 Oh the screaming baby. What is suppose to bringing so much joy to your life and home is suddenly doing anything but that when your wee one suffers from colic. Many brand new parents feel as though it's something they're doing wrong, or a plethora of other things, when nothing could be further from the truth. Just try hard to keep your wits about you and remember that it does end. If you're new to the world of parenting, here's what ya need to know :)
 I didn't know anything about attachment parenting, natural parenting, or being a crunchy mom when I gave birth to my daughter. I hadn't even fully committed to using cloth diapers at that point. But in the warm, low lighting of the hospital room where my daughter was born a friend gave me three bumGenius! diapers and my crunchy journey began.
 It's hard to eat healthy when you are constantly feeding your kids snacks that aren't so good for you but that they love.
Try these healthy snack and recipe ideas for foods your kids will love that will also be healthy for you too!
 Public restrooms disgust me, so potty training boys seemed like it would be an easy and awesome feat.
But what happens when you realize that they think it's ok to pee on the playground, at a birthday party or off your front doorstep?
Everyone is shopping away so I thought it would be the perfect time to review one of the great natural baby care products on sale this weekend here at Diaper Junction. CJ's BUTTer Spritz
is the liquid version of the popular CJ's BuTTer Diaper Cream and this little bottle is full of AMAZING.
Skin, particularly baby skin, is most likely to become irritated when its either missing an essential component or being exposed to things that remove essential components. New baby skin is protected from amniotic fluid by vernix but once its exposed to dry air, changes occur on the molecular level that makes it vulnerable. This is the root of most baby skin conditions like baby acne, cradle cap and diaper rash. If skin is the problem, CJ's is the solution - read here to find out why.
 Introducing the first featured family, the Bloms! Drew and Elizabeth Blom have been married for 10 years and live in Minneapolis, MN with their children Tate (6) Audrey (3) and Ada (1). Click here to read more about the Blom Family and follow the Diaper Junction Family Focus series as we get to know other cloth diapering families!
Happy Veterans Day from Diaper Junction
 The Diaper Junction team would like to thank all of the military men and women who sacrifice so much every day for our freedom. Those sacrifices are often felt close to home. We hope that we are able to provide a great service to the men and women who stay home and raise families while their spouses serve this great nation!
The Cloth Diaper Blog is getting an editorial facelift and we are stepping outside the diaper pail to bring you new topics and fresh content! Feel free to comment about our new approach and let us know if there is a topic that you would like to see.
Okay, so you’ve decided to cloth diaper probably because you know you’ll save thousands doing so not to mention the fact that you’re helping the environment and your baby’s precious skin. But what next? What does cloth diapering your baby entail?
The stash. You need a stash of diapers that will suit your cloth diapering needs. The amount of diapers you should have will depend upon whether or not you will be using cloth diapers full time or part time. A newborn will soil 8-12 diapers a day and an older child will soil 6-8 diapers a day. I would suggest that you need enough cloth diapers to get you through at least two days of diaper changes if you’re going to cloth diaper full time. If you are going to do it part time, any number of cloth diapers will help keep your disposable diaper bill down. Even if you only use three cloth diapers a day, that means you won’t have to buy 90 disposables that month.
I enjoy making more natural choices for my family and especially my babies. I cloth diaper, breastfeed, and make my own baby food so when a friend told me about amber teething necklaces I had to try it out. I was already accustomed to using teething tablets instead of over-the-counter pain relievers. I am on my fourth baby and had never heard of using amber before. I did a little research and found that amber is a resin not a stone. As a resin, the amber actually dissolves into the skin and is absorbed into the body. For centuries people around the world have used amber to relieve pain and inflammation. I figured if it could not hurt him then maybe it could help him.
I just watched the most amazing documentary today while my daughter took a nap. It’s called Babies and without narration, it follows four babies from four different countries - Nambia, Mongolia, Japan, and the USA—for the first year of their lives. I found it adorable, eye-opening, and inspiring to see how four babies who are raised in four very different cultures with very different traditions, still develop so similarly. What was most wonderful to me, though, was watching the way their mothers interacted with them and to see how the un-bridled love a mother has for her child can be expressed in such varied and diverse ways!
