Thursday, August 11, 2011

When You Run Out of Diapers in Alaska...

...You use duct tape, of course!



With Tait at work, no car, and town 20 miles away, I was left with two diapers for Matthew for the day. I stretched those two diapers as far as I could. But, we didn't quite make it. After that second one leaked, I figured it was time to get creative. :D

Thankfully, I did have diapers for the big boys. They wear size 6, and Matthew's in size 2. After folding those size 6's down about 3-4 times and slapping on a bit of duct tape to hold them up, Matthew was good to go!

With three in diapers right now, I have just two things on my mind:

Cloth Diapers and Potty Training

We've been going so much recently that potty training has been difficult, and we haven't gotten very far. (Any tips on potty training, by the way? What's worked for you?)

Cloth diapers really have been growing on me recently. (Not literally; just figuratively ... though I do feel like I have disposables coming out of my ears....) I just need to take the plunge, get some, and use them! My sister-in-law is using them very successfully with her little guy, and as soon as we get back from our East Coast excursion, I plan to join her.

On a different note, the weather's been beautiful today, for the first time in weeks, so outside the boys went! I can feel Fall in the air already, so we're trying to enjoy these last few weeks of warm weather to the fullest! I'll leave you with a few pictures of them enjoying their lunch of peanut butter & cream cheese sandwiches with apple slices in our front yard....





To all you moms out there....
What potty-training tips do you have?
What cloth diapering tips could you share?

7 comments:

Elsie Gibbs said...

Awww, duct tape is always a must ;) Good lil Alaskan momma :D <3
As for cloth diapers, Ellery never allowed to me even think about them. I tried to nudge, but no sucess, so we used disposables on all our children. Potty training was excellent with my girls (about potty trained themselves), but my boys are a whole different story :/ Sorry that I have no good news about that. Matter of fact, we are just barely getting out of goodnights for my younger boys (one just turned 10 and the other is 7 in Oct.). Now for us, my boys really haven't had a steady life. There's too much to go into. So I won't. But with our oldest, he was fairly easy to potty train. I just basically let him run around without ANYTHING on his bottom half! I kept his potty chair available and ready. I kept taking him to the potty often. That's while I had a 12 month old running around, and I was 4 mos. along with our third child.
Anyways, I liked rewarding too. I never let my boys aim for things in the bowl! I was always fearful that they would aim in public. You know, what if they saw a lil toy sailboat in the lake, or if they might try to aim at cheerios who knows where.
Hope you do well Ms. Lauren. Oh, and we never got into the pull-up habit. We feared them staying in those things. We had them for emergencies every once in a while (road trips, staying at someone's house...).
Ms. Elsie (sorry sooo long :/ )

Michael, Rebekah and Baby ;) said...

Ha! Ha! What a great post! I remember once being on the last of my clean cloth diapers in the house ~ and I didn't have any older kids to borrow from. Jack has borrowed some of his Auntie Mia's pink diapers a couple times though ~ she's eight months younger then him. :)

I used gdiapers (with gcloth inserts) with Jack for the first 6 months and really loved them. They were my favorite of all the cloth diapers I've seen and tried before (on my siblings and others :). They definitely saved us money and they would have saved us even more if he hadn't grown out of the size large so quickly! He blew up to 25 lbs and then just stayed there for a while (its over a year later and he's only about 27 lbs ;). He wore Seventh Generation disposables for another 6 months or so, which got pretty expensive, and then a friend lent me her used bumgenius diapers to try. Right now he's in underwear (or nothing) when we're home and only wears his SG pull-ups when he's sleeping or we go out.

As for potty-training, we started at one week old with Elimination Communication (http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/). I see EC as a process, not a quick fix. Since they're so little they obviously aren't going to achieve potty independence at such a young age, but if you take the time to tune in and respond to their signals you can save on dirty diapers and keep them aware of hygiene. I do know some people who have their 4 mo. olds diaper free already. Jack and I have gone through stages where he's been really responsive and other times when he just goes in his diaper all day, but it has definitely paid off in the long run. Right now we have few accidents during the day (on the floor or in the diaper) unless he's napping. He even will sometimes wake up at night to go the bathroom! :) When we go out I make reasonable bathroom stops and he's usually still dry, and I haven't changed a poopy diaper in... well, over a week ~ he tells me when he needs to do that in the big potty. I recently heard someone say that 18 months is way too young to start potty-training ~ but I think that is because their little one was accustom to going in their diaper and couldn't understand the change. I've never had to introduce the wild new idea of "pee goes in the potty", Jack's just been aware of it all along. I'm excited to do it all over again with the next one (due in November).

