Saturday, May 16, 2009 Info

Welcome to Baby Sweet Bottoms! Thank you for stopping by.

I am a Work At Home Mom (WAHM) with two handsome boys, 2 1/2 years and 1 year. My love for cloth began about a week before delivering my 2nd son. One day while talking to some online friends I came across these really cute cloth diapers that another mom had made. I couldn't believe what I was seeing was actually a diaper. I had this misconception that cloth diapers were plain, boring and required too much work and I didn't want to have to deal with using pins and touch all the poop in the diapers. That one diaper sparked something in me and I was full of questions. So at that moment I started researching as much as I could about diapers. And to be honest it was a bit overwhelming to see everything that is out there such as AIO, AI2, fitteds, prefolds and pockets. This was all so foreign to me and I couldn't understand what it all meant. After a couple months I settled on pocket diapers because I thought they were the ones closest to a disposable diaper and super easy to use.
For some of you this may be the first time you cloth diaper and are probably asking yourselves the same questions I did. I have tried my best to help answer those common questions. Please go to the "Getting Started" section where you can find answers to some of these questions.

Below is a slideshow of the recent diapers I've made!

Friday, May 15, 2009 What happens if I have a leak?

There are several things you can check for in case of a leak.
1. Prep diaper. When you first receive your diaper you will have to prep the diaper. The first couple times you use it might soak through but after 5 or 6 washes you will notice it working nicely!
2. Check your insert. If it's been a few hours and your insert is completely soaked it means you need to add another insert or change the diaper more often.
3. If your insert is not wet then you will need to check what you are adding to the washer and perhaps "strip" the diaper. If you add too much detergent or fabric softener to the wash it can actually clog up the pores of the fabric causing it to repel the urine. If this is the case you have to strip all the detergent buildup off the diaper. You can usually do this by washing many times and checking the washer until you don't see anymore bubbles. Some people even add a pot of boiling water to make the process go faster.

If you are still having problems contact me for more help!

How many diapers do I need?

The answer to this question can vary from person to person. It depends on how often you have to change your child's diaper and how often you plan to wash.
As your child gets older he/she wets fewer diapers. Here is an average breakdown of how many diapers each age goes through on a daily basis.

Newborns: 10-12 per day
3-6 months: 8-10 per day
6-24 months: 6-8 per day
2 years+: 4-6 per day

As far as laundry I recommend having at least 2 days worth of diapers so that you have a set of diapers on hand while the others are washing. Of course you can always have a weeks worth if you only want to wash once a week, but that is totally up to you.

Thursday, May 14, 2009 What are pocket diapers?

If you are new to cloth you are probably wondering what in the world are pocket diapers?
If you have used disposable diapers then you will know how to use pocket diapers. It is just as easy to use!

Pocket diapers work just like a disposable diaper the only difference is you have to stuff the diaper with absorbent inserts and choose how many absorbent inserts you want to add. Normally 1 insert during the day is needed and sometimes 2 at night for the bigger sizes. Inserts are always available for an additional fee.

The diapers come in solid colors or printed fabrics. The solid colored diapers are made out of PUL (polyurethane laminate) which is a waterproof fabric. Suedecloth is the inner fabric that touches your baby's bum and it allows the urine to pass straight through onto the insert and leave the baby feeling dry. The printed diapers have a cute printed fabric on the outside and the PUL waterproof fabric is hidden underneath.

Each diaper has touchtape, a stronger velcro, which makes it easy to adjust to your baby's size. I have added an extra tab of touch tape on the side wing for extra skinny babies. Also each diaper has laundry tabs which make it easy when it comes time to wash and dry the diapers.

These diapers don't need a cover because they already have the waterproof PUL fabric. However unlike a cover they can only be used once and will have to be washed to be used again.

Why Cloth Diaper?

I never in a million years thought I would turn to cloth diapers for my kids. And honestly the reason why I even considered it with my 2nd son was because we were going through a tremendous financial crisis. So I figured I would help out our situation the best I could by attempting to cloth diaper our kids. I was soo lost and nervous to even try them but after doing a lot of research I came across these kind of diapers. It was love at first sight. They are truly super easy to use and I'm soo glad I found them. Even if we become millionaires tomorrow (yeah right huh!) I will never go back to disposables.

