Sustainable Hemp Products Cloth Diaper Review

Let me start this off by showing you the "parts" of the diaper and how it looks on a a baby...

This is  a fitted diaper for birth to approximately 6 months.

Here are the parts to the Lushies: the diaper, a prefold insert, and a booster.

Here's how it looks on little Miss!

Sorry about the sideways picture...my computer won't fix this for some reason lol. But here's a close up.

Cutest little toosh I ever did see :-)

 I can honestly start this review off by saying, this diaper is by FAR the best! I know you might be thinking, "she just started cloth diaper, and this is her first review...what does she know?!" Well, I can tell you that with all the research I've done so far, there isn't a diaper out there that compares to Sustainable Hemp Products "Lushies"! Not only are they absolutely adorable and stylish, but they're thinner than most diapers I've tried so far. They still have a little cushion to them, but I can still put Kaelyn's 0-3 months bottoms on her, which I couldn't do with the SweetBabyDoll or Nubunz diapers.

I mean, sure, you'll find plenty of diapers out there that are amazing, stand up to moisture and waste very well, but you won't find one that's BEYOND soft! Who wouldn't want their baby's bottoms to be touch with the best, softest, velour fabric?! They only seem to get softer with EVERY wash!

Now, features that I LOVE about this diaper...

• Super soft prefold insert - it's just as soft as the whole diaper itself. When I first looked at the prefold insert, I wasn't sure something like it was going to absorb moisture. It just didn't look like it was made for absorbing liquids, but oh boy, was I wrong! The prefold insert did its job and more. Kaelyn had NO leaks through the times she wore it. Even at night when she slept 5-7 hours at a time, it held up! The big question that everyone wonders about each cloth diaper...can it hold up to those extremely poopy messes?! Well, without going into too much detail, it held up to Kaelyn's poo like a champion!!! The cloth prefold really did its job! (Makes you want something like this for your toosh when you're older and have to wear diaper! HAHA!) 

• Booster - great for night time when you want to avoid leaking when you change diapers less often. These boosters come in hemp or bamboo. Either one will do the job of protecting against heavy wetters! 

•  Snap closures - I prefer these over velcro because the snaps last longer than velcro.

•  Zig-zag stitch all the way around the diaper for maximum comfort. 

Zig-zag stitch all the way around the entire diaper

 This was the first diaper not to leave an elastic impression anywhere on Kaelyn after we used it. I also think that the stitch adds character to the diaper as a whole.

The only thing that makes me COMPLETELY sad, is that Sustainable Hemp Products is based in Australia. (Makes me wish I could go there are personally thank Michelle for such wonderful products!) Australia means hefty shipping costs, BUT I plan on buying more of these diapers, and they're ENTIRELY worth the extra amount of shipping you have to pay to get them to you here in the states. Cloth diapers make up for their cost in a matter of weeks vs disposables, so even if you have to pay the extra shipping, the diapers still make up for it! A great way to cut some shipping costs are to go in on orders with friends to split the shipping, which I plan on doing with my next order! :-)

Here's one of the diapers I hope to get....

Photos taken by Estelle @ www.stellapics.com

 I TOTALLY LOVE THE RAINBOW FABRIC! LOL!

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed my first review! I hope this helps you discover new diaper products that are out there. If you order any products from Michelle, tell her Caty sent you! ;-)

Here's the website again...

Sustainable Hemp Products

Go follow her on Facebook...

Cloth Nappies at Sustainable Hemp Products

HAPPY CLOTH DIAPERING!

Cloth Diapers - Day 1

I'm so excited to report that we finally got all of our cloth diapers we ordered/won in the mail and..........

WE FINALLY DID IT! We finally got a cloth diaper on Kaelyn after a lot of waiting for enough diapers to come to cloth diaper her full time....well, I'm trying to cloth diaper full time, but I have to wash EVERY DAY because we only have 10 diapers at the moment...just 2 shy of the recommended amount you need to cloth diaper a full day. More work for me, but I'm okay with it, I'm home all the time haha.

