Cloth Nappies/Diapers

This post has been requested by a friend.  We use cloth nappies (I'm Irish we say "nappies" :) ) on my baby rather than disposable nappies.  My main motivation for this?  Saving money!  I am no expert on cloth nappies, I have many friends who know a whole lot more on it, but over the course of my pregnancy I did extensive research into cloth nappies via the internet and cloth nappy using friends and now I have almost 2 months of cloth nappy using experience under my belt and I feel like I've learned a lot since then.  I will share with you what I know of the pros and cons of using cloth nappies, my own experiences with them along with some of the systems I use to make it work for me.

Cons
I think I'll start with the cons of using cloth nappies, mostly because I think there are so many pros that if I start with them I'll be tired of writing by the time I get to the cons!

• It involves extra laundry
• Slightly more pee and poop may need to be handled
• They can be expensive initially depending on what kind of nappy you use. And there are A LOT to choose from.

Pros

• It gives me such joy to walk though the shops and ignore the highly priced nappy section (and because I also use reusable wipes, I can ignore those too)
• There's something empowering about using cloth nappies (for me I think it's related to saving so much money)
• Using cloth nappies has become so popular recently that there are endless resources available to make the whole process of using them really easy.
• If you have more than one child you can save even more money-cloth nappies can be used over and over and over!
• If your child has any skin sensitivities cloth nappies irritate the skin a lot less than disposables, babies who use them can have less nappy rashes.  Also reusable wipes and water (or your own wipes mix) give you more control over what you're using to clean your baby's little bum.
• If the environment is a concern for you, then cloth nappies are definitely environmentally friendly.
• It saves money even if you have only one child.
• You don't need to shop for disposable nappies (saves a little bit of time-and gives you such joy, as mentioned above)
• You can have a lot of fun with the cute nappy covers and wool soakers.
• It's so much fun! (maybe I feel this way because I'm weird)
• Baby pee and poop ain't that bad.

Types of Cloth Nappies

I use three different types of cloth nappies: prefolds, flat fold and fitted.  There two more more called the "all in one" and pocket diapers.  The "all in one" one tends to be the most expensive.  With my focus primarily on saving money, I gave these ones a skip. I have heard from other mums that these ones are extremely convenient and work really well and even though they're the most expensive, you still save A LOT of money using these.  I may use the pocket diapers in the future when Béibhinn grows out of her present nappy stash.  If you click on each of the nappies it will bring you to a link that describes them. I will write about my experiences with the ones I'm using.

Prefolds
When Béibhinn was newborn I started with prefold diapers.  These were the cheapest nappies that I was aware of at the time.  I bought them at Green Mountain Diapers.  These were recommended to me by a friend for use with a newborn.  Because newborns move less the prefolds work as well as any other nappy.  I found these to be as good as any disposable (I used disposables on and off during the move as laundry facilities were not always available).  The key to the success of the disposables and all of the nappies I've used so far are a good nappy cover.  To keep the prefold fastened, I used snappy fasteners.  Easy peasy, even my brother John was changing nappies after one demonstration.

How to use a prefold:

This one uses an insert and no snappies

This one uses snappies

I like to use snappies with the prefolds because I feel like it secures the nappy a bit better around the baby.  Liners are optional and will be discussed later.

Flat Fold Nappies
I came upon flat fold nappies by chance but I have to say that flat folds have become my favourite kind of nappy to use with Béibhinn, I don't know how well they'll work when she's more active but right now they're very absorbent and not too bulky.  These nappies were bought for me by a friend of ours back in Ireland who had heard that I was planning on using cloth nappies.  She spotted a packet of unopened flat fold nappies in a charity store and bought them for me.  My mum brought them over when she came to visit and Béibhinn was almost a week old.  At this point I was using the prefold nappies.  When I opened the package and saw these square sheets of fabric first thing that came to mind was "terry nappies" and "am I really going to use nappies that I need to fold?!"  It seemed too much.  However, internet and youtube lover that I am, I decided to do some research into folding nappies.  I came across this amazing fold called "the bat fold".

