Cloth diapering 101- How I cloth diaper-ed on a budget

When baby V was about 3 months old and was outgrowing the langot stage, was when I seriously explored and considered buying cloth diapers. Once I was sure I wanted to go the cloth diaper way, I was shocked at the prices of cloth diapers. One cloth diaper costs more than 60 disposable diapers! The horror!  While the benefits of modern CDs are undeniable, the budget for buying a complete stash immediately was not feasible for me. Well, cloth diapering need not necessarily be expensive.  I’ve jotted down how we made the transition easy and, well, cheap.
cloth diapering on a budget

 

1. DIY

Although I am more of an Amazon prime mom, I did Pinterest some DIY hacks to get through CD-ing. Right from stitching a few thick cotton strips to make inserts to simply using a t-shirt as a diaper, a mum like me does quite a few jugaads. Do a simple search, and one would find that fitteds, inserts, flats and prefolds are pretty easy to make at home.… Click to read the rest

Montessori for the homeschooling beginner

For all the parents who have asked me a quick sum up of the montessori principles, especially, principles you can follow at home, with examples, this one is for you. Im a newbie myself, but these are some principles that have helped us and now we realize, we follow them unconsciously. They have become a way of life at home.

1. A for Action

Maria Montessori believed that movement is directly related to cognition. Children need to move their hands and legs focussed on an activity, guided by their intellect.

So instead of reciting 1 -10 ask your child to count the onions in your basket, or run their fingers on sandpaper numbers. This also doubles up as a sensory activity.

2. B for beauty

You go to a store and see a gorgeous yellow pashmina with detailed embroidery, and a plain crumpled piece of dull grey cloth. Which one are you tempted to touch, run your fingers through?… Click to read the rest

Sleep routine for the win!

Sleep while the baby sleeps“, they said.
Sleep all you can before she pops out“, they said.
And once she was here, every conversation with the sleep deprived mom (me) involved the question “Is she sleeping through the night yet?” (As if her not sleeping through was another evidence of the failure of a mom I was gonna be).
Anyhow by the time she was 6 weeks old, I made peace with the fact that she isn’t going to sleep through the night until a very very very long time. And as long as she understood that nights are for sleeping, Id be grateful.
I am a gentle parenting amma and against any sleep training methods like crying it out, controlled comforting, etc. (Click here to know why)
But what I did, was help baby V settle into a decent sleep for the night as opposed to the night napping she was doing.… Click to read the rest