Anyway, this comment is getting rather long. If you have anymore questions let me know. :)

~Rebekah Thomas

Esther Leclerc said...

Oh, adorable pictures!! I just miss those little guys! *heart melts*

...as for potty training...it's been a long, long road and once I get it figured out I'll let you know. Ok? Ok. *smirks*

Monica said...

YAY for cloth! Holler if you have any questions.

Regarding potty training, when they're ready they're ready. Gemma poop trained on her own around 15 months (crazy I know) and potty trained at about 28 months, just decided she was ready and off she went, never looked back.

Kolbe, who is 19 months, potties on the toilet usually at least once a day and poops sometimes too. He really has an awareness, which we helped with...everytime we would notice he was pottying or pooping we would do the sign (sign language) for potty and he just kind of figured it out. He usually signs when he goes, he knows to "try" if I sit him on his potty chair, and once in a great while he will bring me his potty and sign with the other hand and then sit down and go. I could probably "train" him now if I wanted, but I'm going to keep encouraging and wait until he is really ready to "learn" if that makes sense. My biggest advice is just to help them have an awareness of the sensation when they go. I also think cloth helps some with that since they can feel when they are wet, unlike a disposable.

Hope this helps!!!

OurLilFullFam said...

We love mother-ease. You have to order online, and I love the one with the stay-dry liner on them - no rashes from feeling wet on the skin.

Potty training boys I have not found to be hard at all. I would just try to catch them in the act and then put them on the potty.

Sometimes you have to let them go diaperless to you can see when it happens.

Are you guys coming to SC on your trip? I would love to meet up with you somewhere for an afternoon or morning activity or get together if so!

Stephanie

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...I have used the tape idea before but that looked like a good sturdy job! I have at times when stuck resorted to those small thin baby blankets used as cloth diapers...you can also make some fold cloth ones from dad's old t-shirts if he does not mind!

Potty Training....it's been different with each child for me. What works for one may need to be adjusted for another.

I felt with my first he HAD to be trained by age 2 and set out for that goal. He met the goal, but I will say he had more accidents for a longer time and took longer to stop bed wetting. He was too introduced to the potty very early, but it seemed one upset (ie, moving, another child, ect...) would set him back more easily.

My second child, a girl, was potty trained by 15 mths. Amazing I know...she had little accidents and did not wet the bed after age 2--she used disposable diapers and went to the bathroom with mom and sat on her potty each time and tried...she was just quick!

By my 3rd it was evident I was not going to "push" him and so I waited on his cues to show intrest...he went with Daddy and I used cloth diapers mainly on him when little and I went to disposable pull ups at age 2. He was trained by age 3 with NO accidents after and stoppped wetting the bed within the year. I did not push him just encouraged and rewarded.

The fourth child was the same only I used the cloth pull ups and the result was much the same as the baby number 3! Both of these were boys.

Child number 5, a boy, was more urged as he got to be age 3 with not so much intrest--result (using cloth diapers ALL around) he is just now stopping the bed wetting at age 5. But he stays dry ALL day!

Child 6, a girl, was my toughest. I tried to more encourage her into training at age 3 and she woud NOT hear of it...she waited till age 4 and it has only taken 3 mths to train with very few day time accidents and only 2 night time ones. She has NOT had an accident in a couple of months and has moved into underwear....with her I used a combo of disposables and cloths both in diapers and training pants.

Child number 7, a girl, is just now showing interest in the potty and tells me she has to go and is right most of the time...she has ONLY been in disposables and JUST turned 2!

So, I have used multiple methods and read half a dozen books over the issue from discipline over accidents, to YOU setting the time, to relax and let them set the time...

My results and conclusions on what works for me....it does not really matter if you use disposables or cloth (I prefer cloth but sometimes life dictates the need to use disposables). I only suggest the idea to them and set up the potty ect.. and watch for clues most kids want to try what they see played out...rewards work best for ALMOST everything rather then pushing ect... each child is different watch for their cues and then really encourage and reward heavily when they try and even when they fail give encouragement! If you have more then one child in the home the others seem to catch by watching them! Never feel you must keep up with someone or an idea...because several children down the road you may not be able to and may burn out trying!

Just my take!!!

Mrs. Kilpatrick

Christine said...

We use Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers, and we love them. They offer much of the convenience of disposables, as you put them on the same way. All in Ones are great! Blessings to you!