Cloth Diapers Inserts Mailbox Mondays Overnight Diapering Solutions

Cloth Diaper Advice – Mailbox Mondays 5/9/11 – Sewing Night Time Diapers

sewing night time #clothdiapers via @chgdiapers

If you are looking for cloth diaper advice, on Mondays, I answer reader submitted questions, and ask you to give your opinion 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.

Beth says:

Maria-
Hi, I’ve been using cloth diapers with my son since he was in size 2, yet we’ve always used disposables at night. Usually, a box would last a little over 3 months, so it never really broke the bank, and I really wasn’t concerned. Now, the prices of diapers is going out of control, and I’d like to switch to cloth overnight once my disposables are all gone. When I was looking at prices of fabric, it would be cheaper to buy a few yards of different absorbent fabrics then to buy a box of diapers. (I make my own, so I would be buying the fabric and making the soaker). The big thing is that my son is a heavy wetter at night, most nights wetting out of the disposable. So, I need to find the most trim yet absorbent night fabric. What should I use?
Thanks
Beth

Hi Beth! Figuring out a night time solution was tough for us! My son was a very heavy wetter and was leaking out of everything it seemed. We weren’t able to use disposables at night since they gave him rashes (my final motivator to switch to cloth!) so I did a ton of trial and error until I figured something out.

It sounds like your son is also a very heavy wetter, if he’s leaking out of disposables! I’ve heard at least one mom say that her son would actually cause disposable diapers to burst at night, and she was able to make cloth at night work for them, so I’m confident that you will be able to as well!

I don’t sew diapers, so I can’t specifically speak on that, but I can definitely tell you what things/materials worked for us. As a side note, if you’re a Cafemom member, there is a group called “Sewing Diaper Divas” that is a great resource!

What has worked really well for us at night is a very absorbent fitted with a wool cover over it, or a pocket diaper stuffed with a Knickernappies Superdo insert. I wouldn’t call any of our night time solutions trim, but they work!

If you are making a pocket diaper, you might consider using heavy duty Windpro Fleece as the outer, and using both microfiber and hemp in your insert (microfiber closest to baby inside the pocket.) For a fitted, consider using a mixed natural material, like a cotton/hemp blend or bamboo. Zorb is also a very absorbent material to use in soakers.

I know we have some ladies here that sew their own diapers. Do any of you have heavy wetters? What materials worked best for you in night time diapers?


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Friday Giveaway Linky Giveaways Linky

Cloth Diaper Giveaway Roundup for 5/6/11 (Plus linky for all giveaways)

Cloth Diaper Giveaway Roundup

It’s time for the Friday cloth diaper giveaway roundup! I hunt for cloth diaper giveaways all over the web, so you don’t have to.

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.

Kim's Cloth Cloth Diaper

The Cloth Diaper Whisperer

*Alva Baby Diaper from Purple Baby Brigade Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/6)

*Dryer Balls from The Willow Store and Tales from the Nursery (ends 5/6) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*FuzziBunz Diaper from Bum Luzxury and Tales from the Nursery (ends 5/6) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Sleepy Wrap from Cars, Trucks & Teething Rings (ends 5/6)

*GroVia AIO from Madison Organics and Life With My Littles Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/6)

*12 Happy Heinys Diapers (ends 5/6)

Best Bottom Diaper Covers from Kelly Wels (ends 5/6)

Bububibi Cloth Diaper Prize Pack froMy This N That Life (ends 5/6)

*Babee Greens Diaper from Mommy and Me Giveaways Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/7)

*Best Bottom Diaper from Instinctual Mamas Mandatory GFC follow and Facebook “like” (ends 5/7)

*$25 Sandbox Lane GC from Newly Crunchy Mama of 3 Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/8)

*Zookies Cover from Newly Crunchy Mama of 3 Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/8)

Bumgenius Elemental from Organic Mama Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/8) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Blissful Booty AIO Cloth Diaper from Dirty Diaper Laundry (ends 5/9) Open to the U.S. and Canada

$25 For Your Bugaboo GC from The Cloth Diaper Fairy (ends 5/9) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Zookies Diaper Cover from Mama’s Passions Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/10)

*Envibum Diaper from Happenings of the Harper Household Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/10)

*WAHMies Wet Bag & Flip Diaper from Baby Bottoms Boutique and Mama B (ends 5/10)Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Zookies Diaper Cover from A Mommy’s Blessings Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/10)

