Posts from — August 2009

Front-snapping  or side-snapping cloth diapers?  I’ve googled it many times in the past looking for pros and cons for each type of diaper.

When my daughter was really small, we used mostly front-snapping diapers with a single row of snaps.  Then as she grew, I found that front-snapping diapers with two rows of snaps in the front fit better.  As she became more active, I’ve started liking side-snapping diapers because I could put them on my daughter while she was standing.  I’ve also started using my bamboo side-snapping AI2 diapers (without soakers) as trainers.  So, lately I’ve been concentrating on making side-snapping diapers :-)

Which type of diaper do you prefer and why?

Would you like to win 6 of the luxurious Organic Bamboo Velour and Organic Sherpa (100% organic cotton) Cloth Wipes pictured below?

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Giveaway closes September 7th @ 11:59 pm EST.  Open to US and Canada.

Zorb(TM) is one of Wazoodle’s DiaperMaker fabrics.  According to the manufacturer, “Zorb absorbs 10x its weight in less than half a second — that’s 20x faster than cotton, bamboo or hemp. Zorb has incredible holding power too, a single layer holds up to 3 times the moisture of the best absorbing knits”.  How could that not make you want to try this new fabric?

The popularity of Zorb has been on the rise.  A lot of cloth diapering moms think it’s a solution to their night-time cloth diapering problems.  Some think it’s miracle cloth… at least until they try it.

As a lot of you know, I make Zorb doublers.  The doublers are actually made of two layers of OekoTex certified bamboo fleece and one layer of Zorb.  I think a lot of people forget about the bamboo fleece part of the doubler.  They forget that bamboo fleece itself is very absorbent (after several washes of course), that Zorb alone does not do all the hard work.

Zorb(TM) and Bamboo Fleece Doubler

Here are some pros and cons of using Zorb that I’ve experienced:

PROS:

• Quite absorbent
• Does not retain odours
• More cushy than bamboo fleece by itself
• Cheaper than bamboo, hemp and organic cotton.

CONS:

• I hate sewing with it.  I find that I’m spending more time serging Zorb doublers than bamboo fleece only doublers.  I also tend to make more mistakes when sewing with Zorb than without.
• I find the absorbency of one layer to be comparable to that of two layers of the thinner bamboo fleece.  Note that 1 layer of Zorb is approximately as thick as 2 layers of my thinner bamboo fleece.
• It’s not made of natural fibres only.  Might not bother most cloth diapering people out there, but it does bother me a little.  If you looked at my diaper stash, you’d see that most of my diapers are made of natural fibres only.

So, what do you think about Zorb?  What has been your experience with it?

Today, I thought I would change the topic again for those who are sick of hearing and/or reading about cloth or disposable diapers.

In this post, I wanted to tell you about a very talented artist and jewellery designer from beautiful Northern Ontario.  Her name is Julie and here are a few examples of her wonderful artwork:

To find out more about Julie of Wabi Brook Studio and her work, please visit the following sites:

• Website: http://wabibrookstudio.com
• Blog:  http://wabibrookstudio.blogspot.com
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/wabibrookstudio
• iCraft: http://icraft.ca/wabibrookstudio
• Etsy: http://www.wabibrookstudio.etsy.com

2. Storing the Dirty Diapers

If you’re just trying out cloth diapers, you probably don’t want to purchase a diaper pail – a good wetbag or any other waterproof bag will do the job.  Then when you decide to buy more diapers, you can buy a diaper pail or continue using a wetbag.

Some people will put dirty diapers in a wet pail which is just a container partly filled with water.  Others will place the diapers in a wetbag once the waste has been rinsed off .  Diaper sprayers are quite popular for diaper rinsing.

3. Washing Cloth Diapers

The information on cloth diaper washing is of course the same for those who are switching to cloth diapers and those who are planning to cloth diaper from the beginning.

Probably the most important part of washing your diapers is detergent.  Always check the ingredients to make sure there are no optical brighteners, fragrances and dyes added.  Enzymes should also be avoided since they get activated when wet and start digesting organic matter, including your baby’s bum!  Tide Free & Clear or President’s Choice (PC) Ultra Free are two examples of detergents that include enzymes.  For cloth diaper safe detergents please see Diaper Jungle’s chart.  Diaper Jungle has a separate chart for front load washer which you can find here.  Please note that Nature Clean detergent in powder form is safe for cloth diapers and nowadays is available in a lot of supermarket stores.  Recently, a new detergent has been gaining popularity in the cloth diapering world.  It’s called Rockin’ Green Soap and it has been specifically made for cloth diapers.  For now the detergent is available in the US only, but don’t be surprised if you see it in Canada very soon.

