I had no idea.

I find myself saying that often. What about you? I often take things for granted. Everyone else does it, so it must be safe.

I end up saying “how can this be happening?”

I think that we all like to swim in a blissful pool of ignorance. Who really wants to know about all of the chemicals we are bringing into our home, and subsequently putting into our body?

Which is where I begin today.

Babies are ultrasensitive to chemicals as all of their little organs are still developing. Therefore, before we even thought about getting pregnant, I worried about the environment that we would be raising baby in. It can really be quite scary.

So tonight, I start my blog with our crib choice for baby Terra. We wanted something that didn’t emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and something that didn’t use formaldehyde. Did you click on either of the links? Did you read that some VOCs are known to cause cancer in humans, and most cause cancer in animals? And formaldehyde: may cause cancer. Really? Are you kidding me? Nearly all furniture has both. And Dad- formaldehyde is not preserving you in a good way!

Now I realize one eco-friendly choice is to re-use furniture. Depending on its age, it may also even be done emitting most of those nasty VOCs, but I still worry about the baby chewing on the finish and ingesting nasty chemicals. Also, given that cribs with a drop-side were recently recalled- it is hard to find a used crib that doesn’t have a drop-side.

So ALAS –

We chose the Argington Bam crib for many reasons. Aesthetically, it was definitely not my first choice. Not even my second or third choice. And we would have preferred something made in the U.S., and the Argington is not. However, the Argington is extremely practical and ECONOMICAL – one of the more important factors for us right now. I wanted the baby to sleep in our room for the first few months, and so I also looked at several bassinets. I was left unimpressed with nearly everything available. SO, we got both for the price of one with the Argington. They use sustainably harvested wood, guarantee low VOCs and zero formaldehyde emissions.

I had lots of other favorite cribs, but I think these two below made by Young America were my favorites. The cribs are Greenguard Certified, and are made in Virgina and North Carolina.

Another post to follow with other great healthy options!