Thirsties Duo All In One Cloth Diaper Review & Giveaway!

I am no rookie when it comes to cloth diapering, but I still have yet to experience all the wonders of the fluffy world and I was very excited to try out the Thirsties Duo All In One cloth diaper. I chose my diaper in a size one in the Blackbird print as we didn't know what Ethan would be and it's a nice gender neutral print (I am ALL about the prints in cloth diapers!)

So what is an All In One (AIO) diaper? Essentially it's the cloth version of the traditional diaper. No stuffing, no folding - it's literally "all in one" as the name suggests! Allow this picture to visually explain it to you!

 A little bit about this awesome company:

The mission of Thirsties, Inc. is to make it easy and affordable for every family to choose cloth while simultaneously investing in our local economy and sustainable business practices.

Only the best USA-sourced components are chosen for our products in order to reduce our carbon footprint, to help support domestic textile mills and our local economy, and to ensure that Thirsties diapers will last wash after wash. We are committed to creating only the highest quality products and dedicated to providing exceptional design and unparalleled performance while saving you money.

All Thirsties products are USA-made by a group of very talented women, many of whom work in the comfort and convenience of their own homes. With your support, we are able to employ more staff each year, helping to support more families in our local community.

It's a fact that cloth diapering is cheaper in the long run and one feature about the Duo AIO's that I find particularly benficial is that they grow with your baby. They come in two sizes. Size one fits from approximately 0-9 months (6-18 lbs) and size two fits approximately 9-36 months (18-40 lbs) right up to potty training! Thirsties truly is an eco friendly company, check out how green they are!

What do I love about this diaper? What's not to love? Look how cute it is, it's trim fitting (Ethan is about 8 lbs in these pictures), it has not leaked on us, the lining is super soft, and it's in my lineup for nighttime diapers. I cannot believe how much of a super soaker Ethan has become, even at only a few weeks old!

I am a fan of snap closures in general, as I personally feel that they last longer, but Thristies offers their products in both snap and aplix - it's always wonderful to have a choice! If you're new to cloth, or even if you just need a reminder, Thirsties has an excellent section for caring for your cloth on their website. Thirsties also makes customer service a priority to please feel free to contact them, they have truly been an amazing company to work with.

Connect with Thirsties!

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Buy: Find a Thirsties retailer near you and either start or add to your fluff collection!

Win! The awesome people at Thirsties are offering one of my readers a chance to win their own Duo All In One diaper! Winner chooses size, closure, and color/pattern. This is open to residents of Canada and US.

How to Enter: This is a Rafflecopter giveaway. The first entry is mandatory, please visit Thirsties and tell me what color/print you would choose if you won and this will unlock the rest of the options for you to get more entries! If you do not see the widget below, please click the "Read More" link to enter! Good luck!

Win $1000 in AppleCheeks Cloth Diapers from Snuggle Bugz!

Today is the first day of this amazing contest where you have a chance to win a diaper cake full of wonderful Apple Cheeks cloth diapers from SnuggleBugz.ca! $1000 in Apple Cheeks diapers, to be exact!

Snuggle Bugz sent me an Apple Cheeks Bamboo Starter Kit to try out to promote this contest. This kit consists of:

• 3 Apple Cheeks Envelope Covers, in either size 1 (7 - 20 lbs) or size 2 (18 - 40 lbs) which came in gender-neutral colors (we have size 1)
• 9 One-size inserts, in bamboo. 
• 1 Storage Sac, size 1. 
• 3 super plush bamboo terry wipes. 
• 1 BONUS hemp booster. 
• Printed care instructions

The size 1 diaper fit Ethan very well. Right now he's about 8 lbs and there's definitely room to grow but it fits well and did not leak at all. This diaper is an envelope cover, which is different from a lot of the diapers out there...but it's different in a good way! And I'll tell ya why! As the picture below describes, it is very easy to stuff this diaper...with whatever you choose! At first I have to admit I was skeptical...how would I get an insert out if the diaper is all poopy...eww! But with newborn poop anyway, all the poop has thus been contained in the front part of the diaper, making it easy to get the insert out still! BUT even if poop does get in the backside, the insert comes out in the wash! NO NEED TO UNSTUFF! Just put the poopy diaper in the diaper pail as is, and wash away!

The lining is ridiculously soft. This is part of what makes it so worth it to me to cloth diaper my babies! Having nice, soft, luxurious ApppleCheeks micro-fleece lining against their bums! I can also attest that the stretchy elastic has also contain potential blowouts!

