All you need to know to cloth diaper!

This was an email I just sent to a friend, I thought it might help someone else out there.

I've tried all different systems. I started w/Fuzzi Bunz (a brand of pocket diapers which I still use) as well as some older style all in one diapers (AIOs), the AIOs took so long to dry, but I'm sure they make them better now. I've tried onesize Bum Genius pocket diapers, but have had little success w/those, they aren't as absorbant as the FBs and my girl sat in her urine for too long in those, creating terrible open sores. They are now covers for our prefold system, great as diaper covers!

I love the prefolds, they work wonderfully and are financially manageable. I used to be intimidated by them, but they're called "prefolds" because they're "prefolded" for you! In the 50s women would use LARGE pieces of birdseye cloth and fold them a zillion times into something worthy for the baby's bottom, and all we have to do w/our prefolds is fold them into thirds, lay it into the cover, and snap or velco, and voila!

We are die hard FBs for night time, because now our kids are older and sleep all night, the layer of fleece repels the moisture away from their skin to keep them drier than cotton against their skin. The SAME effect can be done by cutting fleece strips and lining the diaper w/them.

Note: I've ruined many several FBs by using barrier creams w/them, like zinc oxide, A&D ointment, etc. Liners are a must if using barrier creams, unless special creams are made/purchased. Olive oil or shea butter or jojoba oil washes out well. Angel Baby Bottom Balm is good on cloth diapers. I also have disposable liners that are flushable that I use, great esp. for poopy diapers.

I make a wipes spray to clean my baby's bottom, mostly water, add some liquid baby soap, some tea tree oil, some lavender oil, and some jojoba (or olive) oil. Use cloth wipes, warm w/warm water first, works wonderfully! My favorite wipes are Kissiluvs terry wipes, although most of mine are normal baby washcloths or homemade wipes from extra cloth. Also, I make a spray similar to Kissiluv's diaper lotion potion (I am reusing my bottle, actually!) w/witch hazel, add tea tree and lavendar oils, spray on the baby after wiping, no need to wipe up, like an astringent, and it's anti-everything (bacterial, microbial...)

OK, so I recommend prefolds, esp. to start. Cost aside, it's what I prefer. Babies grow SO fast, and at $13- 17 per pocket diaper when you need 36 to diaper an infant for 3 days, they say, it's a little harder to swallow.

There is a site that you can try out different systems for a reasonably small fee ($10 plus shipping both ways, so about $28), may try these for 21 days:
www.jilliansdrawers.com
I recommend this to purchasing items and later deciding there's probably something better, like I did. If only I knew!

The best site for great prices on infant prefolds are www.affordablediapers.com

Note: I've had a poor experience w/the brand Tiny Tush Unbleached prefolds. I'm sure their bleached are fine, but the oils never washed out of my unbleached, so they never quilted up like they're supposed to, and they take the longest to dry.

Bummis diaper kits can be a great way to go, economical, including diapers and covers and a roll of liners! For the expense, you should also get free shipping, google it and shop around. About $130.

Upon receiving prefolds, be prepared to wash them about five times before use to get all the oils out! They'll start to quilt up and look pretty.

Basically, if you spend enough, most sites will give you free shipping. www.diaperpin.com has a sales and annoucements page where you can even find discount codes or min. orders for free shipping. There's also a directory of merchants. There's a lot out there, it's very overwhelming and can be very consuming. Weigh the time vs. saving a couple bucks.

For covers, I recommend trying several kinds at first to find your favorite. They all have pros and cons. I really like my "onesize" covers because they can accomodate both infant and toddler. Since my bum Genius pockets were a flop (I don't recommend these at all) I use them as covers, love them as that, but they're not worth $17 each as a cover. The velcro is decent, and somewhat flimsy so it's easy on the baby.

I like my onesize WonderWraps, they are thick and come in a variety of colors to pick from! I love my bright raspberry color for my girl. The velcro on these is SUPER velcro extremely sticky, also big and thick, maybe too much for a newborn. I think it's worth having one around, esp. for the future.

Bummis is the most popular brand, and they have a couple I recommend trying. The Super Snap is a wonderful, non intrusive choice for babies, during the sitting stage the snaps are less disturbing when the baby folds than velcro may be (a highlight to the Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers). The Super Snap comes in plain 'ol "white".

