A day in the life...

Hey everyone!  We're going to do a fun guest post today about "A day in the life of a cloth diapering mama"!  Tonia Neal Johnson, a former eLeMeNO-Pee consultant and mother of three was kind enough to get us started!  Don't for get to follow her on facebook (mooshka sees)!  

Diapering: Nighttime Solutions

So… you have been cloth diapering your little one for a while and you have come to a slight speed bump… nighttime.  Your little one has graciously given you a longer stretch to sleep at night, but is waking up wet.  What should you do?  

Get yourself a few diapers that will work specifically for night time.  

Our favorite options…

Kiwi Pie by GroVia

This one-sized diaper is unbelievably absorbent, especially considering how trim it is.  It comes with two additional inserts that make this beyond perfect for a dry night!  Pair with a Flip or wool cover.

Dimple Diaper by Bummis

This is also a fitted one-sized option that is made of soft organic cotton.  An extra booster is included that ensures your child won't wake up wet! Pair with a Flip or wool cover.

Prefold Combinations

Maybe you use prefolds and want to stick to that.  You may just need to use a combination of prefolds to make them work through the night!  Try a newborn prefold combined with an Osocozy pre fold. Cover with a Flip or wool cover.

One of the great things about nighttime s once you have found your favorite, you only need 2-3 if you wash regularly!

Happy diapering :)

About the author…

I am Stasia- wife, mom, blogger over at Our Life on a Budget, part-time preschool teacher and local cloth diaper 

Cloth Diapering Storage Options

So... you have 24 cloth diapers(maybe more if you are enjoying the new Bum Genius prints), wipes, wipe solution and maybe a Grovia Magic Stick around your changing table.  You have a lot of baby stuff and limited space.  This begs the question…

What are some of the best cloth diaper storage solutions?

Now y'all, I am all about some real life, so I do not have any beautiful stock photos to show you… just pictures out of real people's houses! :)

Just a Laundry Basket

Not a lot of money?  This is a great and easy option.  Stack them and store the laundry basket under a table or close to where ever you change your baby!

Just a Storage Bin

This is another inexpensive and portable option.  Find a cute storage bin that matches your home's decor and you are ready to go.  Many moms use this when they change most of the diapers in the living room.

Drawer in the Dresser/Changing Table

Make the first drawer in the changing table devoted to all things cloth diapering.  This also makes it easy to rotate your stash. Keep a basket with wipes and wipe solution on the top of the table to complete the organization.

Changing Table with Storage

Do you have a classic changing table with open storage? Add some baskets or old drawers to make for more structured organization. You can stack diapers for easy rotation and accessibility.

Closet Hanger

Are you feeling especially Pinteresty? Use closet storage hanger or baskets, and hang them above the changing table.  This basically uses your diapers as decor, while keeping them close!

Which storage method do you use?

Are you in need of some cloth diapering expertise?  Whether you are interested in cloth diaper, trying to build your stash or just need a few more diapers, we have a cloth diaper consultant that can answer all your questions!  Please be in touch!

About the author…

I am Stasia- wife, mom, blogger over at Our Life on a Budget, part-time preschool teacher and local cloth diaper 

Travel Options for the Cloth Diapering Family

Now that fall is in full swing, Thanksgiving and dare I say Christmas will be here before we know it!  Bring on the pumpkins and the candy canes please :)
Getting prepared for the holidays is exciting, but also can bring about some stress. Especially when travel is involved.  Seeing in-laws, parents, relatives.  Car rides, planes and more.
How does the cloth diapering parent handle traveling?  What options do they have?

Just Keep Using Cloth Diapers…

Bum Genius Elementals Albert Print

You would be surprised, but more often than not it will probably be easiest (and definitely cheapest) to continue using cloth.  Think about it this way, you are used to it and so is your baby's bum.  You don't have to figure out a new system or choose a new system.  You will not run the risk of getting diaper rash from disposables.  Just use and wash your diapers like normal!
What about washing?  Especially during the holidays you tend to stay with family.  There you will have access to a washer and dryer no problem.  Our family drove from Georgia to Ohio to Maryland and back to Georgia again and used cloth the whole time.  I just washed them at each stop along the way.  If you are not staying with family, many condos have laundry and hotels either have a laundromat or will be able to point out some laundry options that are close by!

