Soap. It explains everything.

So after our initial post-use wash with the new diapers, I was a little disappointed when we dried them and they smelled better, but still not completely like fresh, clean laundry.

It was definitely better though and when they were dry they didn’t stink.

So anyway I was looking around again for answers and someone recommended this cloth diapering detergent called Rockin’ Green. She said she uses the Hard Rock as well as the Funk Rock Ammonia Bouncer for combating ammonia in her diapers.

The website doesn’t really have an about section or a huge amount of information. It is mostly just a store front with some reviews, but there are a couple youTube videos that they put up about soap buildup in diapers and how they compare to other brands.

After watching the videos I decided to pay attention to the rinse and agitation part of our wash cycle and see if we had soap bubbles.

Well, I have been running back-to-back soap-free wash cycles since 7:30am. I have listened dutifully to the machine and checked in on every rinse/agitation portion of the cycle.

Sooo much soap!

This picture was taken two hours ago. And these are the new diapers, mind you.

It is now 1:30pm and I just checked in again and saw the same thing. Lots of soap bubbles on the surface of the water.

It completely explains everything. No wonder the old diapers stunk. They probably had so much soap in them after two and a half years of washing like I used to wash.

Then I got to thinking about our clothes and how much soap is probably on them too. No wonder Stephen and the kids battle with eczema even though we use a free and clear detergent!

I never really trusted the diaper sites before when they would say that most detergent manufacturers recommend that you use 2-3 times the amount of soap that you really need. I had tried to use less a couple times, but felt like things didn’t get as clean. So I have to figure out a balance now between too much and too little soap.

Edited to add: As of 4:30pm we are still seeing soap bubbles! Ahhh! When will this end?

Second edit and update: I stopped around 10:30pm that first night and picked up again sometime the next morning. I did more washes as I could, but had a lot going on that day with the crazy injured child and grocery shopping that needed to get done. I did my last wash around 5:30pm. I was still getting bubbles on the surface when I checked in, but they were dissipating pretty quickly so I decided to give it up and put them in the dryer. Good news is they did not stink in the dryer and the fabric felt super clean when I pulled it out. Think squeeky clean, but with fabric.

Tutorial: Turning BumGenius 3.0 diaper cover to training pant (PullUp)

I feel like we have been potty training with Bean for forever. I know it hasn’t been that long though. It started with what was essentially a little EC (elimination communication) where she would make a certain face or tell us when she was going and we would take her to the potty to do her business.

At some point she started really wanting to use the potty rather than go in her diaper. Then at another point she hated using the potty. At another point she was too distracted to use the potty regularly. Then she was mostly accident free so long as I prompted her to go. Lately she has been telling me she has to go while running to the bathroom and she is mostly accident free.

However, that is only with me. Lately she only wants me to help her with potty stuff and throws a huge fit if I am busy and Stephen has to take her instead. She wants nothing to do with help from her preschool or Sunday school teachers. So I usually just have her try before and after and she wears a PullUp to class. We also use PullUps for trips, days where we are out of the house all day doing errands or activities and for naps and at night.

My original plan was to use a cloth version of PullUps. I searched out a few different options and eventually settled on the Happy Heiny trainers. The reviews said these were trim and I liked that you could order them with snaps on each side so that if there was a poop accident it would be much easier to clean up and deal with. Besides, the actual PullUps brand training pants also open at the sides, so that is what I expected and was used to. No one wants to drag a training pant full of poop down their toddler’s leg and then try to have them navigate their feet out of that training pant without making a mess.

When my order got here though I was so disappointed. They are so bulky. When we stuff them with even just one insert, it is like she has a balloon between her legs. People always made fun of me because of our kids’ giant cloth diaper bums, but believe me there is worse out there than the BumGenius. BumGenius and now our Flip diapers are actually really trim comparatively.

So anyway we’ve been going through a lot of PullUps lately, especially since Bean started preschool. And I hate buying them. I hate worrying about if we have enough to get us through this or that. I hate throwing them away and creating so much trash. I hate that Bean gets rashes from them all the time. I hate that they are plastered with Disney Princess crap (I know, slightly silly of me). I just hate them. Period.

I have asked around though and there really doesn’t seem to be a much better alternative in the cloth diapering world that matches up to an actual PullUp.

So, I have been getting crafty the last couple days. I have all the BumGenius covers that we are no longer using. I also have something like 300 snaps that I ordered for when my plan was to replace the velcro on them. I figured the worst that could happen is that I could wind up permanently ruining something that we are probably going to wind up throwing away anyway, right?

I did a search to see if there were any tutorials on how to go about converting a BumGenius cover to a PullUp or training pant. One blog had a picture, but her training pant did not open at the sides. She basically just removed the tabs and sewed them shut.

So I had to come up with my own plan.

The first thing I did was take an actual PullUp and lay it down open and flat against one of my diaper covers to figure out where I needed to make alterations.

Pretty much other than the fact that the BumGenius is more bikini cut than the PullUp (which actually we usually wind up folding the PullUps down a bit because Bean is her mother’s very sensitive daughter and if it touches her wrong she is uncomfortable and whines), the only difference is that the elastic and Velcro tabs extend beyond the PullUp.

