Call for Submissions for The Freedom of Cloth Carnival

Logo created by The New Daddy
using an image from Erica Blonde on Flickr

As the Natural Parents Network works to compile your articles into a cloth diapering resource, we're excited to announce that we will also be hosting a week long cloth diapering carnival. The Freedom of Cloth Carnival is scheduled over the week of July 4th (July 3-9) to celebrate the beauty of finding independence from unnecessary waste through the use of cloth diapers, as well as to support independent, mama-run businesses.

The Freedom of Cloth Carnival, hosted by Natural Parents Network, is being planned and coordinated by two incredible NPN volunteers: Melissa at The New Mommy Files and Shannon, aka The Artful Mama formerly The ArtsyMama. We will be choosing themed posts from carnival participants to feature here on NPN throughout the week. In addition to the great posts by carnival participants, there will be several exciting giveaways featuring products from cloth diapering related WAHM (work-at-home-mama) businesses.

Freedom of Cloth Carnival Daily Themes

Sunday, July 3rd - Cloth Related Recipes
Do you make your own wipe solution or rash cream? Have a perfect system for lanolizing wool? Maybe you have gone so far as to sew your child's entire stash of diapers. Feel free to get creative and share any cloth-related "recipe" or tutorial from your repertoire.

Monday, July 4th - Choosing Your Cloth Style
Do you use a little bit of everything, or one style of diaper exclusively? Tell us why you love AIOs (all in one diapers), or why fitteds are all you could ever need. You can write a post focusing on one style of diaper, compare different types you've used, or explain why you love what you love. Share your style with us, however you'd like!

Tuesday, July 5th - Cloth Diapering Must Haves
Are there cloth diapering accessories you simply could not live without? Tell us about the most important items in your diapering stash and why you love them! Feel free to concentrate on a single item, talk about the pros and cons of different diapering-related products, or list off every single thing in your diapering arsenal - it's up to you!

Wednesday, July 6th - Wordless Wednesday
Feel free to share photos of your stash or your children with their fluffy cloth bums. Submit your photo by email, with preferred caption and a link to your blog, to Jorje {at} verthandi.org. The deadline for photos only is Monday, July 4th. If you choose to create your own fluff themed Wordless Wednesday post, there's no need to submit it in advance. There will be a linkup on Wednesday here at the Natural Parents Network, so visit our Wordless Wednesday photo montage to link up!

Thursday, July 7th - Cloth Through the Stages: From Infancy to Potty Independence
Did you find that what worked for your newborn suddenly failed to cut it when you had a mobile baby? Maybe you had to change your whole routine when your toddler learned how to open an aplix diaper. Do you use cloth as a back up for elimination communication, or cloth trainers with an older toddler or a preschooler? Share with us how cloth worked for your child through one or more stages on their path to potty independence.

Friday, July 8th - Cloth Troubleshooting and Laundry Day
Do you have the perfect wash routine? Tricks on how to get to the bottom of and fight smelly diapers? Did you find a way to keep your busy toddler from taking their diaper off, or to keep your heavy wetter from leaking through her pajamas at night? Maybe you love your wool dryer balls so much that you want to write a whole post about them. Share your best tips and tricks for solving any diaper-related problem.

Saturday, July 9th - Inspired by Cloth
Has cloth diapering led you to use cloth instead of disposable products in other parts of your house? Do you use mama cloth, un-paper towels, or cloth napkins? Tell us how cloth diapering has inspired you to become "greener" overall.

Submission Details

You are welcome to participate on just one day, or join us all week long. Write on as few or as many themes as you'd like, but please fill out the webform below once for each post you submit, or click here to open it in a new tab.
Send a separate email with the text of each submission to Melissa {at} naturalparentsnetwork {dot} com and ShannonR {at} naturalparentsnetwork {dot} com no later than midnight central time on the submission deadline of Friday, June 24th.

Posting Details

Once you submit your post, you will receive an email from one of the carnival hosts to let you know it was received. Once we have read all the submissions, we will follow up with details on when to publish your post and suggestions for any necessary edits.
You will also receive a separate email with code for the top and bottom of your post prior to each day you're participating.

Please do: Write well. Write on topic. Write a brand new post for the carnival. The carnival themes aren’t meant to be exclusionary. If your experience doesn’t perfectly mesh with the day's theme, please lend your own perspective. Please also feel free to be creative within the gentle confines of the carnival structure. If you’re feeling so inspired, you could write a poem, a photo essay, a scholarly article, or a book review instead of a regular blog post (though those are welcomed, too!), as long as what you write is respectful of the carnival’s intent. If you want help determining that ahead of time, please talk with us.

Please don’t: Please don’t use profanity of the sort that might be offensive to more sensitive readers or their children. Please don’t submit irrelevant or argumentative pieces contrary to the principles of natural parenting. You don’t have to agree with all our ideals — and certainly you don’t have to live up to them all perfectly! — but your submission does have to fit the theme and values of the carnival.

Editors’ rights: We reserve the right to edit your piece or suggest edits to you. We reserve the right to courteously reject any submissions that are inappropriate for the carnival. Please also note that since there are two co-hosts on different schedules and conferring over email, our personal response to your submission might seem delayed. Don’t be alarmed. We also reserve the right to impose consequences if the responsibilities of the carnival are not fulfilled by the participants.

