11 – Newborn Diaper Reviews?

Jul 18,2011 / By Maria / 21 Comments

Do you need cloth diaper help? On Mondays, I answer reader submitted questions, and ask my readers what they think.

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.

Someone asks:

Maria,
What is up with all the newborn cloth diaper reviews? You don’t even have a newborn. Have you gone totally off the deep end?

Signed,
Fake, made up reader.

I’ve already posted several newborn cloth diaper reviews and I have about 6 more coming up in the next month. I realize that I look like I’ve completely lost my marbles and that I’m in dire need of a cloth diaper intervention.

Well, I know you guys are pretty sharp, so you may have already figured out that we are expecting another baby. Our newest cloth diaper model is about half baked, and due in December.

Um, so that’s my news. If there are any pregnancy or newborn related products you’ve been dying to see reviewed or given away, let me know! 😀

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Cloth Diaper Giveaways – Roundup for 7/15/11 (Plus Linky for all Giveaways)

Jul 15,2011 / By Maria / 3 Comments

If you like free cloth diapers, this post is for you! Every Friday, I hunt down cloth diaper, accessory and baby wearing giveaways for you and list them all!

If you’d like me to list your cloth diaper, accessory, baby wearing (etc.) giveaway next week, send a link and description to maria at change-diapers.com, or Fill out my contact form for readers.

My Bummis Swimmi Reusable Swim Diaper Giveaway ends 7/19 Open to the U.S. and Canada

This week’s giveaway is two Bumgenius 4.0s (ends 7/21)

Prizes from Fuzzibunz (no set end date, ends at 25k fans) Entry is through Facebook app, must “like” them on Facebook to enter

*Oh Katy Diaper from Padded Tush Stats Mandatory GFC follow (ends 7/15)

*$10 Ella Bella Bums GC from The Mommy Times Mandatory GFC Follow and Facebook “like” (ends 7/15)

*Babykicks 3G Pocket Diaper from Sweet T Makes 3 (ends 7/15)

*Ergo Baby Carrier from Uniquely Normal Mom (ends 7/15) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*$15 Little Boppers GC from Padded Tush Stats (ends 7/15)

*Monkey Doodlez Swim Diaper from West Coast Mama (ends 7/15) Open to Canadians Only

*Knickernappies Diaper from Diaper Discussions (ends 7/15) Open worldwide

Rumparooz Diapers from Kelly Wels (ends 7/15)

*Best Bottom Diaper from Mimi Loves All 8 Mandatory GFC follow (ends 7/16)

*$15 Thanks Mama GC from Mommy and Me Giveaways (ends 7/16) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Envibum Diaper from Tales From the Nursery (ends 7/16) Open to the U.S. and Canada

Nifty Nappy Swim Diaper from Biehl Adventures (ends 7/16)

Tini Bottoms Diaper Mandatory GFC follow and Facebook “like” (ends 7/16)

*GoGreen Champ 2.0 from Sugar Pop Ribbons Mandatory GFC follow (ends 7/17)

$50 Natural Baby GC from Whole Lot of Fluff Mandatory Facebook “like” and comment (ends 7/17)

GoGreen Champ Pocket Diaper from Nicki’s Cloth Diaper Reviews (ends 7/17)

*Mother-Ease Wizard from Tales from the Nursery (ends 7/18) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*My Little Hipster Diaper from Crazy 4 Fluff (ends 7/18)

Envibum Diaper from My This n That Life (ends 7/18)

Bummis Swimmi from Biehl Adventures (ends 7/18) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Blissful Booty Cloth Diaper & Wipes Solution Concentrate from Sugar Pop Ribbons Mandatory GFC follow (ends 7/19)

Bumbledoo Swim Diaper from Biehl Adventures (ends 7/19) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Bummis Beautiful Basic Prefold & Cover Set from Mama on a Green Mission (ends 7/20) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Water Wrap Carrier from Crunchy Beach Mama (ends 7/20) Open worldwide

Cheeky Cloth Soakers from Cloth Diaper Contests & Giveaways (ends 7/20) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Comfybuns Cloth Wipes from Sophie and Mama (ends 7/21)

*Oh Katy Diaper from Sugar Pop Ribbons Mandatory GFC follow and Facebook “like” (ends 7/21)

AMP Swim Diaper from Biehl Adventures (ends 7/21)

*Magic Bum Diaper Rash Treatment from Green Mama Jama Two Mandatory Facebook “likes” and comment (ends 7/22)

