A healthy, natural and sustainable cocoon for newborns

Choosing to give well-made, high-quality clothes, toys or childcare items to welcome and celebrate a newborn is a great idea.

Add in ecological, ethical and health-safety values, and it's even harder to make the right choices.

In this article, I'd like to help you create a healthy cradle for your newborn baby.

Less is more

Before this market existed, women and men had babies, and they arrived without accessories. A baby needs milk, closeness, love... 

I'm pushing an open door here, but not so much if you look at the sales figures for childcare equipment.

Buy what pleases you, of course, but be aware that your baby will want to be close to you, and will not care about anything else.

Buy what you and your baby need to make the new life easier, smoother in the tumult of change.

Meet your baby before investing in certain items (cosy, bouncer, stroller...) and get a feel for what you need to make each one feel good.

Greenwashing 

The big chains do what pleases them and make as much profit as possible. The state of the climate worries most people, so they're looking to consume differently. Perhaps this is the case for you? Be careful not to fall into the trap of low prices with eye-catching marketing that reflects your values.

The materials used 

Synthetic fibers have lower production costs. The result is a lower-priced product. For some brands, the choice of using a synthetic fiber rather than a natural one can be a selling point, a marketing asset: for example, "our upholstery is made from recycled polyester and is Oeko Tex 100 certified".

But even recycled polyester, to stay with the example, is made up of a high percentage of pure polyester, and even OekoTex 100-certified polyester comes from petrochemicals, so it's a pollutant when it's manufactured and a pollutant when it's recycled.

It is also a known endocrine disruptor. Polyester is used in everything (sofas, upholstery, clothing, cars...) and pollutes our living spaces.

Mixed materials

Organic cotton with 5%d'elasthane

20% wool felt and 80% viscose, rayon or even 100% polyester felt. 

Wool mixed with acrylic...

From my point of view, it's a waste: we're wasting the natural material with fibers that aren't durable, they deteriorate quickly, pilling up, making plastic particles in the wash water... These mixed fibers make a finished product at a low cost, but the product's lifespan is much shorter.

Price list

If the brand offers a lot of items at low prices, with interesting promotions... it's possible that the brand is very big, uses low-quality materials, and doesn't respect the environment or the workers it employs.

If you buy from designers, you can make a truly ecological choice by buying local (which reduces the impact of transport), with sourced and sustainable materials (for your health and the climate), handmade and with love (which makes the object 100% fair trade).

The added bonus is that these designer-made objects are often produced in small quantities, making them rare treasures that stand apart from fashion and marketing pressure.

In conclusion, 

Choose second-hand and natural materials such as wood, wool, silk and hemp. Be scrupulous and uncompromising, as there will always be items inevitably made of plastic 🙂 and they are very useful. Opt for a list of items that are essential to your needs, while adapting over time.