More Natural Baby Products

Milly33

So down to the final few things on the list Natural and Bio-degradable products. Does anyone have any fav tried and testes ones? Or best places to purchase?

For creams/Wash/Lotions I am between

Weleda
Burts Bees (not sure if I could afford it)
Earth Friendly
Childs Farm

For Nappies I think from research Bamboo Nature are the best ones to go with, if someone has tried would love to hear feedback.

Then wipes I see the Earth Friendly brand that's about it. I am looking for bio-degradable wipes. I get the water wipes and that but tis the waste with them, don't get why people go all out for more natural products but then still create so much waste..

Planning on using water and re-usable wipes but twill be handy to have some wipes too for like the real bad days or for out and about..

All input more than welcome thanks in advance

lazygal

We used washable wipes and water for our children, and we still use them five years on.
I didn't need any lotions and potions for them either. If they had nappy rash some air time nappy free worked. Once had some dry skin and moogoo cleared it. I wouldn't go stocking up on anything. When we moved house I chucked out bottles of stuff we never used.

Sesame

Would you give cloth nappies a try? We used them and saved a huge pile of landfill (and money too)
Its really not that much effort and especially for the first 6 months before any solid food is eaten, the poops are very easy to wash off.

They can also be more contained than disposable, I found as we can a number of explosions up the back of disposable nappies with our first and none in cloth with our second as the nappy fits to size better.

lazygal

Cloth nappies are way better than disposable! Much cheaper too.

Sesame

Agree on MooGoo. I used the scalp cream for cradle cap and their baby shampoos. I had a very pukey baby so we needed something stronger than water to get rid of the milky stench.
I can still vagely smell it in my car....

Milly33

Thank you all.. Jes I didn't even look at the moo goo in fairness which is daft, as I was only introduced to it..

Delighted to hear that water works just as well, the amount of looks I got when I said I didn't really want to use wipes. It was as if I said I wasn't going to wash the baby or something... I have a few of the light little face clothes I was planning to use for this, and have some old towels I was going to make a few clothes from too..

I am not sure about the cloth nappies now I must say.. I myself have had no experience with them, haha can just see all the faces in the family if I said we were going down that route.. messing of course I know they would be fine, but still not sure I could handle it.. How many nappies would you want to get to start off with ?

I might just stick to the biodegradable to start and then maybe move on.

thanks all again

lazygal

You need between 18-24 depending on how much you get through the washing. The modern ones are dead handy, just chuck into the machine on a 40/60 degree wash and they dry very quick.

Milly33

thanks Lazygal I shall take note....It may happen

dori_dormer

I agree with cloth nappies! There's a library you can rent from too for very cheap. I used biodegradable ones on my first for about 3 months then got into the swing of cloth nappies. In fairness If you are going for the wipes it's easy to do nappies too. A lot do birth to potty sizing so you'll only ever need the 25 or so for the whole time your baby is in nappies and then they'll work just as good if you have another child.
Less chance of your child having rashes in cloth too.
We used moo goo for pretty much everything also. Scalp cream is great

Sesame

Yes, if you use cloth instead of disposable wipes and have a wet bag for them for getting out and about, then it would be very easy to have a few all in one type nappies, I used BumGenius, to chuck in the same wet bag.
There's loads of types though, I loved bumgenius for the easiness of them.

Milly33

Had a look there at the bum genius, just not sure I can do it. Which I know sounds very sad but I will try and do my bit to cut down on the waste

Loveinapril

Milly33 wrote: »

Had a look there at the bum genius, just not sure I can do it.

Why? It is a couple of extra washes a week and even using a couple of cloth nappies a day will dramatically reduce your landfill contribution from the baby's birth to potty training. I am due my first baby in November and will be using cloth nappies and wipes. I just hate the idea of my baby having such a large carbon footprint before they can even speak! If you are not 100% sure, there are 'pre loved' Facebook pages where you can pick up a couple of nappies for between €10- €20 to try them out.

s4uv3

We use cotton balls and water for a quick wipe down if a nappy is just wet, and only use wipes for a dirty nappy.
The cotton balls are tiny, do the job fine and will break down.

jlm29

I also would advise not stocking up up things before baby is born. I got a couple of hampers of stuff when I had my first baby, and while some of it mightn't have been what id have bought myself, I still used it, and i wouldn't have just chucked it.
If you are buying though, moo goo is great!

i don't use cloth nappies. But I've seen them in aldi, might be worth a look if you're considering it- you might come across one or two somewhere!

Millem

Cloth nappies weren't for us....I did a trial with them.
I have used beaming baby nappies. They are very good
I used to buy them from earthmother.ie

Milly33

Thanks Millem, I shall looksee at these ones

jlm29

People who use cloth nappies... where do you keep the dirty ones awaiting washing?

lazygal

We used a large pedal bin.

jlm29

lazygal wrote: »

We used a large pedal bin.

Ah right. I've looked into it in the past, and ruled it out. Its the storage of the dirty ones that puts me off. Though I think I'll switch to reusable wipes!