Bummis Super Whisper Wrap has an effective yet gentle velcro. This comes in a variety of designs (or white), including a cute flower print. In their "whisper wraps), bummis now has Super Brites in trendy, modern colors and designs, worth getting one of these, too.

Thirsties is a brand w/PUL covers, too, like the whisper wraps, w/gentle velcro and a huge selection of covers. I haven't tried these, mostly because it looks like there's not as much fabric between the velcro strip and the top of the cover, so it looks like the Bummis brand would keep the velcro off the baby's skin better, but I really wouldn't know. Worth trying!

A great place for diaper covers is: www.nickisdiapers.com
They ship their covers for free and have a great selection.

There are other brands w/cheaper ($7) PUL covers, like prowrap or litewrap. These brands also have $12 covers that are cotton or hemp blends.

There are many covers that are fleece or wool instead of PUL, they are more breathable. Fleece is easy to care for, wool needs special care. These aren't easy to put under clothing, but w/a girl in the in summer these could be a very good option. Bummis Polar fleece or Stacianator are great places to look for these.

I recommend hooking up a toilet sprayer to hose off the diapers. To do the cloth diaper thing, this will make life more sane and cloth diapering bearable and worth it! These are about $32. It's worth it, every cent. My husband put on together for us, but he still spent $26 putting parts together at Home Depot. Save yourself and get the assembled, esp. if you're not so mechanically inclined.

I just found a site on detergents, what to use or not:
http://www.bummis.com/en/Detergent-Residues.html

It recommends, as do I, Country Save detergent. I tried it partially because it's a local company to me, and also because of learning the difference between soaps and detergents, studying the brands, etc. Also, this is probably the cheapest (at least how I buy it) for me. Here's a site w/a list of stores in FL that sell it:
http://countrysave.com/cgi-bin/store_search.cgi?action=Search&search_field=5&sort_on=2&search_for=FL&x=7&y=16
They also have "Comparative Lab Test Results" on the site by an independent company, using the powder detergent. I use liquid w/success as well.

www.diaperpin.com has a ton of info on cloth diapering, a store directory of their merchant members, product reviews, washing recommendations, and more. Great resource.

DO NOT use detergents w/enzymes (basically most of what's available in the store), particularly Arm & Hammer: This brand in particular has had TERRIBLE results on babies.

I cold rinse my diapers first, then do a full hot/cold cycle with 1/2 (or less) the amount of typically recommended detergent. A 2nd rinse isn't usually necessary. I've used baking soda in the wash as a booster and vinegar in the rinse (both to deoderize), but I must not have the ratios right or something because it throws off the pH balance and burns my girl's butt.


On Baby Carriers:

If you're thinking of baby carriers, for infants, I recently visited a friend w/a New Native baby carrier, a sling of sort, over one shoulder, pouch like. Her baby was so snug! Looked very easy! For my upcoming newborn I'd like a Moby Wrap, I really like how I see them worn, the weight spreads a lot more evenly through the shoulders and back, and it's very versitle how it's tied. The moby has some stretch but doesn't slide around.

We love our Ergo carrier, I've had the most success w/it for babies 5 or 6 months and up. Front or back, up to toddler/preschooler! My 3 year old can still go. It's very comfy, spreads the weight very well. HIGHLY recommend it, $100, you won't be sorry.

I don't recommend Baby Bijorn or Snugglis, although they're getting better on the make. Unless the seat area is 15 inches or wider for the baby, the seat can compress the baby's spine, terrible on the chiropractic end of things, like the Baby Bijorn. Also, the baby bijorn always makes me nervous since the latch to secure the baby in is in the crotch, what if it comes undone? Ah!

Well, that's a lot. Hope it helps. :)

I'm so blessed!

Last year I began juicing, I picked up a juiceman jr. at the goodwill for a starter (you can find them UNUSED there for $8!). We love juicing and the trial appliance wasn't doing it anymore, so I sold some stuff off and bought my Omega juicer! JP and I got it out last night, and it works like a dream. Our apple juice pulp was almost dry! We juiced 3 grannies, and got two plus cups of juice and less than a cup of pulp! No kidding! This morning I made OJ for the kids, and the machine was so quiet they didn't realize what I was doing. And the juice was a rich orange, not a creamy orange, it tasted so pure!

