@Dashaina is there anything you don't do? You truly inspire me girl! Wow, I've heard about the potty training from birth. Did you find this process helped your children be fully potty trained sooner?
Awww Thanks girl! Ummm I don't build rocket ships? lol Yes the process I did, which is not full "Elimination Communication" did help with earlier potty training, which was kind of like an additional bonus for me (since I wasn't trying for early potty training because I've read pros and cons for it and didn't want my kiddos to feel stressed about the toilet, lol). I also didn't get down on myself when I had an off day (and with 2 kids you have them... hell with 1 kid you have them, lmao). So there were some days where I had to just diaper the baby all day for whatever reason, but I always made sure they were comfortable and dry. I did the best I could and was happy when I saved myself from having a dirty diaper or 2 to be dragged around (when I was out). There are so many ways to handle children's waste needs that you just have to find what works best for you and YOUR family, is what I always say. I went against a lot of the popular opinions of my friends and family in my life choices and I'm not gonna lie it's hard when you live near them and have to hear their negative commentary. But always remember at the end of the day you have to be happy and content with your life and your kids and partner. So do whatever is going to get you down that path. And NOBODY is perfect.
I cloth diapered for a combined 5 years and have tried almost every available style. I have tried everything from made in china diapers (which honestly were my favorite because of price and the vendors ability to make to my specifications) to the more expensive kinds (which for the price and the hassle with a few of them were not worth it to me, they were all gifts). I finally, after a few months with DD1, started just making my own and adding them to the stash. I made them out of all kinds of things at first, t-shirts, flat diapers, extra scrap fabric, baby blankets (like from the hospital, hee hee) etc and finally found a material and style that worked for my kids. I have made covers but for the price prefer to just order them from ebay new, it's cheaper and less time consuming for me. Now I am in panama I have to figure out the fabric situation again. But recently met a local vendor who makes cloth diapers in Panama City giving women in the nearby province a chance to make a living wage! I am teaming up with her to design the ideal diaper for me and hopefully help her improve her current design for other mommas as well. I'm really excited about that too. I'm still going to make my own, but also really want to help support the local growth of cloth diapering here in our country where waste disposal is a BIG problem.
And in terms of UO for me this week... I use resusable menstrual products. Cup and cloth pads. I love it. I very rarely used a disposable pad/liner (I have a sensitivity to tampons) and then my skin breaks out down there after a few hours and I remember why I don't use them anymore. I've been using a cup since I was 16 and realized I had a problem with tampons and didn't want to use bulky pads and if I had would have realized that would have been an issue too (I didn't know anything about cloth pads at that time). Again my unpopular opinions never carry over to others. Meaning I don't judge you for what you choose to do in your life, so please don't judge me.
@tammy574 I'm happy to share my life story/etc. I feel like it would probably become it's own thread. lol. We do have a lot of our life stuff (since DH and I met) documented on youtube. PM me if you want and I'd be happy to share. But I am also happy to answer any questions in weekly randoms or something like that as well. Definitely wouldn't want to take over UO to talk about me! lol.
The short answer is we live on a houseboat that my DH built by himself in the water next to the dock of the house we rented for a year (that was 3 or so years ago). Our boat is beached in the canal he hand dug in front of 1 of the 4 islands we own here in Bocas Del Toro Provencia, Panama. IT is a small island and he is currently building a fortress (yes, not kidding) by hand on it. I could probably go on and on about my life, but others may get bored of me yabbering.
@marcus7676 I know right?? For me especially...because before when my period showed up I was like NOOOOOOOO....because it was the most uncomfortable 3 days of my life...then I discovered Instead and many years later Diva and then few years ago an off brand china cup (works fantastically and was $1 with free shipping. Seriously.) and I've never turned back. I now have period underwear ($24 for 5 pairs on amazon!!), which I started using 4 months ago, that work like a liner so I just bleached (sunshine) my old cloth pads and put them away for when DD1 gets to that age, eventually she'll get her own set, but since you never know when they're gonna start that will be what we use until I make or order some for her.
