Posts Tagged ‘Cloth Diapering Unwrapped’
Wednesday, September 26th, 2012
This is my last post for Cloth Diapering Unwrapped and it’s making me a little sad. It’s been several weeks since my daughter first showed interest in the potty and has been about two weeks that she has been using the potty consistently. These days she in underwear most of the day, with very few accidents, and cloth diapers are quickly becoming a memory in our house.
And I was fully unprepared.
Yes, I know there was probably a day (or five) several months ago that I was elbow-deep in poopy toilet water, swirling a dirty diaper around and wishing desperately for this day to arrive. But now that it’s here, I’m feeling nostalgic for the warm fluffy diapers coming out of the dryer and the unmistakable look of her cloth-diapered bum crawling around the family room.
In her room, right next to the new basket of pristine Minnie Mouse underwear, her cloth diapers are still neatly stuffed and put away in the changing table, just as they’ve always been. I just can’t put them away just yet. Because to me, they represent the journey we have been on over the past two years.
When I think back to all the stages we went through with cloth diapers – the research, the conversations, the arrival of my first “fluffy mail” shipment, the trial and error of the first several weeks of newborn diapering, the battle with stink, the huge stockpot boiling the inserts, the bright colors and white-white inserts flapping in the breeze in the backyard, the dunking and swirling – it gives me a great sense of pride that we’ve been able to stick with it and do something great for our child and our planet.
With our commitment to cloth diapers, I figure that our family alone has saved roughly 3,500 diapers from entering landfills and has saved ourselves almost $800 in just over twenty-one months.
And that is something to celebrate.
So while I’m sad to see my cloth diapers retired from regular use (and sad to put an end to this column!), I’m excited by our “stats”… and at the prospect of what I can use the diapers for next. Once I have the heart to remove them from the changing table, that is.
I am so grateful to the online cloth diapering community for all of the information and wisdom I’ve learned from all of you. And I wish all of you the best of luck on your cloth diapering journeys whether you’re just beginning or moving on to the next chapter like me. Thank you for reading!
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 week.
Tags: Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, cloth diapers, fuzzibunz cloth diapers
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Wednesday, September 19th, 2012
You’ve conquered morning sickness. You take your prenatal vitamins like clockwork. You visit the doctor monthly. You’re pregnant – Hooray!
I remember it well. Around the middle of the second trimester, just as your belly is popping and you are becoming obviously pregnant, you start getting questions from well-meaning parents, friends and extended family: “When can we have a shower? What do you need for the baby? Have you registered anywhere?”
Oh yes. The baby registry. People lavishing expensive gifts, toys and clothes on me, my husband and our little peanut. I have to admit, at the time, the whole concept made me more than a little uncomfortable. But I soon realized that babies turn otherwise reasonable people into mushy gobs of sentimental generosity. Babies are expensive and people want to show their love for the new parents by doing anything they can to give the baby a cozy homecoming complete with the latest doodads and freshest technology.
And they want to give you what you want, so a registry is a smart idea: 1) it gives gift-givers peace of mind that they are giving you something you’ll use, and 2) it really does lessen a little of the financial burden on the new parents trying to provide a safe, comfortable environment for their new bundle of joy.
If you think cloth diapering is right for you and your family, it’s smart to add some of the cloth diapering essentials to your registry. If I had to “do it over again,” here’s what I consider as I filled out my registry:
- Stick to essentials. While you may want to wait on purchasing the actual diapers because you don’t know the size and shape of your babe, there are certain cloth diapering essentials you know you will need, so those are the most important things for the registry. Things like wet bags (in several sizes), a dozen or more good quality prefolds (great for anything from stuffing pocket diapers to catching spit up), cloth diaper detergent, wool dryer balls, drying rack, diaper sprayer, basket for storage, snappi for fastening prefolds, cloth wipes, cloth-friendly creams and diaper area wash, etc.
