Bummis

DIY Mama: Part 1 (by guest blogger Jenna Robertson)

2012-01-30T14:05:00.001-05:00

Jenna Robertson is studying to become a midwife, she is a former employee of Boutique Bummis in Montreal, and she is the mother of 10-month-old twins. She has been sharing her experiences as a parent of twins in a series of guest blog posts over the past few months. In this post, she writes about being a DIY mama.

I don’t actually think of myself as a crafty person even though I make a lot of things. I almost never make the same thing twice (or I never did until having twin babies), and I tend to work with scraps and old clothes and whatever is lying around. In my mind crafty people measure and follow patterns. I almost never follow patterns and I’m lazy about measuring things. Usually I’m motivated by one of two things. Either I see something in a store that I like, but it seems very expensive and I think, “I could make that!” Or I don’t see anything in stores that I like and I think, “Well then I will make something I like.”

I was lucky enough to inherit the contents of my grandmother’s and my partner’s grandmother's sewing rooms, so I have enough thread (some of it beautiful old silk on wooden spools) to last three lifetimes, wonderful fabric scissors, jars full of buttons, and all kinds of tools and notions I don’t know what to do with but secretly hope my daughters will some day. I also have a partner who is so very capable and DIY that when I compare myself to him I sometimes don’t notice my own craftiness. When the wonderful women at Bummis suggested I write a post about being a DIY mama, I took stock and realized I sure do make a lot of things.

After a few years of full-time midwifery training I had hardly touched my sewing machines or done anything creative (unless you count making flashcards) in a long time. When I started sewing again I was pregnant but didn’t know it yet. We were having a family reunion and I wanted to make something for all the little kids. One of my great, great, great aunties was a dressmaker in Philadelphia in the late 1800s and I inherited her lace collection. I decided the heirloom lace would be better served dressing up sock bunnies for her grand-nieces and nephews than sitting in a bag in my attic, so I got to work. I was at the reunion when I discovered I was pregnant, so there was a strong feeling of connection between the work of sewing for babies I love and discovering my own pregnancy.

When the girls were tiny we decided they needed a baby gym but the nice wooden ones are expensive, and wouldn’t be wide enough for my two babies anyway. So my partner and I collaborated. He made the wooden frame and I whipped up a couple of clouds, an apple, and a carrot stuffed with serger scraps (they really come in handy - more serger scraps projects to come).

When Jenna says that she "took stock and realized I sure do make a lot of things," it may have been the understatement of the year. She makes A TON of things, and this is just the first in a string of posts about her many amazing DIY projects. Stay tuned for more!

New Product: Cotton Wipes

2012-01-25T15:39:00.001-05:00

We're introducing a handy new product - 100% unbleached flannel wipes!

Regardless of the type of diapers they've chosen, every new parent needs a healthy stash of wipes. Wipes are a must-have for diaper changes, drool-soaked chins, runny noses, sticky hands... babies need a lot of wiping up!

Our Cotton Wipes are made of 100% unbleached cotton flannel. They are 1-ply, and at 8" x 8", tiny enough to tuck into your pocket. they're soft and practical, with just a touch of whimsy in the rainbow stitching. Sold in packs of 6.

Cotton Wipes are shipping out to Canadian retailers now, and will be available to our U.S. retailers in the near future. Look for them at a store near you!

Easy Fit Holiday Print Giveaway Winners

2011-12-13T14:36:00.001-05:00

The results are in! We have our winners for the Easy Fit Holiday Print Giveaway. In order to enter, we asked people to describe their dream pocket diaper. It was the second time we asked people to invent an ideal, perhaps unrealistic or magical diaper to enter a giveaway, and it's always so much fun to read the entries. It just goes to show - there's a lot of creativity out there!

And the Winners Are...

VikingKitty

"Well I don't really like pockets very much (apart from the Easy Fit, but that's technically an AIO in my book)"
It's true! The Easy Fit kind of straddles the fence in the pocket diaper / all-in-one divide. There is a pocket, and a liner, but the liner is attached, so technically it's a one-piece... we just like to think that it's the best of both worlds.
As for prints, anything with a pattern and bright colours... maybe hedgehogs or moose, because we really like those animals in this house!
I'm really loving the hedgehog or moose idea for a print - the moose in particular... but maybe that's just the Canadian in me...

Trisha Wieber

Why have a dream pocket diaper when the Easy Fit is so great? Although, I do think I'd like a minky layer to touch my baby and have the hemp/bamboo/organic cotton layer be underneath that on a snake style soaker.
A) Flattery will get you everywhere! (just kidding, the winners were randomly chosen, but it's still really nice to hear!) B) Never thought of minky on the inside of a diaper, hmmm, food for thought...

JAWilson

My perfect pocket diaper would be a sized (available in multiple sizes) pocket diaper with snap closure. The liner would be organic cotton with a hemp/cotton insert. Ideally it would have double gussets to keep the messiest of messes in. The outer waterproof would be whimsical mushrooms in a rainbow of colors - gender neutral. I am ready to win.
A very thorough design proposition here, I like it. Are you familiar with the Mushroom Magic Easy Fit print? It doesn't have the full rainbow of colours, but it does include red, orange, blue and green. Glad to hear you're ready to win, because it's happening!

Thanks to everyone who participated, and congratulations to the winners! You'll receive an email from us shortly so we can arrange the delivery of your prize. Happy Holidays!

Babywearing with Twins (by guest blogger Jenna Robertson)

2011-12-09T13:11:00.000-05:00

Jenna Robertson is studying to become a midwife, she is a former employee of Boutique Bummis in Montreal, and she is the mother of 8-month-old-twins. She is sharing her experiences as a parent of twins in a series of guest blog posts. This is her fourth post, on babywearing with twins.

When I worked at Boutique Bummis in Montreal, my favourite thing was teaching new and soon-to-be parents how to use the various baby carriers we sold. I loved them all and couldn’t wait to become a mama so I could use them myself. Before I had my own babies, I had a hard time understanding why people carry their infants around in car seats. Now that I’ve had my own babies, I understand it even less. Especially when they were tiny, I wanted to hold them all the time! When we did have to drive, I would practically jump out before the car was parked, unable to wait one extra second before I could get them out of those seats and into my arms.

Before finding out that I was carrying twins, I wasn't planning to use a stroller for the first year. With two babies a stroller became a necessity, but I was determined to carry my babies as much as possible. We chose a stroller that can have one or two seats at a time rather than a double-wide stroller, and we got a bassinet for the beginning. When they rode in the stroller as tiny babies (which was hardly ever) they lay side by side in the bassinet and we never took their car seats out of the car.

When my partner and I are out together they both still get carried. Even two of their grandparents have gotten in on the babywearing action (see above). When I am out alone, I always carry one baby and push the other and switch them pretty often. I love having at least one baby close and we are so much less unwieldy with the single stroller and a carrier.

I was so lucky to have all the practice and training from my time at Boutique Bummis because I was really comfortable using a wide variety of carriers and even knew some twin carries. When they were very small, they often got carried together around the house. Having free hands and two sleeping, happy babies was so liberating in those first few months. While I think a good carrier is important for one baby, I think it is totally essential for two. I cannot imagine how I would function without them. With my carriers I can get both babies out of their car seats and into the house without using the stroller. I can nurse one baby in the carrier while pushing the other, which gives me a lot of freedom to be on the move.

When they were little over the summer and refused to be put down, it meant I could cook and sew and garden a little and wasn’t stuck in bed all the time. I wish more people in our culture knew more about carrying babies. It makes so much sense to me and as a mama of twins it is the only way I can imagine getting around.

If you’re interested in learning more about carrying babies, correct positioning, and some of the research on babywearing, this article from boba is an excellent source for further reading.

Easy Fit Holiday Print Giveaway

2011-12-06T13:38:00.001-05:00

By now you probably know that Tots Bots released three limited edition holiday prints for the Easy Fit diaper. When we announced this news, the response was unbelievable - everybody was so excited! Our retailers snatched up the prints within minutes (literally), and we're now sold out. But luckily we kept three aside for this wonderful giveaway!

Contest Details and How to Enter:

From left to right: Ginger, Robin and Rudolph

To enter, we want you to tell us what your all-time, absolute *dream* pocket diaper would look like. In a previous giveaway, we asked this same question about wraps, and it was really fun to read all the entries, so we thought we would revisit the question with pockets in mind. Would your ideal pocket diaper be sized or one-size? Would it have snaps? Aplix (velcro-style) closures? Would the liner be made of microfiber? Bamboo? Organic cotton? Would there be a stay-dry layer built in? Removable liner or attached? Would it be something completely different, that no one has ever thought of before? What print would it have? Orange elephants on a turquoise background? Red bicycles flying through a field of clouds? They sky's the limit, folks! Let your imagination run wild.

Two entries per person: post a description of your magical ideal wrap invention in the comments section below and/or post it on our Facebook wall, under the link to this blog post. Be sure to include your email address, so we can be in touch if you win, and write it as name(at)gmail(dot)com, to avoid being spammed. This contest is open to residents of Canada and the continental United States. Entries must be posted by Monday, December 13 at midnight EST. Winners will be randomly chosen, and will be announced next week.

Put your thinking caps on, and have fun!

Long Distance Grandparenting (Guest post by Jo-Anne Corbeil)

2011-12-02T13:30:00.000-05:00

One of the benefits of coming from a divorced family is that my son is blessed with several extra sets of grandparents. Unfortunately, none of them live any closer than 4 hours away but despite the distance, my son is close with them all. Technology has allowed him to have relationships with even those across the ocean through Skype and I can always rely on my Mother down the road in Toronto to do a mini babysitting stint over the phone while I make supper. It's a distance that worried us when I was pregnant and has turned out to be a non-existent issue. Below is a story my Mother wanted to share about her long-distance relationship with my son, her grandson.

Some grandparents do not get to see their grandchildren very often because of distance. I am one of those grandmothers. At times this has made me wonder if I make an impression on my grandson. The reality seemed to me that if you live in the same town there are more opportunities to build a relationship. On our last visit to see our grandson an episode in the park made me realize it's not that simple.

My grandson and I climbed to the top of a ‘twisty’ slide in a nearby park. His grandfather ("G.G.") was at the bottom of the slide. When the little guy sat down, he was apprehensive about going down the slide. I waited a few seconds then I said ‘You know, I think you are going to be ok’. He went down the slide and "G.G." was there to catch him. He then proceeded to go up and down the slide about 25 times and now for every single time that he sat down he would look at me and say "I think I am going to be ok Granny" and off he would go and then he would direct his G.G. to move further away from the bottom of the slide.

What I learned on that visit as a Granny is that there are always opportunities for special ‘ordinary moments’. They are the ones that stay with us the longest and I have banked many in the last 28 months. My ‘Granny’ relationship with my grandson is in my heart and there is never any distance there.

Are your families nearby or do you also struggle with distance? I would love to hear your stories and ideas on staying close despite the miles between you and the ones you love.

Why Me? Parenting a Child with Down Syndrome (by guest blogger Jin-Hee Choi)

2011-11-29T14:00:00.000-05:00

Jin-Hee is a mother of two who currently works at Boutique Bummis in Montreal. She will be writing a few posts for us about her journey as a mother. This is her first post, about her experience as a mother of a child with special needs.

My family and I were living in London in the UK when one afternoon in January 2007, I received a follow-up phone call from Middlesex hospital. “Ms. Choi, can you come in to the hospital with your husband and Toru?” I hung up the phone and started shaking. On the way to the hospital, my husband and I didn’t talk much - we just held Toru (4 months old) tightly. Toru is our second child, and 2 weeks before this we had gone to the hospital to have him checked for Down syndrome. On this day in January, we arrived, and waited anxiously in the waiting room until finally the pediatrician called us in. There was a medical student in the room, and before saying anything to us, the doctor insisted on explaining to the student why we were there. Then she turned to us and said “Toru has Down syndrome.” I don’t remember anything about what she said after that. My husband and I both burst into tears and wanted to leave the room. We could not believe how brutally the news had been delivered to us, and couldn’t understand why. Why, why, why?!?

Toru’s birth had been a wonderful drug-free birthing experience, at home in our small London flat. I had two midwives, a doula and my husband with me. When I finally held Toru in my arms, it occurred to me that he might have Down syndrome, as his Asian features were so much more pronounced than those of my older son, Kai. I kept my initial reaction to myself that whole first day. However, the following day, I discovered that my husband had thought the same thing. We asked the midwives what they thought, but they told us all was well and that they thought Toru just looked like me – and, well, he does look like me! We asked our GP, and she also thought we were wrong. But a couple of months later, I took him to the clinic because he had an ongoing condition of teary eyes, plus he seemed rather floppy. The doctor examined him and then said he wanted to bring in a senior doctor for a second opinion. They whispered to each other and said to us, “We think Toru has a squint.” And I said, “Yes, I agree - but more importantly I think he has Down syndrome.” The doctors, however, disagreed with me. They said; “Babies with Down syndrome tend to have a very low muscle tone, and they don’t roll over at 3 months the way Toru is doing”. One of the doctors however, noted my extreme concern, and finally agreed that we should do a blood test right away.

So we did – and our fears were confirmed on that fateful day in January. The following month was an emotional roller coaster. Neither my husband nor I have ever cried so much in our lives. The nights were the worst. I would lie down and my mind would wander all over the place. I was worried about the unknown future of Toru and also about the future of my older son, Kai, who would have a disabled brother. But mostly I felt sorry for MYSELF. Why me?!? This kind of thing is supposed to happen only to others - to friends of friends of friends. Some people told me that special children are given to special parents. It sounded to me like a load of crap! I didn’t feel special and I didn’t want to be special. I felt myself to be ordinary and I wanted an ordinary child. Is that too much to ask?!? I wasn’t even over 35 (the chance of having a baby with Down syndrome increases as a woman gets older, and I was 31), so why was this happening to me? I was angry and I was grieving - grieving for the loss of the child that I wished to have. The pain was as if somebody was stabbing me every day, and I never thought that the pain would go away...

Fast forward to now – and my Toru is 4 years old. He is walking, talking (not much), signing and using an iPad! He is super adorable and the amount of joy he brings to us is just priceless. If 4 years ago someone had told me that it would be like this, I would have never in a million years have believed them! I might even have sworn at them for not understanding the gravity of the situation. Don’t get me wrong - having a child with special needs is not a walk in the park. We have lots of hospital visits and tons of therapies all throughout the year. And sometimes it is emotionally draining to be surrounded by ‘normal’ kids his age or by people who are somewhat insensitive in this kind of situation. But you know what? I can’t even be sure anymore what I was like before I had Toru – in fact I myself could have been that insensitive person.

Having a child with special needs has taught me so much. I am a much stronger and more empathetic person. However, my life is better only because I changed. The question I ask myself when something happens, is "why NOT me?" And with this question, so many other more positive questions follow. For example, “How will I get through this?” Someone told me that we cannot change what happens to us but we CAN change how we react to the situation. How empowering is that? This is how I am living my life now and it is exactly how I want my children to live their lives.

Cloth Diapering with Twins (by guest blogger Jenna Robertson)

2011-11-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

Jenna Robertson is studying to become a midwife, she is a former employee of Boutique Bummis in Montreal, and she is the mother of 7-month-old-twins. She is sharing her experiences as a parent of twins in a series of guest blog posts. This is her third post, on cloth diapering with twins.

Any parent of twins will tell you that having two babies elicits comment from the public. It comes with the territory. And there are times as a parent of twins when one doesn’t feel like smiling at strangers and saying, “yes twins!” and, “yes I do have my hands full!” But one of the times I don’t mind talking to strangers about my babies is when they catch me changing our cloth diapers.

People usually comment because they can’t believe I have twins and I’m using cloth. I’m happy to talk to them all about it for as long as they will listen. I don’t see why the fact that I have twins would change anything about my use of cloth diapers. In fact, I can think of several reasons why having twins makes it extra necessary to use cloth. The first is that having twins is expensive. Other families with two kids buy things once and use them twice (when they hand them down to the younger baby). A family with twins buys things twice and uses them once. So finding ways to cut costs is important and cloth diapers are so, so, so much cheaper. Another good reason to use cloth with two babies is that we would have been drowning in garbage at the beginning if we had used disposable diapers. Because of generous family and friends we were able to start out with a diaper service, which was a good thing because our babies went through over 200 diapers a week for the first few months.

When the babies hit 15 pounds and could fit into the bigger size of prefolds we made a pilgrimage to Boutique Bummis in Montreal to buy our own. We decided to get seven dozen flats and while we could have gotten by with less, it’s a nice amount. These days we do a diaper wash about every 3 days and we always have plenty of clean diapers lying around. We also have enough to leave a bag of clean extras in the car for emergencies.

We use prefolds and both my partner and I love them. They are inexpensive and easy and stack well, and in addition to catching pee, they are good for peekaboo and spit up and a million other things. With the number of diapers we change in a week, we don’t want any extra snaps or Velcro in our lives. There is a simplicity and a beauty to flats.

Recently we were forced to use disposables for a few days on a plane trip and I was at a loss without my diapers. Plus it was the first time I had ever had to wash poop out of clothing. The disposables leaked with every poo. We had never had a leak with our Bummis diapers. It made me really wonder why people pay so much for throw-away diapers that don’t even seem to work well.

Cloth diapering with twins makes perfect sense to me. Babies have a pretty big energy footprint. We use cloth wipes that I made from old sheets and towels so when we change a diaper we don’t throw anything away, and that makes me feel pretty happy. So while I’d sometimes rather avoid having the same “yes they are twins” conversation with strangers five times in one day, I’m very happy to tell whoever is asking all they want to know about using cloth diapers (yes, for my twins).

Rockin' Green Giveaway Winners

2011-11-22T12:35:00.001-05:00

As part of our Rockin' Green giveaway, we asked you what detergent you're using to wash your cloth diapers. Judging from your responses it seems like the good word about Rockin' Green detergents has already reached far and wide - many of you are already big fans!

The giveaway winners are...

Brige (b.malloy)
Anonymous (A.Wheeldon)
Shannon Barlow
Elizabeth Andrews

Congratulations! You will receive an email from us so we can arrange the delivery of your prize. Thanks to everyone for participating!

Rockin' Green Giveaway!

2011-11-18T12:37:00.001-05:00

As you may know, Bummis is the Canadian distributor of Rockin' Green detergents. Rockin' Green makes eco-friendly detergents that are specially formulated for washing cloth diapers, and we're LOVING them! They make three different versions of their detergent that are specially formulated for different types of water: Soft Rock (for soft water), Hard Rock (for hard water), and Classic Rock (for regular, in-between water). Hard Rock and Classic Rock come in all kinds of fun scents, like Rage Against the Raspberry, so laundry time is always a blast.

When they're not working on detergent formulas, the folks over at Rockin' Green are hard at work (hmmm, I don't know... is this work?) making hilarious not-your-average-kind-of-commercial videos:

Rockin' Green Giveaway

In celebration of our new partnership with Rockin' Green, we're gonna rock a giveaway for all of our Canadian followers! We'll be giving away four bags (45/90 loads) of Rockin' Green detergent. In order to enter, we want to know what kind of detergent you use to wash your cloth diapers. If you're still expecting, you can tell us what detergent you use to wash your regular laundry, or the one you plan to use for diapers, if it's different. Two entries per person, and here's how to enter:

Post your answer in the comments field below, being sure to include your email address so we can be in touch if you win. Write it as: yourname (at) gmail (dot) com, to avoid being spammed.
Head over to our Facebook page, find our link to this blog post, and enter your answer in the comments field beneath it. Please include your email address.

This contest is open to residents of Canada only. Entries must be posted by midnight EST on Monday November 21, 2011. Winners will be randomly chosen, and will be announced next week.

Mama With Milk to Spare! (by guest blogger Michelle)

2011-11-16T13:48:00.000-05:00

Guest blogger Michelle shares her experience as a mama with milk to spare. Michelle discovered that she had more than enough breastmilk for her own son, so she decided to share her extra milk with families who, for one reason or another, didn't have enough.

I thought it would be funny to put MY storage bags full of milk in a bag that I bought milk in.

While I was pregnant I searched the internet for as much information as I could about having a healthy pregnancy, a safe and natural birth, doulas, cloth diapering and everything else related to having a new baby. I came across a blog post about a woman who donated her extra milk to a baby in a nearby city and thought it was so generous. I wished I could do that someday. Later, on a forum for women, another pregnant mama posted some pictures of her "freezer stash" of breast milk that had been donated for her soon-to-be-born son. She wrote about how happy and relieved she was to have enough milk to last a few months. I again thought how great it would be if I could donate my own milk. So I decided right then and there that I would! I didn't have any milk yet though, not even a drop.

About a month before my son was born I found a natural parenting forum and a milk sharing website and posted my offer of milk. I was clear that I was only considering donating my milk IF I had enough for my son and extra to donate. I connected with one mom right away and we kept in touch and met when my son was 3 weeks old. By then my milk had come in and my son nursed on demand and often. I was actually needing to get up in the middle of the night to hand express a few drops into the bathroom sink to relieve some pressure so I could sleep. I hadn't yet learned that if I just put my breast near his mouth he'd nurse in his sleep ;) The mom that I met gave me a pump and some storage bags and I began to pump that night. It felt great to be able to help her and her formula-sensitive baby with my extra milk, which I felt was being wasted when one breast leaked while I nursed my son with the other one. I learned to "tandem" with my son on one side and the pump on the other ;)

Shortly after this, a mom from another city sent me a message telling me she didn't want to go through the hassle of bringing frozen donated milk through airport security for her vacation, and asked if I'd have enough for her stay here. Just before she came to pick up the milk I'd put aside for her, I got a phone call from another woman who knew a family with a 17-day-old baby who needed my milk, and she asked if she could she give them my phone number. I said sure. Two days later the father came and collected about 100 ounces of milk. That milk helped his baby gain the weight he needed to be healthy and gave his mama time to help her own milk come in.

