Flats and Handwashing Challenge

The challenge is fast approaching!  I have decided not to do the official challenge because for me cloth diapering is all about saving money. I didn't see the point in buying 2 dozen flat diapers when I already have prefolds and covers.  I am going to be handwashing my prefolds and covers. I am also not going to be using any of my pocket diapers. That alone is scary to me. I use my pockets whenever I leave my house and always at night. I will post more later this week to let everyone know how things are going.

Flats and Handwashing Challenge

As I write this post, I’m thinking to myself I might be going crazy.  I have decided to volunteer for a one week cloth diapering challenge, so what you might be says you are ready use cloth diaper, but wait this is a challenge of a different color. 

Here are the rules:

• You MUST use Flats.
• You MUST hand wash them.  How is up to you.  (bathtub, sink, large wash tub, portable non electronic washing machine, or camp style washer (bucket and plunger- think churning butter)
• You MUST air dry them.  (indoors or outdoors, makes no difference)
• You MUST limit your number of covers in rotation to 5 or less.
• You can use any detergent you want.  (Keep in mind that you still want cloth safe detergents)
• You can still use your nighttime diapers but I ask that you try to make flats work.  Maybe try a prefold wrapped in a flat.
• You can use disposable liners.
• You CAN’T use a diaper sprayer.  I thought long and hard about this one, but at an average cost of 40.00 this is one diaper accessory that is out of range for many families.  Dunk, swish, flush, or scrape!
• You MUST start the morning of May 23 and end the evening of May 30.
• You MUST fill out a completion survey about your experience.  Results will be published here and can be republished on your own blog.
• You don’t have to be a blogger!  Your conclusions about the experiment will be entered into the survey at the end of the challenge.  You can share on your Facebook, Twitter, various messageboards.  But if you are a blogger please share your experience on your own blog.  Grab the button and let people know you are planning on joining the challenge.  Recruit others!  Challenge your own readers to join and fill out the completion survey.  You can blog everyday updating your experience, beforehand to let people know you are getting ready for it and explain what you will be doing, and of course, after the fact to let people know how it went.  If you hated it, say so.  If you think it was awesome and want to continue in some aspect, say that too!  Who knows, flats might be your favorite diaper!

Now you understand why this will be different. Hand washing, really? Really?  My daughter is now 11 months old, which means she eats solid food, breastfeeds, is slowly weaning to cow’s milk and has formula.  Can you say stinky messy diapers? Here is a little vocabulary on what a Flat diaper is.  A Flat Diaper is basically a large square piece of cloth that you fold to find your baby. You use a water proof cover of some sort to cover the flat.  Here are some pictures of Flat Diapers and a video on how to fold them.

http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/flat.htm

When people ask me why I cloth diaper, my simple answer is, it saves me money.  With this challenge it will show that you can cloth diaper for much less than disposables.  There are many families that can not afford to buy diaper for their babies. There is no government program that helps with this cost. I am hoping that I can provide information through my own experience that let's people see how easy cloth diapering is.

I will keep you posted of how this goes for me, the official date is May 23-30th.

Knickernappies SuperDo and LoopyDo Inserts

I love all cloth diapers, but my two favorite types are pockets diapers and covers with pre-folds. I recently was able to try Knickernappies SuperDo and LoppyDo inserts after winning them for contributing to the Knickernappies blog.  It is nice to have an insert that can be used with both my favorite systems.  Here are a few things that I liked; the SuperDo with its layer of hemp and the trim fit of both inserts.  The layer of hemp made the SuperDo truly super. I used it with a cover overnight and had no leaks. Even though the instructions say you don’t need to wash your SuperDo insert before first use, I would recommend it.  Mine leaked the first use right out of the box, but after one wash it’s perfect.  The LooyDo is not absorbent enough for us, I have to add a pre-fold or make sure I changed her as soon as she wet.  I don’t use s LoopyDo alone, if I’m leaving the house.  The SuperDo and LoopyDo are wide enough for most brands of pocket diapers. These two inserts helped boost the amount of time between diaper changes.  I believe these are far better than the standard microfiber inserts that come with the purchase of a Knickernappies diapers.  I am very happy with my new inserts and will be purchasing more SuperDos.

Sweet Cheeks 100% Wool Dryer Balls

Here are my new Sweet Cheeks 100% wool dryer balls scented with Pink Sugar (smells like cotton candy). Dryer balls are simply reusable balls that replace your dryer sheets or liquid fabric softener.  They can be made of plastic or wool. I have a set of plastic, but now that's it's winter I need a couple more to keep the static down. There isn't an exact number that you have to have but I think the drier your climate is the more balls you need. I have four total now.  I have been using dryer balls instead of fabric softener sheets since May 2010. The Pink Sugar scent is wonderful, it makes the whole house smell like cotton candy.

