Earth Day is approaching, and, with it, an opportunity for people to reassess how their lifestyles are impacting the environment. Parents everywhere are starting to realize what a waste throwaway diapers are, and are interested in finding out more about reusable cloth diapers.

To support them in their quest, the Real Diaper Association is cohosting a #GetRealDiapers party on Twitter at 9pmET (8pmCT / 7pmMT / 6pmPT) on Earth Day (Thursday, 4/22) to educate people on choosing and using 100% reusable cloth diapers. Sponsors have joined on to provide great incentives – starter sets of cloth diapers and accessories for parents new to cloth diapers, and exciting stash updates for those attending to help the new parents overcome obstacles. You can find out more about the party (and preregister for prizes) at EcoMomMedia. If you’re new to Twitter, check out this easy-to-follow guide ahead of time to get yourself set up to participate.

See you there!

Heather McNamara
Executive Director, Real Diaper Association
@RDAHeatherMc
Please also follow @RealDiapers for RDA news and updates!

My oldest son, who is 3 1/2 years old, has taken 8 round trip plane trips in his short life, and probably 15 road trips. He’s FAR better traveled than I was at least until my mid-20s. His diapers (and his brother’s) have made all those trips with us, and thank goodness for it! My dad likes to claim that we’re all flying for free these days, thanks to our diaper savings. That might be slightly overstating it, but the fact remains that several thousand dollars of diaper savings over the course of two children HAVE helped us keep up with our east coast relatives while enjoying the sunny San Diego lifestyle!

When our first baby was only a few months old, we traveled to New York. I had several disposable diapers left over from his newborn days and he was still quite small so I figured, rather than throwing them out, I’d use them for the flights. What. A. Disaster. Before we even got on the plane, I was changing him from head to toe and bathing him in an airport bathroom sink after an explosion the likes of which I had never before (nor since) experienced using cloth diapers. All I can say is thank goodness it happened in the airport and not on the plane – I can’t imagine doing THAT change in one of those tiny airplane stalls! From then on, I haven’t bought or used a single disposable diaper, and we have continued to travel – by car, by plane, cross-country, internationally, staying with family and friends, in a tent, in hotels, even in a rainforest – literally!

Along the way, I’ve learned things to make it easier to use cloth diapers on the road. I’ve also been fortunate to know a bunch of moms who also use and travel with their cloth diapers, all of whom have been very generous with their advice. Unfortunately, not all parents are similarly connected, though many of them have the same desire to continue to experience all the financial, environmental, and health benefits of cloth diapers – even when they’re traveling. To help them, the next phase of the Real Diaper Association’s 100% Reusable Cloth Diapers campaign is focused on this aspect of cloth diapering. Here’s where you come in: Can you add your tips to mine so RDA can put together an exhaustive plan for parents to use when planning a trip with their reusable cloth diapers?

There are doubters that say that using cloth diapers on the road is impossible – or it can only be done in certain really easy travel situations. I’m proud to say I’ve used my reusable cloth diapers in a bunch of atypical travel situations – with complete success! – and I know I’m not the only one! Don’t let this myth stand uncontested. If you have used reusable cloth diapers while traveling, stand up and be proud – then share your tips! We’ll even give you a badge to show off a little bit…

Heather McNamara
Executive Director, Real Diaper Association

When I told my father-in-law that RDA was working on compiling parents’ recommendations for nighttime cloth diapering, he looked perplexed, then asked “what, like get a good flashlight so you can see to change the diaper in the dark?” “Ummm… no”, I laughed. Actually we wanted to find out what parents do to make sure their babies’ diapers don’t leak after a (hopefully) long night.

Baby sleeping comfortably in a 100% reusable cloth diaper.

Well over a hundred parents shared their advice to help other parents succeed using 100% reusable cloth diapers at night. We examined the responses and compiled it into a single-page tip sheet for nighttime cloth diapering. I’m thrilled with the results, in part due to the beautiful graphic design work of our volunteer designer, Trebeca Itzen. Please feel free to use and share this tip sheet with anyone you can! We hope it’s helpful…

We’ve now concluded the first phase of the 100% Reusable Cloth Diapers campaign, and it was a real pleasure to see so many people publicize it and contribute to its success. I’m hoping you’ll be as generous in helping with the next phase, starting in April, focusing on tips for traveling with 100% reusable cloth diapers.

