Disposables-Who needs ‘em?

My husband and I decided to use cloth diapers shortly after we found out we were pregnant. We
knew that they were more work, however, so we also knew that we’d be using disposables sometimes
for convenience. When my son was born we used the disposables in the hospital just because it was
easiest. As soon as we got home with our new bundle of joy we started using cloth diapers and were so glad! They weren’t nearly as hard to use as we thought and our son seemed much happier. We still had some boxes of disposables that people had given us as baby presents, but they just sat untouched.

 

Fast forward a little while. We were going out of town with our new baby for the first time. We were
going to be away from the comfort of our own diaper washing system and decided that even though we could use the washer where we were going to be, disposables would probably be easiest. We packed up one of the many untouched boxes that we had been given and headed out of town.

 

While we were out of town we changed our son’s tushie at least every hour and yet it stayed this nice
pinkish red color. We thought maybe it was because he had had him in salt water for the first time and just dismissed it. We never suspected that disposables were the real culprit.

 

We took a day trip a few weeks later and packed our cloth diapers, but somehow didn’t pack quite
enough so we ended up using a few spare disposables. When we returned home we noticed that
our son’s tushie was not just pinkish red, it was fiery red. This time we knew that it had to be the
disposables!

 

We decided then and there that we would not be using disposables on his tushie again, no matter how
convenient they might end up being. Nothing is convenient enough when it ends up hurting your child. Now we always travel with our cloth diapers/wipes; our family is very supportive and our friends just think we’re plum crazy!

 

I’m happy to report that in the 15 months since we brought our son home from the hospital, the only
time his little tushie has been irritated has been when we’ve used disposable diapers/wipes. As long as we use our beloved cloth diapers and cloth wipes his tushie looks just as cute as ever and remains, “soft as a baby’s bottom.”

 

Contributed by: Katy

I'm a tech geek turned Eco-friendly mommy by the absolute adorableness of cloth diapers. My son has been in cloth diapers since the day he came home from the hospital and I wouldn't have it any other way. One of my favorite pastimes includes showing off my son's cute, fluffy butt.

 

Check out Nicole's Stash!

Currently my stash is all over the place, and that is how I like it!  To be honest, I believe that different diapers have different advantages and they all seem to make it into my stash.  I like to have AIOs and AI2s for trips out, pocket diapers for at home and at night, fitted diapers for when the babies bottom needs a little bit more air with a fleece cover, some fitteds for overnight, and prefolds to stuff into pocket diapers at night.  So, seriously I have everything but flat diapers right now.

Currently I have WAY more diapers then I need...but I love having a larger stash.  I believe that it makes your diapers last a lot longer.  And also with more affordable, but still work just as well, options out there (like SmartiPants!) it makes it A LOT easier to be able to have more diapers for less!  I also recently learned that I can make my own diapers.  I have been sewing for a while, but just never sat and tried it.  This helped out my stash a lot but I still needed to buy inserts!  So, here is my current stash!

 

 

Top row are all made by me diapers.  There are 4 more that are dirty right now

 

 Second row is mostly WAHM diapers.  In order they are HoneyBums AIO, Howler Monkey Bums AI2 (I have two more that are dirty), the next three are BabyLand, orange with yellow snaps is a Dinkledooz pocket, Then 2 more WAHM and the last one (with the dogs) is a fleece AIO by Wee Expressions.

 

Third row is 6 Bum Genius (I have 3 more that are dirty) and 3 Smarti Pants (I have 2 more that are dirty).

 

Fourth row is two Fuzzi Bunz Pocket, AMP AIO, SoftBums (have 2 more that are dirty), Tender Tushies, and Giggle Life.

Last row are all fitted diapers from Wee Expressions, Bum Covered Diapers, Jelly Bear Boutique, and Organic Caboose.

 

Then of course I need covers.  I have four that I made myself, 2 Bummis, one from a WAHM, and three Thirsties.  Then I have 3 longies (1 not pictured) and 5 fleece covers (2 not pictured) and a wool cover (also not pictured).

I also have 36 prefolds for sickie days.  I use prefolds for that because they can take a much harder washing if need be.  I also use them in case I am being too lazy to re-stuff my pockets haha.

So, like I said, I have a much larger stash but when I was buying (and making) I was starting a stash up to have two in diapers (my older was 2 when his baby brother was born and still in diapers).  I also have a little bit of an attachment to some of them :-)

I hope you enjoyed taking a look into my stash!

Contributed by: Nicole

Hi, my name is Nicole. I am the mother of two wonderful boys who are 3 and 10 months. I started cloth diapering when my oldest was 8 months old due to an allergy to disposable diapers. I know host cloth diapering classes, run a blog (http://clothreviews.blogspot.com) and have a shop (www.etsy.com/shop/crazyleggies). I am a pretty busy mama and have little to no free time, but I wouldn't change it for the world!

 

 

 

To Strip or Not to Strip…Diapers that is!

