Cloth Diaper Awareness

This post is part of Cloth Diapering Bloggers’ and Dirty Diaper Laundry’s Cloth Diaper Carnival VIII: Cloth Diaper Awareness. Please visit the other bloggers participating by following the links at the end of this post.




What to do to expand cloth diapering awareness? For a while, I didn't do much in this area at all. While I have been CDing my son since he was a week old, I didn't think to push it or even talk about it with other mamas. As I left the diaper service we started out with, and began washing my own stash, I felt my love for cloth begin to grow. Then the questions started around me: Is it hard to keep up with? Doesn't the pail stink something terrible? Wow, those diapers are different, what are they? and I felt myself wanting to talk about cloth more & more.

Fast forward 19 months...a friend admitted to me she wanted to CD her second child, who was due shortly after that, but didn't think she could afford the start up costs. She hadn't used cloth with her first because her family rents a small apartment without a washer & dryer, and it was enough to tote their clothing to the laundromat each week. Soon, they will be moving into a small house - laundry equipped. Right before her daughter was born, she put out the question of whether anyone had ever made their own diapers, and was it worth the work?

That was all I needed to hear to get myself behind my own sewing machine. I've been wanting to make my own diapers for a while, but needed the real incentive. After all, my boy has quite a stash already! This put me on a mission, which I found to be extremely fun & satisfying!!! Then I started posing my creations on facebook & had a bunch of recognition, and a few people asking me for specifics as well as some telling me that somewhere along the lines of T's life, I had already convinced them to use cloth should they ever have a child. All of that said - I think we should be doing nothing short of putting up billboards advertising the savings of cloth! There are so many advantages to cloth, I see no reason not to use them. Well, the only one I do see is if you HAVE to use a laundromat. I had several issues with my diapers after washing them in a shared machine a few times. Those icky detergents & fabric softeners just don't rinse out of machines they way they should!

Another idea I briefly looked into was to host cloth diaper parties. I received some info on the matter, but couldn't afford those start-up costs at this point in our lives, so it's been put to the side for the time being. Maybe I'll get something of my own together like that someday in the not too distant future.

I am really interested to see what others have to say on this matter, and I hope you do too! Please check out the other links at the bottom of this post, and feel free to post any comments below!

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From scratch

I've read it and heard it in so many places, but to watch my boy time & time again enjoy something so much as a home grown fruit or veggie, well, it just makes me giggle with delight! It started with our strawberries - he wouldn't touch them earlier this year, made a face at the sight of one. But the moment he saw me pick one from the vine and put it in my own mouth, he turned from no way to every day. Each morning those glorious last weeks of May, we would go outside & he would ask for "oash"- which vaguely translates to strawberry, of course. Now, as soon as he sees anything remotely close to a berry in the store or at home he exclaims, "shhhrabewy!"

Now that we're nearing autumn, there's a different crop. He's grown accustomed to picking tomatoes and cucumbers. While he's still not fond of raw tomatoes, he loves to hold them and tell me all about them. Cucumbers, on the other hand, are another of his delights. This afternoon we picked one and he immediately took it from my hands and walked for the next hour munching on it. Dinner is served.

Ask Momma Wednesdays

Hi everyone! This is my first Ask Momma Wednesday - I'm glad to join up in this hop.

This hop is hosted by nomies3monsters & here are her playing rules:

I do have a few simple requests:

1. Follow me, your hostess and #2 spot!!

(Just let us know you follow us so we can answer your question and follow you back!)

2. Please only link up the post on where you have the questions and/or comments (that you have posted within the week: Wednesday-Wednesday) you’d like other Mommas to answer/comment.
3. NO giveaway links! There are plenty of giveaway links out there. If you need help finding some great ones, just ask and I'll help ya out!

4. No spam please. These will be removed.

5. It would be wonderful if you are linking up this week if you could add this button to your sidebar or in a post to help spread the word! :) The more people that join, the more fun it will be!

6. When you follow someone, please answer the questions or comment on the post they have linked up. In other words, a relevant comment(s) :o) But also let them know you follow them!

7. Please keep the sites and posts PG-13. I know I have kids that like to hover sometimes and well, they just don't need to see that kind of stuff! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, no worries!)

This hop is not meant to break anyone down! The rule your momma taught you:
“If you don’t have anything nice/helpful to say, don’t say it at all”
applies here.

This is a new list every Wednesday, so please remember to come back and link up!

Spread the word and help other Mommas out!

MOST IMPORTANT:

Have fun!!

As for today - WAHM's - How do you manage to do your work with little ones around?

I'm new to the work at home scene - and while I've attempted to do bits & pieces of this in the past, I've never truly succeeded because of the nature of life with a kid - and I only have one! So, it's sewing at naptime & bedtime for me. Does anyone else have a suggestion for helping keep my son happy while I'm at the machine - even if it's just for an hour?

Follow me & let me know so I can go answer your question! Thanks and happy blogging!!!

And back again.

I stood in the store this afternoon gazing at the diaper shelves. I whole heartedly debated the difference between one more pack of Seventh Generation diapers and the cost of washing an extra load of prefolds, which I can bleach again to be sure the impetigo is completely eradicated. My mind scrunched up and my heart was pulled...I just couldn't justify purchasing another package of these diapers, despite the convenience of disposable material.