This weekend I had my first opportunity to represent RDA at a community event. From 10am to 5pm at the DFW Family Expo in Dallas, Texas I had a chance to talk to parents, parent-to-be, grandparents, and more about their diapering choices. At first I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t know what to say or that people would have questions I couldn’t answer. But I quickly got into a groove, engaging not only those parents who make a point to stop but just asking those who walked by “Have you ever considered cloth diapers”.  To this questions I received the entire range of responses but the most fulfilling were those who said they “couldn’t” or “wouldn’t” do that.  To these parents I simply said “May I ask way…” An opening that in many case allowed me to show them different diaper styles and direct them to our local diaper services to address their concerns. Or to dispel misconceptions about wet pails and diaper dunking. One of my favorites was a grandmother-to-be who confessed she was giving her daughter a hard time about plans to use cloth and said then new baby would have to be in disposables for her to babysit. After showing her an all-in-one diaper she quickly proclaimed “Oh, I can do that…” I also found that having my5 month old (who refuses milk from any source but mommy) turned out to be more help than hindrance. People love to stop to talk when your holding a cute baby and I was able to show off her fluffy butt. Including to one parent who asked regarding a Snappi, “you don’t really use these do you?” and I was able to slip open her cover and show off the Snappi in action.

All in all, it was a long and tiring day but I was surprised at how much fun I had. No one would describe me as an extrovert but I enjoyed the chance to talk with so many people about something I believe in so passionately. Now I can’t wait to do another one.

Angela Imes

Plano Area Real Diaper Circle Leader

http://groups.google.com/group/planocloth

The 100% Reusable Cloth Diapers campaign has gotten off to a great start. In this first leg of the campaign, RDA members and other cloth diapering experts have been contributing their best advice to help other parents succeed with using cloth diapers at night.

We’ve received more than 50 responses. And what are the experts saying?

• More than half of the respondents recommend adding extra inserts or doublers to increase absorbency for those (hopefully) long nights.
• More than half of our respondents were using fitteds, prefolds, or flats with covers – mostly wool covers, though occasionally fleece covers (or pajama bottoms).  Those who praised wool covers cited the breathability of wool in particular as being useful for keeping a baby’s bottom healthy overnight.
• Many experts are using pocket diapers since they are easily stuffable to add absorbency, and have a built-in stay-dry layer next to the baby’s bottom.
• Hemp diapers and inserts get a lot of recommendations for their extreme absorbency.  (Bamboo got a number votes for this characteristic as well.)
• Some other common tips include paying close attention to a good fit, particularly around the legs, and adding fleece liners on top of fitteds or prefolds so babies feel comfortably dry at night.

I really liked the bits of encouragement that some participants included, so I will include them here for your enjoyment:

“Keep at it.  There is a solution out there for everyone.” – Danielle

“Don’t give up!  I struggled off and on to keep my sheets dry while co-sleeping with my CD’ed [cloth-diapered] son…  The nice thing about cloth diapers is that there are tons of used ones out there, so you can find what works and not spend a fortune.  Then you can turn around and sell your stash to another CD’ing [cloth diapering] family!” – Wendy

And my personal favorite quote (and this was NOT a paid advertisement):

“And it’s always a good idea to get connected in your local Real Diaper Circle – it’s awesome to have support and lots of great advice.” – Jamie

A BIG THANK YOU to all who have participated so far!  We will soon be compiling the advice to provide to parents and caregivers who need support, and the quality of our materials depends on your help!

Do you have ideas?  If you haven’t done so already, post your tips for using cloth diapers at night here.

I recently attended a screening of The Story of Stuff followed by a talk by its creator, Annie Leonard, hosted by the San Diego Grantmakers coalition. She spoke to a room full of environmental funders about obstacles faced by the movement and she gave them suggestions about where they should put their money if they want to make a difference.

First, if you haven’t already seen the movie, go see it now – it’s only 20 minutes long, but it’s pretty powerful.  (While you’re watching, think about diapers, then come back.)

