Well, I posted a lot about baby stuff before Rowen was born. Plans and goals and such. He'll be 4 months this week. I thought it might be a good time to revisit the goals and plans and share with y'all how we're doing.
The cloth diapering has been going really well. When we lived in the house with no washer, Rowen and I would load the wet bag full of dirty diapers into the stroller and walk to the laundry mat every other day. It was a little over a half mile to the laundry mat, so it was perfect exercise during my postpartum period. Most of the time I line dry the diapers in the front lawn. As I predicted, Rowen only spent 6 or 7 weeks in the newborn diapers. I'm very glad I didn't waste any time making him stuff for that size. Once he hit 10lbs the diaper covers I made for him started fitting. Last week I officially retired those and we are using the next size up diaper covers that I've been making since he was born. I have been really really happy with those covers. I've made them all out of PUL material and fold over elastic (FOE), some I've put a cute cotton print on the outside of. I haven't had any problems with leaking from any of them. The pattern was free, and I have enough material to make a half dozen of each size at least.
For his next size up I think I'm going to make him some velour prefolds. I made one as a trial in the size he's in now, as well as one made of terry cloth, and I have really liked the velour one. It comes off the drying rack much softer than the regular cotton prefolds. It was a pain to make, so I don't think I'll make him a lot, but I think I'll make him 4-6 of them. It makes me happy that I have fitteds for him in that material already made. They should start fitting soon.
So far, making and using cloth diapers has been a huge success, very doable, and the money savings makes it worth the time.
Other cloth items I made that we've been using include cloth wipes for Rowen, cloth menstrual pads for me, the wet bags and the diaper bag.
The wipes are holding up well. In case you don't remember, I put hemp terry cloth together with flannel for 4" square and 5" square wipes. They were a little hard to air dry until my Grandma DeeDee brought me some nifty drying-clippy-hanger-things. Anyway, I keep a water bottle by the changing table and just wet the wipe with plain room temp water and it does it's thing. There have only been a couple of times when one wasn't enough, and nothing that two couldn't handle. One of these days I'm going to make another dozen of them and replace toilet paper with them.
The mommy pads worked really well during my postpartum period. I am never going back to disposables. Cloth pads are softer, more breathable and less smelly than disposables. And, of course, they saved me money. I do need to find a more elegant receptacle for them than the bucket I was using. I've seen pottery jars that I think would work well, some even designed for the task.
The wetbags have been wonderful. I have two large ones that I switch back and forth between and a small one for the diaper bag. All are still looking great and working well. The large ones just hang on the side of the changing table and they do a pretty good job of keeping the stink down, even though I rarely zip them closed between changings.
The diaper bag has pleased me as well. Dave complains that it's "too small." I think it's perfect. :-D :-D
Home-made is really working out for me, so I tried my hand at baby food this weekend. I had a whole bunch of plump peas and juicy carrots from the Franklin plot. I shelled the peas, diced the carrots and steamed them together for a few minutes. Then I tossed them in the blender with a little bit of the hot water and pureed it. I froze the puree in a spare ice cube tray for easy portioning. Now I have ten servings of organic peas and carrots! For free! I tasted it and it's pretty tasty. For baby food. I want to look into making some from sweet corn, and green beans and squash. Ooh and Peaches. Dave's mother just sent me some recipes, if I try them out, I'll report back.
All in all Rowen is styling in his homemade eco-friendly cloth. He seems pretty happy, no diaper rashes to speak of, no leaking during naps, what more can a baby ask for? :-D We'll continue with the low impact baby, and I'll report back when I have things of interest.
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