Instructions for Sitters

My family is visiting this week and with so many extra hands, having my mom and sister change Baby's diaper was a natural step.  I brought them into her bedroom and gave them a quick tutorial on the ways of changing diapers.  I was pretty sure I'd covered everything.  Then, later, I went to change Baby's diaper and noticed white residue on her bum.  "Oh no!" I thought out loud, "I forgot to mention not to put rash cream on her!"  I could have kicked myself because who knows what this will do to my wonderful diapers.  I called my well-meaning mom and let her know not to use the rash cream on the Baby and inquired about which cream she'd used.  "Well, I'd wanted to use vaseline, but I couldn't find any (phew!) so I just used the creamy Desitin."  I was somewhat relieved because the creamy stuff wipes off pretty easily, and I just made a mental note that I need to put the diapers through a special rinse tonight to make sure I strip any residue.  But the whole situation made me think about making a list for my sitters so that the next time I have someone over, I won't forget anything important.  I mean, it's not like cloth diapering these days is that horribly difficult, but it's quite different.

So, with that in mind, here's my "Babysitter's Cloth Diapering List"

1) Note to self: Put velcro diapers and diapers with easy snaps on the top of my pile.  Knickernappies and Fuzzi Bunz should be on the bottom as they can look quite complicated to someone who's not used to cloth diapering.
2) Note to sitter: Remove insert after changing baby.  If this really grosses you out, It won't bother me if you leave it in.  I'll deal with it later.
3) Please close velcro onto laundry tabs before "disposing" of diaper into wetbag.
4) No, I don't have a diaper pail.  Diapers go in the hanging wet bag and not into the garbage.
5) Cloth wipes are easy.  Just spray, wipe, and put them into the wet bag.
6) If you MUST use rash cream, please put a disposable on the baby.
7) I prefer that you don't use disposables, but if you MUST, they are in the very back of the changing station.  Finding them will probably be more difficult than just putting the cloth on the baby but you're welcome to use them if you prefer to go to all that trouble.

Did I forget anything?  I hope not.  I don't want to run the risk again of ruining any diapers.

Isn't he awesome???

 

Make your Own...

...Swiffer pads!

My kitchen floor needed to be mopped the other day and I couldn't locate our regular mop, so I eyed the Swiffer that was hanging out in our pantry.  I didn't have any of the disposable pads that come with it--or I wasn't able to locate them--and I don't even think I had any of the cleaning solution.  But nevertheless, my floor needed to be cleaned.  When we bought this house, we inherited this Gerber prefold from who knows where.  It just started living here with us and showing up in our laundry.  (Maybe we accidentally took it from our neighbors before we left our apartment?)  In any case, it's an old, used diaper that had been homeless--up until now, that is.  After reading the title of a post on Diaper Pin and not even taking the time to delve into the article (which I'm sure is wonderful) I grabbed my little prefold, tucked the ends loosely into each corner, and washed away. 

 

I guess I can't say I "made" my swiffer pad because there was absolutely no making involved.  I just repurposed my old diaper.  

Now I was thinking about making a swiffer duster with a microfiber towel (or you could even use an old microfiber insert but I couldn't bring myself to use one of my good ones) when I found this post on my friend's blog.  It was so great to hear that it could be bought for so cheap rather than made.  Now, of course, if my dollar store doesn't carry one, then I shall have to buy a microfiber towel from the automotive section of walmart, but even at that, it's not a bad deal!

Making my Own

I know how to knit.  Sort of.  I know the basic knit stitch, and purl stitch, and how to mix the two to make cool patterns.  I sort of know how to cast on (one way of doing it) and how to cast off.  And that's it.  It works well for scarves, blankets, and even dishcloths.  In fact the most difficult thing I know how to knit is a dishcloth--the one where you add a stitch on each row until it's the size you want and then take a stitch a way until you have finished your square and can cast off.  Like I once did with sewing, I have stopped there, assuming that learning anything more intricate is just too difficult.  I looked at patterns and saw all those ridiculous abbreviations with no explanation and balked.  But I recently decided I CAN learn to do more complicated things if I should so choose.  So I googled websites and free knitting patterns and even knitting abbreviations.  I found this website that seems to have a lot of the things I might be interested in knitting.  So I shall teach myself to knit as I have taught myself to sew. I mean, why not?  It's really not as complicated as it seems if you can take it one little step at a time!