Baby PeePee's new diaper covers

Here are our new Rumparooz Doll Diapers.  These are made from the same material as the normal RaR. This is our Baby PeePee doll that eats, drinks, pees and even poohs. I was so Happy to find these reusable cloth diaper covers! I just add a cloth wipe to the inside. They are to cute. Here's the link if you want some of your own.
www.rumparooz.com

Sick again

So my kids are sick again. I suppose it's no wonder with this crazy -10 degree weather we have been having here in sunny Colorado. It is hitting Samantha particular hard simply because she can't blow her nose. Babies naturally breathe through their noses. If they can't breathe through their nose it makes it very difficult to eat or sleep. The bulb syringe is not working because it breaks my heart to hold her down while she screams her brains out. I received read a review for a NoseFrida from DirtyDiaperLanudry.com and decided to order one of my own. I ordered the NoseFrida today and am hoping to receive it by Friday!! I will let you know how it works. I have included the link for anyone that wants to check their site out. It's another great WAHMommies invention. They are also offering FreeShipping if you order two. Makes a great shower gift.


http://www.nosefrida.com/

My little biter

I was that annoying mom that had no issues breastfeeding my two older daughters, until Samantha was born.  She began testing my breastfeeding knowledge within the first hour of her life.  To start things off she wouldn’t open her mouth wide enough to latch properly. So here I am trying to encourage her open her mouth, which means, pulling down her chin, while holding her head at the right angle and my breast at the same time. Of course you know what happens next, her vice grip like jaw and octopus suction grab a hold of the tip of my nipple.  Not so much fun for mom. One too many of these episodes left me wondering if it had been too many years since my last child or it I had forgotten how to breastfeed all together. Fortunately, we got the hang of the latch in a few weeks and everything seemed to be in place, until she began teething at six months.  My first two didn’t not break teeth until 10 and 11 months respectively, so even though I nursed them until 12 months, there was very little biting. I was taken completely by surprise when Samantha bit me with her puppy sharp tooth. My reaction was to let out a scream which, in turn scared her.  She continued to bite every time she ate for the next 48 hours. My reaction was similar each time.  I didn’t mean to scream but man it hurt enough to make you pee down your leg.  Needless to say my overreaction to the bite caused her to go on a “nursing strike” for two days. A nursing strike is exactly what it sounds like, refusing to breastfeed.  Samantha would scream whenever I tried to nurse her. My only option was to give her a bottle and pump to keep my milk supply. It was a very long two days, with many tears shed.  Now, you may be thinking did I give up nursing her?  The answer is simply no.  Things are different with Samantha. The way I get through these hurdles is to joke and talk with my follow mommy friends. It doesn’t matter if they breastfeed or not because we have all been that sleep deprived person with the half crazy look in our eyes. We mommies and even the daddies, have to stick together. 

BUrrrrrr

Those of you that read my post from a few short days ago know that it was 65 degrees here and now it's -9 but with the wind chill it's more like -20.  Since we are having a "it's to cold to go to school day" today, I'm going to try to get some diaper videos up with the help of my 8 year old!

Sunning

It was an unseasonably warm today in Colorado, 65 degrees!! My poor diapers have not been hung out on the line in about 2 months and are looking dingy.  When I realized that the temperature was on the rise, I quickly washed a load of cloth! Since the baby was both in May, I was able to  use my clothesline to dry my diapers. Boy have I missed how quickly they dry outside on a hot day.  Sunning the CDs also removed all the stains.  Here are a few pictures of my cloth hanging in the sunshine.

Off to a fluffy start: Cloth diapering a newborn

When I decided to cloth diaper I wanted to start with cloth from day one of my daughter’s life.  After she born I faced three problems; meconium, cord stump and getting the right fit. I could easily see how any first time, cloth diapering, sleep deprived parent would throw their hands up and surrender to a disposable. That is exactly why I decided to write this blog post, I want to help parents get over the cloth diaper hump.  Here are the things that worked for me in those first few weeks of cloth diapering my newborn daughter.

#1 Meconium: Babies first poop, black sticky, pretty much like tar. This stuff can stain a sparkling white cloth diaper in a matter of seconds.  I used both AIOs and pre-folds with covers on my youngest and found it equally difficult to remove the stains with only regular washing. I did try rinsing the meconium before putting in the diaper pail but this didn’t help much.

My two favorite stain busters were and still are lemon juice and sunshine. Here’s what I do;

·         First wash your diapers per manufacturer’s specifications and after final rinse lay them in the sun for a couple hours.  The CD world refers to this as sunning your diapers.

·         If the stains are still there try a few sprays of lemon juice after washing and lay them in the sun.  You will need to wash your diapers again to remove the juice.

#2 Cord Stump: It drove me crazy that the cord stump was rubbing the top of my cloth diapers because I was afraid it was hurting the baby.  What saved my sanity were cloth diapers with a snap-down center to prevent the cord from rubbing. Now be warned most of this type of diapers only fit for a few weeks, so my advice is to buy them used.

#3 The Right Fit: My daughter was 7lbs 11oz at birth, which I believe is an average size baby; however I struggled with the fit of most OS cloth diapers. I wasn’t able to get them tight enough on the waist or the leg gussets wouldn’t hold in that liquid breastfeed poop. Every diaper change became an entire outfit change. Then I had a light bulb moment and remembered a cloth diapering guru (mommy that had CD’ed three children from birth) telling me that x-small/small covers and infant pre-folds would give me the best fit for the first few weeks or in my case months.  Switching to the covers and pre-folds kept me from giving up the cloth.  It was wonderful to have dry clothes at diaper changing time.  With anything new we try, there is going to be a learning curve, don’t give up, and remember you are doing a wonderful thing for you child.

Blooper reel from Shari Criso

Here is the blooper reel and a little sneak peek at the video that the girls and I did in Golden at the Rumparooz warehouse. Hope you enjoy it! We had a blast!

Rumparooz

The girls are heading to Denver today, Samantha was invited to participate in the new Rumparooz's Cloth Diaper video. I'm not sure how much screen time she will get but it's a good excuse for Mommy to check out the RaR warehouse and showroom. I have included a picture of Samantha only hours old in her first cloth, a RaR Lil' Joey in platinum.

I hope to post some cloth diaper how to videos and info this week. Stay tuned!!