Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Cloth Diapers? Yes, please.

I have wanted to cloth diaper my son since before he was born. I started doing some research about it and found that there are many, many more options for cloth diapering than back before disposables were available. No more fold-and-pin, or hiring a diaper cleaning service. These things today are what I call "fancy pants" diapers. The problem is that there are so many options that it really makes the mind spin. I read reviews, got advice from other moms, but never could decide on what to get for my little guy. The result of my indecisive attitude has been cheap disposables covering my son's bum since his birth. Well, we had a few packs from the baby shower but that was over in like a month. Since then we've spent a little over $20 a month to keep my boy in diapers. Conservatively, that's over $200 so far! Considering he very well could be in diapers until after his 2nd birthday (I really don't know when most kids start going potty), we're looking at probably another $300, and again that's a conservative estimate. As the child gets bigger, disposable packages of diapers cost the same amount, but the trick is that there are less and less diapers per pack as you increase the size. So I would imagine that we will easily surpass last years' expenditure on diapers this coming year.

Now. Let's talk fancy pants diapers. These things are cool! I finally talked myself into buying some when the local SuperTarget (MWC for you local folks) started carrying BumGenius all in ones. I'm up to two in my arsenal now and would have more if the Norman SuperTarget would ever get with the program. Unfortunately, because I have been indecisive again regarding which detergent to use in washing them, it has kept me from trying them out. But I think I've finally got it figured out and will post on my progress.

The great thing about this is that with a couple hundred dollar investment, you can save yourself money in the long run on disposables. AND you can use them on subsequent children, or sell them secondhand on Diaperswappers, possibly getting back some of your initial investment.

Pretty cool junk.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

My New Favorite Word

I guess that would imply that I have an old favorite word, which I don't. But anyway I'm totally in love with the term "nursling" for a nursing baby/child. I paid for a membership to the LLLI and in return receive their quarterly publication "New Beginnings". It has lots of stories from many a breastfeeding mom about every facet of breastfeeding you can imagine. Many of the mothers describe their breastfeeding child as a "nursling" and I just think it's precious.

My son's father argued with me that it wasn't a real word like "spiderling" or whatever. In response to that I post the following definition from The Free Dictionary:
nurs·ling
n.
1. A nursing infant or young animal.
2. A carefully nurtured person or thing.


My nursling, asleep at my breast. So sweet.