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Sunday, August 26, 2012 64 comments

GoGreen Champ 3.0 GIVEAWAY!

The NEW GoGreen Champ 3.0 Pocket Diapers have arrived and are getting RAVE reviews! Available in a variety of unique colors and prints, these will sure to be one of your favorite! You can buy them here (with FREE shipping in the US!), and enter to win one below!




Saturday, August 25, 2012 0 comments

Back to School Sale! 10% off ALL Planet Wise!


It's the perfect time to stock up on your favorite Planet Wise products, including items from the Planet Wise Snack line for school lunches! FREE shipping on ALL Planet Wise products in the US!

All Planet Wise products are proudly made in the USA!

Friday, August 24, 2012 1 comments

Planet Wise Nursing Cover Giveaway WINNER!


Congratulations! Please email annie@nickisdiapers.com within one week to claim your prize!

Getting the Most from Your Best Bottom Diapers

Best Bottoms are a well-loved, smart, cloth diapering solution. Designed to achieve all of the “pros” of other cloth diaper systems while cutting out the cons, they consist of a one-size diaper cover and sized (Small, Medium, Large) absorbent inserts that snap to the cover. The best thing to me about Best Bottoms is how compact they are. This has three wonderful implications for cloth diapering:
  1. They are SUPER EASY to wash! There is a lot less to wash in a cycle with Best Bottoms than with any other system I’ve tried (prefolds, pockets, fitteds, etc.) You only have to wash the shell when it is soiled (if it’s just wet, you can wipe it and air dry), so usually the wash is just a trim pile of inserts and a handful of covers!
  2. The TRAVEL really well. This is the least bulky system for traveling. (Flats may be comparable, but I haven’t tried those yet!)
  3. They are TRIM on baby! Baby’s butt will be a lot less “fluffy” in a Best Bottom than in a prefold or fitted, and pants and shorts will fit Baby better!
Whether you’ve just decided to give them a try or have been using them for awhile, here are a few tips for getting the most out of your Best Bottom Diapers!

Save Money Overnight
You may not need to purchase overnight inserts for your Best Bottoms in order to make them work for overnight. If you’ve already purchased Small and Large Inserts, you may have everything you need on hand to use Best Bottoms overnight!!

You likely will not need Small Overnight Inserts at all, as you’ll be changing baby so frequently when they are teeny tiny that absorbency probably won’t be an issue. If you’ve already purchased Small Overnight Inserts, do not fret! They are an excellently absorbent option that can be used when baby is bigger and in need of more absorbency! 

For a boy, more absorbency is needed in the front of the diaper. Snap one snap of a Small Insert to the front snap of the shell. Then, snap one snap of a Large Insert to the rear snap of the shell. The Large Insert will cover the Small Insert. You have now added extra absorbency right where Baby Boy needs it, without adding rear bulk! Give this a try and see if it works for you for overnight! This combination is a perfect place to use your small overnight inserts!

  
For a girl, more absorbency is needed in the middle of the diaper. Lay a Small Insert in between the snaps of the shell. Then, snap a Large Insert over the Small Insert. The Large Insert will be snapped on both ends and will completely cover the small insert. You now have added absorbency right where Baby Girl needs it, without adding extra bulk!


 If the For a boy or For a girl suggestions are not absorbent enough for your baby, you can also try combining two regular Large Inserts in the shell. Snap one insert in, and then lay the second insert over it. You will not have the advantage of being able to snap both inserts in, as you would be able to with an Overnight Insert combined with a regular insert, but this option may be absorbent enough for your child!


 If none of these combinations work for your child overnight, then you’ve proven to yourself that it is indeed time to try Overnight Inserts!

How to use Best Bottoms on a Heavy Wetter
Some kids are just Heavy Wetters! If you find a regular insert of the appropriate size just isn’t cutting it for your child (i.e. they leak through within an hour to an hour and a half), there are a few things you can try!

First off, if you are using Small or Medium sized inserts, try stepping up to the next size. You may need to fold the insert down a bit until Baby grows larger (For Stay-Dry inserts, make sure you always fold so fleece is touching Baby’s skin, NOT the microfiber back, which can be irritating!).

If you are already using the Large inserts, check out the tips above for Overnight Diapering. These are excellent solutions for heavy wetters that still maintain trimness!