*AppleCheeks Little Bundle from Padded Tush Stats Mandatory GFC follow (ends 7/22)

Zizzies & Izzies Soaker from Sugar Pop Ribbons Mandatory GFC follow (ends 7/22)

*Bumgenius 4.0s from Snappy Diapers (ends 7/23)

Comfybuns Cloth Wipes from Cloth Diaper Contests & Giveaway (ends 7/23) Open to the U.S. and Canada

OsoCozy Fitted Diapers from The Cloth Diaper Report (ends 7/23)

GoGreen Champ Pocket Diaper from Newly Crunchy Mama of 3 (ends 7/24)

$15 Cutiepoops GC from Bedfordnomics (ends 7/24)

Lovely Pocket Diaper from Crazy 4 Fluff Mandatory GFC follow (ends 7/25)

Planet Wise Sport Bag from Because It’s Fun to Win (ends 7/25) Open to the U.S and Canada

Blissful Booty Cloth Diaper from Sweet T Makes 3 (ends 7/25) Open to the U.S. and Canada

Smartipants Diaper from Turtle Man’s Mama Two Mandatory GFC follows and Facebook “like” and comment (ends 7/25)

$15 Dispose Me Not GC from Dibs(ends 7/25)

*Charlie Banana Diaper from Marnie’s Organized Mess Mandatory GFC follow-winner has to contact blog owner, blog owner does not contact winner (ends 7/26)

*Boba Baby Carrier from Simple City Life Mandatory GFC follow (ends 7/27) Open to the U.S. and Canada

Maude Baby Diaper from Mama to 4 Blessings Mandatory GFC follow (ends 7/27) Open to the U.S. and Canada

WAHMies Wet Bag from The Mommy Goods (ends 7/27)

*Best Bottom Diaper from Everything Mom & Baby Mandatory GFC follow (ends 7/28) Open to the U.S. and Canada

$10 Sandbox Lane GC from Real Mom Reviews (ends 7/28)

$15 Dispose Me Not Credit from A Mommy’s Blessings Mandatory GFC follow and Facebook “like” and comment (ends 7/28)

Smartipants Diaper from The Mommy Goods Mandatory Facebook “like” and comment (ends 7/28)

Charlie Banana Diaper from Sandbox Lane Mandatory Twitter follow (ends 7/31)

Blueberry Trainer from Nicki’s Cloth Diaper Blog (ends 7/31)

Black Fuzzibunz Diaper from Nicki’s Cloth Diaper Blog (ends 7/31)

*GoGreen Champ 2.0 from Obsessions of the Trophy Wife Mandatory GFC follow (ends 8/1)

Zookies Diaper Cover from One Smiley Monkey (ends 8/1)

Natural Wipe Spray from Cloth Diapers Inc. and Obsessions of the Trophy Wife Mandatory GFC follow (ends 8/1)

GroVia Wipes from Green Baby Elephant and Knocked Up and Nursing (ends 8/1) Open to the U.S. and Canada

Bumgenius Artist Series Diaper from Everything Birth and Happenings of the Harper Household Mandatory GFC follow (ends 8/1)

*Two Hip Peas in a Pod Pocket Diaper from Natural Parents Network (ends 8/4)

Fancy Cloth Baby Stay Dry Liner from Knocked Up and Nursing (ends 8/4) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Cloth Diaper Variety Pack from Kelly Wels Entry is on Facebook (ends 8/5 or when 20k entries are reached)

*Linah Sora Diaper from The New Mommy Files Mandatory Facebook “like” (ends 8/5)

Knickernappies Diaper from Wee Little Changes (ends 8/7)

Lovely Pocket Diaper from Mommy Kat and Kids (ends 8/7) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Eca-Pants EC Trainer from The New Mommy Files (ends 8/9)

*giveaways that have been listed in a prior week’s roundup

You may enter any “family friendly” giveaway in the linky below. The form Blog name – Giveaway Item – Ending date works well. Please at least include the item and end date, and link directly to the giveaway.

View my where I list my giveaways post, to find more places to link up your giveaways!

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Rumparooz Lil Joey Newborn Cloth Diaper Review

Jul 14,2011 / By Maria / 22 Comments

Rumparooz Lil Joeys are eeny-teeny, snap closure AIO newborn diapers. They are sold in 2-packs for $29.95. Most retailers sell them in packs of 2 of the same color, but Diaper Junction (affiliate link) allows you to choose two different colors.

