I have always tried to do my part in terms of being ‘green’ and helping the environment, but I must admit that having a baby recently put my efforts to the test. I soon learnt that although being ‘green’ is a commitment, it is not always convenient, especially where babies are concerned!

Many of you would agree that babies are amongst the most demanding and messiest of creatures on this planet, and in our efforts to help keep them well fed, dressed, unsoiled and fresh creates an unthinkable amount of dirty laundry, dirty nappies, dirty wipes, tissues and the list goes on and on. Looking at the amount of waste my own baby creates on his own in a single day, left me wondering if that is just one baby alone, how much waste is created in a single day by babies all over the world?

As I said before, my efforts to help the environment have been challenged by my baby, I mean let’s take the nappies for example. My own baby can go through 10 nappies on average each day. Do the maths and that will add up to approximately 3650 nappies by the time your baby is one year old! Let’s not forget the little scented plastic bags that are used to dispose of the nappies. So you would use one bag per nappy, amounting to 3650 plastic bags a year.

We have to also take into account the waste produced by the disposable wet wipes that are used to clean the baby’s bottom whilst changing his nappy. I could easily go through 4-5 wipes in one nappy change. Do the math’s again and that equals approximately 40 day and 14600 in one year, only to clean the baby’s bottom! Let’s now consider the fact that babies can stay in their nappies for anything up to 2 years, I mean it doesn’t even bear thinking about how much that affects our environment for the worst.  

I felt compelled to do some research on the internet to see what the statistics said about how disposable nappies impacted our environment. I read that one baby alone creates waste of approximately 1 ton of disposable nappies alone; this left me feeling shocked and afraid! Also, according to Eartheasy.com “It’s estimated that 10,000 tons of disposable diapers are tossed into landfills each day. They can take up to 500 years to decompose! The manufacture of disposables uses over 1 million metric tons of wood pulp and 75,000 metric tons of plastic each year. Disposables are the diaper of choice for over 80% of North American parents.” Take a moment now to consider all that. This is reality and it is frightening to me!

I was shocked by the statistics I found and decided that I would do my part and use the reusable cotton nappies for my own baby. Granted, they are far less convenient and create a larger work load, but convenience is worth nothing to me if it means destroying our planet in the process. I decided I would rather do more laundry than help contribute to the destruction of our environment. Also, not only are the cotton nappies ‘greener’ but they are also far more economical. When I decided to use cotton, I was challenged by a few individuals who said ecologically and economically they cost just as much as disposables, but I failed to agree. If you buy enough you can allow the laundry load to grow over 2-3 days and wash one large load instead of wasting water and energy for a few small loads. Also, I found that allowing the nappies to dry in the sunlight whenever possible naturally bleaches all stains from the nappies and leave them looking as good as new, as well as saving on the energy that would have been used to tumble dry. And as for the disposable wet wipes, I use cotton wash cloths, soap and water to clean my baby’s bottom. I wash the cloths along with my load of diapers. It is so easy and of course, better for baby as he is not being affected by all the chemicals and toxins that are used to make the disposable nappies and wipes as easy to use and convenient as they are.

Of course there are other ways in which your baby can be a ‘green baby’. Here are 10 ways in which you can help your baby help the environment.

1. Use cotton nappies to help save trees, reduce the use of plastics, chemicals and pollution. 

2. Use cotton wash cloths instead of wet wipes to help save trees and reduce use of chemicals and pollution.

3. Wash baby’s clothes in cool water to help reduce energy waste.

4. Try to air dry baby’s laundry as much as you possibly can to cut back on energy waste.

5. Breastfeed as is doesn’t require the use of energy that is used to boil water for sterilizing bottles and warming up formula milk. Also, breastfeeding doesn’t create the garbage that comes from using bought packaged formulas.

6. If you pump your breast milk, save energy by using a manual pump instead of an electrical one.

7. If you store the breast milk in little storage bags do not throw the bags away after each use, sterilize them and use them over and over again.

8. Use washable cotton nursing pads instead of the disposable ones, they will save you a great deal of money and of course produce less waste.

9. Recycle baby’s old clothes by keeping them for your future babies, or give them to charity or second hand shops. Or, if they are too old and soiled you can cut them up and use them as rags for cleaning.
 
10. Prepare home-made baby food as it creates less waste from the packaging of store bought jars that little individual baby meals come from. If you must buy those little jarred meals for your baby then make sure you recycle the glass jars!

11. You do not need to have a car to transport your baby conveniently from A to B. I do not have a car and have not had any problems taking my baby on public transportation. Help reduce toxic emissions into the air by leaving your car at home and taking public transportation whenever you can. Most of the buses and subways are baby friendly and you will always someone to help you get on and off the bus if you need it! 

These are just a few of the ways I have found for my baby and I to help to save our planet. I am proud to say that yes, my baby is a ‘green’ baby and although the work load may be a bit larger for me in some cases, it will be a few tones less of waste and pollution in our environment. A little bit of hard work from mum and baby is a small price to pay to help reduce the amount of trees that are cut down, the waste and pollution that our babies can create just from nappies, wipes and bottles alone. So think about it, if all our babies become ’green’ babies, just think of the positive affects that will influence the environment in the future. We owe it to our babies to help save the planet. We chose to have our children, we gave birth to them and that makes us responsible for setting the example toward creating a better world for our children and their children in the future.