Toilet training begins

In the past few weeks my little baby has done some serious growing up - she started showing an interest in toilet training and she decided to start using a big girl bed too! We've got 'knickies' and training pants and pull ups taking over our MCN stash at a rapid rate. Although super excited for her it certainly makes me sad to think almost 2 years have gone by since this amazing little girl was brought into the world and changed my life forever. 2 years that we will never have again and 2 years less that I will have my little girl here with me, before she takes her launch out of the nest and into the big bad world.. Even thinking about it makes me tear up LOL... But anyway the point of this post is that due to this I won't be reviewing any more nappies - it just doesn't seem fair to accept a nappy and use it only a few times, I could certainly RAOK them on (and will be RAOKing a lot of nappies in the not so distant future) but it is also confusing for Piper if she wants to wear training pants or pull ups and use the toilet, I couldn't force nappies on her in order to get a review of them done. I will however be continuing to review pull-ups and training pants while we are on the long road to toilet training, so you can certainly contact me regarding those reviews. In the mean time I'm thinking over a few options for the blog and crossing my fingers that we will have another baby here in the MCN Lovers house some day soon to try some more cloth nappies on :-) I also am a proud cloth menstrual pad user and am happy to review pads on the blog if there is any interest in reading about them.

Jodi x

Cloth Nappy Review: EzyPeezies Pull-up MCN

Cloth Nappy Review

Brand/business:
  EzyPeezies MCNs

Business info:

A Brisbane based company set up by a mother of 2. Ezypeezies aim to take the confusion out of cloth nappies for parents. They have one product, one size that genuinely fits your child right from birth to toilet training and a rainbow of gorgeous colours.

Nappy reviewed:
EzyPeezies pull-up mcn

Where you can find it:
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/EzyPeezies
Website : http://www.ezypeezies.com.au/pages/ezypeezies_v2

Price (RRP at time of review):

$25 but they are currently on sale for $19.95 if you get in quick (buys you 1 shell and 2 charcoal bamboo and microfibre blend inserts packaged in a small reuseable wetbag.)

Size:
OSFM

Style:
Pull-up pocket nappy

Baby's details:
Gender: Female
Age: 21mo
Height: 85cm 
Weight: 10kg 
Build: slim, tall

Jodi's review:

Initial thoughts:
Check out my previous blog post here for my initial thoughts and information on the new V2 fit and design.

After use:
I'm not going to lie to you -  we had troubles! There was even a time when I thought "I'm just not going to be able to review this nappy!" but I contacted the owner of EzyPeezies and let her know the trouble I was having and she made some really great suggestions. I tried them out and finally, we were in action.
So my mistake was - we do not own a single nappy that we snap down in rise - Piper is tall, a lot of her OSFM nappies that fit with plenty of spare snaps around the waist are almost too short in the rise now. She isn't me, she is like me stretched out ;-) So knowing this I didn't even bother trying the rise down low, we went straight with the fully unsnapped rise. My problem then was that we couldn't get the waist tight enough to tighten the leg holes whilst still pulling the nappy up and down. Once I snapped the rise down one (in fact half way through her wearing it I snapped it down another snap and found the fit even better!) it made such a huge difference. Snapped down one level the waist was still not tight enough until i snapped the arms in shorter - we almost needed to cross the fully extended arms over and so couldn't get them to work. Snapped down 2 the fit was even better and the arms met in the middle and weren't too low in the rise for her (just meant the arms fit at her hips and the nappy was more snug that way.) So if you try the fit you think will work and the pull-up just isn't fitting right try a few different rise and waist combo's - the fit we got in the end was perfect!

Photos:

Side squat - no gapes

With the arms snapped over we were still able to pull it up
and down easily enough but the fit still wasn't quite right on her...

Bum view

I asked her to show me her belly (hence
pulling her belly button) so I could get a
good pic - front view.

Arms unsnapped was but one arm was tighter than the
other so one leg had a bit too much room.

snapped down another rise setting - arms evenly snapped
perfect fit for piper :-)

From the EzyPeezies website - better description of the fit than my photos gave :-)

MCN Review - trying out the new look EzyPeezies

Not my usual model and in my opinion one of the ugliest dolls
that live in our house but Miss Pie certainly adores her (as you
can see by the state of her!) Luckily tho - this model is not as
wriggly as my normal one and much easier to photograph ;)

In December just before Xmas a parcel landed on my doorstep (and it wasn't the present I'd ordered my brother and was desperately waiting for - big sister fail!) BUT it was a pretty awesome little parcel all the same. I put it to one side so after xmas I could take some pics and put it to use and tell you all how I found it.

What came in my parcel :

One EzyPeezie nappy shell

With matching nappy bag (note the
handle has a snap on it - perfect for
clipping on a pram, in a bag or on
a change table etc.)