Mmmm, boobies!

So, I was browsing around at Mom's Milk Boutique and I found this:

Maybe if I weren't a pastor's wife I'd definitely be buying one for my little girl.  Somehow I feel my intentions might be misconstrued. :-P

I'm a Guest Blogger!

Check out The Cloth Diaper Blog to see my contribution to a collaborative post on night diapering!!!  It was a Q&A and four other women give their night diapering advice.  Maybe you have trouble with night diapering and you might learn something from what they have to say.  I know that I certainly did! It's amazing all the little tricks we learn from experience and when we share these tricks with each other it makes life easier for all of us! :-)

Diaper Rash

So my daughter has not always gotten rashes with her cloth diapers, but recently she's gotten them once every 2 weeks or so :-(.  I don't put rash creams on her because of the cloth, and the rashes always work themselves away, but I'd really like to buy some cloth-safe rash cream. I get frustrated with some of the online stores I buy my diapers from because they advertise rash creams but don't specify whether they are cloth safe or not.  So I google searched "Cloth Diaper Rash Cream" and found this site and on here is a list of diaper rash creams that are safe for cloth diapers. This list includes:

Angel Baby Bottom Balm
Baby Bottom Better
California Baby
Claymazing Powder
Grandma El's (This is a link to a free sample!)
Northern Essence Diaper Salve
Northern Essence Better Butter Cream

In my own search for a cloth diaper safe cream, I found Magic Stick Diaper Ointment and Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion Potion at Diaper Junction.  The Magic Stick is more expensive than the Kissaluvs stuff, but from reading customer reviews it looks like it may last longer. 

What are some diaper rash creams that you have found work for your little one and your cloth?  I'd be very interested to know!

Make your Own!

Wipes Solution

I saw this on Cloth Diapering Bloggers (See the link to join them in my sidebar) and I thought I'd share it. It's a recipe to make your own wipe solution from Christi.

1 cup of distilled water
1.5 Tbsp. olive oil
2 drops of chammomile
2 drops of tea tree oil
1 drop of lavender

She puts all of these into her spray bottle and sprays them on her wipes as she uses them.  Check out her blog if you want to learn more of her tricks!

Before and After

Oblivious

Betrayed.

Comforted.

I nearly cried with her.

More relief for Haiti

It's so inspiring to see how many people are stretching out their arms to help one of the poorest nations in her deepest hour of need.  I frequently visit Happyheinys.com (because I enter my daughter in their monthly photo contest) and on my visit there today I noticed a button advertising "Haiti Relief."  So I clicked it.  At that button the owner of Happy Heiny's had written a letter telling how you can help them bring relief to some of the orphanages there that Happy Heinys works with.  The most touching thing that I read was about donating cloth diapers to them so that infants who are able to sit won't be put on toilets for 10+ hours a day to prevent messes.  Touches my heart.  So, if you're looking for a way to help, head on over there and check it out. 

We are so blessed and I pray that in the midst of our prosperity we would never forget those in need. 

My First Diaper!

So, I mentioned before that I was doing it, but now that I've finally done it and carefully documented my progress, I can tell you all about it! What's "it" you ask, curiously?  Well, I sewed my first cloth diaper!!! Yay me!!!

I knew I could do it all along.  But I didn't seriously consider cloth diapers for my daughter until after she was born, and honestly, I was in no condition to be worrying about my sewing machine.  Newborns are exhausting and I was content to just shop with the click of the mouse rather than bending over patterns and a sewing machine during those few precious hours when she was asleep.

But now, she's four months old and she's a lot less dependent upon mommy and daddy to hold her constantly.  She likes to play on her own in her high chair (which has yet to be used for eating) and on her play mat, or in her crib, and I have more time to do things with my hands, like sewing.

After reading an article on cloth diapering with recycled materials, I decided I'd make the cheapest one-sized pocket diaper ever by scrounging around my house to look for fabrics in clothing earmarked for the Goodwill.

Note: The following instructions are not comprehensive.