Envelope cover, cover in Cherry Tomato, 3 bamboo wipes included in starter kit

 As you can see in my pictures, the bamboo inserts can either be used on the outside of the envelope, like you would a prefold, so all you have to so is change the bamboo insert, or you can stuff it into the envelope! I love that this diaper is so versatile. Also? Bamboo is one of the most absorbent materials in the cloth diapering world so this works awesome at nighttime for my super soaker newborn!

All in all? I love AppleCheeks diapers and I'm proud that they are Canadian made...just like me!

And now is your chance to win!

Win! A diaper cake made completely of Apple Cheeks products, worth $1000, has been assembled and is waiting for one lucky Canadian winner to take it home (or have it delivered). Also, AppleCheeks is generously giving away one diaper (size, color, & insert) of your choice to one of my readers open to Canadian & US residents!

How To Enter Facebook fans will have a 10-day window to take photos of themselves or their little ones “going green” and submit the photo and story on the Snuggle Bugz Facebook page. After 10 days of submissions, the participants will need to acquire votes on their photo, from November 25 - December 1. The most votes at the end of the voting week will win the diaper cake containing $1000 worth of Apple Cheeks products.

To enter my giveaway, use the Rafflecopter widget below. If you don't see it, please click the "Read More" link! The first entry is mandatory. Visit AppleCheeks and tell me which color you'd choose and which insert you'd like - microterry or bamboo - by commenting on this blog post. Once you complete this entry, it will unlock the rest! Any questions? Just ask!

Connect with Apple Cheeks

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Cloth Diapering a Newborn

3 day old Ethan in extra-small FuzziBunz

When I was pregnant with Braden I knew I was going to cloth diaper him. But I also knew, that I didn't want to learn how to do the cloth diapering thing and learn how to take care of a newborn in a sleep deprived state at the same time. So, I started at 1 month old with size small FuzziBunz. He swam in them a bit...but in no time we were using cloth 100% and did so until he was potty trained.

Ethan in Rumparooz Lil Joeys

This time, it was a different story. I felt confident in my mother-of-a-newborn skills, so I wanted to use cloth from the moment he was born - literally. My sisters-in-law and I all went in on a newborn stash of fluff together. Abigail was born in April, Blake was born in August and then Ethan made his early arrival in October, so we knew the babies would each get their turn in fluff and could pass on to the next! Plus, babies are only in newborn size for anywhere from a week to a month or so. Ethan is now 3 weeks old and has outgrown his Lil Joeys...technically they still fit but with how heavy of a wetter he is...they only last an hour, two tops.

So here's what I've found most useful this time around!

• Go in on your stash with a friend or family member - it literally cuts the cost in half...or thirds...or fourths! Even if your babies are months or years apart, you know you'll use them eventually.
• Don't fear meconium! You can use them in the hospital, from day 1! All I did was use fleece liners and you know what...it washed out perfectly. I had heard a "myth" to absolutely NO meconium on cloth...but I didn't have a problem at all, it washed out perfectly.
• Don't bring a lot of diapers to the hospital. I brought a bag full as I forgot that newborns literally only pee & poop once or twice the first couple of days of their life! I was checking his bum every few hours and it always seemed to be dry. I think I changed about 4 or 5 diapers in the first 24 hours he was born.
• Don't buy preemie sized diapers, unless you know you're going to have a baby on the smaller side, there are other options that will work on a smaller baby and still fit a bigger newborn. We had about a dozen preemie sized cloth diapers (5-8lbs) and my baby was the only of 3 who could use them!
• Umbilical snap down feature was really handy to have, but not necessary.
• Buy used diapers on sites such as DiaperSwappers.com. Newborns are only in newborn size anywhere from 1 week to 1 month+ depending on their size, so we bought mostly used and they were in excellent condition...because babies grow so quickly and don't use them that long!
• Look on bargain sites such as MamaBargains.com, BabySteals.com, BabyHalfOff.com, & EcoBabyBuys.com for cloth diaper & accessory deals. I have bought from all of those sites and they do sell newborn stuff on occasion.
• Have some prefolds, hemp, and/or bamboo inserts in your newborn stash to use for extra absorbancy! Once my baby turned 2 weeks he suddenly became a super soaker and needed extra inserts/absorbancy for his longer stretches of sleep at night.
• While not essential, the bigger your stash, the better. My SIL's and I went a little crazy and have a HUGE stash of newborn diapers. I'm talking about 40+! But you know what? It's come in really, really useful. I only wash my diapers every 2-3 days or whenever my diaper pail is full and still have a day's worth of diapers to use. I don't feel rushed or like I'm waiting for my diapers to dry to keep using them. Plus, you're changing a newborn bum every 1-3 hours!
• If you you're using cloth diapers, use cloth wipes too! I have a wipes warmer full of cloth wipes and it's so nice to be able to reuse my wipes too and to have them nice and warm to use on his little bum!
• Just a personal one from me...take lots of pics of your newborn in their fluff - how cute!

