It seems like the newest trend in most countries around the world revolves around eco-friendly and green sustainability. In the same way, parents are now seeing the added benefit of raising their children in an eco-friendly environment, which also instills environmentally conscious values our next generation as a bonus. While safety has always been a top priority for child proofing households, “child proof” in every sense of the phrase has now evolved to accommodate green alterations as well. These eco-friendly alterations will help you to raise your child “green” and healthy.

Sharp Edges

Child-proofing your interior is extremely important for your new baby’s arrival, especially when he/she starts to crawl around. Along with baby proofing your outlets, storing your chemicals in higher places and putting up your baby gates, one area that is often overlooked is your living room. Your furniture has sharp edges, and this poses a threat to your baby’s safety. There are two things you can do to prevent baby injuries in the living room. You can purchase padding to cover the edges of entertainment centers, side tables, and bookcases or you can reuse household products to accomplish your child proofing project in the living room. Because baby proofing is a temporary endeavor, it makes more sense to use a few improvised materials to cover up those sharp edges. Although hardly aesthetically appealing, slit-attached tennis balls and duct tape will suffice for baby proofing and will certainly cost a lot less than the alternative. Everyone has old tennis balls lying around, and this reusable product can absolutely be used for baby proofing. To read more about this idea, check out the article here.

Choosing the Right Mattress

Most mattresses that are produced now-a-days are filled with pesticides. Although, this doesn’t much affect the average adult, your baby should not be exposed to these kinds of chemicals on a nightly basis. Choosing an entirely organic, cotton, latex or wool mattress is a wise parental decision for the environmentally conscious family. Although latex doesn’t appear to fit in the “organic” category, contrary to popular belief, latex is actually very healthy and many latex mattresses come with organic cotton or wool covering for added comfort. Just be sure that your baby doesn’t have a latex allergy before you make this decision. In the same way, it is absolutely essential to choose 100% natural crib bedding sets that are free of AZO dyes. However, this doesn’t mean that crib bedding can only come in white- you can choose from many crib bedding sets that are not only chemical free, but also come in a wide assortment of fun colors.

Eco-Friendly Toys

Although they seem innocent at first glance, many toys can carry harmful chemicals that you do not want your baby or toddler exposed to. One chemical offender in the toy world is the presence of Phthalates found lurking on various plastic toys, many of which are imported. One way to prevent your child from being exposed to this harmful chemical is to purchase all-natural wooden toys. Staple toys like wooden blocks and trains are all-natural and fun for kids of all ages! Even better, many of these wooden products are manufactured right here in the United States. Because of this, you can do your part to help reduce energy otherwise needed to transport toys being shipped from overseas.