Guest Post: I Love Fluff

You all know I'm a fan of cloth nappies, well Lucy is a fellow cloth nappy user and has a blog called My Mummy Life. She used cloth on The Baby however doesn't consider herself an eco-warrior princess but rather a mother who uses them because it suits her and her baby. Do check out her blog!

Cloth nappies are funny things. Or rather, people’s attitudes towards cloth nappies are funny. I’m a clothie (well, The Baby is; childbirth didn’t have *that* big an effect on my pelvic floor, thankfully), and I’ve noticed that in the nappy game, other mums fall into two firmly opposing camps.

On the one side, there are the families who wouldn’t dream of using cloth. Why would you, when you have disposables at your, well, disposal? All that extra washing and drying, the grim reality of scraping poo out of nappies, having to change your baby more often… No, thanks. These people, no doubt, have me pegged as an eco freak, an earth mother, or worse, a sanctimonious do-gooder.

Then, on the other side of the fence, you have the cloth aficionados. The mums who love their real nappies so much, they have stashes of 100 nappies plus. They know every brand – no matter how obscure – inside out. They have nappies in every possible colourway. They use cloth day in, day out, and even buy extra luggage allowance so they don’t have to use ‘evil sposies’ when they go on holiday. Much of the time, their babies roam around bare-legged, just to show off their beautiful designer nappies – which, incidentally, sell for upwards of £20 a pop.

What I struggle to find are people like me. For me, using cloth is a lifestyle choice, not a fashion statement – or an eco statement. I confess that landfill anxiety plays only a small part in my decision to use washable nappies, although I suppose that was what got me started in the first place, when I switched The Boy from disposables to cloth at 11 months old. If I’m honest, back then, I was jumping on a bandwagon. Six years ago, Decent Mums Used Cloth (or at least on the parenting forum I frequented at the time), and I felt positively guilty for not giving it a try.

So, I did give it a try. I bought a complete, unused birth-to-potty set of Motherease nappies and wraps from eBay for a princely £50, and I gave them a go. And, to my surprise, I was impressed. They looked so much comfier than scratchy paper disposables, for a start. They were absorbent, they washed and dried well, and – best of all – they gave my skinny runt of a toddler enough of a bum for his jeans to stay up. I was a convert.

Then, as The Boy hit two, we ran into difficulties. The nappies started to leak. Even in a just-changed nappy, one big wee would flood out everywhere and require a whole change of clothes. I was about to give up and go back to disposables when someone suggested that these nappy-busting mega-wees could be a sign that The Boy was gaining bladder control – holding on and on, rather than letting out constant dribbles – and could be ready for potty training. Sure enough, we ditched the nappies altogether, and within three days, he was completely dry, at just under 26 months.

Second time round, I planned to use cloth from the start; our old nappies were sitting there waiting, after all. The Baby was just two days old when we first put her in a reusable. She looked cute – but she *hated* it. She suffered from reflux, and her overstuffed bottom put her at a painfully uncomfortable angle, so we gave up. We tried again several times over the next few months, but it wasn’t until six months that we finally succeeded. Someone on a cloth nappy forum suggested using a slimmer pocket nappy, and bingo! We had success. For a while.

Six weeks ago, we ran into problems. Again, we were getting the mega-wees, and the mega-leaks. I was changing The Baby’s nappy, and often, her entire outfit, on an hourly basis. We were getting through eight, 10, even more nappies a day. I’d tried boosting, double boosting, triple boosting, but nothing was helping.

I went back to the cloth nappy forum, and several people suggested trying Little Lambs – fitted bamboo nappies with wraps, which at the time were on special offer that made them a bargain. I ordered 20, and they have totalled rekindled my love of fluff. Now I can leave The Baby in the same nappy for four hours without worrying about leaks – and they are so, so soft and cuddly.

So, given our ups and downs, why have I stuck with cloth? Clearly, I’m not an earth mother; nor am I a cloth-fanatic with a nappy stash bigger than her own wardrobe. Well, the main reason is that I am convinced that wearing cloth makes potty training easier – and that alone gets my vote. Then there’s the fact that I’m saving money. I got a £60 grant from the council towards my nappies, and even factoring in washing and tumble drying, there’s no way I’m spending the weekly £8-£10 I’d blow on disposables on laundering my fluff.

