Black Friday Madness and lots of Nappy goodness

So, I am not one to be tempted into black Friday…..cannot be bothered to go wait outside the shops with my elbows raised ready to attack anyone who gets in my way! But from the comfort of my computer I am pleased to say I have succumbed to the Black Friday madness a little.

I have been toying over getting some Cheeky wipes for a while now, but struggled to justify the cost….but with their 25% off Black Friday sale and the fact I sold some stuff so had a decent fund in my paypal, I treated myself and Bear to some lovely new wipes with their snazzy clean/dirty boxes and bags! I am so excited!

On another nappy note….we have fallen in love with Gnappies (I completely blame Ocado for that one, their latest offer was unreal!!) But we get way longer out of them, with no leaks at all. I have 5 medium block colours which I am managing to use plenty as I wash the pouches and covers in with the normal wash and the inserts with the nappy wash, but have plenty of inserts (need to wash at 40, my normal nappy wash is 60 so would rather be safe than sorry!) But love them so much I have purchased a christmas themed one for Bear…..only down side is i didnt realise I was buying from the USA…..fingers crossed it arrives in time!!

Also, I won a competition by Ecopipo and got one of their newest nappies. I am very impressed with the inserts and overall quality by them too. We have been discovering lots of new brands just lately and loving it.

Our stash is somewhat impressive now, fingers crossed I can get some new stash shots and On the bum pictures soon….Bear is getting so big now!!!

Unknowingly, doing my bit to save the planet!

It has dawned on me, by making certain choices for other reasons, I can feel proud that I am doing my bit to help ‘save the planet’.

Lets start by telling you a few things that me and hubby have always done….we aren’t ones to have the heating on high, we would rather an extra jumper or a blanket on the sofa of an evening, our house is ‘cold’ to others, so much so, they bring coats to put on whilst inside! We installed a wood burner as our main heating source in our house, cosmetically, it looks amazing…and after 18 months we are yet to buy any wood, just burn unwanted fence posts, furniture, pallet boards, etc. Hubby loves to grow his own, so our garden has its own veg patch, our patio is host to the herb pots and our borders are home to the fruit bushes. We enjoy composting as much as we can and recycle anything possible. We waste as little as possible, after a roast dinner, the left over bones are used to make a stock even.

So, some of our new life choices…

As you may be aware, Bear is cloth bummed, from 7 months old until he is potty trained we will not be contributing disposables to landfill (and as I have been reading just recently, the amount of energy used to make the nappies is also quite high) our reasons for cloth bumming was due to Bears allergies, our second reason would be financial, 3rdly, I quite enjoy it…..planet earth is far from my priorities! We have a large number of nappies now and have spent less than £200, we will be able to reuse all the nappies for future children, saving ourselves lots of money and saving the planet a couple of extra tonnes of landfill waste (disposable nappies are rumoured to take 200 years to decompose!!!)

We wash the nappies on the ‘eco’ setting, meaning the machine is not using too much energy to wash the nappies, we wash the nappies twice a week. And we no longer tumble dry them either (mainly because the ‘low’ setting seems to have broken) but since having to hang the pockets, inserts, liners and wipes up to dry I figured I should be air drying everything…..the tumbler has been on possibly twice since I had this genius idea!

Since getting used to dealing with the nappies I have discovered a love for cloth sanitary products (CSP). Again, disposable ones are manufactured in a energy consuming way and take a long time to decompose. These items get washed with the nappies (so no additional loads to do). It isn’t ‘gross’ as many people think…and the bathroom bin at ‘that time of the month’ doesn’t get full or smell!

I have recently discovered a love for Milton cold water sterilisation…after 12 months of microwave sterilising. So much so I plan to cold water sterilise everything for future babies (that means not having to use the microwave up to 3 or 4 times a day!) It is so much more convenient than microwaving, just was the bottles and pop in the sterilising bucket, takes a minimum of 15 minutes (bit rubbish if you are in a rush!) but then they are ready….no burning your hand trying to grab them out the hot microwave too soon….and you can do more than the 4 at a time you are limited to in a microwave system.

I now work within walking distance of my home. I can also do my grocery shopping within walking distance too. This means that the car is used rarely….so much so that we put a 6000 mile limit on the insurance, a mileage we are expecting to come well under in a 12 month period!

Obviously, my choices are not driven by my love of planet earth….I do what I do for Bear mainly (and hoping to save a few pennies through not having to buy disposable products, buy fuel and hoping the electric bill may reduce too!) but simple life choices can easily have an impact on the environment….if more people did one or two of these things then the planet would be looking a lot healthier too!

Parenting styles – don’t categorise me!

Most of my posts inspirations come from Facebook, I am in a variety of groups including ones for cloth nappy parents, babywearers and CMPA support groups. Over the last few weeks I have seen an increasing number of ‘what sort of parent are you?’ type posts based upon whether your child is cloth bummed, if you baby wear, breast feed/formula feed, co-sleep, let them cry it out or cuddle to sleep etc, etc. I have witnessed arguments break out over differences of opinions or certain aspects of their parenting do not suit their overall ‘style’. Mothers telling other mothers they are doing it wrong! These types of posts are beginning to get on my nerves, why should a parent feel the need to fit into a category? Does one or other make you a better/worse parent? As long the child is happy and healthy, can you really do it wrong?

So, how do I parent bear? and why do it that way?

Bear was breastfed for 7wks, but due to his allergies he has been formula fed since 4wks old too, had he not had his allergies, who knows how long I would have fed him for.

He is cloth bummed (due to his eczema, I would never of considered it if he didn’t get so sore. Although I love it now and will cloth bum any future children too!)

