Wry Baby Delivers Great Green Laughs

Sometimes the efforts of green parenting could benefit from a few guffaws, so have your babe wear Wry Baby’s tongue-in-cheek, eco-printed onesies. They deliver lighthearted laughs alongside light footprint reminders. Cheeky logos include: “Thanks for all the Global Warming” and “Ask me about my compost pile.” And you’ve got to see this onesie’s logo, based on hairy armpits for yourself.

One of the site’s founders …

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Dreaming Spires Willow Playhouse

The Dreaming Spires Willow Playhouse designed and handwoven by Judith Needham in Surrey, England, provides the backdrop for modern day fairy tales with ecologically happy endings. The eco-friendly aspects of this playhouse are rivaled only by its natural beauty and charm. Constructed of highly renewable willow, with a pine base, the structure gradually degrades, over a period of four to five years, due to sun and rain exposure. When it becomes brittle, it may be recycled: shredded and used for garden mulch, added to a compost bin, or used as kindling for building a fire. What a poetic celebration of a child’s rite of passage beyond playhouse affinities.

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THE GREAT SLEEP DEBATE: Tell Us What You Think!

There’s nothing that seems to be a more universal conundrum, or a more divisive issue for parents, than how their babies sleep. The first question that I get hit with in almost every discussion about my kid is, ‘Does he sleep through the night yet?’ ‘Sleeping through the night’ seems to be the panacea of every parent. But is it natural, a reasonable expectation, and is it the best thing for babies? As the mother of a six-month old, I really don’t know what to think. My husband and I have poured over tons of parenting books (including the entire Dr. Sears collection), and have gone back and forth between a number of philosophies on the sleep issue. Now, with a six-month old who sleeps in our bed and wakes up for a comfort nibble 3-4 times per night, we’re rethinking the issue and our perhaps overly literal interpretation of Attachment Parenting. We’d love to hear what you think about babies and sleep – so please leave a comment below! To foster a dialogue and encourage a forum discussion about this issue, we will be sending a free Inhabitots T-shirt (or onesie) to our favorite response in the comment section.

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Inhabitots Blog Picks of the Day

Olli & Lime debuts their new Spring/Summer 2009 collection of stylish, modern toddler bedding, decor and gear. The “George” pattern is shown above, and comprised of 100% organic sateen cotton percale with a 320 thread count. With bedding of this quality and character, parents may be asking to sleep in their tot’s bed instead of the other way …

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Safe Co-sleeping With the Arm’s Reach Co-sleeper

We’re big advocates of co-sleeping here at Inhabitots, as we believe it makes life easier and healthier for both mother and baby and is helpful for creating a special bond between parents and children. However, it is not advisable to try to turn any old platform bed into a ‘family bed’ without some sort of modifications. For those of you who are interested in co-sleeping, but have a raised platform bed, don’t worry! Your salvation has arrived in the form of the Arm’s Reach Co-sleeper – a small bassinet-type device that attaches to the side of your bed so that your baby can sleep safely in his own bed, just an arm’s reach away from you.

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Kumo Friends Organic Pillows

Say goodbye to bedtime and nap time blues with an organic pillow that doubles as a stuffed friend. Kids will love cuddling up to Jaya Loves Tekeko’s Kumo Friends pillows day and night. The unique assortment of characters includes Owlie, shown below, Raindrop, Leafgirl, Professor Acorn, Hedgehog and Eggboy. Pillows are a blend of organic bamboo and organic cotton, stuffed with kapok, and hand printed with PVC and phthalate free waterbased inks. Kumo friends will not only look adorable as cushions for your kid’s sweet head, they’ll provide hip decor wherever they happen to land around the house. We’ll rest even easier knowing that a portion of Jaya Loves Tekeko sales is donated to Planting Peace, an organization dedicated to cleaning the environment and saving humanity from disease and famine.

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Getting Your Nanny to Embrace Green

Nannies, like mother-in-laws, come with their own set of ideas as to how everything should be handled in your home when you’re not around. When these ideas differ from yours, problems typically arise. For parents who have raised their children to be eco-minded in a household based on earth friendly practices, it may be a challenging psychological and cultural hurdle when it comes to fostering a sense of environmental awareness in a child’s part-time caregiver. Here are tips on how you can get your nanny to enact green initiatives in your home and keep your kids on the emerald path, even in your absence.

