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Our Non-toxic Baby Registry

As mentioned in an earlier post, we are trying to incorporate as many non-toxic products as possible into our lives and into Matilda’s life. I believe this is important for a number of reasons. First, it is proven that a lot of the ingredients/materials found in many baby and adult products can cause asthma and allergies. Second, why not go as natural as possible? Who really knows the long term effects of all of these toxins.

I have to say that it was not the easiest thing to put together a baby registry where the products fit the criteria that I was looking for: safety, toxin levels and quality or “will Steve, myself and our baby like this product”. Apparently this is a very high standard to reach and not many companies are on board to do all three. It seems that most companies focus on one and seem to forget about the other two.

Because of the difficulty I had finding a lot of these products, I decided to register at Babies R Us and Amazon. I would have loved to of registered at one of the smaller online companies that sell a lot of the products I was looking for, but having three separate registries seemed like a little much.

So, here it goes…I obviously have not tried a lot of these products. I thought I would show you the products in our registry and talk a little about why I chose each of them.

1. Stokke Tripp Trapp Highchair–This is one of the only non-toxic highchairs I could find. Don’t let the price point scare you because it can be used all the way into adulthood. I like the fact that it encourages your baby to sit at the table with you while she eats.

2. Kushies Baby Shangrila Multi-Sensory Activity Play Mat–Could not find information on the toxin levels in this product, but love that they use a lot of black and white in the material. Babies eyes are attracted and stimulated by black and white patterns.

3. Graco Pack ‘n Play Portable Playard – Nouvelle–Bromine levels are < 8ppm which is a negligible level according to Friends of the Earth. It has high customer ratings on Babies R Us and it is not obnoxious looking.

4. Sunshine Kids 18460 Radian 80SL Convertible Car Seat–Very low toxin levels according to Healthystuff.org. Very high NCAP crash test rating. I feel confident that we found the best car seat on the market.

5. The Nesting Pillow-Organic Nursing Pillow with Washable Slip Cover–It is 100% organic inside and out. All 5 star customer reviews.

6. Ergo Dark Chocolate Organic Baby Carrier–This carrier is supposed to give better support to your baby’s spine and hips. Very high customer reviews.

7. Nuby BPA Free 7 Piece Medical Organizer Kit–This is the only BPA free medical kit I could find.

8. Moby Wrap Organic Cotton Baby Carrier–Great ratings and organic.

9. I had a really hard time finding a stroller that was not a thousand dollars with low toxin levels and high customer ratings. I ended up registering for the Schwinn Hope Single Swivel Wheel Stroller. I could not find anything on the toxin levels on this one, but would love to know. I wanted a light three wheeler that I could jog with and at least some of the proceeds go towards breast cancer research. If you are looking for a decently priced four wheel stroller with high ratings and low toxins, I think the Joovy Caboose Ultralight Stand On Tandem Stroller checks out pretty good.

10. None of the bouncers with low toxin levels had very high customer ratings, so we decided to go with the Fisher-Price Newborn Rock and Play Sleeper. If anyone comes across the toxin levels for this product, I would love to know them.

11. Don’t know the toxin levels of the Fisher-Price Papasan Cradle Swing -My Little Lamb either, but I heard they are crack for babies. I’ll keep you posted on that one.

We registered for a few other small things, clothing and what not. I will maybe do another post on my favorite clothes once we have her here and can talk intelligently about what we like and why.

We are also going to try to brave the cloth diaper world. We are taking a class at Cotton Babies on Wednesday to try to learn the ins and outs of cloth diapering. Not that it is rocket science, but there are just so many options out there now. I am leaning toward the all in one organic Bumgenius. We shall see.

I hope you happened upon this list sooner than later and that it saved you bucket loads of time. I kept thinking while I was doing all of this research that I wish I had a list like this.

I would love to hear about the products you have come across that are low in toxins and high in quality. Always looking to support companies who do it right

Good luck with everything!

February 6, 2010 2 Comments

Sunshine Kids Radian80SL is the car seat for me. Finally!

I finally decided on a car seat. As mentioned in this post it was quite difficult to find a seat that has good safety standards, isn’t going to choke my kid to death with its gassing, and didn’t get a thousand terrible reviews on how other people’s children screamed and cried because the car seat was so uncomfortable. There are not a lot of reviews that I could find on this car seat, but their company philosophy is phenomenal.

Hopefully if you are having the same problem I was having matching safety standards with toxin standards (which I don’t think we should have to compromise), you have happened upon this post before you completely pulled your hair out or bought something that was less than up to your standards.

I would love to hear about companies and products that you have come across that you could not live without or think that their philosophy is above and beyond what most other company’s philosophies are.

January 4, 2010 No Comments Yet