The Truth about Snot Sucking! (Neti Pots, Bulbs and Snotsuckers)

   All three of us have been sick... it started with my husband last week and finally got to Oliver and I this week Tuesday. I figured this is a very appropriate topic since we are dealing with these issues at the moment.

   Until you have a baby you probably don't pay much attention to snot unless you have allergies or frequent colds.  This post is covering both scenarios (babies and adults).

    Towards the end of my pregnancy I had the misfortune of having a really bad cold and flu, back to back. The crappiest part about it was not being able to take anything that could knock you on your ass to sleep. My mid wife turned me to many homeopathic and natural remedies that got me through and also got me thinking about never using some of those poisonous typical  medications out there (like NyQuil to name a popular one). However my issue with being sick typically has always been the runny nose and not being able to breathe well at night because of it...so a friend of mine suggested using the Neti Pot? She described it to me as a little teapot with a tip that looks like a penis, that you put in your nose and flush it out. Not being one for putting things up my nose (especially something shaped like a penis..lol) and nasal sprays freaking me out, I had no intention of trying this Neti Pot thing...but one night out of desperation I sent my husband to Walgreens to get me this contraption. I must of watched 20 video demonstrations on Youtube that night before I got up the courage to try this thing. Once I did it I was amazed at how much snot came out...SO MUCH and I could breathe clearly. The new question was, why didn't I know about this sooner?  In case you don't have a clue what a Neti Pot is, here is a video.  It is an ancient Indian technique practiced all over the world! There is a lot of interesting history behind this technique...

The Neti Pot!
There are many styles out there. 

The Snotsucker that Sucks
because it DOES NOT suck! (You got that?)

  Ok so now let us fast forward to having Oliver. Now my mindset is geared towards "baby". Babies will eventually have snot issues and they can't blow thier nose or use the Neti Pot until much older. So, what the heck are you suppose to do for them? Well in every Baby Medical Kit they give you these "bulb nasal syringes" which couldn't suck out snot if your life dependent on it. They are useless! You might as well use them as bath toys or baste a chicken with them. Ok so if those don't work, what are you to do? Well...

    You use the most awesome invention of all time "Nosefrida the Snotsucker"! This handy dandy little device is like a snot vacuum that you control with the sucking power from your mouth! Here is the company's overview (I think it is cute):

The Snotsucker that actually SUCKS SNOT! 

• It’s smart.
• It’s Swedish.
• It’s maybe a little strange.
• It’s doctor invented & recommended.
• It’s 100% hygienic due to the included filters (4).
• It’s fabulously reviewed (Rachel Ray, Parenting, & more).
• It’s a nasal aspirator that ACTUALLY WORKS!
• It’s NoseFrida.  The Snotsucker.

It has been the best $15 I have ever spent! 

   I have had to use this a few times already, and all I have to say is that it is a great invention that works flawlessly every time. 

   All I have to do is put some saline in the baby's nose and then suck out everything with the Nosefrida. It is fool proof. However poor Oliver does not like the saline or the sucking for that matter and cries through the whole procedure. So I try to use it sparingly when really necessary.  Also as a word of advice, wash after every use immediately! If you fail to do so the snot is difficult to get out of the tube. So here is their official video! 

Good luck with the suck! 

Bring Sexy Back... with Cloth Diapers!

So even before I had Oliver I knew I wanted to cloth diaper.  Why??? Well these are my top 6 reasons...

(1) Disposable diapers are full of chemicals that are on your babies genitals 24/7. I don't want chemicals near my genitals and sure don't want them on my baby's.

(2) I hate making so much waste! I compost and recycle... Our weekly ratio is about 1 garbage bag: 3-4 recycle bags: 2 compost buckets per week... so seeing all the waste disposables make kills me inside.  (The Environmental Protection Agency reports that about 20 billion disposable diapers are dumped in landfills each year, accounting for more than 3.5 million tons of waste.)

(3) I hate wasting money. Constantly buying diapers to fill with poop and pee made no sense... it was like flushing money down the toilet and since I am not working to be at home, I can not afford to do that.

(4) I had many poop blow outs and leaks with disposable regardless of size and brand. So really how much worst could cloth be?

(5) My baby kept having diaper rash...and I really believe that the disposables were the culprit.

(6) I really wanted to try to do Elimination Communication with my baby and cloth diapers are easier to put on and off. (We haven't given up completely but it has been challenging...)

Oliver in disposables!

    When I told people this, most gave me negativity about it saying things like "Oh just wait, you say that now...".  However I really wanted to at least try. Well since I got a ton of disposable diapers at my baby shower...and not being big on returning things I decided to start off with those. I did buy a starter kit of cloth diapers from Baby's R Us since I had many gift cards from there. [As a side note, can I say I don't really care for Baby Depot stores. After Oliver was born I realized most of the things I needed or wanted weren't offered at those type of stores. Lesson learned! ] So back to the diapering... I bought a starter kit of G-Diapers because once again these baby depot stores don't have much to offer in way of natural parenting.

