Replacing Shot Elastic in a FuzziBunz OS Pocket Diaper - Photo Tutorial

After 18 months of almost daily use, the elastic in one of my FuzziBunz One Size pocket diapers finally died. Thankfully, FuzziBunz OS diapers come with a replacement elastic kit. So I got one of my replacement elastic kits out of the box of extra diaper accessories in the bottom of K's closet and got to work. If you do not have a replacement kit, you can contact FuzziBunz to buy one. Considering the fact that I'm not super crafty, this did not come very easily to me. But once I figured it out, it wasn't too bad. So here's a photo tutorial!

(Click on the photos to make them larger)

First, I should mention that this is the old school FuzziBunz OS. The new FuzziBunz OS Elite diapers have hidden elastic. If you have an Elite diaper, just turn it completely inside out and then continue from there.

All you need is your diaper, new elastic, and a safety pin. Use a medium to large safety pin. I did the first side with a small one and it took forever.

This is my shot elastic (top) compared with the new elastic (bottom).

Wow.

First, remove the old elastic from the casing. Just unbutton both sides and pull the elastic through.

Next, slide your safety pin through the end of the elastic. I tried it like this at first, by putting the pin through the button hole.

But that left a lot of extra elastic at the end that was hard to deal with so I ended up pinning it like this.

Make sure to button the other end of the elastic to secure it so you don't pull it all the way through.

 Then insert the safety pin into the casing and pull through. I had a hard time at this point getting everything in, but I just had to keep working at it and it eventually pulled through. Try to make sure the elastic is facing the right way with the numbers facing up so it doesn't get twisted on the way.

 Inch the safety pin all the way through to the end and pull through.

Remove the safety pin and button each end according to the size that you need.

If you have the old kind like me, insert the ends of the elastic into the little hidey holes.

I also like to pull the fleece over the buttons as much as possible so they don't press against K's skin. I guess that's why they changed that little feature in the new Elite diapers. :)

Just the leg elastic was shot in my diaper, but the waist elastic can be changed the same way. I hope that helps!

Why Use Cloth - Part 3

Did you know that it is estimated to take 250-500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose (RDA, 2012)? If this is true and it can take up to 500 years, that means if Queen Elizabeth I of England (as in, the daughter of Henry VIII) wore disposable diapers, they would still be sitting in a landfill somewhere. 

The environmental benefits of using cloth diapers are huge. I've heard the excuse that cloth diapers use more water because of the added laundry. However, according to the Real Diaper Association (2012), the use and manufacturing of disposable diapers brings about 2.3 times more wasted water than cloth diapers, not to mention the 60 times more solid waste and 20 times more raw material used (e.g. crude oil and wood pulp).

Think about all of the energy required to manufacture disposable diapers and the waste that it produces. Wells (2012) lists the stages of disposable diaper manufacturing. 

1. Raw Materials Acquisition

2. Materials Manufacture

3. Product Manufacture

4. Product Use or Consumption

5. Final Disposition: Landfill, Incineration, Recycle, Reuse

Recycling just sends everything back through steps 2 or 3, resulting in more energy and waste. The fact that people reuse disposable diapers is an extremely sad fact for another post.

Although disposable diapers come with instructions to dump poop into the toilet before tossing them in the trash, less than 0.5% of waste from disposable diapers actually ends up in the sewer system where it belongs (RDA, 2012). Which means all of that poop and pee ends up sitting in a landfill, wrapped up in a diaper that won't decompose for hundreds of years. And then what happens if that poop somehow gets out of the diaper and into the ground? Not only is there a possibility of soil contamination, but also ground water contamination (Wells, 2012)

Cloth diapers, on the other hand, can be used hundreds of times on multiple children. They don't need to ever be in a landfill. Prefolds and flats can be turned into household rags after they've worn our their diaper use. Some pockets, AIOs, covers, etc. have replacement kits that can be used to fix wear and tear problems. Many cloth diaper companies will repair used diapers. Families that are completely done using their cloth diapers can resell them or donate them to friends or a charity (Wells, 2012).

