Adventures in Diapering
Thank you to everyone for participating in our Monster Giveaway! This includes all our retailers as well as customers, fans, bloggers, and everyone in between. We are very happy that we were able to award 4 different families a $250 gift certificate to get whichever BabyKicks products they like. Congratulations to all our winners and we hope you and your baby enjoy everything!
Monster Giveaway winners posted
under the “Winners” page!
Be sure to check back each week until February 18 to see if you’ve won!!
We have just added a page for our collection of videos! In our collection we have “how to” videos about our new Organic Fitted and Bumboo Pocket diaper, as well as fun action shots of babies and behind the scenes of BabyKicks. We hope you will find them useful and enjoy them as much as we do! Here is our most recent, all about having fun in the sun with our new Bumboo Pocket diaper!
The cloth diapers you’ve been using for the past 2 years are having issues. The PUL is coming apart, they are wearing thin and don’t absorb like they used to, your little one has grown out of them, or they just don’t get as much love as they used to and have made their way to the bottom of the pile where they stay. I recently had this dilemma, two of my one size diapers had delaminated. 
I did get replacements, but I still had these two useless diapers left over. Being a green person and not one to just toss anything into the garbage, I asked myself, “What can I do with these diapers?” A couple of weeks went by and then one day while I was babysitting D, my 7 year old niece, watching as she dragged my toddler around with her everywhere, it suddenly hit me. I asked D to bring her “baby” over to the couch because I had a surprise for her. Eagerly she brought the cabbage patch doll over to me and I laid her down on the couch. I then said, “Your baby is missing something! She’s going to go potty all over the place, so we need to put this diaper on her!” 
D’s eyes lit up and I could see how excited she was to put the cloth diaper, just like Aunt G uses, on her baby. I must say, I have never seen a little girl so happy about something as simple as a “broken” diaper.I showed her how to size the diaper down to fit her baby, and also showed her how to change it when the time came. We put the other broken diaper on a teddy bear so she could really see how the diapers fit every shape and size. 
From that moment on she didn’t put her baby down. She did however put the teddy bear in the swing, on the play mat, and tossed him up in the air. I almost wished I waited until her birthday to give the diapers to her, but I had no idea they would be such a huge hit! 
Yet another reason cloth diapering is the way to go. They’re not only comfortable for babies and better for the environment, they can also be recycled to give older children something to play with and learn from without spending more money on toys they will outgrow in a month. Plus, I like that I’m already helping another generation follow the cloth diapering movement.
Christmas is just around the corner and, we have some holiday cheer we would like to share with our readers. We’ve added a page to our blog called ‘The Advent Book of Oma and Opa’, you can get to it by clicking ‘Christmas Around the World’ or under ‘Advent’ at the top of the page. In the Advent book you will find interesting stories about how the holiday is celebrated in different countries around the world. These make perfect night time stories for the family when gathered around the tree. We will be posting a new story each day from December 1st thru December 24th. So make sure to check back everyday for our new story. What’s more is we are giving away wonderful gifts at the end of the month! In order to qualify, simply leave a comment letting us know what you and/or your children think about our holiday stories. Readers will receive one entry per story commented on. Tweet: @BabyKicksUSA Advent Holiday Stories with this link about our stories and you will receive 1 additional entry for each day you tweet. We are happy to share and spread holiday cheer, and we hope you will help us!
Comments will close on December 31st & Winners will be drawn on January 1st. Only a few days left to enter! Good Luck!
We have our Holiday Gift Winners! Congratulations! Claim your prize by January 3rd by emailing gina@babykicks.com. Happy New Year!
Here are your random numbers:
85 61 53
Timestamp: 2010-01-02 03:29:20 UTC
#85 Kym said: Day 8 United Arab Emirates, if you asked my husband what pops into his head when you say this countries name, I can guarantee the first thing he will say will be sand a lot of sand! He used to work there and he saw a lot of sand, but I had never thought about the camels and the 3 wise men! Now I am thinking of it in a completely different way! Dec 23, 4:29 AM
#61 Nisha said: We love these!!! Thank you!! Dec 22, 3:24 AM
#53 Stephanie said: Sweden- interesting traditions. Except for the fish chowder 
Dec 21, 4:45 PM
I have to admit I was one of those people who is afraid of wool. Even though I read about it and how everyone loves it, I wasn’t sure if I could handle the gentle care it requires. Being a working mom with two babes under 15 months calls for full days and a lot of laundry. Plus, I also noticed the price… it can get expensive! Sure I love the look of a hand knit “monster butt” longie set. But $65 and up is a little steep for something my little one is going to fit in for a couple months, maybe. So I decided wool needed to be bypassed so I could keep things simple and within my budget.
