Wednesday, January 30, 2013

My little Angel

Little Guy is in potty training mode. Yep, it means most of the day spent like God brought him to the world.
My Botticcelli  angel is in no way lessening the load, he still wears diapers at night and at naps, still 3 prefolds a day.
The problem is that he refuses to use underpants. And, if he is wearing a diaper, he doesn't bother to go to the potty, but if he's not wearing anything, then he goes to the potty, takes the cup to the bathroom and dumps the stuff in the toilet, and cleans it!
So I'm confronted with the dilemma of allowing him to be free or starting to push the usage of regular underwear, which I don't know the outcome (is he gonna use them properly or  pretend they are a diaper?)
In the meantime, he's surely enjoying his newly found freedom and doing his part on keeping it that way. It's been 7 days.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

My Twin Tub Panda Washer Review

This post will be a review.  Let me tell you a little bit about how I got it first.

When looking for a washer, I was almost getting ready to buy a small 5lb capacity countertop and a spin dryer. It was then that I ran across twintubs. My husband said it only made sense to have both units in the same piece.

Twin tub washers are apparently very common in the UK, but mostly non existent here. After wondering in Amazon for a while unsuccessfully, I switched to Ebay and the Twin Tub Panda mini appeared. (Update: Amazon is selling it now, click here for the listing)

It was everything I needed. A nice tub, a spin drier and a drainer! not having to drain manually was a huge plus, and the price was right, it was cheaper to buy this beauty than to buy a spin dryer and any small washer. The catch? it was just released into the market and no reviews were made.

When buying online, you rely on what others' experiences are. If you lack that, it becomes a little dicey, but I went with my guts and after not being satisfied with anything else, I made the purchase.

Since there are still no to little reviews, here's mine.

If you want to see the machine and all its features (which I'm too lazy to write) watch the video by the manufacturer:



REVIEW

Performance
Y Y Y Y Y
The machine works beautifully, it is quiet and highly efficient. I have washed bathrobes, blankets, even an army jacket, and it gets dirt out of those things amazingly well. I just wish it had a "light duty" selection in which it wasn't as strong. I've found my delicates and stretchy clothes to lose elasticity; so, when I'm washing those (which is why anybody without a washer would want one of these in the first place), I just use less water than the level, therefore the machine itself loses strength, and I only run the wash for a minute. I also wish the drainer had a timer, sometimes I forget to go back and turn it off, which is a waste of electricity trying to keep the pump running. The more water it has, the more swiftly it works.


Price
YYYYY

This beauty costs what a spin dryer would cost by itself. No way you can beat it.


Maintenance
YYYYY

I've had this machine for over 3 months now. It works just like the very first day. The requirements that it has is cleaning the tub, which takes 5 seconds, specially if you have a towel hanging in front of your face, some cleaning of the lint trap (which is useless pretty much), and cleaning below the joints once in a while.


Diaperwash
YYYYY
Go to My FAQ for washing diapers on a Panda!

Honestly, I don't know if I could do cloth diapers in a regular laundry setting. This machine won't drain unless you switch the rinse knob so I can forget that I left clothes on it and they won't get sour. I toss the hanging wet bag into the tub. It takes several filling and draining, but I only have to walk 10 steps in order to do so (did I mention I have it inside my bathroom?), and I can leave it filling, washing or draining (if I forget that it was filling, it won't flood the bathroom, the excess water will drain itself).

 The only problem is that it doesn't have the capacity to wash more than one day's amount of diapers (with 2 kids), but I don't have the budget to have more than a 2 day stash anyway. The spin drier leaves them to the point that the covers are usable within the hour, and the cotton stuff within a few hours, and that's considering that it's winter time in the East Coast.





Overall
YYYY

I got this machine because I was drowning in dirty clothes. Not only has it washed all the clothes I would usually not send to the laundromat, it washes everything. If it had a timer in the drain, I could appreciate it, as well as a not so strong cycle. Otherwisye, it's decently sized and hard worker. I love this product!




 Before you buy

Be aware of certain things, I got this washer because it is EXACTLY what I needed, but it's not what other people may need.

