Benefits of cloth diapering

What are the benefits of cloth diapering?

Over the last decade many mothers around the world have started to cloth diaper but does this growing trend really make sense or are we just all wannabe hippies jumping on the tree hugging bandwagon.

Pros and cons, you make up your own mind :

1) Plastic vs cotton – A happy baby is a happy mother some say. Cloth diapers have a soft internal cotton structures that allows for better breathability and fit, which is more like a cotton underwear than a plastic one.

Baby wearing disposable diaper           vs         Baby wearing cloth diaper

We cannot assume that all individuals like wearing breathable cotton undies themselves, there may be individuals that enjoy wearing plastic undies for whatever reason and feel they should start the kids of young. For the rest of yous imagine how it would feel to have plastic scratching against your skin, marking your body the whole day, and then tell me if you feel like smiling on demand afterwards.

2) Rage against the rash:  With quality cloth diapers every part that touches the child is cotton therefor there is no reaction to plastic materials when urine is introduced. The organic materials used in making some Cloth Diapers like Grovia are made of materials such as organic cotton hence a parent would worry less about baby’s skin reacting against chemicals in plastic when urine is produced.

Although there is overwhelming feedback from parents that are grateful to cloth diapers for eradicating rashes from babies bottoms, on the other side of the scale, rashes worldwide have been outraged by the development of Cloth Diapers. They have not been able to flourish of babies bottoms as much anymore like they used to, back in the good old days of disposable diapers. Poor rashes.

 

So the question we really need to ask ourselves, which team do we want to support:

              Team Rashes                                vs                     Team Healthy Bums

 

3) Get on that bog kiddo – One of the biggest comments reported by Cloth Diapering parents worldwide is that their children potty train faster. There is also overwhelming proof online that ever since the introduction of disposable diapers in the 1950s children have been potty training later in life.

 

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4) Cloth diapering is so expensive !!! …..Really????!!!

The cost of using disposable diapers using the best selling disposable diaper in Malaysia:

 

0-2 months of age @ 12 diapers per day x 30 days

Cost per 1 day = RM 18.00

Cost per month = RM 1,080 (USD 257)

 

2-6 months of age @ 10 diapers per day X 30 days

Cost per 1 day = RM 58.00

Cost per month = RM 6,960 (USD 1,657)

 

6-12 months of age @ 8 diapers per day X 30 days

Cost per 1 day = RM 22.00

Cost per month = RM 3,960 (USD 942)

 

12-24 months of age @ 7 diapers per day X 30 days

Cost per 1 day = RM 10.00

Cost per month = RM 3,600 (USD 857)

 

24-30 months of age @ 6 diapers per day X 30 day

Cost per 1 day = RM 10.00

Cost per month = RM 1,800 (USD 428)

 

30-36 months of age @ 6 diapers per day X 30 days

Cost per 1 day = RM 10.00

Cost per month = RM 1,800 (USD 428)

Total cost up to 36 months RM 19,200 (USD 4,571)

*At the time of writing this article the exchange rate used was MYR 4.20 = USD 1.00

Using cloth diapers such as Grovia for example:

Tiny Tapir Live set ( RM 1,600 = USD 380) : 12 Shells, 24 Soakers , which from reports of customers suffices.

Disposable diapers vs cloth diapers: RM 19, 200 – RM 1,600 = RM 17,600 savings even if you purchased 2 Live savings will total to RM 16,000 savings

5) If looks matter:

Maybe plastic chic will be in next fall.

6) A little effort goes a long way  – But cloth diapering is just so hard ..blah blah blah

Cloth Diapers

     

No additional waste besides human waste, reuse, keep our planet clean, think about your children’s future planet, teach by example.

Disposable diapers

                 

     

 

 

We are all aware of the effects of what happens after we throw away a disposable diaper.

To learn more about Cloth Diaper visit at http://www.tinytapir.com 

 

 

Another special for water-less parents

If you are a cloth diapering mama or papa you are definitely feeling the water rationing effects very badly this month.

We may have a little relief for you with the GroVia Hybrid Biosoakers. Buy 2 this month and get 20% off. This will hopefully tide you over in those spots where clean cloth diapers are hard to come by until the rationing exercise ends on 31st March.

