Strange Machines

According to Jack, the wool is much cooler and the BumGenius, covered with PUL, is about the same as a disposable. A touch test with the kids here with our hot and humid tropical weather reaffirms this. Jade’s bottom is dry when wearing wool but sweaty when wearing her BumGenius.

I’ll have to admit I am a little addicted already. I found myself scouring Loveybums if they have any seconds I could get and was relentlessly clicking through Whoopeekiddies to look at the BumGeniuses (and very very heavenly hemp wash cloths, supposedly cloth wipes but I stuff them in my cleavage to soak up excess sweat when I carry Jade and emergency burp cloth).

Then I realised this was the perfect time to try different diapers. I had enough diapers for 1.5 days really, and seriously needed another night cloth diaper for Jack because it was his diaper that I had to wash and dry daily so he could wear it again the next night and another wool cover because his Loveybums XL cloth diaper seems to keep peeking out of the XL wool cover. Not good cos it caused one leak already.

I found some wonderfully soft bamboo hemp diapers from the awesome Twig & Vine I plan to order soon when some money comes in. I like that the elastic at the back and legs are not sewed as crunched up tight as the ones on the Loveybums ones which cause Jade to have red marks in those areas when I carry her in the Ergo. Don’t the Twig & Vine diapers look heavenly?

That brings my count to:

1 NB/S organic cloth diaper (which might retire soon)
5 M organic cloth diaper
2 L organic cloth diaper
1 XL organic cloth diaper
4 organic wool cover (1 for each size)
7 BumGeniuses
To order another 4 bamboo hemp diapers (still deciding on the sizes but most likely 2L + 2XL)

Total: 20 diapers for 2 kids (half the stash is shareable)

That should tide us through washing once in 2 days + air drying the laundry rather than using the dryer every day. Our electricity bill has gone up $50 since we started cloth diapering but we save that $50 too on not buying disposables.

Hemp is tons more absorbent than cotton and bamboo is somewhere in between. I was thrilled that a single insert (hemp or bamboo+cotton) is sufficient stuffing for the kids overnight and by day they don’t need any stuffing.

Why organic? I figure if we go cloth, we go all the way. It is better for the planet and for our kids. The process of making cotton and even bamboo fabrics is pretty darned harmful to our planet, so supporting the organic textiles industry is the way to go.

DH says that cloth diapering and laundering indulge my OCD tendency to clean. Well, it should feel good to be good to our children and our planet, no?

Yes it is possible.

Jade got a recurrent rash which came back after her all night pee party using the BumGenius + Hemp Doubler + Loveybums fleece liner.

I was pleased to find out online that our California Baby Diaper Rash Cream can be used with cloth.

Hope that helps. We’ll find out tomorrow morning.

This morning Jack woke me around 6 telling me he was wet. He’d slept on his tummy and there was leakage from the front because I keep the diaper and cover loose for more air.

He didn’t sleep again till 9ish and I was beat, having fallen asleep only at 3. Thankfully he dozed for another 2 hours but during which Jade woke and kept me up too.

She’d also leaked from the back of her BumGenius which had the Loveybums fleece layer inside it. The diaper was completely soaked through so I knew she needed more padding.

Tonight she wears the same combo but with the hemp soaker inside. I tried the L Loveybums diaper with soaker and the Loveybums wool cover or BumGenius over it but there was just too much gap between the leg and diaper that I abandoned both ideas.

Jack wears the same Loveybums diaper, hemp soaker, and wool cover over. This time I flattened the whole soaker instead of folding it. Let’s see how that goes.

Meanwhile, I seriously need sleep… Can feel my system shutting down…

Remarkably, Jade can wear her brother’s L sized Loveybums diaper already. The NB/S barely fits her and M just right. L is comfy with room to grow…

I put her next to Jack this morning and noted with amazement that they have the same waist size! So I wrote back to Pam, who had kindly written back last night, that I would go for the large size instead.

