Monday, September 29, 2008

Real Diaper Week September 19-29

It's time for Real Diaper Week, the week when we, the etsy cloth diaper sellers, reach out to the world and help a few more families make the switch to cloth (the most real of diapers!).

We know cloth diapers can be expensive, especially when you need a lot of them...
...so we're offering discounts and multi-diaper packages.

It can be overwhelming to figure out all the pieces you will need to get started...
...so we're offering starter packs with everything included.

Cloth diapers may appear complicated...
...so we're offering All-in-one designs that are as easy and simple as disposables.

Perhaps you'd like to sew your own diapers but don't know where to get the materials...
...we're even offering sew-your-own kits that include patterns and materials.

The promotional items are not marked in the listings like they were last time--this promotion is more about offering the types of things that will help a newbie get started, (or help an experienced cloth diapering parent restock their stash).

Are you excited yet? We sure are!
Come visit participating shops:

Here are some peeks at some of the items these talented sellers are offering! (scroll through the posts below for more details and photos from several of these sellers!)

Etsy
Buy Handmade
EtsyClothDiapers

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Come Visit Laina's Laundry at our first Craft Fair!

I am pleased to announce that Laina's Laundry will have a sales booth at the 37th Annual Friends Craft Fair in Littleton, CO, on October 4th, along with Stella Bini and Saxon Moss. If you are in the area, please stop by and say "hi", and take advantage of the "20% off your total order" coupon below. We'll be at booth #B20 from 9am-4pm. Shop early for the best selection! Please forward this post on to anyone else who might be interested! And, if you are not in the area and unable to attend, check our websites for any remaining items after October 4th (see below for links).

The Friends Craft Fair, held in Ketring Park in Littleton, Colorado, is a large venue for over 300 sellers to showcase and sell their unique handmade items. So, besides getting some great baby and kids items from Stella Bini, Laina's Laundry, and Saxon Moss, you may find other great items for yourself or for gifts, as well.

Details:

Who - Stella Bini - bibs, burpies, blankets and "droolers" (http://www.stellabini.etsy.com/)
Laina's Laundry - diapers, baby leg warmers, and baby dresses (http://www.lainaslaundry.etsy.com/)
Saxon Moss - wooden toys and playscape puzzles

What - 37th Annual Friends Craft Fair (http://www.littletongov.org/museum/events/details.asp?ID=5)

When - Saturday, October 4th, 9am-4pm

Where - Booth B20, Ketring Park, Littleton, CO (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=6000+S.+Gallup+St.+Littleton+CO+80120+United+Statesm/maps?q=6000+S.+Gallup+St.+Littleton+CO+80120+United+States)

Why - come support all things handmade and find great items for yourself or for gifts!

I hope to see you there!!!

~Jenna

Friday, September 19, 2008

BREEZY BABIES GREEN GIVEAWAY!

In honor of Real Diaper Week I am participating in a GREEN GIVEAWAY!
Enter to win 1 cloth diaper in the size of your choice, pins and a set of wipes.
Using cloth diapers is one of the best ways to reduce, resuse, and recycle.
Did you know that disposable diapers take more than 500 years to break down in landfills?
Cloth diapers are better for the environment, and your baby too.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Diapering your baby through the different stages – Part I

This is the first blog entry of a series of three - newborn, older baby and toddler. I will try to go through different diapering systems, and leave you my advice on how they may work as your baby grows. If you are totally new to cloth diapering and all this cloth diaper addict lingo confuses you, I suggest you also read this page on our main site.

Newborn:

I think there are three main considerations when you start your cloth diapering adventure with a newborn.
1. Blow-out containment.
2. Ease of use, since a lot of new parents are new at diapering all together.
3. Frequent changes

The containment factor: Here we go, the very graphic part of the story!
Because newborn poop is very runny and can be quite… dare I say… explosive, elastics are really nice. Really, really nice…. I also liked to have the two layers of protection that a fitted or snappied prefold and a separate cover gave me. If the diaper did not contain it all, the cover caught the balance before it made it on the clothing. For the records, we only had to deal with a tiny baby’s major blow-out on clothing while using disposable diapers (and once only in a pocket diaper.) As far as my experience goes, pocket diapers do contain runny poop much better than a disposable, but not as well as a separate diaper and cover do. We had a few pocket dipes on hand and liked to have them in the bag on outings, and also at night since our baby was a daytime-only pooper.

Which bring us to ease of use. Magic word for new parents: Hook and loop (i.e. Velcro!). It is nice, not intimidating and easy for daddy to deal with in the middle of the night. Be warned here, as this series of posts progresses though, you might not like Velcro forever… Other great choices for the ease of use are pockets and all-in-ones. However, for the reasons above, I do not recommend a complete stash of pocket and all-in-one diapers to start, but do try them, a lot of parent just swear by them so they might work out great for your family as well.

The ease of use is also linked to the frequent changes. Newborns seem constantly wet and they poop a lot too. You may have to change a diaper 16 times a day, including night, so you will want to make sure it is easy.

Another side consideration is the umbilical stump for the first few days or weeks, depending on when it falls. We really disliked a PUL cover rubbing on our tiny baby’s stump, so for most of the time, we just kept her in a fitted diaper without a cover, laid her to sleep with a lap pad underneath her and changed the clothing with the diaper for the first little bit. We were given gazillions tiny sleepers anyway. Since then though, I have learned to use fleece and wool, and my next baby will most likely be wrapped in wool from the start.

