Our first Great Cloth Diaper Change

This past weekend Jonathan and I participated in our first Great Cloth Diaper Change. We attended the Champaign/Urbana, Illinois location that was hosted by B. Lime. Our location had 28 attendees changing cloth diapers simultaneously so we qualified to count toward the world effort to break the current record in the Guiness Book of World Records. Here's the photos from Mary at B. Lime.

One baby was changed into their first ever cloth diaper during the GCDC! That's what this event is all about, creating awareness and helping people change from disposables to cloth. We also had an itty bitty one week old there with us. It was a great experience, and hopefully "we" broke the record.

Ruby Moon Laundry GIVEAWAY

I'm so excited to have the opportunity to host this giveaway!

Based out of Maine, Ruby Moon is a small, family owned business that is quickly becoming a well known name in the cloth diaper detergent world. Their mission is absolutely awesome!

“Our mission at Ruby Moon is to provide you with an affordable, gentle on the earth and your skin, tough on stains and odor, line of products. All of our products and packaging are made with natural and biodegradable ingredients.We rigorously test our products and would never sell you anything that we wouldn’t use on our own families.”

Ruby Moon was created when the owners' recognized the need for a safe detergent that didn't bother their daughter's sensitive skin. All of their products are all natural, making them gentle on baby's skin.  As a mom of a little one with eczema and sensitive skin, I can appreciate their efforts to help others who need a safe laundry option. The wash leaves little to no residue on cloth diapers, which is a great thing since stripping diapers is not only a pain, but is also very time consuming!

Ruby Moon makes wipe bits, laundry wash, and cloth diaper laundry wash. Check out their website here.

Enter below for your own chance to try Ruby Moon!

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Giveaway will run from April 28th until May 4th. Giveaway is open to US only. You must be 18 or over to enter.  Winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter. Winner will be notified by email at the end of the Giveaway and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.  Midwest Cornfed Mom s not responsible for prize shipment or fulfillment.

A Weekend Away with Cloth Diapers

This past weekend we took a little trip to Chicago, well the suburbs of Chicago anyhow.   I decided I wanted to take cloth diapers with us as a trial run for our vacation this summer. I packed our Flip diaper system along with stay dry and disposable inserts.  We were only going to be gone for one night, we left at 8am Saturday and returned Sunday evening, so I figure this was our best option.

 Here's what I packed in the diaper bag:
    ---2 Flip covers
    ---6 Stay Dry Inserts
    ---6 Disposable inserts
    ---1 Geffen Baby Jersey fleece prefold (for overnight)
    ---A few emergency disposables, just in case!
    ---Two medium wetbags

Overall, it went very well.  On the car ride up, I put Jonathan in a BumGenius Freetime with two added cotton doublers.  He fell asleep for the entire 3 1/2 hour drive, including a pit stop for us to potty, so I'm glad I opted for the extra doublers! His pants were dry, but the diaper was soaked when we got to our destination.  From this point on, we used the flip system almost exclusively!

The stay dry inserts worked well for us the entire trip, except when we had a poop incident. Jonathan had a bowel movement, but no one knew he did. He crawled around, walked, fell down, etc., which meant the poop got on the cover, not just the insert. No big deal! I just hand washed the cover in the bathroom sink and hung it to dry. I rinsed the dirty insert and put in the wet bag to deal with when we got home.  We continued using the Flip system even for bedtime. I pad folded the prefold and put it in the cover and thought we were set for the night. I didn't take into account that Jonathan would wake up every 2 hours that night and drink a total of 20 oz during the night either.  At 4:30am I woke to a wet baby. When I unsnapped the cover, urine literally ran out of the cover onto my legs, bed, and hands! I forgot to add a hemp doubler like we usually do at home, so this was really my own fault.

::Enter a disposable::  I put on a disposable, until I could get this cover rinsed and dry also.

In the morning, I put the flip cover back on with the disposable inserts. I was leery of what would happen when I front carried him that day while we shopped, but there was no need for it! He stayed dry and all the messes were contained.  We used the disposables while we shopped, had lunch, and even on the way home with no problems!

The only problem I ran into was I should have packed more covers. Again, my mistake, not the diaper's fault.  I was very pleased with our weekend away with cloth, and really hope to use cloth when we are gone for 8 days this summer!

***This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using the links provided, I will receive a small percentage as commission.

Favorite Things Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the Kissaluvs Fitted Cloth Diaper and One Size Sweet Pea Cover is: Mayla M.

Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Didn't win? You can buy these items to try yourself Here

*Winner has 48 hours to contact me regarding giveaway.  If winner does not contact me within 48 hours, I will draw a new winner. This post contains affiliate link.

On the go...With Cloth Diapers!