Bear has a dummy, he has had one since 4 days old. He took to it well, initially to stop him using the breast as a comfort (somewhat selfishly on my part) but he continued to feed well and still uses his dummy today. I am in no rush to take it away, he finds it a great comfort and doesn’t have it in every second of every day (if it is on the floor whilst he is playing, I quietly pick it up and give it back only when he needs it)

I babywear on occasion, often during a quick trip round a shopping centre, it is easier than manoeuvring a pushchair around and waiting for lifts as well as putting the pushchair in and out of cars. I also babywear at work a lot, it helps bear go to sleep and leaves my arms free for doing my work!

We do co-sleep sometimes, more out of necessity, should I let him cry all night long, getting himself in a state and no one would get any sleep? Or should I put him in bed with us, where he settles well and sleeps for longer so we can all get rest? This is only really the case when he is poorly, otherwise he would sleep in his own bed….and YES! His cot is still in our room, with no plans to move him out soon.

If bear wants to, I am happy to cuddle him to sleep. The only time he ever falls asleep without cuddles is in the car or pushchair (with the exception of once, last week when poorly from his reaction, where he fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor). I am happy with this, he is not going to be wanting mummy cuddles forever, so make the most of it!

We began weaning Bear at 4 months (against the ‘new recommendations’). He hated his milk, which we do not blame him for doing, it is vile, and has since thrived on proper food. We switched to baby led weaning as soon as it was safe to do so as bear wanted to, he got bored of being spoon fed and wanted to be a big boy!

I do not let him ‘cry it out’ with the exception of occasionally in the car, where we don’t really have any other option (he gets way less worked up whilst travelling now he is in his ‘big boy’ seat, which is forward facing *gasp* he isn’t in an extended rear facing seat??). If he is sad, I pick him up and cuddle him, smother him in kisses and play silly games to make him smile….this does not make him a mummy’s boy wimp, when he falls, he barely ever cries, he gets back up and starts again.

He is a very independent little boy, he loves to feed himself the same as everyone else, even trying to use a spoon or fork when he can. My choices as a parent were made with me and bear in mind. I will bet that some reading this will have very different opinions to me, which I value, everyone is different and get on better making different choices, ones that are better suited to them and their child. I wouldn’t devalue their parenting because they use disposable nappies, or have sleep trained their little one or moved them into their own room at 4 months or anything else they have decided to do for their child, it is their right as the parent to make these choices. I think a little less judging others parenting skills and a little more focussing on their own children would go a long way in life. All I ask is to not be categorised as anything else, other than a loving mother doing the best she can for her child.

Cloth Nappies, Yay or Nay??

As followers of my blog know, I did not switch to cloth nappies for the sake of planet earth or the purse strings…I did it for Bear! But that being said, I have noticed many things since changing and I am somewhat disappointed from the response I received by my local council and children centre (and other negative nellies along the way). There are so many benefits to cloth nappies, which I never considered myself but now they have come to my attention I can see that the positives out way the negatives by a long way. As Bear takes a nap I wanted to share the benefits that are most relevant to myself, Bear and our environment!

Baby benefits: As we have proven on our short journey so far, switching to cloth has considerably improved the sore nappy rash and eczema on Bears zone. We are no longer needing to use up doctor appointment spaces on a weekly basis to get it checked, neither do we need to constantly receive prescriptions for steroids or yet another nappy rash cream as none were working…..this must mean that both Bear and the NHS benefit! (please note, this is a problem caused by Bears allergy to disposable nappies, so would not be applicable to all)

Over the 3-3.5 years (on average) a child is in nappies it contributes to 1-2 tonnes of landfill waste* if they are to use disposable nappies. Once in land fill it is reported by some that it takes 200-500 years to decompose….the nappy wearer will be long gone before their waste is!! If more people were to use cloth then the environment would benefit!

It is also reported by many that it costs just over £2000 in disposable nappies/wipes over the 3-3.5 years from birth to potty trained* compared to the £100-£200 needed to set up a basic reusable system (additional funds may be spent as cloth bums are adorable with so many super cute prints, but please note, well looked after cloth nappies can be resold to others to recoup some funds) with added costs of washing powder and running the washing machine. It is £2000 per child too, where as the reusable set up price is a one off and can be used with several children if well looked after. With this in mind you and your purse benefit!

I have also been told that in our local area, since changes to our bin collections have been made, that almost every reported case of fly tipping has bags of disposable nappies included. If cloth nappies were used there would be less fly tipping so the council will not have to send the poor man  to go and remove the fly tip and his time can be better spent, so both of these will benefit.

As long as you have the time and patience to wash them then cloth are a great idea….it is easier than you think as you get into a routine and it is only 2 extra washes a week. Cloth nappies look so cute, they left the old, ugly Terry towelling behind years ago! Using reusable wipes too make it even easier, they can be used for grubby faces and hands, not just bottoms! I do notice not having to by wipes and nappies on a weekly basis, the initial out lay to purchase our cloth nappies has been and gone so we are now left with that little bit extra every week to save or have a ‘treat’. I am looking forward to when we give bear a brother or sister so we can use the cloth nappies from birth.

There are probably more benefits to cloth than I have mentioned too. I went to both the local council and the children’s centre with my information to ask if they offered an incentive scheme or whether they would consider it and where I could find more information locally to try promote it a little. I either didn’t receive a reply at all or a very unhelpful one with my ‘local’ support group being over 30 miles away….it is really no surprise that cloth bum mum’s are far and few between in my local area. I never thought I would be one to jump on the cloth band wagon, I was purely doing what was best for my son, but having come to the realisation myself that it is not just him that benefits makes me truly believe that more people should be going reusable.

Please help spread the word!

*Please note these are figures collected from an uneducated google search, although many articles used the same figures.