One of the most frustrating things for a new mom doing her cloth diaper research online has to be deciphering the alphabet soup of abbreviations floating around the discussion forums. If a line like ‘my DH uses CPFs but I prefer FBs and roos’ makes you go hmmm, this little piece of blogery is for you.
Here are some of the more common terms you’ll see floating around about cloth diapers online:
AIO – All In One diapers (diaper with waterproof outer and absorbent inner all in one piece.
Aplix – hook and loop fastener a-la Velcro
bG - bumGenius: one-size cloth diaper, all-in-one, bamboo fitted and bamboo wipes
CD – Cloth Diaper
CPF – Chinese Prefold
Flats - Birdseye Flats - single layer diaper you fold like oragami for max absorbancy
DD, ‘sposies - Disposable Diapers
ISO - In Search Of
FB - Fuzzi Bunz pocket diaper
FSOT - For sale or trade...
Nappy - Nappy is the European word for diaper.
OSD - One size diaper
Pocket Diaper - A pocket diaper is usually made of two layers of fabric sewn together to form a pocket for an absorbent insert - see bumGenius one-size cloth diaper.
UBCPF - Unbleached Chinese Prefold Diaper
WAHM - Work At Home Mom
DH (or DW, DS, DD) – Dear husband/wife/song/daughter
NB – Newborn
Stash – pile of cloth diapers someone owns
MFI – Microfiber inserts
Fluff – Cloth diaper stuff
Fluffy Mail – Mail containing cloth diapers
OT – Off Topic
Fitted – Cloth diaper with sides cut in so they don’t have to be folded and elastic in the legs
Contour – Cloth diaper with sides cut in with out the elastic
Inserts – the absorbent pad that goes inside a pocket diaper
There are others, but this will help you get started. There is a more compehensive list of diapering definitions over at Cotton Babies if you'd like to read more about the different types of diapers.
Happy Decoding!
Jimmy
Copyright 2005 Cotton Babies, Inc. – Cloth Diaper Alphabet Soup
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Friday, February 25, 2005
Cloth diapering is a system
When new moms call and ask about what kind of cloth diapers they should buy, they are typically focused on a single product. They want to know how many bumGenius one-size cloth diapersthey should get, or how many Kissaluvs, etc. When I tell them cloth diapering is more of a system than a "how many" question, they are intrigued because they haven't thought of it that way. They've read the reviews and are trying to settle on a type of diaper to use. But what comes out of the baby changes over time and even through the day, so only having one type of diaper to use is like only washing dishes with a thin hand towel. Sure it works for washing most things, but when the gnarly container of leftover spaghetti with crusties on the sides and liquefied mushrooms presents itself to the sink, a spatula and scrubber sure would be nice.
Diapers are the same way. bumGenius work great for overnight and will even stop the super-poo, but most people don't have or can't afford a full stash of bumGenius. My favorite defense for the super-poo - a Chinese prefold, snappi and dappi cover (or bummis cover for toddlers) is affordable, but just won't cut it for overnight because baby, their jammies, their blankets and mattress will be soaking wet in the middle of the night.
A more rounded collection of cloth diapers is best for mom's sanity and baby. For new babies, I recommend a sizeable stack of prefolds (Chinese or Indian), snappis, and prorap covers for daytime. For overnight, a bumGenius is nice and soft and will keep baby's bum dry. As baby gets older, eats more solids and their poo stiffens, you will probably find yourself shifting to more bumGenius diapers since they are much easier to use and typically last longer between changes while still keeping their bums dry.
Prefolds are a great investment and a necessary part of any cloth diaper stash because they are so versatile. They not only work great as a diaper, but are also useful as burp cloths, puke deflectors/containment systems, changing pads, and of course wiping the pee off the wall (if you have a boy).
- Jimmy
copyright 2005 Cotton Babies, Inc. - Cloth diapering is a system
Diapers are the same way. bumGenius work great for overnight and will even stop the super-poo, but most people don't have or can't afford a full stash of bumGenius. My favorite defense for the super-poo - a Chinese prefold, snappi and dappi cover (or bummis cover for toddlers) is affordable, but just won't cut it for overnight because baby, their jammies, their blankets and mattress will be soaking wet in the middle of the night.
A more rounded collection of cloth diapers is best for mom's sanity and baby. For new babies, I recommend a sizeable stack of prefolds (Chinese or Indian), snappis, and prorap covers for daytime. For overnight, a bumGenius is nice and soft and will keep baby's bum dry. As baby gets older, eats more solids and their poo stiffens, you will probably find yourself shifting to more bumGenius diapers since they are much easier to use and typically last longer between changes while still keeping their bums dry.
Prefolds are a great investment and a necessary part of any cloth diaper stash because they are so versatile. They not only work great as a diaper, but are also useful as burp cloths, puke deflectors/containment systems, changing pads, and of course wiping the pee off the wall (if you have a boy).