Our household is a very busy one, even though our children are still young (5 years and 8 months).  We are out of the house three evenings a week for our son's hockey practice, and one weekend morning for basketball practice. Not to mention, going shopping, family outings, etc....you get the picture.  A lot of people think that it's a hassle to use cloth diapers when you're "on the go". Here's some of the questions people have asked me, and my answers.


Q:  Don't they take up too much space in the diaper bag?
---There are different shell & liner systems out there that come with disposable liners/inserts.  I have only tried the Flip Disposable Liners so far, and been quite pleased! They are super soft, and quite absorbant. We've even used them for 3 hour car rides without having any leaks. I can toss an extra cover in the bag with a few disposable liners, and they don't take up any more space than if I had put disposable diapers (Huggies or Pampers, etc.) in the bag...in fact, I think they take up less!  I also like the GroVia hybrid system for being out and about. I can take extra soakers in the bag and change them out as long as the shell is clean.  These take up very little space and can be put in the wet bag for washing when we get home.  Even when we take pocket diapers or AIOs with us on an outing, it doesn't take us that much space in the diaper bag.

Q:  Do the diapers smell in your bag?
---A wet bag contains the smell of dirty diapers when zipped.  My Planet Wise medium bag will hold 4-5 dirty or wet diapers while we are away from home without leaking smells or anything else into my diaper bag.

Q: Isn't it easier to just throw away a dirty diaper?
---I can change my baby anywhere, without having to have a trash can there to throw a disposable in, or without having to let a dirty diaper sit in my car to be forgotten and found weeks later. You don't forget where you put your cloth diapers when you notice one's missing from the laundry!

Q: What if your baby poops when you are out?
---I use flushable liners 98% of the time, so usually I can just flush the mess and have no worries.   Even if I'm not using a disposable liner at the time, I can put the diaper in the wet bag, and take care of it when we get home. The wet bag contains the smell and no one knows we are carrying around a dirty diaper with us! 

Using cloth while out and about doesn't have to be a burden. We can use our cloth diapers on the go without any problems. This summer, I'm even planning to use cloth while we visit Florida for a week!

Do you cloth outside the home? What are your tips for others who are on the go?

Favorite Things Giveaway Hop!

Welcome to the Favorite Things Giveaway Hop, hosted by the Cloth Diaper Revival. 

Each blogger participating has a great cloth diaper prize for you to win, worth at least $20, so after you enter mine, be sure to hop around to all the others in the linky!  Don’t forget to enter to win one the GRAND PRIZE for the event!

One of my favorite cloth diapers for my son is a Kissaluvs fitted diaper paired with a Sweet Pea diaper cover. This has quickly become my "go-to" for bed time! These covers are seriously one of the softest covers I have ever felt.  The leg gussets are great for containing messes and getting a snug fit around my little man's chunky thighs. At 29" and 20 lbs at only 8 months, my son is on the largest rise at times, but has plenty of room to grow and still be able to wear this diaper. The waist snaps are only on the second setting! This cover also works well with a prefold, or flat, pad folded and placed inside of it.  When we use it for this purpose, we can use the middle rise setting with no problem! I was able to rinse out the cover, hang it to dry and reuse it again the next night. 

Sweet Pea Covers are one size covers that fit from birth to potty training. They are made of durable waterproof PUL, with a soft exterior. They are available in a variety of cute colors and prints, with durable snap closure.  They are a great buy, considering they retail around $11.

The Kissaluvs fitted has made night times much better for us! The Medium/Large fits Jonathan wonderfully. The cotton fleece is soft and super absorbent. Most nights he wakes up dry with just the Fitted, some nights we add a doubler. If we add a doubler, he wakes up with the back half of the fitted diaper dry!  At around $15 per diaper, these too are a great buy and an awesome overnight solution. 

Here's what bedtime looks like for us:

You can find both of these items at Kelly's Closet, or you can enter to win them below! 






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All opinions in this post are my own. The prize for this giveaway is purchased by myself. Cloth Diaper Revival and the Favorite Things bloggers are not responsible for sponsors who do not fulfill prize obligations. This post does contain affiliate links.

Why I use cloth diapers

When we first found out we were pregnant, I started thinking about cloth diapers. A friend convinced me how convenient and easy they are to use. I still wasn't sold, so I extensively read the Back to Basics series on The Cloth Diaper Revival blog. After reading Jenny's blog, I was sold!

There are a few reasons why I chose cloth diapers. Here are my top reasons.

1) Ecologically friendly. - Our household tries to be "green" whenever we can. The thought of how many disposable diapers end up in the landfills each year is enough to make me sick! Now I'm not saying that we don't ever use disposables, but each cloth diaper we use is one less disposable in the landfill.

