Real Simple: Waste Reduction

When you have a child, there are many options for handling their waste. That's right - many.
The first option is generally the one people assume you will go with.

Run-of-the-mill Disposable Diapers.

This would be Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, along with store brands. 

This is the most wasteful option, as these can take quite a while to degrade.

Organic, Bio-degradable Disposable Options.

This can be diapers like Seventh Generation, or disposable inserts for cloth covers (such as Flip, GroVia, or G-Diapers). This one is still wasteful, but not as hard on the environment as the first option.

Photo credit: GroVia

 

Cloth Diapers.

These diapers are entirely reuseable, and can be made of things like cotton, hemp and bamboo. They are much better for the environment, but still use natural resources for production, gas for travel, and water for washing.

Another way to keep cloth diapering green is to use a clothes line and/or drying rack.

Elimination Communication.

This option consists of diaperless babies. That's right! This is the greenest option, but it's not necessarily right for everybody. If you're going this route, you learn your baby's cues and take them to the potty as needed.

There is certainly no need to go all-or-nothing. 

 

Some people choose a combination of disposables, and cloth. Some use cloth and elimation communication.

If you use cloth diapers, or elimination communication, even part time - you can rest assured knowing that you are putting less waste into landfills than if you were using disposables.

I often hear people complaining that they can't cloth diaper full time for one reason or another.

That's fine! Every cloth diaper you use, is one less disposable getting thrown away. And every time you use elimination communication, that is one less diaper you have to wash. Do whatever works for you, but know that every little bit counts.

Even if you use just one cloth diaper a day, that is 365 (or 366) disposables you've kept out of a landfill at the end of the year. Imagine if you use two, or three... Those numbers really add up!

For more information on how you can make a difference by using cloth diapers part time, check out Change Three Things by Cotton Babies!

Cloth 101 - Getting to know modern CD's

Used with permission.

People decide to use cloth diapers for many different reasons. Some want to reduce/reuse/recycle, or keep chemicals away from their baby. Others choose cloth to save money where they can, or even because they fall in love with the cute color and pattern options that cloth provides.

Even though cloth seems to be a growing trend these days, it's been around much longer than disposables. This might be one of the reasons people shy away from it. They've heard about having to use pins, and plastic pants. Nah, these people prefer to use "real diapers" - whatever that means. They don't want crappy diapers sitting in their toilet. You can thank my mother for the last one - apparently when she was growing up, her little brother was cloth diapered, and every time she had to use the bathroom, she had to get one of her parents to remove the diaper from the toilet. Gross!

Well, fret no more. Cloth doesn't have to be like that today. There are many different options, and with these, you can find the best system for your lifestyle.

Eco-friendly

If you are in it for the eco-friendly aspect, you might be drawn to organic products, or natural fibers like fitteds with a wool cover.
However, you don't have to go for those options to reduce the waste that disposables would create. Depending on how eco-friendly you want to be, you can even use disposable hybrid options such as Grovia or Flip.

Economy

The best way to save money is use prefolds and covers. Because of this, most people use prefolds on newborns as a cheap effective way to keep them in cloth before they would otherwise fit into one-size diapers.
Another economical option is AI2 (all-in-twos) like Best Bottoms, Grovia or Flip, which are basically a cover and a matching insert. The least economical option would be AIO (all-in-ones), or WAHM (work at home mom) fitteds. However, even using a stash entirely of AIO's will still save you money in the long run. Even WAHM diapers can save you money in the long run - as long as you don't buy more than you need.

Style

Cloth diapers are definitely a cute alternative to disposables. Many people consider them to be a fashion accessory, or clothing item of their own. Most big name cloth brands come in a variety of colors - and some even come in patterns. If you decide to use WAHM diapers, they can come in any array of colors and patterns.
The style factor is part of what can lead to over-buying. However, even those that buy more than they need can recoup their costs by reselling them later. This is one of the amazing things about cloth diapers - the diapers do not lose much value with use.

Already interested in cloth?

If you already want to use cloth, but aren't quite sure where to start, let me help.

