Change 3 Things

I am in love with cloth diapers. I love how they reduce waste in our landfills, they are healthier for baby (no diaper rash only soft cotton against his bum) and they save us money. Bonus: They are super cute!

I really like Cotton Babies. They are the makers of my favorite diapering systems: Flip and Econobum. Right now Cotton Babies are trying to raise awareness of cloth diapering and encouraging cloth lovers to spread the word. I wanted to write this post to do my part. I talk a lot about it to people whenever the topic comes up. I wish more mommies knew how easy it really is. I get the surprised look whenever I tell people that we cloth diaper. I get the raised eyebrow and the questions about whether it's gross or not or comments about how much work it must be. Bottom line: You are going to touch poop or have to deal with it's wrath whether you are in a disposable or cloth. It's not anymore gross than disposables and it takes maybe 2 minutes of my time each wash day. You stick them in the washer to rinse, then wash, then rinse and dry. Piece of cake. 

The awareness campaign "Change 3 Things" is encouraging parents/caregivers to commit to a goal of changing 3 cloth diapers a day. The point is that it's not an all or nothing choice. If you cloth diaper part-time you are still going to see the benefits of saving some money, helping the earth and doing something good for baby. I think this is great thing to do. They even have some great diaper deals so you can try it without having to fully invest in a complete stash. It's definitely worth a try. Heck, my husband does it without a complaint. That says a lot! 

Check out their blog post on the revolution:

Cloth Diapers... by Cotton Babies: Change 3 Things - A Cloth Diaper Revolution

Cloth Diapering and Breastfeeding Success

Breastfeeding: The road has been a bit rough on this journey and littered with speedbumps and even a few of nails. The beginning was especially difficult. The pain, engorgement and the fact that I always had to be the one to feed baby boy (=getting up every hour of the night) and he was tethered to me most of the early days was really hard on me. I wanted to give up on day 2 and each day after that for 2 months. Then. THEN we both just fell into sync and we just got it. Then....I went back to work when Evan was 3 months old and the road got really rocky. The stress, the lack of time to pump at work and the fact that we could only get in 3 nursing sessions a day threatened my supply. I could barely pump what Evan needed while I was away and there were many days I had to mix in formula and I had no supply in the freezer. After the 1st month my supply was quickly diminishing and Evan was super fussy on weekends probably due to not enough food in his belly. We had to supplement with formula a few times and doing this hurt my supply even more. I was sure our nursing days were numbered. THEN! I had some time off of work during the holidays and we nursed often, almost constantly some days and it restored my supply! Now I can keep up with Evan's intake and I even have a small freezer stash. My original goal was to breastfeed for 3 months. Then my goal was to go for 6 months. We are approaching 6 months and I feel really excited and proud that I fought through the tough start and achieved my goals. Now, I will go as long as we can until baby boy reaches his 1st birthday. I really cherish our nursing sessions. I feel awful that I can't be with him during the day and this helps us keep our bond strong. When his little chubby hand reaches up to touch my face it warms my heart and helps me get through those workdays.

Cloth Diapering: I LOVE cloth diapering. I received many a raised eyebrow and comments about how difficult it would be. It's not hard at all! My husband even likes it. We have been in cloth since the end of month 1 (waited until Evan's umbilical cord stump fell off). I really like not having to buy diapers (=saves money), that I am putting something more natural on my child and that I am not adding thousands of disposable diapers to our landfills. We don't have problems with diaper rash (he had a few little spots of it once or twice but nothing awful). They also do a really good job containing Evan's you know what. The few times that I put Evan in a disposable since month 1 (like when we are out and I have to dig to the bottom of the diaper bag for a disposable backup) he has either pooped/peed out of them (=major leakage) or he has developed a rash instantly! Aside from how good it is for my baby and the earth, it's just plain fun. The colors and patterns on the covers are fun and cute! We use indian prefolds with Thirsties duo wrap covers and flip covers. Tossing them in the washer takes like 30 seconds, it's not a lot of work at all. When Evan starts his adventures in solids (=more devastating # 2s) we will use a biodegradable liner that goes on top of the prefold that will make it easy to lift out the doo doo and put it into the toilet. My lovely sitter did cloth for me and E's new daycare is doing it, too! I am really happy that it all worked out. Now....I'm a little obsessed. I LOVE the flip diapering system now. Instead of the prefold it's a thick microfiber pad that tucks nicely into the cute flip covers (no pins/snappis) and it's a system that grows with the baby!

Well there you go. I am a proud parent beaming with confidence. Can you tell I am loving this parenting thing?