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....

If I could do it all again.... Prefolds and the newborn

'if I had to do it all again' is a phrase I think most parents say throughout their lifetime...  My 'if I had to do it all again' moment of the day, is a cloth diapering issue. 

prefold fastened with a Snappi

IF I HAD TO DO IT ALL AGAIN.... I would definitely stick with using prefolds for a newborn baby - infact probably for the first 6 months of the babies life.  Why?  Because prefolds are simple, and they aren't as bulky as some diapers can be on a newborn.  I don't think Emersyn really counted as a 'newborn' when I used my first prefold - she was about 2 months old, perhaps a tiny big younger, but as soon as I'd used them for the first time, I was HOOKED - and still am.  I think they are the most versatile diaper (along with flats, I'd imagine) out there, and they seem to grow with your baby.  I liked them as much on Emersyn when she was 2 months old - as I do now that she is almost 1 year old (again, GULP!).  They can be folded and fastened, or they can be pad-folded/trifolded, it really depends on what you prefer, and what you find works best for your baby.

'basic' fold, fastened with a Snappi

put on a cover & you're good to go!

As I stated in a previous entry, prefolds are basically the step up from flats - and as with flats they can be fastened, though today a lot of parents prefer to use a 'Snappi' - which you can see in the photo above.  It is basically a rubbery plasticy... 'thingy', in a 'T' shape, with little pointy prongs at the end of each part of the 'T'.  You simply put the prongs in one side of the diaper, then the other side, followed lastly by the 'tail' of the Snappi.  They are a lot safer than pins, and admittedly a lot easier to use as well - I find they can generally be put on one handed with a small baby, but once they're wiggling around a little more, they can be easier to put on using both hands.  Then there is the simple pad-fold/trifold, where the prefold is folded in thirds, placed inside the wrap/cover - and then all you need to do is place the baby on top of the prefold & put the wrap on as per-usual... No pins (or Snappis) needed.. no fancy folding.. nothing.  The way in which you use your prefold really depends on your baby, and your personal preference - and if you're anything like me, you'll find that different stages call for different folds...

When Emersyn was little, I really really liked the 'bikini twist' fold - it's a great way to get lots of absorption between the legs, BUT it also creates quite a trim appearance.  For my old blog I did a step by step photo blog of how to do the bikini twist (which I believe is popular amongst Mums of girls)... so here it is again!

Step 1 - put baby on top of flat prefold

Step 2 - twist the bottom half of the prefold - left corner to the right, right corner to the left - it will in essence, look like an hourglass shape

Step 3 - bring the lower half up between the babies legs

Step 4 - tuck the outer edges under the 'wings' from top part of the prefold, and fasten!  I learnt soon after this that you can also fold the part of the prefold that is around the legs under - creating a trimmer look, and also providing a little extra protection

(example with the fabric around the legs tucked under more)

As I said, I really loved the bikini twist - particularly when Emersyn was at the age where she would just lie still during a diaper change - however as she started getting older I preferred doing a basic fold (which I sadly don't have a photo example of how to do this fold), OR just using the prefold pad-folded/trifolded.  The 'jelly fold' is another fold that I really loved when Emersyn was little - and it is one that is VERY popular with Mums who are breastfeeding!  I found the following instructions for the jelly roll (aka 'side wall' fold) on the diaperco website.. it's a simple fold - as follows

step 1 - fold down as much prefold as you desire, to get the right size for your baby & place baby on the prefold

step 2 - start rolling the sides of the prefold until it is a little wider than your babies tooshy

step 3 - roll up the other side of the diaper, then bring the diaper through the babies legs

step 4 - fasten!

as you may see by now, rolling up the sides of the prefolds creates a barrier of sorts, to stop any of that runny breastfed-baby-poo getting out, or to at least make it harder anyway!

Another benefit of prefolds is that they tend to be the cheapest option (along with flats) for cloth diapering - and I believe that in the early days it is best for a baby to be in a diaper that fits comfortably, and not one that is big and bulky... and it's going to be a lot cheaper to buy a stash of newborn/infant prefolds, rather than a whole stash of xtra-small/newborn/small diapers, and then have to purchase more when your babe grows out of them.  I definitely LOVE pocket & AIO diapers for Emersyn at the age she is now, but I do keep going back to prefolds.