2) It's Economical! - While the up front cost of cloth diapers is slightly higher, the overall savings is incredible. The amount of money I would spend on four months of disposable diapers was the same amount of money I spent to get started cloth diapering. The diapers I bought will get us through potty training, then we can resell them to recoup some of our costs! That was another thing that sold me on cloth diapers!

3) Amazing online support/connections - I have made some good friends in the cloth diaper community online. Everyone I have "met" has been incredibly kind and helpful in my cloth diapering journey.

4) Great for sensitive skin - Jonathan has pretty sensitive skin. We have to be very careful what we use in his baths, etc. If he's in disposables very long, his skin gets red and irritated. In cloth, he rarely ever gets red! It's great for sensitive skinned babies, as the cloth diapers pull the moisture away from the skin better, and have a fleece (or similar) layer against baby's skin to give them a dry feeling.

5) The convenience - This past week we had a major blizzard. We couldn't leave our house for 4 days. I didn't have to worry about getting out for diapers. All I had to do was wash a load of diapers and we were all set! It was wonderful not to have to get out in sub zero temperatures and two feet of snow!


There are many benefits to cloth diapering, it just happens to be that these are my top 5. Do you cloth diaper? Why or why not?

Soft Bums Echo Review

      Last month I got a Soft Bums Echo shell and Dry Touch Pod as part of my Fluff Fairy package from Kelly's Closet.  The Fluff Fairy is a monthly subscription that you can purchase month to month and delivers a surprise new diaper and 1-3 accessories to your mailbox!  I was excited when I opened it and found a SoftBums Echo because this is a diaper we hadn't tried yet.  The Echo is a one size, AI2 diaper. It can be used with the DryTouch Pods or Bamboo Pods which snap in. The pod covers the shell perfectly, so the shell could be reusable if you had more than one pod.  The Slide-2-Size adjustable leg openings are easy to adjust and make for a perfect fit.  This diaper is designed to fit babies 5-35 pounds.  The Echo is available in hook and loop or snap closure.

      It took me a while to get around to prepping the diaper and getting it on the baby but my, oh my, was I happy when I did!  Here's the Echo on my 13 pound two month old son.

Please ignore his double chin and goofy face

Thin through the groin area to fit narrow babies

.

Snug on his tushy, but with room to grow!

       Our Echo shell is hook and loop closure and has the large DryTouch Pod. Let me just say that I was EXTREMELY pleased with this diaper! The inside of the diaper, as well as the top fleece layer of the pod are incredibly soft!  It fit Jonathan very well thanks to the Slide-2-Size system. Our large DryTouch Pod kept him dry and happy for 4 hours (he slept in this one "overnight").  When I felt the top of it, I wasn't even sure it was wet because the fleece felt so dry! I'm sure it could have stayed on longer, but I was up feeding him anyhow, so I decided to change him. We've also used this diaper during the day and had no compression leaks even with Jonathan sitting in his bouncer or car seat for extended periods of time. 

      The Echo cover retails for $21.95 on various retailer websites. The large DryTouch pod retails for $4.95.

*All opinions expressed are completely my own. I have no relationships with the manufacturer or shop which I purchased this diaper from.

Geffen Baby Fitted Review

   A few weeks ago I ordered a Geffen Baby Fitted Diaper from Lovely Eco Chic. Being new to cloth diapers, I was eager to try something different than my all-in-ones that make up the most of my diapers.  The Geffen Baby Fitted I purchased is a 100% cotton, snapless diaper. It requires a cover to be waterproof, and a snappi or pins for closure of the fitted.  Each size has a different color serged edge, for easy size recognition.  This diaper seems very thin when you first get it, however, after washing/prepping it, it does become thicker

Source: Geffen Baby

    I purchased the small for Jonathan. The small says it fits "9-15 pounds. Here he is in the diaper at around 10 pounds. (Excuse the poor job of lining up the Snappi. It was our first time using it!)

 

   As you can see, I had plenty of diaper to pull together with the snappi. In fact, the first time I put it on him the diaper was a little big around the legs. We covered it with an Incredibum cover and he wore this diaper for around 3-4 hours "overnight".

 

 

The diaper seemed to absorb the urine very well! He did not cry immediately after wetting as he usually does.  When I changed him, the back was still dry, the only wetness was in the front. It was very trim on him as well. Now that he's a little older, I find myself adding a hemp doubler in the diaper for overnight wear, but not for day time wear. This diaper still fits him well at almost 13 pounds.

 

At around $9-10 each, I feel that the Geffen Baby Fitted diapers are a good deal. I actually just purchased 2 more for our use because I liked it so much!

 

 

*I purchased this diaper on my own. All opinions expressed here are entirely mine. I was not compensated for this review, nor do I have any relationship with the manufacturer.