Re: cloth diapers (because I'm way behind). The investment I made to use cloth on our dd was way worth it. Even by the time we bought disposables for daycare we saved a ton of money. If this next baby weighs ad much as dd did, I won't need to buy disposable newborn diapers very long before baby can use my cloth diapers. They basically have paid for themselves at this point.
Special soap is a myth and almost all of them don't clean a cloth diaper well enough. If you use them eventually you end up with a build up of human waste in your diapers and baby gets and awful rash aka ammonia burn. I literally used the same laundry detergent on my diapers as on my normal laundry. I did maybe 1 or 2 extra loads a week with diapers so it never made a difference in our water bill and that is with a pre-rinse cycle and a full wash cycle with each diaper load.
I researched and ended up going with 2 brands that are known for being trim. DD never had any problems rolling, crawling, sitting, walking, running, etc in them even when we put her in the slightly more bulky overnight diaper. She still fit in all of her clothes, never had to size up.
After using both disposable and cloth, I highly prefer cloth. DD has sensitive skin and never did well in disposables. Never had a rash problem with our clother diapers. I picked stay dry inserts since they keep the moisture away.
Another pro, dd never had a single blow out in cloth. As long as she was ebf, I just had to toss all diapers right in the wash without rinsing. When we had to rinse it wasn't that bad. Just used a sprayer. As far as my washing machine, that never bothered since good detergent is designed to trap the dirt/waste/etc and wash it away with water. I always just cleaned my washing machine once a moth like usual
Ok, I'll stop there since this isn't a cloth diaper thread, haha! I'm off to keep reading.
... DD never had any problems rolling, crawling, sitting, walking, running, etc,... .... I picked stay dry inserts since they keep the moisture away....
...Another pro, dd never had a single blow out in cloth. As long as she was ebf, I just had to toss all diapers right in the wash without rinsing.....
Ok, I'll stop there since this isn't a cloth diaper thread, haha! I'm off to keep reading.
I shortened the things I quoted from you to save space... and because I wanted to highlight the important stuff. I agree about the soap thing. I used the same detergent for clothes for my diapers. Never had a problem, rinsed them an extra round and hung out in the sun.
I am interested in what brand you found that was trim. I am trying to decide now if I am going to just make all of mine again or if I am going to do a bit of both, as I mentioned I found a vendor who can make me whatever I want if I don't want to sew myself and I'd like to show them a trim design already made so they can make a sample.
Which inserts did you use? I loved the ones I used, but have since gotten rid of all my cloth diapers, literally 4 months ago I donated everything..clothes, diapers, shoes, etc, because I thought that ship had sailed, lmao.
I agree on the blow out thing. I never had one myself, when I had put the diaper on the baby, but had 3 total from other people diapering them and not fitting them correctly. But I had many many blow outs with several different brands of disposables.
Same with EBF poo. I didn't even rinse it, I literally just had an only diaper load and threw them all in on semi hot, did a pre-rinse and dried them in the sun to bleach out that yellow color! lol.
We need a cloth diaper thread for sure!! I think it would be great to make that a product spotlight for next week maybe? @doxiemoxie212 is there a specific schedule for what we spotlight each week? Can this be next week?
@Dashaina There's no schedule, but I figured we'd start with the major (ie, more expensive) items first, such as strollers, car seats, etc., just because more expensive things generally require a little more planning. I did baby carriers for the first one mostly because that's what a lot of people started talking about early on a different thread, and "all of us" weren't here yet (ie, we were so early, many wouldn't have had BFPs yet). I think by this Monday almost everyone will have the ability to have a BFP.
@Dashaina There's no schedule, but I figured we'd start with the major (ie, more expensive) items first, such as strollers, car seats, etc., just because more expensive things generally require a little more planning. I did baby carriers for the first one mostly because that's what a lot of people started talking about early on a different thread, and "all of us" weren't here yet (ie, we were so early, many wouldn't have had BFPs yet). I think by this Monday almost everyone will have the ability to have a BFP.
