Detergent Woes....

How to wash and care for your diapers is another post all together, and an area I never had trouble with until recently when we moved into a hard water area. Now my diapers seem to never get fully clean. They look clean, but they have a lot of soap build up and smell if I don't use bleach a few times a month. In researching a solution, I found this handy chart.

http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html

It's saved lots of time in the store deciding what to try next. Enjoy!

Love for Applecheeks

About 6 months ago I purchased a size one Applecheeks diaper from babyhalfoff.com . I had been wanting to try this diaper for a long time, and had considered getting these instead of the Rumparooz. Needless to day I jumped at the chance to buy one to try for half price. I think, with shipping, I paid around $13 for this diaper. It did not come with an insert. You can check out the features of this diaper at http://applecheeks.com/site/en/What_Envelope_Cover.html

PREPPING THE DIAPER:

Prepping this was a breeze. I think I washed it twice before trying it. Again, it was just the envelope cover, so there is very little material to retain manufacturing residues.

QUALITY OF MATERIALS:

The fleece in this diaper is indeed super soft. The elastic is of high quality and over all the diaper seems very durable.

ABSORBENCY:

Without an insert it's hard to make assessments about absorbency, but I have had no leaks using other inserts in this cover.

OVERALL SATISFACTION:

I was a little put off by AppleCheek's 2 size system. I'm pretty cheap, after all, and wasn't enthused about buying these diapers twice in a baby lifetime. After watching the videos and learning more about these diapers I believe they really would be a better, trimmer fit; which would lead to a more comfortable baby (especially at night when you need more inserts) and less leaking. Ammon isn't picky and doesn't seem to care how bulky his diapers are until they are wet, and even then he didn't make any indications he wanted to be changed until he was nearly two years old.

The size two diaper had sold out by the time I got to baby half off to buy one of these, so I ended up purchasing a size one. Ammon was a little over 20 lbs, but his legs are quite trim and he was still using the smallest waist sized option on our other diapers, so I thought I'd probably get a few uses out of it. I was pregnant at the time, so I wasn't concerned about it being used. It did fit Ammon on the largest settings, but with the amount of inserts needed it was pretty stretched. I was impressed: without a doubt this diaper will fit a 20 lb baby. The few times Ammon used it we had no leaks.

We also used this diaper when taking Sarah's newborn pictures. She was 5 days old. I was able to make the diaper small enough to fit her, but with a regular sized insert it looked huge. I ended up taking the insert out all together for cuteness. I wasn't intending the session to go nearly three hours after changing her into this diaper, so it was quite wet and poopy by the time we were done. With no insert, I could feel wetness on the outside of the diaper, but it didn't really leak onto the blankets.

Ok, so these pictures don't show the diaper that well...but they were the cutest and truthfully none of the pictures show the diaper really well. I do like the sort of frilly look the legs have, very girlie. Stretched out on Ammon, this diaper did not have that quality.

I am currently using disposables on Sara, as she's still in a newborn sized diaper. She's one month old and nearly 9 lbs I'm guessing. I hope to start putting her into this diaper in the next few weeks, using the newborn insert from my Rumparooz. I'll update this once we've had more opportunity to truly use the diaper!

Rumparooz, One Year Later

I've had several questions about my cloth diaper love lately, and have decided to get serious about this blog so I don't have to write a book every time someone expresses interest in my CD experience. I get so excited when someone asks, so I tend to OVERinform. Using this blog would be a better alternative.

I thought I'd start where I left off: Rumparooz. As I wrote last year, when I received them I was really impressed. As we used them, I felt more and more like we should have gone another direction with the $100 we spent. Here is the lowdown on prepping the diapers, quality of materials, absorbancy, and overall satisfaction.

PREPPING THE DIAPERS:

First, the fleece of the outer shell repelled water for a LONG time. I preped and preped and preped, but the inside fleece continued to allow liquids to sit on the top and seep in very slowly. The inserts, however, preped nicely and are to this day some of our favorite inserts.

QUALITY OF MATERIALS:

When we invested in the Rumparooz, we purchased 3 snap and 1 aplix style one size diapers. We used them equally and washed all together, but within 5 months, the aplix diaper had died. The PUL (plastic under lining) ripped out underneath the velcro strip. Very disappointing. The fabric tab of the diaper does not have PUL and the material contains more elastic than the other parts of the diaper. When the diapers arrived they were all one color, but as they were washed the fabric color of this particular part of the diaper faded out dramatically. The rest of the diaper maintained it's original color.

ABSORBANCY:

The 6r soaker is awesome. I love being able to adjust the insert fold and have it stay in place with the snaps. The same is true when adding the newborn insert for extra coverage; it easily stays in place while you stuff the diaper. I can't say enough about these inserts.

OVERALL SATISFACTION:

Because of the repelling, we had frequent leaks with this diaper at first. These were the last diapers I reached for during the first few months. The inner gusset, while a fantastic idea, leaves marks on my baby's skin no matter how loose or tight I snap the diaper. I have learned over time to sort of close the diaper and then pull on the sides then retuck the elastic, which has lessened this problem. I should also say that my son has never indicated any discomfort while wearing these; the indentations left are only disconcerting Mom.

At first, I was disappointed by this diaper. Now, after a year of use, we still have 3/4 in working order and I don't dread using or get really excited about these when I pull them out of the drawer. In other words, I don't prefer them over my MUCH cheaper Rainbow BBs.

Better than I could have said it...

Great review of coolababys vs rainbow bbs. I added my two cents to the comments section....I'll add more here after I test out these rainbow bbs.

http://fraasefamily.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-unsolicited-review-of-coolababy-and.html

Rumparooz

My rumparooz arrived the other day and I've loved them so far. The fleece lining is extra soft fleecy, and the poo just seemed to rinse right off. I can't believe how much better quality the materials are compared to my coolababys. The PUL lining is clearly made for more heavy duty action, and the material stretches much easier. There are more fit options as well, with four lengthwise settings as opposed to three. The fit is a little bulkier, but worth it for those extra inner gussets. I appreciate the choices in absorbency the 6*R system gives. Right now I'm stuffing the pocket with the tabs closed for extra protection in the front, then folding the smaller insert over and laying it in the diaper when I want extra coverage. No leaks all night last night. I did write and ask for more specific washing instructions and was interested to learn that baking soda is the only additive they won't honor the guarantee with. No more baking soda then I guess!

GiVeAwAy! Not mine...or TAMNs...but just as good

A new cloth diaper business just opened up in my area. They feature rumparooz, which I ordered from another site a few days ago. I can't wait to try them, and am excited to know of a local distributor. Check out their giveaway at www.designerclothdiapers.blogspot.com . Good luck to Tonya in her new business. Good luck to me in the giveaway...I need a stylish wet bag. Tonya--I hope you will carry these soon!

Introduction...Drumroll please....

Certainly I care about the shape of my world, but I'll be honest and say that these days I'm caring about the shape of my pocketbook a tad bit more. I work part time and I cloth diaper my 8 month old son. When I started CDing the only info I had was what I could find online...maybe you're having the same experience. This blog is dedicated to the things I love in the cloth diaper world, what I have learned, and what I can't wait to try.