January 23, 2008
Thanks to “google alerts” I stumbled upon a very fun site (with terrific photos btw): Mommyknows.com
She is currently running an awesome contest. It’s not for diapers, but they’re a favorite of many a “crunchy” momma:
www.thebabymarketplace.com – a great online spot for Baby Clothing, Shoes, Toys, Gifts and Cloth Diapers is hosting the Pippalily Baby Slings Give-Away @ mommyknows.com go on over and comment and be entered to Win one of two Pippalily Baby Slings! There are also 13 pairs of Bical Grippers up for grabs. Don’t miss out!
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Posted in Fun With Cloth Diapers! 
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January 22, 2008
I have avoided this section of advice till now. To be honest…I’m still going to avoid it.
What I have found through talking with people & reading endless websites & blogs and forum posts & stickies on the topic is that it just depends. It depends on whether you have hard or soft water, what type of washer you have, whether or not your baby has sensitive skin, what level your at in “eco-consciousness”, what type of diapers…well, you get the picture.
Everyone has a system & I doubt many are alike. Unfortunately, looks like it’s trial & error folks.
MOST agree (though not all on any of these points!):
- you only need a 1/4 of the amt. of detergent than what the box/bottle says
- use bleach either sparingly or never (please use it if baby had yeast or a bacterial rash)
- pocket diapers are notorious for being picky about detergent types (many apparently cause repelling).
Beyond that, my only word of advice: Start bare-bones. Pre-rinse (if you desire, apparently plenty don’t & they’re fine), wash with only detergent (no second rinse) & then dry. If that works, ignore everything else you read & stick with it. You will be much happier, I promise. If not, change one thing at a time until you find wash nirvana.
I’m not even going to tell you my “system” (yes, it’s changed since that first post) so as not to mislead you into thinking there is a “right” way. I am however, more than happy to help you trouble-shoot if lurking on forums isn’t working for you.
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Posted in Cloth Diaper Diva 2 Comments »
January 10, 2008
I apologize for the excessive downtime dear Diaper readers. During the last few weeks we have sold our house, packed up said house, visited family over the holiday, moved to a new state and unpacked the new house. It has been a wild ride. We’ve only been in the new house for a week and a half, but it’s feeling more and more like home.
During the trip with all the traveling, I decided to (yet again) use diaper girl & myself as guinea pigs. Since all the visiting travel was to family members’ houses, I decided to travel with cloth (for a week & 1/2). I had a tally going but lost it in transit, however the rough estimate is that we used about 5 disposable diapers on diaper girl & 3 on diaper boy. Diaper boy (who just turned 3 last week) actually complained a couple times when putting a disposable on him (remember he only wears diapers to bed now), “I don’t want the paper diaper mama, I just like cloth diapers”. That’s my boy.
I wanted to do 100% cloth but I chickened out when it came time to head to the airport. I was flying solo with the two kids (diaper dad drove to the new place ahead of us) and needed the carry-on bag as small as humanly possible. So starting the night before (and whenever someone was babysitting for me) the kids wore “paper diapers”.
Anyhow, traveling with the diapers was really not that big a deal. I had one small suitcase dedicated to diapers (including my wipes warmer & hanging pails) & since I had a “home-base” at each location, it was a breeze. An etiquette tip for you though: some people may not like the idea of soiled diapers in their washing machine. Be sure to check with your host to make sure they don’t mind diaper laundry. If they do you can either gently explain the process & how you’re not dropping loads of poo into the washer or you can just let it go and use disposables to help keep relationships intact. No sense causing tension over something as silly as diapers.
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Posted in Fun With Cloth Diapers!, Cloth Diapers, Cloth Diaper Diva 2 Comments »
December 25, 2007
If you’re using cloth diapers, you’re going to want to use cloth wipes. I’ve heard some people say they use disposable wipes, but I really can’t figure out why. First, you’d have to throw them away separately. Second, they stink at wiping up poo! If I’m at home & using a (rare, I promise it’s rare!!) disposable diaper, I still use a cloth wipe even though i’ll have to ‘dispose’ of it separately, b/c I really hate disposable wipes. However, i do use them in my diaper bag for on the go. I don’t carry around a spray bottle, so it’s a necessary evil.
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Posted in Cloth Diaper Accessories, Why cloth diapers are better, Cloth Diaper Wipes, Cloth Diapers, Cloth Diaper Diva 4 Comments »
December 22, 2007
I used a diaper dekor+ with regular trash bags as my diaper pail for nearly 2 years. Until a few days ago. It would’ve been easier to use a different pail, but I wanted my pail in the bathroom (easy access for poopies) & we have a small one. The dekor was the only option (plus it’s nice looking & holds in odors great). It’s really a terrible pail for cloth diapers. It only fit one day’s worth of diapers…maybe. I also didn’t like to throw plastic bags out that often, so I reused them until they had holes. Yes, it was kind of icky & stinky (not in the pail but transporting the bag to & fro the laundry room), but it worked.
