Goodbye Disposable, Hello Cloth

With all my kids I have used cloth part-time, off and on. I have always liked the idea of cloth, but I just never really found that I wanted to use them full time . . . until now. I have been using cloth very regularly during the day with Annika, but was still using one disposable at night. This had been working out okay and the package I have right now I think I bought way back in early May, so I haven't spent much on them. There are even about 20 diapers left, but they are size 3 and she is really too big for them. I've noticed that every time she pooped in a disposable there was a big explosion up her back. But when she poops in a any of the cloth diapers that I have it can still be a bit messy, but is contained. So I decided to take the big leap and put her in cloth at night too. And low and behold she is leak free in the morning.

So why hadn't I made this change sooner? Actually I think that I may have done more with Kiersten, but she outgrew the size that I had and I was too cheap to spend all the money at once for a bigger size. Thinking back, that was really stupid logic because if I had just bit the bullet and bought them I would have been saving money after using them for about a month and a half. I also went back to work and found that sending the cloth diapers with Kiersten wasn't working that well, (but I think I've figure out why and will have it fixed when I go back to work in November).

The diapers I had with the boys were not the greatest cloth diapers. On the surface they seemed to be better than the ones my mom used on me, but really didn't prove to be an improvement. I had two different brands of fitted diapers and neither was particularly absorbent, which is kind of important for a diaper. They needed a waterproof cover and I ended up with Bummis covers. These were the one thing that was an upgrade from the icky plastic or rubber pant that were around when I was a baby and I'm actually using Bummis covers now.

When I was pregnant with Kiersten I did some looking around for cloth diapers and was pleasantly surprised to find that there were many more choices than when the boys were babies. And cloth diapering is far more mainstream, people aren't surprised when you tell them that you use cloth diapers. I bought some prefolds and covers, which are cheap and easy to use. I'm still using these with Annika, but I recently came across some inexpensive pocket diapers that are what I've started using at night (and during the day too). Anyways, why are they working this time? I LOVE the diapers that I have because they work and are simple. Now the benefits totally out weigh any tiny bit of convenience that disposables might have had for me.

The pocket diapers are a one size diaper (well not for my larger than average kids) but going from about 10 lbs to 35lbs or so is pretty darn good, no need to keep buying bigger sizes all the time. The inside is fleece so little bums don't feel too wet and poop comes of it really easily. they also have a pocket, (hence their name) that you stuff with absorbent inserts. You can put in one or more, which is helpful at night and why I dared to try them. And they have a built in waterproof layer and don't require a cover. So once you've stuffed it, it goes on pretty much like a disposable with one exception, it has snaps. Annika had started to pick at the tabs on disposables and the velcro on the covers I have, but she can't undo the snaps!

I think I'm becoming a bit addicted to cloth diapering I want MORE. More colours, cute prints and I want to try wool covers. So goodbye disposables, hello cloth!

Annika in a Hipkiddo pocket diaper, chewing on a prefold.

I know It's not a great photo, but the models are sometimes difficult to work with. ;)

Wondering about Weaning: Part two

So here it is, part two. I wanted to explain why I have chosen to wait until now (Annika had banana on Friday and I will post about that later) to start Annika on solids. First off a number of organizations all recommend waiting until the middle of the first year to start, they include but are not limited to the World Health Organization, Health Canada, the Canadian Pediatric Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics and UNICEF. My choice to wait was not just based on the fact that these organizations said to wait, because when Markus was a baby 13 years ago they said it was okay to give solids at 4 months, I went and did my homework and found that based on the information I found I felt that it was best to wait until at least until 6 months.

The four month mark had been used because we thought that babies stores of iron would be depleted at that point and that babies would need some kind of supplement. Baby cereals are easy to add iron to and the grains like rice, oatmeal and barley are pretty bland and non-allergenic so that's what we went with. We now know that iron stores in full term babies don't begin to dwindle until around the 6 month mark.

There is also an interesting difference when it comes to iron found in breast milk versus formula, while this may not sound like a reason to wait with solids, it does support exclusive breast feeding until the 6 months. Breast milk has 0.3 milligrams of iron per liter compared to formula which contains between 10 and 12 milligrams of iron per liter. Here's the reason for this huge difference, the iron in breast milk is so much better absorbed by a babies gut that 0.3 milligrams per litre is all that needs to be there. With formula only 4% of the iron is able to be absorbed by a baby's gut with the rest being excreted. Now here's where I think it gets really interesting to me, when you give a breast fed baby formula or for that matter baby cereal with iron in interferes with their guts iron absorbing abilities, they actually become less able to get the very specific amount of iron found in breast milk.

Another reason that I found compelling was that a baby's gut needs time to mature, to help prevent allergies and to be ready properly digest food. When it comes to preventing allergies, between 4 to 6/7 months the intestines change from an "open" gut that allows many molecules including allergens and pathogens through to a "closed" gut that is better able to defend the body. Many of the digestive enzymes needed for proper digestion are not fully present until between 6-9 month. Starting solids early means the body is unable to get much nutrition from the food and it takes up space in the baby's stomach making the baby feel full, but is does not meet baby's nutritional needs.

All of the readiness signs from the last post are also there for a reason. If you think about it, a baby who cannot sit, cannot make chewing motions and pushes everything out of their mouth really has no business "eating". When they are ready to put things in their own mouths, chew them, swallow and go for more, then they are ready. Other reasons to wait include helping to prevent obesity, helping maintain mom's milk supply, helping ensure the gut has well established "good" bacteria and that it is easier to start solids with a baby who is developmentally ready.

So now you know why I have chosen to wait. I really feel that babies aren't not ready to start solids early and that there truly is benefit to allowing your baby to mature. When I get some more time I'll post some of the photos of Annika eating some banana and explain how I'm skipping using pureed food and going straight to the real stuff.