little feet, big sky

I’ve always wanted to get into wraps for baby-wearing. I guess it’s just been the ultimate convenience, a way to carry your baby that’s traditional, simple, easy to care for, no rings, buckles, snaps, velcro, etc. Unfortunately, it’s also the way with the steepest learning curve, as figuring out to secure them safely while staying comfortable is a little tricky. I recently splurged on a short (3.5m) Vatanai wrap in Maruyama and have been totally in love with it since it arrived. But a little backstory first…

My first wrap was a brown Moby wrap. Simple and cheap, I still remember the complete feeling of joy I had two weeks after Spice was born when I managed to wander around the house eating a bowl of watermelon with both hands free while she slept snuggled against my chest. I was hooked on baby wearing. Unfortunately, the heavy jersey was hot and heavy in our California summers and I put it aside for cooler weather. I bought a Gypsy Mama gauze wrap, but returned it as soon as it arrived because it was also thick. I was also disappointed with the length and the dragging-ends-on-the-ground issue. A few visits to thebabywearer.com and the now missing ~elly rebozo page had me set on a rebozo, or rebozo-length non-stretchy wrap, but I put it off out for expense, disappointment in the Gypsy Mama wrap, and my fear of no being able to master the various carries comfortably enough. Added to this was that, come winter and cooler weather, Spice was too heavy for our stretchy Moby wrap and I started to write off wraps in favor of the Ergo I was using while eyeing other soft-structured carriers.

Still, in an effort to give it one final try, I hit up thebabywearer.com forums again and found a few references to warm weather wraps. The best recommendation for someone using a Vatanai wrap was from a mother in Australia. I mean, Australia’s pretty warm, right? :-) $100 was a little steep for a wrap, but from looking at the FSOT listings, I could see it had a pretty good resale value in case I didn’t like it, so I jumped.

I can’t imagine parting with it now. Sometimes, I put it for wash and toy with the idea of getting another one to use when I put it for wash, or at least, that’s the excuse I tell myself. It’s so soft and sturdy and it has the perfect “grippiness” to hold my 20lbs. of sweetness right where I tie her without budging an inch. The fabric isn’t thin, but it’s not heavy or heating. It seems to conform to my body temp pretty well, which is awesome here in California, but will be downright essential when we go to Malaysia in the summer. I have a front kangaroo carry down pat, and a pretty good back kangaroo carry, too. I’ve even figured out how to tie it loosely on for the easiest pop-ability, and have made it as pop-able as the Angelpack buckle tai. I imagine when Spice is standing/walking, I’ll get the back carry just as easy. If you’re in doubt about carries, it also came with several charts of step-by-step pictures for several carries that had us successful in an hour.

Of course, one of the things I love best about a non-woven stretchy wrap is it’s versatility. I love having something that doubles as a blanket, a nursing cover, a sun shade, a towel and more and that cleans up as easily as tossing in the washer & dryer with the clothes. (As you can see from the pic, it also worked as an impromptu baby-belt to keep Spice safely and comfortably seated in one of our patio chairs.) It folds/packs down to virtually nothing and the colors on the Maruyama are just perfect – pink, but muted and sweet. I’ve become a wrap addict and it’s all thanks to elegant Vatanai wrap.

In an effort to feel less guilty about getting my dream Calyx, I’m selling some of my less-used carriers. I love them, but Spice has just gotten too heavy for me to be comfortable carrying her in anything other than a really supportive SSC. *sigh*

Brown Moby wrap. Gently used and in great condition. $30 + $5/shipping (US).

OhMyMommyClementine Powder Pink Silver and Black reversible mei tai. Also gently used. Reversible to pink & black leopard print. $20 + $5/shipping (US).

Drop a note in the comments if you’re interested!

I’m still using cloth diapers on Spice, but only at home and during the day. I was getting frustrated with lugging a small suitcase with me when we would go out and felt she slept more soundly at night in disposables. (Though lately, she can nap for hours in a cloth diaper, so I might go back to using them at night, too.)

The recent challenge is that she’s starting to outgrow her current cloth prefolds. I usually do a bikini twist or newspaper fold and secure it with a Thirsties wrap-style cover. I’ve started knitting my own covers, though, and I’d need to snappi the prefold in place.. but Spice is a little too big to snappi them on anymore. I went online to look up the next size prefold and got a little distracted by the pretty fitted diapers. I think I could appreciate them more now, considering all the runny breastmilk poop. The downside is that they’re so expensive at about $13/each, compared to prefolds at $1-2/each. Thankfully, they’re fun and easy to make and are an excellent way to use up the tons of cheap flannel receiving blankets we had lying around.

DiaperJungle has an excellent page of free and $$ diaper and cover patterns, including Ottobre’s PDF pattern. I mainly followed Dianna’s How to Sew a Fitted Cloth diaper post, which was perfect since my sewing skills generally suck. :-)

I used old flannel receiving blankets for the outside. Most of ours were Target Dwell Studio ones, which make for cute modern-ish diapers. I used old flannel pillowcases and sheets for the against-the-skin fabric, and old Ikea cotton ones for the inside fabric that you stitch the soaker pad onto. For soaker pads, I used these Gerber prefolds I had picked up at Target before I knew any better. They were lousy as diapers for so many reasons. I used them as burp cloths at first and after the fishy breastmilk incident, I promptly forgot about them in a drawer. I trifolded them and cut them to fit, then stitched the trifold lengthwise to the right width. Oh, and SewShoppe sells diapering Aplix.

