Archive for the ‘FuzziBunz Blog’ Category

Potty Training With Cloth

Thursday, January 3rd, 2013

It’s been a long time since my last dive into potty training. I know one thing: it will be different this time, I’m using cloth to potty train. I’ve make it clear how I feel about reducing waste and saving money. Still having two younger children that will be in diapers some time, it means no extra laundry, either.

I feel like potty training in cloth makes it less urgent, giving my children the time they need to be ready. Potty training is not a “two and ready” one size fits all experience, even twins are not always ready at the same time. Still, the number of mothers I hear ready to rush the process because they are tired of “wasting money on diapers” makes my head spin. I think, if only they were using cloth, maybe they wouldn’t be in such a rush.

Cloth training pants, much like cloth diapers are an investment that pays off. Not only financially, but also in creating a more relaxed environment for children to potty train. Putting the child in control and following their lead is the formula for long-term potty training success.

Click here to buy FuzziBunz Trainers, on sale!

Sarah Scales is a mom of five including two sets of twins in cloth diapers! When she isn’t blogging for FuzziBunz you can catch her at Upper Middle Mom.



Why You Need To Get A Diaper Sprayer & Buying Tips

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013
If you were to have asked me two years ago what a diaper sprayer was, I would have looked at you like you were crazy and said “a what”. Ask me now, and it is my favorite cloth diaper accessory, something that I use each day. While I could live without my diaper sprayer, and have while traveling, I prefer not to because it makes cleaning and rinsing out my diapers super easy! In this article, I will give you a few reasons why you should take the plunge (no pun intended) and get your own diaper sprayer, as well as tips on buying a diaper sprayer.
Why do I need a diaper sprayer?
  • It makes rinsing poopy diapers very easy. Simply spray the poop into the toilet and flush away. End of story. I even used my diaper sprayer on breastfeeding poop, as well. Works like a charm! Thoroughly rinsing your diapers after poop will also help to prevent staining.
  • It is easily attached to the side of your toilet and does not stick out like a sore thumb. The design is sleek and smooth, yet practical.
  • It’s a conversation starter! While I mentioned above that it is sleek and trim hanging on your toilet, I am sure people will still wonder what the beautiful piece of chrome hanging on your toilet is. This is when you introduce them to cloth diapers and just how “fun” it is to use the sprayer!
  • It can act as a multipurpose tool. My diaper sprayer is in reach of the bath tub. I have used it on multiple occasions to clean my tub and even my dog. Never underestimate the power of creativity with your diaper sprayer!

Tips on buying a diaper sprayer:

  • Don’t skimp out when buying a diaper sprayer! This is an item you will be using on a daily basis for the next 2+ years if you cloth diaper 1 child. Invest in a quality one that will last.
  • Make sure you get a diaper sprayer that has an adjustable pressure valve. This adjustable spray allows for even some of the most stubborn poops to be lifted off the diaper at its highest setting. I have seen sprayers that barely trickle out at their highest setting, and this does not help to get the diapers clean!
  • I prefer a diaper sprayer that is made of durable materials such as chrome. Not only does it look stylish, but it will hold up to the everyday use.

So what about you? Do you own a diaper sprayer? Why or why not have you chosen to use one? Do you find it as helpful as I have?

Buy a FuzziBunz Chrome Diaper Sprayer – click here.

Julie Murphy is a stay-at-home mom who was thrown into the cloth diapers when her husband bet her she couldn’t last two months on cloth. 11 months later, she is still cloth diapering…and blogging about it at My Cloth Diaper Stash.


I Have a One Year Old

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately, as my daughter’s birthday approached. Reflecting on my due date, on the circumstances leading up to her birth, on the pregnancy and then those first few weeks after she was born that just seemed like a blur. It feels as though it is still December 2011, but suddenly here we are, December 2012, and I have a one year old.

My daughter, Penelope “Penny” Ann, was born at 1:05am on December 16, 2011. She was a skinny 6lbs 12oz, though I wasn’t surprised by the weight, and only 18 inches long. You might think she would’ve stayed skinny, but that girl beefed up. Now, at a year, she is about 11lbs and 30 inches tall. My little baby isn’t so little anymore.

