If you are like me when you hear those mom's boasting about cloth diapering, breast feeding, etc., you picture mom's who whip their tops off in public to nurse, co-sleep with their kids until they are 8 and have babies wrapped in organic muslin that they then wash in the stream... I have quite the imagination I know but turns out "normal" people can cloth diaper too! Just let me think I'm normal, please!
First of all, don't buy into the whole "it's really easy" speal you hear from veteran cloth diaper-ers. It is like when I give my husband a recipe for dinner, say "don't worry, it's really easy" and am then surprised when he messes it up. It is easy for me because I have cooked it 100 times have been in the kitchen with Mom since I was a kid, and also have restaurant experience under my belt. So cloth diapering is easy...once you get used to it
When we first started cloth diapering I hated it, after about a week I finally decided we would just cloth diaper 2-3 days a week, and only because we had the diapers so may as well use them. I figured we would still save a little money as a pack of disposables would last longer. However the more we did it the more I got comfortable with it. At our house we didn't start cloth diapering until Cooper was about a month old, I really can't imagine worrying about laundry and stuffing diapers with this newborn who I barely know, along with the physical stress that comes with giving birth. At this point we cloth diaper about 60% of the time and are working toward using cloth more frequently
We still do not cloth diaper outside of the home, once we run out of gifted diapers we will probably cloth diaper more, but we have the diapers so why not? I also use disposables at night because he sleeps at least 8 hours if not longer and I do think the disposables absorb better and therefore equal a dry toosh. Once the budget has some give I will buy some overnight inserts and we will try cloth overnight. We also found for our son, cloth diapers actually worsen his diaper rash, so we will always have a few disposables on hand. I have heard of other mom's who only cloth diaper when their babies HAVE diaper rash, so the whole "every baby is different" thing is frustratingly true.
Now onto the diapers, we are currently using a handful of brands, they all have pros and cons but none to the point of "I won't use X brand" or "I will only use Y brand".
Lovely Pocket Diapers - I bought these used from a friend, they were in great condition, the ones I have come in newborn and one size. The newborn ones were not true pocket diapers, the insert was sewn in and they took forever to dry. Thanks to my handy dandy seam ripper, they are now legit pockets.
Pros: Not bulky and easy to use
Cons: the texture of the liners attract everything! They come out clean but with little pills from other fabrics as well as an abundance of pet hair.
Cost: $7 without shipping, new. I paid about 6 for each of mine
Sunny Babies - I get mine from shopdiapers.com, they ship from China so I have paid extra to get expedited (8-15 days) shipping. They are probably the cheapest or one of the cheapest I have found.
Pros: Come in solid colors as well as cute patterns. Cheap!
Cons: Bulky, the liner is 3-4 inches wide. They only have one row of snaps so I feel like it isn't the most secure fit.
Cost: $5-7 without shipping new
Alva - I also get these from shopdiapers.com so same shipping issue. They offer snap closures as well as hook and loop or self sticking.I really like the Velcro because Cooper has a Buddha belly and the key to no leaks is a tight diaper, I don't feel like I am hurting him when I get the diaper really tight because I don't have to stick my fingers underneath the snaps against his belly.
Pros: Very trim! Not much bulkier than a disposable diaper
Cons: It is so trim sometimes the goods come out the sides! I am sure this isn't an issue for girl babies.
Flip - The flip is a hybrid diaper, no pocket, just an insert that is "held" on each end by an edge of fabric. The great part about hybrids is you can just change out the insert, I have 2 covers so when I change an insert I use the other cover so the the most recently used cover can "air out". I can just use the two covers almost all day, I only have 2 slip liners but my Sunny Baby liners fit in them and I have an abundance of those. However I have a child who wants his money's worth when it comes to poo smear, he ensures every square centimeter of that diaper is graced with his poo! Thus the cover is no longer reusable, however this is the situation with a pocket diaper as well.
Pros: Super easy, since you just flip out the insert. The have two vertical snaps for a snugger fit.
Cons: No benefit for BM's
Cost: $16 new without shipping, I bought mine used, 2 covers plus inserts for $20
Wipes
I cut up several old t-shirts into squares then folded them in half, my sewing machine is having issues so a friend sewed the edged using a zig-zag stitch. I have a little bottle of warm water (I reused the "personal care" water bottle I was given in the maternity ward, as well as a bottle of what I call Butt Spray that is a mixture of organic coconut oil, Babyganics bath wash and water. After a true Little G poo I hose him down, wipe, thn polish and wipe with the butt spray!
