I LOVE LolliDuos™

My Work Wife Melissa has created the greatest diaper ever! The all new LolliDuo™ is fantastic for several reasons; here are my five favorites:

• The LolliDuo™ is a truly versatile one-size cloth diaper. You can use is as a diaper cover, a pocket diaper OR you can use it as a diaper cover but stuff it for extra absorbency. 
• LolliDuos™ are trim enough for daytime use but thirsty enough for overnight.
• The entire diaper saves at least six water bottles from going to the landfill. This is because the high quality performance fleece, that we are now known for,  is  made from recycled bottles.
• We have several super cute color combinations.
• You can choose snap or hook and loop closure.

Want to see more? Click here.

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Miss Ellie in a LolliDuo™ - she was around 9lbs in these photos and as you can see, they fit her really well.

Don't believe me? Read what other folks are saying.

I honestly believe that Melissa deserves a HUGE Hooray for her genius in designing all LolliDoo® diapers. Well done Melissa, well done!

Name That Doo!

Our new All Purpose LolliDoo® cloth diaper needs a name!


*Name our new diapers and win 6 FREE.

Some information:

What we are offering is a combination eco-pocket®/Outtie™. Click here to see it on LolliPlace.com.

It has a myriad of uses; as a diaper cover, a pocket diaper or as a diaper cover that is stuff-able for extra absorbency.

Additional information:
~ Suitable for day and overnight use
~ Trimmer then Overnight eco-pockets
~ Lower price point
~ Made from recycled performance fleece
~ Highly breathable
~ Super absorbent
~ Generous waist dimensions
~ Made in the USA

How to enter:
Just post your name suggestions on http://earthymommaodyssey.blogspot.com/ (or if you are reading directly from the blog - post a comment).

*Once you enter the contest you are giving GGSI permission to use the name without restriction.

Contest ends 8-31-11

SALE SALE SALE

That's right - we are having a sale.

All LolliDoo™ seconds and discontinued colors are on sale at LolliPlace this weekend only. Get your first quality but discontinued colors for the LOW price of $15.66 AND Holy Seconds Batman; get your LolliDoo™ seconds for only $13.05.

If you want some - hurry because we are selling out rapidly.

LolliDoo™ Seamstresses - The Revival of Cottage Industry

Did you know that LolliDoo™ cloth diapers are made by moms who sew while babies nap?


Go Green Sustainable Industries is a small family run company located in Newman Lake, WA. We are a cottage industry - supporting local seamstresses. Our seamstresses work mostly from home and come into the shop on Fridays, often with babies, to drop off finished diapers, pick up fabric and snap.


It is our mission to support families in small business while improving the health and well-being of society and our environment by transforming commonly used toxic and disposable products into healthy innovative new products that are comprised of recycled and organic materials and can once again be recycled.


Why?


It's about time companies acted responsibly.

I'm not insinuating that we are the only company with morals - just that we don't see enough of them. Melissa and I set out to create change and while we are just at the beginning stages; we are already making a difference, one step at a time.

Cloth Diapering JUST Overnight Can Save $329 Or More

How easy is this? Purchase just one LolliDoo™ Overnight eco-pocket™. Use it only at night. In the morning throw it in the wash with your towels or whatever clothing needs washed that day. Repeat every night.

You can save a lot of money and your baby will wrapped in super soft and dry comfort all night. It's a win-win situation.

An average cost of disposable diapers is .30¢
An average LolliDoo™ Overnight eco-pocket™ is $38

While the upfront cost can be daunting. When you multiply .30¢ x 2.5 years -you get $329. This is supposing that you only use one disposable diaper a night. If your child needs nighttime diaper for four years (which is about average) then you save $438!

Go ahead - make your life a little easier :)

Have You Been "Greenwashed"?

Currently worldwide Green is the key word that companies are eager to demonstrate. I stumbled upon this article this morning and was motivated to stand up and say something:

The average citizen is finding it more and more difficult to tell the difference between those companies genuinely dedicated to making a difference and those that are using a green curtain to conceal dark motives. Consumers are constantly bombarded by corporate campaigns touting green goals, programs, and accomplishments. Even when corporations voluntarily strengthen their record on the environment, they often use multi-million dollar advertising campaigns to exaggerate these minor improvements as major achievements.