Biosoakers are disposable inserts suitable for use with any PUL cloth diaper cover (GroVia shells, Thirsties covers, Flip covers etc) – just don’t use the sticky tab if you are using a diaper cover with exposed PUL inners (it will be harder to remove the sticky).

Biosoakers are fragrance, dye, chlorine and plastic free with an ultra thin construction. They are made of 100% super soft Ingeo on-woven fibers which are renewable resource free of synthetic chemicals and preservatives. They are compostable!  They also contain a minimal amount of SAP (a super absorbent polymer which absorbs a lot of liquid but also can absorb too much drying out your baby’s skin. It also releases that unique “disposable diaper smell”  – a gas which is thought to contribute to childhood asthma).

Why choose a biosoaker instead of a full disposable diaper (even if it’s a compostable disposable diaper) ? Here’s why:

Kiwi Pie Chickadee – 50% off!

As we’re getting ready to release the new design of Kiwi Pie cloth diaper in Malaysia we have found ourselves with 6 lonely older style kiwi pie in the chickadee print.

Just so we don’t mix up our stock – we’re letting them go below cost at 50% off.  These are fantastic night time worthy diapers made of bamboo and lycra fabric. Super absorbent, perfectly stretchy, they are a big crowd favorite among the fitted diaper crowds.

Here’s a video featuring the older style Kiwi Pie we’re clearancing :

 

And if you click the Chickadee diaper below you’ll go straight to our online store listing

Rumparooz Cloth Diaper Clearance Sale

We’ve just done a new stock count and updated the system for our stock of Rumparooz cloth diapers.

We have now separated out some of the Rumparooz that are appearing to have the delamination problem, so there is less likelihood you will get a “bad cloth diaper”.

It’s still going at RM200 for 6 + shipping fee (no free shipping on this folks, sorry!).  This is a low low price of RM33.33 per diaper – a lot below our cost price, so it’s a real bargain and a great buy if you are getting into cloth diapering and looking for pocket diapers. The Rumparooz diaper shape is a great one and one that is loved by many parents worldwide.

We have lots of Aplix, less Snaps, so get clicking if you are looking for snaps (Aplix is great for the newborn stage, if you have an older baby, pick snaps).

Winner! GroVia Shells – Persimmon & Citrus

We ran a Giveaway with GroVia Asia to celebrate the new GroVia Colors released this May 2013 – Persimmon & Citrus. Originally we were going to give away 1 shell to 2 lucky people, but we received a massive 69 entrants & 592 entries, so we’re deciding to give 3 away 😀

The winners are :

Sofiya Othman (she joined the TinyTapir Mailing List)

Lee Hui Ling (she answered the question : what’s your favorite new color – it’s Persimmon!)

and

Aliah Yeo (she liked GroVia Asia on Facebook)

Please email us to claim your prize 🙂

And the Poll for the new colors emerges with Persimmon as the crowd favorite :

.Thanks to everyone who played & helped spread the word. Keep a lookout for a new giveaway soon!

Love, the Tiny Tapir team

 

Thirsties Wraps restocked – All sizes!

Thirsties Covers are a time tested and true Modern Cloth Diapering tool. Since we introduced the Thirsties diaper covers here in Malaysia they have been a quiet and steady favorite among moms who want great value – if you are trying to cloth diaper on a budget the Thirsties Covers are for you.

You can choose from fully sized (from XS to L) or you can choose the Duo Wraps which are adjustable but 2 sizes will take you from Newborn way up to very very hefty Toddlers.  (let’s face it, most one sized diapers will not fit at the very newborn stage)

The XS thirsties covers are especially good for Newborn diapering. All you have to do is pair 6 of these with 36 Newborn Prefolds (or Small, because some babies are born too big for newborn) and you are more than covered for cloth diapering. Oh, and don’t forget a couple of Snappis.

Thirsties covers are fully PUL so you CAN wipe the insides between changes. If your baby is sensitive to heat or especially sweaty, or sensitive to exposed PUL, then this isn’t the cover for you. But for most babies, this cover works great.

All Thirsties covers are made in the USA. Truly, this brand has been around a long time, and the reason is – their products are really little workhorses!

With that in mind, you can now purchase any Thirsties Cover & get 10% off the unpackaged price of Bouncy Baby Prefolds. Prefolds come in packs of 6 and it’s a great bargain to get you started on your cloth diapering journey!