Here's little miss in her first cloth diaper from SweetBabyDoll

I have a feeling we'll still have to throw in a couple disposables here and there but it's still a far cry from the amount of disposables we were using daily. Since we don't have a whole lot of money, it may take a while for us to have everything it takes to cloth diaper full time and be "true" cloth diaperers, but I will take whatever I can get at this point, since money will be hard to come by for some time. We still need cloth diaper detergent MEANT for cloth diapers, but All - Free and Clear detergent works just fine right now and is gentle enough to use on cloth diapers. We still need 4 wetbags, cloth diaper friendly diaper rash cream, (that we probably won't ever use because you cut down your chances of your baby getting diaper rash IMMENSELY when you switch to cloth) a diaper sprayer and the rest of our diapers! LOL!

Derek and I figured that the ultimate test to put these diapers through to see how much wetness they would hold, would be to have her wear it at night. So, we put Kaelyn's first cloth diaper on her before we went to bed. Now, Kaelyn sleeps a good 5-7 hours most nights, so we figured if this diaper could make it without leaking through the night, it would be perfect!

We woke up this morning...after about 6 hours AND....NO LEAKS! We were VERY happy to see that her first cloth diaper experience went great! Definitely makes you want to try more!

Now, the next thing we wondered, is how these cloth diapers would hold up while Kaelyn was awake and active. We put another diaper on her when she woke up and with all her wiggling, they held up great!

The last thing we had to wait for and see if these diapers would work was if they held up when she poo'd....let's just say that they did just great! LOL! The only thing that kind of sucked about the poopy diapers was the fact that we don't have a diaper sprayer yet....we had to dunk them in the toilet! It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, just wash your hands and move on haha!

So, I'm very happy to report that our first 24 hours of our cloth diaper experience was amazing! The only thing that was kind of annoying (because I was unprepared lol!) was that we had to put a size bigger in pants on her because of the bulkiness of cloth diapers. It wouldn't have been so terrible if I had clothes ready to go and use...but all of her 3-6 month clothes are still brand new with tags, hanging in the closet and haven't been washed yet. It wasn't TOO big of a deal since it was quite warm here, so she didn't need bottoms on anyways. I'm looking to order a bunch of CUTE leg warmers to pair with her diapers. I can't wait to get those!

Reviews of all the diapers we used COMING SOON! :-)

"The Child Comparison Game" by Kassandra

This is just something I had to share with all of you. A friend of mine, who is also a blogger, wrote a post that I know speaks to most Mom's out there!

As Mom's, we already criticize everything we do when it comes to raising our kids, we also worry about their well being along with dealing with all the other tough things that parenthood brings, and the last thing we need are outsiders looking in on us and judging what we do when we're the ones that ultimately know what's best for our families. This is just a little taste of what you will come to read in Kassandra's post here...

The Child Comparison Game by Kassandra

Any of you have stories to share regarding this post?! Please, feel free to share by commenting, I know I have some readers out there that would love to hear about your experience with this situation, especially readers who are first time Mom's (like myself) who would love some encouraging words and support to know we're doing a great job and that we're only human! :-)

Cloth Diapers - Let's Get Started!

Starting from the beginning, do your research, and figure out which types of cloth diapers you want to try. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, after doing my research, Derek and I decided that OSFM (one size fits most) pocket diapers would work the best for us because they are the closest to disposables as far as ease of use. Plus, I wanted to use whatever it took to get Derek on board with using cloth so he helped me with the research and this decision. (Gals, if you need help convincing your husbands to get on board with switching to cloth, I'd highly recommend going through this entire process with them. If they're willing of course! I found that keeping Derek in the loop and showing him the things that I found [articles on why cloth is best, different kinds of cloth diapers out there, etc] really helped keep him more as ease and he didn't feel like he was getting thrown into this without knowing what to do! haha!)