I absolutely love using soft, fuzzy, cloth on my newborn's bum! And moms and moms-to-be...it's really not that scary! I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have, please feel free to leave a comment (I always reply!) or fire off an email!

Ethan's Days of Giveaways: Rockin' Green Soap CLOSED

It's been no secret how much I love Rockin' Green Soap. I started off my cloth diapering journey with Braden when he was 1 month old and I thought I would be "economical" and just buy scent free detergent from the grocery store. Well, that plan didn't last long, and I'll tell you why shortly. I'll be honest, at first I was very skeptical to be paying approximately $20 for a bag of detergent that was made specifically for cloth diapers, like Rockin' Green is. I thought as long as I wasn't using fabric softeners and that if my soap was dye-free like they all say to use on your cloth products, I'd be laughing! But then came the build up. If any of you mamas out there cloth diaper, you know exactly what I'm talking about. When soap & mineral build up happens in cloth diapers, it gets ugly and causes a multitude of problems such as leaking and STINK!

Enter...Rockin' Green Soap! I decided there would be no harm in trying a bag to see if it was really all it was cracked up to be on the reviews I had read. The verdict? YES! It is worth every penny and then some. It is true, as they fully state, that it may take awhile to get rid of the old detergent and fully reap the benefits of Rockin Green, but their easy-to-read instructions right on the bag make it SO simple.

I've never washed newborn cloth before so I was really excited to get using my Rockin' Green again when Ethan was born. My opinion is the same, if not better than before. No stains, no stink, no problem! It even got out the last little bit of meconium poop Ethan had when he got home! I usually use pocket diapers, but with Ethan I also use all-in-ones and it works amazing all them too, of course.

How To Use For Day to Day Washings

1. Savor the smell of your Rockin' Green detergent. Ah...yummy...
2. Dump your diapers inot the washer and do a rinse/wash to get the nasties out prior to the wash cycle. (if regular clothing, skip this step).
3. Add the detergent and do a wash cycle. Use 1-3 tbsp per load (those with soft water or HE machines may need less detergent to get their clothing clean, so adjust accordingly!)
4. Double rinse.

How to Rock a Soak - Getting rid of built up minerals and leftover detergent

1.  Fill your washer with water and 3 tbsp (may need less for soft water/HE machines) of Rockin' Green along with your diapers or clothing.
2. Let soak for approximately 30-60 minutes, then launder as usual, skipping the soap.
3. Tip: Repeat this process any tiem you need a good deep cleaning. If you have excessive buildup or residue, it may take a few soaks to get them in good condition. Those with hard water may find a quick soak before every wash helpful.

If you're like me, you may be thinking it's REALLY hard to soak diapers in an HE washer. One of my personal tips? Fill your BATHTUB (or even better - jet tub!) with hot water, 2-3 tbsp of Rockin' Green and soak in there! It can be a bit messy and troublesome to cart a load of wet diapers to the washing machine to finish the job, but it works wonderfully!

Rockin' Green isn't just for cloth diapers. Here is some more information on the product from their website:

Rockin’ Green is an award-winning manufacturer of eco-friendly cleaning products designed to make cleaning easier and greener. Most well-known for their clean-rinsing laundry detergent formulated for use on all fabrics and especially useful on cloth diapers, Rockin’ Green produces detergents for hard, soft and normal water conditions (known as Hard, Soft and Classic Rock varieties).
Rockin’ Green also carries Funk Rock, a first-of-its kind natural ammonia bouncer, and Melody, an odor-neutralizer and air freshener home spray. With the exception of Funk Rock, all products come in seven natural scents, such as Mighty Mighty Marshmallow, Earth Wind & Orchids, Rage Against the Raspberry, and Bare Naked Babies (unscented).

I live in the country and we have hard, well water. I love that there is a specific formula just for the kind of water I have. Don't know what formula to order? Rockin' Green can help! You can order water quality test strips for only $0.60 or refer to their map to see what they recommend for the area you live in. Also? They have phenomenal customer service and will fire you back an email or a Tweet in no time!

They also care specific products for washing your mama cloth and pet beds & toys and sell laundry accessories and yummy diaper pail & air fresheners.

