Diaper Stripping 101

Thinking my kids were sharing some kind of a bacterial infection (they aren't), I went ahead and stripped my diapers again this week.

Diaper stripping is useful if your child does indeed had a bacterial infection or if your diapers are leaky/stinky.

I boil water on the stove and boil all of my (CLEAN) inserts/flats/prefolds/anything that doesn't have PUL. Even using a non-additive cloth diaper friendly detergent, I still manage to get some soapiness in my water from previous washes.

Next I put these in the washer with all of my pockets/AIOs/covers and put them through warm/hot rinse cycles...I do 8. I know that sounds like quite a bit...but this is not the normal laundering, it is a strip. Then I hang them in the sun to dry. The sun is a natural brightener/bacteria killer.

Even though I don't have to worry that either of my kids had a bacterial infection, I still have beautiful white, clean diapers!

Sick

I am putting up a link in case you don't already read "The Cloth Diaper Whisperer" or missed this post. It is just sick what they are doing to get people to buy disposable diapers. Yep, I have to use them occasionally...but man is their marketing sick. I do not even want to think about all of those diapers in landfills. Sick.

http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/2010/08/nightline-spotlights-disposable-diaper.html

Thirsties Has Moved!

For anyone who likes to use Thirsties Diapers (they are great, and so is their customer service), their site has changed! They are now www.Gavinbaby.com

Good to know!

Cloth Diapering a Newborn

I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family, "Rosebud". She was born April 14, 2010 and weighed 6 lbs, 11 oz. She dropped to 6 lbs 2 oz, so if we can cloth diaper, I think anyone can! She does wear some disposables because #1 we are TIRED, and #2 she got impetigo in the hospital and I don't want the ointment that has to be put on multiple times a day to get on her cloth.

We are using both flats with covers (SO tiny ones, I will get pics up soon), but also splurged and bought two Rumparooz Lil Joey newborn diapers. In pink and purple of course! These diapers have been great. No leaks, no blowouts. Note the umbilical cord area that snaps down, but can be put back up once her cord is gone. She is wearing them on the smallest setting, but they can be let out farther as she grows.

This picture shoes the back, but they are not that bulky...I think the picture makes them appear that way. She is wearing newborn onesies just fine. Note the diaper pin at the bottom of the photo. When using flats/covers we have not been able to use a Snappi because even the smaller of the two sizes is WAY too big.

Along with diapering a newborn, we have just recently moved so with the change in water, etc I decided to strip my diapers. Note that most of these belong to my almost 2 year old.

1. Did NOT strip my Thirsties covers. They don't have cloth on them and didn't seem to be having any problem holding odors or leaking. I left them alone.

2. Boiled water in a stock pot on the stove and then turned the water to just below boiling. Used tongs to swish diapers individually in the water and then drop them into an empty laundry basket. Water did have some soapyness to it after 3 or 4 diapers, even though we use Charlie's, so I would empty the pot and start again.

3. Ran the (really wet) diapers through the machine on a rinse/spin cycle.

4. Sunned them dry.

Check with your manufacturer before stripping your diapers...but this works for me!

Bullet Proof

Pretty sure I've over posted this picture between this and my family blog www.thedraystoday.blogspot.com . But I want you to look closely at that BEAUTIFUL green diaper hanging in the middle. It is the only photographic evidence that I own a Bum Genius diaper. Yes, yes, after using cloth for over 18 months, I finally have my own BG diaper...er Little Monkey has one.

This is the kind of Bum Genius I use. It is a one size diaper, but they also sell AIOs. I wanted a one size as I will (*very) soon have two in diapers. My color is "ribbit" one of their most popular. I am about to have 2 white, a Zinnia, and a blossom because of the buy $10 in BG and get a diaper free.

Here's a diagram of how this diaper works. But that isn't what made it bullet proof for me today.

We have been working really hard to be ready to move into our new (to us) house this weekend. That means we are away from our rental house quite a bit. I cloth on the go (some people use disposables when away from home) and it is always harder to remember to change diapers when not at home. Knowing that, I tried something today that worked SO well.

I am ashamed to say that even though this worked, he wore the same diaper for about 5 hours today. YIKES. That is so not even cool. Sorry Little Monkey.