Basic materials needed to get started with cloth for 1 full day (although not ALL are necessary if you don't want to wait for everything, like us, to get started).

• 10-12 cloth diapers (Double this for washing diapers every other day)

• 10-24 cloth diaper inserts (Depends on the diapers, we use 2 inserts per diaper but some only require one. Use the inserts that come with the diapers or what the company recommends you using because this will allow you to get ideal use out of your diaper. All of our diapers came with 2 inserts)

• wetbags (1 large for home, 1 small or medium for diaper bag. Double this for washing every other day)

• diaper pail with liner

• diaper sprayer (If you don't get one, it's not the end of the world. Dunking your diapers in the toilet to get the poo off isn't as bad as it sounds! When you become a mother, you seem to get grossed out by things less and less lol!)

• cloth diaper friendly detergent (Here is a chart of cloth diaper friendly detergents)

Wetbags

Diaper pail and liners

Diaper sprayer

 Depending on the ages of your babes, I recommend having some toys nearby to give to your little wigglers so they stay distracted during their diaper changes! It does take just a little more time to snap those cloth diapers so keeping that baby still helps! :-)

Pre-washing your new diapers...

Most companies send you instructions on how to care for their diapers, which include washing instructions, but just in case, here are some simple instructions for you...

Separate all the diapers and inserts from each other. Toss them in the wash. First, run them on just  RINSE cycle only with cold/warm water. Then, add your choice of diaper friendly detergent (usually only put in half of what you would use for a regular load of clothing) and wash them in hot water. Depending on how strong your rinse cycle is on your washing machine, you may need to run an additional rinse cycle to make sure all of the soap is out. Keep repeating the rinse cycle until you don't see anymore suds in the water. The soap could cause irritation to baby's skin. It's recommended to line dry your diapers and inserts but all of us don't have the luxury of being able to do that. If you live in an apartment, like us, there isn't anywhere to line dry your diapers. So, just put your diapers in the dryer and dry them on LOW HEAT, NO FABRIC SOFTENER! This is VERY important because high heat could damage the cover of your diapers and the fabric softener can cause build up in them. Make sure that your diapers and inserts are COMPLETELY dry before using them.

There has been much debate on how many times you should pre-wash your diapers before use. I read in some places that you should at least wash your diapers three times before use and others say that one time is just fine. What's being achieved by washing the diapers before hand is creating maximum absorbency of your cloth diapers and the inserts. You'll achieve this no matter what with every wash after you start using them.

After using your diapers for a while you'll need to think about "stripping" them. NEVER USE VINEGAR to get odor out of your diapers! The vinegar breaks down the elastic inside the diapers.

NOW YOU'RE READY TO CLOTH DIAPER!! WOOT WOOT!

Hopefully my next post will be to tell you about all my amazing diapers once they are come!! YAY!

I hope this helps all of you! If anyone thinks I forgot something PLEASE feel free to comment! I don't want to lead my newbie cloth diaper buddies astray!

Help Mike King

My cousin's fiancée, Mike King, was recently diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm and must have emergency surgery on his heart Sept 9th, 2010 but he does not have health insurance so there is a website that is set up to help him with the costs of the surgery that you can visit HERE. ANY help would be greatly appreciated! Mike also has a 6 yr. old daughter Aidien so please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers thanks!

You can also follow Mike and his progress on Facebook - Help Mike King

Thank you for all your prayers and support while my cousin, Brittany, and Mike go through this tough time! If everything goes well and donations cover the costs of Mike's surgery, they're hoping to get married next year!

Cloth Diaper Update #1

On Saturday I ordered 5 new pocket cloth diapers from Sweet Baby Doll and I can't wait to get them! So my new count is...

10 cloth diapers down (which includes the one I won & the one I'm getting sent to me to review), 14 more cloth diapers to go, 2 more large wetbags and 2 small wetbags to go! HAHA!