Here are some tips to avoid using excess water and energy to wash cloth diapers: Have enough diapers to only need to do laundry every few days instead of every day to save on water use. Line dry your diapers to save energy used by a dryer. The sun is an awesome stain remover!

What do you do to save energy and reduce waste while using cloth diapers? How else do you stay eco-friendly? I'd love to hear from you!

References

Real Diaper Association. (2012). Why choose cloth diapers? Retrieved from http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php

Wells. K. (2012). Changing Diapers: the hip mom's guide to modern cloth diapering. Waterford, ME: Green Team Enterprises.

Why Use Cloth? Part 2

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written a new post. School and little man are keeping me busy!

So the first reason I chose to use cloth diapers was to keep the yucky chemicals from disposable diapers off of my little boy's bum. The second reason was to save money.

Now, I'm not going to pretend that the initial cost of a cloth diaper investment is not scary. It is really hard to get over spending ten, twenty, or even thirty dollars for one diaper. When you have to have about 30 diapers on hand for a newborn, that price is even more daunting. And what about the extra cost of utilities to wash and dry the diapers?

To be honest, I did not think about the cost of utilities when I started using cloth. We live on a military base and don't have a utilities bill. When we head back to the States we more than likely will not live on base and those costs need to be considered.

I found an amazing site that came up with a chart that compares the costs of diapering systems. The original chart can be found here at Diaper Decisions. This is what the authors say about the chart:

"We have used 36 diapers and 6 covers (if needed), washing 3 times a week, as our diapering system. Our energy costs are based on $.08/kWh for electric water heaters and $.60 per therm for gas water heaters. Using these figures 1 load of laundry washed on a hot/cold cycle will cost you $.34 and $.10 respectively. We have set potty training at 2 ½ years of age."


I'll break down the basic information from the chart.


Total cost if using only prefolds and covers: $381.00
Average cost per change (including washing): $0.06


Total cost if using only fitted diapers and covers: $1262.84
Average cost per change (including washing): $0.18


Total cost if using only AIO diapers: $1413.48
Average cost per change (including washing): $0.20


Total cost if using only pocket diapers: $1677.66
Average cost per change (including washing): $0.23


Total cost if using a combination of cloth diapers: $1468.74
Average cost per change (including washing): $0.22


Total cost of disposable diapers: $2577.35
Average cost per change: $0.36


Crazy right? 

The authors used the "least expensive package of 2 popular brands from a discount chain store" to determine the total cost of disposable diapers.

Keep in mind, these prices are for certain brands of diapers. For instance, the authors chose to use the price of Knickernappies for their pocket diaper cost review. Not all pocket diapers cost the same as Knickernappies. Also Knickernappies are not a One Size diaper. One Size diapers will be even less expensive because there is no additional cost for bigger sizes as the baby grows.

Remember that the cost of disposables is for ONE child. Cloth diapers can be used on multiple children. Of course, there will be wear and tear from normal cloth diaper use, but the cost of replacing a few cloth diapers for a new baby does not come close to the cost of buying 2.5 more years worth of disposables.

Don't be afraid to buy used cloth diapers. Diaperswappers.com and Re-diaper.com are both excellent sources for "preloved" diapers. Just be sure to sanitize and/or strip (instructions found here) all used cloth diapers. You never know.

I haven't added up exactly how much I have spent on my cloth diapers, but I think it is somewhere around $1200. Not all of my diaper purchases have been completely necessary (feeding my addiction) and I still have not come close to the typical cost of disposables.

Did you make the switch to cloth because of cost? Was the initial cost scary for you? Do you think you have saved a significant amount of money because of using cloth diapers? I'd love to hear from you!

Wool – A Whole New World of Cloth

A few weeks ago I decided to purchase a few Woollybottoms wool soakers. K has been wearing disposables at night for about five months and I was tired of it. I also felt like a hypocrite. You write a cloth diaper blog but use disposables at night? Yeah… nice.

So, I did a bunch of research on nighttime solutions and the best I could come up with was wool. I had been hesitant about buying wool for a few reasons.

