New eco-friendly baby store opens in Shreveport
Ark-La-Tex parents now have a place to purchase eco-friendly baby products and cloth diapers for their children.
Hippie Baby opened Nov. 15 in the Red River District at 450 Clyde Fant Parkway, Suite 800. “We stock several different brands of cloth diapers and several different types of cloth diapers. We also have natural baby products such as organic toys, wooden toys, organic skin care products, teething solution, lactation support and baby wearing. Basically everything you couldn’t get in Shreveport before,” Hippie Baby owner Courtney Gaston said.
Gaston came upon the idea when she was pregnant.
“We went to a store in Denver at Christmas last year when I was pregnant and it was amazing. It was like the Mecca of every baby product that I had wanted to buy and couldn’t buy at home. We were super concerned about chemicals and the type of fabric that was going to be up against our baby’s skin at the time. It was very important to us,” she said. “When we were looking onto our options, I stumbled onto cloth diapers. I didn’t really know anyone who was cloth diapering when I was researching it.”
Gaston said the benefits of cloth diapering not only make a difference on your checkbook, but also help the environment.
“You can save around $2,000 per child using cloth diapers, and on top of that you keep about one ton of trash out of the landfill by using cloth diapers. Each baby in disposables creates one ton of trash,” Gaston said. “Even when you factor in the washing of cloth diapers, you are still using less water than you would be with disposables considering the production of disposables. So the production of disposables is very wasteful, the use of disposables is very wasteful, it doesn’t mean they don’t have their place – obviously there are situations where cloth diapers don’t work very well such as traveling and things like that. But most of the time cloth diapering is quite easy.”
Cloth diapering has evolved over the years.
“If you’re trying to save money, it’s best to invest in your own stash of cloth diapers. You launder them like you would pretty much anything else. If you think that somehow you think by using disposables you aren’t going to have to deal with baby poop, you are sorely mistaken!” Gaston said. “They have totally redesigned the cloth diaper. We still have the traditional cloth diaper which you would use the diaper pin that’s a prefold diaper that has the little plastic cover that goes over it. They have actually invented something to replace safety pins that just snaps across the front, and you don’t have to undo anything so there’s no danger of poking your baby.
“They have also improved the design into several different types of diapers. You change them just like you would a disposable diaper and toss them into a diaper pail and wait for laundry day. It’s all personal preference.”
Opening an eco-friendly baby business was a challenge for Gaston.
“We had to order everything online, so there was no way to look at things before we bought them. There was nobody or central person to talk to with any issues or to talk you through it –like what do I need to get started or, hey, my diapers are having leak-throughs, what should I do? There was nowhere to get these things. It was incredibly frustrating,” she said. “Sunshine [Health Foods] and Vitamins Plus are great for supplements, but they don’t have any clothes, cloth diapers or nursing support items – the selection is limited. Those are great stores, and I feel like we complement them really well.”
For Gaston, choosing to open Hippie Baby in the downtown area was a no-brainer. As a permanent store amongst the pop-ups of the Red River District, Hippie Baby is a part of the growth of the area.
For more information about Hippie Baby and their products, visit www. hippie-baby.com or call 220-4659.
–Mandy Byrd