Little boys can have more issues with leaking than little girls. Make sure his little boy parts are directed appropriately towards the insert when you diaper! I had a brief stage with my son where he would leak out the side, particularly during naps. I was using a Large Insert, which was a little bulky on him at the time, so his parts had space to move around which caused the leaking. During that brief phase, I found that stuffing the shell with a tri-folded small or medium prefold for naptime was the best solution for us! Prefolds are super absorbent, and because they are bulkier, they will fold around Baby Boy’s parts and help contain leaks! They are also a cheap way to ‘bulk up’ your cloth diaper stash!


 If you have a really, really heavy wetter, it’s probably time to start thinking about combining Hemp and Stay-Dry Inserts. Keep the Stay-Dry Insert next to Baby, as the microfiber absorbs really quickly, and below it use a regular or overnight Hemp Insert. The Hemp is very thirsty and will absorb a ton, but it will absorb more slowly than microfiber. So, as Baby pees, it will be absorbed quickly by the microfiber, then the hemp will start to suck it out of the microfiber. Then, when Baby pees again, it can be absorbed quickly again! You can try using the tips found in the Overnight Diapering section above for combining Hemp and Stay-Dry Inserts.

Snaps vs. Hook & Look
You’ll hear it said that moms prefer snap closures and dads prefer hook and loop. This was definitely true in our home until Baby Boy got to be about 6 months old and VERY ACTIVE! Unfortunately, I had purchased all Snap Best Bottom covers and only ONE Hook & Loop (for my hubby).

My recommendation to friends nowadays is that they purchase a combination of Snap and H&L closure Best Bottoms covers. Snaps are great for baby who likes to undo their hook & loop diapers, as mine does, but Hook & Loop can be faster to get onto a wriggly, crawly toddler! And you can always pull a pair of shorts or pants over a H&L diaper to deter diaper removal! Definitely purchase more of the type of closure you think you’ll prefer, but choose two or more of the other option as well! I think an ideal set for our family would be five or six Snap covers and three or four Hook & Loop covers. Once Baby gets older and wriggly, they don’t poop as often, so even if you want to use your three H&L shells all day long, you’ll probably be able to!

I hope you found at least one pearl to take away from this post. Please let us know if you have any other great Best Bottom tips! 

Guest Blogger, Lauren, is a stay-at-home mom in Madison, Wisconsin. She lives with her husband, their 14 month old son, and baby number two is on the way! She started cloth-diapering her son the week he came home from the hospital and became even more of an expert in cding while working at the Nicki's Diapers retail store in Madison.

Monday, August 20, 2012 4 comments

Dapper Snappers No Mooning!

Meet Ian, my now 4 1/2 year old who was once a 9 pound 11 ounce newborn. If you're thinking to yourself, "ouch", you're right. 


So Ian's life started off a little on the larger side. He ate like a champ, was on the top of the growth charts, out grew his clothing faster than we could buy it, and thanks even more to his cloth diaper booty, he never had a problem with his pants falling off.

Then Ian began walking at 9 months old, and thinned down quite a lot. By 18 months his height and weight were just average on the growth charts. By 2 1/2 years old, he potty trained and that is when his "pants problems" really began! Maybe he inherited my husband's lack of behind (because it's certainly not from me), or maybe toddler size jeans just didn't fit him quite right, but man, I wish I had a nickle for every time I said, "Ian, pull your pants up!" Have you ever had your child's pants literally fall to their ankles and have them sprint down the isle of Target yelling, "Hey, look at me! My pants fell off!" No? I can't be the only one!

Then I ran across this nifty little device, the Dapper Snapper! It's like a belt, but even better. We tried belts with Ian, but trying to undo a belt before sitting on the potty is not ideal for a 2, 3 or 4 year old. In fact, it's downright risky to waste those precious seconds! The Dapper Snapper goes on the back of their pants or shorts. It's elastic so it offers stretch and makes it easy for them to pull their pants up and down while it's attached. And of course, it prevents the dreaded "Plumbers Crack".


Here is great news for all of you who are against droopy drawers. Through August 31st, we're promoting "No Mooning!" with Dappers Snappers and you can get all Dapper Snapper belts 10% off! This is just in time for back to school, don't let your little one be "that kid", help them keep their pants up! There are lots of great colors and prints to choose from, something to match every outfit!

In just a couple weeks Ian is starting 4k! There are already so many things that kids worry about when they begin school, don't let mooning be one of them!


Thursday, August 16, 2012 18 comments

Planet Wise Nursing Cover GIVEAWAY!




FREE Babylegs with Purchase!


Valid August 16th-August 24th
Nicki's Diapers chooses color/print of Babylegs, cannot be applied to previous purchases

Imagine BUTTer Giveaway WINNERS!


