Wiped away

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Laura

Welcome to the April 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Kids and Personal Care

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared stories, tips, and struggles relating to their children’s personal care choices.

Since we’re talking about cleanliness this month during the carnival, I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about our diaper wipe solution. When I first started using cloth diapers and wipes, I just rinsed the wipe (at that time a plain washcloth) with water and wiped Liam off. I felt like he was always red and as he got older, he started to complain about the washcloths being too “hard”. Line drying cotton loop washcloths wasn’t the best idea in hindsight.

With the birth of my daughter, I made a bunch of wipes from old receiving blankets and made a simple wash with just plain water. She was ok with it, but in time I started to realize that as she started to teeth, she might have the same trouble with diaper rash as Liam did. In talking with a friend, she told me how she just mixed together her own concoction and used it with her cloth diapers. No problems with absorption or staining or anything. I mixed my very own batch that night and have used it ever since. Sylvia will be 1 this weekend and she has yet to have an official case of diaper rash and even after 4 rounds of antibiotics, she hasn’t had any diaper troubles! I owe it all to a few drops of tea tree oil… so without further ado, if you’ve never made your own diaper wipe solution, this is simple enough that you can whip this up in less time than it’s taken to read these 2 paragraphs.

Wipes Solution

2 cups hot water
a small squirt of baby shampoo
2-5 drops tea tree oil
1 drop baby oil

Place all the ingredients in a squirt bottle and shake well to mix. Apply liberally to cloth wipes and launder with your diapers as needed.

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Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be live and updated by afternoon April 10 with all the carnival links.)