So yesterday I made my first one. I used a seam ripper to remove the Velcro from the front, the elastic tabs and the laundry tabs.

Then I flipped the back part where the elastic tabs used to be inside out and made a seam there.

The result pretty much lines up with the PullUp.

Then I used my snap pliers to attach some snaps on the sides and I had a cloth PullUp. So I had Bean try it on and model it for me. She wasn’t super cooperative. First she didn’t want to put it on at all because, “No, I’m a big girl now! I don’t wear diapers anymore!” And then she didn’t want to hold still for the picture.

We used the prototype last night with a pre-fold and had no leaks or issues. However, though it fits, it is a little snug. There is no way she’d be able to get it on and off by herself.

So I made another today and instead of completely removing the elastic tab, I cut just before the velcro tabs and then repeated the process.

Bean is napping right now so I haven’t actually tried this one on her, but I think it should be a slightly better fit and easier to get on and off. Also, success at nap today, when presented with a disposable PullUp, “I don’t want to wear a sposable, Mama, I want to wear a cloth PullUp.” She was very disappointed I didn’t have more. I told her I had to make more.

Edited to add: The second attempt seems just a tad too big. It stays on, but starts to sag. I will have to adjust again. Overall I have it mostly figured out though.

An update on my cloth diapering adventures

We made some recent changes in the cloth diapering department, so I decided an update post was in order since I’ve blogged so extensively about the subject and I know I have many followers that have been converted to cloth from reading my posts (Haha, funny moment this weekend at our cousin’s baby shower, one of her friends came up to me and said, “Hi Lisa. You don’t know me, but I read your blog. And I started cloth diapering because of you. It’s been so great for us.”).

Well, after 2.5 years, and 2 kids worth of use, the microfiber inserts that came with my BumGenius 3.0 diapers had had it. They were still intact, they were still absorbent, but they stunk. And they stunk bad. Much of the “hook and loop” (Velcro) closures were also pretty worn (you may remember I’d started converting my diapers to snaps, but I only got a handful of them done). Changing diapers was an olfactory experience that I could not really deal with anymore. Then washing and drying them, P. U. It would stink up our whole house!

I tried so many things. Soaking. Bleaching. More soaking. Anti bacterials. Oxi Clean. Baking soda and vinegar. I scoured the Internet for “microfiber stink solutions,” “stinky BumGenius solution,” you name it I probably Googled it and tried it on my diapers. Nothing worked.

I had pretty much resolved to get rid of the inserts and either make or buy my own cotton inserts. Until I could get around to it, I had started using Huggies Pure & Natural Diapers or Seventh Generation diapers for Sprout and Pull-Ups or the Seventh Generation brand training pants for Bean. Stephen and I both noticed quite a spike in our budget during this period. So he started trying to be more proactive about the diaper laundry and using cloth. It was nice, but I was still sick of our microfiber.

Then my aunt called out of the blue one day and said for a combined Mother’s Day, birthday and new baby present this year she wanted to get us a cloth diapering service. She had researched it out, found three companies that serve our area and was surprised it wasn’t as expensive as she’d thought.

So I called up the companies next to find out a little more. I had a nice chat with one of owners of a Santa Clarita based company about cloth diapering and my cloth diapering problems. She told me that microfiber can only be guaranteed a year or a certain number of washes which is why diapering services can’t use them. She was surprised I made it 2.5 years with mine. She said they use cotton pre-folds because they can get the stink out and they last longer. This is basically what I had read on the Internet too, but it made more sense hearing it from someone who’s entire business revolves around cloth diapering.

After looking into it a little more though, I was disappointed to find that the diapering service only takes care of washing the pre-fold inserts and not the covers. To me, this didn’t really seem all that helpful. I’d have to keep two separate pails for the covers and inserts (which cloth diapering stuff already takes up enough room in our place), and I’d still be doing some diapering laundry.

So I talked to my aunt a little more about it and she said she would replace our old diapers instead.

Overall I still felt that my BumGenius diapers were a good investment and a good quality product. But I knew I wanted to go with cotton and not microfiber this time. I also had fairly good experiences with the distributor/parent company (I think that’s what they are?), Cotton Babies, so I did not hesitate to go back to them.

BumGenius does make an organic cotton version of their diapers, but they are all one piece. Plus, the new ones come in your choice of snaps or hook and loop. I actually liked that we could stuff our other diapers because I could control how much we needed to add or subtract for absorbency. I still wanted the flexibility of a pocket diaper or just a cover. I knew I would also go with snaps over hook and loop this time.

Since I bought/was gifted my BG 3.0s over 2.5 years ago, Cotton Babies has come out with two other kinds of diapers, the Flip System and the EconoBum.

The Flip diapers are pretty similar to G Diapers in that they have cloth or disposable inserts depending on your need. You can reuse the covers until they get gross, so you just keep replacing the inserts otherwise. They also have two cloth options, microfiber and cotton. Another good difference between the Flip and G Diapers is that like the BumGenius diapers they are one size and you can get them in snaps or hook and loop closure. They also come in all the fun colors that the BumGenius diapers do. And from what I could tell of the pictures, they looked like they fit just like the BumGenius diapers do, which is one of the things I really liked about those diapers.

