These are not your mother's (or grandmother's) cloth diapers, they are better!

When I was a baby, way back in the 1960's, I wore cloth diapers. Cotton gauze things with elastic-edged plastic pants on top. My mom tells me how disposables were just coming out, and they'd use them for trips sometimes but they were very expensive and nobody used them ALL the time of course....

When I was expecting my first child 9.5 years ago, I looked into cloth diapers to see where things stood. There were still basic cotton things, ie prefolds, and covers, but now with velcro. I thought, ok, my ancestors back to the beginning of recorded time have worn cloth diapers (or rags or skins or leaves or whatever!), so why change (pun intended) now. Plus, it seemed so much more sane to have a few diapers you wash every couple of days that last you for a few years, than to buy things you throw out constantly, both economically and environmentally.

We did that, basic white diapers with basic white covers (Proraps for anyone keeping score), and we were good. Ok, not perfect, as they didn't hold up well enough to our super pee-er and we did disposables at night, but I could live with a pack of diapers lasting a month or two. Kiddo number one took a bit over 3 years to become friends with the potty, so we got our money's worth. I think there was even a pink and a mint green diaper cover in the mix, about as exotic as it got back then.

Finally, after 7+ years, we managed the second kiddo. Of course cloth diapers still made sense, even moreso with all the green initiatives and propaganda all permeating our existence of late. And Wowza, was I in for a surprise!


There were still prefolds and covers, but many brands, colors and styles. When I bought my diapers originally, it was mail-order from Born to Love in Canada since I could not even find a local store that carried them. Now there are a bunch, and even the local toy store and green products store have several kinds. I didn't even know anyone else retro enough to use cloth back then, but now there are many websites, user groups and forums on the topic and I was amazed to see how many people are really way more into all this than I could ever have imagined, buying, trying, reviewing, reselling and what not...

I dipped my toe into the water of modern diaperdom, getting a few Thirsties extra-small covers in a rainbow of colors to go with our 8-year-old prefolds, that we started as soon as the cord stump fell off. It went fine and they were very cute.

I knew there had to be more absorbent overnight solutions by now, so I did some research and ordered a couple Thirsties Duo diapers and Tiny Tush Elite, both pocket diapers where you adjust the absorbency by varying the type and quantity of inserts you stuff into them. [more on the expanding smorgasbord of booty bundling soon]

Cutey Baby "That's a Wrap!" Review

In a modern marketing miracle, a Chicago-area mom has gotten major grocery retailers in much of the country to stock her CLOTH diapers in the baby section. See http://www.cuteybaby.com/?page_id=638 to find a store near you.



I just tried their new diapering system and I'd like to compare it to some others I have used. It consists of two parts. There is the cover, which is knit polyester fabric on the outside, and waterproof on the inside; and a separate soaker pad with 4 layers of microfiber topped with stay-dry fabric. The fabric is somewhat thinner than Flip and Thisties covers, but thick enough to do its job.

They also provide disposable liners to make cleanup easier.

My 25-pound 16-month old is at the upper end of the Medium (12-30 lbs) and the lower end of Large (25-40), and I was fortunate to be able to test both sizes on her.



(Gosh, my photography skills make her look fat. Yeah, well... :) Only one pic. She liked the large so well that she gave it a good workout right away and its in the wash).


Things I like a lot:

The insert is very soft and absorbent, washes clean well, and dries quickly. It can go next to baby's skin, unlike inserts for pocket diapers, and I would use them with other covers, too.

The fabrics are very cute, with a range of girl/boy/neutral prints.

The elastic is stretchy and soft and fits snuggly to contain messes (that was quickly tested!)

I like the liners for when I need to use diaper cream, but I don't use them all the time.

I applaud Cutey Baby for tackling mass market retailers like Jewel Foods in our area, to get cloth diapers into the hands of many more parents for the first time.

Minor complaints:
The cover could really benefit from crossover velcro, to be able to overlap the front tabs for a tighter, more adjustable fit. The tabs are proportionately longer than other similarly sized covers. The large would fit my kiddo in the rise but the waist is too large.

The low-profile velcro is pretty clingy, but not as thick or strong gripping as some
brands (Blueberry, Thirsties, Ragababe). I could see a toddler undoing it pretty easily, though mine did not yet get a chance.

