Some of you might know (or know of) my friend Sara Janssen. Sara and I met when our oldest kids were just babies and found we had so much in common. Now Sara and her family travel the country, and we don’t get to see each other very often, but we keep in touch the modern way – through Facebook and blogging, lol.

Sara’s giving away an awesome cloth diaper package, including some Wallypop items, through her blog Walk Slowly, Live Wildly. Check it out!

New, new, new.

I’m listing some super super fun fitted diapers over at Etsy. I’ve got two up so far, and I’ve got two more smalls and about 8 mediums yet to go. Spongebob, Auto parts, National Guard, Iowa Hawkeyes, Twilight, Kool-aid, and more.

http://boulevarddesigns.etsy.com

No Etsy account? No problem. Just let us know what you’re interested in, and we can take care of it. (In a way that still gets Etsy the fees that they would have charged had you purchased it thru Etsy – we’re not in any way trying, hoping, or wanting to cheat Etsy out of their fees!)

AND I have new Pocket diapers listed for sale over at Wallypop. Buy one, mention you saw it here (through 8/23) and I’ll toss in a special treat with your order.

http://diapering.wallypop.net/pocket

Well, we of course used cloth diapers while camping with Wally when he was a baby, but I’ve written about that already, and plus we changed strategy a bit this trip.

It was really no big deal.

I packed:

8 prefolds
15 fitteds
3 pocket diapers
5 knit wool covers
5 PUL covers
2 snappis
small wet bag
pail liner
rash cream
Lots of Wipes

We left town on Thursday night and went as far as Omaha (2 hours) to stay with my awesome brother in law. We got up and left the house around 4 am and went as far as Rock Springs WY, then drove the final 3 hours into Midway UT the next day. For the car, I started out with pocket diapers, thinking they’d be easiest for quick diaper changes. But I only have three pocket diapers, so they only lasted, you know, about halfway thru Nebraska. After that, I switched to fitteds with wool covers.

Wool covers CAN BE prone to compression wicking, not to the same extent as fleece, but somewhat. But I have never had a problem with a properly lanolized cover. I don’t put clothes on over them. The outside of the covers often/frequently feel damp to the touch, but not WET, and the carseat cover (which is cotton in an adorable mickey mouse print) never got damp. This is how wool works. It actually wicks moisture away – pulling it from the diaper to the outside of the cover so it can evaporate. I used the same wool cover until it was quite damp, usually 3-4 diaper changes in a row.

For the car, I used my small size wet bag. I struggled with whether to take the large wet bag, but ultimately left it home, as I felt I was overpacking on diaper supplies. I wish I’d brought it, lol. I ended up switching to a two-bag system, with the older used diapers in a grocery bag and the newer used ones in the small wet bag. If I’d had the large bag, it would have been perfect for the whole car trip.

So, two days of travel later, we arrive. I think it was Saturday.

We did laundry on Monday and then again on Thursday. Our usual Park City laundromat was closed (bummer) so we ended up at a new laundromat, which was OK, I guess, but it was unclean. That bugged me. I just ran a hot wash and cold rinse, no extra rinses, and then dried them a bit. We were in UT, which is arid, so we hung them at our campsite to finish drying, which they did in about 3 seconds.

For the trip home, I did all prefolds with wool covers. I had gone thru an incredible number of diapers on Saturday, and was down to just the prefolds and a few fitteds for the trip home.  We left Sunday morning and arrived home Monday late. I did the two-bag system for the car again (NOT my ideal), and the pail liner was full of the wet/dirties from the previous few days. Washed diapers first thing when we got home.

Not once did I wish I’d brought disposables. Other than having to spend a grand total of about 3 hours during the entire week at a laundromat, I’m not sure how cloth could be seen as “difficult” during a trip. If a person is uncertain about laundry access (such as if you were backpacking – though cloth is still doable then, and disposable would be no easier – or traveling thru areas that don’t have coin-op laundry), then it makes sense to use disposable for travel.

That said, some families just simply want to throw away diapers while traveling, rather than carting them around and washing them, and that’s certainly a choice those families can make. For camping, I definitely believe that having to tote used disposables to the trash every day would have been a big PITA.

These days, it’s pretty easy to find laundromats in advance of travel, or even once you’ve arrived at your destination. Most hotels have coin-op facilities, or can direct you to a local laundromat. The yellow pages are handy. We used our GPS to find the one we used in Park City.

A few notes:

I took the prefolds mainly because, as an EC family, we give Genna lots of diaper-free time, but I wasn’t sure where we’d be doing this, and I knew we’d be all out of sync from travel, so I wanted to be sure to have some absorbent pads she could sit on. I took so many fitteds because I change her often, and also because I wanted to minimize our time in laundromats. I took more than enough detergent.

We also were able to pack fewer clothes – about 3 days worth for each of us – because we knew we’d be at a laundromat and could toss in a load of clothes while we were there. It was nice.