The end result was pretty neat – simple aplix-closing fitted diapers. I can leave off the wrap for more breathability, use a wool wrap for a little wetness protection, or use a Thirsties for completely dry. They’re on the generous side, so I imagine they’ll last a few months. And considering the first few have used up fabric around the house, they’re practically free.

As happy as I am with cloth diapering, there’s been something that’s bugged me for weeks. I finally found a solution to the problem though…

The easiest way to cloth diaper with a wrap is to fold the prefold into thirds and lay it into a diaper wrap. Unfortunately, this method also often results in a poopy wrap. Poopy wraps mean they have to be washed and dried, and since I’m a lazy one, this means with the next load of diapers, though more enterprising moms could easily hand wash and line dry them. The most poop-proof solution is to secure the prefold with pins or a snappi and then secure the wrap. I don’t remember a single poopy wrap while using this method. However, the downside is the extra step needed in pinning or snappi-ing, especially when in a rush, in the middle of the night in an almost dark room, or in the back seat of a car on a wriggly baby. :-) I tried the trifold-layed-in-wrap for just these situations, but they seemed to make the problem worse; it’s incredibly frustrating to have a messy, leaky poopy wrap to clean up and put away when you’re on the road.

A few days ago, I tried a new fold: the bikini twist. I thought it seemed really flimsy when I first looked at it, but it works great! You simply lay the baby on the prefold, bring the front up between their legs, twist it 180 degrees and voila! I keep the wraps & prefolds ready to go, so that I can slip them under her bum at the same time and just close the wrap to secure without pins or snappis. The twist forms a “poop pocket” in back that keeps the poop in the prefold about 90% of the time, which is pretty good, and the twist in front fits trimmer between the legs with more absorbency than a newspaper fold.

I wish I’d thought of this ages ago! :-)

So the gDiapers with cloth inserts didn’t really work out for Spice. In fact, the gDiapers themselves haven’t really worked out, sadly. They’re okay for wet ones and super trim, but leak consistently with poopy breastfed blowouts. The worst part is the cleaning; toss the insert, either handwash the liner and wait for it to dry, or wash it with cloth diapers and have it be out of commission until the next load. God forbid it leaks, ad then you have the cover out for wash, too. None of which sounds impossible for the average cloth-diapering parent, until you factor in that you should have about 4-6 covers on hand and that they cost about $12 – $18 each… about the same or more than a quality cloth diaper cover! (A bumGenius one-size AIO is $18.)

I now have a great stash of Thirsties and Litewraps which are working out fantastically. I have a ton of gDiaper inserts left over, so I cheat and line a cloth diaper with one at night for better absorbency. I noticed that lots of people trifold the prefold and just lay it in the wrap, but this ALWAYS ends up in a poopy wrap for us, so I do a newspaper fold and snappi, then put the wrap on. If I’m good with my folding, I only have to wash a cover every 2 days. :-) Maybe later today I’ll try a jellyroll fold. I have two steel stepcans next to the changing area, a small one for the gDiaper trash and a large one for the cloth diapers. We have a large stash of cloth wipes, a wipes warmer and use Kissaluv’s Diaper Lotion Potion, with good results. Cloth is just so much easier! Spice hates being wet, so frequent changes happen anyway.

If you’re thinking of trying cloth diapers, I can’t stress enough the need to try out different brands of wraps, pocket dipes and AIOs. For example, Bummis are really well reviewed everywhere, but I hated them; they felt plastic-y on the outside and the velco was rough and dug into Spice’s legs. The Proraps were almost as bad and just felt cheap. On the flipside,Imse Vimse is the softest one I have and the Litewraps second. Getting one of each let me try them and figure out which to get more of. I also wouldn’t recommend buying up sizes in advance. The bumGenius 3.0 (one size) we have worked great when her poop was tiny, but it’s leaked twice with blowouts, so it’s at the bottom of the stash right now. I’ll try it more as her pooping schedule lightens up later. My sister gave us some Kushies she had never used, but those also leak a little on blowouts. I’m learning not to trust anything that doesn’t have a leg gusset!

Sorry for the absence. Things are still going well, I think. The baby is dropping a fraction of an inch at a time, as I find myself with more abdominal cramps, lower back pain and more running to the bathroom to pee a quarter of a cup, even though I’m drinking so much more fluids. :-)

I’ve been busy working on a redesign for this blog, as Blogger templates are entirely fugly. I’m almost done with the design/HTML, and next up with be integrating with Blogger variables so the whole thing works. Kinda fun actually. I love small, easy projects like this.

I’m ordering some last minute things this weekend, too. Like AA’s baby karate pants (3/$30) and some comfy undies ($6) for me to wear post-partum. I also ordered a Gypsy Mama / Wrapsody Bali Baby Breeze ($67) for myself and since the spouse would probably be overwhelmed by the learning curve of wraps, I got him the Ergo Baby Carrier ($92) with the Infant Insert ($25). Not cheap, but both can be used from newborns to three-year-olds, so I hope to get some good life out of them. I already have a Moby Wrap, but even just trying it on in an air-conditioned house on bare skin felt hot, so I wanted another wrap that would be more comfortable in our god-forsaken L.A. summer heat. (I’m sure the Moby will be cozy and comfortable in cooler weather here.)

I bought them together through theslingstation.com, which has great information on babywearing, and a huge selection of carriers. They also offer free shipping on orders over $90, which is pretty cool and have a very comfortable return policy.

I’m hoping the babywearing thing works out. I always wanted to wear Harley as a kitten, a la Bucky Katt from Get Fuzzy. :-) Not that I’m that crazy, of course, but I’m sure I’ll get a lot less strange looks wearing a baby.