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Which print would you like to see next?

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

November Baby of the Month Winner!

We just wanted to congratulate the November 2010 Baby of the Month contest winner. Winner of a $50 gift voucher valid at the Happy Heiny Store.

Thank you all for voting on our Baby of the Month!

Be sure to enter your baby in the December Baby of the Month contest now live on the Happy Heinys website. Click here to enter your baby in this month's contest for a chance to win $50 in products from the Happy Heiny Store.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

October Baby of the Month Winner!

We just wanted to congratulate the October 2010 Baby of the Month contest winner. Winner of a $50 gift voucher valid at the Happy Heiny Store.

Thank you all for voting on our Baby of the Month!

Be sure to enter your baby in the October Baby of the Month contest now live on the Happy Heinys website. Click here to enter your baby in this month's contest for a chance to win $50 in products from the Happy Heiny Store.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Guess our GLOW IN THE DARK print!

We have THREE new prints that we will be releasing at the ABC Kids Expo on Monday and one of them GLOWS IN THE DARK!  Woohoo!  Want to win one???

Here's what you have to do to win....

Be the FIRST person to guess the color of the diaper AND the print that appears on that diaper WINS that print on a Happy Heinys One Size Diaper! You must guess both so if you say a whale print on purple and it's really on blue you do not win.  

Answers must be posted on our facebook page www.facebook.com/happyheinys and be sure to LIKE our facebook page to be eligible to win.  You can guess as many times as you wish.  Once we see the correct guess of ONE of our prints then we will end the contest.

NOTE:  This contest will run from 4pm to 5pm CST only.  The winner will be announced Sunday Evening.

GOOD LUCK!

New Happy Heinys Prints! Part TWO....

***********CLOSED************

So what do YOU think we're releasing this coming week? We have THREE new prints that we will be releasing at the ABC Kids Expo on Monday. Want to win one???

Here's what you have to do to win....

Be the FIRST person to guess the color of the diaper AND the print that appears on that diaper WINS that print on a Happy Heinys One Size Diaper! You must guess both so if you say a whale print on purple and it's really on blue you do not win.  We will announce the winner on MONDAY when the prints release.

Answers must be posted on our facebook page www.facebook.com/happyheinys and be sure to LIKE our facebook page to be eligible to win.  You can guess as many times as you wish.  Once we see the correct guess of ONE of our prints then we will end the contest.

GOOD LUCK!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

New Happy Heinys Prints!

***********CLOSED************

So what do YOU think we're releasing this coming week? We have THREE new prints that we will be releasing at the ABC Kids Expo on Monday. Want to win one???

Here's what you have to do to win....

Be the FIRST person to guess the color of the diaper AND the print that appears on that diaper WINS that print on a Happy Heinys One Size Diaper! You must guess both so if you say a whale print on purple and it's really on blue you do not win.  We will announce the winner on MONDAY when the prints release.

Answers must be posted on our facebook page www.facebook.com/happyheinys and be sure to LIKE our facebook page to be eligible to win.

GOOD LUCK!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Happy Friday Giveaway!

Ready for a GIVEAWAY? Of course you are. :) What a great way to start the weekend - with some free FLUFF!

We're giving away 3 ONE-SIZE DIAPERS!
You may select snaps or hook & loop as well as your gender preference.

Ways to enter are below. Please post back to us here or on facebook and let us know how you entered. Each one counts as ONE ENTRY so you can do all of them as many times as you wish to increase your chances of winning.


  1. Become a follower of our blog.
  2. Follow Happy Heinys on twitter www.twitter.com/happyheinys
  3. Like us on Facebook. www.facebook.com/happyheinys
  4. Tweet about our giveaway on Twitter after you follow us. Use #clothdiapers #giveaway @happyheinys
  5. Tweet @happyheinys mentioning you follow our blog for #clothdiapers #giveaways

Good luck today! We will select the winner at midnight CST. Have fun with it. We love reading all your tweets!

Friday, October 1, 2010

September Baby of the Month

We just wanted to congratulate the September 2010 Baby of the Month contest winner. Winner of a $50 gift voucher valid at the Happy Heiny Store.

