I’ve never been a big fan of baby showers (my children had Blessing Ways), and the silly baby shower games annoy me. The typical baby shower involves massive amounts of baby paraphernalia gifts that the soon-to-be mom often doesn’t really need. A friend of mine recently asked me to make a list of eco-friendly baby shower gift ideas. This list includes babywearing items, bpa-free bottles, teething toys, clothes, and beauty products for babe. You don’t have to be invited to an “eco” baby shower to give a green gift.
Top Ten Eco-Friendly Baby Shower Gifts
- Moby Wrap Baby Carrier: This wrap is perfect for carrying newborns. It is the most comfortable baby wearing apparatus, and it keeps the baby snugly held against your body and protected from curious strangers and their germs. It is made from a large piece of stretch cotton and can be used as a blanket as well as a wrap. It is available in an organic cotton material too.
- California Baby Shampoo and Bodywash: This all natural, SLS-free baby soap is perfect for a newborn’s first bath. It is so gentle and safe, and it will not irritate eczema and cradle crap.
- Under the Nile Organic Cotton Veggies and Fruit: These fair trade teething toys are safe for little ones to gnaw away at during the painful months of teething. The organic carrot was my daughter’s favorite toy during her first year of life.
- Adiri Natural Nurser Baby Bottles: Even breastfeeding parents find the need to use a bottle at times, whether filled with formula or pumped breastmilk. Nipple confusion and BPA is a concern, as parents don’t want their child to forget how to breastfeed or be exposed to harmful chemicals. The Adiri Natural Nurser Bottle Set solves these problems by providing parents with BPA-free peace of mind, in addition to unique nipple design that mimics a mother’s breast.
- Baby Bjorn Carrier: This was my favorite carrier for my babies before they reached 25 pounds. After about an hour of hiking, my back would ache from my Baby Bjorn, and this is often the complaint of parents. This is a great carrier though for shopping. I survived grocery shopping with two young children by placing my toddler in the shopping cart and my baby in the Baby Bjorn.
- Bummis Super Whisper Wrap Diaper Cover: These were my favorite cloth diaper covers, because they are adjustable, wash well, and are affordable. Both of my children used the same set of covers, and I have passed them on to other mothers as well.
- Organic Cotton Ergo Baby Carrier: At this point in the list, you may be wondering how many baby carriers does a mother need, but as a child grows, a new carrier is often needed. The Ergo Carrier is the most comfortable for carrying larger children, even toddlers. It is a favorite amongst moms for shopping and hiking.
- Under the Nile Organic Cotton Skull Caps: You can never have too many hats for a newborn. Even in warm weather, it is important to cover a newborn’s head, as infants have trouble regulating their body temperatures. Going from indoor controlled air temperatures to outside requires infants’ heads to be covered.
- Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Sippy Cup: Most people do not think beyond the infant stage when giving baby shower gifts. New parents are inundated with gifts that children quickly outgrow. The Klean Kanteen Sippy Cup is a great transitional cup once a child moves away from the breast and/or bottle.
- Born Free Baby Bottle and Sippy Cup: Born Free is the first plastic cups and bottles I found that were BPA-free. My sister loves these, as does her daughter!
This list is far from exhaustive, and I tried to offer green gift suggestions that were both practical and represented a variety of price ranges. The same friend that suggested I make this list once gave a new mom a gift of eco-friendly laundry detergent, which I thought was a great, practical gift. I hope our readers will leave comments about their favorite eco-friendly baby shower gifts.
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Jennifer, good list! The veggies and fruits have been a big hit at our house, especially the carrot, and we love California Baby.
I have to disagree slightly about the carriers, though. I don’t think it’s a good idea to get a carrier for a baby unless it’s accompanied by a gift receipt and it’s from a friendly pro-baby-wearing store that can help mamas, papas, and babies find the carrier that’s right for them. I tolerate my Moby wrap because it works, but I don’t love it, and it didn’t work well for us until baby could keep his head up. The infantino, ring sling, and mei tai are collecting dust. Some babies (and parents) just don’t like some carriers.
Same for the diaper covers – we tried at least four or five different diapering systems before we found one that didn’t result in me changing my clothes every two hours because of leaks! 🙁
And then there was the fact that our kiddo would not tolerate wearing a hat – but I didn’t mind getting those as presents anyway because they’re all so gosh darn cute!
My suggestion is organic cotton clothing – in a size BIGGER than newborn. We were avalanched with teensy baby stuff, but then we had almost nothing when he got big so fast! Obviously you don’t want to buy too far ahead because you don’t know how baby’s size and the season will match up, but short sleeved onesies can be layered up with pants and jackets.
Good ideas Skye. You are right, not all carriers are right for all people. I am not a sling person, so my New Native Sling collected dust. This is also true for cloth diapers. I also agree it is nice to give gifts in bigger sizes. As a new mom, I was inundated with small sized clothing, but it ran out rather quickly. I was lucky to get many hand-me-downs from friends in larger sizes.
