The Cloth Diaper That Is Almost Too Good!

The majority of my cloth diaper stash is made up of prefolds but a few months ago I started using pocket diapers for night times with great success. When I needed a couple extra, I decided to take advantage of the Cloth Diaper Outlet sampler pack and try the four different pocket diapers. I figured that the extras would also be useful for the infrequent times by baby is not with me and cared for by Daddy or Grandma who still find performing the prefold origami on our wriggling one-year old a near impossible feat!

After just one wash and dry decided to leave a bundle of three pocket diapers with my Grandmother to use on my baby while I went for a dentist appointment. I know that the absorbency of the inserts increases after several washes but I thought I’d try them anyway. I also left her a stack of prefolds for when they ran out.

When I returned I noticed that surprisingly my girl was in the last of the pockets and they had not yet moved on to the prefolds. My girl usually makes a whole lot of wet dipes in a day so I was concerned that she had not been changed enough. My Grandmother explained that our girl had felt dry all afternoon and she only made the last change because she knew I would be checking up! She said she even left the last diaper on the bed for me to see how dry it was.

I felt the diaper in question, the Knickernappies 2G, and it was, indeed very dry to the touch. I was a bit worried about this lack of wetness and even though my Grandmother is the most excellent care giver I could ever wish for, I quizzed her a little on how much she had given baby to drink! I then hypothesised that the dryness was due to the absence of breastfeeding that afternoon.

So I gathered everything together and went to sort out my diaper pail and basket. On pulling out the insert I realised that it was heavy and soaking wet! The amazing Loopy Do insert had drawn all the away wetness from my baby’s bottom giving the appearance on the surface that she was completely dry! I’m sure this was a better sense of dryness than even disposables can claim to get. I was extra pleased to have this diaper a few days ago when we got stuck in a traffic jam and my baby was sleeping. At the end of the journey she was very comfortable. I’ll definitely be getting more of these types of diapers as they are almost too good to be true!

--Written by Terri Henry

If you give a mother some cereal...

If you give a mother some cereal, she's going to want to refill the cereal jar.
When she refills the jar, the box will be empty.
She'll want to recycle it.
When she takes the box outside to the recycling bin, she'll realize the sprinkler in the backyard needs to be moved.
When she goes to move the sprinkler, she'll realize the backyard has been watered enough and she'll want to water the front yard instead.
When she takes the sprinkler out front, she'll realize all the flowers need watered.
When she waters the flowers, she'll want to pull weeds.
When she's done pulling weeds, she'll want to wash her hands.
When she washes her hands, she'll realize her cereal bowl is still sitting empty on the counter. She'll want to fill it and add milk.
She'll empty the milk carton and then she'll want to recycle it.

See where this is going? I still haven't eaten breakfast!

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Cloth Diapering Out & About

When I began my cloth diaper journey I was able to manage perfectly at home. However as soon as we left the house I found myself reaching for the disposables to ensure baby would stay dry on a car journey and because I was unwilling to carry around a whole set of wet, smelly diapers in my bag. Being committed to cloth diapering, I found this a very unsatisfying situation and I was determined to find a way to use cloth wherever and whenever.

To address the dryness issue I got some doublers, which increase the absorbency of diapers and are a great boost for car journeys or anytime very regular changes might not be possible. My favourites are the Knickernappies stay dry hemp doublers with hemp on one side and a microfleece on the other. When the fleece side is placed next to baby’s skin the moisture seeps right through and gives an amazing sensation of dryness that really is comparable to a disposable without all the chemicals involved!

Then to solve the carrying problem I invested in a Planet Wise Wet Bag. This fabulous bag seals in both wetness and odours and thus allows me to carry a whole day’s worth of wet, dirty diapers without anyone ever knowing! The bags are nicely designed and come in 3 sizes that are suitable for differing needs. I then bought a slightly bigger baby bag that was more suitable for the increased bulk of cloth diapers.
Another essential on-the-go diapering item is to use a liner, as they make flushing away poop simple and leave the diaper clean enough to tuck in the wet bag without making everything else mucky.

Whilst I do use my prefolds for some journeys, these can sometimes be more challenging to get on a wriggling baby in an unfamiliar tight space! Pocket diapers or All-in-Ones are a faster, easier option and are also especially good when someone else, unfamiliar with the origami of a prefold, has to change her.

So now with all these items in our changing bag I feel very happy that I can leave the house as a true ambassador for cloth diapers and show the world how great cloth is!

--written by Terri Henry

Swim Diapers!

Summer is here and that means it's time to hit the pool or the beach with the kids! Like many people, we used disposable swim diapers for our son at first, but when I compared the price of disposables and cloth swim diapers, I knew cloth was the way to go!

First of all, cloth swim diapers cost about $14, the equivalent of one pack of disposables. Depending on your baby's age, he can quickly outgrow those disposables before you finish the pack. If you're the type of family who love the water and swim on a regular basis, you may be buying multiple packs of disposables each season, making them even less economical and environmentally friendly.

There are lots of different brands of cloth swim diapers, but my favorite are the Imse Vimse for several reasons. First, these diapers are very trim and fit my slim toddler well. Sometimes people are surprised that cloth swim diapers are not thick and fluffy like regular cloth diapers. Cloth swimmers are not meant to be absorbent (neither are disposables, by the way), only to contain poop and keep it from getting in the water. Other suits have been too baggy around the thigh, which defeats the whole purpose because they won't contain the solid matter.

Second, the diapers are just adorable. They are basically baby Speedos and covered in a cute fish pattern. You can add a matching top for girls for a stylish tankini look.

Lastly, I prefer snaps on my diapers rather than velcro, and Imse Vimse uses side snaps which make changing a breeze.

--Written by Elita.

Diaper Liners – The Small Things That Make a Big Difference

I started using diaper liners as soon as I began cloth diapering, convinced that they would save me time on cleaning messy poop from my prefolds. However, this was still in the early days when my baby was entirely breastfed and the consistency of poop usually ran overboard. Since I almost always ended up washing out the stains by hand before they were put in the pail, I stopped buying the liners.

When baby started solids, things immediately changed. With the poop now more firm it would have been easily contained in the liner and it was frustrating to be spending so much time each day washing the marks out. Because the liners were not locally available I started using pieces of folded kitchen paper instead but this disintegrated with urine and made a mess. So it was with eager anticipation that I awaited for my next online order of Imse Vimse liners to arrive. As expected I now find these liners invaluable. They make cloth diapering so much easier and are truly an item that I don’t want to live without!

I bought the Imse Vimse range because it said they were biodegradeable and suitable for septic tanks and at the outset I threw every used one into the toilet. Then I read a review of the product in which the reviewer shared her experience of using the liners, saying that whilst the dirty ones got flushed immediately, the ones that were just wet could be washed and reused. Well to me, an eco-mama on a budget, this was great advice. I started washing them out by hand which was successful but when one slipped into my machine load and came out fine I began to add them to my pail for the main wash. So I save both time and money with these liners!

As an aside, this recycling of the liners gave me the opportunity to compile some statistics on my daughters diaper habits. I kept all the clean and dried reused ones in a bag and when I finished the roll of 100 I counted how many had been saved in order to tally her poop to pee ratio! A mothers fun!

--Written by Terri Henry