A few months ago my dekor broke. A long time ago the foot pedal went on me, but recently the door to remove the bag cracked. It still technically worked but it was a daily irritant as the door fell off the hinges at the slightest touch. For months prior, I had been eyeing some zippered pail liners that could be used as a “hanging pail”. However, I knew I would want 2 and I could not fathom spending $50 on essentially a diaper pail. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Cloth diaper pail liner, Cloth Diaper Accessories, Cloth Diaper Pails, Cloth Diapers, Cloth Diaper Diva 1 Comment »
December 19, 2007
Since one of the main reasons I like to cloth diaper is to save money, I am irritated when I discover some new gadget I “need” to make cloth diapering easier. They are known as cloth diaper accessories. Here’s a few just off the top of my head:
Do you need them? NO. Are they nice to have? Usually.
I’ll discuss them more in length individually.
On a personal note, the Diaper Family is going to be moving in a few days, so my posts will likely be quite sporadic. Please forgive the sparseness, I promise I’ll get back on my game in the new year. If I don’t see you till then, hope you have a wonderful holiday!!
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Posted in Cloth Diaper Accessories, Cloth Diaper Pails, Cloth Diaper Wipes, Cloth Diaper Diva No Comments »
December 8, 2007
The expense can be overwhelming. A hand-knit pair of longies can run you around $50 +/- & even ‘recycled sweater’ longies can be $20-40 depending on where you’re getting them. I don’t care how cute & well made they are, i just can not spend that kinda dough to cover my baby’s butt. However, I do really like wool! My solution? My mother in law gave me her old sewing machine this past summer & I spent a month stalking Goodwill for wool sweaters. So far I have made 4 pair of longies, Two shorties and one soaker. I spent about $20 for all of them (including miscellaneous items like thread & elastic). Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Cloth Diaper Cover, Cloth Diaper Diva No Comments »
December 8, 2007
Wool falls into the same category as fleece as far as cloth diaper covers go. As in it is water-resistant, but not water-proof. It is also highly breathable.
I’m just going to be honest here & let you in on the cons first:
- Expense. Wool covers, whether snap/aplix covers, soakers or longies/shorties, wool is expensive. There are however a few ways around it (we’ll talk tomorrow).
- Care. You have to hand wash wool & it needs to be (occasionally) lanolized. However, the washing & lanolizing are not at all difficult, the trick is to not have all your wool dirty at once. Having to wash a huge bunch IS annoying & then you’re left without any covers until they’re dry (I have a few longies that take 2 full days to dry in the winter!).
- If you get a little forgetful on diaper changes & baby gets sopping wet, there will be compression leaking (as in, if baby sits down on an absorbant fiber, like a couch or your jeans, it will wick through the wool onto the absorbent fiber). Though it won’t be dripping wet like going coverless would be.
So why would anyone use wool?
- Well, it’s SO breathable for one, but not as “dangerous” as going coverless (dangerous for your furniture or carpet anyway).
- It’s a very natural fiber that will easily bio-degrade.
- In the case of longies/shorties (even soakers in the summer in my opinion) the pants ARE the cover & can get super cute at that.
- Last, you don’t have to wash them very often at ALL (unless of course poo gets on them). The lanolin in the wool creates natural antibacterial properties. Just let the covers air-out when they get wet or have a ‘pee smell’ & after 15-30min, i promise, they smell fresh & clean. It’s crazy. I have only been using wool for a few months, and I’ve gone a month before needing to wash/re-lanolize, whereas my fleece covers have to be washed after one night-time or naptime use (I wash PUL every other day). So you don’t need that many, particularly if you are only using them for night-time/naptime (a lot of people go this route since PUL is admittedly just easier to deal with for busy day-time).
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Posted in Cloth Diaper Cover, Cloth Diaper Diva No Comments »
December 5, 2007
Fleece is an amazing invention. you can use fleece liners INSIDE cloth diapers to provide a moisture barrier between baby’s skin & the wet diaper & oddly enough, you can also use it OUTSIDE the diaper to protect the world from the wet diaper as well! There are plenty of companies that make fleece diaper covers. Some popular brands are: Stacinator (the Cadillacs of fleece covers, but like the car seriously ENORMOUS), Calico Baby & Bear Bottoms. I have tried the Stacinator Delux Fleece (basically heavy weight for night-time use). It worked wonderfully, but it was definitely a NIGHT-TIME diaper cover. We always laughed watching diaper boy try to walk around in it. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Cloth Diaper Cover No Comments »
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