If you are new to Cloth Diapering, the phrase “Stripping your Diapers” may seem like
a strange phrase. I mean why would you need to strip your diapers? How do you strip
them? And why would you strip them? Keep on reading for the answers…

Reasons WHY  I may need to Strip my Cloth
• You notice a NASTY smell coming from your diapers even after washing
• Your diapers seem to be leaking for no particular reason
• You notice an Ammonia smell once the diaper has been soiled
• You use detergents that are not meant for Cloth Diapers
• You have detergent build-up
• You use rash ointments that are not Cloth Diaper Safe
• You have mineral binding/detergent build-up from Hard Water
• Your baby is getting unexplained diaper rashes

WHAT does Stripping my Cloth Diapers mean?
• Stripping your diapers is a way to rid your Cloth Diapers of all of the conditions
listed above. It is sometimes considered regular maintenance if you use Cloth Diapers (kind of like an oil change for your car).

HOW do I Strip My Cloth Diapers?
• Start with Clean Cloth Diapers (Rinse, Wash). They don't have to be dried to
strip! Just wash them as you normally would.
• LET THE STRIPPING BEGIN....
• Next, throw your diapers in a HOT wash with NO DETERGENT.
• Then run 3-4 HOT rinse cycles with NO DETERGENT.
• Let Air Dry or Tumble dry on Low.
• If you can see actual spots from rash ointments, you may want to add a
tablespoon of the original blue dawn liquid detergent to help with the oil build-
up. You can add this in during the First Hot Wash.
• Make sure you do the largest load cycle possible when stripping because the more
water in your machine, the better the diapers will be cleaned.

HOW OFTEN should I strip my diapers?
• You may not ever need to strip your Cloth Diapers, but chances are, your diapers
will encounter some kind of invasion (detergent, hard water, rash cream, etc). For
some people, they like to strip the diapers every month or so. For me, I like to do
it every 2-3 months, or if I notice one of the above problems.

Be cautious not to strip too often it does cause “wear and tear” on your diapers.



Contributed by: Julie
Hi my name is Julie and I am the mother to a little boy. He was my motivation to start Cloth Diapering! Not wanting to expose his little bum to all those chemicals in disposables and not returning to work full time, I was looking for a safe and inexpensive alternative. Cloth Diapering was my answer! I have been cloth diapering since he was 1 month old and have become addicted every since! When I am not cloth diapering, blogging about cloth diapers, or converting others to cloth diapers, I am spending time with my wonderful family and husband who is a devoted Pastor. I also love watching football and water skiing!

Pollyanna's Hardest Part of Cloth Diapering

I’ve now been cloth diapering my son for nine months. The first two months of his life we used disposables diapers because that’s what the hospital gave us, and to be honest I was a bit scared with all that goes on in the first days back from the hospital trying to breast feeding, feeling sore, extremely tired. I thought cloth diapering would just be one more thing to do. Now in retrospect I think I could have done just great. I will be testing that out next year since we are expecting baby #3. He will be a little smarti baby and I will definitely keep you posted as to how I handle that.

That being said I think a couple of the hardest things is really just “going for it”. Secondly is the initial researching as far as what type of cloth diapers you want to use, brands, how to wash, how many you will need?

Now that I have experienced all of these things the best thing to do is just, not working your self up so much. Everything will fall into place and once you actually start cloth diapering it really becomes easy and you start to get into a routine of things and you’ll come across a couple of hiccups here and there but that’s life you cross that bridge once you get there and after you get there and cross it you’ll know how to handle it if it comes up again. Some good ideas for deciding on cloth diapers is if you have a local cloth diaper store be sure to check it out and feel the cloth diapers so that you can see and feel what is going to be on your babies bum.

Hope this helps you if you have any questions please be sure to comment below.

 

What was the hardest thing part of cloth diapering for you?

Confessions of a Fluff-aholic with Katy

I’ll admit it. I’m addicted to cute fluff for my precious baby boy and daughter-to-be. But there are worse things in life than being addicted to cloth diapers, right? Right!

 

It started off innocently enough. My husband and I decided before our son was ever born that one-size, pocket diapers were probably the most cost-efficient way to go. We bought the recommended amount of diapers for washing every other day (around 24) and set off on our cloth-diapering journey. After using the cloth diapers on our son for a few weeks I decided that just one or two more cute diapers really wouldn’t break the bank and would be totally worth it.

 

That was the beginning of the end.

 

Since my son was born our stash has more than doubled. Our diaper stash still consists of primarily one size, pocket diapers, but we have also tried sized diapers, prefolds with covers, aio’s and ai2’s. My son doesn’t go to daycare, but spends lots of time with his grandparents, so I thought a list of everybody’s favorites (and why!) might be kind of cool.

