Let's talk about...

One of the reasons why I never thought I would use cloth diapers was I didn't want to deal with poop. However, there are many things available these days that make poop much easier to ... handle (for lack of a better word). Eew... I don't handle the poop. Anyway, we use a diaper sprayer. You can see it attached to the side of my toilet. It is lovely! You hold the poopy diaper over the toilet bowl and spray the solids into the bowl. Normally, my son's solids will fall in on their own, but when poop is less than solid, it helps to have a sprayer. I will spray the diaper after shaking the solids in just to make sure I got everything off.
When I am at my mother's house it is a different story. I have to dunk the diaper in the toilet. It's definitely not my favorite thing to do, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I guess it's because the entire time I'm cleaning the diaper I'm thinking about the lovely bottle of soap sitting next to the sink.

This picture shows where the diaper sprayer connects to your toilet. The little blue handle turns the water on and off to the sprayer. We keep ours off in case our sweet little boy gets a hold of the sprayer.

Now another option for poopy diapers are the flushable liners. I have not used them, but when my friend tried cloth diapers she used them. I'm pretty sure she liked them, but from what I understand they weren't perfect. Poop would still get on the diaper itself on occasion. They seem nice since you can just flush everything away. I would assume most people put a liner in the diaper everytime they change their child's diaper just in case they poop. So I would guess that even if they just pee on it you would flush it. But I could be wrong! Or once your child gets more, um, regular I suppose you could just try to time it right so you only use the liners when your child typically takes care of business.


I was also asked about what I do with my diapers between washes. So here is a lovely picture of my diaper pail. I bought this from target I think. Anyway, I would just suggest something like this. I paid about $8 maybe for it. I bought the waterproof liners off of ebay for $13. I have 2 liners so while one is in the wash I can put the clean one in the pail. When I change my son's diaper I put the dirty one in the pail. I first remove the insert and drop it in, then fasten the tabs to the laundry tabs, and then drop the diaper in. This has worked really well for us so far. This pail contains the smell pretty well for a couple of days. When I wash my diapers I take the liner out and dump its contents and the liner itself in the washer. I'd recommend cleaning out your pail every now and then. Or just spray it lightly with lysol.



As far as washing with baking soda and vinegar, I would first check the manufacturer's website. With some diapers you can void the warranty on them if you use baking soda and vinegar. bumGenius highly recommends that you not wash your diapers with these things. So, check the website of whatever diaper you are using before you wash with baking soda and vinegar.

Thanks for the great questions! Please keep sending me questions! I really do appreciate it.

Caring for your cloth diapers

I really feel that this requires some trial and error. You have to figure out what works best for you. I went through several different washing patterns before I found one that I really liked. First of all, I HIGHLY recommend following the manufacturer's suggestions. If you don't, you could void your warranty on them. With bumGenius, they recommend you wash cold with 1/4 cup (1/8 cup for HE washers) additive free detergent and then wash hot with the same amount of detergent. I tried this and it seemed I had to rinse a couple extra times to remove the detergent. My preferred way to wash is this: cold rinse, hot wash with detergent, and a final cold rinse. I may change this though, because I'm thinking I don't need that extra cold rinse at the end. It is very important to note that you should NEVER use fabric softener. This will negatively affect the absorbency of your diapers.
There are several different natural detergents out there that you can use. But a lot of these you have to order online. However, I like using regular tide. I started out using Gain, but my diapers became really stinky, really fast. I stripped my diapers, but the stinky smell returned within a couple of weeks. When I switched to Tide the smell went away after the first wash. Tide leaves my diapers smelling great! And I can buy it at most local stores.
Dry your diapers on medium heat. I then let my diapers completely cool off before I stuff them and put them away. If you stuff and stretch your diapers while they are warm, you could shorten the life of your elastic. So be careful! You can also line dry your diapers. Also if you have any pesky stains, simply place your diaper or insert out in the sun for a few hours. The stain will fade or disappear. It's like magic!
I'll post another time about stripping your diapers.

Responding to questions

First I'd like to thank Ms. Paxton for asking a lot of great questions in her comment last week. I also want to tell you that I really admire you for all that you went through after Hurricane Ike. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have no diapers for your child. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me.
I think the best way to answer your questions is to post the question followed by the response.