Number one: Price

Most of the wool soakers I had seen were $30 or more. I knew I would need at least two, but $60 for two diapers that may or may not work for me was a little much.

Number two: Wool Care

I knew that wool takes extra care for washing. And I also thought, “What the heck is lanolizing anyway?”

Number three: Change is Scary

I had become very comfortable in my diaper routine. I didn’t relish the idea of learning new things.

However, when I saw that my favorite diaper retailer was stocking WoollyBottoms for $21 each, I took the plunge and snatched a few. I also ordered two OsoCozy unbleached fitteds in large to pair with the soakers. I had a few fitteds already: a Cow Patties and a couple homemade. The remainder of my order consisted of some Woollybottoms lanolin (Love Spell scent!) and some Eucalan wool wash. (BTW, lanolin is a waxy substance that comes in a little jar that is used to keep wool waterproof.)

Here are some photos of one of my soakers. 

This is the soaker turned inside-out. Notice the extra wool "wet-zone" that is sewn in.

 These are sized diapers. The mediums are supposed to fit from 15-30 lbs. They seem true to size so far. K is about 22 lbs and I can tell he'll be in them for a while.

Lanolin and wool wash.

The best part about buying these soakers? They smelled A-MAZ-ING coming straight out of the box. Love Spell all up in my senses. The second best part is that they come ready to use.

The plan was to wait until my OsoCozy fitteds were prepped before trying the soakers, but I’m impatient and the second day I had them I decided to go ahead and try one with a fitted that I already had. Off I went into my new life of cloth diapering with wool.

The next morning I eagerly picked my kid up out of his crib and immediately felt and sniffed his booty. No wetness and the only smell was more Love Spell yumminess. “YES!” I thought, it worked!

That feeling changed dramatically when I took the soaker off. Yikes! For the first time in fifteen months of changing cloth diapers I gagged. Oh my goodness, the ammonia was overwhelming. It didn’t help that he had pooped too so that smell was mixed in. Eww. I’m getting grossed out again. Sorry ‘bout that.

I was pretty sad after that. But I didn’t give up hope yet. I finished the diaper change, dumped the poop, threw the fitted into my diaper pail, sprayed it with BacOut to try to cover the smell, and turned the wool soaker inside out. I hesitatingly put the soaker up to my nose and took a tiny sniff. I could still smell the Love Spell, but there was definitely an ammonia smell too. I knew that wool did not require washing after every use so I left it on top of my washing machine to see if it would air out.

I was pleasantly surprised a few hours later when I sniffed it again and the ammonia smell was almost completely gone! Yay! By that night the Love Spell deliciousness was back and the stinkiness was completely gone.

My new fitteds were also ready to be used that night so once again I put him in a fitted with a wool soaker. The next morning I was slightly more careful about sniffing anything, but I was very happy to discover there was much less of an ammonia smell with the OsoCozy fitted.

Skip ahead a few more days when I figured it was time to try to wash my soakers. They still smelled fine (I have two and switched between the two of them), but it felt weird to me to let it go any longer. The Eucalan wool wash has very simple instructions which I read probably 20 times before doing anything.

As per the instructions, this is what I did. (Although, the instructions say to use a sink, and I used our bathtub.)

1. Fill sink with tepid water. (I just used enough to cover the soakers.)

2. Add suggested amount of wool wash. It was 1 tsp per gallon of water, I believe.

3. Place soakers in the water and squeeze gently.

4. Allow to soak for approx.. 15-20 minutes.

5. Remove from water. DO NOT RING SOAKERS. Squeeze lightly or roll in a towel to remove excess water. Lay flat away from direct sunlight or direct heat.

When I got the soakers out of the water I was very disappointed that they no longer smelled good. They smelled like, well, sheep’s wool. Kind of musty and earthy. Not yummy and Love Spell-y. That freaked me out and I thought I had done something wrong and ruined my beautiful soakers.

So I decided to try washing them again, but this time I added some lanolin to the wash. Following the instructions for wet lanolizing, this is what I did. (This time I used the kitchen sink.)