I remember bringing her home and having no idea what to do with her. Well, other than feed her and change her diaper, in any case. But what does one do with a newborn? I ended up watching a lot of TV as I recovered from my surprise c-section with her lying on my chest, her favorite place to be. She was a mama’s girl from the start, even if I tried to pass her off as a daddy’s girl. She still is all about her mommy.

Each month on the 16th I would prop her up somewhere in cute clothes and take another photo. One month, two months, three months… I had no idea that one year would sneak up on me like this. I feel like it was just September and my baby had just started crawling. Now I have a walking, talking, one year old. A toddler, in most cases. My baby is a toddler now.

I was never one of those people who was stuck in the past, reminiscing about days gone by and about my baby growing up too fast. I like to live in the present and keep a keen eye on the future. Sometimes, though, I give myself those few moments to reflect on how far we’ve come, to flip through photos of her as a newborn, with her hair sticking out and her skinny legs all over the place. What a doll, my Penny was, and still is.

Here I am now, a mom of a one year old, and proud of it. I am soaking in every moment of this little girl’s life. I am laughing with her father while she toddles around the room blabbering about this and that. I am chasing after her as she is running into the street for the millionth time. I am cuddling with her in the morning when she just isn’t ready to wake up all the way while we watch a show or two. I am letting myself think about the past year with happiness. look how far we’ve come, baby girl, and look how much we still have ahead of us. I am proud to be a mom of a one year old.

Chantal Shelstad, a self-proclaimed “crunchy” stay-at-home mom who lives in Alabama with her daughter, Penny and her husband, a pilot in the Army. Chantal is more than happy to own up to the fact that cloth diapering parents have to face plenty of difficulties, transitions, stigmas (and yes, plenty of poop!) …but it is still worth it in the end.



The Importance of Community

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

A few weeks ago, my husband and I attended a conference and gala for the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Theraputics (FAST). This was our first year attending since my son, Cole, was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome back in June. It was completely amazing. We met so many people in the same situation as us. Just about every person in that room had a child, grandchild, niece, nephew, or someone they knew with Angelman Syndrome. It really made my husband and I feel comfortable knowing how much we all really did have in common, despite coming from all over the world. We felt like part of a community.

I think that we can all relate to that sense of community. Communities can involve anyone and anything. In the cloth diaper world, we have our own community. We go to websites, blogs, message boards, and groups to talk about all of our fluff! We can get answers to questions about which is the best laundry detergent or reach out for support when our 1 year olds start figuring out how to take off their diapers. You may have a local diaper swap in your area where you meet up with other parents who share the same love in cloth as you. This community makes us feel like we’re a part of something big.

These communities help us sort through our problems and are there to give us a “wahoo” when something goes right. I had never really looked at the people in my life this way until Cole was diagnosed and I was not sure where to go.

The day we were diagnosed, I updated my status on Facebook to announce the news. Not only did I receive an outpouring of support from my “friend” community, I also received contacts of people my friends knew who also had children with the same syndrome as Cole. I was able to get in touch with one of these contacts and she was able to put me into a group that has been a life line for us. We were able to finally meet a lot of these people in that online community when we attended the gala.

I must say that I feel very fortunate to be part of that Angelman Community. Even though the reason we’re a community isn’t ideal, it is a very special group of people. Each member of the community is there for each of our children. If you post a question on Facebook , within minutes there is a response. And then another. And another. Every person in our community cares about everyone else’s journey. We’re in this together. The chairperson of FAST mentioned this at the gala and it brought tears to my eyes.

I hope that everyone has a community they can turn to.

Jenn Kubicza is a mom of two little boys, one of whom has a neuro-genetic disorder called Angelman’s Syndrome and will require extended diapering.



Why Cloth Diapering Twins Makes Sense

Monday, December 17th, 2012

As the mother of two sets of twins, both currently in cloth, I feel I have the experience to back up my opinion.  There are 3 reasons I know cloth diapering twins is the way to go.

