It has been a while

It has been quite a while since I updated. A lot has happened in that time.  I'll spare everyone the gory details, everyone is okay, there has been no tragedies, but a lot of stress and strain and we are taking life day by day.  Certain things, particularly babies, continue to go on though, which is a blessing.

V is just now starting to experiment with solid foods.  Yes, she is edging closer to ten-months-old. I'm very pleased to have gone this long without introducing solids.  On Thursday I offered her wedges of avocado. She was less than interested. :)

This morning I baked sweet potato wedges and offered those to her, after nursing, while her Daddy was with us.  She really liked the sweet potato although she only actually ate a tiny bit. 

Today I am also stripping every single one of her Indian cotton prefold diapers.  She had been getting a little red and a small amount of diaper rash that we treated with scrupulous cleaning, a bit of Burts Bees Baby Bee Buttermilk Lotion, and Imse Vimse Flushable Liner. Within a day her tender bits were perfect again but I want to be sure that there is no buildup in her diapers. This is quite the project, I hope it goes well. 

How I learned to love Flat Diapers in the midst of Chaos

Frugality has never been as important in my life as it is right now.  No need to go into details, but things are not good financially for us at this time period (which is not unique for Americans today unfortunately).  So when my clothes washer died, and my bathroom sink fell out of the vanity, I was teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

How am I going to continue to cloth diaper my infant WITHOUT A WASHING MACHINE?

Enter, the flat diapers.

I have had numerous conversations with my grandmother about her bleaching, boiling and hanging out the cloth diapers when my mother was a baby so I new I could handle this. And even better, I still have a dryer so even though it has been snowing ALL MONTH I could still DRY diapers, just not wash them mechanically.  By the way, the washer died during a large load of prefolds, which had to be rinsed twice in the bathtub and hang wrung before putting in the dryer. Awesome.

So I started using the flat diapers on V.  I have decided origami fold doesn't work for us, but kite fold is not so terrible, and her slightly tight ProWraps Classic "small" diaper covers hold them nicely.  The diapers are compact, travel well and, hand wash pretty easily!

I had to use the kitchen sink since the bathroom sink is now residing on the floor of my basement. I would use an old nail brush and running water to scrub off any poop, then fill the sink with about 1-2 gallons of warm water and a very small amount (a quick squirt) of Dr. Bronner's Baby Castile Soap.  Then I would agitate the diapers and scrub with the nail brush any stains.  Once everything appeared clean I would rinse twice, then put them all in my super huge Emeril Stock Pot and boil them until my house smelled like wet cotton.  I also used this technique with the prefolds a few times, but they are so thick and absorbent it was exhausting and very hard on my hands and wrists to wring them out.

Diaper covers got scrubbed in the sink and rinsed, but not boiled. That would destroy them.

The end result was fine.  Obviously I ended up spending a lot more time with the diapers than normal, but they got perfectly clean and the flat diapers dry almost immediately.  The last bunch I hand washed I actually hung on a drying rack in my kitchen and they were ready in the morning.

I will admit that I have been bringing my laundry to my parents' house since the washer broke at least every three days and that has reduced the need to hand wash, but now I know I can and that it is perfectly manageable.  I have also decided to stock the diaper bag with flat diapers almost exclusively as they are so compact and easy when out and about. The bag is lighter, the ziplock bags I use as wet bags don't fill up as quickly, and because they are less absorbent she tells me immediately when she needs to be changed.

All in all, I've decided flat diapers definitely have a place in my cloth diapering experience and I am glad I got them. I'm still not sold on the econobum diaper covers though, it will take me a while to love them, if ever.

Econo-Bum One Size Diaper Cover

So when it was time to order next size up diaper covers for my growing weed of a daughter, my site of choice Cotton Babies did not have the LiteWraps I mentioned in an earlier post in stock in her size!  This was very distressing until I decided to try their own econobum covers, which are supposed to "snap to fit" up to 35lbs, and are made in the USA!

I got the covers yesterday with my previously mentioned birdseye flats.  So far they have worked, but we haven't had a poopy blow-out yet.  The cover feels a bit thin, which would work for those parents who like a trimmer look.  They do not have a double gusset around the leg, so that might be a problem with a large bowel movement.  Also they feel like they could tear around the snaps.  And the waist isn't very elasticized so it gaps a bit in front.  All in all, I'm still happier with the LiteWrap as far as feel and function.  But, if these do in fact work, they will end up being more economical as they get larger as she grows, unlike the LiteWraps which have to be purchased to size.  Also there's no velcro/aplix/touch tape to wear out or gather lint.  And they appear quite breathable and light.

When V wakes up this morning I will be trying an entirely new set up on her, the flat diaper folded origami style, and the econo-bum cover.  I have "skinny" pants for her to wear that are difficult to get over the prefolds, so this is a real test.

Flat Cloth Diapers

I have just origami folded my first dozen birdseye cotton flat diapers.  I have a ridiculous sense of accomplishment as I look at this compact pile of white fabric and wonder if these diapers will be as absorbent and soft as I've read.

So why did I add to my diaper stash with something so basic and old fashioned?