Thank you all for voting on our Baby of the Month!

Be sure to enter your baby in the October Baby of the Month contest now live on the Happy Heinys website. Click here to enter your baby in this month's contest for a chance to win $50 in products from the Happy Heiny Store.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

August 2010 Baby of the Month WINNER!

We just wanted to congratulate little Drake for winning the August 2010 Baby of the Month contest. Drake is the winner of a $50 gift voucher valid at the Happy Heiny Store. We hope to see Drake in future contests in his NEW Happy Heinys diapers!

Thank you all for voting on our Baby of the Month!

Be sure to enter your baby in the September Baby of the Month contest now live on the Happy Heinys website. Click here to enter your baby in this month's contest for a chance to win $50 in products from the Happy Heiny Store.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Happy Friday Giveaway!

Ready for a GIVEAWAY? Of course you are. :) What a great way to start the weekend - with some free FLUFF!

We're giving away 3 sized pocket diapers. (S,M,L or XL) You choose the size you need. You can also choose your color / print.

Ways to enter are below. Please post back to us here or on facebook and let us know how you entered. Each one counts as ONE ENTRY so you can do all of them as many times as you wish to increase your chances of winning.


  1. Become a follower of our blog.
  2. Follow Happy Heinys on twitter www.twitter.com/happyheinys
  3. Like us on Facebook. www.facebook.com/happyheinys
  4. Tweet about our giveaway on Twitter after you follow us. Use #clothdiapers #giveaway @happyheinys
  5. Tweet @happyheinys mentioning you follow our blog for #clothdiapers #giveaways

Good luck today! We will select the winner at 3pm CST. Have fun with it. We love reading all your tweets!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Baby of the Month - July 2010 WINNER!

We just wanted to congratulate little Elijah for winning the July 2010 Baby of the Month contest.  Thank you all for voting on our Baby of the Month.

Be sure to enter your baby in the August Baby of the Month contest now live on the Happy Heinys website.  Click here to enter your baby in this month's contest for a chance to win $50 in products from the Happy Heiny Store.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Close to 2000 Fans on Facebook... GIVEAWAY TIME!

Seems like yesterday we were trying to reach 1000 fans on Facebook and check us out....we're almost at the 2000 fan mark on the Happy Heinys Facebook page! You helped us get to 1000 - we need your help getting to 2000 now.

Once we hit 2000 fans on Facebook we will be giving away 2 Happy Heinys One Size Diapers to a random Facebook fan. We will use random.org to draw a number and match it with the Facebook fan on our list.

So how do you win?? Basically if you're a fan then you're entered already. Help us to get to 2000 fans and we'll draw a winner. :) You can tweet #clothdiapers #giveaways @happyheinys to spread the word about our Happy Heinys Giveaway on Facebook.

Good luck to you all!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Photo Contest - SWIM DIAPERS #2 RETAKE!

Calling all my creative photographer mamas / papas....

I need a special shot of your baby using Happy Heinys Pocket Diapers, One Size OR Heiny Cover as a swim diaper. High resolution image is a must. The Happy Heinys diaper MUST have the tag on the front of the diaper so it's easily identified. Winner will receive 6 Happy Heinys Pocket Diapers in your choice of size / color / print.

Send your photos to media@happyheinys.com by July 7th. Winner will be announced the following day. There is NO LIMIT to the amount of photos you can send in.

By submitting your photo you are giving Happy Heinys permission to use the photo on all media type materials.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Swim Diaper Photo Contest!

Calling all my creative photographer mamas / papas....

I need a special shot of your baby using Happy Heinys Pocket Diapers, One Size OR Heiny Cover as a swim diaper. High resolution image is a must. Winner will receive 6 Happy Heinys Pocket Diapers in your choice of size / color / print.

Send your photos to media@happyheinys.com by June 20th. Winner will be announced the following day.