Rub-a-Dub Co-Bathing in Our Tub — Bath time is more than soap and water! That Mama Gretchen shares how co-bathing with her toddler has opened up a world of cleanliness, learning, and bonding.
This is How We Take a Bath — Shannon at GrowingSlower shares her special formulas for babywash and a happy bath time.
How to Gently Trim Your Toddler’s Nails — Shannon at The Artful Mama discusses some of the gentle suggestions she has received to help Little Man overcome his anxiety of having his nails trimmed, as well as how she copes with her need for his nails to be trimmed.
Baby bath time and skin care — Ursula Ciller shares some simple and natural tips for bathing and skin care.
Want Your Child To Love Getting Clean? Have Them Make Their Own Soaps, Shampoos, and Lotions! — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares her secret to empowering her daughter to “get clean.” Together, Jennifer and her daughter make their own body washes and lotions which makes clean up time fun!
Encouraging Self-care Through Awareness… and Fun — Amy at Presence Parenting shares some tips on how to transform self-care from a struggle into an opportunity — for kids and adults.
Caring for kids’ curls — Lauren at Hobo Mama tells you how to clean, condition, comb, and style ringlets and waves on little heads.
Playing in the Rain — Jorje of Momma Jorje loves how her family has come to make a family event of showering!
The Cleansing Power of the Football — Rachel at Lautaret Bohemiet talks about her son’s favorite bath buddy.
Coconut Oil: Nature’s “Baby Magic” — Megan at The Boho Mama has only one must-have baby care item in her cupboard: Coconut Oil!
For Sensitive Kids, Less Is More — Kadiera at Our Little Acorn finds less cleaning is better.
Bathtime: Just Another Chance to Play! — Lyndsay at Our Feminist {Play} School discusses the many reasons bath time is important – getting clean isn’t one of them.
Hygiene? What hygiene? — Sheila at A Gift Universe confesses some of her most embarrassing hygiene secrets.
Confused About Chemicals? — Jaye Anne at Wide Awake, Half Asleep describes how to find out where the toxic chemicals are in your house and tips on alternatives.
Clipping Those Talons — ANonyMous at Radical Ramblings describes the ways her daughter’s tolerance for personal care has changed over time, especially when it comes to nail clipping.
Sit Back, Relax and Unschool Hygiene — Instead of focusing on tactics of how to ‘get’ your child to focus on hygiene, Authentic Parenting explains how to help your child internalize hygienic standards.
Help! My Tot will not let me brush her teeth! — Mudpiemama shares five positive ways to help toddlers brush teeth and sabotage the tooth fairy’s secret conspiracy.
Self Care and the Spirited Child — Amy at Toddler In Tow shares how a balancing act between independence and connectedness helps her spirited child learn appropriate self-care.
Hairbrushing is a Safety Issue — Dulce de leche guest posting at Natural Parents Network explains that although tangles are not a safety issue, self-confidence and body boundaries are.
15 Ideas to Prepare Toddlers and Preschoolers for Dental Procedures — Dionna at Code Name: Mama is sharing ideas on how to thoughtfully prepare little ones for dental visits (particularly those that require anesthesia).
Holistic Care of your Toddler’s Teeth — Erica at ChildOrganics tells a tale of her children’s teeth issues and how she uses homeopathy and good nutrition to keep cavities at bay.
Bath Time Bliss : Fuss-Free Bath Time for Toddlers — Christine at African Babies Don’t Cry shares how she has made bath time completely fuss free for both her and her toddler.
Homemade Natural Toothpaste — City Kids Homeschooling hosts a guest post on a homemade natural toothpaste recipe that kids will love!
Bathing Strike Strategies — Crunchy Con Mommy offers her best tips for keeping your little ones clean when they refuse to bathe.
Bodily Autonomy and Personal Hygeine — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children discusses the importance of supporting a child’s bodily autonomy in the prevention of abuse.
A Tub Full of Kiddos! — Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment has kiddos who love the water, so bathtime is a favorite evening activity!
The Trials of Tidying My Toddler — Adrienne at Mommying My Way shares the difficulties she has with getting her on-the-go son to be still enough to get clean.
Wiped Clean — Laura at Pug in the Kitchen shares her recipe for homemade diaper wipe solution to clean those sweet little cloth diapered bottoms in her home!
Snug in a Towel: Embracing Personal Grooming — Personal care is time consuming,especially with more than one child; but the mama at Our Muddy Boots is learning to embrace this fleeting and needful time.
EC: All or Nothing? — Elimination Communication. Even the title sounds complicated and time consuming. It doesn’t have to, if you adapt it to meet your family’s needs, says Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy.
Routine Battles — In a guest post at Anktangle, Jorje of Momma Jorje outlines a simple incentive to help inspire your little one to follow a routine.
Redefining Beauty For My Daughter — Justine at The Lone Home Ranger relays her struggle to define her own femininity and how her preschooler unexpectedly taught her a lesson in true beauty.
Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Three Girls In The Tub — Chrystal at Happy Mothering shares how she turns bath time into a few minutes of peace and quiet.
Montessori-Inspired Activities for Care of Self — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now has a roundup of Montessori-inspired activities for care of self and ideas for home environments that encourage independence.
10 Gentle Tips for Little Ones Who Hate the Bath — Kim at life-is-learning gives 10 tips to get your little one into the bath and maybe even enjoying it.
The Boy With The Long Hair — Liam at In The Now discusses his son’s grooming choices.
Personal Care in a Montessori Home — Melissa at Vibrant Wanderings shares a summary of the ways she has organized her family’s home to make for easy, Montessori-inspired toddler personal care.
Styling Kids — Kellie at Our Mindful Life is letting her kids decide what to look like.
Clean Kids: Laundry and Bath Tips — Kimberly at Homeschooling in Nova Scotia shares tips on how to get your children helping with laundry plus recipes for laundry and liquid soap.
How to Clean Your Children Naturally: A Tutorial — Erika at Cinco de Mommy shows you how to clean your children.
Cleaniliness is next to… dirt — The lapse-prone eco-mom (Kenna at Million Tiny Things) sometimes forgets to bathe the kids. Except in the mud pit.

The fuss about fluff

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Laura

This post is an entry in Jennifer Labit’s All I want for Christmas… Is to Tell the World About Cloth Diapers Contest. I haven’t received any sort of compensation for this, but if I do happen to win the contest, myself and 1 lucky reader will will 12 bumGenius diapers!