My husband, the head buyer for this particular store, walked up to me and smirked. I told him my thoughts and he just said, "it's been a long time since I used a prefold, I'm not sure I remember." I told him I'd take care of it until Sunday, when the medication will come to it's end. Then we can use the pocket diapers he's come to know so well. "Whatever you think!" he said.

I walked out without a new pack of 'sposies. As soon as we walked in the door to our house I happily changed T into a prefold with the Flip cover that I love so much. He exclaimed, "poo poo!" with enthusiasm, as he loves to do while walking around with a diaper in hand. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the Seventh Gen diapers we've been using for the last few days. He never picked one up & told me it was a diaper, the way he does with any of the ones in our stash. But the moment that cloth hit his bum...he knew. And he smiled as big as me.

Disposable Diapers

I am not a fan. Let me emphasize that. I am NOT a fan.

That said, of course, I am a cloth diaper enthusiast. I have been cloth diapering my son since he was a week old, starting with a diaper service and moving on to washing our own by the time he was 3 months. Yes, it takes some getting used to, but so does parenting. It has pretty much always been a part of my routine as a mom. I love my son with a fluffy butt - how else would his skinny little bottom hold up his pants?

A couple of weeks ago, he managed to get a terrible rash. Ever since solid foods were introduced, his bowel movements have been detrimental to his delicate skin, unless it's removed promptly from his behind. I wasn't able to get to him fast enough this one time (he was in child care as I taught a class), and that spurred a whole chain of ick leading to impetigo. Not fun. Poor guy couldn't even sit down in the bath. I didn't know that was what had happened, but once we took him to the doctor, it was evident he'd need a prescription to heal it up.

That was Friday - and since cloth really shouldn't have any kind of creams on it, and impetigo happens to be highly contagious and can get into the cloth itself - well, we decided to get a pack of Seventh Generation diapers to use instead. Lesser of the evils in my opinion!

I can say this: disposable diapers take up a lot less space in the diaper bag. I don't have to carry them home again, either. Plus, my husband actually said to me, "Disposables are a lot easier, huh?" Which meant to me that snaps are harder to change than sticky tabs. Since T learned how to open aplix, I converted all of our cloth over to snaps.

Here's negative number one for me: I can't stand the smell of a disposable filled with urine. At all. It hits me as soon as a child walks past me with a gel soaked urine filled sposie. It is truly gross!!! I can normally (partially) ignore it, since these disposable wearing children I speak of are not my own, but when it's T who is sporting such diapers, I cringe and hold my nose as I catch him to change him.

So, we are going through a lot of these things - because of my distaste for the smell but also because he shouldn't be sitting in the same dipe for too long with the impetigo. And I feel guilty at the sheer number of diapers we're throwing away in such a short time! It's no wonder so many disposables go to the dump every day.

Thankfully, once his 10 day antibiotic usage is over, I'll be getting him back into cloth. But these next 7 days can't go by fast enough!

Cloth Diaper Maker?

I have a new obsession - I've been wanting to apply my sewing skills to diaper making for a while now, but just couldn't get past the researching stage. I searched & googled and looked at all kinds of fabrics and notions and just couldn't get myself to make a purchase...until a local friend who is due with #2 in a week told me she wanted to cloth her second, but just couldn't afford the start up costs. I put myself to work and made the first diaper out of recycled materials...and I'm hooked! I have been cutting patterns for the last two days while I wait for my newly ordered PUL lining to arrive. I can see how much fun this will be, and I hope to keep it fun!

Here's a pic of #1 -

I can see this blog quickly turning over to a mommy blog....but hey, who will notice at this stage of the game? :)

Clean B review

Now that I've tried & finished my bag of Clean B, I've got to tell you all about it:

I sit here with a clean basket of clean diaper laundry sitting next to me - and I'm enjoying the wafting scent of honey almond that is rising up to my nose. I love love love this stuff! I haven't had such a tantalizing washing experience since I began washing our own diapers when T was 3 months old. Before that I only smelled the bleach in the diaper services' prefolds, so I can't say that was much nicer! This stuff is truly amazing, though. Not only do I feel my boy's diapers are coming out super clean, but they smell sooo nice! I have been hogging this bag of Clean B just for our diaper laundry, so I haven't had the pleasure of smelling it on my clothing, but when my new bag, just ordered today, arrives, I very well may put it to use in all areas of laundering.

Update - I began writing this on Friday, and since I received my new bag of Clean B in scent Baby Fresh yesterday, I have soaked and washed two loads of dirty clothes in this fantastic stuff. One load included the unfortunate exercise clothes of my brother's - which I have thrown into our laundry before and only had my clean clothes come out smelling like feet. (Sorry Eric, but they did!) This time, I soaked all of our clothes, his and my family's in one, with a generous scoop of Clean B, for an hour. Then I washed as normal and dried as normal...and guess what? No foot smell! In fact, I just sniff the lovely scent of the detergent and that's all. Thanks, Clean B!!!

So - right now, they are running a giveaway when they reach 1000 fans on facebook. If you aren't already a fan (press like) go on over to Clean B and like them! Let's get the momentum going here...