I loved to pump, but sometimes I will admit that I got a little bored doing it and I hated washing the bottles after. I allowed myself to take a couple days off from pumping so I didn't get burned out. I kept donating because I kept thinking about those babies who were drinking my milk and how much they really needed it. I donated to 4 families during the 10 months or so that I was donating milk.

Two Tiny Milk Vampires: Breastfeeding Twins (by guest blogger Jenna Robertson)

2011-11-11T11:49:00.000-05:00

Jenna Robertson is studying to become a midwife, she is a former employee of Boutique Bummis in Montreal, and she is the mother of 7-month-old twins. She is sharing some of her experiences as a parent of twins in a series of guest blog posts. This is her second post, where she describes her experience as a mama of TWO exclusively breastfed babies!

My (full term) babies were born wagging their tongues and smacking their lips. My Baby B latched eagerly within minutes of finding herself on my chest and once we were all cleaned up and settled in, both babies got to work fattening themselves up right away. We spent our first night in the hospital and I took both babies to bed with me, one in the crook of each arm. To my delight I found that they wiggled and more or less latched by themselves as long as they could reach the breast, and so what worked that first night was how we would spend most of our time for the next four months. At home I devised a sort of throne of pillows: two behind me and one firm pillow propping up each arm so that I could have the babies level with my body. And that was how we slept.

We took the money we would have spent on cribs and invested instead in a king size mattress stuffed with wool and natural rubber. Our old double mattress went into the babies' room on the floor (a “Montessori bed”). For the first four months the babies slept on top of me on the pillow throne. My partner did all the diaper changes at night because I was always holding one sleeping baby. I could latch them on and fall back asleep myself so I wasn’t sitting up all hours nursing. I slept flat on my back with an arm around each baby without moving for the whole summer and save for the sweatiness of it all, I slept quite well.

I was, however, totally dependent on help for anything I wanted because I couldn’t move. And that kind of support is probably the most important aspect of breastfeeding twins. Without family and friends who understand that the new mama’s only job is to nurse the babies, it would be impossible. If you are accustomed to being an active, independent person it is certainly a challenging shift to suddenly take to your bed and lie flat on your back for many hours of the day and night for several months with two tiny milk vampires on top of you. It is hard to fight the feeling that you are useless or lazy when you are spending so much time in bed. In this, I found family support was also essential. Having people who will not only do all the cooking, cleaning and laundry, but who will also tell you that you are doing a wonderful job, important work, and that you're not lazy or the least bit useless is so important.

The other thing about the period of intense nursing flat on your back is that it ends. At four months my babies started rolling off the pillow throne and asking to sleep on the bed beside me instead. By five months they were reliably nursing down to sleep around 6pm and I could leave the room and suddenly had evenings back to myself - upright, fully clothed and somewhat bewildered (I spent most of this past summer totally topless when at home because putting a shirt on just wasn’t worth it).

Now at seven months my babies have never had a bottle. They have grown and been fed 100% at my breast. For me, one of the sad things about having twins is that because both babies are the same age and are nursing at the same time, it will likely shorten the total number of years of my life I will have spent nursing. Because of that, I don’t want to miss a minute of it. I love nursing my babies. It feels like the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. I can easily understand why other twin mamas would choose to get some help feeding two babies. But I wanted to do it all myself.

I feel like I should end this post with a disclaimer. When it came to breastfeeding, it went easily for me. I want to say this because I have seen how hard nursing can be for many women and it does not come naturally for most. It is hard work to get breastfeeding established well. In sharing my story I don’t want to inadvertently claim that I am representative of the norm.

Training Pant Prints: VOTE!

2011-11-09T10:57:00.003-05:00

The Story

We're brainstorming ideas for new training pant prints.
We've found some potential prints, and collected them in the images below.
We want to know what you think.
If you've been following our blog, you'll know that this past summer we asked you to vote on potential new Swimmi prints, and we actually ended up producing the one that received the most votes! So vote wisely... we might just end up making the prints that win!

How to Vote

Check out the prints in the images below.
Go to the Bummis Facebook page.
You'll find a "girl print" poll, and a "boy print" poll.
Select your favourite print in one or both polls!
If you would like to comment on any of the prints, feel free to post your thoughts in the comments field at the bottom of this post, or on our Facebook page, but please note that preferences stated in the comments will not be tallied for the final vote.

Limited Edition Easy Fit Prints

2011-11-02T14:46:00.001-04:00

From left to right: Ginger, Robin and Rudolph

Our friends at Tots Bots have done it again! They've just released three great new limited edition hoilday prints for the Easy Fit diaper, and we're happy to announce that we will be offering them to our North American retailers and customers! Retailers are placing their pre-orders now, and we will start shipping them out at the end of November. There's limited stock, so you'll have to check in with your local retailer to see if they'll be getting them in. And sure, they're called "holiday" prints, but a gingerbread cookie in July tastes just as good as a gingerbread cookie in December ;)

Homemade Baby Food: Easier Than Pie!

2011-11-01T12:39:00.000-04:00

I decided from the beginning that when it came time to introduce solid foods to my son, we would make as much of it at home as possible. That turned out to be much easier than I'd ever imagined. I quickly discovered that all I had to do to make my son baby food was to make too much of whatever it was that my husband and I were making for dinner and mush up the leftovers.

We had an actual food mill for making baby food but a blender or food processor work fine as well. You may find you need slightly larger quantities of food in them to get it fully pureed. Once the food was blended, I simply put it in the freezer in ice cube trays and then transferred it to labeled freezer bags until we needed it.

Here are a few of our favourite baby food recipes. The little guy loved them and we did too. The amounts used can vary as much as you and your little one like. You know the food is ready when it tastes delicious!

Healthy Potato Mash

Left over mashed potatoes
Add one or two swiss chard leaves or a handful of spinach
About 3 Tbsps cottage cheese
Add as much breast milk, formula or water as you would like
Blend until desired consistency is achieved

Pork Chop Dinner

Half a pork chop
Leftover mashed potatoes
Add apple sauce until desired consistency is achieved

Broccoli and Cauliflower with Cheese

Left over steamed or boiled broccoli and cauliflower
Add enough water, breastmilk or formula to achieve desired consistency and blend
Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese when served warm

Zucchini and Mushrooms

Steam a zucchini and about 6 mushrooms
Blend until desired consistency is achieved

Red Lentils and Applesauce

Cook lentils according to package instructions
Add applesauce at about a 1 to 1 ratio
Blend until desired consistency is achieved

Oatmeal with Flax and Berries

About 1 serving of oatmeal made with breastmilk or formula rather than water if you prefer
Boil the oatmeal with 1/4 berries
Once cooked add 1 Tsp flax
Blend if desired

Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower and Sweet Potato

We like to add veggies to our Mac and cheese and this recipe is one that even my picky toddler enjoys. I tend to make it after a night of sweet potatoes and use the leftover sweet potato in the recipe
Cook noodles with a half cauliflower in the water as it boils
While noodles and cauliflower are cooking:
blend 1 cup sour cream, and 8 ounces of either cheddar or parmesan cheese over medium low heat. Stir until melted.
Mash the sweet potato
Add mashed sweet potato and cheese sauce to the cooked noodles and stir until well blended. Eat it just like this yourselves and blend some for you baby adding breastmilk, formula or water as needed to achieve desired consistency.

Do you have any favourite baby food recipes? I'm always looking for fresh ideas and would love to hear them!

A New Mama... Of Twins (by guest blogger Jenna Robertson)

2011-10-27T13:24:00.002-04:00

Jenna Robertson is a former employee of Boutique Bummis in Montreal. She is currently studying to become a midwife, and she is the mother of 7-month-old twins. Over the next few weeks, she will be sharing some of her experiences as a parent of twins. In her first post, she explains how she had to reconcile her idea of motherhood with the reality of being unexpectedly pregnant with twins.

I once worked as a nanny for a 10-month-old baby girl. She was formula fed, disposable diapered, and rode in an unwieldy forward-facing stroller. I remember feeling dismayed about the prospect of having my own children as I pushed the stroller, unable to see her to make faces or sing or laugh with her unless I stopped and walked around to the front. I hated that stroller, I hated mixing the formula and cleaning the bottles and I found the plastic diapers gross. I knew that I would want to breastfeed because my mother had nursed me into toddlerhood. And I knew a little about cloth diapers because my moms had used them for my (much younger) little brother. I left my nannying job when I was hired at Boutique Bummis, and discovered the wonderful world of parenting options that felt right to me.

The weeks of training at Boutique Bummis were a parade of thoughts of, “Of course! It just makes so much sense!” I became fascinated with baby carriers and learned all I could about them. We sold the Didymos wrap, and I spent all my free time at the store practicing ties with the weighted baby dolls. I learned front carries and back carries and even used two teddy bears to practice twin carries. I had no idea at the time that the twin carry knowledge would ever be useful to me personally.

Fast forward to November 2010. I was 31 years old, 20 weeks pregnant, and three years into a four-year midwifery degree. For a variety of reasons, my partner and I had decided not to have any early ultrasounds. So at 20 weeks and 3 days pregnant, we had heard our baby’s heartbeat with the hand-held Doppler at our midwife’s clinic but no one had seen inside yet. There were jokes going around that I was carrying twins. I showed early but didn’t actually measure big and so people waved their hands and said, “Oh you’re just so thin.” Two other women in my small midwifery class had spontaneously conceived twins that year. The chance that a third woman in this little group would also have twins was so unlikely that although we joked about it, I don’t think any of us actually believed it was possible.

On a sunny November day my partner and I rode our bikes to the ultrasound clinic. I asked the sonographer to confirm fetal number. “There’s this joke about twins,” I explained, and told her about my two classmates. She quickly scanned across my growing belly and said briskly, “One baby!” After that we relaxed and enjoyed watching the tiny kicking feet, the tiny beating heart, and marveled at the tiny round head. Towards the end of the exam she was having trouble locating a small brain structure. She left to ask another sonographer for help. When she returned, she put the transducer on my belly again and suddenly she said, “Huh.” We asked, “What?” She moved the transducer again and suddenly there were four feet on the screen slowly bouncing in time as if they were dancing. I didn’t believe it. She moved her hand again and there they were, two tiny heads staring at one another across a thin wavering veil of membrane. I burst into tears. She flicked her wrist and there were two heartbeats. Three beating hearts inside my body, the largest one now pounding hard. “Well you’re going to be here for a while,” she said. “We have to re-do all the measurements for the second baby.”

The second baby. That night I couldn’t sleep. It felt like the way I had imagined being a new mama was flying out the window. The vision of myself with my (one) baby tucked into a baby carrier, easily hopping on and off the subway was suddenly replaced with a new image of struggling with a double-wide stroller on snowy sidewalks. The home birth I had planned was suddenly high risk and contraindicated. Pre-term birth, the need for pumping, bottles, and even formula feeding all became real possibilities. I felt like I was losing control.

I am very lucky to live in Ontario, where midwifery care is integrated into the healthcare system. I was able to plan a hospital birth under the care of my midwives, with specialist obstetricians as consultants. I set about making plans to parent in the way that I wanted to, regardless of how many babies were coming. Over the next few weeks I’ll share some of our stories about babywearing, cloth diapering, and exclusively breastfeeding our now almost 7-month-old twins. It can be done! Stay tuned.

Snap It Up: Giveaway Winners!

2011-10-25T13:28:00.000-04:00

For last week's Super Snap giveaway, we asked you to describe your *dream* wrap. We got lots of great responses - and many of them were very detailed, which leads me to suspect that many of you had been daydreaming about your inventions for a long time! Our winners were randomly chosen, but just for fun, here's what their ideal wraps would look like:

Shaylene Crabtree

I would want a snap close cover with leg gussets and Star Trek print - maybe the Enterprise on the bum or Live long and Prosper. Thicker material like the Super Snap - they seem to put up with more washing than other covers.

Sarah J.

Two-sizes, snaps, inner leg gussets like the super brites and our water destroys most PUL in about a year, so I prefer the polyester knit of a super whisper wrap. I would love for someone to come out with a collegiate line of prints or professional sports teams, specifically for me... the Kansas Jayhawks. ;o)

Jamie McMillan

My perfect wrap would be PUL and come in 2 size options (small 5-16 lbs and large 16-40 lbs). My perfect wrap would have 2 rows of snaps to allow for different sizing on waist/thighs). It would have gussets. My perfect wrap would have a snap crossover option and have at least 8 snaps across for a good fit. My perfect wrap would have optional snap on Velcro converters (for grandparents/dads etc.). My perfect wrap would also have optional snap on elastic extenders to allow for using for toilet training and night diapering of older toddlers. The small size diaper would have an extra snap in the middle top to snap down to accommodate the umbilical cord. There would be rise snaps, only on the sides of the diaper not the center.

My perfect wrap would have a brown, lime and turquoise leaf print on white background and the outer snap covers would be teal and have owls engraved on them. The waist snap sockets would be white, brown, lime and teal and the rise snaps would be white.
My perfect wrap would also include a small band of elastic at the front near the top (at the bottom of the double layer) for tucking in a prefolded insert (great for sending wraps with dads, babysitters, grandparents etc. And will hold liners or doublers in place.

Amanda Sylvester

My dream would be the stretchiest one size cover ever. Aplix that's strong and won't fuzz. Inner gussets and elastic everywhere for a super snug fit. It would be smooth on the outside and not plastic feeling. A fun boy print like owls primary stripes, or vintage cars.

Congratulations to the winners! You will be receiving an email from us shortly so we can arrange the delivery of your prize. Thanks to everyone who participated - we love hearing from you!

Laundry Science

2011-10-21T09:30:00.000-04:00

Bummis is a member of the Real Diaper Industry Association (RDIA). At this year's annual meeting, there was a fantastic presentation on laundry science by Steven J. Tinker, who is an expert in the field. Our resident laundry expert at Bummis is Shirley, and the following post is a summary of her notes from the presentation. Very interesting!

Water

Water accounts for more than 99% of what you wash with, therefore the quality of your water is critical. Mr. Tinker strongly encouraged anyone who has even medium-hard water to invest in a water softening device. Costs are quickly recovered by savings on detergent and reduction of wear and tear on appliances, fabric and plumbing. Water hardness is a measure of the calcium and magnesium carbonate present in your water.

Other factors in water that can affect washing include total dissolved solids, chlorine, iron (yellowing), alkalinity (problems rinsing, harsh fabric), organic matter, etc.

The Four Main Factors

The other main factors in washing success are chemical action (detergent), mechanical action (swooshing), water temperature, and time (how long the wash cycle lasts). These four components need to fill the pie chart.

If you decrease one factor, then you will need to increase the others. For example, if you decrease the temperature of the wash you will need to increase the three other factors:

Chemical action is achieved by the detergent you add to the water.

Mechanical action is achieved by the movement of the fabrics against one another inside the washing machine. You can slightly under-load your machine, but not by much or there will not be enough fabric to rub against itself. Think of pioneers with washboards in the river - they rubbed the fabric against the boards to create the mechanical action that drew the soil out of the fabric. It's also important to note that if you over-load your washing machine you won't get enough rubbing action either, as there is no room for the diapers to move!

Temperature: For every 10 degree drop in temperature below 110F, there is a 50% reduction in the chemical reaction - so washing in warm to hot water is best.

Time is crucial! If fabric is not exposed to detergent and mechanical action for long enough, water will not penetrate fabric and soils will not be released.

Steps in the Wash Cycle

First step: pre-rinse

You can either use water alone or you can add a bit of detergent to start the initial release of soil. Never use hot water in a pre-rinse as it will set stains, but warm water is better than cold, as body fluids are most soluble at body temperature (warm).

Second step: wash cycle

You will need significant chemical action to release the soil. Mr. Tinker recommended detergents with an alkali (to dig out soil) and a nonionic surfactant (to take away soil).

What is a surfactant? This is the active cleaning agent in most detergents. Surfactants change the chemical and physical relationship between the water and the surface to be cleaned. Some surfactants are naturally occurring and some are synthetic. Soaps are a type of surfactant and natural soaps such as soap nuts, castile soap, Ivory Soap, etc. can work well under ideal water conditions. Unfortunately many of us have less than ideal water conditions and in this case the minerals in our water can bind to the soap and create a scum on the surface of the water. This scum can cause repellency and leaking issues with diapers, and can make them look dingy.

What about Enzymes? Some detergents contain enzymes. There are three basic enzymes: protease (which works on proteins), amylase (which works on starches), and lipase (which works on fats). Mr. Tinker did not feel that protease or amylase pose any problems for skin or fabric. But because fat is stored in the skin, lipase can potentially cause a skin reaction in those who are particularly sensitive. In actual fact, most people can use enzymes with no problems at all, and he did note that they are effective at removing odours! Because enzymes pose problems for some families, but not for others, detergents containing enzymes are listed as "maybes" on our detergent list.

Third step (OPTIONAL): bleaching

This step is important if you need to achieve "hygienically clean" diapers, or if you need to disinfect your diapers. Time and temperature play a crucial role here, especially if using oxygenated bleach. When using oxy-bleach, you will need mechanical action and an adequate temperature in order to activate the bleaching action: very hot water must be used along with at least 10 minutes of agitation.

We encourage the use of oxygenated bleach instead of chlorine bleach for environmental and health reasons, and also because chlorine bleach is extremely destructive to fabrics and laminations. If you do ever use chlorine bleach, for example to deal with a particularly tough yeast infection, it's important to make sure that all urine is completely rinsed out before using it, because urine + chlorine = ammonia smell from chloramines!

Final step: rinsing

Rinsing removes any residual soil and chemicals. It can take more than one rinse to achieve great results. Mr. Tinker recommends rinsing in warm water because it releases residues more effectively. But even more importantly, a warm rinse allows water to be released more efficiently in the spin cycle so that clothes dry more quickly! Fascinating!

Fabrics: do different fabrics wash differently?

Absolutely! This is why laundry services wash cottons and polyesters separately. The fibers that make up the fabrics are very different.

Polyester fiber

Polyester is a perfectly smooth round fiber. Its base ingredients are derived from oil so it does not like to get wet (repels water initially). It also likes to hang on to oily stains and the trapped oil could possibly lead to stink if not properly washed.

Cotton fiber

Cotton twists and folds over itself, which is why it has such a great capacity for absorption. It is also very “wettable,” meaning it loves water and thus washing and rinsing are easy.

Microfiber "pizza slices"

In reality there is no such fabric as microfiber! What people in our industry refer to as microfiber is typically a blend of polyester and polyamides that have been treated in order to create “channels” in the fiber. There are many different microfibers on the market with various appearances but the most common type has a pizza appearance (see above). Moisture is pulled in and trapped between the inner core (star) and the “pizza” slices. This causes microfiber to be very absorbent, but also means that it is more prone to “stink,” as urine or bacteria can get trapped in these pockets. It is hard for clean water to penetrate microfiber since the polyester does not like water to begin with, and the channels are already full of urine.

What helps to achieve hygienically clean diapers at home?

1) Dilution. Each time you change out the water (pre-rinse, wash, rinse…) you dilute the amount of bio-burden in the wash and flush it away.
2) Heat. Temperatures of 140+F (60+C) (hot water wash) deactivate common bio-organisms.
3) pH. This is applicable mainly in commercial laundries.
4) Oxidation. Oxygen bleaches (or chlorine bleaches).
5) Heat from drying in the dryer on a heat setting.

Snap It Up Giveaway!

2011-10-19T14:44:00.000-04:00

Clockwise from top left: Rocket, Froggy Pond, Bloom, Celery Dot

Our Super Snap wrap has been a popular favourite for a long time, but there was one comment that we kept hearing over and over again, like this one, from a review on our website:

These are THE most durable, long-lasting, great-fitting, amazing diaper covers ever. Bummis, PLEASE make this cover in prints before my next baby comes! I know I'll be buying more, I just really want them to be cute in addition to being practical.

Everybody was asking for prints, and we were more than happy to deliver! A few weeks ago we launched four new prints for the Super Snap, and they've been flying off our shelves!

Snap It Up Giveaway: Contest Details
Since we're so excited about this latest addition to our lineup, we decided we'd like to share the love! Four lucky people will be receiving a brand new Super Snap print wrap!

It takes a lot of creativity to come up with a great new wrap design, so to win this contest you'll have to fire up your imagination! To enter, we want you to tell us what your all-time, absolute *dream* wrap would look like. Would it have snaps? Aplix (velcro-style) closures? Would it be a pull-on? Would it be a cashmere wool longie? Would it be one-size, or perfectly sized-to-fit? Would it be something completely different, that no one has ever thought of before? What print would it have? Orange elephants on a turquoise background? Red bicycles flying through a field of clouds? They sky's the limit, folks! Let your imagination run wild.

Two entries per person: post a description of your magical ideal wrap invention in the comments section below and/or post it on our Facebook wall, under the link to this blog post. Be sure to include your email address, so we can be in touch if you win, and write it as name(at)gmail(dot)com, to avoid being spammed. This contest is open to residents of Canada and the continental United States. Entries must be posted by Monday, October 24 at midnight EST. Winners will be randomly chosen, and will be announced next week.

