Well, now I get to host an actual PARTY with one of my favorite brands of clothdiapers, FuzziBunz! They’re unveiling three new lines and I get to be one of the first to tell you all about them. How fun is that?

So, obviously, you’re all invited. It’s a Twitter party, so you need to have a Twitter account. If you don’t yet, you really should. Not just because I want you to come to our Twitter party, but because, I swear to you, Twitter has changed my life.

If Twitter confuses you, here’s a great link from Mashable with a list of Twitter tutorials and FAQs, from very basic to advanced.

Whether you’re a seasoned pro who’s cloth diapered 6 kids, a pregnant first-time-mom, or even a parent who is thinking of giving part time cloth diapering a try, you should definitely join in. There will be plenty of knowledgeable people who can answer questions for you, and there will be prizes! Yay prizes!

Here are all the details you need to know:

Meet The Elite Fuzzibunz #ClothDiaper Twitter Party

Date: October 4th
Time: 8:30 pm CST
Hosts: @BabyRabies  & @FuzziBunz
Ambassadors: @Tottums  @heirtoblair  @EFFBlog 
Official Hashtag: #FuzziBunzElite
Prizes!: There will be 15 prizes given out (from 3 NEW product lines that I can’t really say much about right now), and all attendees will get a FuzziBunz Potty Training Guide (hint, hint!)

There are other details that I’ll add as we get closer to the date. Just consider this your Save The Date. If you plan to make it to the party, please go ahead and RSVP by entering your information in the box below. Winners at the party will only be chosen at random from the official RSVP list, and you must be present (on Twitter) during the party to win.

I hope you can make it.

One of the best lessons I’ve learned in my 3+ years of motherhood is that you don’t have to be all in with anything as a parent, no matter what the books, magazine quizzes, or online community will have you believe.

Let me reiterate that: Parenting choices don’t have to be all or nothing.

When I was a new mom, I struggled with where I fit in. A lot of the things I was doing (like cloth diapering, making my baby’s food, breastfeeding, and occasional baby-wearing) made me feel like I was part of this very specific group of parents who all did (or were expected to do) the same things. So I followed them, I listened, and then I started to feel inadequate because many of my other parenting philosophies (like modified sleep training at 7 months, and timeouts at 2 years old) that worked for me, for this family, didn’t seem to gel with their ideas (and I recognize that this was largely ME making MYSELF feel inadequate, I’m not placing the blame on the AP community).

Well, if I wasn’t one of them, who was I?

On a smaller scale, sometimes even the specific choices seem to be made for us because we can’t/don’t want to commit fully to the other option.

For example, my friend Stephanie just started cloth diapering her 2nd baby part-time. Her goal is to simply follow the Change 3 Things mission, and do her very best to use 3 cloth diapers a day. She told me that it took a while for her to realize she didn’t have to say, “I’m a cloth diapering momma, and so that is all I use and will ever use, and I will sacrifice for this cause because it’s what I do.” (Or something to that effect.) No, she could just do what she could… and that would be enough.

Even I found myself a bit of a slave to the cloth diapers in the beginning, feeling like a cloth diapering failure if I bought disposables on a road trip instead of washing our diapers while traveling. This time around, while I totally admire those who can cloth diaper while traveling, I don’t feel an ounce of guilt over picking up a pack of disposables to take with me on a trip to my sister’s in Austin. What I do is enough.

Sometimes readers and Twitter followers seem to be surprised or turned off when I start talking about things like sleep training or timeouts (or purees, but that is a whole other blog post). “But you breastfeed and cloth diaper! I thought you would do XY&Z.” Why? Why would anyone assume anything about me based on other, completely unrelated choices?

Ahhh, but I admit I do it, too. It’s easier to understand people when we box them in, isn’t it? It’s easier to find people like ourselves, who we feel safe to bond with, when we believe they feel the same way as us about every issue. (Or maybe that’s just me. I don’t mean to overgeneralize.)

Assumptions get us into very sticky, judgy, uncomfortable places as parents. It takes much more work to not assume things about other parents. It takes much more work to not box them in. Not assuming things means taking the time to ask questions, read their blog, and stepping out of our own reality to try to truly understand where they are coming from.

There is so much to learn, and so many great connections we can make if we do this, though. There is value in a circle of friends who are diverse, even when speaking about parenting choices. (And remember, even if their parenting choices are the opposite of yours, it’s okay! I’m 99% sure they don’t want to kidnap your kids and raise them for you.)

For ourselves, I think it’s important to remember you can be any type, types, or hybrid of parenting types that work for you. Even better? If that doesn’t work out, YOU CAN CHANGE. That’s another great thing about not being boxed in. You don’t feel like you’re stuck or have to dig your way out with excuses.  That is the best lesson I’ve learned as a parent. It’s okay to change. You should try it sometime. Pick one thing that’s not working for you, and change it.

It’s a little scary sometimes to not have a box to hide in when I’m not sure how I feel about something, but, most of all, it’s just freeing.

(Please know this is not an attack on the AP community! I love my many friends who classify themselves as AP parents, and I find a lot of value in our relationships.)

Kendall is 3 years 3.5 months and Leyna is 7.5 months old

I love those little ruffles that stick out the back and around the legs! Turns out they’re pretty good at keeping messes in. Not a single blowout or leak in this diaper. Not one.

The inside of the diaper is super soft, lined with micro-fleece. The outer shell is extremely flexible and soft, too. In fact, I’ll admit that, at first touch, the diaper seemed a little… flimsy. As I mentioned before, though, it’s done a super job, has been really durable, and I actually love how thin and light it feels now.