An added bonus of prefolds is that when they do grow out of the newborn/infant size, you can use those prefolds as boosters and inserts for your bigger diapers - so you can get a LOT of use out of them... Not to mention the fact they can be used for more than 1 baby!

set up costs!

I think a lot of people think of the start up costs of using cloth diapers, and that puts them off - because paying hundreds of dollars in one go, CAN be very off putting, especially if you don't have hundreds of dollars just floating around.  But I am here to tell you that you don't NEED to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars!  I personally think that prefolds & covers are the cheapest way to go, probably followed by OSFA (one size fits all) AIO's or pocket diapers....

So I have done some research online - using New Zealand websites, to get some cost comparisons for the price of diapers from birth to potty training...
*** please keep in mind these prices are for brand new nappies, from reputable stores - you CAN certainly pick up preloved diapers a lot cheaper (I may actually add an example to this post) 


Real Nappies have a 'birth to potty' pack which costs $600 and contains 6.5dozen prefolds, 23 wraps, 8 rolls of 100 liners, 2 bags of nappy sanitiser, 2 night time boosters, 1 pair of potty training pants and 1 wetbag

& when searching various websites I found Tweedle have 6 packs of small prefolds for $19.80, and 6 packs of regular prefolds for $21.60, and on YoYo Nappy I found a cover which has a OSFA option, for $25.00.  This little combnation would come to a total of $344.00 (2doz small prefolds, 1.5doz regular prefolds & 8 covers)

When it comes to OSFA pocket diapers, the cheapest I could find were from Cherub Tree, where you can get 20 OSFA pockets for $349.70... 20 is the minimum number of pockets I would be wanting & is what I started out with.

Sticking with Cherub Tree, I also found their AIO diapers for a bulk price of 447.70 for 20 diapers.  Again, 20 is the minimum amount of diapers I would want to have on hand

I know a lot of people will still be thinking that $344.00 is expensive, particularly at one time, so for an example of how cheap you can do things, here are some examples I found on TradeMe...

• 18 prefolds (regular size) - $40.00 buy now
• 18 prefolds (small size) - $40.00 buy now
• 8 prefolds (newborn size) - $20.00 buy now
• 8 Real Nappies wraps (newborn size) - $20.00 buy now
• 4 Real Nappies wraps (infant size) - $20.00 buy now
• 5 Bummis wraps (small/infant size) - $35.00 buy now

there are none on right now, but you can see from those prices that you could most likely find 6-8 medium wraps for $30.00-40.00, so you could almost say you could get a whole system on TradeMe for just over $200.00 (most people I've spoken to have said they've not had to go past a size medium for wraps)



So here are some of the 'cheaper' deals I came up with on my search - keeping in mind these are for TOTAL diaper packs, that will do from birth-3yo approx

• TradeMe prefolds & wraps, some used, some unused, some barely used - $200 approx
• Tweedle prefolds & YoYo Nappy covers - $344.00
• Cherub Tree OSFA pockets - $349.70
• Cherub Tree OSFA AIO's - $447.70
• Real Nappies 'birth to potty pack' - $600.00 (lots of extras)

What is important to remember is that you DON'T need to buy everything all at once...  There is no reason you can't buy items as you need them (unless of course you are getting a bulk deal), and remember to email the owner of the store to find out if they do lay-by (lay-away).  I was able to pay off my initial stash of OSFA pocket diapers, over the space of about 12 weeks, which made it VERY attainable!  Another way to develop a stash of diapers that won't cost the world, is to join an online cloth diapering forum, such as The Nappy Network (NZ) or Diaper Swappers & check out their 'FSOT' (for sale or trade) areas - I have purchased a lot of my diapers this way & definitely won't hesitate to do it again!

You can of course spend a lot of money building your stash if you wish - I'm a believer that when it comes to cloth diapers, you often do pay for quality - not that I'm saying the cheaper options I've mentioned above are bad quality - I have used all of those brands & have no complaints!  But if you did want to spend hundreds - urm, even getting toward the thousand (plus!) dollar mark it would be very easy... it all comes down to what you feel is acceptable to pay, because when you are done with the diapers there is a market for used diapers, so you could guarantee to make some of your money back!

