DadGear and DaisyGear Diaper Bags

I am in the process of getting some great new products online. I'll leave some surprises to come but I am currently working on adding these really gorgeous and reasonably priced diaper bags. Finally, a dad friendly diaper bag. Of course moms are gonna love it and they thought of that and created a slightly modified more feminine version dubbed Daisy Bags.


Here is the Daisy Sport Diaper Bag. It is so cute! This about makes me want to start carrying a diaper bag again! Well, almost! It's definitely nice to have those days over with but this bag is so cute, I want to find some excuse to have one. Anyone have any suggestions for me?


By the way, I have been meaning to get this info up on my website. All the diaper bags I carry are babywearing friendly. Babywearing is a critical tool in a parents toolbag and having a babywearing friendly diaper bag means hands-free diaper bag wearing and that the strap won't get in the way of the baby or the baby carrier. A messenger bag is ideal. A backpack style diaper bag will limit you to front carries. That's fine if you have a newborn but as time goes on, it's great to have more options than that. A messenger is ideal with a backpack style baby carrier.

Cloth Diapers vs Disposable Diapers

So, have you read your latest issue of Mothering Magazine? I have only gotten as far as the article about cloth diapers with the whole disposable diaper history lesson and already, I am stunned. Simply stunned.

There is a lot of data going the internet around that makes people feel okay about using disposable diapers. There are ridiculous biased studies that claim that if you factor in the amount of resources required to create cloth diapers and wash them, they are comparable in their environmental impact to disposables.

Come on!

Are you buying that?

I did a bit of quick math in my head and was able to get numbers even worse than what these articles say. For example, I have read that it costs $3000 to use disposable diapers over the span of diapering. I did some quick math and realized that this was based on the child being in diapers for 2-3 years and only on about 7 diaper changes per day. The prior is unrealistic and the latter is disgusting. Most children who wear diapers pee way more often than that and if they are peeing significantly less, especially in the first year, you need to be worried about dehydration. It turns out that potty training has been delayed more and more since the popular use of disposable diapers because children are disassociating with their own elimination. So figure on 4-5 years of disposables for many children, with some in pull-ups at night for 6 years and beyond. If you don't believe me, go see what the stores are stocking.

I am here to say that anyone who says the decision to choose cloth diapers or disposable diapers is a toss-up or a personal decision is wishy-washy, misinformed, or intentionally misleading you. Disposable diapers are a huge problem for our babies, our environment and our wallets. Period.

My friend Kathy (owner of BabysAbode.com) and I do a monthly talk at the Hollywood Birth Center for families who are expecting a baby and one of the topics is cloth diapers. I was stunned to have a fellow in there one time who was openly hostile about what we were saying. He simply refused to believe that the effect of feces in the ever growing landfills and diapers that don't decompose for 500 years was anything to worry about. And he came from Denmark, a country he readily admitted was quite advanced in its opinions on environmental issues.

Why do people stick their heads in the sand when it comes to our own short-term convenience? Why do we think it is acceptable to dump fecal matter in the regular trash when there are all sorts of complicated processes that go on for sewage to save us all getting contaminated? Remember all the plagues that stopped with the advent of indoor plumbing?

Cloth diapers are not all that complicated to care for and they are super inexpensive compared to disposable diapers. Let me back up a bit and say I was terrified to use cloth with my older daughter. I used the Tushies brand from Whole Foods because I figured they would be more natural for my baby's tender nether regions. Plus they decompose in a mere 50 years so we can go visit her poop pretty much for the rest of my lifetime.

I found the very thought of cloth diapers repulsive. Seriously, I did. If you have ever met me, you might be startled by that. I share that to show how far I've come and that I have faith that you, too, can come a long way in your thinking. You're reading this so you are open minded! So I continued using paper diapers on my sweet little baby's bottom.

But after 8 months of a continual disgusting diaper rash, I was motivated to look into other options. After a brief and confusing stint with a diaper service, I finally made the plunge and bought a starter pack of contoured cloth diapers and wraps. I had no one to guide me so I found it confusing at first but there are so many online forums with information handy that I was able to get it figured out pretty quickly.

I had a front loading washing machine so I could not soak my diapers. It turned out that there was no need. I only had enough diapers to last 2 days so I did laundry either daily or every 2 days. I did a cold rinse and then a hot wash with a minimal amount of gentle detergent. At that time, I machine dried my diapers but later, I realized that I could just tumble them for a few minutes and then hang them dry and save on resources. I no longer use a dryer at all for any laundry.

My daughter's rash cleared up within a few days. For good. After a few months, I got bold and stopped using the wrap when I was around the house. A friend who had lived in Africa for a few years educated me on how often to change diapers. I had been under some notion that the goal was to soak up as much pee as the thing could hold before changing it. Looking back, I wanna smack my former self sharply around the face for this but it is what I had soaked up from all the commercials which show a diaper about to explode and the parents still blissfully able to ignore the child. With cloth diapers not costing anything to change, there is no need to try to get the most out of each diaper.

