In the News

I got a phone call from a colleague I volunteered with last year at the Peterborough Environment City Trust's Seeding Sustainable Communities Project. The Daily Telegraph is working on a article about "Green Mums" and they'd like to interview me about cloth diapering. It's not too often that a new mother gets recognition in the newspaper! If anything comes of the article, I'll post a link here on the blog.

In other news, Isabella seems fast on her way to becoming mobile, much to my chagrin. I think I'd like her to stay put (and easy) for just a bit longer - but she seems to have other plans. Yesterday, she furiously kicked and wiggled forward in what appeared to be a precursor to crawling (more like inch-worming). She has also started rocking back and forth when sitting on my lap - it's so cute! I've also found an extremely ticklish spot on her tummy that makes her laugh in the most crazy way - I'll try and catch it on video soon. It's interesting though - as soon as I turn on the camera, she turns into Posh Spice and getting her to smile is something else (why smile, when you can Blue Steel?).

Posh Spice

Derek Zoolander and Blue Steel

The Cloth Diaper Experience

I've had a lot of people recently asking me how it's going with the cloth diapers, so I thought I'd update everyone on that. We started using them about three days or so after Isabella was born and even though we have some Pampers and Tushies on stand-by we rarely use them unless we run out of the other ones. So now that we've got two month's use under the belt, I think it's safe to say we're hooked. Pedro and I both share in diaper duty and he's said more than once that he prefers the cloth to the disposable.

We've got three types of Tots Bots brand nappies - organic cotton, bamboo, and fleece (mostly made in the UK). They're all really easy to use and fasten either with velcro or a Snappi. Now that Isabella is a bit bigger, the diapers fit her really perfectly - and her little butt looks so cute in those fluffy things! I have about 25 diapers so we only need to run a full load every other day, and they dry quickly on the line (she goes through 7-10 a day at this stage). She hasn't had any nappy rash (touch wood) and we don't have to change her any more often than with a disposable due to the fabric types and their weaves. I got all kinds of cute waterproof covers for them too, so I'm excited for summer to finally get here so that we can show them off under her little dresses.

And lastly, we've now broken even on what I spent on the cloth diapers versus what I would have spent on Pampers up until this point (fancy cloth diapers have an expensive up-front cost). By the time Isabella is potty trained, we'll have saved well over a thousand bucks on diapers. What's more - they'll last for more than one baby :).

Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers these days are nothing like the old terry cloth towels you had to fold and pin. These days they have all-in-one diapers that work just like a disposable, that, once soiled, you dump a flushable liner into the toilet, and put the diaper into a lidded bucket. Once the bucket is full, you just dump the diapers into the washing machine. Since we don't have a clothes dryer, we'll have to remove the liner for it to dry. I've done a test run of the ones I bought and they dried easily overnight, despite it being fall/winter in England. It's a few more steps than a disposable, but we'll see how it goes. I'm very realistic about it, and plan to use disposables when necessary and possibly also in the first few weeks until we get used to the routine of taking care of the baby.

When some people first hear that Pedro and I have decided to try cloth diapering, I tend to get some raised eyebrows. I've talked with a few women here in England who have successfully used cloth diapers from birth to potty and our local council will even reimburse us $100 of what it costs to pay for the diapers themselves. After talking a lot about it, our reasons for wanting to try it out are baby health, economy, and the environment. I could paraphrase all the research I've done here, but I'm not out to preach to anyone since I have yet to try it out myself. While I'm not yet 100% certain that it will work for us, we're committed to give it a good try - a bit more than that, I think. If you're interested I will leave you with some good links at the end of the post. I also have a lot more information if anyone is more curious.

The Nappy [Diaper] Lady website: http://www.thenappylady.co.uk/

“Pocket” diapers (the kind that is probably best for us since we don't have a dryer): http://www.weecarediapercompany.com/weecart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7

Green parenting / diapers http://www.grizzlybird.net/labels/diapers.html

Cloth diaper care, step by step: http://www.grizzlybird.net/2006/03/how-to-wash-cloth-diapers-at-home.html#links

Natural baby wipes http://www.naturodoc.com/library/children/newborn_skin.htm

More general info: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/12/ecotip_nappies.php

24 Weeks

Well, I've got six full months of pregnancy under my belt, so to speak. Things are going really well, I feel good, I have high energy, and I've been trying to do a little bit of pregnancy yoga to ease my constant leg cramps (as well as eating tons of bananas).

One thing that I've been really preoccupied about is the issue of diapers. Pedro and I both agreed that we are willing to try using cloth diapers, so I've been doing lots of research into the easiest ways of going about it. For those of you who have used cloth diapers - what brands, if any, do you recommend?

Ya pasaron seis meses del embarazo. Todo esta bien, me siento bien, tengo mucha energía, y habia tratado de hacer un poquito de yoga para aliviar los dolores de las piernas (y como muchas bananas). Una cosa que me preocupa es la cuestión de pañales de tela. Pedro y yo estamos de acuerdo que queremos usar pañales de tela, y he hacido unas investigaciónes en las maneras mas fáciles en hacerlo – pero hay tantas opciónes…. ¿Hay alguien que nos pueda recomendar una marca distinta?