It was hard to choose from 12 colors and 6 prints, but I chose lazy lime and platinum.

These are some of the tiniest newborn diapers I have seen, plus they have an umbilical cord snap down. I’d expect them to fit all but the smallest babies. They are estimated to fit from preemie/4 lbs up to 6 months/12 lbs.

They are smaller than even the smallest setting of the Rumparooz one-size diapers.

The umbilical cord snap down can of course be used unsnapped as well!

The inner is super soft, with the same gussets the one-size has. It’s much narrower to fit tiny babies without added bulk.

The sewn in soaker does make the diaper a bit on the fluffy side!

Here are the measurements (folded and stretched with the snap down snapped and unsnapped):

My model for now:

In a preemie disposable and the Rumparooz snapped down:

Newborn disposable and the Rumparooz unsnapped:

It even fits around his tiny chicken legs.

Naturally, my model isn’t a heavy wetter, so I can’t speak on the absorbency. I actually think this would be a great diaper for the newborn baby photo ops. There are so many colors available and they are just so.darn.cute. At under $15 each, they’re also not the most expensive newborn diapers out there. See this on my newborn.

FTC compliance: I paid normal retail prices for the above items. I was not compensated for this post and all opinions are my own. This review is not sponsored, endorsed or approved by any cloth diaper company or retailer.

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Buzz Away Extreme Natural Insect Repellent Review (and my Mommy Fail)

Jul 13,2011 / By Maria / 9 Comments

I have been meaning to buy some natural insect repellent for the kids for like, forever. But I didn’t. I’m not completely sure why. Mostly because it’s expensive, and I was afraid to pay $10+ for something that wouldn’t work. So what finally pushed me over the edge? Feeling like a total loser of a Mommy when my son was eaten to bits. He’s apparently extra tasty (or it might just be that he’s a messy eater and usually covered in food of some sort!)

On Wednesday the 29th, we were outside playing before bedtime. As we were coming inside, we noticed an enormous lump on my son’s temple area, along with a tiny bug bite on the corner of his eye. I was about 2 feet from him when he was bitten because I told him not to rub his eyes when he had sand on his hands! 🙁 I didn’t take a picture because I didn’t think much of it, but this is what he looked like Thursday morning (you can see a little remaining redness on his temple and the other bite near his eye):

It got worse as the day went on, and this is what he looked like by the evening (to add fail to fail, he got another bug bite above his eyebrow in the morning, just before we went to buy the bug spray!):

I actually had two people at swim lessons ask me what happened because he was so swollen! I’m not one to rush off to the doctor, but I did call Thursday afternoon. The nurse told me to expect more swelling, to call if it wasn’t better by Friday, or got better then worse. She also said that I could give him some Benadryl to help with the itching. We had some dye free generic Benadryl from when my daughter had an allergic reaction, so she gave me the dosage and I planned to give it to him before bed in case it made him tired. (It ended up making him crabby, but didn’t make him sleepy, LOL.)

Here was my poor boy before bed:

Well the nurse wasn’t kidding when she said expect it to be worse in the morning! Look at him on Friday morning. 🙁

Thankfully by Friday evening he was just about back to normal:

I chose Buzz Away Extreme because (drumroll please) it was the only bug spray at the organic store! LOL

It really does have natural ingredients. Active ingredients of the Buzz Away Extreme DEET Free Insect repellent are: Castor Oil (8%), Geranium Oil (6%), Soybean Oil (3%), Cedarwood Oil (1.5%), Citronella Oil (1%), Peppermint Oil (0.5%) and Lemongrass Oil (.25%). Inert ingredients (79.75% total) are Purified Water, Palm Oil, Glycerin, Lecithin, Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda), Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (a preservative that is naturally occurring in some foods and chemically produced and added to foods & cosmetics) and wintergreen oil.

It smells like a citronella candle. Not my favorite, but tolerable (except when you apply it, then drive in a car with closed windows, pee-yew!) A little goes a long way (it was $9.99 for a 4 ounce bottle) and it does seem to work. It even kept gnats away. My son has gotten one more bug bite since we bought it, and that’s because I didn’t put it on him (le sigh, when will I stop with the mommy fails?)

If I come across another natural bug spray, I will definitely try it, but for now, this is just fine!

Have you found a great natural bug spray, or do you have a home remedy that works to keep them away?

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