[Contents: poop]
Okay first, can we stop, take a minute, and realize that the Velociraptor is A YEAR OLD ON SATURDAY? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN. WHAT. HOW. WHAT.
...
...
Okay.
Meanwhile, we are still using cloth diapers. Sometimes we even go out in public and use cloth diapers! Usually after we are sure that zie is done pooping for the day.
Why does the pooping matter? Because once your child is eating solids, and no longer has those soft, water-soluble breastmilk or formula poops, the poop has to go in the toilet. I mean it can go in the washing machine. It will also stay in the washing machine, and you know, I don't really recommend that. So while sometimes we are lucky and the poop is just a poop nugget and we can flip it in to the toilet with no effort, sometimes (most times) we are not lucky and removing the poop takes more effort. This is not something I want to engage in in a public bathroom, especially with the terrible toilet tissue they give you.
Oh, so how do you remove the poop? Some people swear by diaper sprayers. We currently rent, have read reviews of all of them talking about eventual leaks even with correct installation, and don't really feel like messing with the old, old, sometimes cranky plumbing in this house. Some folks swear by "dunk and swish", which I'm sure works if you don't have a low-flow toilet (this method relies on the force of the flushing toilet water to remove the poop). We tried using toilet paper to, well, wipe the poop off, and I mean it works? Ish? And will do in a pinch, but mostly we use a little mini rubber cookie spatula that I got from my MIL, because bless her, she tries (I'm not actually mad about it, just bemused sometimes at what she gets), and I was never going to use it for its intended purpose ANYWAY. It sits in an empty Talenti container next to our toilet (so if you've been over recently, yes, that is a poop scraper; welcome!). It works pretty good. We usually take some toilet paper and wipe off the spatula after use. We also have a can of those lemon-scented disinfectant wipes next to the toilet, for any accidental poop-on-surfaces that happens. Finally, we have a wet bag in the bathroom now, so we have to move the poopy diapers as little as possible.
As for how the diapers are holding up, PRETTY GODDAMN WELL. Some of the hook-and-loop on the Flip covers is showing its age; once we use fewer diapers in a day again and I can spare them, I'm going to send them to the woman I found on Etsy who converted a few others to snaps for me. Snaps are really the way to go for most covers I've used. Except for the Thirsties Duo Wraps; all of our size 2 Duo Wraps are hook-and-loop and are fantastic and I love them. We also had one of the Diaper Safari covers delaminate; I tossed it because wev they weren't my favorite anyway. The Bummis Super Whisper Wrap I bought from someone (who said it was new, and I have no reason to disbelieve them) also delaminated, but since it's two layers of PUL facing each other, we still use it and it's fine.
We are still using a mix of prefolds and flats, depending on what fits best in the cover. The size 2 Duo Wraps definitely do better with a prefold in them, as does the Super Whisper Wrap, as do the Diaper Safari covers. The Flips all get pad-folded flats in them. If it's the pre-nap diaper, I try to use a prefold, or a flat with a doubler stuffed in the middle. Now that The Velociraptor usually naps at least an hour and a half, and sometimes three and a half hours, we need the extra absorbency.
Overnights, we are using a disposable. Now that I have bigger prefolds and covers big enough to handle them, I suspect we could try a Duo Wrap and a medium or large prefold in it overnight (daytime use, we are still using just the small prefolds in the covers). Especially since sometimes, even the disposables leak. This is why I have a waterproof pad under the sheets in the crib.
We've also changed our wash routine slightly. Rather than overriding the water level sensors on both the pre-wash and main wash cycles, I only override on the pre-wash. I figure the more we can dilute whatever's in there and rinse it out, the better. For the hot, main wash cycle, I just let the water sensors do their job. I've been doing this... maybe two months now? And we have had zero problems. Diapers still get clean, rashes not appearing.
