Decorating our daughter’s room was one of the most fun experiences of pregnancy. I took the time to research every product to ensure I was creating a true SAFE haven for my baby girl. I wanted the room to be a non-toxic, environmentally sound, zero EMF sanctuary with good air quality. Here is a breakdown of my top tips to create the Non-Toxic Nursery of your dreams:
Sleep
- We have been thrilled with the Colgate Mattress EcoClassica III mattress. Eco-friendly, made of organic cotton, and dual purpose for baby to toddler (you just flip the mattress when they become a toddler). Plus, in conjunction with the Moms on Call book, we have had a comfortable, sleeping baby 7p-7a since week six (cue, happy baby = happy parents!)
- We use this Naturepedic Organic mattress pad. Breathable, and we have never had a leak.
- Bamboo sheets not only provide the best night’s sleep, they feel so good on your skin! Hypoallergenic, antimicrobial, dust mite resistant, and eco-friendly (bamboo is a renewable resource). You are supporting the environment, while also ensuring a luxurious and comfortable night’s sleep – win:win! We only sleep on Cozy Earth bamboo sheets. We love the way it feels so much that we purchased Tafts Organic bamboo sheets for our daughter as well. Silly smooth, easy to wash and gorgeous colors.
- Sound machine. We would be lost without our LectroFan sound machine. It is part of the Moms on Call guide, and we love it so much, we have two – one at home and one in our weekend bag for easy travel. We also use the portable LectroFan when traveling in the car.
- The sound we always use is brown noice. It has a deeper frequency and is less scratchy sounding that white noise.
Diaper Items
- Huggies Special Delivery diapers came recommended to us by our doula. I had been researching ALL options from high-end to cloth, but once she shared the benefits of Special Delivery, I was hooked. She has over two decades of baby experience and swears by this specific brand. Hypoallergenic, free from all the bad (fragrance, parabans, lotion, chlorine, etc.), easy to purchase from retailers and we have never had any rashes or accidents in them.
- Water Wipes are the ONLY wipes we will use. They are effective and I love that they are 99% water with just a drop of fruit extract. Zero chemicals so you can rest easy knowing you are providing the cleanest product for your baby. Pro tip – store the packages upside down so that when you are ready to use them the most wet wipes will be at the top.
- For any bum-related needs we used Earth Mama Diaper Balm. A non-toxic, clean and might I add, effective, product.
Feedings
- In keeping our home plastic and PFA free we only use glass products. This sentiment extended to bottles. We used Philips Avent bottles exclusively which came recommended by our doula and lactation experts.
- While I nursed during the first year, we also started with a bottle early to help with additional nutrition supplementation and to make the transition back to work easy. We used the Philips Avent Natural Response nipple and found the entire process to be smooth – and toxic free!
- If you plan on nursing while on the go, I highly, highly recommend the Ceres Chill. I used it when returning to work, and it keeps your milk supply safe – and cold, all day – even long shifts.
- I HIGHLY recommend all pregnant mamas make peace with a formula they are comfortable with. I did not do this process and wish I had. I come from a long family of nursing mothers and “assumed” my path would be as straight forward and easy. I will share more in a future post, but for now encourage you to find a formula that suits the needs of your family’s nutritional goals. I personally think Little Oak Formula is one of the best, and cleanest on the market. The FDA has now put a hold on the infant formula (because of labeling), but the Toddler formulation is still available in the US. We have loved using it and even transitioned to the toddler milk formulation when the time arose. My best advice is to research what ingredients are used and consider looking outside of the US for formula. Europe and Australia have stricter farming practices, and even if a product is not labeled organic, some of their formulations were the cleanest I found.
- From my own personal research I discovered that the “healthy” vegan options, especially the US based products, had some of the most troubling ingredients. I prefer goat milk > cow’s milk (for a lot of reasons, primarily because goat’s milk is closer to human breast milk in formulation), so the only formula products I pursued were made with goat’s milk.
- Biggest tip: AVOID any formulas with the words corn syrup, or corn maltodextrin in them = sugar!
Clothing Considerations
When thinking of the precious, fragile skin of a newborn, take into consideration not only the products you put on their skin, but what you use to launder their clothes and then the quality of materials in their clothing. Our entire home is 100% cleaned (from kitchen, to dish soap, to laundry, to bathroom) with Branch Basics. Sadly, I do not have a code for their products – yet – but, have been a devotee for 5+ years and it is the only product we use in our home.
When considering what pajamas, swaddles and clothing to use, consider organic cotton or bamboo. Eco-friendly, and safe on your baby’s skin. My favorite brands are: Hanna Andersson, Moimolm, Burt’s Bees, Honest Baby, and Pehr.
Air Quality
We love our Pure Baby air purifier. It fits nursery decor, is super cute (our toddler loves to play with the colors), chic in white, and the air quality noticeable. We also have Pure Zone air purifiers all over our house and have loved the simplicity of changing out the filters.
I also recommend getting as much fresh air into the nursery as possible. With the exception of extreme weather we try to keep our nursery window slightly cracked to allow for fresh air flow.
Monitor
My #1 Goal in creating a Non-Toxic Nursery was to limit the amount of electromagnetic field (EMF) interference in our daughter’s room. Unfortunately, in today’s society you cannot completely avoid EMF, however, you do have control over your nursery selection and babies are more susceptible to EMF radiation due to their developing brains and immune systems (1).
I know there are many modern, wifi enhanced options, but the thought of having EMF surrounding our daughter’s room terrified me. We do not have Alexa, wifi changing tables, scales, baby pulse oximeters, or any wifi capabilities in her room. Perhaps we are old-fashioned, but I prefer to think that we are being mindful of the science. Our daughter’s nursery is a safe space.
For video monitoring: We have loved the D Link Monitor. My husband hard wired it in from a shielded ethernet cable, and we then used the EMF tester to test, to the best of our ability, that our daughter’s room was free from wifi. We referred to this article to help set-up the monitor.
AWH Tip: Bonus … no wifi = a cheaper monitor. Still effective, but a great place to save money and safeguard your baby.
For sound monitoring: We use the VTech Baby Monitor. Affordable, portable, and no wifi. We purchased two sets – one to stay at home and one always packed in our travel bag.
Decoration Ideas
My husband and I love to collect art and we carefully selected pieces of art that would transition from her nursery onward. We chose different pieces of mixed mediums to create a collage above her crib. Each piece was thoughtfully purchased with our daughter in mind, and I hope she enjoys this collection of art as she moves through life!
Pictured – a commissioned piece by our dear niece, Pamela Cummings Reid.https://amandawardhealth.com/wp-admin/edit.php
Paint
I recommend going with a low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paint for your walls. Our favorites are Farrow and Ball: Pointing (used in our nursery and our own bedroom) and White Dove by Benjamin Moore (our whole house). Both are low – VOC which means you will have clean air quality for your baby.
Our accent wall was First Light by Benjamin Moore (the most gorgeous, sophisticated pink) and we painted it early during my pregnancy, kept the windows open and have an air puiruifer in the room so the off gassing was done before we brought out daughter home.
In conclusion, enjoy this precious time setting up your nursery to prepare for your baby. There are so many options on the market, but I can say that we have been pleased with the choices we made to ensure our daughters nursery was a clean, safe haven.
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References
- Moon, J. Health effects of electromagnetic fields on children. Clin Exp Pediatr. 2020 Nov; 63(11): 422–428.
Published online 2020 May 26. doi: 10.3345/cep.2019.01494