A unique feature of the AppleCheeks pocket diaper is there is no need to unstuff! Really. I swear. I’ve never once taken it out of the dryer and found an insert crumpled down in one end, not clean or dry. I’m a little spoiled by it.

The only downside, for me, about AppleCheeks is they aren’t one-size-fits-all. There are 2 sizes. Size one fits up to 20 lbs, size 2 fits 18-40. Leyna was actually busting out of her size 1 by the time she was 3 months old. BUT, let’s all remember, she’s a beast. 99% of babies will not grow out of size 1 that fast.

And, as with all her cloth diapers, even the largest size is getting a little snug due to her massive leg chub. The good news is they sell these waist extenders, which add an additional 2 inches of wiggle room. While I’m really hoping we won’t need them until she’s much older, it’s nice to know we have that option to extend the diaper life a little longer for big kids.

A Little Bundle, which includes a cover and insert, is $28.71.  Any order over $40 gets free shipping.

AppleCheeks wants to giveaway a $30 credit to their online boutique. (Please note the winner will be responsible for any remaining balance and shipping if applicable.) All you have to do to win is comment below, telling me what your favorite color AppleCheeks is (so many GORGEOUS colors!). You’ll get an extra entry if you do any of the following:

Follow the AppleCheeks blog
“Like” AppleCheeks on Facebook
“Like” Baby Rabies on Facebook
Follow @BabyRabies on Twitter

Please leave one comment for each one you do and allow time for moderation. I’ll draw a winner using Random.org next Monday, June 6th. Good luck!

Disclosure- AppleCheeks sent me the diapers to review at no cost. All opinions are my own.

Contest is closed. Congrats to commenter #81, Jillian Britz, chosen by Random.org!

1. iPhone- I didn’t have an iPhone or any kind of smart phone with Kendall in the beginning. Oh, I didn’t know what I was missing! I remember begging Scott to set up a small TV in our bedroom after the first week because I needed *something* to do while I was up all night with him. I can’t even count how many late night infomercials I watched in those early months.

Now? I can read books, reply to emails, chat on Twitter, catch up on Facebook, and even blog all from my iPhone. Many days I don’t have time to crack open my laptop until naptime, but I can check in quickly on my phone throughout the day. Not to mention, I love that I have a camera and video camera with me at all times. Great for capturing those adorable and hilarious moments of life with a newborn and a toddler and sending them to distant family and friends. And the calendar and alerts features have saved me from having to remember all those doctor’s appointments.

2. A good pump- I didn’t pump much with Kendall because all I had was a manual pump, and it just didn’t work out for me. I’m really lucky nothing ever happened that would have made me rely on a freezer stash. This time around I have an AMAZING pump from Hygeia, and as a result, I have an ever-growing freezer stash of breastmilk.

Hygeia sent me the Enjoye electric double pump for free to review, and I started using it just a few days after we brought Leyna home. She refused to latch on to my left nipple after my milk came in, and I was fighting engorgement. Within 2 days I had 10 ounces in the freezer. This pump is SO efficient and SO easy to use, especially compared to the manual I dealt with with Kendall (no wonder I never wanted to use that thing!). I don’t know what I would have done without it. I always bust it out when I feel clogged ducts. So far, no full blown mastitis this time around!

A good pump is a necessity for any working mom who wishes to breastfeed, but even stay at home moms benefit from a pump. It’s always good to have an emergency freezer stash, and wonderful for that morning after the first night your baby sleeps longer than 4 hours and you think your breasts are about to explode.

The Hygeia Enjoye, unlike many other popular electric pumps, is a non-hospital grade breast pump registered with the FDA for multiple users. There is no risk of your milk coming in contact with anything a previous user’s milk touched if you get your own personal accessory set. It’s the “greenest” breast pump because it CAN be used by more than one mother, and when it comes to the end of it’s lifecycle, you can send it back to Hygeia and they will recycle it. As of this year, breast pumps and supplies are now tax deductible and you can use your flex savings account to get reimbursed for your purchase. So go get you a GOOD breast pump!

3. Bouncy Seat- We have quite a few baby apparatuses, and I babywear when I can, but the Fisher Price bouncy seat has seen the most use out of all of them. It’s where Kendall slept for a couple months and where Leyna now sleeps (propped up next to us inside her co-sleeper). It’s also lightweight, easy to move around the house, and a great place to lay baby outside the shower while you clean up, alternating scrubbing your hair and peeking out to check on them.

Plus, we’ve found our babies love to be bounced to sleep. As I type this, Leyna is in her bouncy seat on the floor in front of me napping while I gently bounce her with my feet. There are several designs to choose from. You don’t need anything too fancy, and the lighter, the better.

4. Moby Wrap- A lot of times, babies just want to be held, they want to be close to you. If you want to get anything done (dishes, makeup, going to the bathroom), you’ll have a lot more luck keeping baby close and being semi-productive with one of these. It’s simplicity was intimidating to me at first. It’s just a long piece of fabric you have to learn to wrap and tie a certain way, but once I figured it out, it was a breeze. Both babies loved being snuggled next to me in it. It’s also the only way I can go grocery shopping with both kids. Kendall sits in the front of the cart and Leyna snuggles in the Moby. When Kendall had colic, I could get him to calm many times by putting him in it and going for a bouncy walk outside. Sure, I looked a little silly, but it quieted the screams.