By submitting your photo you are giving Happy Heinys permission to use the photo on all media type materials.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Constance Marie’s Blog: Why I Chose Cloth Diapers


Did you get a chance to read PEOPLE.com this week?  Constance Marie blogged about her choice to use Cloth Diapers and we were so excited to see the pictures of the adorable Luna Marie in her Happy Heinys One Size Cloth Diapers!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Help us reach 1000 Twitter Followers!

We recently hit the 1000 fan mark on the Happy Heinys Facebook page and now it's time to do it on Twitter! We only need around 143 more twitter followers to reach 1000 and I bet we can do it by the end of this week....maybe by the end of the DAY! Want to help us get there??? You have a chance to win goodies for your efforts! :)

Once we hit 1000 followers on Twitter we will be giving away 6 Happy Heinys Pocket Diapers to a random tweeter that tweets during the contest period. What does that mean? Well you must be tweeting today and (if the contest runs into tomorrow)....tomorrow, to win.

So how do you win the diapers??? Tweet away! The more you tweet, the better your chances of winning. Each tweet counts as ONE ENTRY so you can tweet as many times as you wish to increase your chances of winning.

  1. Follow Happy Heinys on twitter www.twitter.com/happyheinys
  2. Tweet about our giveaway on Twitter after you follow us. Use #clothdiapers #giveaway @happyheinys
  3. Post our giveaway on YOUR blog and tweet about it. Be sure to include #clothdiapers #giveaway @happyheinys in your tweets.

Good luck today! Once we hit 1000 Twitter followers, we will select a winner shortly afterwards. Have fun with it. We love reading all of your tweets!

Calling all blogging mamas....

Love to write about cloth diapers? Have a baby in Happy Heinys? We'd love for you to share your experience with Happy Heinys and cloth diapering knowledge with our readers.

If you're interested in submitting your blog post to us, contact media@happyheinys.com for details. We're looking for a few regular blog contributors to help "grow our blog" and educate the public on cloth diapering with Happy Heinys products.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Help us reach 1000 Facebook Fans!

UPDATE: We hit 1000 fans on Facebook thanks to your help!!! Winner selected through random.org: Sara Edwards Tankersley! You have 72 hours to claim your prize Sara! Email us at media@happyheinys.com

We're excited to be nearing the 1000 fan mark on the Happy Heinys Facebook page. We're only 60 or so fans away. Want to help us get there???

Once we hit 1000 fans on Facebook we will be giving away 6 Happy Heinys Pocket Diapers to a random Facebook fan. We will use random.org to draw a number and match it with the Facebook fan on our list.

So how do you win?? Basically if you're a fan then you're entered already. Help us to get to 1000 fans and we'll draw a winner. :) You can tweet #clothdiapers #giveaways @happyheinys to spread the word about our Happy Heinys Giveaway on Facebook.

Good luck to you all!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Can you say GIVEAWAY? It's that time again!

Ready for a GIVEAWAY? Of course you are. :) We're trying to reach 1000 followers on Facebook AND Twitter. Help us get there!

We're giving away 6 sized pocket diapers. You choose the size you need. We'll send colors according to girl/boy/gender neutral.

Ways to enter are below. Please post back to us here or on facebook and let us know how you entered. Each one counts as ONE ENTRY so you can do all of them as many times as you wish to increase your chances of winning.


  1. Become a follower of our blog.
  2. Follow Happy Heinys on twitter www.twitter.com/happyheinys
  3. Fan / like us on Facebook. www.facebook.com/happyheinys
  4. Tweet about our giveaway on Twitter after you follow us. Use #clothdiapers #giveaway @happyheinys
  5. Tweet @happyheinys mentioning they follow our blog for #clothdiapers #giveaways

Good luck today! You can enter until 9pm CST and we'll select a winner shortly afterwards. Have fun with it. We love reading all your tweets!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Pocket Diaper Giveaway Winners from May 3rd

We are going to pull two winners for the giveaway instead of just the one we announced. The winners are:

jdemarie and LaurenGregory

Congrats ladies! Please contact media@happyheinys.com with your size and color preference for your 3 pocket diapers.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Happy Heinys Pocket Giveaway



Ready for a GIVEAWAY? Of course you are. :) We're trying to reach 1000 followers on Facebook AND Twitter. Help us get there!