@dashaina Actually though, I should just actually make a google doc with a schedule because I just realized then we can put the links to the previous threads for easy reference! I'll do that now.
@Dashaina There's no schedule, but I figured we'd start with the major (ie, more expensive) items first, such as strollers, car seats, etc., just because more expensive things generally require a little more planning. I did baby carriers for the first one mostly because that's what a lot of people started talking about early on a different thread, and "all of us" weren't here yet (ie, we were so early, many wouldn't have had BFPs yet). I think by this Monday almost everyone will have the ability to have a BFP.
@dashaina Actually though, I should just actually make a google doc with a schedule because I just realized then we can put the links to the previous threads for easy reference! I'll do that now.
Y'all, message me for additions!
Oh! That's such a great idea (about the Doc)!! And that makes perfect sense about expensive first, because (duh!) then families can know what to budget, etc. And I agree that doing the carriers was a great first item, because we all end up using them!
@Dashaina There's no schedule, but I figured we'd start with the major (ie, more expensive) items first, such as strollers, car seats, etc., just because more expensive things generally require a little more planning. I did baby carriers for the first one mostly because that's what a lot of people started talking about early on a different thread, and "all of us" weren't here yet (ie, we were so early, many wouldn't have had BFPs yet). I think by this Monday almost everyone will have the ability to have a BFP.
@dashaina Actually though, I should just actually make a google doc with a schedule because I just realized then we can put the links to the previous threads for easy reference! I'll do that now.
Y'all, message me for additions!
Oh! That's such a great idea (about the Doc)!! And that makes perfect sense about expensive first, because (duh!) then families can know what to budget, etc. And I agree that doing the carriers was a great first item, because we all end up using them!
@doxiemoxie212 And it may be an UO, personally I am BFing, but maybe adding a Formula section? I think it would be helpful to moms who may need/want to use this feeding option?
Oh and maybe one for Breastcare? Like nursing bras, nipple cream, etc? Like separate from pumps.
I like that we've veered this entirely away from UOs. Lol.
I was thinking we could also add in some prompts in the Product Spotlight for products you didn't like. I think it would be helpful to know what people have tried and are like OH HELL NO about as much as stuff they liked.
@doxiemoxie212 Oops (about veering) Maybe we could start a "Suggestions" Thread. That could be anything from spotlight requests to thread requests? Stuff like that? That way we don't commandeer the UO.
@doxiemoxie212 Is it weird that even though I can't drink, I enjoy making/getting my husband drinks more than I ever did before? It is like I am living vicariously through him! PS Your DH is a saint. No shot I'd get mine to agree to that.
@tammy574 I tried Seedlip but it did not extinguish my craving. More fun than seltzer tho? Shrug.
I think I need to invest some $$$ in La Croix & Spindrift because that is the only thing that comes even semi close to feeling as festive as some booze!
Here's my UO: I don't like baseball. I don't enjoy it. I don't like watching it.
I 100% agree!
I third this opinion. I hated it when we had to entertain clients during baseball season using the company box seats at the Marlins games (Florida team). Hated it.
@doxiemoxie212, I actually love this idea of having a product spotlight schedule with links to old threads for later. I guess my UO is that I won't be ready to think about purchases until I get to second tri, but I feel like I'm missing out on some great conversations and knowledge.
Me: 30 | DH: 31 Met: August 2006 Married: July 2012 TTC #1 since June 2016
I did the math and, yes, cloth diapers are cheaper, at least for me. We rent and our rent is all inclusive except for electric (our heat, including heating water, and the drier is liquid fuel) so our electric bill is very small and our hot water and drier costs are the same regardless of how much we use. We are on a well (extremely common in our area). So we don't pay for water either. Even if we owned our one place, I know cloth would still be cheaper. I have also lived in towns where household water is a flat fee, so no additional money for a few extra loads per week. I sewed my own fitteds, so my diapers are way cheaper than anything out there.
We use Tide powder for the diapers, which is actually cheaper than what I buy for our clothing.
