Niagara This Week
June 20, 2008
Port Colborne Edition

It all started with two bags of garbage every week and a high monthly bill. The garbage and wasted money could be attributed to the same thing -- diapers.

Amy Shaver was constantly filling the garbage can with diapers from her one-year-old son, Benjamin, and, with another child on the way, she wasn't looking forward to doubling the load. So last September the Port Colborne mom started Peekaboo Bottoms, an online cloth diaper store. Her small basement operation has grown and she recently opened a store in St. Catharines.

"It started as a way for my family to save money and be environmentally friendly," Shaver said. "I started small but the timing was right to open a store."

With the help of her husband, Rich, she took the store from an online shopping site to a natural baby shop and boutique. The newest addition to her family, son Christopher, helps her work during the week.

Shaver said cloth diapers are coming back in style whether people want to save money, help the environment or simply follow a new trend.

"And they're not the old traditional cloth diapers," she said.

Cloth diapers are easier to use than the fold and pin styles of decades past. Now reusable diapers are almost as convenient as the disposable variety.

Costs for cloth diapers vary. A pack of 12 pre-folds costs $25 plus the cost of covers which start at $8 each. The most expensive diaper Shaver sells is one to fit a child from eight pounds to 35 lbs. They sell for $27 each.

"It may seem like a lot when you are starting out but you will drop more than that on disposables," she said.

Peekaboo Bottoms offers a trial package for moms who are unsure if cloth diapers are the way to go. The $30 package contains a variety of cloth diapers to try out.

Peekaboo Bottoms will celebrate a grand opening June 21 from 10 a.m to 3 p.m. There will a variety of giveaways and events planned throughout the day. The store, located inside 3D Baby Vision on Ontario Street in St. Catharines, is open Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays from noon to 8 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada - Peekaboo Bottoms originally started as an online cloth-diapering store (www.peekaboobottoms.com) by a Canadian mom with a desire to share her passion. She did such a great job sharing that passion that she found a need to expand and now Amy Shaver, owner of Peekaboo Bottoms, is excited to announce the opening of her natural parenting store & baby boutique!

The store will be featuring the same great names you have come to know and love in the cloth-diapering world as well as continuing to offer more big names. Unbleached Chinese Prefolds, Thirsties Fab Fitteds and Happy Heinys are just some of the favourite names that are already gracing the store. Swaddle Bee’s One-Size Pocket, Side-Snapping Pockets and All-in-One diapers in a variety of beautiful colours will be joining the lineup in the near future. The store is also going to be carrying the very popular g Diapers (a combination of a cloth diaper & compostable liner).

For expectant mothers planning for the arrival of their to-be-cloth-diapered newborns, Amy is proud to announce that they are featuring a Gift Registry. Mothers (and Fathers) can register for cloth diapering items as well as any other natural parenting item in the store so that people attending the Baby Shower will better know what to buy for the new family.

Cloth diapering has come back around from two-or-so generations ago with a fresh-faced makeover. Not only are the new cloth diapers easy to care for, use and wash but they are helping stop the negative environmental impact of disposable diapers. Some examples of the great impact that cloth can have on our environment include the fact that it takes approximately one cup of crude of oil to make each disposable diaper and the sad fact that disposable diapers take up more room in our landfills than fast-food containers. Another example is personal to Amy and her husband: they went from two bags of garbage per week while using disposable down to a half a bag per week! Peekaboo Bottoms is helping to make our Earth a healthier, cleaner place by selling cloth diapers that can be used over and over for multiple children.

With the addition of the storefront, Amy has decided to expand the focus of Peekaboo Bottoms to include many natural parenting products and well as add a baby boutique! With BPA-scare issues all over the news, she is excited to be carrying Born Free glass bottles and Thinkbaby BPA Free Plastic Bottles. Amy is also carrying many items from local “momprenuers” such as My Munchkin baby carriers (which are made by another Niagara Region mom), baby blankets & bibs from Tri-Stitch Creations and bottle cozies and hair clips from Just Because! More additions are planned for the near future.

The new showroom is located at 569 Ontario Street inside 3D BabyVision in St. Catharines, Ontario. The store is open on Wednesdays, Fridays & Saturdays from 10am-4pm and Thursdays from 12pm-8pm. The Grand Opening is Saturday June 21st, 2008 from 10am-3pm.

About Peekaboo Bottoms - The store has been in business since September 2007 and has enjoyed a quick but steady success. Amy Shaver, the owner, has always lived in the Niagara Region and is pleased to be merging her love for natural parenting with her background in Business Marketing from Niagara College.

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Niagara This Week
September 14 & 21, 2007
Port Colborne & Welland Editions

Amy Shaver is on a diaper crusade. After making small changes to become more environmentally friendly she wanted to do more. After looking at a garbage can full of disposable diapers from her 12-month-old son Benjamin a lightbulb went off in her head.

"I'll switch to cloth," she said. At first, her husband Rich was reluctant to take on the task, he, like many, had misconceptions about cloth diapers.

"They're not your mother's cloth diapers," Shaver said sorting through the dozens of the environmentally friendly diapers on her rec room floor. "There are still kinds that you can fold and pin but they are a lot better quality and easier to use. And there are types that just as easy as a disposable diaper."

When Shaver first decided to make the change it wasn't easy. It's not because she had to do extra laundry, or using cloth diapers was more difficult, it's because she was unable to find any information in the region.

As Benjamin napped Shaver would spend her time clicking away at the keyboard visiting websites and compiling information for her own use. Then she had another brilliant idea.

"If I can't find this information, chances are other mothers can't find it either," she said. So she set out making a pamphlet which she then handed out to different agencies, maternity wards, midwives and obstetricians.

The pamphlet highlights the three main benefits of using cloth diapers -- health benefits for the child, savings to your pocketbook and its overall effect on the environment.

While there are initial start-up costs with switching to cloth, the long-term benefits are incredible, said Shaver who estimates she will save up to $800 this year by not purchasing disposable diapers. The cloth variety range in price from $20 for a dozen of the pre-fold variety (the classic variety), to $15 to $20 each for fitted or pocket style and $10 to $15 for covers while inserts cost about $3 to $5.

Shaver recommends having at least two dozen diapers on hand which could set you back between $200 and $400. However, Shaver said the diapers have a 50 per cent resale value and that most can be used for more than a year due to their ability to expand.

"A lot of people think it's too much work or it's too expensive but they are not looking at the big picture," she said. "In the long run it saves a lot of money, it's not that much more work and it is better for the environment."

Shaver said the biggest myth people believe is that it is gross -- washing baby poop out of a cloth diaper may seem gross, but according to labels on most disposable varieties you are supposed to wash waste out before putting them in the trash. Shaver said there is even a sprayer that clips onto toilets for parents to rinse out the diapers, but she said it's easiest to tap the diaper upside down over the toilet and it falls right off.

Another issue is the smell. She remembers last summer when dirty diapers filled up the trash cans in the garage "the smell was unbearable." Now, once Benjamin dirties his diaper, its rinsed and placed in a bin by the washer and the smell is minimal.

"It's really not as bad as some people think."

Her crusade to find information has led to something more -- www.peekaboobottoms.com -- an on-line business where people can order and learn about cloth diapers. In the near future she will be transforming a room in her basement into a small shop, which will be open on an appointment basis, where people can purchase, browse and learn all about the different products available. In the big picture she one day sees a store front in Port Colborne for her operation.