Your baby’s lovey will be their sidekick for several years, potentially. When it comes to what is the best fabric for a baby lovey, the answer is, hands down, GOTS (global organic textile standard) certified organic cotton!
Many babies love to chew on and suck on lovies (mine sure did!), so it’s a good idea to think about what the lovey is made out of and even what it is stuffed with. There are lots of organic cotton lovies stuffed with polyester, but there are only a few options that contain organic or an organic cotton blend filling.
While not everything can be perfectly safe, this is an item that I wish I had put more thought into when my babies were babies. My daughter chewed through the feet of her elephant Wubbanub more times than I can count. Thank goodness gramma was really good at sewing patches on those feet.
The Trouble with Most Lovies
Cheap lovies are often made from minky fabric, which is just a fancy type of polyester. Polyester is a form of plastic that is derived from petroleum, which isn’t the best choice for babies.
100% cotton lovies are a step in the right direction, but even those may be dyed with ingredients that aren’t skin-friendly and harm the environment. Fabric dyes can contain heavy metals and other toxins that are not only unhealthy for us but downright harmful to the workers in that industry.
Fabric dyes pollute ground water, which is a big problem for countries like China where much of this industry is located. Thanks to basic supply and demand, we now have lots of healthier and safer baby options including GOTS certified organic cotton.
What is GOTS Certified Organic Cotton?
Only natural fabrics like cotton, linen, etc. are eligible for a Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification, and the process is extensive, which you can read about using the link if you like.
GOTS is the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibers, including ecological and social criteria. This is an independent certification that must be sought out within the textile industry.
With a focus on sustainability, GOTS evaluates the processing and manufacturing of textiles on the basis of both, environmental and social criteria. This includes assessments on the chemical inputs as well as the ethical treatment of workers. All criteria must be met to obtain a GOTS certification.
The GOTS standard extends to the processing, manufacturing, packaging, labelling, trading and distribution of all textiles made from at least 70% certified organic fibers. There are two options for GOTS labels: “organic” requiring a minimum of 95% organic fibers and “made with organic materials” requiring at least 70% organic fibers.
GOTS certified organic cotton is the most stringent certification for textiles. Because of this, products that don the label often cost significantly more than those without. If you are on a strict budget, an OEKO-TEX certification is another safer option.
OEKO-TEX Certification
The Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX certification can be given to most any fabric including polyester/microfiber as long as it tests free of a long list of toxins that have been deemed particularly harmful to humans.
OEKO-TEX is one of the world’s best-known labels for harmful substance testing in textiles. The label ensures that every component of an item is tested and ensured to contain no or only trace amounts of certain toxins.
Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX has four level options depending on the purpose of the textile. For example, if fabric is intended for a shower curtain, it will have a higher threshold for toxins than a baby blanket.
Lovies would fall into the lowest threshold category since they come in close contact with baby.
3 Options for GOTS Certified Organic Cotton Lovies
Under the Nile
Under the Nile lovies are made of 100% organic Egyptian Cotton, certified by GOTS and the Gold Seal of authentic Egyptian Cotton. The stuffing is 100% organic cotton making them safe for little mouths to chew on.
Pottery Barn Kids
Pottery Barn lovies are made from 100% organic cotton and transfer knit with 100% cotton embroidered ears, eye, nose and mouth facial details. They are filled with 50% recycled polyester and 50% organic cotton.
The lining of this sweet bear is 100% organic cotton. Pottery Barn products support Better Cotton’s mission.
The entire product is OEKO-TEX® Certified. These make great choices for little ones!
ETSY
There are several options for sweet cotton lovies on Etsy. Some of them don’t have super thorough descriptions, so you may need to send them a message and ask for additional details. One that looked like a great option to me is the Muslin Cotton Bunny Rabbit Lovey by GraceAndGraham.
There are many other promising options as well!
What is the Best Fabric for a Baby Lovey?
Hopefully one of these GOTS certified organic cotton lovies will work for you. A lovey that is OEKO-TEX certified is a better choice than no certification at all. Any type of cotton is usually a better choice than polyester.
If you have a little one on the way, be sure to check out my related post, Non-Toxic balls for Baby.
