Want to think outside of the plastic tray?  Take a look at these beautifully crafted high chairs that will grow right along with your baby.   For inspiration, most of these pieces come from Scandinavian companies that consider comfort, flexibility, and function.  This month we’re examining heirloom green products that will last for generations, and these high chairs have both the style and durability to easily fit in that category.

The Svan Convertible High Chair, crafted from Birchwood, will last your child from six months until adulthood.  It’s light, stable, and secure.  Your child can sit with the wooden tray or just pull up to the table with the other adults.  It doesn’t fold, but it is compact, light, and looks like real furniture instead of baby gear.

Designed with growth in mind, The Stokke Tripp Trapp Highchair is fully adjustable, and looks more like a child’s chair than a high chair.  It doesn’t have a tray, but it’s simple design allows for the child to pull up to the table and eat just like the grown ups.  The bottom step allows for older babies and toddlers to climb into their chairs themselves while babies can be strapped in with the harness.

The simply designed Keekaroo is very similar to the Stokke in design, but costs quite a bit less.  Although the base model doesn’t include a tray, you can order one separately.  The sturdy frame can accommodate up to 250 pounds, making it possible to use through the teenage years.

If you’re considering the long term function of all that baby gear, these chairs cost about as much or a bit more than a kitchen chair and will provide far more flexibility and resale value.  Do you have a favorite adjustable high chair that we failed to mention?  Do you own one of these?  Have you avoided high chairs altogether? If you’re looking for a wider range of product recommendations, check out our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide for an index of green products at every price point—plus tips on how to get the best deals on high quality used baby gear.

Although I adore secondhand gear, I know that buying heirloom items is a gloriously green option too. Generations of babies can use products that emphasize flexibility, great design, and craftsmanship.  This month stay tuned for updates on green splurge products in every category. What are the most amazing high chairs, car seats, bike carriers, slings, strollers, and other items that are worth the investment?

I’ll be scouring the internet for products that last, not just for multiple children but for many years of your child’s life. After using them for all your children, they should retain a strong resale value. Although I will be especially focusing on high end gear, you can refer to the extensive list of green products in our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide for recommendations that fit with varying budgets.

What if you can’t even imagine spending a few hundred bucks on a single item but are picky about having the very best for baby? The key is to search resale shops and online sites for gently used versions our recommended products. You’ll get them for 50-90% off by buying secondhand and be able to resell them for about the same price that you bought them.

Still, if you want to splurge on baby, or have family members who are itching to shell out some dough for your little one, stay tuned for our reviews in upcoming posts!

On Thursday I re-ran my vintage post about a car-free living with a baby. So what’s life like over two years later?

I never thought I’d be one of those parents wheeling a four-year-old around in a stroller. In fact, I scoffed at parents who didn’t make their kids walk, instead opting to push them all over town like little princes and princesses. Why, I practically joined the track team by the age of two! My nephews escorted my father for three-mile hikes when they were still in diapers!

Fast forward to 2010. My daughter is four and a half and can’t walk more than half a block at a snail’s pace before stopping dead in her tracks and begging to be carried. I’ve tried leaving the stroller behind on errands, only to resort to carrying her thirty-pound body hither and yon. She simply won’t walk—she’ll stand in place, sit on the sidewalk, and moan and groan.

For now, I am going to continue using the stroller. I really couldn’t get anything done without it. (As a side note, the fact that I’ve walked this stroller at least a mile a day for the last 4.5 years is a great endorsement for the Maclaren Triumph!) If I had a car, it might be different, but until Audrey can walk at least two miles without complaint, I guess I’ll have to resign myself to being one of “those” parents. I’m just hoping I don’t have to wheel her to into kindergarten next year. . . .

Do any of you have “advanced stroller riders”? Or do you have any tips for making a reluctant walker get moving?

In a recent post many readers commented that their biggest shock with cloth diapers was the bulkiness. Since almost all baby clothes are designed for disposable clad bottoms, it can be sad to see some new baby garments go unused because of baby’s huge diaper bum.

Still, if you keep these tips in mind while buying those adorable little ensembles, your baby can pull off the bulky diaper bottom without a hitch!