I have yet to strip the diapers, and I don't believe fancy strippers is needed. There are some blogs out there that suggest stripping is not ever needed if you have a good wash routine. Others suggest just dawn dish soap and bleach, which are household items. Even if you do need special strippers, stripping is not something that is done often.
We do have two wet bags for out and about, both free gifts with purchases. In the house, I use a garbage bag sitting on the floor in the bathroom because I don't want to spring for an expensive wet bag.
Time is minimal. All the diapers are dumped in a bag. It takes me 15 seconds to turn it upside down into the washer and start it and maybe another 15 seconds to switch it to the drier. I don't fold them, just throw them in a drawer. I expect putting disposable diapers where you keep them, purchasing them at the store or opening the box if you order them, and hauling the additional garbage that results takes just as long or longer.
When I do use disposables for the occasional vacation, I can't buy the cheapest diaper out there. So far, I've tried Luvs, Walmart store brand, Pampers and Huggies. Every time she poops, it comes straight up and out the back. So for those who disposable diaper, don't count on being able to buy the cheapest brand! They may not work, and you may have to try a lot. Someone told me Luvs are best for blowouts - not for my daughter! I have had two or three blowouts with cloth, all because of operator error (fastening them too loosely). I've tried all the tricks -sizing up, etc. with disposables. No luck yet.
As for wetness, mine are lined with a stay-dry fabric. Additionally, I try not to ever let her sit in a wet diaper, whether cloth or disposable.
Cloth diapers smell way less. I have to check her to see if she's wet. In disposables, you can smell that disgusting wet polymer smell as soon as they pee.
Whether or not someone wants to use cloth or disposables is up to them. Do you. But the above is the truth from someone who cloth diapers. My sister also CDs and feels the same way (and they pay for their water and fuel).
@lovesclimbing Yes!! All those reasons and more for why we chose to cloth our LO's also. I completely forgot about the smell difference too and you are right, it didn't seem to matter what size we used for disposable always up the back unless baby was laying on her belly. And ditto for the 2 or 3 blowouts we did have in CD, was totally user error.
Interestingly most of the arguments I hear against doing CDing come from first time moms when they are pregnant who have never used or tried a good cloth diapering system or the friends they spoke with didn't try a variety of diapers to find a good fit. They simply tried one, hated it and went back to disposable because they didn't have the support or information to try other options. Ladies, there are Sooooooooo many different cloth diapering systems that I'm pretty sure if you seek out your local cloth diaper group you can try 1 or 2 from each style for minimal investment and find a system that works that you will love. I also agree that you have to do what works. But try it out thoroughly and then decide. There is so much support out there for getting started and succeeding. I have literally never had a mom friend tell me she hated cloth diapering when she had a system that took care of all her needs. My advice is also make a list of the reasons you like disposable and then talk to moms who CD and ask them which diapers suit those needs...there are also many many websites that offer "training" and support and information on all the different systems.
Re: UO Thursday 10/12
I cloth diapered for a combined 5 years and have tried almost every available style. I have tried everything from made in china diapers (which honestly were my favorite because of price and the vendors ability to make to my specifications) to the more expensive kinds (which for the price and the hassle with a few of them were not worth it to me, they were all gifts). I finally, after a few months with DD1, started just making my own and adding them to the stash. I made them out of all kinds of things at first, t-shirts, flat diapers, extra scrap fabric, baby blankets (like from the hospital, hee hee) etc and finally found a material and style that worked for my kids. I have made covers but for the price prefer to just order them from ebay new, it's cheaper and less time consuming for me. Now I am in panama I have to figure out the fabric situation again. But recently met a local vendor who makes cloth diapers in Panama City giving women in the nearby province a chance to make a living wage! I am teaming up with her to design the ideal diaper for me and hopefully help her improve her current design for other mommas as well. I'm really excited about that too. I'm still going to make my own, but also really want to help support the local growth of cloth diapering here in our country where waste disposal is a BIG problem.
