Mother’s Day is almost here and we are celebrating with our love for cloth diapers!

Welcome to the Mother’s Day Cloth Diaper Giveaway Hop hosted by Daily Mothering! Nearly 100 blogs have linked up to bring you dozens and dozens of exciting cloth diaper giveaways. Enter my giveaway below and then hop to the other blogs listed at the bottom of this post to enter their fluffy giveaways too! Each blog has a cloth diaper prize valued at $15 or more, and many blogs have prize packs worth over $100. And, don’t forget to enter the GRAND PRIZE giveaway at Daily Mothering for your chance to win this amazing $1300 Cloth Diaper Prize Pack! (Shown Above) 

I am excited to announce that my personal giveaway is for a diaper from a company I’ve mentioned on here a few times in the past: Old School Cool Cloth Diapers. I just love Amanda’s diapers and have been using them regularly for night time diapers for the last few months. They are utra absorbent and ridiculously cute (soft, too!) They make a great day time diaper, but with an extra hemp insert, they make the perfect night time diaper. We use wool as a cover overnight. During the day, though, you could get away with no cover for an hour or two.  Go here to read my full review of these great diapers. Amanda also stocks her store this Thursday, May 3rd – so be sure to check it out if you want to pick up one of these diapers before the giveaway ends!

This giveaway is for one one-size diaper (yes Amanda offers one-size diapers, now!) in the winner’s choice of boy, girl, or gender neutral. Follow the instructions on the rafflecopter form below to enter. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States only. After entering to win this diaper, be sure to check out and enter all of the other giveaways participating in this giveaway hop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Prefolds have come to be our daytime cloth diaper of choice.  Honestly, we’ve had leaks with every type of diaper, other than prefolds. Depending on Monkey’s size, we seem to always have 24 in rotation…with a few all-in-ones, pockets, and fitteds mixed in.

Since this is my first child, and subsequently my first time cloth diapering, I’ve been making an effort to buy different brands as Monkey grows. The problem with this, though, is that different brands use different colored thread for the stitching. So, we ended up with 24 yellow edged pre-folds…12 in one size, and 12 in another. It started to get really annoying when doing diaper laundry because I used the smaller sized yellow prefolds as inserts or doublers, and the larger size as actual diapers. I was having to hold them up to each other when folding laundry to figure out which was which. Finally, I had the idea to dye the smaller size!

I happened to have some dye stored away with my craft stuff – not sure if I bought it in my pre-crunchy days, or if someone gave it to me or what, but I’d rather use it than just get rid of it…and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. At some point I hope to try out dying some prefolds with fruits and/or veggies! *added to long term to-do list*

This adventure was fun and I was totally thrilled with the results. I did a few extra washes/rinses to make sure that all of the dye was rinsed out and wouldn’t irritate Monkey’s delicate skin.

+ Salt

+ Rubber Gloves

+ Prefolds (mine were organic, unbleached cotton)

+ Fabric Dye (I had some dylon dye on hand)

+ Bucket

What to do:

*Note – I don’t like to follow instructions, so my ‘how-to’ is very different than what’s on the back of the package. The package calls for continual stirring for like 15 minutes at a time. I did NOT have time to do this with a little baby…and the husband was out of town, so I improvised.  This is probably why I suck at cooking…because I rarely follow recipes.

1. If you want your prefolds to come out as bright as advertised on the package of dye, follow the instructions listed for weighing your fabric. I had 12 prefolds and 3 packs of dye, so I just did 4 in each bucket. I think the colors came out pretty vibrant! Just keep in mind that this tutorial uses one packet per four prefolds.

2. Add the packet of dye and one cup of salt to your dying bucket.

3. Slowly add 6 liters of warm water. Careful not to let the dye splash up on you!

4. Put on your rubber gloves and stir until well mixed. I stirred one color, then rinsed off the gloves, then moved onto another color. Worked fine for me! No need to be meticulous here, if you get one or two drops of orange dye in the blue dye, it’s not going to be a big deal.

5. Add your fabric to the bucket. I put on the gloves, added 4 prefolds to one color and stirred for about 3 or 4 minutes. Then, I rinsed off the gloves and did the same with the other two colors. Make sure that you push the fabric below the surface of the water when you move to the next color. Sometimes, the fabric kept popping above the surface, so I added a bit of water.

