The skin is the largest organ on the body – you will ingest these poisons right through your otherwise fashionable peice of clothing. This is why parents today are now turning to organic and eco-friendly baby clothing.

When buying organic baby products online, such as newborn baby hats, or when looking for organic newborn gifts, make sure that the label on the product does indeed say 100% organic. When buying textile products, check to ensure that the fabric is 100% organic cotton and does not have another textile blend. Avoid all blends that contain petroleum based fabrics such as rayon, nylon and polyester.

A first step is to find out what kind of paint is already on the walls of the baby room. If it is “safe” or at least non-toxic paint, then that’s great. But if not, there are so many kinds and brands of eco friendly paint on the market today. A quick visit to your local paint store will give you the best idea on what’s available or even affordable for a mini-renovation. Just remember that the air the baby breathes every moment they are in the room can be potentially toxic because of the paint and products in the room. So be sure!

Once you know the paint is safe for baby, the next thing to consider is the bedding and furniture in the room. If you are buying new, there are several places online where you can find eco friendly baby products. Look for natural bedding products that aren’t loaded with toxic flame retardent. The very products that make mattresses flame retardent are extremely toxic – and you breathe them in every night. So for baby, be sure the mattress and bedding is safe.

Organic products are a sure bet. Organic bedding and wood based furnture that was grown without pesticides or toxic dies and glues added during processing is not so difficult to find these days. Again, a simple search online will reveal what is available and where you can find it locally.

Even when it comes to educational toys and teddy bears, you can make eco friendly choices. Natural organic wool, cotton or even bamboo is now being used to create many baby products. It’s just a matter of finding out what you can get locally, or buy it online. Find cute bears for the home and of course the baby’s room.

Avoid furniture that is made with plywood, particle board, or fiber board (MDF). It all has been extremely processed with toxic chemicals that your baby will breathe in and ingest on a daily basis. Look for natural wood products and even consider bamboo – the quickest growing wood in the world (which makes it highly desirable for sustainable living).

Once you’ve got your eco friendly baby products chosen and in place, you’ll have peace of mind. You’ll know for a fact that your baby is living in a safe and eco friendly environment because you did your homework and made it so.

There are 7 elements of development

The five senses.  Through the five senses, babies receive information from their surroundings, so that they are able to explore and process it. Our babies senses open the world to them and help to expand the scope of their understanding. When our babies see, they learn to distinguish between size, shape, colors and movement. They hear sounds, with their volume, pitch and tone. They taste and smell, and grasp and feel texture, temperature, weight.

Gross motor development involves the group of large muscles that control the head, shoulders, arms, back, abdomen and feet.

Fine motor development involves development of control over the group of small muscles – in the palms of our hands and fingers, and surrounding our mouths and eyes — that enable us to carry out specific, very controlled movements such as grasping and manipulating objects, coordinating our eye and hand movements ( hand-eye coordination), speaking and moving our eyes.

Language and Communication.  Receptive verbal skills precede the ability to speak, and this is a far better indication of your baby’s developing language skills than her verbal repertoire in the first months of life.

Cognition.  Babies are born with a variety of cognitive skills that help them acclimate to their new reality outside the womb. They are constantly learning, and each and every day their cognitive skills grow and develop.

Object Permanence- During the first few months of a newborn’s life, the entire world as she knows it is what is before her eyes. As soon as something disappears out of her eyesight – it’s as if it never existed. Gradually the world opens up to encompass what is outside the range of her senses, and she begins to think and imagine people and objects that she doesn’t see in front of her. This is object permanence – the ability to understand that objects still exist after they are no longer in sight. Object permanence is an important element in a baby’s intellectual and emotional development. As soon as a baby is able to conjure up an image of a person or object in her mind, she is also capable of cognitive thought: remembering, imagining

Emotional intelligence, or EQ, encompasses all the social and emotional skills that make up our character.

It is important to when choosing developmental toys to look at the recommended age since babies develop certain skill sets at certain times during their first year.  If the toy is too young, your baby will become bored.  If the the toy is too sophisticated, your baby will become frustrated.

It is also important that when choosing developmental toys for your baby that they are safe, earth-friendly, earth friendly developmental toys that meet or exceed American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the European EN-71 (CE) standard, which means that there are no sharp edges, no small parts, flammability is tested, NO LEAD or lead paint, NO heavy metals or toxic elements.

Would you be surprised to know that 50 million disposable diapers enter the landfill every day, where they sit for up to 500 years!! You’d be amazed how much baby poop from disposable diapers ends up in the landfill where the potential health risk and ground water contamination from viruses and bacteria in feces are real threats.

Flushable Diapers inserts break down and sends everything to the wastewater treatment facility where it can be treated safely with the rest of our human waste and where valuable nutrients can be recovered.

Because Earth Friendly Diapers are flushable, they don’t have to end up in a landfill. They go down the toilet. That means no over-flowing garbage cans and no smelly diaper pail full of poopy diapers in your baby’s room.

If flushing is not your thing, you can do home composting, which many people are finding a great way of recycling their garden and green waste at home, you can add the urine soiled (the wet ones) flushables into the mix. In 50-150 days they’ll completely decompose becoming a welcome addition to your garden. Now that’s a sustainable diaper system. NOTE: NEVER COMPOST THE POOPY ONES! THEY MUST BE FLUSHED!!!

Diaper Rash is mainly caused by skin wetness and allergic reactions. Urinary wetness raises the skin pH and make the skin sensitive to additives. This intensifies with stool enzymes and other irritants that inflame the skin. By using Earth Friendly or Chlorine Free Diapers this lessens the irritants on your babies skin to reduce Diaper Rash.

Diapers that are plastic free are breathable and reduce wetness. Plastic holds in the wetness. Diapers that do not contain any chlorine, perfumes, inks or dyes will also reduce allergic reactions, which can be another cause of diaper rash.

There are many new “earth friendly diapers” that are out there on the market today.