1. For girls: Skirts and dresses are tremendously forgiving when it comes to sizable diapers. In the winter, you can use Babylegs instead of tights and keep those dresses on, but if she needs more warmth, or freedom to crawl, buy pants in sizes six months bigger than her age. Then roll up the pant legs and enjoy!  Note from Rebecca: For her skinny daughter, Audrey, pants were always too short, even with the huge diaper! In fact, Audrey has not been able to wear pants for 2 years, since she potty trained. She fits in size 24 month pants, but then they’d go up to her knees….  Still, for “thicker” babies, like my daughter, Jovi, buying bigger and rolling up the bottoms works just great.

2. For boys: Overalls handily accommodate cloth diaper bulk. Buy them in bigger sizes and they’ll also be able to be rolled up. With my son, we bought larger sizes from the time that he reached about one year of age. Then a year later, when he was potty trained and wearing just underwear, he still fit in the same clothes! It actually saved us money to have used cloth because we were able to stretch his wardrobe out for a full year.

3. For everyone: Buy larger onesies or footie pajamas.  Or skip the onesies and just buy shirts without the snaps at the crotch so that you don’t have to worry about whether they’ll fit baby’s bottom half.  You can also buy extenders to make the onesies fit over bulky diapers.

Other ideas? Have you had trouble with your child’s diaper clad bum in regular sized clothing? What were your solutions?

Perhaps your tot delicately handles a spoon and carefully feeds herself without incident.  More likely, she flings food upon herself, onlookers, and any furniture in the surrounding area.

Between the feedings, the occasional blowouts, and playtime, stains can creep into clothing on a daily basis.  Often in the hectic pace of laundry, those garments get washed and dried, setting the stains and ruining the clothes.  Ugh! The angst of seeing that large brown blotch on your baby’s favorite sundress or the huge grass stains on his beloved khaki shorts.

So how can you prevent such a fate from befalling your baby’s wardrobe?  Line dry her clothing!  It will also prevent shrinking, save you money on utilities, and lower your carbon footprint.

In addition, be sure to keep a stain pre-treater right next to the laundry basket.  There are wonderful green options such as Bi-O-Kleen’s Bac-Out, a Stain and Odor Eliminator—which also happens to be great as a cleaning booster for laundering diapers.  Ecover Stain Remover is an easy option as is Nature’s Miracle Stain Remover.

Of course, there are several natural ways to get stains out of clothes once they seem to be set in.  Stay tuned for some great homemade remedies in the next post!

It’s official.  We’re done procreating around here.  Sad, but also relieved to be moving into a more sleep-filled future, we rounded up the baby gear (which was all handed down to us or purchased used) and gave it to a pregnant friend.

And here’s the bonus—my friend had read our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, and heeded its wisdom completely!  She and her husband have made it known that they’re open to all used gear and have been loaded up with hand me downs from family and friends.

Their nursery is almost complete and the only thing they have bought thus far is the paint.  The crib, the dresser, cloth diapers, changing table, car seat, clothes and much more have all been given to them.  When they shared what they read in the book about buying used instead of spending thousands on baby’s first year alone, they became heroes in their social circles.  Baby rearing families all proclaimed that they wished they would have bought less paraphernalia and acquired more of it used.

Yahoo!  I do wish all newly pregnant families could read The Eco-nomical Baby Guide just to consider it before the baby buying pressure reaches its full potential.  We gave a book to a friend when she was five months pregnant.  She thanked us profusely a week later, but also bemoaned the fact that she had bought so much already and now regrets it.  No worries!  I just hope she kept the receipts!

How are we spending all that baby money we saved now?  I’m staying home this year with our kids, we’re sending our son to preschool, and we’re going on trips to build relationships with family.  That’s so much more valuable to us than piles of new plastic stuff! (And far more earth friendly).  How are you using the money you’ve saved on baby gear?  How are you helping to get the world out to pregnant friends about buying less, buying used, and buying green?

Many of you are schlepping your babes around this summer in nearly unbearable heat and humidity.  I am humbled and amazed by your braveness!  During our trip to Maryland, we all sort of stumbled from one ice cream stand to the next, swimming through the thick air in between.  I marveled at the women who were wearing babies and voluntarily walking outside during the day.

Most of the parks and sidewalks were totally empty as desperate herds of people flocked to the vast sanctuary of air conditioning called “the mall.”  I imagine it would be tough just using your Maya Wrap or an Ergo Carrier indoors all summer, but I bet some of you brave families manage to wear baby despite the heat.

