Using all the free time I get while Bubu naps to cut and sew them. A mix of boy, girl and gender neutral prints. They are all cut are ready to be sewn.

Very busy working on the order, but thoroughly enjoying it. Do you like the prints?

If you would like to order my handmade flannel cloth baby wipes, please contact me:

Email address: omee.bubu@gmail.com
Facebook Fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/OmeesBoutique
Etsy Shop: http://www.OmeesBoutique.etsy.com

Cheers,
Omee Bubu

Whenever people noticed that I use cloth diapers with Freestyle, the reactions are usually along the lines of, “Good for you– I just couldn’t deal with washing the poopy diapers!”

My response was always: It’s not as bad as you think!

And it really isn’t.

For me, I never really thought of the choice between disposable and cloth. I just assumed I’d be using disposable because that’s what I was used to seeing around me. When I was pregnant with Freestyle, a good friend talked about how she’d use cloth diapers in the past which put the idea in my head. What really convinced me was actually seeing another good friend (and neighbour!) using them. Suddenly it wasn’t a weird hippie thing, it was something practical and right in front of me!

Now, I am no expert. I’ve only used it on one child (so far!) and am only able to share my personal experience. I decided to do so because I found that a lot of people were curious about how it all works!

I’m just going to use the website of the brand we use, Mother-Ease, for any references. For the record, I’m not being paid to endorse any of the brands that I’m going to mention. The rest of the post is based solely on my experience and the specific products that I used. There are different systems and ways to do it, so again, if you’re serious about it, I’d encourage you to do your own research!

So here goes…

Frog is happy in his cloth diaper!

Why did you decide to use cloth diapers?

• We felt that it was safer for Freestyle. We read a lot about the chemicals that go into making disposable diapers and wanted to limit this exposure.
• We feel that it is better for the environment because a) you’re not creating more garbage, b) the waste is disposed of properly, and c) we can reuse them for our other children. I know there is some debate about water and energy usage with constantly washing the diapers. I don’t know which comes out on top, but even if they came out even, I’d still think that being able to reuse the cloth and not add to the landfills give cloth diapers the edge.
• We think that it’s more economical. In total, we’ve spent probably just under $600 on the diapers and accessories. It is a big upfront investment but it’s been nice not to have to be constantly buying diapers! We will be able to use these diapers until Freestyle is completely potty-trained and for our second baby! (Based on our experience, I’d say that you should expect your hydro and electricity bills to go up by 25-35% [our hydro is relatively low but we also have a very old washer and dryer...].)
• It seemed great that we’d always have diapers on hand, and if we ran out, we could just throw them in the wash instead of having to run out and buy more.
• I read that babies in cloth diapers tend to potty train faster because they know the difference between feeling wet and dry. In our personal experience, it did seem to help when we potty trained Freestyle by 18 months.
• Babies are supposed to experience less diaper rash because they are exposed to less chemicals. (Full disclosure: Freestyle did go through a period with a prolonged diaper rash but we never determined why it happened. The best answer I had was that if she couldn’t be in a wet diaper for any amount of time and her doctor recommended using disposable. I wasn’t convinced but tried them with mixed results while we were out when I couldn’t change her immediately as at home. However, when it cleared, I went back to cloth and she has been fine since!)

How does cloth diapering work?

• Here’s a link to explain the different types of cloth diapers. I’m just going to share about the one I’ve used which is a one-size fitted diaper from Mother-Ease.
• It’s one-size because it has different snap holes so that the size changes as your baby grows. That means you don’t have to keep buying bigger sizes! Seemed the most economical to us.

You can adjust the size using the snaps.

• Fitted cloth diapers are shaped like regular disposable diapers– fitted to prevent any leakage.
• Our diapers have separate components, which I like because I don’t always want to use all three: cloth diaper, diaper cover (waterproof and breathable), liner.

Diaper, liner, cover.

• At home I will just put on the cloth diaper because I can feel if it is wet and change her immediately.
• If she was sleeping or we are going out and I wouldn’t be able to change her immediately, I could choose to add a liner for extra absorbancy.

Here the liner is snapped into the diaper.

• I would use a diaper cover when we are out or when she is asleep so that her clothing didn’t get wet.

Diaper + liner + cover.

• When you’re changing the baby, you can toss the soiled diaper into a diaper pail (you can do a wet or dry system, see below) and then do the laundry when full or too smelly! This could be kept in baby’s room or in the bathroom (which is what we did). Many cloth diaper companies sell odour-free diaper pails.

This bucket is in the upstairs washroom for soiled diapers.

• In the diaper pail, you can do a “wet” system meaning having water in the pail so that the diapers soak. You just dump the water down the tub/toilet so that you can move it to the washing machine. It still may be heavy though, since all the diapers have absorbed the water! A “dry” system just means that there is no water in the pail. We started with the wet system but it seemed too cumbersome and annoying to keep emptying the water so we switched to dry and it’s been fine ever since.
• Your cloth diapers will come with washing instructions. For us, we first put them through a hot rinse cycle. Then a second hot cycle with soap nuts.

These are soap nuts. They are the fruit of the soapberry tree and contain saponin, a natural cleaning agent! You put about 5 nuts in a little muslin bag and use it up to 5 washes! We get our soap nuts from Earth’s Berries.

• Hang dry in the sun to get out any stains and save on electricity. You can throw them into the dryer for 10 minutes to get them soft if you’d like. Using the dryer is good too.

What do you do with the POO?!

Newborn – 6 months: Baby’s poop is very runny and doesn’t smell (a lot). And if you think that smells, just wait until they start eating solids! What you do is rinse the diaper over the toilet or in the tub, which is what we did (yes, I get that sounds really disgusting, but we made sure it was all cleaned out afterwards). You can buy  a diaper sprayer and attach the hose to your toilet so that you can use it to spray the poop off. I also found a DIY version here (I haven’t tried it so I can’t say if it really works or not). We kept holding off on buying one but honestly found rinsing it down the tub’s drain was fine. Again, newborn poo was not bad.

[EDIT (10-29-12) : I should mention that at the time no one was using that tub to bathe! I was just thinking about this now, as our second child has arrived, because the tub is now being used. I think this time around we will just rinse everything into the toilet from the start. We have a hand-held shower head hose so I might try using that to rinse it. I'm not too sure about the diaper sprayer system. If anyone has tried it, please let me know how it's worked out for you! Thanks!]

6 months (approx. when they begin eating solids) – 1 year: As aforementioned, baby’s poop becomes more solid…and smelly! At this point what we did was just knock the poop into the toilet with a piece of toilet paper.

1 year – 18 months: I know all babies are different, but with Freestyle her bowel movements (BM) became pretty regular so the good thing was there was probably just one, maybe two poopy diapers to deal with per day. Again, we’d knock the poo into the toilet and flush it away! To me, it seems better than keeping it wrapped in a container until garbage day! And it’s also dealt with by the sanitary people rather than rotting in a dump somewhere.

