Thirsties Duo Wrap Covers: Product Review

When my daughter was around 5 months old, she started having leaks every other night in her cloth pocket diapers and, since we were co-sleeping, that meant I had to keep changing and washing our one set of sheets. That got annoying fast so I asked some other cloth diapering friends for their suggestions on what I could do. They unanimously agreed I needed to try covers and prefolds.

One friend suggested the Thirsties brand and I’m so glad she did. I decided to try out the Duo Wraps to see if they would work for us. The main reason these appealed to me is they were a one size diaper cover. Well, actually, there are 2 sizes (thus the “duo”). The first size (size one) goes from 6-18 lbs and the next size (size two) goes from 18-40 lbs. I liked the fact I wouldn’t need to buy many sizes and could just buy 2.

My daughter in a Thirsties Blackbird Cover

Another feature of the Duo Wraps that I REALLY like is the leg gussets. They are the biggest reason I think we no longer experienced diaper leaks at nightafter switching to these covers. We just make sure the prefold is tucked underneath the gussets (and up top, too) and it works flawlessly to keep wetness in.

The designs are really cute, too. I love the blackbird especially! There are also plain colors in addition to the patterned styles, if you prefer something less flashy.

I wholeheartedly recommend these covers! I have never had a problem with them have been using them at night since my daughter was under 6 months. (She is 27 months now to give you an idea of how long we’ve used them.) I have both snaps and velcro and the velcro is still sticking as well, which is really nice. I’m sure these have a ton of life left in them.

Do you use diaper covers? What are your favorite brands?

Real Food, Cloth Diapering and Weaning – Sunday Surf

Image by Chiot's Run via Flickr

Here is what I read this week that I found interesting! I think you will, too.

My Children are People – “Seeing my children as people helped me look at every interaction and think hard about how I would want to be treated in that situation.”

How to Freeze Food in Glass Jars – “The world is yours, of course – anything you can freeze can go in a glass jar…”

“I Can’t Afford the Start Up Costs of Cloth Diapering” – “I have a few issues with the “start up costs of cloth diapering” argument for not using cloth though, I have to tell you. It doesn’t make sense. Are we Americans so short sighted that we can’t see past a few months into the future?”

The Weaning Party – “At first it was mostly about nourishment, and later mostly about comfort and closeness. Nursing gave us ample opportunities for physical closeness, and I think it brought us very close together emotionally too. It meant that even when we were apart, we were never far from each other’s thoughts.”

15-15 for Marriages with Young Children – “This 15 minutes of intentionally restorative time will have a cumulative effect in the week for both of you.”

Talking Real Food with Robyn O’Brien – “We need to demand that companies take out dyes, high fructose corn syrup and the like, by voting with our dollars. If we buy foods that do not contain unhealthy ingredients, O’Brien said, the industry will provide more of those options and the accessibility of healthy options for everyone will increase.”

Why I UCed – “Unassisted birth is not everyone’s choice, but I do feel it is a viable option for women who want it.”

Best Natural and Organic Face Soap? – “Besides the cosmetic benefits, it makes me feel really good to know that when Baby plants his frequent open mouth kisses all over my face, he’s not ingesting toxins.”

The Slippery Slope of Soap – “Unfortunately, many of the things we use as ‘soap’ are actually harsh detergents or chemical cocktails.”

I am Not Raising Obedient Children – “I don’t want children who obey without hesitation.  I want children who can think for themselves, recognize and listen to their feelings and instincts and respond appropriately.”

Check out Adventures in Mommyhood, Authentic Parenting, Becoming Crunchy, Karen’s Healthy Lifestyle,The New Mommy Files: Memories, Milestones and Missteps, Hobo Mama, I Thought I Knew Mama, Mama Eve, Momma Jorje, One Rich Mother, Greener Cleaning Moms, and The Parent Vortex for more Sunday Surfing!

