Raising a 'Green Baby' means considering your options and making changes where you can to reduce the environmental footprint of your baby. Make it a personal goal to use one less diaper today by discovering some new ideas and making a few changes...

Did you know, that in North America alone, the diaper industry is worth an estimated 7 BILLION dollars a year? That's a lot of diaper changing, that's a lot of manufacturing, packaging, transportation, advertising, storage and disposal - and that's a lot of waste!

3 Ways to Raise A Green Baby When Considering Your Diaper Options:

1. Use Some Modern Cloth Diapers.

They actually only take an estimated 5 minutes more to use each day, once you factor in the travel, standing in queues, racing out late at night, transportation, storage, clean up, associated washing and then time to wrap and dispose of the disposables. Golly! 5 minutes to invest for a greener future? Start with just one green diaper. Feel good each time your baby wears it, then wash it and reuse it again!

2. Favor ECO Disposables That Can Be Composted or Flushed.

These environmentally friendly options can be composted, worm farmed away or simply buried to disappear in a couple of months. The urea and other waste matter helps condition the soil (Apparently even IMPROVING the rate of bio-degrading!) ECO disposables give you great eco-karma as well - I feel great when I use them!

3. Begin to Dabble in Baby Pottying.

Elimination Communication is something you start at home. You ease into the practice part time with your baby leading the way, using diapers as full-time backup at first. You offer a potty break at diaper changes, particularly if your baby has a dry diaper when you happen to check it, and then, Hooray! You 'catch' your first wee, start skipping the odd diaper, and begin doing your little bit for the environment your baby will grow up to live in help protect in the future. You can learn to use diapers more casually by developing your confidence in practicing EC, at Part Time Diaper Free.

Even a generation ago, the majority of toddlers were beginning to move out of diapers at eighteen months. Now, the majority of children don't even begin this process until they are nearly three. Children are now in diapers longer than ever before in history in the 'developed' countries, while children in the rest of the world are largely out of diapers around their first birthdays, and using them in a casual way, rather than 24 hours a day!

With these 3 simple ideas your infant can be raised to be a green baby, starting life with a smaller carbon footprint. Whether you start with a few modern cloth diapers, use some compostable diapers or begin practicing some elimination communication, you are making a difference and setting an eco-friendly example to your friends and family.

Pop over to Charndra's website on Infant Potty Training, Part Time EC Join to access a popular and free guided tour on elimination communication (EC) to ease into Baby Pottying with Confidence! Give EC a go! I's good for your budget, your baby, your bond and the Earth...

 

You'll Be Happy to Discover That Simple Changes Will Make a Big Difference in the Carbon Footprint of Your Baby.

These 5 tips will help you to reduce the 'Eco footprint' of your baby.

By buying in bulk, purchasing some eco nappies, emptying your disposables into the compost, switching to using some washable nappies and practicing some baby pottying or infant potty training you can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of your baby. Disposable nappies are quite convenient, but they come at a cost - ecologically and financially. The good news is that you can help save the planet as you save money on this daily cost of having a baby or young toddler.

These 5 Tips Will Help You to Reduce the Ecological Impact of Using Disposable, One Use Nappies:

1. Precycle by Buying Your Disposable Nappies in Bulk
Buying in bulk is called "Precycling" as you are preventing waste coming into the home and then needing to be managed. You'll reduce packaging waste, transport costs and financial costs.

2. Purchase A Packet of Eco Disposable Nappies
Whichever type, they have a lower ecological impact. You can get compostable nappies and ones that you can flush, called hybrids that may be part washable and part disposable. You can reduce waste in landfill and help your garden by burying your eco nappies or flushing special types down the toilet.

3. Empty Disposable Nappies Into the Compost to Reduce Waste Bulk in the Bin and Landfill.
By slicing open the top of a disposable with scissors and shaking the wet gel contents into your compost or a garden hole, you can reduce the volume of waste in your bin each week as you provide the garden with water-retaining crystals and other bio-degradable products. It takes a few seconds, and their bulk is reduced by heaps. 50% of household waste is nappies in a house with ONE child in full-time disposables. By emptying them, that volume and stinky mass will be greatly reduced.

4. Get A 1 Day Supply of Washable, Modern Cloth Nappies for Your Baby to Wear.
With just 7 modern cloth nappies you'll prevent waste each time they are used. Think of them as an item of clothing in the wardrobe of your baby and buy one at a time. Modern Cloth Nappies are washed and re-used, saving you money as well. Use them all on one day of the week, or use one cloth nappy each day; your eco karma will rise each time your baby wears a washable nappy.

5. Begin to Practice Elimination Communication (EC) So Your Baby Wears Nappies Casually
When your baby wears nappies part time, overall less nappies are used, them tossed or washed. This will reduce the environmental impact of any sort of nappy use. Baby Pottying is how baby hygiene was managed before disposable nappies made us lose these instinctive and cultural ways of helping our babies learn toilet skills gradually. Discover how to get started with infant potty training or EC at Part Time Nappy Free.com.au

With these 5 tips you will significantly reduce the environmental impact of your baby. Best of all, you can do one at a time as you gradually reduce your eco footprint. One baby step at a time really adds up when lots of people are doing it. Keep the ideas in mind at the next nappy change - offer your baby a potty break, empty out that disposable you bought in bulk and then reach for a cloth nappy - the Earth will thank you and you'll set a wonderful example of sustainability for your family and friends.