Mother-Ease AIO Cloth Diaper from Life in the Lost World Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/10) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Blissful Booty AIO Cloth Diaper from Chubby Cheeks Thinks (ends 5/11) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*$15 Thanks Mama GC from Life With My Littles Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/11)

*Sleepy Wrap from Not Just Baby Brain (ends 5/11) Open to the U.S. and Canada

$25 Enfant Style Diapers GC from One Smiley Monkey (ends 5/11) Open to Canada only

Pooz Cloth Diaper from 2 Is Purrfect Mandatory Facebook “like” (ends 5/11)

Ergo Baby Carrier from So Easy Being Green Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/11) Open to the U.S. and Canada

*Bumbledoo Diaper from Wee Little Changes (ends 5/12)

12 “Not Just a Flat Diaper”(s) from A Heart For Home (ends 5/12)

Itti Bitti Diapers from Mommy’s Peanut Gallery Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/13) Open to the U.S. and Canada

Joli Mini Diaper from Crum’s This n That (ends 5/13) Open Worldwide

Hiney Lineys Vera Cover Sample Pack from Cloth Diaper Geek (ends 5/13)

*Cloth Diaper Package from Double Duty Mommy Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/16) Open to the U.S. and Canada

Lovely Pocket Diaper from Mommy and Me Giveaways (ends 5/16)

Comfy Rumps Diapers from Freckleberry Finds Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/16) Open to the U.S. and Canada

Tiny Tush Diaper from Home Grown Families Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/16)

Swaddlebees Simplex and Basix Diapers from Dirty Diaper Laundry (ends 5/16)

Hipkiddo Diaper from One Smiley Monkey Mandatory GFC follow and Facebook “like” (ends 5/17) Open worldwide

Sweet Pea Diaper from Diary of a Devil Dog Wife (ends 5/17)

Softbums Omni from What Mama Wants Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/18)

Baby K’Tan Carrier from Crunch Beach Mama (ends 5/18) Open to the U.S. and Canada

$20 Wee Little Changes GC from Oh So Savvy Mom Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/20)

Lovely Pocket Diaper from What Mama Wants Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/20)

Thirsties Duo Wrap & Prefold from Mama Days Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/20) Open to the U.S. and Canada

Mother-Ease Cloth Diaper & Cover from Nault’s Nook (ends 5/23)

Rumparooz Diaper from The Changing Table and Journey Through Mommyhood Mandatory Facebook “like” (ends 5/23)

Baby’s Booty Wipes, Solution & Detergent from Mama’s Passions Mandatory GFC follow (ends 5/24)

Knickernappies Diaper from Wee Little Changes (ends 5/29)

*$80 BabyHawk Credit from The Clothspring Mandatory GFC follow and Facebook “like”/comment (ends 5/31)

Seven Slings Sling from Kerrific Online (ends 5/31)

*$600 Rumparooz Package from Kelly Wels’ Changing Diaper Book Project Mandatory Facebook “like”, entry is through a FB app (ends 6/15)

*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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Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

ReNew Life Gift Certificate Winner

ReNew Life Winner

53 people entered this giveaway, with 116 entries total. The winning entry is #105, which is Kimberly.

Congratulations Kimberly!


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Cloth Diapers Diaper Accessories Review Snap Closure Velcro/Aplix Closure

Turn a Snap Diaper into a Velcro Diaper – Adapt-a-Snap from GoGreen Pocket Diapers – Review

go green adapter 1

Last year, I wrote a 4 part post about my thoughts about the future of cloth diapering. In part 4 I mentioned that I’d love to see a diaper with snaps, that also had a Velcro strip and tabs that could snap on and off at a whim. I’d mentioned this to a few WAHMs, and as far as I know, no one had made such a thing. At least one WAHM had made a diaper with both snaps and Velcro, and you just affixed whichever you wanted, but I thought you really needed to be able to remove the Velcro.

