cloth diapers, DIY, parenting

DIY: stay-dry doubler for night-time diapering

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*Updated Sept. 1, 2012

Although many cloth diapering newbies (and veterans) choose to use disposable diapers at night, we’re using exclusively cloth. Wash routines are difficult for some families to get down. For me, it was the night-time diapering routine. And whatever works for my baby now won’t work in a year, when he’s bigger and pees in greater concentrations. Big Baby = Big Pee

There are several different common fabrics used for cloth diapers, with bamboo considered one of the most absorbent. Wool is also an extremely popular night-time choice, but more expensive than bamboo. Knowing this, I decided to go with bamboo.

I do wash every other day, so initially I thought two night-time diapers would be enough to switch through, but then Mr. Stinky Pants pooped at 10 p.m. once, so I had to put him in the spare diaper. Now we have two more diapers on the way for a grand total of four. They are: 2 Kiwi Pie One-Size Fitted Diapers, 1 Blueberry One-Size Fitted Diaper, and 1 Bummis Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretch Diaper in Size 2. I’m still waiting for the Tots Bots diaper to arrive, but so far I prefer the Kiwi Pie (see below) over the Blueberry. I’ll explain that one in a different post.

Generally, a diaper should be changed every two hours, whether it’s cloth or disposable. Overnight though, this isn’t always a good plan. Even if you have a child like mine that wakes up every two or three hours, you still don’t want him to wake ALL the way up by changing him that often. I wanted a diaper that he could wear for 4 or 5 hours straight. With a waterproof cover over top, the bamboo diapers we have will hold his pee in overnight, and there’s no leakage in the morning. But we were concerned about my son feeling wet and getting a possible rash from this.

Feeling wet can actually be a benefit of cloth diapering. It’s believed that cloth diapered kids tend to potty train early, because they feel wet and don’t like it. But my son is much too young for potty training, so at this point it’s a hindrance not a benefit.

Many pocket diapers use microfiber inserts. These are great because they absorb well, and they wick moisture away from the baby’s skin. But they can’t go directly against the baby’s skin because of it. They may take away too much moisture and cause skin problems.

We have plenty of microfiber inserts, so I decided to cut up an old fleece blanket and make microfiber-fleece doublers (with the fleece against his skin) to go inside his bamboo diapers. This way, Mr. Stinky Pants will have a very absorbent diaper that also keeps the moisture away from his skin.

When I initially cut the piece of fleece from the blanket, I made it big enough to overlap over the insert. If you’re not planning on sewing the fleece to the microfiber insert (and you don’t have to), you want to make sure your fleece piece completely covers the microfiber insert, so there’s no chance of the microfiber touching baby’s skin. Then you’ll just lay it in your baby’s diaper. The great thing about fleece is that it doesn’t fray, so you don’t need to zig-zag stitch or serge the edge of the cloth.

Since I was planning to sew them together, I pinned the fleece on top the microfiber, and cut around it closely. If you’re using a sewing machine, be careful when you sew the fleece to the insert. The microfiber insert is very thick to sew through. If you’re going to hand sew, I’d recommend just sewing some stitches in each of the four corners…just enough to keep the inserts together. Unless of course, you’re super talented (unlike I) and quick at sewing by hand (also unlike I). Then by all means, sew it all together!

I only sewed the shorter ends together. This will allow faster drying time in the dryer.

Well, there you go…a super quick and super easy stay-dry fix!

Don’t feel like making your own fleece doublers? Buy a pack of five Bummis Reusable Fleece Liners on Amazon for $5.58.

Comments? Questions?

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

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cooking, life

Uhm Yum! The avocado pie I made tastes like kiwi pie!

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Doesn’t this look delicious?!

It’s not mine. This is mine:

I have this problem with my food processor where I don’t know how to turn it on, so I had to mix the ingredients by hand.

You can view the recipe I followed (loosely) here.

The ingredients are pretty simple. Pie crust, 3 ripe avocados, 1/2 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of lime juice, a can of sweet condensed milk, and a packet of gelatin. I used low fat versions of the condensed milk and creams to lower the overall calories.

I mixed the juices and gelatin together in a small dish and let it sit while I mashed the avocados.

You can tell if an avocado is ripe by squeezing it in your hand. It should give a little to the pressure. Don’t squeeze it in your fingers, or you may bruise it. I added the condensed milk to the avocado mash, and then added the juice/gelatin mix. I mixed it all together by hand (this is where the food processor would’ve come in handy), and poured it in the pie crust. Then, I placed it in the fridge for about 2 hours to harden.

When my 2 hours were almost up, I poured the sour cream and heavy cream together and began to whip it (also by hand…I should invest in one of those whipping thingies). It was supposed to form stiff peaks. It didn’t. It just stayed liquidy. But fortunately I had some Cool Whip in the freezer, so I mixed it all together and stuck it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Voila! Look at that!

Hubby said he wasn’t hungry (he’s rather dubious of my cooking ventures), so I scooped myself a generous portion of, er…pie:

After eating it, I announced to hubby how delicious it was and that it tasted like kiwi pie. A few seconds later it hits me, “Uhm…I think that pie crust was raw.”

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life, parenting

Birth rape: Is it real?

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While I was expecting my son, I perused countless blogs, message boards, Web sites, and Facebook groups, trying to inform myself as much as possible about pregnancy and birth. When I first ran across the term “birth rape,” I had no mental image. What mental image do you even get out of that? I had no idea what it was or what to expect while reading up on the topic.

Birth rape isn’t easy to describe, as it differs with different women, depending on their experience. For some women, birth rape means they were forced into decisions regarding their child’s birth that they didn’t want to make. Birth rape for other mothers means that a procedure was performed upon them without their permission, sometimes blatantly against their will.

This, of course, isn’t rape by the letter of the law, but the term was coined by Janet Fraser after an emergency episiotomy was performed on her without her consent. Some people who believe women do experience traumatic childbirth but are not being purposely victimized will use the term birth trauma instead of birth rape.

Let’s talk about “natural birth” for a moment. There are a few different definitions of “natural birth,” but most sources would agree that it entails giving birth vaginally with little medical intervention. From my research, most mothers who have experienced what they call birth rape desired a natural birth. I’ve discovered that months or years later, many mothers are still traumatized by their birth experience.

As a mother whose birth plan went out the window, it’s difficult for me to understand this. I think that natural birth is a wonderful idea. I wanted my son’s birth to go as naturally as possible, but things ended up going almost opposite of what I’d planned due to complications. I will always regret that I wasn’t allowed to hold my baby boy and bond with him immediately after he was born, but I live with this regret knowing that he’s healthy and safe. That’s what is most important to me. Not my birth plan.

As a Soldier, it’s also difficult for me to understand how birth trauma exists, unless there is a death or near-death experience. Although I know in theory it is possible to suffer from PTSD without anything seriously horrifying happening to you…I’m skeptical. I can’t comprehend how childbirth could be equally horrifying to a bomb blast or being shot. But I am open to the possibility, and I’m genuinely curious and willing to learn.

What do you think? Is birth rape real? Are some women traumatized by medical intervention during childbirth? Is this trauma a symptom of postpartum depression or something of its own (PTSD)? Have you suffered from birth rape or birth trauma?

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