Win!  The wonderful people at Rockin' Green Soap have generously offered one of my readers a full size 45/90 loads bag in your choice of formula & scent!

Buy!  Head on over to the Rockin' Green shop and order some to try yourself! If you make a purchase, you get 25 extra entries in this giveaway.

How to enter!  This is a Rafflecopter giveaway. The first two entries are mandatory and then the rest will be unlocked. Go to the Rockin' Green Soap website and leave a comment telling me which scent you would like to try and then go like them on Facebook. If you do not see the widget below please click the "Read More" link to enter. (Please let me know if there are broken links or if you're having any other problems!

Cloth Diapering Days Are Over

Well, it's the end of an era, my friends. I did mention before that I was going to keep up with our night cloth diapering, but I just can't. They aren't getting clean enough, I wash them every 3 days and they still stink after I wash. They're just saturated, sitting too long waiting to get cleaned and they aren't "agitated" enough in the washing machine, with only 3 diapers, to get clean enough. I've tried to tweak my washing routine, but I just don't think it'll be really "worth" it to keep using those 3 diapers. Nap time is inconsistent, we don't always use a diaper and sometimes he wakes up dry. But even washing 5 diapers every 3 days doesn't really make it worth it to me. So...for the first time since Braden was 1 month old, we're going back to the disposable route - gasp! He's just not ready to be trained through sleep yet, especially nighttime sleep, but I'm hoping that with some fluid restriction training and maturity he'll be ready by the time he's 3. It'll be really nice for me to not have to wash any cloth diapers at all for about the next 5 months...I deserve a break!


My disposable using friends, I turn to you for advice. We are going to use Huggies Overnights for him. I don't support Pampers, and this is why. What's a good price to be paying? When and where do the sales come? I'm still not impressed to be paying 20-some-odd-dollars on diapers I just throw away, but I can't have my cake and eat it too!

A side note to my American friends is that we can't order cheap diapers from sites like diapers.com or amazon.com....you lucky people!

Keeping it Cloth: New Nighttime Solution!

I am so thrilled to report that we have found a winner! Just about 2 weeks since posting my momfession I am so happy to report that we are keeping it cloth and have found a nighttime solution that I believe will work for us. I've read a lot of good things about Kawaii diapers. They are very similar to our favorite go-to diapers FuzziBunz. They are a lot cheaper, and they do have a "heavy wetter nighttime" diaper so I was excited to give it a try. Plus, they are shipped from right next door in BC, so it didn't take long to get here at all.

This is my not-for-profit, non-affiliated, sharing with my fellow cloth diaperers, opinion only review!

LOVE THEM!!!

You know, to put it lightly! Know why? He is no longer in a fitted diaper at night. His skin can breath and he has beautiful, soft fleece right next to his skin that wicks away the moisture and leaves his skin all soft and supple and not red, rashy, and irritated from soaking in urine all night. This was not always the case. Fitteds worked wonders for me for many many months, over a year in fact. But I think due to the fact that he's older, his urine is stronger, and he's peeing more...his skin just can't take it. Plus, his battled eczema almost his whole life.

I have tried multiple times to double stuff a FuzziBunz, but they just don't work for us for some reason. The Kawaii's have a strip on the inside of the diaper specifically for tummy sleepers to stop them from leaking up the belly and it works! They do send you 2 microfibre inserts to stuff them with, but knowing my heavy wetter would soak through these before half the night was over, I stuffed them with a Knickernappies SuperDo insert that I hadn't used for over a year and a Thirsties hemp insert. No leaks 2 nights and counting. I definitely will be ordering more Kawaiis so we don't have to wash every other day just to have a nighttime diaper!

I was really worried about it being too bulky and that he'd bulge between the legs, but he doesn't. It's nice and snug and he wakes up happy and dry. Also, no more confusing fitteds with inserts and a cover for people who babysit Braden and put him down to sleep - yay!

What do you use at night if you use cloth? What works? What doesn't work?

My Momfession on Cloth Diapering

Jess had a really great post the other day on how people often paint their lives as a perfect picture on their blogs. I sure hope I don't do that, but I also do confess I don't share all my "dirty" secrets and tell the 100% truth of all the happenings in my life, because that's just what it is...my life.

This one is hard for me to write, friends....but I'm hoping by momfessing, someone out there will have a solution for me. I even told Jay many times through this process, "don't tell the bloggers! Don't tweet this!" half-jokingly. Well, here it goes.