I found a polyester raincoat, a bunch of cotton T-shirts, a fleece sweater, and a microfiber car-washing cloth.  I never ended up using the cotton t-shirts for this project but I will for projects in the future. (Check out the zany-zebra website if you're curious as to how)

There are a couple of free patterns available online if you search for them, but I wanted to make my own pattern.  Eventually, though, I gave in and traced a couple of my cloth diapers and a disposable to get a pattern that I felt would work.  I mean, you got to use those disposables for something, right?  In any case, I'll still have to perfect the pattern and make it my own, but I just needed a starting point.  (Looking back, I wish I'd just used one online as a starting point).

I had previously decided that I wouldn't buy a single thing to make these diapers, but when I didn't find a fabric around my house to go against my daughter's skin and wick away the moisture, I gave in and bought the fleece sweater from the thrift store down the street.

 But as for the notions, I used left overs that were laying around gathering dust in my sewing box.  It meant I ended up with mismatched snaps, but this diaper was just an experiment so matching snaps didn't matter much to me.

First, I needed to draft the pattern.  I used a roll of wrapping paper I bought a couple of years ago from the dollar store and traced the different diapers  on there.  Then, I tweaked the pattern to my liking.

(This was not the pattern I ended up using, fyi)

Then, I cut the diaper shaped pieces out of my waterproof polyester (from the raincoat) and the fleece.

I took account of the different snaps I already had and laid them out on the cut piece of cloth to strategize where to place my snaps while my adorable daughter looked on.

When I'd decided the placement of the snaps, I hammered them in place using a mallet pilfered from my husband's tool bench.

I reinforced the fabric first, so that the snaps wouldn't pull holes when they were fastened and unfastened.  I figured that two layers of the raincoat fabric would do.

Since I made a one sized diaper, I put the rise snaps in as well, also using a second layer of the polyester to reinforce them.  (Metal snaps are not recommended for diapers, btw.  I just used them because they're what I had)

Next it was time to sew the elastics in the legs and waist.  I measured my daughters adorable little thighs and then cut my elastic about two inches smaller.  I practiced on a piece of scrap fabric first.  With as much sewing as I've done, I managed to never zig zag stitch an elastic before.  I was wondering why it wasn't working, but then I realized that I had a fancy stitch still on from when I made the baby wipes. Ooops!

I felt ready to sew on the diaper after my practice, so I sewed the leg elastic like so.  I did the same with the elastic along the waist.

When the elastics were in place, I sewed the fleece lining in place and hemmed the open pocket edge.  I didn't roll the hem but will do so in the future.

Next, I cut the corners off the edges  so that my corners would be crisp when I turned the diaper out.

THen I turned the diaper out and sewed right along all the seams and around the elastics to make a nice, neat look.

I took my microfiber cloth and folded it in three, sewing around each edge just to keep it in place.  I could have kept it un-sewn for better drying and for custom folding, but opted not to.

I stuffed the diaper and then stuffed my daughter into it.

I had some fit issues when I put the diaper on her.  Basically the elastics were too big and there wasn't much give in the posterior.
I made some adjustments by tightening the elastic in the back and adding leg gussets and the fit was much better:

I think my overall product is pretty cute!!!

However.... it occurred to me afterwards that the fleece I used as the lining had probably been washed many times in fabric softeners.  This was confirmed when she leaked both times she used the diapers.  I'm going to have to strip it to see if it's any good.  If it isn't any good, that's okay.  This project was less about making a usable diaper and more about seeing if I had the skills necessary to do so in the future.  In short, it was practice.

I just went to Diapercuts and bought some fabrics to make my own diapers.  Of all the fabric stores listed at the top of my page, hers was the one with the best end price (including shipping) and the best selection.  A lot of the other places were sold out of what I wanted, and their end price was more expensive anyway.  We'll see how Diapercuts ends up working out for me, but I was told by the owner of Diaperkits  that she's a WAHM and a good friend, so I trust her!

