January 8, 2008

In The Interest Of Truth In Advertising, I'm Thinking Of Renaming This Blog

Though I can't decide between Even More Diapers and I Hate Snaps, Too!

First things first, holy crap, I know they can fill up later, but it just seems ridiculous to me to throw out an entire diaper every 45 minutes when 95% of it is completely unused. Can't someone figure out a more modular way of doing diapers, at least for newborns? Something with a replaceable lining, perhaps? Like how those Playtex bottle shells have little plastic bag inserts? GDiapers is probably the closest thing out there right now.

If past results are any indicator of future performance, it'll be ready in two years.

Also, seriously, the snaps. That has not changed at all. Oh, wait, part of the reason is because the new kid is wearing the old kid's clothes. But no, there are still violently annoying snaps on the new stuff, too. I don't want to have to track down some obscure hippie clothes made by a cottage industry co-op to solve this snap problem, you hear? Let's find a solution, then let everyone copy it shamelessly, once and for all. It's been long enough.

And now that I think about it, why are all the clothes so big? The new kid's 20 inches long, only in the 75th percentile, so not a giant. And yet, only one of four of the 0-3 month pajamas and outfits fits her.

zutano_itzy_bitzy_olliebollen.jpg

Fortunately, my mom just rolled into town with a couple of sleeping gowns [no snaps!] from Zutano's newborn-specific Itzy*Bitzy collection. They're former DT advertisers sold by DT advertiser Olie Bollen, and this is the first I'm aware of it? Maybe it's time to stop poking around the old wooden ride-on toys and get serious about this new baby thing...

Check out bodysuits, leggings, shirts, and sleepers from Zutano's Itzy Bitzy collection at Olie Bollen, $8-20 [oliebollen.com]

20 Comments

Greg, 1 word: gDiapers. They are fantastic. We used them with #3 (now 15 months), and wish we had had them for #1 and #2. Even using a gDiaper liner and cloth diapers has worked out pretty well for us too. You can pick them up at gdiapers.com, and even though they are more expensive than the 240 pack of Huggies at Costco, they are worth it. They get the "tjcrandley Stamp of Approval"

[I've been a fan from a distance ever since they announced their plans to invade America and destroy its vibrant landfill industry. Maybe it's time to try'em out. -ed.]

Ah, just join the cloth diaper cult. We have been using Berry Plush covers with snap-in inserts for the new kid. Most of the time, one only has to switch out the insert, rather than the whole diaper. Kind of like g'diapers I guess.

The latest edition here was also 20" at birth, 7lbs 13 oz. At a month old, she is just starting to really fill out 0-3 month clothes. For the first couple weeks, she lived in Kushies "just born" size or a onesie (real onesie, 0-12 lbs) and hilariously big Babylegs.

Oh, and Little pipsqueak pants and baby kimono tops. But I know you didn't want any weird, obscure places.
http://littlepipsqueak.ca/

I like the "kimono" style (although to be honest the little frocks on that site look more like Chinese cheongsams) clothes for kids; we had a bunch of Japanese baby clothes with the ties when the kid was a newborn and they were way easier to get on and off than the snap-laden western stuff we had. (The cotton was really soft and the seams were sewn in a way not to irritate the kid's skin as well.)

We're thinking about having another but all this talk of snaps has me reconsidering that... :)

[yeah, we're waiting for the kid to grow into some Japanese onesie deals like that. the seams are either on the outside, or they're sewn flat, it's a really nice touch. Of course, one has an open crotch, and when the diaper hangs out it looks like a giant tanuki nutsac, but still. Also, though they're annoying, the snaps are not a dealbreaker on #2. -ed.]

Cam, the moms who sew the kimonos live in Clearwater. I assure you, no one there would know the difference.
In baby clothes, anything with a cross-front is labeled "kimono-style" anyways. We got some nice crossover sweaters from Please Mum's clearance last week that were also labeled Kimono sweaters.

I had two winter babies and the sack type pjs were the best. I didn't have to worry about fully exposing them for a late night diaper change (but honestly.. unless the sucker was full of poop or totally saturated... I just let it ride until the next feed in 2 hours. I also used a combo of cloth and G diapers. Cloth worked well when they were in that newborn stage of "hardly wet". We just kept a half-full bucket of 1/2 strength bleach (securely fastened) in the bathroom and dropped the wet diapers in there... then laundered them every 2-3 days in a nice, hot bleachy wash. Diaper services kind of freak me out (I mean... who's babies butt has been those diapers?)

[all the other hippies in town ;) -ed.]

yah but some of these kimono things just manage to have even more snaps! especially at the crotch. though it is prob. the cottage-hippies you want to avoid, Under the Nile has just tie kimonos, and they are organic! (though organic cotton is the silliest thing, given the energy intensity of growing it)
anyway, our #2 was too small for everything, just swam in it, and now suddenly he has grown out of all the 0-3 m 2mos early.