So I had hoped before we left for our vacation to be able to find a store that sold cloth diapers, or maybe a nursing necklace. I like to get myself little treats like that on vacation, you know?

I couldn’t find any physical stores with diapers, and the only Salt Lake cloth diaper shop I did find offered only local pickup, not local shopping. And she seemed to sell mainly national brands anyway, which, well, if that’s what I wanted, I could certainly get locally here. And the point is to get something I can’t get here.

So.

We stopped by a natural goods store in Salt Lake called Earth Goods General Store. They carried Firefly diapers, which I didn’t end up buying, because they were all unwashed hemp, and I hardly had the ability to prewash hemp. (And, if I can be snobby, I really get annoyed at WAHMs who don’t prewash hemp.)

But the utter lack of CD supplied kind of surprised me, considering how large Salt Lake City is. Not to mention, there was NOTHING in Park City, which has always struck me as a very earthy, hippie kind of place.

At any rate. On our last day there, we decided to eat out for dinner, and we went to a place called Spin Cafe in Heber City (near where we camp). Our lovely waitress (Hi, Jenna!) commented on Genna’s knit wool soakers when we were seated, in her lovely Australian (um, I think) accent. As we were leaving, we made some small talk, and it turns out that Jenna also has a baby who is in cloth diapers. I asked her if there are many CD users in the area and she said NO. She said she gets all of her support from online friends (yay internet).

That’s too bad, really. But I’m glad we stopped in at that Cafe! Jenna was super friendly, and it was awesome running into another cloth user while on vacation.

Stay tuned for a post on using cloth while on vacation or camping.

Got this email today.

I’ve been wanting to start CD my 1 yr old! But don’t know where to start. I don’t know what kind to try Or what will work for her! I don’t want to buy diapers to find out they don’t work and So I was wondering if you’d be generous enough to send us a sample? We want to try an AIO, pocket, or fitted with cover! Just something So I can get the feel of cloth diapering. We will be buying if they work for her! Thank you for understanding.

Hmmmm. No. I mean, wouldn’t we ALL love that? I’ll take one sample of EVERY type of diaper out there, K? And then I’ll decide which I like best, and buy more. (though if I had gotten enough free samples, I wouldn’t need to buy anything, right?)

My response:

Hello, Heather! No, we don’t send out free diapers, but good luck finding someone who will. I understand your not wanting to experiment, but it’s like anything else in life, and sometimes involves trial and error. Your best bet is to buy high-quality diapers, and stick with something simple like prefolds and covers or fitteds and covers. AIOs and pockets are much more prone to problems.

I’m sure when you started buying clothes for your child, you also didn’t want to buy a brand only to find out it didn’t fit quite right, but I’m sure you also had to learn the hard way that some brands fit better than others, right? Same with food – when our family first switched to natural peanut butter, we hated to spend the money on it only to find out it tasted like butt, however, that’s exactly what we had to do, and eventually we found a great local producer whose product tastes great. I’m sure you’ve experienced the same thing. It’s no different with diapers, or anything else.

Sizing is probably the one thing I get the most questions about. It’s so hard on diapers, and the weight ranges are only broad estimates, because each baby is so differently sized.

When I was a teenager, Teen magazine had a picture essay of  120 lbs. They photographed some 10 teens who all weighed 120 lbs. Some were tall and skinny, some short and plump, some were small but thick. They were all so different, and wore clothing of all sizes.

Babies are the same – 8 lbs can be long and skinny, or it can be short and fat. Add to this that they grow so quickly and at such different rates from each other… sigh. it’s tough to size a diaper on the phone or via mail!

Wallypop diapers are sized somewhat uniquely, but I think most companies have their own unique sizing. Our smalls are true smalls. Theyr’e not newborn size (doesn’t mean they won’t fit your newborn!). They’re small. They fit for a few months, max.

Our mediums are totally awesome, though, and will fit most babies once they’ve outgrown small diapers until they’ve potty trained. I’ve moved both my kids over at about 3 or 4 months. Though I made liberal use of the crossover tabs (which is why they’re there) the dipes and covers fit wonderfully at that age! And, they continued to fit Wally until he was nearly 4. And he’s not a small kid.

The Larges are quite a bit bigger than the mediums. Not necessarily around – but in the rise. To accommodate kids at that age, who are usually not getting a whole lot bigger around, but definitely are getting taller!

Pocket diapers.

Alright. Pocket diapers are super simple, really. Two layers of fabric, one waterproof, one not waterproof, plus a closure.

The Basics

My standard instock pocket diapers feature the same hidden elastic and Touchtape closure as all of my other diapers. When I make Made To Order pocket diapers with flannel interiors or cotton exteriors, I use elastic binding rather than hidden elastic. This helps keep moisture where it belongs and cuts down on the wicking that these particular diapers are prone to.

