Thursday, August 27, 2009

NWI Cloth Diapering and Attachment Parenting Meetings

There is now a group in Northwest Indiana for cloth diapering and attachment parenting folks! So exciting! The next meeting will be Sept. 10 at 10 am. Location is TBD. Hope to see you there!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Ahhhh...I love those words! Finally after weeks of preparation Sugar Dipes is OPEN!! I am so excited for this business venture. Thank you for all your support!
NWI area, starting a cloth diapering meeting twice a month for support and information. That is in the works now! We hope to meet later this month!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

What about the Poop??

Poop.....What to do about the poop? It is inevitable that your little one will poop in the cloth dipe. What to do? Dunk in the toliet like my mom did? Throw them away? The answer to both is NO!! NO Dunking! All you have to do is remove the poop throw it in the toliet and flush. That is it. You can use a diaper sprayer. I use a laundry tub to get more residue off. Then throw in the washing machine. That is it! You don't even get your hands dirty!

Cloth Dipes The "Real Truth" about the behind

So when I decided to start cloth diapering Savannah it was one of those "WOW! These are cute!" type of a thing. A friend of mine decided to cloth diaper her little girl. I decided to try it since I tried all the different brands of disposables and Savannah's skin was still itchy and red. Her ped told me it was diaper ezcema then another ped told me it wasn't. Not one mention of cloth came about. I would admit if one of them suggested cloth I would have said hmm I don't think so.

I had to talk Adam into it of course. He didn't really mind after all I was the one changing her. I thought well I will give it a shot. I told my mom I was going to cloth diaper Savannah. She was shocked and surprised. Why? Because she cloth diapered my sister (well gave it a good shot). As soon as my sister pooped that was it she threw the dipe away. When I showed my mom the dipe, she was rather impressed I think. She remembers the cloth dipes being what we call "burp cloths" today with safety pins and plastic covers. Now they are so different; they are as close to disposables as you can get without throwing them away. More about that later...

So I got my cloth dipes in the mail. I never thought I would be so excited about "Fluffy Mail" before. I washed them and got ready to use them. I kept thinking I hope this is a good experience. After about a week of using the dipes, I began to notice something. Savannah wasn't itching and she wasn't red. Hmmm....I looked on the internet to find information on reactions to disposables. Nonetheless, most of the cloth diaper manufacturers had a similar story. The toxins and chemicals in disposables can cause reactions in little ones. I wish I had known this information about 20 months earlier!

Washing them and taking care of them was easier than I would have ever thought! I have my routine down pat. I wash Savannah's dipes every morning. I have now found a few "tricks" for the dipes. I was amazed; you don't use a lot of detergent and I have a HE washer so I save a lot of money there too. There were a few learning curves for me though...leaking, stink, and monkey butt (you know the monkeys with the bright red butts). Savannah had this horrible reaction and had monkey butt. You can't use diaper rash cream or anything. I didn't know what this was from. Well I quickly found out it was from the detergent! I used Tide Free and Clear. I always have with all of our clothes. No reactions or anything. Well Tide contains enzymes which can give a horrible reaction to some kids. So I switched to All free and clear and no more monkey butt. Leaking well they aren't supposed to leak. That was from too much detergent. And finally the Stink. The dipes started to stink like ammonia. Well vinegar and sunning (yes I have a clothesline outside) fix that problem. That and I was again using TOO much detergent.

So I have learned a lot. I love cloth diapering and when we have another child that child will NEVER see a disposable.

How much do you save with Cloth Dipes?

Well actually this answer varies! There are so many ways to cloth diaper a child. You can use the most inexpensive way by purchasing prefolds, covers, and fasteners. Or you can use pockets or All-In-One's. Either way you save money and help save the enviroment.
For example if you chose to use pocket dipes such as Knickernappies One Size here is roughly how much you would spend (given you would wash the dipes every 2-3 days, I prefer to wash everyday so you would need a little less.)

36 Knickernappies One Size $18.95 each
24 Cloth Wipes $24.00
Total: $708.20

I know what you are thinking......EXPENSIVE! Well actually it seems like a lot of money but here is the breakdown for the disposables:

0-3 months 10-12 dipes a day= 900 dipes
3-12 months 8-10 dipes a day=2160 dipes
12-30 months 7-8 dipes a day=3780 dipes

All the following information was taken using Pampers Value Size Boxes from Babies R US
0-3 months Size 1 (4 packs of 216 dipes)=$164
3-12 months Size 3 (14 packs of 160 dipes)=$574
12-20 months Size 5 (24 packs of 156 dipes)=$984
Total: $1722!!

Add about $200 more for disposable wipes for a grand total of $1922!

So you save $1214!!!

Shocked aren't you? Not to mention whenever I went to Babies R US, other items always were in my cart that I didn't really need. There is a huge cost savings!

Welcome!

Welcome to Sugar Dipes Blog Page! I will update frequently with stories, information, cost analysis, and sales! Make sure you follow! It should be an enjoyable ride!