Sleep training and other recent events

When Liam turned 6 months old, I finally consented to beginning sleep training. Dan had been wanting to give it a try for a while now. The first nap sucked. I laid him down in the guest bed next to me and rubbed his back until he cried himself to sleep. It took about an hour. I was so upset about letting him cry that I wasn't able to get a nap while he slept.

That night, Dan put Liam to bed. Dan had an even harder time than I did and wasn't very consistent. Liam fell asleep after about 45 minutes, but continued to sniffle for over an hour after he had fallen asleep. That really broke my heart.

I did a little bit more research the next morning and came across the Ferber method. Routine is very important to establishing good sleep habits. I turn on the music on his sound machine, put Liam down in his crib, give him a burp cloth to cuddle with and rub his belly for a few seconds. If he cries, I return after 5 minutes to rub his belly or back and say "shhhhh." I leave the room within a minute. If he continues to cry, I come back after 10 minutes and repeat the process until he falls asleep.

I cannot believe how quickly Liam learned the process. I can put him down for a nap and he only fusses for a couple minutes. No more tears. He is also sleeping for longer at night. I've heard him stir, but he goes back to sleep without needing me. I still nurse him to sleep if nap time coincides with hunger. During the night, I feed him when he wakes up and he usually falls asleep in my arms. I change his diaper before putting him down, but he usually sleeps through it. If he does wake up, he goes right back to sleep when I put him down.

About 12 weeks old, sleeping on my lap. 

 In other news, Liam's diapers have been more prone to leaking lately and I realized that some of them were starting to repel. Part of routine cloth diaper care is "stripping" the diapers. After a rinse cycle to remove the waste, I added a squirt of original Dawn dish washing detergent to a hot wash cycle with no detergent. I did an extra wash cycle without detergent to make sure that all of the soap rinsed out. I haven't really had any problems since.

I also decided that I don't like the Imse Vimse flushable liners. They are really rough. After feeding Liam solid foods, his poo didn't change much. The diapers are still coming clean in the washing machine, so I'm going to stick with the old routine for now.

The Great Cloth Diaper Change

To celebrate Earth Day and raise cloth diaper awareness, parents around the world changed diapers simultaneously (and may have set a Guinness World Record.) Liam and I went to a local park and participated with about 30 other families. Here's the newspaper photo of some of the group. (Me and Liam are on the left.)

Liam before the change:

And after:

Fluffy Mail

I'm a little late posting this one. The flushable liners that I bought were back ordered and didn't arrive until recently. I've had the diapers for about 10 days though.

Bum Genius 4.0 pocket diapers clockwise from top left: Free Spirit, Concrete Jungle, Jet Setter, Moonbeam, Retail Therapy, Eiffel Tower
Baby Legs in Bum Genius Ribbit

After selling the GroVia AIO diapers, I wanted to beef Liam's diaper stash back up. I spent a little bit more for 5 cute "artist series" prints. Since I spent over $100 total, I got a free pair of baby legs. Liam looks really cute in them!

I also bought Imse Vimse flushable liners for when we start giving Liam solid foods in a few days. I'll let you know how that goes. I have heard horror stories. I would gladly trade cloth diapering for better sleep at this point though, as much as I love his cloth diapers.

A few weeks ago, I bought some more Rockin Green laundry detergent for cloth diapers. I got the "Smashing Watermelons" and "Lavender Mint Revival" scents.

Cloth Diapers: Resale Value

After my most recent purchase of Bum Genius 4.0 pocket diapers, I have all but stopped using the GroVia All-in-Ones. On a whim, I posted an ad on craigslist last night around 10pm. By 5pm today, I had the cash in my hands. I was very surprised at how quickly I was able to sell them locally since the area I live in isn't exactly crunchy granola.

Being environmentally conscious is not all about buying new hybrid cars or solar panels. Buying used and selling unwanted items are great ways to minimize your carbon footprint and add a little green to your wallet in the process. Cloth diapers have a surprisingly high resale value. Cotton Babies (one of my favorite on-line cloth retailers) has a buy back program. I could have sold the GroVia All-in-Ones there for $7.50 each. That price was a little low though, considering that they run $21.95 new. I thought that I could get a bit more by selling them locally (and avoid shipping in the process.)