All-in-one's, all-in-two's and pockets are the easiest systems to use for those familiar with disposables, with AIO's and pockets in the lead as they are the most similar.

AIO's are literally one piece, which means that you wash, put on baby, take off, and repeat. However, they usually take the longest to dry, and do not have adjustable absorbancy without the use of a doubler or extra insert. However, adding something to an AIO takes away the benefit of using it. really.

AI2's can be used just like an AIO, except that you can reuse the waterproof shell until it's dirty, and simply replace the insert.

Pockets are used just like AIO's, but you have to stuff an insert into the pocket before using (or after washing). Most pockets come with microfiber, which can hold stink, and cannot be placed directly against baby's skin. However, there are other options for inserts, such as bamboo and hemp. These have adjustable absorbancy, and are much quicker at drying because the insert is not sewn in. These are probably the most popular type. Also, you can find some very cheap pockets online, such as Kawaii and Sunbaby.

These three options are your best bet to get daycare or your babysitter on board with using cloth. There is no extra work for the person changing the diaper!

I always recommend getting a variety of diaper types, even if you are completely sold on one specific kind. What if it doesn't work for your baby? What if it doesn't fit all situations? We started with prefolds, fitteds, AIO's, AI2's and pockets. I swore I was going to love AI2's and pockets. They have their place, like I love AI2's for travel, but my favorites are actually AIO's and fitteds. And even though I didn't originally have any interest in getting into wool, I do now. It works wonders - despite the fact that it doesn't make logical sense how wool can waterproof a diaper (just look up lanolizing if you want to take that route).

I wouldn't give up my variety for just one type of diaper either. Which diapers are fitting my little one best changes all the time, because babies grow quickly.

To read more about cloth diapers, check out the links below (or join in if you're a CDer and blogger!) - they are part of the Real Diaper week blog hop, which is leading up to the Great Cloth Diaper Change this Saturday.

Wahmies Wetbag Review & Giveaway (4/1 - 4/14)

 

Wetbags are a necessary part of cloth diapering, but they can be used for so much more than that. Other uses for wet bags can include swim gear, dirty clothes, makeup, and more. The convenience of a wetbag while traveling is endless.

Greenie Beanie Bottoms sent me a Wahmies wetbag to review, and they'll send one to a lucky winner as well.

First, let me start off by saying that I absolutely love this print. It is just so pretty, I wish I had other things in the same fabric! I immediately could tell the wetbag was a good quality one, just from touching it. It's thicker and almost seems better than my Planetwise to the touch. I couldn't wait to try it out!

One of the first things I did was compare size. I have a medium Planetwise wetbag, so I lined the two up to see how they compared.

Wahmies regular size wet bag over Planetwise medium wetbag.

The Wahmies wetbag is only slightly smaller than the Planetwise, measuring at 13" by 15". Perfect.

They say it can hold 6-8 diapers, and it definitely did for us with newborn and then one-sized diapers. If you have a toddler in a larger size, it may not hold quite that many.

One feature that this wetbag comes with is a small piece of fabric inside, meant to put an essential oil on to keep it from getting stinky. I haven't needed to add any essential oils because this bag can keep the stench of dirty diapers inside for days if you let it! I know this because I let it stew a couple days, and it didn't let out the slightest odor, while zipped.

Pro's

Totally leak proof - for both smell and water!

Small and convenient for travel - but can also work for part-time home use.

Swatch of fabric for essential oils to keep smells away.

Cute designs.

Con's

Slightly smaller than Planetwise medium wetbag, if you need just a little extra room.

Not as many designs to choose from.

No handle on this size (their larger one does have a handle though). 

Buy It

You can buy the Wahmies regular wetbag here for $16.50 from Greenie Beanie Bottoms. They have free shipping on all orders!

Win it

The winner will get to choose from any of the prints that are in stock for a regular size Wahmies wetbag.

Must be 18+ and have an address within the United States to enter.

Stash Update

Our camera recently stopped working. We bought a new one, but it didn't come with a memory card and isn't compatible with the one from the other camera. So, we have a memory card on the way.

This picture was taken after the old camera died, but before the new one arrived. That means, this picture was taken with my phone!