However even though I started cloth diapering for financial reasons there are a ton of reasons why I still do it now.

1. When my kids were still in the newborn stage they would pee constantly sometimes up to 12 times a day. I remember getting frustrated everytime I was changing their diaper and right as I was putting on the new one they would poop or pee. I hated to have to throw away a brand new diaper that he got to put on for only 2 seconds. But once I switched to cloth my frustrations went away. I no longer cared how many times I had to change his diaper because I knew it wasn't going to cost me anything to change it. Now that I cloth diaper I change my kids diapers more frequently instead of making them stay in a wet or poopy diaper longer to make sure I get my money's worth.

2. Health Reasons. Another reason is for my children's health. I didn't know that disposables had chemicals in their diapers to help hold in all that urine. I remember having a scary experience with my first son. When he was about 5 days old I freaked out when I saw what looked like blood spots in his diaper. I immediately ran to the emergency room and they said it was crystals that formed from the diaper that caused the discoloration. I switched to another brand and it did go away. I was loyal to that brand and used it with my 2nd son. Again I saw those light blood spots when he was a newborn. I didn't realize it until later that it was chemicals in the diaper. These chemicals can be harmful and are also known to cause rashes on many kids. Since I started cloth diapering I haven't had anymore rashes to deal with!

3. Comfort. I'm not really sure how comfortable kids are in disposables. I have never worn a paper or plastic underwear and I can't imagine that being comfortable. So why should our kids wear them. I love all the soft fabrics available to keep my baby's bottom dry and comfortable.

4. No more blowouts. I used to hate when I would put on a really cute outfit on my baby before I went out and as soon as I arrived to my destination I had to not only change my baby's diaper but his whole outfit because of a blowout. Since I've started using these pocket diapers I have never had another blowout.

5. Convenience. Gone are the days where I have to run to the store late at night or early in the morning because I ran out of diapers. I love that I don't have to make many trips to the store to buy diapers anymore. It's also nice not to have a huge trash bag of diapers to carry out, which would release the stinky smell all over the house.

6. Earth Friendly. Another reason is for the environment. I never really thought about this or cared about what disposables did to the earth until I started learning about it. I couldn't believe that 1 diaper alone could take 500 years to decompose. Yes you read that right, 500 years! And with all the disposable diapers in the landfill we run the risk of contaminating our ground water!

7. So cute. This one is just for fun. I love all the different color diapers available, it actually makes changing diapers fun. I can't wait to put the next cute diaper on his bum!

8. Get money back. Even though you save hundreds of dollars using cloth diapers making your first purchase can be hard because you have to invest in them upfront. I learned that not only do I save by using my cloth diapers but I can also make at least half if not more of my money back by selling them used. There is a community of mothers out there waiting to buy your used diapers!

How to wash Cloth Diapers

When you first start cloth diapering you might have a million questions like I did such as: What do you do with the diaper when it gets dirty? Where do you put it? How do you clean it? Is it safe to put it in the washer & dryer?

For those that are new to cloth I decided I would share my laundry routine starting with the moment the diaper gets dirty. One of the biggest questions or concerns I get all the time is "How do I get all the stuff off the diaper?" That is a very good question! I used to have the same concern before I started using cloth. The old fashion way was to just "dunk & swish". But now I have found the perfect solution that makes my life so much easier. It is called a diaper sprayer. If you weren't convinced about using cloth I'm pretty sure this awesome invention will push you over, as it did for me.

There are several places online you could purchase this from. I don't remember where I actually purchased mine from but if you google diaper sprayer you will find many options. For a better understanding on how it actually works I have given step by step instructions and even added pictures.

1st step in my Laundry Routine

This is how the diaper sprayer is mounted on my wall next to my toilet for easy access.

This is how it connects to the toilet and where the water supply comes from. When you leave the knob down like below it shuts off the water supply to the sprayer.

