As a young mother of two, Jade Carpenter knows how important networking with other parents can be. That’s why she has two growing businesses — and a third on the way — to enable parents to tap into not only a range of baby products but also the expertise and resources that can benefit families.

Carpenter owns and operates Nature Baby Outfitter and the Flying Fish Kids’ Gym, both at Mountain Mall in Whitefish, and has plans to add a consignment store for used children’s clothing and equipment.

She and her husband, Jonathan, met Crystal Clark, who founded Nature Baby Outfitter, when they were just starting out as new parents.

“I was interested in cloth diapers and I helped with La Leche League meetings,” Carpenter said. “After they [the Clarks] had their second baby [and wanted to sell the business] we decided to go for it. Jonathan and I are pretty entrepreneurial. And we didn’t want it to close. It was a valuable resource.”

Carpenter operated Nature Baby Outfitter at its birthplace, the Community Birth Center in Kalispell, for about a year by appointment only. She decided to move the business to the Whitefish mall to create more foot traffic and exposure for the business.

The specialty store has a wide variety of cloth diapering supplies and carries baby carriers, breastfeeding accessories, wooden toys and other items such as musical instruments and magnetic blocks for young children.

A return to cloth diapers in recent years has been driven largely by cost, but also by parents wanting to raise their children in a more environmentally conscious way, Carpenter said.

Disposable diapers will cost parents about $1,400 to $2,200 a year, while cloth diapers run $400 to $500.

“The trend is growing as people learn about the cost savings,” she said.

While Nature Baby Outfitter offers many top brands such as GroVia, Best Bottom, Bum Genius and Rumparooz in form-fitted cloth diapers, the business also specializes in flat and prefolded cloth diapers.

“A lot of people are going back to the flat and prefold diapers,” Carpenter added.

A plus for new parents is a diaper instruction class Carpenter offers at 10 a.m. the first Saturday of the month. She usually has her husband on hand for the cloth diaper classes to help out other new dads.

“He’s able to tell them, ‘I’m a dad and that’s not scary,’” she said, referring to the task of learning how to diaper an infant.

“The back-end support is so important,” she said. Being a resource for parents with questions is an integral part of the business.

“We get so many moms from so many walks of life,” Carpenter said. “It’s fun connecting resources. Right now we’re all working so collaboratively.”

Nature Baby Outfitter, which shares space with the Flying Fish Kids’ Gym, hosts several classes and groups, including prenatal and postnatal yoga, La Leche League breastfeeding support, an attachment parenting group and potty-training instruction.

Carpenter took over the children’s gym in August 2013, seeing it as a natural extension of her business. The gym, equipped with plenty of padding, is a safe indoor space where parents can come and play with their children. She wants to eventually add a drop-off element to the gym, probably a parents’ night a couple of evenings at first.

Next up for Carpenter is a consignment store for children’s clothing and goods that should be up and running in expanded space at Mountain Mall within a month or so. Right now people are able to drop off consignment items at the Chic Boutique in Whitefish.

Carpenter said she was approached by young parents about the need for such a consignment shop. Several other secondhand stores for children’s clothing have closed in recent months.

“The boutique and high-end brands will be our focus,” Carpenter said. The shop will have a website where people can track the sales of their consignment items.

Carpenter, 31, is a 2000 Whitefish High School graduate. She met Jonathan while both of them were serving in the U.S. Navy. They’re parents to Vanora, 3, and Ronin, 10 months.

The couple started a mold remediation business, now called Mold Wranglers, after they settled in Whitefish because they saw a need for cost-effective mold removal services.

“It’s fun to be job creators,” Carpenter said.

Being young parents and the owners of so many businesses doesn’t leave a lot of extra time, but it’s the perfect arrangement for them, Carpenter said, because they’re able to work together and have their children with them much of the time.

As for how they find time to do it all, Carpenter shrugs and says with a smile: “We’re young and have the energy.”

Nature Baby Outfitter and Flying Fish Kids’ Gym are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at Mountain Mall. Go to naturebabyoutfitter.com, call 862-KIDS or follow the businesses on Facebook for further information.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.