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TobeUs Toys: Handcarved Italian Toy Cars

TobeUs toy cars are an artistic, refreshing departure from the vast array of plastic toy cars on the market. Handmade in Italy by four Italian designers and craftsman, these sets of wheels are ones we’d definitely let our tots get behind. Choose from models including: the sports car, the saloon, the security van, the pick-up, and the romantic one. The motto behind …

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WINNER: Squishy Bowls Giveaway

Congratulations to Bodie P.!
You have won the Squishy gear from Inhabitots! We will be contacting you personally with the good news!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Squishy gear giveaway! We hope you all continue to choose safe, fun feeding gear for your families.

Stay tuned to Inhabitots for more, great green giveaways to come!

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Poteez: Eco-friendly Disposable Potty

What would you do if on your next long car ride your partner asked you to don a pair of Depends briefs because he or she wasn’t about to pull into a rest stop whenever nature called? Sound cruel? Well, parents potty training their kids might be unwittingly subjecting them to this treatment when they slip their tots into training pants in situations where a bathroom stop is not convenient. Thankfully, Poteez offers an eco-friendly solution: a disposable potty.

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Inhabitots Blog Picks of the Day

boopalina + bebe is expanding their vintage collection to include various children’s decor items including decorative pillows and wall art. Their newest line of eco modern kerchief bibs will be made out of Scandinavian textiles and organic bamboo fleece.

Enchanted Dandelions has a hip way to soothe headaches and owies. Check out April’s organic flaxseed owie bag …

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7 Tips For Throwing an Eco-Friendly Birthday Party

Celebrating your child’s birthday with a party is a fun way to highlight a memorable milestone; but birthday parties often turn into occasions of excess, where waste runs rampant and eco-friendly sensibilities are tossed aside (plastic party favors galore, paper plates piled in the trash… these are no cause for celebration!) With a little consideration, you can give your child a very green and happy birthday party. Here are seven easy ways to green your child’s birthday party:

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Rockin’ Guitar Softies by The Grateful Thread

If you think that your kid is a rock star (and what parent doesn’t), we may have found the perfect instrument for the music-loving peep in your midst. Guitar Softies by The Grateful Thread are an ideal way to let your little one jam and rock out without alienating the tunes-shy neighbors or folks downstairs. Handcrafted out of quality fabric scraps, these super-cute guitar cushions are a sure way to catapult your little one to stardom while also adding cool accents to your interior décor or lounge space.

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Melamine in Dishware: A Cause For Concern?

Melamine has been all over the news lately, thanks to the melamine pet-food poisoning scandal, and the poisoning of babies in China due to melamine-tainted infant formula. But did you realize that this toxic substance, melamine, the one that is killing babies in China, is also a major component in a large number of plastic dishware including plates, bowls and cups? If this stuff is toxic enough to kill babies and pets in trace quantities, should we be concerned about it in our dishware? We thought this was worthy of an investigation. After some sleuthing around, here’s what we found out…

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ENTER TO WIN: Our Squishy Bowls Giveaway!

Intrigued by Squishy Bowls after reading Jill’s post? If so, now you can win a set of your very own Squishy Bowls by Guyot Designs! Great for kids, for camping, for mobility and even baby-feeding, Squishy Bowls are cute, fun and extremely handy to have around the household. One lucky Inhabitots reader will win a green and blue Squishy Bowl & Cup set, two ‘shot’ glasses, and some ‘Microbite’ utensils from Guyot Designs. Want to win this Squishy package? Here’s what to do:

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

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Squishy Bowls Make Eating Fun

I’ll be honest and admit that when Guyot Designs first sent me some ‘Squishy Bowls’ to review, I had no idea what to make of the little buggers. ‘Why would anyone want a Squishy Bowl?’ I wondered… ‘What is the point of these things?’ Then my baby turned six months old and we started him on solid foods, and the beauty of the Squishy was suddenly revealed to me.

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