Giveaway: CurlyMonkey Organic Cloth Baby Wipes $18 {5.26; US/Can}

This is a joint giveaway with A Little Bit of All of It and Natural Parents Network. You may enter at one site only. Please find the section marked “Win it!” for the mandatory main entry and optional bonus entries.

Curly Monkey is offering our readers a giveaway of FOUR organic cloth baby wipes, a value of $18.45.

The Review:

I was excited for the opportunity to review four organic cloth wipes from CurlyMonkey. All of the products CurlyMonkey sells are free from pesticides, insecticides and harmful fertilizers, which makes me feel good about using these wipes on my little girl.

Besides cloth wipes, the company sells baby and toddler clothing, baby hats, baby bath mitts, and soft toys.

When I received my cloth wipes, they came in a nice blue organic cloth gift bag, which would be great if you were planning on buying a shower gift! I like that I can reuse this, too, and it is not just packaging I’d be throwing away.

Specifically I was sent one each of the Organic Eco-friendly Cloth Baby Wipes in Paris Tea, Collection Trèfle and Think Peace prints, along with one Maxi Hemp Organic Cotton French Terry Cloth Baby Wipe (2 ply).

These wipes can be used in several ways — as burp cloths, washcloths, or in place of paper towels, for instance — but I used them specifically for their primary use as cloth wipes for my daughter’s diaper changes.

Using the Wipes

First of all, these wipes are BEAUTIFUL! The designs are lovely. I really enjoyed just looking at them and was almost afraid to use them! The prints are a high-quality designer cotton fabric on one side with the other side being an organic hemp / organic cotton french terry.

The Maxi Hemp wipe is handsewn unbleached, dye-free, organic fabric with one side being smooth while the other side is textured for messier jobs, like wiping dirty bottoms.

I consulted the website for the washing instructions (machine washable — gentle cycle — medium heat to dry) and washed them prior to using them. I measured them because I wanted to see how much they would shrink after washing, if at all. The wipes with prints measured 8 1/2″ x 11″ while the Maxi Hemp wipe measured 9″ x 9″. Once washed, they shrank down a little bit. The printed ones shrank to 8 1/2″ x 10.5″ and the Maxi Hemp wipe shrank to 9″ x 8 1/4″. I did notice that the edges on a couple of them curled up after washing but once I washed them again, they were already starting to lie flatter.

I use an old disposables wipes container for my wipes, and these wipes are slighter larger than the wipes I currently use and don’t fit as well into the container. They are also a lot thicker so they take up more space. Still, I didn’t find this that big a deal. I poured my wipe solution over the wipes like I normally do and there were no surprises there. I folded them with the design side facing inward so I was wiping with the plain side. For the Maxi Hemp wipe I placed the textured side facing outward.

I have been using cloth diapers since my daughter was a newborn (now 2 years old) along with cloth wipes so cloth wipes aren’t new to me. But these are MUCH nicer than the ones I’ve been using. It definitely makes a mundane task fun!

The generous size is a big plus. I found in cases where I normally would need to grab a second wipe, I don’t need to with these. They also feel more substantial than the thinner wipes that I have. The thickness of these means there is a nice barrier between my hand and what I’m wiping up. The textured side looks and feels like it would be great for an infant’s messy diapers, but since I have a 2-year-old, I didn’t get to “test” this out.

If you are already cloth diapering your baby, it makes sense to use cloth wipes as well. These would be a great addition to your cloth diapering routine as something nicer and more special. I actually get excited when I go to change my daughter and see the next wipe is one of these!

When my daughter caught her first stomach bug this past Christmas, I know I would have been happy to have these wipes to use for all the messes I had to clean up. It would have certainly made the job easier and given me something pretty to look at during an unpleasant experience. Even my daughter prefers them, as you can see in this video!

BUY IT!

You can purchase CurlyMonkey Organics cloth baby wipes online through CurlyMonkey.com or at CurlyMonkey’s Etsy shop.

Three-packs of the printed wipes are $15, and six-packs of the Maxi-Hemp wipes are $20.70.

Shipping is available internationally.

