Jarvie Jams: April 2015

I started cloth diapers when Jack was a couple weeks old. Thankfully I had an extremely helpful mentor, my cousin's wife Jodi, who found a second-hand stash for me, lent me her newborn stash, as well as guided me through the learning process. She even put up with my early morning calls about leaks and laundry! I advise everyone who plans on using CD to have a mentor of sorts. There is an abundance of conflicting information online and so many options, it is best to have someone you trust verses the trial and error of using the google.

As with everything babies, you find out what works for you, this is simply my experience. There are a million ways to diaper your baby - prefolds, covers, all-in-ones, all-in-twos, pocket diapers, hybrids, so be careful what kind of stash you invest in. Try some out, go to a CD party, dabble a bit.

I discovered that I didn't like velcro closures because of the tangled mess it makes in the washer and how worn out it can look. So my stash is fully snap diapers. I only have a couple Tender Tushies from my original stash, the rest I bought off of Craigslist, a Canadian brand called Glow Bug. Seriously CL is a cloth diaper gold mine. Lots of first time parents buy CD thinking that they will use them and never do so they sell them virtually brand new. Another good place to buy second hand ones are the CD buy&sell Facebook groups. A brand that I have just recently tried are Funky Fluff, another Canadian company, which makes a reasonably priced and really nice and trim diaper.

Diapers

I have 35 diapers in my rotation. And really 35 inserts as well. If you want you can double up on inserts at night, but I just prefer to use disposable. The "one-size" can be snapped to their smallest size to be used for newborns but I would wait till bub’s thighs have chunked up to start on cloth. Probably around the 3 month mark or 13-15lb range. You wanna make sure they are nice and snug up in the groin to prevent leaks. There is also the option of purchasing newborn sized cloth diapers (sometimes called size small). The down side is they grow out of them fast, and because newborns poop so frequently you either have to either wash them every day or have a large stash. If you were going to have multiple children use them it might be worth the investment. If you do buy I recommend an all-in-one (AIO) option, verses a pocket diaper. It's just less hassle and the little diapers are a bit of a pain to stuff.

Detergent

I use Country Save detergent, it’s 8 bucks a box and it lasts 4-6 months. You can get it at Target and London Drugs and it’s the best bang for your buck by far. Works out to 16 cents per load. Other brands that are popular are RockinGreen and Nettie’s, it really just has to be residue free. I do a load every 2-3 days, any longer than that and it gets smelly. No dryer sheets and no fabric softener of any kind.

Washing

To wash your diapers it is a three step process:

1. Rinse Cold

2. Wash Hot (with detergent)

3. Rinse Cold.

All on a large load setting. The purpose is to use lots of water to rinse off the pee, wash them at a high temp, and then a final rinse to ensure that the detergent has been rinsed out. Diapers are always hang to dry, preferably somewhere where they will get a bit of sun for some UV rays. If you are exclusively breastfeeding, baby’s poo is water soluble and can go in the wash. Once babe starts solids you will have to use a sprayer or liners (or the shake it off method).

Diaper Creams.

You can’t use any creams that have Zinc, Petrolium, or Silicone. Basically unless it says cloth diaper safe don’t use it. The type of cream that you use should depend on what’s going on on babe’s bum.

Redness - Usually just irritation from pee or teething. Coconut oil or Black’s Butt Balm http://www.lagoonbaby.com/Blacks-Butt-Balm_p_368.html

Excoriation - Use a barrier cream. Grandma El’s was the one I had the most success with and it smells fabulous. http://www.amazon.com/Grandma-Els-Diaper-Prevention-3-75-Ounce/dp/B0042RPDWM If it’s really bad just switch to disposable and use a zinc/silicone combo.

Yeast - shows up in the groin and can be red skin and/or little red dots. Very common if you're breastfeeding and post labour, especially if you had any Antibiotics in labour. You must switch to disposable and use canesten or nystatin on their skin and if it lingers in the cloth diapers you will have to strip them.

*I use the Black's Butt Balm every day, now that Jack is on solids it helps prevent the turds from sticking to his butt.

Accessories

Diaper Pail - I literally just use a bucket and prefer no lid so I can just drop the dirty diaper in one handed (the other hand is usually holding down squirmy Jack). I started out using a pail liner but you just end up washing that as well. Now I just rinse out the bucket.

Wet Bag - essential for on the go, to toss dirty diapers in. I have a couple, also handy for swim suits post lessons.

Liners - for when baby starts on solids, turds go from liquid to solid and stanky. They are supposed to be flushable but that's debatable, you have to let them soak for a while first and they have become a problem for the city sewer system. Also some brands aren’t septic field safe. I just pick the edges of the liner up and put it turds and all in the garbage. I have only tried the Bummis and GlowBugs and I prefer the GlowBugs.

The Windup
You really have to like the cloth diapers to use them, and I am not maniacal about it; I use disposable at night and when we travel. Full disclosure, there is extra laundry involved and time spent hanging them and stuffing the insert into the pocket to prep them. There is also the slightly bigger bum, occasionally you have to go up a size in pants to fit over the booty. And the maintenance, the diapers do have to be stripped periodically to maintain their integrity and absorbency (I'll post about that some other time).

All in all I am really happy with cloth diapers; the two biggest reasons for me are cost and waste. The average cost of diapering two children in disposables from birth to potty training is over $5000. In contrast I have spent just over $400 on my stash. And the average child in the same span will use 6300 diapers, which is nuts! I figure that if I have brought a human into this world then I should at least try to make an effort to help sustain the planet that they will live on.

I recently got back into making No-Knead Bread because I was forced to.

We used to buy our bread down the street at Tartine and don't get me wrong, the bread there is fabulous. It's artisanal, it's crusty, it has a great crumb and I friggen love it's white doughiness. But half the time you show up they don't have bread made. And it's not because they've sold out. I am not shitting you, I've gone there at 7 am, 9 am, 5pm, you name it- any hour of the day and it's a 50/50 crapshoot whether they have bread or not.

I'm not sure if the owners knew this when they opened a bakery, but someone needs to get their ass out of bed at 4am and start baking some bread! Additional evidence that the place is poorly run is the fact that the service can be horrendous. Sometimes the young women behind the counter are nice but the older staff are brutal. I swear the only reason they are open is because they are the only place in the neighbourhood where you can get coffee.

After getting bread-blocked I have officially boycotted Tartine and gone back to making No-Knead Bread. And really I am just waiting for the Vancouver House development to be built across the street and a superior bakery to swoop in and run them into the ground. (Fingers crossed that it's Purebread!).

Really I should be thankful, I am thoroughly enjoying this new yeasty calling.

I make the bread every three days or so and it's so easy it doesn't even make any sense. All you need is a dutch oven, I use a le creuset but any old pyrex with a lid will do. Four ingredients! Flour - Yeast - Salt - Water.

This is the recipe I use -

You can read more about it here : Sullivan Street Bakery No Knead Bread

I mix it in the evening, any time between 5 and 8 pm and let it proof overnight. And then the next morning, usually 12-14 ish hours later I fold it over for it's second proof, which is only an hour or two.

It's a very forgiving recipe and technique and it makes amazing crusty bread, you really have to try it! I love how the smell of it baking fills my whole apartment, I love the sound of the crust cracking as it cools on the counter, and I love how a warm buttery slice fresh out of the oven melts in your mouth.

This is it's nice bubbly top after 12 hours or so.