Also pictured is my new stoneware muffin pan. We LOVE muffins, and this batch was a dream, too! They baked so evenly, not crispy, and came out of the pan perfectly. My other metal pan is so rank from the sprays and I always have used paper cups and had to peel off part of the muffin w/the paper. I am so blessed!

Horray!

The kids have really been enjoying JP reading poems to them (he has a book of "man poems" as I call them... battles, classics, on fatherhood, etc.). I'm glad we have some children's books from when I grew up (I did weed many of them out for content or age appropriateness), but good wholesome books are far and few, it seems. We have some favorites around here, and funny enough, they're all from 25 to 50 or more years ago! There's a set called the Children's Hour that was given to me, but no value was ever put on it except, "Keep these, you'll want these someday," but that was Mom's sentence for too much I didn't really want to keep. So, we got rid of the set of 16 volumes! Published in 1954 or so. Well, for about a year I've been really aching about it, regretting about it on the insides, since we saw the set (brand new, mind you) being sold on a really good Christian family resource website for $550! We looked on Ebay this week and found two sets being sold, we got one for $22! Wow! We should get them next week. One volume is "Poems", another "Science Fiction" and so on.

Wow, what a month. I'm doing well, this week was crazy. Catching up on housework. I lean on the low blood sugar end of the spectrum anyway, and pregnancy has me eating even more frequently than I did before, and if my blood sugar's off, I'm not much good because I can't concentrate or think straight. Yesterday I spent two hours after the kids were down leveling it out, and I only had 20 minutes to myself in which I was "sane" until they got up! Wow. I eat (or plan to eat) and entertain children, think and clean when I can. *Ha* I am so thankful I'm not sick, though.

Liam got a new bed, it's a loft bed so he's loving it! So we have Adelle in his old toddler bed, now she has a big girl bed! Wow. She's also doing well w/potty training, well enough to go w/o a diaper around the house. So last night we put the crib away and rearranged their room, wow, two big kid's beds, no baby stuff. This week I also got a double stroller, a sit and stand *Horray!* It's been on my "list" for 1 1/2 years, and worth the wait! Liam loves it, he has a jumpseat. It has tons of storage room, too. It's heavy duty compared to a lot of strollers of it's type, and clean, modern, and sporty (I'm not a plaid w/teddy bears kind of person).

Gonna go start today, we're all up now. Blessings!

Two Pink Lines

No kidding! Unplanned by us, totally planned by God!

Saturday morning God told JP, "I'm blessing and multiplying you, the first fruits principle will begin to release a level of blessing you have not experienced before. I am positioning you for purpose. As you identify blocks and hindrances to blessing work to remove them as quickly as possible. You have divine purpose and destiny, why would you chose anything else?"

This is more than we would usually share, but we didn't want to give the word in part. JP chose a time of lightness and humor to tell me God's message, and when he told me I knew it was true. I have already noticed changes in my body, so I took the test Sunday night to confirm!

So... our year is now out of our hands and in God's! The funny thing is that this has made JP pretty much start nesting! (That's OK w/me)

Blessings!

My favorite Salad Dressing (right now!)

1/2 olive oil
1/2 balsamic vinegarette
salt & pepper
FRESH minced garlic (don't waste your time w/the jarred minced, I've tried it and it doesn't compare at ALL)
Maybe some fresh squeezed lemon!

Salad toppers:
sesame or sunflower seeds, feta cheese, hard boiled egg, shredded carrot
apple, mandrin segments
sliced cheese or lunchmeat or baked or sauteed chicken

What a week!

Adelle started teething her canines Wednesday, and an hour before the fever hit from that she jammed her foot and could walk until mid Friday (a toddler who can't toddle is a very frustrated one!) So she's had a snot nose and chewing everything w/a vengance, but this morning she woke up w/puffy, irritated looking eyes, and eye drainage (after a very restless night of sleep). Just figured out that's fluid in the middle ear, so we propped her mattress before bed so fluid will continue to drain properly and no infection will begin. We've had a very cranky, frustrated, tired toddler! What a week. Sure puts some perspective on adding another child to the house, one child setting the normal groove into a spin! Praise God I went grocery shopping Thursday and Friday, the kitchen's a wreck but we do have salad to eat :)