Link to Thirsties Duo Wraps in Aplix at Tiny Tapir

Link to Thirsties Duo Wraps in Snaps at Tiny Tapir

Link to Thirsties sized Covers at Tiny Tapir

 

Check out these cute new prints for Thirsties Covers :

And really cute new prints for Duo Wraps (pictured in Aplix, but Duo Wraps also come in Snaps):

Cloth Diapering – generally speaking…

Why do it? 

A new baby opens up a whole new world of choices, and one of those choices is inevitably what to put on baby’s bottom.

As close by as our grandparents’ generation, this wasn’t much of a choice – it was cloth or nothing! Our grandparents’ cloth diapers weren’t much to look at, just a simple square of big cotton cloth, folded multiple times, fastened with safety pins (with which one nervously hoped not to prick baby or parent) and waterproofed with some ugly crinkly rubber pants.

Then disposable diapers started becoming more readily available and affordable, and many in our parents’ generation gratefully jumped on the bandwagon, liking the convenience.

However, in the last 10 years there has been a slow, but steadily growing move back to diapering with cloth.

This isn’t your grandparents’ version of cloth diaper though. Today’s modern cloth diapers are far more attractive than their disposable counterparts, available in an infinitely wide variety of materials, colors, patterns and variations.  These cloth diapers have been designed, tweaked and improved on by a whole lot of mothers to make cloth diapering in 2012 super cute, super fun and super easy.

The question is – why would a parent choose to go the cloth diaper route?  Here, we look at some of the reasons why lots of parents who come to us asking about cloth end up as enthusiastic converts.

Comfort

Ever worn paper underwear? Or paper clothing? We love cloth for a reason – it’s soft and comfortable and breathable against our skin. And lots of babies love cloth for those very same reasons.

Health

Disposable diapers sure are thin, and they absorb a whole lot. While disposable diapers used to be made of many layers of wood pulp (making them bulky), they now contain SAPs or Super Absorbent Polymers (among other things like bleach or chemical dioxin). These SAPs are great at absorbing a lot of liquid, but they also release gas (that’s that funky chemical smell many disposable diaper using parents are familiar with) and also leach natural moisture away from the skin.  When SAPs are wet they become a gel-like substance which has been shown to improve the environment for the growth of bacteria.

Many disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin which is an extremely toxic by-product of paper-bleaching. Dioxin is a carcinogenic chemical which has been banned in most countries and yet can still be found in many brands of disposable diapers.

Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) – a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.

There have been some studies that have also shown that the scrotal temperature in boys wearing disposable diapers is increased and that prolonged use of disposable diapers will hamper the physiological testicular cooling mechanism important for maintaining scrotal temperature. This has an impact on male fertility later in life.

The Environment

Over 90% of single use diapers end up in landfills. No-one knows exactly how many years it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose, but it is widely estimated to be calculated in 100s of years and not decades.

Assuming a potty training age of 2 years, every baby will go through around 4,000 diaper changes. That’s a lot of disposable diapers waiting to decompose.

Some other environmental facts on diapering :

–         Disposable diaper packaging usually require that fecal matter should be disposed of in the toilet before discarding, yet hardly anyone does this – that means waste is not being processed through the sewage system, but is, instead going into landfills.

–         Disposable diapers make up 50% of household waste in a house with a child

–         Disposable diapers generate 60 times more solid waste & use 20 times more raw materials (like crude oil and wood pulp) than cloth diapers

–         Disposable diaper manufacturing and use amounts to 2.3 times more water wasted than cloth

–         Over 135kg of wood, 20kg of Petroleum feedstock & 10kg of chlorine is used to produce disposable diapers for 1 baby each year

Cost

Disposable diapers are cheaper on the pocket of parents in the short run.

In the long run, there is no dispute that cloth diapers are the cheaper option. Many cloth diapers now come in one-size-fits-most designs that mean that a single large upfront large purchase will last for the entire lifetime of a child.

The use of some types of cloth diapers like prefolds (those diapers without parts like snaps, elastics and polyutherane waterproofing) will even last through multiple children even with heavy use.

Depending on the way a child is cloth diapered (costs vary considerably), a parent can save up to 80% compared to using disposable diapers.

Convenience

Many parents fear that cloth diapers are inconvenient and difficult to use.

As with many new things there is a learning curve for cloth diapering, and it can be overwhelming to be faced with so many different choices. Man made fibers like polyester? Or completely natural Organic cotton? What about stay dry options? What is Bamboo fiber exactly? Wool covers for waterproofing?

