Our favorite colors are purple, blue, and red. Pink is fine but so is blue. We're not real fond of yellow and orange or yellowish-greens (we like teals and blue-greens). Brown, black, and white are good too. Since most organic fabrics are undyed, a natural color is great as well.
Because our baby is likely to share some of her mom's health problems, we're focusing as much as possible on organics, especially in the first 6 months. Anything the baby wears against her skin or anything she might put in her mouth should be organic fabric or a non-fabric natural item like untreated wood. Blankets, sheets, clothing, infant toys, etc. No plastics for anything she might "eat." Keep in mind that pretty much any standard baby bedding or sleepware will be treated (by law) with toxic flame retardants that don't wash out. Organic won't have this. Thanks.
We don't mind used items at all and we love homemade. Clearance items, seconds, etc are all fine. We are not picky that way! One concern with used though is that if we're not certain where it came from, it could have pesticide residues, fabric softener, scented detergents, or other things on it that would make both mom and baby sick.
Places to buy organic fabric: Cotton Plus (many fabrics plus thread, batting); Earthstone Fabrics (plus sale items); Greenpeople (links to other sites); It Is Sew Organic (ebay store with fabric and yarn).
We're all set with clothes and blankets but we can sure use organic sheets (queen), towels (baby sized, grownup sized, and washclothes). We also need organic diapers and diaper covers.
Diapers. We're going to use washable organic cotton diapers with wool covers. We haven't picked our brands/styles yet but we already know that they add up. We've been told to get about 4 dozen diapers and half a dozen or more covers in each size (sizes vary by brand). Organic is a must and we just know we want the kinds that do not require pins. We've been warned that we won't know which styles will work best for us and fit the baby best (not to mention that her size may not be what we expect) and that we should only buy a few diapers at first. See below for details.
If you're local, we could really use some physical help. Michael will have to go back to work soon full time and Cyndi is having a hard time meeting the baby's needs. Miriam is a very good baby, so long as someone is holding her. This makes it hard for one person to take care of her and do anything else. We'd love help with cleaning, shopping, meals, laundry, and all the other fun things we don't have the energy for.
These can be a godsend. We need some stuff right away of course but other things we won't know what we need until we've tried smoothing out and know our preferences, and the baby's size for that matter (will she be wearing 3-6 month clothing in summer as expected? or in rainy spring or chilly fall?). Diapers and some clothing fit in to this category well. Miriam was under 6 pounds at birth so she's fitting into newborn sizes now and will probably follow the age recommendations of clothing, or be a bit smaller.
We already have (or are in the process of getting):
We aren't planning to use:
High chair
Car seat for infants to one year
Stroller for toddler only
Infant stroller
Soaps and lotions
Wool puddle pad for bed
Slings/baby carriers
Rocking chair/glider
Socks (we still would love booties)
Clothes, hats, blankets
Nursing pillow
Rear view mirror attachments
Glass Nurser Bottles
Baby food millCrib or crib mattress or crib bedding
Pacifiers
Co-sleeper that goes to side of bed (no room!)We are registered at Amazon and Babies R Us, though these aren't necessarily the best places to buy things. The latter is actually through Amazon for the online registry, but you can access it through any *-R-Us store too. There isn't much there but Amazon has a ton of great organic baby things online. Unfortunately, they don't let you add them to your baby registry, only to a wedding registry. Weird but that's how they divide it.
Babies R Us Registry (a few items, including a portable playpen)
Amazon "Wedding" Registry (lots of organic clothing, some hats, booties, books, misc)
Good places to buy:
Dream Mountain Baby (the outlet store for the excellent Under the Nile. We'd be happy with anything from here. Clothing, cloth teething toys, toys, hats, anything). The prices here are better than anywhere I've seen. Though Amazon's are the best prices for regular retail.
Family Organics (good sale, including on diapers, also lots of toys).
Greenpeople (links to many organic cotton & hemp retail sites)
Any store local to you with organic items, wood toys, etc. Local to us is Earth Child in Sebastopol.
Misc things we need:
Baby food helpers: small glass freezer containers that go in microwave, recipe books, organic cotton bibs.
Organic cotton nursing tops and summer sleepware for Cyndi (size 16 or so, 42DD).
Organic cotton towels in sizes for babies and adults, plus washclothes.Diapers:
We'll need several dozen but so many people have told us we won't know which ones we like best (and which fit the baby best with no leaks) until we try them.
So we'd like to have only 6-12 of each of the following:
Under the Nile Contour Diaper
Under the Nile Pre-Folds
Under the Nile Organic Cotton Diaper with velcro (good sale price). Also at UTN.Diaper covers (4-6):
Bumpy Woolen Pants Newborn and Small sizes (other sizes at WeeBees)Lanolin for stopping diaper cover leaks:
(We really want organic but it's only available in Australia)
Eucalan Wool Wash (not lavender please!) (one 16 oz bottle will last years)Wipes (couple dozen):
Hemp or organic cotton cloths to use for diaper wipes would be useful.Diaper pail (1-2):
Not picky. Metal may be easier to keep clean than plastic (since we we're washing diapers, there's no point in liners) but we don't object to plastic. Something with a foot petal to pop the lid! We have one metal can but it may not be the right size and type.
Given by our friends Connie and Jan. Sunday, February 6, 2005 at 1:30 pm in San Rafael, CA.