As for last night’s experiment, the BumGenius diaper (it is a diaper with 2 layers of organic cotton inside covered with a cover with organic cotton on one side and a PUL – polyurethane laminate – cover – breathable – on the outside) held it in and there was only a slight leakage where the Loveybums diaper was not covered by the BumGenius.

Tonight I am trying her with the Loveybums organic fleece cover and the BumGenius and see how that goes.

She went cloth all day today – 3 all day, and also cloth (albeit with PUL) at night. Jack had to go disposable during the day since I only have one L and one XL. But we’ll try day too when the XLs come. I’d use the BumGeniuses but they take 2 days to dry. I don’t want to shorten their lifespan by putting them in the dryer.

Which is one reason why I prefer the Loveybums – I can blast them with hot water and the smell is gone, wash them and dry them and have them ready for use in 2 hours. But the BumGeniuses, as pretty and leak-proof as they are, take 2 days to be usable again.

So far I’ve only cloth diapered Jack at night. A nifty combo of an XL or L Loveybums organic cloth diaper, with a super soaker hemp insert under the organic cotton fleece layer, and an organic Loveybums wool cover over. No leaks on day 3!

Jade is the tricky one to diaper. Her M diapers fit perfectly so not much space to stuff any insert, plus she is so small that she’d have to sleep doing a split if I put an insert in her diaper. And her wool cover is NB/S and it is super snug already.

Sooooo looking at the rest of my arsenal, I had the brainwave (okay, look, for sleep deprived mothers, it is revolutionary already!) to let her wear her M cloth diaper and use the BumGenius over. Perfect and no worries of leakage at night. It fit her to a tee, except her legs are a little stretched out. :p

I’m thinking maybe I should order the L sized diaper and wool cover for her to use at night. I’ve emailed Pam from Loveybums to ask her opinion. Let’s see what she advises.

Hubby’s taken the kids out (Jade in the Ergo and Jack in the pram) for a walk. This is the second time and he’s confident to do it after Jade’s had her milk and is ready for a nap, and Jack is ready for his nap too so he really does the walking himself. Good exercise.

Yesterday I decided it was time to be brave or not at all. I confess my fears about cloth diapering was the awful handwashing, the smell, the potential poop, and leakage. Still it didn’t stop me from buying all the below cloth diapers and accessories while pregnant with Jade. I did cloth diaper Jack when I was pregnant but when Jade was born, handwashing single diapers became too much of a chore.

My thought was, now with so much laundry to do every day, it would be less of a chore putting them all in cloth and washing the diapers and accessories together. But of course to ease my eww factor, I’d rinse them first then put them in the diaper bin.

Jade is now 3 months old. I am feeling strong. I can do this.

So here I was, armed with 3 organic BumGeniuses, 2 Loveybums organic wool covers, and 6 organic cloth diapers for the kids, a wonderful new washer and dryer from my Mom, a covered plastic PP container I bought from Ikea as a diaper bin, and nowhere to go. It was time.

I would put the kids in their cloth diapers and when it was time to change it, I would rinse them as best as I could and put them in the diaper bin, wet. When all the diapers were used, they would be washed in the machine with 2 tablespoons of Seventh Generation washing powder I use.

Jack wore a BumGenius for 6 hours and no leakage. In fact, it didn’t even feel terribly full. Yay! Success. Night time was the tricky one.

My friend Phoebe and I were comparing notes on why the Mame Poko disposables we were using before were now leaking at night. Because it is a new design to make it thinner. And apparently not more absorbent, she snorted.

So that night I was determined to try another option.

I have these 4 layer brick-sized hemp inserts I’d bought from Whoopeekiddies, incidentally based in Singapore but ships worldwide. I’ve bought tons of organic stuff from them, including the BumGeniuses.

Anyway, I put the Loveybums (from the US but ships internationally too – yay!) organic cloth diaper on Jack (love the organic cotton fleece that would be touching his skin – something the BumGenius SHOULD have put in their design but didn’t), stuffed a hemp insert under the cotton fleece, and then wrapped his bum up (excuse pun) with the Loveybums organic wool cover. He looked so cute in it! I must remember to take a photo tonight. And… for good measure, had him sleep on the rubber mat just in case.

