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Archive for the ‘basic cloth diapering’ CategoryNewborn DiaperingThursday, February 11th, 2010I get overwhelmed moms-and-dads-to-be in my store every day. I can always tell who they are with their far-off distance stares and bewildered confusion in this new world they have stepped into. The baby world. The diapering world. They are looking for the “best” diapering system for their new baby. I usually recommend starting with some infant prefolds, covers, and a few other styles they may be interested in before “committing” to one style or brand. The truth is if you are a fluff-addict-to-be you will be bored with one style or brand! You will want to try all of the different styles, prints, themes, etc. It gets a little crazy… So my two cents worth is to start slow, but get enough diapers to get you through a cycle to get started. We recommend 30-36 for a newborn, but if you are just trying it out, a dozen will work for trial purposes. You will soon find out what your diapering “style” is when your new bundle arrives! Come on, we know everyone LOVES Facebook!Monday, October 19th, 2009Well so do we, and we would LOVE to get some good conversations started over there. Right now we are pretty much using it to let people know when we update the blog, have a sale, posted some pics, etc but we would love for everyone to feel like its a fun page to visit each time you log into FB to share funny stories, tag us in pics of your kids, whether cloth diapered, extended rear facing, using eco friendly products or toy, anything! Who doesn’t love to look at cute pictures of kiddies anyway? It also would be a great place to ask questions or get opinions, as you would not only get the worldly wisedom of MCDC (lol) but of other like minded parents. Something driving you batty?? Did someone make a comment about your *huge* bulky diaper bag full of fluff, or your sling (poor baby doesn’t have a stroller), or *gasp* ask you why you can’t just use a bottle when you leave the house? I bet lots of us have been in the same boat atleast once as well. Did you see a new type or brand of diaper and want to know if we have it, have tried it or are planning to carry it? We have some great new proucts – hats, boots, adorable Halloween babylegs. We also now have in the new biodegradable liners for the Gro Baby diapers, so if you use G-diapers or sposies and want to try something new, we have that too. I personally think these are a much better all around design then the G-diaper inserts. Have a great day, happy diapering….oh and see you over on Facebook! Cloth Diapering Myths!Sunday, October 4th, 2009I was thinking about all the misconceptions and myths about cloth diapersing and came up with 10 that I think are the most popular ones we have heard. Maybe some of you all have heard others? 1. In order to Cloth Diaper you must use pins. Yes I do know some parents that use them and wouldn’t do it any differently, but there are so many alternatives for those of us that aren’t that coordinated. For those that want to secure a flat or prefold with more than a cover, there are snappis- additionally there are so many other types of diaper that velcro and snap closed just as easily as a sposie. 2. Cloth diapers cause diaper rash. I think if you have a child that is prone to rash then it probably doesn’t matter what type of diaper you use, you have to be sure and change them as often as you can. Urine and feces both can break down skin and cause irritation…that is a fact. More often I have heard of babies that are allergic to the things used to make disposable diapers, the chemicals, the gel, the rough paper, the plastics, etc. 3. Once you calculate utilities, there is no cost savings. This simply is not true. Most mom’s and dad’s will agree that its only 1-2 extra loads of laundry per week to cloth diaper. Utility costs vary from region to region but there is just no way this one is true. I have estimated this myself and it costs me mere cents per load to wash and just a bit more to dry. Additionally, if this issue bothers you, use a clothes line or a drying rack – that will save over 50% of the utility cost of cloth diapering and also help your diapers last longer. 4. Cloth diapering is so time consuming that in order to be successful you must be a sahm. Although I personally am a sahm/wahm - I do not agree with this statement and know many, many families of 2 working parents or a single working parent that have successfully cd’ed all of their children. Like I mentioned above, its generally 1-2 extra loads of laundry a week – so what is that, 5 mins to load, 5 mins to switch over and then 10 to fold or stuff and put on the shelf? Going to the store to buy sposies, taking out extra bags of trash and/or swapping out those diaper genie refills has got to cancel that all out, right? 5. Poopy cloth diapers must be dunked in the toilet before putting in the pail to wash. EWW – do people really do that? It is so not necessary, really it isn’t. Even the nastiest of poops can be scraped or sprayed off and then put into the washing machine. Our washer never smells like poop or has any residue left in it after washing even the worse load of diapers. If I ever feel the need to rinse out a really bad diaper, I use the bathroom sink rather than the toilet, then I spray and wipe out the sink…NOT the toilet! 