Sometimes, not even the intentions are genuine. Some companies, when forced by legislation or a court decision to improve their environmental track record, promote the resulting changes as if they had taken the step voluntarily. And at the same time that many corporations are touting their new green image (and their CEOs are giving lectures on corporate ecological ethics), their lobbyists are working night and day in Washington to gut environmental protections.

To read the full article click here.

Are you tired of seeing the words, Green, Eco, Bio, Natural and Environmentally Friendly in association with products that common sense tells you are most certainly NOT?

I am.

According to Wikipedia:

Greenwashing is a term describing the deceptive use of green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a company's policies or products are environmentally friendly. The term green sheen has similarly been used to describe organizations that attempt to show that they are adopting practices beneficial to the environment.

A new survey suggests that over 95% of all companies claiming to be green are guilty of at least one count of greenwashing. The upside is that 5% of companies claiming to be green actually are. I can say that we are one of them :)

You can avoid being Greenwashed.

1. Look at labels.
For example: If a product claims to be recycled - the company must list the recycled content percentage. If a cleaning product claims to be green it may be that just the packaging is green. You want the product to be: Biodegradable, phosphate free, chlorine free, bleach free and scented with natural oils or fragrances.

2. Look for the country of origin.
There are several reasons to see where your product was manufactured. One reason is that if it was made outside the USA or Canada you want to make sure it has a "Fair Trade" label. Fair trade doesn't equate environmental responsibility but it does mean that children weren't making your product. Another reason to check the country of origin, especially when using creams and supplements, is that other countries do not have the same health and safety guidelines which are enforced in the USA and Canada. Do you really want to use a face cream that was made in Asia, quick and cheap, without the USA Health Codes? Oftentimes big companies who buy such products to sell here do not do their due diligence. Just a warning...

3. Food products must be labeled.
Organic food products will be labeled "USDA Organic" if they are truly organic.

4. Use common sense
If a product is disposable, even if it's organic, it should be biodegradable or compostable if it's truly green. If you look at a product and think, "how in the world can this be environmentally friendly" - chances are that it's not.

Black Friday Sale at LolliPlace.com

Q & A From LolliDoo Consumers

Question:

I saw your ad in Mothering and was intrigued by the overnight diaper, but could not find the info I needed on your website. I would like to know what exactly makes it good for a heavy wetter. Our current system is NOT working, so I am eager to try something new!
Thank you!!!
Amanda

Response:

Our Overnight eco-pocket diapers are made with 300 weight polar fleece, which is phenomenal for keeping moisture in. When paired with our Organic Absorbency Innies™ (which you can pile up to meet the absorbency needs of your baby)it makes for a very successful nighttime diaper.

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Question:

Would the Overnight eco-pocket™ diaper also work with inserts from other diapers (such as the FuzziBunz inserts I already have)? That could save me a little money.

Sarah

Response:
Our eco-pockets™ are designed to fit with most pocket inserts. We do recommend LolliDoo™ Organic Absorbency Innies™ and cannot guarantee that other brands will work as well with our configuration.

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Comments:

Dear Alison and Melissa,
I loved reading your entire website! I have a 'heavy wetting' 6 month old who is basically sleeping through the night but wakes because of a wet diaper. So, your ad in mothering mag caught my eye. I did just stock up on fuzzi bunz...which I love, other than the fact they don\'t seem to breathe well and we are in a warm climate north of san francisco. I thought I\'d look into getting a few pairs of your overnight covers as a solution. Anyhow - I read your site and was so inspired by both of you and your way of life. We (my husband, sone Drake and I) are trying to live as eco-smart as possible and do all we can to minimize our impact on mother earth. We quit our jobs in SF, moved north to Chico where we could afford to stay at home (me working part time from home and husband full time watching Drake) and be with our son 100% of the time. I take \"Drake breaks\" throughout the day to Breastfeed. We enjoy the bounty of all the farmland around us and eat fresh every day, and puree all of Drake\'s food. We feel very fortunate. Anyhow - just wanted to say hello and I wish you much success with LolliDoo! I will be sure to bookmart your site and share it with all my new-mama friends!
warm regards,
Amy

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Question:
I'm interested in this diaper for my 4 month old, tummy sleeping, heavy wetting son. He still nurses 2-3 times per night - is this a diaper that would be able to keep him dry without changing throughout the course of a 12 hour night, or is changing necessary when nursing that often in t

Response:
Thank you for your interest in LolliDoo™ Diapers. In most cases our Overnight eco-pockets™ will keep a nursing baby dry all night. You shouldn’t have to change your little guy during the night but you may have to play a bit with different amounts of absorbency.