Our home is a busy one with a toddler and an 8 month old. I am a stay-at-home Mama and as such, I’ve gotten to be very frugal with our one income. In the time since we had our son, I love that the initial investment in our cloth diapers through shower gifts and following Cotton Babies’ sales has really benefited our wallet. I’m not buying crates of diapers on a monthly basis only to have them pooped in and thrown away.

I was on the cloth diaper track before we were even pregnant with Liam. My cousin in Canada and I used to chat online late at night and pass links back and forth with our thoughts. She settled on the bumGenius brand and when it came time for me to pick my cloth diaper brand a year later, I could hardly wait to see my sweet baby in Clementine and Moonbeam. We used the diapers faithfully for months. I washed, dried and folded and used that time as a cathartic break in my hectic life, juggling a job and a family. Then, one night in April, my son woke with a horrible poop. That diaper was the precursor to a week of a stomach bug that I had no previous idea even existed. We had 22 diapers. I used them all in the space of just over 24 hours. While those diapers were in the wash, I put him in a disposable diaper and let him crawl around the house. I will never forget him looking at me with this sad, sad look as the diarrhea hit him again and it ran out of the diaper, through 2 layers of clothes, all over the floor. As soon as my diapers were dry, he was back to wearing them. I don’t care how “leak proof” a disposable diaper claims to be, nothing beats my bumGenius diapers for containment!

The original diapers have been used regularly for 29 months. Now they are divided by color so that the blues and greens diaper my son, while the whites and yellows joined the sweet pink diapers for my daughter. I love knowing that my diapers have now successfully diapered 2 children of different sizes and body structures. While my son grew through the sizes quickly and had to have the snaps let out every few months, my daughter is still in the smallest of our One Size diapers.

The math can be overwhelming. To think of the number of times I changed our son on a daily basis in the first few months of his life, I know I did laundry every other day at that time. When we added our second child, I added some Econobums and a few second hand gDiapers to the stash so I wasn’t always doing laundry. By my calculations, a total of $529 has been spent on the diapers, all 3 styles included. Let’s say that I change 12 diapers a day between the 2 kids. Therefore, in a 1 year period, I’ve done roughly 4380 diaper changes. That makes each diaper change worth 12 cents. I see Amazon diaper deals all the time with the individual diaper cost being around 12 cents. Which is great. But those 12 cent diapers still get thrown away while mine go in the wash for another year of use.

The way I look at it, I’m already doing laundry, what’s 2 more loads a week? To tell you the absolute truth, our water bill hasn’t changed at all except during the summer months when I’m watering the garden and keeping the kiddie pool full. And really, a diaper is a diaper: they stink no matter what brand you use and how you choose to handle them. I’d rather wash away the stink and use them again and again for the next years to come than keep buying more. I love to hang them on the line in the Spring, Summer and early Fall and see the rainbow they create against the sky. I love that because of the colors, I get to have one more method of teaching for my son.

Cloth diapers work for us. The work for our routine, for our children, and for our wallet. They are easy to use, I don’t have any chemicals on my sweet babies’ bottoms and they keep what needs to stay in, in. Even when we have a babysitter, they are still simple enough that there’s never been a complaint. I love our diapering choices and yes, there’s a great deal of fuss about the fluff in this house, but I think it’s worth it!

Laundry Day

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Laura

I just finished folding a load of laundry and have another one in the wash and a load of diapers waiting for me to get to them to fold and put away. In a house where there are 2 small children, one of whom seems to go through clothes like water, laundry is a nearly endless task. I’ve tried to cut down on laundry over the years, but when it comes down to it, it’s just easier to do the laundry than spend time trying to keep everyone spotless. It’s not a huge deal to me as I really don’t mind doing laundry and there are few things (like we talked about Abbie) that give me more pleasure than a tidy linen closet. I’ve noticed since adding another child in diapers to my home, though, that my water consumption has gone up. Since I don’t water our plants (we don’t have a garden this year and what plants we do have are a lost cause) and I’ve learned to take my showers in 7 minutes or less, I decided that the greater water usage is excusable considering that I’m not throwing diapers in a landfill on a daily basis.

