How I convinced my husband we should cloth bum!

I have always loved the idea of using cloth nappies. My husband, however, has not. We've been using cloth nappies for over 5 months now, and even now if I'm out of the house, he sneaks her back into disposables. He's come up with a stream of reasons that he doesn't really like to use them, all of which I understand. But I was very determined to use them, and seeing as I do 80% of the nappy changes I stood my ground. He will thank me one day ;) Below are a list of his 'excuses' and my responses...

"They cost an absolute fortune!"
When you consider how long you need to use nappies for (24 months at least normally) you do save money in the long run. The initial start up cost is a definite downside to cloth nappies but it does pay off as you save A LOT of money. If you look after your nappies well, you can also use them beyond one child and continue to use them for subsequent babies (there's a good reason to build a lovely large stash)

It is 100% cost effective... Unless like me, you become a cloth nappy addict. I swear he doesn't even know about half of our stash... I am slowly adding them so he doesn't realise. I've heard of other mummies telling their husbands/partners that they won them in giveaways etc as well. Genius!!

"I don't want to deal with the poop"
It's just poop. And we own soap. When our first was a couple of months old.. He projectile pooped. Everywhere. All over me and my husband. We were speechless but poop is inevitable with babies, whether you use cloth nappies or disposables, and I guarantee as a parent you will get pooped on a number of times during the nappy years... and possibly beyond!

My husband is a bit of a poo-aphobe and really didn't like the idea of having to 'deal' with the poo. So we compromised. We have two nappy pails, one for nappies that need a rinse, and the one for pre-rinsed 'ready for the wash nappies'. So now he has no excuse HA!

"What if I'm out and she poops everywhere... I can't bin the nappy and I don't want to carry that around"

This phased me at first as well. It took my a while to get a good 'system' going, so we kept emergency disposables in the changing bag for a while. We do now carry two wet bags, one for nappies and one for clothes (this one came with the changing bag) to make things easier. And I can 100% confirm that carrying a poop filled cloth nappy is no different to poop covered clothes that have been exploded on. You can wrap them up and put them in the wet bag as you would with soiled clothes, take home, wash and go again! The wet bags can be washed too and if you have a good wet bag, they don't smell and you wouldn't notice any difference (that's wee and poo included).

"I work up to 60 hours some weeks, I can't bothered dealing with them after a long shift at work. Disposables are easier"

There really isn't much difference (especially now we have our 'still to rinse' bucket). It the same quick change as we mostly use all-in-ones, and all he has to do is put the dirty nappy in the bucket. There is equally as much effort in changing a disposable! Besides, I change the nappies most of the time anyway. Since buying lots of lovely prints - I actually enjoy it!

"It's too much washing"

Honestly, when my husband said this, my response was "you never touch the washing machine anyway". He doesn't. The last time he did the washing I was in hospital with severe morning sickness, I was there for two days and he managed to ruin 3 of my favourite tops by mixing the washing...

In terms of how much extra you wash, it really isn't that much. I wash twice a week and it's literally just a case of chucking of them in the washing machine and hanging them up to dry. Which I love, as I get to show the nappies off on the airer... sad I know.

We now use cloth nappies 90% of the time. I'm still working on him! We will get there! I'm a stubborn mummy and determined on using them all the time.
Let me know what your husbands and partners think of them and how or even if you had to convince them to use the cloth.
Leave me a comment below and don't forget to subscribe! :)

DIY Vest Extenders Using Old Vests

A couple of months ago I was sorting out my little girls old vests, wondering what I could do with them as it seemed such a shame to get rid of them. Then it occurred to me.. I could make some vest extenders with them! I had been looking for some to buy but they just seemed so expensive (especially when I included postage) for something which just extends a vest..

These vest extenders are relatively easy to make and if you cut carefully you still have a lot of the vest fabric left so I've also cut a lot out ready to make bunting for her room (although I've yet to get around to making it). Also you get prettier vest extenders from using old vests instead of boring white ones everyone tends to stock!

This is also really quick and only takes around 10-15 minutes for each vest extender.
I'm not a brilliant machinist by any stretch of the imagination but I found these quite easy. The picture below is my first attempt... so please excuse the slightly wonky seams and sewing! They are pretty self explanatory but I've added pictures of each stage to make it even easier to do.

