This is the best homemade diaper cream, made with healing and soothing ingredients like shea butter, zinc oxide, and coconut oil. Infused with essential oils or calendula, this cream works to keep diaper-rash away, or heal a bad diaper rash quickly. Click to learn how to make this easy, natural cream that’s also safe for cloth diapers!
Mama Tips
Thank You Gift for Labor and Delivery Nurses and Staff
As a fourth time mama now, I can’t tell you just how much I’ve come to deeply appreciate the staff that has taken care of me and each baby through every delivery.
They are absolutely amazing people (even the couple “grumpy” ones I’ve had are still amazing people).
The very first nurse who took care of me after my c-section with my firstborn is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. She was beyond thoughtful and anticipated every need I’d have, making sure I was as comfortable as I could possibly be.
During my last birth, which was honestly the most painful and exhausting birth I’ve gone through, I had the most fantastic nurse who was absolutely in my corner fighting for me.
When the on-call doctor put me on a liquids only diet, she contacted my regular OB and got me okayed to eat. And got me breakfast…
This has forever earned her a special place in my heart.
But every nurse has been a hero to me in one way or another.
They work awful hours and most continue to do their job selflessly with a smile and good attitude.
I’ve had nurses who have shoved as many pads, Tucks, and diapers as they could get away with in my bag to help make life at home easier (and slightly cheaper ;)).
And do I even need to mention the fluids they deal with?
Seriously.
SO many fluids.
And they graciously clean it up and continue to treat you like a human of value afterward. Amazing.
I praise God for every. one. of. them.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, but you will not be charged a penny extra! And mama, I never recommend products I don’t love or believe in. I so appreciate your support)
Before my first was born, I was grateful that someone mentioned bringing thank you gifts for the nurses and staff. I took the time to make cute little gift bags with a little thank you note for each.
I had the best of intentions to hand them out.
But my first was a cesarean (thanks, little breech baby), so I was on pain killers that made me really tired and loopy. I think I remembered all of 3 times to tell a nurse to grab a thank you gift.
Apparently I didn’t learn my lesson with my second.
I still put together little gift bags, and once again, my brain failed to remember to hand them out.
By my third baby, though, I figured it out. I grabbed a bunch of random snacks and mints, made a big sign, and put them in a durable plastic basket that I got from the Dollar Tree.
I remembered much more often to say, “please take a snack as a thank you!” Most nurses and staff seemed more comfortable with the lack of pomp and circumstance surrounding that, too.
Also, when it was time for us to go, I just asked the last nurse we had to please leave the basket at the nurses station.
Easy breezy, and hopefully a blessing.
I used that knowledge to help pack for my fourth birth experience.
Here are the winning items based on what people actually took:
Instant coffee packets (these were the BIGGEST hit)
Plain chocolate bars
Butterfingers
Reeses
M&Ms
Mints
Gum
Tip 1:
I would recommend packing the mints in a separate plastic baggie. Trust me. Mint is potent and will mix with your Butterfingers. Just, no.
Tip 2:
Pack your bag of minties and all of the other treats in a gallon plastic bag. Once you get to the hospital you can just have your support person dump both baggies into the basket and stick the sign up. Done.
I pack the treats and basket in my labor bag so that I have it with me right when I get to the hospital.
But as you know, that bag is supposed to be packed at 37 weeks…but you might not have that baby until 42 weeks…
That’s why I’d encourage NOT including things in the basket that will go bad (ie oranges), or get smashed (ie chips/popcorn).
If you’re looking to have a thank you basket of goodies out, I put together a free printable for you to use. You can print and cut it out on some cardstock, write in your baby’s (or babies’) name (s), and you’re good to go!
Subscribe to snag this freebie (and lots of other useful printables!)
As a side note, there is ZERO pressure to do this. You aren’t an ungrateful selfish person if you don’t get thank you gifts for your nursing staff.
You’re having a baby.
There’s a lot you’re dealing with whether it’s your first or twelfth.
So if you’re not able to put a thank you gift together, it’s ok.
Truly.
Your verbal thank yous and gratefulness will still be much appreciated by and go a long way with your nurses and staff.
3 Easy Ways to Clean Your Home Naturally and Save Money on Household Products
Simple Tips You Can Try Now to Save Money on Household Items and Cleaning Products
Save money and clean your home better with these 3 easy tips. If you want to make steps toward living a nontoxic, natural, and less (or zero) waste lifestyle, this post will help you get started.