Daily use and Care:
We have invested in flush-able diaper liners to help reduce the poo! Not all liners are flush-able so read the fine print. Poop still gets on the cloth but not as much, When we change diapers we immediately flip the flush-able liner into the toilet, for a poo diaper I rinse it in the sink with hot water and a little Oxy clean, I remove the liner and rinse it too. For a pee diaper I toss the flush-able liner then throw the diaper into the bag in one piece, the liner will come out in the wash.
I do not keep an actual Wet bag with water and solution in it, just diapers. Reviews seem to be mixed about wet bags, some say they work as a pre-wash, others say they just collect and grow bacteria. We currently use Charlies Soap, or if I am washing towels with it I might use our Seventh Generation liquid detergent. I throw a scoop of OcyClean in as well, I am hoping to find a product not tested on animals that actually works! Charlie's Soap (very ethical company with no animal testing) makes a spray but it is outrageously expensive for how much you get and has the most unpleasant smell! I am currently trying out Bac Out (which isn't tested on animals, yay), as a pre-treat spray, so far so good and it smells lemony and wonderful. I need to do a load with just the Bac-Out an no Oxy-Clean just to see if it works... but I fear change.
From what I have read diapers should only be washed at most every other day, so ideally you would want 2-3 days worth of cloth diapers to account for laundry. Leaving diapers wet or dry out in the sun will remove stains, but so will repeated washing's. This weekend we got a new (hand me down, but new to us) washer that has a heavy stain cycle and a sanitize heat setting, I am in heaven!
Air dry both liners and covers, you can dry covers in the dryer but they dry so fast on their own I don't see the point. If I am need of diapers stat I will dry covers and liners for 10-20 minutes after about 40 minutes of air drying. I just dry mine in my laundry room, they would dry much faster outside in the sun and wind.
Even if you just cloth diaper part time, that is still fewer diapers in the landfill, yay for anything that helps the Planet!
More diaper goodness to come! When the Mr. G gets a chance to help me, I plan on having Little G put on a diaper fashion show so I can post pictures!
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Food and Eating
As many of my dear friends know, I really enjoy a lot of things about French Culture, not so sure about French people I don't personally know any native French and though we were in a hostile in London with a very rude French family it wouldn't be fair to judge an entire culture by such a small sample.
I am almost finished with my second French parenting book (let me clarify though, these are not step 1. do this, step 2. do that; but more societal comparisons "The French do this, which contrasts with how American's do this because...").
The first book I read was Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman, she is American and her husband is Brittish, both of them being writers they can work anywhere and her husband convinced her to move to France with him as he was already living there. In the end she ends up describing her children as "poorly behaved French kids and very well behaved American kids." What most infatuates me about the French culture as I have now seen in two books, though I am nowhere near an expert on the subject, is most parent's seem to be on the same page about feeding, sleeping, discipline, etc. Which is such a drastic difference to Americans, just make a status about parenting on any social media website and watch how fast the comments come in!
The second book I am reading, I am almost done is called French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon, she is Canadian and her husband is a Frenchmen who was perfectly happy to NOT be in France. I enjoyed this book very much and most enjoyed gaining a different perspective on meals.
To start, I love food, my whole family likes to tease me for how much I love pie! Who doesn't love pie? For the French eating is so culturally ingrained it is basically a past time, and everyone seems to follow very similar "rules" and "procedures" for meal times. I have been a very picky eater since I can remember, I recall going on hunger strikes for take out... usually Arby's... being such a strong willed child it took more times than I care to admit to realize that not only was no one taking me to Arby's but I got zero attention, except maybe the occasional "cut it out." We did not have a short order cook, however we were allowed to make something else ourselves. I appreciated this at the time but I do not appreciate being a picky eater now and my husband and I now enjoy challenging our taste buds by introducing different foods into out meals, even foods we are certain we won't like!