Put your thinking caps on, and have fun!

Some Quick and Easy Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas

2011-10-11T14:32:00.002-04:00

Halloween has always been a favourite holiday of mine. And not because of the autumn smells, pumpkin carving or even the candy. It's the one time of year when my creative juices get flowing and I try my terrible hand at crafting a costume. As a child, choosing and making my costume was always a family event. And I made my parents work. I never asked to be a princess or a witch. It was always things like a taxi cab, shower or guitar. We would spend many nights figuring out how we could accomplish the goal and working on putting it together. These are some very fond memories for me. And these are also memories I want my own children to have. So, from his first halloween, even though he was clearly not big enough to go trick or treating, I enlisted my husband and we got to work on my son's costume. As I said, I'm no seamstress. This is the one and only time of year I pull out the needle and thread. Since he's so young, I've had the choice of starting simple. I thought I would share the process with you to show you just how easy it can be to make a costume for an infant.

The Mouse:

I like to start my costumes with a base. There are a few advantages to this:

Less sewing involved for those of us who are challenged in this department.

You can make the base oversized so that you can stuff many layers of clothing underneath ensuring warmth on that cool, autumn evening.

The base I used for the mouse costume even had the advantage of the ears already on it. I just hand sewed some pink felt into the ears, on the tummy and added a tail to the bum. A little eye liner on the cheeks and, tada! Furry bear sleeper is transformed into a mouse.

The Cow

It took a little bit more time to make this costume, laying out where I wanted his spots, and certainly more sewing, but it's the same basic formula. Hooded sweatshirt with matching bottom, add ears, a tummy or spots and a tail and you're done! Simpler than pie. Make the ears longer and the tail a puff ball, and you've got a rabbit. Add triangles down the hood and back of a green sweatshirt and you've got a dinosaur or dragon.

If you're little one hasn't arrived yet, you can still join in the fun. I just ordered this super cute t-shirt from etsy. I'm gonna be the cutest mama on the block (okay so maybe I'm the only Mama on the block) this Halloween.

I'd love to hear about your favourite halloween costumes whether you made them yourself or not. And feel free to post photos of them on our Facebook page!

Cloth Diapering in Seattle: A Stranger in a Familiar Land

2011-10-04T15:00:00.001-04:00

Our sister-blogger Léa writes for the Boutique Bummis blog. She is based in Montreal, but is currently spending a few months in Seattle, Washington. She recently posted a missive from abroad, and this is what she had to say...

I may have strayed outside of Bummis’ hometown, but I’m keeping my eyes peeled for reminders of home. For example, I’ve seen lots of parents (young, tattooed, and oh-so-hip) with baby carriers, especially the Ergo. Not so surprising for a forward-thinking and eco-conscious city like Seattle!

The other day I was strolling near the university when a storefront window caught my eye. What did I see? A pack of Bummis prefolds!

Excited as can be, I went into the store, Village Maternity, and immediately felt as though I was in some kind of parallel universe (they sell a lot of the same products as our store in Montreal). I'm a bit shy to begin with, and my English was garbled and confused in my excitement [Léa is francophone], but I explained that I’m a blogger for Boutique Bummis in Montreal, and I asked if they would take my picture in front of their cloth diapering display. They graciously agreed:

What you can’t see in the photo is that in order to get the shelf into the frame, I had to get down on my knees. So there I was, on my knees, with my backpack and my bicycle helmet that screamed TOURIST beside me, my young face that means I’m always asked for i.d. when I try to buy a bottle of wine, with a pack of prefolds in my hands, posing for a photo.

Let’s just say that I was getting a few strange looks. I could see it in the eyes of the other clients, something between “tourists are real weirdos” and “wow, the baby-crazy girls are getting younger and younger these days.” But, no matter, I had a mission in mind: to demonstrate Bummis’ image in the eyes of its retailers and of its clients elsewhere in the world.

I asked the store clerk what her clients thought of our wraps. She said (no lie): “Our customers love them. They always report back with positive comments and I’ve never had the slightest complaint about a Bummis wrap. Prefolds are winning over more and more parents, and that makes us happy.”

Well, it makes us happy too. Full of pride as I was, I chimed in, saying that we’re glad to be able to offer a diapering solution that's as eco-conscious and budget-friendly as prefolds, that our wraps are made in Montreal by on-site sewers, or moms who sew from home, that good quality really is a top priority for us, etc. etc. The store clerk (a woman of unparalleled patience), let me finish my rant before saying “yes, I know all that” and pointing to a small sign on the shelf below the Bummis wraps.

If you can’t make it out, it says “Bummis. Cloth Diapers Couldn’t Get Any Easier. Since its conception in the 1980’s, Bummis has been at the forefront of the Cloth Diaper market. Quality is at the center of this product in which customer service and giving back remains #1 to its founders.”

You know, it feels pretty good to be appreciated and to have one’s efforts recognized.

Do you have a special story about a Bummis retailer, or of an encounter with our products in an unexpected place? Let us know!

New Creations and Innovations!

2011-09-28T16:04:00.001-04:00

At Bummis we always have our ears wide open, listening to comments and ideas from our clients and putting that feedback into action when we develop new products. All of that research and creation comes to a head at this time of year, when our new fledgling products are released into the world...

Tankini

The Swimmi has proven to be a runaway success on beaches everywhere, and tons of people have been asking for coordinating tops. The Tankini will provide a little more protection from the sun, while completing your little one's poolside outfit in style! The Tankini comes in two sizes (0-12 months and 12-24 months), and the halter clip can be hooked on one of three loops on the neck tie for greater adjustability. Each colour coordinates with several Swimmi prints, so you can mix and match to your heart's delight!

Swimmi

If you follow our blog, you'll know that earlier this summer we posted three potential new Swimmi prints and asked our readers to vote for their favourite. Camping Critters (left) won the popular vote, and so we put it into production (very democratic of us, don't you think?). But then Betsy, one of the owners of Bummis, had already fallen in love with Koi Pond (right), and so we thought hey, why not introduce TWO new Swimmi prints? The more the merrier!

Super Snap

Can I get a drumroll please? This new addition to our line is SURE to put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces. We get tons of positive feedback about our Super Snap wrap - people love the fit, its long lifespan, its extreme durability, and its toddler-proof snaps. The only problem was that up until now, this wrap was only available in white. Well, snap fans, it's time to jazz up your cloth diaper stash because now you have four fun prints to choose from!

Rockin' Green

Rockin' Green makes eco-friendly detergents that are specially formulated for cloth diapers. They're clean-rinsing, leaving behind little to no soap residue on your diapers or chemical residue on baby's skin. Rockin' Green detergents have natural scents (with fun names like "Earth, Wind & Orchids") and contain no enzymes, phosphates or optical brighteners. The detergent is available in special formulas for folks who are washing in soft water (Soft Rock), hard water (Hard Rock), and just plain regular water (Classic Rock). If you've considered a kryptonite-lined diaper pail to contain the smell of your dirty diapers, or if Fluffy or Fido had an accident on your bunny slippers, you might need Funk Rock - Rockin' Green's solution to persistent stink or residue problems. In short, Rockin' Green is awesome, and Bummis is now the Canadian distributor of their products - we're overjoyed to be working with such a wonderful company!

Timing

Your friendly neighbourhood retailer can begin placing orders for our fabulous new products at the beginning of October, and we will begin shipping them out in mid-October, so look for them on your local store shelves over the course of the next month or so!

Easy Fit "Fruit Salad" Giveaway Winners!

2011-09-13T12:38:00.000-04:00

Well, if you read our post last week you'lll know that we're adding three new fruits to our Easy Fit salad: green apple, chocolate (and while some of you pointed out that chocolate is not, technically, a fruit, we like to think of it as a delicious accompaniment), and grape. The Easy Fit diaper and Tini Fit diaper are now available in seven delectable colours, and the Easy Fit is also available in six fun prints.

In celebration of these delightful new colours, we decided to give away one of each! And the three randomly selected winners are...

Nicole Delaney

Jennifer Ruck

Shannon Roberts

Reading through everybody's comments, I discovered that there are a lot of different philosophies and priorities that come into play when choosing cloth diapers, but what seemed to be a common thread throughout is that most people are very passionate about their collections and selections! And why not? Part of the fun of using cloth diapers is the fact that they're SO CUTE!

A note to the winners: we will be in touch with you to arrange the delivery of your prizes. Congratulations!

Easy Fit "Fruit Salad" Giveaway!

2011-09-07T15:24:00.001-04:00

Here at Bummis headquarters, every week we celebrate Fresh Fruit Wednesdays: the office and production staff are treated to a spread of delightful fresh fruits, and boy, does it ever brighten up the day!

We've had a lot of practice, so I would say that at this point we're pretty much masters of the fruit salad. You know how they say that art imitates life? Well, it seems that some of our favourite fruits from the salad bowl have made their way into our product line. Up until recently, we have enjoyed lots of pomegranates, oranges, and blueberries, both in the salad bowl and in the guise of the Easy Fit and Tini Fit diapers. But starting this fall, we're jazzing things up by adding three new fruits to the salad mix: grape, green apple, and chocolate. Okay, well chocolate isn't a fruit, but who doesn't enjoy a nice fondue from time to time?

In celebration of our new fruit salad recipe, we're going to give away one of each of the three new fruits... I mean, colours!

Contest Details and How To Enter

We'd like to hear a colourful story from you (better be careful what we ask for, I know ;) When you shop for cloth diapers, do you search for specific colours? What's your favourite colour of diaper? Do you look for so-called unisex colours that will work for any future babies down the road? Do you prefer prints or solids? Do you coordinate diapers with outfits? Maximum two entries per person, here's how you can enter:

1) Post your story in the comments section below.
2) "Like" Bummis on Facebook, and post your story in the comments section of our link to this blog post on our wall.

Be sure to include your email address, and write it as example(at)gmail(dot)com, to avoid being spammed. This contest is open to residents of Canada and the continental United States only. All entries must be submitted by midnight of Monday, September 12, 2011.

How to Talk to a Baby Who Can't... Talk

2011-08-16T11:33:00.000-04:00

I was on the bus the other day, sitting next to a mother with her 10 month old daughter on her lap. All of a sudden the little girl started fidgeting and getting worked up. Her mother responded by making a gesture with her hands, opening and closing her fingers and saying to her daughter “milk?” The little girl wriggled with excitement and attached herself to her mother, who barely had time to unhook her nursing bra. Wow, baby sign language is pretty amazing.

A Brief History

In the 1980s, two psychologists specialising in childhood development, Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, observed that babies who were unable to speak used “imitation” signs to designate objects. For example, they might sniff to say “flower”, or flap their arms to say “bird”. As a result of their observations, they came up with a system of signs based on American Sign Language, but using only basic words and no grammar. This simple language has allowed parents and babies to understand one another, and to be much, much less frustrated!

When Can I Start?

At the age of 5 or 6 months, when your baby begins to develop an attention span and to imitate his or her surroundings, you can begin to communicate with signs. At this stage, your baby will learn to understand the signs, without necessarily being able to respond with a sign of his or her own. Between the ages of 9 to 14 months, your baby’s motor skills will be sufficiently developed to allow him or her to reply.

Why Sign?

To allow your baby to be understood by the people around him or her, by some means other than crying
To stimulate your baby’s oral development, as signing will help to develop language skills in general
To help you as a parent to understand your baby’s first spoken words
To develop your baby’s motor skills, and intellectual and emotional development. It’s also good for your little one’s self esteem, as your baby will be validated for expressing him or herself!

A Few Basic Signs:

"milk"

"bath"

"more"

"i love you"

Reference: Acredolo, L., Abrahms, S., & Abrams, D. (1996). Baby signs: How to talk with your baby before your baby can talk. McGraw-Hills, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Original post by Léa J. on the Boutique Bummis blog. Translated and adapted for the Bummis blog by Maeghan B.

Edible Ideas for Breastfeeding Moms

2011-08-04T13:50:00.000-04:00

In spite of what we sometimes hear, there are not really any blacklisted foods that must be avoided by breastfeeding moms, except for substances like caffeine, alcohol and tobacco. The taste of your breastmilk can change depending on the foods that you're eating, so it's a good idea to pay attention to the foods that you're consuming, and your baby's interest in breastfeeding. Some babies don't take kindly to spicy foods, dishes with lots of garlic or onion, or other foods with "strong" flavours. Trial and error is your best bet in terms of determining which foods you and your baby will find most satisfying.

The best-bet foods for breastfeeding moms are those that contain calcium, iron and fiber: whole grains, fruit, peas, beans and nuts. Quinoa is a great option as it contains iron, magnesium, phosphorus, fiber and vitamins B1, B2 and B6!

Quick and tasty chickpea & quinoa salad, courtesy of fussfree cooking blog

It's best not to stress too much about your breastfeeding diet, you can eat pretty much anything in moderation. But to keep up your strength, you can try to incorporate good fats, particularly unsaturated fats (avocados and olive oil, for example), which will help with your baby's neurological development. And of course, don't forget to drink plenty of liquids! Water and herbal teas are great choices, whereas coffee and black tea contain caffeine, which is not great for baby.

Milk Production

Mothers sometimes worry about milk production, thinking that baby is not getting enough milk, or always seems hungry and is wanting to breastfeed too often. If you're geniunely concerned about milk production, it's best to talk to a lactation consultant. If you're happy with your breastfeeding routine, but are just interested in upping the ante a little, here are some milk-boosting edible ideas:

fenugreek or blessed thistle (in capsule form)
fennel, galega officinalis and anise (in tea form)
raspberries
almonds
malt (you can try alcohol-free beer to stimulate milk production, or eat malt in cereal form)

Mint, sage and parsley might prohibit milk production if consumed in large quantities, but are generally without consequence if used in moderation to garnish a delicious dish.

Originally posted on the Boutique Bummis blog by Léa J. Translated and adapted for the Bummis blog by Maeghan B.

musings on guilt and joy by betsy

2011-08-01T13:20:00.000-04:00

On our retail store Facebook page, we have been having tons of discussions these days about breastfeeding and formula feeding! And it has brought up a lot of emotions from moms – both negative and positive. It makes me think about how even though we give lip service to the idea that a mom should not feel guilty about the choices she makes - do we really give moms the benefit of the doubt enough? Do we realize how complex the issues are sometimes around the choices women make? Sometimes a mom who doesn’t breastfeed is choosing not to because it would make her angry and resentful and bitter – for whatever reason. And she is choosing to do what she needs to do in order to be a good parent.

When my first baby was 15 months old, I became pregnant with the second. I was still nursing and didn’t really want to stop – but didn’t know anything about anything…. So I went to see a La Leche League leader who was tandem nursing her first 2 babies. After an hour with her I decided firmly NOT to tandem nurse unless I found it to be a divinely pleasant experience. She kept saying how important it was to do it for her children, and even though she didn’t enjoy it she did it anyway because it was good for them. At that point I realized that what’s good for me is good for my babies, and if I force myself to do anything I am uncomfortable with then it is an obligation and not a joy and they will GET that, even if I never allow them to see me complain – they will know that I am unhappy. And unhappy moms make for unhappy babies and children and grown-ups, and so the whole circus continues for generations. And it is especially loaded BECAUSE we are women and our bodies and boundaries may have already been compromised at some point in our lives, and thus the issue becomes a feminist and political one as well.

From that point on, a metaphor that I have gone back to over and over in my mind as a parent is the image of being on a plane with your child when all of a sudden the pressure drops and you need oxygen. The masks drop in front of you, and your instinct as a parent is to put that mask on your child FIRST. But in fact, you must put it on yourself first – because if you are unconscious you can’t help your child and then maybe neither of you will survive! So save yourself first. In applying this to parenting, I think it is REALLY important that we take care of mothers, and that mothers feel empowered - because if they are strong and joyful, they will pass that on to their children. I believe strongly that in this way you can actually interfere with if not break the cycles of abuse and exploitation and disempowerment that make people so cruel and unconscious! And honestly, I KNOW from experience (mine and many others) that un-interfered with birth and breastfeeding and the whole entire path of intuitive parenting can be such empowering and joyful experiences that they can help us heal our lives and families.

my 3 babies - when they were little - in the first Bummis factory!

So I stopped nursing my first baby when my breasts became really sensitive during my pregnancy and it felt bad to have him nursing – and I didn’t tandem nurse after all. I re-started with my second son and nursed him until I was pregnant with my next and it started to bother me. Then later when I had my third baby I nursed him until he was 3 years old – not all day long – but in the morning, at naptime, to go to sleep, etc. I was working hard at starting up the business and gone sometimes, and the connection of breastfeeding was important to both of us. But when I stopped, it was because I simply did not like the sensation of it anymore – I felt like a mother cat getting up, shaking off her kittens and walking away. My husband was sad for my son – he said “But Bets, he’s so young!” which in retrospect we both find funny! But I knew that if I continued I would resent doing it, and that feeling would be transmitted to my son and become part of his emotional DNA and I didn’t want that. I prefer that he feel guilty about all the trouble he caused us as a teenager instead…. But hey - THAT’S another story ….

Summer Sun: Choosing a Sunscreen

2011-07-20T16:04:00.000-04:00

A shaded tot is a protected tot! And can you spy with your little eye the Swimmi that our little friend is wearing?

We're experiencing a heat wave right now in Montreal. The temperature today is 32°C (90°F), and it feels like 38°C (100°F) with the humidity. And tomorrow? It's going to be even hotter! You can have lots of fun in the sun, sure, but it can also turn nasty if you don't protect yourself. In this kind of heat, protection is a must, especially for little ones with their sensitive skin.

Not all sunscreens are made alike, and not all ad campaigns offer a reliable portrayal of the actual benefits of any given sunscreen. A sunscreen "for kids" is not necessarily the best choice, or without any danger. It's always best to check the list of ingredients. To help you make your decision, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has put out a list of the safest sunscreens available in North America. These are some basic guidelines to help you make your choice:

Here are some useful tips from the EWG's website:

Babies under 6 months should not be exposed directly to the sun because their skin has not yet developed enough melanin to keep them protected. Many manufacturers advise against the use of sunscreen on babies under 6 months of age, so shade and sunhats are a must!
Vitamin A (retinyl palminate) is good for the skin when ingested because it stimulates the production of melanin. In regular body creams, it acts as an anti-oxidant that slows the aging of the skin (not of great use to baby, but a little tidbit that might interest some moms). However vitamin A and sunscreen do not mix well. Combined with sunlight, vitamin A develops photocarcinogenic properties.
Sunscreens have either a mineral (zinc, for example), or non-mineral base. The EWG recommends mineral sunscreens, which penetrate less deeply into the skin, and therefore won't change the skin's composition. Non-mineral sunscreens may contain ingredients such as oxybenzone, which may act as a hormone disruptor in young children.

In any case, in the eyes of the EWG sunscreen should not be the primary method of protection against the sun's rays, particularly for children. Best practices include wearing protective clothing, wearing hats, staying in the shade, and avoiding exposure to the sun during peak hours (between 11am and 3pm). When using sunscreen, it's best to apply the cream one hour before going out, and then every 30 minutes once you're outside.

And during a heatwave? Well... you might not feel like going outside at all!

Summer Travel: Breastmilk in Flight

2011-07-07T14:26:00.000-04:00

Whether you're relying on the breast or the bottle, traveling with breastmilk is not always as easy as we might wish. Photo courtesy of Family Holiday blog.

Simply by keeping an ear open while at Bummis headquarters, I overhear all kinds of interesting stories… and some that are a little disturbing. Recently I heard about a mom who had her breastmilk confiscated at the airport, just before boarding her flight. What?? Is it legal to confiscate a bottle filled with breastmilk? Jennifer Welch, our lactation consultant, wanted to know. She shared the fruits of her research with us, and the answer is: no, this practice is not legal. Here’s what you need to know:

You are allowed to take breastmilk on the plane so long as it is in a bottle, is separated from other liquids, the bottle is sealed in a plastic bag (like a Ziploc), and you declare it right away to the baggage control agent.

If you won’t need the milk during the flight, you can pack it in your checked baggage, no problem. Note that breastmilk will keep for up to 24 hours if sealed in a plastic bag and kept in contact with an ice pack.

If you need to bring breastmilk in your carry-on baggage, you will have to allow it to be passed through the x-ray scanner, as a result of security measures in place to screen for explosive liquids. X-rays are not dangerous for breastmilk: the milk remains safe to drink, and the nutrients are not compromised by the scan.

Mothers who are traveling by air have every right to bring breastmilk on the plane. Before leaving on your trip, you may want to print the list of restricted items from The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, or the Transportation Security Administration (for travel in the U.S.). This way you’ll have the evidence on-hand in case you run into a problem. There’s no reason why a mother shouldn’t be able to feed her baby while traveling, especially during a long flight!

Have you ever had trouble traveling with breastmilk, or breastfeeding on the road?

Original French-language post by Léa J. on the Boutique Bummis blog. Translation by Maeghan B.

Earth Mama Angel Baby + Bummis Giveaway Winners!

2011-06-28T10:24:00.000-04:00

We're happy to announce the winners of last week's collaborative giveaway with Earth Mama Angel Baby. Starting in the very near future, you will find a sample of EMAB's Angel Baby Bottom Balm in our Organic Cotton Diaper Kits.

