Toilet Training Update

So over the weekend our toilet training took an interesting step sideways and forwards.


Daddy offered the little guy a treat if he went pee on the toilet.  The little guy immediately ran to the toilet and peed to get his chocolate treat. I obviously was not at home at the time.  I asked my husband why he resorted to this tactic. And he said that I had used a sticker in the morning and had had success.  A short 'discussion' was then had about the difference between a sticker and a chocolate bar - even when it is halloween size. 


Sunday I tried to get the little guy excited about getting stickers as a reward vs chocolate.  So I got him all bundled up for a walk to the dollar store to pick out some stickers. And boy was he excited.  He picked out all sorts of stickers - fire engines, happy faces, teddy bears, twinkle stars.   Everytime he goes into the bathroom he asks for his sticker.  And seems to be starting to understand that he only gets those when he tells us 'in advance' that he has to go and goes in the toilet.   He also gets one if he goes when put on the toilet at one of our 'regular' times (before/after sleeps, before lunch, etc).  He was very proud on Monday to show his montessori teacher his teddy bear sticker for his poo on the toilet Monday morning.  


I've also been starting to get him excited about big boy underwear.  Grandma is coming to visit in a few days (for US Thanksgiving) and is bringing some new big boy underwear with her.  So we'll give that a try when she arrives. 


I'll update how it goes.

Toilet Training by Cloth

So I haven't had much to blog about with regards to cloth diapers in a while.  Our system was working and felt I had had a lot to say on that already.   Over the past while 2 issues have cropped up. One is a decent diaper bag for cloth diaper moms (I'll blog on that one later) and the other is potty training with cloth.

We tried a sort of part time Elimination Communication with our guy starting at about 6 months.  I had problems in the early days with breast feeding so wasn't really ready to focus on the EC until later.  So while we never quite figured out the pee thing, we did get pretty good at knowing when a poop was coming and getting the guy to the toilet.   Then the little guy started his habit of only pooping during naptime... so we let it go for a while.

As he approached 2 years old we got more disciplined.  And I am happy to report that at 26 months we haven't had a poopy diaper in about 3 weeks (and that was an accident during nap time).  He tells us most times before he has to go... although once in a while he doesn't say anything but it is obvious.  He is proud of pooping on the toilet and loves to high five before he flushes. 

The pee is another thing.  He is getting better at telling us - but this is usually simultaneous with actually peeing (it is easy to tell because he spreads his legs out and sort of starts to crouch).   If he runs around naked it is better, as he doesn't like peeing on the floor.  If he is wearing a diaper and we ask him if he is wet he says 'no' most of the time.  So while we have had progress we have a ways yet to go.

Our approach, for what I will call Phase 1 of training, has been:

• Follow his lead.  I made the mistake of trying to ramp up the training last month by moving him to real underwear and quickly realized that was a mistake.  So we just try to be consistent and take his lead.  Thus Phase 2 and real underwear has been delayed for now.
• Regular toilet time.  As soon as he gets up, before lunch, before nap, after nap, before bathtime, before we get ready to leave the house, etc. 
• Books on the toilet.  He loves to read on the toiler - his favourite is the Lego Holiday catalogue.
• Change him as soon as we know he is wet.  We want him to like the feeling of a nice dry diaper. 
• When at home he runs around in just a pull-up, cloth without a cover or nothing.  That makes it easier for us to see what is going on.
• Good positive feedback.  We haven't started using any 'rewards' other than the high five and letting him flush when he has done something.  Might be part of phase 2, but we'll see.

The products we have been using:

• Motherease sandy's make great pull-ups.  Once snapped they pull right up or down (just remember to unsnap before washing or they take a while to dry).  And he feels more like he is wearing underwear.
• So far I've used both motherease and bummies training pants.  The bummies were received 2nd hand from a friend, but the motherease was bought new.  If I had to buy more I'd get more motherease as they are softer.  They seem to absorb about the same.  Our problem is that the bummies are a bit big for him, so we've had some accidents with them moving around or gaping. 
• Naptime and bedtime are regular cloth diapers. 
• Regular toilet, with stepping stool and seat (no space in our little place for a potty).

Interestingly since we are paying more attention to when he is wet we are going through more diapers.  Newandgreen.com  suggests having about six sets of training pants of pull-ups.  We have 5 pulls-ups and 6 sandys (plus we use other cloth diapers for out of the house and naps) and find this amount works well for us.  Otherwise I'd be doing laundry everyday. 

