In The Middle of It: Newborn Cloth Diapering

Let me begin this post by summing it up: I LOVE THE RUMPAROOZ LIL' JOEYS!!!! I bought them for three reasons: Convenience, Fit, and Umbilical Cord friendliness. They fit the bill perfectly. I am so, so happy I took the plunge and bought them before the baby was born. And since I already had them, I was able to get some super cute pics of my baby in them before we even left the hospital.

This is Violet. She was 7lbs 14oz at birth, and the Lil' Joeys fit her perfectly on the smallest setting. I didn't end up putting her in cloth for the drive home from the hospital. Fail. I don't know why I didn't. It was just a lost detail in the very long nightmare that is getting dismissed from a hospital. But she did wear them as soon as we got home. I love how well they fit underneath her newborn size clothing. No cloth bubble butt.

She wore them on the smallest setting until her cord fell off at two weeks old. After that I was able to undo the snap down feature which gave her a lot more wiggle room, while still on the smallest setting for the waist. I did put fleece liners in the Lil' Joeys while I waited for Violet to get rid of all the dark meconium poo. That was a tight squeeze. Maybe the biodegradable liners would have been better? I never tried. But her poo turned a lovely shade of yellow within a day or two, so I didn't have to squeeze the liners in for long.

I have 14 Lil' Joey diapers. This stash is enough when washing every night. I hardly use my tiny prefolds and covers that I got for laundry day. But I LOVE the newborn sized Bummis Super Brite. It is a little tricky to get the prefold under the flap in front, but once you get it in it has a super trim fit. I never leave Violet in it for long. So although it has never leaked on me, I haven't give it a good chance to prove it's leak proofness. The Thirsties Duo Wrap in size one fits snugly around her legs, and has more room for stuffing a prefold, but is just generally bulkier than the Bummis so I don't use it as much. But it is a good cover economically speaking because it will still fit Violet for a few months, I think, while the newborn Super Brite is nearing the end of it's usefulness already.

Violet wears her Lil' Joeys even at night. They have only leaked maybe once or twice when she has slept longer than four hours at a stretch (isn't that delightful?!). She has gone over four hours other times without them leaking, though. Maybe I didn't have them snapped just right those other times.

I have been using cloth wipes. My favorite is actually the cheap Gerber wash cloths. I got some in plain white so I could designate them specifically for diapering, and not wash Violet's pretty little face with a pooped on wash cloth. I bought other cloth wipes to try, but haven't liked any of them.

I haven't tried my Wee Essentials wipes cubes yet. Simply because I haven't had the time in these busy first weeks with baby. I've just been wetting the wipes down with plain water as I need them. That's been a little bit of a pain. I need a better system. At bedtime, I put about four wet wash cloths in a ziplock baggie for middle of the night changes. That has worked well so far.

And Rockin' Green laundry soap. Should you get some? Yes, you should. It is simply delightful. After a few washes with the Rockin' Green I did notice my Lil' Joeys smelling a little bit funky. But after an extra long soak in that magic stuff, I could shove 'em straight up to my nose and sniff nothing but cleanliness. The Lil' Joeys do have slight yellow staining. But I don't think it's anything a good long soak and some sun bathing (I guess I'll have to wait till Spring) can't take out.

So far, so good. I was worried that using cloth at the newborn stage would be overwhelming, but it really isn't. I'm really glad I decided to go for it. Give it a go! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Rump-a-Rooz YELLOW sale!

It’s the annual yellow sale!!

Today through 11:59pm on 12/31/10 all Sunshine Yellow Rump-a-Rooz are 25% off!

Get them while they last!!!! We’ve got them in Snaps and in Aplix! At this price they won’t last long!!!!

Boy, do we have a SALE for you!!!

It’s been almost a year since we opened our website for business, and you all have made it such a wonderful experience. We couldn’t do half the things we do without all of our great loyal customers.

As a Thank you, from December 26th to December 31st, we’ve decided we’re going to offer up some great deals for all of you, and we hope you take advantage of them!