We're giving away 3 sized pocket diapers. You choose the size you need. You can also choose your color / print.


Ways to enter are below. Please post back to us here or on facebook and let us know how you entered. Each one counts as ONE ENTRY so you can do all of them as many times as you wish to increase your chances of winning.


  1. Become a follower of our blog.
  2. Follow Happy Heinys on twitter www.twitter.com/happyheinys
  3. Fan / like us on Facebook. www.facebook.com/happyheinys
  4. Tweet about our giveaway on Twitter after you follow us. Use #clothdiapers #giveaway @happyheinys
  5. Tweet @happyheinys mentioning they follow our blog for #clothdiapers #giveaways

Good luck today! We will select the winner at 9pm CST. Have fun with it. We love reading all your tweets!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Prematurity and over-coming the odds with the help of cloth diapers.

Having 3 kids has truly been the happiest moments of my life. Each of them is uniquely special and each of them bring a different and fulfilling joy to my heart everyday. Our life changed when one was born prematurely. Needing medical care, medications, ventilators. I would do anything at all to protect her. Need me to walk on water in order to save my child, I WILL find a way to do that. Give me any suggestion, anything, what might help, a slim chance that is ok I will try it all. I just want my baby to be healthy. You want me to use cloth diapers, rubber pants and prefolds it is. Thankfully there was this brand new internet thing. Remember the days of 48 K downloads being super fast, good ole AOL paid by the hour. In the short time we had to be online, I spent it on a variety of parenting boards. I had a preemie I needed advice, I needed help. Who could share with me how to get over the horror of watching your child die. The horror of doctors doing CPR and trying to save your baby. Please help me to move on and out of this nightmare. How do I care for my other 2 older children while my baby is laying lifeless in the hospital on a ventilator. Struggling to take each and every breath. My sweet girl makes it through the most harrowing days of my life, she comes home, and we go on with our life, attached to heart monitors, doctors appointments, breathing machines, one sniffle and suddenly near death once again. We need to stop this vicious cycle, how do we stop it, what can I do?

In a moment the answer came, try switching her to cloth, it might help. I could not get to the store fast enough I would do anything yet this is such an easy solution. Prefolds and rubber pants here I come. Hey they work, it's not quite as bad as I thought it was. Time to do a little more research, there has to be something a little easier, something less time consuming, something a little less rubbery. Something that would fit my big and chunky little girl without leaving the red marks on her legs. The red marks that were far better than the breathing problems.

Amazingly, immediately, there was change, there was health, there were fewer needs for medicine, no longer driving to the children's emergency room pulling on her hair so that she stays awake for the entire drive, so I could hear her and know that she was alive and breathing. A cry was far better than the alternative.

Our searching for the perfect product never produced anything for us so with a little help from my daughters grammie we made her some cloth diapers. Just like walking on water for her, I was sewing for her. Something I really had never done before. I didn't take a home ec. class. Although my mom made our clothes when we were little by the time I was old enough to learn to sew she stopped. I knew how to hem a pair of pants or fix a whole as long as it is on a seam. I even had a sewing machine, thanks to Costco and their great prices it was a pretty decent one with lots of different stitches but I only knew how to use one of them, the straight stitch. But all of this was OK. I didn't need anything else. All I needed was a few supplies and the pattern made by grammie and it was going to be done.
Those first few diapers were not the best. They worked well, they fit her perfectly, they were cute prints and that was all that mattered to me.

In 3 months that little girl who struggled to breathe and had to make the decision whether or not she wanted to live this life or not is doing wonderfully and will be turning 8. She is a big girl, tall just like her daddy. She is beautiful and full of joy and spunk. She loves to run and play. She loves school, especially art. She is mommy's girl, daddy's girls, brothers girl.

If I knew then what I know now I would have never ever put a disposable diaper on any of my children. How do we know that these diapers exasperated her problems? After we switched my Sarah to cloth diapers in the beginning I just did not have enough to last, it was new, plus I had some extra disposables. So I would use one here and there and each and every time she would have breathing problems, remove the diaper and the issues resolve, add the diaper and it gets worse. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she was allergic to the diaper. Her allergy though did not present itself like most diaper allergies. She never had a diaper rash, she just could not breath from the off-gassing of the chemicals.