Once you think you have the right detergent, here are the steps most people follow:

(1) Cold rinse (or short cold wash with no detergent).

(2) Hot wash with 1/4 – 1/2 of recommended detergent followed by a cold rinse.  It might be a good idea to start with less detergent and if that doesn’t get your diapers clean, add a little bit more.

(3) Smell the diapers, if they smell clean, run another rinse.  If they do not smell clean, run another wash cycle with some detergent.

(4) Tumble or line dry.  Please note that the sun is great for bleaching poop stains.

Remember not to wash too many diapers at once, especially if you have a front loader.  We recently purchased a front load washer and after a couple of unsuccessful washes, I finally figured out that I need to set the machine on a “whites” wash with a pre-wash (it’s always cold).  I also set the water on hot,  the soil level on “heavy” and I choose “extra rinse”.  This is what works for me, but it might not work for everyone.  After a few washes, you’ll find out what works best for you.

4. Detergent Build-Up

Once in a while, something happens and you end up with stinky diapers.  Sometimes you’ll get stinky diapers because they haven’t been washed properly, but a lot of the time the reason for stinky diapers is detergent build-up.

To remove detergent build-up, wash the diapers on hot (without detergent) a couple of times.  Keep washing until you see no more bubbles.  I think I’ve only had to do two hot washes at the most.

There’s a lot of information out there on the subject of how to get started with cloth diapering.  However, I haven’t seen a lot of good information for people who want to switch from disposables to cloth diapers.  I think those who switch from disposables need slightly different information than those who are planning to cloth diaper from the beginning.   So, let’s begin with the initial purchase of cloth diapers meant for those who are switching.

1. Buying Cloth Diapers

I recommend doing some research first to find out which type of diaper you might be interested in trying.  There’s a lot of styles out there and the prices vary from a couple of bucks to $200+ (I heard the most popular fitted diaper sold for at least that much at a Hyena Cart auction).  Just google some cloth diapers and you’ll find a ton of information.  Remember not to panic – you’re not buying a house after all :-)

If you’re switching from disposables to cloth diapers, I do NOT recommend buying a huge number of cloth diapers.  We had very few cloth diapers in the beginning and we started off slow.  The diapers we had back then were quite inexpensive compared to the popular brands.  I wasn’t a fan of those diapers, but thanks to my research, I decided to stick to cloth diapering because I knew there were better cloth diapers out there.  The first cloth diaper I bought myself was a bumGenius 2.0 pocket diaper.  I was amazed how nice the diaper looked compared to what I’ve seen before.  I couldn’t believe how easy this diaper was to use.  It’s as easy to put on as a disposable!  With this diaper though, you do have to stuff the pocket with an insert before use.  The AIO/AI2 diapers do not require any stuffing.

There’s a chart on The Diaper Jungle website that describes the four major types of cloth diapers used today.  Most people who want to switch to cloth, would probably be most comfortable using AIO/AI2 or pocket diapers.  Those diapers will cost you a bit though, but remember that you’d be paying a lot more for disposables in the long run.  I’ve probably spent no more than $400-500 on my 21 month-old daughter’s cloth diapers and I have A LOT of diapers.  I actually sold some of my used diapers online, so I probably got at least $150-180 back.  I’ll have more on the subject of selling used diapers in a later post.

So, once you’ve decided which type of cloth diapers you’d like to try, it’s time to find out where to buy those diapers.  If you want to go with mass produced diapers then your local baby store might have those.  If your local baby stores do not carry cloth diapers, then use a search engine to find online cloth diaper stores.   If you’d rather buy WAHM (Work At Home Mom)-made diapers then you might want to check out the following sites:

Hyena Cart

Etsy

Remember to try different diapers and not to buy too many the first time you purchase them.  I also recommend trying different doublers and/or inserts.  You want to find out which diapers and doublers/inserts work best for you.

In the next post, I’ll talk about washing cloth diapers.  It’s not as hard as you think!

Snow in August?  Yeah, right!  Not in Canada.  We’ve actually had some VERY hot and humid weather here in Southwestern Ontario for the past few days now, and there’s more coming.  The only snow I can see is in pictures I’ve found today.  They’re pictures of our mini goldendoodle (3/4 poodle, 1/4 golden retriever) taken just after a snow storm in December 2006.  I must admit I miss the white fluffiness a bit.