Use a Hybrid…

Grovia Biosoakers can be used in your favorite diaper cover!

Did you know that many diaper brands come can be used with disposable inserts?  This is a great in-between option for cloth and disposables.  You bring your cloth covers and use the disposable inserts while you are traveling.  Covers would still need to be washed like normal, but disposable inserts would seriously cut down on the laundry and allow you to dispose of the waste (just make sure you don't flush the insert down the toilet, that could cause some problems).  Some of the brands that carry hybrid options include Grovia, Flip and Soft Bums.

Use an Ecosposable...

Honest Company "Ecosposables" ABCs Print

I would be lying to say we have never left the cloth behind.  This past year we our family was blessed with the opportunity to go to Orlando and spend some time at the parks there.  We planned on spending all day at the park leaving little time at the hotel.  I thought that it would feel like too much to have to wash the diapers while we were there, so I went with the best disposable option there is: Honest Company Diapers.  They are the most earth friendly disposables that I have found using natural, plant-based and sustainable materials.  There is no chlorine in the processing and the diapers contain no latex,  lotions or fragrances. They are super absorbent and feel the most"cloth-like" in my opinion. AND they are so cute- strawberries, anchors, flowers and more you get to choose the cutest patterns!  This might be a good option if you are traveling somewhere with out a washer or dryer or will legitimately not have the time to wash the diapers!

This is our little sporting the Strawberry print in our hotel room.

So what about you?  What is your travel solution? Any recommendations I missed?

About the author…
I am Stasia- wife, mom, blogger over at Our Life on a Budget, part-time preschool teacher and local cloth diaper consultant.

Cloth Diapers and the Non-Cloth-Diapering Care Giver

I remember it still.  The first time I dropped my little one in the church nursery in cloth diapers.

I nervously (and probably very quickly) said "My daughter wears cloth diapers.  They are really easy I promise."
My unsureness probably made them unsure about the situation as well.

Then again, my daughter started a Mother's Day Out program.
Cautiously I asked, "She cloth diapers, is that okay?"

But as I have gotten more confident in my cloth diapering, so have my responses to church nurseries, daycares, baby-sitters, grandparents and the like.

So how do you introduce cloth diapers to the Non-cloth Diapering Caregiver?
Here are some quick tips…

Be confident

Your confidence in cloth diapering is key.  My nervousness in introducing cloth the first two times did not help.  This might sound harsh, but I don't even ask any more.  When signing up for our daughter's childcare this year, I just simply stated we cloth diaper, then at open house showed them how it worked.  When I go the church nursery I tell them that she cloth diapers and give them a quick tutorial.

Show the easy, cutest diaper first

eLeMeNO-Pee has some awesome all-in-one options.  I also recommend using a velcro closure for a first showing to a caregiver- snaps can be really intimdating. Showing them a all-in-one velcro diaper and commenting about "how it is as easy as a disposable"  usually is a good start.  This is a gateway that gets them open and comfortable.  I have found in the past as they get more comfortable they are, the more open they are to other things.  For example after using velcro for a while our caregiver was completely open to snaps.

Know your rights

You have rights.  Seriously, this is your baby and you get to make these kind of choices.  This site has some great information listed by state about your rights.  Even if you are in a "restricted" place, you could most likely get an exemption from the doctor for something like sensitive skin.

Be Prepared

Diapers, wipes, wet bag- all prepped and ready to go. Make this easy on them, so they have a positive experience cloth diapering!

Work with them

Maybe they prefer you use liners.  Maybe disposable wipes would make it easier on them.  Be willing and open to work with them!

Don't pack another option

If you pack disposables, they will use them… I almost guarantee it.  If you want your child using cloth, pack cloth and they will learn to use it.