So after a little contemplation and calculating, I decided to go with Flip covers. However, the Flip cotton insert pretty much looked like a cotton pre-fold to me and since I knew from my conversation with the diapering service that pre-folds last the longest, I decided to go with unbleached cotton pre-folds instead of the official Flip insert. Besides, the pre-folds were much cheaper!

The hardest part for me was trying to figure out how many inserts and covers to get. With the BumGenius I had 40+ diapers that I just ordered all together and all their pieces got worn and tossed in the diaper pail together. With these I knew I wouldn’t need as many of the covers since I’d be using them for more than one diaper change. I was slightly concerned about the absorbability of the cotton versus microfiber and whether I’d be doing more changes or doubling up to get that same level of absorbency that I was used to. So in the end, I decided to go with 20 covers and 60 pre-folds.

I know it sounds like a lot, but now that we are using them (well, we have been since Sunday anyway), I think I made the right decision for two kids in diapers. It is a little much for mostly just Sprout though (I had to plan ahead, Bean is pretty much in undies except for naps she wears a cloth diaper, but for preschool and at night we put a disposable training pant on her because she needs the extra absorbency). So a person with one kid in diapers could probably get away with a lot less.

I am also pleased to report that the cotton pre-folds are really absorbent and stand up to what we were used to with the microfiber just fine. I haven’t really noticed any extra diaper changes and we haven’t had any leaks, even overnight. The diapers fit pretty much the same as our BumGenius diapers did. The snaps work great and are easy to use.

I know it may be a bit premature since we are only a few days in, but I am really happy with the change.

My new diapers arrived in the mail last week along with a new Ergo carrier. I was so excited!

A Flip cover and a pre-fold insert after I had pre-washed everything. My initial excitement over the diapers was kind of put on hold when I read that the new Cotton Babies recommendation for diaper prep was SEVEN washes and dries! With our BG 3.0s I distinctly remember that we only had to do three.

Open Flip cover with the pre-fold in place.

Closed up Flip diaper all ready to go.

Bean wearing a Flip diaper with cotton pre-fold for nap today. I love the snaps and the fact that I can put my kids down for a nap sans pants and not worry that they will get bored and take off their diaper. This will be great during the summer when their rooms get a little warm even with the air on because of where they are positioned, getting the afternoon sun and being upstairs where heat rises.

Anyway, that about sums things up. Special thanks to my auntie for the new diapers. I am so happy with them!

Daily, 11/2

Snaps!

I love cloth diapering, part 8: Cloth with two babies

Just when everyone thought I was crazy and inflicting extra work (and disgusting poop dealings) on myself than should be necessary for a mom, I up and had another baby and decided to do cloth with both. Completely NUTSO, right?

Actually, I still don’t feel crazy or like it is that much extra work. Sure, I do have my limits, like when we moved and both kids spent a week in disposables. For the most part, however, I am still dissatisfied with disposable diapers and love my cloth diapers.

As with many parenting adventures, some things about our cloth diapering routine did have to change when Sprout came along. I thought I’d update you on how things are going now that I feel like I’ve got things figured out.

Since we use a one-size diaper, the BumGenius 3.0, both kids are in the same diapers right now. We just have them on different rises.

As such, the system I had before with pre-assembled diapers filling the baskets in the changing table was not working. So, I created what Stephen refers to as “the build your own diaper bar” which he says is kind of like a salad bar, but with diapers.

So here’s my changing table once again (and LOOK! I discovered today that the shelf DOES work with the baskets we bought! It looks so much neater than it did before!):

I have baskets with pre-sized, color appropriate shells for each kid:

Oh and it turns out that my worries about far too many pink diapers were unfounded. We have plenty of white and green diapers for Sprout to live in and I went ahead and bought three more diapers in boy colors (blues and greens).

Then I have all the newborn inserts in one basket. I am currently stuffing Sprout’s diapers with two of these at a time and at night I do one of the thicker inserts with a newborn insert as a doubler so he can make it through the night sans leaks.

And the thicker, adjustable inserts in another basket:

And that gives me a couple extra baskets for storage, which I really like because now all those burp rags I really need this time around have a home:

So anyway what we essentially do is stuff a diaper for each kid right before we change their diaper depending on who is getting changed.

I tried a couple different systems before this and didn’t like them. First I did pre-stuffed and sized diapers for each kid layered in the baskets. This didn’t work because in some situations like at night when I stuff the diapers differently (at night I double stuff Bean’s diaper with two thick inserts and I already described above what I do for Sprout) I would have to pull diapers apart and we would wind up with extra shells/inserts lying around. So then I tried what we have now, but things not really being very neat and just tossed in each basket. I didn’t like this because 1) I am totally anal and the unorderliness of it really bothered me and 2) I realized I needed a neat stack so that I could make sure all the diapers got even wear and tear by putting freshly washed stuff on the bottom of the stack. So then once I got it looking all nice and neat I had the shells layered boy-girl in the baskets, but that didn’t really work either because sometimes they go through diapers at a different rate throughout the day (usually Sprout gets an extra diaper change at the end of the day and if Bean is having one of her “poop days” she goes through a lot more diapers in a day). So it finally materialized to what I have now with different baskets for boy and girl.

