SUMMARY KEYWORDS
diapers, cloth diapering, people, washing, cloth diaper, maldives, hand washing, disposable diapers, resorts, island, big, inserts, life, thought, brands, conversation, pocket diapers, friend, buy, fitted
SPEAKERS
Latheefa, Bailey Bouwman
Bailey Bouwman 00:00
Welcome to show 67 of the cloth diaper podcast. Today I’m joined with Latheefa from the Maldives. Also PS audio quality couldn’t be better. Welcome back to the cloth diaper podcast. The cloth diaper podcast is a somewhat regular show dedicated to sharing stories of potty break from parents brands and retailers around the world. We’ve just had a jam packed couple of episodes. We’ve talked with amazing cloth diaper brands from Charlie banana to Baba & boo and Esembly Baby. Today, however, is a cloth, diaper or parent story. We’re bringing it back round for a whole circle. And we’re talking with a mom from Malaysia. I am so excited for today’s story. It was so awesome to get to connect with a follower, somebody who’s been listening to the show for a long time as well as a mom from another part of the world. So much of our cloth diaper experience is just what we know, on our street. So this show is just going to be pretty awesome old school conversation. We kind of talk a lot about a lot of different things. I’m not sure if there’s like a moral of the story as much as it’s just sitting down and sharing. If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, you might be surprised that I’m sharing this story from Malaysia because on a schedule was supposed to be Cooper rose. I really wanted to share Cooper rose today being the week coming up to Earth Day because she is an incredibly eco friendly and sustainable brand but for some reason I lost the zoom recording. So Derek and I are going to sit down again and we will try to record and get that out to you. I did receive one of her diapers and I do plan on publishing the review this week, so follow me on social media to learn more about that fitted diaper. Today’s episode of the cloth diaper podcast is brought to you by Lily and Frank diapers. Lillian Frank divers grades handcrafted fitted cloth diapers in Langley bc that’s pretty close to where I live. Well not super close, but more close to Malaysia. These handcrafted Canadian fitted diapers are luxuriously soft, incredibly cute and most definitely absorbent available in a wide selection of sizes, styles and prints the Lillian Frank fitted diaper is a must have for those looking for a nighttime worthy diaper. You can check out the review about how absorbent and how awesome I think this diaper is over at ww simply mom Bailey comm where I recently published a review of the Lillian Frank OBE fitted for nights. If you would like to shop Lillian Frank, you can visit Lilly and Frank calm. You can find them on Instagram, Facebook or join their Facebook community. Leave Frank chat. This week is Earth Day week, which means some of the best, most important sales of the year. We are seeing some of the biggest discounts at clothing retailers and brands to help you get going on your cloth diaper journey. This is a great time to build your stash are a great time to support small retailers and businesses a great time to make some switches over in your life. Some sales have already started and some have not. So if you are following me on social media, I will be re sharing anything that I see. I also have a list over at the cloth diaper podcast comm for you to learn more about Earth Day 2021 the sales I can’t wait to support the entire industry this Earth Day and find some great ways to share with you. There will also be the gray cloth diaper change. Come join anna and i over on Facebook for this year’s event. You’ll find that link on Facebook again that is April 24 at 11am. And the flats and hand washing challenge will be the next coming up in May. I have some fun guests coming up on the show as well as a full week of amazing interviews with diaper banks and incredible people who are doing a lot of important work towards diaper need in the United States. I think that is about it.
Latheefa 04:08
My name is Latheefa not and I started cloth diapering food full time cloth diapering when I got my second baby, but I had been interested in it with even with my first baby but it was not accessible to me back then. But I had like started raving about it. And I by the time my elder son was almost out of diapers, and we only needed emergency diapers and stuff. So at that time I was able to buy some not the small ones the like the bigger ones. And so I only used them before traveling and stuff. And then he he stopped using them like really soon and and then I got my second baby And why were cloth diapers not accessible for you for your first baby. It was not accessible because I had just gone through a divorce and I was financially struggling and I had received no support, like, everyone around me like they didn’t understand why I wanted to go diaper. They’re like, it’s so much work. Like, why would you want to do that? Like, nobody understood? I guess that they felt like disposables are such an such a convenience. Right? Yeah. Nobody really understood why I wanted to do it.