The great thing about exposing our caregivers to cloth is that it makes a dent in making cloth mainstream.  One care giver last year even said that she grew to like it so much that she planned on cloth diapering her own children!

Did these things ring true for you? Do you have any other suggestions? 

About the author…
I am Stasia- wife, mom, blogger over at Our Life on a Budget, part-time preschool teacher and local cloth diaper consultant.

So, those "disadvantages" to cloth diapers? Some of them are actually true (but hear me out!)

Did my blog title shock you? I know, why would a "cloth diaper lady" ever admit to common cloth diapering "cons"  actually being true? Well....because some of them actually are!

There are a lot of myths that cloth diapering families hear over and over. Some make you roll your eyes (no, they wouldn't make your baby bow-legged) while others actually have some merit. Let me get started so I can fully explain.

A few of the most common "cons" and my rebuttal:


"You have to touch poop!"
Here's the deal. When you're a parent, poop is part of the job title. I don't care if you use disposables, cloth, or opt for elimination communication. If there's a baby in the house, you're gonna touch poop at some point, it doesn't matter how you diaper your baby. 


"It requires so many more diaper changes."
It's true that cloth will need changed more frequently than disposables. But how is this a bad thing? It encourages your child to have a fresh start with a diaper so they aren't sitting in their own urine or excrement any longer than necessary. I fail to see how this could ever be a disadvantage! I also attribute this to my daughter never having a single diaper rash! 


"They use SO much water."
Well, yes, it will require water to wash them with every load. It's a given that any reusable item is going to use additional water as you continue to wash and reuse it over and over and over. What people don't stop to think about when they make this claim, however, is that there is a lot of water used in the production, packaging, and shipment of every single disposable diaper. This is the same type of logic I apply when I compare using cloth diapers to wearing clothes. None of us would find it sensible to say clothing use too much water to wash and then choose to buy a new outfit every day instead to cut down on water consumption. That's just not accurate and the same principle applies to cloth diapers. 

"It costs way too much money to get started."
I will admit that the initial investment can absolutely be a little daunting. The thing is - it's a matter of when you're spending the money. You can slowly accumulate a stash at the start of a pregnancy, buying a couple of diapers per month, and it helps spread out the expense. Using disposable diapers can easily cost double (or even triple!) what a stash of cloth diapers will.  

"You have to do SO much more laundry." 
It's inevitable - if you use cloth diapers, you will do more laundry, that's a given. I found that it actually helps keep me up to speed with my additional laundry, however, because diaper laundry is non-negotiable. It *has* to be done NOW which forces you to finish the other loads you started prior!  In that regard, it really does keep the flow of laundry traffic moving more consistently.


So, there you have it - a handful of the most commonly heard "disadvantages" to cloth diapering and why they're really not so bad after all. Do you have any that you'd add to the list?

What to do when you need to buy used (diapers).

Buying and selling used cloth diapers, it's a thing! A lot of people don't realize there is a huge market for used cloth diapers but there certainly is. eLeMeNO-Pee even has a Facebook buy/sell/trade page specifically for this purpose!

A lot of people would never even consider buying  used cloth diaper and that is totally fine. However, for various reasons, a lot of parents set out to do just that. Some prefer the savings up front and some love the idea of continuing to reuse a very Earth-friendly product in their own family and are not bothered by the idea of using pre-loved cloth!

There are a few things to consider when purchasing used cloth diapers, however. Unfortunately, there are people out there that are less than forthcoming with the information so it's good to ask plenty of questions before you commit to buy so you get a full scope of the condition of the diapers.

A few guidelines to follow:

--Be sure to ask if they are the original owner or if they purchased the diapers used as well so you know what type of lifespan is left

--Inquire about the type of detergent they used. Be sure they did not use fabric softeners.

--Ask them to verify whether they are "seconds quality" diapers or if they were first-quality diapers that came with the warranty.

--Specifically ask if there are any stains, repelling, tears, stink, or buildup.

