Diaper Changes: The Complete Diapering Book and Resource Guide

Rating:
Summary: A must-read for EVERY parent--from expectant to experienced!
Review:

In the first two years of your baby's life, you will change over 5,600 diapers! Think you know enough about diapers? And why should you care about what goes on your baby's bottom, anyway? This book will give you plenty of food for thought.

Diaper Changes should be required reading for every new and expectant parent. Jam-packed with useful information, it is the most comprehensive book on diapering available. As the proprietor of a baby layette catalogue and mother to a nine-month-old, I have seen much on the subject, but this book still leaves me in awe. Well-researched and thorough, Diaper Changes is refreshingly up-to-date amidst the stale information presented in most baby-care books of today - nowhere in this book will you find instructions for using "rubber pants" or other obsolete diapering paraphernalia. (Frankly, those 'experts' should read this book to become informed!)

Whether using cotton, disposables or a combination of both, every parent will find this book incredibly useful. Written by an experienced mother of four, Diaper Changes thoroughly covers all the issues and concerns: cost comparisons between cloth and disposable (which is really cheaper?), environmental concerns, washing and disposal methods, product reviews, even how to make your own budget-wise diapering supplies!

Looking for that perfect yet hard-to-find product for your family? A resource guide of 60 U.S. and Canadian companies is included (my company, Bella Nina, will be in the second edition which is due out next year). For persons with incontinence - a not-uncommon side effect of pregnancy - the author has thoughtfully included a special resource chapter addressing these products.

Yet with all of the 'meaty' facts it contains, this book is by no means a dry read! All information is presented in an entertaining, often humorous style - it's like a chat with a warm, wise friend. More than just about diapering, Diaper Changes is really about creative parenting and finding joy in the everyday workings of life with young children. Reading this book made me want to get my hands on everything this incredible lady has written! (Please see the Publisher's Note.)

Though Rodriguez Farrisi is a self-proclaimed "cloth purist", she has used both reusable and disposable diapers, and both are presented here without harangue - "Full or part-timers [for either are] welcome." As the author states, "No one should judge the decision you make... I only want to equip you to make the best possible decisions for you and the ones you are privileged to care about" - whatever you feel that decision may be.

Whether this is your first or last baby, I strongly encourage anyone who is or will be a caregiver for little children (or others with special needs) to read Diaper Changes. This is one book that WON'T gather dust on your shelf!

Tiffany Rogers, Proprietor
Bella Nina
[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: A must-read for EVERY parent--from expectant to experienced!
Review:

In the first two years of your baby's life, you will change over 5,600 diapers! Think you know enough about diapers? And why should you care about what goes on your baby's bottom, anyway? This book will give you plenty of food for thought.

Diaper Changes should be required reading for every new and expectant parent. Jam-packed with useful information, it is the most comprehensive book on diapering available. As the proprietor of a baby layette catalogue and mother to a nine-month-old, I have seen much on the subject, but this book still leaves me in awe. Well-researched and thorough, Diaper Changes is refreshingly up-to-date amidst the stale information presented in most baby-care books of today - nowhere in this book will you find instructions for using "rubber pants" or other obsolete diapering paraphernalia. (Frankly, those 'experts' should read this book to become informed!)

Whether using cotton, disposables or a combination of both, every parent will find this book incredibly useful. Written by an experienced mother of four, Diaper Changes thoroughly covers all the issues and concerns: cost comparisons between cloth and disposable (which is really cheaper?), environmental concerns, washing and disposal methods, product reviews, even how to make your own budget-wise diapering supplies!

Looking for that perfect yet hard-to-find product for your family? A resource guide of 60 U.S. and Canadian companies is included (my company, Bella Nina, will be in the second edition which is due out next year). For persons with incontinence - a not-uncommon side effect of pregnancy - the author has thoughtfully included a special resource chapter addressing these products.

Yet with all of the 'meaty' facts it contains, this book is by no means a dry read! All information is presented in an entertaining, often humorous style - it's like a chat with a warm, wise friend. More than just about diapering, Diaper Changes is really about creative parenting and finding joy in the everyday workings of life with young children. Reading this book made me want to get my hands on everything this incredible lady has written! (Please see the Publisher's Note.)

Though Rodriguez Farrisi is a self-proclaimed "cloth purist", she has used both reusable and disposable diapers, and both are presented here without harangue - "Full or part-timers [for either are] welcome." As the author states, "No one should judge the decision you make... I only want to equip you to make the best possible decisions for you and the ones you are privileged to care about" - whatever you feel that decision may be.

Whether this is your first or last baby, I strongly encourage anyone who is or will be a caregiver for little children (or others with special needs) to read Diaper Changes. This is one book that WON'T gather dust on your shelf!

Tiffany Rogers, Proprietor
Bella Nina
[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Diaper Changes great for first-timers to cloth
Review: Diapering Changes has much information on what's available to parents today. In the past there were only a few options for parents, mostly pin-on diapers that required a lot of folding. Diapering Changes helps the new parent choose what type of diaper is best for them, and offers an extensive listing of companies that sell cloth diaper supplies, very important since high-quality diapers are usually not available in stores. One note is that the author's descriptions of home washing are much more difficult to follow than the method most mothers use. Additionally, the author recommends cleaning methods for the non-circumcised boy which conflict with the official position paper of the American Academy of Pediatricians.