6. You cannot travel or camp with cloth. We have a previous blog articleabout this and it simply is not the case. I usually bring 2 large wet bags with me, first half of the trip in one, second half in the other. Its that simple. If you are washing dirty diapers that are more than 3-4 days old, do a soak first, then an extra wash or use some biokleen disinfectant if you think you need it. 7. You must have your own washer/dryer. I can personally attest to this as a myth! Although it sure makes it easier, cloth diapering while using shared machines or a laundromat it completely do-able. When I was washing only once a week at the laundromat I used a splash of biokleen disinfectant in the wash just to ward off unwanted bacteria (both from having the diapers sitting around for longer and the fact that other people use the machines) – the only other thing I had to do was strip more often as the shared machines seemed to have more detergent build-up that would end up on my diapers too. 8. Cloth diapers are too bulky and you need to buy larger clothes to fit over them. I won’t completely disagree with this- I think it all depends on the type of diaper you use and the build of your child. Some cloth diapers are bulky and if that is what your child is used to then it probably doesn’t bother them at all. In that case, I would say you probably would need to either size up on bottoms or just buy materials that are stretchy….no big deal. On the other hand, lots of cloth diapers are known for their trimness, these don’t add anymore bulk than a sposie if they are the correct size and are fastened snugly. 9. The added bulk between a baby’s legs can damage leg and hip development and it takes longer for a cloth diapered child to learn to walk. All these things are a definite myth! Only in the past century have there even been disposable diapers. Does that mean that humans up until the last 100 years have had messed up legs and hips? Especially in a time when people were forced to do more physical work to survive? That is just a silly, made-up misconception. Also there is no data that supports that cloth diapered children walk later, my daughter certainly didn’t have any issues! 10. Nobody uses cloth anymore. WRONG! What a relief that this is so incredibly off too, huh? Just writing this blog has given me more energy to spread the word about cloth…go on out and do so yourself too! Pass this blog URL along to your non cloth diapering friends and relatives, lets make it our jobs to help others stop filling the landfills of the world with disposable diaper and dangerous biological waste! Happy diapering everyone Triumph Over Montessori!Wednesday, September 16th, 2009I am so excited that I was able to talk our Montessori into using cloth!! After researching and writing the article on the gel in disposables, I was kinda freaking out… I had done some research on the Tushies brand of disposables, since they are the ONLY sposie that does not contain the gel – they are quite pricey (especially coming from a woman that has never had to buy sposies period!) I was looking at probably close to $50 a month for them just for the 3 days a week, 3.5 hrs each day – WOW! So I reapproached the school. I decided to talk to her teachers the day of the open house for new students. I brought with me an old Happy Heiny Pocket that was all worn out and probably too small, since that was the easiest diaper I could find without opening my storage boxes. I planned to order 6 XL of them if the school agreed, since Amelia is so tall, the LG fit her, but they droop in the front no matter how tight I fasten them since she really needs an extra inch or 2 in the rise. So the teachers were very receptive – they had never seen anything like it and were surprised how easy cloth diapers actually are! One of the teachers is young, may not have any of her own kids, the other is older and told me her kids were all grown up, so she probably atleast has seen the old birdseye, plastic headed pin and pull on cover method, even if she never personally used them (not that this is a bad system, just a bit more difficult for the novice!) They both agreed that it was fine with them. I went out to talk to the owner who seemed to be nowhere around, which surprised me, although I was aware that she had been due to give birth in June I still expected to see her. I found a frazzled lady with a rather angry disposition in the owner’s office and after asking for the owner I was informed (in a not so nice tone actually) that she wasn’t there and that if I had concerns I could speak with this woman in front of me. Well the conversation went a bit like this me: My daughter gets rashes from disposables (yes I lied) these cloth diapers are quite easy, I spoke with her teachers who are alright with it… mean woman: Well I don’t know if the state licensure allows this. me: I have asked around to people that do daycare and they tell me it is. I think its pretty obvious that she wanted to say no. I told her I could get a Drs. note (we have the BEST NP that we see at our homeopath’s office) and she told me she would call the person that does their licensure and call me back. Well Monday I had still not heard from her and managed to get my hands on a document by the state of the childcare/school age rules and regs which made it clear that it was indeed allowed, I emailed it to her with an ”oh-so-super nice” note and PRESTO – cloth at school. I had to share my triumph! Thanks for listening and happy diapering! Free Classes at the New Store!Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009Now that things are starting to settle down with moving and all, we have decided to offer a series of free classes on diapering! The first that we will be offering each Saturday at 1:30 in our new meeting area at the store will be called Introduction to Modern Cloth Diapering. At this class we will introduce each of the different types of diapers, talk about how to properly use and care for them and then talk about some of the advantages and disadvantages. This class will be great not only for begginers but even for those that are thinking about switching to a new type of diaper or those that are simply curious. We hope lots of people will join us, so if you are local or have friends or relatives that are, come on down and spread the word! Happy Diapering Folding A Prefold…Thursday, July 16th, 2009Yes it sounds redundant, right? But, those of us that know the difference between a flat and a prefold, realize that although so much of the folding has been done for us with the prefold there really still is some important work to be done! Personally, I take the easy route, somewhat of a lazier version of the basic angel wing fold that we have on our Diaper Folds page. I just lay the prefold in the cover lengthwise, fold it in a little on either side in the middle/crotch area, wrap it up and around to the front, fan the wings back out and then Velcro it all in place with whatever wrap I happen to grab first! Voila…. Well after some discussions in person and online with other prefold users I discovered that there are SO MANY cool folds! Some for the use of just covers, some for snappies and others meant for pinning. I wanted to give all our readers the opportunity to share their favorite folds and hopefully help others that might not have found their “perfect” fold yet. Leave a comment with yours, either a brief explanation or a link (or both). I will look back to my notes and come back with a few that I think are cool as well. Happy folding! The Good, the Bad and the Ugly…Thursday, July 9th, 2009In my 2+ yrs experience with cloth diapers, I can think of 3 main types of poop – the Good the Bad and the Ugly! How, might you ask, can poop be Good? Well once you have read the Bad and the Ugly, it will totally make sense! Good poop is that poop that your baby makes in his/her first 6ish months, mainly breast milk poop. On a cloth diaper, this poop is just left as it is and the diaper is then thrown into the pail and washed right in your washing machine. No, your washer won’t have poop in it, it won’t even smell like poop, it all will wash right down the drain with the water. This early poop is totally washable – so easy! The second type is the poop that your baby starts to have that more resembles regular old poop, once they start eating more solid foods. This is what I call the Ugly! Sure its gross, but Ugly poop will roll right off your diaper and into the toilet, so no matter how ugly it is, it’s easy to be rid of – right into the toilet and flush it down! The last type is the Bad poop, this poop needs to be flushed yet it does not just roll off the diaper and drop in the toilet, it sticks to the cloth! The first few times you find this poop in your child’s diaper, you might really question your desire to cloth diaper, thinking to yourself, or even out-loud to your partner “What were we thinking????” In my experience there are 3 viable option for dealing with this, if your child is one of those that frequently produces this “Bad” poop – like mine! 1. A paper diaper liner. These typically are made from rice paper or similar and resemble toilet paper, although much stronger. The way these work is that you lay them in the cloth diaper on the top closest to your child’s skin and they usually catch the bulk of the poop that would need flushing. Then you just lift the liner and the poop out and flush the whole thing. Additionally, most of these are made so that the ones that are just peed on can be washed and dried with your diapers and reused – they are also great for protecting your cloth diapers from diaper cream. 2. A rubber scraper or spatula, something designated just for scraping poop from cloth, washed off in the sink and stored in your bathroom. This is my personal method – yes we do have a small rubber scraper labeled “poop” in our bathroom. I usually keep it on the back of the toilet, but if we have *special* company coming, I store it under the sink! 3. A diaper sprayer. This is a great gadget that I have heard RAVE reviews about. It is easily installed on your existing toilet, hooked to the toilet’s water supply and its high pressure spray allows you to spray the poop from the diaper directly into the toilet. Parents also say its great for rinsing out the potty chair during potty learning! Please feel free to comment and share your experiences and tips! Happy diapering Not Your Mother’s Cloth Diapers!Tuesday, May 12th, 2009Often we get mother/daughter customers coming into the store asking for info and exploring possibilities. The opinions vary – some are all for it, telling stories of their own experiences, others are more negative, giving examples of why the new mother will need that extra