The Cost Savings: Two babies equal double diaper duty.  Diapering one baby is expensive, two babies doubly so.  Even the cheapest disposables are upwards of 10 cents each; at roughly 170 diapers a week for newborn twins and you’re talking real money- upwards of $18 a week with taxes.  Easily double that for “premium” brands.  All of a sudden, a cloth diaper stash doesn’t seem like such a huge investment- you quickly recoup your costs.  If you live somewhere that you are charged for trash removal, the extra waste created by disposables also comes with that extra expense, which leads me to:

The Environmental Impact: Two babies worth of disposable diapers is not pretty.  For us it was an extra garbage can on the curb weekly, just for diapers.  Now, I simply wash diapers ever couple days and have a steady supply for our 4 diapered children.  Leading me to my last, and perhaps most compelling argument.

The Convenience: Getting around with twins isn’t always easy, especially in the early days.  You have two car seats that won’t both fit in a cart; you have the stroller that you can’t pile merchandise in, inclement weather to deal with, and then a steady stream of strangers asking you lots of questions.  A “quick” run to the store for diapers isn’t so quick anymore.  Which is why, I’m so happy to skip all of that by washing cloth diapers in the comfort of my own home.

Sarah Scales is a mom of five including two sets of twins in cloth diapers! When she isn’t blogging for FuzziBunz you can catch her at Upper Middle Mom.



Organizing My Changing Table

Thursday, December 13th, 2012

I can’t count the number of times I had to change my sheets in the middle of the night after my first son was born.

During pregnancy, as I performed the tedious task of deciding what baby gear I needed, I made the ill-fated decisions that a changing table was something I could afford to do without. As punishment, my baby showered my bed with pee numerous times during late-night diaper changes.

Throughout his diaper days, I had multiple packages of diapers and wipes – and later, when I switched to cloth, laundry baskets – scattered throughout the house. Most often, he got changed on the floor. It worked out OK, most of the time.

But, when I knew Baby Boy No. 2 was on the way, and that I’d be cloth diapering him from the start, a changing table was at the top of my want list. Why? Mainly because using cloth does involve more… stuff. I desired a central location to keep all the necessities a little more neat during this, my second round, with diapering. I’m not typically very organized, to say the least, so anything to force me to keep it together more helps. Grabbing a pocket and an insert out of a laundry basket is simple enough, but pulling a ready-to-wear diaper out of the drawer just sounded more appealing.

Thankfully, a wonderful friend offered to hand down her little-used table to me. I drove my pregnant self right over in the summer heat and helped load it into my car practically immediately, and not long after started setting up shop in the nursery.

The top drawer now holds pocket diapers and back-up disposables. A few cloth drawers from the dollar store turned the shelf below into a home for cloth wipes, inserts and covers. On the top of the table I keep a spray bottle, to wet wipes during changes, and a pump bottle of baby oil and a bottle of baby soap at hand – I use a squirt of each and then fill the bottle with water for my wipe solution.

The bottom of the table stores a few other nursery items, like toys, and I snap two wet bags to the side of the table for easy access. When one bag is full, I can wash it with the diapers and still have a clean one to start the process over again.

Having my son that much closer to eye level during diaper changes – and let’s face it, there are a lot of them – has made it one of his favorite places to stretch out, smile and babble with me or my husband.

The only downside to my system is that I have to bring the baby to the table instead of bringing the diaper to the baby like I did with my first son. Keeping my bedsheets dry makes it well worth it.

Jessica Wiant is now a stay-at-home mom of two who was once a working mom with a (cloth diapered!) son in daycare.



That Time I Used Disposable Diapers

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

I’m sure this doesn’t come as a surprise to you reading this blog, but I’m a cloth diaper junkie. I love the look of them, I love the variety of patterns and colors, I love the feel of them, and I love the ease of use. I also love that fact that I can use as many as I want without worrying about wasting my money or running to the store and buying more. If I run out of cloth diapers, well, I just do a load of laundry.