WIN IT!

For your own chance to win the same set of FOUR CurlyMonkey Organics cloth baby wipes, enter in the comments below! Contest is open to U.S. and Canada.

MAIN ENTRY:

• Visit CurlyMonkey’s online store at HyenaCart and tell us another product that interests you.

Leave a valid email address in your comments (the line where it says “email address”) so we can contact you if you win. Email addresses are not made publicly visible.

This is a joint giveaway with A Little Bit of All of It, a natural parenting blog, and Natural Parents Network. You may enter at one site only, and we’ll be recording IP addresses to ensure that there are no duplicate entries. That said, please do visit and enjoy both sites!

BONUS ENTRIES, to increase your chance of winning after completing the mandatory entry above (leave a separate comment for each so we can count them all):

• Go to CurlyMonkey.com and tell us something you’ve learned.
• Heart the CurlyMonkey store on Etsy, and leave your Etsy username in the comment.
• Heart a product from the CurlyMonkey store on Etsy — tell us which one and leave your Etsy username in the comment.
• Subscribe to curlymonkey’s blog in a reader or by email (1 entry for each).
• Subscribe to Natural Parents Network in a reader or by email (1 entry for each).
• Subscribe to A Little Bit of All of It in a reader or by email (1 entry for each).
• Leave a relevant comment on a non-giveaway article at Natural Parents Network and tell us which post (comment on separate posts for up to 3 entries total).
• Leave a relevant comment on a non-review article at A Little Bit of All of It and tell us which post (comment on separate posts for up to 3 entries total).
• Like CurlyMonkey on Facebook.
• Like Natural Parents Network on Facebook.
• Like A Little Bit of All of It on Facebook.
• Post this giveaway on your Facebook page or wall and leave the link (1 entry). You can use this status update: Enter to win a set of FOUR fabulous @CurlyMonkey cloth baby wipes from @Natural Parents Network. Contest ends May 26 and is open to Canada & US.
  Be sure to attach the contest URL to your update (this is not part of the status)! http://naturalparentsnetwork.com/giveaway-organic-cloth-baby-wipes/
• Follow A Little Bit of All of It on Networked Blogs.
• Follow @CurlyMonkey_ on Twitter and leave your Twitter name in the comment.
• Follow @NatParNet on Twitter and leave your Twitter name in the comment.
• Follow @JuliaLittleBit on Twitter and leave your Twitter name in the comment.
• Tweet about this giveaway (up to 5 times total, at least 24 hours apart). You can tweet this text: #Win FOUR lovely cloth wipes from @CurlyMonkey_ for #clothdiapering! http://bit.ly/lSxjD7 @NatParNet #giveaway #clothdiapers {5.26 Can/US}
• Enter another of the current giveaways on Natural Parents Network (1 extra entry per giveaway — check back for more).
• Put the Natural Parents Network badge on your website or add http://NaturalParentsNetwork.com to your text blogroll for 2 extra entries each. The HTML code for the badge is in the right sidebar of NaturalParentsNetwork.com. Leave your site URL in the comment.
• Add https://wifemomandmore.wordpress.com/ to your text blogroll for 2 extra entries. Leave your site URL in the comment.

RULES:

• Contest open to Canadian and United States mailing addresses only.
• Contestants may enter at either A Little Bit of All of It or Natural Parents Network but not both. Entries will be combined for the drawing of a single winner.
• Leave each entry as a separate comment so we can count them all.
• For actions like following and subscribing, if you already follow or subscribe, just let us know in your comment.
• For tasks that garner you multiple entries, you can copy and paste the comment with a #1, #2, etc.
• You don’t have to do any of the bonus entries, but you do have to complete the first mandatory one.
• We will pick the winner through Random.org after the contest closes and send an email notification. Leave a valid email address as you comment so we can contact you if you win. If we can’t reach a winner or don’t hear back within a couple days, we’ll draw a new name.
• Any questions, let Lauren know: Lauren {at} NaturalParentsNetwork.com

Contest closes May 26 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

Disclosure: I received four free wipes for review.
We try to seek out only products we think you would find
relevant and useful to your life as a natural parent.
If we don’t like a product, we won’t be recommending it to you.
See our full disclosure policy here.