Then one day while browsing one of my favorite sites, Etsy.com, I came across some WAHM items that included upcycled wool diaper covers. There were soakers, shorties, longies, and wraps. As I read about the covers I found that “upcycled” means items that have been repurposed. For example, a long forgotten wool sweater that has been shoved in the farthest corner of your closet is cut and sewn into a completely different item, wool diaper covers. Depending on the size of the sweater and the size of the soaker, multiple covers can be made. The average price for each cover was around $10 and came with care instructions. I thought to myself, “Well, for $10 I think I can give wool a shot!”. So I made my first wool purchase of three upcycled soakers for my little man. All three were a little different in style because I didn’t know which would work best for us. When they arrived in the mail I followed the included instructions for initial lanolizing, which is very important. I still had my sampler tube of Lansinoh from the hospital so I didn’t have to purchase any; which was a definite plus! I mixed it with a little baby wash, and wahlah! I was always under the impression that I needed to have “special” wool cleaner, and that lanolizing was a technique that required some getting used to. After my covers were dry I tried them out on little man. And, as soon as I saw him running around in this soft, breathable, unrestricting “underwear” I was converted. I immediately went on a hunt to find more upcycled wool for my new addition that was on the way. I went back to Etsy and found more in newborn size for $10 each again. The price can’t be beat and the moms who make the covers could not be sweeter. One shop I bought from, Snuggle Pants, even included a handwritten thank you card in my package. Now THAT is dedication to customer service!
I’ve been using wool pretty regularly now for the past 4 months, and I am so pleased with it that I can’t believe I was actually intimidated by it. Never any leak issues, because of the lanolin, and I love that my little men’s special parts can breath. I have my washing routine down now, and it’s nice that I only have to wash my woolies every two weeks, unless they get poo on them which doesn’t happen very often. It only takes about 10 min of actually doing anything. The rest is all soaking and waiting. It really is very simple. I recommend wool to everyone now. Whether it’s upcycled or hand knit, wool is natural, biodegradable, breathable, and better for baby. So, here’s to not being afraid of wool!
We’ve started our BabyKicks Teaching Series! Here is the first video with step by step instructions on how to use our Organic Fitted. We hope the information is helpful and it answers most (if not all) questions anyone may have. Enjoy!
When I was pregnant with my first child and made the decision to use cloth, I originally invested in one size diapers. I didn’t want the hassle of having to buy bigger sizes later on, especially since I had no idea how fast my baby would grow. Plus, in the end it is more economical to buy one diaper that will fit throughout the entire diapering period, rather than two or three different sizes. But, after my baby was born I ran into a problem: all the one size diapers I had in my stash were HUGE on my 7lb newborn. They either came up too far and irritated his cord, or were so bulky through the legs that there were gaps. I had purchased some small prefolds as well, just in case, and those are what I used for the first 2 months until my son was big enough to start fitting the one size diapers. Now, a year later, I see (and know) that it is common for one size diapers to fit after baby has grown some. But, I still love cloth either way.
I was fortunate to test one of our new BabyKicks Organic Fitted diapers on my son starting when he was 11 months old. It fits great! No gaps in the legs and no red marks from the gussets. He is a heavy wetter, so I always double stuff the diaper with 2 JoeyBunz. I noticed after the first time he wore the diaper that the outside wasn’t even damp, so I didn’t need to use a cover. So, this is how he always wears the fitted now, 2 JoeyBunz and no cover. Overnight I use our trifolded Hemparoo prefold with 1 JoeyBunz and a cover. We haven’t had a leak yet, and we use the fitted regularly in our stash. He still has room to grow, and I love that we can use this diaper as a trainer when potty learning time comes. Little Man is 13 months and 20lbs in these pics. Second one shows how the gussets fit around his legs.