Fun Facts About Angel Baby Bottom Balm:

Contains antibacterial and antifungal pure essential oils, especially effective against Candida, the most common cause of diaper rash and thrush. May also be used on nipples for breastfeeding thrush.
Rated ZERO on the Skin Deep Toxin Database.
Great first aid balm for the whole family - for skinned knees, childhood rashes, chickenpox, bug bites, cradle cap & more.
Ingredients include: Calendula (wound healing), St. John’s Wort (wound healing and reduces pain), Chickweed and Plantain (wound healing, relieves itch and soothes irritated skin)

And the Giveaway Winners Are:

Grand prize: Rebecca

"I haven't found a diaper cream that will be safe for my cloth diapers. I have had a need for it on occasion but since we have had to go without, I just sit her in a bath for a little bit and wash her really well. I would love to have even a sample of this to use when needed."

Runner-up prize: Ilanna / Jaimie Leader-Goodale

"we use EMAB bottom balm with almost every diaper change as a preventative - but forget sometimes. when there's a rash we are a lot more diligent about it. : )"

Congratulations! You will receive an email by the end of the day so we can organize the delivery of your prize. Thanks to everyone who participated!

A New Swimmi: Pick Your Print!

2011-06-23T14:06:00.000-04:00

We've been hem-ing and haw-ing here at Bummis HQ, trying to decide what should be our next Swimmi print. Each of us has a personal favourite, of course, but we thought that maybe, just maybe you folks out there would like to take a gander and let us know what YOUR favourite print would be. If you want to check out our current Swimmi prints, you can see them on our website. Here's how to cast your ballot:

Take a look at the three prints below
Head over to our Facebook page
Find the Swimmi poll on our wall, and vote!

Camping Critters

Koi Pond

Later Alligator

A New Partnership and Giveaway: Earth Mama Angel Baby and Bummis!

2011-06-22T14:09:00.000-04:00

If you saw our Father's Day blog post, you'll know that we've been celebrating partnerships this week, both personal and professional. Today we're celebrating another new professional partnership, with Earth Mama Angel Baby. Starting in the very near future, when you buy our Organic Cotton Diaper Kit, you will receive a free sample of Earth Mama Angel Baby's Angel Baby Bottom Balm! If you remember last week's post, you'll know that we will also be including a discount coupon for a Go GaGa diaper bag! In honour of our new partnership with Earth Mama Angel Baby, we're offering yet another giveaway!

Grand Prize*

Earth Mama Angel Baby Baby Essentials Bundle
Bummis BeautifulBASIC 2-Piece Cloth Diaper
Bummis Bio-Soft liners (1 roll of 100 liners)

Runner-up Prize*

Earth Mama Angel Baby Angel Baby Bottom Balm
Bummis Swimmi

*Please note that colours and prints may vary from those pictured above.

Contest Details and How to Enter:

So we mentioned that starting very soon you'll find a sample of Angel Baby Bottom Balm in our Organic Cotton Diaper Kit. Since we're talking about diaper creams, we want to know if, when and why you use diaper creams:

a) At every diaper change
b) Once a day
c) Only if your baby has a rash
d) Never
e) Other (feel free to explain!)

Maximum two entries per person. Here's how to enter:

Post your story in the comments section below.
"Like" Bummis on Facebook, and post your story underneath our link to this blog post on our Facebook wall (click on "comment").

This contest is open to residents of Canada and the United States. All entries must be submitted by midnight EST on Sunday June 26, 2011. Winners will be announced next week. Be sure to include your email address, so we can be in touch if you're a winner! Write it as example(at)gmail(dot)com, to avoid being spammed.

Father's Day Giveaway: Highlights and Winners!

2011-06-21T11:55:00.000-04:00

A great big thank you to everyone who shared their stories for our Father's Day Giveaway! It sounds like there are a lot of supportive dads out there, and it was fun to read about how you make your parenting partnerships work. Since there were so many great stories (and several funny ones), I thought it would be nice to share some excerpts and highlights:

I was fishing with the guys this past weekend. I'm the only one with a child but one of the guys is expecting in August. Joe, the father-to-be, commented when I mentioned we cloth diaper; that's what they are planning on doing. He had all sorts of questions and I was surprised at how well I was able to answer them all for him. We continued to discuss this and many other similar topics around the campfire... the other two guys didn't have much to say but it probably wasn't what they were expecting for a weekend away with the guys!! (Rob Young)

We have ten kids and we started CD in a third floor walk-up downtown and took them to a local laundry run by a Korean couple. DH would drag in the nylon drawstring bag into the place to wash every Wednesday. We also used to wash kitchen rags and dishtowels (didn't have a dishwasher) and the Korean couple would clap when we came in! They called us Mr and Mrs Bread and Butter! (Ubermom)

I am in the military, and imagine my suprise when after thirteen months of being stationed away from my family in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, I came home to find a fire hose in the shape of a kitchen sink sprayer attached to my toilet. Again, I thought i might be in the twilight zone when I was expected to spray "poo poo" into the toilet, and try not to get any on the shower curtain. Well, I am pretty sure it needs to be replaced by now, sweety. (Daniel Lofton)

But I think the number one best thing and a true testament to his conversion to the "Fluff Side" was when he was watching her crawl around in a printed pocket diaper and he said "that fluffy booty sure is cute!" If my big, tough husband can be into cloth diapering and say the words cute, diaper and fluffy in the same sentence, I am convinced ANY dad can do it AND be into it!! (Sam)

Then, she showed us the Bummis flushable liner. You know, that thing you put on top and the poop goes into the toilet and not your laundry? “Okay,” I thought. “This might not be so bad.” As long as I’m not gonna be the guy scraping poop out of my washer I’ll give it a try. Now that we’re going for it, I’m actually getting a little excited. We were at a birthing class the other night and the instructor mentioned cloth diapers. One of the other dads looked around the room and said, “Wait, do people really do that?” I laughed. I knew exactly how he felt. “Yeah, man. They do.” I assured him. “It’s actually not that bad…” (Brandon Bailey)

And the Winners Are...

From among all the fabulous entries on our blog and our Facebook page, we randomly picked two winners of the Bummis + Go GaGa prize packs:

Lisa Knight Reid

My husband has been 100% supportive of cloth diapering for the little one we are expecting. Wish I could say the same for friends and family. He's taken over the research aspect and even went to two cloth diapering 101 classes offered in our city. He was the only dad to be both times.

FMR

Shortly after we started [CD-ing], we went away for a weekend trip and took sposies with us so we wouldn't have to worry about laundry or bringing home a load of dirty diapers. On our way home from our trip, my husband says "man, I can't wait to get home and put a cloth diaper on A." ::swoon::

Winners, we will send you an email or FB message by the end of the day to arrange the delivery of your prizes. Congratulations! Thanks again to everyone who participated, and Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there!

Happy Father's Day Giveaway!

2011-06-14T10:14:00.000-04:00

This coming week on our blog we'll be celebrating partnerships, both personal and professional. Parenting is rife with meaningful partnerships: between parents and baby, between spouses or significant others, between a parent and another caregiver, between siblings. With Father's Day coming up on Sunday, we're celebrating all the great dads out there, and everything they contribute to their parenting partnerships. We're also celebrating a new business partnership of our own: in the very near future, when you buy our Organic Cotton Diaper Kit, you'll receive a discount coupon for a Go GaGa Diaper Bag!

And so we're collaborating with Go GaGa to celebrate fathers everywhere by offering a giveaway!

We will be giving away two amazing prize packs worth a retail value of $182-$189. Each pack will include*:

Go GaGa Messenger Bag
Bummis BeautifulBASIC 2-Piece Cloth Diaper
Bummis Bio-Soft liners (1 roll of 100 liners)
Bummis Swimmi
Tots Bots Easy Fit diaper (distributed by Bummis)

*Please note that colours and prints of the prize packs may differ from those pictured above.

Contest Details and How to Enter:

So, fellas, we want to hear from you! We'd like you to share a cloth diapering experience (or adventure), or, for those dads who are still expecting, we'd like to hear a dad-to-be maternity (or would that be paternity?) story. Maximum two entries per dad. Here's how you can enter:

Post your story in the comments section below.
"Like" Bummis on Facebook, and post your story in the comments section of our link to this blog post on our Facebook wall.

Be sure to include your email address, so we can be in touch if you're a winner! Write it as example(at)gmail(dot)com, to avoid being spammed. This contest is open to residents of Canada and the United States. All entries must be submitted by midnight EST on Sunday June 19, 2011. Winners will be announced next week.

Happy Father's Day, from the collective team at Bummis & Go GaGa!

Battling Yeast in Cloth Diapers

2011-06-03T16:46:00.000-04:00

Yeast. It's one of those things that comes up occasionally in conversations about cloth diapering. Yeast can continue to grow in your diapers and reinfect your child after the rash is gone. Hard to get rid of? Not necessarily. In fact, this latest time that Malina had to deal with yeast in her household, she were able to keep her son in cloth while treating him and the diapers.

Step One: Identify the Problem

Many rashes look alike, so it's not always obvious to figure out what you're dealing with. Yeast often manifests as bright red spots with bumps around them, like moons around a planet. It can look like chicken pox, or pimples, and is often concentrated in the creases and folds of the skin. Yeast often appears after a treatment with antibiotics, since they will kill both the good and the bad bacteria in the body; so if your baby has recently been treated with antibiotics, and has a rash matching the description above, there's a good chance that you're dealing with yeast. That being said, it's important to consult with your health care provider to determine whether that is actually the case.

Step Two: Kill the Yeast!

In order to get rid of yeast, you will have to treat your baby's skin and you'll have to wash any cloth products that have been in contact with the skin (diapers, liners, wipes, towels, changing pads, etc.). It's very important to address both issues in order to fully resolve the problem. Read on:

Part One: The Skin

You will have to apply a diaper cream at every change. You can try a natural cream that is specially formulated to treat yeast. Or, if natural creams don't seem to be working, you may need to use a medicated cream prescribed by a doctor. It's important to use Bio-Soft liners during this time to protect your diapers from the creams you are using, to avoid residue problems. Contrary to what many people think, it is not a good idea to apply powder, as the yeast will feed on the talc in the powder, and it will make the problem worse! You should also try to change your baby's diaper more often, about every couple of hours.

Part Two: The Diapers

To properly rid your diapers, liners, wipes, towels, changing pads, etc. of yeast, you will need to switch to a more rigorous washing routine using oxygenated bleach until your baby's rash disappears, and for five days afterwards, as follows*:

Fill machine with hot water
Add the maximum recommended amount of oxygenated bleach, stir until dissolved
Add diapers etc. and soak for 15 minutes
Wash on hot, with oxy bleach (same quantity as above) + detergent
Rinse well, with lots of water
Dry in the sun if at all possible (it really helps to disinfect), or in the dryer.

*Please defer to your diaper manufacturer's recommendations if they differ from these.

Some people choose to use disposable diapers while treating their baby for yeast. If this is what you choose to do, you will still need to complete the routine described above once, and then to put your cloth diapers aside until your baby's rash disappears, and for five days afterwards, to ensure that the yeast is completely gone. If you continue to use cloth diapers, wipes, change pads, etc. while treating your baby, you will need to follow this routine at every wash.

Part Three: Advanced Troubleshooting for Stubborn Problems

If you follow the above routine and you are still unable to get rid of the yeast, you can try chlorine bleach instead of oxygenated bleach. It is much harsher, but much stronger. Follow the same steps, but you can use warm water instead of hot if you wish.

If you have prefolds, you can try boiling them to kill the yeast. We do not recommend boiling any other type of diaper, or any type of wrap, as the elastics and PUL are not likely to stand up well to this intense process!

Alternative or Additional Solutions

Some people swear by grapeseed extract or tea tree oil as remedies for yeast, so you can try one of those instead of oxy bleach if you wish. You will need to use between 20-100 drops each time you wash. You can also make a bum wash solution with grapeseed extract or tea tree oil to help disinfect at each diaper change.

Some people swear by acidophilus as a treatment for yeast infections. If you are breastfeeding, you can take it yourself and it will transfer to your baby through your breastmilk. If not, it can be given directly to your baby. This article is more specific to breastfeeding and thrush, but is also applicable to yeast infections and diapering, and offers acidophilus treatment ideas.

This blog post is the result of a collaborative effort between Malina, Shirley and Maeghan.

Wordless Wednesday: The Great Cloth Diaper Change

2011-05-11T11:57:00.000-04:00

What cloth diapering event is complete without the cloth diaper fairies?

Cupcakes and babies and cloth diapers oh my!

Gotta make sure that the diaper is tucked inside the Super Lite wrap to avoid messes!

T-shirt translation: Composting in process ;)

With 47 diapers being changed at once, it was a full house at Boutique Bummis!

I spy with my little eye...

2011-04-28T11:09:00.000-04:00

something that is FABULOUS.

Here at Bummis we're in the business of keeping little bums dry, and now we've found a way of extending that mission beyond the baby population. When you're biking in the rain you've got your fender to keep your bum dry, but how are you going to keep your seat dry once your bike is locked up outside? Why, with your Fabulous Wet Bag, of course! This is yet another entry in what has become a long, LONG list of the many uses of our favourite accessory. Anything a plastic bag can do, a wet bag can do... FABULOUSLY.

Speical thanks to ex-Bummis blogger Jessica for sharing her FABULOUS photo.

The Great Cloth Diaper Change!

2011-04-20T13:03:00.000-04:00

Earth Day "is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues. In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day."* This year, cloth diaper enthusiasts have a golden opportunity to celebrate Earth Day in style, by participating in their local Great Cloth Diaper Change event this Saturday, April 23.

The Great Cloth Diaper Change is an international event that seeks to raise awareness about cloth diapering by setting the Guinness World Record for the most cloth diapers changed simultaneously. There are over 400 particpating locations around the world, with a high concentration in North America, where the idea was generated. Visit the GCDC website to find a location near you.

This is a great opportunity to show the world that the cloth diapering community is alive and well, and that cloth diapers are a viable choice for parents in the 21st century. We already know that they're eco-friendly, affordable, soft and cozy, and super cute, and it's time that the rest of the world caught on! It's also a great opportunity to show off your favourite cloth diapers, and to meet other families in your community - who knows, you might make some new friends! And last but not least, most of the hosting venues are offering tons of prizes and giveaways to partipants. You may feel like you should be awarded a prize every time you change your little one's diaper, but the GCDC is a rare case where this might actually happen!

In Montreal, the Great Cloth Diaper Change event will be co-hosted by Boutique Bummis and BabyAuric Diaper Service. The event will take place at the new Boutique Bummis store, this Saturday April 23 from 12-2 pm. Click here for more details and to sign up for the event. Every participant will be given 3 raffle tickets, for a chance to win over $5000 in prizes! If you're in the neighbourhood, come have some fun, and help us get cloth diapers into the record books!

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_day, accessed April 20 2011

Best of Bummis: From the Archive

2011-04-19T12:52:00.000-04:00

Parenting

Ten Traveling Tips from a Mama of Twin Toddlers
Tips from a Mama who has ventured to France, Germany, England, Saskatchewan, New York, Cuba and Kenya! With twins!!! Advice that is definitely worth reading (and heeding).

Greatest Tips on Parenting
Many people in the cloth diapering world are new parents, but Shirley's boys are just about grown up. She shares some of the valuable parenting philosophies she has learned along the way.

Postpartum Doulas
Guest blogger Lesley Everest explains what a postpartum doula can do for a new family in the days and weeks after baby is born. A must-read for any expecting mothers out there!

Washing Cloth Diapers

Can the problem with my laundry be hard water???
A widely-shared post that has helped many people understand and resolve the laundry challenges they face with hard water.

Oxygenated Bleach
All about oxygenated bleach - what it's made of, how to use it, and why you would want to use it.

Bummis' Super Simple Easy-as-Pie Method for Washing Cloth Diapers
I promise that the method itself is much less complicated than the title we gave it ;)

The RDIA Detergent Determinator - Up and Running!
Find out what's in the detergent that you're using, or submit a list of additives you want to avoid, and find a new detergent. A very useful tool.

Family Doctor Anne Cyr Brings Cloth to Her Community

2011-04-15T13:33:00.000-04:00

Many of us have a local hero. You know, someone who decides that things could be better, and who actually takes the initiative and does something about it. Well, residents of Edmundston, New Brunswick have a local hero (or heroine, rather) in Anne Cyr.

Anne Cyr, a family physician, noticed a problem in her community: cloth diapers were not widely available, which meant that parents who were interested in giving them a try had to order them online, sight unseen. While online retailers can be great resources, it certainly helps to know what you’re getting into if you can see and touch and investigate cloth diapers first-hand.

Not only were cloth diapers hard to find in Edmundston, but, as Anne Cyr notes “mothers on maternity leave need to save all their pennies.” We know that disposable diapers are costly for individuals, but we often forget to calculate the cost to our communities. As Anne Cyr says: “People still don’t think about the cost of transporting and dumping disposable diapers in landfills, but these costs will have to be accounted for eventually. Some countries have to export their garbage and pay a high cost to have it dumped in foreign landfills. This is a very expensive way to manage our refuse.”

Anne Cyr’s goal was to make cloth diapers, which are less expensive and more environmentally sustainable than single-use diapers, accessible to young families. She contacted the obstetrics department at Edmundston’s hospital and arranged for a few cloth diapers to be included in the kits that were given to pregnant women who attended prenatal classes. This initiative encouraged new families to think about cloth diapers, allowed them to see and touch the diapers, and to try them out once their baby arrived.

While this was already an important step in the right direction, Anne wasn’t done yet! She personally supplied 30 cloth diaper kits, each containing 15 diapers, and sold them for $40 to families in her community. The response was very positive, and it became clear that her initiative was much appreciated!

Anne Cyr refers to this undertaking as a “small project”. But the groundwork has been set, and her small project has gained momentum. She hopes to repeat it in 2012, this time with help from the municipality. In the meantime, the hospital has given her the green light to sell cloth diapers at reduced prices, with profits going to the obstetrics department. And so, with her small project, cloth diapers are gaining ground in her community. Way to go, Anne Cyr!

The interview with Anne Cyr was originally conducted in French, and the post by Léa J. first appeared on the Boutique Bummis blog. It was translated into English and adapted for the Bummis blog by Maeghan B.

Best of Bummis: From the Archive

2011-04-12T15:18:00.000-04:00

Choosing and Using Cloth Diapers

Here at Bummis, we spend a lot of time talking about cloth diapers (obviously), and we find that a lot of the same issues tend to surface again and again. We often refer people to our website or blog so they can read some of the great posts we've done in the past that might help them understand and resolve any issues they might be having, or to help cloth novices make sense of all the cloth diapering vocabulary and products. We thought it might be helpful to consolidate some of these great resources. Check out the links below, read up on any posts you may have missed, and share them with your cloth diapering friends (or friends who you think should be cloth diapering friends!).

Cloth diapers: Cute, Easy & Comfy-cozy
A concise overview of contemporary cloth diapering.

Cloth Diaper Dictionary – Part 1
Cloth Diaper Dictionary – Part 2
For those of you who are exploring your cloth options for the first time, or who would simply like some categorical clarification, we give you the diaper dictionary! 1-piece, 2-piece, fitteds, flats and wraps - what does it all mean!?

Cloth Diapering FAQ – Part 1
Cloth Diapering FAQ – Part 2
Pretty self explanatory - the most frequently asked questions, and our (hopefully) helpful answers.

Newborn Diapering FAQ
A lot of people think that newborn cloth diapering will be an impossible challenge. Not so! Read this post and discover some tips and tricks that will help you get your next teeny tiny newborn into cloth right from the get-go.

10 Tips for those thinking of cloth diapering
Still sitting on the fence? These tips will help you ease your way into cloth.

The Scoop on Poop – and on Bio-Soft Liners
It's the elephant in the room. It's the question everyone wonders about when you mention cloth diapers. "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE POOP?!"

What’s So Great about Organic Cotton?
As is the case with many ecologically responsible products, the benefits of organic cotton are not restricted to a sense of environmental do-goodery. Organic cotton diapers also work really, really well!

Cloth Diapering: Chock Full of GOOD Surprises!
Shirley wrote a little post about some of the pleasant cloth diapering surprises she hears about when talking to people about CD. At the end, she asked people to comment and share their greatest cloth diapering surprises. The response was phenomenal, so we compiled the answers, and came up with this list of 14 different cloth diapering surprises! A must-share for any of your friends thinking of switching to cloth, and one of our all-time bests, I think.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Best of Bummis: From the Archive!

Motherhood: A Career Change?

2011-04-01T14:12:00.000-04:00

With spring on its way, I have been thinking a lot about what this time of year used to mean for me. Prior to having my son, I worked for Parks Canada as an environmental educator. My position was seasonal, so the coming of spring meant getting ready to go back to work for the busy summer tourism season. It was a time of great anticipation. I loved my job, and the people I worked with - staff and visitors to the park alike.

For the past two springs however, my life has been very different. When it came time to head back to work last spring, my son was only ten months old and I wasn't quite ready to be away from him full time. So, I made the decision not to go back to the park and to look for part-time work elsewhere that would better suit the needs of my growing family.

I now work from home for Bummis and have a second job two days a week at a local café. I am confident that this was the right decision for me although I never suspected that it was one I would be making before I had my son. It surpised a lot of my friends and family as I was very passionate about my previous career and it took awhile for some people to understand the decision I had made for myself.

Working less has meant giving up some things but I feel very blessed to have had the option, and now feel that I've got the best of both worlds: I still have lots of time with my son as well as the ability to get out and talk to other adults, so I don't feel as isolated as I could living in a rural community.

Has your "career" changed since having children? Did you go back to work? Or try something different? And how did your friends and family react to your choice? We would love to hear you stories!

