tips and tricks: the diaper bag (for cloth moms)

When it came to picking out a diaper bag I was completely lost. Have you seen the floor to ceiling wall of bags at Buy Buy Baby?? How do you pick except based on color? I tried to do some internet research but let's be honest here, there's so much info and I was so overwhelmed that I easily gave up.

I ended up picking the Skip Hop Via Messenger based on a suggestion from a blog I read. She basically said it was the bees knees and her husband didn't hate it.

It is pretty cool looking, has lots of pockets, clips onto the handles of the stroller, built in changing pad. I added it to the registry and checked it off my to-do list. Now while it is a great diaper bag, it quickly became too small for us. Since we use cloth diapers, we need a lot of space. Those suckers seem to grow in size once you try and jam them into the diaper bag.

I'm now going to let you in on my secret for finding a diaper bag big enough for the cloth diapers plus everything else in the world: a bag meant for twins.

I bought the Skip Hop Duo Double and I love love love it. I'll be the first to admit that $80 for a diaper bag is a bit ridiculous, but I got mine for a steal. I have the above striped pattern which is retired so it was on sale for 50% off. Tack on a 20% off coupon on top of that and $32 for the perfect bag is much more doable.

As you can see it has a crazy amount of pockets, 3 across the front {each with a magnetic snap}, a mesh pocket with draw string on each end, a large pocket across the back that is divided in two {part of it houses the changing pad}, plus a zip pocket on the back as well! That's just the outside. The inside has 8 more pockets and then an open middle that is deep and wide. The bag has a detachable shoulder strap plus two carrying handles and the clips to hook it on the handles of a stroller.

The amount of stuff I can carry in this bag is mind boggling. Here goes {and yes I'm a huge "just in case" mom}:

Inside

• six cloth diapers {number varies depending on how long we plan to be out}
• large wet bag
• extra outfit for Quinn
• medicine - tylenol, teething tablets, orajel
• several extra passys and passy wipes
• container of puffs
• small insulated bag that holds three containers of food with an ice pack plus spoon
• 4 soft toy blocks
• giraffe that clips onto the carrier handle
• blanket and lovey {sometimes two loveys}

Outside

• wipes container
• Sophie the Giraffe
• rattle
• baby sunglasses
• two crinkle toys
• diaper cream
• changing pad

I still use the Via Messenger as Quinn's daycare bag, but I highly recommend the Duo Double especially if you plan on using cloth. 

tips and tricks: bath time

Today I'm linking up with Meagan for Tips and Tricks Tuesdays for Moms. I haven't been a mama for very long, but I'm slowly starting to pick up on some tricks that make our life just a little bit easier.

Lucky for me, Quinn loves bath time. He giggles and splashes and just generally enjoys the water. Trying to scrub him down is always a challenge because he squirms all over the place and I end up covered in water myself.

My biggest problem was the wash cloth. I could never get the baby shampoo to suds up on the cloth and I just didn't feel like I was getting Quinn clean. I would keep adding shampoo until I got some suds which meant I was blowing through a large bottle entirely too fast.

Enter the bath puff. I wish I had thought of it sooner! It makes complete sense to me now to use it on Quinn. The puff is soft and you only have to add a tiny drop of shampoo on it and end up with a really bubbly bath. Quinn giggles the entire time I scrub him down. Bonus: I don't have to add a wash cloth to the laundry pile every night. So simple!

We picked one up at Walmart that has a monkey on it for just a couple dollars. Hope my tip helps another mama out there!

cloth diapers

I get a lot of concerned looks when I mention that we use cloth diapers on Quinn. Pretty much their facial expression says, "you're crazy" without their mouth making a sound. I want to talk about my experience with cloth diapers to try and show y'all it's not as bad as you think!

How we decided to use cloth diapers:
Our number one reason was cost. I had read that disposable diapers cost an estimated $2000 over a two year period. That's only if you get your baby potty trained by that time. That's a lot of money! While the brand of cloth diapers we chose aren't cheap (we paid $375) we will only pay it once and plan on using them again for future babies.

Some other benefits were less trash and less diaper rash. The diaper rash was important to us because I had pretty intense diaper rash as a baby. If Quinn inherited my sensitive skin then he was doomed to a similar fate.

What diaper we picked:
We bought the bumGenious 4.0 one size pocket diapers. As far as how we chose that brand over another it really came down to being a copy cat. I have a friend that uses this brand and she loves them. They have two options, one with velcro and one with snaps. When I heard her little girl figured out how to undo the velcro I decided to go with the snap option.

These diapers are meant to fit a baby 8 to 35 lbs depending on how you configure the snaps. We did have to use disposable diapers for Quinn for about the first month because he was too small to wear them without having leaks. For me this worked out perfectly because it took me about a month before I had my life is semi-order again to be showering consistently, let alone doing laundry.

How many:
We have 24 diapers. This was based on the recommendations on the websites and from other mamas. On average a newborn will go through 12 diapers a day with it progressively lessening as they get older. You don't want dirty diapers sitting around for more than a couple days because of bacteria growth. Made sense to us and it's worked out perfectly.

Accessories:
Wet bag:

We use this bag to store the dirty diapers while we're on the go. It's water proof and machine washable. I got ours on sale for $10.

Diaper pail and liner:

For the diaper pail we just got a red trash can from Walmart to match Quinn's nursery. I bought a red waterproof pail liner that is also machine washable for $16.50.

