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Cloth Diapering 101 Giveaway!

posted on March 20, 2009

UPDATED:

Holy hand grenades, people! I love how many of you are cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs cloth diapers!!! Many of you already cloth diaper, and it seems a sizable gaggle of you are inspired to give it a try!

Yes, I realize I just referred to the group of you in the same way I would a group of Canadian geese.

Ahem.

Anyway, there is still time to snag my cloth diaper stash. The comments on this post will be open until after Not Me! Monday, at which point I’ll pick the winner.

Good luck!

ORIGINAL POST:

The first time I ever saw a baby wearing a cloth diaper, I thought it was one of the strangest things I’d ever seen. Of course, I myself was cloth diapered by my mother as an infant (not when my mother was an infant, but when I was an infant…you know, in case that wasn’t clear), but my memory doesn’t go back that far. So when I saw a baby boy with the biggest, puffiest bottom I’d ever seen bulging out from under his pants, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Who on earth, I thought, would put such a gigantic diaper on their baby, and then have to wash it when it got dirty, instead of using slim, disposable diapers?

Well, me, as it turned out a few years later.

We took a natural childbirth class when I was pregnant with Big Mac, and the other gals in that class were so darn earthy and green I could hardly stand it. Of course, I was earthier and greener than the average person, too, but I had never even considered big ol’ cloth diapers for our baby. Yet I was inspired once I became informed, so with Prince Charming’s blessing, I gave cloth diapers a try when our firstborn emerged. I was immediately smitten with cloth. And I have been and on and off cloth diapering mama ever since. (Off when I have a newborn, on when the babe is older, off when out and about, on when at home, off when I feel overwhelmed with the washing, on when I want to feel like Supermom, you get the idea…)

While this post will be far from an exhaustive resource on cloth diapering, you can certainly check out my other cloth diaper posts and do more research on your own. (Also, my search my blog by topic button in my lower left sidebar is now live and you can click on it to search for all sorts of different things…) After all, there are multitudes of reasons to cloth diaper (Not the least of which are financial savings and health concerns: bleached disposables contain chlorine and it’s fantastically awful for children’s sensitive parts to sit in chlorine for years as chlorine contains components that have been linked to cancer.) as well as numerous cloth diapering systems (Chinese prefolds and cover, fitted or contoured diapers with wraps, AIO cloth diapers: All In One’s, Pocket diapers…) and a variety of brands (we love Imse Vimse, Kushies, Kissaluvs and hand made wool soakers).

Cloth diapering is a diverse and wonderful adventure and I’d very simply like to share with you how we make it work in our family. So sit tight, here is Cloth Diapering 101…with a giveaway!

First, let me explain our stash. (This photo, however, is not our stash, just so you know. It’s a different stash of really nice brand new cloth diapering goodies that you could win. Keep reading!!)

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I use contoured cloth diapers (that’s what you see in the left hand side of the above photo) and have a handful of cloth diapers with snaps, too (in the photo below). Covers (the printed cuties you can see in the right hand side the above photo) are a must so that clothing doesn’t get wet. I also use cloth liners and doublers (swatches of cloth that you add inside of the diaper to make it absorb more), stay-dry liners (these go next to the baby’s skin so that they don’t feel as wet before a diaper change) and disposable liners (these liners look almost like fabric softener sheets and lay inside the diaper when I think a bowel movement is probable….then I can easily drop the soiled liner with the bm into the toilet without needing to scrub).

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I start by putting a diaper directly on the baby (here an unbleached contoured diaper is shown on Stellan). I don’t use pins or Snappis or anything to fasten my diapers together.

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I’d lay a doubler or a liner in next to baby’s bottom if needed.

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A waterproof cover goes on next. These can be reused when there is a wet or dirty diaper. Only the diaper itself needs to get washed each time; a cover can be used multiple times in a row unless it gets soiled or very wet. It goes on around the diaper…

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…wrapping snugly around to hold the diaper itself in place.