How long do the diapers just sit before they get washed?
This really depends on two things. First, how many diapers you have. Second, how long you can tolerate the smell that comes out when you open your diaper pail. I have 18 bumGenius diapers. My son typically goes through 5 or 6 a day. When I first started using cloth diapers I would wash every three days. But after a while I couldn't really take the ammonia-like smell that would hit my nose when I would open my pail. So I switched to washing every other day. I wash Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I also use Tide to wash my diapers so they smell a lot better when they are clean!

What if you're out doing errands, what do you do with them then? or traveling?
I also wondered about this before I got started. I use a wet bag while I am out and about. I keep it folded up in my diaper bag until I need it. The wet bag I use is by Wahmies and has a zipper and 2 layers. The inner layer is water proof and the outer layer is just a cotton fabric I believe. When my son needs his diaper changed I just change it, fold it up like a disposable, and put it in my wet bag. Then I'll put the wet bag back in my diaper bag. I have never been able to smell anything coming out of my wet bag. There are different size wet bags. I just use a regular size one that holds probably 3 or more diapers.
When we travel we double stuff our diapers so we don't have to stop as often while we're driving. We kept our diaper pail liner in the trunk of our car and we would put our dirty diapers in there. Our liner is like a really large wet bag but is only the water proof layer and has a draw string instead of a zipper.

Is it ok to start them on cloth when they are older?
My son was 9 months old when we switched and he did great. A friend of mine tried to switch when her daughter was 15 months old and she didn't like itl. However, I think it really varies from child to child. I think it is totally fine to switch to cloth when your child is older. And if for whatever reason she doesn't like it, then hang on to the diapers for your next one.

gDiapers
I have a cousin who is planning on using gDiapers when her baby is born. I looked them up earlier this week because I didn't really know much about them. I read a lot about them on the gDiapers website and I watched their videos. I think the idea is really interesting. My pros for the gDiaper are: super cute prints, only need to buy 5-7 covers, has a cloth insert option, and the disposable part decomposes really fast. My cons are: they only are offered in a sized option (I personally like the one-size fits all diapers), the disposable inserts are really expensive (I switched to cloth diapers to stop throwing away $40 a month - why would I want to start throwing away $50+ a month), you have to rip the disposable insert before you flush it, and the snap in liners (which hold the cloth or disposable insert) only last about 6 months with proper care.
Honestly, I think these are neat diapers, but I just don't think that these would save me money. I switched to cloth so I could save money. And since I use bumGenius I'm really partial to those!

Making cloth diapers
Honestly, I really want to learn! Mainly so I can make teeny diapers to use on newborn babies. bumGenius are a little big on newborns from what I've heard. Check around your area and see if any classes are offered. I know here in Utah people teach classes and give you the patterns and such to make your own cloth diapers.

Well, I hope this helps!!! If I can answer anymore questions for you or for anyone else please just leave me a comment and I'll get back to it ASAP!!! Thanks again!

CDing a newborn

This is the first cloth diaper my new baby boy wore. Most of my newborn stash is prefolds and wool or fleece covers. It is more difficult to fold and not as daddy friendly but I don't feel as bad when I change it to just have to change it again minutes later. The hardest part of cding a newborn is how many times a day I am changing diapers...about every 2 - 3 hours. But it is far cheaper than all the sposies we would go through.

How to get started

I honestly never pictured myself using cloth diapers. I thought they were gross and I didn't realize how much they have changed since I wore them over 22 years ago. My dear friend mentioned one day on her blog that she was considering a switch to cloth diapers. At first I chuckled to myself. But then as I followed the links she included in her post, I became more and more interested in cloth diapering. I realized that it was something that I could do. One of the sites that was most helpful to me was Jillian's Drawers. I loved the cloth diaper tutorial. It really brought me up to date on cloth diapers and on just how easy it can be. I also really liked the cost comparison chart. This shows you how much you can save by switching to cloth diapers. With my husband working full time and going to school full time, I felt like I could make better use of the money he makes by switching to cloth diapers. The price tag upfront was around $400 with the accessories and diapers I bought, but I figured that in just 10 months we would be saving at least $40 a month.
I spent a lot of time on the internet looking through different cloth diapering websites. I read a ton of reviews. Because of the reviews I knew I either wanted to do the fuzzibunz pocket diapers or the bumGenius 3.0. Both of them had excellent reviews. Both diapers have excellent resale value. Both come in super cute colors. I eventually decided on the bumGenius because of one simple thing... Kelly's Closet 30 day money back guarantee. Other websites offer a 14 day guarantee but it is just on ONE diaper. With Kelly's Closet's guarantee you can try all the bumGenius 3.0 diapers you buy and if you decide within 30 days that you don't want to use them , you can mail them back and get ALL your money back. I felt this was better than any trial program, and any used diapers I could find on the web. I took the plunge and bought a package that included 18 diapers in whatever colors I wanted, a diaper sprayer, 12 reusable wipes (which I don't use), and a wet bag. The day my package arrived was a glorious day!
For Utah locals, there is another option available to you. Heather Sotto runs a website mydiaperpiper.com and she works from her home. She is more than willing to meet with you and show you ALL the different types of cloth diapers. I met with her after I purchased my package but before it arrived so I could see the bumGenius diaper up close and personal. She was so sweet and answered all of my questions. When you buy from her you can choose to pick it up at her house so you don't have to pay shipping (however, most websites have free shipping if you spend over a specified amount of money). Heather also hosts diaper parties during which she will show you and your friends all the different types of diapers and answer all your questions. She's great.
So, anyway, do your research. There is SO much information out there. I'm sure you'll find lots of things that will help you. Also, feel free to email me or leave a comment if you have any questions.

