Encourage your baby to play with toys made of natural materials like natural rubber, wood or organic fabrics.
3 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Baby’s Exposure
- Avoid plastic feeding bottles when giving your baby expressed or formula milk. Scientists have found that the sterilisation process, hot water and shaking steps needed to prepare formula milk caused bottles to shed millions of microplastics and trillions of even smaller nanoplastics. They estimated trillions were produced per litre of fluid which makes this one of the most important switches you can make. Glass and metal alternative are becoming more readily available. Check out our initial Microplastics blog for more information.
- Avoid plastic toys when your baby is mouthing. For the first year or so, your baby will explore and learn through sensory play, which means they will put anything they can get their hands on in their mouth. Encourage your baby to play with toys made of natural materials like natural rubber, wood or organic fabrics.
- Use an organic cotton play mat or bedsheet when your baby is on the floor. Microplastics that shed from synthetic textiles are known more specifically as microfibres. Most carpets are made from polyester and produce millions of tiny fibres that babies who are close to floor can easily breath in or swallow without even realising it. An ideal solution here is to put a natural organic fabric layer in between your baby and the carpet to act as a barrier.
Jenna, the founder of Cloud and Cuckoo and mum to two daughters, was inspired to start her small business after she struggled to find effective, safe and natural alternatives to the plastic toys that flood the baby market. Their best selling teething toys My Friend Goo and My Friend Hoot have a range of benefits that also help to entertain and soothe your baby. My Friend Hoot is also really easy to hold and makes the perfect first toy. For more information and product alternatives head over to their website or alternatively you can find them on Instagram or Facebook
