The good news? We got two car seats. One HUGE purchase off our registry.. and with a coupon, we got $70 off the pair. :D (Many thanks to my mother who bought one, while we bought the other.)
The bad news? As we strolled the aisles, my mother was frequently asking, "Well, what about this brand? Would you use this? Can your babies have this?"
And what she was trying to figure out was which brands/items were congruent with our vegan and eco/green choices. She stated several times, "Well, you better tell people this so they don't get you a bunch of stuff you won't use."
And the truth is, I appreciated that she cared enough to ask, and she wasn't the first. One of my husband's relatives had also inquired, "We are getting ready to shop now and in case we find any cute baby stuff is there anything we shouldn't buy? (Regarding your animal rights convictions.)"
But I keep feeling apologetic and/or rude when I answer these questions. So, I tried to figure out a way to tackle this that didn't come across as demanding. Sure, we made registries, but people like to buy unique items for baby, or just see small items here and there and pick them up without thinking. We knew a registry wasn't going to be enough. So, how do we tell people what we prefer? I just wasn't sure.
But once several people asked, I accepted that if people are going to go out of their way to gift us with something, they'd surely want it to be something we would proudly use and is in line with our ideals/ethics. So I sat down to write a blog post, explaining what brands/items we like and have researched.
That said, I KNOW it can be confusing. I'm constantly researching brands and ingredients. For example, most people wouldn't check an ingredient label on baby wipes, notice Lanolin listed, and realize that it wasn't vegan. Nor would the average person think about the fact that Johnson & Johnson does animal testing, so it also isn't suitable for a vegan (plus full of artificial colors/fragrances/chemicals that would turn off any hippie.. lol).
So, before I dive into this list.. which I hope will make things easier, realize that I'm grateful that anyone cares enough to read or follow it. And should you find yourself with any other vegan/activist/hippie/treehuggers in your circle of friends, this list may help you in the future ;)
Unfortunately, many of these 'natural' brands are only easily found online (I'll list the websites, which will be linked directly to the products/brands). But for those you can actually find in stores, I'll list the brick and mortar store as well.
Baby's Only Organic: soy formula (Amazon.com, Drugstore.com)
California Baby: toiletries (Drugstore.com, Target.com)
Dapple: cleaners and wipes (Babies R' Us, Drugstore.com, ToysRUs.com)
Earth's Best: diapers and wipes (Amazon.com, Babies R' Us, Drugstore.com, Target.com, ToysRUs.com)
Earth Mama Angel Baby: toiletries (Drugstore.com, EarthMamaAngelBaby.com, Target.com)
Melissa & Doug: toys (MelissaAndDoug.com, Toys R' Us, ToysRUs.com)
Nature Babycare (Naty): diapers and wipes (Amazon.com, Drugstore.com)
Seventh Generation: diapers, wipes, and toiletries (Amazon.com, Drugstore.com, Meijer, Target, Target.com)
For clothing/blankets/bedding, just avoid wool, leather, suede and silk. I know. I know. That means no leather chaps...
For toys, we prefer mostly wooden and cloth (such as Melissa & Doug listed above), with minimal plastics.. though we know we will have/need some.
For bottles, we are avoiding plastic. Nearly all bottles and food containers will be glass.
When in doubt, feel free to use one of our several registries for guidance or just get a gift receipt. We are registered at Amazon.com, EarthMamaAngelBaby.com, Toys R' Us/Babies R' Us, and Target.
We would like to promote a chemical/animal free lifestyle for our children, and we appreciate your efforts to support us in this cause.
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