Rating:
Summary: Very handy and informative
Review: I bought this book for my own research on cloth diapering and it has been a great resource! What keeps it from getting the full 5 stars is that I miss some very important brands that really have and will continue to relolutionize the cloth diaper market. But it's still a4+ or a 4,5!
If you are wondering about cloth diapers and how to go about it, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Creative and Fresh
Review: I found this book to be an invaluable resource. I had done a lot of research on the web before I purschased this book, and found everything to be concisely listed here. It would have saved me hours of research if I had the book sooner. I loved the list of vendors. That made the rest of my comparison shopping much easier.

Rating:
Summary: Diaper Changes: The Complete Diapering Book and Resource Gui
Review: I found this book to be an invaluable resource. I had done a lot of research on the web before I purschased this book, and found everything to be concisely listed here. It would have saved me hours of research if I had the book sooner. I loved the list of vendors. That made the rest of my comparison shopping much easier.

Rating:
Summary: Useful, but not Excellent
Review: I found this book to be somewhat useful but not nearly as wonderful as I had hoped. The author is definitely biased [against disposable diapers, which I expected; but she also seems to think that everyone should use a diaper service, or if not, wool diapers/covers. She doesn't seem to give fair judgement to some of the other great products out there].

This author also made home washing of diapers sound MUCH more difficult than it really is [maybe this is because of the bias towards using diaper services?]. If I didn't already know a lot about cloth diapers, I'd be frightened off by her description of laundering. In reality, washing cloth diapers isn't much more difficult than washing the rest of baby's stuff. It certainly doesn't have to be the ordeal described in this book.

The whole book seems very opinionated more than factual, and sometimes the author's tone got on my nerves. That having been said, I found the Product and Resource listing in the last part of the book extremely useful. The only problem is that it is somewhat dated now [I think the book came out in 1997]. Several of the numbers I tried to call that were listed were disconnected at this point.

I'd say this book is worth having for someone who is considering using cloth diapers, but overall it could be much better.

Rating:
Summary: Useful, but not Excellent
Review: I found this book to be somewhat useful but not nearly as wonderful as I had hoped. The author is definitely biased [against disposable diapers, which I expected; but she also seems to think that everyone should use a diaper service, or if not, wool diapers/covers. She doesn't seem to give fair judgement to some of the other great products out there].

This author also made home washing of diapers sound MUCH more difficult than it really is [maybe this is because of the bias towards using diaper services?]. If I didn't already know a lot about cloth diapers, I'd be frightened off by her description of laundering. In reality, washing cloth diapers isn't much more difficult than washing the rest of baby's stuff. It certainly doesn't have to be the ordeal described in this book.

The whole book seems very opinionated more than factual, and sometimes the author's tone got on my nerves. That having been said, I found the Product and Resource listing in the last part of the book extremely useful. The only problem is that it is somewhat dated now [I think the book came out in 1997]. Several of the numbers I tried to call that were listed were disconnected at this point.

I'd say this book is worth having for someone who is considering using cloth diapers, but overall it could be much better.

Rating:
Summary: Overly enthusiastic, no substantial analysis or criticism
Review: I had high expectation, partly due to other positive customer reviews, that this book would help me sort through the confusing overload of diapers, diapering systems, covers, products, etc., on the market. However, I was very disappointed: the book is so unrestrained in its enthusiasm that it lack the critical analysis I was hoping for. I also found the book to be repetitive with similar or even verbatim descriptions reappearing in different parts of the book. In short, too many exclamation points, too many rave reviews, not enough substantive comparison of brands.

In the end, I do not feel that I am in a better position to make better choices than I was before I read the book. The detailed information in the various diapering catalogs/brochures I have received gave me essentially the same understanding of my choices.

That said, the book has a comprehensive listing of various vendors and the products they carry which I did find useful (but, once again, little criticism or analysis of who has better customer service, shipping, etc....just rave reviews of just about everybody and every product).

In summary, an O.K. resource, but not fantastic.

Rating:
Summary: Great starting point for those considering cloth diapers
Review: I purchased this book during pregnancy of my first child. I'd already decided to use cloth diapers and was looking for information to help me make more informed choices. While I still felt a bit overwhelmed after reading the book cover to cover, the book is a must read for familiarizing yourself with the broad spectrum of cloth diapering. There is helpful information on the wide variety of cloth diapers and covers available today, how to care for them, how to use and clean, even how to make your own diapers, etc.

However, I feel that you will still need to spend some time doing your own research and getting opinions from others, such as from an online message board or from the folks that run websites that sell cloth diapers (many of whom are moms with children in cloth diapers). Eveyone's needs are different -- for both the parents and the baby.

The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that there are even more types of diapers than mentioned in the book and some of the references are out of date.