Tiny Diapers for Tiny Babies Giveaway Winners!

2011-03-29T12:23:00.000-04:00

Thanks so much to everyone who posted a response about newborn diapering. Having read through all the posts, I can only say that there were about as many different approaches as there were responses! It just goes to show that there are lots of great newborn cloth diapering options out there, including, of course, the Bummis Newborn Pack.

Introducing our five randomly chosen winners:

Courtney

We did not [cloth] diaper our first until 3 months, but with the 2nd only a few weeks away, we are going to use covers and prefolds during the day and prefolds and wool at night. I really need to order these soon even if I don't win!

Well Courtney, I guess we'll save you the trouble of placing that order! So glad to hear that you had prefolds on the brain already, and the wool cover is a great idea for nighttime.

Jennifer O.

For the first couple of weeks we plan to use disposables as we get settled in with our first little one. After that I'm super excited to start the whole process of cloth diapering and using flannel wipes as well. Currently I'm building my stash and it mainly consists of AIO's and AI2's of different brands. I don't have a favorite yet- I just look forward to receiving fluffy mail!!

Jennifer, now that you'll be adding some tiny little prefolds and wraps to your stash, we hope that you'll consider giving them a try on your newborn-on-the-way. And it's true, there's no mail like fluffy mail!

Sarala

I haven't used cloth on a newborn yet, as I started at around 4 months old, but I'll get my chance this year! I'd like to try prefolds with some small covers since it seems to be the most economical. I've been experimenting with making some newborn sized diapers as well and would like to try them out myself since so far, I've been just giving them away. :)

You certainly will get your chance to try out some newborn diapers this year, and you're right, prefolds and wraps are the most economical choice in cloth diapering... even more so when you win them in a giveaway ;) Maybe it's some kind of karma, since you say you've been giving away some diapers of your own!

kgmama

We're planning on using prefolds and covers so this would be perfect :)

Perfect indeed! Perfectly tiny diapers for a perfectly tiny baby-to-be.

Jessica M. (who posted on the Bummis Facebook page)

My little one is due in May, it's our first and we want to try out a variety of options to start with, but ultimately I am leaning towards pre-folds and covers.

Wonderful! We'll be sending you some fluffy mail, and you'll have plenty of time to prep your prefold inserts so they'll be ready to go when your little one arrives in May.

A note to the winners: you will receive an email within the next couple of days to arrange the delivery of your prize.

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

Tiny Diapers for Tiny Babies Giveaway

2011-03-25T12:15:00.000-04:00

There’s nothing quite like tiny diapers for tiny babies, and we recently launched the Newborn Pack to make it easy to cloth diaper brand-new itty bitty babies.

No matter what type of diaper you plan to use later on, the Newborn Pack is the perfect diapering solution for those first few weeks when your baby is really too tiny for one-size or even small-size diapers. The Newborn Pack makes it easy to wrap your little bundle in soft and comfy cloth right from the start.

The Newborn Pack is affordable, and the fact that you can use the preemie-sized prefolds as boosters for larger diapers later on makes them even more cost-effective.

The Giveaway

As you may know, it’s part of our goal at Bummis to see all babies wearing cloth diapers, even teeny tiny ones. With the Newborn Pack, there's no such thing as a baby who’s too small for cloth! With that in mind, we’re going to give away five Newborn Packs to five tiny babies.

The Newborn Pack fits babies from 5-9 lbs (2.25-4.25 kg), and is great for small newborns, preemies and multiples. It includes one dozen preemie-sized Organic Cotton Prefold Inserts, and two newborn-sized Super Brite wrap.

To enter, let us know how you diapered your newborn, or how you plan to diaper your newborn once s/he arrives! Did you / will you use cloth diapers? Disposables? A mix? If you used, or plan to use cloth, did you / will you use prefolds, AIOs, fitteds? Post your answer in the comments below, or on the Bummis Facebook page.

The giveaway is open to residents of Canada and the USA. Your entry must be posted before midnight EST on Monday, March 28, 2011. Be sure to include your email address so we can be in touch if you win. Format your email address like this: example(at)email(dot)com to avoid being spammed.

Focus on Prefolds: Tips and Tricks

2011-03-18T14:43:00.000-04:00

Here at Bummis, we love all kinds of cloth diapers, but we're especially big fans of our Organic Cotton Prefold Inserts. How do we love our prefolds? Let us count the ways... click here for a quick list of the reasons why we love them.

Because we love our prefolds so much, we fancy ourselves to be Prefold Experts who know just about everything there is to know about a prefold insert, and about 2-piece diapers in general. We thought we would take this opportunity to share some of the tips and tricks that might come in handy when diapering with prefolds.

Tips and Tricks

1. Pre-washing

Organic Cotton Prefolds must be washed 3-5 times in hot water, with a cloth-diaper friendly detergent, before they can be used for the first time. Organic cotton contains oils and waxes that would prevent the fibers from absorbing if this step were not completed.

2. Quilting up

Organic Cotton Prefolds will shrink up to 25% after the pre-washes are completed. This shrinkage is taken into account, and the inserts are sized accordingly. Prefolds will also "quilt up" after the first washes - they will become more puffy, soft and absorbent.

	Weight range	Measurements*	Thickness
Preemie	4 - 9 lbs (2 - 4 kg)	24 x 33 cm (9.5 x 13")	2 x 6 x 2 ply
Infant	7 - 15 lbs (3 - 7 kg)	30 x 40 cm (12 x 16")	4 x 8 x 4 ply
Baby	15 - 30 lbs (7 - 14 kg)	35 x 53 cm (14 x 21")	4 x 8 x 4 ply

* these are the measurements before the inserts have been pre-washed.

3. The front flap

Inside a Bummis wrap, you will see a flap at the front. We do not recommend tucking the prefold inside this flap. When the Aplix (velcro-style closure) is sewn onto the front of the wrap, tiny holes are made by the sewing needle. The flap was added to the wrap design to prevent any liquid from leaking through those tiny holes to the outside of the wrap. If you tuck the prefold inside the flap, your baby might pee directly onto the flap (where it might shoot up and leak out, especially if your baby is a boy, and/or a heavy wetter!). Your wrap should be adjusted snugly enough to hold the insert in place, so that there is no need to secure it by tucking it into the front flap.

4. Absorbency

Our Organic Cotton Prefold Inserts are super absorbent! The infant and baby sizes are 4x8x4 ply - meaning that they are made with 4 layers of cotton on each side, with a thicker 8-layer strip in the middle. The preemie size is 2x6x2, since tiny babies require less absorbency. It helps to have tiny diapers for tiny babies, and preemie prefolds are a perfect fit. Once your baby outgrows them, you can continue to use them as boosters for the larger sizes - they're not too bulky, they work really well, and you get more bang for your buck!

5. Durability

Prefolds are renowned for their durability. You can use them and use them and use them some more. Many families use their prefold inserts for several babies, and when their babies are out of diapers, they continue to use them as cleaning rags and more! If you're looking for a cloth diaper that's easy to care for, prefolds are a pretty safe bet. You can soak them, boil them, and bleach them if you have to, and they'll be none the worse for wear. Because they are made of 100% natural fibers, they're also less susceptible to detergent residues.

6. Versatility

Prefolds are handy to have around - whether you use mostly 2-piece diapers or pockets. In a 2-piece stash, you can use them with any type of adjustable wrap, plus you can fold them differently to get more absorption where you need it. If you're using pocket diapers, prefolds make great inserts. They're super absorbent, they're 100% organic cotton, and, once again, you can fold them in different ways.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to prefold lore. If you have any questions about prefold inserts, or any useful tips for your fellow prefold users, we would love to hear about them! Share your comments below, or post them on our Facebook page.

Ever wondered what to do with all that dryer lint?

2011-03-03T12:25:00.000-05:00

I got a composter this year for Christmas and spent a few days getting myself acquainted with what could and couldn't go in it. One of the most interesting discoveries I made was that so long as you wear mostly natural fibers and don't use dryer sheets, your dryer lint is entirely compostable! This little tidbit led me to many more exciting discoveries. When I posted about it on my Facebook page, I discovered there was much more to that dull greyish lint than meets the eye.

Here is what some of you had to share about your uses for dryer lint:

Kimberly was full of fun ideas for your garden. She fills a small wire basket with dryer lint and hangs it in her backyard in the spring for the birds to use as nest building materials. She also suggested mashing it up and putting it over the holes in the bottom of pots before adding soil so that you don't lose the soil through the holes when you water them.

Amy directed me to an AMAZING website for a local artist who accepts her donated lint. Slater Barron transforms dyrer lint of all colours into works of art. Just to give you an idea of what she does, here's a piece entitled "Mother 1986" (at right, with permission).

According to Jenny and Sarah, dryer lint even makes great fire starter! I imagine lint would be much easier to carry around on an overnight trip than kindling or paper.

Betsy (co-owner of Bummis) directed me to this strange and wonderful recipe for your dryer lint. Try it out and send us pics of your creations.

Dryer Lint Modelling Clay

Ingredients:

3 Cups firmly packed dryer lint

1/2 Cup water

1 1/2 Tbsp dish soap

1/2 Cup white glue

Food colouring

Mixing bowl

Measuring cups

Wooden spoon

Directions:

Break the dryer lint up into small pieces and place in large mixing bowl.
Add a generous amount of food colouring to the water and pour over the dryer lint pieces.
Add dish soap and glue to the bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until the clay is too firm to mix any further.
Now have fun! Sculpt your dryer lint modelling clay and allow to air dry for 48 hours.

Do you have other ideas? We'd love to hear them. The supply of dryer lint is never ending in this household!

A Prefold Diaper by any Other Name...

2011-02-22T14:18:00.000-05:00

Recently we made the decision to officially change the name of our Organic Cotton Prefold Diapers to Organic Cotton Prefold Inserts. We found that for many people, particularly people who were exploring the world of cloth diapers for the first time, there was a lot of confusion about what, exactly, a cloth diaper was, or could be. How can a prefold, a fitted Bamboozle diaper, and an Easy Fit all be called a "diaper", when they are clearly not the same thing?

Fold a prefold insert, place it inside a wrap, and you've got yourself a 2-piece cloth diaper!

Pocket diapers have an insert that is stuffed into the pocket of the wrap, and this concept seems fairly straightforward. A 2-piece cloth diaper functions along the same lines: you fold your prefold insert, and place it inside a wrap. Instead of stuffing an insert, you fold one instead, but the principle remains the same: you have two pieces that need to be put together - an insert and a wrap.

Prefolds are extremely versatile. They can be combined with a wrap to create a 2-piece diaper, but many people use them as inserts for pocket diapers, or even as doublers with other types of inserts or fitted diapers (with a Snappi) for nighttime. When we refer to prefolds as inserts, we are reflecting their true versatility, and the many different ways in which they are used.

For those of us who have been at home in the cloth diapering world for a long time, this new name might take some getting used to. But here at Bummis we've had some time to adjust, and I can tell you that after a while, Organic Cotton Prefold Insert just rolls right off the tongue! Let's face it, cloth diapers have come a long way, and it only makes sense that some of the names and terminology associated with them might need a little updating too!

The Votes Are In: Hook & Loop vs. Snap Wraps

2011-02-01T15:24:00.000-05:00

Our latest blog poll asked what type of wrap is your favourite. The poll choices were:

Hook & loop
Snaps
Hook & loop for little babies and snaps for older babies
Pull-on
No preference

The results are in! As you can see, they're pretty evenly spread across the board. 39% voted in favour of snap wraps, 28% for a mixed stash (hook & loop for little babies, snaps for older babies), 27% voted for hook & loop through and through, 3 % had no preference, and one single independently-minded voter favours pull-on wraps (sadly, a statistically insignificant number for this poll).

Thanks to everyone who voted - we love to know what you're thinking! Snap wraps do seem to have a lot of fans, and several people have mentioned that they would be thrilled to see prints or colours in the snap wrap. We'll just have to keep that in mind, next time we find ourselves at the drawing board... :)

What's So Great About Organic Cotton?

2011-01-28T15:22:00.000-05:00

"Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved."
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements

Organic agriculture includes organic food as well as organic cotton and other crops that are used to make a wide variety of products including our favourite, cloth diapers.

Organic farms grow their crops without the use of:

Fertilizers
Pesticides
Hormones
Livestock antibiotics
Genetically modified organisms

By abstaining from the use of these substances, organic farms avoid the negative environmental impacts of conventional farming techniques. Instead, organic farming methods:

Protect drinking water
Protect biodiversity
Prevent soil erosion
Mitigate and even reverse the effects of climate change

The benefits of organic agriculture are not only felt in the environment, but by the farmers, labourers and all the other folks involved in the production of the fabric and eventual manufacturing of cloth diapers and other organic cotton products.

Organic Cotton Diapers

There are four main reasons why people choose cloth diapers: economy (save money), aesthetics (cloth diapers are so cute!), comfort (soft cloth against baby's tender skin), and concern for the environment (keep 7000 single-use diapers out of a landfill). Preventing disposable diapers and human waste from entering landfills is a noteworthy achievement, and cloth diaperers should be proud of their contributions (bravo! bravo!).

Bummis Organic Cotton Prefold Inserts

Cloth diapers made of organic cotton go one step further in terms of ecological sustainability by taking into account the entire production cycle. Because organic cotton is the result of organic agriculture, with all of the benefits listed above, its production has a much more gentle effect on the soil and ecology of the places where it is grown. The benefits of organic agriculture translate directly into the final product (the diaper), which means that you can rest assured that it is made of 100% cotton - no strings attached.

As is the case with many ecologically responsible products, the benefits are not restricted to a sense of environmental do-goodery. Organic cotton diapers also work really, really well! Cloth diapers made from organic cotton, like the Bummis Organic Cotton Prefold Inserts, are extraordinarily soft and are known for their unquenchable thirst - that is to say, they're very, very absorbent! So not only can you feel good about making an environmentally sustainable choice, you also get to have really beautiful, soft and absorbent diapers!

If you have more questions about organic agriculture and its benefits, check out the FAQ page on the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements website.

A Place to Shop, A Place to Breastfeed

2011-01-14T14:08:00.000-05:00

If you haven’t heard from us at the Bummis Blog for a while, it’s because we’ve been busy little bees around here, settling in to the new year and all the changes it has brought.

You know Bummis as a manufacturer and distributor of cloth diapers and cloth diapering accessories, but did you know that we have a local retail store as well? Our lovely boutique just moved, so some of us spent the early days of the new year setting up shop in our beautiful new space. And even though we probably don’t have too many readers from Montreal, we couldn’t resist showing off our new baby (you know how new parents are!).

One of our favourite spots in the new store: the couches!

We created this cozy little area because we wanted our new store to be not only a place to shop, but also to be something of a little resource and community center for new parents. The store will host workshops on cloth diapering, babywearing, baby sign language and more. And perhaps most importantly, this little seating area provides ample space for pregnant women who just need to rest for a minute, and for moms who need to take a break from shopping to breastfeed their babies.

The need to provide this quiet space seemed especially important this week, after hearing about a woman who was asked to leave a baby store here in Montreal because she was breastfeeding her baby. She wrote a blog post describing her experience, and her story was featured on the local news. The store has since apologized, but the incident inspired local moms and breastfeeding activists (or lactivists, as one journalist-mother put it) to organize an “allaite-in” (that's nurse-in, in French) event to raise awareness about breastfeeding and the need to accommodate and be sympathetic to women who are, after all, just feeding their babies through this perfectly normal activity.

And so it seemed that an ode to the new and beautiful Boutique Bummis was in order this week - as a place to shop, a place to learn, and a place where no one will mind at all if you make yourself at home and feed your baby when she's hungry.

Here’s hoping that each of our breastfeeding readers has found local baby stores, cafés and other businesses that have accepted and even encouraged your choice to breastfeed by offering a warm welcome, and a quiet place to sit whenever you need it. Feel free to share a story of a local business or shop clerk who has gone the extra mile to make you and your baby feel welcome in their space!

How Do You Take Your Wraps? Hook & Loop vs. Snaps.

2010-12-17T14:34:00.000-05:00

When it comes to cloth diaper wraps that fasten, there are two different types of closures: snaps or hook and loop. Hook and loop is the generic name for Velcro-type closures. If you look at each side very closely, you can see that one side is a field of tiny hooks, and the other is a field of tiny loops, hence the name. You may also see this style referred to as Aplix, which is a specific brand of hook and loop closures often used in the cloth diapering world, and is the one you‘ll find on Bummis wraps.

As is true of most cloth diapering choices, a person’s preference for snaps or hook and loop closures is entirely personal - there are lots of different reasons why different people might prefer one or the other.

Since we seem to have closures on the brain this week (if you haven’t already voted in our closure preference poll, at the top-right of this page, please do!), it seemed like this would be a good opportunity to explore some of the advantages of each option.

Hook & Loop a.k.a. Aplix a.k.a. Velcro-style

The Super Whisper Wrap in the new Ladybug print.

Quick and easy to adjust - just like a disposable diaper, only instead of tape, it’s Velcro.
The tabs can be fastened anywhere along the strip on the front of the cover, meaning you can easily achieve the perfect adjustment for your baby’s size.
Some wraps feature very wide strips on the front of the cover, creating an even wider (and taller) range of adjustment. The Bummi Original in size medium or large is a good example.
Many Aplix wraps, like the Super Whisper Wrap or Super Brite, allow you to overlap the tabs, so when your baby is at the very beginning of the weight range, or if you have a long and skinny baby, you’ll still be able to get a snug and leak-proof adjustment.
Laundry tabs on the inside of the cover allow you to secure the Aplix tabs before throwing them in the machine so that they won’t snag anything in the wash.

Bummis wraps with Aplix fasteners: Super Whisper Wrap, Super Brite, Super Lite, Bummi Original.

Snap Wraps

Looking for a Bummis wrap with snaps? Try the Super Snap.

Toddler-proof. At a certain age, some babies think it’s a hoot to remove their diaper. Snaps are strong enough that they usually put an end to this not-so-fun-for-the-parents practice.
Exceptionally durable. Snaps can even stand up to the rigours of industrial washing over a long period of time.
Snaps can’t snag anything in the wash, so there’s no need for laundry tabs.

These are the main reasons why people tend to choose one style over another. Of course you may have your own personal reasons. I once had a customer who told me that she bought only snap wraps because she had several pets and the Aplix ones would eventually collect too much pet hair and wouldn’t stick anymore. The lesson? Whatever your reasons, go with what works for you!

Cloth Diapers: Cute, Easy & Comfy-cozy!

2010-12-10T14:54:00.000-05:00

New parents put a lot of thought into the choices they have to make. One choice that is sometimes overlooked is the option to use cloth diapers instead of disposables. Contemporary cloth diapers are innovative, easy to use, and really, really cute! Not only that, the choice to cloth diaper your little bundle will save you a bundle in the long run, since cloth diapering is much less expensive than disposable diapering.

They Don’t Make ‘em Like They Used To - Thank Goodness!

If grandma plans to help with diaper duty she may need a tutorial first, because today’s cloth diapers are nothing like they used to be! Many cloth diapers are designed to be just as simple as a disposable: they have easy-to-use features like stretchy tabs, Velcro and snaps. Contemporary cloth diapers are made of absorbent fabrics like bamboo, hemp, organic cotton and microfiber. Their waterproof exteriors are usually made of laminated polyester - much more breathable and leak-proof than the vinyl pants of yore. In fact, many people who have experimented with both cloth and disposables have concluded that cloth diapers do a much better job of containing messes and preventing “diaper blowouts”!

1 waterproof wrap + 1 prefold insert = a 2-piece diaper. Also pictured (top layer) is the Bio-Soft liner.

Arguably the most groundbreaking innovation in modern cloth diapering is the flushable liner, like the Bio-Soft liner. The liner is placed inside the diaper so that when your baby poops, you simply scoop up the liner and flush it down the toilet - along with the mess! If you thought that choosing cloth diapers meant getting your hands dirty - think again!

Diaper Anatomy

The Easy Fit is a 1-piece diaper, where the absorbent interior and waterproof exterior are sewn together.

There are two basic categories when it comes to cloth diaper design: 1-piece or 2-piece. A 2-piece diaper consists of an absorbent interior: either a prefold insert, contour insert or fitted diaper, as well as a waterproof wrap with snap or Velcro-style closures. 2-piece diapers are very versatile, simple and easy to care for. 1-piece diapers combine the absorbent interior and waterproof exterior into a single unit. Pocket diapers and all-in-one diapers, like the Easy Fit, fall into this very user-friendly category.

Easy to Use, Easy to Wash

It’s the 21st century, after all, so let’s let the machines do the washing! Here’s what a cloth diapering routine looks like:

Put diaper on baby, with Bio-Soft liner inside.
Change diaper when soiled or wet: scoop up Bio-Soft liner and flush down the toilet. Put soiled diaper in diaper pail or wet bag. If using a 2-piece diaper, the wrap may be hung to dry and re-used several times before washing (only the insert is removed and added to the pail at each diaper change).
Repeat this process until diaper pail/wet bag is full. Choose a pail or wet bag that closes securely - like the large Fabulous Wet Bag - to prevent odours from escaping!
Empty pail/wet bag into washing machine.
Start with a rinse cycle if you have a front-loader, then select a regular wash cycle using the highest water level and hot water.
Choose a clean-rinsing detergent (no additives like perfumes, enzymes, or fabric softeners) and use the right amount for your machine - not too little, not too much.
Throw the diapers in the dryer, or hang them on a clothesline

Basically the difference between using cloth and using disposables comes down to this: instead of carrying a stinky garbage bag full of disposables to the curb, you carry an odour-contained wet bag full of diapers to the washing machine. You do a couple of extra loads of laundry a week, and your baby has soft, cozy cloth next to her bum instead of questionable chemicals, you prevent literally one TON of diapers from sitting in a landfill for hundreds of years, you’re keeping human waste where it belongs - in the sewage system, AND you save a lot of money.

