Plastic free baby

[RedJe55]

Hi all, I'm newly pregnant and trying to start making plans for the stuff we are going to need and I'm slightly horrified at the amount of plastic that seems to come with baby things... I'm planning on using cloth nappies but does anyone have any other switches?

[BimbleWimble]

Cloth wipes
Breastfeeding or glass/stainless steel bottles
Wooden toys
Organic cotton clothes
Wool mattress
As much second hand as possible (only need to buy cot mattress and car seat new)
Only buy what you really need (eg no baby bath)

Babipur will be a great starting point.

[Thriceisnice]

I would say the best thing we did with dd2 was not to buy loads in advance and to see what she likes/is like before we got stuff. Eg she hated laying down alone so getting a baby seat was pointless. I try to buy less toys but have them on a rotation so I'm not buying more because she seems bored, and also using facebay for some toys/equipment, both buying and selling.

[RedJe55]

@BimbleWimble and @Thriceisnice Thank you both so much! That's really good advice. Think I can trust my family to inky get wooden toys but my in-laws I'm less sure about - luckily I have a lot of time to prepare them!

[BertieBotts]

Nuna make some car seats with totally natural coverings (merino wool, I think) - there is still plastic in the shell of it obviously, but you can avoid plastics in the covers. And I think Besafe make a car seat out of totally recycled plastic. < Never mind, it was just a booster seat, and only the cover.

Another car seat related switch would be to get one which doesn't need the isofix base to strap in with seatbelt, although I have a feeling that rules out the Nuna seats. You could even consider one which does birth - 4 years (rather than buying two separate seats to cover that stage) although I wouldn't recommend birth - 12 because you make compromises in safety with those seats.

You don't necessarily need a pram, you can make do with a sling. Plenty of plastic-free options, woven wraps, stretchy wraps, ring slings and mei tais I would look at.

Co-sleep so you don't need a cot. Go straight to a single bed or mattress on the floor later. Little green sheep do plastic free mattresses in all sizes, I believe. Out of my price range but maybe you'll save on not buying some other things! If you do want a cot, you can easily find all-wood and the cheapest ikea one converts beautifully into a co-sleeper cot if you like that idea. Most of the purpose built co-sleepers are plastic.

Glass or stainless steel bottles and latex teats if you need/decide to use bottles at all. Dummies can be totally latex and one piece (although harder to find). And babies can use ordinary side plates and small bowls right from the start as long as you sit with them to pre empt any throwing. Teaspoons and other small-sized metal cutlery exist. And BLW so they don't need cutlery or plates to begin with! Tripp Trapp (or cheap alternative) is a totally wooden highchair, and often found second hand.

Bath them with you (or dad) rather than getting a baby bath or using a bath support. It's lovely.

There used to be a lovely magazine I liked called The Green Parent with a nice forum as well, that would be a good place to look for more ideas if it still exists.

[mylittlesandwich]

I'm not as green as I'd like to be with DS but there are some things we've managed. We opted for a birth to 4 years car seat because it had to be plastic so I would rather get as much use out of it as possible.
Wooden toys and I have lovely stainless steel teething rings which are built to be a keepsake and passed down from generation to generation rather than thrown away.
Sustainable cotton clothes, I've got most of DSs clothes second hand which is not only better for the environment it's also saved us a fortune.
Anything plastic that I've decided we go need I've made sure is second hand (excluding car seats as I didn't have anyone I'd trust that could pass that on).

[Napqueen1234]

I think most parents fully intent to have lovely wooden toys but end up with a house full of plastic (me and all my friends being case in point!). Reusable wipes are brilliant (we use cheeky wipes), bamboo plates and bowls and spoons when weaning. Sustainable or second hand clothes where possible. I didn’t get on with cloth nappies but obviously they really help (we use kit & Kin disposable).

[GilbertMarkham]

If it doesn't suit you to bathe with your baby everytime,you can get lovely Victorian etc bathing tables (wooden) with inset ceramic and enamel baby baths (they usually have a wooden removable top.si you could just use them as a table afterwards.

Snuz pods co sleeping seem be entirely wooden and fabric. As someone said you can just buy a new mattress! Some suppliers do wool, coconut fibre etc ones.

Stainless steel bottles of you use the may be pricier than glass but would be way lighter and wouldn't chip (which done if my glass ones have around the neck. Though I'm very site in glass for some reason.

I also got a wooden and coir of something bottle brush which fell apart really quickly when it got damp so I'd opt for a stainless steel with silicone head one (if you're not averse to silicone).

You can also get silcone baby bottles Incidentally.

[GilbertMarkham]

Forgot to say I saw the vintage/antique wooden baby bath tables on eBay and they weren't very expensive.

[GilbertMarkham]

*sore on glass

[ParsonsGreen99]

Glass bottles are good, we use dr browns with their silicone teats. You can get rubber teats too but they don’t last long with sterilising. We got a uv steriliser from so we didn’t have to heat plastic up which I really recommend (it doesn’t use water either and you can put anything small enough in it like phones!). We used natural rubber dummies. Honestly though the amount of plastic crap that comes with babies is horrendous. Do your best but don’t drive yourself mad with it (like I did!) x