The Hygeia Enjoye Professional-Grade Breastpump was invented with working moms and the environment in mind. I have to say that I would have loved to have one of these incredible machines, and one of you will be getting one for free very soon!

So just why is Hygeia EnJoye so unique? It actually has a device that records your child’s cry or cooing so that you can play it back while pumping to help you with let down.  I personally had to sprint into our school’s filing room and try hard to envision my baby’s faces so that I could produce milk in the allotted fifteen minutes I had to pump.  Hearing their voices would have been a huge help!

The Hygeia EnJoye works as a double or single pump, comes with a battery and electrical cord, and is intended for long-term and frequent pumping.  Plus, these pumps are designed not to end up in a landfill anytime soon. They can be reused when each new mom buys new tubing for the pump or sent back to the company to be refitted for another mom.  (And all the components that come in contact with breast milk are BPA/DEHP Free)

At just eight pounds, the Hygeia EnJoye pumps are far smaller and more portable than the giant unit I toted around for a full year. And one of you will win a pump (valued at well over $200!) this week!

Four Ways to Enter the Hygeia EnJoye Professional-Grade Breastpump Giveaway:

1. Simply post a comment

2. Like us on Facebook (then tell us you did it in the comments)

3. Visit Hygeia’s Website and comment on what you learned.

4. Spread the news about the giveaway! Email someone, post it on Facebook, tweet it, blog it, or send someone a message about it via carrier pigeon. (And again, don’t forget to tell us all about it in the comments!)

This contest ends on Friday May 6th and is only open to U.S. Residents.

Great luck!

Walking through the baby aisle in through any big box store, you’d think tots require blinking plastic playthings for constant entertainment.  As we point out in The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, parents need far less than they’re pressured to buy in those months leading up to baby’s arrival.  Plus, everyone knows the story of the child who receives a brand new gift only to end up playing with the ribbon and cardboard box.

So what do you have around the house that might fascinate your baby and toddler?

Cereal boxes, egg cartons, and toilet paper tubes. Young children bat them around and sit on them while older kids can use them to construct castles, caterpillars and many other three dimensional art projects.

Paper sacks and measuring cups. I love seeing how many hours a six-month-old can spend observing a paper bag.  It crinkles, it has an inside and outside, and it collapses.  What a fantastic device!  My children spent many hours nesting measuring cups and clanking them together.  Plus, the fact that these are obviously real adult objects that parents use regularly makes them extra appealing to tots.

Real pots and pans, wooden spoons, and grains or pasta. Sit your child at the table with a bowl of dry noodles or rice, several measuring spoons, and various bowls and cups.  They’ll be entranced by their cooking experiments and you may just get time to prepare a meal.

Keys were another hot item that parents listed when we solicited info for the The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, but then they aren’t always safe.  What are the favorite non-toys that your baby loves to play with at home?  Is your child chewing on Tupperware at this very moment?

After five years of constant use, my Maclaren Triumph is looking a little worse for the wear. I’ve hosed it off a few times, but it seems like I’d have better luck pushing it through a car wash—it is that grimy. Any stroller cleaning tips?

As frugal souls, we love that you can get our book for free at your local library. It’s even more exciting when the price of The Eco-nomical Baby Guide randomly falls to below eight bucks on Amazon! You can now score a copy for just $7.98, which is sixty percent off the original price of $19.99.  Considering that our little gem can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars, it’s worth the meager investment in a green baby guide that’s infused with humor and humility.  These price dips usually last just a few days so you might want to pick up a few for gifts while the sale lasts. Good luck!

For many expectant families the new The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ban on the manufacture of drop side cribs won’t be an issue. It’s easy to pick out a non-drop side crib and there are several eco-friendly option including the DaVinci Kalani Convertible Baby Crib or the DaVinci Richmond 4-in-1 Crib each of which go for just under $250.

Still, what about those of us who bought used cribs, or are still using drop side cribs that we bought for our first child? In The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, we suggest that families consider buying a used crib if it’s in excellent condition. Is that advice suddenly outdated? Should we all turn our cribs into sweet pea trellises and invest in another piece of furniture? What about cribs that we’re done using? Are they safe enough to be passed on to another family?

Happily, families can now get a free crib immobilizer kit that will make any drop side crib into a safe, stationary sleeping space for baby. Most manufacturers offer them at no charge, but if your company is not listed on the previous link you can also buy the crib immobilizer hardware for about ten bucks online and install it in under an hour. Even though we never bought this device, early on I simply stopped using the drop side option for our crib. The intensity of sleep deprivation made my sad memory even worse than ever and I was worried that I’d forget to put the side back up while stumbling out of my baby’s room after a late night feeding.

I will be passing our used Childcraft drop-side model on and sharing the information about a crib immobilizer kit with the next family to use our sturdy baby bed. It hardly seems worthwhile for every family in America to trash their cribs and buy new ones, but I do want parents to feel safe about their baby cribs.

What’s your take on drop side crib recycling or reusing? Do you know of any other resources for green-minded families?

During all nine months of my first pregnancy, our home was littered with books instructing me on how to gracefully cruise into motherhood.  Many of them simply freaked me out while others seemed utterly unrealistic.