--When purchasing online, always, always, ALWAYS use Paypal and send the funds as goods/services so you are protected in case the person is dishonest or misrepresents the item.

--If it is important to you, make sure to ask if the person has a pet and smoke free home.

--If it's not a site like eBay with built-in feedback to view, make sure you ask if they have references or feedback on other websites for you to reference. Sites like DiaperSwappers are common reference points in the buy/sell/trade community.

As is the case with all transactions, just be careful and trust your gut. If something seems "off" with the information you are receiving, move along to the next diaper. After the first transaction or two, you will be an old pro and have the swing of things down pat. It can be quite rewarding to score a stash of well cared for yet previously owned diapers for a fraction of the price you'd pay new!

 

Cloth diapers : common fears & putting those fears to rest

A few days ago, I asked a simple question on the eLeMeNO-Pee Facebook page. It was a simple question, but one that garnered various different responses, none of which surprised me at all. They're common fears! I want to address those head on so that those pondering the same questions can get a feel for the reality of using cloth diapers and know there's nothing to fear!

Fear #1 : The laundry. 
 Have no fear, it's not as overwhelming as it may seem. Even if you regularly wash your diapers every other day, you are only adding an additional 3-4 loads per week. And if you're anything like most cloth diapering mamas, you actually don't seem to mind doing the diaper laundry. I've never quite figured out why the diaper laundry  never bothered me at all yet the rest of the pile could sit there for days, taunting me and causing me to drag my feet. I know, it's weird, but more times than not, it works out that way. I promise, the laundry is not terrible. The upside to the laundry situation is that you aren't stuck running to the grocery store in the middle of the night because you ran out of disposables again! You can foresee when your stash of clean diapers is dwindling and just walk across the house and toss 'em in the wash - you never even have to get out of your jammies!

When it comes to the wash routine, a lot of people get overwhelmed because there are so many various opinions. Our advice is to always start simple. You can adjust your laundering routine if problems arise, but a basic wash routine works fine for the majority of people. A cool rinse without detergent, a hot wash cycle with a sufficient amount of detergent, and another cool rinse to make sure the soap is thoroughly rinsed out. That's it. That was my wash routine for the entire duration of diapering my daughter and never once did it let me down. 

Fear #2: The poop.
Oh, the poop. I'll be honest, this was my biggest fear. It's the reaction I hear most often. "What do you do with the poop?"  Listen, I'm just going to be honest here. When it comes to babies, poop is just part of every day life. Even if you use disposables, there will be plenty of poop explosions you have to deal with, so nobody gets out of this parenting business unscathed by poop.

Osocozy Diaper Sprayer

It may seem intimidating at first, but once you get past the first one or two poopy cloth diapers, you get over it real quick. When babies are breastfed, you don't even have to do *anything* with the poop. It's water-soluble so you can just toss the whole diaper in the wash and it will come out sparkling clean.  Once baby starts on solids, a diaper sprayer works wonders. It works the same way a sprayer on the kitchen sink does, only it hooks up to your toilet. You spray the poop right in the toilet and you never even have to touch it. Works like a charm! There are various ways of handling the poop in the cloth diaper community, but the diaper sprayer is the most common. We loved ours!


Fear #3: Leaks
This is another common fear for potential cloth diaper users but a lot of families actually find that the amount of leaks actually greatly decreases when switching to cloth diapers, especially when it comes to "newborn blowouts". Cloth diapers fit a lot more snug and the gussets in the leg holes and the elastic along the waistline help contain some pretty gnarly messes. I can honestly say we never had a single "blowout" in cloth diapers (I can't say the same for disposables!).  As far as pee leaks go, as long as baby is being changed frequently, this should not be an issue. If you are having fit issues with your diapers, please be sure and contact your local eLeMeNO-Pee representative or visit the store so we can help you troubleshoot and get the perfect fit on your little one.