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A few of my diaper covers snap on, but this one, like almost all of my covers, has Velcro closures.

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After it’s attached snugly around the baby’s waist, I check for spots where the diaper itself is peeking out.

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See in the above photo how a bit of cloth is showing at the leg opening? That will get wet with urine and soak through to the baby’s clothing if it is not tucked in. Below you can see the leg opening is now leak proof.

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The same thing goes for the top of the diaper, although in my experience, it is not as necessary to tuck the top in as well, as it rarely gets wet.

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But you can tuck it in for good measure, if you want to. Voila! Diaper is on!

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When the diaper gets wet, I put on a new diaper right away.

And what do I do with wet or dirty diapers? I have a few wet bags, including the one in the below photo. They are fabric bags, lined with a waterproof material that close with zippers. This smaller bag is what I travel with when out and about and using cloth, so I can store the diapers somewhere until we get home. At home, I have a few huge wet bags that I keep in the nurseries. Wet diapers can just get tossed in, while dirty ones need to have the bowel movement plopped off into the toilet first. I refuse to do a lot of scrubbing. I just plop off what comes off easily, and then set the dirty diaper in the big wet bag to soak until wash day.

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I usually add water, a scoop of detergent, and white vinegar to the diapers, even as they are just waiting in the wet bag to be washed. And later, I wash them in the washer with more of the same (vinegar neutralizes the urine…it’s actually a fantastic natural cleaner for almost anything around the house). For extra soiled loads, I may wash the same load twice. Regardless, using a high water level when washing cloth helps to get them really clean.

Diapers themselves can be hung to dry or dried in the dryer. Covers, however, should just hang to dry. They dry very easily. Wool diaper covers like these below, hand made from old wool sweaters, that I used for Small Fry when she was smaller (Used over a diaper in place of a snapped wrap or Velcroed cover) are antimicrobial, don’t soak up urine, and need to be washed only rarely.

When they are washed, they need to be washed with a wool wash, however, and not in the washing machine.

Whew! It definitely sounds like a lot of work. And don’t get me wrong, cloth diapers are not as simple as disposables. But once we’re in the cloth diapering groove, it feels just as easy as using disposables. And knowing our sweet baby’s bottom isn’t sitting in chlorine helps me press through the transition.

StellanClothDiaper

Plus, Stellan is just so darn cute in cloth!!!

And now, you can have the diapers right off his sweet little bottom. Oh, okay, I’ll give you new ones and keep the diapers Stellan has already used.

Kind, I know.

That’s right, I’d love to encourage you to use cloth diapers, or to stick with it if you already do, by giving away a cloth diaper package that will make you wet your pants it’s so great. And that will make you wish you were wearing a cloth diaper! Either that, or that you had a Go Girl stashed in your purse.

Simply leave a comment on this post (feel free to talk about cloth diapering, disposable diapering, or to mention nothing about diapering at all) and have a chance to win tons of sweet Imse Vimse brand cloth diapering goodies!!!

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A bevy of soft contoured diapers like the one I show Stellan wearing, absorbing liners and stay-dry ones, sets of unbleached snap diapers…

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and tons of organic cotton printed covers in all sizes, the same ones as Stellan is wearing in this post.

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This could all be yours!!

Have you ever considered cloth diapering? Are you sold out on disposables? What would you do with this giant stash if you win? What did you have for lunch? Is anything else burning on your mind for you to tell me?

Leave a comment and maybe I’ll pick you to win all these goodies!!!

Happy diapering!

UPDATED:

There is still time to snag my cloth diaper stash. The comments on this post will be open until after Not Me! Monday, at which point I’ll pick the winner.

posted on March 10, 2008

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  • I never thought I'd be married to my childhood crush, the mother of five children ages five and under or have a stay-at-home career as a photographer and blogger. In my former life, I was a Type A, first born, A+ student who became an art teacher as an adult. And now here I am.