6. Wait 30 minutes.

7. Stir each color again for 3-4 minutes each.

8. Wait 30 minutes.

9. Rinse for just a minute or two in utility sink, then throw in washing machine and do just a cold rinse. I did this with each color individually. *If you don’t have a utility sink, I’m sure you could just throw the diapers straight into the wash. I’ve read tutorials where people have done the entire dying process in the washing machine.

10. After each color has been through a cold rinse cycle, wash all colors together like normal with detergent. (Hot wash/cold rinse)

11. Repeat hot wash/cold rinse with detergent. This step might not be necessary, but I wanted to make sure all of the dye was out so that it wouldn’t irritate Monkey’s bum.

12. Hot wash/cold rinse with no detergent.

13. Extra rinse if you feel it’s necessary.

14. Dry by hang drying or in dryer. (I used the dryer because I’ve read that the dye can leave the fabric kind-of stiff at first, so I hoped to fluff it up a bit)

Have you dyed your prefolds or other cloth diapers? How did they turn out and what type of dye did you use?

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Jessica and her husband The Piano Man have five daughters of their own and just last night, welcomed the sixth into their family. In an effort to normalize the birthing process, Jessica decided to broadcast this birth through a live streaming video. This meant thousands of people (including me) were tuned in as Jessica birthed her beautiful daughter, Arden.  It was so beautiful to watch Jessica go through a long labor with such passion, pride, and determination. Her midwife was there the entire time, and her husband and two eldest daughters offered their never-ending support.

Watching the birth brought back so many emotions from Monkey’s birth, almost 7 months ago. It also made me realize just how much I want to have my next child either at a birthing center, or in the comfort of my own home. It was so amazing to watch the family share this special experience.

Sharing this experience with Jessica really brought out a passion in me for babies and mommas. I know that someday, somehow I really want to utilize that passion in a way that can be a support to other families. Whether that means I become a doula, midwife, lactation consultant, or something else…I know I want to do something. It means so much to me that there are such amazing woman out there like Jessica, working so hard to help others, and to normalize breast feeding and the birthing process. It truly makes me want to do the same. Now…how do I figure out what road to take?

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I’ve mentioned it before on the blog, but I’m proud to say that Monkey is in cloth diapers 100% of the time. I wanted to wait until he was 6 months before talking too much about it so that I could write from my experience, and not just research. The verdict: We LOVE it. It’s so much easier than I could have ever imagined. Even the husband agrees.

For the first month of Monkey’s life, he was in disposables. This was because when we got home from the hospital (after a longer-than-anticipated stay), we were dealing with some major breast-feeding issues including yeast, and I didn’t want to get the yeast on the diapers. I was so sleep deprived and was already doing a ton of laundry (multiple loads a day) to keep the yeast at bay, that I just couldn’t fathom doing even more. Plus, I really wanted to get his yeast rash cleared up. During this time, we hated hated hated the disposables. He had a ‘blow-out’ on more than one occasion, and our garbage filled up so quickly. Oh and don’t even get me started on the smell. Those first few weeks, we literally had 4+ bags of garbage to take out on trash day, when we usually only have one (if that).

So, when we had the yeast battle under control, I enthusiastically dove into my cloth diaper stash that I had been building up throughout my pregnancy. Monkey seemed to like them immediately. So, why did we choose to cloth diapers in the first place? Well, there’s pretty much a bajillion reasons, but here goes:

+ Money.

Did you know that the average family goes through at least 8,000 disposables for one kid from birth to potty training? Let’s do a little math here…If one box of diapers contains 72 diapers and costs $20, that’s $0.277 per diaper or roughly $2,216 total for 8,000 diapers. This is an extremely conservative estimate considering I just took my numbers from the size one Huggies Pure and Natural diapers listed on amazon.com – and obviously your child won’t be wearing the newborn size forever, so they’ll only get more expensive.

Depending on the type of cloth diaper you decide to use, a ‘stash’ that lasts from birth to potty training can cost anywhere from $200-$500. Big savings. First Bonus: Cloth diapers can be used kid after kid, so you’ll be saving even more money since you won’t have to buy a new stash for each kid. Second Bonus: Cloth diapers have a huge market for resale. You’ll be able to make back a lot of your investment if you choose to sell your diapers after you’re done.