See, that's it! It's really not as difficult as it may seem. Once you get started and find a routine, cloth diapering becomes so easy that you won't believe you ever worried so much about it. You find your routine, stick with it, and it's smooth sailing from that point on!

Are you feeling the burnout yet?

 

Did you, like many people, make a resolution to be more green this year? To ditch the paper towels in favor of cloth napkins, switch out the disposable diapers for cloth, and switch to making your own cleaning products?
We're just over three  weeks in to the new year. Are you feeling the burnout yet? Whether it was a New Year's resolution to lose weight or the New Year's resolution was to be more green, it can be easy to get over-zealous in your eagerness to improve and somewhere around week two or week three, I usually find myself getting burnt out on a new goal or resolution.

I've always heard that it takes 30 days to make something a habit.  I think there is a lot of truth in that but I also think it's easier to stick with a new lifestyle or habit if you ease yourself in to it.
My suggestion is simple but it's helpful : start small. Choose the most pressing issue in your home and make that switch.  Once you're accustomed to it, switch one more thing. I always tell myself it's a marathon, not a sprint. It's too easy to get burnt out by trying to change too much all at once. It's easier to stay the course if you take it one step at a time. When I first started making the switch to a more natural/eco-friendly home, I tried to change too much all at once and I got very, very overwhelmed. Once I decided to scale it back and incorporate one change at a time, it became a lot less intimidating to me.

You can do it and eLeMeNO-Pee would love to help you with that transition in any way we can. We carry so many amazing items to help get your home as green as can be! Pick one small focus, conquer it, and keep plugging along. No matter what avenue you choose, we have a product to help you in that transition.  From cloth diapers, to reusable menstrual cups and cloth pads, we're here! We also have natural bath and body products alongside green cleansers and detergents. Wanting to ditch the Zip-loc bags? We have reusable snack bags! No matter what your primary focus is for greening up y our home, eLeMeNo-Pee has you covered!

Planet Wise reusable snack bags

There's freedom in going cloth!

Yup, what the title says. Cloth is freedom.

(Is this too predictable? It seemed careless to publish a new post on Independence Day and not acknowledge the whole 'freedom' motif. What good American wants to read about laundry routines or 'prefolds vs. pockets' when it's the Fourth of July? Freedom is where it's at.)

Recently a French feminist philosopher wrote a high-profile book deriding American mothering trends of the last decade, which are finally having some influence in France. In her book and in the subsequent magazine articles surrounding its release, Elisabeth Badinter criticizes the modern cloth diaper consumer movement, claiming that both cloth diapers and breastfeeding enslave women to the 'environmental cause' and to their own biology.

But by and large, cloth diapering families disagree with her assessments, at least about cloth. Cloth diapering--and going paperless in the kitchen!--provides certain freedoms that can't be gained by using the disposable alternatives. Many of these benefits and freedoms are obvious to families who have already incorporated cloth diaper laundry into their day-to-day routines, but if you're on the fence and just can't imagine how cloth can fit into your lifestyle, this little list may help tip the scales:

1) Cloth frees up money. In fact, this is probably the #1 reason that anybody chooses cloth. Even a "fancy" stash will save you considerably. Compare an $800 (very high!) estimate for an upfront investment in a large stash of "fancy" diapers to the "slow leak" effect that $2800 will have on your bank account over three years of diapering one child.

2) Cloth frees up time (and even more money). This one may have you thinking, "What?!" But it's true. Hear me out: unless you're super on-the-ball about scheduling disposable diaper deliveries (and you always remember to change your standing order when your baby moves up to the next size), you're going to be running out to the store to buy a pack of diapers from time to time.

If you're an Admirably Frugal Couponing Mom (TM), you're going to be hunting for a coupon, printing or clipping it, and trying to find a store with a sale to match it up with. Then you're going to see what other sales they're running in case you can also get a good deal on toilet paper and paper towels, so that you can make a large enough purchase to earn lots of rewards points. You pull out your coupon binder and find the appropriate coupons while the kids take turns trying to shove each other out of the car attached to the front of the buggy and the baby screeches and wriggles and claws at your chest in his sling. You stock up on all these paper goods while they're on sale, because that's smart shopping, and there goes $40. You manage to bribe the kids to stop shoving with the promise of ice cream, and you buy the sale brand neopolitan. That's another $3. You scored a pretty good deal and saved well over what you'd have paid at regular retail, but you could have spent nothing and spared the time it took to prepare for and accomplish the shopping trip.