Why is this hard? Because I'm hard core. I got lots of "looks" like I was crazy for travelling all the way to Maui and using my cloth diapers. But I did it. I'm a dedicated cloth diapering mama and I didn't really see it as that big of a deal. I was told "just use disposables, you're on vacation, it doesn't matter." But it did matter to me! I had something to prove....to someone. But why??? I don't even know! I was so proud of the fact that a disposable diaper hadn't touched his butt since he was 1 month old and we switched to FuzziBunz full time. I was helping the environment, I had invested in my cloth anyway...so I wanted to use it and not waste my money on throw-away diapers. FuzziBunz even featured me on their Facebook page!

But...then I went to stay with my Mom where my Grandma used to live, I accidentally forgot to pack his nighttime diaper. I had just done laundry that morning, my night diapers take longer to dry, and I forgot to pack them. I didn't have enough to double up a day diaper to work at  night, which wouldn't have worked anyway. So off to the drug store I went to buy my first disposables in 2 years. I felt so ashamed, so down on myself...but why? Why this immense pressure on myself to be the perfect cloth diapering mom?

So there you have it. I used a 'sposie on Braden. And actually, I've done it 3 more times since we got home because his night diapers are DRIVING ME INSANE! I cannot, for the life of me, figure him out. He's grown, his diapers don't fit as well as they used to, he's the superest soaker he's ever been, and he leaks every.single.morning and the thing that bothers me most? His bum, groins, and bits are sore. They are red, spotted, and irritated from being soaked in urine all night. I used a disposable last night to give his bum a break, and it worked. His red bum is all gone. But he leaked out of that too!

So now I'm at a diapering crossroads. With potty learning looming in hopefully the next 2 months, I don't know if I invest in more cloth diapers for nighttime...or just try a new 'sposie that he won't leak out of? I know that I need to start cutting down his liquids at bedtime too, for potty learnng. I know he's not supposed to get potty learning through the night for quite some time, but it wouldn't hurt. The cloth diaperer in me says buy 2 new, fresh nighttime cloth diapers and try so you can say you did. I have been using my fleece covers at night, but they aren't cutting it anymore. He's soaking through that, his jammies, and his sleeping bag. I can use wool, it's leak-proof, but another honest momfession? I hate how hard it is to keep clean. Who on earth hand washes ANYTHING these days? Yeah you only wash it like once every 2 weeks or as needed...but I can't find the energy to wash the darn stuff.

As long as you're nice, don't point your virtual finger in my face and say "I told you so" I'm open to any and all constructive suggestions! (I'm not sure you know how hard this was for me to write...)

Cloth diapering moms, what's your nighttime solution? Disposable-using moms, what's your go-to diaper?

That Time I Took Our Cloth Diapers on Vacation

That's right! I packed up our FuzziBunz and took them on vacation to Maui with us. I know my cloth diapering friends are all curious to see how that all went...so that's what I'm going to tell you!

Since Braden had his own seat, he was allowed to check his own back, which was 1/2 full of cloth diapering supplies. This is what I packed:

• ~20 FuzziBunz perfect size medium diapers
• 3 Bamboozle fitted diapers
• 3 Londonware fleece diaper covers
• Rockin Green Soap sample packs
• Rockin Green Soap laundry scoop
• Rumparooz pail liner
• PlanetWise wet/dry hanging bag
• travel size wet bag
• fleece liners

I found packing as many diapers as I could, worked to my advantage. The more diapers have, the less often you have to do laundry - bonus! Who wants to do more laundry than necessary on vacation? I washed his diapers 4 times and our trip was 11 days which means washing every 2.75 days :) So what was my washing routine like, outside the comfort of my own home and front loading washing machine that I've got a perfect routine with?

I wanted to make sure I had the proper amount of soap, so I brought my scoop. You weren't allowed to have more than 1/4 cup of soap in the washer anyway so I wanted to be extra cautious!

And to save more money...I line dried! It took a long time with the humidity in Maui to dry, so a sunny/windy day worked best. This is another advantage of taking as many diapers with you as possible - giving the clean diapers a chance to dry!

Speaking of "taking a long time to dry"...we had baked something in the oven the night after the first time I washed the diapers. It was taking forever for the oven to cool off, and my diapers still weren't dry from just hanging in the room or on the deck. My MIL said, "why don't you put them in the oven to dry off?" WHY NOT!?

...so I did! It was only my hemp and bamboo that were being stubborn and not drying in the humidity. Hey - don't bash it til you try it - it totally worked!

Did my diapers get as clean as I wanted? Nope.

Did they still get clean enough to use again and again on vacation? Yes!

