Flats, terries, prefolds

Something really cool about using cloth nappies is that there are so many options to play around with - different fabrics, different shapes and styles. Our current battle is teething: a lot of cloth mamas have said they like to use terries when their babies have particularly strong teething wee. Terry and flat nappies can be folded to be quite loose and breathable and, around the house, can be worn without a wrap for extra air flow if no nappy time isn't practical.

Enter The Nappy Gurus flats and prefolds trial kit. This contains a Bright Bots white terry, a Muslinz prefold in White, a Buttons flat, a Little Lamb nappy fastener and mesh nappy bag. It's a good opportunity to try different styles individually and find out what works well.

Folding the terries and flats isn't nearly as complex as I expected (thanks, YouTube!) So far I've found these are a good little trick to try when babies are getting sore from their teething wee (bearing in mind that no nappies can fully stop this, and other babies don't seem to get it at all, lucky things!)

It's also worth mentioning, as it's #zerowasteweek, that the beauty of flats is that they can be reused as cleaning cloths long after babies are out of nappies. Plus the mesh nappy bag is something I regularly use for delicate clothes as well as nappies - I find you can never have enough of these!

So now, cloth mamas, as a flats novice I'd love to hear all about how you use these - what are favourite folds? Do you boost them and what with? I've so much to catch up on!

Homemade bath salts

 

For J's birthday, I wanted to make a gift that Eden could help with. I settled on some homemade bath salts - Epsom salts are a fantastic traditional remedy for relieving aches in muscles, aiding sleep, reducing pain and swelling, and various other purposes. J has a physically demanding job involving lifting and walking in all weathers for long hours so I thought these would be perfect for him. Eden and I had great fun mixing different blends together using food grade colouring, essential oils, and using various blends and ingredients to create different properties, in the hope that they'd help his muscles at the end of a long day.

I'm considering selling some of these (without Eden's help, haha) as they make such cute gifts - let me know if you'd be interested in this kind of thing.

Have you tried Epsom salts before?

Giveaway! + Chalkola Acrylic Paint (32 Colour) Set Review

Painting is something I'm passionate about but really struggle to find time for, particularly with a 15 month old running around! So when Chalkola very kindly gifted me their 32 colour acrylic paint set for review it was both an exciting opportunity and excuse to get creative.

Five things I learned while breastfeeding

It's World Breastfeeding Week! There are lots of reasons why I think talking about this topic is important - one of which is because even as a breastfeeding mama myself, I still find there's so much I don't know and I still feel self conscious about what others might think. It's a taboo topic I'd love to try and help normalise. I've written various posts about our feeding journey in the past, so today I want to share five things I have learned while breastfeeding.

Milestones

Inspired by Mamalina's beautiful blog post, I wanted to share this photo taken a month ago - at the time I was convinced Eden was about to start walking independently, but even now she manages a couple of tiny, teetering steps on her own.

Plastic Free Shopping

Honestly speaking, plastic free shopping is literally near impossible for us. Particularly being on a low budget, J and I have had a conversation more than once that to be as low waste as possible we feel stuck between between a well balanced, healthful diet and a low waste shop with next to no variety.

Secondhand Sunday: Upcycling

I've been excited about this week's #secondhandsunday because it's the first time I've upcycled clothing in forever! And my first time ever dyeing clothes.