I am doing laundry a lot more these days, but I have been doing laundry a lot more these days anyway thanks to all the spit-up and outfit changes. So really it isn’t even a blip on the radar because I pretty much have at least one load of laundry going every day be it diapers or clothes. Speaking of laundry, my diaper funk issues went away once we moved and stopped having to deal with a front loading HE washer.

Well, there you have it, cloth diapering with two.

And if you are new to my blog, or want to know more about cloth diapering you can check out the previous installments in this series:

I love cloth diapering, part 1: Why consider cloth?

I love cloth diapering, part 2: The various styles and brands

I love cloth diapering, part 3: Potty training and swimming

I love cloth diapering, part 4: Building a stash

I love cloth diapering, part 5: From changing table to laundry room

I love cloth diapering, part 6: On the road again…

I love cloth diapering, part 7: The diaper funk

I love cloth diapering, part 7: The diaper funk

So I have to be honest here, while I was writing my cloth diapering series I was really questioning my resolve to cloth diaper. You see, after we moved into our apartment and began washing our clothes with the new HE front loader washing machine, my diapers started to get a stinky funk.

I tried stripping them with Dawn. The first few times I did this it did seem to work for one or two washes. Eventually though even Dawn didn’t help. I tried switching to a homemade detergent. It did not help either. In fact, the problem got worse.

The last few weeks the funk has been so bad I can smell it when I pull the diapers out of the dryer and when I pull a clean diaper out of my baskets to put on Bean. It wasn’t horrible. I would just get this whiff of something funky. It did get horrible though after Bean would wet her diapers. It seemed to activate the smell, whatever it was, and make it about 20 times more potent.

I finally decided to do some research on the subject to see if anyone had experienced this before and what they had done about it.

First strike against me was the diapers I had chosen. Not necessarily just the bumGenius brand, but the microfiber inserts. Admittedly this kind of ticked me off. One of the things I absolutely loved about the microfiber inserts is that they are super absorbant and they wick away the moisture from my daughter’s skin. I guess the microfiber is more prone to buildup though and the same great absorbtion powers it has tend to make it hold onto smells.

Second strike against me was my homemade detergent. Since the detergent recipe I was using was soap based and actually a laundry soap not a detergent, that was causing buildup and soap scum in my diapers.

The third strike against me was the HE washing machine. Tons of people had complained on message boards about how the low use of water that these machines are prided on just wasn’t rinsing their diapers effectively. That seemed to make sense to me since I never had much of a diaper funk problem with our old machines and when I did, a wash in Dawn took care of it for at least a couple months.

So what to do? Most of the recommendations I saw explicitly went against the manufacturers guidelines for my diapers. I was frustrated. I didn’t want to risk ruining my diapers, but I also wanted to get rid of the funk.

The detergent problem was the easiest to fix, I just switched to a store bought HE free and clear detergent. While it meant no longer spending pennies per load, I decided it was worth it not to have stinky diapers. However, a detergent switch alone was not enough to get rid of the built up funk smell that had accumulated over the past three months since our move.

Another suggestion was to rinse the diaper inserts out in the sink prior to loading them in the washing machine. This seemed like it would probably help over the long term once I got rid of the initial funk, but it wouldn’t do anything to get rid of the current smell. I was right. I noticed that I was able to rinse quite a bit out of my diapers in the sink, but the funk remained after a wash.

Since several people had tried some of the things that went against the manufacturer’s guidelines with success, I definitely felt more confident about trying them. It meant that I was voiding the warranty, but I had already tried all the things that the manufacturer recommended without success. These suggestions were to add vinegar in a Downy ball to the wash, add bleach to the wash, and soak the diapers in an enzyme cleaner like Bac-Out. Two of these suggestions I was not even willing to try: bleach seemed like it would be too harsh for the diapers and I was afraid that the rinse problem I was having with my front loader would not get the bleach or the enzyme cleaner completely out of the diapers which meant that it could cause burns on Bean’s skin. That left the vinegar.

For those of you that are curious, there is actual science behind the vinegar. The thing about urine that stinks is amonia, which is likely part of the diaper funk smell I was experiencing. Amonia is a base, vinegar is an acid. Mix the two and they neutralize. Unfortunately though while it did seem to improve things, it didn’t completely get rid of the funk.

What I really needed was something that would strip my diapers so they would be like new again so I could put into place all the newfound suggestions that would prevent the diaper funk. One of the many suggestions I saw was to use blueing instead of bleach to do this. Once again the area that I live in, while very nice, failed me. I went to four different grocery stores looking for blueing and was unable to locate it. I don’t think I ever went to a grocery store in Bakersfield without seeing that stuff in the laundry isle. It is a bit of an old fashioned laundry trick though, so I guess not so many people use it anymore.

During the process of my research I also found out that OxyClean has a ton of fillers in it that cause buildup on the diapers too. Thankfully I was able to find another oxygen cleaner that has simple ingredients called OxoBrite and it was available at my local grocery store. I decided that I would try soaking my next batch of dirty diapers in a strong soak solution of OxoBrite and if that didn’t work I would order some blueing online.

