Natural Baby Sleep
I consider myself a natural mama. Overall, I try to find healthy options for our family and I enjoy learning about the safest products out there. I’m not sure I’m all the way to being a crunchy mama, but when I see research pointing out toxins or chemicals I try to avoid them. In this natural baby series I want to share what we do for our baby’s sleep, meal time, toys and skincare. A short disclaimer: These are products we use and enjoy. By no means does our choice make your choice any less.
First let’s start with baby’s sleep. Our toddler sleeps anywhere from 13-15 hours a day. That means she spends more than half her day in her crib. We recently discovered latex mattresses. If you go this route, you want to find a latex mattress that is made from simply natural foam rubber not synthetic latex. We were drawn to latex mattresses because there is limited to no off-gassing. Latex is also hypoallergenic, dust mite resistant and resistant to mold.
One of the negatives, they can be very expensive. We decided to make this purchase as an investment. When purchasing a latex mattress look to make sure it is all natural and if it has the Oeko Tex certification you can rest assured knowing there aren’t any harmful chemicals in the final product. We don’t use any cover with the latex mattress because we feel we don’t have to. I have purchased a few different organic crib sheets from Pottery Barn and the American Baby Company. I found the Pottery Barn sheets shrunk in the wash, but with a little pulling and tugging they stretch out again.
We definitely don’t buy all organic clothes, but since our daughter sleeps a lot we try to buy 100% cotton, non flame resistant and/or organic sleepwear. One of the cheapest and nicest organic sleepwear we have found it Burt’s Bees Baby. You can find deals on Zulily or the clearance section of their website. We also love Hanna Andersson pajamas. They have so many fun prints and they are super soft 100% organic cotton. For a sleeper this winter we used the Snug Organics sherpa sleeper. If you don’t go with organic cotton I would try to avoid flame retardants. Growing research is showing these chemicals can be dangerous to our health.
Lastly, when it comes to her bedroom we try to avoid using a humidifier. I know that sounds crazy because so many people recommend this for newborn babies. It is also helpful for our daughter’s eczema to keep moisture in her room. However, there are so many articles out there warning parents to keep humidifiers clean because they can easily and quickly grow mold. If I’m being honest I know I wouldn’t do the best job keeping it clean. So I looked for alternatives. Did you know houseplants can add moisture to the air in your home? We also place a dish of water near the heat sources in our daughter’s room and slowly it evaporates with the heat. Find more links below for natural tips and products.
What are your favorite natural baby sleep products?
Wow, this is really interesting. When I clicked over from The Modest Mom linkup, I thought this was going to be about getting your baby to sleep, but your ideas here were really super helpful! I had no idea about the houseplants adding moisture to the room. We’ll have to give that a try! I also was surprised about the dangers of the flame retardant chemicals. It seems like they encourage you to have your baby in flame retardant jammies to keep them safe, but maybe it’s actually the opposite… So do you find that those pj’s cost a lot more than regular jammies?
Thanks so much for stopping by! If you buy organic cotton it is typically more expensive, but you can find 100% cotton jammies that are non-flame resistant (usually there is a large yellow tag saying it isn’t flame resistant). I’ve also noticed that Old Navy sells some non-flame resistant sleepers for a very reasonable price. http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=1011410&vid=1&pid=123224032