Greening Baby’s Room
Greening Baby’s Room
Planning a nursery can be an exciting and fun way to prepare for your baby. As you plan, you will want to look for healthier, non-toxic options for furnishing and decorating that will keep baby’s air clean and help the environment at the same time.
Redoing an entire room may seem overwhelming. Take it a step at a time. Remember, every little change you make helps the environment, and your baby’s health and well-being.
1. Furniture and Bedding This is a logical place to begin your nursery planning. After all, as baby sleeps, he or she is breathing the toxins that may be in the pillows, mattress, bedding, and even the bed. These toxins include pesticides used in the processing of fibers, petrochemicals used in manufacturing synthetics, adhesives and formaldehyde used in some pressed wood furniture, and flame retardants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Ensuring the absence of these compounds is big step toward greening your nursery.
When deciding on a bed for baby to sleep, keep in mind that pressed wood and laminated wood can contain adhesives that offgas volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde. Look for cradles, cribs, or bassinets made with sustainable woods containing little or no adhesives. If the furniture is painted or stained, make sure that non-toxic, low VOC options were used. Cushion the bed with mattresses made using natural materials such as organic cotton, hemp, linen, natural rubber latex, or wool which are comfortable and safe. Rubber latex and wool are naturally flame retardant.
Bedding sheets and blankets should also be made with natural organic fibers. There are a variety of options including organic cotton sheets, satiny bamboo sheets and blankets, wool bedding, and more.
Just as baby’s bed should be non-toxic, so should other furniture in the nursery. Baby and parent will probably spend a lot of time in the rocker for feeding and comforting. Changing tables, dressers, and other furniture should be low in chemicals that can offgas into the room. Brands such as Spot on Square, JAX, EcoTots, Cariboo, and Nursery Works offer non-toxic, sustainable furniture that’s better for your family and the environment.
2. Walls and Flooring After you have tackled the furniture, you are ready to green the nursery surroundings. A fresh coat of paint can leave you feeling inspired and it can also lock in particles that may otherwise flake into dust that you breathe (for instance, lead paint can flake-off older walls, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can offgas from recently painted walls). No longer do you have to anticipate a process rife with chemicals and odors. There are many environmentally friendly products to liven up your walls.
If you like the look and ease of latex paint, choose a no-VOC latex (which are mixable into almost any shade you desire). If you’d like an old-fashioned technique, you can try milk paint which you mix at home and is biodegradable and non-toxic. If you’d like to add some texture to your walls, consider natural plasters made from lime, gypsum, clay, and other naturally occurring ingredients. Finally, you could be bold and use an earth-friendly wallpaper or cork-based paper that is vinyl free. Look for paper backings and clay-based adhesives.
Wood, linoleum, and cork flooring options are the healthiest for the air and the environment. They are easy to clean and attract less dust then wall-to-wall carpet. Topped with a rug made using natural fibers, the nursery floor can be warm and inviting. If you install new hardwood flooring, be sure to use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood and environmentally-friendly low or no-VOC finishes.
You may think that a regular vacuuming and periodic shampooing is keeping your current carpet clean and allergen-free and will be fine for baby’s nursery. But your carpet could still be offgassing harmful phthalates from adhesives or PVC ingredients. If you prefer to have carpeting in the nursery, you can replace your carpet with vinyl-free, natural fiber carpets such as wool, jute, sisal, and other plant-based fibers. Your new carpet can be installed without adhesive and you won’t have to air the house out for days after installation!
3. Lighting and Air Quality You’ll be spending day-times and night-times in the nursery with your baby. Reading lights are a must for the nursery both for parent reading and reading to baby, and should be lit with an appropriate compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulb (or even better, a lower-wattage LED. If you have an overhead light, be sure to replace those bulbs also.
Making environmentally-friendly upgrades will make a big difference in the air quality of baby’s new room. Also, make sure you have a clean high-quality filter installed in your furnace. On nice days, open any windows to circulate the air. Houseplants help to filter the air and liven up your room, but be sure that baby can’t reach any plantings.
4. Diapering and Clothing The nursery will probably become diapering and clothing central for baby. Whether you are changing on the floor or on a changing table, be sure to protect the surface with a natural fiber changing pad.
Cloth diapers and wipes are a healthy diaper choice for the earth and for your baby. There are variety of cloth diapers and diaper covers to fit your needs from prefolds, to fitted diapers, to pocket diapers, and more. You will be making a difference with any type of cloth diapering, but choosing natural fibers such as organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, and wool will be more earth-friendly when it comes time to discard the diapers.
If you need the convenience of disposable diapers, there are options available that do not use chlorine bleach and use fewer or no chemicals. Nature Babycare, Seventh Generation, and gDiapers provide more environmentally-friendly disposable diapering options.
With the abundance of organic clothing options these days, outfitting baby is so much fun! You want the best for your little one and that should mean keeping chemicals off of baby’s skin by ensuring that clothing does not contain pesticides, fertilizers, or petrochemicals. Organic onesies, pants, shirts, socks, and hats come in many colors and styles and can be made with a variety of fibers such as cotton, soy, and bamboo.
5. Bath and Personal Care It’s a good idea to have a few personal care items on hand to bathe and care for baby. When deciding which products to purchase, take a look at the ingredients lists. Do you understand the ingredients? Do those ingredients come from natural sources? Is the product biodegradable and the packaging recyclable? If you answer “no” to any of the questions, pass on that product.
Products that are petroleum-based, products that contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and products and packaging that emit phthalates either in manufacturing or in end-use are harmful to the environment and to your baby’s health. Fortunately, giving up on chemicals does not mean giving up on your favorite supplies. Look for products with plant-derived ingredients that are disclosed and discussed on the label. Many personal care companies are providing healthy alternatives to baby care such as Burt’s Bees, Jason Natural Cosmetics, California Baby, and others.
After bathtime you can wrap your baby in a plush organic cotton baby towel.
6. Feeding You will no doubt spend many calm hours in the nursery feeding your baby. Breastfeeding is the best option for baby and for the environment. Breastfeeding moms will likely need nursing pads and nursing bras. Look for washable nursing pads made with organic cotton and organic cotton nursing bras and tops.
If you are feeding baby by bottle, look for bottles free from bisphenol-A (BPA), a known endocrine distruptor. BornFree and ThinkBaby bottles are BPA-free or you can look for glass baby bottles with silicone or natural rubber nipples.
Pacifiers should also be BPA-free. Again look for silicone or natural rubber such as Natursutten’s natural pacifiers.
7. Toys Babies and toddlers tend to put everything in their mouths. Unfortunately, toys can sometimes contain toxins such as lead, phthalates, VOCs, and BPA. You will want to stock your new nursery with non-toxic, safe toys for baby to play with and taste. Toys made from wood with either no finish or a non-toxic finish are wonderful for baby. Cuddly toys made from organic cotton, hemp, and bamboo are also safe and fun for baby.
8. Cleaning Finally, maintain your healthy nursery by vacuuming with a HEPA vacuum once a week, laundering bedding, clothing, and diapers with a “green” detergent, and cleaning spills and smudges with eco-friendly cleaners such as Babyganics.
Nov 10th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
A low cost, green eco friendly, healthy natural way to launder baby diapers is to make a homemade liquid from soapberry which grows on the Chinaberry tree and has been used for thousands of years. It works very effectively.