Low Carbon: Bringing up baby - The eco way

"The first step in raising your child to be eco-friendly is to be eco-friendly yourself," says Tiffany Washko, a mother of three who runs a website devoted to "natural family living" called Nature Moms (www.naturemoms.com).

"You can tell your child to respect the environment as much as you want, but you're not going to get anywhere if you don't practice what you preach."

But Claire Gillman, mother of two and author of A Green Guide To Bringing Up Your Baby (£16.99, published by CICO, available in September), disagrees.

"Becoming a parent is probably the biggest life change you will ever experience and, it seems to me, a wonderful opportunity to re-evaluate the way you live your life," she says.

"If you are not already an active and ardent eco-enthusiast, now is the perfect time to start embracing a more natural way of life."

Eating right

Getting your baby to eat well has to come from you first, says Anna Rosier of Organix (www.organix.com), an organic food range for kids.

"It's a parent's responsibility to educate their children where food comes from, but they have to know it themselves and that's the challenge," she explains.

"If they don't eat well, they won't pass it on to their children."

That might sound like finger-wagging but, for many mums, it might be a good wake-up call.

The truth is that once the little one is able to move on to meals beyond breastmilk, fruit and veg (in pureed form) is the best thing for baby, as is keeping him away from additives, E numbers and sugars, which will help keep his moods - and weight - in check.

Organix's fruit purees are sweetened with apple juice (not sugar), and its savoury meals contain wholesome foods like organic sweet potato, pear and pea - sure to get your little one understanding what it means to eat healthily.

As you have a healthy fix of some fresh fruit yourself, you can peruse the website's recipes and meal planner - helpful for making meal time easy.

Nappy aware

They might be the easy option, but UK landfills are currently groaning under the 700 million tonnes of nappy waste a year.

By opting for reusable nappies instead of disposables, you'll not only help the environment, you'll also save around £500 over the course of your baby's nappy needs.

The campaign Go Real (www.goreal.org.uk) has all the information you could possibly want on the subject, plus details of where and what to buy. If you do have to use disposables, try Bambo Nature's chemical and bleach-free range, available from Naturebotts (www.naturebotts.co.uk).

A stockpile of baby wipes will also be key. Natracare's range of organic cotton baby wipes (www.natracare.com) are a godsend to any parent.

Infused with organic apricot oil, chamomile and linden - instead of toxic and hormone-disrupting synthetic chemicals - they're also made of pesticide-free cotton, practically a novelty in the babycare department.

If you can't get organic cotton wipes, try always to aim for unscented ones: it will cut down on the chemicals and perfumes your baby comes into contact with, keeping his skin and immune system healthier.

And what about that dreaded nappy rash? Well, by avoiding disposable nappies, you can pretty much kiss it goodbye. Allowing the baby's skin some time to breathe between nappies will help as well.

Bathtime

When it comes to washing your baby, less is more. While we adults like to lather up with scented soaps and dry off with luscious lotions, the only thing your baby will need - for a while, at least - is a bath of warm water.

Most commercial soaps contain harsh detergents and perfumes that can upset your baby's skin, causing redness and rashes, and can even lead to eczema.

Choosing an eco-friendly washing powder will also help. Ecover's laundry detergent is a good choice and available nationwide in most supermarkets.

Mineral oil is a big no-no (avoid baby oil, as it dries out skin), so aim for gentle wash and lotion brands such as Green People and Earth Friendly (from www.naturebotts.co.uk) or Green Baby (www.greenbaby.co.uk).

Getting snuggly

Most baby clothes are made of cotton - but did you know that cotton is the most polluting crop in the world?

Sprayed every year with a quarter of the whole world's pesticides, cotton is then dyed with synthetic chemical dyes, further adding to its toxicity, says the UK's Pesticide Action Network (www.pan-uk.org).

What goes unsaid is that the tricky toxins don't come off in the wash, nor do the toxic chemicals in the dye fade over time.

As skin is the largest organ in our body, ensuring that your baby's clothes are free from any toxicity will help maintain his health: pesticides have been linked to respiratory problems like asthma and skincare complaints like eczema.

Dress your little one up in organic cotton from sites like Eco Baby (www.ecobaby.co.uk) and Green Baby (www.greenbaby.co.uk), winner of this year's Prima Baby Best Eco Range award.

Long-time favourite Naturebotts (www.naturebotts.co.uk) also sells organic cotton clothing and bedding, and offers free delivery on orders over £60.

Bedside reading

Children's books used to concern imaginary monsters and ghosts. Now the monster is a real threat called climate change, and authors are keen to educate kids on how to deal with an uncertain future.

Gil Johnson's Monkey Lou And The Storm Baby (£5.99, published by Troubador) is one such tale. Following the loveable superhero Lou through the African Plains, baby learns all about the dangers of deforestation and the consequences for endangered species in the wild.

If baby is the newest addition to the family, perhaps a good way to get him thinking green is to get an older child to read him some bedtime stories.

A nice place to start is Will Jellyfish Rule The World? (£6.99, published by Puffin), by the Guardian's eco expert Leo Hickman.

Aimed at the over-eights, the book is packed full of wacky (but true) stories about our world, such as the fact that lizards once sunbathed in Antarctica.

If you need more reasons why sustainability is a subject that you need to teach your child, get your hands on Richard Louv's Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder (£12.99, published by Atlantic, available July 10).

Raising our children "without meaningful contact with the natural world" is leading to epidemic obesity, isolation and childhood depression, Louv argues - things any parent would rightfully seek to avoid.