1. Cloth nappies
When my nephew was born, we were determined not to use disposable diapers, primarily due to concerns about the potential harm they could cause to babies such as rashes and redness. However, since he was born in September and winter was approaching, we had to find an alternative to ensure he wouldn’t catch a cold at night. We opted for reusable cotton diapers instead of the disposable plastic ones.
Navigating through the various types of cloth diapers with different inserts proved to be overwhelming. Eventually, my sister-in-law decided to choose a specific brand and purchased five diapers along with bamboo inserts. From that point on, we never looked back—either he remained without diapers or wore the cotton ones. Once he turned one, he started indicating when he needed to go to the toilet, and we no longer needed diapers after that.
With cloth nappies it is so important to remember that every one you use, saves a nappy from landfill. Also, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
There are plenty of excellent cloth nappies that will work during the night. They are also a way of saving money!
If cloth nappies really aren’t for you, there are more environmentally friendly disposable nappies on the market to look out for. But just keep it in mind that those nappies can not be composted at home. They need special industrial settings for them to be composted.
SO the best option is always the one that suits you best – whether its a combination of cloth and nappies or just reusable cloth diapers.
2. Reuse jam jars
Another way to be more environmentally friendly when children are in the picture is to use small jam jars , sauce jars for freezing baby food in portions, rather than the plastic ones often sold in shops. While we are on the subject of glass – you can also buy glass bottles for feeding babies milk rather than plastic ones (but we haven’t tried them ourselves).
3. Bath toys
When you have children, so much plastic can sneak into your house in the form of toys. One idea was bath toys! We have never bought a toy that was made specifically for the bath. We used our teddies , cars and figures and other random toys that aren’t affected by water. Stacking cups make great pouring toys!
4. Reusable wipes
We use reusable wipes on the kids and in the kitchen. I also use men’s handkerchief as i like the size of it for cleaning my face, for hands. I don’t use any wet wipes(never did). I never bought them in my life. They are bad for our skin also.
5. Wooden toys
Plastic toys can contribute to the presence of microplastics in a baby’s body, as babies tend to put everything they see into their mouths. Among the most hazardous are plastic teething toys. We made sure not to make this mistake and opted for wooden toys and teething ornaments for him.