And in terms of UO for me this week... I use resusable menstrual products. Cup and cloth pads. I love it. I very rarely used a disposable pad/liner (I have a sensitivity to tampons) and then my skin breaks out down there after a few hours and I remember why I don't use them anymore. I've been using a cup since I was 16 and realized I had a problem with tampons and didn't want to use bulky pads and if I had would have realized that would have been an issue too (I didn't know anything about cloth pads at that time). Again my unpopular opinions never carry over to others. Meaning I don't judge you for what you choose to do in your life, so please don't judge me.
The short answer is we live on a houseboat that my DH built by himself in the water next to the dock of the house we rented for a year (that was 3 or so years ago). Our boat is beached in the canal he hand dug in front of 1 of the 4 islands we own here in Bocas Del Toro Provencia, Panama. IT is a small island and he is currently building a fortress (yes, not kidding) by hand on it. I could probably go on and on about my life, but others may get bored of me yabbering.
edit: forgot to answer the question.
Special soap is a myth and almost all of them don't clean a cloth diaper well enough. If you use them eventually you end up with a build up of human waste in your diapers and baby gets and awful rash aka ammonia burn. I literally used the same laundry detergent on my diapers as on my normal laundry. I did maybe 1 or 2 extra loads a week with diapers so it never made a difference in our water bill and that is with a pre-rinse cycle and a full wash cycle with each diaper load.
I researched and ended up going with 2 brands that are known for being trim. DD never had any problems rolling, crawling, sitting, walking, running, etc in them even when we put her in the slightly more bulky overnight diaper. She still fit in all of her clothes, never had to size up.
After using both disposable and cloth, I highly prefer cloth. DD has sensitive skin and never did well in disposables. Never had a rash problem with our clother diapers. I picked stay dry inserts since they keep the moisture away.
Another pro, dd never had a single blow out in cloth. As long as she was ebf, I just had to toss all diapers right in the wash without rinsing. When we had to rinse it wasn't that bad. Just used a sprayer. As far as my washing machine, that never bothered since good detergent is designed to trap the dirt/waste/etc and wash it away with water. I always just cleaned my washing machine once a moth like usual
Ok, I'll stop there since this isn't a cloth diaper thread, haha! I'm off to keep reading.
I agree about the soap thing. I used the same detergent for clothes for my diapers. Never had a problem, rinsed them an extra round and hung out in the sun.
I am interested in what brand you found that was trim. I am trying to decide now if I am going to just make all of mine again or if I am going to do a bit of both, as I mentioned I found a vendor who can make me whatever I want if I don't want to sew myself and I'd like to show them a trim design already made so they can make a sample.
Which inserts did you use? I loved the ones I used, but have since gotten rid of all my cloth diapers, literally 4 months ago I donated everything..clothes, diapers, shoes, etc, because I thought that ship had sailed, lmao.
I agree on the blow out thing. I never had one myself, when I had put the diaper on the baby, but had 3 total from other people diapering them and not fitting them correctly. But I had many many blow outs with several different brands of disposables.
Same with EBF poo. I didn't even rinse it, I literally just had an only diaper load and threw them all in on semi hot, did a pre-rinse and dried them in the sun to bleach out that yellow color! lol.
We need a cloth diaper thread for sure!! I think it would be great to make that a product spotlight for next week maybe? @doxiemoxie212 is there a specific schedule for what we spotlight each week? Can this be next week?
Y'all, message me for additions!
Oh and maybe one for Breastcare? Like nursing bras, nipple cream, etc? Like separate from pumps.
ETA does swings/rockers fall into sleeping? Or a separate category?
DS: 6/1/18 (Pre-E; IUGR; seizures; NICU)
TTC #2: 12/2019
Sept 2020: HSG possible blocked right tube
Nov 2020: Letrozole + TI - BFN
Dec 2020: Letrozole + TI - BFP!!! EDD 9/18
I was thinking we could also add in some prompts in the Product Spotlight for products you didn't like. I think it would be helpful to know what people have tried and are like OH HELL NO about as much as stuff they liked.
