First Coast Fluff

I did it!! I started a small business. Yep it's legit, registered, licensed, and everything. I'm selling cloth diapers and baby accessories. I'm not making them myself as just running the business is time consuming enough besides hand crafting all the products. Plus, I've never found a handmade work at home mom diaper that held up as well as my commercial ones.

I'm selling Tender Tushies diapers which aren't widely known here in the states. My friend in Canada became a reseller as her friend started the company. I purchased some diapers from her and loved the look (cute prints) and loved the price even more. I just wished I had found them when Nolan was in diapers still. I'm sure he's jealous of his brother's cute diapers!!

I carry one-size pocket diapers, heavy wetters, and newborn all-in-ones. Solid colors and prints are vibrant and fashionable. For me, one of the key improvements to other diapers we already own is the hip snap and the cross over snaps. It means Carter could wear them much earlier!!

So if you're reading this please like my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FirstCoastFluff). Even if your kids are out of diapers it helps spread the word. I'm offering local free pickup and even do baby shower events and house parties. Fun times!

Stash Update

New baby means new diapers, right? Well, sort of. I haven't been able to rein myself in entirely but for the most part we are able to completely use the diapers I bought for Nolan. Just one of the many reasons cloth is so great.

I did just recently try out a brand new diaper. My friend sells them and they are called Tender Tushies (TT). She has skinny kiddos too so it was great to see how they worked on her little ones ahead of time. I got my first three in the mail last week and they already fit Carter. He's able to fit into most of my one size diapers now but they still tend to wick or leak at the legs because they don't quite go tiny enough there. Not the case with the Tender Tushies. The TT's have an extra thigh area snap that helps keep them snug fitting where he needs it the most, around his skinny chicken legs! They also have crossover snaps at the top which let you tighten much smaller around the waist. of course I haven't yet mentioned the best part! They come is super cute prints. Right now Carter has trucks, sports them, plus soccer balls he can wear to cheer on his brother when he starts munchkin soccer in a month.

So here is my updated current diaper stash. This doesn't, of course, count the numerous dozens of prefolds and their covers I have too.

22 BumGenius One Size (3.0 and 4.0)
3 Happy Heineys
3 WAHM (work at home mom diapers)
7 Kawaii GoodNights
2 Kawaii
2 BabyKicks
1 Grovia AIO (all in one)
1 Itty Bitty Tutto
4 BumGenius Flip Covers and many inserts
3 Tender Tushies
4 Fuzzi Buns

Yay! Love our cloth and so happy to see it getting used again!

New wash routine

Along with moving came a few changes to our cloth routine. Nolan is getting close to being potty trained but truthfully with the move and new house full of new carpet, end of pregnancy and upcoming road trip, I haven't been working on it 100%. He has now pooped in the potty (YAY!!) and goes pee numerous times a day. We need to bite the bullet and move to undies and just be prepared to clean up accidents.

Every blog post needs a pic so here are a bunch of our diapers in action over the past 2.5yrs!

Our new house has a top loader washing machine. Tim was willing to switch out our HE front loaders for these new appliances but I was hesitant. I was pretty excited to get to try a machine that could actually soak diapers! I have to say I'm really happy. I wish it had a soak only feature which the machine doesn't or just a rinse feature but I've fine tuned our wash already. I do a lighter wash on cold first which doesn't agitate as long would be similar to our old rinse and drain. Then I do a super sized load on hot for the longest time available with an extra rinse at the end. My diapers are definitely smelling better and seem better rinsed with minimal effort. No more hand rinsing in the bathtub either! I've also stopped storing and washing inserts and covers separately since with the new machines nothing is requiring extra washing. Overall pretty happy. You can definitely cloth diaper and probably easier with the less fancy machines.

My Stash

I love my cloth diapers! Yes, I'm addicted to buying them but even though I own more than are absolutely necessary I've still saved over disposable! I decided to take a picture of all I own and count them after I did a big clean and soak this last week. People have asked how many diapers I own and I honestly wasn't sure. Turns out it is a bit more than I thought.

The final totals include:
21 BumGenius OneSize (3.0 and 4.0)
5 FuzziBunz (Perfect Size M and OneSize)
3 Happy Heiney OneSize
2 Babykicks 3.0 OneSize
1 Grovia All-in-one
1 Kawaii OneSize

the above diapers get me through washing only every 5-6 days and still having a few diapers clean. Besides this I have my newborn prefolds and covers and toddler prefolds and covers plus extra inserts and such!