There have been a few times I’ve had to use disposable diapers and I’m glad that they’ve been there when I needed them.

The first time (well, other than the few days we were in the hospital after she was born) was when our daughter was six weeks old. We were moving out of our house in Hawaii and on our way to Alabama. For two weeks, we were living in a hotel in sunny Waikiki (I know, I’m not complaining) and then for the next few weeks after that we were driving across the country from Los Angeles to Alabama, stopping at various friends’ and relatives’ to visit, until we finally got to our new home and our goods were delivered. It was six weeks of disposables for us! It was just easier in the long run for us to pack the diapers and buy as we went.

Of course, once we got our cloth diapers back, I was thrilled and anxious to get her back in them. She was oh so cute too!

The next time was another trip when she was five months old. It was only a couple days at a friend’s house, but with a six-hour drive, I just didn’t want to mess with dragging the cloth diapers with us. Lazy mom, right? It worked out fine though. The next time after that, another trip when she was nine months.

The most recent disposable adventure was about a month ago. Our daughter got a bad yeast diaper rash. I did some research and found that the way cloth works, the yeast could actually multiply on the diapers, so it was best to keep her out of it. There are ways around it, with liners and such, but for us it was just easier to use disposables while I stripped the diapers and treated the rash.

Now we’re back in them, and hopefully for some time! It’s been nice to have the convenience of disposables when I needed them, but I’m still all for cloth diapers.

Chantal Shelstad, a self-proclaimed “crunchy” stay-at-home mom who lives in Alabama with her daughter, Penny and her husband, a pilot in the Army. Chantal is more than happy to own up to the fact that cloth diapering parents have to face plenty of difficulties, transitions, stigmas (and yes, plenty of poop!) …but it is still worth it in the end.



To Grandma’s House We Go (with Cloth): Traveling for the Holidays with Cloth Diapers

Monday, December 10th, 2012

BY JULIE MURPHY

It is that time of year. The holidays are upon us. With the majority of us traveling to spend quality time with friends and family, a question may start to creep into your mind: “will I travel with my cloth diapers?”

At first the idea may sound overwhelming or even impossible to accomplish, but rest assured that it is not as difficult as you would think. I recently took a trip across the country with my son in cloth diapers and it was far less stressful than I thought it would be.

Here are a few tips for traveling this Holiday with your Cloth Diapers:

Have a game plan, and a back-up plan that answers some questions such as:

  • What if my luggage (with the cloth diapers) gets lost?
  • What if I don’t have access to a washer and dryer?
  • What if my little one breaks out in a rash?
  • Will you use cloth during the actual travel, or when you arrive at your destination?

If at all possible, it is best to travel with the minimum amount of cloth diapers you will need. It may be more loads of laundry, but it will less hassle, especially when flying. Depending on the age of the baby this number can be anywhere from 6 to 12 cloth diapers a day.

It is best to carry-on your cloth diapers when flying. This way you do not have to worry about lost luggage. This is part of your “game plan.”

Don’t be afraid to use disposables. When I flew across the country to visit my sister I did use a few disposables simply so I wouldn’t leave dirty diapers sitting in my diaper pail at home for 2 weeks. Pop a few disposables in your bag for those “just in case” moments.

I recommend using the FuzziBunz Large Hanging Wet Bag when traveling. It is easy to store any place and takes up very little space. It is important to have a large wet bag to store all your dirty diapers when traveling.

The less bulky the cloth diaper, the better. Try to choose your most trim fitted cloth diapers that will take up the least amount of room.

Don’t forget your cloth diaper safe rash ointments and detergents.  A lot of time you can purchase sample packages of detergent or rash balm for very inexpensive or even free with some orders. These sample sizes would be perfect for travel.

Be creative with your packing. As mentioned above, sometimes cloth diapers can take up a lot of valuable space, especially if your space costs extra money on an airplane. Try packing your cloth diapers in your carry on or even use them to protect more delicate objects such as a lap top or other fragile gifts you picked up in your travels. The more creative the better! When I traveled with my stroller, I stuck my bag of cloth diapers in the bottom of the stroller, so that when it folded up, you couldn’t even tell! This way the stroller boards with me and baby and I don’t have to pay for extra luggage!

