I’ll allow Marissa to introduce herself:

“Marissa is a stay at home mommy to Hudson and loving wife to an Air Force man! She has a passion for the environment and the art of living simply, naturally and consciously. She is the owner of Growing Green Bums, a natural parenting store. She loves organic/whole food eats, nature, gardening and living “green”!”

After switching to cloth diapers when her son was 4 months old to continue her quest to reduce his exposure to toxic chemicals, Marissa wanted to help others find their way through the online cloth diaper marketplace to benefit their babies as well.  Marissa has been holding classes at a local hospital and a health food store to spread the word in her community about the ease and benefits of cloth diapering.  She loves working with new moms and families and is excited to provide an outlet where parents can come to support one another.

I “met” Marissa this summer on Monday night’s #clothdiapers Twitter chat.  I still see her there every week where she is always quick to try to help parents with their cloth diapering challenges.  She is friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful, and the Emerald Coast community will greatly benefit from her efforts.

The first meeting of the Emerald Coast Real Diaper Circle will be in March at the Pensacola Ever’Man’s Natural Food Coop.  Get immediate online support and find out about upcoming activities by joining the online group.

Heather McNamara

Executive Director, Real Diaper Association

Find a local Real Diaper Circle.

It took us two days of travel on either end. Ride to airport, flight from NY to Miami, flight from NY to Panama City, taxi to hotel. The next day (after a brief anticlimactic visit to the Panama Canal), we took another taxi to a different airport, a prop plane to Bocas town, a taxi across the island, and a boat to Popa. And reverse that for the way back (minus a second trip to the Canal, but adding in an unplanned – and unexplained – stop on the prop plane back to Panama City). With a 3-year-old and a 15-month-old. Yikes! I put together a bag of diapers for each day of travel, packing the second one in our checked luggage each time, so I only had a half dozen diapers to carry on. A friend made me a tiny wetbag in which I stored wet washcloths (which were handy for more than diaper changing). Keeping the kids happy and entertained while traveling was FAR harder than cloth diapering!

We had a FANTASTIC vacation, but I definitely could have done a few thing differently with the diapers if I had it to do over again. What were the biggest obstacles?

1. I forgot to bring my laundry detergent. Duhhh… The few times we’ve deviated on detergent caused problems in the past – and this was no exception. The little guy developed a light rash which wasn’t helped by…

2. I only had a couple of samples of diaper rash ointment with me as we rarely have to deal with rashes and I had just thrown them in the bag “in case”. Speaking of ointment, I also didn’t have diaper liners with me, which I normally use with the ointment, which became a problem because…

3. The washing machine was awful – even when it was “working”, which was intermittent. This was a particular problem since I couldn’t do much rinsing prior to washing in the low-flow toilets (boy, did I miss my diaper sprayer!). The diapers still smelled a little after washing, but water is from a catchment system on the island so I didn’t feel right about running the load through multiple times (nor was it easy to hike to the back of the property to reach the laundry to begin with). Normally, this is something a little sunning could do wonders for, but, alas, in a rainforest, sun alternates with rain so frequently that you can’t really do much line drying (though I did try one cloudless day).

Diapers drying in the Panama Rainforest

4. The dryer was also miserable, and the constant high level of humidity didn’t help. I realized shortly that “wet” and “dry” are relative terms. After the diapers came out of the dryer, they were “less wet” than when they came out of the washer, so they counted as “dry”. This constant state of wetness probably contributed to the rash mentioned in #1 and the smelliness in #3 above. (Though I must honestly note that the diapers were MUCH softer than when I air dry them in San Diego…)

Numbers 3 and 4 could probably have been alleviated with the use of flats which would have been easier to wash and dry quickly (why did I never act on that idea!?!). I had the most problems cleaning and drying the nighttime fitted diapers, so phased those out in lieu of two prefolds. (Turns out I liked the trimness and functionality of that system so much that I haven’t gone back to the fitteds and will be selling them off as soon as I get home – proving again that even an experienced cloth diaperer is always changing her routine.)

5. The last problem was definitely due to lack of foresight. I only had two medium-size wetbags with me – and no diaper pail! So the wetbags were it. They would have to hold two full days’ diapers in them so you had to really jam them in there. Of course, that made them wick and smell a little (I also forgot my handy tea tree oil!!). I should definitely have brought at least one all-day size wetbag.