 

What you will need:

1 old vest for every vest extender you want to make

Matching thread

Scissors

Pins

 

I start by cutting the three pieces I need, out of the vest and laying them flat on the table. You then need to figure out which way you need to sew the two bits of fabric with the snaps. I used another vest to help me with this, as it's really important that it all attaches to the right bits to work. For me it worked out to have the top snaps in the photo facing upwards and the outer snaps below, facing downwards.

 

 

Once I had figured this out, I pinned them together and started to sew a straight line down the them, sewing them together, which should look like this when done...

 

 

 

I have seen some vest extenders left like this but I didn't think it looked as neat so to hide seams and rough edges, I then stitched a 'back piece' onto the snaps pieces like this, along the black lines I have added... (I've cut this a bigger than needed, just so I could show this properly)

 

 

 

Trim any excess fabric off to create neater seams and then turn this inside out and tuck in the tops of the fabric, leaving the snaps exposed, and sew down

 

 

 

And you're done!

 

I apologise for the un-neat stitching in these photos! I was too busy focusing on getting the right pictures!

 

I've made a number of these in various sizes for different nappies, so longer ones for night nappies and shorter ones for when she goes up a size in vest and when she's wearing slimmer nappies. I love making these as they cost next to nothing and it's a brilliant way to reuse old vests that you no longer need. Also if you're like me and buy the same brand all the time, they are almost guaranteed to fit!

 

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A nappy review - Bambino Mio Miosolo

I'd known about reusable nappies from when I was much younger and my auntie was having her children. I remember seeing maidens of prefolds and wraps around the house when we'd visit, but I never really thought much of it until I had my second child.

I was first introduced to bambino mio after I purchased 'a starter pack' of two-parters (prefolds and wraps) at a baby event in my local supermarket and researched into the brand and what other types of nappies they do. A couple of days later I purchased some preloved miosolos off a site I found to try, as prefolds and wraps weren't working for us at the time, and I LOVED them!

I'd looked at a number of other brands before purchasing these and liked the look of them for a number of reasons but mostly it was the reviews and how many people were using them. The prints that they come in are soooo pretty! Even my 4 year old little boy wanted to wear them because he loved the patterns... luckily we settled for letting him pick what print his sister wears as it took MONTHS to potty train him and he is NOT going back into nappies now! As much as I'd love the excuse to double our stash and buy some more boyish prints!

At first I found they were a little too big for my little girl, who is quite slim and long, even on a smaller rise as she was only 4 months at the time, but looking back I think it's more that it took us a while to figure them out. How to get a good fit, getting the elastic snug around the legs and also knowing which rise we needed it on.

Now 4 and a half months on they're our go to nappy and we LOVE them.

The miosolo nappy is an all in one 'birth to potty' nappy and they come in many different prints and block colours. They are velcro fastened and have three rises on the front, allowing you to adjust the size of them to fit your little one. The insert tucks into the back, similar to a pocket nappy, which is brilliant as you can wash and pre-stuff them ready to use. I love this about them as my husband (who isn't so keen to use cloth) even finds these easy to use - they're fool proof! ... Well almost, the first time my husband put one of these on my daughter it was back to front - somehow!

The microfibre insert itself has a little pocket at the top to help you stuff it into the pocket of the nappy, which is brilliant, as not only does it make it 5x easier to stuff the nappy, it also serves as something to cover any jewellery, as I am terrified my wedding ring is going to somehow rip the PUL (paranoid I know). It also has a pull cord type of thing along the insert, to help you pull out the insert after use with minimal touching of the insert itself.

 

When washing, I have found that they tend to take a day to dry on an airier fully in the winter but in the summer they can take a couple of hours when the weather is nice and warm (which is never in the UK) so having a good stash is key if you're like me and only tend to wash every 3 days.

They can be quite pricey if brought at full price (around £15.99 normally), however they last, they wash brilliantly and are so pretty and cute when on the bum! Also you can often pick them up cheaper in on various websites running offers or even sometimes in local supermarkets in the UK. My local Aldi supermarket recently had them in their baby event for £7.99. Needless to say our stash grew by at least 5 nappies that week! I wanted more but my husband wouldn't let me - actually they sold out but he doesn't know that's the reason we didn't get any more ;)

Overall I do think these nappies are perfect for us! They're easy to use, come in lovely colours and just work really well on our little girl. They've won numerous awards in the UK and I can definitely see why! Plus they can fit my 4 year old, which goes to show they really are a birth-to-POTTY nappy and will last through the ages!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe for more nappy reviews and much more x