As part of our Earth Day 2010 Contest, Rachel M (our winner in the Mom-to-Be category) shares her thoughts on why cloth diapers are right for her family:

Our first baby is due June 25th and we've decided to cloth diaper.  Both my husband and I are concerned about environmental issues, particularly climate change and the impact of our 'carbon footprints'.  We decided that cloth diapering was something we could do that would actually make a difference - start putting our money where our mouth is so to speak (although we are in fact saving money in the long run, BONUS!). My mum cloth diapered all five of her children but my husband was "disposable" or "single use" diapered. It may sound a bit silly but he wishes he'd had the choice to not pollute landfills with 2-3 years worth of his dirty diapers! And that's the choice that we are making for our baby, our children are the ones inheriting this planet, I'd like their early years to be as environmentally-consequence free as possible. We can hope they make the right decision later in life...but at least we can make the right ones before they start making them for themselves. Change begins at home, one diaper at a time! :-) We understand it's perhaps not going to be as "convenient" to start out with - we live in an apartment with a front loading high efficiency washing machine and of course no clothes line in the backyard, so there will be challenges.  But we are committed and I am confident we will get into the swing of things with a system that works for us in no time! We have met with a bit of opposition in the form of the odd disparaging comment from relatives or colleagues at work.  Of course this just makes us more determined!  I have found online resources really helpful in looking at various types of diapering as well as getting feedback from other cloth diapering parents! I love the kinds of options that are available to us now - cloth diapering has come a long way from large cotton squares and safety pins!  It's encouraging as a mum-to-be knowing that there is support and advice out there and we're looking forward to being part of that community!

All the best with meeting your little one Rachel! *The opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the contest entrant and do not necessarily reflect that of New & Green Baby Co.  We wish to thank all of our contest entrants who graciously shared their stories to help further the education and support of families wishing to cloth diaper their children.  Read more about our Earth Day 2010 Contest.

We asked our customers, FaceBook fans, newsletter subscribers and Twitter followers to join us in sharing their stories.  Moms-to Be, New Moms and Seasoned Moms generously shared their stories and photos and we are so excited to share them with you. Be prepared to smile, nod with that sense of knowing and feel inspired by other Moms, who, like you have considered or are already choosing to use cloth diapers for their babies. These stories were part of a contest to win a year's worth of Cloth Diaper Detergent in a Fabulous Wet Bag. We are pleased to announce the winners today.  Watch, starting on Monday and running through the week as their stories are published here. And we'll continue to share stories because stories and experiences connect us, make us feel a part of something bigger and inspire us to either rise up or push forward with what we believe in. Enjoy! Congratulations to the following Moms (and thanks to the more than 35 moms who shared their stories!): In the Mom-to-Be Category - Rachel M In the New Mom Category - Meaghan M In the Seasoned Mom Category - Sarah J

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One of the questions we are asked most often at our popular Cloth Diaper 101 Workshops is “How many diapers will I really need?” And what surprises most new parents is that they’ll need to count on using about ten diapers a day in the early newborn days. Yes – newborns pee and poo that many times each day! The old adage about “what goes in must come out” really holds true… So, what do diaper changes look like in those early days? Since you’ll be changing your baby often – including when you’re groggy in the middle of the night – it’s important to have plenty of diapers and covers on hand so that you don’t have to spend time scrounging up what you need right at diaper changing time or run short just before laundry time. It’s really a pain to have to hand-wash a cover in the middle of the night or have to dig through the diaper bag to find that one last clean diaper while your baby is crying on the change pad. Have everything ready and at hand and the experience will be a downright pleasant one. Also, your midwife, family doctor, or pediatrician will likely want to know how many times a day your baby is peeing and pooing. These are indications of how your baby’s system is settling into life outside the womb and can be important indicators of how well your baby is feeding. Since disposable diapers absorb and wick away your baby’s pees, it can often be difficult to tell when your baby has voided, but with cloth it is much easier to know, so one could even argue that cloth diapers contribute to the health and well-being of your infant! We also recommend (read: highly recommend) using liners for your newborn, especially in the first few weeks of life. Newborn poo, as well as meconium, can really stain like the dickens, so in order to keep stains to a minimum, just line your diapers with fleece or silk (or even an extra cloth wipe if you’re in a pinch).  And if you do have some staining after your routine washing, remember that the sun will do wonders at removing bio-stains! We hope your journey through the early days of babyhood is a joyful one – and even more, we hope your choice to cloth diaper makes the experience even more satisfying. Let us know if there are any ways we can help you through this time of change and discovery! For more tips on diapering your newborn, check out what we used with our first child.

For those of you who struggle with a baby with extra sensitive skin, eczema, or chronic diaper rash, we feel your pain.  Caring for babies who are constantly itchy, sore, or suffering from open wounds can be a form of torture all its own and is often miserable for both you and your child. The good news is that cloth diapers can significantly help. Depending on the condition, cloth diapers can either minimize the frequency and severity of outbreaks or can completely clear up some skin irritations. Here are a few ways to keep your baby’s skin as healthy and comfortable as possible. Use natural fibres. The most important part of getting the skin to heal and not become irritated is to allow air to get to the skin. Thus, the breathability of your diaper is of utmost importance. Any cloth diaper will offer significantly more breathability than a disposable, but even within the range of cloth diapers available, diapers with natural fibres will allow much more breathability than diapers with synthetic materials. Some especially good choices are organic prefolds, (available in both unbleached cotton and hemp), Kissaluvs cotton fitted diaper, BabyKicks organic cotton/hemp one-size fitted, and the Bamboozle bamboo fitted diaper. Use wool covers. Wool is the champion of natural fibres and offers the best breathability cloth diapering can offer. Especially at night or at naptime when you can’t change the diaper as often, wool is an excellent option for allowing air to get to the skin and helping the skin stay dry. Getting air to the skin keeps yeast and other bacteria at bay, as well as it also dries out the uric acid and other irritants that can badly inflame the skin. There are many more reasons why we love wool, but we’ve taken up excessively long posts singing wool’s praises before, so we’ll refrain from doing so again here…. Change often and allow for diaper-free time. Change your baby often – even more often than it seems necessary – just to keep Baby clean and dry. Make sure that once you wipe your baby down, you leave the skin exposed to the air until it’s completely dry before closing up the diaper. It can also be a great help to give your baby “diaper free time” a few times a day, especially if it’s sunny. Just lay out a blanket on the floor (maybe an extra-large blanket if you have a boy…) and let the baby play while his or her skin is left to dry and heal. Air and sunshine on an irritated bum can work wonders! Protect if necessary. While making sure skin stays dry is the best way to heal, there are times when you just need to slather on a salve to calm and heal a major outbreak. In that case, Bum Bum Balm is an excellent naturally-derived and locally-produced diapering salve to soothe your little one’s bum. We just recommend in this case that you use a liner inside your diapers to keep the salve from coating the diaper’s fibres, which could decrease their performance until dealt with. Lastly, we love to learn from other parents – do you have a tried-and-true solution to healing a baby’s bum or a diapering product that has helped you? If so, we’d love to hear from you!