18 months + : Again, this is our personal experience. By now Freestyle was (daytime) potty trained so she was doing all her business in the toilet anyway. She still wears a diaper for naps and bedtime, but will just pee in them.

But…but…isn’t it gross?

Yeah, sure in the beginning it’s a bit icky to be holding a pee-soaked piece of cloth in your hand and not throw it away! It’s weird because we (or me, at least!) are used to a disposable, one-use society. We use tissues, not handkerchiefs! Pads and tampons, not rags! Toilet paper, not cloth wipes! (Though I know a friend who uses the reusuable options! While I admire her greatly, I’m not quite there yet!)

However, after a week or so you just get used to it. If it’s your first kid anyway, changing and using diapers in general is probably something new. What starts off as a two-person operation becomes a one-handed feat after a while, right? Same with cloth diapers…first you’re squeamish then you really don’t notice it because it’s become your norm.

There are also cloth diaper delivery services. How I believe it works is the company delivers a bunch of diapers to you each week. At the end of the week, they’ll pick up the soiled diapers and drop off an batch of clean ones. The upside is that you don’t ever have to do diaper laundry! The downside (and the main reason we didn’t go with this option) is that the diapers are shared among the clients. You’d have to do more research on these companies though because that’s all I really know!

Honestly, the gross factor wears off eventually! Yes, it’ll come back when your baby is eating solids and producing them too…but again, “a body can get used to anything, right”?

Do they stain? 

Yep, they do!

But believe it or not, just putting them out to dry in the sun gets rid of most of the minor stains! We would hang them outside to dry in the summer or just near the window in the winter. Apparantly, if you spray a lemon juice-water mix on the stain before you sun them, it helps with getting the stains out. I didn’t try this with Freestyle but I will with the next!

What do you do when you go out/travel?

You can bring them! For a 3-day trip we just brought the cloth diapers along with some ziplock bags and a garbage bag to hold them all. If you’re staying at a hotel you can ask if they’ll wash them. We just kept them in the bag and did a wash right when we got home!

Of course, for trips (especially longer ones), you can always just switch temporarily to disposable. We’ve done this too! There are a lot of more environmentally-friendly, chlorine-free options nowadays. During the brief disposable stint that we did, we used Seventh Generation and Naty By Naure. Both are available in the natural section at Loblaws. I liked Seventh Generation because they worked very well. I didn’t like Naty because a few times the diaper seemed to break down when used.

What are the bare essentials? How many diapers would I need to buy? I’m on a budget here! 

So are we! Again, all together I’d say that we spent about $600 for all the diapers that we needed for Freestyle (and now for Baby 2!). This is all we used:

1. Cloth diapers- At least 24 diapers. 12 per day (Newborns will need to be changed 8-10x a day, plus 2 for good luck!). With two days worth of diapers, you’d do the laundry every other day. Biker got fed up doing all that laundry though, so we caved and bought another day’s worth. It was okay but when Freestyle was older (closer to 1 year), she didn’t go through as many diapers. So if you can hold out, I’d do it!
2. Liners- They recommend about half the amount of liners than diapers. To be used when you need extra abosorption. There are cloth liners and also disposable, biodegradable liners that you can flush down the toilet.
3. Diaper covers- Mother-Ease covers come in different sizes, so I think the minimum that you could get away with would be 2-3 covers of each size. Since babies vary in size and grow at different rates, so just order them as you need them.
4. Diaper pail(s)- You can buy specially designed pails from cloth diaper manufacturers. Or, what we did was just use a bucket that we already had. We put this in the bathroom upstairs. Once it was full, we would bring it down to the basement and dump it into a larger pail (this we did buy) until it was laundry day.
   

   If it isn’t laundry day and the upstairs bucket is full (or too smelly!), we dump the diapers in this larger blue bucket.

5. Wet bag- This is a super useful bag for when you go out. There is a section that is lined with waterproof material so you can store your soiled diapers until you get home. We have a Planet Wisewet bag. We got a medium size and I would say that it can hold about 5-6 Mother-Ease diapers comfortably (it says 8-9 on the website). It works very well and I never noticed the smell either! Wet bags are also useful for swimming.
   

   The wet bag has a waterproof liner. You can keep a couple of diapers, wipes, etc. in the front pocket. Even if you don’t use cloth diapers, these wet bags are PERFECT for swimming or the beach!

6. Wipes- If you decide to use cloth wipes, what I did was buy 24 thin baby washcloths (in one colour to differentiate from her washcloths for the bath!). We keep them in a container in the bathroom so that I can wet them at the sink before changing her diaper. When you’re out, you can bring along a small spray bottle of water (or make a special solution- there are tons of recipes online) for those times when you’re not near a sink.

Why did you go with Mother-Ease?

• My friend highly recommended them and said that they had good customer service. Being a bit lazy in the research department (and because I trust her), we were sold!
• I like that they’re a Canadian company.
• I like that they are flat without the bunching from the elastic on the openings because I feel that they’re easier to clean, dry, and sun.
• They have a few choices of material, including bamboo and organic cotton.
• I liked that they did not have the diaper cover attached so that we could use just the cloth diaper at home (more breathable and I could tell if she was wet immediately to change her).

Not ready to use cloth? Here are other things you can do:

• Try an intro package. Most cloth diaper companies have a trial or introductory package. I’ve also seen dealers that will send you a sample from a few different companies. If you’re still not sure, this would be a great way to try them out! Even if you decide to go with disposable, you can still use them at home!  
• Cloth wipes. Even if you don’t cloth diaper, you can still use cloth wipes. You can do it while out (bring a small spray bottle of water to wet) or just when you’re at home, like we did with Freestyle. A friend of mine uses them all the time, but we just used them at home with Freestyle. I might try to use them while out with the next baby though. You just need 12-24 washcloths (or upcycle your old, clean clothes by cutting out small squares) and a bucket. Wash as you would regular clothing.

• Cloth swim diaper. I think this is a great way to incorporate a cloth diaper. You won’t be stuck with a huge pack of one-sized swim diapers if you only go a couple of times nor will you be constantly having to buy more swim diapers if you go a lot. We used bummis’ Swimmi diaper (worked well and you can adjust the size, though didn’t love the velcro design) and Monkey Doodlez (very cute designs and I liked how it was pull-up style). They are so cute that you could even put infants in just the swim diaper and they’d be good to go, or add a swim top for girls if you want.

C’mon, how cute is that?!

• Try cloth diapers for your second, third, fourth child. Why not?

I know the friends who cloth diaper occasionally read this blog. Do you have any more tips, recommendations, or anecdotes about cloth diapering?

So…

I also decided to opt for some more luxurious wipes. From all my insane research, I decide velour would be our best bet. Everyone knows Thirsties Fab Wipes are insanely soft, but I decided I liked the sound of the cotton sherpa the Swaddlebees Cloth Wipes have to offer. I bought two packs and haven’t looked back. Cloth Diapers, Inc. carries packs of 6 for only $10.95 with free shipping, but their color selection is a little limited at times.

