Long ago in a land far away where pouched animals play, a company named Belkiz was born. This company had a mission to create economical, safe, and portable high chairs out of 100% recycled cardboard. I’m happy to announce that the dream was realized and

the easy-to-assemble Feedaway is now available in Australian baby stores Styled Baby and Low and Behold. Featuring a non-toxic food-grade coating and three-point safety harness, this 2.2 pound design is the first high chair I’ve ever seen that’s more portable than the baby.

Great work Belkiz! I think your Feedaway will prove to be the perfect high chair for traveling parents, and expecting grandparents’ homes everywhere.

Have fun and stay healthy,
Dr.MOZ

> tip thanks to Springwise!

I’ve seen a few great comments regarding g Diaper inserts hitting the baby blog lately, so I wanted to highlight a few that I think many of you may have been wondering about as

well. Recent comments from an older post include:

• Julia (on biodegradability): “I’m composting my g diapers because (1) it seems the least wasteful, (2) to complete the food web cycle, and (3) I think my soil will benefit from the rich fertility offered from human waste. I’m still evaluating how well they compost, anyone have experience with this?”

• Scott (on using cloth inserts): “…I also recently learned you can use cloth inserts instead of the disposables. That would help balance the cost of the disposable inserts, only using them while out and about.”

So let’s hear it from the g Diaper aficionados out there! The folks at g Diapers have a great collection of composting FAQs and related resources on their site, so I’ll leave a few useful links in the comments section for Julia and others interested in the topic.

Have fun and stay healthy,
Dr.MOZ

Dear Dr.MOZ,

I saw a nice swaddling blanket on One Goodie today and noticed that it was made from bamboo. Have you seen bamboo baby blankets before? If so, what do you know about bamboo fabric?

Thanks!
Rose

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Hi Rose,

I haven’t seen Satsuma’s products in person, but I’m very familiar with bamboo fabric and particularly Bamboosa’s line of baby clothing. It could be the softest fabric I’ve

ever felt and unlike most soft fabrics, bamboo is incredibly strong and naturally anti-microbial. In my opinion, it’s superior to cotton in just about every category (absorbency, comfort, sustainability, UV protection, etc) except for price and style.

I mention “style” as a negative because it’s a lot more difficult to decorate considering that the existing blends of bamboo don’t yet lend themselves to traditional screen printing like cotton T’s and onesies do. On the other hand, nine out of ten newborns polled on the topic preferred comfort over decorative embellishments (…maybe they weren’t actually “polled“) which makes bamboo a great choice if you don’t mind paying a little more for the benefits. Thanks for the great question Rose!

Have fun and stay healthy,
Dr.MOZ

Your kids might be too small to push the grocery cart, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t help when shopping. Taryn at Goodyblog alerted us to a fun new trend in enviro-goodness, reusable bags for kids! Envirosax’s reusable bags for kids help educate the next generation by showing a more responsible way to shop. It also inspires the next generation to carry this generation’s groceries…which for the record, I’m totally for.

Have fun and stay healthy,
Dr.MOZ

It’s too early for a Guinness, so I thought the next best way to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day would be to give a triple green blog feature! Visit three of our favorite green blogs below, and share your own green favorites by clicking on the comments bubble above.

• teensygreen, “think outside your playroom” – recent green posts include: Organic Woes, Bam! Bamboo, That Is…, and Philanthropy of the Month (SolesUnited)

• Eco Child’s Play, “Green Parenting for Non-toxic, Healthy Homes” – recent green posts include: Secrets to Selecting Produce, Has Your Child’s School Copy Machine Caught Global Warming Disease?, and Which Organic Consumer Are You?

• Green Mom Finds, “for eco-fabulous living” – recent green posts include: Easter Eggs Au Naturale, Going Green with Red, and A Non-Plastic Easter Basket!

Have a safe St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Cheers,
Dr.MOZ

Today’s healthy dose of fun tackles the reusable grocery bag phenomenon. No one likes plastic bags, and we’ve all seen the canvas grocery bags hanging by the checkout stands…so what is keeping us from making the switch? Our resistance could due to the fact that most bags marketed as “grocery bags” tend to be small and slightly expensive for what they are. Now that I think about it, most reusable grocery bags really couldn’t be any uglier so perhaps it isn’t a huge surprise we’re slow to make the transition. These are all good reasons, but today’s prescription should help put most of our excuses to rest. The featured bags may not be called “grocery bags”, but they’ll certainly do the trick and you just might find them to be a little easier on the eyes. They are a nice way to cut out a common petroleum-based product (plastic bags) from our daily lives, and a purchase will help support a few amazing companies in the process!