  • It is heavy. Not as portable as the smaller ones, and it does not come with wheels. I can lift it and put it in the closet if the super comes (no, I don't think it would qualify for breech of lease contract, since I don't pump water in the drainage or have any plumbing directly installed into it, but still, I avoid the debate). But it's not as easy to bring, put water and then put away. Mine is always in the bathroom.
  • It's short. When it arrived, we didn't have space in the bathroom yet (first we switched the orientation of the door and now it opens to the outside) but in the meantime, I was washing in the hallway. Bending to pour water, bending to pick clothes, bending to put the drain hose in a bucket, it's a lot of bending, and it can turn into a pain in the back (literally!). We had a custom made bench, 15 inches high, to place it and that seemed to be the ideal height for me. Now I operate it as if it was a regular size machine. Plus, the drainer works better and the pump is faster, even when I forget the hose inside the tub and the water reaches the top level, it automatically drains into the bathtub without the need of the pump, thanks to that lifting.
  • It's not automatic. Washer and spin dryer come with a timer, so they turn off by themselves, that's it. For a regular load, you need to fill it up with water (it comes with hoses, but I use the shower hand held hose), set up the timer, then come back, drain, fill it again, set the timer again, drain again, transfer clothes to the spin dryer and set the timer again. I don't mind it since my bathroom is 10 steps from the living room and I just leave the shower head filling and do other things. I also start filling up a bucket while it drains and save time.
  • It can be noisy. Spin dryers are super powerful. If the load is unbalanced, the whole washer will start dancing all around (you can use it as a vibrator too)  Just wait until it catches full speed and if it makes horrible noises and moves like crazy,  open it and reaccommodate the last piece of clothing and the disk. Contrary to the washer, the more you fill it and stash it, the better it works and the less noise it will make. And remember always to put the disk with it, otherwise the noise will bother you and it won't work .
  • It creates lint. I admit I would be happier if I had a clothes dryer. The lint trap in this washer doesn't work very well (that's an understatement, it is a total joke), and sometimes I get lint lines in cotton clothes. I can remove them with a vacuum cleaner or a lint remover, but still. I usually put a trap in the drain to keep stuff from going in and throw it in the garbage instead. It still does marvels with my bathroom mat (just need to clean the bathtub afterwards). What has worked best is to separate clothes and wash cotton towels and mats apart from anything else, and use like colors in those.
  • It can get very moldy. That's been one of the biggest problems. It has a compartment in which you cannot reach to clean, and it can create a limitless supply of black and beige little friends, that will make your clothes stink more than they did before they got into the washer. In order to keep it low, I try leaving the tub dry and open overnight, and I run a wash with only hot water and bleach about once a month, plus my high pressure hose (aka shower at massage mode) can get a lot of it out by pointing the water at it directly. 

Thursday, January 24, 2013

My first ammobattle

When one of the reasons for having switched is the smell, having ammonia build-up defeats the purpose. My prefolds got so stinky that Little Guy would use them for half an hour and would be already dizzying me.

When you try your friend Google to tell you what to do, the options are quite a few. This is my nightmare experience:


  • I separated them from the pockets and synthetic fabrics and used a little bit of Dr Bronner's peppermint soap. Useless
  • I went against what the websites say and used oxyclean on natural fabric. Useless
  • I used a little more detergent and rinsed more times. Useless.
  • I used baking soda. Useless.
  • I used a tiny bit of vinegar. It ended up burning both boys' skin and causing the worst rash in History. and, on top of that, Useless.
I finally broke down and bought a small Dawn dish soap and stripped them. It worked. I may have to do it again when the smell starts being unbearable, but since Little Guy is starting to use the potty by himself (only when not using anything at all), I may put them away in a few weeks for a while.

That has been the biggest nightmare so far. It all depends on the detergent you are using, the water in your town and your washing machine, so one of the methods above may work for you.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Childbirth and its controversies

Most cloth diapering moms are in the wave of home birth and anti pain medication. Well, I'm not one of them.

Just as I don't do cloth diapers for environmental reasons, I think it's great that you can have your baby at home, but it's just not for every mom and not for every occasion. C-sections are awful, painful and well, a total nightmare, but in my case, they were just unavoidable. Maybe that's why (or due to my family history) I never considered the posibility of delivering my babies at home.

Both stories are very similar. The difference being, one had 20 hours of labor, the other didn't have labor at all. Still, I believe I did the best I could under the circumstances. Let me explain.

For some unknown reason, pregnancy is set to be a 40 week endavour in which you should never reach that magic number. I don't understand why. If you do some research, you would find that the magical number is actually 42, and even that number could be surpassed.

So what does 40 mean then? the answer is in the question, it's a mean, an average between 38 and 42, which is what more than 90% of normal pregnancies last.

But when you are big as a planet and have MD parents putting pressure on you, 38 becomes already a too late ordeal. When those parents live abroad and have to make accommodations to come and help, a 4 week span is just way too long. Targeting it to be there just when the baby wants to come out becomes practically impossible.

In any case, with my first child, I was so exhausted by that magical 38 number I almost induced it. But then, my parents arrived 4 days later, and I had just stopped working. The result was that I, for once, rested and spent most of the day laying down. Not having to stay standing made the rest of the pregnancy tolerable, so I decided to wait until the baby wanted to come out.

It wasn't easy, the stress given by my parents can drive anybody insane. According to their medical knowledge, a baby is just ready at 38 weeks and if such baby is not engaged, there's no point and a lot of risk in waiting, which results in an outrageously high rate of C-sections in the private health sector in Mexico. I picked the hospital with the lowest C-sec rate in the city and a totally pro natural approach, I did not want my belly opened, I did not want to have to recover, I did not want the post-op pain, I couldn't afford it, they were going back to Mexico and I had a baby and a husband to take care of, who was going to take care of me?

