We’re sweet on our customers and fans and want to bring you a giveaway that is sure to make your Valentine’s day extra fantastic!  From now through Feb 10, 2012 at Midnight, you’ve got a chance, well many chances, to enter our “Be My Valentine” Giveaway!

Up for grabs:

• BumGenius 4.0 OS Pocket Diaper with Snap Closure in White
• Tiny Tush OS Diaper in Red with Snaps or Aplix
• 3 Pack of Babylegs in the Kiss Me assortment

Read all the entry methods below and comment on this blog post with your entries.  If a task gets you more than one entry, then you comment “entry 1″ ,”entry 2″, etc.  You should be leaving one comment for each entry you earn.

Available entry methods are:

• (1 entry) Like Abby’s Lane on FaceBook
• (1 entry) Follow Abby’s Lane on Twitter
• (1 entry) Subscribe to our Abby’s Lane Newsletter, leave the name/email you subscribed as in your entry.
• (2 entries) Subscribe to this blog via email (located on right column)
• (1 entry per day) Share the link to this post on Facebook, Google+, Blog, Forums)
• (2 entries per review) Once per day you can review any product on Abby’s Lane.  You earn two entries per review with a max of 1 review per day during the giveaway.
• (2 entries per day) Tweet this:  “Abby’s Lane #Clothdiapers has FREE USA Shipping on ALL orders!  Visit them today! –> http://ow.ly/8Ios4″ *Leave the URL or your Twitter ID with your entries)

Open to participants in the USA.  All winners entries will be verified.

• Cover has a $13.95 retail value in the event of refunds on your paid order, if you return items for refund that bring your order total below $59.00 we will deduct $13.95 from the refund. You may return the unwashed and unused cover with your return items to avoid refund deduction.

• Not valid on past or previous orders

• This coupon may be used with other discounts, order must total $59.00 after all discounts

• Abbys Lane Dollars and/or store credit do not count against your total

• Coupon will stop working when we run out of covers, you will see a “invalid coupon” error message pop up when you enter the code and click “go”

• Coupon MUST be entered in the voucher box, and click “go”, please do not type in order notes box

• Coupon is only valid once per order, however you may place multiple orders if they qualify for the amount stated.

Mom Rocks Monday: Every Monday when you order between 6am and 6pm and place “Mom Rocks” in the order comments you’re entered to win. Every Monday one order will receive a freebie.

Babylegs Tuesday: Similar to Mom Rocks Monday, on Tuesday place “Babylegs Tuesday in your order comments between 6am and 6pm and one order will receive a free pair of Babylegs.

Wingin’ It on Wednesday: Every Wednesday one order placed between 6am to 6pm will be refunded at random. No code needed. Maximum refund $50 value.

Twitter Thursday: A new Twitter related giveaway each Thursday. Be sure to follow us on Facebook & Twitter for details.

Facebook Friday/Blog Friday: A really great giveaway debuts every two weeks on Facebook and our Blog. Make sure to check in with us on Facebook for the details and winners announcements.

-one Sigma diaper sprayer

And one Planet Wise pail liner, neutral solid color:

ENTRIES:
Entries run from today (1/13) through Friday 1/20.
- You may enter once as a “no buy” entry by posting below linking back to our store to your favorite fluffy product
-Additional entry may be via a post below, type in your order number placed starting January 10th through the 20th over $20.00, I need the numbers following the “AB” to confirm your order. Remember, orders over $20.00 count as an extra entry.
-Additional entry given if you comment below for subscribing to our blog, type below “Blog Subscriber!”, and I will confirm this via email if you are the winner
-Additional entry given if you follow us on Twitter! Type in “Twitter follower” and we will confirm via email if you are the winner
-Additional entry given if you follow us on facebook, type below “Facebook follower” and we will confirm via email if you are the winner.

Each Entry must be its own comment below to allow for random.org winner selection. Prizes do not have a cash value attached, and may not be returned for store credit or cash compensation. Prizes are selected by Abby’s Lane, color and print where applicable, substitutions may not be chosen.

Good Luck!

First, one cause of yeast could be antibiotics. If you are nursing and are on antibiotics, or if your baby has to be on antibiotics, all of the good bacteria along with the bad will be killed, and the overall chemistry of your baby’s skin will be more susceptible to yeast. If your baby is old enough, talk to your pediatrician about giving him/her probiotics. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to take some as well if you are nursing, there are safe supplements for babies and toddlers, adults can take over the counter acidophilus tablets. You may or may not see thrush in the mouth of your baby, it can appear in a few different forms, but if you see any changes inside your baby’s mouth or it seems painful for them to eat (nursing or bottle), let your pediatrician know ASAP.

If your baby isn’t on any antibiotics and you are not either (if nursing), but seems to be more yeast-prone, ask about probiotics anyway, it can definitely help keep the yeast away!

