Eco Chic Newborn Essentials
Let’s face it, prepping for a baby can be wasteful. With my first, I bought anything and everything under the sun. This time around I have a bit of experience under my belt and learned from those rookie mistakes. Rule #1: Go light on buying newborn stuff. They’re only newborns for a few months. Rule #2: Limit plastic as much as humanly possible. According to a new NYU study, infants were found to have 10-20 times higher levels of microplastics in their feces than adults. Read on for my recs for how to avoid your precious new baby ingesting unnecessary plastics and my toxic-free onesies recs that will have your little one looking eco chic straight out of the womb…
Bamboo layettes from left: Posh Peanut layette, Kyte Baby layette, and Kickee Pants layette
Skip the polyester stuff. Opt for natural fibers for your newborn. You’ll avoid harsh chemicals that can irritate your sensitive baby’s skin while doing a favor for the planet. Bamboo is the softest material I’ve personally come by. Remember, the more comfortable the baby, the better they’ll sleep!
Opt for organic when buying anything cotton for your baby. Cotton is a very chemical-intensive product, so it’s important that you avoid these chemicals for anything touching your baby’s delicate skin to avoid unnecessary rashes or chemical exposure. Burt’s Bees Baby was a personal favorite for my first daughter, so I know I’ll use it for my second. It’s soft and has a bit of stretch. Best part: it comes in Preemie all the way through 24M. My first was born full-term but she was little and wore Burt’s Bees onesies in preemie the entire first month. Comes in gender-neutral colors (my favorite is the solid white), layettes (with built-in footsies and long sleeves), and all the baby accessories: hats, mittens, booties. One of the best, most eco chic baby clothing brands out there. Available on Amazon.
If you can’t find it at Burt’s Bees (or don’t like the color options), look at Honest Baby. Jessica Alba’s eco-chic baby brand boasts a great selection of organic cotton baby items. From footies to swaddles to changing pad covers and more, all in adorable, subtle prints - perfect for your little eco fashionista’s budding sense of style. And Honest has one of the best price points for organic out there. Definitely worth checking out. Available on Amazon.
The best baby bottles on the market, in glass. Babies are ingesting microplastics at an unsafe rate partially due to plastic bottles. Avoid the problem by opting for glass. If you’re worried it will break, Dr. Brown’s makes silicone sleeves that slip over the bottle for protection. They’re see-through so you can see how much milk is in the bottle. Bottles and sleeves come in 5 oz. and 9 oz.
Natursutten is the brand for the most natural, nontoxic baby pacifiers and teethers. They all come in the clearly eco-chic amber rubber. Rest assured your baby will not be ingesting any extra microplastics (or any chemicals for that matter) when sucking on these bad boys. The price point is a bit higher than for the plasticky stuff, but well worth it IMO. Available on Amazon.
Made from food-grade silicone, this teether by Little Giraffe (best known for their luxe baby blankets) is nontoxic, plastic-free and chic. I love how it has a big loop in the middle for attaching to a teether string. Get this cutie on Maisonette.
The other diaper pails pale in comparison to the Ubbi. First of all, it’s steel, not plastic like all the rest. Steel is better at locking in odors (also better for the environment than plastic!). The sliding door at the top also has odor-locking technology better than the competitors (When it comes to poop odor, spare no expense). But perhaps my favorite feature of this diaper pail is that you can use any trash bag you’d like with it. I’ll be using my compostable trash bags and already have a box of them ready to go in the top drawer of my nursery dresser. No more running out to the store to buy those plasticky diaper pail rings. The Ubbi Steel is available on Amazon.
Nothing screams eco chic on this list more than this Lily & River wooden baby gym. It’s made from natural, premium bamboo with birch hardwood rungs and stainless steel hardware. The attachments are soft silicone beads connected to organic, unfinished wooden items. You won’t find a speck of plastic on this baby! Best part: it folds flat for easy storage. Available on the most eco-chic baby/kid website on the web: The Tot.