Fast forward again to nearly 8 yrs later. We have a mission, a mission to keep babies safe. In the early 1970-1980's many parents lost their babies to car accidents. Their mission was to protect children, enforce car seat and seatbelt laws. These are simple acts that can save a child. Today my mission is to keep as many babies as possible away from the chemicals. Yes I know that sounds harsh but if my baby had such problems related to disposable diapers then how many more do as well. I know we are not alone. I look at the babies with the recurrent rashes that nothing will help. Constant redness, blisters, crying, medications, different brands of diapers. One of the last things looked at is the diaper itself, why not try cloth. Just like walking on water, we will do and try anything for our babies. Epidermolysis bullosa acquisita, the disease that causes babies skin to be in a constant blister, painful, diapering makes the condition worse. The simple act of switching to a softer, less irritating product, cloth helps to decrease the severity of this. Will it make it go away, no but does it help, yes.

Having been blessed in being able to make that switch for our child and finding that something as simple as making a switch to cloth diapers can make many positive changes. Right now I am focusing on the severe health benefits. Not everyone thankfully will ever be in the same position that our family has faced. But every family has the choice as to how they care for their child, cloth diapers, environmentally safe diapers, regular ole disposable diapers. This is a personal choice and one that each of us should sit down and seriously think about. It is not an easy cut and dry answer like it used to be, today you do have a choice. Make the one that works best for your family and your baby.
--
Cheers,
Linda Byerline

April Baby of the Month Contest Winner!

Our Happy Heinys Baby of the Month winner for April is little Hayden. What a doll! Hayden wins a $50 gift certificate to the Happy Heiny Store. Congrats Hayden!


If you'd like to enter your baby in our baby of the month contest - go over to our site and submit your photo! Your baby must be wearing a Happy Heinys product and the photo does need to be high resolution / excellent quality.


Thanks and good luck to everyone this month!

Friday, April 30, 2010

Hook and Loop OR Snaps?

At Happy Heinys we have done our best to make every possible combination of diaper available to all parents. We are truly your one stop diaper shop. A little bit of everything. For the first 6 yrs of our company all of our pocket diapers were only available in a hook and loop version. We found that many parents preferred the ease of the hook and loop diapers. Especially when it came to those midnight changes, when you don't want to turn the light on for fear of waking everyone else up in the house.

Then you have our very wonderful husbands whom just by nature have larger hands and well if your husband is anything like my husband, the easier the better when it comes to changing the babies diapers. My husband is the best when it comes to helping to care for the kids but during the diapering years if I had thrown a diaper with snaps at him, well let's just say if it made it on the baby it would not be on correctly. I also know for a fact if his only choice was snaps, he would do everything possible to avoid changing diapers.

Soon after we started selling our hook and loop closure diapers we quickly became known as the "daddy friendly" diapers. Nice wide pocket for big hands and easy hook and loop to close the diaper. They could do it blind-folded. Moms praised the fact that now with their choice of using cloth their sweet sweet husbands no longer had an excuse not to change the diapers and often times some moms stated that they "saved" their happy heinys for their husbands.

Unfortunately as baby gets older, there can be a slight issue with the hook and loop closure on the diaper. You see sometimes it can be a little too easy for some babies to rrrrrriiiiiiiiippppppppppppp off and it makes this wonderful rrrrrrrriiiiiiiippppp sound and the funny thing is mom comes running in fear. Of course the same thing cane happen with disposable diapers, hence all of the adults today whose parents still lovingly speak of their brown colored wall art early in the morning. Well, it's the same thing. Not all babies go through what we call the stripping stage but the fact of the matter is some will. For these kids snaps will always be the best choice. Hence the debut of our snap closure diapers. You asked and we have provided.