- Visit a local cloth diapering store. Do a little research at a cloth diapering retailer in your area. Many times, the staff in these little boutiques are very knowledgeable and it helps just to touch and feel the diapers to get a sense for what might work for you. Most of these shops offer a registry if that works for you, otherwise many online retailers also offer registry programs (and it may work better for family and friends that are spread across the country as ours were).
- Include gift cards on your registry. Because you’re not sure what will work for your baby until he’s here, having those gift cards set aside specifically for cloth diapers will make sure you have the funds to buy them. If you don’t have a brick and mortar cloth diaper store near you, most online cloth diaper retailers have gift card options available or consider an American Express or Visa gift card with a promise to use them for diapers.
- Don’t forget mama! Cloth nursing pads and “mama cloth” post-baby/menstrual feminine pads are wonderful, comfortable, natural alternatives to the disposable ones. You know you’re going to need them, so why not put them on the registry?!
- Cloth diapers as shower decoration. If close friends or family members are hosting a baby shower, you might encourage them to purchase several newborn AIOs or fitted diapers with covers to use as table decorations or for shower games. They will last longer and be much more useful than the usual floral centerpieces! And the guests – especially those in the grandma crowd – will love to see how far cloth diapers have come and having them around may even inspire another mom-to-be to try cloth. (Not to mention, newborn diapers are so darn cute!!)
Many of you probably have lots of other great ideas for making the most of your cloth diaper registry. What are must-haves? And what should you wait for baby to purchase?
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 week.
Tags: baby gift registry, baby shower, cloth diaper registry, Cloth Diapering Unwrapped
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Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
I never believed people when they said their kids “potty trained themselves.” I can’t count the times I inwardly roll my eyes when I overheard “she just decided she was ready and that was that.”
Yeah right, I always thought.
But at about 21 months, my daughter is already on the road to potty training through no pushing on my part. I have literally done nothing other than provide part of the genes for a fiercely independent little spitfire.
It feels like just yesterday that I was doling out M&Ms to my son (one for #1, two for #2) and emptying that foul potty into the toilet several times a day. And then there were the accidents. Oy the accidents. So needless to say, I wasn’t quite ready for my daughter to start toilet training just yet.
Did I mention that she’s only 21 months? As I mentioned in a previous post, I was planning on seriously starting with her right after she turns two in December. But she had a different timeline. And then, BAM!, there I was buying Minnie Mouse panties at Target today.
I’m trying not to get overly excited about it, but the thought of no diapers in my life makes me a very happy mama. Then I start to get a little nostalgic about how fast my baby is growing up and a little sad to give up the cloth diapering part of our life. No, I won’t miss stuffing diapers several times a week (…she says while the giant laundry basket of clean dipes is sitting there staring at her…) or dunking and swirling the poop in the toilet. But there are definitely some things that I will miss about cloth diapers once they aren’t such a big part of my life anymore:
The Online Community. Oh, who am I kidding? I am still going to read the blogs, check the Facebook pages and read articles about cloth diapering even after my baby has stopped wearing them! Beyond the obvious cloth diapering tips, there are so many other great discussions, such nice, aware and helpful mamas and tips on everything from laundry to child rearing, that I don’t want to miss out on.
Clean diapers stuffed and put away. I love the look of a basket full of beautifully colored, clean, stuffed cloth diapers, back in the changing table, ready to go for the next couple of days. For a mom that has a hard time quantifying what I’ve done at the end of the day, it’s a nice sense of accomplishment and grounding in my life.
Seeing diapers sunning outside. A beautiful pop of rainbow colors in my backyard is such a lovely sight… and I secretly love it when my neighbors see it or make comments about my diapers sunning and blowing in the breeze (and you can’t beat the scent and the whiteness of diapers dried in the sun).
Fluffy buns. While I’m excited to get my girl back into some of the cute clothes that don’t quite fit around her diaper anymore (but would actually fit with just underpants on), I will definitely miss that fluffy bum. The way they sometimes look like they are so “bottom-heavy” that they might tip backward at any moment…aww. Makes me want another baby, pronto.
