Cloth Diaper Carnival

Dirty Diaper Laundry is hosting a blog carnival dedicated to your diaper washing routine. I made a short video of how I wash. Here is the basic rundown:

- I try to keep everything simple so that I don't get overwhelmed with lots of additives and extra rinses.

- I try to wash every day or every day and a half (I need more diapers!) depending on how many diapers my son goes through.

- Dirty diapers are stored in a hanging wetbag (or a canvas drawstring bag like the one in the video). I try to remember to remove inserts, fold laundry tabs, etc before putting them in the bag. If my son was on solids, I would remove any solid matter before putting the diaper in the bag.

- On wash day, I take the bag to my laundry room, start a COLD rinse cycle, add all the diapers and the bag, and let it go. This cycle removes all organic matter left in the diaper (breastfeed poo is water soluble so it goes in as is) and liquids from the diapers.

- After the cold rinse, I do a HOT cycle with half of the recommended detergent. This cycle includes one cold rinse.

- Diapers get an additional rinse (or two) depending on if there are any soap bubbles during the agitation phase.

- Most days the diapers get hung to dry. The sun is awesome for removing stains! On rainy days (like today), the diapers are dried on the low setting in the dryer with dryer balls (no dryer sheets!!)

How to Wash Cloth Diapers Video: This is my first video, so go easy on me. I have a tiny laundry room, and it was difficult to fit everything in, so ignore the fact that my head is cut off most of the time. And also forgive my strong Texas accent :)

How to Wash Cloth Diapers from Jill Johnson on Vimeo.

(What it looks like when the diapers are hung out on the line)

Visit dirtydiaperlaundry.com to see the other entries!

HazelAid Review and Giveaway!

As a new mom, I'm always a bit distressed to see my son spitting-up. He has mild reflux, and although it usually doesn't bother him too much, it stresses me out to see him constantly spitting up or to see him in pain until he can get some relief from having something come back up. After one particularly rough day filled with way too many outfit changes (his and mine!), I hit the web looking for a safe, natural remedy to reduce the reflux. That is when I came across the website for HazelAid's hazelwood necklaces and baltic amber teething necklaes. I immediately placed an order for one of the hazelwood necklaces. My son has been wearing his necklace for almost a week now, and I am starting to see a difference. I know that his symptoms will continue to improve with prolonged use.

I contacted the owners of HazelAid, and Severine, the company's owner, shared her story with me:

My husband & I heard about these necklaces a bit over a year ago after trying in vain to help our then 3 month old with the eczema that had overtaken her poor little body! Nothing we tried helped, so when a friend of mine mentioned these necklaces to us, we were skeptical but willing to try anything. Her baby son had previously been on medication to help with his severely painful acid reflux but, she explained, within 2 weeks of him wearing the hazelwood necklace, he no longer exhibited any symptoms! She carefully took him off his medicine and he had been fine ever since! Wow! She mentioned that the necklace was supposed to help with eczema as well so we gave it a shot and ordered for our whole family. Since then we have never looked back! Sure enough, within 2 weeks her eczema cleared up entirely and only comes back if we take off her necklace and forget to put it back on (oops!) or when the necklace is saturated and has absorbed all the acid it can. When that happens (every few months or so), we put on a new one and within a few hours to a day or so, her eczema is gone again. I can't explain it but all I can say is we are sold! We have also benefited from how helpful it has been for teething pain for both our son & our youngest daughter. We have since decided to start an online company to make these marvels available to more people and get the word out. We have received so many emails from people telling us they had tried so many things to heal their various issues (eczema, teething, acid reflux, heartburn, & headaches being some of the main ones) and nothing has worked as well as these necklaces! They are so grateful not to be pumping their bodies and their little ones' bodies full of unnecessary and possibly harmful medicines, but instead to be able to treat these issues naturally and effectively.

How does hazelwood work?

Hazelwood has been used for hundreds of years by Native Americans to help relieve numerous ailments, especially teething pain in babies. The wood is an alkaline wood and therefore has the natural property of absorbing acid when it is in contact with skin. Much of the pain associated with teething is a result of excess acid production which is why these necklaces are able to dramatically relieve not only teething pain, but also help clear up eczema and reduce acid reflux! Both of those conditions (as well as others) often find their root cause to be excess acidity.

How does Baltic amber work?

Commonly known as "teething jewelry" in Europe, Baltic amber has been a natural remedy for pain relief for hundreds of years. As it warms with the body’s natural temperature, amber releases its healing oils that contain succinic acid which are then readily absorbed into the skin and then into the bloodstream. Amber is known to relieve headaches, reduce inflammation of the throat, ear and stomach and to fight infections and respiratory diseases as it improves the body’s immunity. Natural amber beaded necklaces are a completely non-invasive remedy for rashes, upset tummies, earaches, fevers and colds. Baltic amber is a natural analgesic that will help calm your child and is recognized by allopathic medicine specialists as antispasmodic and anti-fever. Many adults report improvement of arthritis discomfort and carpal tunnel pain in their hands when wearing amber jewelry.