Congratulations! Please email annie@nickisdiapers.com within one week to claim your prize!

Monday, August 13, 2012 7 comments

Finding an Overnight Diaper

One of the most common challenges that cloth diapering presents is finding an overnight diaper that doesn't leak on your little one. Even though I'm on my 3rd baby, I still sometimes struggle to find a cloth diaper that will hold Emmett all night long! His ever changing sleep pattern makes that an even bigger challenge as one night he will sleep 12 hours straight (ok, this actually only happened twice) and the next night he'll wake up and nurse 4-5 times per night. No wonder I love coffee...

Anyhow, I digress...

My first son, Ian, did very well with pocket diapers overnight. When we first started cloth diapering, the only diapers we owned were BumGenius One-Size Pocket Diapers. Back then the 3.0 version was all that was available, but you can now purchase the 4.0 version. He only needed the one-size microfiber insert and 2 of the newborn inserts stuffed into the pocket to hold him for 12 hours! As my love for cloth diapers grew, we later tried out several other brands, including Happy Heiny's, Swaddlebees, and Fuzzi Bunz. All of these with an extra microfiber insert or two worked great overnight for Ian!

Then along came my little Sean. Sean was a heavy wetter from very early on and we had to try several different diapers before finding one that worked for him overnight. Sean was an awesome sleeper, sleeping for 10-12 hours per night from about 6 weeks on. That means he needed something heavy duty! We ended up having 2 options that we could use interchangeably. The first option was a Best Bottom One-Size Cover. I preferred the hook & loop version for overnight, it's super adjustable. We snapped an overnight insert in the cover first, and topped it off with a stay-dry insert. Another option that worked very well for him was almost any brand of one-size pocket diaper with a one-size microfiber insert and a large hemp insert. I found the Happy Heiny's Hemp Stuffins to be really great for little boys. You can stuff a couple extra hemp ovals in the pocket of the insert and put that end in front, just where boys need it!


When Emmett came along, I thought I had it all figured out! A pocket diaper with some inserts was bound to work, wasn't it? Not so much! When I say Emmett can pee, I mean Emmett can pee. Somewhere in that tiny body of his is an adult sized bladder. No amount of inserts stuffed in a pocket diaper can hold Emmett overnight. I did find a combination with my trusty Best Bottom Diapers that works, though! Best Bottom Diapers now offers a hemp/organic cotton overnight insert when once they only had a microfiber insert available. I pair this with a stay-dry insert and this will hold. Phew! But I wanted more options. I love using my BB's during the day and sometimes don't have enough shells to use them overnight as well. Then I discovered fitted diaper love! A fitted diaper is unique in that unlike a pocket diaper where just an insert absorbs, the entire fitted diaper is absorbent. Another great thing about fitted diapers is that the vast majority of them are made out of hemp or bamboo, both ultra absorbent materials! I have 2 go-to fitteds that when covered with a wool diaper cover are bullet-proof. The Imagine One-Size Bamboo Fitted and Kiwi Pie Bamboo fitted both are absorbent enough that I don't even need to add an additional doubler! Why wool you ask? Wool is great for overnight and especially for heavy wetters because it's breathable, anti-microbial (you only need to wash it about every 2 weeks!), and it can also absorb when your diaper is soaked.


So don't get discouraged if you have to do some experimenting before finding an overnight option for your child. Even us CD "pros" have to do some trial and error! If you've found an overnight solution for your child, feel free to share in the blog comments!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012 54 comments

Introducing Imagine BUTTer + A Giveaway!

Imagine Baby Products has just released their newest product in their line of economical and easy to use cloth diapers and accessories! You can now get Imagine BUTTer, made by CJ's All Natural Baby Products! 

For a limited time, get Imagine BUTTer 10% off! Available in a sample size and small stick, this is the perfect addition to your cloth diaper accessory stash! Enter below to win one of 2 Imagine BUTTer prize packages that include a sample size, perfect for your diaper bag, and a small stick, perfect for home or daycare!


 




Thursday, August 2, 2012 0 comments

Bumkins All-in-One WINNER!


Congratulations! Please email annie@nickisdiapers.com within one week to claim your prize!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 75 comments

Great Cloth Diaper Hunt Imagine GIVEAWAY!


We are proud sponsors of The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt 2012 going on all through the month of August! 

 To find out more, please visit www.diaperdecisions.com

Just in case you don't win the prize we donated, we're giving a set of them away! 




10% off Planet Wise Nursing Covers


As ALWAYS, FREE shipping on ALL Planet Wise products in the US!