(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, but you will not be charged a penny extra! And mama, I never recommend products I don’t love or believe in. I so appreciate your support)
Have you ever misplaced money somewhere only to very excitedly find it later?
When I was a kid, I hid $50 from my birthday in a trophy cup. And then completely forgot about it until I was cleaning out my room for college.
It felt like the best day ever!
Well, I’m not giving you $50 in a trophy cup, but I AM going to share tips on how you can save over $50 a month on household cleaning supplies.
You can put it in a trophy if you want.
Let’s go.
3 Easy Ways to Save Hundreds on Cleaning Supplies
1. MAKE YOUR OWN HOMEMADE HOUSEHOLD CLEANERS
I hope you knew I was going to say this.
Why should you make your own homemade household cleaners?
It is very kind to your wallet
Making your own cleaning products is very budget-friendly. Using homemade cleaning products saves you a ton of money because the ingredients you purchase are CHEAP!
All you need to clean your entire home is…
- Baking Soda
- Washing Soda
- Baby Oxi Clean
- Vinegar
- Vodka
- Sea Salt
- Castile Soap
- Citric Acid (optional)
- Essential Oils
Some of the best I’ve found for multi-purpose cleaning include peppermint, lavender, tea tree, lemon, orange, clove, and cinnamon
Check out how to make antibacterial-boss Thieves oil for less than $12 a bottle
This is the list of the household cleaning products I make and no longer purchase:
- Dishwasher Detergent
- Laundry Detergent
- Laundry Softener
- Sink, Shower, and Toilet Scrub
- Window Cleaner
- Disinfectant
- Multi-Purpose Cleaner
- Air Freshener
2. BUY HOUSEHOLD ITEMS IN BULK
Here are a few ways buying in bulk works for us with saving money on household products:
I get our baking soda and salt from the bulk section at my local store and just keep them in big containers at home. It’s at least 40 cents cheaper per pound, which adds up quickly into dollars in your pocket (I’d personally rather buy a coffee with that extra money).
Purchasing white vinegar and vodka in the biggest jugs possible will give you the best bang for your buck, too. If you buy the small containers verses the largest ones, it’ll cost you. I learned the hard way.
Side note: You should see the looks I get when I’m 8 months pregnant and buying large amounts of vodka. I need a shirt that says “I disinfect my house with vodka and I have germy children.”
Buying your paper products in bulk will also usually save you a chunk of change. We purchase our toilet paper from either Costco or Amazon, depending on who has the best price.
And we stock up.
Which can cause a problem if you don’t have a lot of extra storage space! We’ve chosen to live in a smaller home that doesn’t have a TON of extra room, so we have to get a bit creative with WHERE we store all the extra toilet paper. Here are some ideas from experience:
- Use a shelf in the linen closet
- If you have a bed on a frame, store the extras under your bed
- Add shelves above doorways in the bathroom and load them with the extras
Talking about paper products, this brings me to my next tip…
3. USE RAGS AND CHEAP CLOTH INSTEAD OF ONE-USE DISPOSABLE PRODUCTS
Now, I have not crossed over to using cloth or rags instead of toilet paper. I’m just not there. But here are things we don’t normally have in our home anymore on purpose:
Paper towels
Paper napkins
Kleenex
Swiffer pads
Disinfectant wipes
Facial cotton pads
I’ve replaced all of these with a cloth version.
- We buy cheap washcloths from thrift stores and use those for cleaning cloths.
- These same cheap washcloths can be used for facial cotton pads to apply toner or take off makeup at night.
- The Dollar Tree or local thrift stores often have microfiber towels for dusting and cleaning.
- Our tissues were replaced with either reusable handkerchiefs or toilet paper in a jiffy.
- Instead of paper napkins we use reusable cloth napkins.
- We also use old cloth napkins for paper towels and a lot of the icky jobs they do…like pat down raw meat, or catch oil from pan-fried foods. I keep a large bowl (almost a basin) on top of our washer where we put these cloths until I’m ready to wash a load of them—and then I wash them in hot water and dry with high heat. Just to make sure all that ick is dead.
Update:
Grove has the best deals on natural cleaning supplies, like my favorite kitchen scrubber and walnut sponges
You can get a sustainable living kit free when you spend $20
Which includes:• Grove Recycled Trash Bags
• Grove Glass Soap Dispenser
• Grove Gel Hand Soap
• Grove Walnut Scrubber Sponges
• Grove Flour Sack Towel
Bonus Tip: Saving money by cloth-diapering
For you parents out there, we save on diapers by cloth-diapering part time. I didn’t add this to the above list since we haven’t fully replaced disposable diapers. We use cloth diapers during the day and disposables at night or when travelling. All of our kiddos have developed diaper rash if we use cloth diapers at night, and/or they leak through.
