rosebengal's Profile

The IKEA Pokal glasses are not only inexpensive and sturdy (dropped of a porch onto a rock path - no damage!) but they have a "line" a little over halfway up the side of the glass (shape change) which makes a perfect pour line for littles learning to pour their own drinks. Their price and durability make them a staple at my kids Montessori school. The pour line sold me on them for home use when I was looking at the Picardie.

Here are some of my cloth diaper links and purloined information.

http://www.momadvice.com/parenting/cloth_diapers.aspx

While we liked the concept of the g-diaper our friend at the local municipal water treatment district warned us away from them (they are already having problems with the flushed absorbent polymers in their facility) and they can be killer on older home sewage pipes. On the advice of every family member who has ever used cloth we are going to get a 1 mo subscription to a diaper service to start and then switch to washing our own (cut down on water and chemicals and way, way cheaper than a service).

We are lucky and live near the brick and mortar site of Babyworks on online cloth diaper retailer: http://www.babyworks.com/catalog/Default.asp and they we kind enough to walk us through the 40 or so options that exist in the cloth diaper world (15 types of prefolds [bleached, unbleached, organic cotton, Eqyptian cotton!, hemp, bamboo, fleece, etc.], inserts, doublers, diaper covers, all in ones, etc.) explaining the pros and cons of each and including the caveat that the shape and size of our impending tyke will probably determine which diaper cover brand we'll wind up with. They recommended purchasing one or two of each of a few brands to see what worked best (they also take returns!) rather than stocking up on one brand ahead of time. They also noted that sizing is different for each diaper cover brand and can be frustrating for new parents.

Craig's list and ebay are a great source for used prefolds and diaper covers as well!

tidbits:
newborns use about 70 diapers a week
disposables will cost about $1000k a year give or take
diaper services run about $17/week plus you'll still need covers
kids in cloth diapers tend to potty train a YEAR earlier