Now that I've used garbage fabrics to make my diaper, you have no idea how excited I am to use the really good stuff!!!!  I'll definitely keep you posted on further diaper making efforts! :-)

Ways to use cloth

I make no bones about it.  For me, using cloth has nothing to do with being green.  I'm on a tight budget so cloth really helps us out financially.  Since I started using cloth diapers, I've been thinking of other ways to save $ using cloth.  Here's a list of things I currently do to save using cloth:

Diapers
Baby wipes
nursing pads
tissues (we just use the wipes for her spit up and nose)
towels (instead of paper towels)
swiffer pads (I just attached an old Gerber prefold and voila!)
Bibs
Burp cloths

Ways I hope to use cloth in the future:
menstrual pads
grocery bags (this doesn't save me money which is why I haven't done it)
handkerchiefs (tissues)
napkins

What are some creative ways you can think of using cloth to save money? Please leave a comment and let me know because I'll do anything I can to save money in our house!

Help Haiti

If you haven't heard about Kelly's Closet's raffle to help Haiti, then you should go over there and check it out.  Today's the last day to buy a $10 raffle ticket.  There are wonderful possible prizes, but better than that you'll be helping people who are in desperate need of aid. Oh that we could all go down there in person and do more, but since we can't, this is a great way to assist.

A moment of silence.

I found this blog today.
It's a blog dedicated to the memory of a little boy who died at only 5 years old. 
His mommy writes him letters here.
Part of me felt like an intruder.
Part of me felt like her sister.
All of me worked very hard to keep from sobbing out loud while sitting in my classroom during my prep.
Mommies should never have to lose their little babies.
I can't even imagine...
I guess Jesus loved him so much He wanted his company.
At least he's safe now playing with real angels instead of making them in the snow.

Blue to match her eyes

Daddy Diapering Giveaway Event

Check out Mama Dweeb for a cloth diaper giveaway event starting February first. Looks like it's gonna be pretty sweet!!! The best part is that her husband will be doing all the reviewing! Very interesting.

Cloth Diaper Fabrics

So, I'm almost done with my first cloth diaper (made almost entirely of fabrics found around the house) and I'm discovering that it's really not that hard to make.  Really!! The most difficult thing about it is limiting myself to things I already have.  So I have one type of snap to close the diaper and another type of snap to adjust the rise (Yes, it's a one-size diaper).  I'm glad that I just happen to have snaps because when I thought I didn't have any I was going to use the buttons from the raincoat I cut up!  I wouldn't mind the idea of buttons except the fact that a baby can tear them off and swallow them scares me a little.  Yes, I'm paranoid.  So, I would finishing up with my sewing right now (6am) but we have a guest over and I don't want to wake him with my sewing machine. But this time of the day is normally a great time for projects like that because my little angel is still sleeping.  So instead I am searching online for a great place to buy fabrics.  I don't know if I'll find a place with the fabrics I want AND free shipping (I rarely, if ever, pay for shipping when buying my diapers thanks to Diaperpin.com!), but since I'm not ready to buy the stuff yet anyway, that question can wait.  So, in case I forget, here are the diaperwebsites I found:

www.diapercuts.com --this place has almost everything I'm interested in "in stock" but the design of the website is somewhat messy and difficult to navegate.  However, she has the best prices of the three sites I've looked at so I can forgive a messy site!

www.celticclothswholesale.com  --looks like a great site but almost NOTHING is in stock!!!  I wrote to them on the contact page and asked them to please restock.  No one's going to buy from them with ALL their most popular fabrics sold out.

verybaby.com--also a cute site but nothing I want is in stock, though they have more in stock than celtic cloths.

diaperkits.com--have precut, all inclusive kits for you to make your own diapers

I've decided that I'm going to buy some PUL (obviously) and as an inner, absorbent layer I want Hemp Fleece.

Other cloth diaper fabrics are easier to find at regular fabric stores or in clothing designated for Good Will--such as microfleece (to wick away moisture) and even microsuede (I just happen to have some in my personal fabric stash but it's an ugly, tan color because it's left over from a Renaissance Faire male peasant costume).  If you want a microfiber insert, you can just go to the automotive section of Walmart or Target and buy washcloths there.  They're made of microfiber.  For my recycled cloth diaper I am using a microfiber washcloth someone gave me as a wedding present for "washing dishes" but I never liked it for that purpose.  So, theoretically I don't even need to get the hemp fleece because other absorbent layers are available to me, but I will anyway.  I just want to try it and premade diapers made with the stuff are so expensive.  Any hemp diapers are really expensive so if I want some, I gotta make them myself.