I discovered the shop Sproutling Love while participating in The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt this year. I forgot my whole box of wipes at my parents’ house recently (over 3 hours North from here), so I figured I’d give their wipes a try. I often thought it would be nice if the Swaddlebees wipes were a smidge wider, and this seemed like a good alternative. For $10.50 plus shipping, I ordered a pack in girl colors. Let me tell you – the pictures do not even come close to showing the cuteness of these wipes… If mine weren’t all in the laundry as I type, I’d take a picture to share with you. They’re a great size, super soft, and work great. I have to be honest, though, the baby terry loop does not compare to the cotton sherpa when it comes to cleaning up big messes. I love my Swaddlebees wipes.

Click here to visit Sweetbottoms Baby Boutique and check out their huge selection of wipes and other cloth diapering accessories.

*edited to add this picture of a few of my Sproutling Love wipes:

Information about cloth diapers is seemingly unlimited on the internet, but as a mom I know it’s much more helpful to hear from other parents about their real-life experiences. One might think that a decision about diapers is a no-brainer. Think again! If you’re a parent you know that it’s one of the most important decisions you make. With our second baby on the way, we’re right in the midst of our conversion to cloth diapers and wipes. After doing a ridiculous amount of research, number crunching, shopping around and attending a class, we know we’re making a healthier decision for our baby and the environment. I wish we started out with cloth from the get-go for our first baby, but we were afraid of the initial cost and of course we couldn’t imagine living without the convenience of disposables. Now that I look back I think these were probably really bad excuses for a couple who was already striving for a greener, more organic lifestyle. But I know we felt the same as the majority of other new parents. I went back to work full time when our daughter was six weeks old and my husband was juggling the responsibilities of being a new dad on his own during the day. He left for his evening job as soon as I came home from work. Where would we find the time to clean cloth diapers? We went on to use disposables.

Disposables: Toxic? Eco-friendly?

After trying just about every brand of disposable diaper out there during the past two years, we’ve discovered that most of them are loaded with synthetic dyes and strong chemical fragrances. Put it this way, our daughter has very sensitive skin and was getting awful diaper rashes. There was one case where her thighs had blue rings around them from the blue dye in one kind of diaper. I contacted the manufacturer about the blue dye issue and received a letter explaining that they take every measure to make sure their diapers are safe for babies, and of course they sent a pile of coupons to use toward the same type of diapers. Ok, right. I did more research and found out that most disposable diapers contain toxic chemicals such as dioxin, chlorine, petroleum and synthetic perfumes. Describing these chemicals and their harmful effects will take a whole other blog post, but let’s just say for now that they’re harsh and it’s best to keep them away from delicate babies. That being said, we moved on to use disposable diapers that are more eco-friendly and non-toxic. There are a few on the market that are made with more natural, hypoallergenic materials and are made using more sustainable resources (Seventh Generation, Earth’s Best and Huggies Pure & Natural.)

We felt better about our daughter wearing the more non-toxic disposable diapers, but are they really eco-friendly? We still feel awful about throwing away a minimum of seven diapers per day. When she was a newborn, sometimes we went through more than fifteen per day. According to the Real Diaper Association, reports from the Women’s Environmental Network show that one baby in disposables will contribute to at least a ton of waste to a landfill, and disposable diapers are the third most common product in landfills today. I haven’t even mentioned disposable wipes yet. Just think of all those messy poops that take half a dozen wipes to clean up! It’s also worth saying that many kinds of wipes on the shelves often contain harsh chemicals.

Cost: Cloth vs. Disposables

Our baby’s health and the environment are the first two important factors in choosing which diapers and wipes to use, next comes cost. Thinking about the amount of money we’ve spent every month for the past two years on diapers and wipes that ended up in landfills makes us cringe. I’ve been spending a lot of time lately comparing and contrasting disposables and cloth, and I created a chart that breaks down the cost of each. You’re welcome to download it and use it as a template to create your own customized chart to estimate how much you can save. To put it simply, the amount of money cloth diapering saves is substantial and that’s another mark against disposables for us. You don’t have to make a trip down the diaper aisle at the store every week or month, and you even save money on diaper cream (some kinds affect the absorbancy of cloth diapers) since diaper rash incidents decrease with the use of cloth for most babies. Our chart only shows the cost of all-in-one diapers which are a bit more expensive than prefolds for example, but you can see that cloth diapers are more economical than disposables no matter which type you choose. You can even get some of your initial investment back in the long run because you can resell your diapers or reuse them for subsequent children. Imagine what you would do with an extra $50 per month (at the very least!)

Using Cloth Doesn’t Mean You’re Giving Up Convenience

What about convenience? My grandma used cloth diapers and wipes for all seven of her children so why can’t I do it for mine? After I learned more about cloth, my excuse that I don’t have time in between working from home and taking care of the kids really can’t be valid. I spent lots of hours reading online, talked to friends who cloth diaper and attended an awesome class at Hop Scotch Children’s Store and my husband and I were both sold. Our class showed us that cloth diapers have come a very, very VERY long way in the past fifty years. Don’t even imagine yourself fumbling around getting poked by diaper pins during nighttime changes. The method of scraping poop into the toilet has even evolved. As far as laundry goes, my husband and I have figured out that all the benefits of cloth outweigh our complaint about having to do laundry a couple more times per week. What’s the big deal about tossing the diapers in the washer and going on with our daily routine? We know once we have a weekly rhythm going it’ll be a breeze.

One big thing I learned after switching to an all natural and organic diet is that letting go of some conveniences is trivial compared to protecting the health of my family. It’s great that we have conveniences that our grandparents never had, like prepackaged food and an array of disposable items. But we need to slow down and think about what’s really worth it for the health of our children and their environment.

A Cloth Diaper for Every Family’s Lifestyle

There are numerous styles and types of cloth diapers, but I’ll be honest that the best way to choose which one you want to try is to see it and feel it in person and then test it out on your baby. We practiced putting diapers on a doll at our class and it was easier for us to visualize the different types that way. Ask lots of questions. Imagine yourself in every scenario, from changing diapers in the middle of the night to on-the-go or daycare. There are different types to meet every family’s needs, from prefolds to all-in-ones. Some stores offer “try it before you buy it” plans if you would prefer to test out the diapers on your baby before you stock up. Check out this simple chart at the Real Diaper Association to get a rough idea of how many you’ll need, as well as an easy-to-read tutorial page about the different types of diapers.

Which One Did We Choose?