What I did was put 2 gDiaper inserts into my BumGenius pocket (one size). NOT a leak. Not even a hint. And that boy drinks water like it is going out of style. Let me tell you, when I finally changed him, I think it weighed close to 5 lbs. But it was bullet proof!

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!

Washing Wool Diaper Covers

When I decided to start cloth diapering, I had no idea really where to begin. My mom gave me everything she had from my brother and I when we were babies, and the journey began.

Despite inheriting the rubber pants my mom used on my brother and I (as well as all the cotton prefolds and flat diapers); I was determined not to use the rubber pants! I used rubber pants to help potty train one of the children in my daycare and I knew using them day in and day out on my infant wasn’t what I had in mind when I decided to switch to cloth.

After some online research I decided on using Thirsties diaper covers. Then a friend of mine who is an avid knitter came across a wool soaker pattern online. Fortunately she thought of me and gifted me with a homemade soaker, I love it! Although I do not use wool every day, I do use it frequently and love the look/feel/convenience. I have a second homemade soaker from her, and use it even more often than the first. I love how waterproof it is, how it doesn’t require constant washing, and it doesn’t smell!

If you know someone who knits, patterns are available online, but there are also plenty of cute soakers and “longies” available to buy. Kelly’s Closet also offers some wool products. If you choose to try wool, please know it cannot be washed with your regular cloth diapers. Washing wool it is NOT rocket science, in fact it is very easy!

Here is what works for me:

Step 1: Turn your wool inside out

Step 2: Warm water in the kettle until it is nearly boiling. I don’t boil my water as I don’t want to “felt” my wool.

Step 3: Get your supplies ready. You need a lidded container (I use a recycled applesauce jar), some lanolin (I use Lansinoh), some liquid dish soap or baby soap, a medium bowl (I often use a 4c. Pyrex measuring cup) and a large bath towel.

Step 4: Pour hot water into container and add a squirt of lanolin into the hot water. It will be a lump floating on top at first, and then will begin to melt.

Step 5: Add 1-2 drops of liquid dish soap or liquid baby soap to the water. The lanolin will immediately start to emulsify and turn the water a milky white. Put on the lid and shake well. I usually have to use a dishtowel around my jar-the water is that hot.

Step 6: Pour the contents of the jar into a bowl. Add two more jars of warm water to the hot. The water temperature now should be “comfortble”. Gently put your wool into the bowl and swish around until the entire thing is wet. Let it soak at least 20 minutes. I do this while getting breakfast ready, and then return once we are done eating. It won’t hurt it to sit longer.

Step 7: Drain the water and gently turn your wool right side out. Fold the wool over onto itself and press (squeeze) as much water as you can from the wool using your own body weight (NEVER wring wool). Lay the wool flat on a large towel and roll the towel. When you unroll it, you may need to pull your soaker a bit to get it back to shape. It may look short and fat.

Step 8: Once your wool looks back to “normal” lay on a towel to dry. It will feel “tacky” and that is ok-good in fact. Once dry (give it at least a day…do not put out in the sun, do NOT put in the dryer) it can be used several times before it will require washing again.

How can you tell when the wool needs to be washed?
If it has food stuck on it (I use mine like ‘shorts’ quite often). If it starts to leak (very rare). Or, if the wool starts to smell (also rare). I’m typically able to use my wool soakers 5-10 times between “washes.”

This is a post I did for "The Cloth Diaper Whisperer". They had changed a couple of things I originally wrote, and above is the "original". To see my guest post, click here.

Diaper Giveaway

Did you know that each week The Cloth Diaper Whisperer gives away free cloth diapers? Click here to see what they are offering this week! I've never used this brand personally, but hey I'll try anything for free (diaper wise!), wouldn't you?

Recycling Old Cloth To Convert New

These are the three WAHM* diapers I bought off of E-Bay a few months(?) ago. I think this must be the actual picture on their site as that is not my carpet. As you can see, they have snaps in the front to snap down to fit a much smaller baby. But notice (especially those of you who CD and use pockets/AIOs*) that the snaps on the tabs are super close together, right on the ends, and have no "female" snap on the tabs if you need to overlap. These diapers are cut generously, and even on now 22 lb 4 oz Baby J Monkey Man, he has them snapped to meet in the middle.