If you ask me, trawling the internet for hours looking at diaper options & what prints etc you JUST HAVE TO HAVE, is a lot more exciting than walking into the supermarket & chucking a pack of 'sposies' in your trolley!

new & updated stash photos

I realised there were actually quite a few diapers that I no longer use, for various reasons - too small, don't fit 'right', aren't really absorbent enough.. so while I had all of them out, I decided it was the perfect time to take some new photos of my stash!  I think there were around 10 diapers not in the photos because they were in the wash/on her bum/in the baby bag... but here are most of them, in all their fluffy glory!

all the available pockets/fitteds/AIO's

All my Itti Bitti D'Lish, minus 1 which was on her bum (mint green)

My minky's & velour (blue is the velour)

Ecobubs (stripy), PeaPods (Pink & Red), MyBaby (blue) & a WAHM pocket

Babyland pockets

FuzziBunz (purple on the right), WAHM (purple up the top & pink on the bottom right), MyBaby (top left pink), PepeNaps (bottom left pink) & Blueberry bamboo fitted (in the middle)

Missing from all of this are also my prefolds (approx 2doz) & my wraps/covers (approx 10)...  It looks like a tonne of diapers - and admittedly IS, but only 2 or 3 of these were purchased at full price, and most were purchased for well under half of the retail price... and most will be sellable when Emersyn is done with diapers... so when you add all that up, it's not really a lot of money.

Certainly less than what I'd have paid on disposables by now!

My Clothaholic World

I never imagined that just over a year ago when I decided to exclusively cloth diaper my daughter Emersyn (who was still tucked safely inside at that stage), that it would turn into such an obsession for me - and yes, I think obsession is a fairly apt word to describe my love for cloth!  I started out with 20 OSFA pocket diapers, all the same brand - and thought that would be all I would need - or want.  However after spending some time on the cloth diapering board at JustMommies, it didn't take long for me to realise what was on offer out there in the world of cloth - OR that I wanted to try it alllllllll!

Emersyn arrived on June 16 2010 & I began cloth diapering her when she was 2 weeks & 3 days old (yes, very exact - I know!), her little but looked so big & bulky in her OSFA diapers, but at the same time they were too cute to NOT use.  For a couple of weeks I was more than happy with the OSFA diapers, but after a little searching on TradeMe one day, I realised that I too could have all the cute cloth the American ladies on my forum had - there was a mass of diapers for sale on TradeMe - some new, some used... considering money was tight, I decided to purchase a couple of preloved diapers, I don't remember right now what they were - but it was certainly the beginning of this clothaholism.

Fast forward 9 (beautiful!) months & my stash (that's a technical term in the cloth diapering world) is huge, and full of various brands of diapers, and various types of diapers.

Types? of diapers - I here you ask yourself.  Yes.  There isn't just one type of cloth diaper - they are split into 4 main categories

1. pockets
2. AIO's (all in ones) / AI2's (all in twos)
3. fitteds
4. prefolds

each of course having their own list of pros and cons, which I assure you I will go into in the not too distant future.  I can understand why cloth diapering can be overwhelming to those starting out - there is SO much out there that it can be hard to know where to start!  I personally started out as a huge fan of pockets (because they were all I had), I then bought some prefolds & covers - and fell in love with THOSE... a couple of months later I purchased my first fitteds, and again it was love at first sight/use.... Very recently I have started purchasing a few AIO's - and again....... LOVE.

If I had to sum it up, cloth diapering for me is LOVE... it's love for your little one, love for the environment & love for the adorable fluffiness that IS the modern cloth diaper ('MCD')....

My little clothbutt has just woken up, so I do need to sign off now to go and put another cute diaper on her little booty - but with that mention of 'clothbutt' - why not check out my 365 day photo challenge blog - CLOTH-BUTT CUTENESS 365 - with the focus being on - you guessed it, cloth diapers!  365 days in a row of cloth diaper photos to be precies!