5. Flatfolds as Burp Cloths – All babies spit up, some a lot more than others. We’ve been pretty lucky that neither Kendall nor Leyna have been really messy in this department, but we still use the heck out of these Gerber cloths. They are technically old-fashioned cloth diapers, though I think they work much better as burp cloths and all around baby cleanup cloths. I keep a couple in my diaper bag, and we always have one floating around the living room. They do work as an extra diaper in a pinch, also great for cleaning up blowouts and blowing snotty noses. Down the road, they’ll make great house cleaning rags.

6. White Noise- When I met with Dr. Harvey Karp last week he told me a new study showed that babies who are swaddled and listen to white noise at night sleep on average an extra hour longer. An extra hour  of sleep with a newborn is pretty close to winning the lottery. White noise was great for Kendall when colic was at it’s peak. We even kept CDs (similar to this one) of vacuum and hair dryer noises in both cars. But even beyond colic, he still sleeps with white noise every night from his Homemedics Lullaby Sound Spa. Since we still have the monitor on in his room and Leyna sleeps with us, we all end up listening to the same noises all night.

7. Swaddling Blankets- I’m a believer of the 4th trimester theory, that babies aren’t really *ready* for the world when they are born. I learned all about this in Dr. Harvey Karp’s Happiest Baby On The Block book. We found once we started swaddling Kendall, he calmed much quicker and slept longer. We didn’t hesitate to start this with Leyna. We swaddled her in these sweet Aden & Anais muslin blankets at first (love that they are lightweight!), and quickly moved her into the Miracle Blanket when she got a little bigger and stronger. I like to say the Miracle Blanket is woven threads of baby tranquilizers.

8. Primo EuroBath- We went through 4 different containers to bathe Kendall in, never really loving any of them. The first was a baby sling, which made me cringe. Maybe we were using it wrong, but all it seemed to do was hold his naked wet body up and out of the water. Didn’t look comfortable at all, and seemed incredibly cold. This time around a friend got the Primo EuroBath tub for us and I LOVE it. You use one side for tiny babies, then switch it  around and sit older babies in the other side. For newborns, you can fill it just enough to let them be slightly submerged, and it keeps them in place in a reclined position. You can use it on a countertop, but we just keep ours in the kid’s tub.

9. Boppy-  I use this primarily as a breastfeeding pillow, and while I’ll admit there are more supportive pillows for newborn breastfeeding (like the My Brest Friend), this is still my favorite over all. First of all, the Boppy is easy to use, no straps to deal with. It’s also multi-purpose. It’s great for tummy time, comfy for new moms to sit on when healing after delivery, and it makes an excellent neck pillow while traveling in the car. Make sure you get an extra cover for yours. I find I’m always washing mine.

10. Cloth Diapers- We’re cloth diapering a newborn for a 2nd time, and the love is still there. Again, we’re using Kissaluvs size 0 fitteds with Thirsties covers primarily. I’m sorry to say Sunshine Diapers no longer offers the Kissaluvs Newborn Rental package (epic sad!), but you can buy them used from places like DiaperSwappers, or buy your own new stash and sell them or loan them out when you’re done. I also tried a Fuzzi Bunz XS pocket diaper (sent to me for review at no cost) and quickly fell in love with it. They are more expensive than the fitted diapers, but very convenient and trim. I think they make a great addition to a newborn cloth diaper stash.

Of course, every baby and family is different, and what works great for me and mine may not be a good fit for you. These are just 10 things that make *my* life easier. Do you agree or disagree with any of them? Have any to add? I’d love to make this post a great go-to resource for expecting readers, so feel free to chime in in the comments!

Also, I’ve been working on an Amazon store and all the Amazon product affiliate links above go back to my store. You can find much more than my Newborn Essentials there, so give it a browse. Each product is one I’d feel confident recommending to anyone. I’ll add more to it as I have time. I should note if you purchase through those links, I get a tiny little percent.

Disclosure- Some of the products included in my Newborn Essentials list were sent to me for free to review. They truly earned their spot on this list, and I wasn’t paid to include anything.

Kendall is 2 years, 10 months and Leyna is 2 months old

First, let me be honest with you all and say that my 2.5 year old who is now daytime potty trained is wearing *gasp* disposables for nap time and night time. It’s just the best option for us. He’s only using 2 diapers a day, and 75% of the time he waits to poop until he goes to sleep. The poopy diapers needed to be laundered every 2-3 days, but I only ever had 4-6 at a time to wash. It was either wait longer and let the stink sit longer or do a wasteful load on a few diapers. Plus, he’s now 39 lbs, and while the  bumGenius 4.0s and Fuzzi Bunz one size pocket diaper fit him still, they are getting a tad snug. So I hung up my cloth diapering hat for the time being.

However, we did fully cloth diaper (with the exception of travel) Kendall for a good 2 years.

Some Lessons Learned

1. I will never, ever use the Imse Vimse diaper liners again. Many times they wound up in the wash and became tangled and pilled up in my aplix. I blame these for me having to completely rip up and replace all my bumGenius 3.0 aplix tabs. (I like these liners instead.)

2. Kendall had a few really bad rashes that were reactions to foods around the time he turned one. We had to use prescription creams to clear these up, and even though I was diligent about lining his diapers to keep the cream from coming in contact with the fabric, it still built up on our diapers and caused many leaking issues. In the future, if I have to use a prescription cream for a similar reason on the baby, I’ll go ahead and switch her to disposables until we’re done using it. It’s not worth the frustration of stripping our diapers.