Now, the next step will seem completely pointless if you haven’t battled yeast, but I have to throw it out there. We see yeast happening as much in natural fibers as in synthetics. It really just depends on the baby, some cannot tolerate the wetness from natural fibers, and will flare into yeast quickly. Others cannot tolerate synthetics, and need natural fibers to promote breatheability. If your baby is battling yeast, look at the diaper system you have. If you have solely natural fibers, consider investing in some fleece liners to use to see if it makes a difference. On the flip side, if you only use synthetics, switching to a more air-flow friendly system can help.

Keep an eye on your nighttime system as well, for baby boys often yeast will start as a very red penis, sometimes with or without blisters, if your baby boy presents this symptom and you don’t see it clear up with ointment within a day or two at the most, take him in to get diagnosed.

We will go over some more on this next week, but one last thing to remember with yeast.

If your baby’s skin is completely clear, and has been for at least a few days, cornstarch is fine to use to help absorb moisture to keep yeast away. However, if your baby has any skin symptoms at all, cornstarch will feed yeast with the sugars present, so do not use if there is any skin rash present to suggest yeast.

When you have the yeast diagnosis, here is what we recommend (next week we will go over tricks and tips to prevent it from coming back)

1) your doctor will likely prescribe nyastatin cream or gentian violet orally
2) when using one of the above products, we advise moving into disposables until the skin is completely cleared for 48 hours.
3) during this time, you need to disinfect your diapers. This needs to include diapers, wipes, inserts and other accessories. To do so, wash and dry as usual, then wash with just hot water and 1/2 cup of clorox (we used to advise 1/3 cup, over the past year we see more success with the 1/2 cup mark). Chlorine bleach is what can and will disinfect the diapers, color safe bleach uses hydrogen peroxide, which has not shown to be as effective.
4) if you have PUL pockets, AIOs and covers, the bleach will not fade them, as PUL is dye fast. If you have cotton print products, and do not want them to fade, you can sort these out and disinfect with a color safe bleach. HOWEVER, if the yeast comes back I highly recommend using chlorine bleach to disinfect them, you don’t want to fungus to keep regrouping and coming back, for the health of your baby (it can be miserable when it is a strong strain).
5) once baby has been clear for at least 48 hours, they can go back into disinfected cloth, make sure over the next 1-2 weeks you change frequently to promote air flow to their little bottoms to keep yeast away.

On our tree, I have bought a little silver “My First Christmas” ornament for each of my 5 children, and I love to hang them close together in the front, their names and year of their birth is engraved somewhere on the ornament. Also in this group of 5 little “Firsts” are 3 little ornaments without a name or date. The first is a very cheaply made angel ornament, it is meant to be a pin to fasten to a sweater or jacket, but with a string on it passes for a Christmas ornament. When I bought it, we had no room in the weekly budget almost 8 years ago, so a clearance priced Christmas pin was all I could do, that was for our first pregnancy loss in January of 2005. Another angel would follow a few years later, a little silver ornament with a glass bead dangling from the wings for loss #2, and a third wooden angel joined the tree two years later for loss #3. We have been blessed with 5 beautiful, healthy and spunky babies, and as the years have gone by the pain of the losses isn’t as sharp, but those little ones will always have a special place in our hearts. As our family Christmas card has the pictures of our children, here I want to acknowledge the little ones who didn’t get a chance to be held, nursed, worn, have a fluffy little bum and make it on that card. To Max, Mary and Apryl we love you very much <3

We wish you a beautiful holiday season, and a peaceful and healthy winter time, thank you for your support for close to 8 years now. From myself and the mamas who work with us:
Jenn
Susie
Jenni
Stephanie (there are 2 of us!)
Allison
Leah
Melanie
Adrian

Liz
Caitlin
Janelle
Sara
Rose
We wish you a beautiful Christmas and Holiday Season

1) tiny tush minis: these are my personal fave for Jaxson, they start to fit around the 5-6 pound mark, and go to 14-15 pounds (I preferred the aplix, I found they fit longer with the way the front of the diaper laid, the weight range is anywhere from 2-5 months depending on how quickly the baby grows). One tip about them, they come with what looks like a big washcloth, it is a microfiber towel intended to be trifolded and used in the diaper. When you do trifold it, it will be the same as a 3 layer microfiber newborn insert. I found Jax needed more than what came with it, as a newborn an extra small microfiber would work, a preemie prefold folded in half, or on the bigger sizes a small joey bunz packed in with the microfiber towel would be great If you have terry washcloths on hand fold them into half or thirds, they will work great! Baby washcloths on the smaller sizes work well, too for an extra boost.

2) Bummis tiny fit: these will fit a tad smaller, starting at around 6-7 pounds but outgrown a tad earlier, around the 12-14 pound mark, and have a nice, trim fit. The soakers on these guys fold in to add extra absorbency, and they come with a tiny booster to add to it. In these little guys a preemie prefold folded in half would work, or a small microfiber washcloth you could fold into thirds, small joey bunz would be right at the end of the size range on these guys, they may overwhelm the baby is the baby has a tiny build.