In her talk, Annie Leonard said that there are a lot of great organizations out there doing work to improve the quality (health and safety) of what we consume, but very few of them which focus on reducing the overall quantity of what we consume – and that is absolutely critical.  Here’s some good news – the Real Diaper Association (RDA) does both!  By advocating for reusable cloth diapers, we help people choose better quality diapers (for babies and for the planet) AND use a lot fewer total diapers (which can be reused hundreds of times on multiple babies).

Annie Leonard went on to emphasize that the current materials economy doesn’t make people happy, and that studies show that the top things that make people happy are:
- quality of social relations
- coming together with others toward shared goals
- working for something bigger

In light of this, the structures at the core of RDA, our grassroots Circles, are perfect.  It actually makes people happy to participate in a Real Diaper Circle and work together to help parents and caregivers find and use cloth diapers.

Environmental funders were listening to this advice.  Now it’s time for us to show them how well RDA is prepared to succeed with our mission.  We have a clear and important message and a huge audience still to reach.  We have a stable, viable organizational structure and active, dedicated volunteers.  In order to continue and expand our work, we need funding.

• We have over a hundred volunteers in training to create Circles around the U.S. and Canada.  We need help guiding them through the training process and helping them create Circles to advocate locally for cloth diapers.
• We need to update and expand our compilation and analysis of diaper research to keep our often-referenced Diaper Facts current.
• We need to continue our outreach campaigns, such as the I Support 100% Reusable Cloth Diapers for All Babies campaign, which is compiling comprehensive advice on overcoming obstacles to using cloth diapers for distribution to parents and caregivers, and the Cloth Diapers in Daycare project, which we are conducting with the Real Diaper Industry Association to facilitate the use of cloth diapers in daycare.

These are just some of the reasons why we named fundraising one of RDA’s major goals for 2010.  We’re looking for active Board members with experience with fundraising and /or research to help us.  We’re also looking for someone to help with training volunteers to create Real Diaper Circles and to then help accredited Circles succeed with local advocacy – and our hope is to define this role clearly enough to obtain the funding to turn this position into a paid one.  Are we looking for you?  Can you help?  Will you?

Heather McNamara

Executive Director, Real Diaper Association

A couple of months ago in our weekly Monday night cloth diapers Twitter chat, a person called @MrMikeSings appeared, talking enthusiastically about the cloth diapers that he uses on his child. In the six months or so that I’ve been attending these chats, I have seen VERY FEW men participate, so, even though these chats sometimes happen at warp speed, I took note and began chatting with him. (Frankly, he was probably overwhelmed at the welcome since I was not the only person there wooed by his male presence.)

As it turns out, Mr. Mike is originally just Mike, but picked up the title after working as an early childhood educator. His background in guitar and songwriting combined with that experience and led him to record and release a kids’ CD, which led him into the Twitter universe to talk with parents like him who might have children like his who might want to hear his CD. And there our worlds collided.

Someone suggested that Mike write a song about cloth diapers.  After a little research about why people choose cloth diapers, he worked up a lyric and some music, and VOILA – “I Use Cloth” was born!

“I love the idea of this song because I feel like it hits on the reasons why people use cloth, some of the feelings behind the cloth diapering movement, and a few inside jokes while, at the same time, appealing to folks looking for a cute, upbeat, catchy song.” – Mr. Mike

With a new anthem, cloth diapering is set to storm the planet!  Thanks, Mr. Mike!

I met with the Board of Directors of RDA on Friday to talk about the past year and to make plans for 2010. We actually meet via conference call every week to keep on track with our ongoing projects, but like to devote time every year to acknowledging what went well in the previous year and to revisit our mission and strategy and set goals for the coming year. I’m proud of what we’ve done so want to share it with you!

First, RDA decided 13 months ago that it was time to hire an Executive Director, which they did in February 2009 (me!). We also added one new director, Angela Imes, who is now Treasurer. Angela is a CPA as well as the Plano Area Real Diaper Circle Leader.

Last year at our annual meeting, we set three major goals, all of which we met.

1) Welcome Member Packets were scaled back because of expenses, but we are sending out an RDA calendar magnet to all new and renewing donors. This is ongoing.