I knew that they wouldn't be as fresh as they do at home when I use the cycles that I've found work best. But I also knew that when I got home I would wash them with the last of my funk rock, add an extra scoop of soap, do my usual wash cycle with an extra rinse at the end. And you know what? They were as good as ever after that!

Wouldn't it have been easier to just buy disposables? I am cheap people! I did not want to pay for disposables on vacation. I ended up spending about $7.50 washing my diapers on vacation. I don't even know how much disposables cost, but I guarantee you it's more than that! I have to be honest, I don't know if I would have been as keen if I knew before hand that I would have had to haul my laundry all the way to the laundry room by the parking lot. I thought each condo had it's own washer/dryer...but I'm really glad I vacationed with cloth! I even said to my mother-in-law, "I brought them all the way here, I'm using them dammit!" :)

What about the poop? I brought fleece liners and used them with every diaper. He is a pretty predictable pooper, so this made clean up much easier. I did the dunk and swirl in the toilet, and that was enough! But if you want, there are also disposable liners that I've heard work really well!

Did you use everything cloth diaper friendly? Nope. I'm not ashamed to admit that I used disposable wipes. It's easier to me, plus you can use them to wipe up messes and clean faces and such!

If you have any more questions, please comment and ask!!

You better believe we used MonkeyDoodlez swim diapers on the beach too!

My last bit of advice and summary:

• Change your child's diaper right before boarding the plane
• Use an extra absorbent insert or booster so you don't have to change them as often
• You will probably still find yourself changing a diaper more often as they're sitting and constantly compressing their diaper which can increase your chance of leaks
• Take only as many as you think you'll need on the plane
• The airplane change tables are small & cramped, and quite frankly suck! Master the art of changing a diaper whilst they are standing, or lay them down if they are small enough on the airplane seat (this might be frowned upon...but I don't care!)
• Use liners with every diaper to save yourself poop mess
• Take 2 big wet bags/pail liners so you always have a clean one
• The more diapers the better - less washing, more time to dry

That's about all I can think of. I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for reading! Please check out my cloth diapering page on this blog for more info.

My First Review & Giveaway: Londonware - CLOSED

I love entering giveaways on blogs and I have actually been successful lucky and won 2! I won a $25 gift certificate to Sugar Locks from my friend Ashley over at The Stauffer Shenanigans and I just recently won a Tommee Tippee newborn starter kit and breast pump from Mommas Gone City! How amazing is it to win free stuff just for being a blog lover? Well...I wanted to give back to the blogging community, I'd been thinking long and hard as to who I would have the guts get the courage to ask if they would be doing a giveaway on my lil' old blog? Then I saw that Jess at Here Comes the Sun was doing a Londonware giveaway. *light bulb moment* I love Londonware! I bought a few of Wendy's fabulous fleece diaper covers off of her Etsy shop back when Braden was 6 months old when I was looking for a better nighttime solution for Braden's cloth diapers as he kept leaking! Wendy was happy to do a giveaway on my blog, especially because I am a repeat customer!

Awww what a cute little 6 month old Braden!

Fleece wicks away moisture and it is oh so cozy and soft! That being said, Braden was such a heavy wetter at the time that fleece alone didn't work as a nighttime cover for us, I had to resort to PUL covers. Fast forward to present day and while we have no nighttime leaks, my solution now is comfort. For some reason the PUL covers are leaving deep red marks on Braden's poor thighs most mornings :( Ouch, mommy fail! I must fix this for my little man. *light bulb moment* Londonware! I am going to try fleece again. It's so soft and cushy - bye bye red marks!

So I ordered Braden the same print as shown above and it is SO cute! He says "loaders" when he sees the construction equipment on it.

Londonware Information

"Londonware offers Fleece diaper covers, skirties, shorties and longies. To help go green we also sell reusable sandwich and snack bags. For a complete list of fabric selection please see anti-pill fleece collection and other fleece prints.

Become a Facebook fan to get special discounts and giveaways:

Proud member of the ETSY CLOTH DIAPER TEAM. Visit www.etsyclothdiapers.com.

I love to do custom work so if there is anything that you don't see and would like just convers with me and I will make it for you.

I ship international. Just let me know where you are from so we can get the most accurate shipping price. All international shipping will be shipped 1st class unless otherwise arranged."

I also wanted to make a special note to my disposable diaper using friends/readers - still enter to win this! Use it over your disposables for those leaks that can happen overnight or gift it to a friend! I used 'sposies on Braden for the first month of his life and had yucky leaks overnight and the number 1 piece of advice I got from people was to "use a cover". This is your chance to win a free one!