We’re starting out with the BumGenius Elemental One-Size All-In-One. Since we want our baby to have soft, natural fabric against her skin, we love that this diaper has 100% organic cotton on the inside. The other big selling point for us is that its tabs are adjustable so it will fit our daughter from the time she’s born up until she’s 35 pounds. I tried it on our two-year-old and it fits her great. All-in-one means that there’s just one step in putting the diaper on the baby just like you would a disposable (my husband is especially happy about that.) You don’t have to worry about stuffing the diaper with inserts or liners and it’s all one piece. The one-size, all-in-one diaper is a bit pricier than other types but it makes sense for us because it’s going to fit our daughter during the entire two to three years that she’ll be wearing diapers. Many online stores (such as Amazon) offer discounts if you buy them in bulk.

The only downside is that it takes a bit longer to dry after washing since it’s thicker being all one piece. The diapers need to be pre-washed a few times before use to remove the natural oils in the fiber, which I’ve done and they wash up beautifully in our high efficiency washer. After I took them out of the dryer they were still a little bit damp, so I hung them up overnight and they were dry in the morning. I’m going to experiment with hanging them outside to dry this summer to save more energy, plus the sun helps to sanitize and take out stains.

What About Cloth Wipes?

I never thought I’d be this excited about a butt wipe (this is what we called them growing up.) Cloth wipes are much softer than disposable ones and I can control exactly what goes in the soaking solution by making it myself.  They’re thicker so we’ll use fewer of them during each diaper change and our fingers aren’t going to punch through them while wiping poop. They have many other uses like cleaning messy hands and faces at mealtime. We can just toss them into the laundry to wash them along with the diapers, and we’re not going to be flushing money down the toilet by buying disposable wipes every month.

Making your own cloth wipes is inexpensive and relatively easy if you have a sewing machine. There are many helpful tutorials online. I’m planning on making my own wipes eventually, but I’ve been so busy lately and I want to test out the different kinds I found while shopping around. I’m starting out with some of these super-cute cotton and velour Wooldins wipes that are handmade right here in town, and unbleached cotton flannel wipes which are thinner. I had a 50% off deal at ecomom.com so I bought some Kissaluvs organic cotton wipes. I’ve also come across bamboo and knit terry wipes which are really soft.

Wipe solution can be made with natural, toxin-free soap and essential oils. Here’s a recipe using my favorite products from Earth Mama Angel Baby:

• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash
• 1-2 tablespoons Angel Baby Oil

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Place wipes in a large mixing bowl and pour the solution over them. Mix the wipes around making sure they’re all saturated and let them soak for about 10 minutes.
3. Roll up the wipes and store them in a container or wipes warmer made especially for homemade wipes.
4. You can also place the solution in a spray bottle and spray directly on baby’s bottom.

Natural Laundry Detergent

It’s important to choose a detergent for your cloth diapers that doesn’t contain any enzymes, whiteners, brighteners, fabric softeners or fragrances. Additives in detergent are not only potentially toxic, but also affect the diaper’s absorbency and wear down the fibers. Check out the list of detergent recommendations from Hop Scotch Children’s Store. During our class, they especially recommended Sunday’s Wash. We tried it out since it’s made here in town and we like supporting our local economy. I like it so much that I’m going to wash all of our clothes with it from now on, especially baby clothes. It’s completely pure and eco-friendly, and economical since you only need to use a tablespoon for each load of laundry.

Accessories to Make Your Life Easier

A couple of inexpensive accessories to make the cloth diapering experience even more seamless are a sprayer to attach to your toilet (modern-day poop scraping!) and wet bags or diaper pails to store soiled diapers until you’re ready to do laundry. We went with the wet bags since we like the idea of putting them in the wash with the diapers. We bought one big one to hang in the bathroom and a couple smaller ones for on-the-go. The sprayer is pretty awesome and easy to install even if you’re not handy around the house and you don’t need any extra parts or special tools. We bought the BumGenius sprayer with a 20% off coupon at BuyBuy Baby. By the way, the BumGenius sprayer was designed by a mom in the U.S.!

Cloth Diapering Resources

If you’re leaning toward making the switch or starting out with cloth diapers for your first baby, here are a few resources that will help you feel more confident and maybe a little less overwhelmed. Seek out your local children’s stores who sell a variety of them and take a class if they offer it. Employees are often experts on cloth diapers and can answer all of your questions. Here’s a link to the diaper section at Hop Scotch Children’s Store where you can find basic information as well as troubleshooting and washing guides. Cottonbabies has a great cloth diaper 101 section with tons of helpful tips like choosing the right type of diaper for your family’s lifestyle. DiaperSwappers.com is an online parenting community where you can talk to other parents about cloth diapering and even buy or sell cloth diapers. When shopping around, you’ll find that lots of stores offer gently used ones at a reduced cost.

I plan on sharing every part of our cloth diapering adventure with you. I am bound and determined to make it work for our family and I know you can too. I think it’s actually going to be fun now that my mind is more open to it. Please comment and share your experiences and tips. This is such a huge step that families can take to live a more Earth-friendly and healthy lifestyle, and we can all help each other achieve it. Plus, is there a mom anywhere who doesn’t like to pick out cute colors and patterns to go with all those adorable little baby clothes? You don’t have a choice in the matter if you buy disposable diapers!

Sources: cottonbabies.com, realdiaperassociation.org

All of these differences can probably be attributed to basic personality differences, but not all of it.  It’s possible that Avery is my high-strung, terrible sleeping, overly analytical little miniature; Jackson could be Big Daddy’s free-wheeling, optimistic, everyone-loves-him, Mr. Popular, little counterpart, but I like to think that we at least learned a thing or two between our first and second babies.  Here’s what we did differently:

Diapering

When Avery was a baby, we were given a lot of different types of disposable diapers, both at the shower and by friends of my grandparents (we were living with them at the time) after he was born.  Cloth diapering, for whatever reason, never even crossed my mind.  It seems like the idea would have, considering how broke we were (and still are), but it just didn’t.  So for him, we tried tons of disposables, trying to find something that 1) contained his poo-splosions, and 2) didn’t give him a rash.

I can go ahead and tell you right off the bat that we never found anything that helped with the rash.  Not diaper-wise.  We found some solutions to treat the problem, but none of the disposables we tried ever completely solved the problem.

Desitin was far and away the best solution for Avery’s raw bottom.

While nothing really prevented Avery from developing diaper rash, certain products were better than others at treating it once he got it.  Desitin was the best for him, followed by the creamy version of A&D. (The vaseline/jelly-type A&D was total rubbish.)  Boudreaux’s Butt Paste was okay, but by no means was a cure-all.  And, although it’s not really recommended anymore because babies can inhale it, we totally doused Avery’s tush with Johnson’s baby powder at every change.  It helped make the rashes occur less often, though they still came.  Some of them were so angry, red, and raised up that his pediatrician deemed them “yeasty” and gave him a special cream for when they got that way.

