I thought I’d share my journey towards living a sustainable, eco friendly life with a toddler and a baby on the way. There are many limitations to what I can actually do, as I am renting a house (so can’t make green upgrades and changes) and I am very reliant on using a car every day. I believe despite our limitations we can all do something!
I already do the basics such as
using reusable cups, bottles and shopping bags;
using soap bars instead of liquid soaps;
using bio degradable wipes or cloths for my daughter;
always looking for natural, eco friendly alternatives to plastic (tooth brushes, toddler tableware etc);
choosing loose weight fruit and veggies instead of plastic wrapped;
avoiding synthetic clothing;
using a green energy supplier;
buying used items such as buggies etc
However I find there are specific struggles in trying to be eco friendly with small children, such as;
celebrations. There is so much waste when arranging a birthday party and also other celebrations like Christmas;
eco nappies. There aren’t many brands to choose from and having been disappointed by the brand we have been using I have struggled to find a brand providing eco friendly pull-ups in my daughter’s size;
yogurt pouches. I have no time or energy to do my own refill ones pouches. I use at least one pouch a day which cannot be recycled. Not good;
toys. Like most families with small children, we have too many toys, especially plastic ones;
food waste. My daughter will routinely reject meals or finish less than half of a meal;
I will update this post with my victories and failures as I try to figure out how to tackle these challenges!
It’s really encouraging to see how much you are already doing. It makes quite a list when you write it all down, and I bet there are some things you haven’t realised can go on there.
I will share your success with my friends who have children
We recently celebrated my daughter’s birthday and I (more or less successfully) tried to make it a little more eco-friendly this time around.
First of all, I tried limiting the number of presents we would give to our daughter. She already has everything she needs but she does thoroughly enjoy unwrapping presents so we did get her a few. Her main present was a doctor’s set. All of her friends have one and she LOVES playing doctor (hoping for a future profession!). We chose a wooden set instead of plastic. We could have used recyclable wrapping paper and tape but we already had some so I didn’t purchase any more. I have heard you can get recyclable tape at WHSmith.
Secondly, I asked people to give used presents. Either something they had at home or something from a Charity shop. My daughter definitely does not know the difference!
Finally, I ordered eco-friendly disposable party supplies such as compostable plates made from palm leafs, biodegradable balloons and compostable party cups (looked exactly like plastic!) from a company called Little Cherry (littlecherry.co.uk).
I could obviously have done a lot more, like made homemade cakes (dream on!) and made sure all wrapping was recyclable. I’d be very interested to hear other ideas too. All in all I’m still happy with the result. I will work to make the next birthday party even more eco-friendly!
Adding some pictures from the party to illustrate:
Impressive how much you’ve already done! I used to live in Spain and it was impossible to find eco-friendly diapers that didn’t leak or cause skin issues.
At one point, I remember thinking how difficult it is to actually be an entrepreneur and mother who is able to live sustainably. I have failed many times due to the limited resources I had in the area where we lived.
I admire you for being so determined. If half of the moms did what you do, we would be living in a better place. <3