2 x charcoal bamboo blended inserts
specially shaped to fit the EzyPeezie MCN.

Now I know its not that big of a deal how the nappy arrives but I do love it when a nappy comes in its own little wet bag :-) I'm a cloth lady myself so I generally steal the little bags for my own use but there is just something so cute about anything smaller than normal AND I love that the packaging has a purpose and it re-useable just like the product. Another handy use for these will be when toilet training takes full swing and we have to venture out into the big bad world nappy free with spare undies tucked away in my handbag. Also great way to transport wet cloth wipes. Or you could just use it the way its intended - to fit the nappy in when it has been used :-)

 Alright now, I won't lie to you - when I opened the nappy and saw all the snaps I got a little bit overwhelmed for about 30 seconds - husband however is still overwhelmed by it (but 2 yrs of cloth nappying and he still manages to put the inserts all int he wrong shells whenever he folds the washing - and yes I know how lucky I am to have a husband who helps with the washing :-) so I thought I would take some happy snaps and show you all how the version 2 EzyPeezies MCNs work. These are particularly good fro trying to explain to nanny's or daycarers or daddys just how to fit an EzyPeezies - feel free to print them out if need be ;)

Front view - lots of snaps :-)

Arm view - also lots of snaps :-)

BUT lets break it down....

Front view
- when you know what all the snaps are doing there really aren't that many and they aren't any more complicated than other OSFM with snap closures and snap rise settings :-)

Arm view
The extra snaps make these nappies so much more functional AND help eliminate front wing droopage by adding the extra length to the arms :-)

Fitting your baby:

Lay your baby on the nappy

Bring the front between their
legs and use the snaps to
adjust the rise to suit the bub.

Bring the arms around the
tummy and snap into place
for a firm but comfortable fit.

 For a little tummy the arms will need to be shortened - simply snap the white studs to the pink sockets and use the pink studs to attach the arms to the nappy to fit your bub.

Cos my bub is so squishy I did this nappy
up on the tightest setting, crossing one
arm over the other - baby dolly is all set.

 And of course lets not forget the pocket and the specially shaped inserts that go into it.

Pocket opening at the back - generous size so husband
can do the folding for you.

This is how the inserts lay within the nappy - trimmer at
the front and wider at the back - just like the nappy :-)

 And to give you and idea of the size of this OSFM:

Snapped up to the newborn size:

Little leg holes to fit those gorgeous skinny newborn legs

teeny tiny tummy fitting on the newborn setting.

Size comparison to a size 1 pair of training pants - as you can see
the nappy has lots of room to fit toilet training toddlers (those
arms are snapped to their short length still for the purpose of this pic -
there is still a lot of growing room here!)

So much more space for chubby tummies to grow!

Trying out pull-ups

Look what I found in my drafts folder :-S A few notes when we were trying out EzyPeezies for the first time (their older design) which I thought I published but clearly didn't! Anyway its published now...

Lately we have been trying out EzyPeezies pull ups. They are pretty cool in my personal opinion. We aren't ready to toilet train in our house, nor are we in any rush but these nappies work well as a snap closure nappy and can be pulled up and down if needed for wriggley toddlers. I was a little skeptical about the 'pull up' aspect but they are super stretchy and pull on with ease. If I'm not using them as a pull up I do them up 1 snap tighter for a trimmer fit on my skinny minnie but on the looser snaps they don't leak and are a comfy snug fit.
Another thing I really like about EzyPeezies is their absorpency. They come with 2 charcoal bamboo inserts. Its been over 6 months since Miss Pie can wear a 1 insert MCN without needing a full wardrobe change within the hour, I use both and am yet to have a leak - I even put them to the true test as a night nappy when my normal night nappies were in the wash a few nights ago and no leaks. They certainly aren't designed to be a night nappy but in an emergency under our fleece soakers they did the trick.

Locked Out!

Hello MCN Lovers,

Am I the only person in the world who forgets her passwords ALL the time? I have 2 standard passwords I use and if its not them well I'm generally screwed! My computer died a few weeks ago so when I got on hubby's computer last week to start my latest review I discovered that my password for the blog was no longer saved and I couldn't get into it - eeeek! So after trying all the combos of passwords I could think of I finally got into the email account that I thought was linked to my blog but nope - it wasn't! So finally today I thought to try a different email and after much stuffing about I'm back in the blogosphere! Anyway today is a bit of a busy day so I don't think part a of my next review will be up tonight but here's a little clue to who we've been wearing this month :-)

Cloth Nappy Review: Itty Bitty Bums Designer Pockets

Cloth Nappy Review

Brand/business:
Itty Bitty Bums

Business info:
A Victorian based WAHM owned business, all IBB nappies are currently sewn by the business owner to her own patterns.