The Bag: The Elephant Tote bag (16 x 8 x 20) is a made of well-stitched jute and canvas with an embroidered blue elephant.

The Company: Ten Thousand Villages is a founding member of the International Fair Trade Association which includes over 200 members in 55 countries. Started from the trunk of Edna Ruth Byler’s car, the retail stores now span 160 outlets!

The Link: www.tenthousandvillages.com

The Bag: This recycled tote (11 x 14.5 x 7.25) is made from recycled and sterilized juice boxes by the Philippino artisans of Preda.

The Company: Your purchase from world of good supports fair trade and helps keep women and children off the streets. World of good also reinvests 10% of their profits into their non-profit partner World of Good: Development Organization, the focused on strengthening standards for handcrafts in the international fair trade industry.

The Link: www.worldofgood.com

The Bag: The Sophea Tote (14 x 2 x 12.5) is made in Cambodia with a flat hand-embroidered sarong tote, appliquéd flower detailing, and magnetic clasp closures.

The Company: Global Sistergoods partners with an NGO in Cambodia that helps widowed and abandoned children rebuild their lives. This self-sustaining company provides health education, food, shelter, and jobs to 40 women and over 200 family members.
The Link: www.globalsistergoods.com

Thanks again for visiting, and a special thanks to our blogging friends at How About Orange for their recent spree of posts including the great companies and products we’ve seen here today!

Have fun and stay healthy,

Dr.MOZ

We’ve all heard the “Disposable Diaper VS Cloth Diaper” debate, and the pros and cons of each are pretty obvious. Parents want the convenience of the disposable without the guilt of knowing that they are throwing thousands of diapers in a landfill that will take approximately 500 years to decompose. This means that your great, great, great, grandchildren will one day be up to their necks in “diaper duty” thanks to our generation’s need for convenience. To make matters worse, most disposable diapers are created with chemicals known to be toxic which can be irritating to a baby’s skin and pollutes the soil when discarded. So…what are our options?

Unfortunately, we are still very limited but there are a few eco-groovy hybrid diapers like g Diapers and 7th Generation on the scene. One system uses a reusable shell with a flushable insert, and the other is a non-toxic disposable. We’ll provide a short introduction to each of the diapers below, and will look forward to hearing about your experiences. Click on the comments bubble above to let other parents know how these diapers worked (or didn’t work) for you.

g Diapers: www.gdiapers.com

g Diaper Product Summary
Inserts called “flushables” are pressed into a snap-in liner, and these liners are attached to the outer shell called “little g’pants.” When the diapers need changing, the flushable is taken out of the diaper and torn by tearing notches to make them safe to flush. Once the contents are inside the toilet, a “swishstick” is used to break apart the contents. The toilet is flushed and the outer flushable shell is added to the toilet in the end of the flushing cycle. If soiled, the snap-in liner can be washed and a new one inserted.

g Diaper Pros
As advertised the g Diaper’s benefits are: no perfumes, no elemental chlorine, no plastic layer, no dyes or inks, no latex, more convenient than cloth diapers, and flushables are biodegradable.

g Diaper Cons
Potential negatives: takes longer than disposable diaper option, swishstick not for everyone, swishstick system less portable than disposable diapers, expensive, flushing uses water, may have flushing issues in older homes with low-flow issues.

7th Generation Diapers: www.seventhgeneration.com

7th Generation Diaper Product Summary
7th Generation’s diapers are the more earth-friendly answer for those seeking a non-toxic disposable diaper. The American-made materials are chlorine-free, latex-free, non-toxic, and non-irritating to a baby’s skin. They are also quite thin which gives them a real advantage for babies “on the move” compared to others on the market.

7th Generation Pros
As advertised 7th Generation’s benefits are: convenient, chlorine free (no dioxins), hypo-allergenic, thin, no latex, no fragrance, no TBT, non-irritating, made in the USA, and the non-toxic materials make them better for landfills compared to other disposables.

7th Generation Cons
Potential negatives: adds to landfills, expensive, waste isn’t treated in sewer treatment facility, like all diapers these are not bio-degradable.

We’ve found posts relating to the great hybrid diaper debate in a few of our favorite blogs including urbanMamas and Parent Dish, so check them out as well! We’re looking forward to hearing what you have to say about these two brands now that more people have had a chance to give them a try. Click on the comments bubble above to let us know what you think.

Have fun and stay healthy,

Dr.MOZ