• Mommy’s favorite: AIO’s with snaps because I’ve been able to convince other people to try cloth diapering once they’ve seen how easy it is
• Daddy’s favorite: Pocket diapers with snaps because we have gotten some custom embroidered with Batman, Spiderman and Green Lantern on the tushie
• Grandmother’s favorite: Prefolds with covers because that’s what she used when she cloth diapered 20+ years ago
• Grandfather’s favorite: Pocket diapers with snaps because he knows how to get them on and off
• Great-Grandmother’s favorite: AIO’s, AI2’s, and/or pockets as long as they have hook and loop closure because it’s easier to get on a wiggly baby

Even though we now have a pretty diverse fluff stash, and we all have our own favorites, everybody in the family still usually picks a pocket diaper just for ease of use. That being said, what works really well for our family may not work for yours, so I totally encourage you to buy one or maybe three of each style of diaper so you can test them out :)

 

 

 

 

Contributed by: Katy

I'm a tech geek turned Eco-friendly mommy by the absolute adorableness of cloth diapers.  My son has been in cloth diapers since the day he came home from the hospital and I wouldn't have it any other way.  One of my favorite pastimes includes showing off my son's cute, fluffy butt.

Nicole's Advice to People on the Fence About Cloth Diapering

Hey everyone.  A little birdie told me that there are some people that may be on the fence about cloth diapering so I am here riding in on my cloth diaper horse to save the day!  haha.

Anyways, down to business.  Here are a few things that might help you get off the fence!

1.)  Try to find a place to actually see, touch and feel MODERN cloth diapers.  When everyone hears about cloth diapers, they think big pieces of fabric that you have to fold and manipulate on a crying moving baby that doesn't want to sit still and then on top of that you have to pin the fabric on the baby some how so that it stays on the baby without poking your baby to all heck and back with the darn pin.  Well, let me tell ya, cloth diapers are NOTHING like that anymore.  Call a local cloth diaper store (even if they are only online) and see if you can make an appointment to actually see the diapers.  A lot of cloth diapering stores will let you do that even if they are just online.  If you do not have a store in your area, check to see if you can find a cloth diaper user in the area that would be willing to let you see some of her stash.  I'll tell you, this is one thing I wish I had an opportunity to do.  Thank goodness I had a friend that was looking into all the cloth diapers for her one on the way and was pretty knowledgeable as to where I should go and what I should get to best fit my needs.  Thank you again Charity!

2.) Research, but don't over do it!  If you over do your research, you will get overwhelmed.  Pick one site, read everything on that site.  If you have questions, email the writer of that site.  If you ask advice from everyone, you will get 50 different answers to something that was probably simple, but just became horribly confusing.

3.) Read on the RDA about cloth verses disposable diapers.  http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php

On this page of the Real Diaper Association there are some GREAT facts about disposable diapers and why they are not such a great choice for your baby, your pocket book, and the environment.  Just one of the details that really helped us (besides the fact that my son was allergic to disposable diapers) is the amount of money saved per child!  If you disposable diaper your child, you will spend about $1,600 diapering your child.  I spent $300 to cloth diaper both my children....just saying...

4.)  Just try it!  A lot of stores have a return policy or a trial period.  Get a package that includes that and just try the cloth diapers.  More than likely you will love it once you get a cloth diaper on your child.  It is not that big of a leap to just buy one or two to see what they are like.  And, like I stated already, if you are on the fence, more than likely you will love them when they get there.

 

Contributed by: Nicole

Hi, my name is Nicole.  I am the mother of two wonderful boys who are 3 and 10 months.  I started cloth diapering when my oldest was 8 months old due to an allergy to disposable diapers.  I know host cloth diapering classes, run a blog (http://clothreviews.blogspot.com) and have a shop (www.etsy.com/shop/crazyleggies).  I am a pretty busy mama and have little to no free time, but I wouldn't change it for the world!

What's the hardest part of cloth diapering? Julie let's you know her thoughts!

When asked what the hardest thing about Cloth Diapers or Cloth Diapering in general is, my first thought is...probably taking the plunge to commit to and use cloth diapers in the first place! It was scary at first because I started my little one in disposables for the first few weeks. I had bought all of these cloth diapers, and knew I wanted to use them, but there was a voice in the back of my head that just kept saying "I am not sure I can follow through with this." 

Needless to say, my husband and a few other people had bets going against "how long I would last" use the cloth diapers! Being the stubborn, motivated gal I am, I was fueled to use the cloth diapers for at least the time they bet against me! Little did I know that me trying to prove everyone wrong turned into a way of life! Now, I could never live without my cloth diapers! The thought of going out and searching to find sales and use coupons for disposables stresses me out! I am so glad I got over my nerves and second-thoughts and took the plunge into cloth diapering! 

For me, it wasn't the poop, extra loads of laundry, or even the extra work (which really isn't a lot), sometimes the hardest thing is just getting past your initial fears and worries of the unknown!

 

 

Contributed by: Julie

 

Hi my name is Julie and I am the mother to my handsome stud who is nearly 6 months old. He was my motivation to start Cloth Diapering! Not wanting to expose his little bum to all those chemicals in disposables and not returning to work full time, I was looking for a safe and inexpensive alternative. Cloth Diapering was my answer! I have been cloth diapering since he was 1 month old and have become addicted every since! When I am not cloth diapering, blogging about cloth diapers, or converting others to cloth diapers, I am spending time with my wonderful family and husband who is a devoted Pastor. I also love watching football and water skiing!

 

http://www.myclothdiaperstash.com