One of the most difficult parts of cloth diapering is determining an effective detergent and washing routine. The Real Diaper Industry Association, an association of manufacturers, retailers, and diaper services, has a new online detergent search service. It is so cool! You can find it athttp://detergent.realdiaperindustry.org.
On the site, you can either search for your detergent to see if it will work well or choose different characteristics of detergent to find one that will work for you.
I was so excited to see that Rockin’ Green Detergent is on this new site, too! I have been so pleased with how well it has worked on our diapers, and I am proud to be carrying it at Diaper Daisy!
Hopefully, this new resource can make choosing an effective cloth diaper detergent an easier part of the process.
Inspired by my awesome roomie from ABC, Kim Rosas from Dirty Diaper Laundry, I am going to start making video demos of the diapers we carry. The first is a demo of the bumGenius Organic AIO. This is a fantastic diaper, but when getting started, it can sometimes be hard to figure out just what to do with all of that fabric inside.
One of the highlights of the ABC Kids Show for me was meeting Tashi and Noelle from Kissaluvs. Not only are they genuinely two of the nicest people you could meet, but I was thrilled to see and hear about all of the new products they are releasing over the next few months.
My favorite cloth diapering product of the show is the new Kissaluvs One Size AIO, which Kissaluvs referred to as the Toss and Turn diaper. Noelle was kind enough to let me videotape her doing a demonstration of how this diaper works so that you all can see for yourselves how fantastic it is.
The Toss and Turn Diaper is expected to be shipped in the first week of October. Over the next week, I should be getting product images and final descriptions from Kissaluvs, but a tentative product listing has been added to the site. Check out the listing and follow the link on that page to get your name on the wait list for this fantastic new product!
I am so excited to add Rockin’ Green Detergent to Diaper Daisy’s lineup! Rockin’ Green Detergent is made by Kim Greene, a fantastic work at home mom (for those of you on Twitter, you can follow Kim @RockinGreenSoap). This detergent is a option for cloth diapers, and I have been so happy with the results I have seen with ours. You can use it with regular clothes, too!
Rockin’ Green is:
Dye & perfume free
Made without fillers
Free of enzymes and optical brighteners
100% Phosphate-Free
Vegan
Great for sensitive skin
Created in an easy-rinsing formula
A powerhouse on microfiber stink!
Perfect for cloth diapers
HE Compatible
Sold in reusable packaging
Great for all water types
Rockin’ Green comes in two formulations, Classic Rock and Soft Rock. The Soft Rock version is a little milder for babies with sensitive skin. Both formulas come in unscented and in some delicious smelling scents, too -
I am finally at home in Chicago with my family. These last few days have been a wild and crazy ride, but I am so excited about all of the new products and innovations I have seen and all of the new developments in the cloth diaper industry championed by the Real Diaper Industry Association (RDIA).
I am so thrilled that I was able to purchase a few new lines for Diaper Daisy. I am proud to be adding Kissaluvs to the Diaper Daisy line-up. I was so impressed with all of their new products, especially the one-size all-in-one, the one-size diaper cover, and the Marvel (a one-size fitted diaper). The all-in-one is so new that it was first revealed in public on Sunday and the photo shoot hasn’t even taken place yet! Noelle, one of the VPs at Kissaluvs, is so proud of that diaper and her part in its design and development, and I am excited that she was willing to allow me to videotape her demonstrating how it works. However, it was under the condition that I don’t post it until next week. So, get excited for that. Kissaluvs products will begin rolling into Diaper Daisy over the next few weeks, with the one size AIO and cover about one month out. As soon as I get some more product information from Kissaluvs, including finalized information about color options, I will be posting preorders for those products. More information will be coming on that soon.
Besides Kissaluvs, I placed orders with Cotton Babies for both of their new lines, which I described earlier in the week. I will be excited to see the Econobum and Flip arrive late this year or early next year. I will begin posting preorders for those products as well, so you can expect those early next week.
NAP, the makers of Sleepy Wrap, are launching a new soft-structured carrier called Boba. This carrier is meant to be a transition for children after the Sleepy Wrap, and is marketed to fit children from about ages 1 through 4 and starting around 20 pounds. It is built similar to an Ergo or Beco carrier, but they have actually developed adjustable foot support straps for children so their weight is not pressing down on the back of their knees. It is a comfortable fit, and I can’t wait to try it on with my little guy. The Boba will be officially launching on September 23rd and so we are waiting on official images here, too. It should ship once it is officially launched, and should arrive here at the end of the month. The Boba retails for $99.
Besides these three big orders, I brought home or ordered testers of a few different products to do some first person testing, so stay tuned.
To help make room for all of the great stuff heading to Diaper Daisy, I am having a 10% off sale! Use the coupon code ABC to save 10% on your purchase, excluding bumGenius products. This coupon code is good through next Wednesday, September 23rd.
