Feb 11, 2009

What's new at Moms and Bums

We are introducing some great new product lines:

CottonBabies and Bummis

The bumGenius One-Size Cloth Diaper is revolutionary in design - it is the first reusable diaper to feature stretch-to-fit tabs (patent pending) that make cloth diapering as easy and comfortable as using disposables.


Bio-soft liners are flushable diaper liners that make clean-up a breeze – this product is the perfect compromise between convenience and cloth diapers. No more rinsing poopy diapers in the toilet! Bio-soft liners absorb the solid waste - and then you simply discard the soiled liner in the toilet and flush away the mess. They are non-irritating and ever so soft and comfortable against baby's sensitive skin.

SUPER BRITE was designed to ensure a perfectly diapered fit – even for those long, skinny babies that need a little extra protection around the leg. This gusseted cover closes all the gaps! The SUPER BRITE is lightweight and waterproof. It consists of one single layer of polyester with a wipe-clean laminated interior. Cut and sewn in Montreal.

bumGenius One-Size Microfiber inserts are made of 3 layers of the thickest microfiber terry available anywhere. Our unique snap down design allows these inserts fit perfectly in any one size diaper!

Hemp Babies™ Raw Silk Liners
Silk is the only 100% natural wicking material able to help keep little bottoms drier. Silk has natural anti-bacterial properties that may keep yeast and diaper rash at bay.

Bamboozle fitted diaper consisting of 4 layers of bamboo fabric that is fantastically soft and beautiful! You will fall in love with this gorgeous, silky fabric - it truly is irresistible!

Fuzzi Bunz One Size Pocket Coming Soon!
The FuzziBunz One-Size Diapers are the most adjustable and innovative one-size cloth diapers on the market today! Adjust the diapers to fit babies 7-35 pounds and get a snug fit every time with the button-adjusted waist and leg casings. The leg casings adjust to 8+ settings and the waist adjusts to 4+ settings. Never before has a pocket-style cloth diaper been SO adjustable!

Restocked:
Allens Naturally Liquid Laundry Detergent specialy priced for a limited time!
Matter Company's Herbal Hug Baby Cream and Nappy Rash Ointment
Rainforest Babies Covers and M/L inserts- smalls coming soon!


Valentines week specials:


WAHMies buy 2 and save! Buy 2 WAHMies OS Pockets with snaps or hooks for $20 each (regular 22.25) and receive 5% off your entire order!

Free One Size Insert with new Baby Kangas One Size Pouch or Mommy’s Touch Easy Clean One size Pockets!

5% off all breastfeeding products!

Our showroom will be closed on Saturday February 14th. All orders placed online will not ship until Monday February 16th.

How to Care for your modern cloth diapers

Have you heard the saying “These are not your mama’s cloth diapers”? Well, it’s true! Modern cloth diapers don’t require pins, or rubber pants! There is no soaking, bleaching or dunking! In fact taking care of your modern cloth diapers is as easy as putting on a regular load of laundry.

Why todays parents are choosing cloth diapers:

Infants go through 8,000 to 10,000 diaper changes before entering potty training.
On average, disposable diapers will cost you between $2,8000 (for 8,000 diaper changes) and $3,500 (for about 10,000 diaper changes) per child.

You can purchase your start-up set of cloth diapers for under $300. This could save you an average of $1,500 over the course of your infants diapering years! And the bonus is you can continue to use those same diapers on a second and third child!

When you finish using disposable diapers with your child, all you have left is a huge mountain of trash. Even worse, a disposable diaper normally made out of plastics takes around 500 years to decompose, and more than 18 billion disposable diapers are thrown out in North America each year. That is more than 100,000 tons of plastic and 800,000 tons of tree pulp. Disposable diapers also contain dioxin- a by-product of bleaching pulp which has been linked to cancer.
Washing cloth diapers takes the equivalent amount of water as flushing a toilet 5 times a day (even less if you have a front loader), which once your child has toilet trained will occur anyway.

What to buy to begin cloth diapering:

  • Enough cloth diapers to last through a 24 hour + period (the length of time will depend on how often you have decided you want to wash your cloth diapers)
  • Cloth Diaper safe detergent. We recommend Allens Naturally or Wonder Wash
  • A cloth diaper pail or somewhere to store your soiled cloth diapers until wash day
  • 24-36 cloth wipes or 2-3 cloth wipes per cloth diaper

These items are not essential but are nice to have:


  • a wetbag to store your soiled cloth diapers in during outings
  • 2 cloth diaper pail liners (these are not essential, however without th
    em you will need to wash out your pail each laundry day, having two allows you to switch them while one is being laundered).
  • wipes cubes- add your dry cloth baby wipes to a plastic container, a wipes warmer and just pour the solution overtop,
    or add premoistened cloth wipes to a mini wetbag for outings. A 10g trial pack will last roughly 2 months.
  • 6 cloth diaper doublers- not necessary for
    newborns as they are changed so frequently, but essential for a heavy wetter, especially overnight .
  • 6 cloth diaper liners- Cloth diaper liners may extend the life of
    your cloth diapers. These help reduce staining and removal of solids, or to protect your cloth diaper while using rash creams; highly
    recommended for those first few meconium days or for older babies who are on solid foods. Cloth diaper liners are not needed for breastfed babies. (you may also choose to purchase disposable diaper liners which can be flushed down the toilet)
  • Diaper sprayer- to spray off solids into the toilet. This is not needed if you are using cloth diaper liners.
  • A large diaper bag. Cloth Diapers take up more space than disposable diapers do, so if you plan to be out for a while you will need a large diaper bag to hold them.