None urged me to trust myself, buy less stuff, use cloth diapers and opt for used gear–all of which we emphasize in our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide.  In fact, back in 2006 I could not find a single book on green pregnancy or parenting!  That was part of the reason Rebecca and I were so inspired to write The Eco-nomical Baby Guide.  During the months that we wrote and re-wrote the text, green baby books started to pop onto the market, but none of them had the frugal emphasis that was essential to our eco-friendly message.  We were also surprised to see that none of the green baby guides had an in-depth section about cloth diaper usage and we were careful to dedicate two detailed chapters to cloth diapering, although we could have filled an entire book with our cloth diaper wisdom.  (If you don’t already know, we are rather ardent cloth diaper fans who strike up conversations with total strangers about Fuzzibunz and flushable diaper liners.)

The books I did enjoy were Baby Bargains (which provides a wide range product information and does encourage buying secondhand gear) and Momma Zen, a book which kindly allows you to forgive your imperfection in those first challenging months of new parenting.  I haven’t read Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, but it has gotten rave reviews from friends.

What are the books you would recommend to pregnant women?

When my son still hadn’t potty trained through the night at age four, I wrote a post about trying to keep him dry through the night. (Most of which totally didn’t work at the time.) Many readers commented that bladder control for boys doesn’t developmentally happen until they’re older—possibly around age six.

Giving up altogether seemed rather strange to me. My post on The History of Potty Training in America, shared that potty training ages in this country have gone up across the board—partly because of the ease of disposables. If everyone waits to even attempt night training until their children are older, there are years of waste (and expense) that could be avoided with some effort.

The only two choices for parents certainly aren’t the following:
A. Torture your child with extreme night training regimens.
B. Just wait. It will happen eventually. In the meantime, buy lots of pull-ups.

In our case, the successful solution was to cut off beverages at 5:30pm and give him a chocolate treat each morning. It’s successful about 95% of the time and my four and a half-year-old son feels really excited to wear underwear to bed.

I’m not saying that all kids can night train at five (or sooner), but it seems worth knowing that some of our efforts may help kids get there a bit earlier.

Have you had success or struggle with night training? The best tips always come from readers so please share your experiences from the trenches of early parenthood!

What happens to all those plastic tubs and bottles you keep throwing in the recycling bin? If they’re lucky, they get reincarnated as Green Toys. I’ve seen Green Toys for sale in baby boutiques and Whole Foods, and my daughter is the proud owner of the Green Toys Tea Set ($20). They’re thick, brightly colored recycled plastic toys that come in recyclable cardboard packaging.

While you can’t beat secondhand toys for eco-friendliness, Green Toys come in handy when you need a new toy for a gift or special occasion. They also seem more accessible and mainstream than wooden toys, which may not go over so well in some circles. They’re also reasonably priced! Check it out:

Green Toys Dump Truck ($15)

Green Toys Eco-friendly Fire Truck ($15)

Green Toys Recycle Truck ($15)

Green Toys Chef Set ($11)

Green Toys My First Stacker ($12)

Green Toys Sand Play Set ($15)

Green Toys Tool Set ($15)

Green Toys My First Blocks ($15.50)

What if your OB/Gyn was a mother of three who actually invented things to make women’s lives easier as they journeyed through the rough landscape of early motherhood?  The bad news is that most of you won’t be able to become patients of Dr. Somi Javiad–she’s busy enough as it is!  The great news is that  she, along with her business partner, Kim Howell, have founded a website and product line to support new and expectant mothers.  Mamadoc was developed by Howell and Javiad to offer practical, eco-friendly pregnancy products to women that can make pregnancy and new motherhood a bit more comfortable.

Some of Mamadoc‘s clever inventions include Nox, a compression bra to help nursing mothers with engorgement when weaning, Preghose to help pregnant moms prevent swollen feet,(I could have used a dozen pairs of those!)  and Bellyup to support a pregnant woman’s back and abdomen during the late months of pregnancy.

Mamadoc also carries handmade bamboo cotton diapers that we had the chance to try out with my twenty month daughter. They’re an adorable color combo of grey and pink and the two layers of bamboo fleece are incredibly soft and absorbent.  One drawback is that we did notice that the edging frayed and balled up after a few washings.  While they look a bit worn, they’re still quite comfortable and cute.

One lucky winner will be getting a bamboo soothing cloth from Mamadoc to share with a new baby.  It’s ultra soft small square of fabric with polka dots of texture that baby will enjoy exploring. (Pictured below)

Three Ways to Enter the Mamadoc Bamboo Soothing Cloth Giveaway:

1. Simply post a comment

2. Like us on Facebook (then tell us you did it in the comments)

3. Spread the news about the giveaway! Email someone, post it on Facebook, tweet it, blog it, or send someone a message about it via carrier pigeon. (And again, don’t forget to tell us all about it in the comments!)

This contest ends on March 29th and is only open to U.S. Residents.

Great luck!

Sometimes an eco-friendly solution arrives in an unlikely place. I searched high and low for new baby doll clothes to give my daughter for her fifth birthday, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $10 or $15 for cheap little garments encased in several layers of non-recyclable plastic.

The woman at the secondhand shop insisted I check out the “Senior Store” in my neighborhood—a little shop selling handicrafts made by the residents of the senior center. Sure enough, in addition to doilies, wooden toys, and crocheted tablecloths, I found an entire rack of homemade baby clothes. While $10 may seem a bit steep for a tiny sundress, it wasn’t any more than the made-in-China variety I saw at Target, and I had the pleasure of knowing it was crafted by a local artisan!