Related Articles

• How I Cloth Diaper (Part 1) (wifemomandmore.wordpress.com)
• How I Cloth Diaper (Part 2) (wifemomandmore.wordpress.com)
• Imse Vimse Flushable Cloth Diaper Liners: Product Review (wifemomandmore.wordpress.com)

Imse Vimse Flushable Cloth Diaper Liners: Product Review

When it comes to toilets, I’m a scaredy cat so I knew when I made the decision to cloth diaper my baby I wasn’t going to want to swish away the waste in the toilet. That’s when I made the decision to try out flushable cloth diaper liners. I started out with another brand but a friend recommended the Imse Vimse liners so I decided to try them out.

via http://www.imsevimse.us

If you are unsure of what exactly a flushable liner is, it’s pretty simple really. Here’s the description from the Imse Vimse site:

“Flushable liners can be used between the diaper and the baby’s skin, letting moisture pass through to the diaper while preventing solids to soak into the diaper, which will take the mess out of washing your cloth diapers.  Just flush away the mess, and spend more time with your baby instead of dunking diapers.  These bio-degradable flushable liners are an all natural paper product; they are unbleached and biodegradable. “

They are super easy to use. They come in a roll which I just keep stored with my wipes. Then when I change a diaper I just put one of these on top of the diaper. That’s it. If I’m going to be out and about, I just take a couple and put them in with the diaper. (My husband sticks the whole roll in the bag.)

If they are soiled, I take the diaper to the toilet, dump it and flush. I don’t have to touch the liner at all which I like. If it is not soiled, I just throw it in the wet bag with the diaper. It washes up nicely and will last 3 or 4 (maybe more!) times before it starts getting little holes in it. I throw it away once it has holes obviously. :) I dry them on my rack with the diaper covers but I have accidentally dried them and they were still usable after that even.

I have a toddler but prefer the baby size (which comes in a pack of 2 rolls, 100 liners to a roll.) The toddler size would be ideal if you primarily use pre-folds but I just find them too big for my pocket diapers. (The toddler size comes with 1 roll of 100 liners).

I purchase mine either from the Natural Baby store here in town or online.

Do you use Imse Vimse liners or do you have another favorite?

Sunday Surf

Here are my Sunday Surf links for this past week.

via naturalparentsnetwork.com

How I Prep Clean Eats for the Week: Inside Sara’s Kitchen

5 Toddler Breastfeeding Myths That Drive Me Insane!

6 Steps to Mindful Mothering

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Fine Art of Dying Your Hair with Henna

Chicken Pot Pie with a Savory Herb & Cheddar Crust

The Consequence of Using Consequences

My Scar Does Not Define Me, Part 1 & 2

Dealing with Birth Trauma

Tea Technique: How to Steep White Tea

Giveaway: Sacred Rose Herbal Tea

How I Cloth Diaper (Part 2)

Check out Part 1.

The big question with cloth is what do you do with poop? Let me start by saying I have a fear of toilets. Go ahead and laugh but I have since childhood. Clearly I would not be able to handle dunking a diaper in swirling, scary toilet water because of this. Some people do but they do not have issues like me, obviously. :) The great news is at the beginning, if your child is only breastfeeding, you don’t have to do anything. Seriously. Breastmilk just dissolves away. It’s totally fantastic. Once you start solids, or if you are using formula, it still isn’t a big deal. We use liners. Liners are sort of like toilet paper, but stronger and wider (depending on the brand you buy). You just stick them in baby’s diaper and, if they are soiled, dump it in the toilet and flush. Easy. Even a toilet-phobic girl like me can do that. If your liners have only been peed on, you can just stick them in the diaper pail with everything else. Once again, easy. You can actually wash them. Depending on the brand, they can last a good 2, 3, maybe 6 times of use. Seriously. My favorite part of all this is that the waste goes where it belongs: either in the laundry water down the drain or in the toilet with the rest of the sewage. It’s not sitting in my garbage can or in a dump somewhere.