If you don’t have a blog: Contact us (Melissa {at} naturalparentsnetwork {dot} com and ShannonR {at} naturalparentsnetwork {dot} com) about potentially finding you a host blog to guest post. Please write your piece well in advance of the deadline in that case, so we can match you up with someone suitable. But if you really have something amazing to write — why not start your own blog? If you want advice, we find Scribbit’s free Blogging in Pink ebook to be a very helpful and down-to-earth guide, for beginners on up.

If you have questions: Please leave a comment or contact us: Melissa {at} naturalparentsnetwork {dot} com and ShannonR {at} naturalparentsnetwork {dot} com

Links to tutorials: Our NPN co-founders, Lauren, Dionna, and Dionna’s husband, Tom, have written several tutorials for Carnival of Natural Parenting participants about how to schedule posts in advance, how to determine post URLs in advance, how to edit HTML — all for both WordPress and Blogger users. These will be extremely useful for The Freedom of Cloth Carnival as well. For these tutorials and more, please see this handy summary post at LaurenWayne.com.

Grab the carnival button for your site!

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Guest Post: Flats Challenge with Elizabeth of Mothering The Maelstrom

This week is the Flats and Handwashing Challenge from Dirty Diaper Laundry.  Bloggers and others from all over are using flat diapers and handwashing them in an effort to demonstrate exactly how economical it can be to use cloth diapers. 

Cloth diaper use has skyrocketed in recent years, but the focus has been primarily on "modern" cloth diapers.  All-in-one diapers with the waterproof cover built in are very easy to use, there's no doubt about that.  With the elastic legs and velcro closures, they are basically a Pampers that you throw in the washing machine instead of the garbage.

But all this diaper technology comes at a cost.  A decent all-in-one diaper will set you back anywhere from $15 to $25 for just one.  While this is still a savings over disposable diapers in the long run, it can make it difficult for families on the bottom end of the economic spectrum to get started with cloth diapers.  All-in-one diapers (and their cousins, the pocket diaper and the all-in-two diaper) can also be tricky to wash.  Fancy fabrics require special detergents and special care to prevent build-up, leaks, and other problems.  It doesn't take long to learn how to take care of cloth diapers, but any additional effort makes them one step further from being accessible to needy families.  Let's face it, when you are struggling just to put a room over your head, you don't have a lot of time or patience to fuss around with diapers.

Monday's Mamas Musts: Lanolin

This is going to be a short but important one.  Do not forget the importance of lanolin.  Most everyone knows that it is a great nipple soother in those first few months of getting nursing and your latch down.  What you may not realize is that it comes in handy again when your nursling begins teething.  Your nursling's latch changes during the introduction of teeth and teething pain so you need to work with them again to maintain good nursing habits.  Lanolin is a great soother when you are being used as a soother for sore gums!
My other uses for lanolin:

• I also use a tube of it to relanolize my wool diaper covers.
• I use it as a barrier cream for diaper changes.
• As a first aid ointment on infant scratches because it is safe if they nibble on the affected area.
• Hand protectant during cold winter months for cracked and dry hands.

What are some of the uses you've found for lanolin?

Are you a Monday's Mama?  Do you have a story to share or a product/service to make a mama's life easier?  Let me know and your article or product could be featured in the next Monday's Mamas.  

Monday's Mamas will be a chance for the working mother who identifies as natural or attached to share her story with the online community.  It can be a personal story or it can be an informational post about just how does an AP mama manage all those tasks we have to do while still caring for our children in the way we have chosen?  This is open any mama who maintains a dual lifestyle: working out of the home, returning to school or the work at home mamas (WAHMs).

To submit an article for consideration, please use the Google Docs web form or email your article to Shannon (artsymama.riley {at} gmail.com) no later then 11:59pm EST on Friday.

Squishy Tushy Review and Giveaway!!! Extended {2/18 US}CLOSED

After all that research I did and when I finally had decided to jump in and buy cloth diapers I needed to choose a store.  I decided on Squishy Tushy for a few reason.  First off how cute is that name?  I couldn't say it without smiling.  Secondly, they run really great sales and deals on cloth diapers.  Finally they have a wide selection of cloth diaper brands and styles.  Because of the service and help I have received from this store I have decided to recommend it to you if you are looking to buy cloth.

Eco-Friendly Diapering Part 2: Cloth Diapering

Little Man in his Flips

When I think about my choices in how I handle the day to day with Little Man and what these choices mean in the present and in the future, this is probably one of my favorite choices I've made.  Due to his latex allergy these diapers really help because most manufacturers don't use it in their construction and if they do it is covered by other water-proof material.  Cloth diapering has come a long way since my grandparents diapered.  When I told my mom that I wanted to cloth diaper Little Man she told me that I would have made my grandmother very happy.  Apparently my grandmother wanted my mom to cloth diaper us but my mom said disposables were going to be her one luxury.

Eco-Friendly Diapering Part 1: Disposables

We didn't start using cloth diapers with Little Man until he was around four months old. We had issues with his diapers from day one, as soon as he made a little mess he was screaming to be changed. Without fail this would happen. It never occurred to me that maybe there was something in the diaper making him upset, I mean who actually gives diapers any more thought then does it contain the mess? Let me back track, I have a latex allergy. Did I think my son might have this allergy, bot at the time. Did that occur to his doctor, who is also my doctor, nope.