December 2012 buns

[Coconuts]

Any of you mammas got anything to say about Alvababy diapers? Finding some pretty good reviews on youtube. Leak wise.

 

[B&LsMom]

Blake is excited. He likes going to my midwife appointments and hearing the heartbeat most. He wasn't too interested in the ultrasound pics (he went to the 20 week scan but we left him with Auntie yesterday as it was a different office we were going to than before). He also has been showing off his room and then asks "visitors" if they want to see baby's room--which is a total mess right now bahaha. I have my baby shower tomorrow, so hoping next weekend we can get the nursery all together and then he will be welcome any time!!

 

[AZBabyDust]

I'm on CD 4 and this is the first month that I started charting!! Before Hubby and I tried for 5 months leaving it to chance and no such luck

Also the first time I've joined a forum in hopes of support from other fabulous ladies TTC! Share your tips for watching for signs of fertility, BABY DUST to all us girls!!

 

[B&LsMom]

AZ--My hubby and I took a similar approach when we started trying for our first (went off the pill end of August 2007, and didn't get a BFP until end of May 2008), There is always so much hype about protected intercourse in school and always taking birthcontrol as directed so you don't have an "oopps" baby, so you just figure it will happen right away when you are "finally" ready. I didn't want to be a crazy temping, charting, TTC Nazi but had I been we would have fallen pregnant a lot sooner!! Now that we're on our 2nd baby I have learned so much more about TTC and the slim chance you actually have to conceive each month---I swear I don't know how people have "oopps" babies!! Fertility friend has a free online account that is helpful in tracking your cycle and predicting fertile days, I LOVE LOVE LOVE OPK's also, and this time I had a wait before trying so mastered tempting while we were wait for the OK after a partial molar pregnancy--I had to do something to kill the time!! I also think the SMEP plan is a great "intercourse timing" plan...hopefully that helps a little!!

 

[Coconuts]

Hi AZ, welcome along. You might find it a bit bump tastic in here so hope you find that more inspiring than frustrating!
BMom said a lot. I was a temper and OPKer. Internet cheapie dip strips saved my wallet for that addiction.
I started temping before trying since we started soon after we got married. It really helps if your cycles are a little awol. EWCM is a great sign to get the OPKs out and two lines is your green light to get bonkfest going.
I tried the salivascope with not much luck. Preseed had a whirl too but the magic cycle was a mess. I thought it was going to be annov then on CD40 magic EWCM showed up along with a +OPK.
That cycle I'd upped my intake of water quite dramatically. I think it helped get my hormones moving and jiving to the right tune.
I hope your temping gets you some quick results. Managing the stress of it, is my temp up, did I O, should we keep going, ambiguous charts, temp peaks and troughs. It was a nightmare for me but so addictive to know what was going on in my cycle.

Oooooh and I did hoohaa temping. Made it easier to read since I'm a bit of a mouth breather and my charts were horribly rocky on the outset and so hard to interpret.

 

[sadie]

Great pics, Bmom!

Coco, love your bump!!

Anyone have any great books to recommend?

Tina W. Olivia actually tries to turn the photos by swiping her finger. Its crazy! She loves the baby rattler app where there are fish and she touches the blue one and it says blue, etc.... Any you can recommend? This girl needs a lot of stimulation otherwise she gets bored.

 

[Coconuts]

Clever little O. Literally born with an iPhone in her hand this one.
This next generation are going to be technological geniuses!

 

[sadie]

Coco, in america I was using pampers brand and was very satisfied. I tried one pack of huggies and hated them. When i arrived in italy, i continued to buy pampers, but decided to try the chicco bramd and love them. High absorbamcy and they are not bulky like pampers. As for the brand you mentioned, I havent seen them here.
I was tempted to go the washable, ecological route, but dont think i cant deal with washing dirty diapers. We dont have a dryer so that would also be annoying... The waiting for them to dry, etc.

 

[B&LsMom]

Sadie--she is going cloth--brave woman she is

 

[artsiekat]

Coco - I haven't used Alva's myself, but I've heard good things about them. I also don't use pocket diapers either. I use prefolds/flats and covers. My mom bought me a dozen fuzzibunz one size elites(they are pockets) and I found he does leak out of those.

I do think my little guy is quite the wetter, though. I think girls tend to be much lighter. I also don't really care for sticking the inserts in the pockets, seems like a silly step so I usually ended up just laying them on top. I also have bumgenius inserts and I use those and the fuzzibunz inserts with my swaddlebee capri covers and flip covers. Just lay them in the cover and put on baby!

