I recently told you about our washable diaper routine with Ysé and how it is managed on a daily basis. Nothing too bad in the end, just a question of organization and changing habits.
By the way, if you’re interested, today marks the start of the washable diaper week (yes, it exists, from April 29 to May 5!) and the new brand of washable diapers that we use, namely Bambino Mio, is offering -20% on their entire site. If you’re tempted to get a new one, now’s the time!
If you haven’t followed the why and how we switched from the Hamac brand to the Bambino Mio brand at 6 1/2 months, I’ll tell you more about it here when I give you an update on the use of the Bambino Mio.
So to go further in our feedback on our daily zero waste with Ysé, I suggest today to tell you about our diaper care and eye care / nose washing routine.
As with washable diapers, it’s just a matter of changing habits and changing consumption patterns. And you’ll see that your baby doesn’t need all those toxic products I was talking about in my previous article.
CHANGING CARE
During Ysé’s first months we had a bottle of Babyléna brand liniment. Bought in a hurry just before going to the maternity ward, the stuff lasted us several months.
Very good composition, however not very zero waste in its large plastic bottle. So as it had been initially planned, we made our own liniment. And it’s super easy!
This way we know what we are putting on his bottom and can make the recipe without generating plastic waste. I know that it is possible to use only water for changing (that’s what we do when we pee) and for many people it works really well. For us, to loosen the stools it was not enough. The liniment is therefore essential for the moment. We will see later if we can make our routine even more minimalist and only use water.
Homemade liniment recipe
— olive oil (organic preferably, sunflower or rapeseed oil can do the trick)
— lime water (ask at the pharmacy counter, in a glass bottle)
— beeswax or soy wax (I recovered some soy wax that was left over from my homemade candles from our wedding!)
— vitamin E or grapefruit seed extract (for storage longer than 15 days)
— a pump bottle
— a whisk or a fork
— a funnel
First of all, wash your hands, the pump bottle, the funnel and the whisk/fork. I personally wash everything with white vinegar.
In a large bowl, put the olive oil (100 ml, 200 ml, 300 ml…your choice) then put it in a bain-marie. Add 2 tablespoons of wax (this will prevent the oil and lime water from separating). Let the wax melt in the oil without boiling the mixture.
Once melted, remove the bowl from the bain-marie. Add the same amount of lime water as you put olive oil and whisk with a fork/whisker until perfectly mixed. You should get a slightly thickened liquid mixture. If too thick it will not pass through the tube of your pump bottle, prefer it rather liquid.
To keep it for more than 15 days without it turning, add 4 drops of a natural preservative such as vitamin E or grapefruit seed extract. Not mandatory but recommended.
Pour everything into the bottle using the funnel. And that’s it, it’s done!
On Instagram I was also told about an even easier version where you put half oil and half lime water in your bottle and shake.
The mixture separates but you just have to shake the bottle at each change to get it back to perfect.
Personally, it annoyed me to have to shake it every time I change it, so I prefer the full recipe, but I think it’s an excellent option to make things easier!!
Washable cottons
Used since the beginning, washable cotton pads are used for everything: changing, cleaning eyes, cleaning dirty hands, runny noses, etc.
We wash them at 40 degrees with washing powder with the washable diapers and that saves us a mountain of waste. Considering the speed at which they go back into the wash barely dry, it would have made bins full of disposable cottons!
Just one point: washing washable cottons is no less eco-friendly than throwing away disposable cottons under the pretext that we use water to wash them. The production of disposable cottons is a huge consumer of water, it is a real ecological aberration. Not to mention the pesticides used to grow the plant, then the transport and transformation into everyday products.
Using washable cotton pads or even washcloths is a small everyday gesture that has a big impact.
And if you’re handy, it’s super easy to make with an old towel and some fabric scraps. We have some from the brand Les Tendances d’Emma (which we only use for saddles), from Kufu and from a designer on Etsy called Mimi and Cookie.
And in pu
EYE CARE AND NOSE WASH
Our daughter was born with a blocked tear duct in her left eye and we have to wait until she is 1 year old before deciding whether or not to operate. So, we know all about cleaning her eyes all the time! Waste from saline pipettes too!! We tried to use only water to minimise waste but it irritated her and wasn’t enough to clean the sometimes infected discharge…
So we agreed to spend our time messing up plastic micro pipettes… Then I asked in the pharmacy if there were any solutions and they told me about the big 1L glass bottles of saline solution. But why don’t they talk about it more? “For business, ma’am!” they replied…
In fact, a 1L bottle costs €6 and a box of pipettes is equivalent to around €4 for 200ml, or €20 per litre…
So I questioned myself with professionals from the medical profession on the notion of hygiene and sterility of the product. 2 sides of the story: “wow, it’s dangerous, don’t do that, it’s not hygienic” versus “there’s no problem as long as you don’t put anything contagious in it, like a pipette or your finger for example”.
You know me, so I opted for the second version 😉
To use the physiological serum in a glass bottle, you need a pipette to take the product and put it on a cotton pad or to directly clean the nose, for example.
We are not going to put the cotton in the neck to avoid the transmission of potential bacteria in the serum. Also remember to clean the pipette after each use to avoid soaking its tip full of microbes in the serum, which would make the product no longer sterile and hygienic!
Regarding nose blowing, after trying saline pipettes directly in the nose or the classic baby nose cleaner with disposable tips (what a pain…) I came across the little bulb from Green Sprouts .
Washable with warm water and soap, it can either suck the liquid from baby’s nose or, by filling it with saline solution, clean baby’s nose in enema mode. This little object is a miracle!! And so much more economical (€6.50 please)!
After 7 months of life, we can finally say that we have achieved zero waste with Ysé at home, by eliminating disposable diapers, commercial baby care products, saline pipettes, disposable cotton pads, the baby nose cleaner and its disposable tips. And we have made great savings! So even if you don’t want to do everything, picking up one or two ideas will already have a great impact on your baby’s health and on the environment. There are no small gestures when there are thousands of us doing it!
