The Zero Waste Bébé: Part Un

I've been a little lately because- we had a kid! Hooray! When I found out I was pregnant I immediately got to work and started researching all the good stuff.

What does an infant actually need? It turns out not much- just (breast)milk, a safe place to sleep, diapers, wipes of some sort, some onesies to wear, a car seat (if you plan on taking your baby in your car with you), and of course, lots of love.

The industry built up around babies will tell you otherwise, though. The global market for baby products is projected to reach $15.2 Billion by the year 2027 (more info here).That's quite a lot of money. That's quite a lot of stuff. Quite a lot of stuff that will most likely be used for a few months until the baby grows out of it and then most likely discarded, destined for the landfill.

With this in mind, I set out to get as many items second-hand as possible. A lot of items I was able to find within my local Buy Nothing Group (thank you, community! See the photo below of the stash I accumulated), but I also looked on Mercari, OfferUp, Poshmark, and at the Goodwill.

We did buy some items new, and for those I personally turned to Package Free Shop, SustainLA, and Earthhero. It was important to my husband that we get some other specific items new so we did end up going to some big box stores for some things or asked for them at our bébé shower, but from what I saw during my search for used items, you can get literally everything you need secondhand and often the condition is new- as people are gifted items that they didn't ask for or didn't end up using. Also, after browsing the "free" section on OfferUp for the past eight months, you can get just about anything you need used, yes, but also FREE.

Things for Bébé I Highly Recommend You Get Used:

Clothes: This sector is like fast fashion on steroids. Baby clothes are absolutely adorable but babies grow so quickly that the clothing often goes unworn. I was able to find a whole wardrobe for my child on my Buy Nothing Group for free and most of the pieces had never been used. I bought my friend a whole wardrobe for her upcoming baby from the Goodwill bins for $12.00 and again, the most pieces looked new. Baby clothes are also needlessly expensive so you will save a lot of money. Please save these adorable tiny outfits from ending up in a landfill!

A small sampling below of my Goodwill haul:

Toys and Books: Similarly to clothes, the toys and books are used minimally and then the kid moves on. Please consider getting secondhand (Buy Nothing Groups and Mercari are especially good for these!) when searching for these items.

Any Other Cloth Item: Baby carriers like wraps and Ergos, nursing pillows with removable covers, swaddles, burp clothes, sheets, cloth bibs, sleep sacks, etc. and anything else you can wash in your washing machine. All of these items can be easily washed and cleaned and thus made safe for your baby. We got this almost $200.00 Ergo Baby carrier for free from our local Buy Nothing Group:

(Special Note on Buying Fancy Baby Contraptions Used: If you're looking for something high tech and new to the market that claims to save you from the usual parenting woes, you will most likely find it used on places like OfferUp. With that said, I recommend seeing if this item has been recalled first before you purchase just in case. This site lists all recalled items and is updated constantly.)

Things for Bébé I Highly Recommend You Get New:

Car Seat: A new car seat is the one thing I would recommend always buying new unless you get one from a trusted friend or family member and you know the personal history of the car seat. Car seats expire and if it's been in an accident, it should be properly disposed of. Here is a great article on how to recycle as much of the car seat as you can or why trading in at a big box store might be the best option.

....that's all I can think of for new items for now. As always, thanks for reading!