I love summer. The slower pace. Mornings, afternoons, evenings spent outdoors. Sweat on my kids’ brows and dirt under their fingernails. The smell of flowers in the air. Open windows. Squeals of laughter filtering down the street. There are a few things about summer that make me appreciate my cloth diapering ways even more than normal:
FuzziBunz as swim diapers! We recently went to a great family-friendly water park and when we got there, I realized I had forgotten my daughter’s regular swim diaper. In my defense, it was actually first time she had been to a public swimming facility – she has obviously been in the water, but always either in a private pool, the ocean, lake or sprinkler in our backyard. She has always just worn a cloth swim diaper or nothing at all under her suit. I guess I had forgotten about that aspect of public pools, but there were signs everywhere I looked reminding me that toddlers “must be wearing approved swim diapers at all times.” And by “approved,” I’m sure they meant the disposable swim diapers exploding out of the shelves at Walgreens this time of year.
I didn’t have one of those (though the signs also stated they were for sale at the desk, of course) and I didn’t have our regular cloth swim diaper… but I did have my stash of FuzziBunz in the diaper bag. I just unstuffed a one-size and tightened it a little bit to hold in any errant poops and BINGO! Instant swim diaper. I’m proud to say that as she strutted her stuff all over the water park, she was the only toddler that didn’t have a huge bulge of soggy diaper following her around. This is definitely my new solution for swimming this summer. If all goes well, by next summer I won’t need to worry about it.
No need for clothes. When it gets really hot, there is no need for toddlers to be wearing so many clothes. And rather than having them running around in an ugly, crunchy disposable, I love “dressing” my girl in just a diaper (or diaper and t-shirt) for an afternoon spent outside. When my son was this age, letting him run around in just a disposable always seemed so tacky. I never wanted him to be in public without clothes. Yet a cloth diaper seems so much more put-together and I would happily let my girl out in the front yard in only her FuzziBunz.
Back out in the sun. I’ve already moved my drying rack outside and have loved getting the diapers and inserts back outside for some pure sunshine and fresh air. There were probably days in the late fall and early spring that I could have sunned them, but I got out of the habit after the first cold snap and have finally gotten our sun-groove back. Yay!!
No diaper heat rash. My son always got really bad diaper rash in the summer when he was in disposables. Something about those plastic-y pants that just traps the summer heat and would always wreak havoc on his sensitive skin. Last summer, we did not have an issue with my daughter and I’m pretty sure it was because of the soft wicking fleece and somewhat breathable cloth fabric next to her skin. Looking forward to another summer of no heat rash.
What are you looking forward to this summer when it comes to your cloth diapers? Any funny experiences using FuzziBunz as swim diapers? We’re looking forward to hearing it all over on our Facebook page!
Sarah is a mom of two and blogs about her adventures in motherhood, cloth diapering and everything in between. Catch her “Cloth Diapering Unwrapped” series on the FuzziBunz blog every Tuesday.
Tags: benefits of cloth diapers, Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, summer, sun, swim diapers