Keeping all the CDs organized

If I don't have some sort of system organized then stuff just gets put anywhere... so at 8 months pregnant I got myself to Home Depot, bought some peg board, had them cut it for me, had hubbie paint it for me, then went back to Home Depot for the appropriate clips, the dollar store for the baskets and hit my labels so my hubbie could keep it all sorted. And presto one small part of my crazy world is organized. It isn't a perfect system, but it works pretty well and it is easy enough to adjust when necessary (like when I bought the goodmama diapers, and had to move the all-in-one diapers into the desk being used as a diaper table).

Call me crazy...

Call me crazy but we went camping for close to a week with cloth diapers. Why? When my hubbie and I returned last year from a 3 week visit to his family/friends in Germany (using disposables) we decided NO MORE. We figured we were either committed to CD or not. So we'd have to find a way to make it work on vacations. Since then we go everywhere with our CDs. Yes, it takes a bit more luggage space and planning. But we feel the effort is worth it in the long run.

The key to CD while travelling is a great zippered wet bag (mine is from Good Mama). From my experience the tie bags just don't cut it on smell reduction. And I will admit on this trip to Alberta we did have to keep the wet bag outside the tent - as it got pretty hot and stuffy inside that tent.

We had been camping with our CDs before - but just a day or two so washing on site wasn't necessary. But when considering this trip I knew it would mean having to wash diapers in a public laundry facility. The campground we were staying at had a laundromat. I picked a time during the day, when most people were at the beach. And YES, I found it empty.

Now I wasn't able to follow my normal washing routine, so there were a few stains. But it was good enough a wash for a few days camping (and then everything got rewashed as soon as we got home). We also decided to use disposable liners and wipes for this trip to make getting rid of messes a little easier on the go.

The other key is remembering to bring a laundry line to hang between some trees (I forgot this, but thankfully my father-in-law helped out with some rope). Yes, I could have dried them at the laundromat, but that would have cost me more change that I didn't have. Plus I really love to sun dry my diapers. And in Alberta, with their nice dry heat, they were dry in a couple of hours.

I'll be honest I don't know how I would handle a situation where there was no laundry facilities either at the campground or in the local town. Hand washing CDs might just be the line I can't cross. But never say never!!!

Day trip diapering

We had a great day trip with the in-laws today. I put a goodmama on the toddler, put a couple of my motherease all-in-ones into my goodmama wet bags and off we went. Fun filled days with car ride, play ground, strollering around, lunch, running, climbing, more stroller, napping in the car, running at the mall and then home. Had a great day (the little guy even napped long enough in the car for us to run a few errands). Didn't think about diapers once - actually completely FORGOT about anything diaper related. Panicked a bit when I realized he had been in the same diaper for about 8 hours. No leaks, no complaints, just a damp bum. Bad mom? Jury is still out on that one. But certainly will use my Goodmama diapers on long days out again.

Keep up or get out of the way

As a marketer you never want to become complacent. But when you are the only service in town I can see how it could happen. If you don't evolve over time you provide an opportunity for a competitor to jump into the gap... and that is what is happening in the Vancouver diaper service game.

When we had our little guy we started cloth diapering with a service. Our objective was to cloth diaper part time and we really had no clue what to buy or if we would like it. So we started with a service to make sure we liked cloth diapering and to give us some time to get used to what was necessary. The only game in town at the time was Diapers Naturally. I heard about them through word of mouth and tried to find them online. I really looked hard to find somebody online that would let me look at what they had to offer. With no web presence we had to phone. They happily mailed us a brochure and information. We found their service great, price reasonable and very convenient. The only downside was that they only had 2 styles of diapers - pre folds, and contoured. Neither of which were fitted diapers and as our guy got bigger that wasn't convenient anymore (just didn't contain the necessary mess nor was the material thick enough to hold much pee either).

So after buying a couple of different CD styles to try, we went out on our own after 4 months.

Now Happy Nappy has come to Vancouver (and Victoria and Calgary). They are more expensive, but they offer thicker fitted diapers (very similar to what we use at home). They are online. They advertise. They make it easy for you to buy their service.

I believe that Diapers Naturally has a lot of commercial business (mostly the hospitals) and residential customers may not be their priority. But a mailed brochure, that offers a referal program, will not allow them to compete with a more vocal competitor - who in my mind has a superior diaper product. Diapers Naturally may not be losing existing customers, but they are most certainly losing potential customers. And as cloth diapering continues to increase in popularity they will likely lose more of their market share.

No matter how happy I was with Diapers Naturally. If I was to do it again, I'd go with Happy Nappy. In fact if Happy Nappy had been around when we stared out we might have never gone out on our own (and the marketer in me can't deny keeping existing customers is easier more and profitable).

Hip Baby Update

Stopped by Hip Baby, on west 4th in Vancouver, on the weekend. Was really happy to see their cloth diaper offering has expanded since my first visit during their re-opening this spring (see earlier blog for more info).