Oliver in the G-Diaper (Small Size).

Oliver in the G-Diaper (Newborn Size).

 


    So I used disposable diapers until I ran out of new born size ones which was around a month... and started using the G-Diapers. I loved using the newborn size model they had. I had great success but the problem I was having is I didn't have enough. The kit only gives you 12 and when you don't have a washing machine at home you find yourself without diapers. So I did some disposable and some cloth. Since the G-Diapers are quite pricey and you constantly have to buy new sizes I didn't want to purchase any more since he was going to be needing the next size soon.  The kit also contained 6 small sized diapers which I switched to around month 2. Once again I didn't have enough and they constantly leaked all the time! NO matter what I did. So I actually gave up on the idea of cloth diapering...because I knew very little about it and didn't research into it at that point.

     Then a friend of mine recommended a cloth diaper company called Comfy Rumps. She told me they are one size adjustable (so no need to buy different sizes), they don't leak, and they are affordable. She had me at "Hello"... lol.   So I went home and went to their website (http://comfyrumps1.mybigcommerce.com/) and saw that they were affordable compared to the G-Diapers and other cloth diapers on the market... cloth diapers typically are  between $15-20 per diaper and that's a lot. I read tons of reviews and watched a bunch of 'Youtube product reviews on them. Reading mainly everything positive about the product, I bought a set. I was able to get a package of 25 diapers which included inserts (G-Diapers did not), extra inserts, and two wet bags (one for the hamper and one for traveling) for around $250. Sounds like a lot but it really isn't considering you never have to purchase another diaper again! So on Oliver's 3 month birthday they arrived at our door! I was ecstatic!

     Did I mention how frigging cute cloth diapers are.. we have a ton of colors and prints! So I have 25 diapers and we roughly go through 5-7 per day, so I find myself washing diapers every 3 days. I wash them by hand and to be honest I actually enjoy doing it... it is kind of therapeutic. Since Oliver is exclusively breastfed his poop doesn't smell bad at all, I prefer that smell over the urine smell to be quite honest. I have a method of pre-soaking in baking soda and/or soda ash. Then I wash them in an organic detergent, rinse, and hang to dry. If I can do this then someone with a washing machine should be able to without a problem. Another amazing factor is the line drying... many people do not know this but the Sun is a natural bleacher... all the yellow stains magically disappear before your eyes in the Sun. My husband even helps out washing the diapers by hand, because he is such a great daddy!

    So we are almost at 6 months old and we have not used a single disposable or even felt the need to have them as back-up. The diaper rash cleared up immediately (we don't even have diaper rash cream at home). One of the biggest benefits is that Oliver never looked cuter with all his adorable diapers! We do have a few small urine leaks when I push the envelope of a double stuffed all nighter diaper (12 hours) but nothing like the disposable diaper leaks. I also have yet to have a poop blow out or up the back blow out with the cloth diapers, even though there is much more poop these days. I had quite a few "Up the Onsie" and "Down the Leg" blowouts with the disposable. I will never go back to disposables!

   So is there any downfall to cloth diapers? Well one thing is that since this is a one size adjustable diaper, they tend to look very bulky on newborns to 3 months. So a lot of the cute outfits that you get will not fit. Unless you invest in smaller sized cloth diapers as well. Another issue some parents have is having to carry around soiled diapers when on the road. Well that is what wet bags are for and to this day I have yet to have to carry a really bad soiled diaper. My little one usually doesn't poop when we are out and about, but if he did I don't see the issue of putting it in the wet bag. Another one I hear is that cloth diapering is labor intensive... well anything you do for your child is labor intensive, however the labor you do for your child's well-being should be considered a labor of love and not an inconvenience. To me this has been one of the best choices we have made for our little guy. Who said washing diapers is hard? and I am doing them by hand...

In our orange CR.

In out yellow CR.

In our blue CR with another cloth diaper friend!

In our Grey CR.

In our Blue Leopard CR, Oh happy day!

Happy in our Green CR.

Snoozing in our white CR.

Close up of our Denim CR.

Oh yes we have a cow print CR too.

A few of our CR stash.

Cow Print... we also have Zebra! 

Some useful links....
http://www.nest-shop.co.uk/real-nappies-guide
http://dirtydiaperlaundry.com/pampers-new-dry-max-causing-severe-rashes/

Beltway Babywearers: Wearing a Newborn

A great post by another baby wearing mama...

Beltway Babywearers: Wearing a Newborn: When T and I went to our Bradley classes for Devon, as soon as we heard about babywearing, we knew we wanted to do it. Especially when abou...