If you’ve read The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, you know I got pretty hardcore about baby gear. That is, if it wasn’t going to last a long time or perform five functions at once, I didn’t want it. The pleasant side effects of this policy was that I didn’t have mountains of blinking plastic toys to wade through on my way to the kitchen. I saved money and the environment. Great!

But . . . in retrospect I have to wonder if I might have eased my restrictions just a bit to make my life with a new baby a little easier. In Baby Gear I Lived Without, I go over some of the common baby items I didn’t buy. Here are a few things I might have liked after all:

Bottles (plural). I got by with one bottle for my daughter’s entire babyhood, and I was very proud of it. It was a plastic bottle, too, since I purchased it right before the BPA scare was all over the news and glass bottles came back in style. If I had to do it again, I’d get a set of glass bottles. A whole set!

Breast pump. My hospital gave me a free hand pump, which was nice. But you know what would have been even nicer? A more sophisticated model like the Hygeia breast pump.

Eco-friendly disposable diapers. I bought six packs of disposable diapers for my daughter’s entire diaper-wearing career. That’s an accomplishment to applaud (I guess), but because I used so few disposables, I should have shelled out the extra money for Seventh Generation diapers that don’t use chlorine.

Stroller. We bought a Maclaren Triumph stroller, and it is hands-down the best piece of baby gear I had because we used it daily for over five years. But for a little more money, I could have bought the Maclaren Quest instead, which would have made the first ten weeks with a new baby more enjoyable.

Baby monitor.Our first house was so small a baby monitor wasn’t necessary. We didn’t really need one after we moved, either. But now I wonder what life might have been like with the monitor. I could have ventured out to the backyard during naps or sat out on the front porch reading. Did I inadvertently tether myself to the nursery for all those years?

Dishwasher. This last one is just wishful thinking. There is no way I could have bought a dishwasher in those early days of parenthood. But oh, what a difference it would have made!

Did you purposefully skimp on any baby gear for cost or space reasons? What baby gear do you wish you had? Or what fanciful doodad (maybe some baby bangs?) would you like us to talk you out of buying?

January is a great month for reorganizing your bathroom or decluttering the kitchen counters but I remember that both my pregnancies spurred my (limited) organizational tendencies into overdrive. At the time, our house was a thousand square feet and we wanted to evaluate how we used every inch in the days before our babies arrived.

But instead of rushing out to buy hundreds of dollars of bins, shelves, and baskets to hold our stuff, we started with what we had. (This is mostly due to our green ideals, but our tightwad tendencies were a factor as well.) So where do you start if you are overwhelmed, without an organizational system, and pregnant? With tiny, tiny steps.

Start small. It gave me great happiness to attack the medicine closet or a spice cabinet. I simply pulled out everything, tossed it into a box, and was very selective about what we put back in. Having these small, but really important areas organized spurred my motivation to move onto the next zone in my home that was driving me crazy. (We are currently living in a much bigger home and I am not pregnant, but I had the pleasure of sorting through my medicine cabinet and bathroom shelves last week. I still have to open them regularly just to admire the neat, labeled pull-out tubs made out of empty kleenex boxes. One is for cold and flu medicine, one for first aide, etc. Order, even in small spaces, is bliss when life with kids is such chaos.)

Play Furniture Tetris. A friend of mine with a similarly sized home coined this phrase and I loved it instantly. For awhile we kept baby in our bedroom and gave up the nursery altogether. Then we shifted the office contents into the living room and moved everything about once more. We were constantly asking ourselves how to repurpose what we already had. Could the baby’s dresser also work as a changing table? Could our small shelf be a spot to stash towels in the bathroom?

Recycle for profit. Taking boxes of rarely read novels to the used book store or selling our loot on craigslist earned us the money to buy what we really wanted for our home. Plus we scored space on our shelves to display what we really love.

When in doubt, donate. Even if I think I just might someday use that ugly turquoise fish pitcher, I’ve learned to toss it in the donation pile. I feel it improves my personal thrift store karma and of course it scores us a lovely tax write-off as well. Also, by recycling something I loathe we recover precious household space.