As far as his poo-splosions, boy were they awful.  When he was a newborn and he had that breastfeeding poop, it seemed like almost every time he pooped, it came straight up and out the back of his diaper.  Sometimes it came so far up his back that it was between his shoulder blades.  Sometimes it would even come out the back AND the leg holes of the diaper.  This meant a clothing change every time he pooped (which was every time he ate!  sometimes eight times a day!), and often a bath, too.

Eventually we discovered our first pattern: Huggies diapers, despite looking more sturdy and fancy with their little poop shield in the back, never contained his poop.  Not even a tiny poop.  Pampers contained most of the poo-splosions, though some still got away from us.  Luvs and various types of store brand diapers all seemed to be the same shape and style (and poop-containing-performance) as the Pampers.  The only difference I saw was the cheaper materials, but it was hard to tell if they made Avery’s rashes worse or not since they were so bad to begin with.  I did notice that the cheaper store brand versions held less pee, so they had to be changed more often, but that probably helped his rash anyway to be changed more often.

Pampers diapers worked best for us with our newborn sons, and we switched to Huggies as they got older.

At some point (maybe when Avery was four or five months old) he started peeing too much for the Pampers-style diapers and we had to shop around again.  We decided to give the Huggies another try, since his body and the larger size Huggies were shaped differently then the newborn equivalents.  Lo and behold, they were a perfect match this time.  I don’t remember having any blowouts after that (of course we were also past breastfeeding and his poo was less likely to explode out of the diaper anyway) and the Huggies held much more pee than Pampers & equivalents.  He was now able to stay dry during naps and I was off the hook for changing his bedding every day!

We also noticed a major difference in the brands of wipes.  Pampers wipes are incredibly thin, which some people like, but just didn’t work for us.  I can’t even tell you how many times I got poop on my hand trying to wipe with those dern things.  Huggies wipes are much thicker and if you know what you’re doing (wipe, fold, wipe again, and sometimes one more time) you can do an entire poop change with one wipe.  That makes them more cost-efficient, too.  We didn’t try a whole lot of store brand wipes so I can’t say which are the best, but we did try the Kroger kind.  Natural Comfort, I think was the name?  I can’t really remember, but they were thick just like Huggies.

No more poop on my hands with these thicker wipes.

So the magic equation (or as close as we got to finding one) for Avery was: Pampers (newborn phase) + Huggies (infant & toddler phase) + Desitin + Johnson’s baby powder + Huggies wipes.

What we did differently with our second child

Jackson’s newborn phase went much like Avery’s (minus the extreme rashes, because he just never seemed prone to those).  But when Jackson was three months old, our money situation got so tight that we were wondering how we were going to buy diapers.  It really came down to making a decision between the next jumbo pack of diapers or a couple of the cloth diapers I’d been researching to start us off.  Needless to say, we chose the cloth diaper route, and the rest is history.  Our initial purchase of a couple bumGenius 4.0s (they were buy 2 get 1 free, so we got six) and a starter pack of econobum (1 cover and 3 prefolds).  Our stash has since expanded (I wrote a post about it) and I came to love the things so much that I decided to write about them.  So far I’ve only reviewed BabyLand/BabyCity Made in China diapers, but I’m working on the next review, too.

bumGenius 4.0s were our first cloth diapers, and we bought six in the periwinkle color. (Bubble, I think it was called.)

We don’t ever use disposables on Jackson, not even when other people are caring for him (such as the church nursery or our very rare baby-free date nights) because pocket diapers are just so dang simple.  We keep some disposables around in case I get sick or something and get behind on diaper laundry, but they never get used.  We keep some in the vehicle, too, just in case I didn’t bring enough cloth in the diaper bag, but those haven’t gotten used, either!

Part of the deal with using cloth diapers is that you can’t use diaper rash creams or pastes, or any other sort of goodies.  (They aren’t really necessary anyway, not for Jackson anyway.  He has only had one rash in the two months he’s worn cloth.)  We also don’t use disposable wipes anymore – I figured that if I was already going to be washing diapers, I might as well save money on the wipes, too.  We still keep Huggies wipes around for various cleanups, and on the off chance that Avery does a #2 in his nighttime diaper (he’s fully diaper trained when awake, but wears Huggies Overnights to sleep in).  Jackson uses bumGenius cotton flannel wipes that I keep dry.  I just have a spray bottle of water and a capful of Johnson’s baby wash in it that hangs on the diaper caddy that I spray his bottom with, and then wipe with the flannels to get him clean.  He has an assortment of cloth diapers, even the cheapest of which performs better than the disposables we tried.  I’ll be reviewing as many of these as I can over time.

bumGenius flannel wipes.

I think that some of the most significant lessons we learned between our first and second children had to do with diapering.  We’ve saved a ton of money (and heartache watching our baby struggle with painful rashes) by switching to cloth.  I can’t even imagine how many times we’ve looked at each other and said, “Why didn’t we think of this before?”  Not cloth diapering Avery is a big regret of mine, but sometimes you just have to live and learn, and do it better with your next baby!

–

This is the third post in a four-part series.  See Part 1: Sleeping, Part 2: Breastfeeding, and stay tuned tomorrow for the final post in the series: Part 4 – Baby Gear.

Materials
Virtually any absorbent cotton/cotton blend material will work.  You can use brand new materials or recycle those you find around your house or local thrift store.  Here are some of our favorites.
-Flannel
-Interlock Cotton
-Jersey Cotton
-Terry Cloth

You can make your wipes out of one layer or two.  We prefer two.  You can also use your cute cotton print fabrics when using two. Just pick an absorbent layer for one side, and a cute print for the other.  Our personal stash also includes some fleece and minky wipes.  Fleece and minky are water resistant, so it can make wetting these wipes more challenging, but we find its soft against baby’s skin.

Items that can be found around your home or thrift store that work well:
-Receiving blankets
-T-shirts
-Sheets
-Towels and washcloths
-Old Pajamas
-Fleece Blankets

Sewing
After you’ve picked out your materials, you’ll need to cut them into the appropriate size rectangle or square.  The best thing about making them yourself is that you can choose a size that works for you – we have multiple sizes that we use in our own house.  I’ve found that a 6″X7″ wipe tends to work best for us, but feel free to experiment to find what works for you.

Once you have your pieces cut(use scissors or a rotary cutter, whatever you have on hand), pair your two pieces together with right sides facing out and pin them.  Set your sewing machine on your regular zigzag stitch.  You want the zigzag to be a ‘tight’ one with the zigs and zags close together.  You might want to test your stitch size on a scrap piece of fabric to find the width that you like best.

I like to do three stitches around my wipes.  For the first stitch, I DO NOT let my needle drop over the edge of the fabric.  I run it as close as I can without dropping over the edge and stitch all the way around to help prevent any sliding of the fabric.  Once I get back to my starting point, I pick up the needle and adjust the fabric slightly so that the stitch will drop slightly over the edge (this helps prevent fraying).  The technical term here is an overcast stitch.  Stitch all the way around again.  Two zigzags all the way around are probably sufficient, but doing a third helps give me peace of mind.  Back-stitch at the end.