So don’t forget: diapering is a dilemma - and you have the option of choosing cloth!

For more resources on how to choose, use and wash cloth diapers, click here.

To see the whole range of Bummis cloth diapering products, click here.

It Takes a Village...

2010-12-03T15:44:00.000-05:00

As in acrobatics, so in family dynamics: it's important to have a good (and stable) support network!

Whether it’s the chilly winter weather that encourages us to spend lots of time nesting at home, or the holiday season that brings us together with family and friends, those who are near and dear to us are often in our thoughts at this time of year.

One of my office-mates here at Bummis recently had a visit from her “extra parents”. She’s an adult now with a child of her own, but she explains her relationship with her “extra parents” this way:

“Both my natural parents got remarried so I have four regular parents and I also have two sets of "extra parents". They are two couples that were around when I was born and didn't have children of their own for another 13 years. They practiced with me!”

That’s a lot of parents! But so goes the old adage: it takes a village to raise a child. Parents have a lot on their plates, and it can make a huge difference to have a pair (or two pairs, or ten pairs!) of helping hands.

Our wholesale accounts manager, Dayna, chimed in with her own story:

“My nephews definitely have "extra parents." My sister is a single mom, so it definitely makes a huge difference for the boys and my sister. My parents, my grandparents, my [other] sister, and my cousins are always there helping out. I try to help out from a distance!”

It doesn’t necessarily take much to make a big difference. My young cousins go to their grandmother’s house for lunch every Sunday, and she sends them home with food for dinner as well. There are 5 of them, so that one day a week when my aunt doesn’t have to conjure up meal ideas or cook anything is as much of a relief for her as a trip to the spa would be for most other people!

Do you have the benefit of a network of helpers to lend a hand? Do your little ones have “extra parents”? Share your thoughts, and let us know whether there’s a village that’s helping you to raise your child!

Super Brite Giveaway Winners!

2010-11-30T12:46:00.000-05:00

A great big thank you to everyone who shared birthday stories, birth stories, cupcake recipes and more! It was a lot of fun to read all your posts, and I was especially surprised by the number of people who reported that their babies were afraid of the birthday cakes and cupcakes that were placed in front of them! Good thing we all seem to overcome those fears in our later years :)

The winners of our Super Brite Polka Dot Giveaway are:

Kat Johnson - who turns on the news before making party plans to avoid repeating her birthday-party-in-the-park in the middle of a hurricane experience.

Catherine - whose son was not very excited about his first birthday photo shoot... until he had a cupcake in hand.

Vicky - whose little princess wouldn't touch her cake because she didn't want to get dirty. Although she had no problem ripping into the presents!

The Winks - who had a great idea and made dirt cupcakes for her son's birthday, with chocolate pudding cups, crushed oreos and gummy worms.

Stacey Barrett - who posted on the Bummis Facebook page, and who realized while driving to work one day that, yes, maybe these contractions are for real and I'm going to turn this car around and get to the hospital... NOW!

sbdf13 - who laboured at home with her husband, and whose midwife arrived just in time to strap on some gloves and catch her baby, Emmitt!

The Leslie Family - whose daughter makes a special "drama" face when it's photo-taking time!

Cher - whose kids were pretty easy to please on their 1st birthday - they had a blast with a box of tissue, pulling the sheets out one at a time.

MomofAneli - whose daughter was born 7 weeks ago, sunny side up! Her midwife said the baby was "directionally challenged" - a trait she inherited from mom.

Katie S - whose son just celebrated his 2nd birthday (Happy Birthday!). Mom made some yummy-sounding cupcakes with devil's food cake and cream cheese for the occasion.

A note to the winners: Congratulations! I will be in touch by email to arrange the delivery of your prizes. Stacey Barrett (posted on FB) and sbdf13, you forgot to include your contact info in your posts, so please send me an email at maeghan(at)bummis(dot)com so we can arrange the delivery of your prizes.

Thanks again to everyone who posted!

Super Brite Giveaway and Cupcake Bake-a-thon

2010-11-26T15:43:00.000-05:00

When we were brainstorming names for the two new Super Brite prints, several people came up with things like: cupcake! sprinkles! confetti! Maybe it's the bright colours, maybe it's the polka dots, or maybe we just had cupcakes on the brain, but we thought it was kind of funny that we were all on the same page. Does everyone think of cupcakes when they see spots?

Vanilla Chai Tea cupcakes from the Bakingdom blog

It's a chilly day here in Montreal, with a few snowflakes drifting lazily to the ground. It's the kind of day that inspires you to cuddle up on the sofa with a cup... or cupcake made of something warm and comforting...

Vanilla Chai Tea Cupcakes

Courtesy of the Bakingdom blog
Makes 2 dozen

Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs (replace eggs with an extra half cup apple sauce for vegan cupcakes)
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 cup milk (soy milk for vegan)
4 chai tea bags

Frosting
1 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon (up to 1/2 teaspoon more, if desired)
4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake papers.

Cupcakes:
In a medium bowl: combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves; set aside.

In a small saucepan: warm milk until just simmering. Remove from heat, add tea bags. Steep for 10 minutes. Remove tea bags and allow chai milk to cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer: cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs (or apple sauce substitute), one at a time, beating until combined. Scrape bowl, then add apple sauce and mix until just incorporated.

Sprinkle 1/3 of flour mixture over batter and mix until just combined. Add 1/2 of chai milk mixture, mixing on low until combined. Add another 1/3 of flour mixture, and beat until just mixed. Scrape bowl, then add remaining milk and mix until combined. Finally, add remaining flour mixture and mix until batter is thoroughly combined, but do not over mix.

Fill each cupcake liner with 2 tablespoons of batter and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
In a medium bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup of confectioners' sugar and cream together. Once combined, beat in another cup of sugar, then add vanilla. Add cinnamon and mix until thoroughly combined. Add remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, and mix until frosting is light and fluffy. If your frosting is too stiff or dry, beat in up to 2 tablespoons of milk, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Super Brite Polka Dot Giveaway!

Two delicious new Super Brites: Pistachio & Blueberry Polka Dot

Today is Black Friday, and the general theme is buy, buy, buy, but since the new Super Brites put us in such a celebratory mood, we're going to do some giving instead! We have 10 wraps to give away - 5 blueberry & 5 pistachio.

To enter, simply share a fun baby birthday story (or a birth story if your little one isn't old enough to have had a birthday yet! Or a good cupcake story/recipe, if you prefer). If you'd like to chime in and let us know whether you agree that there's something cupcake-y about the new prints, we'd love to hear your thoughts about that too! Post your story in the comments below, or on the Bummis Facebook page.

The giveaway is open to residents of Canada and the U.S.A. All entries must be posted before midnight EST on Monday, November 29 2010. Please include your email address so we can contact you if you're a winner. Write it as yourname(at)emailprovider(dot)com to avoid being spammed.

Good luck, and bon appétit!

Cloth Diaper Dictionary - Part 2

2010-11-15T13:29:00.000-05:00

Cloth diapers come in many different shapes and sizes. For someone who is jumping into the cloth diapering world for the first time, it can be a challenge (though also kind of fun!) to wade through all the options to choose a diaper that will work well for you, especially when you have to decode all the industry lingo that is often used to describe cloth diapers.

For those of you who are exploring your cloth options for the first time, or who would simply like some categorical clarification, we give you the diaper dictionary!

Diaper Anatomy: 1-piece or 2-piece

All cloth diapers fall into one of two basic categories: 1-piece or 2-piece. In part 2 of the Diaper Dictionary, we will explore the 1-piece diaper.

1-Piece Diapers

Whereas in a 2-piece diaper the waterproof exterior and absorbent interior are two separate pieces, in a 1-piece diaper they have been sewn together into a single unit. There are two basic styles of 1-piece diapers: pockets and all-in-ones (AIO).

Pocket Diapers*

The Pocket Tot pocket diaper by Tots Bots

Waterproof exterior, usually same type of waterproof fabric as a wrap (PUL)
Layer of fabric sewn to the inside of the waterproof shell, leaving an opening at the back. This is a “stay-dry” layer, made of a synthetic fabric that will wick moisture away from the baby’s skin and into the liner
Pockets come with 1-2 absorbent liners that are stuffed into the opening (pocket) at the back of the diaper
Liners are available in different fabrics, but are usually made of synthetic microfibre
May come in different sizes, but are usually one-size (OS) diapers, featuring snaps down the front to adjust the size
Snap or Aplix closures

*Although most pocket diapers actually consist of two separate pieces, they are generally categorized as a 1-piece diaper, probably because they look like a single unit once the liner is stuffed into the pocket.

Advantages of pocket diapers: Very easy to use, OS diapers can be used from birth to potty, pockets can be stuffed in advance for quicker diaper changes.

All-in-One (AIO) Diapers

The Easy Fit diaper is half way between a pocket and an AIO. The liner is attached, and simply needs to be tucked into the pocket. The liner agitates out of the pocket in the wash - no need to reach inside a messy diaper with your hand before tossing it in the machine!

Waterproof exterior, usually same type of waterproof fabric as a wrap (PUL)
Some have a stay-dry layer
Waterproof shell + absorbent interior layers (+ stay-dry layer) sewn together into a single unit
Can be sized or one-size (OS)
Available in a variety of fabrics, such as synthetic microfibre, cotton, organic cotton and bamboo.

Advantages of All-in-ones: As easy as disposable diapers, trim-fitting, no stuffing or folding.

Cloth Diapering Acronyms

AI2 All-in-two
AIO All-in-one
AP Attachment parenting
BV Bamboo velour
CD Cloth diapers / cloth diapering
CPF Chinese prefolds
DD Dear daughter
DH Dear husband
DS Dear son
DSQ Diaper service quality
EBF Exclusively breast fed
IPF Indian prefolds
MO Month(s) old
OC Organic cotton
OS One-size
OV Organic velour
PF Prefolds
PUL Polyurethane laminate
SAHM Stay at home mom
UB Unbleached
WAHM Work at home mom
WOHM Work out of home mom

This concludes our 2-part Cloth Diaper Dictionary, which explained 1-piece and 2-piece diapers, as well as some cloth diapering acronyms. Is there anything that's still unclear for you when it comes to deciphering cloth diapers? If so, post a comment below and we'll do our best to provide some answers!

Diaper Dicitonary - Part 1

2010-11-11T16:22:00.000-05:00

Diaper Anatomy: 1-piece or 2-piece

All cloth diapers fall into one of two basic categories: 1-piece or 2-piece. In part 1 of the Diaper Dictionary, we will explore the 2-piece diaper.

2-piece Diapers

1 wrap + 1 insert or fitted diaper = a 2-piece diaper

Insert

Flat (Large single-ply squares that are folded several times, then placed inside a wrap)
Prefold (Several layers of fabric sewn together into a rectangle, so the insert is “pre-folded”, unlike flats. Just do a quick tri-fold (fold in thirds like a letter) before placing inside a wrap)
Contour (several layers of fabric sewn together in an hourglass shape. Simply lay inside a wrap)

Inserts generally come in different sizes, and are available in a variety of fabrics. The most common fabrics are cotton, organic cotton, bamboo and hemp. Compared to flats, prefold inserts are much more common in contemporary cloth diapering since they are so simple and user-friendly.

Organic Cotton Prefold Inserts - super soft and naturally absorbent

We recommend using inserts with an adjustable wrap. When fastened snugly, the wrap will hold the insert in place. If using an insert with a pull-on style wrap, a Snappi will be necessary to hold the diaper in place.

Advantages of inserts: versatile, easy to wash, quick to dry, extremely durable, simple, very affordable.

Fitted Diaper

Several layers of fabric sewn into an hourglass shape (similar to a contour insert, as described above)
Elastics around the thighs and back
Snap or Aplix closures
May have a detachable liner that can be added for increased absorbency
Can be sized or one-size (OS)
Available in a variety of fabrics like rayon from bamboo, cotton, organic cotton, and hemp.

The Bamboozle - a soft and absorbent fitted diaper made of rayon from bamboo

Advantages of fitted diapers: complete coverage for increased leak protection, diaper fastens securely, no folding, can be worn with pull-on wraps.

Wrap (a.k.a Diaper Cover)

Waterproof shell
Available in adjustable (most common) or pull-on style
Elastic around thighs and back
Adjustable styles have snap or Aplix closures
Adjustable styles may have a gusset around the thigh for extra leak protection
Available in different fabrics, but the most common is polyester with a polyurethane laminate (PUL). Wraps are also available in wool - which is naturally waterproof!
Wraps can be sized or one-size (OS)

The Bummis Super Brite wrap in Pistachio Polka Dot

Advantages of a 2-piece diaper: versatile, customizable, less laundry (insert or diaper must be washed after each use, but wrap can be rinsed, hung to dry, and then put back into rotation), easy to use, easy to wash, quick to dry, natural fibres against baby’s skin, many affordable options, durable.

Stay tuned for part 2 of the Diaper Dictionary, where we will explore the 1-piece diaper, and also provide a list of some commonly used diapering acronyms.

Totally Unscientific Baby-wearing vs. Stroller-pushing Survey!

2010-10-29T17:06:00.000-04:00

I live and work in two different neighbourhoods in Montreal, but both are home to lots of new families, and both possess a nice combination of residential and commercial streets that make them very pedestrian-friendly. As a result, I see a lot of babies as I'm making my way around town. It occurred to me that it might be kind of interesting to see whether one type of baby-transportation was more prevalent than the other. Thus began my Totally Unscientific Baby-wearing vs. Stroller-pushing Survey!

For the past few weeks, I've kept a mental tally of how many strollers and/or baby-carriers I see when I happen to be out and about. After about three weeks of casual observation, I tallied up 92 babies - 26 of whom were being worn in carriers, and 66 of whom were being pushed in strollers. Percentage-wise, that's:

Close to one third of the babies I saw were in carriers, which is a lot, considering that baby carriers probably aren't quite as mainstream, or as ubiquitous as strollers.

Most frequently sighted carriers:

Soft carriers
Wraps (both stretchy and woven)
Mei-tais

Cold Weather Carrying

Over the course of this survey-taking, the weather here in Montreal has become considerably colder (the current temperature is 8 degrees Celsius, or 46 Fahrenheit). I noticed that as the weather became cooler, there seemed to be fewer baby carrier sightings. We had one really warm day this week and *poof* the streets were full of carriers again.

A few tips and tricks for those of you who may be braving the cold and the snow this winter:

There are some real advantages to wearing your baby in cooler weather, not least of which is the fact that you and your baby get to share your body heat, meaning that you will keep each other toasty warm! Not to mention that pushing a stroller through snowy, slushy sidewalks is no small feat - keeping your baby on your body means you only have to worry about your own two feet.

Choosing an adjustable carrier, like a wrap or a mei-tai, means that you can wear the carrier over your jacket in cooler weather. If you have a roomier jacket, or a baby-wearing coat, you can wear your baby against your body (more heart to heart body heat!) and zip your jacket over your toasty little bundle.

Virtual Survey

My real-life neighbourhood survey is complete, but now I'm curious about our virtual neighbourhood... do you live in a baby-carrier-friendly neighbourhood or city? Do you practice babywearing, or do you use a stroller? If you live in a frosty part of the world, do you ever carry your baby in the colder months? Share your baby-wearing choices with us!

Cloth Diapering FAQ - Part 2

2010-10-22T13:49:00.000-04:00

Are you cloth diapering for the first time? Do you have a simple question that needs answering? Well read on! We've compiled a list of some frequently asked questions and have done our best to provide some helpful answers.

Okay, so I have my diapers. What else do I need?

There are tons of cloth diapering accessories on the market: liners, boosters, inserts, soakers, sprayers… and it might seem a little overwhelming to begin with. Our advice? Start simple. Most of those accessories cater to a specific need, so just get started with the diapers that you have, and if you run into a problem, then it’s time to see if there’s a product out there that can help you. Newborn diapering doesn’t usually require any extras, but when your baby gets older, you may find that you need to add some extra layers to your diaper to make it more absorbent. That’s when the liners, boosters, doublers (these are just different words for the same thing!) start to come in handy.

Back to basics: what you really need to begin:

diapers (whether one-piece (all-in-one) or two-piece (insert or fitted diaper + wrap))
Bio-soft liners (okay, it is possible to get by without them, but many people choose to use them!)
a pail or hanging wet bag to store your dirty diapers
washing machine (okay, I guess technically you could wash by hand, but you’d be working a lot harder than you need to!)
clothesline or dryer
cloth diaper-friendly detergent

If you're just beginning with cloth diapers, our Organic Cotton Diapering Kit is a good way to go - it includes a stash of 2-piece diapers (prefold inserts + wraps) and the few basic accessories that you need to get started. Just grab the box and go!

Cloth diapering through the night

Newborn babies tend not to sleep through the night (hate to break it to you…), so nighttime diapering with a newborn is pretty much the same as daytime diapering. However, once your baby starts to sleep through the night (congratulations!), nighttime diapering usually requires some special attention, since you will need a super-absorbent diaper that can survive 8 hours of wetting! Don’t fret – there are cloth diapering solutions that can meet this challenge!

Choose highly absorbent fabrics like bamboo, hemp, organic cotton or microfiber for your nighttime diaper
If using wraps, go one size up to make space for extra liners, or try a wool cover. Wool is a miraculous natural fiber – super absorbent, wicks moisture away from the skin and is naturally waterproof. A great nighttime (or anytime) solution!
Add extra layers – either an absorbent liner (a.k.a booster or doubler), or a prefold insert (try a small insert wrapped inside a large one)
Put a stay-dry layer like a Fleece Liner against baby’s skin, so s/he won’t be woken up by a wet diaper during the night

You may have to play around a bit before you find a combination that works well for you and your baby – don’t be afraid to experiment!

My baby is going swimming! Is there a reusable swim diaper?

The Swimmi is a swim diaper designed for this very purpose! Your little one can swim like a fish, and you don’t have to worry about the pool being emptied on his or her behalf! Easy to use and machine washable.

Why should I choose organic cotton?

Organic cotton is hands down the greenest and most sustainable choice when it comes to cloth diapering fabrics. Organic cotton is grown without the use of fertilizers or pesticides. Growing cotton organically is environmentally sustainable: it protects water quality, conserves biodiversity, and reduces soil erosion. Not only that, organic cotton is very soft, very absorbent, and entirely free of toxic chemicals – all very desirable qualities in a fabric that will be spending a lot of time in direct contact with baby’s tender skin!

How can I prevent and/or treat diaper rash?

Cloth diapers are more breathable than disposable diapers, and they tend to get changed more frequently, which means that most cloth diapered babies get less diaper rash, if any at all, than babies who are in disposables. Hurray!

That being said, babies in cloth diapers are not immune to diaper rash. The best way to prevent rashes is to change your baby’s diaper often – as soon as it is soiled or wet, and to give baby’s bum some “fresh air” exposure from time to time. If you notice that your baby has developed a rash all of a sudden, it could be due to a detergent or urine residue in the diapers. Read more about residues and how to get rid of them.

If your baby develops a rash that you suspect may be an infection or fungus, you should consult with your health care provider.

Check out our website for more resources on how to choose, use and wash cloth diapers.

Cloth Diapering FAQ - Part 1

2010-10-20T09:46:00.000-04:00

How many diapers do I need?

Newborn babies will generally go through 8-12 diapers in a 24 hour period. Since you don’t want to be doing laundry every single day (to reduce laundering costs and to avoid wearing out your diapers too quickly), we recommend that you have at least 24 diapers – enough for a non-stressful rotation. If you are using a diaper that needs a wrap, you should probably have at least 6 wraps.
Once your baby is a little older, at approximately 6 months, you won’t have to change diapers as frequently. At this point, you can have fewer diapers in your rotation and still not have to do laundry too often. We recommend about 18 diapers, and 4 wraps (where applicable).

There are so many different types of diapers! How do I know which one to choose?

There is no single type of cloth diaper that is *the best*. There are so many different options because different people like different things – so there’s something for everyone! Don’t worry about which type is the best overall, try to figure out which one might be the best for you.

Ask yourself a few basic questions to begin: do I prefer natural or synthetic fabrics? Is ease-of-use a priority for me, i.e. will a daycare worker or other caregiver need to learn the ropes? Do I want a diaper that I can use from birth to potty training? What is my budget?

Remember, if you’re really not sure, sometimes variety is the spice of life – you can mix n’ match to try lots of different types!

Prefold inserts and wraps? Aren't those old-fashioned?

Prefold inserts are a modernized version of the old-fashioned flat, square diaper. Prefolds are tried and true – there’s a reason why they’ve maintained their popularity over the years. Organic fabrics and contemporary wraps (super CUTE and NOT plastic!) keep this combo fresher than ever. Read more about the advantages of prefold inserts.

Newborns are so tiny, can I really put cloth on an itty bitty baby?

Absolutely! Depending on the size of your baby at birth, you may be able to start right off in a size small (prefolds & wraps), or in a one-size all-in-one (like the Easy Fit).