Also, I love cloth diapering and don't find it even the slightest bit difficult and it's so much fun to pick out all the cute diapers to put on his bum!

I love Stephen King too, ladies, but I haven't read any of his new stuff(since Lisey's story, really). I just got a bunch of samples of his new stuff so I can pick one I want ton read! Right now I am reading Xenocide by Orson Scott Card(third book in the Ender's Game books) and I'm enjoying it!

 

[artsiekat]

Sadie - I actually don't have a dryer, either. Prefolds and flats dry in one day for me, faster if I put on them! I've never tried all in ones because of not having a dryer, though.

 

[artsiekat]

Oh and I really should read back before posting!

Bmom - great scans you have there, they look so good and little bubs looks perfect! Congratulations!

Coco - Your bump is to cute, you look amazing!

Thought I'd add in this sweet little video of Daddy and baby!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2IHDp65rG0

 

[sadie]

Yes, cloth! I googled them afterwards!
Here a saleswoman told me to wait to go cloth until she is on food. She said the watery poop causes trouble, and therefore more leaking.
I am often tempted to consider it, and i lovethe various diaper covers/colors/designs....

Artsie, besides being nice to the environment, are you saing a lot of $? That would sway me. Also, how many acrual diapers do you have? Thx!

 

[Coconuts]

Yep Trina, I'm going cloth. All in two though. Like you said Artsie, the all in ones would take way too long to line dry. All in two with seperate insert seems like a great compromise. Alvababy has swayed me. I'm planning on doing an overnight wash every other day and leaving the diapers a whole day to line dry.
I'd like 30 in my stash making 10 a day. Seems plenty. We'll have some disposables on hand in case of running out in the beginning but I don't think so. My mum cloth diapered me and said cloth was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better at containment than disposables.
Trina, my stash will come in at around €280 with wet / dry bags and extra inserts. They are all totally adjustable with the poppers so should last until she's done with diapers. No new born side, then small size, then infant then toddler. Just one lot.
I think the early skinny leg newborn phase might mean we get some leaks but as long as they're on tight we'll see what happens. We can always use throw aways in the early weeks.
It can be a bit pricey to get your initial stash going, Artie's system with prefolds and wraps was my first choice but the ones I can get here (online) were £10 a wrap and £18 for 6 prefold diapers.
Alva baby all in 2 nappies with PUL outers and pocket inserts are £3.50 each

2 wraps and 6 diapers = £38

6 All-in-2 Alvababy diapers (with poppers and designs I prefer) = £21

That's almost half the price!!!
Trina, if you go Alva, China to Italy import tax and duty is rediculous. I think I'll have to pay maybe €70 to receive the goods. Even so, it still comes in cheaper than my original European supplier. (And they're cuter)

 

[artsiekat]

Sadie (I had a typo in my other post, I meant they dry faster with a fan on them). I have saved tons of money of cloth diapers! It was the first reason I wanted to do cloth diapers.

I'm not sure what you can get in Italy, but here's what I have:

12 fuzzibunz one size pockets - (My mom bought for $200)
24 bummis prefolds with 6 covers - (My mom bought for $150)
18 Ikea flats(they are marketed as burp cloths in the US, but are the size of flats 27x27) - $2/per flat
12 GMD large flats(to big for babes right now) - I think around $30 with shipping
2 bumgenius one size pockets with a bunch of inserts(bought by hubby's mom, I use the inserts but have never used the diapers)

Then I have a bunch of other covers, some flips, some thirsties, some swaddlebees and blueberry, some gdiapers(for travelling) and grovia. I bought them all used or at seconds sales from $5-$10 per cover.

I tend to use a few (about 3 or so) covers a day and just the prefolds right now and I d laundry every other day or every third day. If I do every third day, I might run out of prefolds, but I just use my inserts or flats. I have never run out of diapers to use.

Technically you could do prefolds (about $50-$100 depending on what you get) or flats (baby doesn't grow out of those!) and used/second covers 6-10 ($50-$100) and not worry about running out with only $200 investment.

 

[artsiekat]

I've only ever experienced leaking(pee) with pockets and gdiapers. As far as breastfed poo, sometimes it'll come out of the prefold/flat, but never the cover. I also added a sprayer to my toilet, but I know some women don't spray their diapers before washing.

 

[sadie]

Wow. So confusing. Thanks Artsie for your tips and feedback. I am very tempted.