I wish I'd had the ambition to try this before I'd filled my stash with other diapers.  I mean, you know that I'm in LOVE with all my diapers, but I could have saved even more money if I'd made them myself.  I'm fully capable and always have been... but newborn care and post partum issues made the idea of sewing repulsive to me.  Oh well!

A Cloth Diaper Shop That's Supporting a Good Cause

Enjoy Cloth Diaper is an online cloth diaper retailer that donates 5% of it's proceeds to support World Vision.  World Vision is a Christian organization that works to help the poor.  While on a missions trip to NYC the past two summers, my team worked in a World Vision warehouse.  They get places to donate excess products to them and they, in turn, donate these products to churches, schools, and other organizations who have the means to get these things into the hands of those who need them.  Their NYC warehouse is AMAZING! It's incredible the amount of stuff people donate to them.  We spent our time there mixing paints that had been donated--sorting through them to find which ones were keepers and which were too old.  Last summer I couldn't help with that because I was pregnant so I worked in one of their offices for the day.  It was fun stuff.  Seriously!  In any case, check out Enjoy Cloth Diapers because I'd love to see more support given to this GREAT organization!!!

Doh!

So my SLR's battery died yesterday after I uploaded the most recent pictures of my cute daughter and I went to charge it.... and realized that I left it at my relative's house (7 hours away from me) during Christmas. Arrggh!!! Now I just need to track it down and make sure that's where it is. I really don't feel like buying a new charger right now but with huge baby steps being made in my little girl's life there just might not be any other option.

Haute Pocket

In one of her new diapers--an aqua colored Haute Pocket (on sale at Nickisdiapers.com and they offer free shipping on pocket diapers!)

Make Your Own Cloth Baby Wipes

So, I recently read a blog post giving instructions on how to make your own baby wipes. It seemed easy enough to do, even for someone like me who does not have a serger. So I tried it. Basically, you get two layers of flannel, cut them, put them together soft side out, and sew them with a zig zag stitch, leaving the edges ragged.

I did it. I went downstairs to my fabric stash and took ALL the flannel scraps I could find and made about 20 baby wipes. Then I went to Walmart, bought more flannel (to make more for me and some for a friend who recently started cloth diapering) and some spray bottles for $.97 each and I ordered some Honey Chunks Wipe Solution and now I have lots of little, great-smelling cubes to dissolve in my spray bottle and I spray it on my wipes before using them. (Some people prefer to store the wipes in the solution, but I store them dry)

After about a month using these homemade and super cheap wipes, I'm in love!!!

Here are a few pros and cons of these wipes

Pro-

They're very thick so that when one side is sprayed, the other side often says dry so you can wipe your baby's bottom with one side and dry it with the other before closing it in a diaper.

Con-

Because they're so thick and may not get wet all the way through when sprayed, they sometimes slip out of your hands while in use.

Con-

Because the ends are unfinished they fray for awhile in the wash. For awhile there I was picking bits of flannel thread from my microfiber inserts and hook and loop closures. But the fraying stops after a couple of washes.

This is what the wipes look like after the first wash. You'll see in subsequent pictures that it gets better.

Pro-

Leaving the edges unfinished means you're not spending lots of time turning your wipes inside out to sew and then right side out to hide the seams. I thought the fraying was worth the time saved on sewing them.

Pro-

the wipes are super absorbent and super soft. At first the water sort of runs off them and leaves the baby's bottom very wet, but after a few washes, the water stays inside the wipe and my daughter's bottom is not super wet when I'm done wiping her.

Pro-

IT SAVES TONS OF MONEY!!! No more spending $6 or more on wipes every week or so. No buying expensive wipes online for me! Overall, I'm very pleased with this baby wipe. In the future I'd love to try making baby wipes with different fabrics but for now I'm contented with my flannel :-)

The green wipe is 7" squared before being washed. The monkey wipe shrunk a little in the wash but you can see after prolonged use, it's no longer shedding little pieces of flannel.

Comparing an unwashed green wipe with a washed blue one. I bought my flannel at Walmart for $2.97/yard and I notice that the printed flannel seems to fray less and it's more thick and luxurious than the solid colors for the same price. A shame since I love solid colors. Oh well!

