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Archive for the ‘green living’ 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! Funny, if it isn’t YOUR toddler!Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Sooo, you put you little cutie in the tub, wash them up nice and clean and give them a little play time. You are sitting on the toilet, reading your magazine when you get this funny feeling….something is wrong. You peer over the side of the bathtub and there it is….a FLOATER! Yep – if you are the parent of a bathtub pooper, you know the feeling. Your nice clean child is now sitting in his/her own soup of feces….lovely! I have to admit that this is not a story of my own experience. I recently saw an acquaintence of mine on Facebook complaining that one if her TWINS does this. As if one child sitting in their own poop soup isn’t bad enough, having to re-wash two toddlers. I tried not to laugh, because I actually hate giving baths and to have to re-wash and all that would seriously push me over the edge! One of her friends suggested a swim diaper and a conversation ensued about them and how expensive they are and for what? The inside of a cheap disposable diaper! I don’t know how many times I have preached to my non-cloth friends about how great cloth swim diapers are and how much money they can save. One swim diaper that can be washed countless times costs about the same (if not less) than a package of swim diapers and can be used for years and on multiple children. So in this colder season where swimming diapers are not really on our minds, I thought I would mention this alternative use and maybe get a chuckle or two in the process! Happy diapering! 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! What ARE those gel-like pieces found in a Disposable??Monday, August 17th, 2009Even though I am sure most of my readers are avid cloth diaperers, every now and then we have either used a disposable ourselves or perhaps changed a friend’s baby and wondered, what they heck are those gel things all over their bum? Well let me tell you…..they seem so benign don’t they? Some things can be so deceiving. The super absorbant crystals that turn into gel when hydrated are made from Sodium Polyacrylate (SAP), which has been reported to cause skin irritation, allergic reactions, oozing blood from babies privates, fever, vomitting and staph infections, was actually banned from tampons in 1985. Research on animal models has shown that polyacrylate particles breathed in have resulted in the appearance of foreign bodies and inflammation in the lungs of hamsters. Sodium polyacrylate applied to open wounds in rats resulted in precipitous hypotension (low blood pressure), hemorrhage, and cardiac arrythmias. Kinda scary huh? Actually even more alarming is that children have DIED from ingesting only 5 grams of the same substance and as an example, a Seventh Generation sposie contains anywhere from 5-15 grams of SAP per diaper (depending on size I would assume.) I personally had no idea! I remember a time when our washing machine was broken and we were supplimenting our stash of prefolds and covers with 365 brand disposables on the days we went to the laundromat – this went on for a few weeks while a part was ordered, she was 4 months old at the time. I was used to changing quite frequently since we only used prefolds at this age, so I had not seen the gel until one day my husband managed to throw one in the wetbag with our prefolds and then proceeded to take them to the laundromat and put it through one of their industrial sized washing machine. Oh my goodness!!! This one, size 2 disposable diaper completely FILLED the washer with small gel beads. What a mess, although it seemed funny at the time, looking back I am mortified! All three types of sposie that I have used on my daughter – 365, 7th Gen AND G-diaper all contain SAP. Wow, who knew? Really makes me think twice about what to put on my daughter who is starting preschool in 2 weeks and they don’t allow cloth No Changing Table?Thursday, August 6th, 2009I was talking to a friend this morning, both of us have a youngster in diapers (cloth to be exact!) She has had a few annoying experiences lately with being at a place that didn’t have a changing station and we were talking about alternatives and generally griping about how we can’t imagine why a business wouldn’t think to install one in their restrooms. Additionally we were talking about how annoying it is that larger places such as malls and amusement parks don’t provide anywhere for a nursing mother to nurse her child although they don’t mind giving us a dirty look when we do it out in the open (I supposed that is a whole other topic though…) Both she and I are on the lower maintenance side to how we change our kids I would say; out on the grass, back of the car, in mid air, you name it I think we have tried it. It gets trickier when your child gets heavier (my case) or squirmier (her case!) – you need a safe, clean place to lay your child when out and about and you need to change a diaper. The car is hot and cramped, there isn’t always a nice grassy piece of land and you don’t always have a friend with you or one that wants to hold your child in the air while you unfasten, wipe and re-fasten! Several times in the past 2.5 yrs when I have been at places with no changing facilities I say something. I am not typically rude, but try to be as firm as I can when mentioning to an owner or manager how inconvenient it is for a parent. Sometimes, if my comments seem to be going unheard I will even add that the inconvenience does stick in my mind and most definitely influences my decision as to whether or not to return or to choose another more family friendly establishment. Typically though, I