bumGenius

So now that the big poop question is out of the way, you are probably wondering where in the world (and how) I store the soiled diapers. We have a plain old, standard step-on trash can with a lid. No need for expensive, specialty trash cans because, remember, your waste is not sitting in their (except for breastmilk poop, which isn’t all that smelly anyway). I bought 2 pail liners with drawstrings that fit right into the can. The type I purchased were from Nurtured Family but I don’t remember the brand. Basically these pail liners have a waterproof inner so nothing leaks. I bought 2 so while one is in the wash, the other can be used. So, with pocket diapers, you change your sweet baby, and take your soiled diaper to the can, take the inserts out and throw everything in the can. (You don’t have to touch the inserts generally. Just sort of shake them out into the can, then drop the rest of the diaper. With the bumGenius you may have to touch the flap that covers the opening but this is generally not soiled, so no big deal.)

What about going out of the house? Cloth diapering on the go is no problem. Just purchase a couple of wet bags (so if one is in the wash, you still have one) and a wipes case and your set. Really. The only issue is that the pocket diapers are bulkier than disposables. Because I always over-prepare, I usually always have a couple disposables in the diaper bag for emergencies and take 1 or 2 cloth with me. I also have an emergency stash of disposable wipes tucked away but bring 5 wetted cloth ones. It’s pretty rare that I’ve needed my disposable stash though, like I can probably count on one hand maybe, that rare. Anyway, I received my wet bags as gifts so I didn’t buy them but there are tons of places to buy these. And there are tons of super cute and fun designs out there for them, too. A wet bag is just a mini version of the pail liner. It has a waterproof inner and a zipper to keep smells in the bag. As far as soiled diapers, if you are somewhere with a toilet, that’s obvious but if not, I keep some scented bags in my diaper bag and put the soiled liner in the bag and flush it when I can. When you get home, make sure to put your cloth wipes away (or just keep dry wipes in your diaper bag and never have to worry about it.) Leaving wet wipes in your bag too long will make them mildewy. In the beginning I just kept dry ones in my bag with a bottle of water and wet them that way. When you get home, just dump the contents of your wet bag and the wet bag itself in the pail liner.

bumGenius

Now we are too laundering your diapers. There are a lot of different ways people do that but I’ll just tell you what has worked well for us. I started out using Allens Naturally, which we were happy with, and now use Rockin’ Green (also happy with.) Whatever you decide to use, make sure it is cloth diaper friendly. You can’t just buy whatever at the grocery store. We wash every other day. I think leaving them to sit much longer than that is probably not a good idea personally. We have a little over 20 diapers (started out with 20) and that has worked well. I did wash every morning for awhile just because I wanted to but switched to every other day at some point. I should also say I have a top loader so these instructions would be different for a front loader. So I take my pail liner and dump everything into the washer, along with the bag. Then I run a full cold cycle. (Even if your diapers don’t look like they need the full amount of water, they do- the more water, the better.) Then I take a very small amount of detergent (I forget the exact measurement but I have the cup that came with my Allen’s Naturally and it has a line in the middle and I do half up to that line…it’s not much) for my second wash, which is a hot wash. After the hot wash, I do a cold rinse. (My washer has a cold rinse cycle, but for times when I’m using someone else’s washer without this feature I just turn the dial over to the rinse part if that makes sense.) Then it’s time to dry. You technically can dry everything but I prefer to only dry my inserts. The liners and covers I air dry on a drying rack. I found if I didn’t dry my inserts they would get hard and weird and take forever to air dry so I just dry them on low. I also dry my wipes and bags as well.