(Stay tuned for a more detailed post all about the ‘numbers’ soon)

+ Toxins.

Disposable diapers are full of some pretty nasty chemicals. If you’ve used them before, you know how absorbent they are – but have you ever wondered why they are so absorbent? It’s because they are filled with a chemical compound called Sodium Polyacrylate. This stuff works like magic in the way it absorbs liquid, however, it’s the same stuff that was banned from use in tampons because of the heightened risk for toxic-shock-syndrome. Why is it banned from tampons but not baby diapers? your guess is as good as mine.

Most disposable diapers are also bleached with chlorine to make them white. Bleaching results in a carcinogenic byproduct (dioxins), which is released onto baby’s skin and into the environment. Many disposable diapers also contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), tributyl-tin, and other chemicals. Together, these chemicals can wreak havoc on the human body by causing damage to the liver, nervous system, immune system, endocrine system, reproductive system, and more.  These chemicals also cause many rashes and allergic reactions on baby’s delicate skin.

+ Comfort.

If you’re a girl and you’ve worn a pad before, you know how uncomfortable it can get having that plastic thing chafe against your skin for a few days. Now, imagine feeling that, all over your bum, 24/7 for a couple of years. Yuck. I would much rather my baby have cotton touching his bum than plastic. The chemicals in disposables have also been found to cause more irritants such as rashes and allergic reactions than cloth. Monkey’s skin is so sensitive, I want to protect it!

+ Environmental Reasons.

Disposable diapers are terrible for the environment. Most parents don’t think twice about throwing a dirty diaper in the trash. Out of site, out of mind.  Completely forgotten. The thing is, that diaper makes its way to the landfill and stays there. For years. Also, if your kid was just vaccinated, that dirty diaper can leak the virus from the vaccine into the landfill and into the ground, which can end up in the water system.

Secondly, just looking at the numbers I mentioned above, can you imagine all of those diapers added to the landfills just from your kid(s)?  That’s 8,000 diapers minimum, per kid. Then, think about all of the people you know that have kids. And the people they know that have kids. And on and on and on. That’s a whole heck-of-a-lot of diapers sitting in a landfill somewhere. According to the EPA, 20 billion (BILLION!) diapers are thrown in the landfill each year.

Yuck.

Yes, your cloth diapers will end up in a landfill someday, too…but even a large stash has what…maybe 100 diapers? you’d go through that many disposables in like two weeks. And, if you end up re-selling some of your diapers, you’ll be keeping even more out of the landfills.

Lastly, the manufacturing process of disposable diapers is more harmful to the environment than that of cloth diapers. According to The Good Human, disposable diapers use 20 times more raw materials (talk about depleting our natural resources), two times more water, and three times more energy than cloth diapers.

+ The Cool Factor.

My favorite reason. Cloth is cool. No, seriously! Cloth diapers are so much cuter than disposables. So much so that disposables are now making diapers with prints in order to compete with the competition of cloth diapers. Have you seen those disposables that look like jeans? The options with cloth diapers are endless. Get your kid in cloth, and I guarantee within a few days, someone will say “Oh my gosh that diaper is so cute, what is it? Where did you get it?” And then you can tell them why you chose cloth.

Note: This post just barely scrapes the surface of the countless reasons to use cloth diapers. If you have any questions, concerns, or other facts you think should be listed in this post – please feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail!

Up next in The Crunchy Wife’s Cloth Diapering Series…

Cloth Diapering: The How – A beginner’s look at the types of cloth diapers available today.

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Many large companies and organizations participate in Earth Hour, so it’s always fun to look at aerial pictures taken before/during the event. It’s remarkable to see how different the world looks without so many lights turned on. To learn more about Earth Hour, check out the following video, or hit up earthhour.org.

Please take this time to show your support for protecting the environment. Are you interested in participating but not sure what to do during the hour? Here are some ideas:

+ Take a long walk with the family

+ Pull out those old board games and play by candlelight

+ Do a craft that you’ve been meaning to work on – sew a blanket, knit a scarf, or make some pillowcases!

+ Go through your recipe books and meal plan for next week

+ Read!

+ Go through your clothes and pick out some stuff that you never wear to give away

+ Clean – okay not so fun, but cleaning by candlelight could be an adventure

+ Give your partner a massage

+ Relax

Are you celebrating Earth Hour? What are your plans?

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