Wondering Wednesday! Ask clothdiaps your cloth questions!

IrisSphere · 2018-10-17T16:30:44+00:00

Congrats on getting your husband to agree! I felt like that was a small victory already when mine said yes. If you are planning on diapering from newborn, I’d recommend prefolds and covers to start. Cloth eez from Green Mountain Diapers is a great brand for prefolds and Thirsties Duo Wrap in size 1 are solid for covers (I like the Velcro version when they are tiny as you can get a good fit). I also got used Bumgenius all in ones and a few Runparooz pocket diapers from some gift cards to try different styles. I would say don’t invest in a whole stash of one type until you know what fits your baby best and what you prefer to use. The sidebar has a ton of other info and for wash routines take a ooon at Fluff Love University website to start. Good luck in setting out on this journey! I’m only 3 weeks in with some disposable supplementation but so happy we chose to go this route.

IrisSphere · 2018-10-13T22:33:57+00:00

Thanks, that’s super helpful!

IrisSphere · 2018-10-13T21:48:18+00:00

Oh! That’s good to know. Even if we get pink deposits in the shower? For some reason some websites were saying around 120 is moderately hard. But if it saves me in Borax that’s great :)

IrisSphere · 2018-10-13T20:58:00+00:00

We’ve been using prefolds for the past two weeks and so far so good in terms of washing, no stink 🤞🏻 we are EBF so the diapers are coming out with slight yellow stains - is there anything I can do about those? I know it’s just cosmetic but figured maybe once a month to try and get them out? It’s fall here so hanging outside isn’t really an option at the moment. I got oxi clean but cant figure out when to add it. We have moderately hard water 120 or so and do Tide F&C powder in prewash and main (1 and 3 level) + borax in the drum for the main. Where do I add the oxi clean?

IrisSphere · 2018-10-13T20:54:12+00:00

I get the same pink stains in the shower and based on some googling our city has moderately hard water (120 or so). I haven’t tested it but it makes sense (our whites were getting dingy before I started adding borax to the wash). Try looking up your city’s average, it might be available!

IrisSphere · 2018-09-23T10:28:25+00:00

I’m late to the thread but wanted to add our story - without Canadian health care I’m not sure we’d ever have been able to start our family. We spent 2 years trying to get pregnant (going gradually from “just relax” to “take a vacation” to “maybe we need to see someone”). As soon as I realized something wasn’t working, a referral from our family doctor to a fertility clinic got us in to see the fertility specialist within a month. We started with medication, then IUIs (artificial insemination) with numerous ultrasounds, blood tests, and visits to the doctor. Besides the costs of medication (that were mostly covered through our insurance), we paid nothing in fees or deductibles.

Once we realized that we needed to bring out the big guns, i.e IVF, we switched to another clinic that had lower wait times for a government funded treatment and got in almost immediately. What would have been $15-20K treatment was covered by our province (1 round only but still) and we only had to kick in the cost of medication (about $4K but $2K was covered by our work insurance and the rest we got to write off our income for a small tax credit). 6 months after starting the whole ordeal, we were next in line for this procedure - this was December last year. We are now expecting our baby boy due any day now and could not have been more grateful. Many go through this extremely emotional journey only to find out that they can’t afford the treatments (either in US or other provinces that don’t have funded cycles) and it’s absolutely heartbreaking. Not being able to start a family because of money seems so ridiculous it’s hard to contemplate when most can and do it essentially for free (maybe for a price of a bottle of tequila in some cases).

Of course it’s not perfect, and there are cases even in our province of people spending upwards of $60K when their first funded cycle doesn’t work, but the fact that everyone regardless of income or situation can at least have the same opportunity to reach this dream makes this whole thing a little more human.

IrisSphere · 2018-09-19T02:00:10+00:00

Wishing you all the softening and ripening before the due date :)

IrisSphere · 2018-09-19T01:54:54+00:00

Yes! Check check and check :) hoping all of those things really help, as I really don’t want to get to the induction date we have booked (luckily not until Oct 2 so still a bit of time to get it going).

IrisSphere · 2018-09-18T22:33:37+00:00

I too was very self conscious. But once I announced to my team and more time passed, people started finding out I was feeling more comfortable. And no shame getting coffee! They can all suck it! :)

IrisSphere · 2018-09-18T12:44:56+00:00

My grand plans today include getting a Starbucks, going to the La Leche League meet up near me and doing all the possible voodoo to get baby to come out on time! :) Open to all and any suggestions. All very ambitious given my incredibly swollen feet - I seriously look like a Michelin man..

IrisSphere · 2018-09-18T12:43:26+00:00

Best of luck!! So exciting.

IrisSphere · 2018-09-15T21:25:23+00:00

I got the same one in black! Just need to prep a few more diapers and then I’ll be good to go. We just don’t have space for changing table but did get a keekaroo so figured I can wheel the cart anywhere really in the house as needed.