Let's do the math:
I bought the 7 GroVia All-in-Ones on sale for $115.22 total in November 2010
I sold them for $80 total in April 2011
I washed them approximately every other day, so let's say 60 uses each
Let's call water/electricity/detergent $0.40 per load and the GroVia All-in-Ones accounting for 30% of each load of laundry

Net Diaper Cost= $35.22
Total Laundry Cost= $7.20
Total Cost= $42.42

$42.42/(7 diapers*60 uses)= $0.10 per use

This is also a good time to compare cloth diapers to disposables. While Liam was healing from his circumcision, Target's Up & Up brand of diapers fit him the best. If I bought them in jumbo packs, here are the costs for each size that Liam might have worn over the last few months:
newborn = $0.17 each
Size 1 = $0.13 each
Size 2 = $0.15 each
Size 3 = $0.17 each

Not too shabby when you consider that All-in-Ones are one of the more expensive cloth diapering systems and I only got a few months use out of them. Now I've got the funds to buy some more Bum Genius 4.0 pocket diapers. They are on sale again, buy 5 get 1 free. I may even splurge on some prints.

Fluffy Mail!

cottonbabies.com was having a sale on Bum Genius 4.0 pocket diapers last week. These are my favorites, so I couldn't resist getting a few more. Since I was ordering anyway, I got a few other things as well.

5 Hemp Babies inserts

4 Bum Genius 4.0 pocket diapers in snaps (clementine, twilight, ribbit and moonbeam)

2 Bum Genius All-in-One medium diapers in hook & loop (clementine and moonbeam)

Liam isn't sleeping as long at night as he use to, but hemp really makes a great insert for his pocket diapers. They are just as absorbent as the microfiber inserts that come standard with the pocket diapers but are less than half the thickness. I currently put 2 inserts into Liam's pocket diapers at night, so using hemp inserts makes the diapers much less bulky. 

I love Bum Genius pocket diapers. They fit Liam really well and are the best for overnight. I am glad to have a few more so that I can use them during the day if I want instead of hoarding them for nighttime. They supposedly make great swim diapers went left unstuffed (as in without inserts) but I haven't taken the little dude to the pool yet. I'll let you know how that works out. 

I was a little surprised when I received the Bum Genius All-in-One diapers. I already had 1 Bum Genius Elemental, which is their organic cotton version of the one piece diaper. I thought that the regular All-in-One diapers would be the same, just made out of slightly different cotton. I was wrong and should have looked at the diagram on the Cotton Babies website. Bum Genius All-in-Ones are just like pocket diapers except the microfiber insert is sewn in. I suppose it makes it easier for babysitters but it takes a lot longer to dry. The pocket isn't sewn shut, so you can add additional inserts if you have a very heavy wetter or a baby who sleeps really well. These are the first Bum Genius sized diapers that I have purchased. They are mediums and should fit Liam from 15 to 22 pounds. The sized diapers are being discontinued and are fairly inexpensive at $9.95 each. 

Fluffy Mail!

The cloth diapers that I ordered last week arrived today. It's sad how excited I am to have new diapers, but I should be able to wash diapers every 3 days now. 

Here's what I got: 

Clockwise: Rockin Green laundry detergent, Bum Genius 4.0 pocket diapers in sweet, noodle and bubble, Hemp Babies hemp insert for pocket diapers

Cotton Babies was having a "seconds" sale last week. Seconds are slightly deformed diapers- kind of like shopping at an outlet store. The 4.0 diapers that I received have some of the elements of the 3.0 version of the same diaper. The purple and green diapers have suede laundry tabs instead of Velcro and have the lower rise like the 3.0. The yellow diaper has the 3.0 stiffer Velcro on the front. They also do not include the absorbent inserts (though I have plenty.) None of these are big deals and I am glad to have them at 50% off of the retail price.  

