Hi all,

Since I am pregnant I am thinking about things like baby registries... I really want to get all natural/organic/chemical free baby clothes, bedding and furniture. I've found a few sites online so far, but so much of that stuff is EXPENSIVE!! I could not ask friends and relatives to spend 20-30 dollars on ONE baby shirt or 100 bucks on one organic crib sheet. There must be an online site out there that sells this stuff for much cheaper. Or is it really that expensive to manufacture organic clothing? If so, I'm about to learn how to sew! Where could I get chemical free cloth from?

I'm not all about getting gifts or telling people what to get me, but no matter what I do my family is the type to shower with gifts, and none of them are into this all natural stuff. I thought a registry with an all natural store would be best so at least I could get some use out of what they offered. Then if they didn't want to buy off my registry, they might at least have the idea to buy something natural from somewhere else. Does anyone have any advice on this matter? Saying I don't want a shower or gifts would insult my family.

this is tricky, i have never been to a baby shower where the mom hasn't been overloaded with all kinds of stupid baby crap no matter what she's requested. it's tough.

you can try to register at certain stores and ask people to only get the stuff on your list as you have allergies, sensitivities, space constraints or whatever. you can ask that people include gift receipts so you can exhange for size (so you can just return things really). you can ask for a cash donation towards a "baby fund" or college fund.

it seems like such a waste if people are going to load you up with stuff it might as well be stuff that you're actually going to use but be prepared, people just can't seem to resist a bunch of frilly impossible baby clothes, synthetic blankets and millions of stuffed animals. and loads of johnson and johnson's baby products (YUCK!). just take it all as love offerings and donate it to a second hand store later on.

i have found that there are very few things i actually needed for the babies. don't believe the hype, you can get away with nearly nothing at all! just a sling or other carrier, a car seat is a must, something to diaper the baby with (include a dry pail if you are using cloth), some sleepers (do yourself a favour and don't try dressing baby in anything else until he or she starts crawling, it's all a big giant pain in the butt to get on and off) and a couple other things.

good luck!

Haha..ditto on the johnson and johnson and frilly stuff...I think one of my saving graces will be that we are not going to find out the sex of the baby until he/she is born. So that minimizes the frilly girl stuff....hmm...if only we could have registries for birthdays in the future. Just kidding. I am grateful for any gift, but when it comes to a baby or child you know the in-laws are gonna ask "How come Sally never wears that gorgeous dress we bought her?" I guess having the child wear it once won't do permanent damage

i take a picture to send them and then sell it at the consignment shop with the tags still on the back. i'm not kidding. i loathe those fussy clothes, after a few times trying to get them on and off they become way less cute to me

You could ask for baby stuff from the local co-op grocery, they have nice chemical free soaps and diaper lotions and such. Pricey, but maybe in the gift-giving range. Also, just for yourself maybe you could find some baby stuff from an antique store...that way it would be recycled and probably chemical free. If you have antique shops where you are, in a town near me there are tons of them with lots of neat baby stuff.

be careful to test for lead paint on any antiques! careful with old toys too (and new ones actually), soft rubber is often full of phylates which are very bad for baby and many plastic toys have lead based paint, it's not regulated very well in the countries where so much stuff is made.

Oh right, I meant for antique baby clothes but good point about the lead. Yikes!

[I really want to get all natural/organic/chemical free baby clothes, bedding and furniture. I've found a few sites online so far, but so much of that stuff is EXPENSIVE!!]

Yeah, it's sickening, seems to me just a marketing ploy to salve the guilt of the high income classes. Better to get used stuff than to spend megabucks on new "eco-friendly" stuff. I think there is something twisted when we are persuaded to feel good about paying a higher price for buying "stuff."

I'd just get regular cotton and wash the beejeezus out of it with a very mild fragrance-free cleanser before using. The furniture, you can get slightly used.

If you're trying to not insult family who does the traditional stuff, go ahead and register at a traditional store, then return everything and sell the gift card the return is put on. That way you can go and buy the things you want.

Another idea, if you have some internet-savvy folks, is to use myregistry.com or thethingsiwant.com and add stuff from natural internet sites. There's a ton of advice to be had on mothering.com/discuss.