a quick comparison....

just had to share a quick comparison photo of Emersyn in the same MyBaby OSFA diaper, at three months and again at twelve months...

a year of cloth love - part 2

... continued...

a 'wahm' diaper, again from the Nappy Network [tnn]

seven months and showing off her first BabyLand diaper

eight months old and showing off a Fuzzibunz pocket

a couple of weeks after the February earthquake, in her first Itti Bitti D'Lish

nine and a bit months old - showing off her new Bummis SWW

still living away from home because of the earthquake.. this time in a mint D'Lish

almost eleven months old, showing off her standing skills - and her BumGenius pocket

the cheekiest kid in all of Christchurch... eleven months old and in another Bitti D'Lish

ONE YEAR OLD... showing off her purple Bitti D'Lish with baby cousin, Bronte [almost 4 months].. neither was in a great mood...

Showing off a Monkey Doodlez minky pocket, and rocking some cow print BabyLegs

today... a few minutes ago to be precise.. in my favourite pocket, as seen in part one of this little blog entry

and that really brings you up to date... from itti bitti baby - to Itti Bitti diaper lover... I am looking forward to the next year in cloth, and will see you same place, same time in one year :)

a year of cloth love - part 1

It is ALMOST a year since I began cloth diapering Emersyn, so I figured now is as good a time as any, to do her 'one year in cloth' post [more so because I will probably forget...]... so here goes...

FIRST time wearing cloth.. a OSFA pepenaps pocket... 2 weeks 4 days old

Rocking a mohawk, and her blue pepenaps... about 1 month

this was the start of the obsession.. a Bambino Mio cover, over a fitted - part of a bunch of free diapers I got given, from a lady on the Nappy Network NZ

showing off her new Real Nappies cover, over a prefold. about 2.5 months

One of her first Bummis Super Brites - again about 2.5 months

What was and still IS my favourite pocket - a MyBaby... I adore the colour

[almost] 4 months old, wearing a Green Acre Designs small pocket.  I was so sad when she grew out of this particular diaper

4.5 months, showing off her first Snazzipants diaper - this brand is my favourite fitted, and I ended up with a full 'stash'.. it was sad when she outgrew the size ones.. luckily we have some size twos on the way

a week off 6 months, showing off her Bummmis flower print Super Whisper Wrap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

flat is fab

my first ever attempt at using a flat

 

Over the past few days I have gone back to basics and have been giving flats a bit of a go... I really did think I wouldn't like them, or that I'd think they were 'okay', but then not really give them a second look.  HOWEVER, I am thoroughly impressed by these 'old school' diapers, and think they may become an important component of my fluffy wardrobe. They are definitely on par with prefolds, and possibly actually better [in my opinion] than prefolds, because of the variety of ways they can be folded, and the fact that they are really a one size fits all diaper solution... I find that with prefolds, once Emersyn has grown and is closer to the end of the weight range for a certain size of prefold, they become quite hard to do up - there isn't a lot of fabric left at the 'wings' of the diaper.  Admittedly with a snappi this doesn't cause a lot of problems, but if you're pinning - it does.
 
Why do I like them?  I think it's the absorbency mainly - and the fac t they can be folded in certain ways, so that the absorbency is where you need it.  I have tried three folds - the airplane fold, the origami fold and the kite fold, and I think my favourite of the three is the origami fold.  I remember my Mum [and Aunties] using the origami fold on my sister and cousins - and it always looked so hard, and complex - very adult... but it only took a couple of goes before I felt like I was somewhat a pro.  I think that is part of what is so great about flats - they are almost the 'blank canvas' of the diaper world - and you can modify them to suit your own needs...  I imagine the airplane fold is great for using on boys, and the kite fold is probably very adjustable and could be used on a newborn.  


I have actually found flats to be so good, that I'm now using them overnight.  I have found that for Emersyn they are best used in the origami fold, with a Real Nappies night time booster pad on top - and then a pad folded flat on top of that... there are umpteen layers of absorbency - WHERE it is needed,  and when accompanied by a fleece cover, or a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap, they seem very much leakproof - and foolproof.

So are flats overrated?  In MY opinion - NO... infact, I think it's quite the opposite - flats are UNDERRATED...

we are family.... [an itti bitti family]

My sister [as I believe I have mentioned] has started using Bitti Tutto diapers on my niece, Bronte - and I finally got to have a proper play with them, last week when I had the honour of babysitting Bronny for the first time.  She - of course, was a total dream and if anything my own children were tougher... there was a rocky moment or two when Emersyn and Bronte both decided to reach fever-pitch with their crying, at the same time.

OF COURSE, being the clothaholic - and ittibittiaholic that I am, I couldn't resist putting the girls in their matching coloured Itti Bitti's [I have to confess that I had packed all of Emersyn's Itti Bittis, that I knew Bronte had the same colour of] in order to take their first matching-diaper photo.

It happened to be during the rocky moments I mentioned above - neither girl was in a great mood, but nevertheless here is the photo of the Itti Bitti cousins....