Apparently, and so far this is all from what I've read as V is sleeping and I haven't tried one on her yet, these diapers absorb wonderfully, wash in a jiffy and dry faster than you can believe.  These are supposed to be "the diapers" for camping or traveling as they can actually be hand-washed and then line dried.  Even if they are machine wash and dried, because they are single ply, they will use much less water and energy to get clean.  And honestly, my pile of a dozen is so compact I can't believe it.  My poor diaper bag is always stuffed near to bursting when I go to my parents' house for the day with just nine prefolds.

Now the "trimness" of a cloth diaper has never really been an issue for me since I think poofy diaper butt is adorable and a nice padded buffer for when she starts walking, and falling.  But if these work, they will be the trimmest option we have and might fit better under some of her clothes.

As for the frugal part of this equation, if you look around the internet, you can get twelve for less than $15.00.

I do not recommend the cloth diapers found at big box stores with the cute baby on the label.  You know the brand, it's associated with cute babies and has food, clothing and accessory lines.  I don't want to name it and give them advertising. The quality of those diapers is appalling.  Their prefolds couldn't absorb anything.  If you must use them, use them as burp cloths or dust rags.

Unstuffed Cabbage

So my mom made an amazing two pot dinner tonight for us that was vegetarian with the substitution of meatless crumbles for ground beef, and could be made vegan by making mashed potatoes with Earth Balance and rice milk instead of using milk and butter for them. It was awesome! And with the base ingredient of the unstuffed cabbage being, you guessed it, a head of cabbage, the recipe made A LOT! I have a HUGE container of left overs in my fridge after three hungry adults each ate two portions. I don't have the recipe yet, but it was basically a head of cabbage, a lot of onion, some garlic, two bags of meatless crumbles, some canned tomatoes and a crock pot, then served over mashed potatoes. Again, awesome. And this is definitely a meal that will reheat beautifully and would make a great veg'n offering at a pot luck.   I love having dinner with my parents, I always get left overs, and great ideas!

La Leche League

This morning I attended my first La Leche League meeting.  I have been participating on their online forums for a while and have received wonderful support from other mommies so I thought it would be beneficial for us to attend a meeting in person.

I have some social anxiety issues, but I was perfectly comfortable in this small nursery room in a local church, surrounded by other mommies and their little ones, several nursing openly while we discussed the benefits of breastfeeding.

As a bonus of this meeting I have been given more resources to add to my growing circle of eco-frugal groups and organizations; including a local green families group and a huge consignment shop for children's goods.  I can't guarantee that I'll be checking these things out this week, but I certainly intend to check out all options and learn what I can to help my family and our planet.

And I cannot express enough that breastfeeding is both free, and green.

Finally!

Sorry about the absence, but in the interest of frugality we have dial-up here, and the connection was not happy with me.

My latest adventure will be making wool soakers for V's over night diapering.  A wool soaker is generally a pull up style diaper that goes over her prefold (or fitted for those who use them) cloth diaper and keeps her dryer during the heavy wetting period of night.

I have a hand-me-down wool soaker that we recently started using and I love it!  V gets a touch of diaper rash on occasion, especially after a particularly wet night.  Using the soaker, she wasn't even pink in the morning.  The only problem with the wool soaker I've found is that when she has a poopy blow-out it is a terrible mess!

Environmentally, the wool soaker (not addressing the raising of wool here) is outstanding.  Because wool is naturally water repellant, antibacterial, and antimicrobial, when it is removed in the morning you just turn it inside out to dry and put it on again before bed.  Most people only wash their wool soakers about once a month with a wool safe wash and then re-lanolize if needed.  I had to wash a poopy blow-out the other day and have yet to re-lanolize so we our without soaker right now, and that makes me sad.

To re-lanolize, I had my wonderful hubby pick up generic lanolin at the pharmacy and will be melting a very small amount with a tiny bit of Dr. Bronner's baby soap, and some hot water, and soaking the cover in a sink with that mixture added, then rolling it in a towel to blot dry and laying flat for the two days it will take to dry. Sounds like fun doesn't it?  But a $3.00 tube of lanolin ointment will last us quite a while, and a drop or two of Dr. Bronner's is certainly not going to hurt my baby budget!

I already have at least one of Hubby's sweaters to sacrifice for our daughter's tush, and have been given permission to search for others in storage.  V's Gram is going to send down her old wool sweaters as they die and I can always hit up thrift stores.

I have also found patterns online for making prefolds out of recycled clothing and bedding and will definitely keep that in mind in case she grows out of her Premium sized prefolds. Although that is a distant possibility at this stage in the game.

I have found that we are really happy with LiteWrap diaper covers.  They are $7.95 each regardless of size and wash up very well and generally keep blow-outs restricted to the cover and off her clothing.  My only problem with them is that they are made in China and I would really prefer a USA option, but those economical covers are more expensive and less substantial.

Some cloth diapering folks complain about "diaper butt." Or how well padded the cloth diapered tushy ends up being.  I have to say, especially now that V is standing with assistance and trying to sit up, I'm glad she's well padded.  There are inevitable tumbles and thuds in her future, and if I can soften the blow just a bit, I'm glad for that.