When you are ready to use the sprayer move the knob to the right, like shown below.

This is the lever that you push to spray the water out.

This is what it looks like when you spray the water out, very strong water pressure!

Now before you start, I always fold the laundry tabs back. As you can see in this picture on the left side I folded the 2 touchtape (velcro) sides onto each other. The right side is not folded together. The purpose of folding these together is so that they don't get caught on each other and snag the fabric in the washer & dryer.

Once I'm ready I hold the open pocket side up, because I don't want any of the "stuff" to fall into the pocket.

Now I'm ready for spraying. You will see how easy this sprays all the "stuff" out. Piece of cake!

2nd Step in my Laundry Routine

So where do you put the diaper after you spray off the stuff? What if he only pees, then where does it go? When you exclusively use cloth diapers you will want to have at least 2 days worth of diapers so that you have a set of diapers on hand while the others are washing.

You will need a diaper pail to collect dirty diapers until laundry day. Now a diaper pail can be anything: a bucket, trash can or anything you want to use. I have 1 big diaper pail (trash can) in my laundry room and 3 mini buckets that I constantly rotate. I really should have 2 more diaper pails, one for each bathroom but the buckets work great for me.

Once you decide what you want to use as a diaper pail you will next need to decide if you want a wet diaper pail or a dry diaper pail. I use a dry diaper pail. So let me explain what this means.

A wet diaper pail is a pail with water and a little soap so that your diapers can soak until laundry time, but keep in mind this pail will get very heavy when filled w/all the diapers plus all the water. A dry diaper pail is a pail with all your diapers without any water so the pail itself is "dry". You can decide how you want to manage your pails as well. I prefer to rinse my diapers first before dumping them in the diaper pail so that the "stuff" rolls off easily & quickly. If you let it sit for a week it might take you a little longer to get everything off but it's still manageable.

So the 2nd step is to toss your diapers into the diaper pail. I toss both the pee & poopy diapers in the pail but once I've sprayed off all the stuff from the poopy diapers!

3rd Step in my Laundry Routine

When it's time to do laundry I dump the pocket diapers, inserts & cloth wipes all in my washer. You don't have to pull out the inserts from inside the pockets but I like to do it. There are many detergents out there, so how do you know which ones to use? I recommend using a plain & simple detergent that doesn't have any extra scents or fabric softeners. The 2 detergents that I have used are All and Tide both liquid and powder. Right now my preference is powder Tide HE but you can use either. The most important thing to remember when doing laundry is not to use too much detergent. I fill the detergent up to the first line of the cup.

My washing routine is a cold prerinse, hot wash and an extra rinse. I like to first do a cold wash so that I don't get any stains and also to help remove anything I missed when rinsing with my diaper sprayer. After the hot wash I run it through one more time without adding any detergent to make sure I got out all the detergent out of the diapers. The reason you want to make sure you get all the detergent out is because too much detergent buildup can clog the pores of the fabric and cause the diaper to repel the urine and leak. Also make sure not to add any fabric softener for the same reason.

4th Step in my Laundry Routine

Once the diapers are done washing I throw only the solid diapers, inserts & wipes in the dryer! I don't have a clothesline so I have to depend on my dryer. Your diapers will last you longer if you don't put them in the drier. If you have to put in the dryer like I do I recommend you at least air dry your printed diapers. Over time they can get beat up if put in the dryer everyday. Also I do recommend that you put all your diapers in the dryer at least once so that the pul that is used in these diapers can be sealed.

All this might sound like a lot but once you start doing it you will realize how easy it really is. If I was unclear in anything or I didn't expand enough please email me and I will try my best to answer all your questions or concerns!

Saturday, May 9, 2009 Testing Done!

I would like to thank all the people who tested out the diapers for me. It was a pleasure working with all of you. I'm still finishing up the last of the testers and waiting for final feedback. Please come back soon for my grand opening!

Here is a picture of another one of my testers. Isn't Baby {A} the cutest baby! Thank you Amy for yet another great shot!