Speaking of diaper cream, a lot of you want to know what kind we used. We never had issues with Burts Bees and Aveeno. From what I understand, you want to avoid anything with cod oil or any fish oils in it. Here’s a helpful link.

3. I’m glad I have more snap closures in my stash now. While it was great to have the ease of an aplix (like Velcro) closure when Kendall was squirmy, it was frustrating once he could reach down and rip it off himself. There are few things more frustrating than picking your baby up from his nap only to discover he’s undone his own diaper (through his pants!) and there are turds scattered about the crib. I would recommend having a good mix of the two, or at least enough snaps to use for night and nap time.

The Wash Routine

A lot of you expressed hesitation about washing your diapers. I promise it’s not difficult! The biggest, most helpful tip I have for you is use cloth diaper friendly detergent. The brands I’ve used without issue are Charlie’s Soap (our mainstay, which we use for all our clothes), Crunchy Clean (smells so GOOD!), and recently I’ve tried Rockin’ Green Soap. All of these work in HE washing machines, too.

When your baby is in the newborn stage and is only eating breastmilk, you can just throw your diapers, poop and all, into the wash. Once you start them on a drop of formula or solids, that’s out the window. It’s at that point (or actually before) that you need to decide if you’re going to use liners or a diaper sprayer or some other method to remove the poop from the diapers before washing. I liked the liners, but had issues with ones that weren’t big enough to catch all the poop. Make sure that they really cover a vast majority of the inside of the diaper, especially during the transition stage from breastmilk poop to solid poop called peanut butter poop. Also, I think this time around we’ll go ahead and install a diaper sprayer just to clean up any messes that get left behind by the liners.

Yes, this is the “icky” part of cloth diapering. I’m not going to lie, it’s not pleasant, but as I’ve said in the past, poop is a part of parenting, no matter what kind of diaper you use. The upside to cloth diapering is I promise you will deal with far fewer poopy blowouts. It really all balances out in the end, I think. (Someone mentioned being afraid to put poopy cloth diapers in their nice washer and dryer. Let me tell you, poop will end up in your washer with or without cloth diapers.)

So, assuming you’re past the breastmilk only stage, the first thing you do is remove the poop. Then you can toss your diaper in your pail (still loving my white, step lid trash can from Target, lined with an XL Bummis Tote Bag). I aimed to do diaper laundry every 3 days. I would throw the whole load into the wash, toss the Bummis bag on top and start with a rinse. Then I followed with a hot wash and whatever soap I was using at the time followed by at least one more cold rinse. Then I tossed them in the dryer on medium heat. (I have a retractable line that I intended to air dry our diapers on, and I’ll confess I hardly used it.)

Every now and then I stripped my diapers if they started to stink or leak. I did this by adding a couple squirts of Dawn dish liquid to a HOT wash and then rinsing as many times as it took to make the suds disappear. There are also great instructions on various ways to strip your diapers here. (Please feel free to chime in below if you have a method that you love and works for you, as I’m not convinced mine is the best.)

As for the time aspect of the laundry, I never found that it was that much of a burden. It was one extra load every few days. The most time consuming part was re-stuffing the pocket diapers which made up 95% of our stash. I was always able to do that while watching TV or hanging out with Kendall, though. It really didn’t take much more than 10 or 15 minutes. And I assure you I don’t stay up on other laundry very well. Our closet floor usually looks like a Macy’s vomited all over it. But the diapers were just never that much of a hassle.

Getting Started

I write these posts and answer questions in an effort to try to simplify things, but the reality is cloth diapering is very overwhelming in the beginning. There are just SO many options, which is great because you will hopefully find something that works perfectly for you and your family eventually, but I understand completely how daunting it is to try to figure out just what that option is. That’s why I really recommend starting out with some sort of inexpensive/rental newborn solution.

You all know I love the Kissaluvs Size 0 Newborn Rental from SunshineDiapers.com.  If you want to do something that’s not a rental, I’ve heard great things about using prefolds and covers with newborns, too. (And many times you don’t even have to pin the prefolds, just fold them in thirds and put them in the cover.) This is a great way to jump right into cloth diapering and still give yourself a chance to figure out what’s going to be a good long term solution.

Some argue that cloth diapering a newborn is too overwhelming, but I disagree. You’re still (supposed to be) changing your baby’s diaper every few hours. The only thing you’re adding to your day is a load of laundry (since they go through so many diapers in the newborn stage, you will likely be washing every 12-24 hours). But think of the time you’re saving not rushing to the grocery store in the middle of the night to stock up when you suddenly discover you’re out of disposables! Really, it’s not that bad, but that’s just my opinion based on my experience.

While you’re learning the cloth diaper ropes with the newborn diapers, you can look ahead to some other options by buying one of a few kinds/brands that interest you, or you could go a step further and try out a rental package that includes a variety of options, like Sunshine Diapers Test Drive Set or check out JilliansDrawers.com (I would link you, but right now their website appears to be down). Hopefully after trying a few different diapers, you’ll find what works best for you, or at least well enough to get started. You can always add to your stash down the road.

The Cost

Yes, cloth diapers are a substantial up-front investment, but don’t be afraid to ask for help! Start a cloth diaper registry, let it be known to all your friends and family that you’d love an Amazon gift card, which could be used to buy diapers and supplies, or hint at having them throw you a cloth diaper shower. The money savings is real, even with the first kid, and becomes HUGE by your second. If you’re only having one baby, or this is your last baby, keep in mind you can still recover some of your costs by selling your diapers after you’re done with them.