The Ergo is a definite MUST!!!! It is the only thing Layla will be soothed by during her fussy hour. It’s great with infant insert (so now can be used from newborn up) and we use it when we go grocery shopping. The great thing is that I know we will be using it for years to come.
You convinced me to buy the Veggies for the teething period (something I am not looking forward to but hoping it will help)
Great list not only for showers but for new moms too. Thanks!
p.s. yeah, my new native is collecting dust too 🙁 So many people seem to have problems with that one.
Fresh off our experience at the 2008 Green Earth Expo, Kate and I are bursting with ideas for simple and functional green products. After some extensive research, we tried to pick things that are affordable and easy to add in to your lifestyle in the near future.
My Top Ten Green Thinking Products
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Jennifer~
I too am a big fan of baby carriers and have found that there is a different need for baby stages. However, I have found something I LOVE even more than the Moby wrap–in fact my friends with the Moby wraps have requested to use my carrier. I found it on the website KangarooKorner.com. I am NOT from their company, just a desperate mom with a colicky kid who thought the Moby was too hot (he would cry, I would sweat). I loved the Kagaroo carrier because I could put it on quickly, while holding the baby. It is different than the other wraps as it has snaps and not buckles. One drawback is because of the snaps and the need for proper fit, the carrier must be purchased based on height and weight so my husband required his own carrier. My son is now two and way too big–I miss it!
I think the best eco-friendly present to give is a gift certificate for a diaper service, or a trial pack of different cloth diapers!
I leave this comment because I want everyone to know how wonderful Moby is on multiple levels: First, I would like to say thanks for putting Moby at the top of your list. I first found and fell in love with my Moby Wrap August 23, 2005. I remember the date specifically because it was 2 days before my daughter was born and 4 days before evacuating for Katrina. My Moby was a lifesaver — even in the heat of summer. We knew very little at that time about our future, but what I did know as we traveled from New Orleans to Houston to Asheville then to Baton Rouge (in 2 weeks) was that if my daughter knew nothing else it would be the security of having her mother nearby at all times. After buying several wraps from them, I began to sell them on a person to person level then later became a sales rep for the company. When my son was born this January, my Moby was essential in being able to keep him skin-to-skin as he would not feed from the breast for 19 days! (a very difficult situation for this lactation consultant) So I have had the joy of keeping my kids close in the Moby AND I’ve had the added benefit of working from home with a product that I love. Thanks again for helping spread the word on such a great baby gift.
I just attended an ecofriendly baby shower, and one of the coolest things there was an Organic EcoFriendly diaper cake from http://www.GrowInStyle.com! I personally have never heard of diaper cakes until the party, and i was amazed! It looks like a cake, it was made with 100% useable ecofriendly diapers that mom will get to use on her newborn, and it had a bunch of natural toys on it.. hidden inside was a blanket, onesie, a diaper cream and a bunch of other very much needed stuff. I loved Sophie the Giraffe that was a topper, its probably the #1 natural teething toy for baby. If i ever have to attend an eco-friendly shower again, i will definitly get an organic diaper cake.
an eco friendly diaper cake as a very unique and thoughtful baby shower gift. it looks beautiful and its very practical for the parents to be.
i think diaper cake, makes the best eco friendly baby shower gift, its beautiful and practical and all the items get used up, check some out on growinstyle.com
This article provides great information about baby gifts.Babies are God’s gift for any parents
and their importance in their life is very much.
and specially Top Ten Eco-Friendly Baby Shower Gifts is a great article i love it!!
This article provides great information about baby
gifts.Babies are God’s gift for any parents
and their importance in their life is very much and specially Top Ten Eco-Friendly Baby Shower Gifts is a really nice article i love it!!
I really love all of these items! Ive not been the biggest fan of baby carriers. I really love the idea and wish I could find one i liked. I have tried a few and have found them either very uncomfortable, hot, or unsafe. I read through the comments and saw one of the baby carrier recommended from http://www.KangarooKorner.com. I will have to check that out it looks really cool. Any other suggestions for cool places to get some eco friendly baby gifts? I recently stumbled upon http://www.littlebutterflykiss.com/ and love all their diaper bags. I just ordered one tonight!
I totally agree about the Baby Bjorn carrier. It was my favorite for sure. For my first child I had one (the brand escapes me), that hurt my shoulders after about 1/2 hour. With the Baby Bjorn I could tote my son around the mall for hours without any problem. This is a great gift list. Thanks for the resource!
Great write up and some really interersting ideas for baby gifts. I love the fair trade teething toys.
I received the Ergo Baby Carrier as a gift and absolutely love it! It is by far the most comfortable tote I’ve ever used. I have bookmarked this page for great gift ideas!
Hi, Great baby shower gift ideas! thanks for sharing.