Cloth for 2

(this is my dd in her first diaper at 1 year)

So this is my first post here. I decided to start cloth diapering my oldest when she was 1 year old. That got me involved in the cloth diapering world as I tried to do this the cheapest way possible. For my daughter we use a variety of diapers but our favorite combination right now is fitted diapers with wool covers. At night we use fleece pockets with prefolds.
Now that we have a new baby we are going to cloth diaper him too. Especially since he already has diaper rash and cloth is suppose to help with that. For him we are planning on using prefolds and wool covers until he starts to move. It will be interesting to see how cloth diapering 2 goes!

Ideas

So I might just be doing this blog for myself, I don't quite know. But in any case, I've decided that I'm going to post about my personal experiences with cloth diapers. This will include how to care for cloth diapers, what to do when you are out and about during the day, how a vacation works with cloth diapers, my feelings about cloth diapers, and whatever else I decide to post about. If anyone actually does read this, it would be really helpful if you could leave comments with whatever questions you have about using cloth diapers. Feel free to ask me anything!!! I'll do my best to post a response to answer your question. Thanks!
In the meantime here is my son wearing his bumGenius 3.0 diaper.

New to this

About two weeks ago, Crystal mentioned on her family blog that she was interested in using cloth diapers for her daughter. She mentioned various reasons, but the one that stuck out to me was how much you can save. I started researching and found out that cloth diapers have changed a lot since my parents put me in them! No safety pins, clear plastic pants, or cheap cloths required! Of course you can still do it that way and that is totally fine! But I knew that that was not the way for me!
I was amazed at all the different types of diapers. Here is a brief explanation of each, as explained to me by my friend Amber.

Prefolds: These are your basic square diaper that you fold on the baby and pin or snappy in place, they have to have a waterproof cover. They are the cheapest way to cloth diaper (think old school cloth diapering).






Contours: These are a lot like prefolds except that they are shaped to better fit your baby. They still require a snappy or a safety pin and a waterproof cover.






Fitteds: These are diapers made of cloth. They are shaped like a disposable and close with velcro or snaps. They have elastic around the legs and in the back to better help contain messes. These also require a cover. These diapers can get expensive depending on the brand chose.




Pockets : These are diapers that have PUL (waterproof, cover material) on the outside and a pocket in the middle, these must have an insert to work, so basically you get a shell of a diaper and you put in the absorbent stuff. These are a lot like disposables and close with either snaps or velcro. Some pocket diapers are sized and others are one-size. You adjust the size of the diaper using rows of snaps. This is the kind that I use. I use the one-size bum Genius 3.0 on my son.


All in Ones (AIO): These are diapers that are the most like disposibles, basically everything is in them and all you do is put on and take off, the disadvantage to these is they take longer to dry, are thicker and are less absorbent depending on your wetter. You can also buy these in sizes or as a one-size.





All in Twos or Hybrid diapers: These are AIO's that have a pocket so more absorbency can be
added. The disadvantage is how fluffy they are on the bum. I believe that bumGenius's AIO is actually an all in two since sizes small and up have a pocket.



Snappi: Use this to close your prefolds and contours.








Covers: These come in one size fits all or sized.








So, as you can see, there are a lot of choices when it comes to cloth diapering. If you still have a lot of questions (because I know I did) this site was great in helping me better understand all there is to know about cloth diapers.