It’s all a matter of perspective. I nearly have a heart attack now when we have to buy a case of disposables for Kendall to wear, and he’s only going through 2 a day! I can’t imagine having to make that purchase weekly. One case costs us as much as one new pocket diaper.

Our stash with Kendall only ever consisted of 21 diapers at a time (beyond the newborn stage), and that was plenty to get us through 3 days before washing. It is easy to get sucked into the world of expensive, fancy cloth diapers, and that’s when cloth diapering can lose out at being an economical option. The key is to find what works for you, get enough to get you through, then STOP. There will always be newer, cuter, softer, snazzier diapers coming out, and it’s fun to indulge in a new one every now and then, but listen to me when I say STEP AWAY from the online diaper shopping once you have a decent stash built up. (If you want to save money, that is.)

Was It Worth It?

Absolutely. While I’ll admit there were times I got frustrated with our diapers, like when the prescription cream caused leaking issues or when Kendall began tearing them off, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The money we saved, the chemicals I kept away from my child, the minimal waste made it all worth it.

And now I’m downright giddy heading into it a second time around. I’m happy that Kendall is mostly potty trained and has been since a little after turning 2. I guess I can’t say for sure that the cloth diapers had anything to do with that, but they didn’t hurt. And I found that the older Kendall got, the easier cloth diapering became. For one, he wasn’t going through as many diapers toward the end of his second year, meaning fewer changes and fewer loads of laundry.

Now that I’ve got this experience under my belt, I’m looking forward to an even smoother experience with cloth diapers this time around. I can’t wait to show off pictures of baby girl’s fluffy butt (if she ever freaking decides to get here). We will be starting her out in disposables until her umbilical cord falls off and she’s passed all the meconium because I’m not cleaning that black tar off our pretty, fluffy diapers.

I hope this week has answered some questions for you, introduced you to some great companies and products, or at least sparked your curiosity about cloth diapers. Please, please ask any questions you have below. I will do my very best to get back to you at some point or find someone who can help you.

Kendall is 2 years and 7 months old and I’m 40 weeks pregnant!

I can’t have you all over (pity! it would be one hell of a party), but I can invite you into my house via video. So that’s what I’ve done. I put together a Vlog yesterday (after many technical difficulties, I’m still learning this fancy new camera, so please excuse the shifting focus). I did my best to keep it as short as possible, but there is a lot to share! I’ll walk you through everything from a prefold all the way up to an all-in-one with just about everything in between. A big thanks again to Rhea from SunshineDiapers.com for hooking me up with one of her Test Drive Sets to show you some types I didn’t have in my stash.

I hope this helps demystify cloth diapers for some of you, and at least gets you thinking about what may be the best option(s) for your family.

Please, please feel free to hit me up in the comments section below with any questions you have, or chime in if you think I missed something. I’ll do my best to answer everyone or find someone who can.

Also, I’ve got a couple giveaways to go with this! FuzziBunz is giving away one one-size diaper and a wetbag to one lucky winner and Artsty Fartsy Foo Foo is giving away a set of 6 hemp doublers!

I’m going to leave the comment section here open for discussion about cloth diapers, so GO HERE to enter.

I decided sort of last minute to dedicate this week on the blog to cloth diapers. I am having so much fun prepping all these tiny fluffy diapers for baby girl, and forgot how much I just love itty bitty cloth diapers. Thought I’d bring you all along for the ride this week and talk to you about some exciting cloth diaper industry news and new products out there.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with my cloth diapering experiences (it has been a while since I blogged about it and Kendall is pretty much potty trained at this point), please check out my Cloth Diaper category. These two posts (here and here) seem to be the most read when it comes to the subject (although, admittedly, they are LOOOOONNNNNG winded).

While Kendall spent most of his time in cloth diapers wearing one size pocket diapers like Bum Genius 3.0s, he started out in Kissaluvs size 0 newborn fitteds with covers. (Does all of this sound Greek to you? Make sure you check in later this week when I share a Vlog breaking down the different types of diapers.)

Don't you just want to squish it?!

The Kl0s were part of a rental package from SunshineDiapers.com, and were my gateway drug to my cloth diapering addiction. Since renting these 2 and a half years ago, I’ve become friends with Rhea, the owner of SunshineDiapers.com, and she’s helped me with many cloth diaper predicaments since then. She’s a wealth of information! And incredibly kind. She’s hooked me up with a second newborn rental package for baby girl AND she wants to give one away to one of you!

What you’ll get:
24 newborn/size 0 Kissaluv fitted diapers (some will be new, some will be gently used/like new condition)
4 covers
4 overnight doublers
Free shipping code for a future order
Cloth diaper info and support from Rhea herself
(Keep in mind, this is a RENTAL, so you will have to return everything… except the free shipping and diapering advice)

All wrapped up in my favorite cover, Thirsties X-Small.

This is the PERFECT way to jump into cloth diapering from the beginning with your little one. All you’ll need to add is a cloth diaper friendly soap, like Charlie’s Soap or Rockin’ Green Soap, a couple wetbags, a diaper pail (or trash can) and a pail liner. You’ll continue to use all these things well beyond the newborn stage and with any future cloth diapers you purchase.

The rental typically lasts about 3 months, but Rhea is great about working with you to make sure you get the timing right . We only needed them for 10 weeks since Kendall was such a chunkster and grew out of them by then.

