Nate's First Six Months

I thought I would reflect a little on the first six month's of Nate's life.

I didn't write for the first month of Nate's life. Most of the first month we were struggling with getting Nate home, dealing with the constant feedings, and the wonderful change to our lives. Nate started small, but he was a very good eater (after some initial difficulties). That first month is still quite a blur.

Breastfeeding - I'm still glad that we choose to breastfeed Nate. I never realized that mom and baby had to work so hard to get breastfeeding to go smoothly. It was a struggle at first. I can see where people may give up or move to formula at least part-time. Nate has been a very healthy and happy baby. I believe that breastfeeding helped on the health and growth side. It also meant that Nate and mom got to spend a lot of quality time close together. While we have started Nate on some solid foods, at six months Nate is still getting the majority of his nutrition through breast milk. Another great benefit to breastfeeding, his poop has very low odor which makes changing diapers much more pleasant.

Diapers - Wow, a baby goes through a lot of diapers. I went from basically never changed a diaper to where I can almost change a diaper in my sleep. We decided to use cloth diapers and while they can be a hassle I still believe it is a good decision. Also never realized how much poop can come out of such a small kid. As Nate has started to eat solid foods his poop has started to change. I'm afraid the days of very low odor poop are almost over. Poop has started to change as solid foods have been introduced. It is interesting to see how different foods go through Nate. For example, I never realized out fibrous bananas are.

Hiccups - Interesting how much Nate hiccups. His hiccups have decreased over time, but he still has them quite often. For the first couple months the hiccups didn't seem to bother Nate at all, but now the hiccups seem to be a little annoying.

Sleep - This is still one of the areas that we struggle. Nate sleeps reasonably well, but he still wakes up at night more than we would like. This means that we are still not getting the sleep we would like. The regular sleep deprivation is something we are looking forward to getting over at some point. While Nate has proven he can sleep over 8 hours at a time, that is more the exception not the rule. And even when he does sleep long periods it is on his schedule (not necessarily ours).

Teething - At six months, Nate has one tooth and another will come through any day now. Nate has cried a lot when as these teeth have come in over the last month. He also produced amazing amounts of drool. We believe that teething may be behind some of the recent sleep issues and certainly makes Nate fussy at times.

Gas - We were lucky that Nate did not have colic, but he did have a lot of gas. He now handles the gas with no problem, but there was time where he didn't sleep well and was rather uncomfortable because of gas. We spent a lot of time in first couple months trying to figure out how to prevent and relieve gas pains. In the end, time seemed to be the best cure.

Food - We started Nate on some solid foods at about five months. We've fed him rice, oatmeal, banana, avocado, squash, and apples so far. Nate eats pretty well and hasn't turned down any type of food, but the plain rice and oatmeal are certainly not his favorites. Of late, Nate seems to be spitting up less, but we still have cloths/rags scattered everywhere around the house to always be prepared for when Nate spits up next. I will say that the wood floors in the house have been great as it makes cleaning up really easy.

After six months Nate has gone from rather small (6lb 2oz, 19") to a healthy, growing (17lb 15oz, 26"), and smiling baby.

Nate at Birth	Nate at Six Months

Nate has been a blessing. We never expected Nate to be easy and his first six months have certainly had its ups and downs. The positives certainly outweigh the negatives. His smile and laugh make the difficult times melt away. Seeing those firsts (smile, laugh, turn over, sit up, etc) have all been exciting. Then there are the firsts to come (crawling, words, walking, etc) that we are looking forward to experiencing. The next six months should be exciting.

Cloth Diaper Update

I've been thinking about making some additional comments on our experience with cloth diapers for a while now. I finally decided that now would be the time to provide an update. Nate is about 4.5 months old and we've been using cloth diapers for about four months now.

From previous post, we had decided to try a mix of cloth diapers from Bum Genius and FuzziBunz. Overall, I would say we are very happy with the cloth diapers and would do it all over again if we had to make the decision again today.

Overall Thoughts on Cloth Diapering

Cost - We really are seeing a nice cost savings. Except for the first couple weeks where Nate would not fit into the cloth diapers we had bought (Nate was early and weighed 6lb when we brought him home) we've used almost all cloth diapers. We have some disposables for when we are out or traveling. So after going through the large stash we brought home from the hospital we've spent a grand total of $45 on disposable diapers (the cloth diapers were a significant investment) and most of that was spent in the first few weeks where he was too small for our cloth diapers or while we were using disposables at night. There an extra time investment to clean and prepare cloth diapers as well as an extra wash load or two every week.

Ease of use - These are not our parents cloth diapers. I was raised in cloth diapers and my parents are impressed on how easy the cloth diapers we purchased are to use. The are certainly as easy as disposables to use. There are no pins or complicated fasteners.