Tangible green moments. Cloth diapering is an everyday reminder of the good we are doing by our planet. I’ll miss looking up and down our street on trash day and being so proud of the small amount we are putting out there at the curb (yes, I know our trash won’t change after diapering stops, but that tangible reminder of the amount of waste we COULD BE putting out because we are still in diapers, is nice).
“Why yes, we do use cloth diapers.” I still get a thrill when new friends see the diapers on my girl or in the diaper bag and comment, opening the door for a conversation about the best way to diaper!
What will you miss most about cloth diapering once your little one is potty trained?
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 week.
Tags: Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, potty training
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Tuesday, August 21st, 2012
Quite possibly the most-asked question from moms considering cloth diapering is: how many and what kind of diapers do I need?? Great question. And probably every experienced cloth diapering mom out there would give them a different answer.
Like a lot of things with cloth diapers, the answer really is: it depends (helpful, right?). It depends on the body type and shape of your baby, how heavily they wet and what works for your family’s laundry routine.
My daughter is a light to moderate wetter (i.e. in two hours, she rarely fills a diaper so much that it leaks) and we don’t use cloth at night all the time. We have 27 diapers that are in regular rotation and I do laundry every 2-3 days. Here’s a rundown of our stash and how we use them:
- 12 FuzziBunz One-Size Originals. For normal days, under normal clothes when we will be out and about for a while or at nap time.
- 1 FuzziBunz One-Size Elite (my favorite!!). Same use as above.
- 5 FuzziBunz Perfect Size (Small). A little trimmer for pants that fit slimmer. Also for times we are just staying around the house because they tend to soak quicker.
- 2 FuzziBunz Perfect Size (Medium). Same use as above, however, we do have the room to double them if needed.
- 7 random other brands – all pocket diapers. Usually use them while I am doing laundry.
I’ve tried a couple of other types of cloth diapers when we were first starting out and pockets were definitely our favorite, so we went with it and haven’t looked back. I like that the pockets allow you to customize the absorbency and use the same outer shell for several different purposes.
With 12 of them, our FuzziBunz One-Sizes are the workhorse of our stash and they have literally grown with my daughter. I reach for those guys first. Truth be told, I reach for our one lonely pink One-size Elite first whenever it’s clean. It’s our newest diaper and I love how the buttons don’t ever irritate my daughter’s skin (because they are on the inside), the absorbency is better, diaper lays smooth and I just love it. But once “Pinkie” is dirty, I go for the other one-sizes (Maybe I should just get another Elite, huh?).
If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you know that I actually prefer the fit of the Perfect Size diapers, but my daughter is currently between sizes so the smalls are too small and the mediums are still a touch too big. Soon, I’ll need to retire the smalls completely and get a couple more mediums because when those mediums start fitting perfectly, Perfects will again be my fave!
For inserts, I generally use the ones that come with the diapers. The One-Size diapers come with two sizes of inserts, we use the longer ones now that my daughter is a little bigger (I keep the shorter ones handy to double up). But, several months ago when I was battling stinkies, I started stuffing the pocket diapers with a good quality prefold instead of the typical insert hoping it would help with the irritation and smell. They are a little bulkier, but are fantastic absorbers, so even though we don’t have stinkies to speak of, I keep a couple prefold-stuffed diapers in the regular rotation. I usually stuff the Watermelon One-size and the Mint Perfect Size with them just to have a little more absorbency available in case I need it.
Like I said, I try to wash every other or every third day. Especially now that she gets changed less often, these 20-something diapers are enough for us, though there are weeks that I have to dip into our basket of “others” (the ones not in regular rotation because they don’t fit exactly right or just don’t work for some reason). I know many people have waaay more and some make do with a lot fewer, but this number works for us. I should note that when my daughter was younger and we were changing her more frequently, we had several other diapers – newborn AIOs, Extra-Smalls, prefolds with covers and some that were lent to us – in the mix and were probably up to about 35 useable diapers.
