Why Cloth Can be So Good...and So bad.

Recently our Little Monkey Man had diarrhea...and by recently I mean it has been less than a week since he STOPPED having it. And he had it for over 6 weeks. We've been battling it since late October, but we think we might have it figured out.

Cloth diapers were SO bad because I don't care what liner you use (we use Imse Vimse), the BM goes EVERYWHERE in that diaper. And when you are dealing with it 5-7 times a day...ugh. Now if we had our diaper sprayer it would have been different, but we are in a rental and were not supposed to install it. So it sat in a box as we hand scraped diaper after diaper. (No, we did not use bare hands, come on people).

But in the end, cloth diapers were SO good. When we first moved into the rental the diarrhea was in progress, but we had no washer/dryer so we were using disposables. Guess what? BM up the back...out the sides. When changing the soiled clothes (which then I had to work on the stains...I'd rather have stained diapers than stained clothes!) the BM often ended up all over him and in his hair etc. We do not EVER have that problem with cloth diapers. Once in a great while some might eek out by his thighs...but never anywhere else or enough to ruin clothing.

So while cloth diapers were not a dream during this time, at least they weren't the nightmare that we had with disposables!!!!

The picture at the top is our stash being sunshined today. It was so good to get them out in the sun and make sure any lingering bacteria was DEAD. Does anyone have suggestions though for how to get them soft after hanging outside? They get so stiff!

Liners I Love

I use the imse vimse liners for...excriment...but I also have had some success using pieces of sewn fleece to absorb extra urine. I will post a picture of how I sew it someday. Basically I get fleece remnants from the fabric store or left overs from projects I have here, sew them into basic 4"x8" pieces (double thick) and stick them in the diaper! Fleece is so soft and it absorbs a lot of moisture. These have been working great while my boys are sleeping and not getting changed as often-also great for road trips!

How-To-Where-To

How do you put them on? Where do you get your stuff? What is that?
First I'll show you what I use and where I got it.

These are my diaper liners. I got mine at http://www.imsevimse.us/
I like them because they are machine washable/dryable. Unless they have been pooed on I just throw them with the diaper into my diaper pail. I usually just hang them dry too. Oh yeah, and flushable.

Because I use tri-fold or Birdseye flat diapers I use a diaper cover. I got mine at http://www.thirstiesstore.com/ They were recommended to me by several people I talked to who use cloth.

This thing is awesome! It is a Snappi. I got mine new on E-bay. You can also buy them on various cloth diaper sites.

HOW TO

Here is the part of the show when Jenney comes out and tells us how to.

In this illustration I will be using my favorite-tri fold. You can get these at Wal-Mart (yes, IN the store, amazing you don't have to go online).

Lay the diaper flat on the floor...see this is so hard.

Fold the bottom part of the diaper in as shown. Leave "wings" at the top.

I am so sorry about this view. If I knew how to edit it, I would. Lay the liner on the diaper and lay the baby in it with the "wings" a little higher than the hips.

Bring the front of the diaper up and the "wings" in. Hold with your non-dominant hand.

Stretch the Snappi from one side to another and then pull the middle tab down and hook. (Snappi fasteners have little teeth things that grab the cloth...they are really flexible little rubber band things)

Put the diaper cover on snugly using the Velcro. Baby J loves it!