Cloth Diapers on a budget

​I am a seasoned cloth diaper user and I have to say the worst thing you could possibly do when you are just starting out is join a Facebook cloth diaper group. If you do please take what you read with a course grain of salt. You will meet people, addicted to cloth diapers, who have collected hundreds, you will meet the cloth diaper snob who thinks their way is the only way, and you will likely meet the green mom who says it’s all or nothing. The key is to do what makes sense for your family and like all things balance. 

Now if you purchase a whole stash of top of the line aio diapers you probably won’t be saving any money. There are still benefits to using this type of diaper for instance it’s better for the environment and it exposes baby to far less chemicals. How ever if your biggest concern is cost, you can still do this. All the trolls will tell you do not use the birdseye flats you can purchase at most stores. However for my third and final child I almost exclusively used these. I hand two older children who had an array of pockets and all in ones but our third child was a surprise and we found out about her arrival days after I donated all of our baby gear , clothes and diapers! Talk about timing… knowing that she was definitely our last child I didn’t want to invest in a whole new stash. I purchased 3 covers and 36 flats. Some people may prefer prefolds but for me they were always so bulky on my 5-6lb babies. Everyone will tell you these flats do not hold anything and that you will have leaks galore, don’t believe them! The key is you have to prep them. Some claim to wash and dry three or four times before baby arrives , but I prefer 6 times drying in between wash cycles. To create extra soft diapers dry with dryer balls  or tennis balls. I always used the origami fold fastened with a snappi in side a cover. My daughter was a heavy wetter and wore these by them selves until she was approximately 8 months old and with a booster from 8-16 months at which time she was fully potty trained. My whole set up cost less than $60 from birth to potty training. Yes you can spend and astronomical amount cloth diapering your child but if minimalist is your thing or you are on a tight budget is absolutely possible. Good luck!

Ask Jessie: 1/09/23

 Dear Jessie, 

What are your pros and cons of having a second child? My husband and I always wanted a large family but now I don't know. 

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Dear anonymous,

Pros
Your child has a built-in best friend.
When your snowed in or sick they still have someone other than you to play with

Only children tend to be more spoiled and self-centered and it’s hard for them to sympathize with others. Sharing taking turns are also harder.
Second children have their older sibling to emulate and over all hit mile stones like potty training earlier.
More love
Opportunity to have a child of each gender tho not a guarantee.

Cons
If you have a busy lifestyle you must consider whether or not you have time for another child.
Parental guilt. While giving a child a sibling is giving them so much a lot of parents feel like they are robbing their first child of their time and affections and making them share their possessions.
Space overall you will need more space double the children means double the car seats double the toys double the clothing so make sure you have enough space to allocate enough space for your second child.

Ask Jessie: Nanny Rules

 Hi Jessie, 

My employers have very demanding careers, which comes with a lot of parental guilt. They have an ideal set of rules, for example the children  (B2 and G4)will sleep in their own bed. However the reality is that they do not follow them. My question is do I have to enforce rules that the parents wont enforce? Is having two sets of expectations confusing for the kids? 

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Wow, what a great question. I think this is something that every nanny struggles with at one time or another. It is absolutely fine to have your own set of rules. The key is that you need to be consistent. If one day you insist that they sleep in their bed but the next day you let it slide, this will cause confusion and push back. If your nanny kid knows that sometimes you give in they will always try to get you to fold. I am personally am pretty strict. With that said we can have a lot more fun this way. For example I have a rule that my nanny kids only eat at the table. This makes clean up simple. No sticky hands touching toys, walls or furniture. No trails made of crumbs or drips. When we spend less time cleaning we can spend more time playing games and making crafts.  It of course is not all sunshine and rainbows. Monday mornings are by far the worst day of the week and not just because its Monday. The kids have been off their normal schedule for days, they are over stimulated and over tired. Its hard to start over week in an week out but they usually fall back in line by the time they wake up from their afternoon nap. As the week goes on I notice that the girls seem more relaxed and generally happier all around. Which makes sense because they are not tired or over stimulated but also because they know what to expect when we are following our normal routine. My final word of advice if you ever question your nanny families expectation schedule a time to sit and chat.