New Guest Blog Post

Interested in learning about choosing a baby carrier? I have a guest blog post I did for Top to Bottom Baby Boutique that just got posted today. Go show them some love!

CuteyBaby Modern Cloth Diaper Review

Tester Bebe: Silas, 16 weeks, 16.5 lbs and 27 ¼ inches

I came across the CuteyBaby website during a search for cloth diapers, and the information about the Modern Cloth Diapers they were making made me really excited. They had cute prints, removable Velcro (so there’s less laundry wear), and the insert was removable but sewn in (so it won’t get lost in the wash). The difference though was that the pocket where the insert goes in is in the middle of the diaper, creating a channel to hold any solid waste. The removable Velcro and inner channel made me excited to try these diapers. They sell them on Amazon.com for $24.95, but I wanted to try it for cheaper so I found one on eBay.

I prepped the diaper by washing and drying on hot three times, and I was looking forward to trying it. We started putting it on my son, and the tabs were too long. We found there were snaps on the side to shorten the tabs, so we snapped them and were good to go. But the rise was way too long for him, even though the leg elastics fit well. So he had a big bubble from his crotch to the back of the diaper. My husband and I joked he had lots of room to pack #2 in there. An hour later, he was hanging out in his bouncer with his legs lifted up and fussing. When we checked the diaper, sure enough, there was poo. When I went to wash it out with the diaper sprayer, the inside pocket had absorbed some of it so I had to take the insert (also with poo) out, then turn the diaper inside out to wash out the interior.

After this experience, I would say this would be a fantastic dipe by itself for urine only. If we consistently had #2 in this diaper though, I’d get annoyed. But CuteyBaby has the answer to that (but I haven’t tried it) – they created “Keep It Clean!” liners that you lay over the top of the diaper to catch solids so that they don’t end up in the pocket. It seems like a fantastic idea. So maybe I should table my review until I can try those out too.
Want to buy? Amazon.com has them for $24.95

To Hybrid or Not? The Votes Are In…

Last week’s poll asked about why you don’t drive a hybrid (if you didn’t, obviously). 33% of you cited the price (they’re too expensive), 16% said you can’t afford a new car right now, 50% said they’re too small usually, and 50% indicated there were other reasons. I was interested to see that nobody chose the “I can’t work on it myself and don’t want to pay any repair bills” option.

When we bought our Toyota Prius (2007), my husband got upset that I chose to buy it because he kept telling me, “I don’t know how to work on it. I don’t even know where the spark plugs are and how to replace them. I don’t even know if it has spark plugs.” While we haven’t had many issues with it, we have learned some things about it such as how to change the oil (it’s not much different than a non-hybrid except it requires synthetic) and how to change the headlamps (the driver’s side one is a nightmare while the passenger side one has directions for it in the manual).

As for the price, I think that as more hybrids are designed that the price will come down. So you may be waiting for that to happen before you buy one, and I understand that. Mine, used, was even $17K or so (I don’t remember, maybe I’m trying to block it out). And the size? You all are right, at least about the Prius. I bought it when I was without child LoL. Now, it’s definitely small. The hatchback is a good size, but when it’s got a stroller in there there’s not much room for anything else. But we have road tripped to Grandma’s (2.5 hour drive) with me, Mike, Si, and the two dogs and our gear comfortably. I also have to say that my husband is 6 feet 8 inches and he can fit into it (although it may not look like it at first glance). So height of the driver shouldn’t be an issue for most people.

What I can say is that the gas mileage and lower carbon footprint, for us, definitely balance out the size issue. Especially when gas prices started to rise, I was happy with my purchase and would definitely do it again. We usually get 400+ miles to a tank of gas. Not many cars can do that for you. If you’re in the market for a car and are interested in a hybrid, definitely check out the Prius.

One Year In Cloth – The Choice, The Journey

On April 26, 2010 my husband and I were blessed by the arrival of our little boy, Silas. Before he arrived, we talked about a lot of different parenting things, and one thing he said is that he wanted to cloth diaper Silas like his Mom had cloth diapered him. Since we work to be as environmental as possible, I thought, “Why not.” I started doing research on the options (like I do as a researcher), and was overwhelmed. My best friend from graduate school, Alana, had been cloth diapering her son for over a year and sent me a file with her “year worth of accumulated cloth diapering wisdom.” It was a godsend. She helped me understand the options (prefolds? Covers? AIO whats? Is OS really OS?) and gave me suggestions for accessories that were really helpful to her. Her advice gave me a direction to say the least.