I just got the cloth diaper that Michelle from Sustainable Hemp Products sent me and can I just tell you, when I pulled that diaper out of that mail package...it was AMAZING! Stayed tuned and I will tell you why it is so amazing! The one she sent is basically a cloth diaper cover with an prefold and insert that just lay inside the diaper.

I'm still waiting to get my other cloth diaper that I won from a Facebook contest from Little Bums. I will post pictures of my diaper stash soon! :-)

As far as emailing cloth diaper companies goes, haven't heard from anymore of them so I'm doing more research and finding new companies to email! Wish me luck! I'm REALLY trying to get a company to send me a diaper to try out and sponsor a giveaway...hopefully someone will help me out! LOL!

How are you guys doing with your cloth diapers or how are you doing starting your cloth diaper journey?

Baby Wearing...

I can't say enough that if it wasn't for baby wearing, I wouldn't have gotten ANYTHING done when Kaelyn was a newborn! haha! She never wanted to be put down or rocked all the time.

We got this Jeep front carrier at our baby shower...

But the only problem we had with it was that Kaelyn was just WAY too tiny for it. It has special settings for tiny babes, but Kaelyn just wasn't having it at all! I was really bummed out about it because it's the only carrier we had.

 I told a friend of mine about how I was kind of getting frustrated that I couldn't get anything done and she said she had a baby wrap that she used for her son that I could borrow and try out. It's called the MetroWrap (a close "relative" to the Moby Wrap, but it's said to be that the MetroWrap is more user friendly and quicker to put on and have ready). Here is what the MetroWrap looks like...

Let's just say, this wrap, was a GODSEND! Not only is it SO stinkin comfortable, Kaelyn LOVED being in it. It snuggled her right up against me and mimicked like she was still in my womb. She was tight up against me and her head was right next to my heartbeat. It's a great thing my friend won this from a contest because theses suckers are pretty dang pricey! The jeweled ones (pictured above) go for $129.99 and the ones without jewels go for $79.99 on there site HERE. I won't lie, I would pay the $79.99 for this wrap because it is SO amazing and worked WONDERS! I'm just really bummed I didn't get to use it as much as I wanted because it got to hot here and Kaelyn just couldn't sit in it anymore. I'm just waiting for it to cool off so I can use it again! YAY! Here's a semi-good picture of me and Kaelyn using the MetroWrap...

4th of July. You can't see the fireworks really well though. 

Since we couldn't use the MetroWrap anymore, we decided to try out the Jeep carrier again since Kaelyn is a little bigger and can face forward in it, and now she absolutely LOVES being in that one! haha! Derek will wear her around the house in it all the time. She just can't get enough of her surroundings right now so it's perfect for all of us. The only small problem we face with this carrier is that it isn't really great on a baby's spine and hip development. There are a few warnings out there about using these kinds of carriers, so we moderate how often we have her in it. A think a little time here and there in this carrier will be okay.

However, there is a carrier out there that I've been hearing about all the time lately and how AMAZING it is...it's called the Ergo. Here's a picture of it...

This carrier has had great reviews! It's a favorite for two big reasons...#1 - you can use it up until your kids are about 40lbs (which is the recommended weight cut off) but it has been tested up to 90lbs (which they definitely don't recommend doing). It all depends on you and the child though. #2 - it disperses the weight of your child in places on you to ensure the best comfort. The weight is placed on your hips instead of your back and shoulders which, from personal experience with the Jeep carried and MetroWrap, is really hard on you after a little while. These run for about $105-$150 depending on what you get, if it has embroidery, etc. You can either find them HERE on their website or you can find some on eBay, where they can be selling for great bargain prices. Everyone that I know that has one, says they're worth every penny and more!

Derek and I are trying really hard to save up to get one of these suckers! haha! If we can't get it before Kaelyn fits in it, we'll definitely be using it religiously with Baby #2. Another added bonus is that it has a GREAT resale value!

Please feel free to share your stories about your personal experience with baby carriers. I know I'd love to hear about them! Maybe there's something else out there that I should know about! :-)

HAPPY BABY WEARING!