Win!- This giveaway is for 1 fleece diaper cover of your choice from Londonware. All sizes eligible: newborn, small, medium, large, extra-large. The entries for the giveaway will close in 1 week on October 27, 2011 at midnight EST.

How to Enter - This is a Rafflecopter giveaway, please click the "read more" link below or click on the post title above to get to the widget. It is mandatory to do the first step (visit Londonware & tell me which print you want, and leave a comment on this blog) and then you can fill out the rest of the form for more entries. You might want to just do that now to get that step out of the way! (More entries = more chances to win!)

Questions/Confused? - Please email me at sarah@nurselovesfarmer.com and I'd be happy to help!


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Why Don't You Cloth Diaper?

As moms, we have this unfortunate reflex in us to "compete". It starts even before our babies are born...

• How much weight did you gain? Oh...I only gained "this" much weight...you fatty!
• When was your baby born? Mine was right on his due date, it must be awful to be overdue!
• You're giving birth naturally? Why would you do that to yourself - just take the drugs...or an epidural!

But...after the baby is born? Grow some thick skin and oil it up and be prepared to try your dardnest to let the competing just slide right off your thick skin!

• You're not breastfeeding? That is what is best for your baby!
• You don't have the baby sleeping with you? What if something happens - horrible mommy!
• Your baby doesn't sleep through the night? Clearly you are doing something wrong!
• You're not using cloth diapers? Don't you care about the environment?

So the point of this post is to not make you feel like the judgment in the last bullet. I hope to all my family, friends, and readers that I have never come across as Judgy McSoapbox Mom, when it comes to all things mommyhood and parenting. We all have millions of decisions to make on this journey and I certainly acknowledge this and would never want to give anyone a hard time, it's hard enough to make the decision as it is.

The reason why I write this post is to just understand why you have chosen not to cloth diaper your child(ren), out of pure curiosity (just call me whiskers...I'm curious like a cat!). I just finished my copy of Kelly Wel's new book "Changing Diapers: The Hip Mom's Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering" (which is brilliant) and literally that question stuck out in my head. Why doesn't everyone use cloth? The answer that popped immediately was - "moms/moms-to-be just don't know enough about it, or that it's even out there to make the choice!" I believe cloth diapering has a domino effect. My sister-in-law Laura got me hooked on it before Braden was born. I hadn't really thought about what diapers I would or wouldn't use until I saw her start to use cloth on Luke when he was about 6 months old. Luke was actually wearing a similar diaper to the one on the cover of that book and he looked SO cute in it. I asked Laura more about them over the months and was 100% sold that I would cloth diaper our baby. I trust Laura 100% all things mommy/baby related - she does her research and does it right...so when she told me FuzziBunz were her favorite go-to diaper...I decided I'd invest my pickles with FuzziBunz too. Then I got thinking about it more...and realized I had more reasons to use cloth...

1. The savings...oh the savings! ($1500-$2000 per child savings using cloth vs. disposable)
2. No emergency trips to town, or worse, the "big" town which is a 1 hour round-trip.
3. No trips to the dump to get rid of disposable diapers.
4. No diaper rashes related to chemicals in disposable diapers.
5. No diaper waste in the landfill. (60 times more solid waste produced with disposables which take 250-500 years to decompose)

For more facts on cloth vs. disposable diapers click here.

 
You may, or may not, find it a shocker that when it boils down to it...I cloth diaper because I'm lazy! Don't get me wrong, I love all the other reasons...but I would hate to run to the dump a couple times a week getting rid of a huge bag of diapers...smelly diapers, at that. Also the running to town JUST for diapers...not my style. I would truly rather do an extra load of laundry every other day, then waste my time and money going to town to buy a box of diapers.

So, the domino effect. I have actually had no negative comments towards my decision to cloth diaper Braden. Whenever I change his bum in public or at a friends, they actually quite admire that I use cloth and ask lots of positive questions. The only negative thing that has ever come out of a diaper change is why isn't he circumsized? That's another topic...eek! I have influenced one of my best friends and in turn her sister-in-law to cloth diaper. This makes me just beam! My new sister-in-law Jess is currently contemplating whether or not to use cloth too for their baby due in March, so I'm an open book to her. I never tell any mom(-to-be) why she should or shouldn't cloth, I just happily answer any questions that they have for me.