When Silas was consistently 8 pounds, I bought my first two diapers from Eden’s Baby in San Antonio. I decided against newborn sized diapers because I didn’t think it was economical to buy a diaper stash for someone who would outgrow that size pretty quickly. So I chose two pocket diapers that I had researched well – a Bum Genius (BG) 3.0 one size (OS) Aplix (Velcro) diaper and a FuzziBunz (FB) OS snap diaper (with the adjustable elastic inside the diaper). I didn’t prep them enough (usually three washings should be sufficient to start using them) and the FB leaked all over him at his pediatrician’s appointment. I think it was also due to the elastic sizing though – I may have had the adjustments on the wrong size. Eventually my husband told me he liked the Velcro better than the snaps, so I sold the FB on eBay and started buying BG OS diapers. Alana had suggested we buy all snaps due to the fact that eventually Silas would be able to remove the Velcro (and the snaps at some point too), but I went with what Mike wanted because I wanted him to be involved in the choices. At four months I found Silas in his crib with no diaper on after he had removed the Velcro, so I started selling off my Velcro diapers and only buying snaps. Mike dealt. Velcro is a lot easier when you’re first trying to diaper baby, but snaps last longer because the Velcro tends to get nasty in the washer after a while. You can replace the Velcro (and Cotton Babies actually sells kits to fix your Aplix) if it gets bad though, so that’s definitely a plus. There are also folks out there who will convert your diapers from Aplix to snaps for a fee (usually about $5 per diaper).

The first thing we realized we wanted as an accessory was a diaper sprayer. We bought the BG Sprayer from Cotton Babies and installed it in three minutes, and I have never been happier with a purchase. It makes clean up of solid diapers 200% easier (especially since we tried the garden hose once). We also got a couple of wet bags to keep the diapers in because grocery bags just weren’t cutting it. My favorite is the Kangacare/Rumparooz wet bag as it holds about a washer-load of diapers. I looked at doing cloth wipes, and tried them for a bit, but I found Mike wouldn’t use them so I switched back to regular wipes.

Once we started diapering and I felt comfortable with what we were doing, I started looking around at other options in terms of styles and companies. I found I really liked trying new things, especially since I found that if we didn’t like them we could always sell them for almost as much as we paid for them. I realized that cloth diapers are a lot like women’s clothing – each company has their own fit and style, and some work for you and some don’t. Some fit your kid’s butt really well, others just don’t. My son has a long torso (or a long rise, which is the measurement from the belly button down around his boy parts to the top of butt/waist). If a diaper has a short rise, then it just won’t fit him. Rumparooz, while super cute, did not fit my son to 35 pounds as they are supposed to for that reason. They fit him to 28 pounds (did I mention he’s also tall and heavy?).

As many parents write, cloth diapering is addictive. It becomes almost like your hobby – collecting diapers for your kid’s butt. Sounds funny, I know. “Most of the time it gets covered up by clothes, so who cares about the print,” you may think. Well, that’s true, but fun prints are so much more fun. Parents post pictures of their “stash” (collection of cloth diapers or CDs) and other parents ooh and ah. They buy/sell/trade and collect different ones on Facebook, eBay, and websites dedicated to cloth diapering sales like DiaperSwappers. They stalk diapers and diaper covers (that go over the non-waterproof diapers like Goodmamas, Thirsties Fab Fitteds, and Kiwi Pies) and post that they are IDSO (in dire search of) a certain print/size. From the outside looking in, it can be pretty funny. Outsiders would think, “Really? You sat on eBay for 3 hours battling another person for a Kissaluvs owl print diaper? Really?” Yes, I did. My son’s room was decorated in owls – I wanted that diaper. Goodmamas (GMs) stock on Fridays with a preview on Facebook on Thursdays. It’s like Christmas – limited quantities for multiple mommas means you get there early and you have your PayPal ready to go so you can check out faster than the other people stalking the same diaper you want. A GM sold for over $400 on Spots Corner. No joke. Some people are, in a word, addicted.

So my kid’s butt has been around the cloth diapering block. We’ve used pocket diapers (BG 3.0 and 4.0, FB OS, FB Perfect Size [sized diapers], Happy Heiny’s, Smartipants, AppleCheeks,Thirsties Duo Diapers, Rumparooz, Blueberry, Swaddlebees, Wahmies, Bububibi, LolliDoos, Coolbaby, and Sunbaby), fitted diapers (Thirsties Fab Fitteds, Sustainablebabyish, GMs, Kiwi Pies, and Kissaluvs), prefolds with a cover (Thirsties, Gen Y, Bummis, Kushies, gDiapers, and Econobum), and All in Ones (AIOs) which have an insert sewn in usually so there’s no need to search for the matching insert (BG AIOs, BG Elementals, Kissaluv’s Marvels OS AIO, The Eli Monster, DryBees, Blissful Booty, Envibum, Tots Bots, Dream-Eze, GroVia, Imse Vimse, and CuteyBaby). Ok that list kind of disturbs me. As you can see though, I’m willing to try anything. I do have to say that my “workhorse” diapers (the ones I use the most) are my BG 3.0s and 4.0s and my FB (size medium currently) though. I think daycare has the easiest time with these too as I’ve seen some of the others come home on him backwards or fastened incorrectly (remember, SmartiPants goes in the BACK, snaps almost always go in the front).