I definitely did not have this many diapers to start out with. I buy as we go and as they are on sale. I got five of these absolutely free and a steep discount on quite a few more. A local diaper seller changed ownership and clearanced out a lot of diapers meaning great deals for me! I also bought some on the baby half off sites like BabySteals.com and BabyHalfOff.com.

To add to my stash, here is my latest diaper which hasn't yet arrived. I can't wait to see how nice and cute it is! It was made by a work at home mom who runs Two Hip Peas in a Pod.

Even cuter bums!

So if you've been reading this blog at all or know me, you've certainly heard that we cloth diaper Nolan. I made the decision very early in my pregnancy and stuck with it. I've never bought a disposable diaperand love to have the opportunity to talk to any and all moms and expecting moms about cloth! In the beginning. I spent hours scouring websites trying to figure out why there were so many types and which would work best for me. A lot of it comes down to pure preference but... there are some tried and tested favorites out there! I go into detail on the different types of cloth diapers, benefits in general, and even how best to put on the old fashioned kind in archived posts if you're interested.

Today is my "bare bones if you only have five minutes to decide which type of cloth diaper to use recommendation" post. The BumGenius brand makes great staple diapers that will last, holds in messes well, are affordable, easily available, and today got even more adorable!! If you find out it's not your favorite later on the resale value is also high. I prefer the 4.0 pocket one-size diapers and the Flip (even more economical) line.

Today BumGenius released information on their new designer line which features prints versus solid color diapers!! The prints are available in the new 4.0 version which has velcro or snaps, you pick.

They are available for pre-order now and will be shipping in mid-November. Maybe a birthday treat for myself is in order!!

Playing in the...

...TOILET!!

Now that Nolan is eating solids his easy-peasy breastfed baby poops have disappeared only to be replaced by gooey, stinky "bigger" kid poo. For disposable diapers this doesn't matter, but for cloth diapers it signals a change.

Gone are the days that I could just throw diaper and all into the wash with no concern for the poo. Now, I have to rinse off or scrape it off first. As an aside did you know that disposable diaper users are supposed to empty the diaper of poo and flush it before disposing? Yep, landfills aren't supposed to have human waste. It's biohazard!

Luckily he still only goes once or twice a week but yesterday's mess was enough to make me look for solutions. I tried flushing the toilet and swishing the diaper to no avail.I had enough of playing in the toilet so today I went to Lowe's and tried my hand at plumbing.

I made a do-it-yourself diaper sprayer which is hooked up to the water valve on the toilet. Here's my final product!

Check out this blog (Gidget Goes Home) for more details. Mine is similar but not exact. It wasn't too hard but I did have to improvise a bit.

We'll find out in a few days how well it works but for now it is plumbed and not leaking and the shut off valve works great!

Cloth Diapering 101 - Part One

We’ve been successfully using cloth diapers since Nolan came home from the hospital and the free pack of Swaddler’s ran out. I remember deciding early in my pregnancy that I wanted to use cloth but not be certain where to start. Looking online at cloth diaper retailers I was presented with a smorgasbord of possibilities. Here are some of my tips and tricks!

There are two main categories of diapers: those that require a waterproof cover, and those that have the waterproof cover built in. It really is a matter of preference and one type is not necessarily more difficult to use than the other.

Those Requiring Covers:

Prefolds:
This is the simple foldable diaper of yesteryear. It is secured around the baby with either pin or Snappi.
Pros: very inexpensive even when cost of cover is added in, can be used with diaper creams or prescriptions, can be easily washed and bleached if
necessary, can be folded down and used easily on newborns
Cons: not as stylistic, must be folded on, can be intimidating for dads and daycares

Fitted diapers:
These diapers have been shaped like disposable and do not require folding. They are usually made of fashionable cloth and are fastened with either snaps, Velcro, or snappis.
Pros: no folding required, fashionable
Cons: not inexpensive and still require a cover

Those Not Requiring Covers:

All-in-one’s (AIO’s):
This is the diaper most like a disposable. It has a built in waterproof cover and layers of sewn in absorbency. If you want to add more absorbency it is simply laid into the diaper and not secured in any other way.
Pros: easy to put on, doesn’t require separate cover
Cons: more difficult to add extra absorbency (for night or naps), longer drying times which can lead to destruction of waterproof layer, harder to get inner most layers clean

Pockets:
These diapers are, in my opinion, the most versatile and preferred type. They have an outer waterproof layer and an inner wicking layer which is next to the bottom. Those two layers are stitched together and a pocket is left open to stuff absorbent layer between. When purchasing these diapers absorbent inserts are included.
Pros: Easy to add extra absorbent layers which are secured in the diaper, once stuffed the diaper is as simple as a disposable
Cons: require placing the insert into the pocket after laundering