2007 Year End Greeting

I just want to use this opportunity to express my gratefulness to all of you , that made my year 2007 wonderful!

Mia Bambina was born not too long ago and yet I gained so many good friends and know a lots of amazing moms from my e-store! All of you have support me more than you know, not only in business wise but more in relationship and friendship!

As the first year of running e-store, I often tumbled in many obstacles , but with His help and your support I can went through it .

I must figured out and learned how to handle: budgeting, source a great items, and tried the items ( the best part of running this e-store!LOL), learn HTML codes, and also I must learned how to handle a few of "sour" times too. We must admit that most e-store are run by women and women do a lot of cat fights ! And as a human I admit , I am not perfect, and made mistakes. Maybe my good intentions had been interpret wrongly, or someone used my "Friendly" email and forward it to other persons, or to USA's companies and used it to attack me back. I will not dish all the details of all the sour things here. :)
I try my best not to react by attacking back ( by blogging back or put a vicious comments back), but I try to contact the person directly and deal with it rather that blog about it. I think that is more proper.
But I guess I am so blessed that many of you stand by me during this "bumps" and believe in me.

My father's wisdom words to me: earn the reputation is much harder than earn a profit. To make profit just buy something and re-sell it at higher price. But to earn reputation you need far a lot more than just buy and re-sell. This is what I am trying to imply to my self.

Anyway...Thanks so much for making 2007 so great! It is so rewarding to read your blogs about cloth diapers, your comments, your e-stores , your baby's photos in Cloth Diapers! I still got ALL of your emails, when you first contacted me, YES I keep those emails for me, and I keep it in my heart for my memory, so when one day , I stop to run the e-store , I will still be able to read your emails! And most of you now, are practically CD experts!

And many times , I think, if I don't run Mia Bambina, I wouldn't got the chance to know most of you! And my life will be pretty boring! LOL.
Also because of my estore I started to blog ( back in May 2006, after 5 months running my e-store) and then start a small tiny CD forum after that. I was just worry , if I open the forum to early I will end up with empty forum , so I must gain more awareness first in Malaysia. Since that forum will be the first CD forum in Malaysia. So before the forum open and the blog run, I need to create awareness, I started at MMB forum , and I know some of my great friends from MMB!

Some times if I think back, running an e-store can be a bit scary. And I realize not everybody are happy with me. But I can't make everybody happy. So I just must accept it.And keep my head up and look at 2008 with full of hope , joy and love , the best of all ...to continue our friendship! Without you all there is no Mia Bambina today!

Happy New Year 2008.....


Sandra

Night time and outing

Night time diapering is consider the most challenging part in the cloth diapering experience.

Many moms are scare to try or still haven’t got the right solution /option that is work for their children.

The most common tips is to use Pocket diaper with extra doublers or use more absorbent inserts ( such as hemp) . But there are other options that moms can try , like:

Use a absorbent fitted diapers with a good diaper cover.

Fitted diaper that is made from a absorbent material can work wonderfully as night time diaper.

Most of the fitted, specially the one that is made from natural organic material will not give baby a dry feeling( unless it is lined with microfleece or suede material in the inner liner)

If you like fitted but are concern about baby will feel the diaper's wet, consider to use nappy liner or fleece liner.

Please note that fitted diapers, specially the absorbent one are usually slightly thicker and will take longer time to dry.

If you use fitted diaper you will need a diaper cover. Some moms love fleece cover, as it is more breathable for pro long wear at night.

Good diaper cover is soft and breathable. Other thing that you must pay attention to is the type of fastener/closure.

There are: hook and loop ( aplix/Velcro),Snaps ( front or side), Pull up.

PUL is the most common use material for good diaper cover. And it is quite affordable too. Followed by Nylon. Vinyl is the most affordable and nearly can be find in any store carry baby’s products. This is the type of “plastic pants”. Very affordable but not breathable and not very durable.

Fleece cover is breathable , soft but not absorbent.

Or also some brands of CD have a night time pocket diaper that is made from fleece outer layer , instead of PUL.

The other cover that you can use is wool cover. Wool is soft , absorbent , breathable and antibacterial. It require less washing, but need a different care than other diaper cover.

Other tips for night time diapering:

- I often prefer to refer night time diapering as 8-10 hours max of diapering at night.

- If your baby is a heavy wetter, it will be really helpful to use the diaper at maximum of 8 hours. You might want to change him just before he go to bed and change the same diaper early in the morning to avoid any leaking.

- You might need to add boaster to your CD.If you use fitted , you can add a stay dry doubler, to give him a dry feeling through the night.

Diapering on the go.

It is not impossible to use cloth diaper while you are out and about.

If you use lampin/prefold at home , you might want to invest on some pocket diaper or AIO for outing.

What you will need is

Diapers. ( up to you can be pockets, AIO , fitted with cover, or prefold and cover)

Wetbag/waterproof bag

Wipes ( disposable wet wipes or cloth wipes with the solution, this can be as simple a plastic container filled with clothes wipes with solution in them or carry the solution in another small container /spray bottle container))

Changing pad or one prefold or lampin as changing pad

How many do you need?

Just bring the usual amount of cloth diapers your baby would need for the time you will be out. And add extra one for just in case.

Cloth diapering during trips and travel

I found cloth diapering is possible to use for traveling as well.

If you are still not sure and comfortable, don’t be afraid to mix with disposable for the moment.

The main key point to consider :

1. Is your destination have easy access to washing machine or laundry?
2. How about the drying space or dryer?
3. do you have time to wash CD your self?

For long journey trip, you might want to bring another 2 extra CD for just in case, I found AIO or pocket is the easiest to deal with.

Be prepare to change your baby everywhere beyond your imagination.

In the car, airport, stroller, on your lap, in the waiting room chair, in a cab, inside the tiny aircraft lavatory and the list goes on!

So plan ahead, bring your favorite, easy to use diaper. If you got a wiggly baby, a diaper that can be put on in ONE FAST step is a plus. For me this is the best time for AIO or stuffed pocket.