Time Magazine features cloth diapers!

Time Magazine just published a fantastic, positive article about cloth diapers on their website tonight! The article, expertly written by author Pamela Paul, discusses the benefits of cloth diapering, the arguments against and features several cloth diaper brands including bumGenius, Fuzzi Bunz, Happy Heiny's, Kissaluvs and gDiapers.

Cloth Diapering Celebrities (and the rise of cloth diapering in modern America)

This year, many celebrity parents have chosen to "go green" and use cloth diapers with their new baby.

According to Celebrity Baby Blog:

• Singer Dave Matthews cloth diapers his son, Oliver.
• Actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard cloth diaper their daughter,
  Ramona.
• CSI: NY actress Anna Belknap cloth diapers her daughter.
• Singer and actress couple Brad and Kimberly Williams-Paisley cloth diaper
  their son William Huckleberry.
• Numb3rs actress Diane Farr cloth diapers her son Beckett Mancuso.
• Model and actress Josie Maran uses gDiapers with her daughter Rumi Joon.

Our goal at Cotton Babies is to see cloth diapers on more babies. When we started our business six years ago, being "green" was reserved for the rich. Today, our cultural focus has changed to be one of reachable social responsibility, economy and reducing waste. The change in focus has moved the spotlight from disposable diapers to the increase in economy and waste reduction generated by cloth diapers. Six years ago, it was a major business decision to bring cloth diapers into our company. Today, as an owner of bumGenius , a market leader in cloth diapering brands, I see our our culture (and our business) changing almost daily as more parents realize that cloth diapers are still an option. We've watched our business grow from a small bookshelf in our living room to an healthy, thriving network of interdependent businesses representing owners and employees on five continents.

The overall industry has seen a very steep growth curve in the last couple of years. We believe that the growth is due to several factors. The leading factor is the increasing interest in cloth diapering from families in the United States. Families are aware of how many diapers they throw away and as they try to reduce household waste, diapers are now an easy thing to address. Today’s cloth diapers actually look like diapers and are easy to use. Secondly, the increased media interest in cloth diapering has increased its overall exposure to the mainstream family. And last, there is a strong word-of-mouth network between new moms. We often field calls from women who just saw their friend change a modern cloth diaper at a play group. Just seeing that diaper changed (and how easy it was) resulted in another mom
introducing cloth diapers to her diapering routine.

That mom could be anybody, from virtually any walk of life. We sell to everyone from celebrities, wealthy families, ultra-environmentalists and the very poor. The vast majority of our parents just want to save a little money and decrease their overall waste output at the same time.

There has been another relatively recent spike in cloth diaper purchases. We attribute that increase in usage to the following factors.

• Oil prices - gas is more expensive.
• Food prices – milk has gone way up in price.
• Media – everywhere you turn, you’re hearing about something else “going green”.
• Increasing concern about ingredients – customers want to know what is in their food and their baby-care products - diapers included!
• Changes in technology - reusable diapering products (and even the elements used to create those diapers) on the market today are vastly different from those available even five years ago.
• Celebrities speaking out about the importance of cloth diapering.

It is wonderful to see so many celebrities publicly speaking out about their choice to use cloth diapers. It means so much to the cloth diapering industry when celebrities participate in the shared benefits of cloth diapering. Those benefits reach to the earth, their child, to their communities and through the media, and most importantly, they reach a fan base heavily influenced by celebrity choices.

To our celebrity families (public and private)... Thank you for using cloth diapers. Your story might be all it takes to encourage another mom to give it a try. Thank you for not allowing your baby to leave a legacy in the landfill. Finally, thank you for making us part of your parenting journey.

Kindest regards,

Jenn
Owner of Cotton Babies
Creator of bumGenius

Cloth Diapering Celebrities (and the rise of cloth diapering in modern America) is copyrighted 2007, Cotton Babies, Inc.

Cloth Diapers - Jazzing Up bumGenius Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers can be fun to decorate. I wanted something fun for the holidays this year, so I purchased some puff paint and put a set of three silvery blue snowflakes on the back of one of Oscar's white bumGenius diapers. Below you'll find directions for an easy way to decorate your Cloth Diapers with a snowflake. The process was fun - especially with my two little helpers (age 5 and 2) at my side!

Step 1: Secure the cloth diaper to your counter or table
I stretched out the diaper and taped it to my counter using clear box tape. I used a piece of tape over each of the tabs and another long piece across the front of the diaper.

Step 2: Decide on a pattern and trace it onto your diaper
I found a free clipart image of a snowflake here. Using black ink, I printed the image, trimmed it down so it would fit inside the diaper and then traced it using a ballpoint pen. It was tricky to get the picture to stay still inside the diaper. Next time I would tape it down before starting the tracing process.



Step 2: Paint the Diaper

I already knew my color theme, so on my way home from work I bought two tubes of super-cheap puff paint... one white and one blue. This was the closest thing to snowflake blue that I could find. Apparently everybody else in town had the same idea because all of the sparkly silvers and light blues were gone!

As you paint, squeeze the bottle with even pressure and be aware that the first little bit seems to come out fast. Be sure to position your hand in a way that allows you to paint as much of a line as possible without having to stop, reposition and start again.

Step 3: The finished product!

The big snowflake was quite a challenge (who knew it was so hard to control that silly bottle of paint?) so I was going to stop there. Oscar decided to help me out though - so we ended up with some extra snowflakes to finish out his contribution to the project. I used the sparkly white to cover my mistakes. The blurp in the middle was the final dash of finesse on my work of art. This was tons of fun (and I'm certainly not an artist)!!

"Cloth Diapers - Jazzing Up bumGenius Cloth Diapers" is copyright 2007, Cotton Babies, Inc.

Cloth Diapers for Low Income Families

If you are interested in using cloth diapers and are afraid you cannot afford the initial investment needed to get started, you should consider applying for assistance with some of the great organizations listed below.

• Miracle Diapers Miracle Diapers has assisted those in need all over the world. They accept donations and put cloth diapers and natural parenting items in the hands of needy mothers.
  

How do I lanolyze wool?

This is a very good question and the answer can be quite complicated. Living in Florida I personally don't use wool. Visit this Blog MiaBambina for a detailed tutorial on how to use and lanolyze wool diaper covers. Her step by step intructions and photographs make the process easier to understand.