If your baby weighs less than 8 lbs at birth, or if you prefer a diaper that will fit your itty bitty baby more trimly, there are plenty of great options for newborn cloth diapering. Try a preemie prefold insert paired up with a newborn Super Brite wrap (4-9 lbs – ideal for preemies or multiples) or with a Super Whisper Wrap (7-10 lbs). If you prefer an all-in-one (AIO), try the Tini Fit (5-12 lbs). Both of these options are teeny tiny and easy to use!

Um... what about the poop?

Today’s cloth diapering parents have it way easier than your great-grandma probably did – thanks to the innovation of flushable liners. Bio-soft liners will make your cloth diapering routine VERY easy. You simply lay the liner on the inside of the diaper. When baby poops, you lift out the liner, with the mess inside, and flush it down the toilet. No fuss, no muss!

Some folks prefer to use washable Fleece Liners for poop patrol instead, or to go the no-liner route by shaking solids into the toilet and rinsing out the diaper before putting it in a wet bag or pail.

Handy tidbit: babies who are breastfed exclusively have water-soluble poop. This means that you can simply toss the diaper into your wet bag or pail and wash normally – no need for flushable liners or rinsing. Another breastfeeding bonus!

Many people who have tried both cloth and disposable diapers have found that cloth diapers are actually better at containing poopy “blowouts”!

Do I need a special washing machine to wash cloth diapers? A special detergent?

Finding a good washing routine tends to be one of the more intimidating propositions for people who are new to cloth diapers. But believe us when we say it – it’s NOT that hard! In fact, we would go so far as to say that it’s pretty darn easy. Check out our Very Simple Guide to Washing Cloth Diapers for more details. All the good stuff is in there – how to wash, what to do about stains, what detergent to use, and more!

Check out our website for more resources on how to choose, use and wash cloth diapers, and stay tuned for Part 2 of the Cloth Diapering FAQ here on our blog!

New Prints Galore!

2010-10-14T15:27:00.000-04:00

Super Whisper Wrap
On the heels of our recent launch of the 6 new Easy Fit prints, we are gearing up for the release of 4 fresh, fun and brand-new Super Whisper Wrap prints! These exciting new prints will be available at the end of November, so keep an eye out for them at your local retail store!

Clockwise from top left: Rocket, Ladybug, Bloom and Big City.

Super Brite
And then we figured while we're at it, why not put out some new Super Brite prints too? The up-and-coming, limited edition Super Brite Polka Dots are a classic print in two bright and cheerful colour combinations. They will be available at the beginning of November (which will be here sooner than we think...)

Pistachio polka dot (left) and Blueberry polka dot (right).

Extreme Blog Makeover!

With all these exciting new colours and prints to feast my eyes on, I couldn't help but notice that our blog was rather, well... plain in comparison. I took inspiration from our wondrous new Rocket print in the Super Whisper Wrap to effect an Extreme Blog Makeover! A few cut-outs here, a touch of whimsy there and voilà! our blog is sporting what I hope you'll agree is a great new outfit!

Make Your Own Felted Wool Dryer Balls!

2010-10-12T15:00:00.000-04:00

With the fall weather already here and winter fast approaching, I see the time of line drying coming to an end for many of us in northern climates. This is particularly sad for me since my dryer is just plain awful. Even my prefolds which dry on the line in less than an hour on a good day have to go through twice in my dryer. So, I started doing some research on how to decrease drying time and save energy. What I came up with is SO simple. Felted wool dryer balls. For the cost of a couple of balls of wool, I've been able to cut my drying time in half easily and on top of that, keep my clothing and diapers softer and static free.

Dryer balls work by seperating your clothes as they circulate in the dryer which allows the warm air to reach more of your clothing or diapers. In addition to this, the slightly rough, felted outside of the balls creates friction against the fabrics, which cuts down on static and softens your clothes. You can use anywhere between 3 and 8 dryer balls. Most people reccomend that you start with at least 4 so that's what I did, and it's worked wonders! I can put a large load of laundry through and everything dries the first time.So, do you want to learn how to make your own felted wool dryer balls? It's about as easy as a craft can get.

Here's what you'll need:

A few balls of wool. The amount of wool needed will depend on the weight of the wool and how tighly you wind. I used 1 ball of wool to make 1 dryer ball (including the core). Make sure that the yarn you're using is 100% wool or it won't felt properly.
Old pantyhose or socks
A small amount of non-wool string (cotton or acrylic both work fine)
Scissors
A crochet hook (optional)

If you've ever wound wool into a ball, this is pretty well the same thing but in two stages. Just make sure to wind the wool tighter than you ordinarily would.

Step 1: Starting the core

Start by winding the a bit of wool around two fingers

When you've got it about a half inch across (the size doesn't really matter), pull it off your fingers, let the loop close and then continue wrapping the wool around the middle of the loop. This is the start of your ball.

Step 2: Wrapping the core

Continue wrapping the wool around, turning the ball slightly every few loops or so. You don't need to be neat about this first bit since it won't be visible once your ball is finished. Once the ball is 4-5 inches around, cut the wool and tuck in the loose end. This can be more eaily done if you've got a crochet hook but can also be done with your fingers.

Step 3: Stuffing the pantyhose

Next, put your ball (or balls, depending on how many you're making) in the pantyhose. Tie them off between each one with your cotton or acrylic string.

Step 4: Washing the ball cores

Throw the balls in the machine with your laundry. The hotter you wash them, the more quickly they will felt. If you put them through on hot, it should only take the once. Put them through the dryer once, cut the strings tying them into your pantyhose and pull out your balls.

Step 5: Beginning the outer ball

Begin winding more wool onto the ball. You don't need to do anything to attach the wool to the ball. Just hold it down with a finger as you wrap until it stays on it's own.

Step 6: Winding the outer ball

Continue winding your ball until it is as big as you want it. I made mine to be slightly larger than tennis balls so that they would shrink down to tennis ball size as they felted. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 and your dryer balls are ready for use!

Easy Fit Print Giveaway - WINNERS!

2010-10-06T11:07:00.000-04:00

We are pleased to announce the 6 lucky winners of our Easy Fit giveaway. Once again, a great big thank you to everyone who participated! We ♥love♥ to see photos of our diapers and wraps in action! It gives us that warm and fuzzy feeling inside to see all those happy and cute-as-pie babies.

Without further ado, the winners are...

Priscilla Edson

who posted a gorgeous photo of her gorgeous red-haired son wearing a gorgeous pomegranate-red Easy Fit to our wall on Facebook.

Sandra Amorim

who posted a photo of her teeny tiny newborn wearing a teeny tiny Super Whisper Wrap in lemon stars on white to our wall on Facebook.

Kristi Kivinen-Newman

who posted a great photo on our wall of her little one in a Super Whisper Wrap celery dot, holding onto her Sophie and letting us know that "Giraffes go ROAR!!"

Crystal Biehl

who posted a photo of her son swimming like a fish in the Clownfish Swimmi, to our Facebook wall and to her blog.

Sarah (post #17)

who posted a photo to her blog of her newborn son wearing his first cloth diaper: a newborn Super Whisper Wrap.

Beth Thorson

who posted a group of photos of her daughter "almost sitting and crawling" in a Super Whisper Wrap flower print, to her personal Facebook page, and posted a link here.

Congratulations! Priscilla, Sandra, Kristi and Crystal - you forgot to provide your email addresses, so please contact me at maeghan(at)bummis(dot)com so we can arrange delivery of your prize!

And once again, thanks to each and every one of you who posted your fabulous photos!

Picture Perfect Easy Fit Giveaway

2010-09-28T15:30:00.000-04:00

By now you've probably heard that the exceptional Easy Fit diaper now comes in 6 fun prints, plus the original 6 bright solids. There's been an overwhelmingly positive response to this diaper - people seem to love everything about it: the fact that it's so easy to use, that it's so absorbent, that the Aplix tabs are so sticky, that the colours and prints are bright and fun... the list goes on and on!

We've been getting so much love on behalf of the Easy Fit - we thought we would spread it around a little by doing yet another giveaway!

We know how cute our diapers look on the shelves here in our factory and on display at Boutique Bummis, our Montreal retail store, but it's just not quite the same when there's no baby involved! So here's how the giveaway works:

Take a photo of your little one wearing any Bummis diaper and/or wrap
Head to the Bummis Facebook fan page (give us a "like" if you haven't already!)
Share your photo by posting it on our wall

Additional entry:

Take a photo of your little one wearing any Bummis diaper and/or wrap
Post the photo to your blog or personal Facebook page
Indicate that your baby is wearing a Bummis wrap, Easy Fit, Bamboozle, etc.
Post a link to your blog or Facebook page in the comments field below

We will be giving away 6 Easy Fit diapers - 1 of each new print. 6 winners will be randomly selected, and we will determine who gets each print.

Maximum 2 entries per person. This contest is open to residents of Canada and the USA. When posting a link in the comments field, please include your email address so that we can get in touch if you win! Replace the @ with (at) to avoid getting spammed. All photos must be posted before midnight EST on Sunday, October 3 2010.

So... lights, camera, and let's see those diapers in action!

Cloth Diapering: A Gateway to "Green"

2010-09-24T16:36:00.000-04:00

In a recent blog post where we asked you what surprises you encountered in the process of discovering and using cloth diapers, some of you mentioned that cloth diapers nurtured your ecological consciousness, and inspired you to explore other kinds of “green” choices. This was one of my favourite surprises from the list, since it illustrates that something so simple as a diaper can be a catalyst for change for an individual or a family.

Over the period of time that I have worked for Bummis, I have been immersed in the cloth diapering ethos. And, as many of you reported, it has seeped into other areas of my life, and informs many of the decisions I make as a consumer.

In a nutshell, I would say that learning about cloth diapers has made me much more aware of the cycle of production, consumption and disposal. I’m more curious and conscientious about where things are made, what they’re made of, how long they will last, and what will happen to them when they wear out, or no longer function, or get used up. I know that when something leaves my house in a plastic bag headed for the curb, it doesn’t disappear into thin air - it ends up somewhere. Which is an especially salient point in the context of diapering, when we know that each baby in disposables will go through one ton of diapers that will leave the house in plastic bags that will not disappear into thin air - they will end up somewhere, and they will sit there for upwards of five hundred years.

The diaper is a very humble eye-opening product, but it’s one that can obviously make a very big difference. That’s part of what’s so nice about making “green” choices - often they are very simple and easy to adjust to, but they make a big difference.

Two of my personal favourite humble, “green” products:

1. Stainless steel water bottle

I purchased my water bottle four years ago. It cost about $20, and I remember thinking at the time “Am I really going to pay twenty dollars for a water bottle?!” But that was four years ago, so in fact I’ve paid about $5 per year - imagine what I could have spent on single-use plastic bottles of water in that time! Plus, it’s still in perfect condition - so my yearly expense will just keep going down! My water bottle is made of food-grade stainless steel that doesn’t leach, which means that it doesn't affect my well-being or the taste of my water. I love this humble little water bottle, and it’s become a constant companion - I never leave home without it! I doubt that single-use plastic water bottles inspire the same kind of devotion… maybe because they don’t have time - as soon as they’re empty they get tossed out!

2. Menstrual cup, like the Diva Cup

Some of you mentioned “mama cloth” when you were talking about your own eco-discoveries, which includes cloth breastpads, as well as cloth menstrual or post-partum pads. The menstrual cup falls into this same category of alternative menstrual products. I love it because a) it’s economical (just wash and reuse! No more monthly expenses or frantic trips to the nearest drugstore!), b) it’s eco-conscious (zero monthly waste), c) it’s comfortable and healthy (made of non-toxic, non-leaching silicone) and d) it’s easy to use and very effective (requires some adjustment in the beginning, and then it’s a piece of cake. In my personal experience, it’s actually way more effective than disposable products!).

Hmm… I think those are all the same reasons why people love cloth diapers! ;)

What are your personal favourites when it comes to great (or humble) “green” discoveries? Were cloth diapers a gateway to “green” for you, or were you already headed down the “green” path when you decided to use cloth? Share your "green" thoughts with us!

Good-bye Jess

2010-09-22T08:23:00.000-04:00

So I have a reputation for finding smart cookies in our retail stores and bringing them into the mothership (aka our office!). When Jessica had worked for us in our downtown store only a very short time, I knew she was the ‘next best thing” to come into our operation. Boy was she ever! Only 6 and ½ short years later, she has finally left to pursue her dream to become a nurse. We celebrated Jessica’s departure with warm fuzzy feelings and a supper at my house, where Jess wore a fabulous custom-made Bummis crown crafted for her by our mega talented blog diva, Maeghan.

So how can I tell you what working with Jess these last years has brought to us without breaking down and having a little cry?! She understands our company values profoundly, and has helped us to manifest them in everything we do. She is just about the BEST detail person I have ever met, and since I am a “big picture” kind of gal, I really appreciate those who can fine tune and implement the creative messes and schemes that I dream up. Jess started out as a clerk at the store and ended up becoming an AWESOME administrator – the kind most small businesses only dream of. Not only that, but she is smart and fun and a joy to be around. She can bake a mean batch of vegan cookies or muffins, and she is a cake plate freak like me (I never met anyone else like that, but if you’re out there – let me know!).

We are 1 part sad for ourselves and 1 part excited for Jess. Every leave-taking brings something new – I know that now and have learned to look forward to change instead of dreading it. But I will miss Jess. She has many amazing talents and skills, and hopefully a new and improved awareness of her abilities too. And we have a well-organized head office with lots of cool systems in place,

And so the search for the next smart cookie continues….

Love you Jess! Bonne Aventure!

Betsy

What if Mommy Isn’t Ready to be Weaned?

2010-09-17T14:00:00.000-04:00

My 15 month old son seems to be weaning himself and I'm completely shocked by the devastation that I feel around this loss.

When my little guy was born, breastfeeding was a huge struggle for us. We nearly gave up so many times. There were moments where it affected our relationship and I thought, this can't be healthy. But I persisted because of the health benefits and one day, it clicked! Because of our struggles in the beginning, I don't think I ever got to understand the benefits of comfort and the bond that comes with breastfeeding an infant. I took the whole thing for granted and it just became a way of nourishing my son so he would grow. It didn't occur to me that the nourishment and growth went far beyond giving my son the nutrients he needed. As time passed, we both came to depend on the comfort that nursing gave us. A comfort that is completely unique between mother and child. It wasn't until now, at the end, that I see it though.

As Miles pushes away and very clearly says "No boob!", I look back at those colicky days when he was screaming and the excitement that he had when I offered him the only thing that would calm him and think, what happened ? Where did that little boy go? And why can't I go back to that time so I can just sit back and enjoy it?

Of course that little boy is still there but he's growing up. And I certainly can't stop that. Nor would I want to. I guess this is an important lesson in motherhood for me. Enjoy every moment while it's there because things change so fast. (Fairly common advice, I know. Sometimes I'm not so good at heeding advice though). This is only a first step towards independence for him and each and every step will be painful and yet beautiful for us parents to witness.

Please share any thoughts and experiences you have with breastfeeding or weaning your child. I'd love to hear about the joys and challenges that you've had along the way!

Cloth Diapering: Chock Full of GOOD Surprises!

2010-09-15T13:12:00.000-04:00

Wow, so Shirley was right, it turns out that cloth diapering is full of pleasant surprises and new discoveries! So here, in order, is a list of the most unexpected charms of cloth diapering, as described by you!

The BIGGEST surprise: Cloth diapers are so EASY.

"I was so sure it would be too much work. I was thinking that I wouldn't have time to wash before none were left. Turns out it's so easy! I put it in my wet bag. Throw everything in the washer and dryer every 2 days. That's it!!" (Chrysalide)

Fewer blowouts, fewer leaks.

"My biggest surprise was how much better cloth worked than disposables! With my first I used disposables and it was EBF (Exclusively Breast Fed) poo explosions up the back and around her legs constantly. I changed her outfit at least 3-4 times a day. With my second baby, I am using cloth and I NEVER had an EBF poo blow out. I was seriously shocked. I never realized that cloth actually works BETTER than disposables!" (meowmixxrr)

So many styles, so many options... I want one of everything!

"I was surprised how addicting it was to CD (Cloth Diaper)... there are so many fun types, colors, and prints to discover! You can never have too many..." (cour1oe)

I ♥ Cloth Diapers!

"I think the biggest surprise I had was how much I actaually LOVED it. Love and diapers just don't belong in the same sentence but I did, I loved it." (Christy)

Cloth is just SO cute!

"I have so much fun picking out his diaper at every change. Finding one that looks cute with his outfit for the day. I NEVER enjoyed using disposables. It was just one of the 'have-to's of having a baby. But having cute soft fabrics and prints really does make an otherwise unpleasant chore kinda fun." (Karianne)

Support from the cloth diapering community, from your partner and from your whole extended family.

"The best surprise I found after starting to cloth diaper was the incredible community of fluff loving mom's that I discovered. For every one person who thought I was nuts to cloth diaper my son, I found a hundred or so online there to cheer me on and offer friendly advice. Waste containment is a very strange obsession, and it's nice to know i'm not alone!" (Nicola)

I ♥ CD laundry?!

"my biggest surprise is that i would actually LOVE diaper laundry! i hate hate hate laundry, it stacks up for days. but you best believe the second that pail has enough for a load, it's getting done! they smell so good and are so soft after they're done washing and drying, that i want to just lay in them and fall asleep!" (Lynn)

Cloth diapers DON'T stink!

"a diaper pail full of cloth diapers smells less in the week that it waits than the sposies in a pail do even when wrapped in oodles of more plastic...what an environmental hazard we were for ds#1!" (Julie, who posted on our Facebook page)

Less Diaper Rash

"I was seriously pleasantly surprised when, after a few months of using cloth exclusively, that my son hadn't had a diaper rash at all since switching. He doesn't have that little touch of redness that my other kids, who were in sposies, had throughout their diapering years. I am so, so glad that I switched." (Amanda)

I can't believe how much money I'm saving!

"How much it saves on my grocery bill now that I am not buying diapers and wipes (we use cloth now too) on a weekly basis!" (Teresa)

Cloth diapering is a gateway to other "green" discoveries.

It's fun! That's right, diapering my kids is fun! It's easy, the diapers are cute, and I even like doing diaper laundry. :) It made me realize how much easier other "green" things could be too! Mama cloth, using cloths - not paper - to clean, there's a whole other world out there, and we are enjoying the transition in our household!" (Rachel)

My cloth diapered baby potty-trained much earlier!

"Early potty training. I didn't believe it but my 22 month old is already training!! Whoo hoo!" (Bridgett, who posted on our Facebook page)

Sharing the love: converting your friends... and strangers.

"I was surprised that I have turned into a cloth diaper activist! I thought it was just going to be something I HAD to do to save money. Now I want to share the joy with others. :)" (Marissa)

Waste reduction

"I knew I would cut down on the amount of waste our house produced but I had no idea how much. We've cut our household waste in half by using cloth diapers and wipes." (Sara, who posted on our Facebook page)

So there you have it, folks, a whole list of what you can expect when you opt for cloth. For any of you CD activists (see item #13), feel free to share this list with any friends who are considering cloth - I think it's pretty convincing!

We mentioned a little SURPRISE of our own...

We were so excited to see everyone participating in the amazing discussion inspired by Shirley's question about cloth diapering surprises, that we've decided to award prizes to five lucky, randomly selected winners!

Our grand prize winner is Vanessa (post #13), who has won an Easy Fit diaper in the brand-new Cherrylicious print!

The four runners-up have each won a Fabulous Wet Bag in medium - a great little accessory for storing soiled diapers on-the-go! The runners-up are:

Jennifer Brade
Monique Lavoie (posted on Facebook)
mommyc
Stephanie

Important note to the winners: please contact me by email at maeghan (at) bummis (dot) com so we can arrange delivery of your prizes.

A great big thank you to everyone who posted - it was so satisfying to read about all the positive experiences you've had using cloth diapers.

Cloth Diapering: What a Pleasant Surprise!

2010-09-11T14:49:00.008-04:00

I talk about cloth diapers pretty much 10 hours a day! In all that dialogue, a few things come up again and again. One is the surprise as to how easy it is to cloth diaper. Many Moms had friends and family try to discourage them from using cloth so they anticipated it be a big undertaking. However once begun, they found it to be easy. Some of the other surprises moms have expressed include:

The laundry was not as much as I thought it would be either. When you have a new baby, you are already doing more laundry than before. One more load just didn’t seem like so much.

Cloth diapers hold in big poop blowouts far better than the disposables I used on my son.

I thought cloth diapers would be stinky. But I have used both cloth and disposables and there is no difference, if anything the disposables smell more because of the reaction of the urine with the chemicals in the diaper.

The great feeling you get putting that soft fabric on your baby.

Clean up was easy. I used flushable liners and would flush the mess away.

They go on and on!

Post your pleasant surprise in regards to cloth diapering below and you could win a surprise from us!

Introducing Malina Dockendorff, Bummis Social Media Co-ordinator!

2010-09-08T10:47:00.000-04:00

" First and Foremost, we are Moms"- Bummis

My story with Bummis started about 14 months ago when my son Miles was born. I was working for the Canadian national parks system as an environmental educator. Basically, this meant spending my life helping people to enjoy the world they lived in to its fullest so that they would hopefully leave with a sense of trying to protect it. So, when I was pregnant, the thought of throwing out disposable diapers seemed impossible for me.