So I started using the diapers alone and constantly checking for wetness, changing immediately. Long story short, she was totally out of diapers on her second birthday. With my second baby, I started doing elimination communication from birth and she was out of diapers for the most part by around 18 months. We also used cotton training pants fairly often because they hold a bit of pee and are less bulky to launder, and you can buy a whole lot of them for less money. I see no reason to keep children in big fat bulky diapers if you are going to change them after each pee. And my sqeamishness about getting pee or poop on me has, at least as far as my own babies is concerned, nearly completely gone away. For now, anyway.

One last thing I'd like to say is this: These ain't your mama's cloth diapers! In fact, cloth diapering has changed so much in the past few years, I dare you to go look and not come away hooked. Last month at our talk, we passed around a signup sheet at the beginning for a cloth diaper class. That clipboard flew so fast, a few people got injuries in their haste to get it back to us blank. Then later, while Kathy was passing around some cute cloth diaper options, I slyly started the clipboard on it's second journey. It's no surprise it came back with about half the people signed up!

Tropical Storm Ernesto

The hurricane is expected this evening. If we are hit hard in South Florida, no orders for SoBeBabies or TheErgoLady will be shipped out until the Post Office reopens. Please bear with us during this delay!

The latest news on the storm indicates that it is not expected to linger or be even a Category 1. That is good news! Today's orders already went out around 1pm. I will continue to pack up orders to ship out but won't actually take them to the post office until I am certain it has reopened.

Also please understand that we may not be able to respond to phone calls or emails during this time.

If you are seeing this message and have just placed an order but now realize you don't want to risk a delay, simply send me an email and I will refund your payment when I am back online.

But hey, I'm running some pretty nice sales!

Last update: Tuesday August 29, 2006 5:10pm

Monthly NINO Babywearing Meeting

This week was my groups monthly NINO babywearing meeting. The focus this month was slings and pouches.

Read more here.

I find these meetings rewarding, but really draining! It takes a fair bit to put them together. I did remember to send out reminders, but unfortunately, since my meeting is the 2nd Monday of the month and this month started on a Tuesday, I got confused and announced the meeting a week early. I wasn't the only one who got confused; I ran into someone who had shown up on the week I thought the meeting was. She had misread the calendar the same way I did.

Before the meeting, I find I have to eat like I'm preparing for a marathon, or I start to get shaky while I'm in there. I seem to burn an awful lot of calories. It didn't help that this time, I had to drop my mom off at the airport on the way to the meeting and it was tight!

After the meeting, I am useless. Thank goodness my husband came home and ordered pizza. I couldn't have managed putting together dinner, I don't think. I was just sort of wiped out on the couch. I may be extroverted, but trying to run a meeting in a loud room with children racing around in circles is absolutely exhausting!

Tummy 2 Tummy Babywearing Instruction DVD

I finally got the Tummy 2 Tummy DVD listed on my website too! I am on a roll! I love this DVD. It's amazing to have these wonderful women come right into your home to teach you about babywearing. The DVD covers everything a babywearer could need.

• Beginning to advanced positions for newborns thru toddlers
• Wraps (simple pieces of cloth)
• Mei Tais (Asian baby carriers)
• Slings
• Pouches
• Safety Instructions
• Troubleshooting

I love that there is a section on nursing for each and every baby carrier. I am forever trying to help moms learn to nurse in baby carriers. It was something I simply could not master for at least the first six months with my older daugter. I read about it in The Baby Book by Sears and Sears but I kind of thought Martha was, um, joking! But no! She was serious when she said she was buying groceries and no one had any idea she was nursing. I can do that now in any baby carrier and I love helping others get there. This DVD is a way to reach a lot of people!

Playing with Photos

Hey! I think this is better!

Why is this photo so faded?

So I'm still working on my Posh by Tori diaper bag page and trying to get a photo in there with some kids (mine). None of their gorgeous photos had any babies or kids.

I am still trying to figure out why this photo doesn't display very well on a web browser. It looks great on my local applications. Much sharper and bolder.

Oh well, I will get this figured out! Anyway, isn't the candy stripes gorgeous?

Ha ha - in doing this blog entry, I realized I don't even have the candy stripes listed on the top of my webpage! If you like the water bottle (I love it and own three) it's a Klean Kanteen and I bought it here.

Posh by Tori Diaper Bags

They're here! I got them right up! My Posh by Tori diaper bags arrived today and I couldn't wait to get my paws on them and get them up on my website! I can't believe I waited this long. These are beyond gorgeous.

I was a little concerned about doing a bulk order of a product I'd never even seen in real life but these are beyond my wildest expectations. The quality is top notch. The bag is so roomy and useful. I will of course be sporting one myself!

What a treat to finally have something as gorgeous as this!