05:33
Gotcha. That makes me that’s totally reasonable part of your journey. I was kind of curious about what it was, was the finances of diapering felt unattainable. So you’re in the Maldives? Correct. When we talk about the finances of cloth diapering versus disposable diapers, what does that kind of look like for you? Is it that the upfront cost is too expensive? Or is it the long term cost?
Latheefa 06:01
Yeah, I wanted to tell you how it was made possible for me. Yeah, actually, when I got pregnant the second time, my second baby, that was my second marriage, and I had gotten really sick. And I was hoping you were saving money for the delivery of the baby. So I had, like, I had given up hope, you know, I thought I would not be able to buy the diapers. And then I asked one of my friends actually, whether she knew anyone who were willing to donate, it was like my last shock, you know, I didn’t think it would work at all. And then actually, she is one of my biggest inspirations. She is also an Instagram and she got diapers full time her both daughters. So she actually gave me this diapers I started with. So it was so sweet offer. She gave me like, maybe 10 or more diapers. And I started with those. And then after the delivery, and I didn’t have to save any more. So I got some more money. And then I bought some more for myself. And only after that was able to fold and go deeper. Before that I was part time doing it even when I wanted to time. So yeah, that’s how I started. All right.
Bailey Bouwman 07:23
That’s, it’s so cool to have a friend who is able to help you start helping free the class. That’s so amazing to have somebody in your life who can support you in that way. And that’s probably what you were missing with your first day is.
Latheefa 07:35
And the funny thing is, I have never met her. We only got we became friends through Instagram, you know? Yes, yes. A lot of people I only know I should totally have her on your show. Because she actually like I have seen her traveling to different islands and spreading awareness about it. And like encouraging other people to do it. Okay, and then
Bailey Bouwman 08:03
I’m gonna take it, then that cloth I bring is not super common in your area.
Latheefa 08:09
And it’s not, but it’s trending now. So people are leaving the interest. That was actually one reason I wanted to do it too. It was like it looked cool. big reason for me was obviously taking care of the environment. And the second reason was, I thought it could cut costs.
Bailey Bouwman 08:27
It’s definitely becoming a little bit of a trendy thing type of diapers are you using Latif and how do you wash them and what what does that look like for you on a day to day bit? life?
Latheefa 08:39
Alright, so I started with the G Nappies, And I loved those. I mean, and they were so cute. And actua lly my friend gave me those. She gave me 3 gnappies and these biodegradable disposables, like we could dispose them, but they were biodegradable. Are you familiar with those? Have you? You know?
Bailey Bouwman 09:06
Yeah, I’ve seen those. Yeah, biodegradable grovia. I know in North America makes them and flip. That becoming a little bit less common. But the
Latheefa 09:15
sound Yeah, I started with those. And then when I ran out of them, I started with the inserts. I think they’re microfiber, but I’m not sure. Probably. So I started with that. And I was I had a C section. So I was still and I had complications still. So I was still recovering. I was Yeah, I was recovering. So my husband mostly did that. Like, we were washing them my hand. And at that time we were in the capital. It’s called mala city. So they’re, how do I put it like it’s very congested, so you don’t get a lot of sunlight. It’s like a bunch of you know, it’s a concrete Jungle people say it’s a concrete jungle. So the buildings are really high you get you don’t get a lot of sunlight. So it was like, it was really, like when I think about it now It was so fun. Like we would hang the inserts to dry in a particular spot where only the direct sunlight would fall only on one spot. So we would like position the hanger there. And we would try to dry the inserts there. So it served like, even think about one more thing like in that house. I was staying in my sister’s house then. So because I don’t live there, right. I live in another island. So I don’t live in the city. Okay, I went there to deliver. So in that in that house, the sink was pretty big and the that it was really easy to wash the inserts there. So at first we that was what we were doing. And then later when he outgrew the Jena piece we switched to I think it’s called all in one or pocket. Not all in one pocket diapers. Yeah, okay, you put the insert inside that one. So those are actually my favorite. I tried to use pre falls, because the friend who gave me the diapers, she she speaks very highly of those. But I just couldn’t get them to work. Like maybe I wasn’t folding properly, maybe, I don’t know, I just didn’t like my washing card. The washing part was harder with them. So I just stuck to the pocket diapers and they never used the peripherals after that. So and there were these two diapers I I don’t know what they are called, again, it has a frog at the back. And it the the material is definitely different from the microfiber inserts. I think maybe it is bamboo fiber or something. I’m not sure. So they they leak. Right. I mean that. I’m not saying I didn’t mean leak. I mean, they are not waterproof, like the other one. So I think maybe needs a cover. And I cannot seem to fit it properly. So I didn’t use them as well when I first started.
Bailey Bouwman 12:29
So you’ve tried a bunch of different diapers. Hey, trying to find a thing that doesn’t leak. And that is easy for you to watch.
Latheefa 12:36
Yeah, so after that, I’ve been using the pocket diapers. And remember when I told you that I bought the big diapers for my first baby when he was almost out of diapers. So that one was actually cushy, his brand. Okay, so that one has a lot of padding inside. So and it has like the attaching part. It has, I think it’s called stiff. Something that sticks. So it’s it doesn’t have buttons or anything. So I started using those big diapers for my little smaller baby even when it he didn’t like it wasn’t a good fit, but I was still using it because I wanted to switch to full time so bad and I didn’t have enough diapers, right? But, but then when I started washing them, that card where you attach it. It got worn out. Okay, I can’t I can’t use that anymore. So so what I did was I took out the frog diapers that I said, which I didn’t like. So I’m using those for his nighttime.
Bailey Bouwman 13:48
Okay, so you’re doing a little bit of incredible problem solving to try to figure out what and how to make this work. So my question is like is, do you you don’t your hand? Why are you still hand washing his hand washing part of a normal life?
Latheefa 14:05
I didn’t complete the part. We were hand washing. And then at that time, there was an outbreak of COVID in Marla city. So we couldn’t come directly to our island without a quarantine stay at another island. So we have to stay at a resort. So it’s one of those luxury resorts. So the government was like keeping people in those resorts. For like it. Yeah, it was a vacation for us. So you can imagine the size of the sink there. It was, again, pretty big. And we had lots of space, lots of sun. So by then I had like start recovering and I started washing as well. But I still had this like disgust because you know, this disgust you feel during pregnancy doesn’t go away. Right after you give birth right. So I was still a bit disgusted with poop and error. But I was washing with my husband too. So that that was fun. And then after we came to our like home to our island original, like very live, we don’t have too big sink, right? So we actually started trying to hand wash. We tried to hand wash, but it wasn’t working for us. So we switched to using machine like, it’s an auto machine like you don’t have to take it out, or anything, just put it in just pressing buttons.
Bailey Bouwman 15:36
Is that okay? So I excuse my naivety because I don’t know what life in the Maldives is like, is an automatic? What is an automated washing machine? a normal part of day to day life or a luxury item? Or what? What is that?
Latheefa 15:53
It is pretty normal. These days now Yeah, it used to be a kind of a luxury thing when I was younger. But now it’s becoming normal. And I wanna, I wanted to tell you something about the wash routines. I read your article. And thank you so much for writing it. Like I was doubting myself. I was like, I didn’t know what a wash routine is, until this week, because someone else was posting about it. And I was like, What the hell am I doing? Am I doing this wrong? Like, am I washing the diapers wrong? But after reading your article, I was like, ah.
Bailey Bouwman 16:35
So you went into cloth diapering not really knowing what to do or how to do you’re just kind of winging and winging it. Yes. Because that’s amazing.
Latheefa 16:47
The friend I was talking about who gave me the diapers. She She also didn’t talk about wash cycles or anything. And I did look at a few YouTube videos. And they just showed that just put, put the diapers in the machine and wash. like nobody talked about washing once or twice or anything. Early until recently, I found out and I was doubting myself. And so at the right time I ran into you. I mean, I stumbled upon your article. So that’s great.
Bailey Bouwman 17:19
Well, it’s great that you were doing the right thing to begin with that you trusted in yourself and you’re trying to figure out watch routine. Because it doesn’t I mean, I feel a little bit silly because I write about washing machines from a very North American perspective. And so I never want to assume though, that that is going to work for other parts of the world.
Latheefa 17:43
How do you dry? Like do you get a lot of sunlight? Because here it’s it’s pretty Sunny, like almost all the time. So. So I think I saw one of your articles again, I think it was a podcast. Some woman of she was living off the grid and she struggled with not being able to get sunlight. Do you also struggle with that?
Bailey Bouwman 18:07
Yeah, I mean, yes, it’s it’s 10am or it’s 9am. And it’s still dark. In North America, I would say that if you’re living on the grid, it’s really common to have a dryers so I wash I dry everything in my dryer. And so like dryer is a really important part of my lifestyle. So it’s the sunshine might not actually come out today because we’re having a snowstorm. We might I might not see the sun today.
Latheefa 18:38
I cannot even so when you say you, you have a dryer. So even we like in our automatic washing machines, it spins like at the end after washing it spins. Okay. So it’s not fully soaking wet when we take it out. But it still has some water in it and we have to hang it to dry. So when you say you have a dryer, is that the same kind of thing? No,
Bailey Bouwman 19:06
no, it’s it’s it’s another separate machine. It has a heat a heating element in it. And it it I’m trying to like how to describe a dryer. And it just like it has a heating element in it and it rotates and it spins like a washing machine. But with air until like items are dry. And usually they have like air dry or high when you take it out. It’s completely dry. I didn’t know things like that existed.
Latheefa 19:34
So you’re not you’re not need the sun at all?
Bailey Bouwman 19:37
No.
Latheefa 19:38
All right. So um, so one of my friends who lives in the city like in Marla city, she told me that it’s really hard to do clutter in there because of lack of sunlight. So one of those dryers would be good.
Bailey Bouwman 19:52
Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So dryers dryers tend to be they’re very energy intensive. They use a lot of electricity. So can be, it can be quite expensive to run, but there’s not a lot of options. A lot of families though in North America will just hang to dry inside without, like, really, the sun is a really great, so it does really help, but I can see why it would be struggle. And I wonder, a few weeks ago, I had Romi from Argentina on the show and we were chatting about cloth diapering, I never, I never really thought about it, it’s interesting to think about talking with you about this impact of city life and being not able to get the sunshine because of that urban jungle and how that really limits a lot of options. Like things I never thought about and that are, as your friend said, really stressful for her.
Latheefa 20:45
So actually, like it only adds to it. It only adds like to the already piling up reasons as to why, like people wouldn’t even try it, you know?
Bailey Bouwman 20:59
Yeah, I mean, but how long? My question would be like, is our disposable diapers? Have disposable diapers been around for very long and the Maldives?
Latheefa 21:11
I have never seen anybody using cloth. Like, really until, you know, Instagram.
Bailey Bouwman 21:19
Instagram. the globalization of the world is such an interesting conversation in itself too, right? Like learning from other women around the world? Yes,
Latheefa 21:28
it’s such a it’s such a great team actually. Right? Like, imagine if I hadn’t like stumbled upon your website or like my friend, like, I would still be like sitting at home and thinking, Oh, I wish I could cloth diaper and then not being able to do it. Right?
Bailey Bouwman 21:46
Well, yeah, but you’re It sounds like you’re doing a fantastic job in navigating through the resources that you do have and how you can figure it out yourself. And that’s really inspirational an Latheefa because it’s something that I really, I really want women to know that they can they can do it even without the internet that they can trust themselves to do it. So what has been something that’s been like a huge surprise about cloth diapering, that you never thought that’s been just, you’re like, wow, I never thought cloth diapering could could do this for my family.
Latheefa 22:19
Hand washing, like I I never thought like getting pulled out would be so easy. And oh, really just wash. Yeah, I thought it would be like stuck to it. And you know, I wouldn’t be able to remove. I thought it would be the machines job. But actually, hand washing is so easy. Like, if we had like a lot of space and a big thing.
Bailey Bouwman 22:44
A big think makes a huge difference with hand washing the right amount of space to get
Latheefa 22:50
I keep I keep bringing up the sink because it’s like I have certain health issue which it’s difficult for me to sit down and bend and do stuff, you know, I can do stuff like standing. That’s That’s why I keep bringing up the sink.
Bailey Bouwman 23:11
Fine, everybody comes into the classroom with their own kind of life spot that they’re in. So when you go I guess it’s been kind of a hard year with the pandemic, hey, and finding support systems. I was gonna say, if you were going to go meet other women, what would be that conversation around cloth diapering or around diapering in general?
Latheefa 23:33
I am not sure I got your question.
Bailey Bouwman 23:36
What what’s the feeling? what’s the what’s the trend? Like if you were to meet other women and you talk about cloth diapering? Is there an instant sense of disgust or shame or excitement? Like what what do your friends think when you talk about cloth diapering?
Latheefa 23:53
All right. Well, most people are like, in total, I put it like, they’re really surprised, actually, that someone would willingly You know, when they have such a convenient option. Why would anyone, like stop using that and like when we say cloth diaper, people usually think it’s the flat you know, the ones our mothers and people used to use and they imagine that that hassle, you know that why would we choose to? Like why would Why would we choose that hassle when we have such a convenient option? And then when we and then the other thing that surprises them is how beautiful they look. Right? Like right, like the prints and the color. So everyone tells me like when you said cloth diaper, I thought it’s like the white cloth that people used to use. These are so beautiful. And then they asked like, they usually asked like how do you do this and then I show them The insert and how I put it in. So I try to promote it with everyone who asks for you’re having the same conversations that we’re having, and which we’re trying to be like, Hey, no cloth diapers have come a long way since our parents, so they are these really beautiful things. Usually, I don’t have a lot of real life interaction with people because I’m living in my husband’s Island. So I didn’t grow up here. So I only married him, like, two years back, and I moved here. So I don’t have a lot of friends in this island as such, but then online, I do try to like, I do have friends. And I’m able to get in have in depth conversations about things. So here it’s like, in real life interactions is a very short, you know,
Bailey Bouwman 25:50
yeah, it’s hard when you move to a new place. That’s not where you grew up. Yeah. I live in a town where I didn’t grow up and it’s taken a long time to kind of get comfortable with people in that journey. What is my curiosity is the cost of disposable diapering? What is the cost of disposable diaper in compared to the cost of cloth? I pray for your family?
Latheefa 26:15
Um, it’s definitely cheaper to get disposables, you know? So, but then in the long run, like, if you especially if you plan to use it for all of your children, then it’s definitely cheaper. But then then, but then there is the electricity aspect. Yes. And the detergent aspect aspect of it too. So I’m not sure like, through family it’s cheaper to do clock anymore. But then I saw again, I saw one of your posts, it was about receiving blankets. So I think I’m gonna I’m, I might try that because I might, my stash is pretty small. I need to increase it. But I don’t want to like buy an expensive one. I don’t want to buy expensive diapers again. So I might, you know, yeah, repurposing old materials is a great way to save your costs. Yeah, but I never thought receiving blankets could be used as diapers,
Bailey Bouwman 27:22
anything well absorbs anything that absorbs liquids you can use as a as a cloth diaper. I think like, t shirts receiving blankets, like if it absorbs p, then you can use you can fold that up, and you can use it as a as a diaper are doing a lot of families in the Maldives struggle to afford diapers? That’s a really big conversation that we have in North America. Is that?
Latheefa 27:46
Um, I actually don’t know. I don’t think so. Like? I don’t think so. Exactly. That’s fairly poor people.
Bailey Bouwman 27:56
Maybe that’s always I know, a lot of cloth diaper brands in the US and in Canada, or especially in the United States talk about diaper needs. I’m always curious about how that looks in other parts of the world. And so but yours kind of shaping the story that disposable diapers are a super kind of affordable and convenient way for our families. And so, choosing to do something a little different has been an interesting journey for yourself.
Latheefa 28:21
Like, don’t get me wrong, okay? When I say affordable, it’s not like, really, really cheap. But compared to buying cloth diapers, it’s definitely cheaper. I think like that initial investment you have to spend, like if you are planning to full time diaper cloth diaper before you get your baby. Like if you have to buy a stash, then that cost is pretty high. You know? That’s what I’m trying to say. Okay, I think what do you mention about receiving blankets, or even old current t shirts? I think if we could, like, pitch that idea to people, then people might be interested in that. Like instead of, yeah, these hi fi brands, you know,
Bailey Bouwman 29:12
and I think that was a conversation that I was really having with Romi from Argentina the other day too. And somebody else I had on the show, too, we were really talking about needing to shift a lot of our conversations from always needing to buy new to the fact that we can repurpose, and then sometimes the only thing that you need to buy new is the waterproof cover or the waterproof pocket diaper, right? It’s just that’s a lot of that’s a big shift in conversation. It can be it’s a I know here in North America, it can be sometimes uncomfortable for people to talk about repurposing and reusing things. So it’s been a bit of a challenge. taboo kind of think like, it’s just like a sense of pride thing. Yeah. All right. And now you’ve got me thinking about like global economies of cloth diapers, a lot of the cloth diapers that you’ve made. today are big international brands. Where do people buy cloth diapers? If you were to buy if you had some money today and you want to buy a brand new cloth diaper, where would you go?
Latheefa 30:10
That’s an that’s a great question. My friend who gave me the diapers, she said she bought all of them online. She brought it abroad. And the other ones that I bought afterwards. I bought it from Instagram pages like Instagram shops, you know. So even they would ring from abroad. Okay. Anybody locally, do you know like in the Maldives? Yeah. No, no, not at all. We don’t we actually don’t produce a lot of stuff here. It’s a tiny teeny place. We we the but the only thing we do produce is fish and fish products, fish and fish.
Bailey Bouwman 30:51
I know, I had googled my husband and I was talking this morning. I was like, I have a phone call with a woman from the Maldives. And from Hong Kong today, where are the Maldives? And he was like, I was looking to be like super embarrassing. For some reason I thought you were I thought the Maldives were European. And he was like, No, no, I think it’s Asia. Bailey. Okay.
Latheefa 31:11
A lot of people actually mix it up with Mauritius, or people think it’s from Middle East. You’re so you’re off the coast of India. Okay, that’s definitely not where I thought, India, but then we are not like Indians. Like
Bailey Bouwman 31:29
there’s a lot of there’s a lot of cloth diapering going on in India right now. A lot of bras. Yeah, you know. Yeah, I have. I’ve worked with a super bottoms from India, and the great cloth diaper changes coming up. And there are a lot of great cloth diaper changes that happen in India. So the cloth diaper conversation in India is is changing. Okay, you guys are this is a super tiny. This is a super tiny country.
Latheefa 32:03
Yes. Like I said, it’s really tiny place and we don’t manufacture a lot of things. So here are the two most biggest industries are the tourism industry and the fishing industry. So a lot of your heard of people coming to these seven star resorts and stuff.
Bailey Bouwman 32:21
I know Google showed me some beautiful resorts.
Latheefa 32:24
So yeah, it’s not how life is like for locals to make no mistake, that is only the resorts only you know, meant for the really rich people.
Bailey Bouwman 32:36
But I yeah, in small countries like this, I would see that life would be very different than these beautiful blue ocean resorts. Does that mean that all of your goods and services are shipped in or flown into the country? Actually,
Latheefa 32:52
I think a lot of like, a lot of stuff is important. Like there is a farming going on too. But then you know, even most of the food is imported. Like I said, it’s only tourism and fishing the which are like the main biggest two industries. You know, what,
Bailey Bouwman 33:13
what do you guys do? What do you guys do for your weight? like where do where does garbage go in the Maldives?
Latheefa 33:20
We burn it. Oh, open burning. It’s terrible, really. I mean, like in the islands, mostly the compostable waste, they throw it in the ocean, and other stuff that can be burned in the building. Like in an open burning setting. It’s really sad. But air pollution pretty bad. Not as bad as like, not so bad that people realize it’s bad. But obviously it is. You know, like out of sight out of mind. It’s all right. It’s all good. Okay, I’m proud to say that we have NGOs and people trying to raise awareness and actually do things even in the policy making level. You know, the president actually did ban certain single use plastic items as well. And in some islands, they do have recycling plants and interesting things are going on, but it’s way too slow. You know, we’re in a climate crisis, right?
Bailey Bouwman 34:30
Yeah. Are they are the Maldives a place that’s at risk for ocean level rising and disappearing?
Latheefa 34:38
I don’t know. Okay, that’s fine. That’s fine. It’s it’s really unsettling like, even from from from a very young age, like people keep telling us you know, like our islands are sinking and then I tried to like block it out. Okay.
Bailey Bouwman 34:57
Very scary thought. I grew up in an area where earthquakes are really prominent and we just like kind of just ignore that. We just Let’s not talk about that. Let’s just we’ll just keep living our lives exactly
Latheefa 35:06
what we’re both doing, like using denial as a coping mechanism,
Bailey Bouwman 35:10
I guess. Yes. Maybe not the healthiest choice but important to recognize in this in this conversation. Okay. This is this is, this was super interesting learning a lot about the Maldives, about what life is like, I think these are really great conversations. I know we before I hit the record button Latika, you were like, I’m not sure what I can offer. But what you have offered is a great insight into what diapering might look like in another part of the world, about things about your journey, I think your journey and exploring cloth diapering is really empowering and a good reminder that we don’t need to know all the answers, and we can just trust in ourselves to figure out what we’re doing. And if somebody was listening from around the world today, what’s like your one big? Like, what’s that one thing lativa that you would tell a new mom about cloth diapering?
Latheefa 36:07
I would say like, if you are interested even a little bit, then just go for it, like dive right into it. You know, because you if you heard what I was talking about, you must have known that I had pretty much no idea what I was doing. But then, you know, there was a lot of trial and error. I was experiencing problems with leaking and all that. And I just, you know, I didn’t tell anybody. I just tried to fix it like me and my husband. We both like talk with each other. And we use trial and error to overcome all of that. Because we knew, like the moment we tell someone else, you know, it’s leaking. They’re like, yeah, I told you it’s gonna leak, you know, so we didn’t want to face that, you know? So after like, my babies now nine months, so we’ve been part time doing it from two months, and full time. I think maybe four months. So now I think I’ve got it figured out figured out. So yeah, if I can figure this out, like I’m still figuring things out. So it’s best to just dive right into it with the resources that you already have.
Bailey Bouwman 37:19
And you started part time for a little bit there until you could get the resources that you needed to go full time. You found that balance. So you didn’t let that fact that you couldn’t go full time. stop you. Yeah, yeah. I love that too.
Latheefa 37:33
That is that is actually I have to thank the people like you and my friend and people on the internet for that actually. Because there was like, there are so many encouraging posts, like you don’t have to go full time. Like it’s not an all or nothing thing. This cloth diapering. So encouraging was just like that really helped me
Bailey Bouwman 37:56I don’t even know, over my journey and cloth diapering somehow that became something that I decided needed to happen and I don’t even know I caught I’ve heard full time. I don’t even know where that message came from. But you’re one of so many people who says like, it’s so amazing to hear that I can just do it part time. I can just casually go into it. Thank you for sharing your story with us about cloth diapering in the Maldives, about your journey through cloth diapering. I think wherever you are in the world, the story had a little bit to offer. And I hope that you enjoyed the perspective. A lot of this show is going to repeat again when I chat with Pam from the Philippines. I’ve had a really global and international kind of year with talking with parents around the world about cloth diapering and can’t wait to continue to bring you more stories. If you love about the podcast, be sure to come follow us on social media come and participate in the stories and I’m always looking for more guests. I’m always looking for written guest posts and I would love it if you shared your story
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