More pictures from India: playtime!

Queste sono foto vecchie, risalgono a circa un mese fa in India, quando Appu aveva otto mesi. Eravamo nella camera da letto principale di casa, adibita per il momento a parco giochi.

These are again old pictures, from about a month ago in India, when Appu was eight months old. In the the pictures you also get a clear view of our favorite diaper cover, the jungle print Imse Vimse, which is about to be retired -- it's getting a bit small and it comes off too easily -- after five months of heroic service.

Cloth diapers (part II - technical - only for the seriously motivated)

Here is a list of the different kinds of cloth diapers that are available, in order of increasing price and supposed increasing ease of use:

• flats - also known as old-fashioned cloth diapers. These are just rectangular pieces of cloth, the more absorbent the better, that need to be folded in a particular way and pinned (although there are alternatives to diaper pins nowadays) in order to be used as nappies. A waterproof cover is also necessary, for obvious reasons (more about the covers below). I was planning to use mostly these, since it is the cheapest option, but they need to be changed very very frequently and they are not the best at containing semi-liquid material - let's not go into details here, but I'm sure you see the point.
  
  
• prefolds. This is a slightly more evolved version. They are like flats, but a more absorbent patch of cloth is sewn in the middle, so they need to be folded in a much simpler way than flats. We haven't tried these.
  
  
• contoured diapers. The next tiny step in the evolution ladder. These are still just pieces of cloth (cotton, hemp, bamboo, they start getting creative here...), but they are cut in a diaper shape so that no folding is necessary at all, although a pin or pin-like object is still required to fasten them. Haven't tried these either.
  
  
• fitted diapers. These we have tried. They look like disposable diapers, with velcro tabs or snaps instead of the adhesive fasteners. I thought it wouldn't be worth spending money on these, but some models are definitely better than old-fashioned flat diapers at containing stuff - especially crucial for small babies who only drink milk. A cover is still required, but it doesn't get dirty as easily, so it can be used through many diaper changes before it is washed. In the grainy and out of focus picture above you can see little one in his orange Kissaluvs fitted diapers (the names of the diapers are one of the joys of cloth diapering...) - the cover was removed for the picture.
  
  
• pocket diapers. Here the cover is already part of the diaper. The outer part of the diaper feels like cotton, but it is made of a waterproof material. Sewn to it is a thin layer of fleece that will be in contact with the baby's skin. In between there is some space where you can put some absorbent material - hence the name "pocket diapers". because the fleece is non-absorbent, the skin of the baby remains completely dry, like in a disposable, for the joy of babies and especially parents. Usually we put a flat diaper inside, but now we also got some "inserts" of other materials like microfiber, which absorb more and take less space. This is very good for the night, because with a couple of such inserts there is usually no need to change the diaper until morning - unless things happen that require immediate attention. To your left, little one again in his sage green Happy Heinys pocket diaper. It's a size medium, so it still looks a bit big on him.
  
  
• AIO (All In One). These are exactly like disposables, except they are reusable. We haven't tried them because we are in love (as a parent you develop strong emotions towards diapers) with pocket diapers.

And last but not necessarily more expensive...

• One size. As for disposables, usually you need to pick diapers of the right size for your baby. However, almost all the kind of diapers listed above are also available in one size versions, which have snaps and things that allow to make them smaller or bigger to fit the baby from one or two months of age until the moment of freedom from diapers. We especially like one size pocket diapers, although we do have a few one size fitted bamboo diapers (read here to know why using bamboo is going to save the world).
  

Now just a few words about covers. There are essentially two kinds:

• PUL (polyurethane laminate). This is a synthetic material, but it is breathable. As opposed to PVC "plastic pants", for example, which don't sound very comfortable and are not very commonly used nowadays. Some PUL covers are very basic and only moderately containing (in which case in the first months they are better paired with a very containing fitted diaper), but some more elaborate models have double leg gussets (like disposables) and are very efficient even for use with a simple flat diaper. No pins are required in this case, by the way. In the picture we have our little CK wearing a flat diaper covered by our trusted Imse Vimse Soft Cover.
  
  
• Fleece/Wool. It is a bit counterintuitive perhaps, but these material make the most leak-proof covers. And supposedly the most comfortable, because they are very soft. They are quite bulky, though, so they are recommended for night time use. I had bought a couple, but I haven't had any need for them yet. I think they probably become more useful with older babies that can wet through as many layers of diapers as you can think of wrapping around them. Apparently a pocket diaper with enough stuffing and one of these covers is the best choice in that case, but as I said, I wouldn't really know from personal experience yet.
  

