Baby Products

At its core, the green baby-care market merges two larger social and parental concerns: the baby's health and ecological health. These two responsibilities coalesce in a shift from consuming conventional infant and toddler commodities to either more sustainably produced—but still purchased—alternatives, or to homemade equivalents. This phenomenon results in part from a more holistic conception of the environment as not simply the backdrop of life but intricately constitutive of life itself, such that pesticides sprayed on cotton fields not only pollute nearby waterways but also enter into the cotton material itself, and into all its subsequent permutations as pajamas, bibs, and receiving blankets. Recognition by consumers of the consequences of their actions in both the purchasing of and the waste created by baby products, and concerns about product toxicity in the context of the construction of notions of infant care and vulnerability in media discourse and consumer culture, have also influenced the growth of green baby products.

Hence, the recent proliferation of expressly sustainable infant- and children-specific products has formed part of an ecobaby boom. One of the first elements of this new market has been organic cotton baby clothing, bedding, and blankets, advertised alternately as green, natural, low-impact, and safe. Such certified organic cotton fleeces, booties, and sheets also usually boast of natural colors made from nontoxic dyes.

Shortly thereafter, biodegradable diapers appeared on natural food shelves, as did non-toxic baby wipes. The green beauty industry has quickly embraced maternity and infant clothing, with an expanding selection of organic, herbal and/or paraben-free massage oils, stretchmark creams, diaper rash powders, and baby shampoos made without sodium laureth sulfates. Meanwhile, the organic food industry now offers an array of chemical-free, nongenetically modified baby food products and formulas, though new mother magazines and Websites are including more and more recipes for homemade baby food. Some green-minded companies also concentrate on ensuring recycled or recyclable packaging of such products to avoid excessive energy and resource consumption and waste.

Infant mattresses have become another area for green improvements. Conventional baby bedding, made from polyurethane foam, is made by reacting chemicals known as isocyanates and polyols with other chemicals that act as stabilizers, catalysts, surfactants, fire retardants, colorants, stain repellants, and blowing agents, each of which have hazardous ecological and health consequences, particularly for infant immune systems. Baby [Page 24]mattresses made of organic cotton, flax, wool, and even horsehair filling have emerged as alternatives to nonhypoallergenic foam beds, which trap dust as well as moisture, and thus mildew and mold, creating breeding grounds for dust mites and other bugs.

As asthma and allergy cases steadily rise in children, all aspects of the baby's home environment have been reviewed through the green lens. Many parents wanting to engage in green discourses are avoiding products with toxins, choosing ecofriendly furniture, clothing, home decorations, cleaning supplies, bedding, and bathing products. Others opt to purchase and reuse second-hand commodities as a way to reduce their consumption of manufactured goods.

Recent scientific evidence has linked bisphenol A (BPA)—a chemical used in plastic bottles, as well as in canned food and beverage linings (including baby food jar lacquers)—to serious and long-term health problems. Accordingly, the baby bottle industry has since opted to eliminate BPA from its products, though some states have already instigated bans on the sale, manufacture, or distribution of infant formula and baby food in BPA-laced containers. The U.S. Congress has also begun to impose stricter standards on phthalates—a chemical substance found in many conventional toys—in children's products.

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