Creating a lower-tox home doesn’t have to happen overnight. When we became parents, we quickly realized there were endless products marketed as “clean,” “natural,” or “non-toxic,” making it difficult to know where to start. Instead of trying to replace everything at once, we focused on the products our daughter uses every day—things like diapers, wipes, dishes, and clothing.
Over the past two years, we’ve tested a variety of baby and toddler products to find options that are practical, durable, and made with ingredients or materials we feel good about using in our home. In this post, I’m sharing 15 of our favorite low-tox swaps that have worked well for our family. Whether you’re building your baby registry, transitioning into the toddler years, or simply making a few healthier changes over time, I hope this list helps make the process feel a little easier.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through the links below, at no additional cost to you.
Thank you for supporting Jade + Sun Motherhood!
1. Diapers
Swap diapers made with fragrances, chlorine bleaching, and dyes for options that use ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free), TCF (Totally Chlorine Free), or cloth materials.
We loved the softness and adorable prints of the Nora’s Nursery cloth diapers. They worked wonderfully from birth through about 6 months and are a great option if you don’t mind adding an extra load or two of laundry each week.
Once life became busier with two full-time working parents, we switched to Huggies Skin Essentials. After trying several diaper brands—including some popular “non-toxic” options that unfortunately gave our daughter a rash—these have been the best fit for our family. They’re absorbent, fit well, and are made without many of the unnecessary ingredients found in traditional diapers.
2. Wipes
Baby wipes are one of the products you’ll use countless times every day, making them an easy place to reduce unnecessary ingredients.
Our favorite wipes during the baby stage were Ecowave wipes. They’re environmentally friendly, performed well, and were highly rated by a toxicologist I follow on YouTube for their ingredient safety. Plus, the colorful packaging is a fun bonus!
Now that we have a toddler, we’ve switched to Honest wipes. They’re still a great low-tox option, and we love the easy-open packaging and textured wipes that make messy diaper changes much easier.
3. Wooden Montessori Toys
One of the biggest Montessori principles is choosing toys that encourage learning and imagination instead of constant entertainment.
Our daughter naturally gravitates toward wooden, open-ended toys over loud, flashing plastic toys. These toys invite creativity, encourage longer independent play, and tend to grow with your child.
Another bonus? Quality wooden toys can last for generations. My sister and I still have our wooden horse stable and dollhouse from childhood, and we hope to pass them down to our own children someday.
4. Play gym
One of the baby items that gave us the most value was the Lovevery Play Gym.
Unlike many baby gyms that are quickly outgrown, this one grows alongside your child. Our daughter loved it from her first week home until around 15 months old. Once she outgrew the infant activities, we transformed the included cover into a play tent, giving it a whole new life.
5. Starting Solids? NumNum Sets Are a Game-Changer
When it was time to introduce solids around 6 months, the NumNum silicone bowls and spoons quickly became everyday favorites.
The suction bowls stayed securely attached to the high chair tray, helping prevent spills while our daughter learned to feed herself. We’re still using the bowls nearly two years later.
The spoons lasted until about 12 months before our enthusiastic little chewer started biting through them, but we were able to save a few for future children and would happily purchase them again.
6. Stainless Steel Utensils
Replacing plastic utensils with stainless steel is one of the easiest low-tox kitchen swaps.
I love knowing I can put them in the dishwasher without worrying about heated plastic coming into contact with my toddler’s food. They’re durable, easy to clean, and should last for years.
7. Stainless Steel Owala Straw Cups
If you’re transitioning away from bottles or breastfeeding, consider skipping traditional sippy cups altogether and going straight to a straw cup.
We introduced the Owala stainless steel straw cups around 10–11 months and have loved them ever since. They’re spill-resistant, insulated, dishwasher-safe (top rack), and still look great after countless washes with no peeling.
8. Elk and Friends Stainless Steel Cups
By now you’ve probably noticed a theme—we’re big fans of stainless steel!
These cups are perfect for smoothies, milk, or water and have become some of our most-used toddler cups. They clean up beautifully in the dishwasher and make excellent backups whenever our Owala cups are dirty.
9. Moonkie Plates
After trying several suction plates, Moonkie has easily become our favorite.
The suction is stronger than the other brands we’ve tested, they hold a generous amount of food, and they’re available in several beautiful colors. They’re also dishwasher-safe, making cleanup quick and easy.
10. Burt’s Bees Baby & Toddler Clothes
If you’re looking for soft, organic cotton clothing, Burt’s Bees Baby is hard to beat.
Their clothes are made from 100% organic cotton and have consistently been some of the softest we’ve owned. We love that they offer everything from newborn sleepers to toddler outfits, making them easy to continue buying as your child grows.
Even better, many of the hand-me-down pieces we received still looked nearly new after multiple children had worn them. Frequent sales also make this one of the more affordable organic clothing brands.
11. Elk and Friends Glass Food Storage
These glass food containers have become one of the hardest-working items in our kitchen.
We’ve used them for homemade baby purees, toddler lunches, leftovers, and quick microwave meals. Because they’re made from glass with silicone lids, I feel much better heating food in them than plastic containers.
They’re dishwasher-safe and durable enough that I expect we’ll be using them for many years.
12. Puracy Baby Stain Remover
Babies and toddlers are experts at creating stains.
After trying several popular stain removers, Puracy consistently performed the best while also using gentler ingredients. It has rescued countless outfits that I thought were ruined and has become a permanent part of our laundry routine.
13. Molly’s Suds Laundry Detergent
Laundry detergent is another easy place to reduce unnecessary fragrances and harsh ingredients.
We’ve been using Molly’s Suds Unscented Powder Detergent and have been very happy with it. The fragrance-free formula works well on our family’s laundry while being gentle enough for sensitive skin.
14. Owala Stainless Steel Kids Tumbler
This tumbler goes almost everywhere with us.
We especially love using it at the beach because the covered straw helps keep sand away from the mouthpiece. It’s also come with us to the pool, zoo, museums, road trips, and visits to Grandma’s house. The insulation keeps drinks cold for hours, making it one of our favorite on-the-go toddler essentials.
15. Elk and Friends Stainless Steel Snack Cups
This is one of the most-used items in our kitchen.
We introduced these snack cups around 12 months to encourage more independence during snack time. They’re durable, dishwasher-safe, and help contain messes while still allowing little hands easy access to snacks.
It’s one of those products we reach for every single day.
Creating a lower-tox home is a journey, not something that has to happen all at once. Even swapping just one or two everyday products can make a meaningful difference over time, and there’s no “perfect” way to do it. Every family has different priorities, budgets, and lifestyles, so choose the changes that make the most sense for yours.
I hope this list gives you a few ideas for simple, practical swaps that have genuinely worked well for our family. If you have a favorite low-tox baby or toddler product that we should try, I’d love to hear about it in the comments! And if you found this guide helpful, be sure to save it to Pinterest so you can easily come back to it whenever you’re ready for your next home swap.