*A note to my readers--when making such an endeavor as this (switching disposable wipes for cloth ones) Please inform your husbands BEFORE going to bed that night as they will be quite delirious when it's time to change the baby and will be quite confused upon seeing the box of Huggies replaced by a basket full of flannel scraps and a spray bottle and will wake you up asking for a tutorial.

*Deep sigh*

So, making cloth diapers from recycled materials is a little more difficult than I would have anticipated. I'm going to follow this thing through, but it would be much easier if I just bought the materials online and then made the stuff. It's so hard to find suitable waterproof material!!!

Making my own

So I already have a post written and waiting in the wings about how I made my own cloth baby wipes, and I'm now about to endeavor to make my own cloth diapers using recycled materials from my house. I did a Google search for PUL and waterproof diaper material and found some GREAT tutorials on making your own diapers. It's a long time coming and I'm surprised I bought so many before trying to make my own. Well, not so surprised since I'm only four months off being pregnant and giving birth. But it's time. It's time to do it myself because I know I can. I have always loved to sew, so why not use my talents to feed my addictions???

Pictures and updates to follow as I have time (ie-when the baby is napping ;-)

Thanks Mama

So I found a new online cloth diaper store today! I heard about them because of this awesome giveaway. So, check out Thanks Mama for yourself. It looks pretty sweet!!!

Mail

Okay, so it's well-established that I'm obsessed with my cloth diapers. I'm also obsessed with shopping online. (Almost all my Christmas shopping was done through Amazon and Snapfish :-D). With that obsession comes a new obsession with the postman. No, not that kind of obsession! But I eagerly await the mail EVERY DAY because I always have so many wonderful things to wait for! For instance, this week I'm expecting an aqua Haute Pockets One-size Diaper , an apple green one-size Fuzzi Bunz, some Rockin' Green Laundry detergent in the Cherry Almond scent, a present for a friend's little girl, and a nursing bra for my abnormally sized rack (currently a 36H). I can't TELL you how excited I am! It's a good thing my husband and I are on a tight budget. I know exactly how much I can spend on my cloth diapers from pay check to paycheck and in the two weeks that anticipate that paycheck I carefully plot my purchases, searching through websites posted on Diaperpin.com to find the best deals with free shipping (the only thing I've bought without free shipping recently is the laundry detergent as it's nearly impossible to find detergent that ships for free because it's so darn heavy!). So, what's on the agenda for next week? A diaper sprayer. Found one at nicki's diapers.com that's 29.99 but I couldn't find any with free shipping that are cheaper. It will total to about $34 with the coupon code "Madison" that I found on retailmenot.com that has always worked to take 10%--or is it 5% --off my Nicki's Diapers orders. Normally the things I buy from Nicki's Diapers ship for free (Diaper covers and pocket diapers) but alas, the diaper sprayer does not.

In any case, I'm at work, supposed to be prepping for my Spanish 2 class and blogging about my incoming packages instead because I'm just so excited!

Do you know I've banned my husband from opening said packages simply because I relish the joy of doing it myself? I'm already jealous enough that he's there when the postman comes bearing my precious gifts, so I've kindly requested that he keep the packages intact until I come home so I can still savor that small pleasure! :-)

A cool giveaway!

Sharni from the Nappy Shoppe has a cool giveaway (hers are always creative and interesting). All you have to do is take a picture of your stash and show it to her to enter. Sweet huh??? Here's mine!

My Minky Moo Tweedlebugs Diaper!

I got the diaper that I won in the mail a week or so ago from Diaper Discussions and it's so adorable! It's slightly different from the other Tweedlebugs diapers. The insert goes in a pocket, and not a sleeve, the layer against the baby's skin is microsuede instead of fleece, and the snaps are placed differently. Other than that, it's pretty much the same design as the regular Tweedlebugs. And I love tweedlebugs because they're so economical and yet have the same high quality as other diapers I have. (They are best for larger babies, though, I must say)

So anyway, here for your viewing pleasure is my daughter in her Minky Moo!!!

An Amazing series of cloth giveaways!!!

Take time to smell the rose has the best series of giveaways going on right now. Check it out for youerself. She has some amazing sponsors! Some, like Happy Heinys and Haute Pockets are really popular, and some I've never heard of but I'd LOVE to know more about them. So go over there and check it out!!!