Since I was ordering anyway, I decided to get some Rockin Green cloth diaper laundry detergent. I discovered that the Tide Free and Clear liquid detergent that I have been using isn't recommended for cleaning cloth diapers. Rockin Green is phosphate, dye and enzyme free. It comes in lots of funky named, natural scents. I opted for the unscented "Bare Naked Babies" variety, though I will probably give "Smashing Watermelons" a try if I like this brand. I'll let you know how it works out. 

I also bought a Hemp Babies brand hemp insert for Liam's pocket diapers. He's starting to sleep for longer during the night. His diapers aren't leaking yet, but it's only a matter of time before he will need more absorbency than 2 microfiber inserts. Hemp is supposed to be more absorbent. It's also much less bulky than the microfiber inserts. Hemp contains a lot of natural oils that will cause diapers to repel water, so it has to be washed a few times to get the oils out. 

I'll let you know how all of these things work out for me. 

Cloth Diapers: Cleaning and Care

"But Julia, what about... the poop?"

Cleaning cloth diapers is by far the biggest hesitation people have when I talk about cloth diapers. It was also Dan's biggest concern, but easily dismissed since I do the laundry anyway. To tell you the truth, it really isn't that bad. As I mentioned in a previous post, Liam leaked really badly out of disposable diapers, so the quantity of laundry isn't any different for us.

Brest milk is nature's perfect food for Liam's digestive system and the resulting poo is completely water soluble. That means the diapers go right into the washer without much fuss at all. (Have you ever read the fine print on disposable diapers? Public landfills are not equipped to handle human waste, so you are actually supposed to remove any poo before throwing away a disposable diaper. I can't say that I know anyone who does this though.)

Here's the system. I have a wetbag (a cloth sack with a waterproof lining and zipper top) attached to Liam's changing table. I also have a small wetbag that goes in my diaper bag for diaper changes on the go. The inserts for the pocket diapers are pulled out of the diaper and any velcro flaps are closed before going into the wetbag, but that's it.

Washing: I do laundry every 2.5 days or so and the load contains about 25 diapers of various styles. On laundry day, I dump the contents of the wetbag into the washer and do a cold rinse cycle without detergent. This removes basically all of the poop from the diapers. Then I do a hot wash and cold rinse cycle with detergent. I currently use Tide Free & Clear, though I plan on switching to a more cloth friendly detergent when I run out. You shouldn't use detergent with enzymes, fragrances or bleach as these will adversely affect the  absorbency and longevity of the diapers. Every other wash I will do an extra cold rinse cycle to make sure all of the detergent rinses off.

GroVia AI2 covers aren't supposed to go in the dryer, so I lay those flat on top of the dryer and they dry pretty quickly. All of the other diapers go into the dryer. As I move the diapers from the washer to the dryer, I undo any snaps that were left closed to help them dry faster. After 30 minutes, all of the pocket diapers and their inserts are dry. (This is one of the reasons pocket diapers are my favorites.) The AIOs and AI2 liners require about 25 more minutes.

When dry, I stuff the inserts into the pocket diapers and snap in the AI2 liners. I prefer to do this all at once than with each diaper change, but you don't have to. I have 2 large bins on the self on Liam's changing table where all of the diapers are stored.

And that's it! No big deal at all. It will get a little more complicated when Liam starts eating solid foods. I have a few options and will be sure to update when I figure out which direction I will go and how it works out.

Stains: So far, the only the organic cotton diapers have had any stains. Like I said before, bleach isn't a great thing for cloth diapers. To remove the stains, you're not going to believe this, I put the diapers outside on the driveway in the sun. No, really! I even took before and after pictures since I knew no one would believe me.

(left to right: GroVia AIO, GroVia AIO booster, GroVia AI2 liner, Bum Genius Elemental AIO)

That's pretty amazing, right? We had a nice sunny day, so I left them out for 5 hours to get them this stain-free. They continued to get whiter the next time I washed them. Other diapers have come out even whiter by leaving in the sun a little longer. No chemicals and the sun is a free source of renewable energy! It doesn't get any better than that.

