Tag Archives: baby supplies

Green Your Baby Bottles

Some of the things I need to replace from raising my older kids are my baby bottles. I had the drop-in kind. They were nice, since you can get the air out of the disposable plastic sleeve easily, but there are those two words.

Disposable.

Plastic.

Ugh. These days, just plain ugh.

As a mom who intends to breastfeed the first year and however much beyond, I don’t exactly need a lot of baby bottles. Just a few for those times when siblings want to help, Daddy needs a turn, or the grandparents are babysitting. I know all that is going to happen, and often.

So I’ve been shopping around Amazon trying to figure out what to get. Wherever I end up buying, I like being able to get a good feel for what’s out there and what people think of things before I actually buy.

So far I’m liking the Evenflo glass baby bottles. You can get better nipples for them, they’re fairly inexpensive for glass baby bottles, and they fit on the Medela Pump in Style.

Then again, I’m still thinking about the Klean Kanteen baby bottle. That one just fascinates me.

I have a lot of thinking to do on this, as well as discussions with my husband. He isn’t quite so on board with the BPA concerns, but then he doesn’t do as much reading on parenting topics or environmental topics as I do. He does, of course, hear from his parents every time we do something too “tree hugger” or “environazi” for their tastes. That of course just means doing something green that they think would be easier done some other way.

The plus side is that I’ve converted my mother-in-law into an enthusiastic supporter of breast feeding. Took more than a year, though, and my refusal to quit until each of my kids weaned on their own.

I expect glass baby bottles and cloth diapers will be a similar battle.

I Love Being Able to Spend Less on Baby Supplies

I still have a few months to go, but the more I talk to people, the more I realize how little I will need to buy for this baby at first. Cloth diapers, certainly, since no one in my family has taken that step before, but otherwise we’re looking to be in really good shape. New bottles and nipples for when she’s old enough that I can hand over some pumped breastmilk and let someone else feed her.

Oh yeah, did I ever mention it’s a girl? Or so we think. She wasn’t 100% cooperative with the ultrasound tech, but we got a fair view. Just not as clear as we had with our other two.

We hadn’t gotten rid of our old baby stuff, for one thing. That will save us a ton.

Baby clothes had been handed down, but we of course have offers of more clothes.

We were thinking we would have to buy a new baby car seat, as the old one was past the age they recommend using them for safety reasons, but my sister reminded me that she doesn’t need hers, and it’s well within the usable age range.

All in all, not a bad deal.

It’s getting to where I really need to pick out our cloth diapers, just to be sure they’re on hand when the time comes. I was also reminded by a reader, Diana, that cloth wipes are also a good idea. That makes a lot of sense to me. Why throw out wipes when you can just wash them together with the diapers?

My husband is also thinking he will install a hose and sprayer head for rinsing poopy cloth diapers into the toilet. Amazon sells a mini shower, but you can also get parts and make something similar on your own for less. I just can’t seem to find the tutorial I saw on that a couple months ago.

Now I just have to pick a brand to start out with. Anyone have a favorite?