We did for a while battle a nasty yeast rash, that took over a month and two tubes of prescription antifungal ointment to kick. During this time we used disposables - not that the ointment wasn't cloth diaper safe (it was... more things are than they tell you are, seriously), but because I wanted to bleach the diapers and ensure they couldn't reinfect The Velociraptor's poor bottom. Plus, the ointment itself says if you're using cloth diapers, to not use plastic covers, and uh, hey, yeah, PUL is plastic. BUT we did finally kick the rash, and it hasn't come back TOUCH WOOD, even though we've been back in cloth for a while. So all of those posts that are like OH, NO, BLEACH WON'T KILL YEAST... uh... yeah it will. Bleach kills PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING, WITH SUFFICIENT CONCENTRATIONS THEREOF.
So yeah. Stuff is still holding together and working well, and we're pretty happy. I look forward to letting my child run around in just a prefold and Snappi this summer.
Showing posts with label diapers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diapers. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Monday, November 3, 2014
Cloth Diapers, Six Months In
One of the other things I found immensely helpful when researching cloth diapers was how things worked as the babies grew. So here's my contribution.
Here is a link to the list of things we use.
We have added a bit to the stash. I bought more cloth wipes (like, 45 more cloth wipes), and have considered buying more but haven't yet. Sometimes we really do go through a dozen or more wipes in a diaper change. The "fold them up and dunk them as necessary" system still works a treat though.
I've also bought some more covers. I bought a half a dozen Thirsties Duo Wraps in size 2, a couple more of those in size 1, and some more Flip covers. Cotton Babies, the maker of Flip, regularly releases limited edition patterned diaper covers. Bet your ass I got Spence, the pirate cover. I also have Stellar, their new midnight blue solid colored cover, on pre-order. I know that the "limited edition" is marketing, and they're not any better than the regular covers, but I am susceptible to the marketing of cuteness, sooooo.
I've also sent in a few covers to be converted to snaps. In my last post, I mentioned a hook and loop Blueberry cover and a hook and loop cover from Nicki's Diapers, wherein I did not like the laundry tabs. Well, now I really don't fucking like them, because they stopped working about two months ago. Every time I washed those covers, the tabs would come open, and attach themselves to the flats in the wash. Leading to some tears in a couple of the Gerber flats. AWESOME. One of the Flips in hook and loop had this problem too (actually, from the time we bought it, but it was on clearance so whatever - and I do want to note, none of my other Flip hook and loop covers have ever had this problem). So I found a person on Etsy who will remove the hook and loop and apply snaps for a reasonable price. It's something technically I can do myself, but gods I hate setting snaps so I am happy to pay someone else to deal with that.
The Thirsties and Flips are still definitely our favorite covers, and we still strongly prefer hook and loop for the Thirsties. In fact, all of the new Thirsties covers I bought were hook and loop. We are using some of the size 2 Thirsties covers. They are definitely big on The Kid, but not so big they're unusable. They're big kind of like how a bunch of covers were big on hir as a newborn. When we close the size 2s, the tabs are definitely overlapping. Right now we're stuffing them with a prefold, and I think we'll continue doing that as The Kid grows. The nice thing is, we are still using the size small prefolds from Diaper Junction as diapers, since we just fold them and lay them in a cover. If I were fastening the prefold around hir, well, that stopped working about two months ago or so. The size mediums work just fine for that.
Oh, yeah - sometimes we do just use a Snappi fastener and fasten a prefold around The Kid's bum and don't use a cover. Usually this happens when zie has a diaper rash, and I want to give hir some "air time". I Snappi a prefold on hir, then lay hir in hir crib, because we always have a waterproof pad under hir sheets. Not that we've needed it - The Kid has pooped when this has been going on, and the prefolds have contained everything. So yes, I recommend the Diaper Junction prefolds, and I'll likely be getting more. I do not recommend the Econobums prefolds. They're perfectly fine cotton, and nice and soft, but they are the wrong size no matter how I fold them. If I fold them along the long seams, they're too long and skinny, and I have to fold down the front to get them to fit on The Kid. If I fold them along the short seams, they're too short and wide. Right now we use them as soaker pads on the changing pad, or as a mat under the bowl of wipe water, so the top of The Kid's dresser doesn't get ruined.
Oh, yeah, some of our flats and prefolds do have stains on them now, WELP. Guess what? They still smell super-clean and work just as well. If I wanted, I could move the drying rack in the attic to a window and sun them, but I don't care that much.