Anyhoo, a little while ago, GoGreen Pocket Diapers posted on their Facebook page that they were coming out with a snap-to-aplix conversion kit that sounded exactly like what I was talking about! I’m a little embarrassed to say that I got pretty excited. I mean, really. Who gets all bouncy and squealy about a cloth diaper accessory? Well, me I guess. Largely because I was like OMG, YES! Someone else thinks this is a good idea! I’m not crazy!!

go green adapter 2 front on

OK, so here’s how it works. You can get either white or black, and you can buy them with matching snaps (so you hardly notice them) or multicolor snaps (so they have the cool look of the GoGreen Champ, with the ease of Velcro.) It just snaps right on the front of the diaper.

go green adapter 3 tabs

The tabs snap on the same way.

go green adapter 4 tabs on

I wasn’t sure how well the tabs would stick, since there are snap caps all along the Velcro strip, but it’s as if they aren’t even there, they stick just fine.

go green adapter 6 tabs closed

You can overlap the tabs since they have the loop texture on the reverse side.

go green adapter 5 tabs overlapping

You can also reverse the way the tab is snapped in to make it close up even smaller.

gogreen adapter on bumgenius wreversed tab

When you reverse both tabs, you can close it up just as small as when it’s snapped, or even smaller.  (Only one tab is reversed in the pictures above & below.)

gogreen adapter on bum genius

So obviously, I tested this with a Bumgenius diaper. The adapter will work with The Champ, or any other diaper with 1″ snap spacing, and two rows of 10 snaps. The obvious thing would be to test the adapter with the Champ, but when I received it, my Champ was dirty and I was anxious to try the adapter! This means I was extremely confused by what I thought of as “the mystery tab.”

go green adapter 7 mystery tab frontgo green adapter 8 mystery tab back

It is slightly smaller than the closure tabs (closer to square) and has male snaps on one side (caps on the other) and loop (fuzzy Velcro) on both sides. I couldn’t figure out what it did. I contacted Leah at GoGreen, washed my Champ, and it all made sense. (LOL)

gogreen overlap adapter

I totally forgot that the Champ has an additional set of female snaps on the wing, so you can overlap the tabs for tiny babies. I sound like such a dummy, but since I’ve never needed the overlap, it just totally slipped my mind.

gogreen overlap adapter 2

This additional adapter snaps to the newborn overlap snaps and attaches to the hook of the other closure tab. There’s no hook on the underside of this adapter since it sits up against PUL (hook might snag it.)

gogreen overlap adapter closed

Using this adapter on the newborn snap gets the diaper even tinier for really small babies. Since a baby that small isn’t going to be mobile, you shouldn’t have wing droop issues from the tabs attaching to each other vs. having them both attach to the front of the diaper.

gogreen adapter on flip

You already know the adapter works on the Bumgenius, so obviously, it works on the Flip as well.

gogreen adapter on rumparooz

Rumparooz, check! I was trying to figure out what else I could try it on. I’m more of a Velcro gal myself, so I will choose that over snaps if it’s available. I was mentally inventorying my diapers and thought maybe it would work on the Oh Katy (especially since I remembered that had a newborn overlap snap!)

oh katy not quite right size snaps for gogreen adapteroh katy has only 8 snaps

As it turns out, the snaps aren’t quite the right distance apart, and it only has 8 snaps!

still made it work

Even so, I made it work! The adapter is pretty forgiving! The end of the Velcro strip might rub baby’s tummy this way though!

So, why would you want an adapt-a-snap? I’ve heard so many people say they started out with Velcro because it was simple (also an easy transition from sposies in my opinion), and it was great until their baby figured out just how easy it was to undo! So then they were stuck buying snap diapers, or trying to stop their streaker wannabe. With these adapters, you can buy snap diapers, but use them as Velcro until you need the snaps. Or, if you always love snaps, but want something easier for babysitters, this is it.

The other problem with Velcro is the longevity. The laundry tabs of many diapers aren’t exactly great, so you end up with curling closure tabs, snagged diapers etc. etc. It’s so easy to just pop the tabs off before you toss them in the wet bag, then snap them back on when they’re dry. Alternately, you could get a strip of fuzzy Velcro, cut rectangles, and slap ’em on the closure tabs before you wash.

At $6.99 each (edit: The price isn’t set in stone since this is still really a prototype. They may end up being less!), the adapters might be a little too pricey to buy one for each diaper in your stash, but it doesn’t take too long to attach them, so you could definitely get away with having just a few. I wouldn’t want to try to snap all 20 snaps on a new diaper with a wiggly, naked baby waiting.  So you’d probably want to at least have enough to have one or two already on diapers, waiting in the wings so to speak!

Hooray for GoGreen reading my mind!  What do you think?  Could you use one of these?

FTC compliance: I received the adapt-a-snap at no charge in order to review it. I was not otherwise compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.


