I recently guest posted for somummy.co.uk and provided my Top 8 Eco Friendly Brands for Babies & Toddlers. Please find below an excerpt from my guest blog below. 

Bringing up children is the hardest and most rewarding job we’ll ever do as mothers. From sleepless nights, changing nappies and coping with toddler tantrums to the wonderful experience of teaching them about the world and watching them grow up. However, on this journey, we get through an incredible amount of products, many of which are not biodegradable or recyclable. From disposable nappies, wipes, plastic bottled bath products to the vast amount of clothing they get through and so much more. Not to mention the plastic packaging it arrives in when you order online. While these products are all necessities for bringing up our children, it can be an environmental nightmare. Luckily there are some great eco alternatives on the market to help us minimise waste. Here are my top 5 eco-friendly brand recommendations for babies and toddlers.

Little Herbs

Little Herbs create 100% organic skincare products that are safe and gentle for babies, pregnancy and new mums. Their recipes are developed in conjunction with medical herbalists and use traditional English country garden plants. They don’t use any nasties like colourants, fillers, parfums, chemical preservatives, parabens, phlalates, mineral oils or alcohol. All their packaging is glass, or lined aluminium tins which are both easily recycled and no plastic. Their award-winning Bathe Baba is vegan friendly and provides a gentle and nourishing bath cleanser to relax your baby. It’s made from oats and maize flour and contains a blend of lavender, the traditional cleansing herb, and relaxing chamomile. Another great product is their rich baby oil which is also vegan friendly. Made from sunflower oil and rosehip seed, it helps ease dry skin conditions keeping newborns skin healthy.

Mama Bamboo

About 3 billion disposable nappies are thrown away every year in the UK, most of which aren’t biodegradable due to their plastic lining. Mama Bamboo helps solve this problem with their eco- friendly natural bamboo nappy which is 80% biodegradable and comes in 100% compostable packaging. The nappy is not only soft and comfortable but it also has a multi-layered design, making it extremely absorbent. So it’s no surprise that Mama Bamboo was recently voted “Best Performance Nappy Range” by Mother & Baby and “Best Eco-nappy” by MadeForMums.

Natural Mamma

If you want to go one step further, you could try a reusable nappy from the Italian brand Natural Mamma. Their nappy comes as an all-in-two which means the waterproof outer wrap is separate from the absorbent inserts which you attach with poppers at one end. It comes with two inserts which you can use together or on their own depending on how much absorbency you need. There are also plenty of poppers to adjust the size, allowing lots of room for growth. Standout features are the two layers of elastic round the legs to stop leakage, and the back of the nappy which is elasticated to provide a comfortable fit.

Cheeky Wipes

If you want to avoid disposable wipes altogether, you could try the Cheeky Wipes Reusable Cloth Baby Wipes premium all in one kit. These are for hands, faces and bottoms and suitable for disposable and cloth nappy users. In this kit, you get:

• 25 cloth baby wipes either cotton, bamboo or organic cotton.
• A fresh wipes container with a single clip for one handed opening.
• A mucky wipes container with removable mesh bag insert for washing, also a single clip for one-handed opening.
• A fresh wipes waterproof out and about travel bag.
• A mucky wipes waterproof out and about travel bag with removable mesh bag insert for washing.
• 2 bottles of oil: Lavender & Chamomile Fresh Wipes essential oil blend and Tea Tree & Tea tree lemon Mucky Wipes essential oil blend.

How do use them? First you need to fill your fresh wipes container to 3cm from the top and add 4 – 5 drops of the fresh wipes essential oil blend. Then add your cloth baby wipes into the fresh wipes container. Turn them over once or twice and then they’re ready to use. Cheeky Wipes recommends using water and not oils for newborns up to 6 weeks. Once your wipes are wet or soiled, put them into the mucky wipes container and fill it with water up to 3cm from the top and add 3 – 4 drops of mucky wipes essential oil blend. Once you’ve used most of your wipes, take them out of the box and place them into the mesh wash bag in the mucky wipes container which can go straight into the washing machine with your next load of washing. (30 – 60 degrees is fine). To be honest, it took some organising to switch to Cheeky Wipes, but this is such a great way to avoid the huge amount of baby wipes we throw away each day. While the boxes are made of plastic, they can be recycled or used for food storage once you’ve finished with them.

Tabitha Eve

If you’re just after reusable cloths for the face. Tabitha Eve makes lovely muslin cloths from bamboo and organic cotton which are perfect for babies and toddlers. These come in three different sizes; small, large and X large. Once you’ve used them, just pop them into the wash with your normal laundry load on cool and hang out to dry. Tabitha Eve also makes bamboo and cotton travel wipes. They come in different colours and patterns and are the ideal size for using on the go. Each wipe has a slightly rougher bamboo side and a smoother cotton side. This makes them great for a variety of cleaning jobs from washing mucky hands, mopping up spills to cleaning your babies skin. You could even use them for makeup removal or face pads. To wash them, you just pop them in the washing machine like the muslin cloths.

While it’s impossible to be completely eco-friendly with all the products we use for our babies and toddlers, every little step, no matter how small, counts.

This blog extract was taken from my guest blog that was recently published on somummy.co.uk – please click here to read the full blog.