Sample Baby Registry for the Natural Mama

Knowing now what I didn't know then, this would be my registry for our first baby:

I. Gear:

1. Graco Snugride infant carseat

2. Britax Marathon convertible carseat

3. 2 strollers - one lightweight umbrella stroller (we have a Maclaren, which is on sale now,) and one sturdier stroller that can accommodate an infant (we have the Bumbleride Indie, which you can clip your carseat right in to.)

4. Don't get a swing right away - your baby might not like it. Instead, wait until Baby is born and a few weeks old, and test it out at a friend's or a store. Same goes for the exersaucers.

5. The moby wrap.

6. The Ergo Baby.

II. Sleeping:

1. Co-sleepers ended up not getting used. The babies in our mamatoto group for the most part all ended up sharing the bed with their parents. If you decide to go that route, though, you can find a used one on Craigslist. Cribs were also seldom used. Instead, a toddler bed on the ground ended up being our best and safest option for naps.

2. Organic crib mattress and organic crib mattress pad for the toddler bed.

3. Bed rail for the family bed if Baby will be sharing the bed with you.

4. Organic crib sheets - two fitted (and two sets for your own bed).

III. Layette:

1. 8 organic cotton or secondhand 100% cotton receiving blankets.

2. 2 muslin gauze blankets (I love Aden & Anais) for swaddling, shade over the stroller, lightweight warmth, clean place to sit at the park, etc.

3. At least a dozen organic cotton burp cloths. I like the Gerber cloth diapers for this purpose - extremely soft, inexpensive, organic...

4. 6 organic cotton or secondhand 100% cotton onesies, 2 longsleeve tees, 2 pairs of cotton jersey pants, 4-6 pj suits, 6 pairs of organic cotton socks, 1 or 2 cozy cotton sweaters, 2 pairs of BabyLegs. (The rest I'd wait on, since you'll receive tons of outfits as gifts.)

IV. Diapering:

1. Some disposables to start out - either Seventh Generation or Tushies: 1 pack newborn and 2 or 3 packs of size 1.

2. Cloth diapering system, including pail and sprayer. I'd suggest pocket diapers, and either FuzziBunz, Happy Heinys, Bum Genius 3.0, or something similar. One dozen to start with, and you can always buy more. Alternately, you can try the G Diapers with cloth inserts and the flushable inserts for travel, but remember not to use the flushable inserts until Baby has started on solid foods or you'll have a mess on your hands.

3. Hemp Inserts. These are so trim and absorbent, and it's nice to have a few extra inserts on hand.

4. Cloth wipes and diaper area spray. In addition to being better for the environment, you'll save a ridiculous amount of money using cloth wipes. We use California Baby Non-Burning and Calming Diaper Area Wash. We dilute it and one bottle lasted us almost the entire first year. Or, you could do what my friend Heather does and fill up a thermos with warm water in the morning to use throughout the day.

5. A couple of wet bags to toss wet diapers in when you're out and about.

V. Feeding Baby:

1. Breast Pump. I started with the medela swing, but ended up passing it on to a friend. I ended up much happier with my hand pump: the Avent manual pump. It comes with two bottles, is easy to assemble and operate, and totally BPA free.

2. One or two bottles. Born Free makes a good one, and so does Green to Grow.

3. Boppy. You can find one pre-owned at the Traveling Pants and put a new organic cover on it.

4. Nursing bra. Getting the right size is tricky. I needed one size bigger around the ribs and two cup sizes bigger than my pre-pregnancy size.

5. Organic cotton breast pads.

These others you could register for, or wait until Babyis closer to 6 months old before buying:

6. Snacktrap (2)

7. Mesh feeder (1 with extra bags)

8. Sippy cups (3-4)

9. Baby Spoons and bowls (We like the wooden sets from novanaturals.com)

10. Bamboo or organic cotton bibs - my favorite option is at Summer for Kids (6)

11. Baby food mill

12. High chair. Ours is a pre-owned wooden one that cost us $30 and works fabulously. No need to splurge on a Svan unless you really want to.

VI. Bath and Potty:

1. Baby bathtub.

2. Washcloths (4) and hooded towels (2). Bumkins is great.

3. Baby shampoo/bodywash, lotion, diaper ointment, and sunscreen. Try California Baby.

4. Comb. (You will need this if your baby gets cradle cap. Just massage her scalp with olive oil and let it sit for a few minutes. Exfoliate with the comb and wash Baby's head as usual. Do not use Head and Shoulders or a similar product - it will burn Baby's head!)

5. Baby nail clippers. (These will be in a first aid kit if you get one.)

6. Thermometer.

7. Humidifier.

8. Baby Tylenol (the kind without the dye).

9. Hyland's homeopathic teething drops.

VII. Safety:

1. Outlet covers.

2. Monitor

VIII. Furniture:

1. Glider chair. (Ours is from Craigslist.)

2. Changing table. (Also from Craigslist.)

3. Changing table pad and organic changing table pad covers.

Lastly, where to register?