This would also be a good time to mention the other products, besides harsh detergents, that you should not use with cloth diapers:
Vasoline- It is often used on circumcisions to prevent sticking to the diaper and this is the reason we didn't start cloth diapering until after Liam healed. I could have added a piece of flannel between Liam and the cloth diaper to prevent the Vasoline from getting on the diaper, but I had so many disposables from my baby showers that I just used them.
Diaper Rash Creams- Most diaper rash creams will get into the diaper fibers and cause them to repel and leak. There are some specialty diaper rash creams that are safe for cloth diapers. Liam hasn't had any diaper rash yet, but I put a tiny bit on lanolin on his bottom before bedtime as a preventative measure. Lanolin is also supped to help diaper rash heal, but I haven't had any experience with this yet. Lanolin is all natural, rinses away in hot water and you probably already have some. Again, if you need the diaper rash cream, put a piece of flannel between the cream and the diaper.
Fabric Softeners/Dryer Sheets: You don't need them anyway and the chemicals will build up in the diapers and cause them to repel and leak. I've also heard that using dryer sheets on other loads will leave residue in my dryer, so I haven't used dryer sheets at all since we started cloth diapering.

Cloth Diapers: Styles and Brands

These are not your momma's cloth diapers. Modern cloth diapers have a large variety of styles. Each have advantages and disadvantages. My recommendation for anyone considering using cloth diapers is to buy a variety or do a trial pack and see what works best for you and your baby before investing in one style or brand.

Prefolds: This is what most people think of when I say cloth diapers. They are flat pieces of cloth that can be folded in a variety of ways. They require a diaper cover. I bought a couple newborn sized unbleached Indian prefolds. They were okay, but not that absorbent. Dan would never try them. They are a pretty good option for tiny babies who don't fit into other diapers. Don't bother with the Gerber brand that you can find in Babies-R-Us. Those are great burp cloths, not diapers.

Fitted Diapers: These are shaped diapers that snap onto place around the baby's bottom. They require a diaper cover. I used Kissaluvs size 0 on Liam exclusively until he was about 9 or 10 pounds. They were great diapers for a newborn since the top snaps down so as not to rub the umbilical cord.

Diaper Covers: These are the Polyurethane Laminate (PUL) covers that lock the wetness inside. I covered Liam's prefolds and fitted diapers with Thirsites Duo Wraps. I liked that they adjust to fit over different bulks of diapers. I loved the patterns, too. They did tend to get a little wet around the seams at night when we would go several hours between diaper changes.

All-in-Ones (AIO): Just as the name suggests, these diapers work exactly like disposables. They are all one piece. I have two brands of AIO diapers. Bum Genius Elementals and GroVia AIOs are both organic cotton, one-size diapers. They adjust to fit babies from about 10 to 30 pounds. The Bum Genius is a little more fool-proof than the GroVia, but it takes longer to dry in the dryer.

All-in-2 (AI2): This system is intended to cut down on laundry. The popular G diapers are AI2s, but I haven't tried them personally. I have GroVia AI2 diapers. Like the AIO, they are organic cotton. The absorbent part of the diaper, called a soaker pad, snaps into a waterproof diaper shell. GroVia also offer disposable inserts, bio-soakers, that can be flushed, though I haven't tried them yet. They are also one-size diapers that will fit Liam until potty training. As a breast fed infant, his poo is still very watery and often escapes the soaker pad. It's not a huge deal, but I usually only use 2 soaker pads before I have to change the shell. These are Dan's favorite cloth diapers.

Pocket Diapers: This system includes a waterproof diaper and absorbent inserts. The inside of the diaper is made out of fabric that wicks the moisture away from the baby's skin to help him feel dry. The inserts are very absorbent materials that your baby may not want directly against his skin. The separate parts make these diapers dry really quickly. Pocket diapers can also be used without the inserts as swim diapers.  I have Happy Heiny and Bum Genius 3.0 pocket diapers. Both are one-size diapers. Happy Heiny diapers are made by work-at-home moms and come in lots of great patterns. They feel a little flimsy and the lining often creeps out and results in small leaks. The Bum Genius pocket diapers are my favorite of all the cloth diapers I have tried. They are my go-to diaper for nighttime and Liam seems to be comfortable for longer in them. The 3.0 version has been replaced with 4.0. I don't know what the difference is other than they have patterns now in addition to solid colors. They come in snaps or velcro. Dan prefers velcro but I prefer snaps.