Sale #1: Monkeysnuggles and Cover
Buy any Thirsties regular cover or any Bummis cover at regular price and then you can buy up to 2 (two) Monkeysnuggles regular fitteds for $15 each (so, 26.50 for a Thirsties cover and Monkeysnuggles fitted)

Sale #2: Buckets of Fluff
For Buckets of Fluff, there will be several "buckets" of products that have some great discounts on them. If everything from the bucket is purchased before December 31, everyone who purchased something out of that bucket will receive a $0.50 store credit per item. If all Buckets of Fluff items sell, then anyone who purchased items will receive $1.00 in store credit per item.

Sale #3: Grab Bags
$15.00 "Pink"
$15.00 "Prefolds & Snappi's Oh My"
$15.00 "Blue"
$20.00 "$20.00 Diapers" (5 available)
$25.00 "Small"
$25.00 "Large"
$30.00 "Green"
$35.00 "Got Milk?"
$50.00 Girl Diaper Set
$50.00 Boy Diaper Set
$50.00 Girl Diaper Set
$50.00 Gender Neutral Diaper Set
$50.00 Gender Neutral Diaper Set

#4 Wool
Buy a Monkeysnuggles wool and a Monkeysnuggles fitted and receive a free wool wash bar from WeeEssentials!

#5 Hidden Coupons
Every day there will be hidden "deals" on products. When you check out you will receive additional discounts on those products!

Featuring: CJ’s BUTTer

We just got this email the other day and I totally had to share! We love it when our customers find the same love that we have for all of our WAHM’s.

I Have a new favorite diaper rash and dry skin solution! It happened like this:

I got my son up in the morning and changed his diaper to find a VERY red, VERY swollen penis in that diaper. The poor boy screamed in pain any time I so much as touched him, which made diaper changes interesting. I immediately reached for the CJ's Tube o' BUTTer, only to discover that we were nearly out! What to do?! I called Jess: "I have a horrible diaper rash on my hands and I'm almost out of CJ's! Help!" Then I headed out to Top to Bottom.

Jess had just got in a bunch of new products and one of them was CJ's Spray BUTTer. Perfect! I can spray it on to take care of the diaper rash and I don't have to rub or wipe it on.

Turns out, it was no regular diaper rash. My little man has extremely dry skin. So dry that it cracks and bleeds. Not fun... The doctor suggested we put Vaseline on it EVERY time we change his diaper. That's all fine and dandy, but Vaseline is heavy and messy and somehow, my son always gets his feet in it before I can cover him up with the diaper. Not to mention I would have to use a liner with his cloth diapers all the time. So, I tried the CJ's Spray Butter.

It works wonders! Three sprays with every diaper change, and no more dry skin. Plus, it smells fantastic! When I'm out and I change a diaper, someone almost always asks "did someone spray air freshener?" They're amazed when I tell them it's my diaper cream. I also love how easy it is to keep in my diaper bag. It makes less mess on my hands when we're out and it's much faster than a tube. I'm officially hooked!

-Amanda Kloke, local mom

Baby Greek

Hi. My name is Megan and I want to use cloth diapers.

Jess: You have to buy Rumparooz® wet bags and pail liners Me: What exactly are wet bags for?
Jess: Wet clothes
Me: Right. And…?

Extent of my cloth knowledge: Disposables bad, Cloth good.

There you go. That’s it. Even though I’ve listened to Jess talk about everything cloth diaper for the last year it didn’t sink in, because well I was NEVER going to have another baby.

Surprise my daughter hit 3 and I want another baby. I’m lucky enough that my wants have aligned with possibility, so now we’re trying. Now before my daughter was born, I was type A. After surviving her infancy and toddlerhood, I’m uber type-A. Like relentless. My Nook, has bookshelves organized by subject then by author. I’m probably crazy, but that’s how I keep My-Bee (my daughter) alive.

