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Thursday, April 19, 2012

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My Diaper Bucket List

It is estimated that during the babyhood of any child, they will experience upwards of 7000 diaper changes. It may not feel like it when you are changing your tenth newborn dipe of the night (and it is only 11pm), or when your busy toddler turns changing time into something resembling WWF, but these days will come to and end. My family’s cloth diapering days are numbered, but while they still last, there are a couple of things that I am determined to try:

1. Home-made diapers. There are an array of free patterns and tutorials for making cloth diapers out there in cyber space, and I am determined to try a few of them. I have already had success with a fleece soaker which I whipped up during one nap time. I am, at heart, a devoted pocket diaper girl, but it is nice to have the soaker around for at home days, times when “Destructo’s” tush could do with a bit of airing, and sand-pit time. My next project will be converting a few prefolds into a fitted (a “prefitted”, as they are called) which looks pretty easy. I may need a couple of new prefolds first, though…

2. Wool. When I was first making a foray into cloth, I heard about wool, but it all seemed a bit confusing. After reading up more on the topic, though, I think I am thoroughly convinced to give it a try! Wool is not only water-resistant, it is also highly absorbent, meaning it is a great solution for overnight diapering. Another amazing fact is that the lanolin in wool chemically converts urine into soap! This means you only need to wash wool covers every couple of weeks. I got all environmentally friendly a few weeks ago, and whipped up a pair of wool shorties out of an old wool sweater I bought at the thrift store. It is not as bullet-proof as I had hoped, but is ridiculously cute. Teaching myself to knit has proved a futile exercise (take note: learning to knit whilst baby is teething is a recipe for tears all round), but thankfully there are lots of beautifully made wool options available to buy ready-made.

3. A long camping trip. Maybe I am a sucker for punishment, but I would love to try and use my cloth on a longer camping trip or holiday. We did 4 days away over Christmas, without access to a washing machine or dryer, and it was totally doable! Covers and quick drying flats were the way to go, and I earned bonus Mickey-Mouse points with some of my elderly in-laws (who we were vacationing with) when they saw that I, the pioneer woman, can wash by hand. I hope later in the year to go away for a week or more with cloth and see how it goes.

4. A plane trip. We are heading overseas to visit my family later in the year, and I hope to try out my cloth diapers on a plane. Honestly, a pack of disposables wouldn’t break the bank, but considering how rashy my son gets in them, and how often they seem to leak, it actually seems like more of an effort. I plan on using our pockets, as I think the stay-dry liner would make the Munchkin more comfortable (and when flying with a toddler, I figure comfort is the way you want to go), but may double stuff with some hemp inserts to make certain we don’t get leaks.

5. Lady cloth. I am intrigued. ‘nuff said.

6. Newborn diapering. I unfortunately missed this short window of time with my son. The idea of doing extra laundry post labour was just too daunting; I was amazed to discover, once I jumped into the deep-end three weeks after he was born, just how simple it could have been. My next goal is to start right at the beginning, there in the hospital, with cloth. There are so many cute, effective and frugal newborn options available which I – I mean, my new baby – would love to try.

Let me not get ahead of myself, though. There is no new baby on the way – yet. Which means my first challenge is not convincing my husband that we need new diapers, but that we need more kids…

Bio: Belinda Lamprecht currently lives in Africa with her husband, working for an international missions agency and raising her two kiddos, one who joined the family through adoption and one…ahem…the old fashoned way. You can read more about their experiences at www.reaboka.wordpress.com

2 comments:

JustCorey said...

I have yet to venture outside of the home with cloth diapers... I did take some when i visited my mo mfor a week but she wasnt exactly "for" doing diaper laundry at her house, so disposables it was. Hubby doesnt even like the kiddos to wear anything but sposies outside of the house because he doesnt want to tote around dirties... but maybe one day before the kids are potty trained i will get to try more options... for now i am glad i get to cloth diaper at least part time

Mindy said...

Nice bucket list. The link to her blog seems to be broken. Could that be corrected?!