Even though I’m not obsessed with colours and patterns, I think a cloth nappy looks better poking out of the bottom of a little dress than a disposable does. And – this is a big one – they smell better, too. I defy anyone to sniff my daughter’s nappy and tell me it smells (unless she’s just done a poo, of course), whereas disposables have that horrible ammonia smell as soon as a drop of wee escapes. I love seeing The Baby’s nappies drying on the line, I love the fact that my kitchen bin doesn’t smell of poo, and, of course, a small part of me loves that I’m not adding to the landfill crisis.

So there we have it. I’m not using cloth as a fashion statement. I’m not using it because I’m a tree-hugging hippy. I’m not 100 per cent committed; The Baby wears disposables at night, and if we’re out and about. But I’m a middle-of-the-road, ordinary mum who uses fluff because it suits me and my baby. If I’m helping to save the planet, so much the better – but don’t call me Earth Mom, okay?

Guest Post: Five Things I Wish I'd Known When The Boy Was The Baby

This guest post is from the lovely Debra, whose blog can be found at An Imperfect Life. She also has a son, but he is now a teenager and this post talks about looking back at the days her son was a little baby. Do check her blog out!

I have a nearly-teenager now. Proof of this status is the Fog of Lynx (TM) emanating from his bedroom on a twice daily basis. God, that stuff really sticks in your throat. Anyhow, being a number of years down the road  means that I can look back and think of all the things I wish I'd known when The Boy was "The Baby" in our house. Imagine the screen going slightly wobbly here and some flashback music playing....

Credit to sabianmaggy

1. He will sleep through the night. Of course he would, but at 6 weeks when my eyebags were resting on my chin that seemed a complete impossibility. In the end he slept through really well from about 12 weeks and only woke up again once a) he needed solids and b) was teething, both of which my wonderful Health Visitor saw me through.

2. We too will sleep through the night. Even though he was sleeping beautifully pretty early we still found ourselves waking to every cough, toss and turn (and yes, we were in separate bedrooms). This phase passed too. Now we don't hear him getting up and firing up the XBox. Bliss.

3. Following the Annabel Karmel book to the letter does not guarantee you a non-picky eater. Trust me on this one. I mulched that papyaya like a good 'un, and to be fair, I wouldn't call him a fussy eater. But he certainly wouldn't touch papaya with a barge pole now, or any other fruit that looks vaguely "exotic".

4. He will not be wearing nappies when he is 10. Even though we had to abandon the first attempt at potty training as a complete disaster and I worried myself stupid that we'd never get there. 

5. We absolutely need to write stuff down / video him / take photos. Ten years down the line you will not be able to remember what he looked like when he was crawling, the cute things he said whilst sat in his high chair and that very first hair cut. Record it somehow. And label it - I read somewhere of someone who can't tell the baby photos of her four kids apart.

Beauty Tips For Busy Mums [Guest Post]

Our first Guest Post is about beauty tips for a busy mum. Do you feel you simply don't have time or money to spend on making yourself look good? Kizzy from Pampered Mummy is here to help you with some handy advice!

Vaseline is my number one product for busy mums. It is so versatile, apply to lips as lip balm, eyebrows to tame unruly hair, eyelids if you have no time to apply eyeshadow, hands as an at home paraffin wax treatment (best done by applying the vaseline before putting on your marigolds on and your hands into hot water!)

If you can only afford to buy one quality skin care product, then buy a good moisturiser.

If you run out of cleanser, then use baby lotion instead as an alternative.

To make your foundation last longer, apply with a brush or dampened sponge and use a primer first.

Buy a baked blusher as it will last longer and can be used as eyeshadow as well.

If you have dry or brittle nails, apply a small amount of oil to your cuticles before going to bed. Sweet almond oil or olive oil will do.

To keep your hands in tip top condition, exfoliate before applying moisturiser 2 - 3 times a week. You can make up your own using olive oil and sugar.

If you want to use eyelash curlers, always curl them before applying your mascara.

As a busy mum, the one product I swear by is a good quality under eye concealer to reduce dark circles, I use Vie at Homes Out of the Shadows, but there are many more available.

Post by Kizzy Bass of Pampered Mummy.

Want to Guest Post?

We are looking for mummy bloggers who would like to guest post here at Petit Mom. We are looking for helpful advice such as how to save money and what you think is a "Must Have For Mums" product that you think has helped you in some way as a parent, could be something for the parents or perhaps a toy that has kept your child entertained for hours on end. We will also link your own blog to the guest post that you have written.

If you are interested then please contact Petit Mom.