And if you're like me and not-so-on-the-ball, you're going to be running out to Wal-mart at 9 pm, leaving a sleeping baby with your husband. You're going to be in such a hurry to get the errand done before the next feeding that you forget what coupons are altogether. You're going to remember that you haven't eaten since breakfast, when you ate your toddler's wasted toast crusts, so you pick up Subway while you're inside. You stop by another couple of aisles in the baby section and choose at least one gimicky item that you don't need because it has a cute owl on it and, frankly, you're enjoying being out by yourself for a little while. THEN you pick out a package of diapers, which you'll pay full retail price for. On your way to check out, you dig through the DVD bin for a couple $5 flicks to pop in during the upcoming six-week growth spurt. Then you toss a few potted plants into your cart. And a rump roast. And those cake donuts that were marked down in the bakery at the end of the day. Then a treadmill and running shoes. And before you know it, you've spent $400 (enough to purchase a very nice stash of cloth) at Wal-mart. How do they always do that to us?*

Cloth diapers, on the other (what is this, the third?) hand? It's just laundry. It's another household chore to put on your big kids' chore chart, another basket to live out of when life gets hectic.

3) Cloth diapers contribute to chemical-independence. This is an obvious one. If you're reading a cloth diaper blog, you probably know about some of the sketchy stuff in disposable diapers, like dioxin and the superabsorbent polymer known as sodium polyacrylate, aka "sposie beads," aka the cause of tampon-induced Toxic Shock Syndrome in the 1980s. Going chemical-free is a daunting task, but more and more families are taking it on. Cloth diapers and clean-rinsing, cloth diaper-safe laundry detergents are an obvious first step in giving the gift of a chemical-free babyhood.

4) Cloth frees up your baby's fashion options. You know what? Cloth diapers are cuter than much of the clothing available for babies. The color palettes and prints offered by the major manufacturers are fashionable and often not as "baby-ish" as your average baby bodysuit. I know I've always preferred to let my daughter's cute diaper peek out from beneath a dress rather than worrying about keeping track of bloomers, and in the summertime, both of my babies have worn a t-shirt and diaper until they were 2. Not only was it adorable, but it was a great way to introduce cloth everywhere we went!

5) Cloth frees us from landfill-dependence. Or, as one of my friends puts it, "It frees you from the guilt of having to throw crap away all the time. Literally!" Our kitchen was already paper-free when we began cloth diapering. We found that once we began, we were only having to take our trash to the road every other week! This felt nice and provided a boost of confidence. Now that we recycle and compost, we rarely have trash to contribute to a landfill. While we're not as green as some people, it feels good to be able to say we're not adding to the waste. These are the kinds of habits that we hope to impart to our children as they grow. And you know what? It wasn't that hard. It feels like we took a few baby steps, like switching to cloth diapers, and suddenly we were there!

6) Cloth frees you from diapers sooner. At least this has been the experience of many. And while we all know that my oldest (cloth diapered from six months) child waited until he was 3.5 to potty-train, my younger child, who has been in cloth diapers since the morning she was born, has been using a training potty every now and then since she was 14 months old and is acutely aware of when she is wetting, probably because she was able to connect the sensation of urinating to the feeling of wetness in her cotton prefolds even as a small baby. I plan to attempt hardcore potty-learning before her second birthday.

The American Experiment was one of independence--and also inspiration. Be inspired this Fourth to take advantage of our FREE shipping (and, yes, it can be combined with the FREE FuzziBunz deal!). Make a choice to bring your family some freedom! You won't regret it.

*This story never happened to me. Please. A treadmill?