9541 Ridgehaven Ct.
San Diego, CA 92123
Becoming a parent brings out the paranoia in all of us. Before kids, you scoffed at the flu shot. Now you're calling all around town to find the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines for the whole family. Even before his or her birth, you probably also started worrying about all the household chemicals your little one might be exposed to. You don't know exactly what they might do, but now you're willing to spend a little extra money "just in case".
GOOD: Pure-Rest & Ecobaby Organics is a local, family-owned business that caters to that strong urge to go all organic when it comes to your baby. They sell mostly baby mattresses (made of organic cotton, wool, and natural latex), clothes, towels, and blankets manufactured and sewn on site in Kearny Mesa. Ecobaby has a zero tolerance for chemicals like formaldehyde, toluene, and phenols in their products and even in the construction of their building. In fact, they take organic and allergen-free so seriously that they only hire employees who use fragrance-free beauty products and come from a smoke-free home.
BAD: Not to sound like a broken record, but price is a major issue here. A few extra bucks doesn't seem like a big deal when it's an occasional meal in a restaurant or a nice box of chocolates, but $10-18 for one little shirt that your kid will only wear for a few weeks before it's torn, stained, and too small? Even though that's generally less than you would spend on organic clothing at Babies R Us, there's no way most people could afford a completely organic baby wardrobe. As for the mattresses, it sounds nice to be chemical-free, but is wool really a safe alternative to chemical fire retardants?
RECOMMENDATIONS: If you can afford it, spend the extra money on a crib mattress, bedding, and sleepwear for your baby - that's where they are most of the time. In comparison, babies only spend a short amount of time in each of those cute onesies before they're covered in food and/or poop.
BOTTOM LINE: 4 Stars ****
SGSD is glad places like this exist, but the prohibitively high cost goes against our goal of making green shopping more realistic for those of us who care about the environment, but also need to consider cost and convenience.
SGSD is glad places like this exist, but the prohibitively high cost goes against our goal of making green shopping more realistic for those of us who care about the environment, but also need to consider cost and convenience.
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