Finally, the colors. You can see that I am not afraid of color and I definitely didn’t go with only “girl colors.” I actually love the blues and greens because they contrast nicely with a lot of the pinks and purples my daughter wears. I believe we now own almost every color FuzziBunz with some duplicates (Cotton Candy, Green Apple and White) and some exceptions (Spearmint and Buttercream – odd to me that I don’t have this perfect little yellow color, but that’s just how it worked out!).
So there’s a little breakdown of our cloth diaper stash. I consider all of the diapers in our stash necessary and don’t feel like we have too many luxuries. I keep wondering if I should buy a few more, but I feel like we are on the wrong end of our diapering years to start buying up a bunch more (but after this post, I’m thinking we need a Buttercream Elite, don’t you?!). If you’re just starting out, I hope this helps you and if you’re an experienced cloth diaperer and something different works for you, we’d love to hear about it!
What do you think makes up a good cloth diaper stash? What are the necessities? The luxuries?
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 week.
Tags: Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, fuzzibunz cloth diapers, how many cloth diapers do i need
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Tuesday, August 14th, 2012
 By the time she’s ten, my daughter probably won’t have any vivid memories of her cloth diapering years. In fact, experts say that most people cannot recall much of anything substantial before they are three or four years old. All I have to say is that it’s a darn good thing I’m taking lots of pictures.
Hopefully someday, she’ll look back at her baby pictures and notice her cute, fluffy bum poking out of her adorable outfits (though it will be a different experience from my own because my daughter has literally thousands of baby/toddler pictures while her mama probably has about 30. Certainly makes me wonder how all of these digital pictures will affect the memory and recall of certain events for our children…But maybe that’s another discussion for another day).
Anyway, I know that she won’t remember actually being in cloth diapers, but I hope that somehow the knowledge that she was cloth diapered will remind her of a few things for the rest of her life:
- The earth is our only home and it’s up to us to take care of it. Big things, small things, it all makes a difference. And the difference cloth diapering makes really adds up. She can be proud of the environmental commitment her family made.
- She was a trendsetter. When she’s reflecting on cloth diapering (perhaps it will be when she’s considering cloth diapering her baby), I hope – for all of our sakes – that cloth diapering is a much more mainstream practice. She can tell her friends that she was cloth diapered back when wash-at-home pocket diapers were still in their infancy (or toddlerhood as the case may be) and they can ooh and aah and say that there is no way they would ever think about putting their baby in disposables!
- (And along those lines…) She is the next generation in a long line of cloth diaper wearers. Her mama wore prefolds with pins and plastic pants in the seventies when disposables were all the rage, her grandfather was doted upon by his mother and childless aunts and probably never sat in a wet cloth diaper for more than one minute. And that brings us back to countless generations before that who were also cloth diapered because there weren’t any other options. That’s some serious tradition.
- Her mama loves her. I’m not – AT ALL – saying that somehow cloth diapering mamas love their children more. Not at all. But I hope that she (and all children) will be able to look at the pictures of her in diapers and be able to see and feel the love that surrounded her in those early years.
- It wasn’t easy, but we did it anyway. There are so many wonderful benefits to cloth diapering that her dad and I chose to plop, rinse and swirl poop into the toilet and wash diapers in our laundry room all in the name of protecting her cute little behind.
- She has our help with college. It maybe doesn’t compute dollar for dollar, but we did save money by reusing her diapers and we were able to start a college savings fund for her and her brother. Truth be told, I think it’s so important to start saving for their educations when they are young, so we probably would have started a 529 anyway, but every bit helps!!
What do you hope your children take from their cloth diapering roots (whether they actually remember it or not!)?
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 week.
Tags: Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, cloth diapers, fuzzibunz cloth diapers
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Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
Earlier this week, my twenty-month-old went pee-pee on the potty for the first time.
I think it surprised me almost as much as it surprised her. She had been showing an interest in her brother’s bathroom endeavors for a couple weeks and has definitely done the hiding-in-closet-while-pooping move for at least a month, so I knew she was on her way to being ready.