Coco, it seems that everyone is very satisfied with alva and the prices are great. But i cant figure out what i need to buy. Can you please give me a breakdown? The lingo is a bit confusing! Are yountoo far from alghero to meet us for a coffee? We will be there the evening of 6 december to the morning of the 8th.... Quick wedding.

Crazy rain here today. The weather advisers are saying to stay home today!

Meanwhile, O went to sleep at about 11 last night. I had to wake her at 8 to BF, then i put her back down. Its almost 10 here and she is still sleeping. I hope she hasnt caught my dh's cold. The bedroom is as dark as night so maybe that plays a part.

 

[sadie]

Me again! So i am watching some videos (you both have sold me on cloth diapering).
If you put an insert in the 'pocket' of the diaper and the baby pees, doesnt the entire diaper have to be changed as it gets all wet? And am i correct to say that even the diaper gets washed? (I was under a different impression-that the outer diaper never needs to be washed....)

 

[Coconuts]

It's tipping down here this morning too. DH is out running 'my' errands bless him so I'm still in my PJ's with BnB

Alghero is about an hour from us, if that. The 6th and 7th are Thurs / Fri so work days for us but as long as....oh no wait, I thought the 7th sounded special, we've got our 30 week ish growth scan that morning. I'm guessing the wedding is on the Saturday which leaves us thursday morning, if we don't have any new lessons started up in the morning by then. Remind me again nearer the time and we'll see how we're fixed. Would love to meet you and O in RL if we can!

So here's what I know and am going to do RE alva / cloth diapers.
Alva seems to have exclusively pocket diapers.
They have All in one (everything is all sew together in one washable diaper shaped diaper) newborn diapers but these will take an age to dry for us since you can't take the absorbant bit out so I didn't even look at these.
All the rest are all AI2 or All In 2. An outer wrap or shell and an absorbent liner. 2 items make up one diaper. All in 2.
The wrap / shell is the waterproof but breathable outer part with the cute designs on them. They have a pocket inside when you put your microfiber / bamboo insert to soak up all the 'stuff'.
PUL means polyurethane laminated or some thing like that (waterproof in other words). I think it was a slightly shineyish finish.
Alva also does a Minky wrap / shell, the same thing, still waterproof, still breathable but with a fuzzier fluffier finish. The form and design (poppers and fastening) are identical.
They also have some double gusset AI2s. The poppers are a little different and they are adjustable to 4 sizes rather than 3 but they are the same thing in essence, but probably a little better at containment have two gussets to catch things around the leg holes.

What should you buy? Well how often do you want to wash. I'm going with every other day so I'll need two days worth of diapers plus another day's worth while the ones I washed from day 1 and 2 are drying. (We're line dryers)
You know how many diapers O get's through a day so this calculation will be easier for you. I'm going with 10 a day so I need 30 AI2 diapers. In my stash.

Each AI2 at Alva comes with one insert but to double up at night or if you want extra absorbancy you'll need to order a pack of extra inserts and then you put two inserts in the pocket instead of just one.

That's it. Choose your AI2 diapers. Get some extra inserts, some wet / dry bags and you're done.
Diaper changes? My poopy diapers will get a dunk and flush (must remember to get some rubber gloves!) to get of the worst, then into the wet bag they go until wash day. Pee diapers go straight in the bag. Inserts should be pulled out of the pocket before going in the bag or at least before going in the machine so it all washes separately.

If you put a rag in the wet bag with some essential oils on it and or some bicarb the smell should be contained, especially if you have a wet bag with a zip. Easy.

Alva diapers have to be washed at 30C or less so make sure you get some diaper detergent that kills germs and bacteria at low temps and you're good to go.

I'm getting 24 muslins and 10 newborn cotton wraps from a UK site for G's early skinny legged newborn days until she's chubby enough to wear her main stash without having gaping leg holes. O's already 4 months so you don't have to worry about that.

I'm ordering some fleece and some cotton fabric and going to make my own double sided cotton / fleece wipes.

 

[Coconuts]

You posted while I was typing. If you get AI2s then each wrap and insert will be washed after each wear.
If you get muslin / prefold nappies with just the shell (no pocket) then you can go a few changes before you need to change the shell. It all get's washed in the end. The wraps will get some pee and poop on them after 2 or 3 changes so yep. It all get's washed.
Prefolds need less wraps. AI2s need one shell per insert since the shell get's first contact with the 'muck' which then passes through the pocket material into the absorbent liner. Wear then wash.