feel like the suggestion is usually heard and hopefully considered. Other than helping to raise awareness for those in charge of these public establishments, the only other advice I can think of to offer would be to invest in a traveling changing system. We have a nice one at the store made by Ergo that holds all the components needed for an impromptu change and can be laid on the floor, the beach, someones bed or couch and even right on top of the typical plastic changing table we all hope to find in the ladies/gentleman’s room! The Ergo changing pad works either with your current ergo carrier/backpack system or on its own with a convenient shoulder strap. Good luck everyone – oh and happy diapering! Mastering Cloth WipesFriday, July 31st, 2009Many of the mom friends I have that use cloth tend to use disposable wipes. I guess they figure they have done enough by using cloth diapers or they never thought of it or maybe they keep meaning to try it and it just never happens. While there have been periods of time that I have used disposable wipes, generally speaking, we use cloth. I do admin that I *try* to keep a small pack of the Whole Foods brand wipes in my bag, that doesnt always happen either. One of the first purchases that I made, along with my original infant sized prefolds were several sets of cotton/flannel squares. I do not think we still sell these ones at the store, but we have several other great options now (3 yrs later). Personally, I have always made my own wipe solution. Way back before I had Amelia, I found the recipe on the internet somewhere and have slowly adapted it to fit our needs while using things I generally keep in the pantry or the bathroom. Originally I bought a small plastic container with a cover that was just a tad bit larger than my squares, I would mix up around 3-4 cups of hot water, a good squirt of baby soap, about a 1/4 cup of aloe gel and a few tbs of baby oil (I love Burt’s Bees Apricot Baby oil, but its soooooo expensive now!) I would wisk this all together in the container and then gently soak the pile of squares until they were submerged, pop on the cover and store on the shelf on my changing table. So easy!! Throughout the years this has varied a bit, depending on what I had on hand. I try to make sure I have aloe gel, since its healing properties are so vast, but sometimes we forget to get more and I go without. Additionally, I usually use whatever oil I have on hand to cook with, usually olive oil and that works fine as well, I have tried almond oil and jojoba as well, both work great. Sometimes I use the natural body wash that I keep in the shower for my husband and I as its much less expensive than the baby soap and that works fine too, its not like you are going to get it in their eyes anyway! Another option is using some sort of premade wipe solution. Its super easy and works great. We have several types, both the bumgenius Bottom Cleaner and the Happy Heiny Organic Heiny Spray you spray directly onto the baby’s bum and then wipe off with a cloth square or a face cloth. The Northern Essence Foaming Wipe Solution works more like my home made version – it also comes in a pump style that is perfect for the diaper bag (yes I should get one…) Give it a try, you just might decide you like it! I also find they are great for wiping hands and faces that seem to get messy so many times throughout the day! Happy diapering Traveling with ClothFriday, July 24th, 2009This is a big decision for some families with youngsters. You really want to buy sposies, but that voice in the back of your head is telling you not too. Think of all that trash, the extra cash etc etc. Well as a person who has been there and done that I can tell you, its totally possible! We went and stayed at a resort at the Cape for about a week when Amelia was about 4 mos old. At that time we were strictly prefolds and covers. She still was only wearing the infant size but for the trip I decided to break out the 2 dozen premiums I had waiting in the closet. I believe I had around 4-5 dozen all total and I took 2 large wet bags. Once the first was full (about 3 days) I sprinkled it with a bit of baking soda and put it out in the trunk of the car. Then we filled the second. The most annoying thing for me was rinsing the covers in the sink so often as I believe we only had 4 at the time. In hindsight, more covers is what I would have done differently. Last summer, we went to the beach in RI for about a week. Being older now, we were using mostly pocket diapers but only had about 18 of them and were washing every other day. I had a couple dozen toddler prefolds that we had received as a gift and I broke those out and splurged on a couple Lg Thirsties wraps to accompany them. Being that we were going to be at the beach a lot, I had planned to let her go diaperless a lot and hope for the best. We realized a few days before the end of the trip that we were going to indeed run out and when I realized there were no stores nearby that sold chlorine free sposies, I decided to stop in at a local laundromat, purchased a small box of tide (which I used about half of) and washed the whole lot of them in a super sized washer – we dried and were on our way about an hour later. Perhaps my kid doesn’t have the stinkiest diapers, but I really was surprised that the smell of the older wet bag wasn’t that offending! We have just always done cloth and don’t know much different. We have yet to fly with her, so I cannot comment, but my instinct is that I would probably attempt to do cloth either way. Most hotels have laundry service and there are always laundromats, right?? I dunno, call me hardcore 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 |
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