With my son I wasn’t as aware of the readiness signs, but with this child, I’ve started letting her go to the little plastic potty to “try” whenever I changed her diaper even though she’s only 20 months. Usually it’s a lot of fake grunting, some proud smiling and a perfectly dry potty. But this particular day, she sat down and went pee-pee like a champ and we looked at each other with matching looks of astonishment on our faces. We did the requisite high-fiving, doing the potty-dance, celebrating with daddy and giving lots of compliments to entice her to do it again, but that, it seems, was the first and last time for now that she’ll use anything but a diaper to catch her pee.
A friend of mine and mom of three who also babysits other children in her home, swears by a particular potty-training regimen that I’m beginning to think might have some merit. In her experience, toddlers, especially girls, need to start talking about the potty, trying to go on the potty, using training pants, etc., at about 20 months of age. Then, the minute they turn two, you start full-on potty training and you’ll have no diapers within about a week. There is a limited window, her theory goes, and if you miss it, the child may be in diapers for another 9 months or even a year.
Some say that cloth diapers make it easier to potty train because they are more aware of a wet diaper than their disposable-clad counterparts. Whether that’s the case with my daughter or not, I think I may subscribe to my friend’s method for potty training. She’s at the right age to try it, so come December and her second birthday, we may be saying goodbye to diapers forever.
Beyond making me proud, the thought of gone diaper-less also made me a little sad. Sad that my baby, possibly my last baby, might be almost done with her cute cloth diapers – and that I might be done with my cute cloth diapers – forever. It’s an odd feeling. On one hand, its complete excitement to be done with diapers but on the other hand, I’m already a little nostalgic for that pile of warm, clean diapers in the basket or a rack of sunning dipes in the backyard (not so much for flicking poop into the toilet or putting dirty dipes into the washer!).
What is your plan for potty training? Has your child already shown signs of potty training readiness? What has worked/not worked for you?
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 week.
Tags: Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, cloth diapers, potty training
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Wednesday, August 1st, 2012
How the heck is summer more than half over? Yes, the heat has been stifling – almost unbearable at times – but it seems like only last week we were still wondering if we needed a sweater and anticipating the last day of school.
Instead of getting caught up in thinking about school supplies and the crisp fall days ahead, I want to make the most of the summer we have left by doing the things that only happen in the summer. Inspired by a summer to-do list for kids I saw on Pinterest (which I am totally starting at the beginning of the summer next year and definitely getting my kids to help come up with the list), I decided to make a list of the things I’d still like to do with my kids before summer 2012 is over for good. There is definitely still time to accomplish most of these.
I’m making a commitment to our summer to-do list for the last few weeks of summer (and probably into September). I’m printing it out and posting it in my kitchen for inspiration, especially on the days with nothing on the calendar.
My kiddos, especially my son, are at an age that they are starting to appreciate learning and have a little longer attention span, but I think this is a great concept and can be tailored to any family, any age kids and any time frame.
So here goes:
- Stargazing. We are visiting my parents for a little vacation in an area where the stars are so much brighter and more visible than they are at home. I’m planning to let my 4-year-old stay up late one night to go out and look at the stars. He’ll be amazed.
- Summer time capsule. I love Jenn’s idea at the Clean and Scentsible Blog for creating a time capsule of the Summer of 2012. I think it has the potential to be a summer tradition for years to come!
- Use the pool. While I am pretty sick of slathering on sunscreen and chasing two energy balls around the pool, I think it’s necessary to continue using the pool and getting my kids in the water as much as I can while the weather is still warm. Swimming is a life-skill that they both still need to master and I think the more time we spend in or near the water, the better.
- Practice shoe tying. It’s time. My son is ready and wants to learn. We have more time to focus on it in the summer.
- Line dry the dipes. I always say I love the way my diapers look and feel after drying on the rack in the sun outside, but I can usually find an excuse not to haul them downstairs and outside to actually do it. My to-do list includes getting them out in the backyard, in the sun on a regular basis, before winter makes it impossible.
