A Smart Mama

Any breastfeeding mom living in the Los Angeles area hopefully knows about the Pump Station, a breastfeeding center and store on Wilshire in Santa Monica. I say hopefully because the place is a true sanctuary, or as they describe themselves, nurtury, for new moms. Their services include lactation consultations, breastfeeding groups, pump rentals, and classes and you only have to scan their online store to see the amazing range of products they offer.

I’ve been spending a lot of time there recently with my new little one and on Friday I attended a talk called The Smart Mama’s Green Guide: Reducing Your Baby’s Toxic Chemical Exposure by Jennifer Taggart. While the information Jennifer provided on lead and mercury exposure, pesticides in foods, harmful plastics, and toxic cleaning supplies was overwhelming and sometimes plain scary, she was also quick to give simple and straight forward solutions or alternatives to a lot of the issues she bought up. Check out her website and blog at The Smart Mama for some of the same sound advice.

Meanwhile, I’m off to buy a home lead testing kit.

"A Simple, Un-padded Tube-Style Sling"

Both my girls spent a lot of time in the now ubiquitous New Native Baby Carrier. They both seemed to find comfort in its snuggness, and it didn't give me the mastitis side-effect that I suffered when wearing a front carrier.

I noticed lately quite a few slings being made by crafty moms, and was led to this pattern on the web by Fanja's beautiful interpretation.



You can check out Fanja's other creations, and find a link to purchasing her work by visting her blog Le Train Fantome.

Bottled Up

With all the concern over plastics I love the idea of a return to glass baby bottles. Melissa over at all buttoned up had these ready for her little one's arrival. So good! {Would be a great shower gift too...}

Green Baby Goes Mainstream

Hello neglected blog and readers. The second half of December flew by in a chaotic and merry blur, as I'm sure it did for all of you. As for January, there were lots of birthdays to celebrate in our family, 4 in all, and for me - another birth day to prepare for - a girl due mid February.

Everyone tells me you never prepare as much for the second one and that's certainly true for us. We saved a lot of the gear from the last one and it's satisfying to think we can reuse it. But last time, five years ago, I wasn't as aware as I am now of some of the green issues around babies and kids and the products certainly weren't available. As I shop online this time, I'm amazed at how many of the larger chains have organic products for baby.

Here are some of the bigger stores I came across with green sections for the new people in your life:

Babies "R" Us

Target

Pottery Barn Kids

Gap

So for the next few weeks, Tracy and I will be blogging all things green baby. I hope you will be able to stop by and even share some of your resources too.

Organic Teething Mushroom

Made from 100% certified organic Egyptian cotton.

Who wouldn't want to chew on this?

$6 at babystyle

Pixel-ated!

I have been searching for gifts for the many new babies that seem to be arriving this summer and came across Pixel Organics, cute, organic bedding for babes and kids! (The idea of a babe dreaming on an organic mattress snuggled in organic cotton is such a comforting one to me.)

Love their manifesto and the fact that they use an enviromentally friendly low-impact printing process (and the prints, especially the lions, tigers, and kitties... ohmy!) and that they are sustainably made in the USA. And a local business to boot! Hooray!

Other resources for eco-conscious nurseries and kids' rooms:
an interview with Amanda Moore at House & Garden
a new line of organic bedding for wees from Amenity Home coming next month (another l.a. company)
a post from a fave source, The Worsted Witch, over at ehow.com

American baby

Over the weekend I was searching for a baby gift for friends and stumbled into an American Apparel shop. I knew a little bit about American Apparel – their products are made in America, they are based in downtown Los Angeles, they pay fair wages, the products are 100% cotton. So I bought a cute little onesie and moved on. But doing a little more research later turned up the fact they also have a line of organic baby clothes. I love this idea for a gift.

Ideas to try:
Order online a onesie for each day of the week and have them shipped to the lucky newborn without having to leave home.

Head over to Etsy and pick up a customized, and extremely cute, version. Here are some of my favorites:

Mind Alphabet, Turtle Onesie - Organic Cotton, Non-toxic Ink

Fox and Winston, Brian the Red Rooster

Rock Paper Scissors, rock star baby organic cotton onesie