Giving Diapers Giving Hope Fundraiser Sweepstakes – Over $1700 in Cloth Diaper Prizes!

Jan 24,2012 / By Maria / No Comment

Kristen McCarthy and Emily Glover started Giving Diapers, Giving Hope in April 2010 as a local cloth diaper lending foundation. They soon began receiving inquiries from parents across the country, and they expanded to accept applications & help those all over the country. Giving Diapers, Giving Hope has already helped over 70 families cloth diaper their babies!

Kim of Dirty Diaper Laundry arranged a fundraiser to raise money to to file for the 501 c3 needed to become a recognized Non- Profit, and also to purchase office supplies, packaging materials, and supplies needed to repair donated diapers.

There are two parts of the fundraiser. The Twitter party is January 25 at 9 PM EST. RSVP for the party, then tweet using the #GivingHOPE hashtag. Prizes include gift certificates to Abby’s Lane and Kelly’s Closet, 6 Diaper Rite Pockets from Diaper Junction, 8 CJ’s BUTTer’s from Sweetbottoms Baby Boutique, a Prize Pack of all natural, vegan balms from “THE” Balm, a One Size Gro Via, Thirsties Duo Diaper, GroVia Magic Stick and GroVia disposable Biosoaker inserts from Jack Be Natural and more!

The 25th is also the first day of the Sweepstakes! There are prize packs from The NOW Family (ARV $124), Orange Diaper Co (ARV $100.00), Tushie Ties Tie on Prefolds ( ARV $90.00), a $100.00 Gift Certificate to Sweetbottoms Baby Boutique, a BabyKicks Prize Pack (ARV $78.00), an Oeko Popo Prize Pack (ARV $84.00), a “Try Cloth Diapers” Prize pack from Go Green Baby Shop (ARV $70), a GroVia and more Prize Pack from Jack Be Natural, an Accessory Prize Pack from Abby’s Lane (ARV $75.00), another Accessories Prize pack from Modern Cloth ($ARV $80.00), an Incredibum Package (ARV $100.00), “The” BALM! Package (ARV $75.00), a Thirsties package with 3 new DUO AIO’s and more (ARV $75.00), 2 bumGenius Freetimes donated by All About Cloth Diapers, and much more!

There are over $1700 in prizes up for grabs; all of the prizes are listed on the Dirty Diaper Laundry Facebook Page. The contest will open first thing in the morning on January 25 and end at midnight on February 14. To enter just like the sponsor’s pages using the easy to use Rafflecopter widget. You don’t have to like every page but you must like the sponsor’s page to win their prize.

Every sponsor you see listed has given a monetary donation to Giving Diapers, Giving Hope so please show them your support!

To learn more about Giving Diapers, Giving Hope you can visit them on their website: http://givingdiapersgivinghope.org, or their Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/givingdiapersgivinghopefoundation.

I am happy to be a sponsor of both the Twitter party and the Sweepstakes!

0

Fall in Love with Fluff

Fall in Love with Fluff $500 Cloth Diaper Giveaway Starts 2/1

Jan 24,2012 / By Maria / 2 Comments

$500 Cloth Diaper/Accessory Prize Pack

The Fall In Love With Fluff Giveaway Event is being hosted by Daily Mothering/Eco-Crazy Mom, and over 100 blogs will host the entry form from February 1-7, 2012. One winner will receive a $500 cloth diaper prize pack.

This giveaway is being sponsored by Kissed By The Moon and Sandbox Lane.

The giveaway will be open to both US and Canada however, some items will be substituted if a Canadian winner is drawn due to some manufacturers’ shipping restrictions.

Here is what you could win: (winner will choose colors of most items)

Fall In Love With Fluff $500 Cloth Diaper Prize Pack

Visit me from February 1-7 to enter the giveaway.

0

Incredibum Cloth Diaper Review

Jan 24,2012 / By Maria / 3 Comments

I don’t enter many giveaways anymore, so it’s no big surprise that I rarely win! I did enter a giveaway for an Incredibum diaper from This Mama Loves Her Bargains a few months ago, and I won!

The Incredibum has elastic in front and back, a microfleece inner and TPU outer.

There are a lot of snaps on the wings. My husband would most likely toss this one back if he “fished” it out of the diaper basket! It’s a one size diaper with a snap down rise.

The diaper has two bamboo/cotton blend soakers that snap together and snap into the shell. Some people consider this an all-in-two or all-in-three style, while others refer to it as an all-in-one. Though you can’t wipe the shell to reuse it, you can snap in clean inserts if the shell isn’t soiled.

You can use the small soaker alone for less bulk on a smaller baby that doesn’t need as much absorbency.

Here’s the small setting measured folded and stretched:

Medium:

Large:

Here’s my son in the large setting at 2 1/2 years old and about 28 lbs:

I really didn’t care for the fit on him. I think it’s partially the front elastic, but also the soaker being snapped in is pulling the front down/keeping it from stretching I believe. I think it might fit better on a smaller setting/smaller child, or if I left the soaker unsnapped.

It looks like each diaper with inserts retails for $16.85.

Have you tried Incredibum? What did you think?

