I just found some great simple tips on creating a home for baby that’s clean, green, and environmentally safe. If you’re like me, you want your surroundings to be as healthy as possible.
Here they are from Seventh Generation’s list of 10 ways to ready your home for your new baby:

  • Start cleaning house the safe way—with biodegradable cleaners made from natural and non-toxic ingredients. Natural cleaners won’t fill your home with chemical fumes or coat its surfaces with unhealthy residues.
  • Eat organic food when possible. Conventionally-produced foods can contain genetically-modified ingredients as well as traces of pesticides and other chemicals. A healthy diet benefits you and your baby.
  • Store pesticides somewhere else. Growing babies are vulnerable to even tiny amounts of the poisons pesticides contain. This includes all pet flea and tick products, bug repellents, anti-mildew products, moth balls, fly strips, and bait traps.
  • Dust with a damp cloth. Because household dust is the final resting place for many of the toxins that enter our homes, get into the habit of dusting with a slightly damp cloth instead of traditional dusters, which can stir dust and chemical residue back into the air.
  • Open the windows. The EPA has found that the air inside our homes can be up to five more polluted than the air outside. So open your windows as often as possible.
  • Choose toys made from wood and natural fibers instead of plastic. Soft plastic toys can leach out phthalates, a hormone-disrupting chemical, while hard plastics may expose your child to another hormone-disrupting chemical called bisphenol-a.
  • Use glass baby bottles to protect your newborn from the bisphenol-a found in many polycarbonate (#7) plastic models.
  • Get a natural crib mattress that is free of the synthetic foams and fibers, vinyl coverings, flame retardants, and chemical treatments commonly found in conventional crib mattresses.
  • Choose organic natural fibers for clothing, bedding, and other items. These products will also be free of treatments that can expose infants to chemicals and other unhealthy compounds.