Learning the basics is pretty easy once you get your hands on the products though, and there are lots of shops now in Malaysia where you can feel and touch a cloth diaper – it’s pretty basic when you get down to it. All you need is something absorbent and something waterproof over the top of that to keep any messes in.

And washing machines and dryers make cloth diapering a cinch.  Simply wash like your regular clothing.  Some tips are just to use a detergent that doesn’t have enzymes or biological agents, no fragrances if your baby is sensitive and no fabric softener on your absorbent material(fabric softener does not actually soften fabric but coats fabric – so if you use fabric softener on your cloth diapers it will make the fabric repel liquid instead of absorb it).

Many parents have cloth diapered simply and without hassle by using modern cloth diapers. In fact, some even think that using cloth diapers are less of a hassle than disposable (for example, disposable diaper blowouts where poo shoots out the diaper and up the back of the baby are almost nonexistent with cloth diapers as the back elastic around the cloth diapers contain messes much better).

Try out some cloth diapers and you might find you and your baby loves it.  And not to worry if you don’t –try again when your baby has grown out of that hectic newborn stage. There are lots of parents out there who cloth diaper sometimes and use disposables sometimes – it’s all about what works best at that point in time.

Oh, and did we mention? There’s nothing cuter than a cloth diapered babies’ bottom – no disposable diaper will ever be able to compete with that!

A quick run down on cloth diapers

Every so often (ok ok pretty often!) I get emailed asking what the difference is between the different diaper types and i usually retype this information off the top of my head. Really, I should sit down and write it out properly, but just quickly here and now..

For those of you who are starting cloth diapering or thinking about it, and are super confused about the options, here’s some quick definitions of most of the main types of cloth diapers:

Pocket diaper – 2 pieces – the pocket diaper itself (1 waterproof layer, 1 stay dry inner layer sewn together and with an opening between the layers) and the soaker / doubler / insert – all different names for the same thing (you put the soaker into the pocket between the layers of stay dry / waterproof).

* Note you MUST change the entire pocket diaper with every diaper change, you should not just change the wet insert with a dry one and reuse the pocket. That is because although the inner part of the diaper that touches the baby may feel dry, it is NOT clean, there is still pee residue there, which can lead to bacteria growth and rashes on your baby.

Examples – bumgenius, baby kanga, bouncy baby, rumparooz, GAD etc

AIO – All in 1 – all in 1 piece diaper, that means all the layers (waterproof, stay dry if any, soaking material) are all sewn together – no need to take apart or put together, you put it on and take it off just like a disposable.  Some AIO can be really truly all sewn together (like Monkey doodlez) – those can take longer to dry, others are sewn so the soaker layers are like flaps for quicker drying (like the dream eze diapers)

Examples – Starbunz AIO, bumgenius Organics, Grovia AIO, Monkey Doodlez, Thirsties Duo AIOs

All in 2 – 2 piece diaper – the waterproof layer (also can be used as a cover), and a soaker which is detachable from the cover and can be changed while reusing the cover part

Examples – Grovia / Grobaby, Daisy Doodlez, Soft Bumz diapers

Cover – Only a waterproof layer – use it over a non-waterproof diaper in order to make it waterproof (e.g. use it over fitteds or prefold diapers)

Examples – Thirsties Duo Wrap, Wonderwrap, Bunnyfeet designs Cover, My Precious Baby by April covers

Fitted diaper – made of all absorbent material, can be used on it’s own without a waterproof layer if you want more breathability for your baby sometimes. Or use it under a waterproof cover

Examples – Kiwi Pie fitted, My precious baby by April fitted, bunnyfeet designs fitted, dream eze fitted

Prefold – 100% cotton (can be made out of other materials, but cotton is most cotton. Also can be available in Bamboo or Hemp / combination materials), sewn into a rectangle shape, with thicker layers in the middle. Requires some pinning / folding to put on baby. 1 step up from a lampin – much more absorbent than lampin and easier to use.

Wool Cover – can be made to be pull ups, or tie ons, or looks just like a PUL cover with snaps and elastics. Use for night time. very good breathability and also will help with absorbency. you only need to wash once every 2 weeks or so.  You need to lanolize this (a very simple procedure to make the wool waterproof again) after many uses.