Growing up, I don’t really remember using our dryer for much, except for my father’s police uniforms. As soon as the weather was pleasant in the spring all the way until it was just too cold out in the Fall, we hung our laundry outside on the line. Even in the winter, we air dried in the basement. I can remember running outside when a summer storm threatened and folding laundry straight off the line in the evenings when everything was dry. I had a small line put up at our other house, but it wasn’t fantastic and I hated using it. In the end, I wasn’t as committed to line drying as I thought I was. When we moved here, I realized that our backyard is large enough to hold a good sized laundry line, plus a garden and a swing set and there’s still room let over to play catch or football or even badminton.

My goal for this summer was to get a line up and being used regularly for all our laundry. As each week of the summer has ticked by, I still did not have my line, until the power went out 2 weeks ago. The heat was just unbearable that week. My husband came home from work that day as his office was out and since his work is done on the computer, he was just sitting there twiddling his thumbs. Turns out, there was a breaker that blew North of town and we were out of power for almost 6 hours. Instead of sitting here, melting, we packed the kids up and headed to Amish Country where, in the irony of ironies, they had power and therefore cool homes. Once we were there, we decided to stop at Lehmans General Store. And as luck would have it, they had whole laundry line kits that would give me 7 whole lines of fresh air drying! The next day, Matt dug and cemented the holes for the poles and on Tuesday, I started doing laundry.

I just love hanging my laundry outside in the sunshine. For one thing, they smell amazing! The diapers are easily bleached out in case of random stains. And I haven’t used my dryer in two weeks. Considering that our electricity bills are higher since we’re trying to keep the house cool, I’m excited to see what a difference it makes. Liam prefers to spend his day running around outside, and so I just pack everything up and we head out while I’m hanging laundry and then when it’s dry, I bring it all back up to the patio and fold it while he plays and Sylvia watches. I will say that with my clothes, I hang them inside out so that the sun doesn’t bleach any of the colors. And I’m also not into the whole neighborhood seeing my unders, so they air dry in the basement on a rack. I’m anxious to see how little I can use the dryer and for how long. Of course, there will be days when it rains and I have to bring the laundry in. I’m also considering setting up a system in the basement, but haven’t worked that out yet. But until those decisions are made, I’m enjoying the smell of sunshine on everything I wash!

2 years of changes

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Laura

Welcome to the First Annual Freedom of Cloth Carnival

This post was written for inclusion in the Freedom of Cloth Carnival hosted at Natural Parents Network by Melissa of The New Mommy Files and Shannon of The Artful Mama. This year’s carnival will run from Sunday, July 3rd through Saturday, July 9th. Participants are sharing everything they know and love about cloth diapering, including how cloth has inspired them.

There are few things I like more than diapering a teeny little newborn heiny. I just love to wrap them up and then admire the cuteness, even if the clean diaper lasts only a few moments. With my son, I used the Bum Genius diapers exclusively until about 4 months ago when I added the Econobums into our stash. He was a big baby from birth, so he never looked like he was drowning in his diapers. My daughter in contrast, is rather petite. I was grateful to borrow some Kissaluvs that fit my daughter like they had been custom made for her. Once she was big enough, we started the BG diapers back on the newborn size and I marvel at how small Liam had once been. Putting her diapers next to his is just another way for me to realize how my baby has changed.