It's quite ironic though, when it comes to deciding what type of closures you should buy for your baby. Even though the snaps can be a saving grace for some sneaky little ones they can also be a night-mare for a rambunctious toddler who would rather do anything than lay down for what seems like a life0time to get their diaper changed.

So what would be best for you? Well, it's a personal decision and it really does greatly depend on what type of diapers you are going to go with. If you are going to use sized diapers, this means that you will purchase at least 3 different sizes of cloth diapers during your babies diapering days. For the smallest size, make your life easy and go with the hook and loop. As your little one starts becoming their own person and starts learning new fun tricks, when you size up you may realize I better go with the snaps.

Today my baby is almost 8 yrs old, the original Happy Heiny. But if I had a little one my choice would be simple: I would use the mini one size from birth to 15 lbs. This is the only true diaper out there that will fit a 5 lb baby with those cute little chicken legs. Plus they will fit up to a true 15 lbs so they are not a huge waste of money like most XS diapers are. You would use these for at least 3 months if not closer to 6. Then I would switch to a combination of the snap and hook and loop closure diapers. I would have the snap for over-nights knowing that if my toddler had a little too much time in the morning they may decide to do some wall painting so I would want the protection. Yet I also rather enjoy having a helpful spouse so I would make it as easy as possible for him. To me it is the best of both worlds.

Giveaway time!!


Today we are giving away a Tie Dye Pocket Diaper with SNAPS. You choose your size. This is not a onesize.


Ways to enter are below. Please post back to us here or on facebook and let us know how you entered. Each one counts as ONE ENTRY so you can do all of them as many times as you wish to increase your chances of winning.


  1. Become a follower of our blog.
  2. Follow Happy Heinys on twitter www.twitter.com/happyheinys
  3. Fan / like us on Facebook. www.facebook.com/happyheinys
  4. Tweet about our giveaway on Twitter after you follow us. Use #clothdiapers #giveaway @happyheinys
  5. Tweet @happyheinys mentioning they follow our blog for #clothdiapers #giveaways

Good luck today! We will select the winner at 9pm CST. Have fun with it. We love reading all your tweets!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Interesting News on Hybrid Diapers

We have many parents who us gDiapers contact us and ask if our Happy Heinys inserts will work with their sling style pants. The great news is Yes, our Med size hemp stuffin fits the sling of the med and large gDiaper cover just perfectly. The small fits the small.

We tend to look a gDiapers as a great bridge to full cloth diaper usage diaper but I was just doing some reading and saw a very interesting comment.

From Winnipeg Canada, this is from Bill Watters who is a senior project engineer that works for the CAO secretariate in Winnipeg : "A toilet system is meant for rapidly degradable human waste," said Bill Watters. "Other things don't belong in there. Diapers don't belong in there. They can cause a problem with your home plumbing, but they can also cause a problem with the city system."

Bill Watters says send any diaper you use to the landfill -- where they belong.

He said his department gets about 100 calls a month for backed up sewers, and added there are many items you should never flush down your toilet."


This is on the heels of threads available online regarding Drain Technicians seeing the dollar signs and thanking the manufacturers of the G-diaper for their new found income from unclogging drains as seen here.

In another report from the City of Vancouver here. "The city is not saying do not use the g-diapers but what it is saying is that for those who use gDiapers should not flush the inserts, they should instead throw the inserts into the trash because they are unsure of how the insert will react in the plumbing.

Please don't get this post wrong. As I said, I look at gDiapers as a bridge diaper to cloth diapers. It has the reusable cover and many moms will realize that washing an insert is just as easy as washing the cover without having to purchase extra disposable inserts. But for those with old plumbing, those living in shared buildings like apartments and condos, be for warned. But please try it and throw them away, especially if it is being used as a stepping stone.

Ewwwwww Cloth Diapers REALLY??

I bet if I asked everyone who has purchased and used Happy Heinys if they ever received that comment 99% of them would say YES.

I would do anything to get it out to the public that todays cloth diapers are NOT the gross ucky kind that our parents/grandparents used on our bottoms.