How to enter:

Comment below telling me a little about your cloth diaper experience. Have you done it before? Considered it? What interests you? (Mandatory entry, must do for others to count.)
Follow @SunshineDiapers on Twitter
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Leave one comment for each, please. Remember, I moderate comments. If yours doesn’t show up at first, give it a few hours before trying again. I’ll use Random.org to draw a lucky winner on Friday, the 17th (assuming I’m not in labor).

This is only open to US residents (sorry!), and the winner must start the rental within 6 months of winning it.

Looking forward to sharing more with you all this week!

Kendall is 2.5 ish and daytime potty trained (yay!) and I’m 38.5 weeks pregnant.

That’s not to say we didn’t have our ups and downs. When the hook & loop tabs on my 3.0 pockets were completely fried from 2 years of wear and tear and a little too much lint from the wrong kind of flushable/washable liners, I was to the point of frustration. I emailed my concerns to Cotton Babies (the company that makes bumGenius), and was so happy to hear that they would send me hook & loop tabs to replace the old, non-sticky ones. With a little help from my frenemy, the seam-ripper, and my sewing machine, the 3.0s are as good as new.

Then I got my hands on a gorgeous new 4.o when I had the amazing opportunity to have coffee with Jenn, the founder of Cotton Babies and bumGenius, at Blogher this past August. I immediately washed it and put it on Kendall as soon as I got it home. Not only was this diaper made with snaps, which made it much harder for my tenacious toddler to tear it off, but it also fit him, chunky legs and all, so much better. The rise was higher and, even at 37 lbs, it was just as perfect as it was when he was 13 lbs. I didn’t think it could get any better.

Cloth diapering has mainly been a function over form thing for us, and I never did get too sucked into all the fancy diapers with the spiffy prints. To me, I’d rather have a reliable, leak-free fit and a durable diaper than a cute print… BUT it would be nice to have both, right?? Could the 4.0s get any better?

I think they just did.

These beauties showed up on my front porch yesterday, and if you were here when I was opening the package, you would have heard, “Shut. Up. No. Way. So. Cute.” as I took each one out. I wanted to jump onto Facebook and Twitter and share pictures right away, but I was sworn to secrecy until today after they released their video announcement, which finally just went live. You can watch it here!

Since I couldn’t spill the beans last night, I occupied myself by trying one on Kendall and letting him play around in it. Here he demonstrates his love for bumGenius and all things colorful and fluffy on his bottom via interpretive dance.

We’re spinning…

We’re spinning…

We’re jumping…

Annnnddd he’s spent…

I think it’s funny I didn’t know the names of these prints before watching the video today, and Kendall, appropriately jammed out in the “Free Spirit” diaper.

I can’t wait to try these out on baby girl when she arrives! I already went through her closet and found cute outfits to match some. The red one is a go for Valentines Day, for sure.

A HUGE thanks to bumGenius for sending me the diapers to preview and tell my readers about! I hope everyone likes the new prints as much as I do.

To see more, and maybe buy some of your own, check out bumGenius.com.

Kendall is nearly 2 1/2, weighs (by my rough estimates) 37-38 lbs, and fits the 4.0s perfectly still. I’m 28 weeks pregnant and can’t wait to try these out on an itty bitty baby soon!

*** Additional details- The Artist Series retails for $19.95, begins shipping on November 16th, and you can pre-order starting today.

Edited on 10/6 to add- I saw a lot of feedback on the bumGenius Facebook page yesterday that some people were disappointed with the prints because they aren’t “cute” enough, are “too modern” or “too gender neutral.” See, this is where I think bumGenius hit a home run. The cloth diaper market is saturated with “cutesy” diapers. You can get gender specific prints from just about anyone (they are all over Etsy). What’s been missing is a truly modern, fresh, gender neutral line, and I think bumGenius did a great job filling this niche.

I also don’t think people understand the massive amount of work that goes into setting up something like this for a company the size and with the reach that bumGenius has. They don’t have the freedom and flexibility that most small and WAHM companies do. They have to plan months in advance, and they have to do their best to reach the most people with the smallest amount of change. That’s why I think a truly gender neutral line  was the perfect choice (and what, please tell me, is NOT gender neutral about graphic prints that don’t involve flowers in primary colors?).

No, they might not be for everyone, I get that, but I think they are a great addition to what’s already out there, and I look forward to seeing what the next artist in the Artist Series comes up with. Hopefully, as they work their way through all the artists, they will be able to come up with something that pleases everyone. I say BRAVO, bumGenius and Jenn! Can’t wait to see what else is in store.

Those were my encouraging words of wisdom to one of my BFFs who is loving life with a tiny baby right now.  Clearly, I was a tad traumatized by our current potty training adventure, and yes, I could have offered up more cheerful, more optimistic advice, but why sugar coat shit?

We’ve been in the slow process of potty training Kendall since the beginning of the year, although it really only started out by dipping our toes in the toilet water- getting him familiar with the potty, reading him potty books, letting him try out big boy undies or free-ball it (against our better judgement) and subsequently fighting off the dogs when he’d drop a log on the playroom floor.

We didn’t get serious until late in May. When we were on our Sonoma vacation in late April my mom was able to get him to poop on the potty multiple times, and he continued to do that for us when we got back. I took that as our window of opportunity. And as much as I really didn’t want to dive into potty training in the first trimester of pregnancy, I could only  imagine how much worse it would be when this second baby is on the outside. So after getting a ton of advice from friends who’ve been there, trained that, we decided to rip the diapers off and get down to business.