This fold works really well, the centre piece really absorbs all the pee and poop really well and folding the legs inward keeps everything inside.  Again, the liner is optional I think.  And snappies are the greatest invention ever!  What I also love about these flat folds is that they fit for a lot longer than some of the prefold and other kinds of nappies.  While Béibhinn has already grown out of her newborn size prefolds, she is still using the same flatfolds she was wearing at one week, now, at six months.

 

Flat Nappy using the bat fold

Using the snappi fastener

Fitted Cloth Nappy
I chose to buy Mother-ease Sandy's Fitted Diapers.  These were recommended to me by my friend Abby who was my 'go to' girl for all things nappy related.  I bought one size small nappy and the rest were bought as gifts by friends and family.  I started using these when Beibhinn was about 6 weeks.  These are very easy to use as there's no folding or maneuvering of snappy fasteners.  You just snap them on at the sides.  I do recommend nappies with snap fasteners rather than velcro because I think they're more durable.  I have needed to place a trifolded prefold nappy inside these nappies at night because Beibhinn appears to be an epic pee-er.  These nappies work really well and I'm really happy with them.

Covers
All of the above nappies require some kind of waterproof cover. I have used wool soakers and PUL covers as well as some other plastic covers. The wool soakers were perfect when Béibhinn was newborn. The wool soakers were soft for her new little body and it was easy to fold them down to keep things away from her umbilical stump. The best waterproof cover with no exception is a PUL cover. Since Béibhinn was about 6 weeks I have found these to be the most successful for preventing any leaks and I still love these covers. I find the covers with velcro fasteners the best because it's easy to tighten or loosen them to fit various sizes of nappies.

Cloth Wipes

I love using my cloth wipes. Most of my wipes were given as gifts and I bought a few more myself. I am finding though that I really need more wipes than I have especially for those weeks where I fall behind on laundry (and there are many of these weeks!) I hope to buy some flannel in the next few weeks and cut them into wipes-so cheap!

I have a little wipes station set up in Béibhinn's room. I fill a coffee carafe with warm water, soap, lavender oil and tea tree oil. I place a wipe in the bowl then spray it with the water mixture, easy to do with one hand, which is useful when changing a squirmy baby.

Dealing with Poop

Until Béibhinn started on solids at six months, poop was really not an issue. I would just throw the nappy into a dry nappy pail and throw them in the wash, no problems. Now Béibhinn is on solids so it's whole other story. There are a couple of options for dealing with icky poop. One of the favoured methods is the liner. Nappy liners can be bought and placed in the nappy, when the baby poops, the poop is caught in the liner then you just throw the liner in the bin or the toilet (depending on whether or not it's a flushable nappy liner) This can be a very easy way to deal with icky poop except for two small things. Liners cost money and the liners often don't catch all the poop. A lot of liners can be wasted by wet nappies too. A friend of mine passed on a smart tip to me. If you use disposable wipes (and sometimes I do), just throw the wipe into the wash with your nappy and reuse the wipe as a liner later on. I've also actually reused the wipe as a wipe also.

Another way to deal with poop is to attach a specially designed shower head to your toilet, a diaper sprayer. When you change your baby's nappy spray the poop off the nappy into the toilet and then place the nappy into the nappy pail. This can save a lot of stinkiness and the diaper sprayer is pretty easy to install.

I think that's all I have to share at this point with regards to cloth nappies. I'm enjoying the adventure and looking forward to learning more as Béibhinn gets bigger and more active. It's a road I'm glad I took.

Below are a few links to sites that sell diapers and diaper accessories, enjoy.

Béibhinn's Photograph a Day

For the first year of Béibhinn's life, Andrew plans on taking a photograph every day and uploading it to this flickr album.  Andrew updates it every few days after he has edited the shots.  It's fun to look at-I see her every day and I still enjoy this album, but then I'm a bit obsessed :) I'll try to post this link with each blog. Enjoy Béibhinn's first year!

