What’s the Point of a Diaper Sprayer?

Okay, so this blog is about using a diaper sprayer. Earlier today my husband asked me what I was going to write about and I told him that this was the topic and he wanted to know what made me want to write about a diaper sprayer. Well, today my little one had me dealing with a lot of poo and I just figured it was an appropriate subject for me LOL.

            If some of you are new to cloth diapering or have never heard of a diaper sprayer then you are probably wondering what the heck one is? Well, it is basically a personal bidet that you attach to your toilet water line and the hose travels and leads to a push button sprayer. This device allows you to clean yourself or a diaper much easier, quicker, and –in my opinion- less “hands-on”.

            When I first started cloth diapering my daughter one of my first purchases was a diaper sprayer. I didn’t want to deal with having to touch her nasty little gifts she would leave me and I thought it would be easier on me. I brought it home and that night I attempted to put it on. I was a little intimidated about attaching it to my toilet, after all the most plumbing I had EVER done in my life was taking the lid off the toilet tank and jiggling the broken plug, anything beyond that I didn’t mess with. After two tries I finally got it hooked up though and I must say that I was very proud of myself.

            I have moved since then and have not put my diaper sprayer in yet. I just haven’t done it yet out of laziness I guess. But now I am not so grossed out with disposing of her poo in the toilet like I used to be. I cloth diaper full time with out it just fine and honestly I probably won’t hook it up anytime soon unless one day I am just feeling froggy about it. I was thinking about it earlier and I guess it was a purchase I could have lived without.

            BUT I am not saying that a diaper sprayer is completely pointless to have! It is an amazing convenience that many mothers adore. Also, I am a stay at home mom so I am able to dump my daughters diaper when it is fresh. If you are a working parent and your child goes to daycare all day and you have to empty a whole days worth of diapers when you get home then believe me- a diaper sprayer will be your best friend. There are also cases where daddy won’t deal with a diaper and a sprayer is necessary then. And I have to admit myself that a sprayer will get practically ALL the mess out, where the old fashion dunking just gets the majority out.

            So the question is, should you purchase a diaper sprayer? Well, that all depends on you and your needs. I would say if you are diapering multiples then it would be nice. If your child is in daycare that won’t flush out then I would say it’s a must. Also think of yourself and your spouse because when your baby gets sick their poo WILL be VERY nasty, can you handle that. Will you use it all the time? That’s easy- no. Your child can have some pretty solid number 2’s and a lot of times you will be able to just “plop” it in the toilet without swooshing it. Also, if you travel or on vacation your hotel or relatives probably won’t have one. Is it worth the money? An even easier one- yes. The price for one is not outrageous or unreasonable AND Butzie Covers had them on sale for a while. You get a lot of use out of it and at the end of the day the product will make your life easier.

            If you have a diaper sprayer and want to share your opinion or if you don’t have a diaper sprayer and have some questions, feel free to post a comment!

Till next time!

Chelsea

Reasons to Cloth!

Well, I am writing again to discuss reasons to cloth!!! For everyone it is different and there may be one reason that stands out or a combination of reasons. Now, there is no right or wrong reason to cloth diaper your baby, every reason is right for someone and you might have a reason that I don't list at all! For me, when Heidi got a terrible rash and I seen how instantly it went away when she was in cloth I found out how harsh the chemicals were in disposable diapers. But for my husband it was more about the bottom line- money. At first my husband was not on board with the idea at all. He wanted the simplicity of not having to deal with his own kids feces. But after I went ahead and bought some cloth and quit buying disposables it seemed like we went thru a frustrating couple of months with our finances. If it wasn't one thing it was another that kept setting us back. Thankfully, we didn't have to calculate diapers into our extremely tight budget and though our stash was small and I was washing every 1 1/2 days, it got us thru till our finances balanced out a bit more. After that my husband was on board and not only on board, he would help tell our friends about cloth diapering!