Nappy reviewed:
IBB cotton outer pocket nappies (Designer Pocket Nappies)

Where you can find it:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ittybittybums.com.au?fref=ts
Website: http://www.ittybittybums.com.au/

Price (RRP at time of review):

$29.00

Size:
OSFM

Style:
Designer Pocket Nappy


Baby's details:
Gender: Female
Age: 18mo
Height: 85cm 
Weight: 10kg 
Build: slim, tall

Jodi's review:

Initial thoughts:

I love IBBs, I was lucky and selected as one of the testers for these nappies while IBBs perfected their pocket pattern. Today I have a super cute bright blue care bears print pocket in my hands. The cotton used is a good quality fabric, feels thick and strong, PUL appears to be strong too, nice and thick, not crunchy and visibly well laminated. The inside microchamois is very soft and snowy white. Nappy has 4 rise settings in the front and is front snapping with 3 snaps to avoid wing droopage. The snaps are colour co-ordinated to the cotton print, mine are blue . Inside the pocket nappies have a bamboo doubler and a microfire trifold booster. The pocket opening is at the back.

After use:

Now let’s start by saying – I have not encountered many cotton outter nappies that we haven’t had a wicking problem with (wicking is when liquid (wee) travels across the fibres of a fabric – basically the outside of the nappy ends up wet) and the first few times Pie wore this nappy the outside got wet which I was so disapointed by cos I just love it BUT I was finding the absorbent layers were completely soaked (dripping) when I took it off so I put on my thinking cap and thought “Hmm, maybe these nappies are getting flooded rather than it being a wicking problem.” So I added an extra booster and low and behold – crisis averted.

Now don’t let that scare you off – Miss 18mo has to have an extra layer of absorbency in all her nappies these days – her b*cheeks have a bamboo or microfiber 3 layer insert squished in with the double fold bamboo insert, we use 2 long fold over inserts with snapped in boosters in her itti bittis and her CCs have a thick 3 layer microfibre insert (or 2!) plus 3-4 layers of bamboo minimum in them (and I’m not talking those microfleece inner bamboo outer inserts, these are heavy duty, 3 or 4 layers of bamboo, take 2 days to dry, ready to handle the 20 yr floods type inserts.) Luckily, my daughter was not ‘blessed’ with my giant booty and her slim frame can handle the extra junk in her MCN trunk. But like I said, she isn’t a normal wetter these days (but if your child is a bit like Pie then you can pick up heavy wetter inserts at Itty Bitty Bums too – just click here)

So anyway, once we got the right level of absorbency for princess piddle pants (she will kill me if she ever reads this blog!) we were in action. That’s when we got our next prolem – apparently the soft fluffy feel on microchamois against Pie’s cute little tushie sends a trigger straight to her bowels and I don’t need to tell you what comes next! It’s making it rather hard to get some really decent photos of her running around in this nappy for you all to see it in action. But I do have a few and will add some more if she is ever in it long enough to allow me to get the camera out ;)

The fit is really nice and would fit most newborns (unlike a lot of OSFM) – it says 3-20kg on their website and I think that sounds about right. Miss 10kg wears it on the large rise setting and the medium to large (depending how big her lunch was ;) tummy settings so there is plenty of room to grow for her and would fit a much bigger toddler. When it’s snapped to its smallest settings it makes my uterus skip a beat (similar to the affect tiny baby hats and booties and 00000 onesies have on a girl ;) The leg and waist elastic are a good fit too so we never have any thigh fall outs. The multiple rise adjustments make it really easy to get a good fit for just about any bubba's shape.

Photos:

A side view

A quick back view as my model escapes into her castle!

Visiting Zink MacRabbit

Adorable care bear butt!

I will add more photo's
(and better ones!)
when I can keep her in the nappy
and poop free for long enough!

Back view!

Side view of the fit (you can see her
cute little 'bum knees' too)

October Giveaway

Hi guys!

Have you seen this floating around?

 

One of the gorgeous MCN Lovers over in our new group brilliantly named it Clothtober and well - its stuck! So this months giveaway is going to be all about clothtober :)

Our beautiful friends down at Itty Bitty Bums are giving one very lucky MCN Lover a fabulous prize and all you have to do to be in the running is:

Like Itty Bitty Bums on facebook

Like MCN Lovers R Us on faceook

Upload a Clothtober photo to Itty Bitty Bums facebook wall or the new MCN Lovers R Us group

and

Email Itty Bitty Bums to let us know you've entered :-)

Looking forward to seeing all the gorgeous clothtober photos and joining in on the fun.

Big Thanks to our October sponsor Itty Bitty Bums