When I was in the midst of parenting a newborn, any change in our environment took approximately sixteen times longer than it normally would have. But when I was pregnant, I could organize three cupboards of tupperware in less than fifteen minutes. (I so wish that crazy organization drive was still with me today!) Where are you in the parenting spectrum? What do you plan on being able to organize this month? Stay tuned for upcoming posts on tackling your closet…maternity jeans and all!

There isn’t much of a demand for holiday-themed diapers, as it turns out. That didn’t stop me from trying to cobble together a seasonally-appropriate diaper wardrobe for your little one.

The Sckoon cotton baby cloth diaper red pear ($14.90). Reminds me of those Harry & David gift boxes from Great Aunt Buzzy.

Red rock star pocket cloth diaper ($10.95). Dazzling!

Itti Bitti bitti dlish cloth diapers red ($19.95). Soft velour is perfect for the holidays.

Happy Heinys one size cloth diaper forest green ($18.95). If you have twins, I recommend putting one in the red velour and the other in this dark green one. A stunning combo.

Rumparooz reusable cloth pocket diaper lux, aplix ($25). Sort of a holiday pattern, right?

Grovia diaper owls ($16.95). Owls are wintry birds.

Well, I tried.

Although I really wanted to cloth diaper, I was haunted my myths that I kept hearing from non-cloth diapering moms. Luckily I had Rebecca, who guided me through the world of cloth diapers and later became my co-author and co-blogger here at Greenbabyguide.com. Now we can support other new parents by dispelling some of those cloth diapering myths that we found to be utterly untrue.

Myth #1: You’ll have to use pins and plastic pants.
When I tell people that I cloth diapered my children, it’s amazing how many of them say they just couldn’t imagine having to use pins with small infants. I show them pictures of the hourglass design and velcro and snap closures and they are amazed.

Myth #2: Cloth Diapering is very expensive in the beginning.
I was worried about spending a few hundred dollars on cloth diapering, only to find out that I couldn’t manage the laundry (another myth) or that the diapers were the wrong fit for my baby. Rebecca helped me clear this hurdle when she took me to a consignment shop where I picked out some gently used super whisper wraps and a half dozen other diaper covers for just one dollar each. I then bought three dozen gently used cotton prefolds from a diaper service and was ready to go with only a thirty dollar investment. (Note: Many of our readers have shared that Jillian’s Drawers allows you a no-risk cloth diaper trial for only ten bucks. They’re also tremendously supportive for trouble shooting.)

Myth #3: Cloth diapering is more complicated and labor intensive than disposable diapering.
Rebecca and I are self-confessed slackers. The diaper laundering systems that we used in our households are not rocket science and require very little effort. (We go over this system in detail in our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide.) The very best part of cloth diapering is never having to strap your screaming infant into a car seat to go buy diapers. What a relief to have everything you need at home!

Myth #4: You need to choose one cloth diapering system and stick with it.
I agonized over whether to use prefolds or all-in-one diapers, and after careful research, I chose prefolds. (For this reason, we include graphs, cost comparisons, and illustrations in The Eco-nomical Baby Guide for those parents who want to understand their cloth diapering and hybrid diapering options.) Prefolds worked just fine, but when I was sent a batch of FuzziBunz pocket diapers, I fell in love. Then some friends gave me their BumGenius all in ones, and I saw how convenient they were. In short, different types of diapers work best in different situations and it’s perfectly fine to have a mix of diapers. Why limit yourself?

Myth #5: Cloth diapering is less eco-friendly than using disposables.
Intuitively we all know that washing and reusing something is more eco-friendly than tossing it in the landfill. In The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, we take a careful look at recent studies and provide detailed comparisons of cloth and disposables. We also show how using the right washing methods can cut down dramatically on environmental impact and share how hybrid diapers and greener disposables fit into the mix.

Myth #6: You have to choose between cloth or disposable diapers.
Sometimes families shy away from cloth diapering because then they think it requires a total commitment. A good percentage of our readers use cloth diapers exclusively but some families use cloth during the day and disposables at night while others use disposables about half of the time. In truth, using cloth even part of the time saves money and trash. Hybrid diapers such as Grovia Diapers and g-Diapers incorporate both disposable and cloth options, making them an appealing choice as well.

