11 Budget Friendly Zero Waste Tips for New Mums.

Is it possible be go zero waste with a newborn?

Absolutely. But it is not a goal of perfectionism, nothing is in this life, especially with a newborn. Its about putting plans in place to achieve the best we can.

Planning what you want to do before baby arrives is, for many, one of the best bits about being pregnant. Perhaps it’s that nesting hormone that sets in during pregnancy that makes us enjoy it so much. If you have it in mind that you want to keep things low waste, as you may already do in your own life, then following these 11 steps will help your tiny pitter patter of a carbon feetprint stay low. Awful pun intended. Oh and let’s keep it on all budget because the myth that kids cost a lot doesn’t need to set in until at least school age. And then I’ll talk to you all about secondhand uniform….

1. Buy secondhand.

2. Get researching on a second hand pram.

3. Keep your nursery minimal.

4. Think about using cloth nappies.

5. Ditch other disposables your told you need.

6. Invest in cloth wipes.

7. Get ready with your breastfeeding support.

8. Get your comfy, breastfeeding friendly capsule wardrobe ready.

9. Prime your friends and family.

10. Write your baby shower list.

11. Zero waste post partum care.

Newborn feet in a Grandad’s hand. Plastic free newborn tips.

1. Buy secondhand.

Right, firstly you need to be ready. Ready to bat away everything your told you NEED. Babies do need stuff, sure they do. But how much of it is truly necessary and how much money are you likely to waste when you realise they used it for all on 3 weeks.

This is why buying secondhand is going to be your savor. Not only is it environmentally friendly its seriously money saving. Plus if you don’t use it all that much you can sell it on afterwards. Let Facebook Market Place become your new best friend.

Then consider, even if it cost a mere £2, do you actually need it or is it just going to clutter your home. For example a baby bath. A really liked having our bath support I found on market place because my daughter had two older brothers she would get in the bath with. It was nice she could sit and watch them happily without me getting a dead arm holding her over the bath. However if this is your first baby do you need it? Could you just wash them in the sink? Is it worth filling an entire bath for one newborn. Okay so maybe you just buy a small baby bath you can fill that. Then your on the floor with them. It’s up to you of course, but either way second hand is the way to go.

2. Get researching on a second hand pram.

This needs a second hand section all on its own, actually a whole old of it’s own, which lucky for you I have already written, find it here. Buying a pram is likely to be the biggest purchase you’ll make and arguably the most important. Your going to be using it for years to come, and if this is your first baby chances are you’ll be needing it for more than one child. Research, research, research is the key. I’d love to tell you the best pram to buy (although if your interested my Jane Slalom is brilliant) but that wouldn’t work because everyone has different needs in a pram.

I found the best way was to keep looking through Facebook Market Place. When a pram I liked the look of came up I would YouTube it and read some review to see if it would work for us, fit in my car, be easy to use through all our muddy walks.

If you find one you like and miss it, or it’s a little out of your price range, set up notifications to alert you the next time that make and model comes up. I did this early on in pregnancy so I had time to look.

3. Keep your nursery minimal.

Okay, so babies need stuff, or more to the point we need stuff to help make life easier with a baby. The babies themselves are pretty minimal. They need to be fed, kept warm and loved.

I remember when I was pregnant being desperate to have the nursery ready, (hello nesting hormones), getting my Dad to come and help me paint to have it done in time. Mat and Dad setting up a cot she was never even going to need until 6 months. Turns out she would never sleep in the nursery until she was 20 months old. In fact that cot I was so desperate for them to assemble had to be disassembled and re-assembled in our room when she out grew her crib but I still wanted her near.

Hey. we are all different that you may be gagging to get baby into their own room at 6 months, either way is fine, what I’m trying to say is don’t go over board and don’t sweat it too much. Get the essentials you’ll need. Crib, cot, sheets, something warm for them to sleep in. A baby monitor if you won’t be able to hear them all over the house (I brought one and never used it because I could always hear her loud, loud cry) and let the rest come when you realise what you need. Because otherwise your going to get annoyed at how cluttered things become quickly. There’s a fine line in having everything you need and over doing into so your over run with stuff. I would always rather have less stuff.

4. Think about using cloth nappies.

It may or may not be for you, but it could be worth giving it a try. Using cloth nappies is THE biggest way you can reduce you waste with a baby and has so many other benefits. But it is a lot to fork out on a full stash all at once. I got around this by slowly building a starter set to try out while I was pregnant. Every month, on pay day I would order a few things for baby and include 2-3 cloth nappies in this. I brought a few styles and brands. Once she was here I tried them all out on her and then ordered more of the ones I really liked. I had enough nappies to get by washing every other day, which was fine but it got easier as I slowly ordered more and had a bigger rotation.

Bambino Mio All in One. Zero waste tips for new mums

My mum also gave me some money to buy nappies with. We had been handed down so much, a crib, a cot, clothes. I had already brought out second hand pram but of course my parents wanted to contribute something towards the new baby as a present. Mum suggested she buy some of the nappies. This helped out with the cost a lot. Think about this if family want to help out or friends ask what they can buy you as a gift. I wish I had thought of asking friends for nappies too and not clothes as I ended up with over 50 baby grows. I know babies go through a lot but 50 is definitely over kill.

5. Ditch other disposables your told you need.

Disposable nappy changing mat? Disposable bibs? Yep, I was shocked too. These things do not make life easier and neither is there a hygiene reason for them so save your money and the environment and forget about them.

