Maclaren Mania
I think people are going a little nuts with the Maclaren recall. It’s terrible that twelve children were injured, but I think it’s important to keep in mind how small that number is in comparison to the number of Maclaren strollers on the market.
The coverage has been a bit maddening. The NYT’s Motherlode breathlessly wonders:
Add frustration with the logistics of the recall to fears about finger amputation — not to mention the question of how on earth to get junior to the park or the supermarket if the stroller is now too dangerous to use — and you have some cranky parents.
Except, as I understand it, the strollers aren’t too dangerous to use. They’re just potentially dangerous to fold if your kid is sticking their fingers in there. We never fold up our stroller (it just lives on our porch) so there’s really no reason for us to freak out.
Motherlode also wonders if “too much damage to customer loyalty has already been done” by the fact that Maclaren’s website was overloaded by requests for hinge covers yesterday. Who in their right mind would stop using a stroller they already own and like because a company’s website crashed? I don’t think I understand people. Handling a recall is a very delicate operation, and customers are bound to get nervous and angry, but I don’t understand why the media is calling this a PR disaster just because the recall was successfully publicized.
Filed under Parenting | Tags: gear, maclaren, recall | Comment (1)Cloth Diapers: Rachel’s Definitive Recommendations
Before the babies were born, I did ludicrously exhaustive research on cloth diapers, changing my mind many, many times about what I thought the best options would be for us. Now that Matt and I have been using cloth diapers on Julian and Eloise for about nine months, my opinions have crystallized about the single best, most effective, and most economical diaper system. I find myself moved to offer these opinions up to others who might want to skip the research and go with one extremely smart person’s* recommendations. So here they are: (Suggested quantities are estimates for ONE baby.)
The essentials:
18-24 Cloth-eez prefolds (hands down the best prefolds)
5-6 Thirsties covers
3 Snappis fasteners
3-4 BumGenius one-size pocket diapers
The advantages of this system are many. In spite of their plainness compared to much more elaborate diapers, prefolds have many benefits. They are cheap; they are every bit as effective (if not more so) than the fancier options; they are very easy to use after a day or so of practice; and they are a breeze to care for. When paired with Thirsties covers, they are about as good a diaper option as you can find.
BumGenius diapers are incredibly effective and absorbent, and we have had very few issues with leaks overnight. Because they’re one-size, they should last from birth to potty training. Presumably if you had a good bit of money to spend (though still less than the cost of disposables!) you could do an all-BumGenius stash, and I know plenty of people who do this. I just kind of hate stuffing pocket diapers.
One huge advantage of this set of diapers is that they can all be bleached. I know some people aren’t fans of bleach, and I suppose it’s something to avoid if your baby has very sensitive skin, but it has never bothered our babies and an occasional bleaching really rejuvenates a diaper stash.
The optional splurgy bonuses:
3-4 Thirsties Fab Fitteds or Kissaluvs fitteds (for friends and relatives intimidated by prefolds — pretty foolproof)
2 Sposoeasy all-in-ones (for the diaper bag)
Neither is necessary, but both are nice.
The accessories:
-Diaper pail (this one works great)
-2 pail liners (we use these)
-2 wet bags (for the diaper bag; we use these)
-24-30 cloth wipes (Thirsties work great for us)
-Spray bottle (for wetting wipes)
-Baby Bits wipes soap (one box will last months)
-Strip of velcro loops (optional, for hanging covers to dry — put it on the underside of a table or shelf — possibly Matt’s best invention ever)
-Toilet spray hose (for dealing with non-breastmilk poo)
-Diaper detergent (we use Country Save but I’m not convinced it’s the best; many people like Charlie’s Soap and Allen’s Naturally, but I haven’t tried either (yet); consult this list)
-RLR laundry treatment (use every couple months to remove detergent build-up from your diapers — the number one cause of stinkiness)
-California Baby calendula cream (use this or another product on this list for simple diaper rash — for serious diaper rash, use serious diaper cream with disposable diapers for a day or two)
And there you have my unsolicited opinions. I hope this is helpful to someone. I’m always happy to answer questions — I think after I convert 10 people to cloth diapers I get a toaster oven.
Julian and Eloise say: We love our cloth diapers!
*Everyone knows this is a joke, even if I don’t use an emoticon, right? I’m trying to wean myself off them.
Filed under Baby Stuff | Tags: cloth, diapers, gear, howto | Comments (14)Fitted Diapers
(Be sure to check out parts 1 and 2!)