Cleaning/Washing - We have not started giving Nate solid foods and he currently 100% breastfed so we don't have to deal with solids we need to dump in toilet or even the strong odors that we know are coming as his diet changes. It certainly does take more time to save each diaper and wash them, but the amount of trash we have to take out is certainly far reduced. Certainly there is a cost to washing all the diapers, but I certainly haven't seen a significant increase in water or electricity bill.

Other thoughts - Nate has yet to have any diaper rash. We'll see if that continues. We believe that the cloth diapers are better than disposables at keeping solids in, but may be a little more susceptible to leaking.

Thoughts on the different cloth diapers

BumGenius 3.0 (one size) - These have been our favorite diapers. They are very easy to use with the flexible tabs and velcro closures. I do have some worries that they may not hold up as well over time as we can see some places where they seem rather worn. Also, you must be very diligent with the velcro. If you don't clean the velcro out regularly they will get more difficult to use and velcro tabs curl up. The velcro seems seems to be a magnet for any threads or hair even when attached to appropriate pads.

FuzziBunz One Size - Would be a close second. They adjust more than the BumGenius which is nice as Nate grows. The snaps are easy to close and they have worked out very well.

FuzziBunz Perfect Size Small - We've been slightly disappointed here. They are still great diapers, but they are more susceptible to leaking and with only two snaps and less adjustments they don't seem to fit Nate as well as the others. Finally, pretty soon Nate will grow out of these as they are supposed to be for approximately 8 - 22 pounds.

At some point I'll make some additional comments around our cloth diaper experience.

Need the rain, but sun is good on stains

Here in Austin, TX we are in the middle of a serious drought. We actually got a really nice rain today. The grass already seems greener and the temperatures were way down as it was rainy or cloudy all day. While the rain was great it makes one thing harder to do - put Nate's cloth diapers in sun.

The sun works a little magic on cloth diapers. The sun has three advantages:

1. Helps further dry the diapers and inserts.
2. Fades or gets rid of stains not completely removed in wash.
3. Reduces any odors left after washing.

I imagine the neighborhood's homeowners association frowns on our makeshift clothesline. However, our little setup is ideal in so many ways. By using the power of the sun you can save energy vs. using the dryer and using less chemicals to get rid of the stains and odors.

Even though cloth diapers are more work we are still very happy with our decision. Using disposables don't have to think about do you hang diapers in sun or not. There are other people that use liners for cloth diapers. I keep meaning to look into those, especially once Nate starts eating solid foods and the stains and odors may increase.

Fuzzibunz vs. BumGenius

If you would have asked me a couple months ago what Fuzzibunz or bumGenius was I wouldn't have had a clue. Today I probably know more about cloth diapers than I probably should.

After much research on cloth vs. disposable and then different types of cloth diapers we figured that we really couldn't make a decision. So we purchased a couple different types of diapers. We purchased a set of bumGenius 3.0 one size diapers, a set of Fuzzibunz perfect size (small for now) diapers, and a set of Fuzzibunz one size diapers. We looked at other brands and so many had positives and negatives in our mind. In the end, we thought the Fuzzibunz and bumGenius diapers were our favorites.

Fuzzibunz Perfect Size

We bought some small Fuzzibunz to start with. Our plan, if these work out, is we'll buy some mediums for Nate as he grows out of the small. The snaps are easy to secure and the the diapers are easy to put on and take off. The small is supposed to work for babies 7 - 18 lbs. Maybe it is Nate's build, but these were really a little big for a 7 lb baby. We just couldn't get them to fit well enough around the legs to prevent liquid from getting out. As he has grown this has worked itself out.


source: Fuzzibunz

Fuzzibunz One-Size

These are made to fit a baby from 7 - 35 lbs. They have multiple adjustments including elastic straps. Then they also have three snaps on each side for fastening. I think the third snap (hip snap) gives a little better fit than the two snaps per side on the perfect size diapers. The one size did seem to swallow Nate a little bit at first, but that can be expected with a diaper that will last until potty training. Long term this diaper probably will adjust to Nate's growth better than any other.


source: Fuzzibunz

bumGenius One-Size (3.0)

The bumGenius have a little different design. They use velcro for fastening and snaps to adjust. They are a one-size diaper (7 - 35 lb). The use of velcro makes the fastening really easy, even when Nate is kicking like crazy. I do worry that the velcro may have a limited lifespan, but it looks like if you take care the velcro (you might even have to clean it) it should stand up ok. Worst case you could rip off and sew on new velcro for a second child. I also like the pocket that bumGenius has vs. Fuzzibunz for the insert. The bumGenius one size actually did the best job of fitting a small baby of the three diapers we have. Hopefully these will work as well as Nate gets older as it did when he was small.


source: bumGenius

I think we'll learn a lot more about cloth diapers over the next two years and I can see my opinions potentially changing. Right now the bumGenius are my favorite, but I can see benefits to each of the diapers and how those specific benefits may change which diaper stays or becomes my favorite over time. In addition to the cost, environmental, and health benefits of cloth diapers they also come in fun colors.

