Gifts for the Natural Parent
Have you noticed that there are two types of parents when it comes to baby gear? There’s the mainstream parent who uses Johnson & Johnson products and has a changing table full of disposables and a room full of plastic toys, and there’s the all natural parent who never totes their baby around in his car seat and may not even own a crib. Then there are people like me who are somewhere in the middle. We have wooden toys and plastic ones; we own cribs but sometimes practice safe cosleeping; we have no needs for bottles but occasionally present our children with pacifiers; we baby wear a good portion of the time, but also don’t mind putting the baby in the Bumbo seat or the crib and letting them cry for a few minutes. Presents are presents and I always appreciate them even if they aren’t what I would have bought myself, but I especially appreciate things bought for my kids that are more geared towards an organic, minimalistic lifestyle. The thing is, parents can decide to go all natural and organic with their kids, but ultimately their house is going to be filled with things that others gift to the precious grandkids/nieces/nephews/cousins. Unless parents are super vocal about it (which I’m not because I don’t like to be pushy about the presents others buy for us), they’re going to have nonorganic baby washes, bleached cotton onesies, and plastic toys that light up and make noise. But even if they don’t say it, they don’t prefer those things.
So, then, what do parents like me prefer you gift our babies?
Baby Carriers
We like baby carriers: ones that are designed to promote healthy baby hips such as
slings; a Boba, Beco, or Ergo carrier; or a Moby Wrap, K’tan, or Mei Tai. Don’t the
popular brands usually found in the local Walmart or Babies R Us such as the Snugli
brand. They’re not actually good for babies—especially for those babies who will spend a
good portion of their day being worn. A good baby carrier has a nice, wide seat for the
baby’s bum to rest and doesn’t forward carry (though I’ve heard that Ergo has come out
with a forward carry carrier that actually doesn’t cause hip dysplasia). We have car seats,
of course, but we prefer not to use them outside of the car. We wear our babies in places
such as church or the grocery store, and while washing dishes and folding laundry. It’s
definitely preferable to have that little, fuzzy head up close to our lips where we can
constantly kiss it as we shop or worship, and to feel the even ebb and flow of baby
breaths as they move against our hearts. And even if we have a baby carrier, we love
them so much, we wouldn’t mind another of a different brand or even just another color.
Cloth Diapers
Most of us prefer cloth, usually full time. Some of us do use disposables, such as when
we go out of the house, for day care, or if we need a break from laundry, but frankly cloth
diapers are a safer bet because we might never get to finishing that bag of disposables
that was given to us at the baby shower. No matter the ratio of disposables to cloth in our
house, cloth diapers will always get used. They’re economical, of course, but also super
gentle on the baby’s bum, and we don’t have to worry about harmful chemicals against
baby skin doing who knows what kind of long term damage. If we’re going the cloth
diaper route, you can go ahead and look at gifting some cloth wipes, cloth diaper safe
rash creams, and wet bags as well. You almost can’t go wrong when getting most of us
cloth diapers, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask first just to be sure because not all of us are into
this. Using cloth diapers is more of a lifestyle change than, say, organic soaps or wooden
toys. If we are going for disposables, though, check to make sure we don’t want a more
environmentally friendly option such as Seventh Generation.
Skin Care
We prefer to stay away from steroid creams and petroleum products. Also, many of us
are wary of the ever popular Johnson & Johnson brand because of the possible side
effects of some of the questionable ingredients. We could always use any organic baby
washes or lotions and we prefer things like lanolin and calendula cream to moisturize the
baby’s skin. Coconut oil is pretty much the basic essential when it comes to all natural
skin care and we can never have enough of it so go ahead and get us lots and lots.
Teething
Two words: Baltic Amber. It comes in necklaces or bracelets and we swear by it to
soothe the common malaise associated with new teeth (and no, the babies don’t actually
put them in their mouths, so don’t worry). You may think it’s hocus pocus, but we don’t so
buy the jewelry anyway, if you feel so inclined because we’ll be thrilled with it. Just make
sure you get it from a reputable source because there is lots of fake stuff floating around
out there.
There are also teething jewelry for moms to wear with large beads and rings for babies to grab and chew. These come in handy when our little ones need or want to be on our laps for a longer period of time and will want to be entertained. It will also keep them from grabbing earrings and hair or trying to lift our shirts, well, for a little while anyway. As far as baby teethers and rattles go, we really prefer the organic stuff. Wood, wool, organic cotton, and even silicone are all great options for the kids. Frankly, Sophie the Giraffe is our favorite as well as any of her rubber counterparts. We’re also really cool with hand made and/or upcycled stuff. Anything to keep things minimal and help maintain our planet’s resources.
Toys
Minimalism is key when it comes to the toys we give our kids. We prefer quality to
quantity. We want classic stuff that will last forever. Wooden toys are the best. Keep in
mind brands like Melissa & Doug, Plan, and Hape. We love that stuff. We also love
Waldorf and Montessori type toys for their quality and simplicity. We prefer you stay
away from popular Disney characters, plastic (unless you go for the recycled Green Toys
brand), and anything that requires batteries, with a few exceptions. We also like to limit
screen time so video games and movies aren’t always welcome either. And if it’s
educational, we’re usually all in. Anything sensory and tactile that our kids can
manipulate in order to learn about the world such as map puzzles, letter blocks, or sorting
games. We might even make an exception to the no electricity/screens rule if it’s gonna
help teach our kids to read, write, or problem solve.
Feeding
We will all try to breastfeed so if you want to help chip in to buy the hospital grade breast
pump, we wouldn’t complain. Breast feeding pillows are also helpful as well as reusable
breast pads, and teas that help increase milk production. Also lanolin. Lots of this. We’ll
use this on our babies, but we’ll also use it on ourselves to help ease those tender nipples
during the first few weeks or months of nursing. If we’re going to back to work, then yes,
go ahead and get some bottles—preferably glass or metal, please and with rubber
nipples if you can find them so we can avoid questionable ingredients found in plastic. If
we plan to stay at home with the kids, the bottles will rarely if ever get any use so don’t
even worry about it.
When it comes time for the little one to eat solids, we’re going to want to make the food ourselves so a food processor, blender, or tray for freezing home made baby food would be really handy. As for baby dishes, it is again best to stay away from plastic if possible.
Metal and silicone dishes are great alternatives.
Summary: We all natural parents aren’t really a weird bunch, though it may seem that way to you, we may just have a different way of doing what’s best for our kids than you do. We don’t think you’re a bad parent if you use J&J products or have a room full of toys that light up and sing, so please don’t feel judged. You’re still an awesome parent if you choose the more mainstream, modern options for raising your kids. We just like the idea of going back to a simpler time when the earth provided what we needed and chemists and scientists, bless their hearts, didn’t try to improve what God already provided for us by modifying what was already perfect. And we like the earth so we’re doing our best to keep her the way she is without leaving a huge path of garbage and empty forest behind us when we leave. Presents are presents and we’re not trying to micromanage the joy that comes with giving from the heart. But we are really concerned about what our kids are exposed to and some of us won’t use those plastic teething rings for our babies no matter the thought behind it because we’re more concerned about the longterm damage that comes with chemically altered materials.
If you know someone who’s like me—either to one extreme or the other, then don’t be offended by these suggestions. You might really want to take the time to consider some of them in order to make life easier on the all natural parent who is bending over backwards to protect her children. Because it’s not a mainstream lifestyle, it’s already difficult to maintain as it is. It would be so great if he or she had a little extra help.