The last thing to keep in mind is that newborn diapers won’t fit for long. Buy good quality diapers but please do not spend too much on newborn/small size. A lot of parents who do fancier diapers in bigger sizes prefer to do cheaper options for the newborn.

Some parents use cloth in the hospital, some don’t. A huge benefit of using cloth from the get go is that you can feel those wet diapers right away rather than guessing if a disposable is wet. These first wet diapers are quite an important indicator if baby is getting milk and believe me, it is not fun to take a disposable apart to figure if it was actually wet! And yes, worried first time parents do silly things like that! A downside of dealing with cloth in the hospital is to bring them back home for a wash, but really you can see it as a first experience in traveling with cloth diapers. If you like cloth diapering you will probably end up doing several overnight travels with them anyway so one more or less won’t make a big difference in the end. You will also have to wash the meconium, which is not as bad as you might think. It does wash fine; no special pre-treatment is needed and doesn’t stain any more than other bowel movements. If you are really worried about it, you can just put a disposable liner in the diaper.

My personal recommendation for a newborn is to get fitted diapers and PUL or wool/fleece covers as a main system for those first months, a few pocket/AIO diapers to see if you like them too, as well as a dozen or two of good quality infant size prefolds as a back up in between wash days while you figure out how to use them and see if you actually like to use them as a main diaper. Prefolds are cheap and versatile, so having some on hand from the start is just great. They will be useful in the future as inserts/doublers in bigger diapers or to wipe the slide at the park, wash the car, and one of our team member can even turn them into training pants for you.

I also recommend a big stack of cloth wipes. They will be a lifesaver and some of them can even be folded in a tiny diaper as a doubler.

On this note I will congratulate you on your new baby - you are not reading this just for fun, are you? :-)
Happy babymoon!

- To be continued with the older baby/crawler part soon…

Saturday, September 6, 2008

LilBees now has Velour!

Autumn Joy Diaper duo with velour inners"Autumn Joy" Diaper Duo
because how could autumn be anything BUT joyful with velour on your little ones bum?!


Velour has recently become a popular diaper fabric, so I decided to try it out. WOW! It is so soft, I just want to sit and snuggle with it all day. It does not wick or 'stay dry' like microfleece does, but because of the pile (the fuzz) it does leave skin feeling dry, which is nearly the same! Furthermore, it remains soft through many washings--not many fabrics do that!
I have recently gotten in several colors of velour, and am starting to stock velour-inner AIOs and fitted diapers at LilBees.
Come check them out!

Is your baby a Breezy Baby?

Hi, My name is Andrea and I am the WAHM behind Breezy Babies.
I make great fitting bamboo diapers that dry quickly and fit a wide range of sizes.
I am so exited to be making these and selling them. I am a mom of 4 and have tried many many kinds of diapers. I finally came up with something that combined everything that I liked. My goal is to provide comfort and breathability at an affordable price.


It looks like fall is just around the corner! My favorite time of the year. Cozy Recycled wool longies and New wool longies will be in the shop soon. I think they will be a hit.
I have recently added a new version of my Pinnable Fitted to the shop called Prefold Shells.
They are great if you want to keep your prefolds, prevent blowouts and have a super quick drying system. I have also added my favorite goats milk soap. Its super creamy and gentle for you and baby. Lots more goodies to come.



Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Petit Mouton on Etsy. My first post on this blog!

Hi everyone!
My Etsy store is called Petit Mouton.
I have been member of this team for a few months but had not posted here yet... I make crocheted wool soakers using the Ladybugz licensed pattern. I have a shop blog too, check it out.

So first a little bit about myself and how my store started:
I have been knitting for at least 10 years now, and I learned to crochet about 5-6 years ago. Self taught at sewing when I decided to make diapers for my little one. Technically I am not a WHAM, since I work out of the house, but I have a long daily commute and I love to crochet in public transit! With my daughter, we use wool soakers over training pants during daytime since she is an EC'ed baby. I modify the patterns to make the butt smaller in order to fit a less bulky trainer. These also work great for sposie babies, so I have also made a couple cotton ones for moms not sold to cloth... But I intend to stock my store mostly with "regular cloth cut" wools. Too bad I had not discovered wool when our DD was littler, I guess it will be for the next one.

A few months ago we also started to use wool at night and we love it. It took a couple trial and error to find the "right" diaper to wear under, but we got it. A snappied premium prefold and a hemp doubler work like a charm for us under a pair of "full bum" shorties. She wakes up in a dry bed and without the "stinky bum" smell that the PUL pockets used to give her.

Why PetitMouton? Well, I am French Canadian expat in BC, Canada and it means "little sheep" in French, so I thought the name was perfect for woolies.

I like to work with wool, and also to include some alpaca blend in my woolies. Alpaca tends to be warmer than wool, but it is also very soft. For this reason, I like to use a yarn with just a touch of Alpaca. Check out the shorties and longies with a skirt that I have made with it.


I also have two hand-dyed BFL shorties coming. Look at these colors, won't that be lovely?


I would like to eventually add bamboo wipes and cloth diapers to my lines, but I do not know when... Maybe if someone installs a sewing machine on the train line I take I could squeeze time for that...
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