But when the day finally came and I met my little boy, I was tired and scared as most new Moms are (I hope anyway). There were so many choices out there for me to make and diapering seemed like the least of my worries. I was lucky enough to have a friend who had cloth diapered her children; so after the first few weeks of sleep deprivation had passed, she offered to let me borrow her prefolds and wraps to see what I thought of using cloth. And it was easy! My husband and I both fell in love with that cute, extra fluffy little bum!

As Miles grew, I bought more diapers of my own and one day, my local retailer told me that Bummis might be looking for some testers. I immediately wrote them and got chosen to help. It was then that my real relationship with with the wonderful folks who run Bummis began. As I read more and more about the company and continued to work with them as a tester, I got this nagging feeling that just wouldn't go away. I wanted to work for them. I believed in the same values that they did. The importance of giving back to their community both locally and abroad and their amazing customer service are just a couple of things that excited me. So, I went on a mission to get a job and here I am, writing my first blog post for Bummis!

As with giving birth for the first time, starting a new job can be daunting. (Well maybe not quite as daunting as giving birth but still...) My role with Bummis will involve working with parents online to share my knowledge and offer cloth diapering advice especially in relation to the Bummis products, to encourage more parents to join the cloth diaper "fold" (BTW, I like puns) and to keep you informed as to what is new at Bummis. I will also periodically be posting a blog here and would love to hear what it is that you would like to see me write about as a cloth diapering Mom. So share your thoughts below! Since this is all new to me, your feedback is so welcome!

Thanks for reading, gang, and I look forward to working with all of you soon!

Malina

S-T-R-E-T-C-H Bamboozle Giveaway - WINNERS!

2010-09-07T14:19:00.000-04:00

Wow, it sounds like a lot of you really are excited about the new Stretch Bamboozle! Thanks so much to everyone for your enthusiasm and for your great comments.

A great big congratulations goes out to the five randomly selected winners who are...

L Mackereth

specialk78

Tamara

Camilla

Robin Sayers

For those of you who won, and for any of you out there who are thinking of adding some Stretch Bamboozles to your stash, I invite you to check out the Bummis YouTube channel, where you can watch a Bamboozle how-to video. It features the older version of the Bamboozle (non-stretchy, and with snap closures), but the new one works in more or less the same way so it's still a good tutorial for any first-time Bamboozle users out there!

A note to the 5 winners: Congratulations! We will be in touch by email within the next 2 days to arrange the delivery of your size 2 (9 - 35 lbs) Bamboozle. Thank you so much for participating!

The Bamboozle gets S-T-R-E-T-C-H-Y

2010-09-03T14:07:00.000-04:00

It seems that when September rolls around, new beginnings are in the air. Maybe it's the memory of all those years we spend as a students, when September signals the start of a new year. Whatever the reason, here at Bummis we're basking in the fresh air of new beginnings, new possibilities... new products! First we launched the Large Fabulous Wet Bag, then the oh-so-adorable Easy Fit prints, and now we've got more hot-of-the-press goodies for you!

The oh-so-soft, super-absorbent, highly-adjustable Bamboozle gains yet another adjective to add to it's impressive list. The new version of the Bamboozle diaper is made of S-T-R-E-T-C-H-Y rayon from bamboo, which makes it even more comfy-cozy, easier to put on a roly-poly baby, and helps you get a perfect fit at every diaper change!

You can read more from us about the Stretch Bamboozle, but here's what some of our lucky testers had to say:

"I love the fit of this diaper on my chunky monkey! The diaper hugs his thighs just enough without leaving any red marks or impressions."

"I love the stretch, love it. I also loved that the velcro seemed more durable than others I have tried. I think the trim fit is great and it is soooo soft."

"This diaper is AMAZING!!! My little guy slept 12 hours and did not wake up drenched. We use this diaper nightly and it works better than any fitted I've ever used. It is a true OS diaper and could be used from an infant to toddler."

"The absorbency!!! I also love Bamboo and it is soooo soft!! I liked the ease of the velcro and the snap settings giving you the perfect fit. I also liked the snap in liner!!"

Get Bamboozled in our Bamboozle GIVEAWAY !

The Bamboozle is a deluxe diaper, and these are some of our favourite things about it:

GREAT FIT. Whether you have (as one of our testers put it) a chunky monkey, or a long-skinny baby, or any kind of baby in between, this diaper offers a fantastic fit. It features snaps down the front to adjust the rise, Aplix (velcro-style) tabs and, of course, it's stretchy!
ABSORBENT. Rayon from bamboo absorbs 70% more than cotton on contact, so the Bamboozle is very absorbent. Great for nighttime diapering, as some of our testers mentioned.
SO SOFT. This fabric is incredibly soft to begin with, and it gets softer with every wash. Now that this diaper is stretchy too, it will feel as snug and comfy as a great pair of yoga pants!
ECO-CONSCIOUS. Bamboo is a renewable resource with a very short growth cycle, and it is grown without fertilizers or pesticides, which means it's a great eco-option for diapers.

Tell us what excites you most about this great new diaper and you could win 1 of the 5 Stretch Bamboozles that we're going to give away!

We will give a size 2 (9 - 35 lbs) Bamboozle to each of the five randomly selected winners. Post your entry in the comment field below. Please include your full name and email address (write out the word at, instead of @ to avoid being spammed). This giveaway is open to residents of Canada and the USA only. Entries must be submitted before midnight EST on September 6, 2010 (Monday).

Large Fabulous Bag Giveaway - WINNERS!

2010-08-31T10:45:00.003-04:00

A great big thanks to everyone who took part in our Large Fabulous Bag giveaway! Silly us, we thought we knew every possible reason why someone might want one of these FABULOUS bags, but we discovered a few new ones when reading through all of your FABULOUS posts.

I'm sure you've all been waiting for these results with bated breath... so without further ado, the 3 winners are:

Kayla Dishon

Julie Kieras

Abbie Olson

To the winners: Congratulations! We will contact you by email within the next 2 days to arrange the delivery of your prizes.

Again, thanks so much to everyone for participating, and stay tuned for future contests, discussions, and more fun stuff!

Large Fabulous Bag Giveaway

2010-08-24T20:26:00.009-04:00

On the heels of Maeghan's great post on the wonders of our Fabulous Wet Bags and the introduction of our Large version, we have decided to offer this great product in a giveaway.

The large version of the Fabulous Wet Bags is well...fabulous! One of its great features is that it offers both a zipper and drawstring for the ultimate in odor containment. For more details on the large Fabulous Bag, head to our website.

Please post why you would love our new "hanging pail" in the comment field below. Include your color choice too - because we will randomly select 3 winners, each of whom will receive a large Fabulous Bag in the color of their choice! Please also include your full name so that we can track you down easily if you win! (If you choose to put your email address in your comment, best to write out the "at" rather than use the @ - this will help you avoid getting spammed!)

This giveaway is open to residents of the USA and Canada only. The contest is open until midnight EST on August 27th, 2010(Friday).

Fans of the Fabulous Wet Bag Rejoice!

2010-08-20T12:51:00.032-04:00

A few weeks ago, I took the cross-country train from Montreal to Vancouver. It's a journey that confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that Canada is a GIGANTIC country, a landmass that requires a train trip of four days and four nights to cross.

I wanted this trip to be as economical as possible, which is why I decided to pack a four-day picnic in my backpack rather than purchase meals from the on-board "café" (a much more health-conscious choice, as well). How do you pack four days' worth of food for the train? Inside your Fabulous Wet Bags, of course!

For four days I feasted on my Fabulous-ly packed picnic of pita bread, hummus, homemade blueberry muffins (from local, wild blueberries - YUM!), almonds, fruit and chocolate-covered hazelnuts (hey, I needed SOMETHING to get me through those long days!).
We've expounded on the fabulous-ness of the Fabulous Bags before, but I'm continually impressed by their everyday usefulness and myriad applications, so I wanted to share!

What I would have liked, but didn’t have on my trip (on the train, and during the week of my actual vacation), is a LARGE Fabulous Wet Bag - a perfectly portable on-the-road laundry hamper. Which brings me to my next point, which is the…

Launch of the LARGE Fabulous Wet Bag

Until now, the LARGE Fabulous Wet Bag has ben available exclusively as part of our Organic Cotton Diaper Kit, much to the chagrin of those of you who already HAVE a great diaper stash, but who would love to get your hands on one of these über-practical accessories. Well, as of NOW, the LARGE bag is available all by itself!

A quick reminder of some important features:

Waterproof: same fabric as the Super Brite diaper cover, plus it’s double-seamed on 3 sides.
Odour-proof: zipper closure plus drawstring for maximum odour-containment
Hang-able: use the drawstring to suspend the bag and use it instead of a diaper pail (saves space!)
Line-able: use it to line your diaper pail - pull the drawstring tight to keep it in place
Love-able: fun prints and endlessly useful - chances are your Fabulous Bag will be hanging around long after your diapers have been stashed away!

To find a Bummis retailer near you, check out our online retailer search engine. And remember: the next time you’re leaving on a plane, train or in an automobile, be sure to pack your Fabulous Bags!

Local Retailers & Why We Love Them

2010-08-13T09:30:00.002-04:00

(a shot of cute & cozy Boutique Bummis in Montreal)

We at Bummis LOVE supporting local boutiques all across North America, and we have been lucky enough to work with some of the most amazing local retailers out there. I am constantly amazed by the time and effort that so many of these stores put into providing the best service possible to their clients, and we are so proud to have them representing Bummis diapers!

I myself started out working at our very own Boutique Bummis, here in Montreal. It has been such a pleasure to watch our store grow from a tiny little shop into two fast-paced retail locations, abundant with friendly staff that always go the extra mile to help customers find the products and answers they need. Though bustling, you can still always find a quiet place in our boutiques to change your baby, or sit and nurse your little one!

So many of the stores that sell our products do such remarkable things in their communities, and I don’t doubt for a minute that they are the main reason that Bummis diapers have become so well-known and loved across Canada and the United States. These stores are places that you can go in to and check out cloth diapers in person, or try on baby carriers until you find the one that fits you just right. And beyond that, many of them are also at the very center of the local birthing community, with strong connections to midwives, doulas, and birth centers. You can sign up for cloth diapering 101 courses, baby wearing demos, and sometimes even cloth diaper trial programs. Others offer childbirth education classes and lactation consultations. And even if the classes aren’t held within the store, you can bet they can tell you where to find them. They are so much more than just stores – they are community resource centers, where you can go to inquire and indulge your curiosities during your baby’s first years. They are places you can visit with the confidence that someone cares about finding the best available products for you and your family.

If you have been waiting to find that perfect local store in your area to satisfy all of your cloth diapering needs, then we have just the thing for you! Head on over to our retailer search engine, and enter your location to find the nearest Bummis retailer. Or give us a ring on our toll-free number – 1.888.828.6647 – and we will help you find a store near you.

Last but not least, don’t forget to tell us about your favourite local retailer, and what it is about them that makes their store such a special place. And if you have a free moment, why not send them a quick note to let them know just how much you appreciate them!

Newborn Diapering FAQ

2010-08-10T11:10:00.000-04:00

Do I really have to invest in newborn sizes, or can I go straight to a Small or One-Size diaper?
If your baby is over 8 lbs, you can always go straight into Small or One-Size diapers. However, just keep in mind that a diaper designed to fit 8-35 lbs will inevitably be a little bigger on a newborn! If your baby is smaller, or if you really like the idea of a low-bulk, trim fit, then investing in some items sized specifically for newborns can be really helpful. Some cloth diaper retailers offer lending programs of newborn sized diapers. Check around to see if any stores near you do anything like that. It's a great way to use gear sized specifically for newborns without the investment!

My newborn is just SO tiny – can I really put cloth diapers on an itty bitty new baby?
Absolutely! Depending on the size of your baby, you may be able to start diapering your newborn with regular Infant sized Prefolds with Small covers, or the one-size Easy-Fit or Pocket Tot - keeping in mind, of course, that any cloth diaper is going to be bulkier on a baby who is on the lower end of the product's suggested weight range.

If your baby is less than 8 lbs, or if you are looking for an ultra trim fitting newborn diaper, there are several itty-bitty options available to you. Preemie Organic Cotton Prefolds paired with a Super Brite Newborn or a Bummi Original Newborn makes for a fantastic fit on babies 4-9lbs (great for preemies or multiples.) When my nephews were born (one just under 5lbs, one just over) this was my favorite way to diaper them. A simple trifold on the Preemie prefold made a trim insert in the Newborn Super Brite, and made for a much better fit than the smallest size of disposables, which pretty much went up to their armpits! The other fantastic thing about the Preemie prefolds is that they make awesome doublers in bigger diapers later on - or can be used as wipes, burp cloths etc - and being so economical, the relatively minimal investment is totally worth it! We also used some Kissaluvs Size 0 with Newborn Super Brites - Kissaluvs fitted Size 0 is well known for being one of the best Newborn diapers out there. They have a super low rise, and you can use them up to 15 lbs. If you're looking for an all-in-one option, check out the Tini-Fit (the smaller size of the Easy Fit)– it fits babies from 5-15lbs too, and offers a really slim fit by using super absorbent rayon from bamboo, as well as microfiber.

But what about that liquidy newborn poop?!
Yes, no-one will deny that newborn poop is really a very unique substance - as is the velocity at which it can be expelled from such a tiny creature as a newborn baby! Because of this, the occasional 'blow-out' can occur no matter which diapering system you use, reusable or disposable. However, many folks (myself included!) have experienced *fewer* blow-outs using cloth. Because you have so many options for adjustability, if you work out the best snug fit for your baby, you should be able to keep explosive messes contained!

And - liquidy newborn poop does have one benefit. If your baby is exclusively breastfed, their poop is water soluble and washes out SO easily. So you can toss poopy diapers right into the pail and wash as usual. Plus - it's surprisingly non-stinky!

I'm going to feel so exhausted at home with my new baby. Can I really handle doing all that laundry?
Yes, cloth diapers do have to be washed. And newborns go through 10-12 a day as they are basically little peeing and pooping machines. So, yes, there will certainly be more laundry to do. However, it's not as hard as it sounds! Check out our washing information. It's all about getting into a routine. Also - it might be tempting to skimp on diapers and covers in Newborn sizes since babies grow so fast - but really, make sure you have enough so that you are not washing every day. This will certainly make cloth diapering a newborn feel like less work. Also, don't be scared to mix up cloth with disposables at first if you are nervous about the washing. It doesn't have to be all or nothing - do what feels right for YOU! Or - consider using a diaper service in order to skip out on the home washing completely.

I think, therefore I can.

2010-08-06T17:14:00.000-04:00

One of the best things about August is that the bounty of late summer produce is upon us! Here in Quebec, gardens are starting to overflow, CSA baskets are brimming over, and everywhere we look, fresh, local fruit and vegetables are abound.

I don't have a garden, but am lucky enough to live near the awesome Jean-Talon Market in Montreal. Last weekend, we headed on over, picked up about 30lbs of local produce, lugged it home in a bike trailer, and canned my first ever batches of tomatoes, pickled beans and pickled beets. A fair bit of work, but so much fun!

I think I'm most excited about the beets. I've always had a thing for pickled beets - no doubt thanks to my grandmother, whose pantry is always brimming over with them. I used a basic recipe from Canadian Living and tweaked the added sugar content a bit (ie cut it out entirely and used a bit of honey instead!) I also added a cinnamon stick to each jar. Since one of our jars didn't seal, I sampled some last night -and the spicing combo was really yummy. Can't wait to see how they taste in a few weeks! I think I might just have to ask for a book on canning for my birthday... I have a fantasy of doing this every Sunday morning with whatever is fresh!

Whether you're preserving produce for future indulgence, or enjoying the simple real-time pleasure of a ripe peach, relish in the end of the summer and the changing seasons. It's one of the best times of year to take advantage of all of the fresh and fabulous things growing around us!

World Breastfeeding Week

2010-08-03T16:08:00.002-04:00

From August 1-7, 2010, people all over the world are taking part in celebrating World Breastfeeding Week. The WHO and UNICEF are focusing on training health care professionals worldwide and encouraging hospitals to adopt the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding that will help ensure that more parents have the resources they need to breastfeed successfully. These are the steps adopted by Baby Friendly Hospital Initiatives worldwide.

Meanwhile, smaller scale organizations all over the world are partaking in various events - Breastfeeding Challenges hosted by La Leche League chapters and local clinics are a popular way to celebrate. Bummis usually sends out a bunch of products for auction at events like this throughout August - as well as participating by donating Kuddle Ring nursing pillows to local support groups and clinics in our area.

Some of my favorite online breastfeeding resource centers are:

La Leche League International The LLL has been promoting breastfeeding through mother-to-mother support since the 1950's . Their site is full of resources, and links to local chapters.

The Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & Institute The brainchild of Dr. Jack Newman, the website of this Toronto based clinic has fantastic breastfeeding resources - both articles and videos.

Ask Lenore Lenore Goldfarb is one of the founders of Montreal's Goldfarb Breastfeeding Clinic. Her site has tons of great breastfeeding resources, including great information on inducing lactation for adoptive breastfeeding.

WABA The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action. A great starting place for breastfeeding information, WABA links together a global network of breastfeeding supporters.

ILCA The International Lactation Consultant Association. Breastfeeding is not always the simple, intuitive process that we are sometimes encouraged to expect it to be - and a Lactation Consultant can offer invaluable support and advice.

Breastfeeding has countless benefits for both mothers and babies - and it also benefits the environment (by reducing waste), lowers medical and food expenses for families, and through its health benefits, frees up government and hospital resources too! Hoorah to all of you breastfeeding mamas out there, and to everyone who supports breastfeeding and promotes breastfeeding friendly communities. We're definitely making movement in the right direction!

Betsy's Birthday Giveaway - Winners

2010-07-28T15:24:00.000-04:00

You guys are the best! Thanks for such mouthwatering responses. We had SO much fun reading your recipes. They got us all hungry - and inspired! We just may need to put out a Bummis recipe book. Hmm...

Betsy says thanks a million for all the birthday wishes! She's attending an event at one of our retail stores this afternoon, so couldn't write this herself - but asked that I pass on just how thrilled she was that so many people responded! And since she didn't post her actual Favorite Summer Recipe yesterday, here it is; chock full of wild rice, cranberries and orange. Yum!

2 cups brown and wild rice mix (Betsy used Lundberg Wild Blend)
4 cups water (or more, depending on rice directions or if you're using a lot of wild rice)
1 cup dried cranberries (Betsy prefers the ones sweetened only with fruit juice)
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
¼ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
zest of 1 orange
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Cook rice according to directions. Mix in other ingredients. Enjoy hot, warm or cold.

So! Back to the contest bit. We randomly selected three winners from all of the awesome entries. A big, huge congratulations to:

Twila

The Taylors

and

Heidi J

You have each won a Bubbles print Swimmi and a Small Fabulous Wet Bag! We will be in touch with each of you by email tomorrow to arrange delivery of your prize.

Thanks so much to EVERYONE who participated in this giveaway! I felt like I was at a virtual potluck!!

Can the problem with my laundry be hard water???

2010-07-21T11:00:00.000-04:00

As we know well, water is a critical part of any washing routine! It passes through the fibers of fabric to do much of the work of releasing dirt. However, it does need detergent to help it work effectively because of the natural surface tension caused by the cohesion of water molecules (think droplets of water). Detergent breaks this surface tension to allow the water to penetrate the fabric more easily, thus freeing more dirt. Many detergents also help dirt remain suspended in the water so that it can be whisked away in the rinse cycle rather than re-depositing on the fabric.

It is here that hard water can cause problems!

The hardness of water is the term used for the concentration of primarily calcium or magnesium ions in water. More ions mean harder water. Most households in North America have water that could be described as slightly to moderately hard- but modern detergents have surfactants that allow them to still be effective under those conditions. However, true hard water or very hard water can wreak havoc in a household!

How do you know if you have hard water?

• Your clothes tend to look dingy and feel harsh even when freshly laundered

• Laundry smells ‘sour’ even when freshly laundered

• Dishes and glasses have lots of spots on them when dry even when you have rinsed them well.

• Your tap may have white deposits on its filter/edge

• You are constantly fighting a ring in your toilet that even a sledge hammer cannot remove!

There are also maps which show you how hard fresh water is in your region- but this does not necessarily mean in your specific area you have hard water. The first map below shows the USA with the red areas indicating areas which MAY have very hard water and white is possibly hard water.

The map below is for Canada.

But the BEST way to be sure is to call your water supplier (town, municipality etc) or get your water tested.

Washing cloth diapers in hard water is a challenge. The minerals in the water bind with the active ingredients of detergent making it less effective and can even bind with it to form a sticky film which may prevent the removal of soil, urine and bacteria. Deposits on fabric have been shown to damage fibers and shorten the life of clothes by up to 40%. If you have hard water, most of the detergent you are adding is being used up by the minerals in the water so you need to add more.

Some detergents are made to deal specifically with hard water conditions and have ingredients added to “soften” the water (think Rockin' Green Hard Rock). Examples of ingredients added to facilitate use in hard water include sodium carbonate (washing soda) or borax or special surfactants that do not bind to the ions in hard water. However if you have very hard water, even with a specially formulated detergent, you may need to add a water softener. This can be done either by softening your whole household water with an installed appliance or with a laundry water softener like Calgon. Please not that Calgon is not recommended for front loaders- and it has fragrance added. Some people with hard water say vinegar helps- but many cloth diaper manufacturers discourage the use of vinegar.

We would love to hear from parents with hard water who have found tricks to washing cloth diapers in these conditions. Please share below or on our Facebook page!