Skip to main content

Diapering in the tropics

For whatever reason, my attention has once again turned to how I'm going to diaper my then newborn son and my then 7 year old special needs daughter in Uganda. Fortunately, Ana is doing great with potty training, so she's hopefully out of the equation when I ponder diapering!

One missionary friend recommended Fuzzi Bunz as they held up great in Kenya so I'm focusing my attention on Fuzzi Bunz brand (which makes extra large diapers special orders and are supposed to be good for special needs). I've also read that Happy Heiny holds up well overseas.

In the heat and humidity, elastic rots away very quickly and rough hand washing techniques ruin velcro quickly. Hemp diapers may last longer?

But I'm still not satisfied with the solutions for growing Gracie. She DOES use the potty, but (unlike last year) I have not been successful at keeping her dry during the day since she doesn't communicate when she has to go. My hope is that Ana can improve my timing and I'll just take Gracie every time Ana goes. My hope is also that with homeschooling we can be more consistent. My final hope is that we will work out a better solution for me getting the increasingly heavy Gracie on the potty and a system to keep her on the potty (as it is, I just hold her on a regular potty seat on the big toilet - she doesn't love it, she prefers the security of the big system that they have at school where she can even be left alone to do her business not limited by mom's fatigue).

Here are some links I've found - please share your comments, whether you diaper in the USA or abroad!

Diapering vs. bare bottom: http://www.gonomad.com/family/0101/brash_diapers.html

Special needs diapering:
http://www.bebewamu.com/category_33/Special-Needs-Youth-Cloth-Products.htm (these are all pull-on rather than snap-on which is preferable for a kid whose legs don't work well)

Patterns for special needs cloth diapers:

Comments

Gina said…
I forget whether I mentioned to you that the newer one-size fuzzi-bunz have fully replaceable elastic... that may be a plus in the tropics.

Also, if you go the sew-your-own route, I'd be happy to do some sewing. Might learn to make my own in the process ;) A source for plastic snaps would probably be a good idea, though.
5:06 PM
Ann said…
Hi Abby,

Cloth nappies...
I had second hand Fuzzy Bunz small size for Letitia and they were great! When I'd finished with them they were still okay and so passed them on. So the elastics do seem really good.
I tried Pea Pods (Australian brand) when Letitia moved to M sizse and definitely don't recommend them. They just leak :-(.
I also heard only positive things about Ecobots (I believe they're American) but don't know what they're like for special needs kids.

God luck finding what's right for your family! Praying for you as you prepare!!

Much love,
Ann
5:23 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Uganda unit study - foods

Every tribe in Uganda has different food preferences, but they tend to revolve around these basics.  Boarding school students (i.e. the vast majority of secondary school students) generally eat posho and beans daily except for a Sunday portion of meat.  Imagine eating the same food for every meal! "Food" is the starch while everything else is the "soup" that goes with the food.  Generally a large quantity of the starch is portioned out with a smaller quantity of the soup. "Foods" include: White sweet potato (peeled and boiled) Cassava/manioc (as chips) Irish potatoes (peeled and boiled) White maize ( posho  - as a loaf of sticky "bread") Millet ( atapa or kalo - as a loaf of sticky "bread") Matoke /green plantain (best when steamed in banana leaves) Rice The "soup" includes a wide variety of ingredients in these categories: Greens Beans Cabbage Peanuts - ground into flour or paste depending on the tribe M...
Post a Comment
Read more

Family of Three!

We are in Liberia - the electricity goes in and out because the generator is having trouble keeping up these days! So hopefully it will stay on long enough to post and the internet connection will allow me this luxury! We were united with precious Gracie on Thanksgiving day - I will write more about this later. But, oh! is Gracie a joy! She is so beautiful, so joyfilled, and a bit mischievious. Her physical limitations do not permit her to accomplish much mischief, but we can tell that she is trying to push some limits already. If we were not in love with her already, she is irresitable and such a treasure and blessing from God. In our two days together, she has not cried once. She spends most of her days smiling, she loves to snuggle (good match for us!), and has the most contagious laugh! Life takes more effort for her - her cerebral palsy is moderate and every activity is a challenge and is clearly tiring for her. Meal times (which she loves) take a long time and much patience and d...
6 comments
Read more

Uganda unit study - facts

Uganda facts Kampala is the capital of Uganda. The Ugandan shilling is the currency used here (currently 3800 UGX to 1 USD). The official languages include English and Swahili, but people also speak Luganda and various other languages (like Acholi). The life expectancy in Uganda is 50.4 years. Uganda is a landlocked country bordered by Kenya in the east, Sudan in the north, Democratic Republic of the Congo in the west, Rwanda in the southwest and Tanzania in the south. Uganda’s total land area is 241,559 sq km. About 37,000 sq km of this area is occupied by open water while the rest is land. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, which it shares with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is located on the East African plateau, averaging about 1,100 meters (3,609 ft) above sea level. The plateau generally slopes downwards towards Sudan explaining the northerly tendency of most river flows in the country. Although generally equatorial, the clim...
Post a Comment
Read more