So the baby decided to come at 41 weeks. For my parents that was super late and tardy, for statistics, it's just normal. I had a peaceful labor while at home, took a long shower, laying down in the couch, making Sudokkus and timing the contractions. By 6 AM, everybody was ready to leave and I was getting the 3 in less than 10 minutes mark, so we left, no big deal. Arriving at an early hour allows you to not make any lines and be admitted immediately.

According to the resident, I had dilated 4 cm and was in good shape. Well, he forgot to mention the beautiful detail that the baby was not engaged. 4 hours later, just after I had gotten the epidural, the next resident in turn checked again. Same 4 cm and still no engaging, oh yeah, she forgot that part too! They tried a little bit of oxitocin, the baby didn't like it and I ended up with oxygen and the oxytocin taken out in an hour. Still 5 or 6 cm (ok, we have progress) but NO ENGAGING!! and they wouldn't tell. All those hours I was lying in bed, half asleep, believing my body was doing progress and the contractions were working, they were not. It was close to 7 PM when I was informed the head was all the way up, not even attempting to come down, and at this rate, it never would. The baby was suffering, the oxygen was scarce and the residents were a bunch of idiots. At that moment, the OBGYN programmed the C-section. It still took about an hour to get me to the ER with all the preparations and such (it was not considered an emergency one).

30 minutes after entering the OR, I heard my baby screaming loud and well. He was a beautiful 8 pounder in perfect shape, just with a little bit of meconium. Then the nightmare began, they take your husband and baby away and stay closing you up for an eternity, in pain and desperate. They are controling you and you cannot even move.

After that, they brought the baby to nurse when I had 2 doctors and 2 nurses on top of me, there was no space for them to pass me the baby, so my mom (very invasively) took the baby and stomped a bottle of formula on him. That was the most horrific moment ever. I missed my baby's first feeding.

I had to stay 3 days in the hospital and due to my mother's pressure, I gave in and allowed them to take the baby to the nursery at night. The pain was unbearable, I couldn't walk, was in Percocet around the clock and had control on absolutely nothing.

But, aside from that, the hospital treated me well, the nurses were the best ones I've seen and I made it home safe and sound. The baby latched immediately and I didn't have a single problem nursing him. I actually did it for 2 1/2 years.

And the recovery  not a problem. It was fast and easy, I stopped taking pain killers one week after the birth,  and was walking normally within 2 weeks. Due to the nursing, I recovered my weight in less than a month.

Was it ideal? hell no! but he decided his birthday and I wasn't rushed into a programmed induction or c-section. He decided when to come, when he was ready. I have the healthiest boy on the planet. He's never been sick.

C-sections exist for many reasons. I'm one of them. Before they were performed, the maternity death rate was considerably higher. I don't think they should be performed just as an option, I don't think the OBGYNs should perform them just to save time and not be hassled. I missed a lot, instead of being put in his mother's arms, he was taken away and examined. They got my baby under their control. But, they are neccesary, and the recovery is much faster than 30 years ago.

That very same year, 2 of my friends also gave birth in different parts of the globe. One of them went to a non medicated birth center, adjacent to a hospital and was seen through the whole pregnancy by a midwife. She ended up with preeclampsia, going to another hospital in an advanced labor stage, driven by her husband because that one was full and didn't even have ambulances available. She spent 5 days in the hospital, full of medications to lower her blood pressure and out of milk.

The other one chose a midwife to have a home delivery. I don't know all the details, but after 24 hours of getting stocked and not making progress, she finally gave in, took a cab and went to a hospital to have an emergency c-section. After those anguishing moments of surgery, she had a beautiful girl and had no problem nursing.

Seems like having chosen a hospital that was a birthing center and pro natural births but with an OR in the same floor was the best choice and my story, the least horrific of the 3.

My second child was similar with the waiting, but he never came. Due to the first c-section, they had a policy of programming an intervention at 41 weeks if no labor occurs, so I was operated again. The tension with my parents was even higher. They couldn't understand why I didn't choose to have it sooner, what was the point of waiting? the baby was MORE THAN READY.

And then my mom went on to say that I was born 10 days early and weighted 6.6 pounds. That I was ready then and waiting was risky because there couldn't be "any labor involved". That was the thinking 30 years ago with a prior c-section. And I went on and told her that I wouldn't eat enough milk, she ended up with mastitis, stopped nursing at 10 days and I was allergic to every single thing they tried feeding me with, ending up with horrible soy formula that didn't do a thing, gaining 1 pound in 6 months and mysteriously becoming hypothyroid at 1 year, likely due to the soy.

Is that what you call more than ready? Had I been ready, I would have eaten more and been saved of all the hassled that implied not having been breastfed. My second baby is as huge, happy and healthy as the first, this time I didn't allow doctors to touch me after I had nursed and asked for co-sleeping despite my mother's objections, but the recovery was much harder. Second c-sections come with contractions. It wasn't fun and it took nearly a month. But I'm fully recovered.

So, which option is better? the one you pick. C-secs aren't as horrible as home birthers try to paint them. If that's the worst I had with my babies, then I can say I'm doing pretty darn good.


