I’m in L-O-V-E…

…with cloth diapers! Truly, they are much, much, MUCH different than I had pictured in my head, and everything that I “knew” about them was 100% wrong. I’m so glad that I gave them a try! Now I just wish that I could use them all of the time…

I showed off his cute butt the other day but in case you need another dose, here’s how cute he is in his cloth-covered bum:



You know that I was looking for options to avoid nighttime leaking with a heavy wetter. I tried the overnight diapers with mixed results. They leak about 50% of the time when I use them. But the cloth diapers? They haven’t leaked one single time in 6 nights.

Six nights.

No leaks.

That’s pure heaven for this momma.

Not that it means that he’s sleeping through the night – FAR from it! – but at least he’s not waking up ticked off because he’s all wet and I have to strip the screaming baby and the bedding at 2am. He’s apparently waking up to have a “party” in his bed…but that’s a whole other story.

Back to my new-found love for cloth. I really do like using the cloth diapers at night. Now, I will be honest here and tell you that I have yet to have to truly clean up a mess in them because it comes off as soon as he wakes up (it’s full!) so what I do clean is just pee, not poop. And if my day care was cloth-friendly (not something that I was interested in at the time when I searched for our day care) I would seriously consider switching all the way. But they’re not. And I love my day care…so we’ll be a mixed diapering family, I suppose. We’ll cloth diaper at night (and possibly on the weekends if I get some more diapers) for sure and use disposables during the day.

So being new to the cloth scene, I immediately started researching some accessories that I would need. Mainly a wet bag for when we’re out and about and a larger one (or a liner) as a place to put them at the house. I saw some cute stuff. And then decided that I could make my own. I went shopping on my lunch hour, went home and put the kid to bed then got to work on my idea and came up with this loveliness:





Isn’t it just perfect for a little guy? I love the old cars! The tutorial was fairly easy to follow, but there were a few moments when I scratched my head…and I’m still working out the kinks of making the hanging one for the laundry room door…but this one is perfect for now. Perfect for my diaper bag. Perfect for the laundry room floor. Just perfect.

I even went all fancy and lined it with PUL so that it's truly waterproof…



I think that it’s just as nice as one that I could have bought online at a diapering retailer or etsy. Too cute. I’ll post some pictures of the bigger one in action once I get it finished. Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow night. Heck, it might even be one night next week…having a husband playing softball one night a week means having one night a week when I don’t have to “pretend” not to be crafting something! Score for both of us!

What do you think? Too cute? (Yes, I understand that I’m fishing for compliments...LOL!)

Look at that Bum!!

Oh my, get ready for cute bum overload...

I wrote this post last week asking for some advice from moms out there about how to help Jax stay dry all night long, thinking that part of his sleeping troubles could be related to how quickly he goes through diapers at night. 

Thanks to those moms who emailed me with some suggestions, and I want you to know that I acted on them.  On all of them.

Yep, you read that right...I hedged my bets, so to speak.

Some suggested trying the overnite style diapers from either Huggies and/or Pampers, while others suggested trying to cloth diaper overnite.  Although the overnite diapers were hard to find in an actual store in Jax's size anywhere close to me (I visited 4 stores!), and the cloth diaper world was slightly overwhelming...I managed to get some of each.

I got these overnite diapers...



And these are the cloth diapers that I decided to try...

source for both images

I mean, I figured that since BumGenius has a 30-day trial period where they accept returns (even once worn/used) what did I have to lose?

Since I was able to find the overnite diapers here in town, I used those for a few nights while I waited for the cloth diapers to arrive via mail, plus one additional night spent pre-washing and drying for maximum absorbency.  I mean, that's what we were going for, right?

I have to admit that I was skeptical about the overnite Huggies at first.  They felt no thicker than normal Huggies, so I was doubtful of the job that they would do.  Imagine my surprise when they made it to the feeding/changing time without a leak the first night.  Then double that surprise when I got really brave the next night and didn't change it at all...all night long...and his clothes were still dry in the morning.  At this point, I was pretty sure that I would be returning the cloth diapers right away.

And then the overnite diapers leaked the night before last.  Insert sad face here.  I know, I know...there isn't going to be a perfect solution, just something that's better than what I was using is an improvement.  Nothing is guaranteed to work all the time, after all.  So that's when I decided to give the cloth diapers a turn, and we tried our first cloth diaper last night.

Since I'm tryping this after he's gone to bed, and before he wakes up, I won't actually have an end to this tale for you...but I DO have some cute butt pictures to show you!  Man, those cloth diapering moms out there aren't kidding about how cute a butt in a cloth diaper is!! 

I just kept patting and patting it...couldn't stop myself!  I really hope that they work, because I could totally get used to seeing this right before bedtime each night...

Calling All Moms! Nighttime help, PLEASE!!!

dash-dash-dash. dot-dot-dot. dash-dash-dash.

Or is it dot-dot-dot. dash-dash-dash. dot-dot-dot?  I can't remember...either way - HELP! 

I have a problem.  Well, I probably have many problems, but this is one that I think that you can help with.  I  have a heavy-wetter at night...and I don't know what to do about it.  He goes through diapers during the night like they're going out of style, and I'm at my wits end about it all.  I think that this could be "part" of the problem with his bad nighttime sleeping habits...he keeps waking up because his diaper has leaked again and who can blame him for being mad about it?  Not me! 

We use disposable diapers...go ahead, castrate me for it.  It's our choice and worked well for me before.  Jenna never had these leaking overnight problems.  Jax likes the Huggies Little Snugglers/Movers best, and during the day they work fine.  But at night?  I always have to change him at his nighttime bottle just to try to avoid the mess, but lately he's not even making it until then...the diapers are leaking sooner!  At first I thought that it was happening more often because he was growing out of the size 2 diapers...so I moved up to size 3.  They work fine during the day, but at night...every single night...they leak on the front since he's a tummy sleeper.  And sometimes they leak on the sides when he's snuggled up in his swaddle wrap.

So what should I do?  Try a different brand?  Try a different style (Huggies makes Snug and Dry vs. the Little Movers)? 

The other options that I've looked at are overnight diapers, but I can't find them in a store under a size 4...so that's out.  And then today, I was catching up in my Reader and saw this post where she talks about what they do at night...should I try cloth diapering just for the nighttime absorbency tricks that are possible?  And if I do go with cloth diapers...where the heck do I start?  There are so many options and brands and inserts...I'm truly overwhelmed!

What do you recommend?  Surely someone out there has a recommendation...what do you do for your nighttime diaper situation?  Thanks for any input you can offer me!!!