Around 5 months, we switched to a different system for night time. We hadn’t had any leaking issues until around then. I asked some cloth diapering friends their recommendations, and they unanimously agreed that I should use prefolds with covers for night time. Wool was mentioned as well but, I’ll admit, the care of wool intimidated me so I didn’t go that route. I bought some prefolds and Thirsties duo-wrap covers (these are two-size covers) and, when paired with one of my smaller FuzziBunz inserts, no more leaks! And there’s no need for diaper pins to get the prefold on. I use Snappis! (I’ve posted a review on the Thirsties covers you can check out.)

Thirsties Blackbird Cover

A great resource with lots of videos can be found at Mothering. This goes into all the different cloth diaper types that I didn’t go into.

Here is my list of supplies needed for cloth diapering with estimated costs. If you’re local, I will soon be doing a Local Focus post on the Natural Baby store where you can buy all of this stuff so be on the lookout for that.

• 20-30 one size pocket diapers – $15-$25 each
• Baby Bits wipe solution – $10
• 40-60 Cloth Wipes – $9-$15 for a set of 10-15
• 2 Pail Liners – $20 each
• 2 Wet Bags – $10 each
• Laundry Detergent – $13-$18 a bag/box
• Flushable Liners (only if your baby is not breastfed and/or is eating solids) – $8-$12 for 100-200

I think this covers everything! Please feel free to comment with questions or, if you cloth diaper, share how you use yours!

How I Cloth Diaper (Part 1)

bumGenius in action

I get asked from time to time how I cloth diaper so I thought I’d create a post detailing what I do. My disclaimer is there are SO many different ways to cloth diaper that may be cheaper/easier/better for you and your family. This is what I decided on and what works great for us! We love our cloth diapers and have never looked back once we started.

My main reason for cloth diapering was honestly the economic factor. I remember the first time I bought a pack of disposable diapers for a baby shower gift I was appalled at how much they cost. I probably made my decision then and there that I would at least investigate cloth diapers. I just couldn’t imagine shelling out that much money on a regular basis once I had a baby. I also had some friends online that used them and that made it not seem so completely foreign to me. I was intimidated by the learning curve, but, since I had never changed a diaper period, I was going to have a learning curve no matter what.

Cloth diapers, of course, have many other benefits besides just saving you tons of money. Many of these benefits I wasn’t even aware of until I started using them myself. We started out with disposables just because I was nervous about all of the new things I was already going to be learning being a new mom. The diapers I chose also started at 8 lbs or so and I knew my little one was most likely going to be under that. Because of this, I did have a very brief experience with disposables so I was able to compare using each type. Cloth was just a MUCH better experience for me personally than disposables. I have to admit, this really shocked me. I had no idea how much better using cloth would be.

I felt for us the best choice was to go with one-size pocket diapers. The brands we registered for and purchased were bumGenius One Size Pocket Diapers, FuzziBunz One Size Pocket Diapers and Blueberry One Size Pocket Diapers. (The actual diapers we bought have now been replaced by these companies with improved versions.) Having a one-size diaper basically means you only have to buy, you guessed it, one size and it grows with your baby. These diapers have a pocket where you stuff an insert. The insert is very absorbent while the part that comes in contact with your child’s skin wicks away moisture and is soft. I liked the pockets because you can add more absorbent inserts or double up if you have a heavy wetter or for night time. The FuzziBunz diapers came with a small and large liner for each diaper and the bumGenius diapers came with a doubler (which just means it is a thinner liner you can double up with the regular liner) and an adjustable liner. The Blueberry diapers came with one liner that was half hemp and is also adjustable. (Hemp is fantastic because it is very absorbent but very thin at the same time.) The FuzziBunz diapers have snaps while the bumGenius has velcro. (Now you can order the bumGenius in snaps though.) The Blueberry diapers come in both snaps and velcro; we have some of each.