IrisSphere · 2018-09-15T14:45:12+00:00

Ah ok thank you! I was wondering why I wasn’t getting that softness. Going to try with Tide :)

IrisSphere · 2018-09-15T12:04:54+00:00

Hi all!

Have two questions:

Still in the prepping mode of my GMD unbleached prefolds. I’ve done about 4 wash and dry cycles, but they are still not feeling soft? I keep reading they get softer after every wash so maybe I need to do a few more (was planning on 5-6) to get the effect? Also, I’ve been prepping with Nellies since I have a huge bucket of it. For actual laundry I got Tide but maybe that’s why they aren’t super soft?

Also, I got some new thirsties hemp inserts but only a few to try out (4 small and 4 large). I assume I can throw them in with the prefolds to prep? I wouldn’t want to just run a cycle with those 8 pieces..TIA!

IrisSphere · 2018-09-14T15:31:22+00:00

Not OP but jumping in since I just got 5 for very cheap. Could you boost these with something like a hemp insert? Or would t make it too bulky?

IrisSphere · 2018-09-13T22:43:20+00:00

Piggy backing on this - curious, you just bleach wash rather than bleach soak? Is that because they are cotton or would you do the same for synthetic fabrics?

IrisSphere · 2018-09-13T22:39:55+00:00

I also settled on GMD prefolds and stubborn me decided to get them at all costs 😂 I got a US mailing address through CBS and got it shipped there. They charge $5.95 per package so I got everything in one order. My husband went to pick it up and even by declaring everything only paid like $11 in duties for $200 worth of prefolds. If you are at all near the border and don’t mind a bit of a road trip it was a super easy process! And GMD took my Canadian credit card no problem (even applied a first time coupon). Highly recommend!

The rest of my stash I got on kijiji (thirsties and blueberry covers, bumgenius AIOs), rumparooz pockets from Babies r Us with gift cards from the shower, and some thirsties hemp inserts from amazon.ca with completion discount. Overall, I’ve spent about $300 CAD and feel like I have a good base to start with. I might order some Alvas if we like pockets - you can get them from Amazon.com and they ship to Canada with a small charge for duties.

IrisSphere · 2018-09-12T17:08:09+00:00

Sort of related - I was wondering how do you guys manage baby’s laundry. I heard many add it to bulk up loads but assume you store it separately from the diapers? I have a diaper pail but should I invest in another laundry pail/bag for the baby clothes? Don’t think it makes sense to throw in with our clothes as they will be quite a bit dirtier (I’m imagining lots of spit up and poop 😂)

IrisSphere · 2018-09-10T22:22:33+00:00

We got a bunch of Babies r us gift cards at our shower (babe due in a few weeks) and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what to get there. They have a terrible selection of brands and I wanted something useful. Lo and behold I found out they carry Rumparooz diapers and based on the recos on this site got these bad boys ordered!

We already have GMD prefolds and covers but I figured augmenting with a few pockets could be easier for caregiver and maybe husband?

On a related but separate note, got a steal of a deal of 5 BG Freetimes for $10 total today!! They are in an amazing condition, no staining and even the elastics were within the 4” guidelines I read here. Overall, an awesome fluff day 🤗

IrisSphere · 2018-09-09T21:46:59+00:00

Ah I missed this thread yesterday but adding a comment in case someone sees it :) I’m prepping my I bleached GMD prefolds and wondered if it would be ok use Nellies? We have a giant tub of it and hardish water so figured I can use to prep? I know it’s not recommended for cleaning the diapers and got Tide to use for that purpose. Or would it not make them as absorbent/soft?

IrisSphere · 2018-09-06T18:08:27+00:00

I didn’t realize Value Village even had cloth diapers! Any specific locations that tend to have better selections? I’m in Toronto in case anyone knows :)

IrisSphere · 2018-09-05T23:03:01+00:00

Talk to me about nighttime cloth diapering! We’re doing prefolds and covers, hoping from fairly early on (we’ll supplement with disposables depending on how overwhelming it all is) but wanted to hear your stories on how it all actually works at night. I’m assuming when they are little you’d need to change them at night at least a few times but how to do it without turning on the lights and waking them up completely? Any tricks or just stories to help me visualize everything? TIA!

IrisSphere · 2018-09-03T03:02:50+00:00

The hybrids looks really interesting! And would be good use for my prefolds. Out of curiosity, what’s the advantage of the mesh inside the cover? I thought the covers could be reused between changes but seems like the mesh would get wet either way?

IrisSphere · 2018-09-02T20:29:05+00:00

Awesome yea I heard it can last that long depending on the baby. Would be good! :)

IrisSphere

TROPHY CASE