But even part-time cloth-diapering reduces our paper product usage, saving us money and lowering our waste.
Note: If you’re going to have a baby, asking for cloth diapers on your registry is a great idea! It’s what we did and I think it is the best “keeps on giving” gift we got.
I also recommend doing research on the EWG website to see how your household cleaners rank.
7 Easy Gluten-Free Toddler Snacks {No-Bake}
Toddlers. They be crazy. Crazy hungry, too. I absolutely adore my littles, but seriously, the endless snacks can be totally exhausting and downright overwhelming.
It’s all too easy to pick up a Costco size bag of Pirate Booty and toss that to them like birds all day long. But I really do try to feed them healthier options and save that for special, extra desperate times.
Being a gluten free family can add some elements of “inconvenient,” but we have found some really easy ways to make this work.
When my firstborn entered toddlerhood, I found myself struggling to find gluten-free toddler snacks that he would enjoy. Especially when I try to eat more whole foods than processed foods.
And I didn’t and don’t always have time to bake a delicious muffin, which is, like, 99% of toddlers’ favorite snack.
When I make muffins as a gluten-free toddler snack now it’s a special treat and extra exciting!
I want to share with you 7 of my go-to snacks I rotate through every week. All week.
Some of these are so simple, you might shake your head. But when you’re trying to feed hungry toddlers all day and you have to feed them gluten-free snacks, some times you need to be reminded of the simple foods that save your life.
(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, but you will not be charged a penny extra! And mama, I never recommend products I don’t love or believe in. I so appreciate your support)
These are my go-to gluten-free toddler snacks that require zero oven time
- Trail mix. Y’all, I make our own trail mix using items from Winco’s bulk section, and it’s the BEST! I get to alter it however I want and I know exactly what’s in it (which, guess what? There are NO hydrogenated or yucky oils. Boom!). It’s a very filling snack that is actually time consuming to eat, too, because mine like to pick out each nut and raisin. Healthy snack + short mama break = so much yes.
This trail-mix has dry-roast peanuts, raw pumpkin seeds, sliced raw almonds, unsweetened shredded coconut, no-sugar added raisins, and dried fruit my sister brought us from thailand - Sliced fruit or berries. Yep. That easy. Apple, pear, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, watermelon. You name it. Chop melons and other larger fruits earlier in the week to make this extra simple. Let them eat it with mini forks and it’s even better for some reason #toddlerlogic
- Veggies with homemade ranch. My kids LOVE this one! Seriously. Ranch is magical in making everything edible. I’m pretty sure it could make dirt taste good. Again, pre-chopping veggies for the week makes this snack the bomb for busy days! I also home make a lot of ranch for the week, too.
- Cheese cubes. I don’t know why my kids love this so much. Any time you serve a food in a shape that’s not normal, it gets extra exciting. I just cube cheese and put it in a bowl. Again, break out the mini forks for extra sophistication.
- Yogurt. Sooooo easy! So simple. We use whole fat plain yogurt in our house because I believe in healthy fats. But use whatever you want! I mix yogurt with a little bit of raw honey and a dash of cinnamon or vanilla for an extra treat. Then I scoop it into reusable squeezy pouches or their cute little snack cups and, voila! Snack, done.
- “Ants on a Log.” Did you ever have these as a kid? It’s just celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins (aka ants) on top. I use peanut butter that I make myself in my food processor (I’ve used this one for years as an affordable option!) with just dry roasted peanuts, a tablespoon of avocado oil, and a dash of Himalayan salt. If you like sweeter peanut butter, adding in raw honey is a delicious option!
- Gelatin jigglers (Jello, but homemade). Jello is like Bandaids to me. It’s general term, but I know it’s a brand. So, it’s jello, but it’s not. Because it’s not actually Jello brand. Get it? It’s this SUPER easy recipe that uses grass-fed gelatin, 100% juice, and water. That’s. It.You do need at least 30minutes for it to chill, so it’s better to make it in advance of the hungry toddler tantrums (anyone else have a threenager that gets massively hangry? Anybody?) For the best and easiest recipe, go HERE https://bodyunburdened.com/homemade-healthy-jello/
So there you go. Some gluten-free toddler snack ideas that are healthy, easy and don’t require baking.
What are your favorite go-to toddler snacks?