Working on a Bit of Early Potty Training
Dec 4, 2009 Eco Friendly Parenting
Much as I love my cloth diapers over disposables, I do sooooo look forward to being done with diapers altogether.
I mean really. I’ve been dealing with diapers almost continuously since my oldest was born, about seven and a half years ago. Small breaks between each baby, but not enough. Really, not enough.
How I wish we had discovered the delights of cloth diapering sooner.
In the early days, my husband wouldn’t hear of it. It was a tv show about how much waste the things we use produces that showed it for disposable diapers that finally got him on my side. Now he wishes we had done it throughout.
But I’m really ready for potty training. Selene may be only 10 months old, but we’re doing some gentle work with it.
What got us started was noticing that she tends to pee after she and I take a shower in the morning. Bringing her in is just easier than waiting for her to nap, and I obviously cannot leave her in the charge of her older brother, who is only 4, and my oldest daughter is generally at school at the time, and really not ready for that responsibility either.
So, noticing a trend, out came the potty training seat.
She promptly quit peeing right after a shower for a few weeks.
But now she’s doing it again, and yes, in the potty. She doesn’t have it down yet, but she is becoming more aware that her body is doing something and that she gets praised for it. She gets a bit of praise just for sitting there, of course. But I’m getting some awfully big grins when she realizes that she has done something more in there. And she claps for herself.
We’re not aiming for complete training at this point. With three kids it would take more time than I’m up for to do a complete job. I’m just aiming for a relatively young potty training with her getting comfortable with the idea now.
I hope.
My mother likes to talk about how my grandmother always had babies trained by six months old. Of course, disposable diapers weren’t so common then, and I would imagine washing diapers would be a bit more time consuming. That would certainly be motivation, no matter the number of kids.
People do potty train young like that still, and I understand it works. The currently popular name is elimination communication. But I wasn’t ready to go for it then, and am still not ready to go for it now.
Tags: cloth diapers, potty training
Cloth Diapering Continues to Go Well
Sep 14, 2009 Eco Friendly Parenting
It’s been a few months since I last talked about cloth diapering. My daughter is 7 months old now, and it’s still going well.
We’ve encountered some challenges. The home we’re in now has a Homeowner’s Association, which unsurprisingly has rules against clotheslines. That makes it a bit of a pain to dry the diapers outside, where the sun can bleach any stains out naturally.
However, the rule is that it cannot be visible to the other houses. We’re fortunate enough to be a corner house, with a hill and a high brick wall off to that side. That gives me a place to put the diapers out to dry, provided I get them out early enough in the day that the sun still hits them.
They’d dry in the shade of course, especially with the 100 degree weather we’ve been having. But the direct sunlight is better.
There’s no convenient way to put up a clothesline, however. I’ve been making do with some lawn chairs and a baby gate we aren’t yet using indoors, laying the diapers out flat on those. The gate allows air to flow around both sides of the diapers.
The trouble is that they don’t dry as nicely. Everything’s just a little on the crunchy side when they dry like that. I’m thinking it’s the lack of movement from the wind.
I’m planning on ordering a folding indoor/outdoor clothes rack
We do occasionally have that extra bit of smell from the diapers, which just means that I have to strip the diapers, but that’s really not so hard. Just a regular wash followed by some extra washing with Dawn dish soap and lots and lots of rinsing. Takes care of the problem quite nicely.
And how I love not having to buy disposable diapers! Saves me a ton of driving, much more so than if we had remained in Poway where Target was about 5 miles away. Here it’s about 15 miles. Between the mileage saved on the car and the money saved by not buying disposable diapers, wow! Really and truly worth the extra laundry.
Tags: baby, cloth diapers
Do Cloth Diapers Stink?
Jun 2, 2009 Eco Friendly Parenting, Going Green
A concern I know some people have about cloth diapers is the smell. No one likes their home to smell like dirty diapers.
On the whole, they don’t stink up a house any worse than disposable diapers. That is, if you take care of washing them regularly (3 days apart is about my maximum), they won’t stink up the whole house. Leave them sitting around too long, and of course they’re going to stink!
