that I used to look like this:
(My gut finally caught up to my butt!)
And now I look like…well, that, without the belly, minus a few weeks’ worth of showers, plus a nice thick coating of breast milk and drool.
So even though we’ve chosen to raise our little one away from the prying eyes of the intersnoops, I WILL be sharing all things natural and non-toxic baby-related!
(And for tons of fertility, conception and pregnancy wellness-related knowledge, sign up for the Baby Making & Beyond program I created with the amazing Meg the Midwife.)
Motherhood so far has been a lot of things. It’s been tiring, precious, awful, awe-inspiring, humbling, knock-you-down-a-pegging, transformative, hilarious (I never thought I’d care about another creature’s poop so much), did I mention tiring? and I’m only just starting to get the hang of it. Although I’ve gotten REALLY good at doing things with one hand. And sometimes, with my feet.
I now have zero control (which is tough for a gal who took years to research and execute a preconception/fertility and pregnancy health plan)…but I’m getting OK with that.
While I can’t control everything, I can control SOME things, especially the types of products (mattresses, clothing and such) where baby spends the MOST time. Enter: the best non toxic baby products for a natural nursery.
Now, all a baby REALLY needs (*technically*) is your boobs and lots of love. But let’s be honest. They didn’t come up with baby registries for nothin’.
BTW: use Myregistry.com to add stuff from all kinds of different stores – don’t get stuck with Buy Buy Baby! (Ugh, has there ever been a more terrible name for a store?)
So here are posts about my favorites – items we’ve used from the beginning – and why we love them. Some are expensive, some aren’t. Some you may deem necessary, some you might not.
In the end, just do what you feel deep down is right for your family and DON’T STRESS. LOTS more goes in to parenting than a few items on a registry. I am in no way suggesting that having these items or NOT having them will make or break one’s ability to parent.
I’m also NOT making any statements about how you SHOULD or should NOT parent. Whether you cloth diaper, EC, or use disposables; whether you bedshare, cosleep, or have baby across the hall, whether you (insert controversial parenting topic here) or not, there’s a tidbit in here for you!
Plenty more to come, and please leave your favorites in the comments of each post!
Guidelines we followed
In general, we followed these guidelines:
- If we bought it new, it was made with non-toxic materials like
- untreated or safely treated solid wood (water-based or formaldehyde-free lacquers)
- organic cotton
- eco-wool (wool not treated with chemicals and derived from sheep raised humanely)
- latex (basically baked rubber – what mattresses used to be made from)
- AND everything’s manufactured without industrial flame retardant chemicals.
- If we couldn’t find (or afford) a totally non-toxic item, we searched for USED items that had been out of the box long enough to have released as many toxic fumes and potentially irritating substances as possible.
- For baby body care, we looked for natural and safe substances containing none of my ingredients to avoid. (Note: we really don’t bathe our baby unless it’s necessary – her first bath was at 2 weeks old. Good ol’ fashioned wiping the neck rolls with coconut oil and the nether-regions with flannel wipes has been plenty.)
Check out the posts in this series…
Natural baby products: best cloth diapers for newborns
Natural baby products: safe non toxic baby bedding
The best non toxic baby shops
Natural baby products: non toxic nursing supplies (coming soon!)
Natural baby products: non toxic baby body care & natural remedies (coming soon!)
Natural baby products: non toxic baby equipment (coming soon!)
Natural baby products: organic & eco-friendly baby clothing (coming soon!)
If there’s another topic you’d like me to tackle, let me know in the comments below!
Thanks for reading,
27 Responses
NoseFrida the SnotSucker…the gift I get EVERY expectant mother I know. My son is 3.5yo and we still use it whenever he gets stuffed up…except now he calls it the “snock snucker.”
Haha, totally accidentally hit “publish” too soon! Come back tomorrow and see the REAL post 🙂 That’s new mommy brain for ya!
I feel like this is exactly how I write all emails and text theses days (with a 5 month old). No captials, no details. Lol just facts. Also I love all the suggestions; we have most of these items.
Haha, totally accidentally hit “publish” too soon! Come back tomorrow and see the REAL post 🙂
Ha- That’s totally something I would do. I am looking forward to the rest of the series. Although this would have beenore helpful for us last year but it’s nice to see we made some good choices.
Ha- That’s totally something I would do. I am looking forward to the rest of the series. Although this would have been more helpful for us last year but it’s nice to see we made some good choices.
