At the beginning of the this year (yes, I know, this was basically last week) I received the VERY BEST news- one of my very best friends and her husband are expecting!!!! A little bundle of joy will be coming their way in mid-August, and we are all so very happy for them! They have a penchant for firsts- she was the first of our friends to buy a house (cha-ching), get married (yikes!), and now once again, she is venturing into uncharted territory.... the land of Parenthood.
While my friends have all babysat before, and somehow manage to keep our own pets alive, I think it's safe to say that none of us are even close to being experts on the subject of tiny humans. So I've been doing what any proud BFF would do- first, telling EVERYONE I know that my best friend is expecting (which I did, even my dentist, who was absolutely thrilled for them), and second, begin researching this strange and foreign land of life with a baby. I think that this is natural for most girls- there is obviously a shower to be planned and a nursery to be decorated and eventually there will be a little person that you can spoil and bribe. So you need to do research, and find out exactly how to be the BEST at giving baby gifts.
I was happy dreaming of all the beautiful pink and blue things that I could buy for them for the first two or three days, but then I started thinking about unpleasant baby things. Like all of the chlorine in diapers, and phthalates in baby lotion, and parabens in baby shampoo.... and how my friends are unlikely to be open to me insisting that they use cloth diapers on their child. I'm picturing a laughing "Easy for you to say!" response, as they work to avoid tons of stinky baby laundry. So what are the alternatives?
It turns out that there are actually a ton of environmentally friendly diapers out there- some made out of bamboo, some are vegetable based , some are made out of cotton, and most are hypoallergenic, chlorine free, and biodegradable. It seems like there's a decent range in cost (some were .40/unit while some were .26/unit), but I was just so happy to see that there were reasonable environmental options for reasonable people! And one of the companies that I was most impressed with was the The Honest Company, which popped up in the news in early 2012, and has been making products that are free of "phthalates, sodium lauryl/laureth sulfates, PVC, parabens, benzene, chlorine, synthetic fragrances, triclosan, formaldehyde-based preserving agents, nanoparticles, TEA, MEA, phosphates, polyethylene glycol (PEG), quaternium 15, DMDM hydantoin, 1-4 dioxane, bisphenol- A (BPA) alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs) nonylphenol, BHA, benzalkonium chloride" widely available to everyday parents. They also sell household cleaners, dishwasher tablets, laundry detergent, and bath and body products. So really, they have products that even my own household can benefit from.
I am probably going to test out some of their products to make sure that my baby shower gift is as awesome as it could possibly be (I really only have 4 months to prepare). Although now that I think about it, children are generally obsessed with toys, so it looks like I may have a lot more research to do.....
Anyway, have a great weekend, and please feel free to share suggestions for environmentally friendly and non-toxic children's toys!!!!
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