I do not put elastic around both sides of the pocket opening. There is elastic around the back, but the interior side (usually fleece or suedecloth) is left plain. For two reasons. First, adding elastic to both sides of the opening is not really necessary, and as I’m most interested in keeping my costs down, I generally don’t do things that are  not necessary – it just takes extra time and materials, and therefore means extra cost. Second, I personally find pocket diapers with elastic on both sides of the opening to be harder to stuff, and the task of stuffing pocket diapers is tedious enough without any extra hassle!

Leg Openings

I also do not topstitch around the leg openings.  When Wally was a baby and I added pocket diapers to my product lineup, I personally found that I experienced more leaking/wicking with pocket diapers that had been topstitched around the legs (regardless of brand). So, the ones I added to my inventory had a rolled leg, rather than a stitched leg.

Now with Genna, I’m finding that for her diapers, I don’t have any leaking or wicking regardless of how I make the leg. I’ve heard similar reports from those I’ve asked to test it out for me (just a few people, and I never thought to test the different leg types originally!).  However, it does make them marginally more difficult to stuff, because the opening is narrower inside.

I briefly considered switching the leg style earlier this year, but decided not to – many of my current customers really like the diapers the way they are, and there’s really nothing to be gained by switching.

I will say that I am kind of tired of the internet “knowledge” that rolled leg styles leak more than topstitched leg styles do.  Based on anecdotal evidence, it would seem that wicking/leaking at the legs has more to do with your baby’s shape and what you stuff them with than anything else. Some families/babies find that they prefer sewn legs and some find they prefer rolled legs.

Stuffing

As for stuffing your pockets, you may use anything you like. Personally, I recommend prefolds – they’re absorbent, multi-purpose, and inexpensive. I sell special inserts, and recommend using two of those for an average use, but if you’re looking for economical, prefolds are really the way to go.

Some people really like microfiber terry as inserts. Personally, I do not have good experience with microfiber terry, but plenty of people do. (Plus, honestly, I really don’t like the way microfiber terry feels.)

After finishing up the week’s Made to Orders, I’ve made good progress on finishing up those pocket diapers I promised for earlier in the week. It’s looking like I should be able to get them done either Monday or Tuesday, and listed by the time I go to bed Tuesday, if not earlier. A lot depends on Miss Genna and how grumpy she is on Monday! I’ll be sure to post here, as well as on Facebook and Twitter, when I get them up!!

In other news, the babywearing sale is going well, and I have not yet placed my Wrapsody order (seems I forgot to!!), so if you thought you might want me to order any particular pattern for you, it’s not too late. Let me know by Monday!

It seems lately, I’ve been hearing lots of scuttlebut about how long cloth diapering has existed in Des Moines. When did it start?

It’s kind of a silly question, in a way. Cloth diapering never went away, of course!

Obviously, many years ago, families in the area used cloth. I was cloth diapered, despite widespread availability of disposables in the late 70s. Twenty years later, when my nephew was born in the mid 90s, my sister in law used a diaper service here in Des Moines.

That service closed several years later, but at least at the time he was born, there were enough families in Des Moines using cloth to warrant a service. Experience shows that, generally speaking, far more people home launder than use a service, so if there were enough families using cloth to warrant a service, there were probably a fair number of families home laundering – quite the community.

When I started diapering Wally five years ago, I was the only one I knew who used cloth. A few months later, another cloth diaperer moved to town (Sara J), and I talked a friend into giving it a try (Louisa) and the three of us discovered another CDer with an older child (Laurie) who was friends with yet another CDer with a child about the same age as her own (Tanya).

I am not under any sort of delusion that we were the only ones in town using cloth, trying to live naturally, and practicing attachment parenting. We were just the only ones we knew.

What’s different now than 13 or 14 years ago when my nephew was born? Community. I decided that the area cloth diaperers needed some sort of community, some sort of organized something, so we didn’t feel so alone, so we could turn to each other for support, so we didn’t have to continually re-invent the wheel. OK, originally, we just wanted to show off our diapers to each other, lol!

I still run into babywearers or cloth diaperers who have no idea that there are others in Des Moines, and they think they’re the only ones!

I sometimes remember to pop over to Craigslist to browse for cloth diaper listings. (I get questions all the time in my role as coordinator for our local cloth diapering group about sources for used dipes.) Today, I found a listing by a self-described “local WAHM” selling cloth diapers that look, um, exactly like Wallypop diapers. Down to the detail of stencling designs on that are, I’m not kidding, 100% exact copies of dipes I’ve made for Genna and posted on here.

And though I was at first a little mad, I’m actually kind of flattered. (Note, my being flattered doesn’t change the fact that copying another person’s product and then selling it is completely immoral and unethical.)

Since the person making/selling these diapers obviously reads my blog, let me take a moment to point out to you that as soon as you paint a design on anything, it becomes an item with surface painting, or surface coating. This gives you a MUCH more stringent set of requirements under the CPSIA. The lead paint rules are much stricter and more onerous than the total lead content rules. Unless you’re having each item tested, you are in violation of the law and could lose your house over it. It’s not worth the risk.