Probably won't be the last time I write about cloth diapers. If nothing else I'll try and update our experiences over time.

Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers

So before Nate made his appearance, we decided to look into cloth diapers vs. disposable diapers. We knew that diapers were going to be a major expense over first couple years and we wanted to spend our money wisely. As we started our research we found out that some of the new cloth diapers are not the simple prefolds that we were raised on. No more are trying to stick pins into a crying baby. That in itself would have probably meant lots of accidental draws of blood. The cloth diapers of today are about as easy to put on and take off as disposables. Doing a lot of reading it did become evident that there were pro and cons to both sides. The disposables are certainly convenient. However, the big item that caught my attention was even buying the high-end cloth diapers I can see a pretty significant potential cost savings over disposable diapers. And if we do indeed have a second child that can use the same diapers then the savings becomes even greater.

So we are almost six weeks from Nate's birth and the jury is still somewhat out. I do really like the cloth diapers, but Nate was pretty small being early and he just didn't fit into the cloth diapers initially. As he has grown he fits in them pretty well. We still use the disposables at night. More for convenience than anything else.

So why are cloth diapers interesting. One of the big arguments for cloth is they are better for the environment. Well, by the time you wash all those diapers I'm pretty sure there is still a positive environment impact, but I can see where the foreign made cloth diapers, water usage, and detergent start to negate that big advantage just a little bit. Another cloth diaper advantage is that babies are less likely to have diaper rash. Saving Nate this pain is a real positive in my book. I won't go into the argument behind this, but it does seem to make sense. Then there is the claim that babies wearing cloth diapers tend to potty train faster. We will see on this one, but the faster we can stop buying/washing diapers the better.

So why are disposables interesting. Convenience, convenience, convenience. Yes, all you have to do is throw them away. No trying to store to wash. No having to bring diapers back if you are out. No worrying about knocking solids off. Then there are day care providers that don't want to deal with cloth diapers. So that is a pretty compelling argument.

However, the #1 argument in my book was cost. I figured that 2.5 years of diapers was about average. Some children will go longer and some will get potty trained sooner. If you figured that you will spend about $1.80 per day on disposable diapers (estimate $0.18 each at 10 per day initially, $0.225 each at 8 per day as they grow, and $0.30 each at 6 per day before they are out of diapers). That means for one baby I estimated you'll spend about $1642 in diapers alone. You might be able to reduce that slightly buying in bulk or going with low end store brand. However, you can certainly spend more on the high end Pampers or Huggies. For a set of reasonably high-end cloth diapers (mix of sizes) that should last Nate until he is potty trained I will end up spending a little less than $500. If you add the extra water and detergent costs, lets say $5 / month you need to add $150. Then there will be times you use disposable diapers for what ever reason (traveling, came early and used newborn disposables, using disposables at night, etc.). Let's say that is another $200. So if you can handle washing diapers and dealing with the extra time needed to handle cloth diapers I estimate that you can reduce your diapering costs by about $800. Then the cloth diapers can be reused so for baby number two the cost savings become even more pronounced.

I won't say that cloth diapers are for everyone, but I've been impressed so far. We have a little liquid leaking problem with one of our diapers because Nate just isn't really big enough for the way they are sized. At this point there have been no blow outs (or even anything close) with the cloth diapers.

Soon I'll go over the brands of cloth diapers we chose and the pros and cons of each.

Nathaniel (Nate)was born June 30th 2009. He was earlier than we expected (about two weeks). He weighed a whole 6lb 2oz and was 19in long. We thought except for a name we were pretty much ready for his arrival. Or at least we thought. I want to be a pretty active Dad and I'm looking forward to experiencing him growing up.

Many people told me to be prepared for lack of sleep. But until you experience it, I didn't realize how much the lack of sleep would really affect me. At times I feel like a walking zombie. I'm looking forward to Nate sleeping a little more between feedings. Right now Nate is about 3 hours between feedings (start to start). Another hour or so between feedings would be nice. I think that extra hour will make a big difference.

One of the other things getting used to is changing so many diapers. I've changed a lot of diapers in the first couple weeks. I read about all the diaper changes, but until you change 10 diapers in a day I just didn't realize. I'll talk more about diapers and our choice to go with cloth. We (well Sherri) also chose to breastfeed. It really makes a difference as the doesn't smell.

Off to get a nap....