    If it seems like we have a picture perfect life, don't be fooled, though. During the past couple years, my husband and I almost lost one of our sons, our marriage and our financial stability. My story is one of intense pain, personal growth and a determination to focus on the positives in life even when it's lemons at every turn. And my story is far from over.

    Being mother to our children is one of my most prized roles. Parenting is my passion. I have other passions, too. Like loving my husband, being sold out for Jesus, living in the Frozen Tundra, breastfeeding and babywearing my children, photography and all things colorful, homeschooling, natural living, traveling, living with no television, cloth diapering, advocating for small government, speaking German, sponsoring children in developing countries, vaccination delaying and straw bale gardening.

    I am not perfect in any of these areas, though. I am proud to admit that I am very much a work in progress. A mother who is just trying to figure out life, one day at a time.



  • I met my husband when we were infants in the church nursery and had a crush on him during our adolescent years. He was too busy being a superstar athlete, running a 4:26.0 mile and being Mr. Popularity to pay too much attention to me until after college. We realized we loved each other and got married six years ago. As our focus has turned from outward inward, I've seen my husband grow in so many ways.

    He is an amazing father, a spontaneous daredevil, has a passion for the Lord and for truth, is transparent about his struggles and not willing to be someone he's not. He is patient and kind, funny and forgiving. When he is not wrestling with our children or mowing the lawn, my husband is a general contractor, loves to fish, watch Netflix, swim laps, read, camp, listen to NeedToBreathe and blog.

    Our commitment to each other in "the good times and bad" has already been tested. We're definitely in this thing together!

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    Big Mac is our multi-faceted son K. I was pregnant with him for 42 and 1/2 weeks; now he is 5. Our firstborn handles his role of biggest brother impressively well. Big Mac cares for his siblings intensely, is astonishingly independent and amazes us with his deep thinking and sense of humor.

    He is thoughtful, creative, patient, inventive and interested in how mechanical things work. He loves to build and construct and is relatively obsessed with his mother, who is very similar to him in personality. You can often find Big Mac digging in the sandbox, dressed in homemade costumes or eating carrots and hummus. He will be starting Kindergarten at home in the fall.

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    MckNugget, our second son C, is nothing short of all boy. Free-spirited, emotional and goofy, our 4 year old Nuggey has a spunk and zeal for life some only dream of. He is an emotional clone of his father and is a big time Daddy's Boy. He is the only one of our children to have freckles like Mama.

    MckNugget loves jumping hay bales, all things creepy crawly and is the fastest runner of our MSC. MckNugget sleeps with his soft blue blankie, sometimes sports a Mohawk and calls Big Mac his "bes' friend." He can usually be found with dirt under his fingernails, holding a snake, a mouse, a toad or a beetle.

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    Small Fry is our spirited little 2 year old daughter M. To our otherwise masculine brood of offspring, she adds a touch of feminine sweetness. Our blue eyed beauty loves to wear her baby dolls in a sling, help her mama, rough and tumble with her big brothers and mother her little ones. She's sure that getting a new little brother this year was the best thing that has ever happened to her.

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    MckMuffin is our 1 year old miracle son Stellan. When I was 22 weeks pregnant with him, he was in heart failure. He had SVT, Hydrops fetalis and heart block. At 24 weeks we were told there was no hope for our son, whose heart would not respond to medication. Stellan would be stillborn. We embarked on a journey of faith like nothing we could have ever imagined.

    God blew us away with Stellan's miraculous recovery. He was born alive, healthy and with no sign of SVT! His doctors were sure he had outgrown it and we took him home.

    When Stellan was 4 months old, he began to suffer from SVT again. Our faith walk deepened as we clung to God. Stellan was hospitalized for 6 weeks and had a risky, unsuccessful ablation performed in Boston. Between then and when he turned one, Stellan had a hospitalization in the ICU every single month.

    When Stellan's SVT got so bad that we nearly lost him a few times, once when he coded on the table mere days after he turned 1, he had another emergency ablation. Although the outlook was grim and the hope for complete success was slim, we put our son in God's hands again.

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