I have contemplated using disposable diapers on Braden at night. Full time cloth diapering is a trial-and-error thing, especially for nighttime diapers. Not one solution will work for every baby. When I was walking through the baby section at Walmart and saw that I had to pay over $15+ for a box of diapers, my decision was made immediately...I'm going to do something ANYTHING to fix my nighttime problem! The reality of that $15, is that I could buy a cloth diaper for that price and I won't just throw it out...I can use it over, and over, and over again!

So here's my question to my readers...

I would love to hear from you...please leave a comment or email me with any questions or other comments you have. Know that this is a completely non-judgmental question and I am just curious to learn and see if I can influence any others to use cloth if it's something that interests them! It's fun, addicting, money-saving, environment-saving, and great for baby's bum!
  If you haven't already, please feel free to visit my cloth diapering page for more information and resources!

*Update/Edit October 11, 2011*

Wow. The comments have been rolling in and I got my first "hot" comment from WeeMasonMan's Mom. I thought I would share, just so I can be more clear on the intent of this post:  

I pay approximately $20 - $25 for a box of 174 diapers on amazon.com - I fin the "money you spend on disposables" figures to be quite inflated. I also think that a LOT of people who use cloth spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on cute patterns and new styles, wet bags, and water bills their top loading washers cause, so the money arguments aren't always so accurate.

I actually wrote a post about how I hate most of the arguments for cloth because I find them to be totally untrue. You can read it in full here http://omgababy.com/index.php/2011/08/16/displsable-diapers-are-not-the

Since Amazon delivers to my door on a set schedule, I never have to go to town for diapers and I've never ran out.

My son is nearly 18 months and he's never had a diaper rash. Nor have I ever had to triple rinse a diaper and research washing tips for problems with ammonia scent or lack of absorbency.

Don't get me wrong, I think people who cloth diaper are doing a great thing for the environment and I had originally planned to be one of those people. I just hate all the "people who use disposables are obviously missing the boat" mentality that surrounds it.

And my response, word for word:

Hi WeeMasonMan’s Mom,

Thank you for reading my blog and for your comment. 

I know it is impossible to set our tones when writing, but I did not write my blog post to start an argument or a debate on cloth vs. disposables. I know I gave my 5 reasons why I choose to use cloth, but I wasn’t intending on starting a debate. Those are my personal reasons, as well as facts, depending on what you buy and how you use them of course.

As a Canadian mom, Amazon.com and Diapers.com (as my other readers and friends have mentioned) are services not available to me, and not in Canada as far as I’m aware. I got my figures from KellyWels.com, RealDiaperAssociation.com and apologize if you find them to be untrue. I have not done “hard core” research into the subject matter because while this is something I’m passionate about, it’s not something I’m going to waste my energy arguing on. 

Many moms, including myself have found little to no change in their electricity bill due to the extra washing from using cloth diapers. If someone wants to spend more money on “cute” diapers with patterns and buy new styles and wet bags, that’s a personal choice and not a necessity to cloth diapering or saving money. All I know is for me, it is the right choice financially for my family as discount diapers are not available to me as a Canadian mom, delivered on a schedule, on time right to my door. Also, even if this service was available in Canada, it still wouldn’t be available to me as I live on an acreage and can’t have packages delivered to my door.

I have also heard many a moms (myself not included as my son was only in disposables for 18 months) switch to cloth because of chemical burns/diaper rashes from disposables. Again, not experienced first hand by me. On the other side, cloth diaper users can get yeast in their diapers.

I have definitely done my research and know how to take care of my cloth. I’ve had problems with ammonia, never absorbency as you mention...but it’s still worth it for me and my son. I’ve also had many friends have trouble with absorbency with disposables too and finding the right ones.

I never intended to write this post on a “soap box”, I thought I made that very clear. I was just out of pure curiosity wondering why people choose disposables vs. cloth. 

This is one of those things people can argue into the ground on either way. I’m not up for a debate because I didn’t write this post to start one. Again, I’m sorry that you took this post the wrong way and felt you had to defend yourself. I certainly don’t feel like any disposable using mom is “throwing their child to the coyotes”.

Take care,
Sarah

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(Again, sorry for the small font and all the spacing, Blogger is being troublesome again)

Please also read this post of mine Cloth vs. Disposables that I wrote in June of 2010, which could be a "rebuttle" if I was the debating type *wink* to WeeMasonMan's Mom's blog post linked in her comment.

Yeesh! I am done with it. I seriously considered deleting this post because as I say like a broken record, it was out of pure curiosity. After I read that book, I literally thought "heh....wonder why people choose disposables? Wonder why people choose cloth? I should blog about that!!" Apparently a bad idea.

Show me some cloth love...someone? Please. I need a hug!