Have a spraying strategy. If you can’t bring your diaper sprayer with you, it is best to bring some type of flushable biodegradable diaper liner that can simply be tossed or flushed away after use. This will make your traveling with poopy diapers much more enjoyable.

If you are going to be around people who don’t normally cloth diaper, what a great way to introduce and expose them to cloth diapers. I first learned about using cloth diaper from watching friends who did it. Every time I travel with my cloth diapers I quickly grab the attention of everyone in the room! You never know, you may have a convert on your hands!

Have you ever traveled or plan to travel with your cloth diapers? What are your favorite tricks or hints when traveling with cloth diapers?

Julie Murphy is a stay-at-home mom who was thrown into the cloth diapers when her husband bet her she couldn’t last two months on cloth. 11 months later, she is still cloth diapering…and blogging about it at My Cloth Diaper Stash.


Moving Tips for Parents with Babies in Cloth Diapers

Wednesday, December 5th, 2012

BY JENN KUBICZA

The weekend before Halloween, we left our first-ever home. Moving has been more of an adventure than I had ever expected it to be.

Last year when our youngest, Cole, began having seizures and got the diagnosis of Angelman Syndrome, my husband and I really stopped to think about the future. We had always known we wanted to have children, and when we bought our first home we did pick a town with a good school system. We didn’t know that we’d really need to be looking for a town with a good special education program. We did some research and talked to families in town and in surrounding towns and decided that, in our opinion, it was best for Cole to get into the program one town over … and we had to do it before he turned 3, so he could start with preschool.

And so it began. We put our little two-bedroom townhouse on the market back in April. We had quite a few showings before someone FINALLY put a realistic offer in. Ironically, it was the day we came home from one of our short hospital stays with our son and the house was in NO condition for a showing! During this whole process we had been talking to the boys about the move. We had even taken them to see a bunch of houses with us to include them in the process. I believe this really helped my oldest, Lincoln, understand what is going on.

But, we had run into one problem. Unfortunately, we have yet to find our new house. Seeing that we have such a specific school district we’re looking for, and such a specific price range, our options are very limited. We continue our search, but for now, are living with my husband’s parents, whose home is (thankfully) in the school district we need.

“The Move – Part 1,” as I have called it, has taught us a few valuable lessons that we will indeed be putting into action when we are ready for “The Move – Part 2.”

1) Moving with children takes a lot more planning than we anticipated.

The last time we moved it was out of our parents’ houses and into our own home. We did it at our leisure! This time…we had more of a deadline, but we also had lots of “Mom!!!! Can you help me with this?” and “Dad!!!!! I need you to fix this!” going on while we were trying to pack. We also had lots of “Oh, Mom/Dad!!! You found my [insert old toy that I was going to donate here] …” So things were not getting packed nearly as quickly as I had hoped.

The moral of this story is to pack the toys AFTER the kids go to bed…or hire a sitter!!! (Note: I will say my 4 year old did try to be helpful!)

2) A good thing to do is wash your entire cloth-diaper stash BEFORE you pack up your washer and dryer.

Turns out it’s not really useful to have your washer and dryer packed up early. We ended up having to do two days of disposables because I wasn’t thinking ahead much. We ran out of clean diapers.

3) Accept help.

We actually believed that we could move our entire house by ourselves in one day. Obviously, that was way too ambitious. It is pretty much impossible to finish packing, load a moving truck and unpack it (three times) within eight hours. We really did think we could do it … but, it turns out that we really needed help (which we thankfully did get) and it took us about two days to get it all completely done. We learned that doing ALL the packing ahead of time is helpful… and getting as many extra hands as you can get!

4) If you think you have enough boxes, buy at least 20 more.

