You've been forewarned, this post is a long one--- if you aren't interested in the "abnormal" things we do, than I don't blame you for moving on. If you are, go ahead and read on. :)
I often get comments about the fact that we cloth diaper and sometimes I get questions about why we chose to do it, how hard it is, etc. The thing is, if I think about it, I'm not entirely sure what the starting factor was for us. I vaguely remember talking with Brett about cloth diapering, and then we were getting more information from a friend of mine. (I paused to ask Brett if he remembers what got us on the topic of cloth diapers and he said it's because he didn't want to spend the money on disposables.)
The information we got from my friend was three typed and printed pages long! Needless to say there was an abundance of information- so much so, it was overwhelming. There are a multitude of styles when it comes to cloth diapers, there are also a multitude of fabrics that cloth diapers are made of, and a good number of cloth diaper companies... both commercial and WAHM (Work At Home Mom) or Etsy businesses. IT IS INSANE! There was so much information that we were confused about where to even begin. But then, we went to a baby expo here in town, and found a local web based retailer for cloth diapers, who offers a cloth diapering class for FREE! We went to that class, and came out of it, with a much better understanding of the varieties of cloth diapers, the washing of cloth diapers, the cost of cloth diapers, and we had a resource we could go to if we had questions.
The more research we did, the more interested we became. We learned that those who cloth diaper save $1500-$2000 per child for the extent of their diapering. We also learned that disposable diapers can take up to 500 years to decompose - this means the first disposable diaper is still in the landfill. And, we learned that the chemicals in disposable diapers can cause chemical burns on children (while not common, it does happen). For more statistics regarding this information you can go here.
For us, it wasn't so much about saving the planet from one more disposable diaper or the risk of chemical burns, but the $$$ saved was definitely a huge incentive. One of the most common and well known cloth diaper brands is BumGenius by Cotton Babies (out of St. Louis, MO) and so, we bought one. Our first cloth diaper was a One Size BumGenius Pocket Diaper in the color Ribbit (this). It was apparent that the diaper was going to be way too big for a newborn baby unless it was 9-10 pounds at birth (and my family history suggested otherwise). So, we got together with our local web based retailer and learned that for newborns, the best option is a prefold (like the kind your mom used) only instead of diaper pins, they now use clips (no sticking the baby or yourself) and then put a cover over the prefold to prevent leaks. So, we now had some pocket diapers, and some prefolds, and we also decided to get some All In Two diapers --- a shell with a snap in liner, so that we could have a variety to try. Click here for more information on the styles of cloth diapers. If you would like to know what brands we use, please feel free to ask. There is a ton of other information regarding ointments that can and can't be used with cloth diapers, how to wash cloth diapers and what detergents are okay, etc.
We had no idea how any of this was going to work when we brought our baby home, but we sure were excited to find out. Not to mention, we were acquiring more cloth diapers and they are so adorable it's hard not to be excited about them. When Caitlynn first came home, she weighed just over six pounds and we used disposables from the hospital for the first couple of weeks. We then used the prefold diapers until she was around 10 pounds at which time she started to fit into the all in two diapers we have for her. It took her a while longer to fit into her pocket diapers. After a while, Caitlynn was fitting in all of her diapers, but at first we had a limited number of diapers, and sometimes the diapers would be dirty and we would have to use disposables - it turned out that she has a sensitivity to disposables so as it turns out, for us, cloth diapers were what are best for her skin. Honestly, at this point - 15 months in, I'm so glad we chose to use cloth. Not only is her skin happier for it and our income better for it, but she is always just so cute in her diapers. We never use bloomers when she wears dresses because we have diapers that will match. And, I enjoy seeing them hanging on the clothesline drying - it's a rainbow of color, and it makes me smile. I also learned through this experience that the sun is one of the best bleaching agents there is... if you sun something long enough and those really hard stains enough times, the sun can make miracles. As an added bonus, the shell of all of our diapers can be used as a swim diaper. We actually have an official cloth swim diaper and then we plan to use two old BumGenius covers that I bought used. So, in a nut shell, that's why we cloth diaper.