After 2 months of having both children in cloth diapers, I’ve decided to start potty training. This Independence Day weekend, I’m making a bid for my son’s independence and we’ll be pulling out the cloth trainers and underpants. We had started training back in the Fall and he was really starting to catch on and like wearing his truck printed underpants. Sadly, just when he was really “getting” it, we had a family tragedy and I needed to stop so I could be available to others. I’m looking forward to teaching him how to listen to his body and give him the independence he naturally craves. I will say that I’ve liked that he is so used to frequent diaper changes because I’m not taking any chances on diaper rash from being in a wet diaper, that the continual trips to the bathroom during this early stage of pottying aren’t a big deal. He loves the feel of the cloth against his skin in contrast to the scratchy pull-ups, so we don’t have a fight over putting them on. And, when he has an accident, he actually gets to see what happens in contrast to the traditional method where the pull-ups act like a diaper still.

I love that cloth has served our family so well. I love that my cloth diapers are lasting through multiple children and that there is no waste. These products grow with us and adapt to our needs without a hassle. And it doesn’t hurt that their darling bottoms look cute the whole time, too!

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Visit
Natural Parents Network for the most up-to-date news on the Freedom of Cloth Carnival!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants on the following themes. Articles will go live on the scheduled theme day:

Sunday, July 3rd, 2011: Cloth Related Recipes — Writers share their best cloth-related recipes and tutorials.
Monday, July 4th, 2011: Choosing Your Cloth Style — Today’s posts discuss parents’ individual journeys to finding the cloth diapering “style” that best suits their families.
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011: Cloth Diapering Must Haves — Parents talk about the most important items in their diapering “stash” and why they love them.
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011: Wordless Wednesday, Inspired by Cloth — We asked parents to share their favorite cloth-related photo with us and turned them into a fluffy Wordless Wednesday photo montage on Natural Parents Network. Link up your own Wordless Wednesday post there!
Thursday, July 7th, 2011: Cloth Through the Stages: From Infancy to Potty Independence — Today’s participants explain how cloth diapering has served their families throughout one or more stages of their children’s lives.
Friday, July 8th, 2011: Cloth Troubleshooting and Laundry Day — Seasoned cloth diapering parents share their best tips and tricks for handling common cloth problems and tackling the diaper laundry.
Saturday, July 9th, 2011: Inspired by Cloth — For today’s theme, we’ve asked writers to explore the ways cloth diapering has inspired them to become “greener” overall.

Wordless Wednesday: Cloth Diapers as Fashion

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Laura

Welcome to the First Annual Freedom of Cloth Carnival

One of my favorite ways to introduce people to cloth diapers is by playing with the colors and showing off the cuteness. For instance, Sylvia’s little green diaper coordinates perfectly with her top, a choice that prompted a few conversations and lots of interest while we were grocery shopping that day. Little by little, as mother and daughter we get to educate others about the joys of cloth… and the fun of color!

Visit
Natural Parents Network for the most up-to-date news on the Freedom of Cloth Carnival!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants on the following themes. Articles will go live on the scheduled theme day:

Sunday, July 3rd, 2011: Cloth Related Recipes — Writers share their best cloth-related recipes and tutorials.
Monday, July 4th, 2011: Choosing Your Cloth Style — Today’s posts discuss parents’ individual journeys to finding the cloth diapering “style” that best suits their families.
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011: Cloth Diapering Must Haves — Parents talk about the most important items in their diapering “stash” and why they love them.
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011: Wordless Wednesday, Inspired by Cloth — We asked parents to share their favorite cloth-related photo with us and turned them into a fluffy Wordless Wednesday photo montage on Natural Parents Network. Link up your own Wordless Wednesday post there!
Thursday, July 7th, 2011: Cloth Through the Stages: From Infancy to Potty Independence — Today’s participants explain how cloth diapering has served their families throughout one or more stages of their children’s lives.
Friday, July 8th, 2011: Cloth Troubleshooting and Laundry Day — Seasoned cloth diapering parents share their best tips and tricks for handling common cloth problems and tackling the diaper laundry.
Saturday, July 9th, 2011: Inspired by Cloth — For today’s theme, we’ve asked writers to explore the ways cloth diapering has inspired them to become “greener” overall.

Simple Needs

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Laura

Welcome to the First Annual Freedom of Cloth Carnival

I’m a pretty simple person in general, so my needs go along with that. When it comes to cloth diapering, I only need to have a few things in my possession to make my days easy.

