Newborn diaper rental program

OK, so we came up with the ultra-fabulous cloth diaper loan program, the concept of borrowing a selection of diapers for a week or two. Our loan program helps new parents decide if they're comfortable with cloth diapering overall or, more importantly, what type of diaper they are comfortable using (say it with me, the hardest part of cloth diapering is deciding which diaper system you want to purchase). Our loan program has been implemented by many companies across Ottawa, and throughout North America now; directly or indirectly, we have helped thousands of parents make the switch from disposables to cloth diapers.

I just came across an innovative newborn diaper rental scheme thought up by the folks at Sunshine Diapers in Florida (hey, I like to give credit where credit is due!), they rent Kissaluvs size 0 diapers for a period of 3 months. I think this is such a brilliant idea that I'm implenting a similar rental program (to launch in July), with a few minor tweaks (a rental program with a loan program twist!).

We have sold Kissaluvs diapers for over five years now, and they are hands-down our favourite diaper for newborns. They fit from 5-15 lbs, they have an umbilical scoop so they won't irritate your baby's healing umbilical cord, and the texture of these diapers does an excellent job of keeping poop where it belongs -- in the diaper and not between your baby's shoulder blades!

Newborn babies typically gain weight quickly in those first few weeks, so parents are often hesitant to spend a lot of money on what may be a short period, however, if you keep your baby in disposable diapers for those first few weeks while he fills in, you are spending money that you will never get back, you risk an increased likelihood of diaper rash, and you will be throwing away hundreds of disposable diapers that will hang around for hundreds of years. Ew, ew, and double-ew! Disposable diapers will run you approximately $20/week (count on 10-12 changes/day -- Huggies "Little Snugglers", for example, cost $12.47 for a pack of 36 diapers). Rather than spend that $20/week on disposable diapers, you can rent 30 size 0 Kissaluvs diapers instead.

We will rent the diapers for 4-week blocks, for $80/block. When you return the diapers, you will receive a $20 gift certificate (for each 4-week block; rent the diapers for 3 months, receive $60 in gift certificates); each gift certificate can be applied towards a purchase of $100.00 or more (not limited to cloth diapers). Factoring in the gift certificate(s), the diaper rental works out to $15/week. How brilliant is that? If you were to purchase 30 size 0 Kissaluvs diapers, you would spend $448.50.

We will have scheduled in-store pick-ups on a bi-monthly basis, on the first and third Sunday of the month. You must sign up in advance; you must give us at least two weeks notice that you are returning the diapers so we can plan accordingly. You may pick up the diapers before your baby is born, but the clock starts ticking when the diaper rental leaves the store, not when your baby is born, so please keep this in mind.

You are required to purchase the covers and any accessories (wetbags, doublers, wipes, etc.) for the diapers -- as a general rule of thumb, we recommend one cover for every six diapers, so 5-6 covers would be ideal. We will provide a laundry bag, and a set of dryerballs (to decrease drying time) that must be returned with the diapers at the completion of the rental. At the time of rental, you must purchase one of our laundry detergents, all of which are approved for use with cloth diapers; the laundry detergent will be discounted 40%, all of our natural detergents are cost-effective, and excellent for all your laundry needs. You will receive a set of washing directions (easy-peasy, we promise), you can expect to launder the diapers every 3-4 days for the duration of the rental.

Each set of rental diapers will be retired after 20 weeks, after which we will sell them at one of our regular diaper swaps for half of their retail value ($115 for 15 diapers, they will still have lots of life left in them!). Rental diapers will be sold on a first-come-first-serve basis. Proceeds from the sale of the rental diapers will be donated to various local charities.

Who would use this rental program?

• Parents of multiples, or preemies
• Parents who have purchased diapers that may not fit at birth (if your baby is born weighing 5 lbs, s/he won't fit size small Fuzzibunz for several weeks, for example)
• Parents who want to bridge the gap between their baby's birth and their turn in the diaper loan program (currently a 4-6 week wait)
• Parents who are starting cloth diapers with their last child, so reusing the newborn diapers with a future child is not an issue

If you want to sign up for the rental program, please call us at 613.321.7249 (Ottawa) or 519.342.0867 (Waterloo). Alternately, you can e-mail me at rental@extraordinarybabyshoppe.com.

The following dates are available:

• July 5th, July 19th
• August 2nd, August 16, August 30
• September 6th, September 20th

If our newborn diaper rental program is anywhere near as popular as our diaper loan program, these spots will fill up quickly.