When thinking about green practices, one may not realize how wasteful the daily tasks while raising a baby can sometimes be. By changing small aspects of the way you raise your baby, you can help the world be a greener place. Bonus: your baby will likely be healthier too, with the use of some of the following greener baby care tips.
Be Greener About Diapering
Diapering is often one of the more wasteful aspects of taking care of a baby. This is true whether you choose cloth or disposable. It’s often argued which is more eco-friendly and even experts have a hard time coming to an agreement. If you’re using disposables, one way to be more environmentally friendly is to choose diapers that are biodegradable or made from recycled or other eco-friendly materials. If using cloth, you can conserve some energy by using a high efficiency washer and hanging them to dry.
Change the Way You Feed Your Baby – Greener Baby Care Tips
Breastfeeding is perhaps the greenest way to feed your baby,
since it can be done with little to no use of extra materials. However, it’s
not the only way to save resources.
If your baby is bottle fed or you have the need for bottles during breastfeeding,
there are more eco-friendly ways to feed your baby. BPA-free bottles are
greener and healthier for your baby. In addition to using bottles made from the
right materials, you can rinse bottles directly after usage and wash bottles
all at once to conserve soap water. You also can choose an eco-friendly dish
detergent.
Be Smarter About Clothing Choices
Babies go through larger amounts of clothing than later ages, as they’re growing at a more rapid rate. To ease up on the waste in this area, choose fabrics that are eco-friendly. Also, just as with the diapers, conserve energy by using a high efficiency washer and hanging the clothing to dry. Drying racks can be placed inside the bathtub if the weather is bad or you don’t have a good place to hang clothing outdoors. Also, try not to do laundry until you have a full load size and choose the proper load size settings on your washing machine. If you don’t have access to a high efficiency washer, hand washing can also save water, if done economically.