Here at The Maven, we love the idea of cloth diapers for so many reasons, but in this part of Maine, there is no diaper service (however, Buzzie Bee serves the midcoast, and Field of Flowers serves the Greater Portland area). The idea of washing out baby poo holds no interest for us whatsoever, but friends assure us that there are biodegradable liners — similar to a roll of paper towels — that do a great job of keeping things under control.
Cloth diapers have come a long way since the days when the Dy-Dee Diaper man used to drop off a stack of soft white cotton squares with Mom. The options are far more sophisticated — little pants with inserts, super-absorbent fabrics that keep baby dry even through the night, double-gusseted waterproof shells that hold everything in. Which is best is a matter of personal opinion, but there are a few Maine companies that give moms and dads enough information to make informed decisions.
For starters, there's Kelly's Closet, which runs the supersite Diapershops.com. Kelly, a mother of three who lives in the South Paris area, started the site in 2001, and it has become a one-stop shop for pretty much every cloth diaper need. There is so much information on this family of sites that it's too much to take in at once, but we've visited a few times now and have yet to find anything out there that rivals it.
On the midcoast, you'll find Maine Cloth Diaper Co., a Web site and bricks-and-mortar store based in Damariscotta. The company specializes in diapering systems, which include everything you need to get started, but the site also has a great feature about which diapers you should choose to fit your needs and lifestyle. The site is incredibly easy to navigate, and we love how straightforward everything is.
If there are other options out there, we'd love to hear about them. In the meantime, we'll keep on reading and trying to figure out what to doo. We mean, do.
3 comments:
One of the best things about cloth is that you can sell it when you're done - I sold my stash from #1 for just about what I paid for it, and this time, I bought most of my stash on Craigslist. I set up an RSS feed that looked for "cloth diapers" on maine.craigslist.org and got a a great deal on the diapers I prefer, shipped from a mama in Southern Maine, but there are currently people selling around the Central Maine area, too. (And in that search, I found someone local doing a survey to see if there's interest in a service around here...)
Good call on the craigslist feed.
I'm a huge fan of cloth diapers so far with our (almost) three month old. We do 2-3 loads of diapers a week, which is pretty straightforward. Since he's breastfed, the poops can go straight into the wash. For later, there's the sprayer that attaches to the toilet, which is pretty cool. I know you can find that here:
http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/other.htm
Glad to know there are Maine businesses that sell diapers, we'll have to check those out.
I live in southern maine and did lots of research myself... I personally use Pocket Diapers for my 10 month old son... I find the drying times and a lot less than that of an all in one but still goes on like a disposable... I just started using them... but judging from what i've read here you would probably be more happy with an all in one diaper... in the early days you just toss them in the diaper pail and toss them in the wash a couple to 3 times a week... no need to rinse out the poo if it's breastmilk... washing is very simple... Choose a detergent that doesn't have additives in it... I use All Free and Clear... the only additive is a brightener... I even use a front load HE washing machine... Some people say they can't get their diapers as clean using an HE machine but I have had no problems even with a 10 month old that eats EVERYTHING!... anyways... I run a normal wash cycle with no soap cold wash cold rinse... I then do the whitest whites cycle (the longest on my machine) with a hot wash and cold rinse using only half the recommended amount of detergent... I always put it on for an extra rinse... granted I've only been cloth diapering for about 3 weeks now... but I haven't had any troubles... I ended up ordering my diapers online and having them shipped here because the closest place to Westbrook was in Mid Coast Maine... I wasn't willing to take the drive... So I ended up ordering out of state... Anyways... Hope I haven't rambled too much... and Hope I was able to shed some light on the subject for you! :c)
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