Follow up:
Alison,
Just wanted to write a quick note to let you know that I got my LolliDoo™ overnight yesterday, washed it 4 times like you suggested and put it on my son for the night - it was great! I know you guys are aware of how great your diaper is, but I also figure it can never hurt to hear one more compliment :)....it's the first time he's ever stayed dry in one diaper, while nursing all night long! hopefully, I can start eliminating some of the things I stuffed it with last night (now that I know the diaper works so well), so that it doesn't look like he's wearing a bowling ball around his backside :) it's sooooo nice to know that, now, I'll be able to just go to him in the night and quickly nurse him (instead of changing and nursing) and we can all go back to bed just a little sooner!!

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Question/Comment:

Hi Alison,

We washed our Overnight eco-pockets™ twice in hot and dried them in the dryer. So after reading this I decided to change them half-way through the night to check. My son wearing the fleece skin layer seemed fine. My other son wearing the cotton skin layer (who is also a big-time stomach sleeper) was leaking out the front really badly. Do you have any troubleshooting or advice on the cotton skin layer dipes? Would these not be good for a stomach sleeper?. It leaked from the front top up by his belly button. He sleeps with his knees tucked up under him so gravity in general is working against it not leaking from there. I don't really know the nature of the way fleece works but from what I could see it seemed the cotton was saturated and wicking to the fleece possibly. Grateful for you help! I stuffed it with a rumparooz hemp insert (full size insert) and a microfiber doubler. this is what we stuff other pockets we've used for nighttime. Thanks so much for you help


Response:

Unfortunately I am unfamiliar with those inserts. Might I suggest that you loosen the leg and tighten the waist? Fleece is VERY stretchy and it can be pulled really tight without leaving red marks or hurting your baby. Also – they really need a good 4 washings to shrink up properly with the cotton so it might be just fine as is after another wash.

Two Follow Up Emails:

Hi Alison,

Success with baby #1! I let out the elastic at the legs a little and got a really tight fit around the waist, and no leaks last night! Yay! I'm going to try with baby #2 tonight (I figured I'd go the "divide and conquer" route).

Thanks so much for all of your help; I really appreciate it.

Gratefully,
Kristin

This morning there were two dry babies. Yay! I'm attaching a photo so you can see how happy they were (you'll have to imagine my delight, too, since I'm not in the photo).

Thanks again for all of your help.

Kristin


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Question:

I like the idea of a diaper made with recycled material, but am worried about BPA, phalates, etc from the recycled bottles next to her skin. Can you tell me how these are removed from the material?

Thank you!
Alexandra

Response:

That is a fabulous question and believe it or not – it’s the first time I’ve heard it.

If you’ve been following the current toxic plastic avoidance advice, you know that recycling category #1 (PET) has been considered a safer choice. We know it’s BPA-free, so we just use it once and recycle it.

Plastic beverage bottles sold in the United States are made from a type of plastic known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Although polyethylene terephthalate (the plastic) and phthalate (the additive) may have similar names, the substances are chemically dissimilar. PET is not considered an orthophthalate, nor does PET require the use of phthalates or other softening additives. (Enneking 2006)

GOOD: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones

.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/which-plastics-are-safe.html

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Comment:

So! One more washing for both dipes. Loosened the legs and tightened the waist and 10hrs no leaks! Changed my other son around 8+ hours in the fleece skin lolli and dry! Awesome! :) Thanks for your troubleshooting help.

For That Price Those Diapers Must Be Made of Gold!

I have heard this a few times and as a former cloth diaper consumer I can relate. In my opinion LolliDoo™ diapers ARE MADE OF GOLD!

Firstly we use as few virgin resources as humanly possible with the technology we have available. Each diaper has a minimum of 8 recycled beverage bottles in them. Saving them from the landfill, re-using our trash and furthermore protecting the virgin resources needed to create brand new fleece. Our cotton is organic and even our stainless steel snaps are made from recycled steel.

See - GOLD!

Moreover - everything we manufacture is domestic. We are paying Americans to work which not only strengthens our economy but we have the peace of mind that all of our suppliers have ethical working conditions. The downside some might say to manufacturing in the States with domestic components is the expense. Yes our textiles cost more then something made in China - yes we are paying our seamstresses a living wage and yes our Overnight diapers are a bit more expensive BUT you get what you pay for.

