Preparing for Baby | Happy Nappy Diaper Service

With baby number two due to arrive in only a few weeks, I'm proud to say that for the most part I've resisted the urge to purchase oodles of new baby-related gear, since I have rubbermaid bins full of stuff from the boy. That being said, I have done some (non-gender neutral, bad momma) sewing, though I am currently sewing a pair of adorable little overalls, purchased a new miracle blanket (an amazing swaddle blanket) and some super cute AGOO clothing at 70% off (this amazing sale is still on).

I can also say with confidence that I have NOT been perusing flyers, purchasing diapers and filling up my closets with disposable diapers, a common practice before the birth of a child.  Instead I made a simple call to Happy  Nappy, my diaper service provider and a week before my due date my first delivery of itty bitty, super soft, fleecy diapers will arrive on my doorstop.

For those of you that are new to the Momma Stuff Blog, it's no secret that I am passionate about cloth diapering and that I believe Diaper Service is a great option, particularly if your family is divided on the cloth vs disposable debate.  I have written previously about the Environmental Benefits of Cloth Diapering and Our experience with Happy Nappy and have also guest posted about Why we chose Cloth Dipaer Service.

Since my previous post, Happy Nappy diaper service is now available to families in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan (new franchise location) and Ontario.  More details about specific locations and pricing is available on the Happy Nappy Website.

Because I have written about Happy Nappy Diaper Service before and I don't want to repeat myself, I want to respond to a couple comments I frequently hear about diaper service.

1. Does the diaper pail REALLY keeps the smell "locked in" for an entire week?
   In short, yes.  Newborn poops barely smell, so in the beginning the smell is not even worth worrying about.  As your child begins to eat solids, diaper odours will definitely become more evident but that's just the natural process of things, and at that point disposables are going to start stinking up your garbage too.  In order to keep your diaper pail from getting uber stinky there are a few things you can do and the more diligent you are, the less likely you are to notice any odours.   
   
   
   • First wash down your diaper pail weekly; at the least wipe down your pail with a couple of baby wipes on delivery day (I tend to do this most weeks, as I'm lazy), in the summer I often hose them down in the backyard and occasionally I use some good quality environmentally-friendly bathroom cleaner and give it a good scrub.  Obviously the latter works the best, you need to figure out what works for you and your family.
     
   
   • Happy Nappy Diaper pails come with two clamps to firmly hold the lid in place - use them.  A tight fitting lid keeps odours trapped inside.  End of story.
     
   • Finally, each Happy Nappy Diaper Pail comes with a replaceable charcoal filter; replace it often, they are cheap (~ $5/filter) and effective.  If you call Happy Nappy and order your filter couple days before your delivery, a new filter will arrive at your doorstep with your next diaper delivery.
   
   Keep in mind that with pungent toddler poops (which we now have at our house) the diaper pail will smell when you open up the lid, but if there was a way to avoid that altogether I think it would require either some serious nose plugs or a magic wand.
   
   
2. I wish I'd heard about that when my baby was born, maybe next time...
   I admit it, this is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, but I don't like pushy people and have no desire to be one, so I tend to be non-responsive when I hear this comment.
   
   The truth is, unless your child is on the verge of potty training, its NOT too late to try out diaper service.  The price is at least comparable to disposables and although there may be a small administrative fee to get your account setup and arrange for your first delivery, I figure that one time fee is probably pretty close to the amount of 'incidental' shopping that would occur on only one or two trips to the drugstore to buy diapers.  Because seriously, do you EVER just buy diapers?  I always walk out of the drugstore with way more than I intended.  Plus every disposable not in a landfill is a good thing in my books.

Anyways, long story short, at our house, we will be using Happy Nappy Diaper Service until the boy is potty trained and when our newest little bundle of joy arrives his/her little tushy will be covered in fleecy, environmentally-friendly goodness from there on in.

Let me know if you have more diaper service related questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

This post was not sponsored by Happy Nappy in any way, I am a loyal customer who frequently recommends their services to friends.  No compensation was received in any way and opinions are my own.

The Miracle Blanket

It's hard to believe, a year ago I was huge, waddling and waiting to meet my son. It seems so cliche, but it really has gone so fast. I still remember bringing him home, holding him, trying to breathe in every essence of my beautiful son. In some ways it feels like yesterday, but when I see all the things he can do now, I know a year has passed. It's his birthday today - HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY - and in honour of his birthday I want to review something that was essential to us through the first few months, well maybe longer than a few months - The Miracle Blanket.

There are tons of articles about swaddling, some people swear by it, others don't get it. As one may expect, some babies love swaddling, others, not so much. We swaddled the boy right from the start and he liked it; he was 8 lb 7.5 oz at birth and had gained a pound within the first week. It quickly became apparent that most traditional receiving blankets were going to be too small for swaddling the boy. We received our Miracle Blanket as a shower gift and it came accompanied by rave reviews, so I had high hopes when we tried it out.

The first night we wrapped the boy in the Miracle Blanket he cried, struggled and fought. Within a few days, it wasn't so much as a fight, but a small struggle, within a couple weeks the boy would wait patiently on the change table for me to swaddle him in his Miracle Blanket.

What's unique about the Miracle Blanket are the inner armflaps that you wrap around each arm before tucking your baby's feet in a flap and then wrapping the tails of the blanket around your baby to complete the swaddle. I know that sounds complicated, but check out the instructions here it's not as difficult as it sounds.

What's great about the Miracle Blanket is that it keeps your baby swaddled, even if he/she is a bit of a Houdini. The extra long tail goes all the way around the baby twice, so even though there is no closure to hold the swaddle closed, it stays closed. The truth is, I never really liked the idea of securing my baby's arms with velcro like some of the other swaddle blankets have. The Miracle Blanket kept my son warm, snuggled and safe. In time, he settled faster and stayed asleep longer - and as he got older it kept his arms wrapped up as long as he wanted them. I only wish that I had two, so that the nights it was in the wash, I wouldn't be back to a regular receiving blanket. Then again if I had two, I wouldn't know so surely that the Miracle Blanket worked for us. I loved the Miracle Blanket so much, that when the boy stopped using it ALL the time, I lent it to a friend to try out with her baby for a week.

I would have liked it if the Miracle Blanket also came in a larger size; we were still occasionally using the Miracle Blanket at 6 and 7 months, but we had to stop because he just stopped fitting. He was too long in the body and it no longer came up to his shoulders. Granted he was getting a bit old to be swaddled by that time, but the boy was big from the start, so I would have probably started out with the larger size if it was available.

The price on the Miracle Blanket website is $29.95, which is reasonable and comparable to other swaddling blankets on the market, though in my local stores they were running $39.95, which seemed a bit pricey considering that they aren't even organic. That being said, they are well constructed, we had no rips or tears and my son tugged and pulled on the Miracle Blanket a lot as he got older and learned to pull his arms out at will.

The Miracle Blanket is a great product if you have a swaddling family; I give it 4.5/5.