Do high temperatures get in the way of baby wearing for you in the summer?  Are you lucky enough to live in Oregon or Alaska?  (I shall never again complain about the weather here after visiting the East Coast in late July!)  Have you found any cooler baby wearing devices?  Or do you just settle baby into the stroller?

Of course, in many hot climates in Asia, Latin America and Africa, baby wearing has been the rage for hundreds of years, so perhaps we should just buck up and strap baby onto our backs!

I did!  Thankfully Rebecca had a newborn when I was in the later stages of my pregnancy.  She guided me through the very confusing world of cloth diapers and even took me to a consignment store to help me buy the gear.

Recently I met a mom in Maryland who lamented that she would have used cloth, but she just didn’t know a single soul who had ever tried.  Were you in that boat?  Did you try them anyway?  Are you worried about trying them?  We’d love to be your guide if you’re hesitant to jump in.  Please feel free to comment or even email us if you have cloth diapering questions.  Or read our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down-to-Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet for tips, diagrams and definitions!

I’m happy to report that our 13 month old is going strong with infant potty training!  To be clear, she still wears cloth diapers and our only focus is getting her to poop on the potty.  She started pooping on the potty at around seven months and her progress is continuing.  It means fewer poopy diapers to wash and strong steps toward actual potty training when she’s ready.  We even toted our little potty seat to Maryland with us on our family vacation and she used it many times while at her grandparents’ house.

During the trip, she started using the sign for “poop” which was even more exciting.  While we were driving home after nearly twelve hours of travel, she did the sign in the back seat along with the sign for help.  We were so exhausted and shocked that she would be able to tell us, that we didn’t stop.  When we did arrive home, she had pooped in her diaper and we felt horrid that we didn’t listen to her.

That’s the down side of this infant potty training business.  Yesterday we were on our way to blueberry picking when she needed to poop so we trooped back home, only to find she wasn’t ready.  She then filled her pants at the blueberry patch.  We have just the one potty seat so I don’t plan on toting it with us everywhere, especially when she isn’t always comfortable pooping in public restrooms.  Still, every chance that we make it to the toilet is one less poopy diaper to deal with!

I only share these stories because even though I used cloth diapers with my first child, it didn’t even occur to me to begin potty training until right around 2 years old.  He was trained by 27 months, but if I would have started sooner, I think it would have gone even faster.  In many other parts of the world, people don’t even use diapers and potty train their children very, very early.  If you have a potty seat and time on your hands, why not give it a try?

Does baby’s nursery smell like a port-a-poddy? Do you hold your breath every time you flip open that diaper pail?  Fear not!

In our new book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, Rebecca and I recommend the “slacker” method of cloth diaper laundering.  It doesn’t involve intensive prewashing or excessive toilet dunking, and it should keep your nursery smelling fresher than it would with disposables.  (Remember that with cloth the feces is properly disposed of in the toilet rather than smelling up your home.)

So, what happens if your cloth diapers seem to give off a distasteful odor of fermented waste?  Try these handy tips.

1. Baste them with Bac Out.  Every so often, squirt a dose into the diaper pail.  It has a lovely lime scent and it’s live enzyme cultures go to work on odor right away.  You can also use it for stains and odors on any of your other laundry.

1. Blast them with Baking Soda. This odor fighting technique is far less expensive than Bac Out and will also work with the detergent when it comes time to dump diapers into the wash.

1. Beware of Build Up.  If your diapers smell like dirty socks even when your baby just wets them, they are probably coated in oils and fragrances from your detergent.  This prevents them from absorbing as well and makes them particularly smelly.  Diapers made of polyester are especially prone to build up.  To strip them, wash them for one to two loads in hot water (no detergent) and see if it makes a difference.  Also remember that your regular loads of diapers should be washed with half the normal amount of detergent you’d use on a load of clothes.  Check out products like Charlie’s Soap Laundry Powder or Biokleen Laundry Detergent to see if a different soap will help.)

1. Fill it with a filter. Several companies make charcoal filters for compost bins that also work well for diaper pails.  If you’ve tried everything else, it’s worth a few dollars to check out this option.

Any other ideas?  Are you also struggling with smells this summer?