First Purchases for Baby
Now that the weeks are ticking by, I have come to realize the amount of preparation and work that goes into welcoming a new life. Asking yourself, ok what do I need, and what does baby need?
Of course, there is an entire industry connected to this, that feeds off of the very same questions going through my mind. And of course, it seems like everything in this said industry is adorable and makes you want to buy everything. But, let’s get real, I probably do not need 80% of it, baby will not remember the adorable Hermes baby shoes, and most of the things will be outgrown super quickly.
So how does one navigate?!
As someone who respects themselves, expects the best, and knows/feels quality, the waters are choppy. I will not settle for something mediocre, poorly made, or with suboptimal materials, even if it is a famous brand. More often than not famous designers are skimping on quality for their bottom line and boosting marketing. I am loyal to quality, not a brand, and this propels me to look everywhere to find the best possible.
For me, it has been a process of elimination, combined with some emotional splurges, because oh my it is just too cute! But mostly trying to think, what will be needed. It will be cold when baby arrives, so what can be done for when it is cold out? Also, what are the “necessities,” feeding, sleeping, bathrooming, transportation; you get it, the basics. So then I took the approach of the basics for survival, and how can they be optimized. Optimized for quality, durability, and functionality.
After more research, and continuing my desire for a normal healthy life, i.e. now labeled, “non-toxic living…” which is a completely different rant, I realized, there are a lot of chemicals in baby items. Which of course there are… Since it follows the trend of how most things have strange additives for either cost-cutting or “safety.” So, this made me take the research further, I learned how most car seats in the United States are treated with chemical flame retardants, that off-gas and can cause endocrine disruptions and a whole slew of other potential health issues. You can do your own research about that topic if you feel like going there, my summation is brief but well-researched, this is a blog post, not an academic article.
*Queue mini Rant here-
Why is it now a “trend” or “label” with low toxin living??!! It should be normal. We should be able to expect and trust products contain quality materials and not have mysterious chemicals laden in them that accumulate within our bodies. This seems like common sense. We all love being healthy, performing optimally, and being sharp. More often than not, optimal human functioning without chronic disease is becoming the exception to the norm. More often than not most publicly traded companies do not contain materials or ingredients that are best for us and we need to find smaller companies that are less compromised.
Car Seat.
Which car seat to get then?! I did not want polyester in the seat, because a) it is synthetic, a plastic derivative that does not breathe and is unnatural. b) in addition to being unnatural more unnatural chemicals are added to protect from the chance that there could be a fire.
It was long and frustrating. There are very few car seats on the market, now I see more are being added, that have a wool seat. I searched for the wool seat night and day, eventually, I found the UPPABaby Mesa seat in the “Jordan” color, which is the only model in wool, and settled on that. Even though it is still made in China, filled with polyester, and a big plastic chunk, it will do.. I do not plan to carry baby around in the car seat when not in the car, so the use will be exclusively for the car.
Why wool? You may ask. Wool is naturally fire retardant and does not need additional chemicals added. In addition, wool is a natural fiber, from sheep versus polyester which is not a natural fiber.
Next up:
Stroller.
Again the same issue with the man-made fabrics. The omnipresence of plastic materials dominating the market is quite impressive, as well as the prevalence of made-in-China items. Neither of these things I wanted. So I looked around online, did the basic search at American Luxury department stores, like Neiman Marcus, saw what was on offer, looked at our Wal-Mart to see the standard options. They all looked cheap, flimsy, plastic, cartoonish, and not up to my quality standards. Again, you want something sturdy, something natural, something that gets you from point a to point b. Something that seems worth the cost, and not just a brand.
So, I then encountered the Balmoral Pram from Silver Cross.
It ticked many of my boxes. Stylish, quality, made in England, and is not mostly plastic. It is Exquisite, good enough for the royal family, and looks like it’ll survive more than 3 years.
Unfortunately, it is crazy expensive, does not fold up into a car, and does not look like it seats a toddler. So the uses are limited and did not justify the price, sadly, because it is the most beautiful stroller I have seen.
We are in a time of dwindling quality, and this reality hits me daily.
So, back to the drawing board. What is there to find?!
Eventually, I stumbled across a German Brand, made in Germany, that uses natural materials, and emphasizes their superior quality and workmanship combined with using natural products as much as possible within all the current guidelines. Finally!
They also had a cool stroller configurator feature on their website to design all the details to order, which is super German, and of course, we did that. Now we are waiting for the production and shipment of the stroller, which takes 12 weeks to be made and I will create an entire post dedicated to a review and reveal of which stroller we eventually settled on.
Baby Clothing
For me, this was the fun part. Searching and trying to find the cutest organic natural fiber clothing options.
I realized I love wool. It might be my favorite natural material. It is breathable, warm, cozy, and just all-around great. Not much of a cotton lover, I wanted more from the baby’s onesies. Silk for baby seemed a little excessive, especially in winter, same with linen, it is great, but in my opinion much better for summer. So this left searching for woolen baby clothing, and you know who yet again came to the rescue? The Germans.
I finally found the woolen baby clothing of my dreams! My new favorite brands are
So far I have been super happy with all the purchases from those three brands! They are soft, amazing quality, and organic.
In addition, some non-organic cute Scandinavian brands are:
Garbo & Friends for bedding
So here is the start of the list of baby items, more to come!