I’ve got the Magic Stick

Nov 18,2009 / By Maria / No Comment

>So diaper rash with disposables is a vicious cycle. At least for us. The sposies cause it but we use them in order to slather diaper cream on him to clear it up. I’m well aware that most diaper creams cause repelling and staining and generally ruin cloth diapers.

I’ll tell you from experience that tissues do not work as an effective cloth diaper liner and that diaper creams do in fact stain cloth.

I tried cutting up an old flannel receiving blanket to use as liners and cloth wipes when using diaper cream (also so I easily knew which items to wash separately) but even that wasn’t 100% effective.

I also read that the zinc in these creams was drying & probably not the best thing for me to be using.

What I needed was a cloth safe diaper cream. While I got the low down I found several contenders. A few had similarly chuckle inducing names, reminiscent of butt baste. These were rump rub and magic stick. Please tell me I’m not the only one who thought more lil kim than lil bums.

I decided on the breathable barrier Grandma El’s and added it to the trusty wish list. I’m writing out of order, so if you’ve read in order, you already know that I ordered it.

I did receive it, and while I will write my full review later, it rocks.

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Giveaway Wet Bags & Pail Liners

Wetbag giveaway

Nov 18,2009 / By Maria / No Comment

>Head over to The Eli Monster’s Blog for a chance to win a medium custom wetbag!

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I bleed for you

Nov 18,2009 / By Maria / No Comment

>I think I mentioned before that we planned to use hubby’s plasma donation $ to build up a cloth stash. He was showing me his latest boo-boo from said donation and told our son that he is bleeding for his red little hiney!

I found a site that had great prices and sold most of the brands I was looking for. Dipes are expensive to begin with, but their cost can easily increase by 50% or more if you have to pay shipping on each item.

I chose 4 brands/styles I wanted to try based on reviews online & from other mamas in the CD groups. Happy Heiny’s one size pocket diapers with aplix, Blueberry Minky one size diaper, Fuzzibunz one size diaper with hip snap and a clearance diaper, Haute one-size traditional pocket diaper. Between the blood $ and a check I had from selling Mary Kay, I had about $100 to spend. There was a $5/$50 coupon as well as free shipping with a $99 purchase.

I threw in some Grandma El’s Diaper Rash Cream (post on diaper rash and CD safe creams to come!) and a planet wise small wet bag. I had been using gallon size ziplocs for clean/dirties when we went out up to this point.

A mom in the CD group on cafemom makes cooshie tooshies diapers. I was able to get a screaming deal on a pocket diaper and an AIO. They are mediums, whereas all the other diapers I have purchased were one size. However, the price was great and definitely worth it.

Now the worst part, waiting for the packages to arrive!

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Cloth Wipes

Nov 18,2009 / By Maria / No Comment

>So, I keep catching myself wrapping the diapers around the disosable wipe, and it’s only a matter of time before I wash one & have a big mess on my hand. I also learned that the “sensitive, alcohol free” wipes I was using weren’t so much.

I’d read about homemade disposable wipes on frugal living blogs. I didn’t want disposable and I was concerned about all the ingredients in the “recipes” because of cloth diaper safety, bum sensitivity and so forth.

I researched and found that the stars and cubes of wipe solution concentrate that WAHMs make would work best for me.

I had trouble finding affordable spray bottles, but my hubby ended up finding some for .97 at my most favoritest place ever (not), Wal-Mart. I picked up some distilled water, and ordered a sample pack of cubes.

I researched cloth wipes and even though I’d only have to use each wipe maybe 40 times for it to pay for itself, I again couldn’t bring myself to spend the money.

Instead, I grabbed some soft burp cloths that were a little too thin for my heavy spitter. I cut them in half, folded them in half, then zigzagged the edges to form two fray-free, double thickness cloths, each 1/4 the size of the original cloth. They fit perfectly in a wipes container, but I did choose to use a squirt bottle instead of pre-moistening them.

The solution smelled great, was easy to mix up and cleaned my baby’s bottom without irritating it. 1 cube made 8 oz of solution, and I am sure you could stretch it much further. 8 oz lasted about a week, putting the price per hiney wipe at rock bottom (pun intended).

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Cloth Diapers Detergents

Detergent Drama

Nov 16,2009 / By Maria / No Comment

>Since I can’t leave well enough alone, I kept researching and found more, conflicting information on the safety of the detergents we found locally.

I also found an awesome group of cloth diapering mamas on cafemom and asked a barrage of questions, including what their washing routines were, and what detergents they used.

The general consensus was that everyone loved a cafemommy made product called lil outlaws. Cloth safe, none of the no-no ingredients and smelled great. No one had any problems with buildup, smelly diapers or hiney irritation, even for those moms whose babies had sensitive skin. The best part was that a bag was $15 postage paid, and would do 140 loads in my HE washer!

I sent my poor hubby to return the detergent he’d purchased and impatiently waited for my detergent to arrive.

Long story short, I’m happy to see a conclusion to the diaper detergent drama!