disposables on the road trips

After our last weekend out of town, we decided that on future road trips, we were going to use disposable diapers. Yes, River puts a lot in the potty, even while traveling. And yes, he rarely poops in his diapers these days. However, the pee that does go into the diapers can be copious. Even stored in the trunk, it doesn’t take long before the whole car stanks something terrible. I feel bad about adding to the landfill, but we’ve gone 15 months using almost no disposables and we will only use them occasionally, and for short-term periods.

So before we went camping, I added disposable diapers to the shopping list. Yikes they are expensive! Since it had been so long since we’d used them, I’d forgotten. I could get a 30-pack of Shoprite store brand diapers for $7.99, or I could spend about $20 for a 70-pack of Pampers on sale.

What to do? I recalled that while traveling with River when he was two months old, the store-brand diapers leaked. Mark refused to use them and had a strong preference for Pampers, regardless of how much they cost. But the 30-pack of Pampers was $15. I didn’t want to pay twice as much.

So I ended up buying the Shoprite brand, hoping they would hold up. So far, so good. He has yet to poop in them (all poos have gone in the potty), but they hold the pee well, even on overnights. The sizing is generous, which also helps. I bought the 27+ pound size. Even though he’s over 30 pounds and has a big rear end, they are plenty big, so no leakage.

Just thought I’d share that Shoprite diapers do the job if you are in need of inexpensive disposables.

In the meantime, our Bumgeniuses were showing their signs of wear. The Velcro had gotten so worn that some of them were almost impossible to use. My friend who uses BumGenius isn’t having this problem, but she doesn’t put hers in the dryer. I found a woman willing to replace the Velcro for $1.50 per diaper. A few days later, she gave me the diapers back, I handed her $23 (the cost of buying 1.5 new diapers), and the diapers now work like new. Hopefully they will get us through the rest of the diaper stage. Looking back, I wish we’d bought a few less Velcro dipes and a few more snap ones since the snap diapers don’t show any signs of wear.

Family Friendly Airports

Family friendly airports:
Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP): In the central area of the airport, there is a family room, with soft chairs for nursing mothers, a rocking chair, and even a nice crib in the darkened room. The family bathroom across from this room has thankfully kept the plastic changing tables and not replaced them with a stone slab like some other airports. With privacy and an electrical outlet available, one can pump in peace. Good choice of restaurants and shops and plenty of space to run around.

Cleveland (CLE): Good family restrooms and employees who rank high on the friendliness scale.

Non-family friend airports:
Miami (MIA) – a shortage of chairs means many people end up sitting on the floor. Poor choice of food and entertainment. Hectic and not a pleasant place to spend time.

Family Friendly Places

The next blog entries are early starts to what I hope will be useful lists of family friendly stores, airports and restaurants. Feel free to send in your tips on a place that was especially friendly or unfriendly. I’ll try to update them whenever there is new information.