Edited because the tag went crazy.
Here's my UO: I don't like baseball. I don't enjoy it. I don't like watching it.
Fun fact...they are so hipster they named it Pamplemousse ironically.
DS: 6/1/18 (Pre-E; IUGR; seizures; NICU)
TTC #2: 12/2019
Sept 2020: HSG possible blocked right tube
Nov 2020: Letrozole + TI - BFN
Dec 2020: Letrozole + TI - BFP!!! EDD 9/18
Me: 30 | DH: 31
Met: August 2006
Married: July 2012
TTC #1 since June 2016
***TW***
BFP: 7/12/16 | MC: 9/12/16
BFP: 1/18/17 | MMC: 2/13/17
BFP: 10/7/17 | EDD: 6/21/17
MTHFR: homozygous A1298C
I did the math and, yes, cloth diapers are cheaper, at least for me. We rent and our rent is all inclusive except for electric (our heat, including heating water, and the drier is liquid fuel) so our electric bill is very small and our hot water and drier costs are the same regardless of how much we use. We are on a well (extremely common in our area). So we don't pay for water either. Even if we owned our one place, I know cloth would still be cheaper. I have also lived in towns where household water is a flat fee, so no additional money for a few extra loads per week. I sewed my own fitteds, so my diapers are way cheaper than anything out there.
We use Tide powder for the diapers, which is actually cheaper than what I buy for our clothing.
I have yet to strip the diapers, and I don't believe fancy strippers is needed. There are some blogs out there that suggest stripping is not ever needed if you have a good wash routine. Others suggest just dawn dish soap and bleach, which are household items. Even if you do need special strippers, stripping is not something that is done often.
We do have two wet bags for out and about, both free gifts with purchases. In the house, I use a garbage bag sitting on the floor in the bathroom because I don't want to spring for an expensive wet bag.
Time is minimal. All the diapers are dumped in a bag. It takes me 15 seconds to turn it upside down into the washer and start it and maybe another 15 seconds to switch it to the drier. I don't fold them, just throw them in a drawer. I expect putting disposable diapers where you keep them, purchasing them at the store or opening the box if you order them, and hauling the additional garbage that results takes just as long or longer.
When I do use disposables for the occasional vacation, I can't buy the cheapest diaper out there. So far, I've tried Luvs, Walmart store brand, Pampers and Huggies. Every time she poops, it comes straight up and out the back. So for those who disposable diaper, don't count on being able to buy the cheapest brand! They may not work, and you may have to try a lot. Someone told me Luvs are best for blowouts - not for my daughter! I have had two or three blowouts with cloth, all because of operator error (fastening them too loosely). I've tried all the tricks -sizing up, etc. with disposables. No luck yet.
As for wetness, mine are lined with a stay-dry fabric. Additionally, I try not to ever let her sit in a wet diaper, whether cloth or disposable.
Cloth diapers smell way less. I have to check her to see if she's wet. In disposables, you can smell that disgusting wet polymer smell as soon as they pee.
Whether or not someone wants to use cloth or disposables is up to them. Do you. But the above is the truth from someone who cloth diapers. My sister also CDs and feels the same way (and they pay for their water and fuel).
Interestingly most of the arguments I hear against doing CDing come from first time moms when they are pregnant who have never used or tried a good cloth diapering system or the friends they spoke with didn't try a variety of diapers to find a good fit. They simply tried one, hated it and went back to disposable because they didn't have the support or information to try other options. Ladies, there are Sooooooooo many different cloth diapering systems that I'm pretty sure if you seek out your local cloth diaper group you can try 1 or 2 from each style for minimal investment and find a system that works that you will love. I also agree that you have to do what works. But try it out thoroughly and then decide. There is so much support out there for getting started and succeeding. I have literally never had a mom friend tell me she hated cloth diapering when she had a system that took care of all her needs. My advice is also make a list of the reasons you like disposable and then talk to moms who CD and ask them which diapers suit those needs...there are also many many websites that offer "training" and support and information on all the different systems.