(also Fleece Covers – similar too wool, but fleece is a man made material, slightly less breathable, but does not need to be lanolized)

Examples – Disana Wool Covers, Fleece shorties, Llamajamas, many wool shorties / longies knitters on places like hyenacart.com / etsy.com .

Other definitions you’ll find helpful

PUL / TPU material – Waterproof part of most diapers, it is a material made out of plastics, not all PUL is equal though, there are better quality, there are also cheap ones that run the risk of “separating”

One size / Sized – one size really means from 3 months to about 2.5 years, depending on size of baby. Some newborns can fit some one size diapers though, it all really depends on the baby. Sized diapers mean you have to buy different sizes when the baby gets bigger, but most babies will be at the Medium size for most of their diapering lives (almost all babies go from XS to S to M to L in the first 9 months of their lives, but when they start moving and walking more at 10 – 12 months, they will go back down to a Medium or even small in some cases).

Snaps / Aplix – this is a choice for the closure of your diaper. Most day care centers will only allow Aplix to be used (snaps confuse some people especially for one size diapers).  Aplix is definitely faster at night time and usually allows for a better fit as there’s infinite ways to close the diaper with aplix, BUT Snaps are more durable, and snaps are harder for curious babies to rip off.  A lot of parents will use aplix for newborns and get medium size diapers in snaps as that’s the age when babies start figuring out how to remove their diapers.  Careful of stiff aplix strips on the diapers though, they can cut baby “buddha bellies” as the edges can be quite sharp.  Another negative about aplix is that it can start to lose it’s “stickiness” quite fast and have to be replaced.

Snappi – a plastic grip thing (think of those little claws used for bandages) that can be used to keep prefolds on instead of diaper pins.

Liners – you can get disposable or reusable ones – they are good for runny newborn poo if you don’t want to stain the inside if your diapers, or if your child has a sensitivity or rash it can be used against the child’s skin to keep the skin dryer.  Not 100% necessary at all.

GroVia Hybrid Cloth Diaper system launched in Asia

Grobaby has rebranded into GroVia – and this cloth diaper / hybrid system just got a whole lot better (it was good, now it’s great!)

The GroVia Difference (shell sets)

• GroVia shells rise are 1/2 inch higher than the GroBaby version 2, and 1 inch higher than GroBaby version 1 – addressing what customers want – for the GroVia to fit longer!
• GroVia soakers are now 6 layers Organic Cotton, have Leg gussets and wonderful TPU (waterproof) backing – this means even more absorbency, and dry mesh inners of the GroVia covers – yet again, addressing customer concerns.
• GroVia shell sets no longer come with a booster included – not necessary with the boosted absorbency of the newly designed GroVia soakers

Still the SAME great value – even better in fact as the prints and snaps are no longer more expensive than solids (everything’s RM95.00 per shell set).

Same fabulous Experience and Live sets to save you if you’re looking for complete stashes

And now offered in Malaysia the GroVia Hybrid Test Drive package where you get 2 x GroVia shells (no cotton soakers) and 1 box of 50 x legendary biosoakers for 20% off the full retail price.   This is a great way for those who don’t want too much laundry to still do 1/2 cloth diapering (No blowouts from disposable diapers ever again!).

Look for more exciting things to come from GroVia – coming VERY soon to Malaysia.

GroBaby / GroVia have converted a whole ton of Malaysian parents to cloth or hybrid diapering for their babies, with their high quality materials, great design, organic cotton inners, super sweet designs and money saving functionality – it’s hard to beat the GroVia as a starter set for anyone who’s ever considered cloth diapering.

Have you considered giving them a try?

Now available at Tiny Tapir Baby shops in Bangsar Village and Ampang Park, and of course, online.

Thirsties Duo Wraps Restocked & NEW in snaps

Thirsties Duo wraps are now re-stocked in the ever-popular aplix.

Duos are great, because they are 2 sizes – size 1 to fit from newborn to around 7 or 8 months, the size 2 to fit from then until even 4 years old.   Using this 2 size system means it truly is 1 size, to fit from the smallest newborn all the way to the latest potty trainer or biggest child.

We have also stocked the new Thirsties Duos in Snaps for those parents who are just not into the aplix.

Thirsties Duo in Snaps on Tiny Tapir

Thirsties Duo in Aplix on Tiny Tapir

Photos!