So, if I manage to keep the time between cloth diaper posts to a month, that’s not too pathetic, right? Right? Eesh.
Fitted diapers, as the name implies, are fitted: they’re shaped like a diaper, they have elastic around the legs, and they have a built-in fastening mechanism. We have two different brands, which are rather different in style: Thirsties and Kissaluvs.
The Thirsties are made out some kind of soft micro-fleece that is supposed to wick moisture away from the skin, with a more absorbent internal cloth part. They fasten with Velcro tabs, and come in a host of shiny colors.
The Kissaluvs are made of a terry-like cotton, which doesn’t have the “wicking” feature but which Rachel thinks is a little more absorbent than the Thirsties. They fasten with snaps, and come in a few colors, but not the same rainbow of fruit flavors that the Thirsties offer.
Neither is waterproof, so in either case we pair the diaper with a waterproof diaper cover.
I’d have to say that the fitted diapers are my favorite style of cloth diaper. They’re incredibly easy to put on and take off, and the fit is less bulky than the prefolds. Of the two, I slightly prefer the Thirsties because I prefer Velcro to snaps: snaps are probably less likely to wear out over time, but Velcro provides more flexible sizing options, since you can only snap where there’s a snap, but Velcro works over the length of the tab. I admit that I am also, like a hummingbird or a small child, attracted to bright colors.
(With the Velcro tabs on the Thirsties fitted diapers or the covers, it’s important to fasten the tab down to the adjacent laundry tab before washing. That way, you don’t have free-floating Velcro that will pick up lint in the wash, or end up mating with all of your other diapers to form a giant Velcro mass.)
So, if fitted diapers are my favorite, why would we use prefolds at all? A few reasons: First, the fitted diapers are considerably more expensive per diaper—about $12-15 compared to around $2 for a prefold. The fitted diapers are also less absorbent than a prefold, which in practice means somewhat more frequent diaper changes. The micro-fleece fabric is also a bit more finicky than the plain cotton of a prefold: some diaper creams may end up coating the fabric in a way that negatively affects their performance.
In the following extremely dorky (and too-quiet) video, I demonstrate the use of both kinds of fitted diaper:
Filed under Baby Stuff | Tags: cloth, diapers, gear | Comments (2)Cloth
When we told people we planned to use cloth diapers for the twins, people said we were crazy. Frankly, when Rachel proposed it, I thought she was crazy, but she quickly brought me around. Here are the arguments in favor of using cloth diapers:
- Disposable diapers put all kinds of freaky-ass chemicals up against your baby’s, well, ass. Disposables are incredibly absorbent, but they achieve that absorbency using space-age gels and such. These things might not be bad for your baby, but not using them has got to be better.
- Disposable diapers put tons and tons of crap, literally, into landfills, taking up valuable landfill space and potentially contaminating groundwater, etc. Cloth diapers have to be laundered, which uses lots of water, it’s true, but I think cloths still come out ahead, environmentally speaking.
- Cloth diapers are more expensive per diaper, but in the long run are much cheaper than disposables.
Some commonly asked questions seem to be:
Are you using cloth diapers exclusively? Heavens, no. We’ve only been using cloth for a week or two. We still pack disposables in the diaper bags for the few times we’ve ventured out of the house, and at this point we’re putting them in disposables overnight. We’ll probably switch to cloth overnight when they get a bit bigger and can fit into some of the other diapers we have.
Do you use a diaper service? No. There are probably some places that still have services that take away your dirty diapers and bring you fresh clean ones, but Providence isn’t one of those places. With two babies, we’re basically doing laundry once a day anyway, so an additional load of diapers isn’t too arduous.
Wait, you wash the diapers in your washing machine? With, like, poop on them? Yes. We do the diapers in a separate load from our regular clothes, and I think we run them through an extra rinse cycle, but at this stage in the babies’ development, their poop is pretty liquid-y. Things seem to be pretty clean. Really, it’s fine. Nothing else we own seems to be covered in poop at this time.
How do they work? Cloth diapers seem to have come a long way since the old days of safety pins and rubber pants. What I figure I’ll do is over the next few days (oh, who am I kidding: weeks) is do a series of posts on the different kinds of cloth diapers we’ve tried, and our impressions of each. It will either be fascinating or incredibly boring, depending on your personal interest in diapering. Non-parents, feel free to skim.