Now one reason to cloth diaper is because it is better for the environment. It takes like a million years for one diaper to decompose in a landfill. Not only that but there are so many harsh chemicals in disposable diapers that it probably isn't safe for the waters or habitats near the companies that make them. And after thinking about how humans were given a lot of things in life to survive and multiple items of the same thing the one thing that we truely only have ONE of is our precious Earth. I mean think about it... we have been given water that recycles itself, animals and fruits/vegetables that multiply so we don't go hungry, even our oxygen cycles itself around so that we can continue to breath and not go without, but we are only given ONE Earth. To think about destroying it is kinda scary.

So on to what my selling point was, which was that cloth is safe for your precious little baby. You know my story of how Heidi has super sensitive skin and cloth keeps her bum nice and rash free. I remember Heidi being in the NICU and the nurses put her in disposable diapers and how even the premie sized diapers swallowed her up. My daughter wasn't the tiniest baby in the NICU but she was the tiniest baby I had ever seen. Well I was a teenage mother, fresh out of high school and I had never even heard of cloth diapering. So when it was time to take her home I just kept her in disposables. In the first month of being home Heidi got her first diaper rash and let me tell you, it was HORRIBLE. She would scream and cry and I would feel like a crappy mom cuz I caused her to have this rash. I literally thought I was in over my head and that this little 4 lb. 10 oz. baby was better off with the nurses than her own mommy that loved her dearly. But I tried every cream and stayed on top of every diaper change and devoted my attention to finding out how to keep her rash under somewhat control and at bay. I would have to change creams up every so often or else after a while it wouldn't work, not only that but I would have to switch between cream and baby powder. For me, I couldn't wait till Heidi was out of diapers and potty trained. Well after finding out about cloth diapers, I found other moms switching to cloth because of their babies sensitive skin. It is very common for babies to not like the disposable diapers because the chemicals are just too strong for their skin to handle. It is a very frustrating road to keep a rash away from a baby with sensitive skin but from personal experience, cloth will do the trick! Heidi only gets a rash now if she gets sick or if she is teething, which is normal. Not only that but I can control the rash better too! All I have to do is put either a little baby powder on her or use a cloth diaper safe rash treatment and by the next diaper change her redness is GONE!

On to my husband's selling point, which like most men, is saving money! I am a pretty frugal person (you will learn how frugal I am when I talk about family cloth in a later blog) and so is my husband. We both love to save money and to be able to provide for our family no matter what kind of troubles our finances are going thru. I am more extreme than he is ( he refers to me as a hippie or "Ma" on little house on the prairie lol) but he is still all for saving money. Now our reasons for wanting to save money can sound pretty selfish but its true, we like to save money because we like to spend money. How does that make sense? Well, for instance, we don't have to buy diapers which right now with our two year old we are saving about $20-35 a week (the price will go up when Anna arrives). So once a week instead of having to stay home and not do anything we can go out and have a family date to a movie or bowling or some other activity we can all bond and have a good time. OR think about it this way... $20 X 4 weeks= $80 a month and that month we need both the cars to have an oil change... well we have it now cuz we don't spend it on diapers. AND depending on what type of diaper you use your start up cost can be about $200. When I was first introduced to cloth I experimented with all types and for a while I was a pocket mom cuz it closely related to a disposable so it wasn't too much of an adjustment but now I am all old school, I use flat diapers and one size covers. For my system I have enough covers and flat diapers to cloth diaper two children for about 3 days, do you want me to calculate the grand total? I spent about $72 in covers and then I was given about 4 or 5 covers for my baby shower, and my flat diapers cost me about $1 per diaper so about $60 (12 diapers a day for the newborn and 6 for the toddler plus 2 for just in case) and I was given A LOT of flats for the baby shower and then $10 for reusable wipes,  about $5 for 2 snappies and $20 for a wetbag (which in my opinion is a must have but I guess you don't HAVE to have it). $72+ $60+ $10+ $5+ $20= $167 to cloth diaper 2 children for 3 DAYS in the same system. Split that equally between both children and thats only $83.50 to diaper each child till they are potty trained. So yeah, that gets my husband VERY excited! LOL

There are MANY, MANY more reasons that are out there to cloth diaper that are just as good and are just as important. I just touched on the three major ones that I have found most people choose to cloth diaper. If anyone has a reason that they cloth diaper that I didn't write about feel free to write about it in the comments! I love getting more educated and learning other reasons!