 

Natural Parenting...well, sort of

     When we became parents for the first time, 5 years ago at the age of 24, I had no clue what "natural parenting" was. I used disposable diapers, fed my baby formula (breastfeeding failed), hugged him all the time, bought organic milk when he started on whole milk, etc.  We did what worked for us and what we could afford. My husband started college a week after baby was born, so money and family time were tight.

 

     This time around, we are older (29 & 30), and in a better place financially and emotionally.  We are making conscious decisions to help our children thrive. I didn't even realize we were "natural parenting" because we are just doing what comes naturally to us and makes sense as parents, until I was in on a Facebook chat a couple weeks ago. Here's what we do that makes us "natural parents", sort of.

 

    When I was pregnant my friend, Marie-Etta, (She's a super sweet gal with an adorable little boy), sparked my interest in using cloth diapers.  All it took was a conversation one evening and I was hooked. She made me realize how easy it could be and that I could handle it. By the next week I had purchased my first cloth diapers! Why did I choose cloth?  Well, why wouldn't you chose cloth?!? It just makes sense. It saves the environment, saves money, and is gentle on baby's bottom. Plus, cloth covered baby booty is adorable :) We only use cloth diapers in the evening and on weekends when I'm not working since my babysitter isn't comfortable with cloth, but hey, any amount of cloth we use means less disposables in the landfill!

     Marie-Etta also got me hooked on the Ergobaby baby carrier....Can I just say that I love babywearing! I love to carry my kiddos around, so being able to do so in a comfortable, ergonomically friendly carrier, is a big help with this! It brings the baby close to me so I can attend to his needs while still giving his brother attention and meeting the needs of our family (cooking, cleaning, etc.).

   
    We feed our boys wholesome foods as much as possible. Additionally, I breastfeed Jonathan. I tried so hard to breastfeed Carson, but it just didn't work for us. This time around, I'm much more successful. I'm breastfeeding him, with the encouragement and support of my husband.  While Jonathan isn't exclusively breastfed, he is primarily breastfed and only gets around 3 bottles of formula a day while I'm at work. Even when we give him a bottle, we are talking to him, loving him. When he switches to solids, I will be making a lot of his baby food.  As a family we try to eat fresh foods. It doesn't always work out that way, but most of the time at least our fruits and vegetables are fresh. We don't eat a lot of "junk" or candy. I plan to keep it this way with Jonathan, just as it is with his big brother.

    We co-sleep (Gasp!) with our baby. I know that there are people who say this is a big "no-no". We do it responsibly, and we did with Carson too. Carson was in our bed until he was almost 4....yeah it was a long 4 years!  Now, he has to have daddy lay with him every night to fall asleep in his own bed. Jonathan has a little co-sleeper that is structured, so he can't be rolled onto. He sleeps in between us at least half the night. We don't have a strict bed time for him and he doesn't cry it out. We hold him until he goes to sleep.

  
     While we aren't over the top "natural parents", we are responsibly and consciously raising our boys. We may not do all the things that natural or attachment parenting includes, but we do what works for us. What was natural and sensible to the health, well-being, and happiness of our children.

Testing Our Water

Now that I am using cloth diapers on the baby, our water quality is more important to me. Water that is too hard or too soft, can really effect the laundering of your diapers. This is important to me, as I want my "stash" to stay in tip top shape and be used and cared for with ease.  We live "in town" so our water should be good, but it's a small rural town. Needless to say, I don't really care for our municipal water.  We don't drink it, we have bottled water delivered to our home and use a water cooler.

Last week I decided to order a test strip from Kelly's Closet to see just what type of water we have at our home.  The strip cost $0.60, a bargain in my opinion! So I added a strip on to my cloth diaper order. It arrived on Tuesday of this week. By Wednesday morning, I couldn't wait any longer, so before I left for work I checked our water. Below you can see what the process was like.

 

This is what the test strip looks like when it is delivered.

 

The chart and instructions for the test.

 

 

After removing strip from package, I held it under running water for one second.

After waiting 15 seconds as the directions stated, here's our results.  It would appear that our water is between hard and very hard. 

It was a simple process that took me under a minute to complete. Now I know how to adjust my laundry routine to best care for my cloth diapers.

Our First Weeks in Cloth

A few weeks ago, I started using our cloth diaper stash on JP. I was hooked instantly! Cloth diapers are so easy to use!

Geffen Baby Fitted with a Incredibum cover

Most of our diapers are AIO (all in one) diapers. But I also have a few pocket diapers and a prefitted.  Soon I will also be trying out some prefolds with a cover too!

He was a little hungry here. He's wearing a BumGenius Freetime

I have found very quickly that I am a fan of aplix (hook and loop, velcro), especially since Jonathan has skinny legs and big belly. The aplix allows me to better adjust the fit to his body.

Soon I am going to start reviewing my stash to share my thoughts about each diaper type with you all!