Ugly, stained prefolds, big diaper pins, baby getting stuck several times over their diapering lifetime, bleach buckets, hand swishing in the toilet, hand wringing out in the toilet, more bleach in the washer, and hanging them up to dry only to have them stiff and hard. Let's not forget the hot and crinkly plastic pants. Nothing would ever fit over the cloth diaper butt.

When talking cloth diapers many parents still have that same visual. But in reality it is not that way. In fact, it could not be easier. Less fuss, less mess, less waste, less chemicals, less work.
The Happy Heiny pocket diapers are super easy to use. Let's talk about the One Size diapers. These will come to you with 1 diaper and 2 inserts. The diaper is kind of like a glorified diaper cover that is form fitting to your baby (read that as trim as compared to other cloth diapers). The diaper has a water proof layer that is not crinkly but is actually soft and then next to baby you have a stay dry layer. You simply take your insert and stick it right inside the pocket formed by the 2 layers just described.

Here is one of the cool parts, you can choose just how much absorbency that you want. This means if you are just sitting around the house and will be changing baby with each poop/pee then you just use 1 insert. But if you are going to the grocery store, picking up the older siblings, and then stopping off to pick up dinner you will want a little extra protection so now you will add 2 inserts. At night-time you are one of those blessed parents whose child actually sleeps through the night, add 1 more insert. No need to wake a baby just to change a diaper.

The thing with cloth diapers though vs. disposable diapers is cloth diapers are only as good as their absorbency. This means if you put only 1 insert in and the baby has wet the diaper. The insert is now very wet, if you do not change the diaper the diaper WILL leak. This goes for any brand or style of cloth diaper.

Disposable diapers have these chemicals called SAP's in them. Also known as Super Absorbent Polymers. You know the gel beads on your babies bottom when the diaper is sopping wet. That's them. These beads are able to absorb more and more liquid while continuing to grow. The problem with this is these SAP's are a member of a group of chemicals that can cause some pretty severe health issues. So even though these gel beads are great at absorbing a lot, is it worth the potential risk?

A baby who is under 3 months really should be changed 8-10 times a day. Not only when the diaper is super squishy, you know the squish test. If this is being done then I promise you will have no problem switching to cloth diapers. Just remember, instead of having built in gel beads, you have to add your absorbency. I have had moms tell me that they will use 5 or 6 inserts for their heavy wetting, nursing through the night, baby, who wakes up dry. Diaer inserts can be wrung out but baby is dry.

For me and my family a dry baby is a happy baby and a happy baby means mom is happy and when mom is happy everyone gets to be happy. Which is exactly what Happy Heinys will do for you and your family. Babies heiny will be happy, soft, and dry.

Stay tuned for the washing experience.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Reusable Diapers ARE Better For the Environment

OK, here at Happy Heinys we already know this. It is a no brainer for me personally, I just need to look at my Sarah Grace, the original Happy Heiny, and I know that the use of reusable cloth diapers decreased HER need for hospitalizations and medications by 50%.

A new study that was just released by the Environment Agency in the UK states that using cloth can save 40 per cent CO2 emissions. This is just for child #1 by the second child this decreases again by about 40 per cent.

Biba Hartigan of Women's Environmental Network (WEN) said: "At last, this report supports what WEN has been stating for decades - real nappies are best for the environment with 40 per cent carbon savings to be made over disposables. It's easy to make a difference with a sensible washing routine. It's just common sense. And parents can save money with real nappies too."

This study did not take into effect the impact that disposable diapers have on the landfills which most of us will agree is a huge impact with over 1 ton of diaper waste per child.

There are also quite a few flaws with this report, one large flaw is it was backed by disposable diaper companies. Unfortunately without a 100% completely independent study we will not know the full impact of all of the benefits to using reusable cloth diapers. But I do know a couple of things:

When I was a baby and cloth diapered:
  • it was highly unusual to have diaper rash
  • infertility issues were less
  • asthma was less common
  • landfills were not nearly as full
  • we did not have as many chemicals, bacteria, viruses floating around in ground water near landfills
All of these simple but true facts leads the realist in me to question the use of any disposable product next to the humans largest organ, the skin. Scary thoughts if you ask me.