Pop over to Charndra's website on part time Baby Pottying, either http://www.PartTimeDiaperFree.com or http://www.PartTimeNappyFree.com.au - you can join to receive a free e-course introducing you to the Secrets of EC Confidence. Over 40 Potty Songs, plenty of tips, resources and helpful ideas to make your journey easing into EC very smooth indeed.

Baby Wearing Will Help You Build Your Elimination Communication (EC) Confidence.

Combining some "EC" skills into your baby wearing will have your baby using fewer nappies, and that means fewer nappies for you to change! In this article, I'll talk about 5 steps you can follow to begin developing this awareness with your baby during your 'slinging' time. Your baby can be 'part time nappy free' when in a sling.

Imagine if every time you picked up your baby you whipped off their nappy - as you just KNEW your baby would not need to use it...

Wearing your baby really helps you to be in tune with the needs your baby. It turns up the volume on your 'baby radar' and kicks into action your motherly (and fatherly) intuition. You simply learn, and then begin to 'know' when your baby needs to go to the toilet. You can read their body language more easily.

Following these 5 tips will help you say 'Goodbye' to pooey nappy changing...

1. Choose a carrier that has good 'poppability' - which means you have a quick system of popping baby out and back in for a wee break.

2. Practise at home! When your baby has a sleep in the sling pop them out for a 'timing wee' when they wake up.

3. When learning signs your baby is likely to need to go, always put them in the carrier AFTER they have just done a wee - this way you know they are more likely to be relaxed and feel comfortable. Plus, you will have a space of time of their 'normal' behaviour before the need to wee changes their behaviour.

4. At first, use a cloth nappy on the baby to protect the carrier, perhaps loosely on the baby so you can remove it swiftly for a pee-op, or sitting under them.

5. Sudden changes in the behaviour of your baby that may indicate a need to go. Be aware. Based on your feel of their patterns and timing, pull them out and offer a wee.

Repeat and practice these steps. Your confidence and experience will grow...

There is a simple equation with baby wearing and practicing EC:

The more you hold your baby, the less you will need to use nappies!

Baby wearing is a key aid to developing your nappy-free confidence. Before long, wearing a baby simply means nappy-free time, as it is SO much easier to respond, and nappies just get in the way.

EC is something you ease into gradually.

If it appeals to you, one day soon you may pop your baby in the sling at home without a nappy on, and not even realise it until later. That is the paradigm shift of baby-wearing and EC - nappies become a tool, not a necessity.

Practicing EC Has a Vast Potential to Reduce Your Environmental Impact On a Daily Basis.

Part time elimination communication (EC) simply reduces all aspects of nappy use while enhancing your observation skills and awareness of the basic physical needs of your baby. This understanding soon expands to other areas of your relationship.

Each day you can start afresh with your baby, striving to skip at least one nappy each day. A basic level of consistency will help your baby stay aware of their body and familiar with using a potty so that toilet training is easier.

Let's look at three ways practicing part time baby pottying will reduce the ecological footprint of your baby:

1. Reduce Your Use of Throw Away Nappies
- You'll inevitably use less disposables, even with one potty break each day. Imagine you put a fresh nappy on your baby before a nap. They wake up later still dry (Commonly the need to wee is what makes babies rouse from a deeper sleep). You pop them on their baby potty, sing a Potty Song and catch a wee! You then can put their warm and dry nappy back on, effectively 'saving' a nappy...

2. Reduce Your Washing Load of Modern Cloth Nappies.
- Some days your baby will wear the usual number of nappies. Other days hardly any. Overall this means fewer nappies will need to be dry pailed, washed and ideally line dried. Your nappies will last even longer, maximising their re-sale value.

3. Reduce Your Need for Other Disposable Products
- Typically families spend $300-$400 on throwaway wipes, then more on plastic nappy bags, more again on throwaway training pants and nappy rash barrier creams. By practicing EC, you will gradually reduce your need for these little financial drains! You'll discover the reusable versions, too, saving even more money, as you can make them from recycled fabrics.

Striving to help your baby wear one less nappy each day is a simple goal to reach for as you practice elimination communication. One less nappy daily means over 1000 fewer nappies used over 3 years, though you will probably save more than that! At the same time, you have a new fun activity to 'play' with your baby.

By dabbling in Elimination Communication there are many ways you can gradually reduce the eco footprint of your baby.

Practicing EC offers you a way to focus those efforts on communicating with your baby, setting a more ecologically sustainable example of flexible nappy choices for the future to friends and family. Discover more about this ancient practice at Part Time Nappy Free

One less nappy a day. It seems a small effort, but from small things big things grow. Start with one, see how many you can save! Give Baby Pottying a go - it's a great way to connect with your baby each day.