SO, yesterday (or was it the day before???) I sewed snaps off of an old Haute diaper that was leaking like a sieve into these. You can see it isn't beautiful, but MAN do they work great! This is what the inside tabs look like now.

And here is an outer view. With the new snap on the outside, the diapers can overlap and fit a much smaller baby...tried it on a Cabbage Patch Preemie doll :o) One old diaper fixed all three of these.

As for the Thirsties cover that I converted into a pocket...well, here is a picture of I think a Thirsites AIO* in orange. Mine looks very much like this now, but it has a thin blue thread line along the top. I'd love to take a nice picture for you, but that diaper was used today, and I mean used. No one wants to see that.

Along with those new developments, I also got my gRefills and gCloth inserts in the mail today! YEAH! This month we put some diaper money in the budget and did two things. First I went to our kids second hand shop that sells used cloth diapers. Once Upon A Child won't, but this place does. A little farther to drive, but not much. Anyway, I had picked up some newborn inserts and two newborn covers (5-10 lbs) along with this little gPant. They cost $29.99 for two, and unless I know I L O V E something, I'm not shelling out that kind of money on them, especially when they don't come with any inserts. I picked this orange one up for $3.50 and ordered the inserts and biodegradable flushable inserts from Kelly's Closet. I highly recommend this company for buying cloth. They are reliable, quick, and have competitive pricing.
I needed more cloth inserts anyway, and these are Hemp, the very best in my opinion. When the new baby is born, Baby J will still presumably be in diapers and they will both need inserts for their diapers. The disposable flushable/biodegradable inserts are a trial run. Wasn't thrilled with the price, but if they work ok, they will replace us buying disposables for church etc. They can be thrown away like a disposable and stick a new one in the little gPant. We'll see!

*WAHM Work At Home Mom made things
*AIO All In One diapers (no stuffing inserts in, just all one thing...kinda hard to get dry in my opinion)

Published!

This is an exciting day! Despite being SUPER tired (I think I've been hit by a truck) and downright cranky ("Snug, will you PLEASE stop screeching, and NO Baby J I do NOT want to have you crawl on me as I attempt to lay down for 20 second on the couch!") it is an exciting day.

A few weeks back I wrote a blog post about washing wool longies or wool covers for a popular blog "The Cloth Diaper Whisperer". I had to do a few edits (because even though some of the things I wrote work fine for me, they didn't recommend them), but it was published today. I won't swear to it, but I think they did some tweeking of their own. BUT I DON"T CARE! I WAS PUBLISHED :O)

Ahem.

If you'd like to read my post, click here: http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/2009/09/no-need-to-be-sheepish-about-washing.html

Thanks to Serena over at The Cloth Diaper Whisperer for giving me this opportunity! I am very excited :o)

*And a special thanks to my mom for giving me all my first cloth diapering supplies...without her I would have never ventured on this journey!

Used Diapers

I would say probably 80% of my cloth diaper stash is used. How many people can say that about their disposables? "Oh, I went out this weekend and bought some used disposables at 1/4 the price." How about "Hey! I sold all of my used disposables and got $200!" I don't think so :o)

When I first started CDing, I was using the flats and pre-folds that my little brother and I had used as babies. They lasted that long. Now, after 20 some (we won't say exactly) years and four babies (Snug + Baby J used them too) they have almost all ripped and turned into rags, although a few are still hanging on. Talk about re-using diapers!

My husband does not hate using cloth diapers (I've heard of many who do), but once we started getting a few AIOs (not my favorite) and pockets (LOVE them), he started a small stand against flats/prefolds/Snappis with a separate cover. So I am on a quest to (slowly) replace all of our flats with pockets (or fitteds...we have the covers so we might as well use them).

The picture above is of 3 homemade (really well made) pockets with three inserts. They say they were used, but I wouldn't have known. They are in perfect condition. I won them on E-Bay for $20, and there was no shipping charge. That is $6.67 a piece, and they had inserts to boot. Nice.

