Cloth Diapering and Nursing

After much researching and debate David and I decided to give cloth diapering a try. This was a hard decision to make because I didn't want to have a baby wearing a huge bulky diaper and honestly, shaking a poopy diaper above a toilet does not seem that appealing to me. (and it still doesn't) We are hoping this will get us one step closer to allowing me to be a stay at home mom by helping us save some money. I have been keeping track of the amount of diapers used since Ezekiel was born. We used around 190 newborn diapers and around 100 size one diapers in a mere 4 and a half weeks! Now granted I did get great deals on those diapers and didn't pay full price for any of them, but I don't know if I will always be able to get the good deals in the future. So anyways we are taking the great adventure and are trying out cloth diapers. There is a local company in town called ecobuns (ecobuns.com). It is ran out of a ladys home and she has great insight on all the items she sells. Dana (SIL) and I went over to her house one day and she gave us a mini diapering class and explained all the in's and out's of cloth diapering. She showed us all the different types of diapers and how they worked and shared the pros and cons of each kind. We ended up being there for almost two hours going over things and trying to decide what way we wanted to go with for our diapers. I ended up buying prefolds and covers and Dana got AIO (all in one) diapers. So far we both love our diapers and have purchased more. I will still be using disposables for long days away from home and when we go camping just because we don't have the supply needed to make it through the longer periods. Here is a picture of my covers I purchased:
There is a new way of cleaning off poopy diapers too, Its a sprayer that hooks to your toilet. It is kind of like the sprayer that is in your sink but it is hooked to the water behind your toilet and you can spray off the poo into the toilet rather than having to shake it out and worry about dropping the diaper into the toilet. However they run kind of high as far as price goes so Willy (BIL) is making a home made one for about half the price for Dana and I to have on our toilets.

Zeke looks great in his diapers by the way...okay he doesn't like to get his diaper changes that much so that is why he is mad in the picture with the blue diaper cover on.


Elijah is still using disposable diapers at this point. We wanted to see how it goes first with Zeke and then make the decision to switch over with Eli or not. I might buy a couple of nice AIO's for him at night though instead of buying overnight diapers. Here is a picture of Eli because he is a cutie pie too! Did I mention he loves his fruit!
Switching topics now...

While browsing blogs today I came across one that I was able to relate to as a nursing mom. After I had Elijah I tried nursing and it didn't work out. He lost weight and didn't gain it back the way he should have so we had to start supplementing and it just kind of went down the drain from there. He ended up completely on formula. This time around with Zeke nursing is going really well, even though it took him 3 weeks to get back up to his birth weight. He latches on well and eats for a long period of time. I have to admit there are times when I just wish he was formula fed, it gets tricky when you have a 20 month old getting jealous and decides to jump, bite, kick etc, while you are nursing and knows you can't put him in time out or give him vinegar for biting because you are in the middle of a feeding. Hopefully this will calm down after a while. So back to the blog I had mentioned. The lady wrote about nursing in public and overcoming her fears of doing so. The article can be found at: http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/2010/05/overcoming-fears-of-nursing-in-public.html This really hit home for me because I am just like she was. It is uncomfortable going out in public and having to nurse the baby. But I find myself gradually working up my nerves and becoming more comfortable with it. At first I was locking myself away from family and friends to go and feed Zeke, and I would miss out on 20-30 minutes of conversation and time with them. I enjoy spending time with people...I don't enjoy spending time alone by myself, locked away in a room. So I am gradually overcoming my fears and am starting to nurse more in 'public' I should say more around family while using a nursing cover. It is hard though to make sure Zeke is latched on and keeps latched on while hidden under the cover but eventually over time as he gets old he will hopefully start to get the hang of latching himself on with out a bunch of help from me and this will become even more enjoyable.
I do have to say that I am proud of the fact that Ezekiel has never had a bottle at one month old and Im pretty sure he won't get one for a while because things are going really good for us. I have pumped once, more to help ease some pain, and that milk is probably going to need to get tossed out.

And to end the post...Elijah is such a great big brother to Ezekiel. He always asks " Hold me?" when he wants to hold Zekey. He will sit so good on the couch and hold him, he will look at him and talk to him and give him so many kisses. Its the most precious thing in the world.