goodmama

Goodmama Fluff-O-Rama starts today!

Starting today, goodmama is having a Fluff-O-Rama. Everything goodmama is 40% off!

Now is the time to get your stash on! Add to the cart to get your discount, applies to goodmama products only.

Shop now!

Our latest ONE! Flamenco!

A new ONE for your stash! This time, sassy rumba ruffles make for an extra cute rear view. Imagine this diaper with a black top or dress? DEAD CUTE!

We were only able to get a limited amount of this fabric, so when the Flamenco ONE is gone, it's gone for good!

Stocked today in the goodmama store!

Like a fitted, but requiring no extra cover, the goodmama ONE features our perfect one-size fit, natural fibers next to your baby's skin, and the convenience of a whole diapering system in one.

So many of you have asked for the ease and natural fibers of a fitted diaper, but with a waterproof feature. These are babysitter, daddy, and grandparent friendly -- and super cute to boot!

Featuring six absorbent layers for a trimmer fit, you then get to add either a good boost, a good front, or a super doubler for even more absorbency.

Velour Perfection, now with hidden snaps!

The classic goodmama diaper is an organic bamboo velour fitted. These luscious, scrumptious, squishy, marshmallow, soft-as-cloud creations wrap your baby in the finest, softest nummiest diapers anywhere. And now these simple and elegant classics are back and better than ever. 

Add the original famous goodmama one-size fit and the sweet and clean serging and snaps, and you have a gorgeous classic you will love to stack in your nursery, pull out of the dryer, show off, and spoil your baby with the very best original one-size fitted diaper.

The main request I have received about these diapers is to hide the second row of snaps, including the hip snaps, please. I couldn't be happier to say, here they are! In ten gorgeous colors, these diapers are the perfect back-to-basic luxury diapers for your stash. Now with hidden second-row snaps!

Stocking today: baby blue, baby pink, marigold, pure, crimson, spring green, chocolate, butterscotch, bright blue

Perfect, basic, elegant, organic, milled & made in the USA. Even better, to reintroduce these diapers, I'm offering a deal. Buy three, and get a discount. Combine this with your Great Cloth Diaper Hunt discount, and you are really getting the best for less.

Stocking today, November 3, at 3 pm MST in the goodmama shop.

 

Half of the Switch Box (& Wish Boxes) are here! The rest are on the way.

When I lost my hard drive I lost all of my photo editing software, so I need to get that all up and on here before I put up many more photos. However, I wanted to get this up to give you a peek into what is coming:

Diapers are here!

One-size bamboo velour diapers are now available at goodmama!

We have fresh lime, hot pink, sunny marigold, baby blue, crimson red and light navy in stock and ready to ship! Available for preorder: chocolate brown, baby pink and rich pumpkin. These will ship around 8/14.

Serged with shiny decorative thread, two rows of front snaps, fold down rise for smaller babies, hip snaps to prevent wing droop and keep that rise snapped down, and perfect fit.

Outer is a plush oatmeal-y organic cotton/bamboo velour. Core is absorbent organic cotton/hemp fleece, lining is another layer of soft and silky organic cotton/bamboo velour.

Snap-in soaker is organic cotton/bamboo velour + 2 layers organic cotton/hemp fleece sewn together to another soaker of the same construction. All together this soft and squishy diaper is nine layers thick, but constructed to wash clean and dry quickly. No doublers necessary!

This is no cheap diaper you buy for the price and are disappointed with the quality. You are going to love this diaper, and your baby will love it even more.

 

Fits 10-35+ pounds. This is a fitted diaper, and requires a cover.

Treat yourself. Treat your baby! Be a good mama!

Farm Girl Diaper

This is the diaper we sold on Hyena Cart this morning. It's so soft and pretty. I had to hide it from Hazel. Every diaper she sees in this house she thinks is hers. Silly girl. :-)

One thing I love about these diapers is they are absorbent enough to require no doublers, but they are constructed to wash thoroughly and dry quickly.

It drives me crazy to pay a premium for a diaper and then have to stuff it with doublers because it's not thick enough. Some diapers are worse for that than others. Even worse, if the diaper isn't sold with the necessary absorbency, adding it will ruin the fit. This is something I was determined to fix!

In a week or so we will have all bamboo velour diapers with different snap/serging colors stocked in the regular store at http://www.thegoodmama.com. I am giddy with excitement.

Cloth Diapering -- are you serious?

So many people, when they hear the words "cloth diapering" wrinkle up their noses in disgust. I know what they are thinking. My mom used to have a wet pail full of soaking diapers in our bathroom, and I thought it was the grossest thing ever.