an example of the power of the sun
Another "abnormal" thing we do is make our own baby food--- I should clarify, the "we" in this instance is actually Brett. Honestly, this is another one of those things we talked about for awhile, and then decided to do it. We had originally planned to buy jarred baby food and not bother with the "mess" of making our own food. However, my friend, kept talking about making baby food and sending me website links on how to make your own baby food, complete with recipes. I mentioned it to Brett and at first he showed no interest, but then we got closer to starting solids with Cait and he became more interested. In the end, he read more about it, and we decided that would probably be the way to go. It's a lot easier to guarantee you know what is in your child's food if you make it yourself, plus, it is cheaper. When Brett makes one of his recipes for Caitlynn, such as pureed peaches, it makes 48 oz, and when you're first starting out, babies don't eat more than an ounce at a sitting--- if that. Currently, at 15 months old, Caitlynn is eating 4 oz of fruit 2x a day and 3oz of meat and 2oz of veggies once a day... that's 13oz a day... That's also a lot cheaper than buying prepackaged baby food because buying the ingredients, such as a 3lb bag of frozen peaches for $6.50 to make 48oz of puree is cheaper than buying 12 jars of baby food at 4 ounces each (which if you buy Earth's Best Organic at Walmart its $0.90 a jar, or $10.98 for 48oz.) **Because we all know I stink at math, I've consulted Brett, who says its a 40% savings in making vs. buying peaches, items such as carrots would be about a 70% savings making vs. buying** Baby food can be made and then frozen in ice cube trays, each cube is one ounce, which make measuring out your food easy. According to Wholesome Babyfood, for optimal nutrients baby food shouldn't be frozen more than 3 months, but can be frozen up to six months. We have never made it close to 3 months much less six months with any of our food.
The other thing about making your own baby food is the taste and smell difference. Jarred fruits, veggies, and meats, whether organic or not, do not smell or taste like fresh made food (even fresh then frozen). When we started Caitlynn on meats before Thanksgiving (so she could participate in the big meal), Brett nearly lost his nuggets trying to feed her jarred chicken. It was even more telling when our dog got excited by the smell of the jarred chicken (or beef) and our child waved her arms in front of her face as if to say "NO! NO! NO!" Brett says, that was the motivation he needed to hurry up and cook some meat for her. Plus, she eats like a queen when she eats homemade. Brett has made her ginger chicken, ginger beef, chicken noodle soup, and beef stew for her meats and the amount of vegetables you can hide into those (that the recipes call for) is amazing. Plus, she actually likes eating them --- especially if mixed with carrots, sweet potatoes, or squash. Honestly, the only thing Caitlynn wasn't interested in eating was pureed peas, but that's because those really don't taste very good on their own. Brett' recommends the book "Baby Love" by Norah O'Donnell and Geoff Tracy for recipes for baby food. However, if buying a book isn't for you, Wholesome Babyfood is a good website to utilize (I found our library also had a variety of baby food cook books to borrow). I will say, Caitlynn has had some jarred food, but not much. The most prepackaged food she has had are Plum Organics food pouches, and that's because it was an easy way to introduce her to some of the foods we wanted to introduce her to. (And, they're super easy to travel with!) We found that Plum Organics has the least amount of adititves and is the most natural. Plus, as Caitlynn gets older we would like her to become more adept with the food pouch and infantino (plus some other brands) make equipment that makes it easy to fill your own pouches with your homemade food. Just another "abnormal" thing we do, that I'm glad we do.
eating a plum organics food pouch
pureed peas (homemade are green, store bought are brown)
making pureed mix fruit, and everyone knows a good chef samples his work
mixed fruit and peaches
The last "abnormal" thing we do, which we recently started is drink raw milk. We started drinking raw milk (cow and goat) because Caitlynn still has issues digesting cow's milk and we had hoped the raw cow's milk would be different. (It turns out, that maybe its not). However, Caitlynn has been doing well with the goat's milk. We haven't tried any pasteurized goat milk, but right now I'm not motivated to. After Caitlynn turned one we started her on cow's milk, after a few nights of being up at midnight or 1am with an upset child who would not go back to sleep for two hours, we decided to stop the milk and within a few days she was back to normal. The same thing happened with yogurt. However, she is still digesting cheese fine (Thank Goodness, since she loves cheese!). We debated trying the raw milk, but we had heard good things from multiple friends who are lactose intolerant and thought it might work. It didn't work (so far). I am glad she will be getting the fats that come in the goats milk. Before we tried the raw milk, she was drinking almond milk, which is great for vitamins, but not so great for fats. :) I don't have a whole lot of information on our decision to use raw milk, but wanted to explain it now before we get lots of questions later.
Well, this post is long, and wordy, and if you made it this far I'm impressed and I hope you learned something. Please, if you have questions leave a comment, or if you know other ways to contact me feel free to ask, and I will try to answer them. Thanks for reading this and learning about the "abnormal" things we do in our home.
To end, here's a couple photos to show how cute her cloth diapers are.
Until Next Time~
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