I am at the ABC Kids Show this week in Las Vegas, checking out the newest and most innovative products on the market to bring to Diaper Daisy. My experience at the show kicked off last night with Cotton Babies retailer training. During the training, Cotton Babies introduced two new product lines to retailers, Econobum and Flip.
Econobum is designed as a basic cloth diapering system for people wanting to minimize diapering costs. It is a one size prefold and cover system that can fit children from approximately 8-35 pounds. The prefold is designed like a flat with 100% unbleached cotton, six layers across, and sewn with fold lines to guide users in folding for each size. The cover, which will only come in white, has a three-row snap rise like bumGenius products do. One row of snaps is used to secure the diaper to the baby.
The Econobum will be sold in two different packages. Individual packages, with one cover and one prefold, will retail for $9.95. There will also be a Full Kit, which will include 12 prefolds and 3 covers, retailing for $49.95. Using this kit, someone could easily cloth diaper their child from birth to potty training for $100. These diapers will begin shipping to retailers in November.
The Flip is the other product line that Cotton Babies is launching. The Flip is a one size diapering system. There is a one size cover which functions very much like the cover to the organic all-in-one diapers that bumGenius currently sells. The cover has stretchy tabs and two rows of snaps on the closure, and three rows of snaps to adjust the rise. An absorbant layer is laid into the cover and tucked into flaps at each end. By designing the product this way, parents of a choice of inserts to use, and can mix and match as needed. This cover will start out in three bumGenius colors: Ribbit, Moonbeam, and Zinnia. More colors will be added to the line-up at a later date.
There are three different inserts available. The first is a stay dry insert. This is a microfiber insert that has a stay dry layer on top. The second choice is an organic cotton insert, which is similar to the prefold insert in the Econobum. Finally, Cotton Babies is selling a disposable insert to use in the flip. It is a long strip of disposable material that can be folded to fit into the diaper. The insert is supposedly compostable and biodegradable, and should lay inside any Cotton Babies product, including the Econobum and bumGenius diapers (so feasibly, you could lay this on top of a 3.0). The disposable flip insert is designed to help parents stick as much with cloth as possible while on the go. Jenn did not have information about the amount of SAP gel (the absorbent material in the diaper) or the absorbency rating on the disposable inserts, but we hope to get that information by the end of the show.
The Flip will sell in a few different packages. Individual packages will be sold with one cover and one insert. The Stay Dry diaper will retail for $16.95, and the Organic Cotton diaper will retail for $19.95. The Flip will also be sold in Day Packs, including two covers and six inserts, with the Stay Dry retailing for $49.95 and the Organic Cotton for $59.95. The disposable inserts will be sold in packages of 18 for $4.95. It will ship to retailers early next year.
Cotton Babies’ bumGenius product line, its tried and true product, will remain unchanged. There are no plans to add snaps to the 3.0 as the Flip now has that option.
Some other changes were announced at the retailer training last night. Cotton Babies will be extending its 14-day guarantee to 30 days. This means a customer has 30 days to try a Cotton Babies product while still being able to return it. Please contact us for more information.
In addition, Cotton Babies is changing its washing recommendations for all of its product lines. The company is now recommending that all covers be line dried. This is because their research has shown that people who do line dry their covers do not have incidences of elastic or velcro failure.
I am hoping I covered everything here. Questions? Comments? Be sure to let me know.
I can’t wait to bring you more updates from the ABC Show! I will be spending much of the day today in meetings with the Real Diaper Industry Association (RDIA). The RDIA is an industry group for cloth diaper manufacturers, retailers, and diaper services. I am really looking forward to meeting so many of my counterparts in person and learning more about the industry. If you have questions about the show, or something you would like to hear more about, just let me know.
1. Cloth diapering can save you money! Disposables for one child can cost upwards of $2500. A full set of 24 one size diapers costs around $450.
2. You never have to carry a crabby baby to the store when you discover you are on your last diaper. You just put in a load of laundry!
3. You do not have to haul hundreds of pounds of diaper waste out to the curb, saving as much as 50% of a family’s household waste.
4. Although cloth diapers use water for washing, disposables use much more in their manufacturing than is used in the cloth wash routine.
5. Blowouts are put at a standstill. The baby poop blowouts that seem to happen almost daily in disposable diapers are put to rest by the better fit of cloth.
6. Cloth diapers keep chemicals, including carcinogens like Dioxin, away from baby’s bottom.
7. You are keeping disposables out of landfills, diapers which are estimated to take anywhere from 250 to 500 years to decompose. They will be around long after your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are gone.
8. With cloth diapers, you are supporting other moms. All cloth diapering companies I work with are run by moms, many of whom work from home. Thirsties are even sewn by work at home moms across Colorado!
9. Cloth diapers are cute! What kind of disposables can you get in bright colors or in prints like cow print or silly monkey? I mean, how cute is this baby?!
In honor of the historic 9/9/09, SAVE 9% ON ALL DIAPER ORDERS*, TODAY ONLY! Use the coupon code NINE.
