The Flufftric System: How to Rate a Cloth Nappy

NightDaddy and I created a scale for rating cloth nappies. Because we're overly engaged fathers who do things like that.

There needs to be a decent way to compare these things. A standard metric.

The best rating is a 0 and the worst is a 30.

The 8 categories:

Fit

How well does the nappy fit your kid's bum?

0 Second skin.
1 Trim and neat
2 Bubble Butt
3 Red marks/Gaping
4 Shameful and Painful

Function

How well does it work?

0 Bulletproof
1 No major issues, might not contain a poop explosion
2 A bit too loose/too tight/not enough absorbency
3 Leaks, leaks, leaks
4 Might as well be naked

Effort

How easy is it to use?

0 The baby could change itself
1 Sleep-deprivation poses no risk
2 A bit tricky at first
3 Fumble, fumble, fumble
4 Can't even tell which way is front

Fast

How fast does it dry?

0 Dry before it hits the line
1 Line dries in <5 hours
2 Reasonable
3 Hmmm this one's still damp
4 Lapped by faster drying nappies

Feel

How does it feel?

0 Made of angel feathers
1 Oh, that's niiiice
2 Meh, cloth is cloth
3 Scratchy/stiff/weird/pick your somewhat unpleasant adjective
4 Not on my baby's bottom!

Fairness

How does the price match up with the quality of the product, manufacturing conditions and material costs?

0 The price is right
1 Acceptable
2 A bit too high, but decent on clearance/seconds
3 Too high / Too low
4 Either sewn with gold or by very tiny hands

Fancy

How much do you fancy the way it looks?

0 ZOMG GORGEOUS I'M IN LOVE!!!1!1
1 Super cute
2 Nothing special
3 Unfortunate
4 Fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down

Further

0 I have nothing more to add
1 There is some other minor flaw worth mentioning
2 The is some other major flaw worth mentioning

Alvehamn Cloth Nappy Review (Tygblöja Recension)

A few weeks ago we went to a "Tygblöjemingel." In the UK I hear they're called "Nappuchinos." There's coffee, cake and parents with their cloth bum clad babies. At this particular meet-up, the hosts were hawking Alvehamn nappies (click here for English), a fabulous, relatively new Swedish brand. Night Daddy indulged in ordering a Christmas-y laminated minky cover and two super soft bamboo prefolds, one for daytime and a thicker one for nighttime use. 

The cover is one-size and our little Piggelin has just hit the starting size of 6 kilos. We snapped down the rise and tried it out. 

The nappy is super soft and easy to put on and take off. It fits her snugly and she seems comfortable. It is however quite bulky on a little 3 month old. The Alvehamn prefolds were plenty absorbent and worked great. However, after we had changed them out, the cover was still clean so we threw in one of our Sloomb prefolds. This unfortunately did not work out so great. It was a middle of the night change so it could have just not been fastened properly, but we woke up to soaked sheets. The pee had collected in the hole of the cover and spilled out one of the leg openings. This would not have happened with the Alvehamn prefolds as they are much bigger and thicker. But it means we can only use those or a fitted nappy underneath.

We ordered directly from a seller and the total for the cover plus the two prefolds and shipping was 303kr. This is... expensive. Prefolds are generally known for being on the cheaper end of the cloth nappy system spectrum, but not these. They're high quality materials and they work great, but an entire stash of Alvehamns bought new would carry a fairly hefty price tag. 

Not a fan of the bulk or the price, but we do like the materials and that it will fit her until she learns to use the potty on her own. And it is very pretty-- almost as pretty as our Piggelin! ;)

/DD

Cloth Diaper Stash!

We got some of several different types so that we could try them out and find out what works best. In the top drawer are prefolds and inserts. In the bottom drawer are some fitted diapers, a couple travel wetbags, some pocket diapers, a couple all-in-ones, two PUL covers, some wool covers and one fleece cover. 

Directed Advertising

What directed advertising looks like when it's aimed at a gay, ex-pat living in Sweden expecting his first child:

cloth diapers, a Scandinavian airline, a Swedish "man's man" fitness competition, g-string underwear for men and Suzuki cars.

/DD

We've Been Practicing

YouTube tutorials on how the hell to put these things on a baby have been ridiculously helpful. Unfortunately, the so-called "complicated" diapering systems, like the prefold+cover pictured on Teddy here are frequently described as "not daddy friendly" as opposed to the All-in-Ones which are obnoxiously labeled "Daddy Friendly Diapers." 

Not that we'll be bragging about our mad teddybear diapering skillz at the gay bar anytime soon, but ,yeah, we've totally got this. 

/ND&DD

The Power of Cloth

Yesterday, DayDaddy and NightDaddy came down with a very bad case of Stuga Stress Syndrome. 

You see, DayDaddy's sister (AuntieE), his dad (Grampa) and his dad's ladyfriend (MsT) are flying over from The States for a visit in July. Then, NightDaddy's dad (Dziadek) and mom (Babcia) are joining us and we're all going to spend a week on Gotland.

However, we were having an unusually difficult time finding a vacation rental that met our criteria. "Stuga" is a Swedish word that supposedly means "cottage" but practically speaking could be anything from a shack to a mansion (although one could get the same impression of the English word from reading Jane Austen). Turns out the week we picked is the week that a massive Swedish political dealie-o, Almedalsveckan is going on there *head desk.* 

Finally, a few hours, several 100 browser windows and a couple dozen phone calls later and NightDaddy secured us a place.  Yay! 

Within 5 minutes of this mighty triumph, DayDaddy discovers a package in the hallway that had gone unnoticed earlier. 

"OMG OMG OMG! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THE FIRST SHIPMENT OF CLOTH DIAPERS ARRIVED?!?!?" 

SQUEEEEEE!!!!!!

Poor NightDaddy. His brilliant stuga-finding victory was outshone by half a dozen bamboo terry flats and an organic bamboo fleece fitted from Sustainablebabyish. 

/DD