Since taking this picture, we've gotten a second hanging wetbag (the first isn't in the photo), new wipes from Sweetbobbins, bamboo inserts, and three Monkey Snuggles fitteds. We have another Monkey Snuggles fitted on the way, along with wool! So excited.
We don't use the Lovely Pocket diapers (bottom left) or the Happy Heiny's (bottom right). The fitted and prefolds on the bottom are newborn, so they are out of use as well. The Batman diaper (Little American Pocket Diaper) will likely be used as a swim diaper because we're having some odd leaking... maybe wicking? I might give it another shot first.

You can see the new hanging wetbag in this picture. We recently went to Ikea and I found these baskets I love. Originally, they were going to be for the changing table... but they don't fit. So I decided to use them for clothes. The left is pants/shorts he can probably fit into, and the right is anything that is a long way from being worn.

Can you think of anything else I can do with these? I have cats that love to scratch, so I'm hesitant to place them out in the open.

(Note on the weigh ins... I haven't been doing anything to lose weight lately. Super slacker here.)

For the love of sleep: SttN Update

We purchased some Thirsties doublers to use alternately with our lone Joey-Bunz premium, and then my darling son became even more of a heavy wetter. Doublers don't work anymore, they get soaked in a matter of hours.

Our Best Bottom inserts still work somewhat. Not as long as 7 hours, but about 5ish; however we would like to use those with the Best Bottom cover, at least sometimes!

So we made a new purchase.

A used Twinkie Tush, and it is amazing! I can't wait to get more. This is the real deal now.

Milestone: Sleeping through the Night

I am excited to say that last night, I had a theory.

The night before last was horrible. Evan fell asleep on me while we watched movies, and then after, I had to take him upstairs to bed.
Well, he started doing his uncomfortable grunt (usually means he needs a diaper change). I laid him down and went to the bathroom, and he was awake before I came back. I stayed up with him until 5am. Then, he seemed kind've sleepy. So I laid him down, content and quiet, and went to the bathroom. When I came back, he was asleep. So I went to bed.

As soon as I laid down, he woke up. Seriously? So I was up for a few more hours.

Well, my theory was that he gets TOO soaked. Because after I brought him to bed, I woke up and saw the back of his onesie had a HUGE wet spot. Hmm... (User error: Eddie didn't have the cover covering the whole fitted... but the fitted WAS dripping wet, so not entirely his fault.)

His previous "nighttime diaper" was a KL0 (fitted) with a cover.

I decided he gets too wet to be comfortable asleep. So I bought THIS, a 3-pack of Thirsties doublers, and can't wait to get it.
However, we DO have one of THIS, a Joey-Bunz premium insert, it's just too expensive to buy more right now. Unless the Thirsties doesn't work.

Evan fell asleep around 1, I think. I know I didn't go to bed until 2, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch a movie or not. And either way, I wasn't prepared to go another night without sleep.

It's safe to say, I didn't have to. Because 5 1/2 hours of sleep for me later, and my baby is still asleep. How exciting! And he was asleep at least an hour before me.

So now I pump.

PS - Who knew a letdown hurt? It feels like this giant pinching feeling. Hm.

Cloth Diapers: 3 week Update

Our original plan was to cloth diaper at the hospital,  but that didn't work out. Evan was whisked away to the NICU (they said only for an hour to monitor him, but it was longer than that) - then he was brought to me for the first time, and taken back again. I didn't get him back again until after 3am.

Needless to say, my goal of keeping disposables off of him didn't work, because he wasn't even with me. We decided to leave him in disposables for the rest of our stay, and we took the remaining disposables home, and used them each time we brought him back for Bili checks, or other appointments. However, he was in cloth from his first diaper change at home, and we loved it. We stopped using disposables on trips out once his cord stump fell off, so we can put him in BumGenius 3.0 size smalls (not meant for newborns) on trips to the doctor and anywhere they will want to take his diaper off.