Till next time!

Chelsea Potter

Hello!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Chelsea and I am going to be writing for Butzie Covers. I just wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about me, my story, and how I know the "Diaper Lady" lol.

First, myself. I am a mommy of 1 1/2 (little Anna isn't due till May 5). Both are girls and my oldest one keeps me on my feet! Her name is Heidi and she will be 2 years old on March 20. I am also married to a (sometimes) wonderful husband ;) His name is Andrew and he is a MP in the army. I am 20 years old and have been married for almost 3 years.

Second, my story. Well, I started cloth diapering because my daughter has super sensitive skin and Goldie told me that she might be allergic; after buying a trusted name brand disposable diaper and she had gotten a chemical burn, Goldie gave me a reusable diaper to try and I was sold after that. I have tried literally every type of cloth diaper you can think of from pockets, all-in-ones, sized, fitted, prefolds, flats, and two part systems. Now I cloth diaper full time (except for when I drop her off at the YMCA) and I love it, and my husband loves it too- but just because it saves money lol.

Third, how do I know the "Diaper Lady"? After being a stay at home mother to my daughter for a whole year I thought it was time for me to try working. At the time Goldie (aka the Diaper Lady) was doing home daycare which is what I was looking for. I started working as a waitress and between picking Heidi up and dropping her off I became friends with the Diaper Lady. I would go to pick up Heidi and before I knew it I was talking to Goldie for hours afterwards. I had to quit my job shortly after my husband came home from Iraq but by that time Goldie was already moving into her new store to help mothers diaper their children in the wonderful world of cloth! Now, I am a stay at home mom that helps the Diaper Lady with cutting fabric and writing things for her blog.

That's about it for now :)

Sincerely,
Chelsea

Get a diaper sprayer on the cheap!

Butzie Covers is currently offering pre-orders on diaper sprayers for only $35.95- That is $10 off the retail price for a limited time. Hop over to our Facebook page for details on how to score yours!

Fuzzi Bunz Perfect Size still on sale until 31 October!

Why Perfect Size? - because we all know I am a HUGE One size fan....

-Easy to use and adjust just snap on and off

-Trimmer fitting than most one size diapers

-Snug fit to control leaks

-One step diapering system – no adjusting needed

-Perfect Size can fit newborns straight from the hospital without added bulk

-Can be used as a swim diaper

-Fast and easy

-Truer more custom fit

-May last for several years and several babies as you are not using as long as the one size

-Better for heavy wetter’s because there is more crotch room to stuff overnight inserts

-At $14.95 you will never see a FuzziBunz this low again!  It’s a great time to try them if you have not done so

Blogging Really?

So I am trying to determine at what point small business became so "E"-business?  Don't get me wrong, I think the idea of a small business having the ability to look like a major corporation to the outside world has defiantly helped in bringing back small businesses to the local economy. But, when exactly did it become almost a requirement to Facebook, Twitter, My Space, blog, and run a website just to be able to effectively open your doors for business?

I remember as a child (OK maybe a long time ago-LOL) my grandparents had a gas station, restaurant and rental properties, and I am quite sure it never occurred to them they needed to do more than put and OPEN sign in the window or run an ad in the local paper.

As a small business owner/operator you are not only droving over the financial paperwork, forcasting sales projections, managing inventory, educating customers... but you are a webmaster, writter, editor, marketing manager, and social butterfly! *GRIN*

Don't get me wrong, I REALLY enjoy my new business, and someday (hopefully) I will even get a paycheck LOL. However, I am simply in awe of the changes in my own lifetime and can not even begin to imagine business life once my children are ready to eagerly take on the business world.

-The Diaper Lady