Eye on Parenting: Diaper Debate

(For some reason the video is outta whack, click HERE to watch it on CBS) 
I don't really know what to say about this. It actually seemed like a joke the first time i watched it. Almost like it was sponsored by a disposable diaper company? 
Maybe the could have gotten someone who has some experience or knowledge about cloth diapering to be part of the segment. I know  a pediatrician is knowledgable about a lot of things, but she's never used a cloth diaper in her life! The point of view is ridiculously biased, based on the opinions of two women who've only tried disposable diapers. OF COURSE people will think cloth diapering is hard, gross, and messy if thats what they've been told.The host Natali says she THROWS OUT onsies because they get poop on them? (i personally would wash them)
A great point made by the ped; if you use cloth diapers you don't have to buy "quite as many" diapers as you would using disposables. 30 cloth diapers is A LOT less than 4000 disposable diapers! (thats if your child is potty trained by 2)
I do however think it's great that Natali has decided to try cloth diapers for a month, and write about it on her blog. I hate to be so pessimistic, but for someone that throws out onesies when they get poop on them, i can't see it lasting longer than the month. 
Use disposable diapers if you must, i just want correct information given to people who are considering cloth.

Do Cloth Diapers Really Save Money

(My cute man, and his fluffy bum!)

Check our this article on Handmade Adelaide Baby, and their calculations to see if cloth diapers really save money. (I'll ruin the ending, they do.) However, do read to see how they came to his conclusion. Remember if you use them for more than one child, the only expense the second time around is the cost of laundering. Also, the cost they calculated is way more than what i've spent on getting my cloth diaper stash' started, so the calculations are very generous.

Oh, for fun, here's an INSANE article, that claims it costs $25-$60 a month to launder your own cloth diapers. Clearly they must be washing them with fresh spring water flown in for Switerland. I wash mine twice a week, so that is 8 extra loads per month.There is no possible way, 8 loads of laundry cost $25-$60, or we'd all be wearing dirty clothes!

If you have questions about cloth diapering, Ask me! 
 I'd love to share any info, knowledge and experience i can. 
Anyone can do it, it's not intimidating, hard, or gross. (In fact it's simple, easy, and oh so adorable!)

Rinsing the Poop Out

Babies and small children excrete many viruses in their feces including Hepatitis A, rota virus, shigella, salmonellosis, amebiasis, live polio virus (from vaccines), and typhoid among others. In order to keep these viruses from contaminating underground water supplies, poop should not be dumped into a diaper pail and thrown out with the trash. Fecal mater is supposed to be emptied into the toilet, so it can be properly processed at waste water facilities. The problem is, most people that use disposable diapers don't know this, or refuse to do it! To that i say WTF!?!?! If you want to use disposables, use them correctly.

Straight from the Pampers website:

"As the Pampers bag recommends, you'll want to dump bowel movements in the toilet. Then just roll the diaper into its back sheet, using the tape or fasteners to keep it closed, and dispose of it in the trash."

Some rebuttals to this are "I chose disposable so i didn't have to deal with poop", or my favorite "That is disgusting, I'm not touching poop!" First of all, no one is asking you to lick the feces off of the diaper, use toilet paper. Second, you chose to have a baby, and they poop.

I don't push cloth diapering on anyone, and I'm happy that i haven't had anyone judge me for choosing cloth. I do however push proper use, and respect for our planet. Would it be OK for hospitals to improperly dispose of their waste? 

Happy poop dumping!

How to: Strip Cloth Diapers

If you're a cloth diapering momma, or are thinking about becoming one, knowing how to strip diapers is an important part. You need to strip your diapers if you have build up that causes your diapers to work less efficiently.

What causes build up?
 -Not rinsing your diapers well enough, causing soap build up
-The type of detergent you use , it may have added perfumes or dyes that don't rinse out
-Using too much or too little detergent, in general you use much less than you would to wash clothing
-Using fabric softener (never use fabric softener!)
-Using diapers made of synthetic fibres. Natural fibres are less likely to develop residue problems.
-Not using enough water to rinse your diapers. When i wash, i set the washing machine to the largest load size. If you have an HE machine, you can try adding a wet towel to the load to trick the machine to adding more water.

How do you know if your diapers need to be stripped?
-leaking
-wicking
-repelling liquid
-odour

How do you fix it?

-Try doing several hot water washes. If your diapers are rinsed properly, there should be no suds in the final rinse cycle.

-Add a squirt of blue dawn dish soap, do a hot wash and several rinses until there are no more bubbles. Dawn is a degreaser, so it can help remove oily residue.

-Add 1/2 cup baking soda to the wash cycle to neutralize the odours.

-Try RLR. It removes mineral deposits and detergent build up in fabrics.

I've only had to strip my diapers once in 4.5 months of use. I hope these tips make it easier for you if you ever need to do it.

Awesome Wet Bag: Bummis

I got this wet bag recently. It's cute, waterproof, has a handle, zipper, and it was a great price (i have the blue one)

It was purchased from Green Ninja. Check out their website, it is a great Canadian store.
A good wet bag is an important part of cloth diapering. At the very least have a good one for travel. You don't want to have a cheap wet bag leak while you are out of the house. I highly recommend one with a zipper, as i had one with a drawstring, and it's not as reliable.
I may be addicted to cloth diapering and it's accessories...help!