We aimed to use as many “reusable” packing materials as possible, so we kept an eye on the local ads and opted to get a bunch of the plastic totes. We decided this would be beneficial for us because we will need to store old kids’ clothes and toys eventually, and it would make less waste. Well, we needed a lot more than what we bought. We had to go to the hardware store and buy cardboard boxes twice before we were actually done.

We had no idea that four people living in a two-bedroom townhouse could actually fill an entire 10 x 20 storage unit…plus a few more square feet in each of our parents’ garages. This lesson won’t have to be used next time since 90% of our stuff is already packed up … thankfully!!!

Jenn Kubicza is a mom of two little boys, one of whom has a neuro-genetic disorder called Angelman’s Syndrome and will require extended diapering.




Natural Ways to Keep Your House Clean

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

BY CHANTAL M. SHELSTAD

I wasn’t always a self-styled “crunchy” mom. This transformation began years ago and really kicked into gear when I found out I was pregnant. Suddenly, with the announcement of the baby growing inside me, I was launched into a world of cloth diapers, natural birth, vaccine choices, and natural baby products. I truly became a crunchy mom as her due date approached.

But that’s another blog post entirely.

Years ago, when my husband and I were poor college students living in a comfortable apartment near campus, I couldn’t care less about organic products or natural cleaning supplies (much to his mother’s dismay). We were eating chicken nuggets and fries from the bag and I was a fan of the aerosol cleaners that sprayed out pretty colors and promised that no scrubbing was involved.

Recently, though, I’ve discovered the power of three simple ingredients to clean nearly every surface in the house: Water, vinegar and baking soda.

In the Kitchen

I’m never convinced my counter tops are clean enough, so I’m constantly wiping them down. I personally hate using washcloths on those surfaces because I’m brought back to the smell of an old washcloth from my children and I cringe at the idea of all those germs being spread with a single wipe.

For a simple cleaner, I fill a spray bottle halfway with white vinegar and fill it the rest of the way with water. Sometimes I add a couple drops of tea tree oil, because of the smell and its disinfecting properties. That’s it! This all-purpose cleaner can be used on the counter tops, sink and stove, and even travel to the windows and table top.

Speaking of the sink, do you happen to have a clog? Pour some baking soda in the drain and then a bunch of vinegar, let it fizz for awhile and sit for an hour, then rinse. It should clear it up in most cases.

On the Floor

I have a messy dog and now a baby crawling all over, so something had to be done. Besides vacuuming every day, I mop with my steam cleaner. No chemicals are involved; it’s just water and the steam it produces. Sometimes if I need an extra scrub, I’ll spray my vinegar-water mixture, let it sit for a minute, and steam clean that.

Let’s move on to the bathrooms. The vinegar-water solution works great with the counter tops, sink and mirror. In the toilet, I get a little more heavy duty. First, I sprinkle baking soda in the bowl. A minute later, I take another spray bottle filled with only vinegar and spray it in there. I hardly have to scrub the mess away! The rest of the toilet is treated with the vinegar bottle.

In the Bathroom

The bathtub was always a difficulty of mine. I hated seeing that ring but had no idea how to get rid of it. Here’s a simple trick that works better than anything else. First, spray the ring with pure vinegar and let sit for five minutes. Spray again for good measure and then sprinkle baking soda in there. Pour some water in the tub and then scrub around the ring with a brush or scratchy sponge. It shouldn’t take too much effort to lift off, unless it has been there for quite some time, then you might have to repeat. Treat the rest of the tub and shower with vinegar and baking soda, and make sure to rinse it when you’re done.

I haven’t bought another product from the store since discovering the magic of water, vinegar and baking soda. It’s good for everything! Taking out stains from the carpet, washing windows, and even help the dishes sparkle brighter. So try it out one day, you won’t regret it!

Chantal Shelstad, a self-proclaimed “crunchy” stay-at-home mom who lives in Alabama with her daughter, Penny and her husband, a pilot in the Army. Chantal is more than happy to own up to the fact that cloth diapering parents have to face plenty of difficulties, transitions, stigmas (and yes, plenty of poop!) …but it is still worth it in the end.

Image via Olivia’s Green Clean.




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