We were having a slight smell problem with the polyester/PUL covers we use. The cotton was fine after every wash, but after a month or so, the covers retained just the faintest bit of poop odor. I was bleaching them once a month, which worked fine, although they also hung on to the bleach smell for a while. Then I did a little more research and found out that perhaps a bit more detergent in the wash would do the trick, and it seems to have done so nicely. Right now we use the full recommended amount for a "medium" load in All Free & Clear, and the smell is gone. GOOD TIMES. For information about how much detergent might work for you, here is a handy chart of diaper wash load size and detergents. We usually wash 12-18 diapers in a load of laundry, but we've gone up to 21 diapers with attendant wipes and wet bag.
We are no longer using any of the Bumkins covers. The elastic started failing on another, then they all started leaking. That or they were wicking really badly, but long story short, if they were on for more than like, half an hour, The Velociraptor's clothes would be wet. So those are gone. We do still have a Bumkins wet bag that I use when on the go, and that seems to work fine.
Oh yes - we have traveled and I have gone on errands using just cloth diapers. They're bulkier in the diaper bag, but it's totally doable. I don't take cloth wipes with when traveling because I haven't figured out a good way to do so. I just use regular disposable wipes. I either throw them directly in the trash, or put them in the outside "dry" pocket of the wet bag, and put the diapers in the main "wet" pocket. Then I empty the wipes in to my trash at home and throw the diapers and wet bag in the wash. We actually did a weekend trip out of state using nothing but cloth diapers, and it wasn't horrible. I feel a little weird about my life right now, but honestly? Yeah, it worked and it's doable. It's also totally fine to be like "fuck all of that, give me a box of Pampers", because we do that on the regular too. Like when we go to my mom's house, because fuck if I'm going to figure out how to wash diapers in her HE washing machine.
I do still wash and dry a load of diapers per day. It takes a while in the wash, but it doesn't take much of my time, and honestly, it works for us. I'm the kind of person who feels the need to accomplish something each day, so even if all I do is keep myself and The Kid alive and wash a load of diapers, HEY IT'S A WINNING DAY alright. I'm unsure how much our gas bill has gone up, for all of the hot water. And we do use way more detergent than we used to. We'd be doing more laundry anyway, but seven extra loads a week is not free, you know? Plus diaper laundry is like fucking magic. I throw in a bunch of things with pee and poop on them and a couple hours later, MAGICALLY CLEAN it's amazing.
Here is a link to the list of things we use.
We have added a bit to the stash. I bought more cloth wipes (like, 45 more cloth wipes), and have considered buying more but haven't yet. Sometimes we really do go through a dozen or more wipes in a diaper change. The "fold them up and dunk them as necessary" system still works a treat though.
I've also bought some more covers. I bought a half a dozen Thirsties Duo Wraps in size 2, a couple more of those in size 1, and some more Flip covers. Cotton Babies, the maker of Flip, regularly releases limited edition patterned diaper covers. Bet your ass I got Spence, the pirate cover. I also have Stellar, their new midnight blue solid colored cover, on pre-order. I know that the "limited edition" is marketing, and they're not any better than the regular covers, but I am susceptible to the marketing of cuteness, sooooo.
I've also sent in a few covers to be converted to snaps. In my last post, I mentioned a hook and loop Blueberry cover and a hook and loop cover from Nicki's Diapers, wherein I did not like the laundry tabs. Well, now I really don't fucking like them, because they stopped working about two months ago. Every time I washed those covers, the tabs would come open, and attach themselves to the flats in the wash. Leading to some tears in a couple of the Gerber flats. AWESOME. One of the Flips in hook and loop had this problem too (actually, from the time we bought it, but it was on clearance so whatever - and I do want to note, none of my other Flip hook and loop covers have ever had this problem). So I found a person on Etsy who will remove the hook and loop and apply snaps for a reasonable price. It's something technically I can do myself, but gods I hate setting snaps so I am happy to pay someone else to deal with that.
The Thirsties and Flips are still definitely our favorite covers, and we still strongly prefer hook and loop for the Thirsties. In fact, all of the new Thirsties covers I bought were hook and loop. We are using some of the size 2 Thirsties covers. They are definitely big on The Kid, but not so big they're unusable. They're big kind of like how a bunch of covers were big on hir as a newborn. When we close the size 2s, the tabs are definitely overlapping. Right now we're stuffing them with a prefold, and I think we'll continue doing that as The Kid grows. The nice thing is, we are still using the size small prefolds from Diaper Junction as diapers, since we just fold them and lay them in a cover. If I were fastening the prefold around hir, well, that stopped working about two months ago or so. The size mediums work just fine for that.
Oh, yeah - sometimes we do just use a Snappi fastener and fasten a prefold around The Kid's bum and don't use a cover. Usually this happens when zie has a diaper rash, and I want to give hir some "air time". I Snappi a prefold on hir, then lay hir in hir crib, because we always have a waterproof pad under hir sheets. Not that we've needed it - The Kid has pooped when this has been going on, and the prefolds have contained everything. So yes, I recommend the Diaper Junction prefolds, and I'll likely be getting more. I do not recommend the Econobums prefolds. They're perfectly fine cotton, and nice and soft, but they are the wrong size no matter how I fold them. If I fold them along the long seams, they're too long and skinny, and I have to fold down the front to get them to fit on The Kid. If I fold them along the short seams, they're too short and wide. Right now we use them as soaker pads on the changing pad, or as a mat under the bowl of wipe water, so the top of The Kid's dresser doesn't get ruined.
Oh, yeah, some of our flats and prefolds do have stains on them now, WELP. Guess what? They still smell super-clean and work just as well. If I wanted, I could move the drying rack in the attic to a window and sun them, but I don't care that much.
We were having a slight smell problem with the polyester/PUL covers we use. The cotton was fine after every wash, but after a month or so, the covers retained just the faintest bit of poop odor. I was bleaching them once a month, which worked fine, although they also hung on to the bleach smell for a while. Then I did a little more research and found out that perhaps a bit more detergent in the wash would do the trick, and it seems to have done so nicely. Right now we use the full recommended amount for a "medium" load in All Free & Clear, and the smell is gone. GOOD TIMES. For information about how much detergent might work for you, here is a handy chart of diaper wash load size and detergents. We usually wash 12-18 diapers in a load of laundry, but we've gone up to 21 diapers with attendant wipes and wet bag.
We are no longer using any of the Bumkins covers. The elastic started failing on another, then they all started leaking. That or they were wicking really badly, but long story short, if they were on for more than like, half an hour, The Velociraptor's clothes would be wet. So those are gone. We do still have a Bumkins wet bag that I use when on the go, and that seems to work fine.
Oh yes - we have traveled and I have gone on errands using just cloth diapers. They're bulkier in the diaper bag, but it's totally doable. I don't take cloth wipes with when traveling because I haven't figured out a good way to do so. I just use regular disposable wipes. I either throw them directly in the trash, or put them in the outside "dry" pocket of the wet bag, and put the diapers in the main "wet" pocket. Then I empty the wipes in to my trash at home and throw the diapers and wet bag in the wash. We actually did a weekend trip out of state using nothing but cloth diapers, and it wasn't horrible. I feel a little weird about my life right now, but honestly? Yeah, it worked and it's doable. It's also totally fine to be like "fuck all of that, give me a box of Pampers", because we do that on the regular too. Like when we go to my mom's house, because fuck if I'm going to figure out how to wash diapers in her HE washing machine.
I do still wash and dry a load of diapers per day. It takes a while in the wash, but it doesn't take much of my time, and honestly, it works for us. I'm the kind of person who feels the need to accomplish something each day, so even if all I do is keep myself and The Kid alive and wash a load of diapers, HEY IT'S A WINNING DAY alright. I'm unsure how much our gas bill has gone up, for all of the hot water. And we do use way more detergent than we used to. We'd be doing more laundry anyway, but seven extra loads a week is not free, you know? Plus diaper laundry is like fucking magic. I throw in a bunch of things with pee and poop on them and a couple hours later, MAGICALLY CLEAN it's amazing.
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