Posted by Cloth Diaper Blog Guest on 9/3/2011
to Baby Wearing
...and a few money saving idea to get you started. This is my first venture into cloth diapering and so far it has been a joy! I started my cloth diaper stash with a few hand me down pocket diapers and have added a few Flips, cotton prefolds and homemade fleece liners.
A couple weeks ago, my sweet two week old (at the time) son broke out in a nasty diaper rash on his tummy, which quickly spread to his inner and outer thighs, and his right butt cheek. My first thought was, But Im using CLOTH DIAPERS!! And we had been since day one. You see, at birth, the hospital staff slapped a disposable on his brand new bottom and minutes later, to their dismay, he was changed to his Rumparooz Lil Joeys. And that was the last he would see of a disposable diaperor so I thought.
Wearing baltic amber close to the skin is a traditional European remedy for baby teething. A natural analgesic, amber will help calm a baby without the use of over the counter drugs and remedies.
Posted by Cloth Diaper Blog Guest on 5/14/2011
to Green Living
Since I love using cloth diapers so much, and since (to me) it seems like an obvious choice when it comes to baby care, it's only natural that I want to give them to friends of mine who are expecting, or who have children in diapers. Maybe part of my reasons for giving cloth diapers away is because I no longer really need any more, so it's a way for me to feed into my little "diaper obsession". Mostly, it's because I just love sharing anything I can that will make taking care of a baby easier for a mom I know and love.
Giving cloth diapers poses a risk.
Cloth diapers are an investment - one well spent if they're used, and money wasted if the recipient of the gift lets them sit on a shelf, unopened and gathering dust. I can't imagine a bigger waste of a baby gift than unused cloth diapers.
Posted by Cloth Diaper Blog Guest on 2/24/2011
to Baby Wearing
I had the pleasure of running into an old friend I hadn't seen in years, and was introduced to her beautiful toddler girl. She looked absolutely adorable in her little pink dress, and when I said as much my friend rolled her eyes and sighed lightly. When she and her husband first learned they were having a girl she said, they'd swore not to make her a "pink" baby, but rather treat her to a wardrobe of varied colors to help express some individuality for their daughter.
Of course, at the baby shower she ended up unwrapping box after box of cute pink outfits. As it turns out, too, the girl favors the color herself, and expresses her independence by pitching a holy fit when Mom tries to dress her in something else.
Your Ecological Footprint basically measures your particular "impact" on the Earth. Parents teach their children that every decision has a direct or indirect consequence, whether good or bad. When the same logic is applied to using cloth diapers, or any of the other demands humanity makes on nature, the rationalizations begin.
I'm in the line at the grocery store. My adorable daughter is comfortably covered in her cloth diapers and snuggled safe and happy against me in the Moby Wrap while I carefully stocking the conveyor belt with all my groceries.
I hear the sweet whimper of an infant that is not my own and turn to see proud new parents with a baby gently hidden behind protective layers of blankets in his car seat.
Parenting can often become much more complicated than necessary. First time mom's are often bombarded with lists and suggestions of "must-haves" and end up thinking they won't be able to properly parent without them.
Truth is, there's very little you need.
 Are you familiar at all with the National Association of Diaper Services? If not, check out their link - specifically, their directory of cloth diaper services across the United States. Not everyone wants to care for their child's cloth diapers in their home - we understand that. Our goal is to promote the use of cloth diapers over disposable diapers and, hopefully, run a successful family business in the meantime. However, we understand that not everyone is within our reach - and for those that aren't - we want options available.
We talk a lot about cloth diapering here ... *der* we are a cloth diapering blog, however, we are also strong advocates of many other natural family living choices. And by family, we mean everyone in the family. Making more natural living choices means getting everyone on board. It IS a family's business to be about the work of making more earth-friendly, healthy choices.
As we read across blogs and web forums we hear a lot of excuses for why families don't cloth diaper their babies - even from families who pride themselves in making earth-friendly choices.
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