The picture below shows how much snow we actually got that December.  Not bad, eh?  Now imagine getting the car out of that much snow hahaha.  That’s one thing I do NOT miss.

So, if you’re hot today, maybe you should look at these pictures and imagine you’re there :-D

This past weekend we decided to go for a drive and see what IKEA had to offer.  We haven’t been there in a year, so it was time for a visit :-)  After a 50 minute drive, we spent $45 and came back.  First of all, I was ready to run out of there after seeing the craziness in the parking lot.  Do people really love IKEA THAT much?  I swear it was worse than Costco.   IKEA does have some interesting stuff, but the number of shoppers just made me want to run home.  It didn’t help that Olivia didn’t want to stay in the cart or be carried.  She lost it a couple of times and I almost lost it once :-D

One of the things we bought was a VERY expensive potty.  It cost… are you sitting down?… $2.99!!! hahahaha  I think that’s the cheapest potty I’ve ever seen.  The potty we bought before this one cost 7 times as much, and of course she seems to like the new potty as much as the old one :-D  We bought this potty not only because of its price, but also because we needed a small potty that’s a little more portable than our big BabyBjorn one.  Now if only Olivia didn’t treat the potty like a chair :-D

As promised, here is the second part of “Eco-Friendly Disposable Diapers”.

3. gDiapers

When I first heard about gDiapers, I was very excited.  A diaper could be used as a disposable and a cloth diaper?  I simply had to have this diaper!

The diaper consists of a washable cotton little gPant (i.e. a cotton cover), a snap-in nylon liner and a plastic free gRefill or washable gCloth.  Besides the washable inserts that gDiapers makes, there are lots of WAHMs (Work at Home Moms) who make them as well in different shapes and sizes, and using different fabrics.

Unfortunately, my love with gDiapers was short lived.  I found that the inside snaps left marks on my baby’s skin.  I never used these for night-time since I didn’t think they’d be comfortable enough for that.  I wouldn’t want to wear something like that at night, so why would I put it on my baby?  I know a lot of parents out there do love these diapers for daytime AND night-time.   I suspect I’m just more picky than the average parent.  I think I’ve been spoiled by comfortable, soft and fluffy cloth diapers :-)

4. Seventh Generation

A lot of you have probably seen this light brown diaper.  In the past year or so, the popularity of Seventh Generation diapers has exploded.  I’ve seen it worn on a lot of babies, including celebrity babies.

The diaper is chlorine, fragrance and latex free.  It is NOT plastic free and it is NOT compostable.  I couldn’t believe that some people online say it’s “biodegradable”.  It’s not.  And please do NOT flush this diaper down the toilet.  I actually read somewhere that the diaper is flushable hahahaha.

What I did NOT like about this diaper:

• More SAP than Nature Babycare diapers
• Plastic instead of corn-based material
• VERY wide tabs which left marks on my baby’s legs
• Smaller than other disposable diapers in that size range.  My 30 lbs daughter is not going to be able to fit into size 4 for much longer, and the size 4 diaper is supposed to fit up to 37 lbs.

NOTE: The brown colour of this diaper is not naturally occurring.  The colour comes from the addition of pigments.

5. PC GREEN Disposable Diaper

Just like Seventh Generation (SG) diapers, the PC GREEN diapers are chlorine and fragrance free.  I found this diaper in a supermarket store, the same one that sells SG diapers.

What I liked about this diaper:

• VERY stretchy tabs.  None of the other eco-friendly diapers are like that.
• The diaper is quite a bit cheaper than other “green” diapers.  One PC GREEN diaper costs almost half as much as a Seventh Generation diaper.

What I did NOT like about this diaper:

• SAP
• Still has some plastic in it however, according to the manufacturer some of the plastic components were replaced with “revolutionary plant-based polymers.”

I must admit I like these diapers a lot more than SG diapers because of the stretchiness and better fit.

CONCLUSION:

None of the diapers I discussed in the two posts are perfect.  They still create huge amounts of waste whether compostable or not.  Also, none of the disposables seem comfortable enough.  I agree they’re a little thinner than my Northern Baby AIO (All-in-one) or AI2 (All-in-two) diapers, but they’re much less comfortable and not very healthy for my toddler.

NOTE: I recently found a great post about “green” disposable diapers.  I’ve never seen a mom do so much research on the subject as the author of the post you can find here.  After reading it, I was glad we haven’t been using disposables on a daily basis.