In case you weren’t aware, the completely awesome blog (subscribe now!) Baby Cheapskate is doing a Cloth Diaper Week this week!  I’m all kinds of excited about this because, duh, it’s cloth diapers.  I’m even going to contribute a post to the hoopla, provided I can get my act together and get it submitted.

In the meantime, you simply MUST check out this post where you can win TWELVE bumGenius diapers!  HELLO!  That’s like more than double my current bumGenius diaper stash!  I’d be set until potty training for sure!  So I had to spread the news, not just to get an entry for myself, but because I know there are some of you out there who would absolutely LOVE to win these just as much as me!

The contest is open through August 6th or until she has 5000 entries.  Get enterin’ girls!

About a month ago I bought an AIO from Mommy’s Touch to try out.

It was supposed to be a one-size, easy to clean cloth diaper, but I was really confused when I opened it. It had a bunch of strange flaps and a small snap-in insert.

The thing was weird, and I couldn’t figure out how it was supposed to be “one-size.” After a few washings, some of the stitches came undone, so I contacted the company. They have a Repair Service, but I ended up stitching it back together myself. While I was browsing their web site, I came across the directions for using the diaper, and by golly, it’s actually really cool.

All you have to do to make the diaper smaller is fold the front down.  The tabs velcro right to it, no snaps, no hassle. How did I not figure that out myself??

Now that I’ve been using it for a while, I really love it. Plus, it’s totally cute on Nicky’s little bum! My only hope is that they don’t regularly fall apart, like mine did.

So, if your new to cloth diapering you may wonder about transport. You know when you leave the house and change diapers outside of your home, away from your clean toilet water (it happens!). What to do? How to carry that gift from your cherished babe home to your diaper pail?

For awhile I just carried plastic garbage bags with me like I had done with disposables. Then I started to get jealous of Leah’s nifty nylon bags. (Also the plastic bags were handy when you through the diaper away but kind of ‘leaky’ when you stuffed it in your diaper bag to take home, and frankly, ew.)

Leah’s bag was similar to this sleeping bag stuff sac. These work really well. They are waterproof and washable. In fact our diaper pail liner is a hand me down sac from Leah. These are great, cheap alternative to some of the more popular diaper bag brands.

Of course if money is no option the popular diaper pail liners are super adorable. And not terribly more expensive. (must resist buying!) Marilyn writes at length about diaper liners in this post.

Which brings us to Etsy. Doesn’t it? Not subtle enough? Oh well, We all have our personal favorite places to browse and ahem, buy. I favor Etsy. I bought this cute wet bag at Batik Bags. I love it. It has held up very well in the many washings it has already had since it arrived last month (do I really go out that often?) and it is stylish.

Like the woman who creates these beauties, I soon tired of the baby patterned bags, and these wet bags have a nice grown up feel. They are also suited for Mamas (and non mamas) who use cloth pads.

Some of the bags zipper shut, but I find the drawstring works just as well.

If you search on Etsy for Wet bags you get a fabulous choice of hand crafted goodness. If you are on a limited budget, I have found zippered make up case at the goodwill or other thrift stores work great.

Transporting poop in style. Our new motto here at Cloth diapering Mamas. Catchy, No?

have you any wool?

I remember the first time I saw a wool diaper cover. My honest impression was something along the lines of “what the heck?” mixed with “that can’t possibly work”

But it does. Wool makes a wonderful cover for any diaper that needs one. Wool diaper covers are soft, breathable and cute. They also work really well. Wool is coated in lanolin, which naturally resists water. Water will actually bead up on a diaper cover. Wool also allows more airflow than other diaper covers, so it is great for kids that get rashes easily or hot weather.

Wool diaper covers come in a million forms, from wraps to shorts and pants. The two most common materials are wool interlock and knit wool. Interlock is a fabric; it looks something like a tee shirt, but much thicker. Knit wool looks like a sweater. Interlock is my favorite because it is less expensive, easier to care for, and it looks more like “real” clothes. Knit wool is beautiful and functional, but it requires a bit more care and is more expensive.

There are so many wonderful wool covers out there. I’d love to get my hands on some crankypants, but for now I’ve been loving my stuff from Wild Child Woolies, Little Liam and Kozy. Or have a look at the wool forum on diaper swappers. Wool is great for the summer. And the winter.

If you are already feeling the wool love, tell me about it. If you aren’t, what is holding you back?

Okay, so this post is about a week late.  It’s been one of those weeks around here though, so I hope you’ll forgive me.  I’m writing this post from my in-laws house in Elko so you KNOW that yesterday was just a total wash.  Traveling 300 miles with three children?  Oh yeah.

But I wanted to let you all know that I went camping last week AND I took cloth diapers!  I decided to take the plunge and it was actually…. a piece of cake. Now, I brought prefolds and covers and tried to use them, but I noticed for the sake of convenient diaper changes, that pockets worked the best.  But moreso than the convenient changes, it was the storage of dirty diapers that really made the difference.  The pockets, I was able to roll up neatly and velcro the tabs together making a neat little “sausage”.  So storing dirty diapers was a piece of cake.  I just kept them in a garbage bag in the van and it wasn’t a problem at all.

Of course, we just went overnight so it’s not like I had to deal with days worth of diaper accumulation.  But we were gone 24 hours so that should count for something, right?  And we didn’t have a single leak!  Well, unless you take my short-sightedness into account.  I thought, when going to bed in the camper, I would change Evie’s diaper and put on her night pocket along with her jammies.  However, I got in there and it was PITCH BLACK and I didn’t want to turn on the light and risk waking any of the wee ones sleeping in there.   So I waited to change her until my husband came to bed and by then she was pretty soaked.  Whoops!

But really, using cloth while camping is not a lot different from using disposables.  I can see where for a week long trip, it’d be hard to manage without being able to do laundry.  But for a night or two?  Piece of cake.

Right now, we’re out of town through next week and… I brought cloth for Evie!  So far, so good.  But… I haven’t had to do laundry.  (Which has just reminded me that I forgot my diaper detergent.  Cripes.)  Wish me luck!