Cloth Diaper Update

WOW I promised to blog about this and I just haven't had the time to sit down and do it!!! Photography has taken priority over blogging and I have been taking pictures like mad.

SO I have been using the cloth for what, about 6 weeks now? Feels like forever. The bottom line: they are GREAT!! NOT like yo mama's cloth diapers that's for sure. I envisioned soggy bottoms and narsty stenches in the diaper pail and laundry room.

One of the best things was setting up my laundry room to double as a changing room. Now that we have front loaders (cue Hallelujiah chorus) I have a long, flat surface in which to lay down baby. My friend Becca has had front loaders for a while now and she is the one whose idea I used.

Basically I put down a soft, thick blanket on top of the dryer, then got little baskets to hold the diapers, wipes, and covers and a smaller one to hold the BumGenius diaper detergent and Ecover Chlorine free bleach powder. The dirty diaper pail is also in there and is lined with a waterproof, washable laundry bag. I have a tiny garbage can wedged between the edge of the dryer and the wall with a grocery bag in it to throw away wipes and the regular diapers I use at nighttime and naptime.

One tip I have learned is that you need to go against your instinct to throw the dirty ones (peed on) into the pail and shut the lid. DO NOT SHUT THE LID!!

If you can keep it somewhere that is not public, keep it open as this will inhibit the growth of bacteria which is the cause of the stink.

Now, what do you do with POOPIE diapers you may ask? Well one method is to shake the poo off into the toilet and then flush and then give the cloth prefold a swirly. GROSS!!! Sorry, I am not that hardcore. There is this GREAT invention that you can get online for about $40 (I got mine on Amazon) that is basically a hand held high pressure sprayer.



You attach it right to your toilet's plumbing:

ANYONE can do it!! My husband did it and it works! And you can adjust the spray pressure to shoot that poo right off into sewerland.



I highly suggest practicing with the pressure BEFORE you use it on poo as it can go very strong and make a nice Jackson Poo-llack painting all over your bathroom wall and your pants!!

Once you have removed the poo from the diaper, and the sprayer really does wonders with this, the diaper will be sopping wet. What I personally have been doing is either wringing them out and laying them over the edge of the pail to dry and then washing the heck out of my hands, or leaving them in the sink until its time to do a load of laundry. That's the lazy way. We have three bathrooms, and one is attached to the laundry room, so that is not really a big issue to have one out of commission.

How often do we do the diaper laundry? Well if I am home all day and use them exclusively I will do a load every day. I wash them on HOT using the Cotton/Normal setting and then dry them on HOT/Very Dry also using the Cotton setting. They are supposed to shrink down a bit from their original size. I DO NOT DRY THE BUMMIES WRAPS! They dry quickly on their own, and using the hot heat setting will destroy their water proof abilities over time. I just made sure I had enough so that if most of them were drying I still had enough for the time in between.

Also, I feel that using proper detergent and bleach is important. I use the bumGenius detergent which is a powder (bought online but can be found in stores)

and instead of using Oxiclean which is 30% product, 70% filler, I went right to the source and bought the 100% product that Ecover makes.

It is chlorine free and really does work, and you don't need a lot.

That being said, I do bleach them once a week with regular bleach. Part of this is for my washing machine's health and part to make sure that germs are dead. This was recommended by the company I purchased the diaper from. I do not use a lot, and if possible the Bummies should not be bleached as the bleach breaks down the elastic. I also spray down the glass on the inside of the washer with antibacterial all purpose cleaner to make sure that it doesn't stink!!!

Sounds like a lot of work eh? Well, it is and it isn't. I can see this not working for someone who is not home all day to attend to everything. I can see it being tough with a newborn (I didn't start using them back then so I can't testify to that experience) as they poo so much. BUT your baby is only going to be in them for so long, and they pay for themselves very quickly. I find that if I don't use a paper diaper for nighttime and naps she won't sleep as long since she feels wet faster. This may come in handy for toilet training days!!!

If you have any questions about cloth diapering please feel free to ask!!! Or if you have any tips or tricks please post them so we can all learn something!!