Breastfeeding Awareness Week...

I know you're probably thinking, why would I write a post about this since I'm not breastfeeding... Well just because I couldn't breastfeed Benjamin doesn't mean I have thought about everything that goes with breastfeeding.

A little over 2 years ago I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. I will most likely be on medication for it for the rest of my life. The 2 medications I am currently taking are Pentasa and Enotocort both were fine to continue taking while pregnant but not safe for the baby while breastfeeding. So my hopes of breastfeeding were denied.

Since we knew that I couldn't breastfeed while I was pregnant it was one of our considering factors to cloth diaper. The cost of formula isn't cheap, so to save ourselves some money we decided to cloth diaper. So it may be more "convenient" (anyone/anywhere can feed him) but it definitely isn't cheap. In the last few weeks the convenience could be argued since we have had to make special trips to the store for formula and the other day we both realized we were out at 11:30pm and Craig had to run to the store so that we would have food for him in the morning.

But the real reason I'm writing this post is lately I have really thought about breastfeeding and part of it is the fact it is Breastfeeding Awareness Week. But the other part of it is sometimes I feel guilty that because I have Crohn's I wasn't able to give Ben nutrition/antibodies from breast milk.

I had thought about talking with my doctor about stopping the medication so I could breastfeed then I realized that if I stopped the meds my digestive system would go completely out of whack and I probably wouldn't absorb the nutrients from the food I'm eating and wouldn't pass them to Ben therefore I would probably not have the best breast milk for my little man.

I guess the biggest thing for me about being a new mom and not breastfeeding is having to explain why I'm not. Whenever someone has asked if he eats formula or breast milk and I say formula, I then sometimes get a look, and I feel like I have to justify my reason for having to formula feed. I think a lot of the reasoning behind it is the idea of "Breast is Best" and if you aren't breastfeeding you are giving your child less beneficial food.

I am happy to report that as a formula fed baby, Ben has yet to be sick *knock on wood*, even while being in daycare. He has gained 9 pounds, he went from the 5th percentile in weight when he was born to 50th in 3 months. He is a very happy HEALTHY baby boy, even while being exclusively formula fed! So for those moms out there who are able to breastfeed- Congratulations! I am excited for you but breastfeeding isn't for everyone (sometimes for very good reasons) and it also isn't your place to place a judgement look on that mom when she tells you she is using formula.

Full Time Cloth Diapering

So over the weekend we accomplished a lot. Lots of cleaning and putting the house back in order after finishing the crib. I organized all Ben's clothes by size... This little man has a lot of clothes thru the 6 month size. I packed up the newborn sizes and with how quickly he is growing I will probably soon be pulling out the 3-6 month size to replace to 0-3. WOW!

Also this weekend we were a full time cloth diapering family for the first time!! My routine has been to switch him to cloth while he's home after school but switch him back to disposable at night. I had heard and read so many things about leaking at night I had been hesitant to cloth diaper overnight. But I am happy to report that Ben was in cloth ALL weekend starting at 5:30pm when he got home from school until this morning when he left for school. We had no leaks or messes! I even changed him while we were out and about, at Taco Mac and at church. No problems.

I am now sold even more on cloth and we managed to save ourselves at least 24 diapers over the weekend and a savings of about $4 over two days which now that I know I can go overnight with cloth the savings are just going to get better. Plus the box of diapers from Sams will last longer meaning less trips to Sams (Costco doesn't sell Pampers -BOO! and Ben had a bad reaction to Huggies). The more we use cloth diapers the more we will save! PLUS it is helping the environment by not tossing so many diapers into the trash. PLUS it is so much better for Ben's bum to not be in disposables all the time. So all the people out there that haven't tried the new modern cloth diaper, you should check it out, they are really easy to use and so cute on babies bums.

We also ordered Ben a cloth swim diaper over the weekend (we'll see how well it works and maybe get a second). He loves bathtime so much that we may venture into having a little kiddie pool and having pooltime as well. I'm hoping we get the goldfish one but if not it will still be cute. (You tell them you need a boy one and they pick one from their in-stock stash to send you).



The website I order cloth diapers from did a national survey about cloth diapering perceptions. It is interesting, I agree with many of the findings.

I am happy to be part of the 9% of the population that use cloth diapers (even if for us it is part time)!

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures. I couldn't believe the picture I got of Craig and Ben, he gave me such a cute smile (you can see the light blue Bumgenius diaper peeking out from the onesies) and Ben got dressed up for church and even wore shoes for the first time.

My first days in cloth

So before Ben was born we decided we would like to cloth diaper. It was for several reasons, I've always tried to be a good steward of the environment, like recycling, growing my own herbs, veggies, and fruits. But I also have to formula feed because of all the medication I'm on for Crohn's disease. So adding up the costs of everything it also made economical sense to cloth diaper. My sister-in-law, Katrina, cloth diapers and I began to learn about the modern cloth diaper while I was pregnant.

I decided I would like to use one size and waited for sales or free shipping at Kelly's Closet. I ordered a few bumGenius 3.0 to start my stash. A coworker also got me a few bumGenius 3.0 and a Bummis wetbag. Then I started to read about the Smartipants and liked the idea of the insert agitating out in the wash and the lower price. So I ordered 3 of those. While shopping at Target I ran into a GREAT deal on 2 Fuzzi Bunz size small diapers (they had been an internet return) and had to get them. Then for Christmas I got 2 Rumparooz from my sister-in-law. As the day approached that our little man was to arrive I bought some of my sister-in-laws bumGenius 3.0 diapers that she was no longer using. So I had a pretty good stash put together ready for him to arrive.


He arrived 3 weeks early on March 25th.

Since I bought mostly one size diapers, my little 5 pound 14 ounce guy was swallowed in the cloth so I decided once he reached the size 1 diapers in Pampers the cloth should fit him then.

The end of April, he finally graduated to the size 1 diapers and I tried one of the bumGenius diapers on him and it fit to my surprise.

So I ordered the Rockin Green detergent and waited for it to arrive so I could prep his diapers.

While I waited, I attended the #DiaperShops twitter party to celebrate 9 years. To my surprise I won 2 Rumparooz diapers!! So exciting!

Once the soap arrived I began prepping the diapers and inserts, I was excited to start cloth diapering. On Tuesday May 11th I had all my diapers prepped and ready to begin. Once he woke up for the day I changed him into cloth.

It went well, we had one leakage but I think it was user error on my part (I didn't put it on tight enough). I've also learned my newborn is a heavy wetter so I'm skipping past the newborn insert and using the regular one. My husband even automatically put on the cloth when changing him. On Wednesday I had a lunch date with one of my friends who just had a baby (Davis is exactly 1 week older than Ben). So it was going to be my first day out of the house with cloth, I packed 2 diapers and a Bummis wet bag. I changed him while we were out and had no problems. Actually got a chance to explain the cloth diapers to my friend. So far in my first week of cloth it has gone well, I have 23 diapers in my rotation and laundry isn't too bad. I have requested my husband install a diaper sprayer for the poopy ones (I know they say newborn poo can just be washed but it still just feels funny to me). The dunk and swish is just not my thing.

I'm looking forward to continuing my adventure in cloth diapering.