Cloth diaper!

The diaper dilemma is over! Jacob is wearing cloth about 99 percent of the time. I love his recycled wool sweater diaper covers. I had them made from some felted sweaters that I had been saving for crafting. They cost about $12 each to make. The nice thing about wool is that it absorbs extremely well, no leaks so far. Also, there is no smell because it neutralizes the smell from the urine. They are not as bulky or warm as most people think either. They also don't irritate his skin. Overall, I'm really happy with the way things are working out. Jacob seems happy too. It's been nice because he hasn't been in daycare this summer, so we can do whatever we want with feeding and cloth diapering. We'll see how things go in the fall when he goes back to daycare. I don't think they are opposed to cloth diapers, but according to his teacher, not one mother has done it in her time working at the daycare.

Jacob and Mugsy

We get a lot of comments about how big Mugsy is. He does look pretty big when he and Jacob are together. Jacob's last measurement was 29". He's a growing boy. He and Mugsy get along well. At first, Mugsy was kind of jealous of the new baby, and he even tried to climb into my lap while I was nursing Jacob. Sometimes he still tries, but they are getting to be pretty good friends. Mugsy doesn't scratch or bite Jacob, and he even permits Jacob to pull his tail or ears for a while before moving to another location.

On another more frustrating note. I have been trying to get the cloth diaper thing going for a while. I finally got my Charlie's laundry soap, and prewashed all of his diapers. I also did a few loads of our own clothes in the process. Recently I have noticed that Jacob has been breaking out into a rash, and it has only been when he's wearing newly washed clothes. I think that he is having a reaction to the new laundry soap. After talking to a few people, I have found out that some babies who have really sensitive skin will break out into a rash when they change laundry detergents, even when both are hypo-allergenic. I had never heard of this happening before, but I'm wondering if anyone has advice about what I can do. I can try washing his diapers in his 7th Generation that we were using before, but I'm afraid that they won't get as clean when I have to wash dirty diapers using that detergent. Ahhhh!!!!! I was almost ready to go.

gDiapers

For those of you who read my post about Earth Day, you know that I am in the process of trying out cloth diapers. I didn't actually get much farther than making the covers and trying them with some cloth diapers I bought at Babiesrus. Bad choice. I then ordered some better quality diapers and covers online. Then, I found that I would need different laundry soap to wash all of these products. While waiting for all of this to come together, I discovered gDiapers. These are diapers with breathable covers and liners that you can flush or compost. We already compost, and of course we have a toilet. Hmmm. Very tempting. For all of you moms out there who use cloth or disposables, would you mind taking a look at gDiapers and letting me know what you think about this. I'm very tempted. A) because I feel like I'm already swamped with laundry without cloth B) because my son goes to daycare, and they would probably be more willing to work with me on a flushable liner than cloth diapers C) these diapers are slimmer and not as bulky so I would be able to put him in the same clothes he is wearing now. Let me know what you all think. Give your honest opinions please.

Happy Earth Day

We are celebrating Earth Day a little differently this year. This is Jacob's first day wearing cloth diapers, and my first day using them. Wow! I have always felt like cloth was better for babies, but never thought I would have the time or energy to sift through all of the options to find something that worked for us. I was also afraid of spending a lot of money on products that didn't work for us. So, here are our cheaper alternatives: I got some trifold diapers at Babies r us when I went there to try to use up our remaining gift card, and that kicked everything off. Then, I found that to use those, I needed some kind of cover. In the process of my research, I found that wool covers are the best for keeping moisture locked in. I asked my friend Flo about knitting me some covers, but apparently it takes a long time, but she gave me a link to a free pattern for sewing diaper covers. They were pretty easy to make because I had all of the materials in my stash. I made him 3 covers yesterday, 2 blue fleece, like the one he has on and one bulkier wool one out of a felted sweater. So far I have only put him in one diaper, so I don't know how well I'm going to do with this, but I'll keep trying it out and we'll see what happens. Hooray for Earth Day!

P.S. I don't know what I'm doing. His first diaper was a poopy one, and I think I need to work on waterproofing the covers because he soaked through everything. I guess it's all about trial and error, right?