Diaper sprayer:

The hubs created a homemade one with a kitchen sprayer to try and save money, but it really didn't save us anything. Just buy that already made one. It attaches to your toilet so you can spray the poop right in the bowl and flush it on down. Easy peasy.

Maintenance:

I wash a load of diapers every other day with the free and clear Cheer. There is special detergent out there, but I've never seen the need to use it. I add bleach to the load once or twice a month to get rid of any stains. I've heard to also use just a drop of dawn to strip the diapers of any build up once in a blue moon, but I haven't had to do this yet. 

I dry the diapers on low in our dryer. Some like to hang them outside to dry in the sunshine (which also helps with stains), but this time of year would leave a lovely layer of pollen on the diapers. I've been doing this for four months now and haven't seen any rise in our water or electric bills.

Ease of use:

Since these diapers are shaped just like disposables I find them incredibly easy to use. They go on just like a disposable. There is no folding and pinning like most think. Another plus for me is that I never get upset if Quinn dirties a diaper seconds after I put it on. I just toss it in the diaper pail and grab another one. No "wasting" a diaper. 

I pack clean diapers for the nanny and she just puts the dirty ones in the wet bag. At the end of the day I pull the liner out from the cover and either toss it in the pail or in the wash depending on the night. The hubs thinks they are great. He tells everyone how awesome and easy they are ha! You know they must be great if they are hubs approved.

Where we got everything:

I highly recommend ordering everything from www.nickisdiapers.com. They often have great deals and sales including free shipping. We bought our diapers when they were buy 5 get one free. I recently had trouble where the snap came out of two of the inserts. I sent an email to customer service and they had two new inserts in the mail to me that day! Love great service like that!

I think that's everything but please feel free to ask any questions!

**I was not compensated by bumGenius or Nicki's Diapers for this post. All opinions are strictly my own and I just love all of the products I mentioned.

life saver

We recently purchased what I deem to be the best baby item to date, My Little Snugabunny Cradle n Swing. It seriously has been a life saver. Quinn likes to be moving, whether swinging, bouncing, or rocking it doesn't matter as long as he's not sitting still. This swing has been perfect.

My Little Snugabunny Cradle n Swing by Fisher-Price

The hubs brought it home and promptly put it together (which only took about 10 minutes) and Quinn has been enjoying it ever since.

While we're on the topic of baby items below are some things that work for us and are Quinn approved.

Avent Soothie Pacifier

I brought a couple of pacifier options to the hospital, but Quinn didn't like any of them. One of the nurses gave him the soothie and bam! we had a winner.

Boppy

I love the Boppy, but not for nursing. Quinn likes to sleep on his side and the Bobby keeps him wedged in the perfect position.

My Brest Friend Nursing Pillow

This is the pillow I love for actual nursing. It is a stiffer foam and clips around you which means at four in the morning when you're half awake the pillow will stay in place and baby won't roll off. I recommend having a second cover for the brest friend and the bobby so when your little one has a blow out or spits up (both have happened to us multiple times) you'll have a clean cover to put on the pillow right away while the soiled one is in the washer.

Graco SnugRide Platinum Infant Car Seat

We chose this car seat for two reasons. 1) it has wonderful safety reviews and more importantly 2) the hubs' sister had extra car seat bases that she was willing to give us so we didn't have to purchase them.

Baby Jogger City Mini Single Stroller

We have this stroller in orange. It is seriously the easiest stroller ever. It's light weight design and easy collapse handle are what initially sold me. 

Baby Jogger Car Seat Adapter

Instead of having a travel system, we got this adapter to attach the car seat to our stroller. The travel systems just seemed so heavy and bulky to me. This keeps everything simple.

Itzbeen Baby Care Timer

This little timer has been wonderful. When you are sleep deprived there's no telling when baby's last feeding or dirty diaper was. With this timer, you never have to keep track, just push the button. It also has a little flashlight built in which I've used several times in the middle of the night when I don't want to turn on a light.

Puppy piddle pads

As crazy as it may sound, you'll thank me later. I don't know if it's a little boy thing or a Quinn thing but I can't count how many times we've been in the middle of a diaper change and there's a fountain or a blow out. Instead of having to change the cover over and over, I just throw away the soiled piddle pad and replace it. 

Summer Infant Simply Clear Digital Audio Monitor

We weren't planning on getting a monitor since our house isn't that large. Well Quinn has a very soft cry and it wasn't waking me up in the middle of the night if he wasn't in the room with us. The hubs picked out this monitor and it has been just perfect. It plugs in or can be portable. The blue sides light up when the baby cries if you'd rather use that as an indicator instead of the volume. 

Medela Harmony Manual Breast Pump

I highly recommend having a breast pump before your baby arrives. We thought we were being smart by waiting to purchase a pump. What if something happened and I couldn't breastfeed? Then I'd be stuck with a very expensive pump. Unfortunately I ended up getting engorged and Quinn couldn't latch on. I was crying, he was crying, and the hubs was running around town trying to purchase a pump and get back home as quickly as possible. This manual pump has been perfect since I'm still at home but we plan on getting a Medela electric pump for when I go back to work.

So far these are the baby items we've used and loved. I know it's nearly impossible to predict what your baby will like, but hopefully this list will help the frantic soon-to-be mom searching "baby must haves" just like I was a few months ago.

I wasn't compensated for this post. It truly is just about baby items that have worked for us.