FTC compliance: I won this diaper in a giveaway. I was not asked to write, nor was I compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

0

Cloth Diaper Advice – Mailbox Mondays 1/23/12 – Cloth Wipes Irritating Bottom

Jan 23,2012 / By Maria / 3 Comments

Help me give cloth diaper advice! If I’ve received a question, I will answer it on Monday and ask all of you to help too..

Questions don’t have to be cloth diaper related, just email maria at change-diapers.com with “Mailbox Mondays” in the subject, or fill out my contact form for readers, which you will always be able to find on my Contact Page.

Jessica says:

Hello. Sorry to bother you; I’m just not sure where to turn for information about this and was hoping you might be able to help. I use cloth diapers with my daughter and am attempting to use cloth wipes as well. Initially, I cut up some old receiving blankets and used a solution of water, tea tree oil, and baby shampoo. Very shortly after switching to this, my daughter developed a very red and irritated bottom. I switched back to disposable wipes, and the rash quickly cleared up. I thought perhaps the receiving blankets were too rough because of how old they were, so I bought some cotton flannel fabric and sewed up some new wipes. This time I used only water on the wipes in case the solution was irritating her bottom. Sure enough, after a few changes with the cloth wipes, her bottom is red and irritated again. She cries whenever I wipe her with them, and I am at a loss as to why this is happening. I don’t really want to continue using disposable wipes forever. Have you ever experienced this or heard of this, or is there a cloth wipe you might recommend? I understand if you do not have time to answer this, but I would appreciate it if you do and if you have any ideas.

Thank you,

Jessica

Hi Jessica,
My initial thought was that the TTO or shampoo was irritating her bottom, so I was surprised to hear you say that water irritates her bottom but disposable wipes don’t!

First I’d say make sure they are totally saturated so you can get all residue off her bottom without scrubbing. Have you tried anything but flannel? I’m wondering if perhaps she is sensitive to that.

My favorite wipes are GroVia wipes because they are soft, stay soft, wash well, and are more affordable than others (under $1 ea, I believe $10.95 for 12.) I like to use Thirsties booty luster and spray right on the bottom. When the bottle is empty, I refill it with dissolved wipes bits like booty cubes.

Have cloth wipes irritated your baby’s bottom? Did you figure out what was causing it?

0

Baby Products Review

Graco Stanton Affordable, Convertible Crib Review

Jan 22,2012 / By Maria / 8 Comments

For some reason, I always feel the urge to justify my purchases to the interwebs (especially a crib since I know so many people are totally anti-crib.) I’m not sure why. I guess I feel guilty for buying anything that’s not 100% necessary. Probably why I wear the same 3 shirts & 2 pair of jeans over and over and over again! Anyway, I’ll try not to do that. I’ll just say that we wanted a crib for the new baby, and we didn’t want to pay an arm & a leg for it. We were hoping for black (so it would match the dresser in what used to be the spare bedroom) but the main requirements were that it be inexpensive, but not “cheap” (and yes, there’s a difference in my book!)

I had been eyeing up the deal sites and checking sales. It seemed like you could get a halfway decent crib for under $200, but they weren’t necessarily our style, and weren’t black. We weren’t really in a hurry though, since I am determined to make cosleeping work!!

I ended up finding the Graco Stanton Convertible Crib on Amazon. The crib is actually made by Lajobi for Graco (they make a lot of baby furniture for different brands.)

The MSRP is $159.99, but Amazon had it for $139 with free shipping. It was one of those “Temporarily out of stock, order now and we’ll deliver it when available” items, so I was worried it would never show up, but it did! The crib is available in white, cinnamon, cherry, black and espresso. The price has gone up to $149 since I bought mine, but it’s still a good deal!

I did read the reviews before I bought, and they seemed OK. I knew I wasn’t buying a $700 crib! I mean, a convertible crib for $139 couldn’t be that great but whatever. Well I was actually pleasantly surprised! My husband was able to put it together quickly, even with “help” from the kids. The crib converts to a toddler bed (no guard rail needed for conversion), daybed and full-size headboard with footboard.

I commented that the highest setting seemed pretty low. Hubby said it was just because the mattress wasn’t in yet, but once I put the mattress in, he agreed that it is kind of low! It still seems high enough for shorty-short me (5′ tall if you round up or let me leave my shoes on) to lay a newborn in it without much trouble. It has a total of 3 height settings.

Overall, I’m pleased with it. I think it’s a nice looking crib, and I like it more than some of the $800+ cribs we saw at the bigger stores. It seems sturdy and well made. Then again, it’s not an $800 crib and it’s definitely not perfect. Most noticeably, the paint is kind of sloppy.

One thing I was expecting based on the reviews, is the bed skirt trouble the corner support weirdness causes.

You can see in the stock photo I used at the top of the post (you may have to click to enlarge it to see what I mean) that the bed skirt doesn’t come all the way to the corners of the crib because of the supports (and may not work at all depending on the style/if the corners are split.) That will definitely bother me, so I figure I will just cut the bedskirt, then maybe use a diaper pin (or a few quick hand stitches) under the mattress to hold it back in place. The brackets will still be visible though, which is super annoying, but what are you gonna do?

Overall, sure, I wish someone would deliver a crib on my doorstep that didn’t have the paint and bracket issues, but if someone handed me $800, I’d keep the crib we have and use the money for something else!

FTC compliance: I paid normal, retail price for the pictured item. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own. Post contains Amazon affiliate links.

0