Week 6: A tiring week

This week I have been incredibly tired so I have been a bit slow at posting this blog entry. I guess that is what happens when you're trying to be a mum and working full time. Actually I did have a day off work this week, as Evan was unwell. When I went to get him up Thursday morning he had been sick. He's had a bit of an upset tummy for a little while, which makes me glad for the 2 part nappies, as they have protected his clothes from any mess.

Anyway, Thursday afternoon Evan seemed a bit better and wanted to go out so we bundled ourselves into the car and shot off round Fife visiting doctors surgeries with posters advertising my Nappuccino. That is another thing I have been busy with lately. In my role as a Lollipop real nappy advisor I have organized a Nappuccino in St Andrews with the Fife Real Nappy Network. It's my first one and with just 3 weeks to go, I thought it best to start advertising. See the Go Real events page if you are interested in knowing more about it.

This weekend we've been visiting Evan's Nana and Granddad. Normally we use disposables when we visit, but the past couple of times it's been difficult to find biodegradable nappies in the right size and have had to use – dare I say it – Pampers. Not this time though. I decided we should take the "Real Nappy Travel Challenge" and took with us some flat nappies, a nippa, and the Tots Bots Cover. After use we just bagged up the nappies in biodegradable nappy sacks and as we were just staying 2 nights, took them all home in our wet nappy bag for washing. The nappies were so easy to use and didn't leak once (I think I'm getting really good at folding them) and because they were flat nappies they didn't take up much room in the over night bag.

Over the whole weekend we used just 2 disposables. One of which leaked terribly on the way home and we spent 50 minutes in the baby changing room at McDonalds cleaning up. I can't help but think if Evan had been in his 2 part nappy it wouldn't have been so bad. Evan was quite bemused by it all but I would rather forget about the whole ordeal, as it was quite unpleasant especially as we had run out of wipes!

Week 5 A little accident

I write this with a certain amount of guilt but I feel it is important to say so others will learn from our mistake.

This week Evan had an accident. He tumbled out of his cot and landed on his head!

It was awful to watch but there was nothing I could have done. It was all over before I had realised what had happened. He was fine and was up walking around the furniture and laughing away just minutes after his fall and seemed to be unaware of what had happened. I think it affected me more than it did him. I was all ready to take him up A+E but I phoned our health visitor who told us not to worry as this sort of thing happens from time to time and he would probably be fine. She advised us to keep an eye on him and if he seemed unwell then to take him to the hospital. It shook me and my husband up though especially as the reason he fell was because we hadn't lowered the base of his cot. Suffice to say as soon as we were home from work that day the cot base was lowered. He can barely see over the top now and until he learns how to shimmy up the cot bars he won't be escaping/falling out.

So the moral of the story is, babies grow fast (sometimes faster than we realise), so make sure the cot base is at an appropriate height.

In case anyone was wondering, Evan is still fine. In fact I brought it up at Evan's appointment with the paediatrician yesterday and the doctor was unconcerned.

Week 4 Flat Nappies Revisited

I'm not going to hide the fact that I am a huge fan of shaped nappies, two part ones in particular. However I have thought recently that maybe I am too hard on the flat nappies. After all that style of nappy has been used successfully longer than any other. So with this in mind I decided to try the terry towels on my son again. Now that he's a busy 18 month old toddler, I thought it would be difficult but instead I was pleasantly surprised.

I found folding the flat nappy awkward initially simply because I was unsure how to fold it (keeping in mind that I was doing it from memory and the last time I used a flat nappy was over a year ago). I used the kite fold as it was the one my mum said she used on me. It's quite an easy fold to do and after a couple of goes I got it right. Evan was well behaved and I managed to get the nappy under him without it unfolding and the liner staying in place. I used the Nappy Nippa to fasten the nappy and a Tots Bots Velcro cover (my favourite cover blue with stars!) over the top. I like these covers, not just because they have a snazzy pattern, but they seem to have a generous fit. The cover worked well with the folded nappy.

Although the flat nappy was bulky on Evan when he was new, now that he is bigger it didn't seem all that bulky. I still prefer the shaped nappies but in an emergency I know I can always use the terry squares and with practice they can be just as easy to use as any shaped nappy.