Monday, October 10, 2011

Cotton nappies .... and OSDNFA ....

I have been reading alot lately about many WAHM's refusing to make 100% cotton outer nappies, and it's ironic, as it comes at a time where I have been doing a little experiment on my youngest munchkin! She has been teething (as most babies do lol!) and to top it off, got hit with the vomiting / gastro bug a couple of weeks ago (along with her 4 older siblings). She very quickly developed a really bad nappy rash, and as much as I wanted to leave a nappy off her, I just couldn't risk it, having so many unwell kids!

As I love the bright colours and unusual designs of much of the quilter's cotton, I enjoy making this an outer of my nappies, so have many in my stash. Yes, there is common concensus that they wick quickly, but seriously, they have been a lifesaver in clearing up this rash! Lately, I have been finding that they last just as long as fleece or minky outers, perhaps it is the combination of the inner lining and the constitution of the boosters that are the key?

Anyway, it has brought to my attention that there may be a false sense of security regarding fleece and minky, fooling parents into thinking that they can leave a cloth nappy on their bub for longer (and don't get me started on the length of time some people leave disposables on their children!). But I am 99.9% positive that the breathability of the cotton combined with the breathability of the PUL has helped to clear the rash.

If I use nothing but my cotton outer nappies for 3 or more days (with the exception of night nappies), I find the rash disappears. However, if I use anything but cotton for any length of time, the rash returns. If I alternate, the rash tends to linger longer than using plain cotton nappies .... interesting.

Having said that, I find the inner fabric plays a part too. We just can't do suedecloth in this house. Microfleece works well, velour we can take take or leave.

But I do think that there is some value in using cotton nappies, whether it forces you to change your child more often, or simply adds that extra breathing factor to your nappies that polyester fabrics don't .... as far as I am concerned, it is comparable to using a plain PUL nappy!

The other thing I have been noticing is the increase, in companies and WAHM's alike, of NEWBORN nappies flooding the market. We have been offering newborn sizing for at least 18 months now, and at the beginning, we ridiculed for offering different sizes. We have never been firm believers in the one size fits all philosophy, because quite frankly, it doesn't! Right from the beginning, one size never fit any of my children, hence the designing, testing, modification etc of our own unique nappy pattern. This has been an ongoing process of more than THREE YEARS now, and we finally have a design that is so totally unique, that WORKS! Although, more on that to come at a later date! (we don't want yet another design and idea to be copied!!)

All I can say is that I am proud to be a pioneer in many areas, even if I don't get credit or recognition for it! Karma, babies!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Are Facebook "marches", "grapevines" and the like really worth it?

I recently participated in a Facebook "march", where a "marching page" listed 35 - 40 various pages (chosen from, I can imagine, hundreds of us submitting our page link, with the lucky ones being chosen randomly), and everyone "marching" visited and liked these pages. The chosen pages, in return were meant to return the like .... less than half of the ones that I liked did this, and in the couple of weeks since (thanks to Facebook sending us stats each week) my number of likers has decreased dramatically again .... I can only assume that the obliged return likes were rescinded.

Similarly, I took part in a grapevine project earlier in the year, with pretty much the same results.

So I am forced to ask the question - are these mass likes of pages really doing anything for your business or your image?? Surely people will like your page if your business offers them something that they need? And why would a geologist, for instance, like a page such as mine that caters for parents, not only with babies, but ones that also use cloth nappies? By the same token, why would I like a page that I have no interest in?

Granted, there are pages that cater to a wider market (such as people in business, work at home mums etc), which actually warrant a huge following (often in the thousands!) but why is it so important for people (especially small specialised WAHM types) to see their page numbers increase so much? I'm sure that if alot of them actually looked at heir numbers, compared to their actual customer base, many would find that a substantial number of likers had no interest whatsoever in the product or service that their business offered.

I think I would much prefer to have a small following, knowing that these people actually liked and / or used my products, than a huge following of obliged likers .... just something to think about!


Thursday, June 16, 2011

A Real Kick in the Pants

Originally posted on 31/01/2011

About 6 months ago, I had an idea. One that I didn't run with straight away because I was nearing the end of my pregnancy. One that actually made alot of sense. One that I told no-one about. One that was "put out there" nonetheless.

One that I now find someone else trying to establish, albeit in a different direction. It was a kick in the pants for me ... perhaps the one I needed. I followed through with my idea in the direction that I had researched would work best!

Needless to say, even when you don't voice things, the mere thought of them still puts them out into the universe.

The moral of the story? Follow through with your ideas straight away; don't let someone else take credit for them!

Lesson learned.

exquizitely yours


Taking Things Personally

Originally posted on 25/01/2011

I started off this year by vowing to myself that I wouldn't take things so personally from now on .... easier said than done really!

It's hard not to, when you see other people copying various aspects of your designs and names. But I am trying to look at positively rather than negatively, in that it must be good if people want to copy it!!

Having said that, it is a little discouraging when you work so hard to come up with something that is different from the majority, and I know that it is easy to "steal" ideas and concepts from others, especially in this information technology age!

Like we have stated in our website pages The Idea and exquizite mynx nappies, we have worked tirelessly in the conceptions, designs, redesigns, manipulations, modifications and testing of our products over the past two and a half years, and we are proud and confident that what we have now really works!!!

If you don't believe us, try our nappies out for yourself! Our ex-Ticklefish stock is available at drastically reduced prices, and in most cases, the AI2 nappies use a similar Innovative double booster system as exquizite mynx nappies!

exquizitely yours


Clearance Sale!

Originally posted on 23/01/2011

While cleaning up my sewing room and cutting fabrics to sew nappies, I stumbled across a box of ex-Ticklefish stock! Still all brand new and all looking for new homes, I have decided to list it as clearance stock and heavily reduced prices!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of it, so I figure it's a great way to not only make room for new stock, but also offer people the chance to add to their stashes for a fraction of the cost!! Some prices are as low as $12!!

New exquizite mynx stock will be added to the site beginning tomorrow!

exquizitely yours


Starting to Stock!

Originally posted on 21/01/2011

So after all of the website dramas yesterday, I finally got around to cutting fabrics and embroidering today!! How exciting!

We were aiming to start stocking by tomorrow, but it will probably be closer to Monday now. Our aim is to have at least 2 to 3 nappies in each size available at any given time. And as our nappies are all handmade, there is a pretty good chance that each one will be unique! Of course, depending on fabric quantities, we may decide to have a couple of similar nappies, just in different sizes, but we'll see how things go!

exquizitely yours


Giving Thanks

Originally posted on 20/01/2011

I found out today that this site was not functioning correctly on all browsers across platforms, and couldn't for the life of me work out a solution to the problem. And then, quite by accident, I stumbled across a new theme which gave me the options I was originally looking for before "settling" for the theme I had. So it was quite opportune (albeit time consuming!) but I am happy with the result!

On another note, I was going through the website statistics last night and was shocked and surprised at the amount of sites that people had found us through, some places I didn't even realise had us linked!

So I have started to thank people and businesses for referring traffic to us. However, I have already been disappointed by one that I gave a huge thanks to; not only did they not acknowledge the thanks, they have totally disregarded it!

But, since I have vowed not to take things so personally from now on, I am willing to push that disappointment aside, and be calm in the knowledge that at least two people know how thankful I am!

exquizitely yours