It's a personal preference, but I'd like if they were made in USA instead of China, as many other brands do manage within a similar price range (Amazon: $14.99 cover, $10.99 soaker 2-pack. Chicago-area Jewel: 12.99/8.99).

I didn't realize until this week that the are only in grocery stores for a limited test period this month, to see how well they sell, so check them out while you can, especially the adorable monkey prints! They also have great wet bags available, to hold diapers before and after changes while you are out.





Sorry for the lateness of this review, which is due to a freakish malfunction of our post office and a busy work schedule. I was provided a diaper free of charge to review but the opinions are my own.

I Need to Write

I enjoy it. I always have. I started a journal when i was 12 and have more or less kept it up, to varying degrees, ever since, as it morphed from yellow lined tablets to bound blank books to files on a 486 pc, to files on a newer laptop, interspersed with this sort of thing...

The problem is that I rarely let myself make enough time for it, like depriving myself of that tasty piece of cake, or feeling guilty if I do indulge.

I often feel like a tortured artist, who can only manage to be creative while miserable and loses the desire during happier moments in life. Such irony.

Our latest home improvement

Not to be too off-topic but it seems like LOTS of folks have been posting on this
topic....

This is why we have been too busy to do anything major with the house this spring and summer.




House-related--she is sitting in a quarter-sawn oak rocker in front of our leaded glass doored built-in cabinets around our decorative fireplace in our craftsman bungalow :)

More for Christmas and definitely some projects in the New Year.

Contemplating again

As always, I haven't written on here in way too long. I got a little into the Facebook thing but not tons, like some people do. Classmates has been a useless tease ("Three people signed your guestbook! Pay for Gold membership NOW to see their names!" Not.)
Linkedin has just been a few professional contacts, nothing fun yet.

At least I am kind of involved with actual humans, knowing some of the folks running in our tiny local elections and such is kind of cool.

I don't feel quite as crappy and cynical as a few months ago. Perhaps Spring helps, though right now it's sleeting and going to snow a couple inches over night. (It better not hose all the plants just trying to sprout. The baby walnut is just about to leaf out--this happened two years ago, it's top bud froze off and it was set back all season. Then last year it grew from less than 2 to over 4 feet, way good year.)

Been getting more involved with environmental groups and causes, which helps. My rarely inspiring barely paying job goes along, but this isn't a good time to try to change that.

At least we have BUNNIES!

Endless crappy toy rant....

We get the child a Bozo punching bag for Christmas. Blow it up today with a nice gentle pump. It seems fine for a little while then I look again and it's losing air. I look it over and it seems there is a tiny hole in the bottom, where they were sealing the seams around the weighted sand and managed to burn through the vinyl just a tiny speck, but enough. Will call and try to exchange this weekend, probably bringing the pump to try it out, but that could be tricky as it's almost 4 ft. tall and would not fit in the car too well...

We get her a rather silly but highly desired Hannah Montana guitar video game thingey. It works fine yesterday and today won't talk to the TV, despite all our trouble-shooting attempts (how many parents
with computer degrees does it take...). Will call their help number tomorrow after trying yet more new batteries. (If it drains 'em in a day, well, we are gonna have issues).

New Barbie clothes from the grandma include tights, which like all current Barbie clothes must be so skin-tight that your average single-digit-aged child has a horrid time putting them on. I feel like an old person, but it's not a doll modesty thing, it's a quality thing. The stupid clothes rip the first time she tries to use them. Come on, why and how do they get away with this? I have had better luck buying old doll clothes off of eBay, that hold up better after 30 years than new ones do.

Haven't even opened half her other gifts to play with yet. Can't wait. Dunno if my liver can handle the fun....

How much they can unknowingly hurt...

I'm desperately trying to finish some work (at home) before heading to the company holiday party. The child comes to bug me again about how soon can we go. She sits on my lap and says how she wants to be a famous artist when she grows up, not slump at some computer. Yeah. So did I. Not making very much progress at it, am I, getting sucked into having a degree in something I never really liked, because I was convinced work was supposed to suck and well, it mostly has.

Am I setting a good impression for her? Hardly. I'm not rich or famous at anything and she no signs of getting there anytime before death. Good thing it's the happy family-filled holiday season so I can be miserable in front of everyone else....not....

I want my life back before it's too late....