They now also stock Aristocrat wool covers and Mother-ease diapers. Their Mother-ease stock was limited to Sandy's style (in both the unbleached and new fun colours), covers, pull-ups and the short liners. I asked about my favourite one-size mother-ease, with snap in liner. I was apparently the 2nd person that day to ask that same question. They took my information and said they would call - they did a few days later to tell me they now had some in stock.

Now the only thing missing is some mother-ease stay-dry one size diapers - which are my favourite for overnight.

Good Mamas

So I received my highly anticipated Good Mama fitted diapers about a month ago. I continue to LOVE them. They fit, absorb and wash GREAT. Plus they are so soft - even after coming off the clothes line (all the other diapers are as stiff as boards). I also really like the little details like the stitching and snaps for the liners matching the diaper - not really necessary but a great touch.

They work well enough to be used at night. But they are too cute to be night time diapers. So I have ordered some mother-ease stay dry for night. Not nearly as cute, but functional and less expensive than Good Mamas.

If you can I'd recommend getting a couple of Good Mama diapers for those days when you need some extra absorbancy. They are expensive, but they hold their value. Saw a woman selling hers 6 month old diapers for pretty much the original cost (less shipping) on craigslist this week. And they sold. Crazy!!!

Daytime routine

On my original tjrramblings blog I wrote about how I went from being a Melrose Place Girl to a cloth diaper advocate http://tjrramblings.blogspot.com/2009/02/influencing-and-changing-behavior-case.html. I felt I had more to say about CDs so I started a separate CD blog.

I've had a couple of friends ask more about my routine. It is clearly overwhelming to figure out what type of system you need in the beginning. But again, once you get over that hurdle it really is easy to CD.

Anyways, if you are still an expectant mom it is going to be hard to figure out which diapers work best for you because one of the main pieces of the puzzle is still in your womb. This is the reason so many diapers are for sale on craigslist. Mom's either bought diapers that don't work for them, their baby or their lives. Or they gave up on CD.

I still advice buying one or two different types to test them out on your little guy/gal. A number of online stores are offering trial programs.. But here is what works for us and our long lean little guy. Anyways our daytime routine includes diapers, liners and covers.

Diapers

• mother-ease. This is our favourite for everyday. I have a large collection of one-size and of sandy's (we have now moved to the large size). I really like the one-size. The snaps are easy to figure out (even for my husband and his boy fingers). It is also great not having to buy a new set as my guy gets bigger. The Sandy's are a fitted diaper also with snaps - I got them on craigslist as part of a buy with some other mother-ease. They both work well with minimal messes or leakage, although as my little guy is getting older I'm finding I need to add an aborbant liner.
• GoodMamas - I also recently splurged on some Good Mama diapers (they were on sale post Christmas). These one size diapers with snap in liners are fantastic. They fit and absorb well. Plus they give my skinny little guy a great little bubble butt. I use these when it will be longer between changes or when we might be going out for a while.
• All-in-ones - I have about 6 mother-ease all-in-one diapers. These are my go-to diaper when out and about. One of them fits really easily into one of my Good Mama wet bags and it is one less step when you are changing a toddler in a public bathroom. (these also work great as a pull up type diaper - just do the snaps up a bit looser and you can just pull them up and down like underwear)

Covers

• I have waaaay more covers than I need. We seemed to go through tons of covers when we were using the service so I prepared myself a little too well when we switched to using our own diapers. I really liked my bummies when he was younger - they fit really well around the legs and worked well for his lean torso. But the velcro doesn't seem to be wearing as well so now I use my mother-ease more. I prefer the velcro closing versions, but as my guy is starting to learn to open the velcro I also have snap versions too. Both bummis and mother-ease have the nice little double elastic on the legs that minimize leaks and spills.

Liners

• disposable bio-degradable. I used to use the disposable liners to catch the poop. Worked well, but a bit scratchy on his bum.
• mother-ease stay dry liners. A friend gave me their collection and I switched from the disposable - one less thing to throw away. They wick the moisture away from the little bum, are nice and soft and wash well. The poop comes off them easily and I don't really care if the stains don't come out perfectly. You will need a lot of these as you use them in every diaper everytime.