Now that I’m on the other side of cloth diapering apprehension, it’s fun to see how people don’t seem to know how incredibly easy cloth diapering has become. As a result, people look at me with admiration and awe while I perform a cloth diaper change in a public bathroom. I didn’t imagine that cloth diapering would make me appear to be a genius while changing a poopy diaper, but I don’t mind it either.

Have you dispelled any myths while using cloth diapers? Have you found them to be far easier or more challenging than you first imagined?

Do you need a diaper bag? In What’s in your diaper bag? I asked that very question. And in Retiring the Diaper Bag, I lovingly described the beat-up black bag my husband lugged to and from our daughter’s daycare for five years.

Obviously, you don’t need to buy a bag dedicated to diapers. You could simply tuck your supplies in your purse, a messenger bag, a backpack, a canvas shopping bag, or even a crinkled plastic bag. You could carry extra diapers and wipes in the pockets of your cargo pants, you could snap a clean Fuzzibunz over your baby’s head and use it as a hat until changing time. I’m just brainstorming here. . . .

These skinny cargo pants are just the thing for toting around cloth diapers, wipes, a few snacks, and an extra onesie

Stay tuned for my next post in this diaper bag mini-series, in which I provide some eco-friendly diaper bag suggestions for parents who don’t feel like stuffing diapers in their pockets. In the meantime, we want to know what you use if you go without a dedicated diaper bag.

If you use cloth diapers on the go, you need someplace to stash the wet ones until you’re back home again. On the minimal end of the spectrum, you could simply use a Ziploc bag or any old plastic zipper bag. That’s what I did for several months. When my daughter started going to daycare at eight months, we needed a heftier option and ended up getting something like the SealLine Dry Sack, which we found at a sporting goods store for under $10. At the time, I don’t think we realized there were cuter options out there, but this bag did the trick. They’re available in a variety of sizes. Ours could hold a whole weekend’s worth of diapers.

Now there are several cloth diaper wet bags on the market, all of which are much classier than a Ziploc bag:

We’ve always had a thing for Monkey Foot Designs, and we can attest to their attractiveness and durability.

Kushies On the Go 2 pack wet bag. ($10.99), with a draw-string closure.

Bummis Fabulous Organic Wet Diaper Bag ($14.37)

Itzy Ritzy Zippered Wet Bag ($17.95)

Planet Wise Diaper Wet Bag (from $16.50)

Kissa One Size Antibacterial Wet Diaper bag ($11.99)

Munchkin Damp Goods Bag ($8.99)

What do you use when you change a cloth diaper out on the town? Chime in with your recommendations (or anti-recommendations) in the comments!

Eco-friendly diaper creams abound these days, but which ones really work?

We were big fans of Boudreaux’s All Natural Butt Paste. It was widely available and seemed to clear up any issues we had quickly and without a sticky mess.

Method’s Squeaky Green Diaper Cream comes in wonderful scents, but I never had a chance to use it with my babies.

Friends of mine have raved about Weleda Calendula Diaper Care and their whole line of products.

Nature’s baby Organics Organic Diaper Ointment Cream is part of a series of organic personal care products for mothers and babies.

Angel Baby Bottom Balm has a luscious lavender scent that we loved. It’s made here in Oregon and their whole line of products are fabulous!

Bio-Bio Baby’s Zinc Oxide Paste also looks pretty promising. Has anyone tried it?

Perhaps you’ve tried swabbing a bit of olive oil on baby’s bottom or even using some Lanosinoh Lanolin. (Most breastfeeding moms discover that the stuff is wonderful for those early days of cracked and sensitive skin, and unless your child has a wool allergy, it’s great for use as a diaper cream as well!)

Let us know what your favorite solutions are for diaper rash and don’t forget to enter our Eco-nomical Baby Guide and What to Expect When You’re Expecting giveaway!

What to Expect When You’re Expecting is a thorough guide to pregnancy that has been tremendously popular for over twenty years–and this week their website, What to Expect, is sponsoring a giveaway! We’re throwing in a few copies of our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, to sweeten the winnings for two lucky readers. There are multiple ways to enter so get in on the action!

