the night time diaper debacle... continues...

The stupid earthquake in February seemed to bring with it my what now feels like NEVER ending issue - finding the right night time diaper, or really the right night time diaper combination...  To begin with we were quite happily using a pocket diaper with two mirofiber booster inserts and an extra insert, or a microfiber booster, but then all diaper hell broke loose, and suddenly our tried and true combo just wouldn't work.

Sooooo I got hold of some bamboo trifold inserts and threw one of those in with our microfiber - very bulky - but it worked... for a start.  After that I began putting in two of the bamboo inserts instead of the microfiber - again it worked... sorta... but not well enough.  Eventually I began fooling around with prefolds and bamboo, and recently flats and bamboo [and covers, of course].  Both of those worked better than the bamboo-in-a-pocket combo, so perhaps I am on the right path?

What I know DOES work, is using fleece covers - I have a Bummis fleece cover that works well enough - but I do find if she gets too wet, it leaks out the sides and up the top.  I have a FunkyBumz fleece soaker which I LOVE - it works better than any other cover I have... and I'm also still using my fleece-blanket-cheapskate-cover - and may I add, still without a leak too.

So I generally know I'm okay if there is fleece on top - but preferably a cover with two layers of fleece [as with the FunkyBumz and my homemade pinnable cover].  I BELIEVE that pad folded flats may be the answers to all my night time issues, I have used them the last two nights in a row, and Emersyn has been dry upon waking.  To this point I have been using them inside pockets - primarily because of the staydry layer the microfleece on the inside of the diaper provides.  Tonight we might try something new though...

It's been suggested to me to use the padfolded flats, inside a cover - because the way a pocket goes when it is stuffed to the max, can sometimes cause leaks, purely because the urine rolls right off the diaper - and that makes sense.  So tonight... I'm giving it a go and trying the flats inside a cover, as always with a bamboo booster for a little extra absorption.  I will put the fleece soaker over top - because I really don't want her to wake up at 4am soaked through.... but maybe... just maybe... with the flats/cover combo, I won't need to worry about a fleece soaker.

I think that one of the reasons I've been having so many problems, is that lately Emersyn has been waking up once or twice a night for a bottle - so she ends up having a lot of urine output, and it makes sense that a diaper can't handle 12-14 hours with all of that output.  It can only be pushed so far before there is no more absorbency left.  The first night I used flats inside a pocket, she slept through completely - ie, no extra liquid intake/urine output, and then last night she had one bottle early in the morning - but luckily she still woke up dry.  Obviously one simple solution would be to change her diaper when she wakes, but for some reason it doesn't occur to me, particularly if she's woken me during a deep period of sleep... it's not unless she keeps me awake for a prolonged period that I think "ohhhh.. change her diaper"... so maybe I need to just try to remember to change her diaper when she's up during the night - but that is so much easier said than done, particularly with the sub-zero mornings we've been having lately.  Not that that's an excuse.

SO.....
What I know works is fleece, flats and bamboo boosters.
What I know annoys Emersyn is the lack of a staydry layer between her skin and the top layer of the diaper
The obvious solution seems to be:  Using flats, with a bamboo insert and some form of staydry layer, and a fleece cover over the top.
Still to work out is whether flats work better for Emersyn when they are used inside flats, or when they are used inside a pul cover with a fleece liner over top of the top flat [for the staydry layer].

I hope like heck that the above little 'equation' is my getting very close to the end of this whole debacle, and finally finding a night time solution that works.  I'd love to find a night time combo that isn't hugely bulky - but right now I'd take one that is horribly bulky and works, over a trimmer option that DOESN'T work...

.... I guess time will soon tell.

we are family.... [an itti bitti family]

My sister has started using Bitti Tutto diapers on my niece, Bronte - and I finally got to have a proper play with them, last week when I had the honour of babysitting Bronny for the first time.  She - of course, was a total dream and if anything my own children were tougher... there was a rocky moment or two when Emersyn and Bronte both decided to reach fever-pitch with their crying, at the same time.

OF COURSE, being the clothaholic - and ittibittiaholic that I am, I couldn't resist putting the girls in their matching coloured Itti Bitti's [I have to confess that I had packed all of Emersyn's Itti Bittis, that I knew Bronte had the same colour of] in order to take their first matching-diaper photo.

It happened to be during the rocky moments I mentioned above - neither girl was in a great mood, but nevertheless here is the photo of the Itti Bitti cousins....

Emersyn in her D'Lish and Bronte in her Tutto

Rockin' her yellow Tutto

and just because I can, here is a photo of Bronte in her beautiful yellow Tutto [of which Emersyn has one in the same colour].  It was lovely to see both girls rocking the minky - but also doing their part for the environment, at such young ages.  Of course neither of them realise the impact they are having - but all the same, I think it's sweet.  I look at these luscious, soft, vibrant, utterly beautiful diapers, and feel so so happy that I made the decision to start using cloth... and that my darling baby sister eventually came to the 'dark but fluffy side' too

once you've had fleece... you'll never go back

the whole point of this blog post, is to rave about the awesomeness that is fleece.  


 
I have posted a lot about my hunt to find the right night time combo - recently I have been using prefolds, which has worked out well, but if Emersyn had a bottle or two overnight [as she tends to do while teething], I have found she tends to wake up a little damp... nothing that would be uncomfortable for her, but frustrating to me all the same.  Kind of like the diaper 'winning' and me losing.  

A friend on JustMommies talked about fleece and using it overnight - and suggested a super easy way that a cover could be made -  basically cutting up and old fleece blanket into a flat [diaper] shape, and then pinning it on over a prefold or fitted.  I looked at my old, ratty fleece blanket - and decided it was worth a go.  I did the cutting and got it all ready, just in time for Emersyn to need a diaper change... I put it on her and expected her to wet through - but when she was still dry and was ready for another nap, I decided to see what would happen if she wore it for her nap...