I am a big fan of the Magic Stick diaper cream. It’s like a giant, pleasant smelling glue stick that prevents your baby’s heiny from getting irritated by the the contents of their diapers. I love it because it’s cloth diaper safe so it doesn’t effect the absorbancy of the diapers as commercial diaper creams will. It’s not messy and I’ve never opened my son’s door after a nap and found it smeared all over the place!

I have tried every single suggestion for laundry detergent for my diapers. I started out with the homemade detergents that were Borax based. I tried Soap Nuts. I used all-natural liquid detergents. They were all nice, but nothing has compared to the success I’ve experienced with Rockin’ Green. For me, when my babies are nursing, diapers don’t stink. With Liam, I had to switch to formula around 4 months of age and that’s when the trouble started. Formula poo is vile. Add in the solids he devoured a few months later and boy howdy did I have a problem. Once he was officially eating like an adult, I never really felt like I could quite get the stink out. One cold, snowy night in February, I ordered the Rockin’ Green detergent and a package of the Ammonia buster. Since that time, I’ve only used the buster once and even with mixing diapers used by a toddler and a newborn, everything comes out of the wash smelling… clean. That my friends, is all I really want.

Since I plan to be cloth diapering for the next several years as we add more children, Lord willing, I also have a few things that I’d really love to have. We moved last year and still haven’t put up a laundry line. We have a neighbor who also cloth diapers her son and every time I see her diapers hanging out, I make a mental note to nag the husband again about a line. Someday soon, I hope. Otherwise, I might start pinning them to the shrubs to dry! Another thing I’d really like to get is a sprayer. I have plans for how we can modify the sink in my laundry room to also deal with the diaper waste that doesn’t let go when I flip them into the toilet. I have plans, but again, they include nagging the husband. He tells me that I need to remind him to the point of nagging for him to remember a to-do request. Perhaps I should just put him on diaper care duty! But no, I won’t. Why? Because for all the extra steps it adds to my week to tend to the diapers, I find it one of the most cathartic chores in my household. I love to look over the stack of diapers at the end of the day and know that I’ve got everything I need to diaper my children for years to come in a simple, natural way.

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Visit Natural Parents Network for the most up-to-date news on the Freedom of Cloth Carnival!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants on the following themes. Articles will go live on the scheduled theme day:

Sunday, July 3rd, 2011: Cloth Related Recipes — Writers share their best cloth-related recipes and tutorials.
Monday, July 4th, 2011: Choosing Your Cloth Style — Today’s posts discuss parents’ individual journeys to finding the cloth diapering “style” that best suits their families.
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011: Cloth Diapering Must Haves — Parents talk about the most important items in their diapering “stash” and why they love them.
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011: Wordless Wednesday, Inspired by Cloth — We asked parents to share their favorite cloth-related photo with us and turned them into a fluffy Wordless Wednesday photo montage on Natural Parents Network. Link up your own Wordless Wednesday post there!
Thursday, July 7th, 2011: Cloth Through the Stages: From Infancy to Potty Independence — Today’s participants explain how cloth diapering has served their families throughout one or more stages of their children’s lives.
Friday, July 8th, 2011: Cloth Troubleshooting and Laundry Day — Seasoned cloth diapering parents share their best tips and tricks for handling common cloth problems and tackling the diaper laundry.
Saturday, July 9th, 2011: Inspired by Cloth — For today’s theme, we’ve asked writers to explore the ways cloth diapering has inspired them to become “greener” overall.

Decisions, decisions

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Laura

Welcome to the First Annual Freedom of Cloth Carnival

Just waiting to be used!