Prize #1
What to Expect Before You’re Expecting (+ a copy of our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down to Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet)

For women who are planning conception and pregnancy, What to Expect Before You’re Expecting is a great resource. It provides tips on everything from nutrition to medical care for women (and men) in the months before you get pregnant. And it will help you make the good choices that will lead to a healthier newborn. For couples hoping to conceive quickly, Murkoff educates readers about how to pinpoint ovulation cycles to raise your odds of getting pregnant.

As for our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, we’ve spoken to many women who received it late in their pregnancies only to wish that they would have read it months earlier. Why not learn about cloth diapers and used baby gear before you’re dealing with morning sickness and exhaustion? We hope that having the book far in advance will allow you to gather up the new and used green gear you need while saving thousands of dollars.

Prize #2
What to Expect When You’re Expecting(+ a copy of our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down to Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet)

What to Expect When You’re Expecting is read by over 90% of pregnant women who read pregnancy books and has been on the New York Times bestseller list for decades. So what can you expect from the book? The book is organized into monthly chapters which provide information about how you may feel, common questions, a week-by-week guide to baby’s fetal development, and information about what your midwife or doctor is likely to say during that phase of pregnancy. The book also addresses childbirth plus the emotional and physical issues that couples face in the postpartum period. The question and answer format helped me pick out sections that were relevant to my pregnancy. I was too overwhelmed and exhausted by growing a fetus to actually read any book cover to cover so I appreciated being able to easily reference what I was looking for.

We wish every newly pregnant woman could get a free copy of The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, just to have access to humble, humorous, hands-on advice for gearing up green on a budget. Since we can’t just stand on the corner and hand these out to pregnant passers-by, we’ve decided to send one to accompany What to Expect When You’re Expecting in this giveaway. We hope you can win!

Whether you’re lucky enough to win one of the prizes or not, you should know that What to Expect online now offers heaps of free information for expectant women and new parents. You can pick up a copy of many What to Expect books on Amazon for less than nine bucks and The Eco-nomical Baby Guide is currently on sale for less than eight dollars. (And it will save you much, much more than what you pay for it!)

Enter the What to Expect When You’re Expecting (and the Eco-nomical Baby Guide) Giveaway!

Each comment counts as an entry. You can enter up to four times. Here’s how:

1. Simply post a comment

2. Like the Green Baby Guide on Facebook (then tell us you did it in a separate comment)

3. Visit the What to Expect website and comment on what you learned.

4. Spread the news about the giveaway! Email someone, post it on Facebook, tweet it, blog it, or send someone a message about it via carrier pigeon. (And again, don’t forget to tell us all about it in the comments!)

This contest ends on Thursday, August 11th, and is only open to U.S. Residents.

Great luck!

Great luck!

Is it too hot to cloth diaper? One complaint we’ve heard about cloth diapers is that they’re just too bulky and warm for babies, especially in the warmer months. Here in Portland, Oregon, our heat waves don’t last too long, and I never switched over to disposables because I was worried about overheating my baby.

A quick search for “summer diapers” yielded only one result: the Blueberry Deluxe diaper in “blue summer.” While the pattern is nice and summery, it doesn’t appear to have any magical properties that make it more appropriate for the hotter months.

I’ve also heard of parents using Chinese prefold diapers with old-fashioned diaper pins in hot weather–without a diaper cover. This approach would make the diaper more breathable but would require vigilant parental attention. And it probably isn’t the most practical solution when you’re out and about!


Have you given up cloth diapering in the warmer months? Or do you have any tips for keeping with cloth no matter what mother nature brings? Let us know!

Of the more than a thousand entries for FuzziBunz One Size Cloth Diapers, the FuzziBunz In and Out Mess Free Hanging Diaper Pail, and the Rockin’ Green Laundry Soap, we had to pick just two winners.  (Insert dramatic pause…..and possibly drumroll here….)

Amanda H. will get to choose whichever vivid colors she wants for her  three FuzziBunz One Size Cloth Diapers and Aleia is soon to be the lucky owner of a bag of Rockin’ Green Laundry Soap and the FuzziBunz No Mess Hanging Diaper Pail.

If for some reason I don’t hear back from either of them in the next few days, I may just pick another number so you may still have a very, very small chance of winning.

And check back next Wednesday for another great giveaway that I think you’ll enjoy!

(My apologies for my tardiness in reporting our winners but we just moved this weekend. I’m just feeling lucky to have the computer unpacked at this point!)