First I washed the diapers one time in the washing machine with my HE detergent and a Downey ball of vinegar to get rid of most of the dirtyness. Then I filled my 5 gallon former laundry detergent making bucket with 2 gallons of really hot water and 8 scoops of OxoBrite. I put all the diaper inserts into the bucket and filled it with more hot water. I stirred it from time to time. The inserts blew up like balloons as they soaked up all the liquid in the bucket. I left them to sit for several hours yesterday while we were out at the Dodger game.

When I came back the first thing I noticed was just how bright white the inserts were. I rung them out and tossed them back in the washing machine for two more rinse washes. When I opened up the washing machine door I immediately noticed that I didn’t get that slight funk whiff that I normally got. When I dried them it was the same thing. I just smelled hot fabric.

So I think I have finally solved my problem. I don’t think I’ll have to do this every time I wash my diapers, but maybe every once and awhile when and if the funk returns. Anyway, I share this in case any of you converts run into the same problem.

I love cloth diapering, part 6: On the road again…

Stephen and I take a lot of short weekend trips to see family and friends. We also like to take at least one longer vacation each year to get away, relax and see new sites. We did this prior to having Bean and we both agreed that the addition of her to our family would not change that.

But even if you don’t travel much, you’ll still need to factor in the logistics of using cloth when you are out running errands, at playdates, etc. unless you want to use disposables for those times. That was our plan originally, but the rashes Bean got from disposable diapers changed things for us. Plus, I realized that it really wasn’t that hard to do cloth on the road.

So first we’ll start with out for the day type trips and then move on to more serious travel.

This is my current diaper bag:

I was hoping the new bag I ordered from Etsy would get here in time for this post, but it did not. Anyway, my diaper bag is pretty much always super stuffed to the brim like that because the cloth diapers are much more bulky than disposables. I think my overstuffing it is what has caused so much wear and tear and my less than perfect seams to split under pressure, which is why I ordered a new bag.

So if we delve into the bag a bit and take away all the items that are non-essential to diapering, this is what is needed for a typical day of errands:

From left to right: wet bag, changing mat, two cloth diapers and eight washcloths. Something I realized that is missing from this picture and my diaper bag at this moment, is my spray bottle filled with wipes solution.

My mother-in-law got me a bottle of this BumGenius bottom cleaner at my baby shower. I have since used it all up, but I just refill it with my homemade solution when I run out. So when I am out and about, instead of dunking my washcloths in the wipes solution I spray Bean’s bum and and wipe with a dry washcloth. If she has a particularly messy diaper I will wet the washcloths in a sink if I can because I don’t find the dry wipes method to be as effective as wet ones. 

The wetbag I made can hold up to two dirty diapers. So if Bean requires a diaper change while I am out running errands I just put the dirty diaper in there. The changing pad protects her from the various surfaces I’ve had to change her diaper on (everything from the floor, public restroom counter, an actual changing station and the trunk of my car) as well as protects those various surfaces from anything gross that comes from her (my sister-in-law’s playroom floor has benefitted from this on more than on occasion!). Both are lined with some vinyl I picked up from Beverly’s with coordinating fabric on the outside.

I usually “budget” four wash cloths per diaper change when I am out and about. I don’t always need this many, but if she poops I definitley do. Bean is kind of an interesting kid in that she only poops every few days and her “poop days” are an all day affair. It is kind of nice in that I don’t have to deal with poop every single day, but sometimes those poop days can be quite brutal.

So that about covers what I need for a day of errands. If I am truly going to be out the ENTIRE day I might pack a couple more diapers, some more wipes and a plastic zipper bag too, but those days are rare.

Now, lets move on to out-of-town travel. This duffel bag has become Bean’s travel “diaper” bag:

We used to use it for just the two of us when we went on a quick overnight or weekend trip, but not so anymore. It holds about half my stash in the center section and then I stuff one of the end pockets with wash cloths and the other with wet bags and plastic zipper bags.

Something that did get here in time for this post is my new large wet bag that I ordered from monkeyfootdesigns on Etsy. One thing that I do not like about using clear plastic zipper bags as wetbags is that they get all steamy and you can see it because they are clear. This grosses me out. It just does. So, I want to get or make about 1-2 more of these for use out of town and put an end to my consumption of plastic zipper bags for diapering purposes.

If we are going out of town just for the weekend, we don’t plan for washing. I just make sure I am all caught up on diaper laundry before we go. We take half the stash with us and I wash it all when we get back.

I tend to overplan on the number of diapers I’ll need for a trip because unlike most moms, I can’t just run up to the convenience/grocery store and buy a pack of disposables if we run out of clean diapers. Well, I could, but I don’t and I don’t want to.

If we are going for a longer period of time we try to figure out a way that we will be able to wash diapers while we are on vacation. Most recently for my sister’s wedding this was done by renting a condo that had a washer and dryer in the unit instead of staying in a hotel. We priced it out and it actually wound up being the same as far as cost. If we are staying with family we make sure they don’t mind us doing some laundry while we are there. This hasn’t come up yet, but if we were to have some other vacation situation we’d probably research laundromats in the area prior to our trip and plan for a day of laundry if we had to. And if it really came down to it I’d probably bite the bullet and get a pack of disposables and plan for the ensuing diaper rash. I would definitely try to exhaust all other options first though because that’s just me.

