When we were expecting our first baby, Rye, we were totally obsessed with finding everything natural that was the best for our little guy without breaking the bank! The key aspects of the quality of baby products we focused on the most was non-toxic and natural. What was also important to us was that they were all relatively affordable! We have been asked what we used, from the baby’s crib, sheets, diapers, wipes, and so on! So, we decided to compile a list of our favorite things for a natural nursery. Here we go!
- The crib. We went back and forth on this item possibly the most out of everything on this list. The important thing for us was that we wanted a beautiful crib but did not want it to contain any wood finishings, paint, stains, or chemicals that would potentially off-gas. I wanted the crib that had an attached changing table with shelving, but all of those were a very unnatural (but very pretty) finished wood style! So after extensive research, we landed on the IKEA Sniglar. I know, IKEA? Really? Yes! What IKEA does, or does NOT do, that appealed to us, other than being a great price…was that they do not add any finishing. The Sniglar is all natural, raw, unfinished beechwood! All for a very reasonable price of $134.99. And it is a beautiful light wood that would go well with any nursery. You don’t have to worry about your baby breathing in any chemicals, or if when they begin teething, that they chew on anything unnatural. Score! Link to the crib.
- We added this water-proof “food-grade” organic crib mattress by Naturepedic that has held up really well over the years. It was more pricey than the crib, but we felt safe using it knowing it was non-toxic, and we’re still using this mattress (and crib) 7 years later with Ollie!
- The changing table. So, after doing all that research on finding an *affordable* raw, natural, wooden crib…it was simple to choose a dresser of the same material also at IKEA! The 3-drawer TARVA was the perfect match. As luck would have it, it was also the perfect height for placing a changing pad on. So, not technically a changing table, but definitely a great “hack”. Felt like a win to us! Link to the TARVA we used. We just secured an organic changing pad on top, and we were good to go. We kept our cloth diapers, wipes, ointments, and spray in the top drawer, and baby’s clothes in the middle and bottom drawer. It was really handy!
* Note: Remember to anchor all dressers to the wall in children’s room to avoid accidents and injury! IKEA offers this service. - Crib sheets. This decision was not very difficult for us since we knew we just wanted them to be a) Organic cotton and b) Affordable, so we went straight to Amazon and picked out the Kushies organic cotton crib sheet! They have a few color options, and it’s really soft and has held up over the years beautifully. We just bought two to switch out and never had any holes or issues with washing. Link to the sheets.
- The bassinet. While this never “lived” in the nursery, I wanted to add our choice for this because like many other parents, we wanted to have a smaller bed for our newborn for the first couple of months. We had the most controversy with this one, because the popular bassinets we found were made of some man-made material, and were lined with cloth that likely was not organic, so we almost gave up – before we found this. The moses basket option! We found one on Amazon that was made of 100% palm leaves and is all natural! So we purchased this, along with an organic moses basket pad. I’m seeing options on Amazon for these, but not the same brand we purchased 7 years ago so I can’t recommend one. However, it’s a fabulous natural bassinet option. We paired our moses basket with this all-natural rocker (link). The rocker aspect was so nice because we could lay in our bed and put one hand on the moses basket, and gently rock our baby to sleep! It’s also light enough to slide from room to room (without baby inside, of course), for daytime naps!
- Diapers. We tried so many different cloth diaper brands, and the winner was Kanga Care’s Rumparooz with patented double-gussets. They leaked the least overall, were super soft, and the snaps basically covered all the stages of sizes. We typically tried to fill the diapers with bamboo inserts when we could because we felt like they absorbed better than the microfiber ones. I found having about 20-25 was the right amount for doing diaper laundry every 3 days. Here’s a link to the style of Rumpaooz we used.
- Wipes. These wipes (link) were so soft and have held up really well over the years. We would spray the wipe with a diluted, gentle baby soap & water mixture before a diaper change, and they worked great! We still use them now and washcloths or rags when cleaning.
Well, that’s about it for now! This is a list that I really wish I could have seen when I was pregnant with our first baby, as a frugal, “crunchy”, mama-to-be! I hope this helps some of you expecting parents, and best wishes to you all with your upcoming arrival. Please feel free to comment below with any questions about items on this list, or if you’d like to know what else we used! Thanks for reading! 🙂
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