When Matt and I realized we were expecting Liam, I had a good feeling that this baby was the one. We had had 2 early losses up to this point and I was so anxious for a baby. After that first ultrasound where we both swooned at the sight of our little bean and the sound of his heartbeat, I came home and started shopping. Not for clothes, not for books and not for toys. I shopped for diapers! At the time, I didn’t really know very much about cloth diapers. There were so many choices and I only knew 2 people who had experience with them. My cousin who lives in Canada loved her Bum Genius diapers and a friend in town used the traditional pre-folds with the sized covers.

Liam spent a lot of his first days hanging out in just a diaper.

Some people will tell you that they researched all the different types or bought a sample pack with a variety of styles to try before making a commitment. Not me. I chose the Bum Genius 3.0 brand because my cousin was so in love with them, it’s true, but really, I chose those diapers because they were colorful. I was completely in love with the Clementine color and I just knew I’d love to see the darling little heiny of my baby swaddled in it. I opted to use the BG diapers also because at the time, they only had Velcro closures and I was intimidated by the snaps on some brands. I also made the decision to use the one-size diapers instead of the size specific All-In-Ones. Between my mother-in-law and my purchases from a few locations, I managed to have a stash of 20 diapers washed and ready for the birth of my son and 6 more still in the packaging, just in case.

Sylvia’s first cloth diaper: Size small Kissaluvs

A few months ago, I added some Econobums to my stash and a few of the Bum Genius 4.0 snapped diapers. A friend of mine also loaned me some Kissaluvs to try on Sylvia’s teeny, tiny newborn heiny. I like all my diapers, but I’m still very partial to the initial 26. I’ve used them regularly for 2 years this July and they are still in wonderful condition (minus the chocolate stain on one blue diaper and the laundry tabs having been put to serious use). I don’t have trouble with leaks or blowouts and I’m not afraid of my baby’s tender skin experiencing chemical burns from disposable diapers. I have a variety of colors in my stash and it was great fun to shop for some sweet, feminine colors prior to the birth of my daughter in April. I’m so thrilled to be passing along these diapers from my son to my daughter and to see that even though they were different birth weights and sizes they still work wonderfully. I love to know that my investment was a wise one and I’m very interested to see how many children these diapers still hold up through!

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Visit Natural Parents Network for the most up-to-date news on the Freedom of Cloth Carnival!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants on the following themes. Articles will go live on the scheduled theme day:

Sunday, July 3rd, 2011: Cloth Related Recipes — Writers share their best cloth-related recipes and tutorials.
Monday, July 4th, 2011: Choosing Your Cloth Style — Today’s posts discuss parents’ individual journeys to finding the cloth diapering “style” that best suits their families.
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011: Cloth Diapering Must Haves — Parents talk about the most important items in their diapering “stash” and why they love them.
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011: Wordless Wednesday, Inspired by Cloth — We asked parents to share their favorite cloth-related photo with us and turned them into a fluffy Wordless Wednesday photo montage on Natural Parents Network. Link up your own Wordless Wednesday post there!
Thursday, July 7th, 2011: Cloth Through the Stages: From Infancy to Potty Independence — Today’s participants explain how cloth diapering has served their families throughout one or more stages of their children’s lives.
Friday, July 8th, 2011: Cloth Troubleshooting and Laundry Day — Seasoned cloth diapering parents share their best tips and tricks for handling common cloth problems and tackling the diaper laundry.
Saturday, July 9th, 2011: Inspired by Cloth — For today’s theme, we’ve asked writers to explore the ways cloth diapering has inspired them to become “greener” overall.

The Freedom of Cloth Blog Carnival

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Laura

I’d say it’s fairly well know among those I spend time with that this is a cloth home. Cloth diapers, wipes, napkins, UNpaper towels, produce bags, grocery bags, rags, even the training pants for Liam are cloth. I’m completely in love with this simple, frugal and natural method for our family. This week, Natural Parents Network is sponsoring a Blog carnival. The participants are going to be discussing a variety of topics that range from their style of diaper to how cloth diapers have influenced other changes in their lives. I participated, so this week you get a chance of pace with what you have to read on my blog! Be sure to check back every day for the new posts, enter the giveaways and maybe even get inspired if you aren’t already!