So, I think that about covers everything you need to know about going cloth. I hope you have enjoyed this little series, learned a lot and maybe even considered the switch. If you think I’ve missed anything or if you still have questions, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to answer it as best I can or point you to a site with the information you are looking for.

I love cloth diapering, part 5: From changing table to laundry room

For cloth diapering you use many of the same accessories that go with diapering in general. You just have to plan for extra storage (because the diapers are much more bulky), odor control, and there is the laundry factor that everyone who considers cloth diapering freaks out about.

So I’ll start in the nursery and work our way through the life of a cloth diaper.

This is my changing table:

Looks pretty typical, right? That’s because it is. Now if I were using disposables, probably only one or two of those baskets would be used for diaper storage. The rest we’d use for clothes or toys or whatever. Since cloth diapers are so much more bulky than disposables, every single one of those baskets contains diapers.

To ensure that my diapers get even wear and tear I do sort of have a system to the baskets. I work left to right, top to bottom. So I’ll go through the top row from left to right. When those three baskets are empty it is usually time to do a load of laundry. I also move the bottom row of baskets to the top and then work from left to right again. When I finish washing my load, those diapers go back in the bottom row of empty baskets.

Just to the right of the changing pad I have some typical and some not-so-typical items that you might find on a changing table. What you see are: wash cloths which are my cloth wipes, a tube of diaper rash cream with a tube of yeastie cream under it, a pump bottle of Method baby lotion, a pump bottle of hand sanitizer (which is never used, I personally prefer old fashioned hand washing), a bottle of baby oil, and a storage container with liquid in it.

When changing a diaper I pick up one washcloth from the pile, dunk it in the storage container, squeeze it out and then use just like a regular wipe. I also have a system for my wipes to ensure they get even wear and tear. When I’m folding the diaper laundry, I make a pile of my washcloths. I simply stick this pile under the existing pile on top of the changing table.

I must admit I’m a bit addicted to buying washcloths. Every four months or so Circo comes out with new patterns of washcloths. Since a five pack is only $3 I get a new pack if I notice they’ve changed their pattern and I’m at Target.

Just like most moms, I use wipes for everything: cleanup after a meal, quick cleanup of dirty hands and feet and of course, diaper cleanup. If you are going to use cloth wipes you definitely need more of them than diapers because you will use more than one per diaper change and you will probably use them for other stuff like I do. I have no idea how many I have, but it’s a lot.

So what’s in the liquid solution in the storage container, you ask? That is my homemade wipes solution. It is really easy: 1 squirt baby shampoo, 4 drops Tea Tree Oil (a natural antibacterial), and then water filled to the top of the container which I think is probably about 8oz. There are TONS of different solutions that you can find recipes online for though. Just do a Google search for “DIY baby wipes recipe” and you will find them.

So when I am changing a dirty diaper, as I am taking the diaper off I fasten the velcro tabs to the laundry tabs on the back of the diaper. This prevents them from sticking to everything else in the laundry.

I finish cleaning Bean up with some wipes and place them in the middle of the diaper. I pull the diaper out from under her bottom and then fold it in half and toss it in our diaper pail.

My diaper pail is a simplehuman step trashcan. I really like these trash cans and I am a bit fanatical about them. We went through several step cans early on in our marriage before we got one of these as part of the welcoming package for our new home. It was instant love: the lid does a great job of keeping the smells in, the plastic liner is easy to clean and keeps yucky stuff from leaking all over the rest of the trash can, the step mechanism doesn’t break after 10 uses and they look nice. We immediately went out and bought another for our recyclables and then when I got pregnant with Bean I knew I wanted one to use as our diaper pail. They are more pricey than most other trash cans, but we decided it was worth it to have a step can that actually works and continues to work in the long term.

Most diaper pails you can find at a baby store will work with cloth diapers so long as they are not the kind that have a plastic bag in them that twists, separates and seals off each diaper. So if you don’t want to spend $60-$100 on a trashcan you can look into one of those. Just make sure it says that it works with cloth diapers.

Once my diaper pail is full I pull out the liner and cart it over to the laundry room next door to Bean’s room. Then I put on my laundry gloves, which are just a regular pair of rubber kitchen gloves, and begin loading the dryer. I seperate the wipes from the diaper and toss them in and then I remove the inserts from the pocket and toss them in before tossing in the shell.

If the thought of touching soggy or poopy diapers really bothers you, I really recommend getting a pair of rubber kitchen gloves for your laundry room. It has made doing diaper laundry so much easier for me, especially on days when I am feeling particularly squimish.

Since our laundry room is in our guest bathroom, I take care of my poopy diapers all at once. Now that Bean is eating solid foods she has solid poops. So, if I come across a poopy diaper while I am loading the washer I take it over to the toilet, shake off any solids into the toilet and then resume pulling it apart and sticking it in the washer. Sometimes I have to use a little toilet paper to get the solids off, but for the most part they just shake off. Actually, it is technically illegal to dispose of human waste in landfills. So even those of you that use disposables are supposed to do this!