A Month in Kitchener

My friend Christa who has a wonderful blog has inspired me to update my blog again. So exactly one month after leaving LA I suppose I should write an update on how it's all going.

We left LA when Béibhinn was 2 and a half weeks old. Now she is seven weeks old and in that short time seems to have grown and changed so much! The Friday before we left LA she weighed in at 8lbs 4oz. Two weeks after we arrived in Kitchener she weighed in at 11lbs! I'm pretty sure she's even heavier now-my arms are about to break!



















We arrived in Kitchener, Ontario on Sunday evening January 15th and went straight to our temporary accommodations. We stayed here for two weeks. I spent the first week indoors, taking care of Béibhinn and resting as much as possible. This was the first time since she was born that I was able to do this, it seemed like every day while we were in Los Angeles there was somewhere to go and something to do, so it was a real treat to be able to stay home. Andrew, however, was ridiculously busy running to and fro, opening bank accounts, exchanging money, signing mortgage papers and signing up for provincial health care, he never seemed to stop. My parents were there to help out and after getting a chance to have a walk through our new home, my dad left to fly back to Ireland on the Thursday.

My mum stayed for another week and a bit. The next week was just as busy. I was desparately trying to find a family doctor for both myself and Béibhinn so that I could get a prescription for my diabetes supplies and Béibhinn could have health care and receive her vaccinations. This proved to be impossible. Getting connected with a family doctor here seems like a mammoth task and it was disheartening to get rejection after rejection. We finally decided that we just needed to go to an urgent care clinic and get a prescription for me and at least get Béibhinn checked out by a Canadian doctor.

































Sunday January 29th we moved once again to a guest house near the University of Waterloo. We would stay here for a few days before we finally closed on our house and moved in. We stayed at the Sugarbush Guesthouse which was a lovely family run bed and breakfast. Mum left on Monday and I had my first day all alone with Béibhinn. Béibhinn is the sweetest baby and is just so much fun to take care of and she is so engaging she keeps me entertained and working hard all day. Never a dull moment with little Béibhinn Fung! Wednesday February 1st we finally closed on the house and moved in. Our amazing real estate agent Julie Martin had the house cleaned for us and brought over a mattress and bedding so that we could spend our first night in our new home before all of our belongings arrived from Los Angeles the next morning.

We had a great moving team arrive early the next morning. I really enjoyed listening to their thick Newfoundland and Nova Scotian accents as they moved our stuff in. It was so nice that night to sleep in our own bed and to finally have Béibhinn back in her bassinet. We felt like we had finally landed!

The past few weeks have been spent getting into a semi normal routine with Béibhinn, Andrew adjusting to new job, setting up the home, getting to know our neighbourhood, getting paperwork together for my permanent residence application and visiting churches. We were so blessed to have our dear friends Martin and Dale visit from Ottawa this weekend. They helped us to set up our kitchen and give it a good clean! Next week my buddy Guinevere is visiting from LA. We'll hopefully get Béibhinn's room organised and painted while she's here. We are so thankful at the moment for the help we're receiving from friends. It's amazing how little gets done with a tiny baby in our midst. It's also amazing how much joy she's brought to our lives so it's all worth it.

So, have we settled into life in Kitchener Waterloo? Practically speaking we have. Andrew has a job, we have a home, Andrew's parents are providing us with a car, we're getting all our paperwork sorted bit by bit. So yes, we're settling in pretty well here in that sense. It is lonely for us here at the moment though, especially for me. I love being home with Béibhinn and taking care of her, she's the best kind of company a girl could ask for, I do miss adult company however and I miss LA. Sometimes I feel a wave of sadness as I think of all our friends in Los Angeles, especially those that I spent time with regularly in the past year when I wasn't working. We also REALLY miss our church and the family it provided for us there. We really hope, I really hope, that we can find a church like that and that make friends like that here in Kitchener. If not we're just going to have to insist that you all move over here to us :D We have room in our house. When we ask you to visit us we really mean it, please come visit us any time you can, this is a beautiful part of the world and the weather ain't so bad!

 

Don't forget to check out:

Béibhinn's first year