1. Fill sink up with warm water and wool wash.

2. In a small jar (I used a baby food jar), combine a pea sized amount of lanolin, a drop of baby shampoo, and very hot water. (FYI, if the water is almost to the point of boiling, the lid of a baby food jar will burst off and leave you with very sore hands.) Shake the jar to completely melt the lanolin and mix everything together.

3. Add lanolin mixture to the water in the sink. Then repeat steps 4 and 5 from above.

The soakers still smelled like wool after I finished that soak. I decided to just leave them for a while and see what happened. After a few hours they started smelling delicious again.

I really don’t think I needed to do the lanolin soak. If I had just let them dry after the wash they probably would have gotten their Love Spell smell back when they dried.

Wow, long post! To finish up, here are the pros and cons I have so far for using wool soakers.

Pros

-they smell awesome

-they’re really soft and cozy

-they come ready to use

-they don’t leak (So far. Apparently if your wool starts leaking, it’s time to re-lanolize.)

-they keep smells in really well

-they don’t have to be washed after every use

Cons

-they are pretty bulky. I don’t think they would be good under normal clothes, but they are good for nighttime.

-they hide stink so well that it’s a pretty big shock to the senses when that cover comes off!
-they do require some extra effort to wash.

Next on my list of diaper-items-to-buy: Longies!!

(The next time I wash and/or lanolize my soakers I'll take pictures for a tutorial.)

Breathability

Check out this video comparing the breathability of cloth diapers vs. disposables. Very interesting! Without having air to breathe, a baby's skin can become hot and irritated and more prone to rashes.

How Different People View Cloth Diapers

I love this!!

(Originally posted here.)

Why Use Cloth? Part 1

I'm going to do a series of maybe three or four posts discussing why I chose to use cloth diapers for my child(ren). There are a lot of things that contributed to my decision, some serious (chemicals in disposables) and some not so serious (cute fluffy bums!). In this first post in my "Why Use Cloth?" series I'll be talking about the chemicals that are used to make disposable diapers. Most of the information comes from Kelly Wels' Changing Diapers: The Hip Mom's Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering book and from an article posted on Livestrong.com written by Noreen Kassem called Chemicals in Disposable Diapers.

First of all, what exactly is in a disposable diaper?

Dioxin

Sodium polyacrylate

Dyes

Fragrances

Plastics

Toluene

Xylene

Ethylbenzene

Dipentene

Whoa, what? I had never even heard of most of those words before. Actually, I just had to triple check my spelling because these aren't exactly words I see or type every day. Let's go over a few of them to figure out what they are and why they are in the diapers that are supposed to lay against our babies' most sensitive skin.

Dioxins

Dioxin is a byproduct of the chlorine that is used to bleach most disposable diapers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that dioxins are some of the most toxic chemicals known to science and are known to be carcinogenics, as in they can cause cancer. Not only that but exposure to dioxins can also lead to "skin reactions and altered liver function, as well as impairments to the immune system, nervous system, endocrine system and reproductive functions" (livestrong article).

Sodium Polyacrylate

If you've ever changed a disposable diaper and seen little crystal like gel particles on your baby's skin, those are sodium polyacrylate. The purpose of this chemical is absorption. No long-term research has been done on the effects of sodium polyacrylate in disposable diapers although it may be linked to skin irritations and respiratory problems. Sodium polyacrylate was removed from tampons in 1985 because it was thought to cause Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS).

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Toluene, Xylene, Ethylbenzene, and Dipentene are all VOCs that are found in disposable diapers. The EPA has linked VOCs to "eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches, damage to the liver, kidney and central nervous system as well as cancers" (livestrong article).

I'm not trying to make parents who choose disposable diapers feel guilty, I really am not. In fact, I use disposables at night for K because we haven't figured out a perfect night time solution for him. I just want people to be informed. Know what you're putting on your child's body. Be aware of things that could potentially cause harm to your child. If none of this information bothers you and you choose to use disposables, then that is your choice and I will not judge anyone for that. But if it does bother you, why not give cloth diapers a try? They are an inexpensive, safe, and natural way to diaper your baby.