To wash this is what I do: one cold wash with detergent, one hot wash with detergent and one cold wash without detergent to rinse. It is important to use a detergent free of dyes, perfumes, brighteners, and any other additives because these will build up on your diapers and cause them to start repelling the moisture instead of absorbing it.

Even with additive free detergent though you still may get some buildup and you will need to strip them if that is the case. You can tell if you need to strip your diapers if they smell funny even after you’ve washed them or if they suddenly start leaking. I’ve seen a bunch of different ways online to go about doing this, but what I do is just 1 tbsp of regular blue Dawn in place of my detergent.

To dry you can either line dry or sun your diapers or you can dry them in the dryer. I don’t have much space for hang drying so I do it in the dryer, plus the dryer refreshes the velcro (or so I’ve been told). Since the inserts are so absorbant it usually takes two dry cycles for them, but only one for the shells. I will admit that I’m usually lazy though and just restart the dryer without removing the shells.

Another thing that has come up with the solid food/poop is stains. Arg! The perfectionist in me really has a hard time with this. I have tried a lot of things, but was told that sun is best for this. I have to admit I was quite skeptical, but it does help. However, it didn’t completely get rid of all the stains. I think another round in the sun probably would have done the trick though. I did take before and after pictures of my experiment. I am going to assume that most of you reading this are moms and have had to deal with many disgusting things before, including stains. So hopefully you don’t get grossed out by these pictures!

The worst ones prior to drying in the sun:

Same diapers after drying in the sun:

I am so glad I took pictures because I’ll admit when I went out there and still saw some stains I was a bit disappointed, but the pictures really show how much of a difference the sun made!

After the diapers are dry I “fold” them. Basically I just stuff all the inserts back in the diapers and then put them in stacks in the baskets. I also make a stack of the washcloths and put them where they belong.

That about covers the laundry and the life of a diaper. My last installment will talk about the logistics of doing cloth when you are not at home.

I love cloth diapering, part 4: Building a stash

When I started looking into cloth diapers, I went to the two friends I knew that were doing it: Emily and Tiffany. Both of them had a ton of advice for me, just like I have for anyone that asks me about it now. I was also trying to research lots of other stuff at the time. So, I was completely overwhelmed by the length and the amount of information in both of their e-mails, just as I am sure the friends that have asked me have felt.

Both had a list of recommendations for a stash of diapers to get me started. There were a lot of different kinds of diapers in this list. Then, when I looked online it seemed that every single kind of diaper had different washing instructions. “Oh great,” I thought, “I’m going to be washing three diapers this way, two this way and I’ll have to keep track of the covers and this just seems way too complicated!”

Well, as I said in the last posts, the diapers we decided to go with are the BumGenius 3.0 one-size pocket diapers. Both girls had said that these diapers were their go-to, Daddy-friendly, workhorse diaper (though I will note that Tiffany’s feelings on this brand have changed). Instead of getting a varied stash as they both recommended, I just wanted to deal with one kind of diaper that we could use through the entirety of Bean’s diapering process. Plus, these looked like they were really easy to use (and they are).

I have 42 of them, which is a crazy amount to have. You don’t need that many. I originally intended to have somewhere around 30, but we got a good deal from Cotton Babies by ordering them in bulk and it was cheaper so we wound up with that many. One of the common complaints that you will see in reviews of these diapers is problems with the velcro tabs or the elastic in the leg opening going out. Since my stash is so huge, my diapers get less wear and tear and I have not had any of these problems. People with much smaller stashes tend to see these problems more often.

If I was starting over from scratch, now that I know what I know about cloth diapering — which is that it isn’t as overwhelming as I made it out to be — I would probably have followed both my friends’ advice and ordered a variety of different diapers to build my stash.

I also would not have any diapers with velcro now that I know the type of kid Bean is. She tends to be a bit meticulous and notices even the tiniest of details. She also likes to pick at things, including the velcro tabs on her cloth diapers. I cannot leave her in just a diaper for a long period of time because she will take the thing off. I have actually heard this is a very common problem that a lot of parents face with their kids. I have had friends that resorted to making duct tape belts on their kids’ diapers so they couldn’t get them off. Snaps are much more difficult for babies to figure out and pull apart, so I would have picked diapers with only snap closures.

Finally, I would have only purchased gender neutral colors/patterns for my cloth diapers. I seriously worry about the number of pink diapers we currently own if baby #2 is a boy.

The recommendations I have seen online usually say you should start out with 12-18 diapers. Most of the people I’ve talked to about cloth diapering recommended 20-24 diapers just so you have a little breather room with the laundry. The sites also say to plan for up to 14 diaper changes a day for a newborn (Yikes! I don’t think we ever went through THAT many), and 6-8 for an older baby. So that might help you figure out how many you need as well.

Anyway, this is what I would get if I were to start over on the journey today:

-8 Fuzzi Bunz one-size diapers
-8 bumGenius organic one-size diapers with the snap closures
-4 Swaddlebees ECONAPPI diapers
-4 Mommy’s Touch one-size pocket diapers

I know that it isn’t like I made a huge deviation from my current stash, as all my picks were still AIOs and one-size diapers. Those just seem to be the most economical to me. I don’t have any huge problems with my current diapers, I am just much more willing to try out different brands now that I’ve been doing this a little longer and it isn’t so scary.

