Cloth Diapering at Daycare

Today I am sharing a guest post by a friend and fellow cloth diaper mom.  I asked her to share her experience with using cloth diapers on her son who goes to daycare as I know this is something people are always asking about.  I have heard a lot of people say that the daycares they contact are not open to using cloth diapers but hopefully with a little education more will see it as an easy and sustainable option as well as a benefit to their parents.  One thing I always recommend when a daycare says they won't take cloth diapers is to ask if they would be open to you bringing some in to show them just how easy it is!

 

Cloth Diapers with a Home Daycare

 

We used a home daycare from the time my son was 12 weeks to 14 months. I specifically asked when we interviewed if she was open to using cloth diapers. I was interested in cloth diapering, but had not tried it myself, so I wasn’t sure if we would like it anyhow. She said that would be fine, as she has used them before with previous children. Each day I sent 4 already stuffed Rumparooz pocket snap diapers. She sent home all the dirty ones in the same wet bag and we repeated the process each day. I gave her a CJs butter stick to keep at her house if needed for diaper rashes. I sent cloth wipes as well, however she was not interested in using them. The process was very simple and we didn’t have any problems. 

Cloth with a Large Facility Daycare

For the last 6 months we have been using a center based daycare. Before enrolling I asked several times if they would be willing to cloth diaper and they said yes. They did not even blink an eye when I asked, so unfortunately I do not have advice on how to convince a daycare that they CAN and it is just as easy as disposable diapers. 

The challenge I have had with the larger facility has been in the form of the turn over in providers. He has at least 3-4 teachers a day and all but 1 has left and new ones have come, so thats a lot of people to teach. However,  they are very organized and have forms for everything, so I have just written specific instructions on his “medications” list (they need one for sunscreen use, diaper cream use, and any medications or food allergies) not to use diaper cream without a disposable insert. We are still working on this issue, as I think it has confused some of the teachers when to use it or not, so we usually end up in disposables for a few days until it is cleared. Luckily it doesn’t happen often though. I have toyed with using a cover and disposable inserts those days, but I don’t own enough covers at this point to do that. They also require the BM soiled diapers to be separate from the urine soaked diapers, so I send a separate small wet bag each day for that use. They requested I send 5 diapers a day, for one extra if needed. I still use the Rumparooz pocket diapers and have found that preparing the 5 wet bags on Sundays to take and go has been easiest for my family. We wash every other day or every 3 days depending on our schedule. I did not try to use cloth wipes with this daycare. 

We use cloth wipes and a variety of brands and styles at home, so laundry is interesting. Luckily my husband has come on board and loves using the diapers as much as I do, so he doesn’t mind helping with the laundry and stuffing. 

 

Pregnancy Loss: My Story

This is the post I never thought I would be sharing.  Today is expected due date of the baby I will never know, 10/8/15.  Of course the irony that it falls during Infant and Pregnancy Loss Awareness Month is not lost on me. 

Earlier this year my husband and I decided to try for baby #3.  I was shocked and excited when that first month I got a positive pregnancy test.  I told my girls right away and we planned our announcement for daddy; pink and blue balloons that announced we would be a family of 5. 

  

Imagine our surprise a few weeks later when bleeding lead to a blank ultrasound, low HCG levels and eventually a miscarriage.  My first thought was disbelief, how could this happen when I had already carried two babies full term?  Over the next weeks and months I had many, many thoughts but here are some things that have stayed with me:

1. I am grateful

I know this sounds crazy but in the weeks following my miscarriage I was actually grateful.  I was grateful that my body is so amazing that it could identify that an embryo wasn't viable.  I was grateful that my body identified it early instead of waiting weeks or months more.  I rarely share that I felt this way with people but I am always surprised to find out that a lot of other people that experience miscarriages feel the same way.

2. Its ok to be private about it

I am a very private person.  Before this blog post, less than a dozen people in my real life even know I had a miscarriage.  For me healing would have been stalled by talking about it too much.  I am one of those people that the more I talk about it the more I obsess and unfortunately that would not help me in this situation.  I know there is a big push to be open about miscarriage to help others, and while I think that this works well for some people, there is no shame in healing privately either. 

3. Everyone feels different

I have seen friends go through miscarriages so I think one of the biggest surprises was that I felt different and handled it differently than any one else I know.  Sometimes I felt guilty for not feeling "bad enough" (see #1) or for trying again so soon but I learned that we all grieve differently and there is no wrong way to feel.

4. God's Plan is Greater

Ten weeks after my miscarriage I found out that I was pregnant again and I am now 27 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby.  To date I have experienced all of the major "types" of pregnancy you can have: pregnancy after infertility, surprise pregnancy, miscarriage and actually getting pregnant on the first try (I know I am missing a few like adoption and surrogacy, but I would say these are the main 4). What I have learned from these 4 pregnancies is that God's plan is a perfect plan.  My first daughter required the use of a fertility daughter and after she was born I remember looking at her face and thinking that she was worth it all.  Without my loss I would never have the baby growing right now that I know will bring so much joy to our lives. 

Everyone has a different story, I know that mine is nothing like my neighbors but I hope that by reading my story you see some similarities and it bring you comfort and peace.

  

Diaper Need Awareness Week 2015

As diaper need awareness week 2015 winds down I just wanted to share the status of what I have been doing.  In the past I have volunteered to provider repair services to Giving Diapers Giving Hope free of charge.  GDGH can not accept diapers that have small repairs like broken snaps, relaxed elastic, etc. but unfortunately it was not logistically feasible to get them to me for repairs.  A few weeks ago as I started planning for another post about repairing various diaper brands (stay tuned!) I had an idea to see if any of my readers had diapers that they wanted to donate but couldn't because they required basic repairs.  I was thrilled with the response from the Naturally Crafty Mom audience and I am excited to share what was received today. 

 

After sorting through everything received (some items had PUL that was not salvageable) the following diapers will be repaired and donated to GDGH over the coming weeks: 5 BumGenius 4.0s, 1 Tots Bots, 3 Rumparooz Pocket Diapers, and 3 GroVia Hybrid Shells (not shown 1 Charlie Banana pocket diaper).

 

 

 I also went through my own diapers and picked some out to donate.  These didn't require any work but I don't use them a lot and they will serve another family really well.  Included is: 1 Diaper Rite Bamboo Pocket, 1 Diaper Junction AIO, 1 gDiaper, 1 Sweet Pea Cover plus 6 extra inserts.

 

 

Other than needing a few extra inserts, this donation is enough diapers to get a family started with cloth diapering.  I also made a financial donation to cover shipping to a family.  The accumulation of all of this is that the Naturally Crafty Mom community has provided a full set of diapers for one family in need.  I can't thank the people that have donated their diapers enough.  Diaper need does not end tomorrow so if you have diapers that you want to donate that require small repairs, please use the e-mail me function or contact me on FaceBook!