Buy it!

Hazelaid offers necklaces that come in adult and child lengths, as well as bracelets, anklets, and hazelwood creams and lotions. Visit their website to order.

Win it!

HazelAid is generously offering one of my readers a free necklace! The winner will be allowed to choose any child or adult necklace, bracelet, or anklet. To enter, simply visit HazelAid and then come back and leave me a comment letting me know which piece of HazelAid jewelry you would choose if you won. Be sure that your email is viewable on your profile, or leave your email address in the comment so that I can get in touch with you if you win.

Extra Entries (please leave a separate comment for each extra entry):

- Become a follower of my blog.

- Follow me on Twitter, and tweet this contest. Be sure and leave the permalink of your tweet!

- Visit HazelAid's website and tell me something you learned about hazelwood or baltic amber

- Blog about this contest, leaving a link back to my blog and to HazelAid's website. (2 extra entries!)

This contest is open to residents of the US & Canada, and will close on September 6th. The winner will be contacted via email and will have 72 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.

Cloth Diapering a Newborn

We started cloth diapering our son when his umbilical stump fell off (around 2 weeks). Because this was my first baby and I didn't know if cloth diapering would be difficult, I only had a very small newborn stash built up before he arrived. As a result, he was in sposies part-time. With our next baby, I hope to have him/her in cloth as soon as possible (or at least as soon as the meconium is gone). Some people choose to skip the newborn sizes altogether (especially if they have a history of having larger babies), but I decided to build a small newborn stash and then focus more on the small sizes that he would grow into.

How many diapers will I need?

The amount of diapers you need will be determined by how often you want to do laundry. The average newborn usually needs to be changed at least 8-15 times a day regardless of the type of diaper system (even sposies need to be changed that often). The most common recommendation seems to be around 3 dozen diapers. This can be a mix of prefolds, fitteds, aio's, pockets, etc.

What type of diapers work best for a newborn?

Most build stashes of prefolds, fitteds, and covers, with a few aio's and pockets to try out. Prefolds and covers are the the most economical recommendation for the newborn stage because they are inexpensive (they can often be found for less than $20/dozen), which comes in handy since you need a larger quantity of diapers for this stage. You will also need around 4-6 covers, such as XS Thristies. Fitted diapers are easy to put on (especially at night!) and they are very absorbent. The elastic around the legs and back help to contain the runny, sometimes explosive breastfed poo. Fitteds also require the use of a cover.

I also found AIO's to be nice, especially for when my son would sometimes sleep for longer stretches. They were easy to put on and kept his bottom dry. The bumGenius XS's worked so well for us, that I would love to have an entire stash of these for our next baby.

Some Tips for the Newborn Stage:

- Don't feel guilty if you need to resort to sposies for a few days. Consider having a few on hand just in case you're too tired to use cloth. I didn't realize how exhausted I would be those first few days. I was also recovering from an emergency c-section, so it was difficult to get around, much less do laundry.

- Some mamas have found that prefolds and covers are the best option. I, however, did not like the huge infant-sized prefolds that I had. Next time around I will consider buying sized prefolds, such as the ones from Green Mountain Diapers. Better fit with less bulk. The baby will grow out of them quickly, but they can always be used as doublers or inserts.

- Consider using fleece or wool sleep sacks as covers.

- You can use doublers for increased absorbency and fleece liners to keep baby's bottom dry.

- Side snapping t-shirts are more convenient than onsies and make diaper changing easier.

- Don't be afraid of building a large newborn stash (unless you think your baby will be larger). My son was small, 7lbs 14 oz at birth, but it took him a long time to get back up to his birth weight. He used his newborn diapers for several months before outgrowing them. For us, they were a good investment.

My Favorites for the Newborn Stage:

bumGenius XS AIO's

XS Thristies

Prowraps

Kissaluv size 0's (KL0)

side-snapping t-shirts

Please add your own suggestions and recommendations!

Stash Pictures

Here are a few pictures of my (very small) cloth diaper stash. Someone please tell my husband that I NEED more diapers.

Left row (top to bottom): Turquoise Urban Fluff AIO, Lime Urban Fluff AIO, Butternut bumGenius Organic AIO, Grasshopper bumGenius Organic AIO, Blueberry Minky Pocket in Cow Print, 4 ATD AIOs (I have 4 more of these but that's what he's been in since getting home from church)

Right Side Top (L to R): Turquoise Knickernappie One Size, Blackberry and Kiwi GroBabies

Right Side Bottom: Moonbeam and Ribbit bumGenius 3.0 One Size Pockets

Inserts, Doublers, Wetbag, Snappi, Pins, GroBaby Disposable Bio Soakers

Prefolds, Burp Cloths, Hanging Pail, Preflats, Covers, and Liners

New Cotton Babies Product

It looks like Cotton Babies (the makers of bumGenius) is set to release a new product, the Econobum, which has already won an iParenting Media Award. Cotton Babies says that it is set to hit shelves in September. Can't wait to find out more!