going green- cloth padding

my stash

yeah, Let's Go Green! it's definitely time to make a paradigm shift if we want to save our world...long live Mother Nature...

let's see how green is our family now...i'm breastfeeding, Imtiaz is cloth diapering, we bring our reusable shopping bags on no plastic bag day (occasionally, if we remember what day it is, sigh), we signed up for e-billing for bank statements and phone bills, Jihan uses recycle papers to draw or write her stuffs, we grow our own vegetables/ulam, we make our own Roselle cordial, hmmm, what else..?

and recently, i've been cloth padding fully during my last menstrual cycle...to start with, i bought 3 night pads, 8 regular pads and 4 panty liners from various brands...i had mamapatch, momiji, fussybutt moonbow and sweetprettystuff...

at first, i was nervous it would leak and i doubt its absorbency and messiness...lucky my 1st day menses fell on a holiday, so there's no need for me to anticipate any possible embarrassing moments in public...

my first day experience, well, not bad at all...i really like the feeling of having something soft down there with no feeling of wetness at all (like the one that i feel with disposable pads usually)...plus, there was no itchiness or urticaria developed at the contact area...there was no leaking and handling it was a breeze...

what i did was wash thoroughly the soiled pads with running water until there water ran clear and there was no stain on the pad...well, if the stain did not come off, i soaked it overnight with a tiny amount of detergent...and the next morning, i tossed it together with Imtiaz's cloth diapers and let the washing machine do its job...

for the heavy days, i tend to use about 5-6 pads per day and on lighter days, 3-4 pads per day...the washed pads were very clean with no stains visible and the cloth stayed like new...

if i'm on the go, i bring along a small wetbag to stuff in the used pad that has been washed with water...i definitely like the pretty prints on the pads..it makes my period day happy...and saves my pocket too....

cloth diapering

ya i know i already missed the boat long time ago...! parents had started cloth diapering their babies and toddlers many years ago to save money and protecting the environment but i only started trying just recently...

i have been using disposable diapers since Jihan was born...not really interested in cloth diapering because i thought it was quite expensive for a piece of cloth diaper, but actually in long term run, you will actually save a lot on costs...another aspect that made me a bit reluctant to try it at first was the hassle and fussiness (and laziness) to wash the cloth diapers..although at that time i had maid to do it for me...

anyhow, i really adore the way it looks on baby's bum...they look colourful, cute and nicely snugged the baby's bum...

so, why did i start using cloth diapers recently on Imtiaz..? firstly, out of sudden, Imtiaz had itchiness of his bum...not really sure of what it is...it didn't look like a nappy rash or fungal infection but he kept scratching his bum especially after we took of his disposable diapers to change or for bath...he kept on scratching until it left scratching marks on his bum...we applied all sorts of cream and ointment and it didn't work...

so i discussed the matter with Mr Hubby and a few of my friends who had experiences with cloth diapers and decided to try...so i bought 7 pieces of bamboo type of cloth diapers for a start and started using it on Imtiaz...we roughly know when Imtiaz poo-poos everyday, so at that time we put him on disposable diapers (we still have 3 jumbo packs of disposable diapers)... but accidents happened, a few times he poo-ed in his cloth diapers and now i'm an expert at washing soiled diapers ; )

so, my review after 2 weeks of trial, i'm happy with it and it saves my pocket too...in the mean time we are still trying to finish the stacks of disposable diapers...Imtiaz's bum is already back to normal..no more scratching...plus he looks adorable in his cloth diapers...

we are still going to use disposable diapers especially travelling outstation...so far we are well to do with only 7 pieces of cloth diapers as he only uses 3-4 pieces per day...probably i'm going to buy a few more pieces (make it 10-12 pieces - what do you think..?)...