With LolliDoo™ diapers you not only get a bulletproof overnight solution but when you buy a LolliDoo™ diaper:

~ You are supporting the economy
~ You are advocating for small businesses
~ You are honoring WAHMs (our seamstresses) who are able to make their own schedules to put their families first and therefore also supporting families
~ You are endorsing organic farmers
~ You are getting behind recycling
~ You are sending a message to the disposable diaper companies that they need to step up their game and offer a more sustainable solution
~You are helping to establish a relatively new industry that is almost completely run by moms
~ You are choosing your baby's health over so-called convenience
~ You are saving over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks and 20 pounds of chlorine that are used to produce disposable diapers for one baby EACH YEAR.
~ YOU are BUYING GOLD!

When people insinuate that LolliDoo™ Overnight eco-pockets™ are too costly I like to remind them that not only are you purchasing a diaper that will prevent night time leaks BUT you are supporting, women, the environment, the economy and your child's future.

For more information on LolliDoo™ eco-pockets™ please click here.

What we are doing to make LolliDoo as green as possible

Right Now

• We use new machine motors that consume 63% less energy than traditional clutch-motors
• Our packaging is made from printer waste and 100% reused
• LolliDoo Diapers are recycled, recyclable and reusable, and all cotton is certified organic
• Our office paper is recycled and we use both sides and recycle what we don't need to keep
• Fabric scraps are made into Mama Pads (coming soon)
  
• We designed our diapers so that they dry quickly on the line or in the dryer
• LolliDoo Diapers wash beautifully in cold water
• All printed materials that we distribute are printed on recycled paper with vegetable based inks
• Instead of mailing retailers information, we are using email as often as possible
• LolliDoo Diapers are shipped in recycled cardboard boxes
• All textile components of LolliDoo® Diapers come from the United States. Buying products made in the USA supports our local economy by providing jobs, which support families and generate domestic spending. Buying domestic also reduces the environmental impact by eliminating energy to ship goods internationally.
  
• Certified organic cotton is soft against baby’s skin and is highly absorbent. Certified organic cotton fibers are grown using safe and sustainable practices that respect both the earth and baby‘s health. Fibers are turned into textiles using eco-friendly processing that does not compromise workers’ health and reduces water, electricity and toxic runoff.
• Recycled fleece is a smooth, supple fleece produced from recycled beverage bottles. Recycled fleece is a low pill fleece that exceeds all industry standards for strength, shrinkage and color fastness. Recycling protects natural resources and saves space in landfills: Recycled fleece enables billions of plastic containers to be recycled each year, instead of them being buried in a landfill.
  
  

In the future:

Our main "green" goal is to sustain ourselves on wind and solar power while powering up neighboring low income housing with our surplus wind and solar energy.


Did you know?

The amount of water used to launder cloth diapers at home is about 50 to 70 gallons of water every 2-3 days; this is about the same as a toilet-trained child or adult flushing the toilet five to six times a day.

It is illegal for solid waste to enter our landfills, so even disposable diapering families should put the poo in the potty.

Sharing 5 of my favorite sites

I thought that I would compile s short list of the sites that I like. The first being http://www.mrsgreengoesmainstream.com Mrs. Green Goes Mainstream is a local radio show that focuses on green topics. Check out the site, it has all kinds of goodness.

My favorite printer in the whole wide world is http://www.wgiprint.com Wizard Graphics not only prints on recycled paper, but they print with low VOC vegetable based ink. They have great customer service and their printing is exceptional.

This really isn't a "green" site, but my absolute favorite travel site is http://chuckmanes.worldventures.biz/ It is my husband's travel site but they price match and you can rent condos, apartments in addition to hotels. You can also rent cars and find airfare, check it out if you are planning a trip.

I direct anyone who asks me questions about the cost of cloth diapers vs disposable diapers to the Diaper Pin's diaper calculator http://www.diaperpin.com/calculator/calculator.asp. The diaper calculator gives an unbiased look at the reality of diapering.

For some reason the hyperlinks wouldn't work for the last two sites, so I bolded them. Copy and paste the addresses into your browser.

Lastly, my friend Nonie is doing an amazing thing for the breastfeeding community, it's called Mom's Breastaurant. http://www.momsbreastaurant.org She goes around the country to different festivals, fairs and expos, and offers moms a safe, comfortable place to sit and nurse their babies. Nonie doesn't charge for this service, which is even more amazing. Check out the site and support her if you feel like she deserves it, I do.