Cloth Diapering 101, Warp Speed Version

Well, I had my presentation at MOMS group today. I worked together with another cloth-diapering mom, and we attempted to briefly touch on types of diapers, laundering, diapering accessories, making your own diapers, alternative feminine products, and babywearing. The operative word here is attempted. We had at least an hour or two worth of material and less than ten minutes to cover it.

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We'd requested to go last, since as of a week ago only 3 people were signed up to share, so we thought there would probably be lots of time left at the end for questions. But a lot of people signed up at the last minute or brought things to share without signing up in advance, and many of them took quite a while, so we ended up getting probably the shortest segment instead of the longest by going last. I should have let them put us near the beginning as they had originally planned. *Insert head thunking here.*

I felt rushed, disjointed and disorganized. Wait a minute, I didn't just feel that way--I was. We had a couple of very confused questions like, "Wait a minute--what do you mean by wet pail and dry pail?" because I was trying to pick out the most important things from my notes rather than going through them systematically.

Having my friend up there with me did help a lot. And I think we accomplished what we set out to do, which was raise awareness of the fact that people do still use cloth, communicate that it is fun and easy, and give a taste of the myriad options available.

The funniest thing was that our biggest "wow" reaction from the audience wasn't in regards to the cute fitted diapers, the pocket diapers, the cloud-soft velour and sherpa diaper fabrics, the convenience of all-in-one diapers that go on and off just like a disposable, or the breathable yet waterproof wool covers.

It was the snappi. As we demonstrated how to use the grips and elasticity of the T-shaped fastener to anchor a prefold, the room filled with oohs and aahs. No pins! No pokes! So fast and easy. Wow!



I did have one person tell me that she had just taken for granted that she would always use disposable diapers--that cloth wasn't even on her radar. But after seeing how easy cloth could be, she was seriously considering using cloth for her baby.

I hope it was somewhat interesting, anyway--even for those whose only benefit was being aware that there are people who still use cloth these days, and we're not that weird. :)

Since I didn't have a chance to go over all the information thoroughly, I'm hoping to do a series of posts on my blog about some of the things I'd hoped to cover. For example, I'd like to put together an illustrated tutorial showing how to trace a disposable diaper and modify the shape to make a pattern for sewing a cloth diaper. I took photos this week as I sewed a diaper from an old turtleneck and would like to show that, too, as well as a basic Cloth Diapering 101 informational post. Of course, those topics go right in queue with the other gazillion things I have on my list of "things to blog about ASAP."

I'd stayed up till 4 a.m. last night trying to finish getting ready for the presentation and preparing to take food to MOMS group, and then woke once or twice with Baby E before getting up at 7, so I was pretty tired (which probably also had a lot to do with my deficits in attention and organization this morning).

But the 15-year-old teenager Mother Hen came home with me after the meeting to help me with housework. We worked for about 4 hours feeding the kids lunch and then cleaning the most-used sections of the downstairs (kitchen, family room, entry, bathroom). I took her home and then got back not long before Elementary Schoolteacher arrived for dinner.

Tomorrow afternoon I'm getting together with Morning, who just got back from several weeks in Mexico (I missed her!). Then in the evening DH's nephew and his wife are coming over with their new baby to stay with us for the weekend.

Now I'm going to bed before I fall asleep in my chair. Good night!