Monday, January 21, 2013

The Chinese Dilema

If you go on Ebay and type "cloth diapers", you enter another dimension you didn't know it existed.

I go there to find good deals in used Pockets or AIOs, although lately I've been disappointed to see that they go almost for full price (they are THAT coveted).

But then, you see tons of prints and low prices in Buy it Now for as low as a single buck. So how come there are brand new diapers that are sold for 20 times less than the high brands? Answer is simple: China.

Wait a second, aren't Gorvias, some Swaddlebees, Charlie Bananas, Real Nappies and who knows what else made in China too? why then are these considerably cheaper?

Mainly, because there are big factories selling the product directly, sometimes the same diaper that they make for American companies. Should you buy it? well, I'm not anyone to tell you that you shouldn't, since times are hard and the initial investment is high; whereas with these, one could put some $60 and get a full 2 day stash.

Some people argue that they are infringing copyright laws, others that they are not tested for quality control or that they may contain damaging chemicals. Others say that working conditions in China are slavelike and if you buy from them you are contributing to slavery. Finally, other group says that they just are cheaply made and won't offer the guaranty or customer service that their counterparts here will.

Certainly, they are not paying taxes, neither are you. They are also not paying importing primes, neither are you. As for the working conditions, everything we buy these days, from electronics to clothing including musical instruments, is manufactured overseas. If you are concerned about it, well, don't go to Walmart again.

Anyway, asides from quality, which tons of parents claim is just as good (and others claim otherwise), my reason for not going that direction is very simple.

I come from a shoemaking capital. Although I'm not involved in the business and never was, I know a considerable amount of people there that is. Ever since Chinese products started infiltering the system, the economy went down. Now, last year, the taxes imposed on Chinese merchandise were lifted, so you can go and buy a shoe made in the other side of the world for a third of what you pay for a shoe made in your own block. It is impossible that, with the cost of materials and wages, we can match those incredibly ridiculous price tags. That's their goal. They wan't to break our economy and lower their prices to the max, losing money for a couple of years, just so that they get rid of the local competition. That is unfair trading, my town is fighting heavily to bring back the regulatory tax and have a chance, if nothing else.

Seems to me that these diapering companies are doing the same. They don't want people in here working in factories, they want our market and they want to sell as much as they can, with little to no regard of who goes bankrupt.

This is a virgin unexplored industry in which there are no big corporations. It's glowing and growing at a steady pace, improving the lives of thousands of people, even if some are manufactured in China, the companies are here, paying taxes and licenses, testing quality and safety, employing people for handling, for online stores, for shipping and customer service and local retailers. And then add to the list the ones that do manufacture here. In my humble opinion, if I am going to not spend around 1200 in disposables, I can afford to spend 300 in cloth, specially if I use a credit line and I'm paying by the week with the money that would go in the landfills otherwise.

So there you have it, I'm boicoting companies that lower their prices on purpose. That's my reason and my reason only. As I've said before, this blog is not a manual or a Bible, just a simple mom's point of view.


Sunday, January 20, 2013

What to expect


This is a cloth diaper and sort of parenting blog. Why do I do it? maybe because it feels good to state your opinion in certain matters that you feel other people would be overwhelmed with. But, if you want to surf around my posts, this is what you won't find:

1) Education.

There are tons of sites related to cloth diaper starters. This is not one of them. If you need to know all types  and have a vocabulary lesson, just google "cloth diapers 101" or "what is an AIO" or even "cloth diapers for dummies". My favorite educational blog is dirtydiaperlaundry.com and no, the author doesn't know who I am nor is she paying me, I'm just one of her thousands of fans.

The type of education that you will get is stuff that I cannot find in any other blog (well, sometimes in forums) and I want to talk about, or share my experience with.

2) Reviews.

Again, there are several blogs that make reviews of the diapers. This is a very nice way of giving business and publicity to small companies and mothers, and if you want to see what others have to say about a certain brand, go on and google that brand with "reviews" on it. You will find what you need.

What you will get here is my experience overtime with specific brands that I use (ehm... like 5?) in different scenarios.

3) Advocacy

I can't regret the decision I made when I made my last click on Amazon aproving an order. I am, and will keep, a proud cloth diaper user. But I'm not against disposables or think of them as the devil, and understand why most parents wouldn't want the hassle of cloth and poo together.

What you will find is a lot of troubble I've gotten into since that decision was made, and as much facts as I can get from an environmental and economical point of view more realistic and balanced.

4) Rainbows and Roses and Whiskers on Kittens

Let's be real. It is tough. Not as much as handwashing  and boiling or wringing and scrubbing, but not as light as just throwing everything in the washer either. You switch having to go to the supermarket on the verge of a hurricane and a half an hour line for having to do laundry every day (well, when your washer is tiny and you have 2 kids anyway).

So don't think that by making the switch, magically you will have an extra $2000, or that leaks are a thing of the past. There's not such thing as the perfect diaper that fits all babies perfectly and gets thrown in the laundry appearint sparkling clean out of it and ready to use in 5 minutes, because I'll post all kinds of problems.

