In Response to the Response About Cloth

Hello everyone! Remember this?

A few weeks back I posted a post about Fuzzibunz and cloth diapers, and was hit with a swarm of questions thru comments, tweets, and personal emails. At first I was all like: "Umm hello. I never said I was some super know it all cloth diaper expert?!" It was a really awesome response to the post and I was happy to help spread the good word on such a great product. Cole gets all the credit, as she used them 5 years prior to this to cover The Littlest Buddies bum and she just loved them. So... here was the problem I had with answering many of the emails I received. The main question was always HOW MANY?! How many diapers to buy? Well, I just simply don't know all of the variables involved to spit out a personalized number, I have no idea what velocity or the frequency that your baby poos and pees. So I have no real way of knowing how many diapers to suggest. What if I say 12 and it isn't enough-- and then you hate me? What if I say 18 and it is way too much-- and then you hate me? You see the pattern? All roads lead to you hating me. So I just sat in my silence and on top of my mountain of personal cloth diaper knowledge, and kept it all to myself like a greedy hog just basking in my daughters no leak, no rash, environmentally sound glory. That is when the guilt started to pile up. Unanswered emails and comments just lay there staring at me. People just wanted some help and I was failing. Even though I directed readers to the very informative FAQ section about cloth, I was still getting hit up for info. So I decided the best way to solve this was to write a little more about it. And at the end of it all, go ahead and giveaway a whole bundle of the new Fuzzibunz One Size cloth diapers and make one family very happy.

So here we go...

Answers to questions in one giant messy ball of info.

Judging from the comments and emails I think many of you cloth virgins had the same initial worry that I had: "Don't all of those dirty diapers pile up and smell like... old rotten smelly poop and piss?" I mean who wants that in their house? But guess what?! We keep all of our filthy diapers hanging in a bag off our laundry room door, (seriously we do) and I have never caught a single whiff of anything that would curl these delicate nostrils. The Fuzzibunz bags keep it all sealed up tight and contained and we just never worry about it. When we get a dirty diaper we shake out the inserts into the bag, drop them in, and close it up. When we have enough for a wash. We wash. If we are out in public away from home and our magic bag for dirties, we just use the small travel version of the magic bag. It has honestly never been a problem. When the baby crap stops coming out like liquid and smelling like sugary breakfast cereal and the solids start, you just shake out the nasty bits into the toilet, and drop the diaper into the bag. Not a big deal. You are dealing with the same amount of poop no matter what you have on your child. It isn't like just because you have them in cloth somehow all of the sudden the crap multiplies and wants to get all over you and your house. It's the same amount.

The other big question was how often do we wash? We wash twice a day. Times vary depending on our work schedules. Both Cole and I have a different schedule every week, so we do not have a routine. We just make sure that we always have a stack of clean diapers and that means twice a day. On days when we are home long enough, and it's hot and sunny we put the diapers out in the sun to dry. If we have to run, we use the dryer. We have not noticed a huge spike in our power bill. Living in Florida the huge jump in cost comes every summer when the AC starts running around the clock. So there was no significant noticeable difference in our power bill when we started doing more washing. I am sure there was an increase but nothing that knocked us over like an August power bill in Florida.

Someone asked how long it took to get used to using cloth? It took like a week to get used to the routine of cloth, and then it's like nothing to it at all. It's just the way you diaper. They are easy to use. They grow with the baby. It is a simple system. At night we use the second insert they come with so the little Tangerine stays dry longer.

Now... I hate that I have to write a disclaimer before anyone gets all butt hurt and sensitive that read way into this post and thinks I am trying to say that if you aren't using cloth you're doing it wrong. Or if you use disposables you're the devil and don't really love your children. I am not making comparisons in that way, or saying that if you use disposables you're a ding dong or a planet murderer. So relax. I am just writing about our personal experience with cloth and that we love it, because people are interested in it. I am not a guy that would have ever imagined giving a shit about any of this until we started using cloth and then all of the sudden I felt the difference. It just feels better, it makes me jump higher, and run faster, food tastes delicious again, there is more money in my wallet, A cool breeze blows thru our house on hot summer days, and yes Tessa is the happiest baby in existence, there is no doubt in my mind of this. Has any of this helped? I hope so.

Now to the giving away part. Cole and I decided it would feel good to give away some Fuzzibunz to a new family that has been wanting to try cloth. So here is what you do to win:

* Put a link up on your blog to Fuzzibunz.com (it can be a link in your blogroll, a link in a post, an entire glorious post all about Fuzzibunz, that is all up to you). You don't have to have a huge enormous following to qualify. We are just interested in spreading the word and this is a great way to spread it. So don't worry about the size of your blog, or LJ, or Wordpress, or whatever it is you use.

* Once you have the link set up - leave a comment here on this post with a link back to you. This means you are now entered. Congratulations and good luck :)

* If you are selected by the random number generator, I will announce the winner on MONDAY September 14th I will check the winners blog for the Fuzzibunz link you were asked to provide, and if you have it, you win.

*The contest is open to U.S. and Canadian residents

*Please do not enter if you do not have a baby (a baby in the belly is totally acceptable) So expecting parents are eligible.

*Please do not enter if you do not have a child under the age of one. We want to hook up a family just starting out, and giving diapers to someone with a child almost out of diapers doesn't make sense to us.

Cole and I would really like these to go to a new family that have been wanting to try cloth. If you are just a random person that just stalks giveaways online, and do not keep an active blog to post a link back to Fuzzibunz, than this contest isn't for you. This is very much a contest for the blogging community interested in cloth diapering. I hope that's going to be okay for everyone. Sound good?

Good luck to everyone and I really hope these go to a good home.

All the Love in the Universe ~ Us

* NO MORE ENTRIES. THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED TODAY!!!