review: overnight cloth diapering

applecheeks envelope diaper in lemon zest

many inserts = good absorbency = puffy bum syndrome :o)

we finally did it! we are now officially cloth diapering our lil guy full-time! as i had mentioned before, overnights were our last hold out. we were worried that having a wet bum would interfere with nate's sleeping and, as any parent, we did not want anything causing him to wake up in the middle of the night. but we decided to give it a go and find something that would work for his heavy overnight wetting.

ilana at applecheeks suggested their envelope cover with a three layer insert and a stay-dry booster. after doing the initial prep wash (3 x in hot water), i was ready to test it out on nate. first impressions: he looked awfully cute in his yellow applecheeks! we stuffed the cover with the three layer insert, the stay-dry booster, and the two layer bamboo booster. once it was all put together and on our boy's behind, it looked pretty bulky. it was hard to put his jammies on, but we managed to fasten all the snaps. fingers crossed that this first night would go well. we were pleasantly surprised when we woke the next morning and realized that nate didn't wake up overnight. when we went to change his diaper, there were no leaks and the bottom of his undershirt wasn't even damp. the applecheeks diaper, on the other hand, was quite heavy. eureka! looks like we've got a winner on our hands! now we just have to get at least one or two more to keep us going between washes.

in the meantime, we've started using our bamboozle fitted diapers again for overnights when the applecheeks one is dirty. we pair the bamboozle with either a bummis super whisper wrap cover or a thirsties cover. then we layer on a 4-layer hemp doubler insert and a fleece liner to keep moisture away from baby's bottom. this has also proved to be a good solution with no leaks, great absorbency, but the same bulkiness as experienced with applecheeks. looks like there is no way around the bulky factor if you want to ensure no leaks.

on a side note, one of my favourite things about applecheeks is that they are a canadian company (based in montreal) and all their products are made there as well!

Disney goes organic

You know that something has become more mainstream when even Disney gets in on it. I walked past The Disney Store at the mall yesterday and saw their window display advertising their new 100% organic t-shirts. The coolest thing about them is that they each come with a tracking code so that you can see the process of how your shirt came to be made. It's a great tool for kids as it teaches them how just a little cotton seed from a farm becomes a piece of clothing. You can view the site even without a unique tracking code if you just want general information. Check out the site at www.disneystore.com/trackmyt.

eco-friendly art supplies

i saw these great eco-friendly art supplies by eco-kids on the anthropologie website today and just had to share about them! with worries about toxicity in paints and toys and such, it's nice to find products that are all natural. at eco-kids, you can find all natural play dough, paint, coloured pencils and paper. their eco-dough and eco-paint even come in gluten-free! their products are made with ingredients such as flour, natural and organic fruit, and vegetable extracts. go to eco-kidsusa.com for more information about their products and for a list of retailers.

cloth for the coast

i saw this on facebook a couple days ago and thought i'd share it with all of you. we cloth diaper mainly with fuzzi bunz diapers and saw that the company is organizing aid to help clean up wildlife that have been rescued in the gulf coast oil spill. they are collecting baby blankets, towels, cloth diaper inserts, prefolds, etc. here is a description from their facebook page:

Thank you for your desire to help with donations to help clean up our precious wildlife that is being killed, damaged and rescued along the Gulf Coast.

While we agree that BP should pay for and get supplies where needed - this is not going to happen and not going to happen in a timely fashion to save the lives of those directly injured.

One of the most used and needed products is towels, baby blankets and other items that must be disposed of to clean up the animals.

If you are not aware, Mother of Eden, LLC - makers of FuzziBunz Diapers- is located in Louisiana and founder Tereson Dupuy is directly involved with several organizations aiding in wildlife rescue. They are taking donations of old baby blankets, old prefolded diapers (not new) and old diaper inserts for pocket diapers (microfiber, cotton, hemp etc).

These supplies will be organized in their Louisiana warehouse and distributed with the help of Fedex who is donating the shipping to the agencies that request them on an ongoing basis.

This is not a situation that will end soon - all of your help and donations are appreciated.

To find other ways that you can help please visit www.communityforthecoast.org to view other ways that you (our worldwide community) can get involved.

To send in donations of cloth items:

FuzziBunz Diapers
Attn: CFC
315 Weeks St
New Iberia, LA 70560

You can email tereson@fuzzibunz.com with any questions, suggestions you may have to provide help with this situation.