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Cloth Diapers Giveaway Made in the USA Pocket Diapers Review Snap Closure WAHM made

Kim’s Cloth Embroidered Diaper Review & Giveaway (CLOSED 5/11)

Kim's Cloth Diaper 1 back

I was a tester last year when Kim of Kim’s Crafts was perfecting her Kim’s Cloth diapers. They start at just $13.00, and go up to $19 for specialty ruffle butt or Kimbroidery (embroidered) diapers. Mine was $21.00 shipped!

Kim's Cloth Diaper 2 frontKim's Cloth Diaper 3 front

I have zero photography talent (less than zero if that’s possible) and black minky is especially hard to photograph! The photos I’ve taken don’t do this diaper justice at all. I’m really impressed with the attention to detail, including neat, even stitching!

Kim's Cloth Diaper 4 detail

The diaper has snap closures.

Kim's Cloth Diaper 5 snap closures

You can buy Kim’s Cloth Diapers with fleece or minky inners. Mine is minky!

Kim's Cloth Diaper 6 inner

It’s a pocket diaper with a rear opening. The pocket isn’t enormous, but I didn’t have any trouble stuffing it!

Kim's Cloth Diaper 7 pocket

My tester diaper had a microfiber towel for stuffing. I’m not crazy about them, largely because the feeling of microfiber on my hands creeps me out (microfiber inserts don’t do this to me, I don’t know why.) I’m also not great at folding them so they fit in the pocket just right.

Kim's Cloth Diaper 9 measured insertKim's Cloth Diaper 10 insert sitting on pocket

This time I received a sewn insert, which is 2 layers of microfiber sandwiched between flannel. It is small enough to fit nicely in the smallest setting.

Kim’s Cloth Diapers are “one size fits most” and are estimated to fit 15-45 pounds (based on Kim’s experience, tester and customer feedback.) They are a bit larger than some other “one-size” diapers, and I think the sizes are probably medium, medium/long, large and extra-large, but to keep things simple, I’m going to refer to them as small, medium, large and extra-large!

Kim's Cloth Diaper 11 size adjustment

The size adjustment is through 4 snap settings on the leg elastic. It’s easy to find the snaps inside the pocket, and they are sticky enough to not come undone accidentally, but not sticky enough to make it difficult to adjust!

Here are the 4 sizes measured folded and stretched. As always, this isn’t an exact science, since measurements can really vary depending on exactly how I pull the fabric, but it should give you an idea! (P.S. I know I should have lint rolled this between washing & photographing it. Sorry!)

Small (4th snap setting):

Kim's Cloth Diaper 12 small foldedKim's Cloth Diaper 13 small stretched
Kim's Cloth Diaper 14 small

Medium (3rd snap setting):

Kim's Cloth Diaper 15 medium foldedKim's Cloth Diaper 16 medium stretched
Kim's Cloth Diaper 17 medium

Large (2nd snap setting):

Kim's Cloth Diaper 18 large foldedKim's Cloth Diaper 19 large stretched
Kim's Cloth Diaper 20 large

Extra-large (1st snap setting):

Kim's Cloth Diaper 21 xl foldedKim's Cloth Diaper 22 xl stretched
Kim's Cloth Diaper 23 xl

My son is 23 months old and about 22 pounds. Initially, I tried him in the large (2nd snap) setting, but it was a bit big.

Kim's Cloth Diaper 24 large on 22 lb babyKim's Cloth Diaper 25 large front
Kim's Cloth Diaper 26 large sideKim's Cloth Diaper 27 large back

So then I tried him in the medium (3rd snap, second to smallest) setting. It looks a little funny because I literally adjusted and re-fastened the diaper while he was on the run, LOL.

Kim's Cloth Diaper 28 medium frontKim's Cloth Diaper 29 medium side
Kim's Cloth Diaper 30 medium back

Giveaway: Kim’s Cloth is offering one reader a custom Kimbroidery diaper in the winner’s choice of minky and embroidery design (Kim will email the winner with available embroidery designs.) ARV $19.00

Here’s how to enter: All entries go in the form below. I love comments (great way to remind yourself you entered) but comments do not count as entries.

Mandatory entries include your name, and email address.

You may receive bonus entries if you “like” Kim’s Crafts on Facebook, and/or “like” The NEW Change-Diapers.com Facebook page. Please note: this is a new Facebook page. You must like the new page to receive this bonus entry. Feel free to “unlike” the old page after you do!

I will accept entries until Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 9:00 P.M. Eastern. I will select a winner using random.org’s true random number generator and notify him/her by email. Winner has 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is chosen. View my giveaway rules page for complete details. This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S.
# of entries received as of giveaway close: 371

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


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