Emersyn in her D'Lish and Bronte in her Tutto

Rockin' her yellow Tutto

and just because I can, here is a photo of Bronte in her beautiful yellow Tutto [of which Emersyn has one in the same colour].  It was lovely to see both girls rocking the minky - but also doing their part for the environment, at such young ages.  Of course neither of them realise the impact they are having - but all the same, I think it's sweet.  I look at these luscious, soft, vibrant, utterly beautiful diapers, and feel so so happy that I made the decision to start using cloth... and that my darling baby sister eventually came to the 'dark but fluffy side' too

once you've had fleece... you'll never go back

the whole point of this blog post, is to rave about the awesomeness that is fleece.  


I have posted a lot about my hunt to find the right night time combo - recently I have been using prefolds, which has worked out well, but if Emersyn had a bottle or two overnight [as she tends to do while teething], I have found she tends to wake up a little damp... nothing that would be uncomfortable for her, but frustrating to me all the same.  Kind of like the diaper 'winning' and me losing.  


A friend on JustMommies talked about fleece and using it overnight - and suggested a super easy way that a cover could be made -  basically cutting up and old fleece blanket into a flat [diaper] shape, and then pinning it on over a prefold or fitted.  I looked at my old, ratty fleece blanket - and decided it was worth a go.  I did the cutting and got it all ready, just in time for Emersyn to need a diaper change... I put it on her and expected her to wet through - but when she was still dry and was ready for another nap, I decided to see what would happen if she wore it for her nap...

That nap lasted for two hours [very abnormal] - and I was amazed when she got up and was DRY....   I decided I might as well bite the bullet, and ended up cutting another couple of squares, and when it came time for her to go to bed for the night, put her in another fitted, with the two layers of fleece over top.  I fully expected her to wake in the early hours, very wet - lo and behold, she woke up at 6am - STILL DRY.

SUCCESS OR WHAT.

Every night since, Emersyn has had a fleece cover over top of whatever diaper she has worn to bed, whether it's a fitted, prefold or pocket - and we've not had a single leak... she hasn't even felt damp.  I have the 'flat covers' that I 'made' for her, a Bummis polar wrap, and a Funky Bumz pull up soaker.. I think I prefer the pull up soaker, just because it seems to fit her best around the legs.... but I have absolutely no qualms in using either of my other fleece covers.

I really really wish I had tried fleece beforehand, because it would have saved Emersyn a LOT of damp pyjamas and bedding... but I think a lot of cloth diapering is about trial and error... finding what works, finding what doesn't... finding the products that make life just a little easier... and realising what was really a total waste of money.  I guess that is the way it goes with any baby item though.

I will get some photos of Emersyn in her fleece soon, and post them up in the near future.   

I'm still here

Sorry for the lack of new blogging recently... we had another stupid big earthquake, so I packed the kids up and left Christchurch for a few days...   I do have a lot of cloth related things to say though, so will be back sooooooooooon!

Quickly.... Emersyn and Bronny are going to be wearing matching Itti Bitti diapers soon!  Photo on the way, of course!

pining for pins

I decided earlier this week that I would give flats a go - that was all well and good until I realised that the fabric of my [single] flat is an 'unsnappiable' fabric, therefore I would need to do something I had refused even try.... I would have to use pins.... 

Thursday the girls and I traipsed around the mall, trying to find what I presumed would be an easy to find item - considering that up until awhile ago, they were the MAIN form of fastening a diaper.  But no.  Neither of the supermarkets had them, the two department stores didn't have them neither did the first baby store I tried.  I was shocked a BABY store wouldn't stock them... Baby and pin seem to go hand in hand for me [of course not literally...], apparently they are now an item that there isn't a lot of demand for.  Interesting.  Fast forward to the last shop on my list - Baby Factory - FINALLY I found the longed for pins.  Hallelujah.
 

my first prefold pinning attempt

I got home and couldn't resist having a go at pinning a nappy for the very first time... I got Emersyn ready, said a quick pre-emptive pin-stabbing  apology took a deep breath and away I went.  It was surprisingly a lot easier than I imagined it would be - I remember watching my Aunts when I was younger, and it seemed like there was a lot of force require to get the pin through the actual fabric, but it seemed quite effortless when I did it..  I did need to re-pin a few times, to get diaper tight enough and even, but I eventually got there.

I have been using only pinned prefolds for basically three days now, and have to say I REALLY love using pins.  I am not sure what it is about pinning, but I think it's to do with the fact you get a snugger fit around the waist, and they seem to bunch a bit less.  Today for the first time I didn't have to re-pin to get the right fit, so I think I am starting to become a little more skilled at pinning... not that that is a huge accomplishment that I expect praise for - but I am proud of myself, because it's a little bit of the 'back to basics' which seems to be something I am fond of right now.

I have even started to enjoy using the prefolds and pins so much, that I have been having vague ideas of selling most of the rest of my stash, and then buying some more prefolds and extra covers... but I don't know if I can bring myself to part with my stash, especially with all the effort I've gone to to build it [aka, after all the money I have spent on it].  I think there are some I would definitely keep - but maybe I should go through and get rid of the diapers that I don't LOVE.....

food for thought....