How It All Began

Arctic Baby Bottoms began in 2010, after my youngest son, Kian, was born. When my oldest son, Aidan, was born in 2006, I really wanted to try cloth diapers, but could only find Gerber pre-folds locally at Wal-Mart. I figured if Wal-Mart doesn't have something, it must not exist. So, I thought cloth diapering must not be a "thing" anymore and gave up my idea to use cloth diapers. Plus, I had to go back to work when he was 3 months old and had no desire to add one more thing to my new mom plate!

 (Aidan)

When I found out I was pregnant with Kian, I decided to look into cloth diapering again. I knew that I wouldn't be going back to work after he was born and thought cloth diapering would be a great way to save some money. Since I didn't think that cloth diapers existed, I had an idea to sew my own. I have been sewing since I was a little girl and felt pretty confident that I could come up with something. After researching patterns on the internet, I settled on a fitted diaper called PooPockets and then found a cover pattern at a local quilt shop. I started sewing before he was even born! The pattern was pretty simple and I created my fitted using a variety of fabrics. Flannel was great because I could find prints and colors that were fun. Terry cloth looked like it would be super absorbent and fairly soft, but it was difficult to sew. Birdseye diaper fabric was what the majority of my diapers were made from. It was easy to sew, absorbent, and easy to clean.

 (Kian)

When it came to making the covers though, that was really a disaster! I purchased some PUL (poly urethane laminate) online, and was not very happy with what I received. I could not tell which side was supposed to be the inner/outer. It all looked the same to me, but there was definitely a right and wrong side! I also decided to use flannel for the outer part of the cover (the pattern said this was okay) and since I couldn't find any other binding that would be waterproof, I used cotton quilt binding. Now, for those of you smart seamstresses, you know that cotton quilt binding is not going to keep moisture from seeping out, but will actually wick it further out of the diaper. And that is exactly what happened! The covers were a flop! They were super cute, but just not effective at keeping moisture in!

 (The Covers!)

I needed to find a cover to go with my fitteds. During my search for diaper patterns, I ran across some information for covers that work great with the PooPocket pattern. I have never been one for ordering unknown products from the internet and after researching and discovering that cloth diapering was alive and well, I just could not believe that Alaska did not have a store that sold some of these products. So, after delving further into a few brands and pushing my search engine to the max, I found a cloth diapering store in Fairbanks and Anchorage! It was definitely a hallelujah moment!

My mom and I made the drive from Wasilla to Anchorage with a three year old and newborn in tow. I had to get a look at the diapers before I ordered online. While in the lovely cloth diaper store, Sweet Camo Babytique, I stocked up on Thirsties Duo Wraps and a few other odd and end cloth diaper products. My mom and I were thrilled that there was a local resource for cloth diapering! We made the trek a couple more times and I even ordered online once so that I could get in and out quick (since I usually had a toddler and a baby in a car seat.)

Cloth diapering was appealing to me on so many levels, once I started using them on my son. Besides the money I was saving on not having to buy disposable diapers, I was also bonding with my son on a whole new level. Diapering was no longer this yucky thing that I tried to pawn off on my husband. I wanted to spend the time to change the cute fluff on his bum, even when it might be full of poo! I felt so good about my cloth diapering journey thus far, that I wanted to spread the cloth love with other families. I began to contemplate starting a cloth diaper business. The first time I mentioned it to my mom, it was really more of a joke. I remember saying to her "I should open a cloth diaper store" and when she replied seriously with "Yes, you should" it became clear that it wasn't just a joke and was actually a good idea. With the encouragement of my mom, and some brainstorming, Arctic Baby Bottoms became a reality!

In the past 3 1/2 years, I have learned so much about cloth diapering, natural parenting, running a business, and how to maintain my sanity through it all! I have met some very wonderful people along the way and am happy to be able to call many of them my friends.

Thank you to everybody who has supported Arctic Baby Bottoms!! I look forward to the years to come, all of the new friends and customers I will meet, and the families I can help teach about cloth diapering!!