Because they have snaps, they can be used from babies probably about 2 months old and Baby J will get a few months use from them too. Lets say he alone wears each one 3 times a week. That is 12 times a month (per diaper...I bought 3). Ok, he'll fit in them until he hits about 30 lbs....I give him at least 6 months for that so one diaper is up to 72 times he will use it. That means that each of those diapers will cost about 9 cents a wear for Baby J. But then remember another Dray baby could wear it sometime...or mommy could easily re-sell it for $5. So even if he only wore each of those new diapers 72 times, and then I sold them, it would have cost me about 2 cents each time I changed him.

I checked out Luv's diapers online, and they were between 14 and 20 cents per diaper, depending on the size. They are usually cheaper than Huggies or Pampers, but a bit more than store brand. I don't think they will be using them 72 times a piece...and I am 100% sure no one wants to buy them once they have been used :o)

So yep, my baby wears used diapers...and we love them!

Make Your OWN Ring Sling

I made the above ring sling right before Baby J was born, and I made 3 or 4 others when Snug was a baby. Today I stumbled upon a site that had the directions FOR FREE so if you want to attempt it, go here http://crunchyfootsteps.tripod.com/slingmake.html

I was looking for directions or tips on how to make one of these that I got from Kangaroo Korner for Christmas (modeled by my SIL). My cousin Melissa called me this week wanting to know if I knew how to do it. I don't, sadly. I am going to go keep looking though because I have some BEAUTIFUL batik material I'd like to use. If I don't have enough material, or sufficient finds, I'll just make it into a longer ring sling as the one I have (top picture) hardly has a tail anymore! Praise God Baby J has grown that much!

Haute

I recently bought 3 used Haute diapers from The Cloth Diaperin' Mama. She was selling off some used ones that she no longer needed/wanted. I had bought some pocket diapers (Swaddlebees and WAHM*) that had worked ok up until the last month or so. Baby J has grown so much they didn't fit as well as they needed to. Although my last try with pocket diapers had been...ok...I decided to give it another try. Not that it had been terrible, but we definitely had more leaks than we did with flats and covers.

Well, these diapers worked really well! We use them mostly if we are going out, as it is easier to pull a whole diaper off and put a whole new one on in public than to use the flats/snappi/cover method. This is especially true if we are in a place that has no changing area. Anyway, I simply use my bamboo inserts that my mom made and away we go. Because I bought three from her, I have enough for an afternoon or morning out, no problem! Check out her site at http://clothdiaperdiary.blogspot.com/

*Work At Home Mom

****Great Cloth Diaper Store**** I have never personal;ly ordered from them, but their prices are fantastic.

Diapers On Sale

Most people who cloth diaper do not do it 100% of the time, either for practicality purposes (you know, like a week long camping trip with no washing machine), or because their church or another organization with childcare won't allow it, or they just need a break.

We use sposies for church and will be using them when my mom watches our kids for 2 weeks (while I am working at camp). When we aren't using cloth, we use 7th Generation chlorine free. They are not cheap, but when you use 2-3 a week, they aren't terrible.

Anyway, we got them for $10.49/package at Kroger's this week. That is $4 off! Plus, over by the organic produce there was a coupon book (several, if you live near Xenia) that was left over from Earth Day in a little stand and it had a coupon for $1 off if you bought two 7th Generation products. We needed two packages for those two weeks, so we got them for $20 total! Now, compared to Sam's Club or Costco brand, that isn't any big deal (probably a bad deal), but compared to chemical free diapers...it is fantastic!

These Are A Few Couple Of My Favorite Things

These are a few couple of my favorite things....about cloth diapering!

Baby J napping in his nappie.
Birdseye flat under Thirsties cover

Snug refuses to wear a sposie to bed, but he is ok with a CD (or an occasional pull-up which we haven't had much success with). Lucky for us he is using his same CD for 2-3 days in a row as he's been dry 99% of the time at nap time and 50% of the time overnight!

Birdseye flat with bamboo insert under Thirsties cover

I realize this is not such the great shot with my little tree in the way, but freshly laundered diapers on the line always make me happy!

New Birds Eye Flats

I didn't take a picture of my new flats, and I really need to because I haven't photographed my lil clothed baby on this blog in SO long. I have a family blog (http://www.thedraystoday.blogspot.com/) and I post lots there.