I’d love for you to review Ava Anderson products: http://www.avaandersonnontoxic.com/
Lots of baby stuff as well has household cleaners.
OH my goodness I am SO happy you are blogging on these topics girl. Thank you little momma! I am 16 weeks (17 on Saturday) and have registering and all these happy things (and overwhelming) things on my mind. THANK YOU for sharing! Happy motherhood Liz 😉
Yay, congratulations Courtney! And keep me informed on what else you find that might not have made my list! It’s all a work in progress!
You should check out Eco Chic Movement (www.ecochicmovement.com) for natural mother and baby body care products developed by the owner who is a Chemical Engineer, Toxicologist and Naturopathic Doctor.
Love this post and your podcasts. Congrats on becoming a mom!
Brett
Thank you, Brett! I’m going to put together a post of great sites to find baby stuff, so I’ll add this one to the list!
Just wanted to say congrats on your healthy little one!
I’ve been a big fan of Balanced Bites and Real Food Liz since I graduated from the NTP program a couple of years ago, and now your baby series has come at a perfect time as I’m 6 months pregnant and looking for help navigating the world of online items for registering. So THANK YOU! And Congrats on your little one!
CONGRATULATIONS Emily!
I am a new mom too and had to laugh because as I was reading, I have my baby in one hand, using my foot to turn off the vibrating sleeper she was just in and laughed out loud when I read the poop comment (I recently sent a poop picture to my husband because she finally pooped after 4 days!! Yay!) This is great and I look forward to reading your blog more often!
Congratulations! I was pretty stoked when you announced on the podcast you were expecting. I’m so excited you are doing these! I just had my first baby somewhere around the time you had yours. Mine just turned 2 months. I wish I knew this before. Keep these coming please!
Thank you so much for this! I have a 10 month old and am always on the hunt for the best/cleanest products possible. So far I have found simple is best. Coconut oil and lavender oil have been my best friends so far and can be used with cloth diapers. Oh and the Nose Frida rocks!
Hi and congratulations with your precious baby.
I’m most of the way growing our third gorgeous baby and have been researching making my own baby products. Through my first two babies I have slowly discovered making my own cloth wipes and solution. I would be very interested if you have any interest/thoughts about making baby care products as opposed to buying them.
I think it’s a great idea! Although I think most people just want to buy stuff, there are a few of us out there who don’t mind making them 🙂
Oh please post a picture that doesn’t show her face….lol. I’m such a sicker for babies, had 6 of my own. Really kidding, totally understand the semi-privacy and protection of lil’ bundles of innocence . Congrats!!!
Haha, it almost kills me not to show pictures of her. She’s SO STINKIN’ CUTE! What is it about not showing pictures publicly that makes it feel like they don’t exist at all? I used to be content just framing great photos and having them in my house. Now if it’s not on Facebook it’s like it didn’t happen. Ugh!
Can you tackle (deep breath) vaccinations? (You know, in your spare time). The more research I do, the more really freakin confused I become. Since we are taking about “non-toxic” baby choices I figured I could ask here. Congrats on your little one!
Yikes, Kim…that would take me a LOT of time and research to tackle properly! I’m not sure I’ve got it in me right now!
Hi Liz,
Loving your newest posts on all natural baby products. While I’m sure it will be in Baby Making and Beyond, I would love to see some posts about nutrition for fertility (best foods to eat while trying to conceive or while pregnant).
Thanks so much for all you do. Congrats on your baby girl!
‘Asa
This will definitely be in BMB! And I’ll have more general information here as time goes by 🙂 keep your eye on the Fertility & Pregnancy category! https://realfoodliz.com/category/natural-fertility-and-pregnancy/
Thank you Asa!
I haven’t seen any updates in a while on BMB, I was really looking forward to using it as a resource for EVERYTHING BABES! (you are my trustworthy source and I need your guidance!) I’m not at the Beyond stage as we were successful with the babymaking part. I’d love to see an update soon! Also a copy of your registry and if you would revise it knowing what you know now.
Ack, so much to add to the to-do list! Contrary to what I thought when I was pregnant, if you’re a full-time stay at home mom, you don’t ACTUALLY get time to work on anything, ever <3 BMB is still happening, but we've decided just to plug away and stop making promises we can't keep! SOON! We're going to price it so that it's basically a 3 for 1...pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and beyond, because I know we can't grab everybody at the very beginning. Are you in my Parenthood group on Facebook? And congratulations!