I have a fantastic customer, Mindy, who is in the middle of a custom diaper trial. She just told me yesterday that she is blogging about her cloth diapering experiences at her blog, the Farmer Family Scoop. I read through her post titled “One Week In,” and I think she has some wonderful insights. Here is some of what Mindy writes…
Every cloth diaper option has it’s pros and cons. This is why no one will definitely tell you what “works best.” Truthfully, you have to take into consideration your lifestyle, budget, future children, and personal preferences. This is where the diaper trial is so handy! With several options on hand to try and 2 weeks, you can make an educated decision.
I think that Mindy had a major breakthrough with the statement above. One of the hardest things about starting out cloth diapering is that there are so many options, and it is hard to decide what might work best for your family. I remember so vividly wishing someone would just tell me which one was best so that I could buy them and be done, but as Mindy wrote, there are pros and cons to each type, and so no one can make that decision for you. Here at Diaper Daisy, we do the best we can to send you down the right path by consulting on cloth diapering choices and providing customers with a two-week trial program.
Some more of Mindy’s thoughts…
Disposable diapers were not hassle-free. People keep referring to the ease of disposables and the yuck-factor involved with cloth. Truthfully, diapering is gross. Keep in mind that I have an 8 month-old, so I can’t vouch for newborn cloth diaper changing. I did, however, change disposables on a toddler and baby for quite a few months and felt like I was drowning in diapers! There was never enough room in the diaper pail and it wasn’t always convenient to get to. We put the pail in the garage to cut down on smell and flies were attracted to it. The bag needed to be changed frequently – ick! I was constantly buying diapers and estimated we spent about $60 a month to diaper 2 kids using Luvs and generics. Plus (and maybe I shouldn’t admit this), there’s always that temptation that a disposable “isn’t really that wet” because of the cost.
What Mindy writes is so true. Disposables, although they can be thrown away and not washed, come with their own hassles. Pounds and pounds of garbage, running out to the store late at night because there are no more diapers in the house, and constantly battling stink are some of the first that come to mind. And as far as cleaning up poop is concerned, I wasn’t cleaning out diapers, but I cleaned out clothes MUCH more often with diaper blowouts when we used disposables. With my youngest, who has been cloth diapered from birth, I have had poopy clothes ONE TIME, and that was my fault, not the diaper’s.
I love it when I can see moms figuring out cloth diapers and realizing how great they can be. I can’t wait to read more!
I got a question from a Diaper Daisy customer this week about what to do with a poopy diaper when out of the house. I think this is a great question, and something to definitely have a plan for ahead of time.
When I am out and about and have a dirty diaper, I actually roll it up and secure it to deal with when I get home. If there is a toilet to dump some of it, that is great, but then I just secure it the best I can and put it in my wetbag.
Prefolds can be rolled and secured inside the cover they were used in. Other types of diapers can be laid flat with the offending dirty side up. Leaving the tabs out, start rolling from the back of the diaper to the front. When you finish rolling, the tabs should be able to be secured to the front of the diaper, keeping it in a roll.
Here is a picture of a bumGenius 3.0 rolled and ready for transport home. Once I get home, I open the diaper, use the diaper sprayer as necessary, and toss the diaper and insert into my diaper pail. I pull the liner of my wetbag inside out and toss it into the diaper pail to be washed, too. This is one re
Hopefully this gives you some confidence to head out the door with a bag full of fluff!
bumGenius has authorized a sale on the bumGenius 3.0 diapers! Retailers are almost never authorized to have a sale on these diapers, so get them while they are hot! Now through the end of August, for every six bumGenius 3.0 diapers you purchase, you get one free! You need to include the extra diaper in your cart and use the coupon codes below.
Buy 6 diapers, Get 1 free – BG6
Buy 12 diapers, Get 2 free – BG12
Buy 18 diapers, Get 3 free – BG18
Buy 24 diapers, Get 4 free – BG24
Of course, you will get FREE SHIPPING with this promotion, too! Let me know if you have any questions about this promotion or anything else. Thank you as always for shopping with Diaper Daisy!
I am finally at home in Chicago with my family. These last few days have been a wild and crazy ride, but I am so excited about all of the new products and innovations I have seen and all of the new developments in the cloth diaper industry championed by the Real Diaper Industry Association (RDIA).
Kissaluvs products will begin rolling into Diaper Daisy over the next few weeks, with the one size AIO and cover about one month out. As soon as I get some more product information from Kissaluvs, including finalized information about color options, I will be posting preorders for those products. More information will be coming on that soon.
Here is a picture of a bumGenius 3.0 rolled and ready for transport home. Once I get home, I open the diaper, use the diaper sprayer as necessary, and toss the diaper and insert into my diaper pail. I pull the liner of my wetbag inside out and toss it into the diaper pail to be washed, too. This is one re
bumGenius has authorized a sale on the 