Wash them properly and you’ll control the odor most of the time. I use Country Save HE Laundry Detergent
But eventually they do tend to build up an odor. Considering what goes into them, it’s hardly a surprise.
But all you have to do is a special wash called stripping, and the smell should go away.
Start out with freshly washed diapers. They need to be clean for this process.
Wash the diapers again in hot water, with a teaspoon of original Dawn dish detergent (not the newer varieties and not other brands) for a HE machine, a tablespoon for a top loading machine.
Run through the wash two more times with just water. This will get out the rest of the soap and should take care of the smell. If suds continue to appear by the rinse cycle of the second wash, you may need to do another cycle.
Dry as usual. I really do recommend line drying if at all possible.
This is also supposed to help if your cloth diapers are starting to leak.
The long and short of it is, if your cloth diapers stink either you’re letting them sit too long before washing or it’s time to strip them. You should not be getting a worse stink than what you get from disposables.
Tags: cloth diapers, smell, stripping diapers
The Disadvantage to Line Drying Cloth Diapers
Apr 8, 2009 Going Green
Cloth diapering my daughter is going really well right now. She still has the occasional leak if she naps too long and I only have the infant insert in the diaper, but so long as I pay attention all goes well. She can even make it through the night with the full size insert in her bumGenius 3.0 cloth diapers
Caring for them is going really well too. I’m pretty used to the clothesline routine for drying them. But there’s one little disadvantage we have to deal with…
There’s a pepper tree next door. It’s dropping those tiny little flowers all over the place.
I keep finding them in the diapers when I bring them in. I’ve not had this problem with other laundry, although I will admit I’m pickier about the condition of diapers when then come in than other clothes. Selene’s smaller, after all, and diapers have a rather important function.
Aside from that, I’m loving the clothesline, at least on warm, sunny days. The sun nicely bleaches out the color that the washing machine doesn’t quite manage.
Tags: baby supplies, cloth diapers, clothesline, saving energy
Is the Cost of Going Green Worth It?
Apr 1, 2009 Budget Environmentalism, Going Green
A lot of green purchases cost more upfront than their non-green counterparts. Organic food, compact fluorescent bulbs, cloth diapers… it can be hard to see why you would bother paying extra. All these steps seem like such small things.
However, each of these has the potential to save you some significant money.
The hardest to track is probably the organic food. How do you know if a health issue is caused by the buildup from the food you’ve been eating or if you would have had it no matter your diet? You can’t.
But other differences may be noted. You might find that you are more satisfied when you eat healthier foods. Some people find that their urge to snack goes down when they cut the junk food. Combine that with going organic and you might not be spending as much extra as you think.
Compact fluorescent bulb savings are also hard to track. You don’t know what fixture adds a particular amount to your electricity bill. Their estimated average savings per bulb for the life of the bulb is about $30… not a bad deal.
The need to recycle them can be a bit of a challenge, but you can learn how to handle that in your area at http://www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling
Cloth diapering is something I’ve recently gotten into, as readers of this blog already know. The upfront cost is significant, a few hundred dollars, but through the time my daughter is in diapers I will have saved a lot of money. I would have saved a lot more if I had used cloth diapers starting with my oldest child.
Depending on the brand of diapers you buy, payback can be a few months under a year to a few months over a year. That’s not a bad deal. It’s some extra work, but with modern cloth diapers it really is not all that complex. No pins required.
Not every green purchase has such obvious financial advantages. Organic and fair trade clothing for example, cost more, but you aren’t going to get that money back. They’re about making a choice based on your conscience.
The big changes such as solar power have extremely long payback times and can be unattainable for people who rent. It’s a great choice for those who can afford to wait to earn their money back and have a living situation that allows it, but it’s not a green choice that everyone can do right now.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that not every green choice comes with a price tag.
Choosing to buy less, for example. Making do with less is a green choice and doesn’t cost you anything. It is perhaps one of the most neglected green options out there, as people love to shop. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter, just that it’s one of the least glamorous choices you can make.
But it can feel really good. It’s an adjustment, but not so uncomfortable as some might think. And the impact on your pocketbook is a positive one.
Tags: cloth diapers, consumerism, green shopping, shopping