He currently goes through 11 newborn fitteds, 5 BumGenius All-in-Ones, 1 Best Bottom (with 3 inserts), 1 small (can be sized up some) Pocket/All-in-Two. This can be as many as 21 diapers, or as few as 18, depending on if our All-in-Two shells are salvageable after changes. As of last night, we've begun using prefolds as well (we didn't feel comfortable with them when he had a cord stump, or even when his belly button was healing after it came off). We have 16 prefolds.

We are currently doing laundry mostly every day, because he goes through so many diapers. We may change him a tad bit more than necessary though. Better safe than sorry.

After a full day of diapering (since laundry was done), his bag was nearly full.

We're also using cloth wipes. We have 10 Spasilk baby washcloths, 3 random baby washcloths, and 7 bamboo velour/flannel wipes. The velour/flannel are our favorite, but they all get the job done.

Our favorite wipes, which we only realized we loved because we got this one as a freebie on Black Friday.

The wipe solution we're currently using, but I use so much that I'll have to get the concentrated version next time.

We also have three Kawaii Pure & Natural - but Evan is lean, so they don't fit yet.

It overlaps very minorly, but not enough to hold. Oh well, maybe soon.
And Evan's first time in a prefold:

Pardon the shadows, he was starting to be squirmy because I took too long with the pictures!

Overall we love the diapers right now. We have only had one leak, which was a BG all-in-one that wasn't on tight enough. User error.

Next time around we will get more fitteds though, because they fold down for the cord stump and we find them bulletproof.

Fluff Stash

We've decided to cloth diaper. This means we have to buy things now, so that we can save money later. It also means that we get to pick out cute designs and patterns for diapers.

I think we're pretty much set on newborn-sized, but we would like to get some newborn AIO (all-in-one) diapers to make life easier. If we don't get around to it, that's fine though. We'll make do. (What is an AIO? Click here.)

All of the following photos were taken as I sorted diapers for prepping, hence so many grouped photos.

Our "stash" consists of the following:

These were what I received from the December mom gift swap. A joey-bunz insert/doubler, and a medium Planet Wise wetbag for use when out and about. Love it!

16 small prefolds, misc microfiber inserts for various pocket diapers, 5 BumGenius 3.0 size small, 10 Kissaluv size 0, one Dappi fitted size small

2 Econobum one-size prefolds, and the joey-bunz insert again (because these are new and got boiled before going into the wash)

Working from bottom to top - 5 BumGenius 4.0 One-Size Pockets (they were seconds which means they have small "flaws" and came with no insert), 2 Lovely Pocket Diapers (one has monkeys, hearts and bananas, the other is just polka-dots), and one Little American Pocket Diaper (Batman-themed, and my husband's favorite - he even "stalked" and bought it)

Two Econobum one-size covers, one "La-Di-Da" cover size small.

5 Happy Heiny Pocket Diapers

2 FuzziBunz pockets, size medium.

The wetbag again, and our only cloth wipe - organic, by Kissaluv.

12 BumGenius 3.0 AIO size small - bought used, and not sure if we will use them as they require minor repairs before use.

Most of this was bought used, then we had a lot of sale purchases. Only the Little American Batman diaper, and the two Lovely Pocket Diapers were bought without a sale.

We also have some more on the way:
2 Bummis Whisper Wraps size newborn, 1 unknown brand cover size xs, 1 Ceilidh cloth fitted size newborn, 3 cricketts fitteds size newborn, and 1 Sage Pocket size 1.

This brings our total to:
The newborn stage: 14 newborn fitteds, 4 newborn/small/x-small covers, 16 newborn prefolds (I'd rather just use these as inserts...), 1 pocket that can be used on a newborn
"In-Between" newborn and one-size: 5 BG 3.0 AIO's that we will use, and another 12 that we may not
One-sized: 2 prefolds, 13 pockets, 2 covers
Medium: 2 pockets

Misc: 1 medium wetbag, 1 cloth wipe, 1 joey-bunz insert, 15 pocket inserts (multiple sizes)

Must get still: A pack of snappis to secure prefolds, inserts (we want these, and more joey-bunz), more one-size (unless I want to do diaper laundry every day), preferably some newborn AIO (though this isn't needed at all), at least 1 hanging wetbag, and definitely a lot more wipes!