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So, if you're looking for experiences over longer periods of time, adventures and husband anecdotes, be more than welcome to read all my posts. And be more than welcome to take my advice on certain things, but I'm not expecting to be a bible, just another blog with fun things to share.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

What's up with the PUL?

PUL means Polyurethane laminate, in easy terms, a thin coat of plastic is added to the fabric (usually poliester) to create a waterproof breathable material. 

The revolution of PUL has made all this new industry possible. Some women still love to use their flats and prefolds, but I don't recall a single one that has any regards to the rubber pants. Although there are other good options for waterproofing (like wool, fleece and home made diapers with old shower curtains covered by cotton), PUL is by far the most popular.

But what I have come to discover is that not all PULs are the same. Some people may argue that one is PUL and another TPU, both of those are the same, the only difference being the procedure that adheres the plastic to the poliester, the first one being a chemical one and the second a thermal.

My question is, with all the different brands I have in my stash (wow, like 4), come different types of PUL. I have a bunch of basic white medium covers with velcro. Beautifully made, Real Nappies is the most prominent brand in NZ. It's cheap and plain white (although they do have some pricier designs in their website). Well, the fabric doesn't seem to have any plastic at all. According to their website, it's called "triple layer PUL" or something to that effect.  It looks the same on both sides.

Then I have 6 Fuzzibunz pockets. If you look at the inside of them, the plastic layer is right in your face. That wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that they are tiny and the plastic is sticky, making the stuffing harder than any other pocket. Yep, still doable and still gorgeous and still my first choice during the day, just wish it was less time consuming to stuff.

The Swaddlebees Econappi (I assume all Swaddlebees and Blueberry diapers use this PUL) is similar to the FB, but not as sticky. Plus the crotch are is bigger as well as the whole diaper, which is one of the many reasons they are my night diaper to go. But since I got 4 more in the Christmas sale without inserts, I just trifold a prefold and stuff it in, no muzz no fuzz. Real fast.

The Grovia AIOs are TPU. People claim the polyester side feels softer, honestly I haven't noticed the difference much. I can't say about the reverse side, since they are all sewn and it is not accessible.

An last but not least, I have a big wet bag made by a WHAM with a silvery look in the plastic side of the PUL.

So, how can one know what type it is when buying a new brand if all the tag says is "PUL"?

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Synthetic vs Natural

With the new trend and the newer designs, comes the usage of new fabrics.

In our baby times, our moms (or grandmas if you're younger) used birdseye cotton. That's it.

Now, with the new cloth diaper industry, designers have come up with a variety  never seen before.

But what is best? what do we put in our little ones' butt?

As a newbbie, I went ahead and bought whatever I found in good price, and a 2 day stash of prefolds and covers. That got me organic cotton, bamboo and 2 forms of microfiber for the absorbent core, and microfleece and cotton velour for the stay dry layer, so I can't compare all types.

I also have not tested the absorbency with a measuring cup and a scale, I can only talk about my experience dealing with them. IMHO, the answer is simple: get both.

Natural

I like organic cotton and love bamboo. They absorb fine and compress when wet. They tend to keep what they absorb. This is an advantage for leak prevention, but a disadvantage for drying. Prefolds are not expensive, but you need covers, bamboo is a little more pricey, so I only have 4 inserts, but I have never had leaks with it.

When it comes to contact with the baby, my Tiny Guy cannot stand feeling wet, so, when I was using prefolds, I needed to change them almost every hour, even less, or he would be screaming. That's why I mostly use pockets with him, he needs a stay dry feature.

Another issue I've had with prefolds (that I use now with my Big Guy) is the washing. Since they tend to retain more, that translates to ammonia pretty well. I've had horrible rashes due to ammonia buildup and it has escalated to the usage of blue Dawn in every wash. I may even bleach them one of these days.

Then it comes what I love the most: organic cotton velour. It is the only thing I use at night with Tiny Guy. He sleeps all night without any problems. He  wakes up with the diaper all soaked, I change it first thing and take the soakers off. The main problem with it is the price. Oh, and the drying time, which, although not exactly slow, takes a few hours hanging in the inside.

And lastly, stains. For some reason, my main stain concerns come from the Grovia AIOs, with cotton soakers. I just hang them near the window and let the sun take care of things.

Synthetic

I'm not in love with microterry, but I do use it, and I do love mink. I like microfleece as well, but not as much as cotton velour.  Microfiber absorbs like crazy, but just like it absorbs, it dries. That means, any contact with it will release water. Translation: LEAKS.

I may say that 95% of the leaks I've dealt with have included microfiber. The worse ones were with Fuzzibunz, that gave in to 2 explosions, one in the middle of the night, staining my blanket while I was nursing, and the other one while I was out and my beloved husband used Murphy's Oil Soap to wash it.  Only one #2 leak has occured ever since (and very minor).