OK, so, there seem to be four basic types of cloth diapers. We have examples of three of the types.
Prefolds are the most basic type of cloth diaper. These are basically rectangles of absorbent cotton. You fashion the cloth into a little baby loincloth, and then put a waterproof cover over it. We’ve had good success with these: they’re our default diapering solution at present.
Fitted diapers are absorbent fleecy things that work just like disposables: they’re shaped like diapers, basically, with leg holes and Velcro tabs and all. You Velcro on the diaper, and then put a waterproof cover on it, just like with prefolds. I think these are the most convenient, although Rachel insists they’re somewhat less absorbent than the prefolds. We have two different brands of fitted diapers: Thirsties and Kissaluvs. (So far, the Kissaluvs are a little big for our babies, but they’re more adjustable than the Thirsties, so we expect to get a lot of good use out of them.)
Pocket diapers have a waterproof shell, a fleece lining, and a pocket in which to stuff a piece of absorbent fabric. We haven’t used any of our pocket diapers yet (small babies) but we’ll eventually try out bumGenius and FuzziBunz.
All-in-one diapers are one piece: waterproof exterior and super absorbent interior. They’re as convenient as disposables, except you have to wash them. We don’t have any of these at this point.
Since both prefolds and fitteds require waterproof covers, we have quite a few of them. Our favorites so far are the Thirsties covers, but we also have some Bummis, ProRap, and ImseVimse. After a few weeks of use, we can enthusiastically recommend the Thirsties. They have double leg gussets, which help keep the diaper tucked inside and prevent wetness from leaking out, and they have double-sided Velcro tabs, which allow you to overlap them for small babies.
With prefolds, you generally want some kind of device to hold the diaper in place under the cover. Although it’s possible to just fold the diaper into shape and then wrap the cover around it, we find that the Snappi fastener is extremely convenient.
As long as we’re being environmental, we can’t go using disposable diaper wipes, can we? No, we cannot. Instead, we use cloth wipes that we spray with a little soapy water before using. We like the Thirsties wipes best; the Kissaluvs can be a little rough on sensitive baby parts.
OK, seriously, I’ve gone on about cloth diapers for rather a long while here, and I’ve threatened more posts to come, so I’ll wrap this up. We do think using cloth diapers is a great choice environmentally and financially. We (mostly Rachel) did a lot of research into the best options, so we hope the results of our experimentation can be of use to anyone else.
Oh, crap, gotta go change a diaper.
Filed under Baby Stuff, Parenting | Tags: cloth, diapers, environment, gear, tips | Comments (7)Essential Baby Gear
Nothing like babies to open your heart and open your wallet, right? Welcome to part two of my three-part series on baby-related material acquisition. My last post, on the showers, documented a fairly typical aspect of the baby preparation process. The same can be said for the planned subject of the final post of this series: decorating the babies’ room. This middle post, however, is a little more shameful.
Let’s start with the most justifiable of my recent impulse buys: the baby books! Because we have done oh-so-reliable a job of documenting my pregnancy here on this blog, I decided that baby books were a an obvious must-have for us. Actually, I am hopeful that we’ll be able to make ourselves fill these out, because I remember thoroughly enjoying looking through my baby book when I was younger. Also, with twins, we have a unique opportunity to neglect each child’s baby book equally, rather than going all out with the first kid’s and then forgetting about the second kid’s except for a hastily scrawled “you were born and now you’re in the fourth grade.”
So baby books it was to be, although I probably didn’t have to spring for top-of-the-line baby books. But these had several appealing features: first, they aren’t too cutesy. Second, they are both gender neutral. Third, they coordinate without matching. Fourth, the company offers an optional twin insert page pack, which of course I snapped up right along with the books. Fifth, they were running a buy two, get one cat free special.
We’ve started filling out the pre-birth pages, and even Matt, who was initially skeptical, admitted that it’s kind of fun. When you come to visit us after the babies are born, be sure to badger us to make sure we’re keeping up with them.
This next purchase is also not at all frivolous. In planning ahead for our post-partum hospital stay, we realized that it simply wasn’t practical to expect to lug in our much loved but cumbersome SLR with external flash to capture all those wondrous and bloody first moments. We needed something small and fully automatic. But what, were we going to use cell phone cameras? I don’t think so. So a cute little point-and-shoot (one highly recommended by our photography buff friend Ken) is now standing by, ready to go into the hospital bag and snap zillions of photos that you will all have to look at one at a time and go “awwwwww” convincingly for each and every one.