In the morning, NO LEAKAGE! I almost wept with joy. I had my doubts about wool being waterproof but this has buoyed my confidence in using this combo. Now, when I opened up the layers, the cloth diaper and inserts were soaked through the front (cos he has boy parts). But the wool contained them. His pyjamas were dry. His wool cover was dry! I almost wept with joy. Did I just say that again? Ok, it smelled slightly but airing it is supposed to help.

I was so thrilled that I put both kids in the remaining 2 BumGeniuses and they’re both colourful and happy today. Looks like I’ll have to stock up on more diapers. I’d love to try the Gro Baby^TM which is also in organic cotton, a new system of diapering which has earned quite a bit of rave reviews recently, and I think will be great for going out in the day since that is what we do every day anyway.

Tonight both kids go in their cloth+wool combos and we’ll see what the morning brings.

Cloth Diaper + Accessories Count for Jack and Jade:

3 organic BumGeniuses
2 organic Loveybums wool covers
2 large organic Loveybums cloth diapers
1 NB/S organic Loveybums cloth diaper
3 medium organic Loveybums cloth diapers
4 hemp supersoaker inserts

I just read in one of my pregnancy books that around the 35th week (and that’s when it began) the hormones will turn expectant mothers into aliens. Yes, this post is proof of that. Unnecessary worrying, strange cravings (for sugary food – yuck!), preoccupation with unnecessary things (finishing the courtyard! and maybe sewing some stuffed animals), excessive purchasing of baby things. Heck, I even started Jack on cloth diapers (bumGenius – not bad at all but for the PUL), and have ordered some wool diapers after I read that PUL could be an endocrine disruptor. Dang.

Meanwhile I am still figuring out this cloth diapering thing. Prefolds, doublers… heck, I just bought an all-in-one. Then I found out that they take a while to dry if I don’t wring them out properly and air every bit of it. They’re expensive too. $30 a pop (or poop) and we’ll need a lot when the little one is born. Currently Jack just uses it once a day and we change it whenever he is wet during this feeble attempt to toilet train. I haven’t had to wash out poop yet so maybe that’s why I am still chipper about the whole thing.

Even bought the Seventh Generation size 3 diapers which looked so small and thin I haven’t dared to put them on Jack yet. They are supposed to fit a child of weight up to 13kg but they look small enough to fit only Kaku! I better try them soon though. Jack’s growing like a weed. Or maybe I can save them for the baby. Hmm…

The courtyard project is almost complete. The glass roof is leaking in 2 places so that’s gonna be fixed soon – clothes can’t hang there yet but I have populated the place with some sun-loving plants, including a sweet basil that freshens up the place a bit. I’ve given up on Boston Ferns which have all but died on me. Ivies too. They hate the heat. Only 2 survive and I am giving them as much TLC as I can before I pop.

Ornery after 8 months of changing cat poo, DH banished Boy to the back with the other cats after he peed and pooed indiscriminately outside his pan after the workmen traipsed all over the area. Surprisingly he’s doing quite well and only Tux seems upset about this new arrangement (maybe cos he is now half Boy’s size and the change in hierarchy since Sam and he broke off and Sam grew bigger than he has affected him somehow). Boy nabbed a nice spot on a chair with a soft towel and seems happy there. I do miss petting him in the kitchen.

Jack has been clingier than normal, especially at night. And that has been so hard cos it hurts ever more now to nurse. Thankfully it is mostly the first minute then the pain abates. There’s still tons of milk, although it looks more like water to me. Jack swears it tastes the same. “Nan is the sweetest”, he chirps. And then sings me a song he made up about the joys of nan nan. How can I not give him any?

Back to the feeling alien thing. I think it is the girl hormones. There’s been weeping. Lots. Especially during sad Buffy moments. When Angel left. When Joyce died. All very sad. Even when Riley left! The only other time I cried during a movie or TV show was when the guy Lou Diamond Philips played died in La Bamba. Anyway. Hope I’ll feel more myself after baby is born. And that the labour is short, painless, and safe…