I got nearly all of our diapering essentials, plus a few other things from BabyBunz.com, and gear from BabiesRUs.com. For the rest, I registered at a site like myregistry.com, where you can choose from lots of different sites and the registry is all in one spot. Albeebaby.com has a lot of great gear at the best price, and michaelolaf.com is good as a checklist for the natural mama. Novanatural.com and palumba.com have the best natural toy selection (besides etsy), and don't forget to register at a physical store. Summer for Kids has a huge selection of organic toys, clothing and bedding, as well as all of the feeding essentials, and is totally organic and natural. Chicken Little is also a good source. While definitely not entirely organic, it does have the best range of products from strollers to clothing, breast pumps, highchairs, etc.

Apple Cheeks

I recently heard about Apple Cheeks cloth diapers, and was romanced by promises of the trim fit.  We've been testing them out for a couple of weeks now, and the results are in:

1. They are made in Canada, come in cute colors, and have snaps - a plus as far as I'm concerned.

2. They are not that trim.  At least not if you use their inserts.  Compared to the other diapers we've tried, they are comparable to the Happy Heinys, bulkier than the Bum Genious, 3.0, and much bulkier than the G Diapers.  If you use a Fuzzi Bunz hemp insert, they are pretty trim.

3. It is a little harder for me to tell when my daughter's diapers are wet.  With the other pocket diapers, I just stick my hand in the pocket (which is in the very back) to see if the insert is wet.  The Apple Cheeks opens in the middle of the diaper, so it makes it more difficult to do a quick-check.  Per my friend Amrita's advise, I do the smell test to see if there's pee.

4. The fit is great.  I attribute this to the two-size system they have.  One size pocket diapers are extremely bulky on the little ones, and the elastic at the leg holes isn't ideal once the babies are bigger.

5. They are a bit more expensive, and also do not come with free inserts.

Overall rating B+/A-

Cloth Diapers Explained

When I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to try to use cloth diapers for my little one.  The obvious choice for the environment, cloth diapers are SO much easier than I thought they would be - the difficult part was choosing which kind to buy.  Nothing I found online was any real help; there were so many choices.  I ended up kind of trying it all, and after diapering my daughter in cloth for over 10 months this is the scoop:

Once wet, all cloth diapers besides pocket diapers stay wet on your baby's skin.  If you don't want to be changing her diaper every 20 minutes, I'd suggest pocket diapers.  (I do still use pre-folds and fitted diapers with covers at home, when I don't do laundry and run out of the 15 pocket diapers we have).  Pocket diapers keep Baby dry by sucking all the moisture into the inserts, while the fleece lining stays dry against her skin.  They seemed gross to me at first, since you have to remove the inserts - which are full of pee - before tossing into the bin.  You just grab the end of the inserts, though, which is rarely wet, and even when it is, really no big deal.

A sprayer is key.  This contraption hooks onto your toilet, and you use it to spray off the messy poops.  First remove the inserts and toss them in a bin next to your toilet, then spray the poop off of the cover and toss that in the bin as well. (Get one or two wet bags to toss your diapers in when out and about).  Then, when you do laundry, dump the pail in, wash on hot with gentle detergent (I like caldrea in the blue sage or the neroli sea salt), and dry in the dryer or on the line.  

Part of me wishes someone told me to wait until my baby wasn't pooping 12 times a day before I started using cloth.  For anyone who feels cloth diapering might be too much work, or who has a lot (like more kids!) on her hands, I'd say wait to use cloth until your baby gets on the 1-2 poop a day program.  The pee diapers are SO easy, and spraying one or two poop diapers out a day is no biggie.  Once Baby starts eating solid food (at about 6 months) the poops become solid, so you easily shake them into the toilet nine times out of ten.

I like all the pocket diapers I've tried (bum genious 3.0, fuzzibunz, happy heinys), but I do think the fuzzibunz are the best.  If I could trade in all the diapers I have for what I really want right now, I'd have 18 hemp inserts (absorb so much, and are WAY less bulky) and 18 one size fuzzibunz diapers.  You'll need at least a dozen (18 would be ideal), but to be safe you can always just order a couple to try out and get more later on.  Each fuzzibunz diaper comes with a cotton microfiber insert, which works great, but is bulkier than the hemp.  I'd suggest sticking a hemp liner in each diaper underneath the cotton one if your little sweetie is a heavy wetter (like mine!)

Choosing to use cloth diapers is kind of like using a re-fillable water bottle instead of buying hundreds of the plastic, or bringing your own bags to the grocery store.  All of which I'm a huge advocate for.  If you want to take it one step further (I didn't do this, but my lovely friend Amrita told me about it!) you can buy your diapers used off of diaperswappers.com.  Even using them part time helps our planet so much!