When I had my first baby, my mother tried to convince me to cloth diaper. All I knew about were plastic pants, Gerber prefolds and pins. I thought about the pail, and I said, no thank you!

Fortunately for me, I did listen to her advice about breastfeeding, and even better, she gave me her first edition copy of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. It was so conversational, so encouraging, and so helpful, of course I would breastfeed -- and I did! Thank you mom.

I used disposable diapers with three children, and found myself considering cloth with my fourth child after following a link a friend posted in her blog. These were cloth diapers? But they are so cute! And it seemed like so many of my friends were using them, how hard could it really be?

This began days and days of internet research. I didn't stop until I'd read every FAQ, every how-to, every article I could find on cloth diapering. I had to know everything and I had to know it now.

Many friends recommended that I just buy a few diapers to "try it out." What the uninitiated don't realize is that cloth diapers have a very high resale value, so even if I'd bought diapers, used them for three months, and sold them, I would still be ahead of the game.

However, I am an all-or-nothing kind of woman. I am feet first or no feet. I am not a toe dipper. After all this research, I decided I was doing as much if not more laundry as I would if I used cloth, because disposable diapers leak and blow out, and I would rather just wash diapers and save myself the hassle and expense of disposables.

I admit, what pushed me over the edge, however, was the cuteness. Who knew that cloth diapers would be so cute? My last child was a girl, and I was all about the cute. Cloth offered whole new frontiers of cute. When was the last time you saw a beautiful photoshoot of a baby only wearing a disposable diaper. You didn't. They are wearing cloth. Why? Cloth looks better. This is what I'm sayin'.

I waited for our tax return to come in, and when it did, I switched entirely to cloth. I still had 3/4 of a case of Huggies I was planning to continue to use, switching back and forth until the sposies, as the cloth diaperers call them, were all gone. However, my often colicky high needs daughter was so happy the first time I put her in cloth, I never looked back. I ended up giving those diapers away to a friend!

Think about it, what would you rather wear? I believe that onesies were invented to help parents grip their babies and not have to touch paper diapers while they do it. If you have ever held a baby wearing a paper diaper only, you know how unpleasant it feels. How must it feel to them? My daughter enjoys wearing bamboo velour, fleece, and organic cotton against her baby skin. This is something I hadn't even thought of when I switched -- her comfort. Cloth babies really are happier!

Okay, you say, that's all great. They are cute and comfortable. They don't leak. I'll take your word for it. But -- what do you do after the baby, you know, dirties them? First of all, forget the nasty wet pail of old. Dry pail is the way to go. A dry pail is a waterproof hanging bag or  pail/hamper/dedicated garbage can. When the baby is young and not eating solids, you can just throw the diaper into the pail straight from the baby. When you have a load worth, just carry everything to the washing machine, dump everything in, throw your hanging pail wetbag in after, and wash away.

If your baby is eating solids, there may be an extra step. Still, I am here to tell you, my daughter is over two years old and I have never ever never put my hands in the toilet or wrung out a diaper sopping with toilet water. I never will, either.

Many mamas swear by a diaper sprayer. This is a contraption you hook into the water supply leading to your toilet. It looks like a kitchen sprayer. Angle the diaper over the toilet, spray the waste into the toilet, voila, the poop is gone.

I was enchanted by the idea of a diaper sprayer, and like I said, many love theirs. However, my house was built in 1932 and our plumbing is not totally modern. My husband installed the sprayer and water leaked everywhere. Note, this will not happen to you unless you live in an ancient house with ancient pipes and have a husband who writes for a living and has no interest in improving your plumbing so you can have a diaper sprayer.

Not to be defeated, I looked for other solutions. For a long time I used flushable rice paper liners. I love, love, love them. You lay them in the diaper and when you change the baby, you carry the diaper to the potty, let the paper and everything on it slide beautifully into the toilet, and flush your cares away. If you don't flush the liner, bonus -- it is washable! You can re-use them several times before they finally fall apart, if you haven't flushed them first.

I got lazy, however, and tired of putting the liners into her diapers. Also, her movements became more solid and easier to dump without the aid of the liner. I also figured I preferred for her bottom to be touching bamboo velour, not wet paper. So, I got myself a cheap one-piece spatula. I keep it in the bucket with the plunger under the bathroom sink. When I get a diaper that won't just roll into the toilet, I take the spatula, scrape the diaper into the toilet, rinse the scraper in the toilet, wipe it off on the diaper or some toilet paper, and flush my cares away. I never touch the business end of the spatula, and I periodically spray it with disinfectant or wipe it with a Costco wipe. (Not environmentally friendly, but they are very effective!)  I love the spatula solution. It suits my lazy personality lifestyle with four children and a business.