Anyway due to Baby J's recent growth spurt miracle I needed some new covers badly. He had been wearing the same size small I ordered from Thirsties last October! Now don't get me wrong, they are made to fit for quite awhile, but 7 months is a bit long. He had 2 medium covers that we used overnight with several layers of bamboo inserts and flats, but those don't go far, and I only wash my diapers every two days.

We've been using sposies* that we ordered from diapers.com (7th generation brand) for our upcoming trip to Virginia Beach because we don't have enough cloths right now. I had ordered size 2 and 3 for him not sure how big he'd be for the trip. Well, I have been using the size 2s because by the time that trip comes he won't be able to wear the size 2's anyway! 7th generation diapers are Chlorine free and better for the environment, so if we need to use sposies, those are what we use.

Anyway, along with the new covers (one is pictured above) I needed some new flats. When I first started CDing (cloth diapering) in October my mom gave me all of my old flats and prefolds. Well, they are getting a bit holey now...but they have had some good days. They went through me, my brother, and a few months of Baby J and Snug (overnight). We've tried to surge the edges of some of them, and there are some that still have life in them, but most of them are getting pretty bad.

I tried buying some pre-folds from Wal-Mart that were Gerber brand. Oh my goodness...that was a big waste of money. Within a few uses they were all "pilled" up and shrank big time. They also are not great at absorbency.

I decided this time to turn to Cotton Babies who are really trusted in the CD world. My 12 birdseye flats arrived today, along with 2 new wet bags (a MUST if you are going to use them out of the house). When you first get new cloth diapers they come very slick and would be pointless to use.

Currently my diapers are sitting in the bathroom sink in a cold overnight soak. Then they will be washed in with a couple of loads of regular laundry (no softener, no dryer sheets...we use Charlie's Soap so we don't even need them) and then be ready for use. They need to be washed like this so that the fibers are ready to be absorbent. Right now they could be used as rain gear!
Anyway, I will try to post later and let you know how my new flats are working out...can't wait!

*disposable diapers

Of Charlies and Such

Ok, so I have switched from Melaleuca laundry soap to Charlie's. Wow. I am SO happy. Not only is that horrible urine smell GONE (it was starting to linger like a stray cat you once fed) but it also is good for the environment (like Melaleuca) and it also has been getting some of the stench smell out of my husband's work out clothes.

Here is how I wash my diapers these days:

1. I was every other day.

2. I use the "large load" setting so that there is lots of water to be washed in.

3. I send them through a rinse cycle with about 1/8 c. of white vinegar.

3. I wash them with 1 tbs of Charlie's

4. I either dry them in the dryer, or if it is nice out I line dry them. Sometimes in the winter when it is dry in the house I will hang them on a drying rack in the boy's room so that they get the benefit of the humidity and I don't waste energy with the dryer!

So as I was perusing blog world I came across these awesome posts about cloth diapering. ENJOY!

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2009/03/guest-post-cloth-diapering-101-part-1.html

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2009/03/guest-post-cloth-diapering-101-part-2.html

They answer GREAT cloth diapering questions about saving money, environmental factors, and why disposables are so bad for your baby's bum!

Cloth Blogs

If you haven't noticed, I've been linking to quite a few cloth blogs lately. This entire blog is about my journey with cloth diapers...which has been inspired by other people's journeys. If you are even reading this blog it is probably because you too cloth diaper or are thinking about it. Well, here is another post you might enjoy by my friend Deb.
http://pinkdebster.xanga.com/697052832/cloth-diapers//?nextdate=last&leftcmt=11
Enjoy!

Oh, and this blog is also dedicated to cloth diapering. It makes this one look wretched. But that is ok, because as long as you get the information it doesn't matter how....but please come back *sniff*

Cloth Diaper Donations

I just came across a website that takes cloth diaper/nautral mothering donations, as well as will take applicants who want to cloth diaper. Here is their link: http://www.miraclediapers.org/
Check them out!

THE BEST BLOG ON CLOTH

Ok, today I read the BEST blog post on cloth diapers EVER. It was similar to the one I did here, but of course way better. To discover it for yourself, click here! YOU WANT TO! Trust me!
I am so glad to be back to using cloth diapers after Baby J's hospital stay. You may think I am crazy...but that is why this blog is called "cloth crazy". I just love those cloth diapers.