- Bubbles!
- Visit grandparents. I have still have two living grandfathers. One is almost 101 and the other is 90 and they both live several hours away from us, which makes it difficult to visit them when the rhythm of the school year gets the best of us. I think it’s very important for my kids to get to know their great-grandfathers and important for me to spend time with them, so we’re road-tripping it this summer!
- Watch the Olympics. It’s a great chance to talk to both of my kids about geography, different cultures and especially to expose them to different sports. Not to mention the dedication and physical commitment the athletes have made to their sport and their country. We have the DVR set!
- Nature scavenger hunt. Saw this one on Pinterest too from Chrissy at The Taylor House. Such a great idea, especially while we are visiting my parents in a more remote, rustic part of the country. And will be fun for both my preschooler and my toddler.
- Paint rocks. This is sort of a selfish one, but I’d love a little homemade décor for the garden, so I’m planning to enlist my über-creative kids to get painting, gluing and creating!
- Make s’mores. Preferrably over a campfire.
It’s not a huge list, but definitely doable for the remainder of the summer. Yes, there is still time! What will be on your end-of-summer to-do list?
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 week.
Tags: Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, cloth diapers, summer fun
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Tuesday, July 24th, 2012
Both my son and daughter love it when I “write” letters on their back with my finger. In fact, it’s my favorite way to get them to drift off into peaceful sleep. At nap time today, after a morning at the pool, I didn’t make it past “T” with either of them, but it got me thinking. Here’s the A to Z of what cloth diapering means to me:
Air dry: Getting the wet diapers out in the sun as often as I can to bring out that bright white is my preferred drying method. Air-drying inside on a drying rack in bad weather is my second favorite method.
Bag (wet bag): I’ve said before that my wet bag is my favorite cloth diaper accessory. They keep the dirty diapers out of my way until wash day and they do double-duty on-the-go…even for wet swimsuits!
Cash: Lots of the green stuff saved by using cloth diapers on our second child!
Diaper rash: Haven’t had much of the stuff around this house (if you don’t count irritation from ammonia, which is not happening any more either!).
Elite: The newest pocket diaper model from FuzziBunz with lots of fabulous features. The Cadillac of cloth diapers, in my opinion!
Fleece: The soft and fluffy lining that fits right up next to my girl’s sensitive skin in her cloth diapers. Really makes me appreciate how hard and crinkly disposable diapers were.
Green: The way I feel when I reuse our cloth diapers instead of hauling bag after bag out to the curb on trash day.
Home: Everything I need to diaper my baby is right here at home. I never need to make an emergency-run to the store for diapers (though I have been know to run an emergency wash load!).
Insert: The super-absorbent pad that literally gets inserted between the water-resistant outer layer of the pocket diaper and soft and fuzzy fleece layer. This is the guts of the pocket diaper and why I love pocket diapers so much. The ability to customize the absorbency based on the situation is fantastic and the ability to remove the insert makes washing (and drying) so much easier!
Justifiable diaper addiction: How could you NOT have a diaper addiction? These things are so darn cute!
Kumquat: My favorite FuzziBunz color (this week!).
Leaks: Something I haven’t thought much about lately!
Microfiber: The material that makes the inserts so absorbent.
Natural resources: We are saving quite a few of these by not purchasing very many disposable diapers (yes, I still buy them once in a while for night time). But think of the resources necessary to run the factory that produces diapers, the actual materials that make up the diaper and the fuel to transport them to your local store (and then back to the landfill when they are used).
One-size: The adjustable version of the FuzziBunz line and the workhorse of my cloth diaper stash. They are fully adjustable around the legs, hips and waist to almost guarantee a snug fit.
Poop: A part of my everyday life, especially when I’m plopping it off diapers and into the toilet.
Questions from non-cloth moms: As all cloth diapering moms do, I get a lot of questions from my disposable-using friends. The ones about poop are always my favorite!