Enough for the moment. I hope that the pictures of little one hanging in front of the webcam made it tolerable to read all this stuff. I will leave our personal diaper experiences for another post.

Just a few links in case you are really interested in using cloth diapers:
Diaper Pin - A website with useful reviews of cloth diapers and related products, lists of (mostly US) stores and advice.
Diaper Hyena - Another website dedicated to cloth diapers: the articles are especially well researched, nice to read for reasonably scientifically minded people
Jillian's Drawers - This is a nice online store (one of the many, but one that
I like). Apart from actually buying diapers, there is nice - and honest it seems - advice about what diapers are best for what kind of use.
For Shalini: a couple of online diaper stores that I could find that ship from your part of the world:
http://www.mamut.com/stellerommet, http://www.kenguruloftet.no/.

Cloth diapers (part I)

***Warning: this is the first of an unusually boring series of posts***

As many of you already know, we have made the brave decision to try and use cloth diapers for the little one. We have used only disposables for the first month - thinking that it would be unwise to create more work for ourselves at that point - but now we have gradually shifted to using almost exclusively cloth.

My mother initially was very doubtful when I told her about my plans, but it is widely accepted in my family that my brain does not function in the usual way, so she didn't put too much effort into trying to make me see reason. I had similar reactions from other people and I confess that I avoided mentioning it to some of my friends because by then I was feeling a slight sense of embarassement.

Here in India it is different, because lots of people use disposable diapers only when they are away from home. In fact more than once we have been gently reproached by people - including the lady who cleans the house and a few complete strangers - when we have been caught using disposables. On the other hand, when we do use cloth diapers, we sometimes meet a little bit of diffidence nevertheless, because those that we use don't always look like the good old-fashioned nappies that everybody knows and loves. More about this later.

(As an aside, one of S.'s collegues has commented when we mentioned we that we needed to change Rajiv's cloth nappie: "Why do you need nappies at all? This is India!". Now if anybody can explain this to me I will be grateful... )

At the same time, our struggle to find the right diapering strategy to preserve our sanity has gone on without rest. So since it is such a central issue in our life with the little one, it seems to be worth writing about it. Also, recently somebody has asked us to share some of the information we have collected about modern cloth diapers, so I have decided that for lack of anything better to post at the moment (camera still giving troubles, so no cute pictures available...) I will dedicate a few posts to cloth diapers and our experience with them so far.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Random bullets about the past week

• Last Wednesday little one went for his first movie in a theater! Surpassing my wildest dreams, we managed to watch the whole Harry Potter movie and I haven't had to leave the room a single time. He just drank his milk during the first few minutes of the movie and then went to sleep in my arms. I think that he is really associating darkness with sleep now, so a movie theater is a good place for him to nap.
  
  Mercoledi' scorso il piccolo Rajiv e' andato al cinema per la prima volta. Non avevo molte speranze, invece siamo riusciti a guardare tutto il film - il nuovo Harry Potter - senza dover lasciare la sala nemmeno una volta. Rajiv ha bevuto il suo latte all'inizio del film e poi si e' addormentato in braccio a me e ha dormito fino alla fine del film.
  

• On Thursday little Rajiv's grandmother came from Calicut, to comfort him after the vaccination. She stayed until Sunday and they had a good time together.
  
  Rajiv ha avuto modo di passare qualche giorno in compagnia di nonna Padmini, che e' venuta da Calicut per confortarlo dopo le vaccinazioni.
  
  
• Little one's new diapers have arrived! They are a bit bulky, but really cute. Pictures coming soon.
  
  Sono arrivati i pannolini nuovi che avevo ordinato! Spero di potervi mostrare presto qualche foto.
  
  
• On Friday I gave a talk at S.'s institute, while Rajiv was being looked after by his grandmother. I think it was the longest separation so far - I was away for more than one and a half hours, but it worked out fine, although the little one was very hungry when I came back.
  
  Venerdi' ho fatto un seminario all'istituto dove lavora Sujay. Il piccolino e' stato da solo con la nonna per piu' di un'ora e mezza e mi ha accolta felice , forse, ma soprattutto affamato, al mio ritorno.
  
  
• Rajiv now weighs 5.25 kg (with a shirt and a diaper). He has gained about 1 kg in the last month and about 2 kg since birth.
  
  Il piccolo Rajiv sta crescendo: pesa 5.25 kg, con maglietta e pannolino. E' aumentato di circa un chilo da quando siamo arrivati in India e di circa due chili dalla nascita.