The first year of a child's life can cost parents up to around €17,000, a value 8% higher than just two years ago, according to the latest estimates from Federconsumatori.
A wasteful family spends on trivial things from a minimum of 2,095 euros to 5,256 euros for their baby up to two years of age (producing a large amount of waste), a 'green' family instead spends from 59 to 264 euros saving up to 95 % and producing minimal waste.
The comparison was made by Lisa Casali, environmental scientist and representative for Italy at the Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission, blogger, writer (and Filippo's mother) in the new manual 'Green parents and happy children.
Manual for living with zero impact with a baby (saving money)' (Gribaudo publisher).
For further information ANSA Agency Dear newborn, shopping is moving online in search of savings - Teen - Ansa.it The first year of life can cost up to 17 thousand euros.
Most purchased strollers and diapers (ANSA)
How can you save money and reduce the environmental impact of your new baby on the way?
How to save money and reduce the environmental impact of the unborn child?
“Do I buy it or not buy it?”
It is one of the most recurring questions of future and new parents (and grandparents, relatives and friends) increasingly solicited by commercials and specialized shop assistants who invite you to fill your home with useless baby products and accessories.
However, parents are also increasingly careful to save money and avoid waste while also respecting the environment, so much so that
collective purchasing movements and groups and neighborhood second-hand shops
(from clothes to prams) are multiplying with second-hand which allows you to save an average of 55 to 62% on the final expenditure (according to Federconsumatori).
There is no shortage of groups on social media that report discounts, offers and initiatives in the '
baby swap party'
style (for the exchange of clothes and accessories between mothers and fathers).
Online shopping
is also increasing
(where, again according to the calculations of the consumer association, for the maintenance of a child in the first year of life you save from 29% to 34% of expenses - not considering the costs relating to basic necessities like diapers whose VAT is ready to rise to 10% instead of 5%).
There is no shortage of books, manuals and blogs by expert mothers who offer tricks and strategies to be able to spend less, also eliminating what pollutes and taking care of the environment.
“
Saving
even by giving up the superfluous
can be complicated but not impossible
,” explains Lisa Casali.
– There are some practical ways to do this, while keeping an eye on the environment.
Having a clear idea of what you need,
making a list
of what you intend to buy and what you want to buy used instead and
staying away from those shops that sell everything and more for babies is the first step
."
Casali explains the practical strategies (from pregnancy to baby) to be a parent who is attentive to your wallet and the environment with detailed and enlightening examples.
What does a new mother really need?
What you can avoid buying
To eliminate the superfluous, you must first ask yourself
what the new mother really needs
to satisfy her needs in the days following childbirth.
Casali answers without any doubt: "instead of spending on the superfluous, we would need help with household chores and cooking, so that we can dedicate ourselves exclusively to our baby and, if possible, rest.
So have the courage to ask for help and don't expect to do everything alone."
Furthermore, a possible psychological assistance from experts is felt necessary, to avoid isolating herself and taking care of all the tasks alone, in addition to taking care of the little one.
“There are also specific support programs for new mothers offered by healthcare facilities, which offer various types of intervention.
In numerous clinics and associations you can join postpartum and breastfeeding support groups.
These courses allow, in addition to immediate help, also access to other social and health services, where a more specific intervention is necessary, which adapts to the needs of the mother and her family” explains Casali.
The expert continues with a long list of
what you can avoid buying
and dispelling useless and even dangerous common myths and beliefs.
Including fixation for sterilizing pacifiers, bottles and so on.
“The mania for sanitizing, disinfecting and sterilizing is quite widespread in our country, but for the most part these are beliefs without scientific foundations.
In reality, these mostly involve unnecessary costs, waste of natural resources and polluting emissions that could be avoided.
In fact, at home, and for all objects used for the baby, with the exception of bottles and pacifiers for the first few months, normal hygiene is more than sufficient.
Excessive hygiene and the abuse of disinfectant products can, on the contrary, promote phenomena of bacterium resistance and negatively influence the development of normal immune defenses in the child".
How are baby products sterilized?
As Unicef also recommends, that is, boiling them in a saucepan with water for 10 minutes, without buying ad hoc products.
“The purchase of a sterilizer should be avoided, as is the use of chemical products that normally contain chlorhexidine which has a negative impact on the environment and could create bacterial resistance” underlines Casali.
If
breastfeeding certainly remains the cheapest, healthiest choice with zero environmental impact
(Casali explains why all new mothers can do it with the right support, dispelling hard-to-die beliefs), even the "debut" at the baby (
pre-weaning)
it is accompanied by a long list of products, accessories and gadgets that are not always useful and which can actually prove to be an unnecessary risk for the child's health.
Unless there are specific medical prescriptions, among the useless shopping Casali mentions the so-called
'baby food' (
such as baby food, ready-made baby food, rice cream, tapioca, biscuits - yoghurt and fruit purees for babies) followed by disposable bibs, fruit pacifiers , containers, thermos, baby food cookers, sets of saucers and cutlery, granular herbal teas for babies, seats to attach to the table and high chairs (not second hand).
These are some of the well-reasoned tips to open the eyes of even the most distracted parents to what is indispensable and what is not, also in the name of reducing the impact of waste on the environment around us.
The decalogue to reduce environmental impact with children
For further information Agenzia ANSA From the bedroom to the parties, a decalogue for making the green conversion with children - Society and Rights - Ansa.it Being sustainable for the love of children and their future (ANSA)
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA