Almost a week ago I asked many of you to take a survey with questions pertaining to my blog. I posted it to Twitter, Facebook, and had a pop-up survey which you could either take or close and go about your browsing. I’ve been curious for a while about what content you like most, what you want to see more of, and how helpful my videos and posts truly are.

It does do a girl good to get positive (and negative) feedback.
Since 300 of you took the time to fill out this 4-6 minute survey it is only fair that you also get to see the results!

The optional Extra Input paragraph form was exceptionally helpful. There were many very nice comments that made me smile, and also quite a few constructive criticisms that I will be working on.

My thanks go to everyone who took a little time to take the survey. ALL of the input was carefully reviewed and I hope this will make DDL a better blog!

{if you can’t load iframes you can clik this link and see the full page results}

Over 200 babies were diapered with handwashed flats during the Flats and Handwashing Challenge. As far as I know all of them survived and only minor injuries were reported by the parents (including my Snappi scratch).  If you missed any of the Flats Challenge posts you can find them, along with links to the other blogs that participated, by following the FlatsChallenge tag.

Participants were asked to record their experience using the Conclusion Survey that was sent to them and linked through my blog.

Now that all of the results are in I am very excited to share them. The easiest way was to let you view the Summary of responses. After 2 days of research and a little hacking (nothing fancy) I found the easiest way to do it.

Click the image below and a box will pop up showing you the entire Summary of results.

(or click HERE if using a Mobile Browser or results don’t show)

The beauty of this method is that if others add their results later it will always be visible, versus screen capping and posting the images.

I would also love to share the written responses I received. I’m going to include my favorites here:

Totally Positive:

“I think that this Challenge has solidified my desire to advocate cloth diapering, and get involved with education more regularly. I loved the WIC suggestion and will look into that in my town/county.”

“I had been using flats already about 90% of the time, and going into this I honestly didn’t think my diapers would get as clean as when I used the washer. They actually came out CLEANER because I was using hotter water. I was stunned later when I took off the night diapers and *sniff sniff* NO ammonia smell.”

“The biggest lesson I learned was the following: flats are probably my favorite diaper to use. They fold nicely, dry quickly, don’t stain, wash quickly without the smell of urine, and they are so adorable on my little man. The hand washing was time consuming, but I learned that there are methods that make it easier and that I can do it!!”

Middle of the Road:

“While I think this system is totally doable for stay-at-home moms, I think washing at a Laundromat would be better for working moms. If you had 3 dozen flats you would only need to go twice a week, which if you have a little one you would probably need to go that often anyway.”

“I learned that it was more difficult that I thought to handwash all those diapers everyday….yet it was WAY MORE satisfying than I EVER imagined. When I was finished washing and the diapers were on the drying rack, I felt very accomplished and and had a great sense of pride everytime I looked at the rack loaded with diapers. ”

“I went into this challenge thinking it would be quite easy and not much of a variation from our normal way of diapering. I found that I needed many more covers for 2 babies (10 would have been fantastic) and that my diapers just didn’t get as stain-free as I would have liked based on cleaning methods and cleaning schedule. I think it is doable for a low-income mom with no in-home w/d but I think it would need to be a mom with a fair bit of spare time as well as a decently sized starting stash. I did not complete the challenge — I gave up about half way in due to the chaos in my home. It was just too much to add to my normal routine (5 children, two in diapers, breastfeeding two babies, etc).”

Not so Sunny:

“I think this was kind of a good reality check. I thought that handwashing would be really easy but I was surprised at how much time and effort it took, not to mention that now my bathtub is all scratched up from the bucket which my landlord won’t like. It would honestly be asking a lot to tell someone to handwash cloth diapers. I don’t profess to think that now every low income mom should do this. I think lots of moms have had to take a break from handwashing to tend to a crying child, and that’s discouraging. It’s more important to spend time with a baby than to wash diapers. So handwashing is possible but sadly not always practical. I love my flats though and will continue to use them!”

“I honestly thought I would complete this and that it wouldn’t be difficult. I am sad to say that although I hand washed the diapers I used the dryer twice because they just took too long to dry outside. In the end I stopped after day 6. I just needed a break due to lots of other things going on in my life. I disappointed myself but I also learned that if I thought cloth diapering was flats, pins, and rubber pants I definitely would NOT do it. I makes me more committed to spreading the news about modern cloth diapering.”

“I hate to be the one ‘Debbie Downer’ in all this, but I was really surprised by how much I didn’t like it. I was so excited in the beginning, but I waited until Tuesday for my first wash, and I felt like I was dealing with 50 lbs. of laundry. Add to that the fact that I was 27 weeks pregnant with my 7th child and maybe I was being a little too idealistic about the whole thing. In all, I would do this if I had to, but I gained a whole new healthy appreciation for my washer/dryer and for my awesome AI2, AIO, and hybrid diapers!”

To read all 30 pages of responses download the PDF. I wish I could post them all but yeah, there are 30 pages!
View Responses to the Flats and Handwashing Challenge

Bloggers wanting to use the stats in their own posts can link to: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewanalytics?formkey=dFNEMGMxZ0pEMHRtTGp0Q3lZbzY0Vnc6MQ

SOUTH PARIS, Maine (June 9, 2010) – In tough economic times it’s no surprise that more budget-strapped parents are switching to cloth diapers to save money. In fact, a new online survey out today conducted by Harris Interactive for DiaperShops.com, a leading online cloth diapering boutique, reveals that one-third (33%) of parents who use disposable diapers say they would be “extremely” or “very likely” to switch to cloth diapers after learning that cloth diapers could save them $2,000 over the course of their baby’s diapering years.

However, just because parents say they are willing to switch doesn’t mean they are. The survey found that only approximately one in ten parents (9%) with children in diapers (ages 0-2 years) use or have used cloth diapers. This number represents a substantial minority of the parenting population.

Kelly Wels, the founder of DiaperShops.com, says this study exposes a knowledge gap among American parents. “It is true that cloth diapers can save a family $2,000 and more over the course of their baby’s diapering years; that said, it’s evident from this survey that parents don’t know just how much is at stake by switching to cloth diapers,” she says.

Environment, Diaper Rash Top Concerns for Parents

One-third (33%) of disposable diapering parents say they would be “extremely” or “very likely” to switch to cloth diapers after they learned how disposable diapers negatively impact the environment. Experts say disposable diapers take 250-500 years to decompose in a landfill and more than 27 billion diapers end up in landfills each year.

Other key findings from the DiaperShops.com and Harris Interactive survey include:

• Moms are more likely than dads to switch to cloth diapers out of concern for the environment. Sixty percent of moms say they would be likely to switch to cloth diapers for environmental reasons, while only 49 percent of dads were likely to do so.

• Moms are more concerned about diaper rash. Almost 30 percent of moms say they would be “extremely or very likely” to switch to cloth diapers if it could ease or eliminate diaper rash. Only 19 percent of dads say diaper rash is a reason to switch. (Note: This survey was conducted just prior to the firestorm surrounding diaper rashes alleged by parents using Pampers Dry Max for their babies.) • Dads like the convenience of washing diapers at home. Forty six percent of dads who use disposable diapers for their babies say they would be “extremely likely” to switch to cloth diapers after learning that cloth diapers can easily be washed at home with only 2-3 extra loads of laundry per week. In comparison, only 35 percent of moms say they are “extremely likely” to switch for the same reason.

• Convenience is the number one reason for choosing disposable diapers. Of the 91 percent of parents with children ages 0-2 who currently use disposable diapers, an overwhelming majority (85%) cite convenience and ease of use as the main reason for their choice. Sixteen percent choose to use disposable diapers because they think that cloth diapers are more expensive.

• Financial reasons for using cloth diapers are greater for parents in the Midwest. In fact, 68 percent of parents there say they would be “extremely,” “very” or “fairly likely” to switch to cloth for financial reasons. Compare that to 55 percent in the Northeast and 52 percent in both the South and the West who say they would switch to cloth diapers to achieve financial savings.

“Cloth diapering has been a growing phenomenon among today’s modern parents, especially when parents have done their homework to learn about all of the easy-to-use cloth diapering options like FuzziBunz®, Happy Heinys, GroVia, Kissaluvs, BabyKicks and bumGenius,” said Wels. “However, even though these options exist, this survey reveals that there is a significant misinformation about cloth versus disposable diapers.”

Tereson Dupuy, the founder of FuzziBunz® and mother of the modern cloth diaper, agrees, “To solve this knowledge gap, we need conscientious parents to take an active role in learning about their diapering options and finding what truly works best for them by taking into account cost, health of baby, convenience and style. Cloth diapers have come a long way and are nothing like the diapers of yesteryear!”

About the Survey Methodology This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of DiaperShops.com from May 5-11, 2010 among 1,144 parents of children age 17 years or younger, 276 of whom have children ages 0-2 years. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact sarah@diapershops.com.

About DiaperShops.com DiaperShops.com, owned by Kelly Wels of Kelly’s Closet, Inc., is the home of five online specialty baby boutiques and diaper shops including KellysCloset.com, FuzziBunzOnline.com, OneSizeDiaperStore.com, HappyHeinys.com, and BulkClothDiaper.com. Together, these five cloth diapering boutiques under the DiaperShops.com umbrella offer one of the most comprehensive selections of modern cloth diapers and accessories. DiaperShops.com has been a trusted name in cloth diapering for nearly a decade and has served more than 50,000 customers since opening its first store, KellysCloset.com, in 2001.

If you have a spare moment, would you participate in this survey?  It is meant to find out what types of diapers parents are using and why.  It isn’t just for cloth mamas, it asks questions about disposables as well.  It took me 2 minutes.

Diaper Survey

Thanks in advance for taking a moment to help this mama and her study out. I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. I already have the sunburn to prove how much fun I have been having!