If you don't have children yet, you may find this entire discussion revolting. However what you may not realize is when you become a parent, you have to deal with body fluids and wastes. Body fluids made you a parent, and body fluids will be part of your life for a very long time. Whether you use disposable diapers or cloth diapers, you will be dealing very closely with all of them. Your life will include lots of vomit, pee, poop, sweat, blood and tears. Why not deal with them the most effective way possible? I used to spend lots of time soaking baby clothes to remove baby poo stains. I have had to take carseats apart by the screws and wash entire beds of linens after blowouts. After I switched to cloth I actually had to remember to change my daughter's clothes, because they didn't get dirty any more. My laundry actually decreased!

While I'm at it, why not consider cloth wipes too? They were a no-brainer for me. You just throw them in the pail with the diaper, they wash with the diapers, they come out clean and ready to use again. Sometimes when I am feeling industrious I make up some wipes solution with baby soap, essential oils (like tea tree and lavender) and maybe some olive oil. Sometimes I use Indigo Baby spray, it makes excellent wipes solution. Sometimes I just grab a few dry wipes, get them wet under the tap and then use them to change the baby. Easy!

The only difference I can see between cloth diapering and disposable diapering, since I have done both, is disposables smell much worse due to the chemicals and perfumes contained in the diapers, cost more, always have to be budgeted for, leak, and have to be dragged to the curb once a week to add more garbage to the landfills. Cloth diapering allows me to breeze past the entire baby section of the store, thumbing my nose at all those companies who used to take all my money. Cloth diapering is more comfortable for my baby. I never run out of diapers. They are cuter, and thus more entertaining for me and now for my baby. She is old enough she has favorites and loves to choose the prints she wants. Cloth diapering is more environmentally friendly. Cloth diapering makes me feel self-sufficient and connected with my children and with the women who went before me. Even if all my cloth diapers are dirty, I know how to fold a t-shirt and use it as a diaper while I do the laundry. (I have never had to do this, but if I had to, I know I could!)  Instead of dragging the diapers to the curb, I carry them to my washing machine. I don't wash cloth diapers. My washing machine does. And it hasn't complained yet!

After I learned about modern cloth diapering, and how it really works, my question went from, "Why cloth diaper?" to "Why wouldn't I cloth diaper?"  Honestly, my greatest regret is not learning about and using cloth sooner. I have four children and still have never had the satisfaction of cloth diapering a newborn. I think that is why I love goodmama. I get to cloth diaper so many babies this way.

goodmama one-size firefly print diaper

Just a sneak peek...

diaper cuts

She is only posing, she isn't here for the labor.

I did go to the post office today with my children trailing behind me, each with an arm-full of packages to mail. I'm trying to involve them in the business and make it something they feel invested in and proud of.

I'm still cutting, and will begin sewing soon. These are one-size diapers with bamboo velour and hemp fleece, all with organic cotton blends.

This photo makes my studio look clean and wonderful. When this photo was taken, this was the only clear corner in the whole room.

If you would like to be notified when these diapers are finished and ready for purchase, be sure to register in the store at http://www.thegoodmama.com. Newsletter subscribers hear everything first!

Diaper Data from a Disposable Diaper Manufacturing Consultant

From Richer Investment Diaper Consulting Services:

The volume of diapers sold in the United States alone in year 2006 will be close to 18.6 billion units, around 20.4 billion units will be sold in Europe and 4.9 billion units will be sold in Mexico in 2006.

No one takes longer at potty training than American babies.  When you take into account this fact, more diapers are used per baby in the US in comparison to Europe or even Japan.  As a matter of fact, American babies use diapers much longer than they used to do a decade ago.  Probably the result of the “psychological stress” campaign associated to the practice of potty training.  It is also a very convenient excuse for not having to pay much attention to your baby and let him learn when he pleases. Of course if we all can sell more diapers we can tell every parent that they should not rush the baby’s development to avoid a permanent “psychological trauma”  (here he inserted a smiley face)

I forecast that this trend of extending the use of the diaper will continue in the near future in the USA, probably the winner of this strategy will be the training pant, but it could also mean increased sales and maybe even the launch of a size 7 diaper.  I believe this trend will remain mainly in the USA and maybe a few of the Western European countries.  For the rest of the world, “the psychological stress argument” will have no impact as disposable income will force every parent to become their own baby’s therapists, but they will push the baby to learn quickly with potty training and save the money.

Once you take into account all available data, we can estimate a total number in a range of 3,700 to 4,200 diapers used during the entire life of the baby.