Changes that involve exclusive mink have to be within 2 hours, and if Tiny Guy is sitting in his bouncy chair, wetness will still come sometimes. Just squeeze a little and voilá, wet leg at 9. On the other hand, once out of the spin dryer, they are ready to use within an hour of hanging. No waiting time required!

As for the staydry of my pockets, it gets grummy after a few washes, and leaves residues all over, but it does keep him happy and moisture free (to a nice degree). The Fuzzibunz pockets dry extremely fast, so you can just keep using them.

And for stains, the question is: "what stains?" really, dump the dirty stuff in the washer and you won't have any souvenirs after they're dry.  Plus: the inserts are cheaper than bamboo and the pockets cheaper than cotton velour.

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So, I would say, give variety a try. You may like hemp and suedecloth as well.  and yet more options for covers.....

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The Choice

Cloth Diaper rabid advocates got mad and cried all over the place when Pampers published a claim attacking them, saying that there was no ecological difference from one to the other and that kids in their diapers lived in a wonderland in which they pooped in recycled material that used hardly any water to be created and was going to biodegrade maybe in 350 years instead of the dreadful 500 that their counterparts proclaimed.

That post quickly disappeared from the American website, but not from the British one. I didn't find it offensive, they attack something that they don't know and take them as if they were flats with rubber pants and the methods for washing would require boiling them and raising them over and over and over.

At the same rate, advocates for cloth attack the big corporations making the assumption that you will change a diaper some 15 times a day and will buy weekly the most expensive brand there is, so I don't really know why they get so offended.

Reality meets somewhere in the middle, I was lucky enough to spend $30 for an 8 week supply of pull-ups some 4 months ago (just before Tiny Guy was born), and before that I had gotten some other deals. I never just went to the store to buy whatever I could find. I searched online, hunted sales, joined online stores, etc. Always trying to bring the cost down. I was very successful on some occasions.

But when we make the "cloth" choice, then we have to keep making more and more choices, natural or synthetic  tumble or line dry, CD specific (an expensive) or general detergent, 12,24 or 36, prefolds, pockets or AIOs.

 I remember a joke about a man that wonders if taking a cab or a bus, and the 2 possibilities of sitting or standing inside the bus keep having 2 more possibilities with one of the picks again and again, and he gets so overwhelmed that he just decides to take a cab.

Big diapering companies claim that 95% of parents "choose" disposables. I tend to disagree, I would say 5% choose cloth, and a large percentage of the other 95 doesn't know that cloth exists. They take disposables for granted, ignoring their possibilities.

The question is if they ignore them because they want to or because really nobody has told them. But, in any case, if they go that route, the conventional one, they are free of making decisions, they are set to a standard of quality, performance and environmental impact. They don't want to be overwhelmed with possibilities, they just take the cab.

So, don't be judgmental, don't overwhelm people and don't get offended by their claims. You choose what you think is the best, and just because it was what you decided, it is correct.  We are polluting the planet anyway.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Don't let them guilt you

Most cloth diaper advocates will get you on the track by guiltying you into them. They will say that you're filling landfills and killing trees and putting bodily fluids in a place they don't belong.

While it is true that disposable diapers do have a heavy carbon print, their creators try constantly to go out of their way to minimize this impact.

I must confess, when I was wearing disposables full time, I didn't bat an aye on these issues. It's not that I don't care about my planet, it's just that I knew that nowadays, they use way less material and less plastic than before, they occupy less volume and, most of all, I didn't have any other choice (no, handwashing is out of the question). I did feel guilty about the prize I was paying, and it was always stressful to having to change one that was not at least 50% full. I felt I was not getting my full 20 cents out of it (and that's if you get them on sale, I could go as low as 13 sometimes) and was always afraid I wouldn't have the money or the time to go get more. I don't feel that guilt anymore, I change diapers way more than before.

They keep reducing their environmental impact in water emissions, material usage, energy use, etc, during the manufacturing process and invest tons of money in new technology for the little ones' safety. I don't think they're just willing to sell out of the sake of selling, but they know more than 90% of babies are diapered that way and they have a responsibility to take care of them.

On the other side, we have plenty of moms that don't care if they have to rinse their diapers 7 times before the first use and all the water and electricity that it implies. In places in which water is a luxury, it may even be more expensive than disposables. Every time I read a mom doing such a think, my stomach revolves. Truth is, you only need to wash them once. I throw them with my dirty pile at the second rinse stage and that's it.

That being said, I still prefer cloth for every day purposes. All that technology can't get rid of the smell, or the expense, or the trips to the garbage disposal unit. As I've said before, they are superior.

It may be that I'm not a strong advocate, I'm just a lazy mom that realized they were more work than a small load of laundry a day and didn't like to see SAP gel bubbles around my son's legs. Toxic materials belong in a closed childproof space, not one layer of plastic away from their curious hands.

So, next time you find someone from the Cloth Diaper Church of Babies, don't let them make you feel like a planet destroyer, ask them to convince you in any other way (and, believe me, they will).

Friday, January 11, 2013

Husband Evolution IV

I don't know if it was the lack of smell, the lack of leaks or conquering the fear of the unknown, but my husband has gotten to be very fond of cloth diapers, and now he calls them a crowning success.

