Being sustainable in every aspect of ones life seems to be the ultimate millennial goal, as of the last few years. Whether it would be having the newest organic face cream, spirulina powder in your morning smoothie or ditching single-use plastic - we have all heard about it, and want to help the planet to variating degrees. Anna Kjær Voss is a woman on an inspiring journey - especially after becoming a new mother. We have been lucky enough to have her write about her thoughts, feelings and tips on ways in which every new parent can rethink the pregnancy advertisements and start their eco-friendly journey for themselves, their baby and the planet.

When you get pregnant for the first time you are at the beginning of a fantastic journey, but you are also initiated into a new world of equipment and consumption of things that you might never have heard of and never knew that you needed for you and the coming baby. Unfortunately. So this will be my attempt to give you some tips on how to approach pregnancy with focus on minimal waste and sustainable consumption.

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Taking care of yourself and the coming baby

During my pregnancy I tried to focus on well-being for myself and the baby. Especially in the last trimester (last three months) where my energy was low because of a heavy body and nights of poor sleep. So I was doing slow slow pregnancy yoga twice a week with the most wonderful yoga teacher, and attended private prenatal classes since the public hospital only offers 2 x 2 hour lectures in an auditorium with about a hundred other couples. This is more or less how I tried to prepare my mind, body and intuition for giving birth.

Generally I tried to listen to my body and lie down and rest whenever it told me to, but that is actually not as easy as it sounds - at least not for me. I had and still have a hard time accepting not being able to do the things I could before. While I was pregnant it was physical things like biking - I had to stop biking three weeks before my due-date, because I was so out of breath. Doing practical stuff at home and hanging out with friends and family was also too exhausting in the last couple of months, because I often was too tired. And after my daughter Alberte was born it is hard to find the time for cooking, practicing my camera skills and other small projects. Taking care of a baby is very time consuming - but there is a lot of moments that is worth it all.

If you have the money to spend, I can warmly recommend pregnancy yoga, massages, zone therapy, footbaths and other treats for your body. What is good for you and help you relax is also good for the baby, and if it strengthens your body for and/or helps you relax during labour, it is definitely worth it.

Maternity clothing

Most of the clothes I wore during my pregnancy was swapped at the collective wardrobe concept that is a part of the sustainable shop Less A Fair. And some of my maternity clothing was just my regular clothing and then I borrowed some maternity pants from one of my friends and bought a pair or two secondhand. In my experience maternity pants are indispensable pretty early on. Even though you can’t really see the belly growing, you can feel the waistband getting tighter. I also began to wear nursing bras instead of my regular bras pretty early on in my maternity, because my breasts also began to grow during the pregnancy.

Baby gear - what to buy

Don’t go out and buy all the baby or maternity stuff you think you need at once. When you need it along the way you can always buy it. That is at least what we did. You also often get a lot of gifts for the baby from your friends and family.

When it comes to baby gear my husband and me have tried to buy a lot of the stuff second hand. In Denmark there is a really good app called Reshopper where people sell all kinds of stuff for babies, children and maternity. Everything from baby clothing to toys and strollers to nursing bras. But some of the baby things we bought, we either couldn’t find used or we simply wanted to be new like the mattress for Albertes bed. When we bought something from new we tried to get the sustainable or organic version. It is always good to look out for the GOTS certification.

What I would have liked to know before giving birth

Breastfeeding is not just easy peasy - at least it wasn’t for me. Me and my daughter, Alberte, really had to practice our teamwork and I was in tears every time I breastfeed her for the first 3-4 weeks because the nipples had to harden as the nurse said. But after a couple of months we got the routine for that I am very grateful. Many babies and mothers just can’t get the breastfeeding to work and even though formula can be a good alternative, it’s a bit more time consuming than breastfeeding with all the bottle that has to be cleaned. But the upside to formula is that both parents can feed the baby from day one.
That you can get problems with your digestive system once you begin to take iron supplements which is recommended during your pregnancy - at least in Denmark. So I can warmly recommend that you start eating prunes or other foods that are good for digestion, if you start taking iron supplements.

Most babies eat every third hour. Also during the night.

Don’t have too many expectations regarding giving birth, but be prepared - you never know how it will play out. But it is an incredible experience and I would do it again even though giving birth to Alberte was nowhere near a walk in the park.