Reusable wipes: Either sitting on my changing table in a nice bath of water and a little baby wash or in with the dirty diapers waiting to be washed.
Snaps: The closures on FuzziBunz and some other cloth diapers. The keep the diapers on tight, yet are easy to fasten and unfasten – perfect!
Third baby: Though we are still undecided about whether another baby is in our future, sometimes I think… “well, at least the diapers would be free …” Since we already own them, that would be one cost we could avoid with #3.
Useful after: I’ve heard people talk about so many great other uses for cloth diapers, especially the microfiber inserts, when the diapering years are over. From soaking up spills on carpet to sweeping up wood floors, I have a feeling they are going to be floating around my house for years to come!
Very cute!: Cloth diapers are just cute and darn cute. Nothing else to say.
Wash routine: I finally have a wash routine that I can live with, and more importantly, that works! With the right combo of detergent, rinse/wash cycles, washing is a breeze.
Xtra rinsing: One of the keys to my wash routine success – lots of rinse cycles (one before the wash/detergent cycle and one, sometimes two, after the wash cycle is complete). A lot of water will do your diapers good.
You should cloth diaper too!: My refrain to anyone I meet that seems interested in cloth diapers… you should do it! It’s really not that hard!
Zzzz: I sleep easy knowing my baby has soft, absorbent, chemical-free diapers next to her skin… and I save money doing it! (A lame “Z” word, I admit… I had a really hard time coming up with a Z!!)
So there you have it, my cloth diapering A to Z. What does cloth diapering mean to you?
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 week.
Tags: benefits of cloth diaper, Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, cloth diapers
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Wednesday, July 18th, 2012
I’ve sort of become the go-to cloth diapering person among my friends and acquaintances. Every so often since we started cloth diapering, a college friend, high school friend or family friend asks if they can refer their sister-in-law/daughter/cousin/friend/coworker to me to talk about cloth diapers. It’s usually a quick email:
Hey Sarah – How are you? Kids are good. How are yours? They are so cute. Listen, I was just talking with my friend’s brother’s wife’s sister about cloth diapers over the weekend and I mentioned that you have done it for a while. Actually, I gave her your email address, so she may get in touch with you – hope that’s okay! It’s been too long – we need to get together soon! XOXO
Do all cloth diapering moms get this? Or have I just been so vocal about it that everyone knows to contact me?! Not that I mind – I actually enjoy it! Anyway, I got one of these requests recently (this one was actually from some really good friends). Interestingly enough, the dad-to-be is the one who reached out to my husband to ask whether they should cloth diaper the twins they are expecting! We are super excited for this awesome couple, but had to laugh that they asked him. My hubby is definitely a proponent of cloth diapers, but chooses to leave most of the details to me.
Back to the question at hand: would I recommend cloth diapering for twins? I’m obviously a huge believer in cloth diapers, so my initial reaction was “Yes! Absolutely!” but I felt I owed them some logic behind my enthusiastic reply. I know they are looking for some solid reasons that this is the right decision for them and their family.
So I boiled it down to three reasons why cloth diapering twins makes sense:
Reason #1: The Cost. Honestly, it’s hard for me to even comprehend the amount of money that would go down the drain with two babies in disposables (not to mention two car seats, two high chairs, two cribs – boggles my mind!). My (very) rough math estimated they would spend approximately $1,300 on disposable diapers per year. That’s almost $4,000 in diapers by the time they are potty trained. Wowsa. It makes me gag a little. Take that $4,000 and put it toward their college tuitions! They would maybe – maybe! – spend $1,000 on cloth diapers for that same three years. Less if they buy some secondhand or watch for deep discounts.
Reason #2: The Earth. If we really need something to gag about… Using my same rough math skills from above, twins could put almost 6,000 nasty, dirty diapers in the landfill every year. That’s almost 25,000 diapers – that can each take 500 years to decompose – from one family. That eco-guilt can almost completely go away by using cloth diapers. And even if they used cloth diapers part of the time or just during the day (which is always one of my tips – it doesn’t have to be all or nothing!), they can reduce that pile of dirty dipes significantly by even using cloth part time!