The funny thing is the companies we started out with (BGs and FBs) are the ones that still fit him the best (as of right now). While he’s on the last “size” of the BG OS diapers (because of his long rise), he still fits pretty well in FB size mediums, and I’m thankful for that. If he didn’t, I’m not sure how much longer we could cloth diaper. While the rate of growth slows in the second year, it’s kind of sad that my son has pretty much grown out of almost everything else out there.

So where do you go if you’re a parent (or about to be a parent) and you’re interested in learning how to cloth diaper? A lot of the CDing sites have “How To” pages, and I’ve found that the one at Cotton Babies (home of BG, Flip, and Econobum) is amazingly helpful. There are discussion boards on DiaperSwappers where you can read other people’s questions and post your own, and the parents there (mostly Moms really) are very helpful. Some answers to frequently asked questions: No, washing your diapers doesn’t make your water bill go up by that much; No, washing diapers really doesn’t take that much more time out of your week (with a large enough stash you can wash twice or three times per week); Yes, daycare may have a problem with it initially but you can teach them how to “work” cloth diapers (on July 19 Rockin’ Green cloth diaper detergent will post my guest blog about how to work with your daycare and I’ll post the link here); No, it’s not “grosser” than using disposable diapers – if you’re a person afraid of poop, then I’m not sure that parenting is for you :)

Cloth diapering – try it, you might like it! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or post your question in response to this. I love helping parents with their diapering journey.

Guest Blogger Jena’s Note to Herself

Welcome to our first guest blogger, Jena! Fantastic job and great message about the choices we make when starting to cloth diaper.

Dear self of seven months ago:


I know you’re absolutely confused and overwhelmed by the variety of cloth diapers available out there. You’re actually paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong decision for the baby you’re about to meet, and you know that’s silly, but knowing it’s silly doesn’t help you become able to make your first decision about which diapers to buy. Well, second—you already made the decision to use cloth. Good choice, by the way—you’re going to love them.

See, here’s the thing. It’s kind of hard to make a wrong choice with cloth diapers, unless you order a bunch of huge diapers and forget she (yes, it’s a girl) is going to be pretty small at birth, which of course you wouldn’t do. Know what would suck? What would suck is to not have those diapers laundered and waiting for her when you two come home from the hospital. Especially since she’s going to arrive a week earlier than you would’ve thought to expect her.

You’re very lucky a friend gave you her first diaper stash—she took some of the weight off your shoulders. Those diapers will last for the first few months, and you’re going to love prefolds on your newborn girl, and you’d like to kiss the man who invented Snappis, because it means you don’t have to deal with those big clumsy pins. So you got eighteen or so newborn size prefolds, half a dozen covers (in x-small, small, and one-size), a dozen size one hemp fitteds and another half dozen size one cotton fitteds, plus a couple small all-in-ones and one one-size pocket diapers.

Choice is a good thing, when you’re not terrified of somehow screwing up something for your kid. And no, you wouldn’t have chosen the prefolds, because they’re just not as cute as some of the other diapers, but once they have a cover on them, they’re still adorable and they’re cheap. If your friend hadn’t loaned them to you, I’d advise you to start your stash with them anyway. Besides, the newborn size only fits about a month and then you’ll be using the trimmer fitteds.

Later, when friends can’t figure out which diapers to register for or purchase themselves for the first few months, you’re going to recommend at least twenty-four prefolds and three Snappis for the more budget-restricted and a combination of prefolds and hemp fitteds and covers for those with a not-so-restricted budget. You’ve heard that some pocket diapers work well on newborns, but you’re not convinced. They’d probably be a lot bulkier than you would’ve liked on your baby (and the prefolds were pretty darn bulky).

But you’re going to feel like such a wimp down the road, when you think of all those times you almost bought diapers but didn’t because they might be “wrong” for the baby. You won’t know if you don’t try; you don’t have to order a ton of them, but you might consider ordering with friends to get some of those buy-in-bulk deals, some of which are really good. Read reviews where possible, but go with your gut. When you have a question, find a site with a cloth diapering forum or discussion board and ask—or just Google it; I’m sure someone’s already asked it. Search for sales; cloth diaper sales do exist, often on those sale-a-day sites. In fact, you’re going to purchase your first pocket diapers through one of those sites. (Oh, and when you order, consider ordering extras as gifts for friends.)

When your daughter is almost six months old, you’ll be using three different brands of pocket diapers. You’ll only have two all-in-ones exclusively for your diaper bag (remember when you thought you’d want mostly all-in-ones?). You’re hooked. You can’t wait to pick out which diapers you’re going to order next. And your little girl looks adorable in them, like you knew she would.

Don’t worry. You can do this.

Love,
You


Jena lives in British Columbia, Canada, with her husband and their first baby, who was born Christmas morning and has been nothing but a delight since she arrived.