- Jimmy
copyright 2005 Cotton Babies, Inc. - Cloth diapering is a system
Thursday, February 24, 2005
How many diapers
Customers always ask 'how many diapers will I need?', and the honest answers is 'we have no idea'. Of course we have a general idea, but every baby is different and produces different amounts of poop and pee through the day.
A heavy wetter will need more diaper changes through the day to keep him dry. A baby with liberal intestines will also need more diapers than the baby who saves it all for one spectacular explosion (the almighty super-poo). The number of diapers also depends on how old your baby is and what they eat. A new breastfed baby will go through a lot more diapers than a one year old eating pizza.
When our little guy was born, my parents paid for a diaper service for 3 months and we went through 80 diapers a week. Of course we didn't change his bottom that often, but sometimes it took 4 or 5 diapers to complete one successful diaper change. It would go something like this: phew! stinky pooper! time to change the diapy. whoa! what a mess... polish the bum, get new diapy and whoa! a fountain spraying everywhere! yuk... another diaper to clean the off baby, the wall, table, etc. get new diaper in position, grunt... awwww... phew! another mess. another diaper, re-polish bum, eeeeewwww.. another poopie! gag, yuk... sigh... clean it all up again, do a diapering ninja move to get new diapy on, quickly hand baby off to mom and disappear before the next mess. We also used the diapers for burp cloths and cleaning up other messes just because someone had the honor of washing them.
So a new baby will most likely use more diapers than an older baby. If you buy infant prefolds and baby grows out of them, you can still use them as doublers or inserts for pocket diapers to wring more use out of them, saving even more money over time.
- Jimmy
copyright 2005 Cotton Babies, Inc. - How many diapers
A heavy wetter will need more diaper changes through the day to keep him dry. A baby with liberal intestines will also need more diapers than the baby who saves it all for one spectacular explosion (the almighty super-poo). The number of diapers also depends on how old your baby is and what they eat. A new breastfed baby will go through a lot more diapers than a one year old eating pizza.
When our little guy was born, my parents paid for a diaper service for 3 months and we went through 80 diapers a week. Of course we didn't change his bottom that often, but sometimes it took 4 or 5 diapers to complete one successful diaper change. It would go something like this: phew! stinky pooper! time to change the diapy. whoa! what a mess... polish the bum, get new diapy and whoa! a fountain spraying everywhere! yuk... another diaper to clean the off baby, the wall, table, etc. get new diaper in position, grunt... awwww... phew! another mess. another diaper, re-polish bum, eeeeewwww.. another poopie! gag, yuk... sigh... clean it all up again, do a diapering ninja move to get new diapy on, quickly hand baby off to mom and disappear before the next mess. We also used the diapers for burp cloths and cleaning up other messes just because someone had the honor of washing them.
So a new baby will most likely use more diapers than an older baby. If you buy infant prefolds and baby grows out of them, you can still use them as doublers or inserts for pocket diapers to wring more use out of them, saving even more money over time.
- Jimmy
copyright 2005 Cotton Babies, Inc. - How many diapers
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
People still use cloth diapers
When people think about cloth diapers, they think of sticky vinyl pants and big scarey pins better suited for shish-ka-bobs. If you tell someone you use cloth diapers, they get a quirky look on their face and think you're a little strange. Using cloth diapers really isn't that bad and regular people still use them.
Back in the day, cloth diapering didn't have many options. If you wanted to cloth diaper, you bought some cotton prefolds, pins, and covers. Today, technology and creative moms are moving cloth diapers forward. We have things like bumGenius, inserts, All-In-Ones and contours to choose from.
For a mom new to cloth diapering, all of these options and the alphabet soup of terms can be overwhelming. Blogs are moving the web forward, and we thought it would be fun to share our knowledge, thoughts and experiences from changing countless poopy diapers and running our little business with the cloth diapering moms out there.
If you have questions about the myriad of options out there, you can post them in our forum, send us an email, or call us at 1-888-33-BABIES. We will be answering a lot of them here, so check back often to see what's new!
- Jimmy
"Keep smiling, it makes everyone wonder what you're up to."
copyright 2005 Cotton Babies, Inc - People still use cloth diapers
Back in the day, cloth diapering didn't have many options. If you wanted to cloth diaper, you bought some cotton prefolds, pins, and covers. Today, technology and creative moms are moving cloth diapers forward. We have things like bumGenius, inserts, All-In-Ones and contours to choose from.
For a mom new to cloth diapering, all of these options and the alphabet soup of terms can be overwhelming. Blogs are moving the web forward, and we thought it would be fun to share our knowledge, thoughts and experiences from changing countless poopy diapers and running our little business with the cloth diapering moms out there.
If you have questions about the myriad of options out there, you can post them in our forum, send us an email, or call us at 1-888-33-BABIES. We will be answering a lot of them here, so check back often to see what's new!
- Jimmy
"Keep smiling, it makes everyone wonder what you're up to."
copyright 2005 Cotton Babies, Inc - People still use cloth diapers
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