time (all what, 20 mins a week?) that it takes to do the extra washes. Back about 25-30 yrs ago, when disposable diapers were really beginning to enter the mainstream, they were thought of as a new “freedom” for women, somewhat comparable the bra burning era! Most mothers’ impressions of cloth are that of diaper pins, pull on pants and wet pails and while some of us still employ these things, we know there are more modern, easy ways to CD as well as safer alternatives to the wet pail. Most cloth diaper manufacturers these days actually specify that a DRY pail be used, explaining that keeping diapers in a wet pail is not only dangerous for children (as a drowning hazard) but also not good for the diapers, they break down faster and the elastics and snaps wear out sooner as well. It often takes quite some discussions to explain to grandmothers-to-be that cloth diapering is a great option and there are so many new ways that things have been made easier and quicker for the modern – often more so than the parents themselves. They are amazed at the different types available – AIOs, pockets, fitteds, one-size diaper, the modern side fastening cover…..too many to remember! We just try and keep it as simple as possible to reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed. Its easy we tell them, and for those of you that love to cloth diaper, you know its true. So at this time of year where we have just honored our mothers, old and new – try and laugh about those small disagreements! I am reminded of some of the struggles of differing opinions that I have had with my own mother on the subject of child rearing – so funny to think about and great memories I will carry with me. Cloth diapering on a dime….when money is tight!Tuesday, April 7th, 2009Everyone has their own set of reasons for cloth diapering their kiddies, including but not limited to – environmental conservation, cutting back on chemical exposure, vanity and increasingly ever-popular SAVING MONEY!! Over the life of a child, cloth diapering can save thousands upon thousands of dollars, and as many of us can attest to, every penny counts. As a seasoned cloth diapering parent will tell you, there are so many routes one can go when building a cloth diaper stash for either a new baby or as a switchover from disposables. I am going to talk about the most frugal ways that families can cloth diaper on a bare bones budget. Having many mom and dad friends myself, I can say their personalities and skill sets vary as much as one can imagine and while it would be great to have the skills to sew up your own stash of diapers, many of us just don’t have the time or the sewing experience. For those of us who don’t want to go that route, our best friend in the frugal cloth diapering world would have to be the cotton prefold! They are by far the budget diaperer’s best choice. For around $70 you can have 3 dozen infant size unbleached Indian cotton prefolds which is right around the amount that one would need to successfully diaper a newborn, washing a load of diapers twice a week (give or take of course – as a child gets older the number of diaper you need decreases as a general rule). Paired with the prefold, one will need some type of cover ranging from wool, to plastic or vinyl – the least expensive being the old fashion Gerber rubber pants that many of our own mothers used diapering us and our siblings (which now have a softer lined leg casing and are chlorine free!) These are a simple pull on style with elastic waist and legs and come in 5 sizes from 8-35 lbs. One step up in my opinion in both ease and cost would be the Prorap wrap style covers with either snap or aplix – they add another element of ease in that they are more like the basic design of disposable diapers where you fasten them on either side with the child laying down without the help of pins or a Snappi to close the prefold since the cover holds it tightly in place when fastened correctly. We recommend having a minimum of 4 covers, depending on your washing preference. When my daughter (now 2) was a small infant I got along fine with 3-4 covers which I rotated hanging on a hook over my changing table (we didn’t go out much). When one either became soiled or very smelly, I would take it into the bathroom and wash it out in the sink with a tiny squirt of soap, wring it out in a hand towel and hang it over my shower to dry. Simple as that – if it was very dirty I might let it soak or even throw it in the diaper pail with the prefolds to go in the washer. Of course the more covers you have, the less you wash – many people like having 6-8 covers allowing them to be washed right in with the prefolds every time. Other add-ons that are helpful, but not required: We have some ready made systems available that make this whole process effortless. Our basic MCDC infant, baby and toddler packages include the prefolds, covers, wipes, solution and bag. We also have an ultra basic preemie package which is simply the preemie prefolds and the preemie covers. Lastly we have the mother of all packages which will take you from birth to potty training – our MCDC Complete package. Of course these are all customizable and we encourage you to contact us if you would like to build your own package or have questions or concerns. Oh and as always…happy diapering! |
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