How to Care for Your Modern Cloth Diapers

Where to store your dirty diapers until wash day

Dry Cloth Diaper Pail

Keep your wet and dirty diapers in a covered diaper pail. We recomment you use a dry diaper
pail (no water). This helps extend the life of your diapers as soaking for long periods will break down the fibres of your diapers over time. Wet diapers are also more prone to developing hard to remove offensive odours.
Using a waterproof bag as a diaper pail liner is an excellent option to help seal in odours between washings and make emptying the diaper pail more convenient. If the diaper pail gets smelly, you can add a pail pals , some fluff dust or a few drop of tea
tree oil (a natural antiseptic and disinfectant) to your diaper pail.
Dont forget that if you dont use a liner or waterproof bag, you will need to wash out the diaper pail with soap and water to keep it smelling fresh.

Wetbag

The perfect waterproof tote for soiled diapers. Wetbags can be machine washed with your soiled diapers and air dried. Most wetbags are made from PUL (polyurethane laminate). Some will have 2 layers: PUL on the inside and a more decorative cotton outside. Some are made with drawstrings, others have zippers, and they come in many sizes.

Washing Your Cloth Diapers

How often should you wash your cloth diapers

Depending on the amount of diapers you own you will need to wash every 2-3 days. If you decide to go much longer than that you will find that your diapers will be harder to clean.

Before you wash

Shake off the solids into the toilet or flush the disposable liner down the toilet. Re-fasten applix straps and place the dirty/wet diaper into a dry diaper pail. If the diaper cover also gets dirty you can add it to the pail. If your diaper cover only got wet, let the cover dry and re-use it a few more times.

Washing is Easy!

For Top-loaders

  • Pre-wash (cold water, no detergent, high water level)
Empty the diaper pail liner into the washer and use pre-wash cyce (or a rinse cycle) to rinse out urine and fecal matter.
  • Main Wash (longest cycle, hot water, Add detergent, high water level, 2nd cold rinse)
Detergent: Use a cloth diaper recommended detergent such as Allens Naturally or Wonder Wash
When washing diapers it is very important to have an idea about the quality of your water- if you have hard water, use less detergent and run your diapers through a hot wash without detergent after a regular wash cycle every month or so. In hard water the detergent does not rinse well and your diapers can start smelling if you use too much detergent or do not rinse well enough.
  • Dry (put your diapers in the drier or lay them in the sun to dry)
Your first washing of new diapers you should dry on high heat to seal your PUL, every other wash keep the dryer on low heat. The dryer is hard on any waterproof fabric, so if you want to extend the life of your diapers, keep them out of the diryer as often as possible. Sunning your diapers will help to remove and stains.
  • Done! your diapers are clean and ready to use!

For Front-Loaders

  • Pre-wash (cold water, no detergent, rinse and spin cycle)
Empty diaper pail liner into the washer and run the rinse and spin cycle 1 or 2 times. Some machines have a pre-wash setting, others have a rinse and spin setting- if your machine does not have either, run a short wash cycle with cold water and no detergent.
  • Main wash (longest cycle, add detergent, hot water, 2nd rinse)
Detergent: When washing diapers it is really inportant to know the quality of your water- if you have hard water, use less detergent and you might even have to run your diapers through a hot wash without detergent after a regular wash cycle every month or so. In hard water the detergent does not rinse well and your diapers can start smelling if you use too much detergent or do not rinse well enough.
  • Dry (put your diapers in the dryer, hang or lay them in the sun to dry)
The first washing dry your diapers on a high heat to seal the PUL. Every other wash use the lowest heat setting on your dryer. Sunning your diapers will help remove stains.
Done! Your diapers are clean and ready to use!

A word about detergents

Any detergent containing fabric softeners, optical brightners and stain protectors include substances and oils that will coat the fibres and prevent your diapers from being absorbent causing them to leak.
Allens Naturally and Wonder Wash are detergents that seem to work well with all diaper products, no matter what the fabric.
If you notice that your little one is developing rashes, or that your pocket diapers are starting to leak or that they have a persistent smell, you will need to do a special cleaning called Stripping.

How to Strip your Diapers

  1. Fill your kitchen sink/laundry tub with warm-hot water.
  2. Add your clean dry cloth diapers to the hot water.
  3. Use an old brush or toothbrush and with some Dawn or other grease fighting detergent scrub the surfaces of your cloth diapers and inserts.
  4. Once you have scrubbed all surfaces of your cloth diapers place them into your washing machine.
  5. Run your regular cloth diaper wash cycle, DO NOT ADD ANY DETERGENT.
  6. You may need to do several extra rinses to remove any remaining suds.
  7. Dry your diapers as you normally would

Additional Resources

Still confused? Feel free to contact me with any cloth diaper questions you might have or visit our websites.
Always refer to the care instructions provided with your diaper purchase for specific instructions from the manufacturer.

Feb 7, 2009

Another great giveaway from Natural Parenting Shop!

Check out another great giveaway from Natural Parenting Shop!

Just click the link, read the review and follow the instructions to be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the shop!

Feb 2, 2009


Check out another great giveaway from Moms and Bums:

Just follow this link for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate.