Show Transcription

Bailey Bouwman  00:03

Welcome to the cloth diaper podcast, a weekly podcast dedicated to everything cloth diaper. Seriously. Join me every week as we talk with your favorite brands, retailers and cloth diaper mamas from around the world

Bailey Bouwman  00:25

Okay, welcome to the cloth diaper podcast. This is show two. I’m Bailey, your host and we’re talking about cloth diapers with a guest today. All the show notes for today’s show can be found at cloth diaper. podcast.com. And why don’t you introduce yourself? Who do we have with us today?

Eric Bouwman  00:44

Hi, I’m Bailey. Husband. I’m Eric.

Bailey Bouwman  00:47

And you’re a cloth diaper dad. Yep. To cloth I’ve right choice? Not really? No. Would you have cloth diapers? If? If there wasn’t me? Would you have asked for cloth dye for your new life? No. Why not?

Eric Bouwman  01:05

Just would have been on my radar.

Bailey Bouwman  01:07

I guess it’s not really something that you think about at night.

Eric Bouwman  01:12

Right. I think you know, the disposables are just kind of the default.

Bailey Bouwman  01:16

That’s That’s unfortunate that it has changed so much in 50 years, that disposables are now a default.

Eric Bouwman  01:22

Yeah, they’re the starting point.

Bailey Bouwman  01:26

Well, we’re going to try to change that. What kind of questions we ask okay, so what is okay, in the cloth diaper world, dads seem to be the one reason why people don’t cloth diaper.

Eric Bouwman  01:48

Yeah, I’ve seen that. And I’ve talked to other people. And sometimes the dad just says just No, or that’s not really a question.

Bailey Bouwman  01:59

I know. Well, that’s true. Do you have a few guys at work? Who cloth diaper?

Eric Bouwman  02:04

I don’t actually know you had that one guy.

Bailey Bouwman  02:07

He was using the G diapers and the disposable inserts?

Eric Bouwman  02:11

Yeah, I think he’s the only one who’s I’ve ever mentioned it, but it’s because he saw my kid right? It’s not something that we talk about.

Bailey Bouwman  02:19

Don’t talk about it at work. No. Oh, not like at playdates or

Eric Bouwman  02:23

so what do you do? You could have diapers to put on your kids. But that’s fair enough. Just not guy talk.

Bailey Bouwman  02:31

I guess it’s not really guy talk. Maybe you should start making it guy talk and then we can normalize cloth diapering

Eric Bouwman  02:38

don’t have to be that cloth diaper guy.

Bailey Bouwman  02:40

Yeah, that’s okay. Tomorrow when you go to work, you should ask somebody how to cloth diaper.

Eric Bouwman  02:45

If they got well, these, neither of these guys have kits.

Bailey Bouwman  02:49

Steve could still talk about it.

Eric Bouwman  02:52

I guess so. That might be a little weird. I think I mentioned it sometimes.

Bailey Bouwman  02:58

Oh, my wife is a cloth diaper addict.

Eric Bouwman  03:01

No, it’s like my wife has a cloth diaper blog.

Bailey Bouwman  03:04

That’s I guess I may go,

Eric Bouwman  03:08

Huh, interesting. Pretty much. Cool.

Bailey Bouwman  03:11

Cool. So what’s your favorite cloth diaper?

Eric Bouwman  03:14

I don’t know any of the names of the cloth diapers I put on there just in the cart, and I stick them on my children. I like I like stuff that takes pre folds or some sort of generic insert. I don’t like the all in ones because it’s a pain in the butt to get the poop out of them. Especially if the the one with the loop thing.

Bailey Bouwman  03:39

Oh, like the bum genius elementals that are like from front to back but have the

Eric Bouwman  03:44

attachment in the multiple strips and then like the poop gets underneath and then like the two strips and then you’re like waving around.

Bailey Bouwman  03:51

So the cloth diaper world has convinced us that all one cloth diapers are the easiest way to go. And you’re saying that as a cloth diaper Dad, you could care less about all ones.

Eric Bouwman  04:01

Yeah, cuz I think when we started I thought the old ones were you know, the cat’s ass or just would be the best. And the more I used the other stuff was just a prefold folded. You know, like 123 Yeah, jammed in there. That’s, that’s all you better

Bailey Bouwman  04:17

but only if I pre assembled them because if they’re not pre assembled, you seem to have a little bit of a momentary Bailey there’s no cloth diapers.

Eric Bouwman  04:24

Well, no, I get them better. I’m getting better. You’re getting better. They don’t have to be preassembled. I mean pretty simple is nice, but

Bailey Bouwman  04:32

but you’ve learned I guess you’ve adapted.

Eric Bouwman  04:36

Yeah, I can sort of more just

Bailey Bouwman  04:40

Alright, last time we tried this. So this is our second time at trying to record a podcast but the first time we did it, Anna was awake as she was saying Daddy, Daddy Daddy during the entire podcast

Eric Bouwman  04:52

who knew that you could hear our daughter and that she would be that loud.

Bailey Bouwman  04:56

Who knew? I didn’t know how to edit it out. anyways, you said that your favorite was knuckles and that’s the brand that has the polar bear one and a camping scene. We have a pink one a purple one another pink one. Oh yeah sound familiar?

Eric Bouwman  05:11

Yeah, remember no Yeah, cuz they’re, they’re like tougher. They seem like durable without being like big thick rubber or anything like that. I guess

Bailey Bouwman  05:21

they are kind of a thicker. They’re more durable for sure. But naugles is a size to cover and it’s a PC brand here in Kamloops, BC. Well, they’re not made in BC but it is a BC mom who owns it operates them. Okay. Yeah. Right. So those are your favorite cloth diapers. What do you think is the hardest thing about cloth diaper?

Eric Bouwman  05:45

Hardest or like, thing? I like the least. I don’t know. I don’t like the stinky bathroom. The bathroom is not that stinky. The bathroom? Is that stinky?

Bailey Bouwman  05:59

Apparently my husband thinks the bathroom is Super stinky with the cloth diapers and I would disagree. I don’t think it’s very stinky. So we’re going to try something new. What are we trying in the bathroom right now?

Eric Bouwman  06:09

Well, we bought that container thing.

Bailey Bouwman  06:13

We bought a plastic bin for mother ease with a mesh pail liner.

Eric Bouwman  06:18

And Bailey was supposed to get the charcoal insert for the lid. I opted out of by with charcoal insert because there’s there’s this big hole in the lid for airflow because apparently you want airflow for your diapers. Yeah, cuz it breaks down urine. Right? And they sell some sort of charcoal filter. It’s that that airflow doesn’t stink. But

Bailey Bouwman  06:40

I don’t think it stinks. I don’t know if you have a super sensitive nose. But I didn’t want to spend money on a charcoal filter when I thought it was kind of hokey. Do you think that charcoal will make a difference? Oh, yeah. So I should call mother use tomorrow and bilan.

Eric Bouwman  06:54

Please, please. Right now. I put that container, a container in our bathtub. And we have we’ve got a window over our bathtub. And I open the window and I’ll like there’s some airflow. So I don’t know what we’re gonna do in the winter, but I’m just

Bailey Bouwman  07:10

kind of tired. At least three winters of cloth diapering,

Eric Bouwman  07:14

it stinks every year. You never totally I swear I pretty sure maybe I’m just becoming more sensitive to it. Maybe Anna has

Bailey Bouwman  07:21

like a different pee smell and all her dead. Yeah, maybe. I don’t think it smells. But that’s all right.

Eric Bouwman  07:26

Maybe it’s because we have two kids. No. Yeah, but

Bailey Bouwman  07:33

Oh, so that’s your biggest challenge right now is the stinky bathroom situation.

Eric Bouwman  07:41

You know, my biggest. That’s my, the thing I dislike the most my biggest challenge, I think is the you know, what do we stick on this? kidspot right. And we’ve got kids that are two different sizes. And there’s the giant carta diapers and I’m like, well which cover and

Bailey Bouwman  08:00

I just don’t have the time to organize it. And I’m just like, You’re lucky that he even makes it on the cart and out of the laundry machine.

Eric Bouwman  08:07

Okay, well, you know a lot more about your diapers than I do. Well, they

Bailey Bouwman  08:13

all well, I guess they don’t fit. So our biggest kid now is 3540 pounds. And he doesn’t fit a lot of the cloth diapers anymore. So it’s hard to kind of know which does fit them.

Eric Bouwman  08:23

To be fair. He’s you know, pretty much into underwear. No.

Bailey Bouwman  08:27

Yes. Hallo. Yeah. Yeah, and now it’s just a matter of Gu knowing where all the potty training pants are. I guess we could maybe transfer him right into underwear soon.

Eric Bouwman  08:39

Make go buy some real underwear. Real underwear, not cloths or any pants. Not called training pants.

Bailey Bouwman  08:47

I’m still a bit worried that he will make an accident. Alright listeners. So when when do you know that it’s you’re good to go.

Eric Bouwman  08:56

It’s never good to go. So much is always gonna need absorbent underwear. No, I mean, you just have to do it and except that occasionally he’s gonna shed in his pants.

Bailey Bouwman  09:07

pooping in his pants is not like it’s like the least of my concerns. Or you’re thinking he’s gonna like pee all the time. Yeah, the hardest part about potty training is wiping their bums all the time. And you never quite get it all the way clean now. Where’s that? I don’t know cuz I can tell him that training pants. Do you ever see little brown squeaks?

Eric Bouwman  09:25

What do you mean you can ever get a clean? Well cuz now

Bailey Bouwman  09:28

they’re sitting on the potty so he doesn’t want like a Wipe Wipe. He wants to use toilet paper. Yeah, obviously you haven’t changed that bums yet?

Eric Bouwman  09:39

No, I haven’t been around for all the poops over the last week or so. Yes, because he kind of went away.

Bailey Bouwman  09:45

So if there was one thing you could tell cloth diapering skeptic Dad, what would it be? Pause by you don’t have an answer.

Eric Bouwman  10:00

Happy wife happy life.

Bailey Bouwman  10:03

Just let her do it. Because you don’t really do. You just change diapers, but you don’t do the other stuff.

Eric Bouwman  10:10

I think the agreement was we’ll do cloth diapers, but I won’t do the laundry for the cloth diapers.

Bailey Bouwman  10:17

Well, it’s less that you want to do the laundry, but I don’t trust to do the laundry.

Eric Bouwman  10:21

Oh, just a bit of both. But I think that was the agreement. As I said, we’ll do cloth diapers, but I don’t want to do the laundry. I remember saying that.

Bailey Bouwman  10:29

It’s not that much laundry listeners, guys. It’s okay. And modern bottom babies.com has a super handy cheat sheet that you could put on your washing machine and you could use like a white erase marker you had filled out and then dad could just push all the buttons and do those steps. Sometimes I asked you to move the diapers into the dryer.

Eric Bouwman  10:49

Okay, it’s not that hard to do the laundry. I just wanted to have less contact with nasty poopy diapers says

Bailey Bouwman  10:56

the man who mostly rinses out diaper bumps.

Eric Bouwman  10:59

Yeah, I do more rinsing. No.

Bailey Bouwman  11:03

Yeah, we’re at the stage now. Where like you get pretty gross Marisela diapers. But even now with Walter being mostly in underwear. We still spend a lot of time rinsing out underwear. Do we? Yeah, I feel like I’m always changing poopy underwear. Because that’s been the one big thing that’s been hard for Walter.

Eric Bouwman  11:24

Oh, yeah. I thought you meant recently. Oh, no. We’re kind of in a transition.

Bailey Bouwman  11:29

That’s true. It’s nice. It’s nice to be in a transition out of cloth diapers. But I’m going to miss it. That’s why we’re gonna do a coffee podcast. Right? Right. Are you doing my regular visitor? No. So over the three years of being cloth diaper Dad, what’s the biggest drama you’ve ever heard about cloth diapering?

Eric Bouwman  11:50

Oh, that lady with the prince? With the friends. I don’t know who she was? Or is or what brand is a blueberry?

Bailey Bouwman  11:57

Oh, yeah. Blueberry in their prince. Yeah,

Eric Bouwman  12:01

cuz the can you you better explain it. I don’t know what you’re thinking about, where she signed the exclusive deals. And then she started breaking the exclusives.

Bailey Bouwman  12:09

So a couple years ago, blueberry cloth diaper probably led the way and exclusives. And they were working with retailers directly. And they were making all these amazing exclusive prints. And the market was kind of totally crazy. Like people we pay anything to complete their collection.

Eric Bouwman  12:27

Kind of like teeny Beanie Babies, you know, but yeah, that was cloth

Bailey Bouwman  12:30

diapers, diapers. But now I think we’re at the point where the market is so saturated that people don’t really do that to the same extent, right? Like it’s okay to have a complete stash of 50. But once you’re asking people to have 125, it’s like, not reasonable, right? So then Margarita Margarita at blueberry, she started re releasing some of these prints outside of the retailers. least that’s my understanding. And blueberry don’t come after me if I got the story wrong. But this is what the story that goes around on the internet, right? And that was a pretty dramatic day for us because a lot of cloth diaper retailers broke up with blueberry. And I think I can remember talking to you about it, because obviously you remember,

Eric Bouwman  13:13

I remember because that’s that’s something that just really strikes a chord. It’s like you kind of sign that exclusive and then they rerelease this diaper and then sell it to somebody else. I’d be pretty pissed. Yeah, we’re a retailer.

Bailey Bouwman  13:26

I will be pretty impressive. I was also a collector and I was like, Oh, I don’t think it’s $75 of this diaper when I was done.

Eric Bouwman  13:35

Well, yeah, that’s right. Just like as a collector, you know, you’re it’d be like the same thing in the art world. You know, somebody just, Oh, I’ll only make 100 of these prints ever. And then you’d start like pumping out prints again. It’s like a kind of devalues. Yeah,

Bailey Bouwman  13:49

it’s kind of a business off. What’s been like, what are you looking forward to once we’re done diapering?

Eric Bouwman  13:56

I’m looking forward to not having any diapers at all.

Bailey Bouwman  14:00

I guess if you’re even using disposables, that would be a big win. For me. For all of us, like, the less puppy bombs we have to change in our life, the better the world gets.

Eric Bouwman  14:13

Think that’s a bit too deep for this podcast.

Bailey Bouwman  14:18

All right. Well, hopefully we only have about a year left of diapering for Anna. And Walter, I think we could probably call dad. Just about just about now that he’s three. Wow, that’s kind of scary. Three years of cloth diapering.

Eric Bouwman  14:34

Scary that it took this long.

Bailey Bouwman  14:37

We’re actually doing pretty good. Are we? Yeah, I think boys are supposed to potty train between three and four. And he pretty much did it himself before he turned three.

Eric Bouwman  14:46

Well with the help of you know, Hot Wheels.

Bailey Bouwman  14:50

Yeah. That might not be like the world’s best parenting advice. No, to be bribing our child with Hot Wheels to go to the body to to poop, I might not that might not be what the experts in potty training suggest.

Eric Bouwman  15:04

What do you think the experts in potty training suggest?

Bailey Bouwman  15:07

I have no idea because I don’t want to listen to them.

Eric Bouwman  15:10

Through do I. So,

Bailey Bouwman  15:12

as parents we we did a lot of bribery for Walter on the potty. He also just like potty trained himself for the most part, like really piece on the party. Yeah. And we just let him be naked and we just let him do his thing. And we use cloth trading pants, honestly, because they fit and he was getting too big for diapers. And I don’t know if you’ve ever like wrestled a 35 pound 40 inch tall child to put on a diaper but it’s not fat. He’s strong. Yeah, so it’s just easier to put on underwear that’s absorbent.

Eric Bouwman  15:41

Yeah, yeah. And he’s almost all of them. It’s good.

Bailey Bouwman  15:44

It’s all good. It’s all good. Do you want to do we’ll end the podcast with like, rapid fire five questions. See what you know about coffee break? Okay, it’s only four questions. Only four. I only came up with four. All right, can you name the three different types of cloth diapers?

Eric Bouwman  16:01

Types of brands types? The just a prefold a one that’s like just the blanket. All in one flat.

Bailey Bouwman  16:16

He’s talking about a flat cloth diaper.

Eric Bouwman  16:18

Okay, so a prefold flat. A old one. Let’s see how many

Bailey Bouwman  16:25

I just said three just said I just said three a capital Barlow. All right. Can you name five different brands?

Eric Bouwman  16:32

Blueberry naugles. Mother ease omake. Apple cheeks.

Bailey Bouwman  16:40

Yeah, there we go. And you name pretty much Canadian brands. Look at you go. Do you know any names of any prints? Or solids that we Oh, no. No. I figured that question. This

Eric Bouwman  16:54

part. I have like the names I would call them.

Bailey Bouwman  16:58

Alright, so what’s the name that you would call your favorite? costsaver read think anybody names their diaper? Red or green? What would I put on bed before bed? I don’t remember. Remember either. What did you put on water before bed?

Eric Bouwman  17:20

Some gray thing that was

Bailey Bouwman  17:23

probably called slight.

Eric Bouwman  17:28

I think what you should have is like if you do a lineup of prints.

Bailey Bouwman  17:31

Oh, you know what Anna has on? She’s blue couch.

Eric Bouwman  17:35

She should have like a lineup of prints and then like, What’s this one called?

Bailey Bouwman  17:39

Yeah, but our listeners won’t be able to. Okay, we’re back with a few different cloth diapers from my sale been. Alright,

Eric Bouwman  17:49

can you hear them?

Bailey Bouwman  17:50

Yeah. Okay, so I’m gonna post pictures of these in the show notes because I know that as viewers, you can’t well as listeners, you can’t view them. But you might know before Yeah, I will honestly admit that I don’t know what some of these are called. And I’m gonna have to research it myself once we’re done. So what’s this one?

Eric Bouwman  18:13

Let me have a look here. Let’s go with germs.

Bailey Bouwman  18:19

Look good guess this is a funky fluff in teal. And it’s got all these weird little monsters on it. I have no idea what it’s called germs through germs. They do look like germs, don’t they? Okay. Next up is this yellow bomb genius diaper pirates. Also known as Spence, if you’re above genius fan, you will immediately know what he’s talking about. Because it does have pirates on it. All right, next up is a pretty grovia Number

Eric Bouwman  18:50

old grandmother couch

Bailey Bouwman  18:54

that Oh no. The name of the cloth diaper Nana is currently wearing a very

Eric Bouwman  18:57

um, Chesterfield,

Bailey Bouwman  19:00

Chesterfield. I feel like this is called a philia but I’m not entirely sure I’m an old lady and him. This is like inspired after flour sack towel prints I believe. Anyways, this is the floral that grovia came out with in the last year. Last but not least, a fancy diaper that I won. The right to buy. I still had to pay for it. Halloween, also known as boo Berry, it is a black cloth diaper with Halloween inspired motif is actually probably one of the first Halloween cloth diapers that I ever bought. That’s pretty festive. Don’t you think?

Eric Bouwman  19:43

festive. I mean like Yeah.

Bailey Bouwman  19:45

Originally, I had chosen this pretty one but Eric, I told him what it was called while we were gathering. Well, I

Eric Bouwman  19:52

forgot already. Actually,

Bailey Bouwman  19:53

you don’t remember this pretty bummed genius one with the pretty birds.

Eric Bouwman  19:57

No

Eric Bouwman  19:59

birds Yeah, it’s called Harper, right? Yeah. In one year what the other eight. Got pretty, pretty much. Back to Robin for questions.

Bailey Bouwman  20:13

All right, last question. What’s that thing that you used to keep a flat closed on a baby? With the Bronx? No, no. It’s got like three. I know what you’re talking about. You don’t know it’s called. It’s called a snappy. I also said that was gonna be your last question. But I said I was gonna do five questions, and I’ve only done four. So I think the last question should be can you name three cloth diaper retailers?

Eric Bouwman  20:50

Didn’t we? Oh, cloth diaper retailers? Yeah, we’re like I buy cloth diaper. Okay, I’m gonna because of money because a Maki is also a retailer. I guess we mother ease is also a retailer. And then there’s the one in town here called.

Bailey Bouwman  21:09

This is really embarrassing because we live near a cloth diaper retailer. She’s about five minutes away. Eric’s been there about two or three times she makes the most delightful cupcakes.

Eric Bouwman  21:18

Eight minutes. Eight minutes. No, she’s five minutes. She actually

Bailey Bouwman  21:21

lives in your in laws in laws old house. Really? Yeah. What’s it called?

Bailey Bouwman  21:35

Cozy cozy was the reason Eric remembers the first years because when we were out east we went and we visited omake which I’m probably butchering the pronunciation and mother. And we got to see mother eases manufacturing. That was really cool. Yeah, that was really neat. There are a lot of great manufacturers, right?

Eric Bouwman  21:58

I kind of was imagining something different. To be honest.

Bailey Bouwman  22:01

What were you imagining?

Eric Bouwman  22:03

Well, keep keep in mind, I’ve never really been in a factory before. But I was imagining, like, you know, how it’s made with the coke cans, you know, or whatever. We

Bailey Bouwman  22:14

were just doing small scale Cloth Paper. It’s just

Eric Bouwman  22:17

like a couple of ladies in the back with some sewing machines.

Bailey Bouwman  22:22

He doesn’t, he doesn’t exaggerate. I’ll throw up a picture of the factory, young quote in our show notes. And then we visited on Mackey which we just visited their warehouse they manufacture in Quebec, so we didn’t get to see they’re all they were in. They were in Gladesville and then they manufacture out in Montreal, so we didn’t get to see their manufacturing.

Eric Bouwman  22:43

Well, I’m sure it was also well, maybe they would have had a larger more when I think of like how it’s made. That’s true. When they stitch together the Levi’s you know,

Bailey Bouwman  22:54

other Levi’s is like mass producing and cloth diapering is still like, not mainstream. So yeah. So what’s your one wish for the cloth diaper future? Let’s close out the show.

Eric Bouwman  23:05

I would hope it becomes a little bit less. Sorry, a little bit more mainstream, a little bit more normal.

Bailey Bouwman  23:13

To my belly, you would rather disposable diaper.

Eric Bouwman  23:17

Hey, we’re done diapering

Bailey Bouwman  23:20

care what other people do.

Eric Bouwman  23:23

cloth diapering wasn’t that bad? No, it wasn’t. So it’s really put you know disposable there in a cloth diaper there. It’s just a little easier to just slop a disposable on but they smell They do smell.

Bailey Bouwman  23:37

Alright, so here’s hoping more people cloth diaper. That’s the end of our podcast. Catcher shout outs. Cloth a podcast.com I guess I will be adding some photos of the cloth diapers I quizzed Eric on and

Eric Bouwman  23:52

I feel like I should have tried to come up with cooler names. Yeah. But it’s what? Just being honest, you know, it’s what I would I would call these prints.

Bailey Bouwman  24:03

I don’t know how I’m gonna play this game with other people. Well, oh, I guess it really only works though with a cloth diapering dad doesn’t really pay attention to the details,

Eric Bouwman  24:16

or in person podcasts or interviews. You know, mom’s like, you could just totally do it. Like, what’s this print and it’s just Brittany. And I’m sure not everybody’s gonna get all the

Bailey Bouwman  24:26

prints. So if you live in Prince George, British Columbia, and you want to be on this podcast, email me at Bailey at cloth diaper podcast.com

Eric Bouwman  24:33

If you want to play the cloth diaper print game show. Yeah.

Bailey Bouwman  24:37

Also, if you just want to be on the podcast because you have a pretty awesome story to tell about cloth diapering you can email me at Bailey at cloth diaper podcast.com You can also find the cloth diaper podcast on Instagram, Facebook and the web.

Eric Bouwman  24:56

No, no sorry to cut that out.