And as always, if you don’t have time to make your own or no sewing machine, we have some available in our shop.  Don’t see any that suit your tastes? Contact us, we’re happy to whip some up to suit your needs!http://www.BrennysBibbies.Etsy.com

Here are a few tried, tested and approved, homemade household cleaning products from my home to yours. Enjoy!

~ Tanya Patterson ~

______________________________________________

All-Purpose Surface Cleaner/Disinfectant

• Fill a spray bottle 1/4 full with white vinegar, the rest of the way with warm water, add a squirt of liquid Castile Soap and 4-6 drops of Cinnamon Bark essential oil. Spray on surface, let sit for a few minutes and than wipe.

Deodorizing Room Spray

• Fill a small spray bottle with water, add 2-4 drops Cinnamon Bark essential oil, shake well and you are ready to use. Spritz a little here and there to refresh and deodorize a room.

Bathroom Cleaner

• Click here for the Bathroom Cleaner aka Comet Substitute, use 5 drops Cinnamon Bark essential oil where it calls for an essential oil of your choice.

Carpet Deodorizer

• I have tried this with Lavender essential oil and cannot wait to make my next batch using Cinnamon Bark essential oil.  Click here for quick directions on making your own natural carpet deodorizer.

Scented Air Freshener

• Using the same concept as the Bathroom Cleaner and Carpet Deodorizer, you will use a smaller pint size mason jar and fill 1/4 of the jar with baking soda, add about 8 drops Cinnamon Bark essential oil and fasten lid. Puncture a nice design into the lid to allow the scent to flow out from the jar.  Refresh scent as needed, simply by adding more essential oil.

Re-usable Cloth Disinfectant Wipes

• Make your own re-usable cloth disinfectant wipes by following these instructions. These are great for travel or for wiping down household surfaces.

If you would like to read more on household cleaning products, the danger of chemicals included in the store-bought versions as well as other recipes for making your own, click here.

To purchase a bottle of YL Cinnamon Bark essential oil (Item No. 3515), click here.

]]> http://miniskirtandspittingup.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/green-parenting-l-10-biotiful-ways-of-raising-your-baby/ Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:09:33 +0000 Sixtine and The Little Things http://miniskirtandspittingup.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/green-parenting-l-10-biotiful-ways-of-raising-your-baby/ http://cloudsfullofrain.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/5-days-5-gifts-day-3/ Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:43:23 +0000 cloudsfullofrain http://cloudsfullofrain.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/5-days-5-gifts-day-3/ Start with Day 1 if you missed it.

Next up is a gift made for a sweet baby girl.  She has not blessed us with her arrival yet.  It was so much fun making this gift.

Peek into my workspace

All of this goodness takes place right at my dining room table.  Nothing fancy.

The makings of a baby rag quilt (back side)

The rag quilt is the second type of quilt I learned to make.  It is made of two layers of cotton flannel with a layer of soft batting sandwiched in between.

front view of rag quilt

X’s are sewn on each square to prevent the batting from shifting.  Squares can be arranged in any desired pattern.

I guess the quilt gets its’ name because of the rag effect on the outside of the squares.  This effect is achieved by sewing sides of the squares together, but leaving the seams visible.  When the quilt is washed the fabric frays.

Coordinating set of 2 burp cloths and 4 cloth wipes

I absolutely adore these burpcloths and wipes.  The burpcloths are backed with white Chenille.  I think Chenille is my go to fabric for  backing these babies.  It is so soft and absorbant.  They are nice and long, easily covering shoulders and protecting clothes.  Provides great protection from baby fluids.  Makes it easy to keep tiny body parts clean.  The cloth wipes are a favorite too.  You can use them to wipe up just about anything.  Then, just toss them into the wash and reuse.  They are made with two layers of cotton flannel.

Quilt and accessories tied with rafia before being placed in bag

So glad mommy to be likes the set.  Hopefully she can get good use out of these items.  That baby girl is going to look so cute having tummy time on her very own handmade rag quilt.  When she is older, she’ll be able to use it with her baby dolls (with mom’s approval of course).

Check out Day 4.

We have a rhythm that works for us now. It took some learning in the beginning as we were trying to figure out what would work best for our family. Cloth diapering is not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. It is definitely a different experience than using disposables (which I am not against at all). It’s a good different. You just have to figure out what works for you.

During pregnancy, I started researching the topic and quickly became overwhelmed. Don’t know if you know, but cloth diapers have made a come back folks. So much so that the market is booming. People are coming out of the woodworks with their versions of cloth diapers and accessories. Rightfully so, little bums are so cute in them. Not to mention the potential to save money while decreasing your contribution to landfills.

We chose cloth diapering because I am able and willing to do it, and I love finding ways to make our money stretch. Cloth diapering can be intimidating in the beginning because you need certain products on hand before you can even get going with diapering your baby. It’s not as simple as going to the store and grabbing a big box of diapers and packs of wipes. I’m sure cloth diapering can get a lot more complicated than what we have going on, but I’m all about keeping things simple. I’ll share what has been working for us.

One thing that helped ease our transition into cloth diapering was asking for cloth diapering products at the baby shower. Yep, I incorporated this request right into the invitation. Most people were not familiar with the idea, but were able to find products at some of the major retail stores. We were given flat and prefold cloth diapers along with diaper covers, diaper pins, and detergent.

I went out and purchased a snappi as I could not imagine myself sticking my poor little baby with that diaper pin. I had to give myself time to work up to that. Now, I use them with no problems.

During my research, I came across a pattern for a fitted pocket diaper. It’s called fitted because it has elastic around the legs and sometimes the back. It’s just simple fabric with elastic added. It does require a diaper cover as it is not waterproof. I knew I had to use the pattern to make some fitteds for my baby boy. Hmmm, needed some flannel fabric. Oh yeah, I got these at the baby shower.

4 pack of flannel receiving blankets

Babies get lots of these, so I’ll just go ahead and turn this set into fitted cloth diapers. Not to mention they have cute matching t-shirts.

The process was pretty simple. Rita, the lovely creator of the pattern, made this project quite easy with her wonderful directions. It also helped to read comments from others that have tackled this project. After pre-washing and ironing the fabric I traced it onto the fabric. I knew I would have to get a little creative since my fabric squares were only 30″X30″. No way I was getting two nice diaper cuts from one blanket. I needed a cut for the inner and outer layers of the diaper.

Diaper pattern was traced onto wrong side of fabric with fabric pen

After doing a little piecing together, adding some elastic, and doing some turning and topstitching, I came out with these…….

Cloth diapers made from Rita’s Rump Pocket Diaper pattern

Crazy, huh? I know. Cute and functional. Good thing I had some extra fabric once the diaper cuts were made. What good is a cloth diaper without these to match?

Burp cloths backed with Chenille fabric

and these….