Absorbant liners

• Only just having to add these to our daytime diapers. I guess as the little guy gets bigger he pees more - makes sense. The one-size mother-ease diapers have snap in liners, but you need to size the diaper larger. So I just stick them in without snapping them. I think most of mine are mother-ease, but I did just buy a couple of new ones at Hip Baby that are really soft and absorbant. (I do use these a lot at night though)

The other stuff - The other elements of my daycare routine are:

• cloth wipes (although I do use wet disposable wipes for really messy clean-ups). I bought most of them from our service, but some also come from jamtots. (bought fleece to make my own - don't know what I was thinking - but found it was going to be much work and gave it up)
• spray bottle - I have a spray bottle (got it at a dollar store) filled with distilled water and a bit of a diaper lotion. Little guy LOVES to giggle when we spray him directly - although we usually just spray the cloth first.
• diaper bin - bought a big white one at zellers. Doesn't have to be fancy, just work in your space.
• mesh bag - generic mesh diaper bag from Hip Baby. Washes with the diapers.
• baking soda - box lives in the bottom of my diaper bin (be careful though and make sure your husband doesn't toss everything from the bin into the laundry. If your husband is really sleeply like mine in the am then it will eventually happen - it will take 3 washes to get all the cardboard mash out of your diapers).
• deodorant disk - lives at the bottom of my bin. Would probably work better taped to the lid.

Again, this is just the system that works for us. It probably seems overwhelming, but it is now just second nature to us (although I will admit to using label on my diaper bins to keep my husband straight).

Aristocrat Wool Covers

I received the Artistrocrat wool covers this week - ordered Friday afternoon from Aristocrats directly, received Wednesday. I ordered the diaper cover and the longies. My 23lb little man is still a bit small for them, and the longies just hang on him. But the diaper cover fits well enough. And so far so good. Sopping wet diapers in the morning, dry cover, dry jammies, dry sheets. Yippee!

Plus ordering them directly from Aristocrats http://www.aristocratsbabyproducts.com/index.html directly was cheaper than other sites.

Doesn't take much to make me happy these days.

Wet Bags

I had to blog about how much I continue to LOVE LOVE LOVE my Good Mama wet bags. I have a generic wet bag from Hip Baby for my home diaper bin - works great and washes well. But I wanted something nicer than a zip lock to use in my diaper bag/purse. I also wanted a larger bag that I could use when travelling so I wouldn't have to rely on disposable and that wouldn't create any smell at Grandma's house. There are a lot of draw string wet bags out there. Can I tell you that draw strings do NOT keep smells in. So I researched online - again diaperpin.com comes in very handy.

I usually prefer to find Canadian made brands where possible. But the only zippered Canadian one I could find was Jamtots and well it was rather boring looking. The reviews for Good Mama were excellent, and the patterns were very cute. If I have to carry something around in my diaper bag/purse it should at least be attractive. So I ordered a small and a large sized wet bag from Good Mama. The small ones fit one diaper, with a small pocket for wipes on the outside. The medium was good for a day trip. I LOVED them. I ordered more. I now own:

• 3 small ones - 2 in the rocket boy pattern and 1striped pattern for wipes or other accessories.
• 2 medium ones - one is exclusively our swim bag and the other often gets used for a spare outfit (I have a boy and the bag often arrives home full of wet/muddy clothing)
• 1 large one for travelling. I can say that on a recent trip I couldn't wash any diapers for 5 days and there was NO smell.

Plus did I mention how cute they look. Nobody ever suspects that they hold diapers - clean or dirty.

I just received my order of Good Mama fitted diapers (I couldn't believe my luck when they were not only in stock but on sale after Christmas). Only had them a few days. But so far so good.

Hip Baby

Hip Baby on 4th Ave has re-opened under new ownership. The old Hip Baby carried cloth diapers (CDs) but they only carried their own "Hip Baby" diapers and a few types of covers. Since I really disliked their diapers I really only went their to get their Hydrox product to wash my CDs.

What a nice surprise to see that the new owners have expanded the CD selection (currently kissiluvs and a nice range of covers). Since KG Kids (or Discount Diapers) went bankrupt there has been a real need for an actual store with a reasonable selection of CDs (frankly the need was there before as KG really wasn't the best retail operation). There have always been lots of options on-line. But I'm a touch and feel /talk to a person face-to-face kind of girl. I suspect a lot of mom's considering CDing are the same way.

The new owner is not well versed in cloth diapers. But her male associate was obviously a CD Dad. He was talking to a soon-to-be-mom when I arrived giving her lots of great advise on CDing. He and I chatted afterwards and he indicated they intend to expand their CD stock further.

This is great news to me! It is so hard to expand the number of people using CDs when it is virtually an online culture. It was great when newandgreen.com started with their workshops, newborn diaper rental and great selction - but they are primarily online. And Hip Baby is in a prime, hands-on, touch and feel Kits location. Plus having a CD Dad explain how to use diapers from a first hand perspective is really 'priceless'.

I will certainly be back to re-fill my Hydrox and to update my CD stock as required. Today I bought a Kissiluv to try and a couple of new doublers to try. Had always wanted to give them a try, but really didn't want to pay the shipping for just one diaper.

Best of luck to the new Hip Baby!