FuzziBunz

The next thing to consider is what you are wiping your baby with. Using disposable wipes with cloth diapers is a big pain because you have to dispose of them in 2 different places. Besides, if you are doing cloth diapers, it makes sense that you probably want to do cloth wipes, too. These you can totally make yourself with minimal effort. However, apparently I’m lazy because I didn’t. :) I registered for and purchased some from online. I know lots of WAHM’s out there make these to purchase as well. I reviewed the brands I have here on the blog so you can check that out if you’re interested.

There are lots of ways to use these wipes. Some families just use them dry, others use just plain old water and some parents make their own wipe solution. For me, I buy Baby Bits. They last a really long time. (For reference, I am just now going to be purchased my 3rd bag and my daughter is almost 2.) They smell delightful, too! I plan on doing a review of these soon here on the blog so I’ll link this post to that once I do. I store mine in an old disposables container from my earlier days and it works well. Some people store theirs in a wipe warmer.

That’s it for Part 1. Part 2 will discuss what to do with the poop, how to store and launder your diapers, cloth diapering on the go and night time cloth diapering. I’ll also give you a list of everything you need and approximate pricing.

Link Love for week of February 13

Here are some links to content I enjoyed this past week. Admittedly I didn’t read a lot this week.

Hope Does Not Put to Shame

Cloth Diaper Basics: Newborn Diapering

Do Breastfed Babies/Toddlers Need To Brush Their Teeth?

Bittersweet Chai Hot Cocoa

DIY Lavender and Honeysuckle Laundry Detergent

Check out Authentic Parenting, Maman A Droit, Navelgazing, Momma Jorje, The Parent Vortex, Hobo Mama, Motherhood Moments and Mama and Baby Love for more Sunday Surfing!

The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt is On (Well, Almost)

It is almost that time of year again!! The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt is about to start!! I thoroughly enjoyed this last year, my first year doing it.

The idea behind the GCDH is to introduce people to some great work-at-home mom’s and their products. I had so much fun perusing the different sites, hunting for the clues and finding out about some great stuff at the same time. Oh, and did I mention there are fantastic prizes, too!

The site that sponsors the hunt, Diaper Decisions, is basically a cloth diaper information center for businesses. You can also, as a consumer, find cloth diaper stores in your area and view a breakdown of the costs of all the different types of cloth diapers vs. disposables.

Free Diapers!

I love free stuff so when I saw this writing contest for a $100 gift certificate to Cotton Babies, I jumped on it! The theme is “I’m Glad You Were Born.” Below is my contest entry. It is actually an edited down version of my published story How Motherhood Came to Me. Hope I win!!

The first time I saw your face I didn’t believe it. Maybe I still don’t in a way. You swam up to us and I turned around and looked at your father in disbelief. You’re real, you’re here, you are the most beautiful human being I’ve ever seen, and I can’t believe you’re mine. Through the years I had told myself that I really would never have a child. And I guess, in that raw moment, my first emotion was shock, disbelief, even in spite of all the facts and evidence to the contrary.

I loved you immediately. I was in a swirl, a fog. as you were laid on my chest, as I cradled your tiny, vernix-covered body. You were very real and had been wanted for so long. You came out screaming, which was unexpected, but makes perfect sense now. I always heard water babies were calm, but calm has never described you. You came on your due date, right in the beautiful sunny spring morning hours. I had labored all night without even realizing it. It felt like time stood still. Labor was smooth, steady, quiet, peaceful. Warm water, dim lights, soothing voices, calming hands.

Nursing you is especially precious to me. I love having you so close to me, especially at night. Sometimes I gaze at you sleeping and try to soak you in. I know soon that you will be across the hall, sleeping on your own. But for right now you need me. You want me. I know too quickly you won’t be my baby anymore. Already you’re toddling around, terrorizing our house. But at night, you are still. You are quiet. You still enjoy turning around after nursing and snuggling next to me. I always thought by now I’d want you in your own room, but instead I find myself dreading that inevitability. I treasure you, my precious gift from God.

I love you with all my being and don’t care if that means I’m more “mother” now than anything else. I won’t apologize for “losing” myself to motherhood. On the contrary, it is with your birth that I have found myself.