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!

I didn’t with my first child.  They seemed so much more expensive than the standard brand that I couldn’t bring myself to make the switch.  Then, with my second baby, Rebecca inspired me to make the leap to cloth wipes.  They’re easy, incredibly inexpensive, and much more eco-friendly than green disposable wipes.  (I just picked up a few packs of baby washcloths at the dollar store and that three-dollar investment is holding strong almost two years later.  We simply spray them with water before using them.) What wipes do you use?

Now that we’ve cleared the air about our stance on secondhand car seats, I thought I’d share the exciting story of my own daughter’s infant car seat. We purchased a basic infant car seat before she was born. We weren’t opposed to borrowing one from a friend, but unfortunately none of our friends cooperated by reproducing before we did. (Later we learned that we could have gone without an infant car seat altogether and purchased a convertible car seat instead—that would have lasted longer.)

Once Audrey was over a year old, she outgrew the car seat for height. We passed it down to a friend of a friend, whose baby used it for eight months before he became too heavy for it. On it went to my cousin’s new baby, who outgrew it just in time for me to pass it along to another friend. This is where the car seat is today. As the seat expires very soon (they say to toss a car seat after five to seven years), it may be enjoying its last car rides this year. I am perfectly comfortable with the idea of reusing a car seat in this way—passed along from friend to friend, so we can keep tabs on the seat’s whereabouts.

Thank you, infant car seat. You lived a productive and useful life. You also saved three new car seats from being purchased and later thrown into landfills, where they would never decompose. You did your part.

If you live in Merced, California, you can wander on down to The Frog Shop any old day and buy adorable children’s garments at cut rate prices.  And as you stride out the door, you can know that the green glow wasn’t just about the wall color, but about the fact that you just recycled while having a lovely shopping experience.

This is the second half of our interview with The Frog Shop’s owners, Corinne and Heidi Britt.   Check out the previous part of the interview in last week’s post.

What are some of your customers’ favorite products?

Our customer favorites are as varied as the parents who buy and sell in the store. One thing parents comment on is our “mompreneur” hand-made section. We sell hand-made hairbows, hats, blankets, bow-holders, booties, diaper bags, seat covers and jewelry. We love being a place where crafty stay-at-home moms can sell their wares. And our families love shopping the unique items we carry. They can’t find these items anywhere else. I think we all feel good knowing the money is going to a stay-at-home-mom to help her stay home, as well.

What are the biggest challenges you face as an eco-friendly small business?

Our biggest challenge has to be keeping the doors open in the current economy.  We are working moms too, and trying to balance our family and work lives. Another challenge we face is trying to keep our prices reasonable for our families, while still making enough money to pay the rent.

Also, because we’re still fairly new (we will celebrate our 2^nd birthday in June), we are still learning what our customers want and need, and how we can find it for them.

We started carrying FuzziBunz cloth diapers after a few parents recommended them to us. Now we’re the only retailers who carry them in our area. We also are one of the few stores that carry cloth diapers, raw wood toys and organic cotton clothing (when available).

Bravo to Corinne and Heidi, and to all the other small business owners out there who are making green options available to new parents while helping build local communities.  You are on the front lines of cloth diaper education, breast feeding support, and gear recycling.  We wish you continued success!

We’ve just discovered that humble ranch dressing helps our children wolf down carrot sticks and even raw spinach! But other quirkier favorites around here are dollops of peanut butter in applesauce, Laughing Cow Cheese spread on Ak Mak crackers, boiled edamame with salt, and homemade macaroni and cheese. (I’ll be posting the recipe for an incredibly easy and delicious mac and cheese very soon!) What are your children’s favorites? Inspire us!

Exactly one year ago yesterday, our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down-to-Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet, hit store shelves.  It took us three years of hands-on research and thousands of drafts before we were satisfied with our practical green guide for new parents.  We flavored the manuscript with humor, anecdotes, and lots of humility as we tried to convey what we wished we would have known before our babies arrived.  The cloth diaper information we provide is highly user friendly, but there ‘s also information on buying less, buying used and buying green that helped each of us save over five thousand dollars on our babies’ first year alone.

If you wish you had a copy in your hands right now, you’re in luck!  We’re giving away one copy on the anniversary of it’s publication.

Three Ways to Enter The Eco-nomical Baby Guide Book 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 10th and is only open to U.S. Residents.

Good luck!

Also, we have some gorgeous Eco-nomical Baby Guide bookmarks that we’d love to distribute in OB/GYN offices, midwifery clinics and other spots where green moms can find them.  If you have a location where you know they’d be snatched up, please email us your name and address and tell us where you’d like to distribute them.  Thanks in advance for all your help!

While promoting our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, I have been on the phone with eco-friendly baby shops around the country.  Inevitably, this leads to an impassioned discussion about cloth diapering, but it’s even more exciting when I find an institution like The Frog Shop. Corinne and Heidi Britt have developed a thriving green business by selling secondhand clothes, cloth diapers, natural toys, and much more.  If you’ve ever thought about opening your own consignment shop or you’re a happy secondhand shopper, read on for inspiration!

What was your vision when you started The Frog Shop?

My partner Corinne and I have six kids between us. When our older kids were young, we used to buy and sell at consignment stores to save money, to recycle the items our children outgrew, and because it was fun – like treasure hunting.

In 2009, there were no children’s consignment stores in our current hometown, so it seemed like the right time to open one ourselves, but we wanted The Frog Shop to be more than just a store. We wanted it to be community hub for families.

How do you incorporate community service into your business plan?

The very nature of The Frog Shop is community service. All of the unsold consignment items that aren’t picked up by the seller are donated to one of about half a dozen local charities in town. These include clothing closets and organizations for teen moms.

Our biggest community service effort, of course, was our creation of the Parent Resource Association of Merced (PRAM). Through PRAM we refer families to various resources in the community, and we hold events for kids from low-income families (like our annual free pictures with Santa event in December, and free face painting during any downtown events).

Even though I’ve never been there, I love imagining what the atmosphere must be in The Frog Shop.  Some women breastfeeding, families searching for recycled garments, others discussing the details of cloth diapering.  Do you have such a place in your city?  Stay tuned for our second post on The Frog Shop later this week.