A little bit of back story- My husband is a writer, and shortly after My-Bee was born we moved from Kansas, to Brooklyn, NY. Cloth was not an option for us. We lived in an apartment that didn’t have a washer and dryer, in fact the washer and dryer were 3 blocks away in a horrible neighborhood called “East NY.”  We lived at the corner of Pitkin and Schenk, pronounced Skank. What? Yeah Skank, well I suppose it could be shank, but that’s not much better.

Did I mention prostitutes worked out of the bathrooms in this Laundromat? Yeah there was NO way I was walking down there every two to three days to wash diapers. Instead I was OBSESSIVE about changing My-Bee, which means Nate became obsessive about how much diapers cost.

Well 3 years later we are living in Los Angeles (for the most part) the Mecca of all things hippie, including the environment, and why not? Have you see what the human species has done to LA?

When we started talking about a new baby, I started dropping hints like “what do you think about cloth diapering” and “do you really want to go back to buying diapers?” and “diapers are so expensive. I guess we could do cloth” in order to appeal to my husband’s inner cheap-o. It worked. It got him to agree to cloth. I just needed time for him to come around “by himself.”

Ok now what? Google of course. I’m an intelligent woman I can research this shiz right?  The first Google search got me confused. My follow up call to Jess had me more confused.

Ok so I was going to try the newborn rental package and she uses the pail system (what? No diaper genie?) and only fitteds (ok… ) and huh?

This is like Baby Greek to me people. I have no idea what I’m doing, or looking at. I don’t yet understand the difference between fitteds, and all in ones, and inserts, and why I can’t use my All Free and Clear soap, and, and, and… The real problem for me is that I learn by seeing, and I don’t understand things if I can’t see them.

So in addition to my twice daily calls to Jess, I’m looking for a physical store in LA or NYC. But until I find one, or several, I’ll be looking at Top to Bottom Baby Boutique’s website and trying to figure out the differences between the products.

Oh, and keeping you updated on my progress, or just the panicky calls to Jess whichever happens more often.

Megan Mascorro-Jackson is wife, sister, daughter, a stay at home mom  to one sweet little girl. Just relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, but she tends to be a bit bicoastal. After deciding to try for another child, Megan convinced her husband that cloth was the way to go. Come along on her journey though the rabbit hole of cloth diapers.

Cloth Diapering a Newborn – Preparation

When my daughter Nola came along, I knew I wanted to use cloth diapers. For me, it was largely an economical decision. Everyone thought I was crazy. Without much support, I doubted myself a little, but once I started researching the cute factor pushed me over the edge! I really had no idea what would really work or not work with her, so I had a mish mosh of options. I tried a few things when she was a newborn, but they didn't work well and I got discouraged. When she was about three months old, I finally knew what I wanted and stocked up on easy to use BumGenius 3.0 all-in-ones. With all the experience I got with Nola, I feel confident to dive into cloth with my second baby right from the get go.

Here's my plan...

Supplies

I stocked up with 14 Lil' Joey all in one diapers from Rumparooz. I chose these diapers for three reasons.

Number 1: Convenience. With Nola, I realized that what worked for me was for the diaper to be as convenient as possible. I didn't do well with covers, or liners, or pre-folds. They overwhelmed me and made me feel like a little bit of a failure. Once I got my 12 BumGenius 3.0 with Nola I felt so successful! I used them exclusively, even when we were out. I felt such gratitude from the planet. :)

Number 2: Sizing is important to me. My husband was a little hesitant to invest in the Lil' Joeys because they won't fit very long. But I'm a little bit vain, and I like my babies to look cute in their diapers. When Nola was a newborn, all the diapers I had looked just HUGE on her, and it made me not want to use them, especially when friends and family came to meet her. Yep. Forget the earth. My baby was going to look cute! These diapers should be just right for a newborn tushie to look it's best. In the picture, the diapers are laying beside a newborn size onesie.

Number 3: Umbilical cord. You just never know how long that thing will hold on. And it just looks so tender, I never wanted anything to touch it, if possible. The Lil' Joeys have a snap down in front for just that reason.

