Hi everyone, I wanted to say thanks to everybody for all the encouraging comments, as you all know, it's been kind of crazy around here. I actually got 4 hours of sleep last night straight through and I feel great! I have been able to do a little knitting, I'm almost finished with one fair isle mitten and have been working on Robby's little jeans. Thanks to my sister for being at our house everyday after work to help me with laundry and cleaning the house, and cooking dinner. Also, thanks to my friends who brought me food, and to my mother in law who helped during the labor. Rob is a great dad, very involved and can swaddle Robby and change a cloth diaper like a pro. He is also teaching Robby the fine art of shaking your groove thang.
Cloth diapers are working out well, I never believed people when they said your own baby's poo wouldn't bother you, but I think it's true. For those of you who are interested in the cloth diaper thing, some things I would change for the next batch I sew. I think I will have to use a different type of fabric for the inner soaker pad. The woven cotton terry doesn't absorb very well, so even the diapers with the three layer soaker pad, Robby still soaks through. Another thing is for the layer that touches his skin, I need to use a fabric that will wick the moisture away from his skin. He doesn't always cry when he wets his diaper and with the flannel, the wetness just kind of sits on his skin. So, maybe with the next batch, I will try a fleece type fabric that will pull the wetness away from his skin. Another thing is, I need to find a fabric that has greater absorbency so I don't need to use so many layers for the soaker pad. While the cloth diapers are cute, those things can get bulky really quick. I can't dry them completely in the dryer, so I have to hang them up to dry overnight to get them completely dry. I also would like to try an AIO because it does get to be a pain with the cover and the inner part of the diaper. And I would also like to try other options for waterproofing the covers besides PUL, maybe felted wool, or fleece, I'm not sure. I have a tiny washing machine so I'm doing laundry everyday, and I have an emergency stash of disposables for those times where I'm going to go crazy and the thought of dealing with a cloth diaper is just too much, usually around 3am in the morning, when I've been up for 2 hours feeding.
That's what I'm learning about being a mom, I have all these grand schemes for cloth diapering, breastfeeding, etc., but sometimes, to keep yourself sane you have to compromise and take it easy on yourself for the good of the baby and for the mom. I don't have any knitty pictures to show, but I will leave you guys with a picture I took of Robby when we were still in the hospital.
Robby was nice enough to sit in his swing for 45 minutes, while I got some of these sewn up. I just need to finish putting on the foldover elastic, and then when I get my serger, I'm going to sew the inner soaker pads.
The color side is the waterproof layer, and on the other side is white microfleece, that's the side that touches Robby's skin. Hopefully the microfleece will act as a wicking layer, drawing the moisture into the removable soaker pad. The pattern is a Chloe Toes diaper pattern. The version I'm making is the pocket diaper. In the back there will be an opening that allows me to stuff the diaper with an absorbent insert. When I finish sewing all the elastic on, I'm going to use a snap press to put snaps on the diaper. I sewed up this style of diaper for convenience, they act alot like disposables, waterproof, once the pocket is stuffed, you just put them on and go! I've used both disposables and cloth and really, cloth isn't that much more of a hassle than disposable. At home I keep Robby in a prefold without a cover, and that helps keep diaper rash at bay. When Robby was a newborn, it was definitely harder because he went #2 a LOT, as all babies do, but now that he's a little older and doesn't go #2 at night anymore, and maybe every other day, it's become a lot easier. I've also found that cloth diapers are MUCH better at keeping messes in. You know those infant #2 blowouts? The ones where poo goes all the way up the babies back, soaking an outfit? The only time I have had those is in a disposable. In a cloth diaper, the worst was I get a little leak. And for laundry, I haven't had too bad of a problem with stains. Especially with breastfed babies, you don't need to scrape off solids or anything like that, their poo is totally water soluble so it just gets washed away, and I have a tiny front loading washer, so you don't have to have anything fancy to get your diapers clean. This post is for those moms who are considering cloth diapers, knitting content to come!
