Home Remedies

I love home remedies as long as they actually work. I’m always looking for good, natural ways to treat issues. Recently, with the constant weather changes in my area, my sinuses have been really upset. My son is also in the middle of teething, so my mind has certainly been on treating these issues. So here are a few home remedies that I’ve found work for me and my family. They may be ones you already use, but perhaps there will be a new idea in the mix.

Ear Aches:

A couple drops of olive oil in the ear relieves earaches for me. I’ve used this with my son also and it seemed to work for him as well.

I know some people who use a little hydrogen peroxide, and they say that works as well.

Congestion:

I realize this is probably obvious, but steam works amazingly well. For adults, a pot of water heating on the stove works great. When my son was congested, we spent a lot of time sitting in the bathroom with the hot water on steaming up the room.

Saline drops are great as well. These are sold, but are also really easy to make. It’s just ¼ teaspoon salt mixed in 1 cup of warm water.

Teething:

A little bit of olive oil on your finger and rubbed into the gums seems to help with the teething pain.

My son has no interest in teething toys. He really just wants to chew on fabric and hands. He’s pretty impartial; any hand or piece of fabric will do. With that being the case, gum massages seem to help most.

Diaper rash:

I love certain commercial all natural diaper ointments, but have also found that coconut oil works great. If you aren’t familiar with coconut oil, check it out. It has a lot of uses along with being good for cooking.

I hope at least one of these is a new idea for you. Hoping your weather has been calmer than ours!

Cloth Diapers - Part 2 & Cloth wipes

My son's afternoon nap seems like a great time to finish up my post on cloth diapers. One reason many people aren't interested in cloth diapers is dealing with dirty diapers. Visions of swishing diapers in the toilet may play in your head. Thankfully there is a wonderful invention called a diaper sprayer. It attaches to the toilet and works basically like a kitchen sink sprayer but is more powerful. They are easy to install and don't damage the plumbing (we were able to put one in at our apartment). You just spray the poo into the toilet and the diaper is ready to wash.

We also use cloth wipes. My son has very sensitive skin and if I use disposable wipes, I have to use the unscented hypoallergenic (expensive) kind or he develops diaper rash. With cloth wipes, I just wet them with warm water and store them in a wipes warmer. Some people use baby oil and a few drops of essential oils, but plain water has worked well for me so far! The same places that sell cloth diapers sell wipes though really any very soft fabric will do.

I prefer the cloth wipes also because of how I've always changed dirty diapers. Maybe you have the same technique: wipe as much into the diaper as possible then pile the dirty wipes into the diaper. With disposable diapers and disposable wipes this rolled up yuck goes in the trash. If both are cloth, they go to be sprayed off and then are ready to wash. If the diapers are cloth and the wipes are disposable...well...I end up washing disposable wipes or accidentally throwing them in the toilet.

Cloth wipes also save money and just get washed with the cloth diapers. I use fewer cloth wipes than disposable wipes because the cloth can be used on both sides and are more sturdy for cleaning up a mess. I don't get anything on my hands when I use cloth.

I hope this information helps if you're looking into cloth! Happy diapering :-)

Cloth Diapers

My son on the changing table.

I love using cloth diapers. Now, these aren't the kind with safety pins and origami folding required. These are really easy to use and easy to clean. We decided to use cloth to save money. I also find the few times I use disposables for some reason that the extra trash created by the disposables is a nuisance. My son also does not have as much diaper rash with the cloth. There is a bit more up front cost involved because you have to buy enough diapers, but when you add up the cost of disposables versus the cost of cloth, cloth wins in my opinion. Here are some facts about the All In One diapers that we use.

We hang our diapers up to dry rather than putting them in the dryer. They can go in the dryer, but we want them to last as long as possible! If you're going to cloth diaper and plan to hang them to dry, figure it will take about 24 hours for them to fully dry.

The type of detergent matters. Of course this makes sense because the diapers are touching the most sensitive skin. There are lists online of safe detergents. I use my homemade detergent and have no problems!

The type of diaper ointment matters. If your baby does develop a diaper rash, the standard diaper ointment can't be used because it effects the absorbency of the diapers. All natural ointments can be used. They sell appropriate ointments at most grocery stores.

The all in ones come in snaps or hook in loop. I prefer the snaps because as my son gets bigger, the snaps will be harder for him to take off. Also, the snaps last longer! The advantage of the hook in loops is that you can get a more exact fit, but for me longevity is key.

We bought one size diapers. These fit from about 8 pounds to about 35 pounds. You just adjust either the snaps or the elastic depending upon the brand. My son was big enough at birth to fit in these, but we used disposables until his belly button nub fell off.

If the Lord allows us to have more children, we will be able to use the same diapers for them, so the savings will just increase if that's the case!

There's several other things I was going to say about why I love cloth diapers, but my son just woke up from his nap, so I've got to wrap this up! If you're interested in cloth and want more info, please feel free to contact me!

I'm not going to list the cost comparison because there are a lot of factors involved (what brand disposables you would use, how many cloth you want to buy based on how often you would wash, what brand you're using, etc)