To round out my stash, I also bought two covers, a Thirsties Duo Wrap in size 1, and a Bummis Super Brite in newborn size. These are both very, very small. With these, I bought some tiny pre-folds. I got a steal of a deal on some used ones at Top To Bottom's Fluff Again event in October. Since I have experience now, I don't think it will overwhelm me to use these occasionally when all my Lil' Joeys are in the wash.

Expectations

I am going to take a couple of Lil' Joeys with me to the hospital. I don't plan on using them during my hospital stay, but I would love to take my new baby home wearing one. (And have an extra in case we don't make it all the way home without a blow out. :) I may use some liners the first few days, as well. Just until I know for sure that the meconium stage is over, and I'll only have easy peasy breast-fed poo to deal with. I would hate to stain my beautiful new diapers, and I really hope we'll be blessed enough to use them again someday.

I am taking a little bit of a gamble by investing in so many diapers without trying them. Experienced cloth mamas will advise against this. My problem is, my nesting urges have really overtaken me and I want to be READY the minute this baby comes. I want to be fully stocked, and not have to do any diaper shopping during those first few weeks. It's such a short stage anyway, I'm afraid if I don't get stocked ahead of time, my baby will outgrow them before I get around to ordering more.

Aside from stocking up on diapers I know I'll use for a newborn, this time around I'm going to use cloth wipes. I thought it sounded too hard last time. But really, it's pretty annoying to have to find a trashcan to throw your disposable wipes in when changing a cloth diaper. With cloth wipes, they can just get thrown in your dirty pail or wet bag with your diapers. And you're already washing diapers, why not add a few measly wipes? I got some wipes and wipes solution at the Fluff Again event to give it a whirl. I also got some Rockin' Green laundry soap while I was at the Fluff Again event (I really stocked up there! I grabbed a new wet bag, too!). Last time I used Tide for washing. I've heard such rave reviews for Rockin' Green I decided to try it out this time around.

So that's my plan...I'll let you know how it all pans out...:)

By: Charity
Watch for the next installments of this diapering a newborn series.

Bummis Trainer review.

Recently we chose a few of our fellow bloggers to help us out on some reviews. Read what Jenny thought of the Bummis Training Pants:

I was lucky to be able to try a Bummis trainer on Audrianna. It is really difficult to find the right training pants for her because she has cerebral palsy and is working very hard on potty training but isn’t 100% there yet. So sometimes she forgets and has accidents and sometimes there major accidents. We’re always on the lookout for a trainer that might be more absorbent.

When we got the Bummis Trainer in the mail I was a bit shocked at the size, it looked so big. Audrianna was close to 40lbs so I wanted to make sure we had one that would fit her. I went ahead and prepped the trainer anyways. I figured why not give it a shot it, it never hurts to try right?????

Although the gals of Top to Bottom Baby had warned me they ran a little big, I have to admit the trainer didn’t work and I was a little upset. The trainer was a little loose around the legs and when Audrianna would have a little accident it would leak. We decided to put them away for a while, and try again later.

Now that she has gained some weight back we decided to give the trainer another shot. The trainer worked great, and didn’t leave any marks on Audrianna’s legs.

Pros:

They were easy to put on and take off all by herself! Anything that is easy for Audrianna to do is a plus in my book. She loves to be independent.

Cozy flannel lining is so soft against skin, which encourages your little one to potty train faster!

Cons:

The sizing was not what I expected. I got a large which should fit 40lbs & up, but I felt it fit more like 45lbs and up.

I wasn’t a fan of the prints to choose from. I kind of wish they had more of a selection of prints. Other then just white, jungle, or the frogs. Maybe making them more appealing to kids to use would be helpful.

Amanda from Top to Bottom Baby was great to work with and the trainer was shipped fast. All my questions were answered very well. I was not compensated anyway for my review and the opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone.

Let’s give something away!!!!
We’ve decided we’re going to give away a $20.00 gift card to the store!

Mandatory Entry:
Tell us what training pants you’ve used, or tricks that you have heard help potty train faster!

Extra Entries:
(see complete list of all rules for extra entries here) Please leave one comment per entry unless noted

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**Giveaway is open to US residents only. Ends November 20th at 9pm CST.**