I still need to keep the subject coming and the education ongoing. He has no idea of any lexicon regarding the CD world, and accidentally threw a snappi in the garbage. Plus he won't deal with the aftermath of any explosion, so I have opted for leaving an empty clean wet bag for him when I'm out, so that if there's any solid waste material that needs disposing, I don't have to dig through a day's worth of wet inserts.

I totally vote for snaps over velcro. Even if I'm only using prefolds and a cover, if I leave them ready to put on, I'm sure he'll put them fine, snaps are always in the same place, they make sure the position is alright and look cuter. But I do prefer leaving Little Guy and Tiny Guy using prefolds or AIOs when I leave, so that when he changes them, they just get tossed in the bag. I don't like digging for pockets to unstuff.

Yesterday I left without having changed Little Guy, didn't have time, so I said before leaving that he needed a change ASAP. Unfortunately, I could only express 2 ounces of milk for Tiny Guy. That ended up being an almost quasi catastrophe. Less than an hour after my departure, he calls me in total distress saying that Tiny Guy was crying for food and and gone through the ridiculous supply already. I hung up the phone and thought for a minute. Most likely I was going to abandon and probably lose my job, but I could not have a baby suffering for food for another 3 hours. Then I remembered I had an emergency 4oz bag in the freezer, so I called him back and told him so.

Well, that saved the day, I came home to find Tiny Guy happy, with clean pajamas and Little Guy asleep. All seemed fine, so I relaxed for a bit. Then, some 30 minutes later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw All the diapers I had left prepared for Little Guy unused. With all the stress of the milk situation, he forgot to change that diaper I had asked for.

Results? well, no leaks (prefolds are awesome), but several hours exposed to humidity left a very red rash in his butt. I had to put neosporin on him and leave him wearing disposables for the rest of the evening. At night, all the ointment was gone, so I put him on Swaddlebees Econappi's (which I normally use for his brother) so that he would stay dry. He's healed now, but still wearing pockets for the rest of the day.

So, my husband is evolving and growing into them, but, we still have lots of work to do.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The Minky Taco and the Grovification

After a full 2 day load, I was folding and stuffing while talking to my husband and having Little Guy jumping all over. We were going to get out of the house kind of early on one side and, on the other, I found myself in front of a Swaddlebees pocket and a Fuzzibunz insert.

I had already talked about this combo before. It works nice for a couple of hours, but those lovely minky inserts don't last long. I had also used prefolds in "girl mode" to stuff them, and I found out it is the right size of an insert for that specific pocket, in the smallest setting.

Having a mexican inspiration (did I ever mention I'm a proudly from Guanajuato?), and knowing in the back of my mind that there was going to be an adventure, I decided to have some fun and placed the minky insert on top of the prefold, and made the pad folding afterwards, leaving that insert inside the prefold tortilla.

Results? Great! what can I say? Baby lasted some 4.5 hours outside. He was happy to come back to trimland and slept through a Grovia afterwards.

On another subject, we had a non diaper related incident in the car. My husband likes coffee, a lot, specially in the morning. Since we didn't have time to finish it, we brought it in. It usually is never a problem, except that this time, he didn't close his thermus properly and after hitting the brakes, off it went, down his pants, the seat and everything else.

I was trying to help him cope with the situation when I remembered I had brought a Grovia AIO in my sling's pocket (I'm a light carrying mama). Well, we ended up placing it face down in the seat. Not only did it protect his butt from sweet moisture, but when we arrived, it was considerably wet. So now you know, it is possible to use AIO's in order to clean car's messes (will test for survival tomorrow, but no signs of coffee when it came out of the washer)

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Husband Evolution III

The day came in which I went out to work and babies stayed home. I had had leak problems with the Fuzzibunz and very recklessly I left tiny guy wearing one.

As soon as I come out of the subway, the phone call comes through.

H: hey, where is the Murhpy's oil soap?
M: in the bathroom, on top of the sink
H: it's not there, that's why I'm calling
M: I saw it there this morning (flashback: image of Little Guy taking the bottle and me taking it away and up)
H: It should be around, look up the window sill
M: Oh, yeah, don't worry, I've found it.

Of course, when you're close to being late and have to walk half a mile still, a conversation like that doesn't ring any bells. But when I was walking, a light bulb turned up inside my head. Why did he need Murphy's oil soap? honestly, I hadn't used it in a while. Aside from the incident mentioned above that implied actually going to the laundromat to clean my bed quilt, I had not needed to scrub poop stains in more than 2 weeks, that bottle was just taking up space and could be put back below the sink inside the cabinet.

After I came back home, he was ramping about how my "leak free" diaper had blown up from a leg. Fuzzibunz again (I'll talk about that little problem in another post). He told me how the baby had made a huge mess and left his bouncy chair all dirty and all that. All of a sudden, I see the bouncy chair all clean and dry, my husband wearing the same clothes and the bulb just went up to 100 W. WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE DIAPER?