That nap lasted for two hours [very abnormal] - and I was amazed when she got up and was DRY....   I decided I might as well bite the bullet, and ended up cutting another couple of squares, and when it came time for her to go to bed for the night, put her in another fitted, with the two layers of fleece over top.  I fully expected her to wake in the early hours, very wet - lo and behold, she woke up at 6am - STILL DRY.

SUCCESS OR WHAT.

Every night since, Emersyn has had a fleece cover over top of whatever diaper she has worn to bed, whether it's a fitted, prefold or pocket - and we've not had a single leak... she hasn't even felt damp.  I have the 'flat covers' that I 'made' for her, a Bummis polar wrap, and a Funky Bumz pull up soaker.. I think I prefer the pull up soaker, just because it seems to fit her best around the legs.... but I have absolutely no qualms in using either of my other fleece covers.

I really really wish I had tried fleece beforehand, because it would have saved Emersyn a LOT of damp pyjamas and bedding... but I think a lot of cloth diapering is about trial and error... finding what works, finding what doesn't... finding the products that make life just a little easier... and realising what was really a total waste of money.  I guess that is the way it goes with any baby item though.

I will get some photos of Emersyn in her fleece soon, and post them up in the near future.

pining for pins

I decided earlier this week that I would give flats a go - that was all well and good until I realised that the fabric of my [single] flat is an 'unsnappiable' fabric, therefore I would need to do something I had refused even try.... I would have to use pins....

Thursday the girls and I traipsed around the mall, trying to find what I presumed would be an easy to find item - considering that up until awhile ago, they were the MAIN form of fastening a diaper.  But no.  Neither of the supermarkets had them, the two department stores didn't have them neither did the first baby store I tried.  I was shocked a BABY store wouldn't stock them... Baby and pin seem to go hand in hand for me [of course not literally...], apparently they are now an item that there isn't a lot of demand for.  Interesting.  Fast forward to the last shop on my list - Baby Factory - FINALLY I found the longed for pins.  Hallelujah.
 

my first prefold pinning attempt

I got home and couldn't resist having a go at pinning a nappy for the very first time... I got Emersyn ready, said a quick pre-emptive pin-stabbing  apology took a deep breath and away I went.  It was surprisingly a lot easier than I imagined it would be - I remember watching my Aunts when I was younger, and it seemed like there was a lot of force require to get the pin through the actual fabric, but it seemed quite effortless when I did it..  I did need to re-pin a few times, to get diaper tight enough and even, but I eventually got there.

I have been using only pinned prefolds for basically three days now, and have to say I REALLY love using pins.  I am not sure what it is about pinning, but I think it's to do with the fact you get a snugger fit around the waist, and they seem to bunch a bit less.  Today for the first time I didn't have to re-pin to get the right fit, so I think I am starting to become a little more skilled at pinning... not that that is a huge accomplishment that I expect praise for - but I am proud of myself, because it's a little bit of the 'back to basics' which seems to be something I am fond of right now.

I have even started to enjoy using the prefolds and pins so much, that I have been having vague ideas of selling most of the rest of my stash, and then buying some more refolds and extra covers... but I don't know if I can bring myself to part with my stash, especially with all the effort I've gone to to build it [aka, after all the money I have spent on it].  I think there are some I would definitely keep - but maybe I should go through and get rid of the diapers that I don't LOVE.....

food for thought....

I believe the children are the future.. of cloth!

"Mummy, what's the point in buying ugly nappies you have to throw away, if you can buy pretty nappies you can use heaps?"

This innocent (and utterly adorable) statement made by Gaby yesterday got me thinking about the fact that in reality, those of us who use cloth diapers are raising the next generation of cloth users.  I know from my own parenting choices that a lot of what I do, I do because my parents did with me & my sister... therefore what I do as a parent is going to have an impact on what my girls do as parents, or at least what their thoughts are on various aspects of being a parent.

That thought then got me thinking that by using cloth diapers - Gaby is going to think of cloth diapers as the natural choice for diapering when SHE is at the stage in her life that diapering is a reality for her (please god, make that in at least 20 years!)... and then chances are that'll be the same for a LOT of other children whose parents have used cloth diapers.

We are raising the next generation of cloth users.

But not only is it the children of parents who have used cloth diapers, it's also going to be any children who has had contact with someone who uses cloth - my cousins for instance.  Jasmine (13) & Alice (10) stayed with me for a week this summer, and BOTH were fascinated by my use of cloth diapers - they showed a real interest, and loved helping me stuff them & fold them after they'd been washed... it even got to the point that they argued over who was going to be the one to change Emersyn's diaper.  And before the week was up, both had told me that when they were 'ladies' they were 'so totally' going to use cloth on their babies!

2 more converts to the fluffy world of cloth!

Thinking about all this has got me thinking (I'm doing a lot of thinking right now!) that it is almost our 'repsonsibility' to make young'ens aware of the fabulosity that is cloth diapering, and to make a little impression on them, so that in 10, 15, 20, 30 years time when they are having babies themselves, they think back to how cute the diapers were, how easy they were to use, and how passionate WE were about them, so that they themselves think "hey - I might give cloth a go!".

What if for every 1 of us that uses cloth, 10 kids decide to use cloth when they are having children... in 10, 20, 30 years time there could be 10x as many parents using cloth - heck, cloth diapering could even be something that people don't screw their nose up about, and think people are 'crazy' for doing.

I can't wait to see my girls, using cloth diapers on MY grandchildren (oh god.. grandchildren... scary...)