Reason #3: Eliminate the fear of running out. There were a lot of things I could have included as the third reason to cloth diaper twins (the cuteness factor is doubled with twins!), but not having to worry about running out of diapers when you are going through 20 each day could quite possibly save any new parent’s sanity. It’s hard enough to keep track of all the feedings, poops and baths with one child, I could not imagine it with two, so cloth diapers provide one less thing to think about. I’m sure there are a hundred more reasons to cloth diaper twins and definitely some reassurances (your laundry will explode anyway, a couple more loads is not that big of a deal!).
I am not a parent of twins, but I am an avid cloth diapering mom. For those of you who do have twins (or more!), what are the reasons you give to parents of multiples when they are considering cloth diapers? Is there any advice or reassurance you would offer?
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 week.
Tags: cloth diapering multiples, cloth diapering twins, Cloth Diapering Unwrapped
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Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
I’m having a full circle moment. It’s easy to wonder if it was worth going around that impossibly big circle just to end up back where I started, but I believe I needed to take the journey to make it back. That’s how it is with life, isn’t it? The journey is sometimes the most important part.
Before I get all philosophical on you, let me take a step back. What I’m talking about is not a life-altering, spiritual or emotional journey. What I’m talking about is figuring out how to get my cloth diapers clean.
As I’ve written about on this blog, we had a looong struggle with stink in our diapers. Just as I would think it was under control, it would come back again with a vengeance. Looking back, it was probably a combination of factors that led to the ammonia- stench in the first place – specifically, changes in my daughter’s eating habits (starting solids and weaning from breastmilk), leaving dirty diapers for too long a couple of times, not stripping them correctly, a suddenly harder water supply and the wrong detergent (hmmm…really sounds like I didn’t know what the heck I was doing!).
The truth is, maybe I didn’t. But thankfully, my daughter’s insides seem to have sorted themselves out, I learned how to strip effectively (which helped a lot), developed a consistent wash routine and cleaned my washer. Still, the biggest hurdle was not knowing that the water flowing from my pipes was now very hard while our water treatment plant undergoes an upgrade. Once it dawned on me that the water could be causing my angst, I began a serious search for a new detergent that would cooperate with my front loader, compensate for our hard water and get rid of the stinkies for good.
Thus, I began a (sort of) methodical review of several different detergents. First, I tried differing amounts of the detergent I was already using (that had worked great for me forever): didn’t help. Then I tried Eco Nuts: awesome for my other laundry but didn’t solve my diaper issues. Next I did Charlie’s: helped a little, but stink came back. Finally, after reading this post, I reluctantly tried HE Tide Original,* the straight-up blue liquid HE detergent that I was using on our laundry before my daughter was born and we started using cloth diapers. And guess what? It worked.
So what finally solved our stink issues was the Tide that had been hanging out on the back of my laundry room shelf this whole time. I know. I couldn’t believe it at first either, but it’s been about four months now and the stink hasn’t returned.
Oh, and I should mention the amount is critical. When I first tried Tide, I think I was using too much and it was leaving a little residue and scent behind. Now I use very little and it produces perfectly clean, fluffy diapers (for those of you that need me to be more exact- I use “glugg, glugg” on a normal load and for my normal load of diapers, I use about a “half-glugg”).
See what I mean about coming full circle? Ending up with the same detergent I had on the shelf. But had I not gone through this whole process, I probably wouldn’t have realized how well it worked. I needed the journey.
Have you successfully solved stink issues in your cloth diapers? What finally worked for you?
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 week.
*While HE Tide Original is Sarah’s preferred brand, FuzziBunz recommends Tide Free, among a number of other detergent options for best results when washing cloth diapers. Please visit our Washing & Care Instructions for more information.
Tags: Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, cloth diapers, laundry, washing FuzziBunz diapers
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