Cloth wipes backed with Chenille fabric

These items come in handy for wiping up all kinds of baby fluids. I have even used the burp cloths as the absorbent stuffing for the pocket of the diaper. Although I didn’t photograph it, there is a pocket opening on the back part of the diaper that can be stuffed with whatever you want to use to catch the urine and waste. The cool thing about this particular pattern is that it grows with baby. It can fit most babies from very small through potty training. That’s a plus. We’ll have to see how the fabric holds up to constant washing/drying.

Here is how we are keeping things simple as far as the storage of these items. Gotta keep’em handy for frequent changing. Not like a disposable that can be left on for longer and baby have no clue what’s going on. With these things, they feel everything. That may or may not bother them depending on the child. I hear the result is earlier potty training because as they get older they do not want to feel wetness or waste on them.

Prefold diapers on the left, Flat diapers on the right

Added diaper covers in open space

And for my wonderful model…..

Before diaper cover was put on. Fitted is secured with one diaper pin.

And this is how we are cloth diapering. Lots more I could have said, but I probably would’ve never gotten this post up had I kept typing. I hope things continue to go well for us. I have another set of blankets I’ll be turning into cloth diapers. I seriously like these a lot, and it’s easier than folding the flats and prefolds although I don’t mind that at all.

Has anybody else considered cloth diapering these days? If you already are, how has your experience been?

All of this is certainly understandable hey, I’ve been there but now all of that is just excuses and they need to be fixed at once, I will guide you along the way to starting cloth wipes and who knows maybe I will learn something a long the way. Follow me on my step by step journey on learning all about cloth wipes. For those that do not use cloth diapers, maybe this will encourage you to use cloth wipes and when you realize how easy the wipes are you can move onto the cloth diapering part and not only with the planet be healthier, you will be saving a ton of money and your child will thank you for not putting papery, chemically filled disposable garbage diapers on their bum.

Yours truly,                                                                                                                                       Sew Crunchy

I am so excited to cloth diaper our little one and I can get into the details of that decision another day!  Cloth wipes are so super easy to make!  There is no reason to spend money on wipes ever again

Pick your fabrics!  I chose to do a terry/flannel wipe and will also make some that are double sided flannel.  I made these at the same time as 4 terry backed burp cloths and used 1 yard of terry for both projects.  I then purchased half a yard each of 3 complimentary flannel patterns.

The dimensions you want is 8″x8″.  These can be folded in half and stored in an empty wipe box or just stacked at the changing station.

To cut, I laid out my terry and cut the four 9″x21″ burp cloths and set aside.  The rest of the terry got cut into 8″x8″ and there were some decent sized scraps that I decided to go ahead and use as well.  I got a dozen wipes out of it plus 3 strange sized ones.  Then I cut 4 of each (plus 1 that matched the smaller size) flannel.

Pair a piece of flannel and a piece of terry wrong sides together and serge! Done! (you can place a pin in the middle, but it really isn’t necessary because the terry holds the flannel in place)

If you don’t have a serger, place the fabrics right sides together and stitch around the edge leaving about 2″ open on one side.  Trim the corners to avoid bulk, then flip right side out.  Tuck opening in to match the rest of the fabric and do a 1/4″ stitch around the edging.  Done!

So Easy!

And, I’m not going to lie, I had a minor freak out. I am 35 weeks pregnant, and that means full term in just two measley weeks. While I have NO idea at this point if the baby will come early, on-time, or late, I realized….two weeks is NOT far away. NOT FAR AWAY AT ALL!

So I got out my baby to do list…which I haven’t looked at in a few weeks- and realized that I could put a strike through a few things!

We painted the baby’s room last weekend:

And, I think we have everything we need for baby, aside from the cloth diapers. My in-laws came last weekend and brought a bunch of stuff with them, hand-me-downs from my nephew, as well as a few remaining shower gifts.

I got to thinking about it today, and the ONLY things that are absolutely 100 percent imperative that we do before we can bring the baby home are: pack a bag for the hospital, for me and baby, and install the car seat.

Thinking that way, really took a load off!

The things that I WANT to do before the baby comes home are:

• move the crib into the nusery (it’s currently in the kitchen–long story)
• hang the curtains we ordered
• secure the changing pad to the changing table
• order, recieve, and prep cloth diapers
• order and put up vinyl decals on the babies wall.
• hang the bunting from my shower on the wall
• make the baby a mobile
• put together the bouncer
• put together the bassinet (this literally takes one minute, but I am missing a part, needs to be sent from Idaho).
• make cloth wipes
• wash all of the blankets we have recieved as gifts
• purchase a nursing tank
• nursing bra
• postpartum care for me (pads, witch hazel, stool softeners etc).

Even though those are all doable, and some of them are on the list for this weekend, it makes me feel better knowing none of them are do or die. I have already washed all of the receiving blankets, the cloth diapers I have, baby clothes  through three months, towels, wash cloths, changing pad cover, and my moby wrap. We also already have the crib and changing table put together, the toy/bookshelf set up in the nursery, and the swing cleaned and put together.

Whew. Ok. I feel better. I feel more prepared. At least in the details. Prepared to give birth? That is a whole other can of worms. Prepared to parent? Terrified.

Anyway, for THOUSANDS of years women cloth diapered, because it was the only choice. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that disposable diapers make life much easier, but two main things about cloth are important to me:

1) the cost savings over time–a family will typically spend 2000-3000 dollars per child for diapering years

and

2) how much better they are for the environment. We’ve all seen pictures of the great pacific trash island right? Disposable diapers do not bio-degrade.

I am due in a little over 5 weeks (oh dear lord) and as of now, we only have 9 diapers. 9 is not going to cut it. I would ideally like around 18 to 24 diapers.

The diapers we have now are:

- 3 little gpants in size small.

These are for babies 8-14 pounds. They have a snap in plastic liner that come with the outer shell, and then you buy the inserts seperately. I recieved one as a gift, and purchased two more, with 6 inserts. I am confident that our child will come out weighing between 8 and 14 pounds, so I’m hoping that these will be useable as soon as we get home from the hospital.

-3 bumgenius 4.0 one size

I have two of the black print, and one of the yellow. These were a gift from my cloth diapering best friend. These are pocket diapers, and in theory fit 8 pound babies through potty training. I’ve read lots of things that say they are better suited to 10 pound babies. My baby might come out weighing 10 pounds…we’ll see!

-2 Marvels Kissaluvs all-in-ones one size.

http://www.kissaluvs.com

These were also a gift, from my registry on diapers.com.  Here is a tip, if you don’t have cloth diapering friends, don’t register for cloth diapers, people will not buy them for you. Or maybe ONLY register for cloth diapers. Ha. I have this exact diaper pictured, but what I didn’t know (because I didn’t do SUPER thorough research) is that this diaper does not have a water proof cover. D’oh. It’s an all-in-one diaper, so other than needing an outer shell, it’s just like a disposable diaper, no stuffing, no un-snapping an insert. And the part that goes against the baby? SO SOFT.