6. Invest in cloth wipes.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, cloth baby wipes are the best thing ever. Like really when someone gives me a disposable wipes I look it like an alien and wonder how on earth they clean up poop with one of those. Cloth wipes are softer, more grippy (if you know you know), natural, better for baby and probably one of the biggest money saving tips I can give you. Buy them once, I have around 50, costing me around £50’s from Cheeky Wipes, which is probably more than I’ll ever need, are you’ll be using them for years to come, probably until your baby grown up and leaving home. I’ll repurpose mine for washing make up off and cleaning.

7. Get ready with your breastfeeding support.

You may or may not want to breastfeed, and if you do it may not work out for you. If you do however there are lots of ways to keep it low waste. Breastmilk in itself comes packaged and ready to go. No need for extra gadgets. I’ll say that one way to prepare for breastfeeding if that’s what you want it is to not only read up on it while you pregnant but to have support ready and to know where to go for that support. You could read all the books in the world but if baby is struggling to latch and your struggling with exhaustion/ engorgement/post difficult birth its a physical person with knowledge that you’ll need to help you. Speak to your midwife about support before, ask for it in the hospital, be ready to except any support they give you even if that means an over night stay hospital so the midwives can be with you over night (which is what they offered me as they didn’t have the staff to come out and see me as they normally would) and have La Leche Leagues number in your phone ready for on the phone advice or to find one of their groups local to you. Find Le Leche League Support here. You local hospital will likely have a weekly support group meeting too so it’s worth asking about that before hand too.

For those of you that really do not like reaching out to others for help do not forget the power of the internet. I was recommended to try a certain position for feeding in the early days which I simply could not get my head around. So what did I do? Well I YouTubed it. Watched it over and over until I had mastered it without anyone else watching. And it worked, we got there in the end. Facebook groups for breastfeeding were also a great source of support.

The only other thing you’ll need for breastfeeding are breastpads, so of course it’s reusables I’m going to recommend. Also a great money saver and softer on those tender milk makers.

8. Get your comfy, breastfeeding friendly capsule wardrobe ready.

Now hopefully your breastfeeding journey has started off a good one or you’ve managed to get the right support, your going to want to be comfy, you’ll want that breastfeeding or not. There is nothing worse than opening your wardrobe to find it full of clothes that don’t currently fit you, and may never fit you again. Talk about forcing yourself to feel bad.

This might I add doesn’t mean you have to invest in a whole new wardrobe. Go through you clothes. Perhaps pack away some you know you won’t be wearing for a while. Pick out the items that are easy access to boobs, that are comfy but you still feel good in.

Now see what you’ve got and what you might need.

Now head to eBay. eBay is the best for maternity clothes. Maternity clothes are worn for such a short period of time you’ll find great quality stuff being sold. Look for things that can be worn beyond maternity, that will have room for a bump but look great afterward as well. Beyond 9 are a great brand this, all their stuff is breastfeeding friendly too but doesn’t look like maternity clothes.

Some maternity clothes are a total frump fest (I blame Jojo Mama Bebe for this) so don’t spend good money on things, second hand or not that you wouldn’t normally love. I feel like this is important. If you don’t like the fumpy stuff your wearing you’ll start to feel like you’ve lost yourself to motherhood. While motherhood is a wonderful thing it’s important to be you too.

9. Prime your friends and family.

Gently let your family and friends know that your striving for plastic free/zero waste/low waste/ ethical whatever angle your coming at this sustainable lifestyle from and you want to carry that on with baby. Remember what I said about the 50 baby grows (that’s not an exaggeration by the way, I counted many times.) They may not understand, they may not listen but you can plant a seed. When their shopping for you and your baby which they with inevitably do, they may think, oh yes she’ll like that plastic free teether, “it’s eco-friendly”.

10. Write your baby shower list.

Mother receiving plastic free gifts at a baby shower.

Or you could be more direct and just give them your baby shower list. I made the mistake of getting most things myself early on not thinking about my baby shower, or perhaps far to eager. Many of your may fall into this trap too especially when shopping second hand, you want to buy it now incase you can’t find more later on. But save some things for your baby shower. Cloth nappies being a good example.

For some more fun gifts think of what baby would like in the future too. Favorite books, a beautiful baby blanket, a memory book.

11. Zero waste post partum care.

Lastly one for Mum, or the birthing person. No-one really talks about postpartum care. I mean I knew I would need maternity pads and stuff, but had no idea how many and how long for… I got a shock.

Even if your not thinking from an environmental perspective I would highly recommend investing in some period pants. It’s not a waste of money if your don’t already have some because your going to probably use them once a month for many more years to come.

I was thinking about this recently. If I have another baby I would need some more period pants. But only ever use 2-3 at the beginning and end of my period so any extra I buy would be wasted. Then I thought, I’m going to be needing them for the next 15-20 years so actually unless I put on a lot of weight I can pack some away and use them when current ones wear out.

It’s also worth bearing in mind if you don’t want to hold on to them that you can sell them on to Facebook pages like CSP and Reusable Selling Pages, you can even buy them here if you want to save on money. You might be grossed out by that idea at first, “ewww second hand undies” but like with cloth nappies, when washing thoroughly at 60 degrees they are more than clean enough. Modern washing machines are highly efficient. Some even argue secondhand is actually cleaner because they have been washed more often and rid of the chemicals that coat them when first brought. Yeah I still can’t really get my head around that statement either but hey.

Hannah xx