Millem

jlm29 wrote: »

Ah right. I've looked into it in the past, and ruled it out. Its the storage of the dirty ones that puts me off. Though I think I'll switch to reusable wipes!

When I was doing my trial I used a plastic storage box that was flat and rectangle. The trial was very cheap again I used earthmother.ie

Milly33

Yeah I cant say id fancy that bit either, stuff sitting there waiting to be washed.. Mind I suppose there is always hand washing them..

I saw a this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAhe7p55ZAU handy if you have a spray close to the loo but most Irish bathrooms don't, still doesn't solve the idea of where to store until wash time..

jLm they have little faceclothes in the pound shops or discount stores for €1.50 I think, very light so they would be easy to wash and dry quickly.. Picked up a few of these and going make some other ones out of some old household towels

jlm29

Milly33 wrote: »

Yeah I cant say id fancy that bit either, stuff sitting there waiting to be washed.. Mind I suppose there is always hand washing them..

I saw a this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAhe7p55ZAU handy if you have a spray close to the loo but most Irish bathrooms don't, still doesn't solve the idea of where to store until wash time..

jLm they have little faceclothes in the pound shops or discount stores for €1.50 I think, very light so they would be easy to wash and dry quickly.. Picked up a few of these and going make some other ones out of some old household towels

I'm a sucker for a nice looking storage system, so I'm going to buy the cheeky wipes kit.

I wouldn't mind having a plastic bucket or tub or something, if we had a downstairs loo I could keep it in. Our house is old, and badly laid out, so our utility is between our kitchen and sitting room, so doors are always open, and it's already hard to keep it looking clutter free, and drives me crazy as it is. I couldbt deal with another box/basket/bucket there!

Milly33

I love clutter free areas, I'm mad nesting here I think trying to find ways to hide boxes of Halloween and Christmas decorations as we have no attic access..nothing worse than seeing clutter everywhere..

I had not seen these cheeky wipes, will have to take a look.. I was just planning on having maybe a little spray bottle and then a jar of water but they do look very neat...

waterfaerie

Cloth nappies are so easy. They really are no big deal at all!

We only used disposables in the hospital before we took my daughter home and they were horrible on her skin compared to the cloth ones. Also, they leaked so much, even with such small volumes of wee. We've never had a leak or any skin irritation at all with the cloth.

We also use cloth wipes. We have 20 nappies and 40 wipes and it's very manageable. At first, we were washing every two days when we used to use about 8 nappies per day. Now we're only using about 4 nappies per day so we don't need to wash as often.

We have two of these nappy laundry bags. They're really good at keeping the smell in. We keep one hanging in the bathroom for the dirty ones and when it's time to wash them it just all goes in, bag and all, and we switch to the second bag. We also have two smaller ones for out and about.

Whenever I see people posting on the bargain alerts thread about deals on nappies and wipes I always smile and think how glad I am that I don't need to think about that! We had to spend about 300 euro up front but we got birth to potty ones so we'll never need to buy nappies or wipes again.

As for natural products, we've just been using water. I had been mixing up a spray with almond oil, coconut oil and aloe vera but water does just as well. We also use just water in the bath. Now that she's a bit older, we might start adding a tiny bit of almond or coconut oil, just for washing her hair, but so far she hasn't needed it and she's perfectly clean!

waterfaerie

Milly33 wrote: »

Planning on using water and re-usable wipes but twill be handy to have some wipes too for like the real bad days or for out and about..

We bought one packet of wipes for emergencies but 6 months later we've never used them.

For out and about, I just have a spray bottle of water in the out and about bag. I got one of those small ones for travel, so it's very light and handy.

For a pooey mess, we use the nappy itself to wipe off the bulk of it. Then it's about 4 or 5 wipes with the water spray. We sometimes sponge her down with warm water afterwards or else put her in the bath if it's a good time for that. She's quite regular, though, so it's a once a day thing and we know to expect it most mornings. When she was tiny, there were a lot more pooey nappies but there wouldn't be much in each one.

Milly33

thank you so much great tips!!! And great to know it works... I just cannot fathom the sense of the baby wipes they are so wastefull.. Going to take a look at that site now thanks too would never have found it.. Great to know the mixes too as I have large bottles of all these oils myself so one less thing to buy

Milly33

Like the nursing pads too I presume these work fine also?

Gatica

Boots sells biodegradable wipes. We usually use wipes when we're out, but mostly cotton and water at home. Wish we'd looked into cloth nappies, but baby arrived early so it was all a bit of a whirlwind.
Cicaplast Balm by La Roche Posay is great for baby nappy rash, otherwise just vaseline is good as a water/wee barrier.

Milly33

I was disappointed to hear that Le Roche Possay still test on animals so a bit of no no for me, but good to know boots do the wipes thank you..

Gatica

oh, no! didn't know that. thanks for the info

Milly33

Yeah I was really annoyed when I found out, I'm not going to preach now each to their own. I just don't see why in todays day they still need to test on animals.. Used the Possay cream for a few years as it was great and then found out, along with Oriflame too just incase they are full of bs about not testing...