Her own bed while sharing ours

As I read about the advantages and risks of bed sharing with a new baby, I kept thinking "Why can't someone just invent something that protects the baby and her space while she's in the bed?"

The Snuggle Nest does just that.

We tried having Peanut in a cradle by the bed, but I couldn't see her or touch her without sitting up. I had to get out of bed and reach into the cradle to get her for feedings. I would wake up panicky because she wasn't with me, even though she was only a couple feet away. So we bought a Snuggle Nest. Now I see her the second I open my eyes. I can sleep with my hand on her stomach, ready to soothe and massage her if she stirs in the night. She falls asleep looking at me, and she can hear and smell me as she sleeps. There is a womb-like white noise option to help her fall asleep, which also helps this overtired mother clear her mind.

During the day, we put the Snuggle Nest in her cradle. That way she naps in her familiar bed, but there is the added safety of the cradle railings. This assumes that she sleeps in the cradle and not on me, which is only true half the time.

We both sleep a lot better since we got the Snuggle Nest. I just don't know what we will do when she outgrows it (which is any day now!).

Cloth diapers - genius for her bum

When I was expecting the peanut, I was suddenly faced with lots of decisions that I felt totally unqualified to make. With the prenatal hormones, each decision also seemed vastly more important than it really was. One decision was what to do about diapers.

It was only after the peanut was born that it occurred to me that choosing to use diapers at all was a decision. I read about the diaper-free movement and found it very interesting, but diapers were the right choice for me.

But what kind? Cloth or disposable? This was the decision as I saw it. I try to be environmentally conscious, so I wanted to choose cloth. But was that a lot more effort/money/etc.? And did all of the extra energy use of the extra laundry undo the environmental benefits of not making trash?

I learned that cloth was not more money. In fact, it is less. And if I reuse the peanut's diapers on a future child, it's massive savings. At this point, I was pretty much sold. When green and cheap overlap, there you'll find me.

I was still worried it would be a bother. I did not like the idea of fancy folding and twisting. I did not like the idea of safety pins near squirmy babies. And then I found out how archaic my image of cloth diapers was.

I discovered Wildflower Diapers, and they saved me a lot of researching by sharing their own. I now felt ready to look into making a purchase. [I later discovered www.diaperco.com, which also has good information for beginners.]

I wanted to get a lot of diapers without spending too much, so I bought the Bummis Cloth Diapering Kit. In retrospect, that was not the right move for me. I hated folding the flat diapers and trying to get them to stay in the diaper cover while putting it on the peanut. It was more work than a disposable, and I didn't like doing it.

I had registered for some BumGenius One Size Organic All-In-One diapers, and I received a couple as I was getting fed up with the flat diapers. The All-In-One is amazing! It's...well...genius!! It is just as easy as a disposable, but it's cloth. You put it on with snaps and then take it off when it's dirty. No insert, no folding, no effort. I was in love.



And did I mention it is one size? I am set for diapers until the peanut is 35 pounds!

I ordered a package deal on Thanks Mama . The package deal came with free BumGenius babylegs, which are very cute. They are the warmth of pants, but they don't cover the cute diapers and they don't have to be removed to change the diaper.



Which reminds me of a real perk of going with cloth: They are cute!! BumGenius doesn't do patterns, but they do pretty colors which can be coordinated with peanut's outfit. And when you spend your day changing diapers and being spit-up on, those pretty colors can make all the difference.