Some babies I know have wardrobes bigger than mine. The garments sit gathering dust and only add another task to the busy caregiver’s to-do list.
Other babies I know live in hand-me-downs (my friend Em calls them ‘hand-me-ups’) and thrifted baby tools. But no matter what stuff babies have, they do not need a lot of it.
If your baby does need stuff, it probably already exists in humanity’s shared resource pool and is sitting in someone’s garage in a box labelled “baby stuff” or even better: it can be found on online marketplaces.
I hope to have children of my own one day. If that happens, I will mainly use resources already used to raise other babies (I’ll be browsing Little Tot’s Op Shop a lot).
I believe the most sustainable baby stuff is second-hand. I don’t always recommend the second-hand option; some items, like appliances, are difficult to find or trust in the second-hand market.
I have been burned by far too many broken, irreparable second-hand appliances that these days I generally buy them new and focus my energy on taking good care of them. But baby stuff is the opposite because of the nature of the products.
Baby stuff is only used for a short period of time and then becomes redundant when the baby grows.
If you do need (it’s probably a “want”) to buy new, my favourite places are Ziwibaby, The Natural Co., A Little Wild, Little Yellow Bird, and CaliWoods. Bear & Moo make the cutest reusable nappies and places like Nature Baby, Naked Baby, and Haakaa have a wide range of sustainable tools to tend to your baby’s needs too.