2) Leader Support Packets were created and distributed to all existing and new leaders. They include a Circle Leader Handbook, a CD of electronic support documents, and the Consider Cloth demo kit donated by RDIA.  We will continue to send these to Leaders as they’re accredited in 2010.

3) Collaboration with Real Diaper Industry Association on Daycare issues is in process. Our project plan was created and approved by both boards. We have compiled and published a tip sheet for using cloth diapers in daycare, and are currently working on a directory of cloth diaper friendly daycare facilities. More information on the cloth diapers in daycare project can be found here.

We’ve also made progress on a number of ongoing projects.

• We have accredited 6 new Diaper Circle Leaders (Angela Domenichelli of the Waldo County Real Diaper Circle, Elizabeth Wickoren of the Real Diaper Circle of the Twin Cities, Angela in Plano, Katrina Pavlik of the Chicago Area Real Diaper Circle, Michelle Rivenburg of the Central Jersey Real Diaper Circle, and Marissa Evans of the Emerald Coast Real Diaper Circle).  We implemented a new tracking system for the training of Leader volunteers, and hope to see a good number of the 80 more Leader volunteers accredited in 2010.
• We conducted our first photo contest and created a calendar from the photos as a fundraiser.  We hope to use what we learned to make these efforts even more successful in 2010.
• We prepared and started a campaign to support 100% reusable cloth diapers.

We also improved the general well-being of the organization in several important ways.  We conducted an overall organizational health inventory which helped us define plans to improve some of our governance processes.  We got our print and e-newsletters back into production to better communicate with our members and constituents, and we’ve become more active via social media.

I’m proud of us!  Thanks for letting me brag!

Heather McNamara

Executive Director, Real Diaper Association

As an organization, Real Diaper Association supports the use of 100% reusable cloth diapers.

We are concerned about the waste created by disposable products, no matter whether that waste is sent to a landfill for 1000 years, flushed and disposed of through wastewater treatment, or composted and disposed of as yard waste. Reusable products do not create waste.

We know a lot of our donors and volunteers work hard to find ways to keep babies in 100% reusable cloth diapers all of the time, and we want to recognize you.  We also want to use your expertise to create support materials to help you in continuing your advocacy and support work.

Announcing the 100% Reusable Cloth Diapers Campaign

The Real Diaper Association announces the 100% Reusable Cloth Diapers Campaign to help parents choose reusable cloth diapers every time, all the time. For the next year we will ask the experts for advice on overcoming any difficulties cloth diapering parents may face.  Then we will compile that advice and provide it to parents and caregivers who need support.

Who are the experts? They are experienced cloth diapering parents willing to share what they know with new parents, health care providers, and others.

You are the experts! Parents who find 100% reusable solutions in every cloth diapering situation have valuable tips and techniques to share with those who are struggling to succeed.

Yes, You Can Participate!

Spread your knowledge and experience face-to-face in Real Diaper Circles, with friends and family, or online. Help parents and caregivers overcome obstacles to using 100% reusable cloth diapers.  Every few months we’ll focus on a different major obstacle, so stay up-to-date via this blog to continue your support for our year-long campaign.

Are you using 100% reusable cloth diapers on your baby all night?

The first area we’re focusing on is nighttime cloth diapering.  RDA is looking for your tips to succeeding with 100% reusable cloth diapers all night. Tell us what works for you with nighttime diapering. As a thank you, you can download the RDA All Night Badge! We will compile your answers into a tip sheet for parents new to or struggling with nighttime cloth diapering.

Do you support 100% reusable cloth diapers in other ways?

RDA wants to hear how you support parents and caregivers in using 100% reusable cloth diapers. Are you an advocate? A business owner? A blogger? Tell us what you’re doing to help parents choose 100% reusable cloth diapers every time. We have a badge for you, too! Get your own RDA 100% Support Badge.

Read more about the campaign and get your support badges now.

I am excited to announce that the Real Diaper Association has a accredited a new leader from the Emerald Coast of Florida!  Marissa Evans of Growing Green Bums has finished her leader training in Nonviolent Communication and is implementing her vision for advocating for and supporting parents and caregivers in using 100% reusable cloth diapers.

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.