H: what I always do, left it soaking in Murphy's oil soap.

TOINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGG!!

I may have started hyperventilating. I went to the washer and got it out. The smell of the oil was in every pore of it. Of course it was all clean.

M: Didn't I tell you to toss it in the wet bag?

H: I didn't want you to scrub when you arrived, I wanted everything done.

M: How many times have you seen me scrubbing lately?

H: mmmm I don't know, what you do inside there is your business.

M: How hard is it to toss a diaper in a bag? really?

H: What's the big fuzz about? it's cloth, that's how I deal with stains

For all the ones new to CD, every company and every seller will always tell you, do not use any type of soap on them. Use detergent, no perfumes, no dyes, no bleach, no soap. They'll try to sell you their own or get you to buy a special CD one, others will tell you to make it, that's up to you. But Murphy's oil soap has oil and perfumes and all those things prohibited. They create a coat in the cloths surface and repel liquids away, creating a leakage nightmare.

I still use that diaper, it's bright red and looks gorgeous. Maybe the warranty will be void. But I managed to strip it and it has never leaked again.

Anyway, that's what happens when you marry an overly useful person that did his own laundry for many years. Yep, he's adorable.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Laundry Free Day

I have a cold, I have tons of paperwork to prepare and I have to get to work in a couple of hours. I declare myself on strike and won't do diaper washing today.

I can enjoy a free day once in a while, in fact, most CD families do it a lot, washing only every 2 or 3 days. So then, why am I different?

Well, most CD families live in houses and have the privilege of a big washing machine in the basement, or in the kitchen, or in the laundry room or... who knows. But not us. We live in an apartment in which laundry machines are not allowed.

 Over my life, I've gone through different laundry accommodations,  from having it in the house like every other child I knew in my protected childhood to having to walk  some 2000 feet to a laundromat and spending all Saturday morning there (not fun).

With the first boy, my husband used to handwash his poopy clothes, but with the second one, he just can't, so after they started piling up and the bathroom sink  was always occupied, I gave him an ultimatum, went online and found exactly what we needed.

The pros: it fits inside our bathroom, doesn't require instalation, it's powerful and it leaves synthetic clothes pretty dry. The cons: it only has one speed, it's not automatic and it's small.

So, if I dare waiting for a day to do my diaper laundry, the next day is a long one with 2 loads of stinky material. When that happens, I take advantage of the situation to separate natural and synthetic fabrics, natural only needs regular detergent and doesn't have repelling problems, but it does require more of it, synthetic requires less, but it's good to use baking soda and peroxide cleaner once in a while to get rid of the ammonia (which is starting to stink a lot) and an extra rinse is always welcome.

Next problem is the availability. My stash of pockets and AIO is pretty limited, just as my budget. 2 days of diapering 2 heavy wetters goes through pretty much all of them. It means, I have to get all the prefolds out of the covert and have Tiny Guy wearing Real Nappies medium size covers, which look absolutely huge on him, plus I have to change them more often due to humidity issues. Since we may take the children out, I may put a disposable on Tiny Guy (never go in the clothing route without some sposie backup, you may need it once in a while).

So, let's relax and not be too rigid on ourselves. It is possible to take a day off!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

The Insert Fair

I confess it, I'm a huge fan of the Swaddlebees Econappi pocket diapers. It may be that they fit Tiny Guy well, or it may be the cotton velour.

For the past several weeks, I was only putting them on Tiny Guy at night, with an extra microfiber insert and the small cotton/bamboo on the front. This is because I only had 2 and the biggest problem with them is the drying time (due to the natural fiber), so while one is still drying, I use the other.

Anyway, this situation changed when their Christmas sale came in and I bought 4 more for less than half the price, that sounds all well and good, but they were sold without the inserts. And, yes, I do like the cotton/bamboo ones, but I have more prefolds than I need and also microfiber inserts, so I figured I would have plenty stuff to play with.

First thing was clear. I need to wash them more. For some reason, the diapers are leaking a little. I don't know exactly what the problem is but their older counterparts are performing better for night purposes, so I'm sticking with those to.

But for the day, I started playing around. First I used a trifolded prefold as an insert. It did the job, but surprisingly, it seemed to last less than what I'm used to in a prefold, it may have just been a very wet time of the day. The problem with that is the bulkiness. I can't use anything else due to all the fluff.

Next thing I used was a minky microfiber Fuzzibunz insert. Great combo! seemed to last even longer than with the pockets they were meant to. Plus it is very trim and I can actually close the snaps all the way down in the waist.

All of a sudden, I remembered that the microfiber doublers were actually Swaddlebees as well, or maybe Blueberry, but it was what they used to use in their pocket diapers, having the same shape. So, the next test was with only one of those only. I couldn't close the diaper all the way, but it did the job nicely, plus I had to fold it because it is designed for the big size, but I do that every night anyway.

I still want to try the Flip inserts and whatever else I can find, but so far, I don't think I'll need to buy an extra set of bamboo/cotton ultra expensive ones.