Okay, I’m going to try to convince you that this last item is also a baby gear essential, but I can’t even make myself fall for it, really. This is my new iPod Touch. You might think that this is an awfully impractical thing for me to buy myself when we have two babies, and all their attendant expenses, on the way, but think of all the ways this will improve the babies’ lives:
1) I will be able to enter Trixie Tracker data from anywhere in the house, thus keeping meticulous track of every diaper, burp, and grunt.
2) I will be able to create baby-specific playlists according to their personal musical tastes.
3) I will be able to have hand-held internet access even during the early days when I am confined to the couch constantly feeding babies, thus discouraging me from becoming one of those lame, out-of-touch moms.
4) I will be able to carry photos of the babies around with me on the large, high definition screen, thus enabling all interested parties (by which I mean everyone I run into, of course) to see their adorability in crystal clear technicolor.
5) I will not resent the babies for forcing me to give up my dreams of having an iPod Touch in order to save my money to give them a better life.
I have also tried to distract you from the frivolousness of this purchase by including a photo of my 34-week belly. Big, right? Makes the iPod look insignificant. Hardly worth noting. La la la.
Filed under Baby Stuff | Tags: gear, Pregnancy, self-delusion | Comments (3)Showers!
About <mumble mumble> weeks ago now, my mom and Mark threw us a wonderful baby shower in New Hampshire, where friends and family were extremely generous in their efforts to prepare us materially for the arrival of the twins. (As for preparing us mentally and practically, most people just shook their heads sympathetically and chuckled, “Good luck with that.”)
My mom did a great job finding cute but not cutesy decor and accessories, including the invitation above, this delicious cake (which matched the design on the plates by nearly complete coincidence — she found the plates after ordering the cake) and M&M favors that said “Sparvey Twins!” on them. I would have included a picture of one of the 10 extra bags of M&Ms I brought home with me, but I…am not sure where they are right now.
I think this picture very nicely demonstrates my supreme comfort with babies. “Hello, small human, thank you for coming to the party. Can I…get you a beverage?” Usually my awkwardness around kids is not that big a deal, but it felt somewhat damning at my own baby shower.
Although you might be distracted by Joy’s rather inexplicable expression of pining for Sandy, the point of this picture is the cute ice-breaker game (and the only game played at the shower): Each guest had a label stuck to his or her back with the name of a famous parent of twins. Everyone had to guess his or her celebrity by asking other guests yes or no questions. Once you figured it out, you could move your label off your back. It was fun, even if I never did figure out Nelson Rockefeller.
The gift opening was great fun and included highlights such as handmade all-over clothing protectors (though I can’t think of how our clothing would possibly be at any greater risk of stainage with babies in the house) and Baby’s First Klan outfits. (If that is in poor taste, I apologize. And I tried to whip off the towel as soon as someone pointed out what it resembled, but the camera was too quick.) I’m sorry we don’t have more photos of the gifts, but I am sure that most if not all of them will make some kind of appearance in the coming months while being used by the babies!
Many thanks to Mark for taking the lovely photos, of course.
We also were very fortunate to have another shower thrown for us in Providence two weeks later, hosted by good friends of ours who spent the entire eight weeks leading up to the event threatening to hire strippers for the occasion. Our friends were incredibly generous and creative with their gifts. We have no photos at all of that shower except for this one I just took of the invitation, but again, I expect you’ll see the fruits of the shower highlighted in future posts.
This is the first of a trio of posts I have in mind regarding the great fun of acquiring STUFF in anticipation of the babies’ arrival. Stay tuned.
Filed under Baby Stuff | Tags: events, gear | Comments (2)OMG CREEPY
I know this is quite a bit more trivial than most of the posts we’ve put up so far, but I just had to inflict this creepiness on others. Now, I try to be as open-minded as possible, and I will acknowledge that there might be a very small number of parents for whom this product fills an essential need. I still maintain that it looks as creepy as all get out: The Zaky Infant Pillow.
The headline on the web site boasts: “It’s like leaving a part of you with your baby!” Because that’s what any baby truly needs — just some disembodied portion of a stuffed parent. I was hoping there was a variety pack, so you could leave your hands one day, your feet the next, maybe your kneecaps another, but it seems as though they haven’t started thinking outside the box like that yet.
Filed under Baby Stuff | Tags: awful, gear | Comments (4)