The French do not substitute, you eat what's offered or you do not eat. I can see where some parents would think this is cruel but the book did bring up the good point that no one is trying to get their child to eat worms, they are trying to get them to eat generally well liked and nutritional foods. If a child doesn't eat dinner, they will just eat better at breakfast. Something at first I did not like was that if a child refuses to try something the French just let it go, or even remove the item from the plate. I was firmly of the belief that kids should HAVE to try everything. Karen explains that by removing the food, you are stopping the power struggle , there is no argument to be had. Then apparently next time the food is at the table you gently encourage the child to try it again.
Of course I do not have children (until June 2014) but I feel very lucky to be around friends and relatives with kiddos who are in general good eaters. We have good friends whose children are good eaters (Simon and I are still getting used to introducing more veggies) their daughter who has always been offered these foods, will down a small bowl of cherry tomatoes like it were candy! Like the French they encourage her to eat what they are having, and if she doesn't want it, fine, no big deal. There is usually enough options she finds something she enjoys!
Options is what finally encourage me to start writing this today. Of course the French eat multiple courses with every meal... because it's fancy. This is a very strange thing to me as I am most used to eating, a main dish, and that is all. We didn't have big elaborate meals growing up, my parents always made pretty fancy salads but I was not a salad eater so often I just got the main entree.
We have started doing not necessarily courses, but kind of. I have been trying to do a little appetizer, like chips and salsa or my bacon stuffed pepper that are easily thrown in the oven for 20 minutes, with or without a salad, a main course (it's still hard for me to remember to prepare a side dish) and a small dessert, usually just ice cream. We eat less of each thing so we are eating the same amount, but getting a wider variety of food.
Now what really prompted me to write the post I have been wanting to write for weeks, but of course putting off because I'm lazy. I plan on prepping my chicken tetrazzini tonight for tomorrow's meal, so the thought of making an actual dinner for us in addition seemed daunting. I knew what we had left in the Eat Out budget and thought sandwiches were sounding, easy and within the budget. I got to the grocery store, we needed eggs and of course ice cream, before I headed to the eggs section I thought "I should look at the cheese!" Simon's mom almost always serve a cheese plate before meals, my bet is because her husband is British, or like any sane person she just loves cheese! I got some multi-grain crackers, smoked Gouda, (my favorite because as creepy as it is, it sort of tastes like meat) a Spinach-artichoke cheese, and some Laughing Cow soft Swiss. Suddenly I was exited to make a dinner, I love surprising my husband (he has an almost scary passion for cheese) and of course I really enjoy making meals he will love! I was so excited to cut everything up and make it look all pretty, for dinner we had popcorn shrimp and some kind of potato side, it was a potato sliced (not all the way through) with oil and salt and pepper, needless to say someone posted it on Facebook.
What I enjoyed most about the French eating book is it gave lots of info about how the French eat as well as how they incorporated these tactics into their own family's eating lifestyle. For example French kids eat one snack a day, and French adults don't snack at all, however when the family moves back to Canada after a year in France they practically have to let their children snack. Not only does their school age daughter only get 10 minutes to eat her lunch (after all the work her parent's spent teaching her to eat slowly!) and there are several designated snack times within the school day.
I personally have been working on my snacking as well, this was harder earlier in my pregnancy because my blood sugar level was so crazy but it's fine now and it's really crazy how much I was eating just to eat! I decided to simply monitor the snacks and if I was actually hungry I would eat, if I was simply thinking "I bet that would taste good" then I wouldn't, needless to say as long as I am paying attention to my snacking, I don't snack as much and I even go whole days without snacking!
I am almost finished with my second French parenting book (let me clarify though, these are not step 1. do this, step 2. do that; but more societal comparisons "The French do this, which contrasts with how American's do this because...").
The first book I read was Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman, she is American and her husband is Brittish, both of them being writers they can work anywhere and her husband convinced her to move to France with him as he was already living there. In the end she ends up describing her children as "poorly behaved French kids and very well behaved American kids." What most infatuates me about the French culture as I have now seen in two books, though I am nowhere near an expert on the subject, is most parent's seem to be on the same page about feeding, sleeping, discipline, etc. Which is such a drastic difference to Americans, just make a status about parenting on any social media website and watch how fast the comments come in!
The second book I am reading, I am almost done is called French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon, she is Canadian and her husband is a Frenchmen who was perfectly happy to NOT be in France. I enjoyed this book very much and most enjoyed gaining a different perspective on meals.