And I have one, one size diaper that my very crafty, cloth diapering best friend MADE for me.

I plan to order 12 more diapers, from www.cottonbabies.com. Right now, my plan is to order the following from them:

6- bumgenius 4.0 in various colors

6- fuzzibunz one size diapers.

1 diaper pail liner

and 1 cover for my two kissaluvs.

I don’t really have a reason for getting 6 of the bums and 6 of the fuzzibunz, just that I think I might like them for different things. I’ve read several posts from different bloggers who use ONLY bumgenius or ONLY fuzzibunz, but part of me is afraid to put all my eggs in one basket so to speak.

Also, I would like to use cloth wipes. I can’t decide if I should just make them myself, or buy them from Etsy. I’m pretty sure they can be made by cutting and hemming flannel. Anyone know?

organic hemp fleece cloth wipes Rainbow Set

And the super soft organic baby receiving blanket to match

organic hemp fleece baby blanket

After reading lots of suggestions online, I discovered that you really can make cloth wipes out of almost any type of fabric.  One suggestion I ran across was to use old cut-up t-shirts.  I often use old t-shirt scraps for cleaning around the house because after years of washing they are very soft.  Then it dawned on me that DH had for some time been meaning to go through his undershirts and get rid of the old ones he never wears anymore.  So, after I *kindly* reminded him he was due to purge his undershirt drawer, I had a huge stack of shirts ready to be made into cloth wipes.  (In case you think this sounds awfully familiar, yes, I previously pillaged DH’s underwear drawer for fabric when I made burp cloths.  Read that tutorial here!)

The great thing about knit t-shirt fabric is that it doesn’t fray, so you don’t have to  worry about creating seams which made this whole project super easy.  Honestly, if wanted to keep it REALLY REALLY simple you could just cut up a t-shirt and use it as-is, but many of the cloth wipe tutorials I read suggested that for thinner fabrics like t-shirt fabric, it was best to make the wipes with two pieces of fabric so you had a little extra…insurance between your hand and what you’re wiping.  Enough said!

I actually had a great time with this easy project I wanted to share my very easy DIY “upcycled” undershirt-to-cloth-wipe experience here.  This is what my final product looks like (and the tutorial follows!):

What you’ll need:

• 1 old t-shirt/undershirt for every 6 wipes you need (I made 18 out of 3 a men’s size S/M undershirts)
• scissors
• thread in a color that complements or contrasts with the color of the t-shirt (we did aqua thread to match the nursery)
• sewing machine

Step 1:  Lay the t-shirt out flat.  Cut both layers of fabric from just beneath the armpit on one side straight across to just beneath the armpit on the other side. Note that your cuts do not have to be absolutely perfect unless an uneven edge will bother you.

Step 2: Cut off the bottom hem of the shirt just above the seam.

Step 3: Cut along folded edge on either side of the shirt.  You will then have two separate rectangular pieces of fabric that are exactly the same size, stacked neatly one on top of the other, like this (I folded the edge down so you could see it is two layers thick):

Step 4: Cut into three pieces of equal width, following the longer edge.  Make sure you’re cutting through both layers of fabric.  You’ll then have three strips like this:

Step 5: Cut each strip in half (again, making sure you’re cutting through both layers).  You’ll then have the makings of your six wipes:

Step 6:  Using this method, each wipe will be approximately 8″x4″.

Step 7: Stitch using a zigzag stitch (or other stitch that you like that works well for knits) with about a 1/2″ seam allowance (again, this doesn’t need to be exact) around each side.

Step 8: Repeat for the remaining wipes.

Step 9: Enjoy your new adorable and easy cloth wipes by using them on your baby’s bottom!

One last pic to leave you with–as silly as it may be, it makes me happy that these match the nursery colors!

So far they’re working great.  We either use them dry or sprayed with distilled water, depending on the “situation” and are very pleased.  I may even be motivated to make a different set for cleaning around the house (with a different color thread, of course!).

Have you ever DIY-ed cloth wipes?  How did it go?  Let me know if you try this tutorial!

But, I never seemed to talk myself into using cloth wipes. Then, we started solid foods and oh how I wish for breastfed poops again! AG’s diapers smell TERRIBLE now and the numerous wipes in the trash cans were starting to smell awful. So, this weekend I went to this cute little baby store Healthy Baby Happy Earth. It is in downtown Glendale, AZ and I’m in love! I went in for some Rockin’ Green Detergent and started chatting with the lady about cloth wipes. I saw that they carry the Warmies brand wipes and warmer in the store. I almost bought them on the spot when I saw how much money we could be saving with the wipes. But, I decided to head home and research some more to find the best wipes and how we could incorporate this into our lives (aka. convince MB that we should).

After TONS of research (if I mention cloth wipes one more time to MB he may ship me off to California) I found that a lot of women use baby wash cloths as their wipes. They put them in a Huggies wipes container and they use a homemade wipes solution. Everything I needed to experiment with cloth wipes was in my house already!

So, Sunday night I started using them and so far so good. We have even had a poopy diaper and I only had to use one wash cloth. With disposable wipes I sometimes would use 3.

The way I get them to pop up out of the container is described on this YouTube video I found:
how to fold cloth wipes

For the diaper spray

I use a spray bottle and mix together:

1 c water

1 Tbsp baby wash

1 Tbsp baby oil

When I need a wipe I just take one out, spray it, use it, and then it goes in the diaper wet bag to be washed with the diapers.

I have not tried them while out but when I do I’ll post how it works!

Love her so much!

<3

Carolyn

It was really quiet in the dinning room, so I went to investigate and this is what I found.

Look at that concentration. She’s really into sorting those cloth wipes.

“Oh hi! I’m just helping!”

“Please don’t bother me, I’m doing very important work.”

“Hahaha, I’m just kidding. I’m just wrecking your piles. Piles are for babies!”

How can you get made at this face? Really? Look at the cheesy smile!

“My job here is done!”

Someday I want to do a quilt where I let her go through my stash and pick out pieces to sew together. It would be a masterpiece!

In my sewing room, I collect clothing that is looking too worn to make it back into the drawers or the donation bag, in hopes that I can cut them up and re-purpose them. There’s plenty of soft flannel piling up, perfect for making cloth “butt wipes”.

The first thing to come off the top of the pile was an old pyjama shirt of mine, acquired second-hand. It may be too worn to bother patching and fixing up now, but it’s perfect for cutting up! The remaining buttons went into my button box, and the shirt was transformed.

Snip, snip & sew, and VOILA! I give you…

Washable cloth butt wipes, quite possibly the easiest thing a mama could make! They look quite lovely, neatly folded on the back of the toilet. It’s a shame the lighting in the bathroom is so poor.

There you have it, a simple way to reduce waste, cut expenses, and reuse old materials!