We started with lots of naked time. During this first hardcore week, we just stayed home (it was during his early summer break from his Mother’s Day Out program). He ran around without pants on for the first few days and I took him to the potty every 30 minutes. It. was. exhausting. And I, frankly, sucked at it in the beginning. So much of potty training, I think, is about training *yourself.* It’s a lot of work in the beginning, and a lot of cleaning, and a ton of reminding.

So we would take him to the potty, and if he went at all, he got an M&M or two. I even rewarded him if he went a little on the potty after having an accident because I wanted focus on rewarding the positive. The M&Ms were huge. He loved them, but oddly, he eventually started asking for a walnut, too. So we would give him one M&M and one walnut. Whatever, it worked.

After about a few days of letting him run around naked, we put the big boy undies on. This actually helped cut down on accidents because he could feel himself start to go (I guess he felt the little bit of wetness on his undies) and would stop. Now, *sometimes* he would tell me he had to go potty, but most of the time he would just freeze with an “oh shit” look on his face, so I had to constantly watch him and take him to the potty when I saw that. By this point in the week, I was taking him to the potty about every 45 minutes.

We finally ventured out of the house after a week. It was terrifying and a lot of work, but he did great. We started with small trips to Target and Chick Fil A, places I knew had decent bathrooms. I would take him to the bathrooms the minute we got there and right before we left.  Now, some of my friends don’t even bother with public bathrooms at this point and, instead, have their kids go on portable little potties they keep in the back of their vehicles (with removable, disposable baggies). Kendall would never go on the small potty we have here at home, though, so I didn’t even bother trying that. I just take a pack of hand sanitizing wipes with me everywhere we go (along with extra undies, shorts, a plastic baggie, and lollipops for bribing) and wipe off the seats before he sits down.

The hardest part, and when he has the most accidents, is when we’re on the highway and he informs me he has to go. It’s not always feasible to pull off to a bathroom (though we have, many times), and he doesn’t quite grasp the “we’re almost home, hold it!” concept. I keep one of these on his car seat, and it’s really helped with cleanup.

So, at this point, I wouldn’t say he’s potty trained, he’s definitely still in the training process, and I feel like we will be in it for a while. He has a few accidents a week (or sometimes he has a bad day and has a few accidents in a day), but most days he’s pretty great. WE still have to be on top of it, though. He’s not to the point where he’ll remind us all the time. So if he hasn’t gone in the last two hours (or less if he’s been drinking a ton of fluids), we have to remind him and take him. That being said, though, we are diaper free while he’s awake and have been for a while. He even wears his big boy undies to Mother’s Day Out and has never had an accident there.

Now, nighttime and nap time are a totally different story. I don’t think he’s at the point where we can expect him to sleep in underwear. He never wakes up with a dry diaper, and lately he’s been pooping at night. That’s NOT a mess I want to deal with right now. We’ll look into potty training at nap and nighttime as he gets closer to 3, I think. Until then, he’s wearing some Bum Genius 4.0 and Flip diapers and a FuzziBunz, since they are big enough to accommodate a 37 lb kid. I LOVE them. Bum Genius hooked me up with the new 4.0 and a couple Flips at Blogher to test out on Kendall and they fit SO much better than the 3.0s. Plus, the snaps are perfect. And Gina, who represented FuzziBunz at Blogher, gave me a one-size pocket diaper to try out, and I’m equally impressed. I double stuff all of them at night with hemp inserts from Artsy Fartsy Foo Foo.

It was tough in the beginning, and a ton of work, but I’m so glad we seized the opportunity to potty train when we did. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that come December he’s going to be nearly, if not completely trained during the day (and, yes, I do know to expect a bit of a regression when the baby comes, but we’ll get through it). From what I’ve heard from friends who waited to train until the kids were 3 or 3.5, they basically just train themselves and it’s a quick process. So I think at this age, it requires a lot more work on the parent’s end, but it’s worth it to me. I’m not saying I’ve got it all figured out, but feel free to ask any questions and I’ll at least tell you where I found the answers.

Kendall is 2 1/4 and I’m 23 weeks pregnant.

I know I’ve been talking a lot about poop on here lately, but let me take that subject on a different tangent and talk a little about cloth diapering a toddler.

Let me just say that last year we went through some rough patches. It all started around watermelon season near his 1st birthday. The kid LOVES watermelon as much as he loves oranges. It’s wonderful that they alternate being in season. Both, unfortunately, can give him a bad rash- the watermelon more than the oranges. He developed a TERRIBLE, bleeding rash around his birthday that we had to get a special, compounded prescription diaper cream to clear up. I’d always been careful about what diaper creams I used with his diapers (only Aveeno and Burts Bees up to that point) because I knew they could cause build up on the diapers. Of course, I had no choice with the prescription. Soon his diapers began leaking and repelling.

I stripped with Dawn (LOLOLOLOL I crack myself up every time I type that), but looking back I don’t think I did it right the first time around. I didn’t get the water hot enough, and I didn’t do enough rinse cycles. And even after I successfully stripped them of the built up residue from the cream, we were still having leaking issues. It was extremely frustrating. We did a lot of traveling during the last half of the year and used disposables for that. We found ourselves using them at home more and more because they were just more reliable than his cloth diapers.

I’m sort of embarrassed to tell you all what finally fixed the issue for us, but really, since when have I ever protected my pride on this blog? A Twitter friend asked if I was sure we were getting the diaper in the crease of his legs and butt cheek, like really making sure we were fitting him snugly there. Yeah, turns out we weren’t. Ever since we’ve started taking the time to really make sure they are snugly sitting right in the crease of his legs, we’ve cut leaking down to almost non-existent. So there you go.