To start, I love food, my whole family likes to tease me for how much I love pie! Who doesn't love pie? For the French eating is so culturally ingrained it is basically a past time, and everyone seems to follow very similar "rules" and "procedures" for meal times. I have been a very picky eater since I can remember, I recall going on hunger strikes for take out... usually Arby's... being such a strong willed child it took more times than I care to admit to realize that not only was no one taking me to Arby's but I got zero attention, except maybe the occasional "cut it out." We did not have a short order cook, however we were allowed to make something else ourselves. I appreciated this at the time but I do not appreciate being a picky eater now and my husband and I now enjoy challenging our taste buds by introducing different foods into out meals, even foods we are certain we won't like!
The French do not substitute, you eat what's offered or you do not eat. I can see where some parents would think this is cruel but the book did bring up the good point that no one is trying to get their child to eat worms, they are trying to get them to eat generally well liked and nutritional foods. If a child doesn't eat dinner, they will just eat better at breakfast. Something at first I did not like was that if a child refuses to try something the French just let it go, or even remove the item from the plate. I was firmly of the belief that kids should HAVE to try everything. Karen explains that by removing the food, you are stopping the power struggle , there is no argument to be had. Then apparently next time the food is at the table you gently encourage the child to try it again.
Of course I do not have children (until June 2014) but I feel very lucky to be around friends and relatives with kiddos who are in general good eaters. We have good friends whose children are good eaters (Simon and I are still getting used to introducing more veggies) their daughter who has always been offered these foods, will down a small bowl of cherry tomatoes like it were candy! Like the French they encourage her to eat what they are having, and if she doesn't want it, fine, no big deal. There is usually enough options she finds something she enjoys!
Options is what finally encourage me to start writing this today. Of course the French eat multiple courses with every meal... because it's fancy. This is a very strange thing to me as I am most used to eating, a main dish, and that is all. We didn't have big elaborate meals growing up, my parents always made pretty fancy salads but I was not a salad eater so often I just got the main entree.
We have started doing not necessarily courses, but kind of. I have been trying to do a little appetizer, like chips and salsa or my bacon stuffed pepper that are easily thrown in the oven for 20 minutes, with or without a salad, a main course (it's still hard for me to remember to prepare a side dish) and a small dessert, usually just ice cream. We eat less of each thing so we are eating the same amount, but getting a wider variety of food.
Now what really prompted me to write the post I have been wanting to write for weeks, but of course putting off because I'm lazy. I plan on prepping my chicken tetrazzini tonight for tomorrow's meal, so the thought of making an actual dinner for us in addition seemed daunting. I knew what we had left in the Eat Out budget and thought sandwiches were sounding, easy and within the budget. I got to the grocery store, we needed eggs and of course ice cream, before I headed to the eggs section I thought "I should look at the cheese!" Simon's mom almost always serve a cheese plate before meals, my bet is because her husband is British, or like any sane person she just loves cheese! I got some multi-grain crackers, smoked Gouda, (my favorite because as creepy as it is, it sort of tastes like meat) a Spinach-artichoke cheese, and some Laughing Cow soft Swiss. Suddenly I was exited to make a dinner, I love surprising my husband (he has an almost scary passion for cheese) and of course I really enjoy making meals he will love! I was so excited to cut everything up and make it look all pretty, for dinner we had popcorn shrimp and some kind of potato side, it was a potato sliced (not all the way through) with oil and salt and pepper, needless to say someone posted it on Facebook.
What I enjoyed most about the French eating book is it gave lots of info about how the French eat as well as how they incorporated these tactics into their own family's eating lifestyle. For example French kids eat one snack a day, and French adults don't snack at all, however when the family moves back to Canada after a year in France they practically have to let their children snack. Not only does their school age daughter only get 10 minutes to eat her lunch (after all the work her parent's spent teaching her to eat slowly!) and there are several designated snack times within the school day.
I personally have been working on my snacking as well, this was harder earlier in my pregnancy because my blood sugar level was so crazy but it's fine now and it's really crazy how much I was eating just to eat! I decided to simply monitor the snacks and if I was actually hungry I would eat, if I was simply thinking "I bet that would taste good" then I wouldn't, needless to say as long as I am paying attention to my snacking, I don't snack as much and I even go whole days without snacking!
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