If the up front cost of getting the diapers you want to use seems a little pricey, there are a number of ways that you can build your stash slowly. You could go the cheap route first, that is prefolds and simple covers, just to get yourself going. Then, you can slowly add the diapers you think you will like best or want to try one at a time as you can afford it. Another way is to buy a few now, use them when you can and continue using disposables in between until you can slowly build up your stash. This will also slowly break you into the idea of cloth diapering.

For those of you that are expecting, now is a great time to consider cloth. If it is something you decide to do I would really encourage you to register for cloth. Many of the cloth diapering sites offer gift registries and as I said before Target and Babies R Us also have an OK selection of cloth diapering options on their websites. Plus, there are many independent wish list and registry sites (insert shameless plug for onebabyregistry.com) where you can have a registry independent of any one particular store. I think this is really smart since most people wind up having more than one registry at more than one store. As I said before, we got almost half of our cloth diaper stash from our friends and family as shower gifts. You may be thinking that you don’t want to waste your registry on small stuff like the diapers. Trust me, the only people who are going to buy the “big” stuff like the travel system and the crib are going to be you, your parents and maybe an aunt or two. A nice $20 cloth diaper plus a pack of washcloths for you to use as wipes can be a great gift from a single friend that really only has $25 to spend on a shower gift for you.

The remainder of my posts on the subject (I am thinking there will be 1-2 more), are going to specifically deal with the brand of diapers we have and what we do with them. I think some of the stuff can still be applied across the board with the various brands, so stick with me!

I love cloth diapering, part 3: Potty training and swimming

Just because your child is just getting out of the diaper phase, doesn’t mean you have to forsake cloth. There are several different options for training pants in cloth. Plus, I’m fairly certain that the concerns I brought up in part one of this series are probably still relevant with disposable training pants.

There are different training pants to consider for various situations in potty training. Some of them are meant for during the day to only catch little dribbles and encourage the child to make it to a potty, while others are meant for overnight when you would need much more absorbancy. There are a bunch of different brands to choose from as well.

From what I can tell, basically the training pants come in three varieties:
-There are pockets, which just like pocket diapers, have a pocket you can stuff inserts into. These are great because you can control how much absorbancy you want the training pant to have. So, if it is night and you know your child is going to wet a bunch, you’ll probably want to stick 1-2 super absorbant microfiber inserts into the diaper. If it is during the day and you want your child to feel the wetness or you just want to catch little dribbles, then you might stuff it with a thin cotton prefold. Some have snaps for easy accident accessibility, others just go on like underwear.

Happy Heiny's Pocket Trainer

-There are really thick cotton underwear. These obviously would not be good for overnight and don’t have a waterproof cover. They are just extra thick so that if there is an accident your child can run to the bathroom. I don’t know much about potty training since we’re no where near there yet, but I’d probably only use these if I knew we were going to be home all day and really working on potty training.

Under the Nile organic cotton training underwear

-There are all-in-ones. Just like the all-in-one diapers, these have everything in one piece — no inserts to stuff. They range from overnight to trickle catchers among the various brands. So, you might have to go with more than one brand to meet your various potty training situations. They have waterproof material on the outside. Some have snaps for easy accident accessability, others do not.

Imse Vimse Bumpy Training Pants

Now I know most of my friends who read this live in climates where swimming during the summer months is a must. So you may think that you have to give up on cloth for this as well, but you don’t! The My Swim Baby site, the sister site to the very popular cloth diapering site, Nicki’s Diapers, pretty much sums up the reusable swim diaper subject perfectly:

Swim diapers have a waterproof layer on the outside and a soft absorbent layer on the inside. Swim diapers should fit snugly. They are designed to be worn alone but may be worn over a disposable diaper or under a regular swimming suit.

Why use swim diapers?

Many states require swim diapers when diaper-aged children use a public pool. When a swim diaper fits properly, most bacteria including E.coli are prevented from entering the water. So prevent messy pool accidents by using a swim diaper!

Swim diapers won’t fall apart in the water and therefore won’t clog pool filters. Because they don’t absorb water, they don’t become waterlogged and heavy. Therefore, they do not absorb urine (so please beware so you don’t get a wet lap!). If swim diapers would absorb urine they would also absorb water, potentially pulling baby under water. This is also true for disposable swim diapers.

Some like to use pocket cloth diapers or diaper covers as swim diapers. Please be aware that water can get trapped in the cover not only causing a mess but could potentially be unsafe to your baby.

Reusable swim diapers can be washed and reused all season! There are many different styles, colors, and prints to choose from.

We actually found some great swim diaper options at our local Toys R Us. I got a tankini swimsuit for her there that had a swim diaper, matching top and hat that all have SPF protection built in. If she’s not actually in the water, we just use a regular diaper on the bottom and then when she gets in we put on the swim diaper. I want to get 1-2 more of these though to have as backup. I’ll probably just order some individual swim diapers online though since I don’t need three tankini tops for her.

With the swim diaper, in the water at the beach.

With a regular diaper, playing in the sand.