Another issue we’ve run into is that most of his diapers have Velcro closures. He’s smart, he’s strong, he’s dexterous, he rips those bad boys off whenever he thinks of it. You’re all aware of this because I’ve told you the stories of the runaway turdlets.

So when my friend Rhea at SunshineDiapers.com (the one with the kickass Kissaluvs rental program for newborns) offered to send me a Flip Diaper and some inserts (including disposable inserts) to try out, I jumped at the opportunity for several reasons. First, they are made by the same people who make Bum Genius diapers, which, despite the issues we’ve had in the past (mainly user generated), are our favorite cloth diapers and make up 90% of our stash. Flip diapers, unlike Bum Genius 3.0 pockets, have a snap closure instead of Velcro, making it a little more difficult for toddlers to undo them themselves. They also have the option of using a disposable insert, which would be perfect for travel or for the times we have to use prescription diaper cream for inevitable fruit induced butt rashes.

I received one cover, a pack of disposable inserts, an organic insert and a Stay-Dry insert. We’ve kept these in heavy rotation over the last couple weeks, and I’m happy to report that I really, truly do love them. Honestly, I didn’t know if I would, but they definitely surpassed my expectations. Even Scott is on board with them.

Okay, so let me see if I can explain how this diaper works. It’s basically a cover, with a little bit of a panel inside the front and back of the diaper. You lay the insert in the diaper and tuck it under each panel, then fasten just like you would any other diaper. It’s like a hybrid between a pocket diaper and a fitted diaper with a cover. The idea is when the insert is wet/dirty, you just need to remove that and replace with another insert, while reusing the same cover.

This seemed to work with all three inserts most of the time, unless the poop was loose or runny. I found of the three inserts the organic did the best job of keeping the poop contained and off of the cover since it’s the widest. The disposable was the worst performing when it came to this because it’s pretty narrow (I’d say it managed to keep the poop contained about 50% of the time). However, I read on Flip’s Facebook Fan Page that they will soon be offering disposable inserts that are wider and longer (read more here).

I still feel like the disposable inserts, even if I have to replace the cover more often, are an awesome option for us, especially when it comes to traveling (or for those of you looking for a “middle ground” between cloth and disposables full time). The cost of Nature Babycare disposables (which are comparable to Flip inserts in terms of being free from nasty chemicals and biodegradable) from Amazon.com, in bulk shipments work out to be about .37 a diaper, and at $4.95 for a pack of 18 inserts for the Flip, you’re only paying .27 an insert. Sure, there’s the cost of the cover, but ideally, even if the poop gets on the cover half the time, you should be able to get through with 3 or 4 (if you are planning to use them full time), in my opinion, and that’s a one time purchase.

As far as absorbency of pee goes, I was happy with all three inserts. I used all three during naps with no problem, and at night I used the organic wrapped around one of my hemp doublers. It worked like a charm. In fact, that’s what Kendall wore to bed last night. Here’s a picture of him shooting some hoops before bed with his extra fluffy butt.

I will say that I’m on the fence as to whether the snap closure is a pro or a con. Originally, I thought it would be much better than the Velcro that is so easy for Kendall to undo himself, but it turns out it’s harder to get the diaper fastened while struggling with a kicking, squirming, screaming toddler. That’s really one of the great cloth diaper debates, though, and certainly not exclusive to this brand of diapers. Velcro versus snaps seems to be more of a personal preference.

I will also add that these covers, just like the Bum Genius 3.0 pockets, are made to grow with a baby. They claim to fit from 7 to 35 lbs, though I’m not sure how they would work on a newborn. I think the inserts would be too bulky, although the disposable inserts might actually fit nicely. I, of course, do not speak from experience on this.

Finally, another perk of this system is the decrease in cloth diaper laundry since you are just washing inserts. I love that you don’t have to pre-stuff like pockets, and it also takes up a lot less room in the diaper bag to just toss a few inserts in versus a few stuffed pocket diapers, or even fitteds.

Overall, a glowing review from us, and I genuinely think this system could be a great way to dip your toe in the pool of cloth diapering if you’re thinking about giving it a shot.

So now on to the fun part- the giveaway! Rhea is giving one Flip cover, two cloth inserts and a pack of disposable inserts to one lucky winner. She’s also created a 10% off coupon code just for my readers for whatever you’d like to order from SunshineDiapers.com. Just enter “BABYRABIES” when you check out.

Here’s how to enter:

(Note- there are several ways, and I need you to leave me separate comments FOR EACH thing you do, please.)

1. Comment telling me why you do or why you don’t currently use cloth diapers

2. Become a fan of Sunshine Diapers on Facebook

3. Tweet the following – “I just entered to win a Flip Diaper pack from @SunshineDiapers on @BabyRabies”

4. Follow @SunshineDiapers on Twitter

5. Follow @BabyRabies on Twitter

6. Become a fan of Baby Rabies on Facebook

You don’t have to do all those things, but each one earns you an additional chance to win (as long as you leave separate comments!).

I’ll draw the winner with Random.org toward the end of the day on Friday, February 5th.

A big thanks to Rhea and Sunshine Diapers for sponsoring this review and giveaway!

Kendall is almost 21 months old, that’s 21 months of cloth diapering so far.

Contest is closed. Congrats to commenter #199, Adrienne!