Over the past two weeks I’ve been nestling back into being a new mother, again. Getting used to overnight diaper changes and feedings, as well as helping Little Man learn what it means to be a big brother. It’s been an adventure so far, but I think we are starting to fall into a routine and the family love is radiating from all of us. But, in between all the ‘love’ there are loads of laundry to be washed, meals to prepare, and diapers to be changed. I am appreciating how much Little Man likes to help with the household chores, and how much Mini Man (new baby) is content to be carried around in Mama’s wrap.I now alternate the Organic Fitteds I have on both kids. It’s nice to be able to just grab a diaper and not have to worry about it being the right size. Every time I can’t believe how great it fits! Mini is 1 week old and 7lbs in these pics.
I can’t enough of this diaper! It fits our lifestyle and is a great investment. It really is the only diaper needed from birth through potty learning!
We would like to take the time and thank everyone that stopped by our booth at the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas last week! Our new Bumboo Pocket and Organic Fitted diapers were a big hit and received excellent feedback from everyone! The show was a great success for us, and we hope everyone will continue to follow and support us throughout the upcoming year! And, if you couldn’t make it this year, we hope to see you there next year!! Thanks again everyone!
“Imagine a crop more versatile than the soybean, the cotton plant, and the Douglas fir tree put together…one whose products are interchangeable with those from timber or petroleum…one that grows like Jack’s beanstalk with minimal tending. There is such a crop: Industrial Hemp.” The Great Book of Hemp- Rowan Robinson
Hemp has been cultivated for industrial purposes for thousands of years. Ancient Chinese used hemp starting as far back as 4000 BC, and there have even been remnants of hemp cloth found in Turkey dating back to 8000 BC. Since then hemp has been used for clothing, rope, paper, medicine, food, fuel, plastic, and even concrete. Over time the plant has migrated all over the world, and is presently cultivated in over 30 industrialized nations, including Canada and England.
Hemp is one the most earth friendly crops to grow. And, is highly desired as a rotational crop by organic farmers as it does not require herbicides or pesticides. It grows very fast, shading out any weeds, and it is unpalatable to pests. In the first 30 days after planting, the seeds put down a 12″ taproot which prevents topsoil erosion, making it an ideal plant for river banks. After harvesting, the root system stays in place aerating the soil, and the foliage left on the fields improves soil organic matter and preserves nutrients. For these reasons, as well as its versatility, there’s no wonder why hemp has been the world’s premier renewable resource for the past 10,000 years.
Hemp was once considered indispensable to world commerce because it was used to make sails and rope for trading ships due to its resistance to mildew and salt damage. It is up to four times stronger than cotton, and three times more absorbent. It was also the primary fiber used to make paper up until the late 19th century.
Hemp did not receive a bad name in America until the early nineteen hundreds, just after the rediscovery of pleasure that came from smoking hashish and ganja imported from India and Egypt. It was actually preferred by many to smoke hashish than to drink. But, it was still considered an evil mind altering substance. Many laws were passed, and eventually in 1937 hemp production in the USA ceased as the “Marijuana Tax Act” states no difference between industrial hemp and marijuana. However, they are not the same.
The largest difference between these two varieties of Cannabis sativa is the THC content. Varieties used for drug consumption have 10-15 percent THC, whereas industrial hemp usually has about .01-.03 percent, making it worthless for ‘getting high’. Marijuana grows to an average of five feet in height, is very bushy, and requires at least 18″ between plants. Hemp grows 10-15 feet in height and is spaced only a few inches apart. This makes it impossible to grow both varieties together. Even within one mile of each other the two strands would cross pollinate, making the THC lower in marijuana and the fibers weak in hemp.
It seems to be a shame that even with all the known facts and differences between these two varieties of Cannabis, we still do not utilize industrial hemp for what it is truly worth. The United States is the largest importer of hemp products, yet we have more than ample land to cultivate it. In the words of Henry Ford, “Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?”. It’s about time we look at hemp as more than just a weed.
For further reading:
Hemp Info
The Great Book of Hemp
The Difference Between Hemp and Marijuana
Industrial Hemp
BabyKicks True One-Size (fitted) Hemp Pocket Diaper
This Hemp Diaper does it all and when we designed it we had your baby’s comfort in mind. That is, for example, why we developed a special new hemp/cotton/polyester blend giving you a one of a kind hemp diaper. This fabric is very very soft and ‘comfortable’, super-stretchy and best of all it does not stiffen over time!
Visit the BabyKicks Store for More Hemp Diapering Options
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