Earth Day Sale at Continuum Family!

Our third annual Earth Day sale is on for today only!! Get 15% of many, many items storewide, including all organic and eco-friendly products. I've only got a few slots open for many of my CF custom items so shop early for your chance to get these at a great price!

Where to Find Continuum Family Around the World

I am often asked if we offer our CF line of EC-friendly baby clothing and accessories at wholesale. The short answer is "sorry, no". While I love the idea of having other small businesses support us in bringing our custom items to as many places around the world as possible, we have made a conscious decision to keep things small here at Continuum Family. For now at least, it suits us best to be a family-sustaining business. We have embraced the business practice of smallering, which means we plan to grow the business only as much as we want to grow it, running our business instead of letting it run us.

That being said, there are currently two companies, Dream Nappies in Japan and Windelmaus in Austria, that are carrying select CF items. Dream Nappies carries our prefold belts and T-shirt tunics/gowns and Windelmaus carries our tiny undies and pull up training pants.

 tiny undies order destined for Austria

While we will remain the exclusive distributor for our CF line in North America, we will review any requests for other international companies to carry our CF items on a case by case basis.

Which Training Pants for EC?

Jane in Australia writes:

Hi,

I would love to order some of your training pants for my 10 month old daughter, Alice, and wanted to see which ones you would recommend - I haven't used training pants before, but was wanting some to hold one wee when we're out, and so not to wet Alice's clothes, but not too extra absorbant that I won't be able to tell if she's done a wee or not?

Thanks for your help,

Jane

For training pants, it's a bit of a trade off -- if you want something that won't wet outside clothing then you need to get ones with a waterproof (PUL) outer, yet these ones make it difficult to tell if they have gone without checking inside the pants. However, something that you will be able to see or feel easily that she has gone will likely wet the outer clothing to some degree. Training pants with a PUL layer inside give you the best of both worlds -- they generally won't wet outer clothing unless they're left on for a bit. Yet you should be able to feel them and see that she's gone. I would recommend going with bamboo training pants, as they are more absorbent than cotton. In particular, my CF Side Snap Trainers in bamboo, with optional PUL layer inside and bamboo velour inner are a very absorbent option. And I've just added some cute print outer options in bamboo interlock. I will also soon be getting some solid color outers in bamboo french terry.

Another good choice if you want a pull up option would be the EcoNix by BongoBaby. These have bamboo velour and inner PUL layer on the soaker section, although the body is cotton (organic).

In general, I recommend going with a side snap trainer unless you and your baby are fairly consistent with catching poops. ;)

Big in Japan

One of the things I love about having an online business is the opportunity to make contacts with people in many other countries. So far, I have had the pleasure of doing business with many European countries, Australia, and more recently Japan. In fact, this past month I had a surge of orders from Japan for some of my EC-related items such as our Continuum Family baby gowns, diaper belts, and split crotch pants. I found out through one of my Japanese customers that she is going to be one of the main presenters at an upcoming EC conference entitled "Babies do not need diapers -Quest for the lost physical abilities of human body" on November 2nd at Tsuda College and she wanted to have some of my supplies available for people interested. How exciting is that?! I was also able to facilitate a connection between this customer and Christine Gross-Loh, author of The Diaper Free Baby, as they both live in Japan. I had the song "I'm Big in Japan" by Tom Waits running through my head all day after that... :)

Update: Here's a picture she sent me after the conference of her makeshift EC store:

Our Top 20 Products

Ever wonder what other people buy when they visit our site? Here's a list of our Top 20 Best-Selling Products:

1) "Shi Shi Nix" EC Baby Pants -- these trim yet absorbent pull-up trainers from Australia come in a variety of very cute prints
2) CF Bamboo or Hemp Prefold Diaper Belt -- our lightweight diaper belt is a quick and easy way to secure a prefold diaper
3) Little Beetle Learners - Organic Training Pants -- these sporty trainers provide full coverage in a side-snapping trainer that can also be easily pulled up/down
4) Eco Nix - Organic EC Baby Pants -- these are the luscious, organic version of the Shi Shi Nix - the optional groovy embroidered spiral makes them unique
5) Unbleached Indian Prefolds --a soft and absorbent cloth diapering staple
6) Gauze Diaper Doublers - these economical inserts can be used to boost absorbency of diapers, training pants, even regular underwear
7) T-Shirt Gown -- this ever-popular, economical baby gown fits young babies up to toddlers
8) Papoose Cloth Training Pants -- inexpensive, all-cotton training pant
9) CF Tiny Undies - Cotton Interlock/Jersey -- our tiny underwear is geared for babies from 6-24 months
10) Transparent Potty -- this cute potty has the added benefit of being able to easily see when your little one is finished
11) CF Fleece Prefold Diaper Belt -- the polar fleece version of our diaper belt
12) CF Potty Cozy - Polar Fleece Solids -- handy for keeping the potty warm at night or in the car
13) CF Split Crotch Pants - Bamboo or Hemp -- functional and cozy, these pants make pottying easier
14) YES! Maternity/Nursing Bra -- my all-time favorite nursing bra!
15) Baby Potty Bowl - Red or Blue -- very handy for infant and nighttime pottying
16) CF Trainer Cover - Merino Wool -- light and breathable protection over any cloth trainer or trim diaper
17) Snappi Diaper Fastener -- the easiest way to secure a prefold diaper (besides the diaper belt)
18) CF Side Snap Training Pants - Cotton -- released in May 2008, our non-waterproof bikini-style trainer is fast becoming a favorite
19) CF Tiny Undies - Organic Bamboo Jersey -- organic version of our baby/small toddler underwear
20) CF Side Snap Training Pants - Bamboo -- organic version with buttery bamboo terry outer and bamboo velour inner option