Prematurity, death, fear, 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.
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Cheers, Linda Byerline CEO MLB Industries Inc www.happyheinys.com Baby Frenzy 1529 N. Cuyamaca St El Cajon, CA 92020

Give Me Some Ideas Please...

All righty I need some ideas. I want this blog to be an on-going kind of thing but I need a few hints on what I should be blogging about. Topics should be cloth diaper related. Of course I say Happy Heiny would be best but I can answer other questions about different styles of products.
So as a retailer or as an end consumer what would you like to hear from me? Seriously, you name it and I will blog it. Just remember to keep it reusable diaper related.
Feel free to give me lots and lots of ideas. I will pick one for each time I blog.
Thanks for any and all input
Linda

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.

Great Feelings

Needless to say since I started this business of Happy Heinys there have been a whole lot of learning curves. Not just with the obvious like how to sew properly but also things like how to adjust patterns, what changes would do what to a pattern and so on.
The learning curves regarding the products that we make are not the only ones, there are others, which in my opinion are the most important.
They are the ones where we learn to make you happy. Not just you the customer but you the retailer, you the husband, you the daycare provider, you the mailman,and so on. One can have the very best product in the world yet have the absolute worse customer service and yes they may continue to sell and sell well BUT if they have a great product as well as great customer service you will have an awesome business.
This is what I have always wanted and what I expect out of those whom I hire to work for Happy Heinys. Not only do I expect them to be awesome but I also expect them to expect me to treat them the same way. How's that for tongue twisted.
Today while speaking with a retailer of ours I was amazed at the comments that came not out of her mouth but out of her husbands mouth. I have very high regards for this couple and it was nice to hear what I heard. Not only did I hear that our products were loved, but more importantly it was about the appreciate behind how we treat our retailers. It was one of those great feeling moments and after getting off the phone I pulled the girls downstairs together to let them know what was going on.
They needed to know that the way that they are "anal" with our quality control is highly appreciated, the way they pack the orders promptly and efficiently, the way they handle phone calls and emails from all customers and retailers. It is easy for me to say thank you when a compliment is given but the reality is, it is not just me, in fact if it were not for the girls, all the girls and my husband, Happy Heinys would not be what we are today.
So about an hour later, after all the feel goodness I was tested. You see as a manufacturer we have these policies in place. The policies are in place so that the integrity of our product is upheld at all times. I don't want to have a $.99 cent diaper company open up and try to sell our items for $.99. That is silly and it would hurt every single retailer out there as well as our products. We have a few rules, nothing really big but just a few of them. Each rule and policy is in place because of some issue we had in the past. One of the bigger ones is no selling on eBay, any other auction site, or any website other than your own store. We do have retailers who maintain our presence in these areas who agree to uphold our policies and who also make sure that no one illegally uses our name or does things that would devalue our products. It has worked out great and most of the time people are understanding.
But today was a different and surprising story that I am still working through. I actually had someone tell me who cares about the policy. The policy is not fair. Who cares if you have contracts, legally binding contracts, break them and let us sell there. WOW, just wow. Talk about shocked on my end. I totally never expected that. I like to consider myself very fair. I would never ever ever grant anyone exclusive rights and then just decide because someone tries to pressure me "ahh to heck with that contract, I'm just going to say the policies don't apply to this company and they can do whatever they want to do."
Um, seriously how would that be fair? We have our own brick and mortar store and ironically several of our manufacturers have similar policies for similar reasons. I would never ever call one of my suppliers up and try to bully them. Never.
Well, policies are absolutely a wonderful thing to have for a business. By having a set of policies in place this gives every business the right to choose whom they want to sell to. I can sell to person A and not to person B just because. Just because we are a fair and equal company. Isn't life great.
Needless to say, everything was dealt with and it was absolutely perfect to be able to say that I have very high standards and ethics that I uphold not only for myself, my employees, but also for those who sell our products and I refuse to lower those standards.
It is a day to feel great and a day to reflect on the many lessons we have learned through the last several years. I thank those who have been so willing to mentor me and show me not only how to do the right thing but also how not to do the wrong thing even if it may feel ok to do.

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.

Interesting News on Convertable 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: http://www.cityofvancouver.us/upload/images/PublicWorks/Official_gDiaperCommentary_Response_PartsI&II_20071128.pdf
"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.