Resources: 
Amazon (what can't you buy from Amazon)
Cotton Babies (home of the Bum Genius brand)
GroVia
Jillian's Drawers (shopping & information for many brands, they offer a great trial pack)
Diaper Style 

Why Cloth?

I was on the phone with a good friend of mine last night. She is about to have her 3rd child and we were talking about babies. I mentioned that I was cloth diapering Liam since I knew she had thought about cloth diapers when she had her first. It turns out that she had actually tried it and it didn't work out for her at all. She didn't know anyone who had used cloth and only had websites to rely on for information. So I am going to write a few blog posts about cloth diapers and how they have worked out for us.

I love cloth diapers. They have worked out fabulously for Liam. But before we get into all of that, I should mention why I chose to cloth diaper in the first place.

Cloth is better for the environment. Disposable diapers are the 3rd largest single consumer item in landfills and make up 4% of all solid waste in the U.S. In households with a child in disposable diapers, the diapers make up 50% of all garbage in that household. It has been estimated that it takes over 250 years for a disposable diaper to decompose in a landfill. Even though I used more water, detergent and energy to wash the cloth diapers, disposable diapers require water, chemicals and energy to produce and ship to the supermarket.

Cloth is better for my wallet. Cloth diapers are each fairly expensive. My favorite ones cost about $18 each. I pay a little more for the most convenient diapering systems and cute prints. Even buying the more expensive cloth diapers, I will save more than $1,000 over the time Liam is in diapers even when you take into consideration the cost of water, detergent and energy. If saving money is your main motivation for cloth diapers, you could choose less expensive diapers, buy used cloth diapers and dry the diapers on a clothes line. The savings continue to add up if you reuse cloth diapers for subsequent children.

Cloth is better for my son. Cloth diapered babies have far fewer cases of diaper rash. Liam hasn't had any so far. We used disposable diapers on Liam for the first 2 weeks while he was healing from his circumcision. Twice in just 2 weeks, the absorbent gels broke out of the lining and got all over Liam. I really hated that, especially while he was healing. Have you heard of Pampers' Dry Max? It is a new compound in some of their diapers that has given babies chemical burns. As of this post, it's still on the shelves.

Cloth is better for me. There is evidence that cloth diapered babies potty train earlier and easier than babies who wear disposable diapers. I'll let you know when we get to that point. On Liam, the cloth diapers have leaked a lot less than the disposable diapers he wore. We started out using Pampers and he would have major leaks several times a day. Huggies worked out a little better, though the best fit on him were the Target brand Up and Up. All told, we do less laundry with cloth diapers than we did when he was in disposables because of the diaper leaks.

Cloth is cute! 

There are downsides. This wouldn't be an honest post if I didn't discuss some of the downsides of the cloth diapering. Dan and I change Liam's cloth diapers all of the time, but anyone else requires a little training. My little sister still has a hard time changing him and Liam's pediatrician just lets me put his diaper back on during his visits. My mom got the cloth diapering lesson but hasn't changed any of his diapers yet. The cost savings are also over 2+ years, so you have to spend quite a bit of money up front all at once. We haven't gone anywhere overnight yet, but travelling with Liam will be more difficult with cloth diapers. With our current diaper stash, we can go 2.5 days between washing. Any longer than that and we would either have to have easy access to a washer & dryer or use disposables.

If you have ever considered using cloth diapers on your child, I highly recommend giving it a try. I won't pretend that what works best for me will work best for everyone else, but there's no harm in giving it a try.

I'm going to write several blog posts about cloth diapers and cover a variety of topics. If you have any specific questions, please write them in the comments section and I will definitely answer them!