Gross Facts About Disposable Diapers

I don't mean to preach. I totally understand that some people have personal reasons that mean cloth isn't an option. Some people also rent and do not have their own washer and dryer. The reasons i don't understand are; it is too much work or that it is gross (At some point babies get poop on everything, and parenting IS a lot of work!) There are a lot of reasons that cloth diapering is a great alternative. I thought i would show some facts about disposable diapers, for those of you who are considering cloth. I'm always interested in others opinions. If you do choose to use disposable diapers there are more eco friendly options, like Seventh Generation Disposable Diapers, which are not bleached in chlorine, or Nature Boy & Girl, which are made with cornstarch. However no diaper, even an eco friendly one can break down well in a landfill. Since having a child, i've become a lot more concerned with being eco friendly, he's got to live in this world after all. I hope it is still a beautiful place for my great-grand children!

Here we go:

Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the     paper-bleaching process.  It is a carcinogenic chemical, listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals.   

Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) - a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.

Disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrylate, a type of super absorbent polymer (SAP), which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. A similar substance had been used in super-absorbency tampons until the early 1980s when it was revealed that the material increased the risk of toxic shock syndrome by increasing absorbency and improving the environment for the growth of toxin-producing bacteria.

In May 2000, the Archives of Disease in Childhood published research showing that scrotal temperature is increased in boys wearing disposable diapers, and that prolonged use of disposable diapers will blunt or completely abolish the physiological testicular cooling mechanism important for normal spermatogenesis.

Based on  estimates 27.4 billion disposable diapers are consumed every year in the U.S.

The instructions on a disposable diaper package advise that all fecal matter should be deposited in the toilet before discarding, yet less than one half of one percent of all waste from single-use diapers goes into the sewage system.

Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill.

In 1988, nearly $300 million dollars were spent annually just to discard disposable diapers, whereas cotton diapers are reused 50 to 200 times before being turned into rags.

Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste.  In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste.

Disposable diapers generate sixty times more solid waste and use twenty times more raw materials, like crude oil and wood pulp.

The manufacture and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2.3 times more water wasted than cloth.

Over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for one baby EACH YEAR.

No one knows exactly how long disposable diapers sit in a landfill before they decompose, but it is estimated to be 250-500 years!

*Information drom www.realdiaperassociation.org

Babies Don't Need Clothes

The sweetness is overwhelming. 

Nuff said.

Review:Kawaii Diapers

I received my fancy schmancy all in one diapers in the mail in April. First, i was thrilled at the shipping time, 5 business days. From my experience it usually takes for gd ever to get things in the mail. 

 A lot of cloth diapers have to be washed up to six times before wearing to remove the natural plant oils. Otherwise they repel liquids instead of absorbing them. (Man i feel sorry for the person that doesn't know that and tries to use a cloth diaper without prepping). Back to my point, these diapers only have to be washed ONCE to prep them! ONCE! They will become more absorbent, but i found one wash was all it took. They dry very quickly on the clothes line, in fact they're almost dry when they come out of the wash.


The lovely diapers came in pale yellow, purple, blue, and minty/lime green. Yup, my son wears purple diapers. they also came with 24 inserts. I use one during the day, and two overnight, as he keeps the diaper on all night without a change. I'm not going to wake a sleeping baby to change his diaper, and he sleeps 12 hours straight. The inserts seem to be very absorbent to me (they are micro fibre i think). More so than pre-folds or fitted diapers, which are what we had been using. 


Also, the diaper is lined in a micro fleece, which keeps the moisture away form baby's skin, which is great for the all night diaper.


All in all, after 6 months of use i can say these  are great diapers. At $6.50 a pop, the are much cheaper than Bum Genius or Fuzzi Bunz. I got mine on e-bay, but they are around the same price if you buy them directly from the seller. The website is www.theluvyourbaby.com

Cloth Diapers

Oh i could o on for days. Alas, i only have a few minutes until poopey-doo wakes up.

I always planned on using cloth diapers, and when i found out i was going to have a baby i started the search for the diapers i wanted to use. I scoured the internet, trying to learn as much as i could. There are so many gd options! Prefolds, fitteds, all in ones, all in twos, pockets, flips.... They range in price from $2-$25 per diaper. The more expensive diapers sure are cuter, but are they necessary? Pre folds are the cheapest, but you have to either pin or snappi them to keep the diaper on, then put a diaper cover over the whole thing. Fitteds have velcro or snaps so they are easy to secure but you still need to put a waterproof cover over the whole thing. I discounted the all in ones/all in two's and pocket diapers from the beginning due to the price.We went with pre-folds from the start. We wanted to make sure we would actually use them before investing a boatload of money. Then you have to buy covers, and liners for extra absorbency (overnight etc) In total we spent maybe $100 to get started. We have enough diapers up until he is 18 months, or longer, depending on how big he gets.

I was also concerned about the extra laundry. Turns out its really not a big deal, 2-3 extra loads a week ( and they are medium loads) and a little bit of time to hang them on the line, and let the sun work its bleaching magic. All in all it maybe is one extra hour of work per week to wash and line dry them. I was never really concerned about the "gross factor" (putting poopy diapers in the washing machine), i figure if i'm having a baby there'll be a little poop to deal with. (and you shake any access poop into the toilet once they're on solids.)

The best part is the waste we are saving from going to the landfill. An estimated 27.4 billion disposable diapers are used each year (in the US alone!), resulting in about 3.4 million tons of diapers going into the landfill. I figure this earth has to be here for my kids, and their kids, and their kids' kids' etc.

If you are interested in using cloth diapers, give it a try! Don't be scared off by the people that say it's gross, or too much work. If they can't handle poop, and a little work, they shouldn't have had children. Plus a cloth diapered bum is so freakin' cute!

My son in a prefold diaper with a cover, at three weeks old.