Crotch-snaps and pulling-a-shirt-over-the-head are the second-worst of all things in infant clothing. The one thing even worse than that is having to then take off the aforementioned onesie, pulling it back again over the head -- when your baby is choosing to be all squirmy right after having smeared the onsie with an explosive poo. While this may happen rarely, if it happens it is always at 4am.

Carters makes side-snap tees that are such a god-send. They wrap around the wee one, so there is no need to pull it over his head. And really, I think there's no need for a shirt to snap over the crotch either -- the shirt belongs up north while the diaper system is there guarding that southern border quite well on its own.

But these tee-shirts are virtually impossible to find at any of the brick-mortar stores. We accidentally stumbled upon the existence of this item in a set of hand-me-downs, and then managed to use the UPC code to track down a retailer to buy ourselves more.

BuyBuyBaby has them:

Newborn 5 Pack Side-Snap Tee by Carters
$15.99

gDiapers look interesting - haven't seen them in the UK.
The closest we get are Mothercare's new Smart Nappy where you can choose disposable or washable liners to put in a gDiaper-type outer.

Personally we're in cloth full time chez Becster -dry pailing, pre-rinse and a 60C wash does for us and means no buckets of water or bleach standing round the house...


And I hated those sack nighties - I'd take snaps rather than over-the-head any day. Obviously kimonos win all round.

Welcome back to the 10th Circle, my friend...

Zippered sleepers. Target has them and Gerber makes some too. Both are available in 0-3 months on Target's website.
http://www.target.com/Infants-Circo-3-pk-Safari-Sleepers/dp/B000R9LNAK/qid=1199884945/ref=br_1_5/601-1743323-3900112?ie=UTF8&node=49808011&frombrowse=1&rh=&page=1

If it's of any help at all, back when our daughter was in outfits that snapped, I used to put a dab of nail polish on the centre snap. That way the chances of either of us screwing up and having to undo and redo the snaps was somewhat reduced. Because I didn't mind the snaps so much - but I did mind doing them wrong.

Snaps! The nightmare revisited! I used to lay awake at night planning my line of clothing with oversized, hi-contrast touch fasteners, while simultaneously plotting the death of Fred Rowan.

At 1 year old (Monday), they're still a bummer. When he hasn't decided to outgrow the suit overnight and make it unreasonably tight around the diaper, he's refusing to lay still long enough to get it closed. I think I agree with the Amish about snaps being the tool of Satan. With the ruralness, our clothing choices are severely limited...we don't like no kimono-wearing yuppies 'round here, nossir.

Again with the ruralness, we had no diaper service available & didn't want to stress the well with washing our own, so started X on 7th Generation, which is a local company. But those suckers add up after a while, and we switched to an unscented store brand.

Seventh Generation is a racket unfortunately. Unless you're planning on composting your diapers. They're going to biodegrade as easily in a landfill as the store brand. Which is to say not at all.

[yeah, the only real benefit is if the khaki matches the kid's outfit. -ed.]

I've used gDiapers, but they clogged our toilet at 2am. Yuck. You might consider cloth diapers. There's a whole range from ol' fashion prefolds and pins to "all in ones" with velcro, similar to a disposable.

The correct spelling of the website is Olie Bollen, btw. But apparently you're not the first to make the error since it redirects you appropriately!

Such sweet things!

(The link doesn't go to their site; was that intentional?)

[d'oh on both counts, no. thanks for the catch. I forgot to add the URL. Just checked, and I've misspelled it in 12 posts, over 20 months. the links always worked, though. -ed.]

Love love love Zutano! I originally got hooked on them because of their snap booties. They stay on much better than any socks on those little feet!

Zutano Itsy Bitsy is great! I purchased it when it launched for my first born and will do the same for my next baby due in July. Kumquat also has some cute newborn/preemie sizes.

I was just fuming last night about how those three snaps that go inbetween my boy's legs need to be color coded or something so that anal people like me can make sure that their all aligned and buttoned properly. Just make the middle one green or something, please! Those asshole onesie makers...

And for the diaper issue, I was just thinking that I was going to carry around my naked baby on my naked back and cover our floor with sawdust so that he can just drop everything right down to the ground.

We use BumGenius (cloth) diapers. They can be used on infants from 5-35 lbs.! How? There are snaps on the rise of the diaper that allow you to make the diaper larger as the baby gets bigger. They have Velcro closures, come with an insert to absorb the pee, and keep our baby's butt remarkably dry. In 9 months we've never had a blowout (I swear!), they wash up well, and when the time comes they will retain some value so we can re-sell them to recoup some of our investment. We bought 18 and wash diapers every other day. They paid for themselves in four months. Cottonbabies.com is the manufacturer and distributor of them.

Hi there

Jason from gDiapers here...

To Heather above, please get in touch - 503 546 4666 and speak with Kelli. I think we can solve the flushing issue! Sorry for the yuccky experience!

Cheers

Jason
dad/ CEO
gDiapers

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