I tried to talked to some local moms about diapering (their word for diapers – even the kind they washed – was “pampers” – sad, eh?). The Panamanians mostly used disposables, though they were really interested when they saw my pockets. However, the Ngobe women (the local indigenous people) mostly washed and reused their diapers (flats). I saw one of their washing stations and it was literally a rock in a creek with some string hung overhead between trees. It made me feel a little ridiculous for missing my diaper sprayer.

Fortunately, the little guy’s butt never got too bad and healed quickly upon our return. The diapers were cured with a single wash in my parents’ awesome washing machine with some good laundry detergent. So, all in all, a success! With a little more foresight and planning, I could have avoided all the problems I ran into. However, it proved that cloth diapering is possible even when it’s not perfect, which is something worth remembering.

Heather McNamara

NEW 2010 RDA CALENDAR IS NOW AVAILABLE!!!

Yay! So I put the calendar in my cart, then browsed the updated catalog to see what else I could get (to make the most of my shipping charges, of course!). Thus the mug and beer stein. My old mug has a broken top and Tim could use a beer stein to add to his New Jersey Devils pint glass set. (Or so I think.) I mean, we both talk enough about cloth diapers – it makes sense to have our gear pick up some of the slack. Plus, each purchase from the store includes a small donation for RDA – $1 or $2 for most items, $5 for the AWESOME custom calendar featuring the winning photographs from this summer’s Real Diapers Real Babies RDA Photo Contest. And, of course, all those proceeds go toward getting more babies into cloth diapers – what a way to vote with your wallet!

I can’t wait until our products arrive. Action photos to follow…

In the meantime, is a $1, $2, or $5 donation to RDA not enough for you? Want to do more? Join as a member-donor in the months of October – December and receive a special Welcome RDA Member 12-month calendar magnet! All members can show their colors by proudly displaying their Member Badge on their website or blog. Business members also receive a listing in our Local Resource Directory.

By the way, in looking over our budget today, I’m reminded that neither the photo contest nor the calendar would have been possible this first year without the generous support of our sponsors. It’s always a risk to sponsor something in the first year, but these businesses upped their support of the RDA to help us get this off the ground, and for that, we are grateful. They are:

Heather McNamara
Executive Director, Real Diaper Association

Our Mission: The Real Diaper Association is a collective non-profit organization in which parents and small businesses take the lead in creating a cultural shift to increase the use of simple, reusable cloth diapers. We connect current cloth diapering parents to the long history of cloth diapering. Cloth diapers are real diapers. The Association organizes local advocates and activists for cloth diapers through a member-supported resource center which plans campaigns, trains organizers, distributes educational information, supports local groups, and connects users to the U.S. Cloth Diaper industry. Local Real Diaper Circles reach users face-to-face with knowledge and tools to make cloth diapering accessible and acceptable to U.S. parents, who have the power to change the world one baby at a time.

Cloth diapers are real diapers. We love cloth diapers!

If you love cloth diapers, too, share with others. Tell the world why you use reusable cloth diapers.

Read hundreds of testimonials why Real Diaper Association members use cloth diapers.

Lori Taylor
President, Real Diaper Association
lori@realdiaperassociation.org

Cynthia Thompson
Vice President, Real Diaper Association
cynthia@realdiaperassociation.org

Marie DiCocco
Secretary, Real Diaper Association
marie@realdiaperassociation.org

Angela Imes
Treasurer, Real Diaper Association
angela@realdiaperassociation.org

Heather McNamara
Executive Director, Real Diaper Association
heatherm@realdiaperassociation.org

Follow the above link to literally pages upon pages of testimonials. And? If you didn’t post your testimonial there upon sign-up, do it now. Log in to your membership area and update your files. Then, come on back here and post it on the blog as well! Let us know why you chose cloth THEN and why you are choosing cloth now!

Cloth diaper testimonials are collected and may be used monthly in the E-Newsletter, as well as in the printed Quarterly!

Here are a few testimonials from our newest members.

Business Member, Christy Perce wrote:
http://www.maineclothdiapercompany.com
“I began cloth diapering because I wanted the best for my children and the environment. We were on a tight budget and I was tired of throwing away money and diapers, it seemed like the obvious choice. It didn’t take long before I was hooked. Also, once I started cloth diapering and realized the chemicals that are in disposables, I was so glad I made this healthier choice for my children.”

Individual Member, Melanie Vonfange wrote:
“Because it is better for the enviroment, my pocket book and my baby!”