Published: July 03, 2008 02:00 pm      

LIFESTYLE: Parents turn green for babies

Forget Al Gore. The people responsible for getting many people to “go green” are much younger — about 60 years younger.

Babies are prompting parents who never considered themselves especially eco-conscious to start stocking up on green baby products, from cloth diapers to organic baby food and clothing to all-natural lotions and ointments.

After Jena Richter, 22, became pregnant, she decided to use cloth diapers after she read about the chemicals that some disposable diapers contain and how they may take hundreds of years to break down in landfills.

Then the Sharonville, Ohio, resident started eating organic food to avoid pesticides. Now she spends about two hours once a week making baby food, often with vegetables from her garden, for 6-month-old Eden.

She dresses Eden only in 100 percent cotton clothing, preferably organic. And the whole family uses personal care and cleaning products that contain as few ingredients as possible, preferably natural ones.

“Before all this,” Richter says, “we didn’t even recycle.”

Babies “R” Us has increased its stores’ inventory of natural and organic items over the past two years to more than 300 separate products. It carried just a few dozen items only a few years ago.

The retailer reports an increase in baby registries that include organic food, organic cotton clothing, natural bedding and environmentally friendly cleaners.

“I wouldn’t call this a trend. This is definitely a lifestyle change,” says Babies “R” Us spokeswoman Jamie Beal.

“Six years ago, it was kind of unheard of to use cloth diapers, and people thought you were a weirdo,” says 30-year-old Donye Cortese of Mount Auburn, Ohio, of the time when her oldest child was born. “Then it kind of seemed like the whole green thing became easier to do.”

The dizzying array of green products at specialty stores, major retailers and online prompted 25-year-old Suzanne Istvan of Oakley, Ohio, to start www.greenmommyguide.com, which contains articles and reviews of various green products.

Istvan never thought she’d be a mom who cared about organic baby food, sustainable materials and cloth diapers, until she found out how easy it was to integrate eco-friendly options into her life.

“I really wanted to spread the word to other moms that you don’t have to be ’crunchy’ to be green,” Istvan says.

For many parents, little changes do lead to entire lifestyle overhauls.

Ronita Farria of Kenwood, Ohio, a 24-year-old mother of a 2 and one-half-year-old and a newborn, says her older son’s asthma and allergies prompted her to start using nontoxic, more earth- and people-friendly medicines and products.

Now, Farria and partner Scott Dean buy food at farmers’ markets, get baby and household items through Craigslist and Freecycle, combine car trips, use energy-efficient light bulbs and are trying to get their condo association to start a recycling program.

But doesn’t going green cost more? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Farria says natural products can be more expensive, but they tend to last, and she’s mindful of how much she uses.

Parents who use cloth diapers say it’ll save them money in the long run. Istvan paid $300 for diapers that she hopes will last until her son is potty-trained. She would have spent the same amount for just six months’ worth of disposable diapers, she says.

Whether parents’ motivation is saving money or the planet, it doesn’t matter, Istvan says. “The end result is good for everyone.”