Cloth Diapers - Report #2
So, better late than never, right?
It took a little longer for me to get the diapers stripped and dried on the line. We had a cloudy day in there, and that doesn't work too well for drying. Anyways, I have now been using them for about 2 days. Here are my findings:
They are still cute, cute. I really love her in them with a little T-shirt. Precious!
I think my daughter is a heavy wetter. The diapers, with one insert, are good for about one pee, and then I need to make a change. The other option would be using double inserts all the time, which my husband is pushing me towards, but in my vanity, I would prefer her bum not to be that big. We may get to that point.
I do use double inserts at night, and we have not had a leak for the two nights I have used them. This is a huge plus, because I don't want to be washing sheets all the time.
When they leak, the diapers do not leak a ton. I can just feel them damp around the leg, and I know I need to change her. Not too bad, and I think I can live with it. Depending on how soon she goes after changing her, a diaper can make it approximately 2-3 hours. I have 24 diapers, and I have safely made it 2 days and will wash today with some clean ones still in the drawer.
I switched to a dry pail. I kept my cute bucket, but we put a trash bag in to save the plastic from absorbing too much of the lovely scent. This is some stinky business! I would maybe recommend a stainless steel trash can. After wringing out the wet diapers from the wet pail the first time, I decided it was sick and didn't want to do that anymore, since the water pretty much turns to pee water. Gross!
I do rinse the poopy diapers. Kind of gross as well, but I think it will help with stains, and at this point her poop is soft enough to dissolve. (Good to know, right? Ha!)
So there are my findings after 2 days... the second time around. I think I can stick with it. I'll write again about them in a week or so and let you know more.
May 6, 2011 at 1:14 PM
so proud of you :) we use 2 inserts all the time now, and that seems to work well. she is still wet at times around her legs, i've just accepted that as normal? i should try stripping mine too just to see if that helps. BUT i have found that she has had MAYBE one blow-out poop in cloth, and would almost always have a mess in the disposables. yay for that!
-liz
May 6, 2011 at 4:20 PM
Oh, Layne, your posts take me back to my days as a firsttime mom! I used disposables for a couple of weeks and then a diaper service for a month and then it was on to doing cloth diapers on my own! They had come out with "pre-folded" diapers (rectangular with multiple layers down the center) this made diapering so much easier. I will tell you though in my desire to have very white diapers I over bleached and was shocked to pull out shredded diapers one day from the wash - thus causing me to have to purchase more. I do believe I kept about 4 dozen diapers on hand - they made great burp cloths on my shoulder, lap pads, and when I no longer had babies - great dust cloths!!!
May 6, 2011 at 4:50 PM
I know what you mean about the big cloth diaper bum - he he. I bought expensive microfiber/hemp inserts to go inside Micah's diaper covers because I wanted him to have a slimmer diaper. But after months of use... I have come to realize that the slimmer the cloth diaper, the less it holds - no matter what the fabric. Unfortunately, he had occasional leaks with those inserts. Now I reach for my stash of cotton prefolds first... they are bulker, but he never leaks in them. And now that he is wearing baggy shorts for the summer, it works. If I am self-conscious about it when we go out, I just put him in a disposable. I also use prefolds with Claire... and she has never leaked. She had plenty of leaks with her Huggies, so this is very nice!
I use dry pails with plastic bags in them. I keep a bucket in the bathroom to rinse poopy diapers... then dump the dirty water down the toilet and put the rinsed diapers in the dry pail. Sometimes I treat the stains before washing... but I tend to not care that much anymore. They are just going to get stained - they are poop catchers, after all! Lol I wash every other day... first a gentle wash on cold (to rinse out all the yuck) and then a heavy wash on hot with detergent. It has been a pretty good system so far.
Oh the adventures...
May 9, 2011 at 2:37 AM
Layne- I LOVE reading your blog! And since I am expecting and wanting to do cloth diapering I really enjoy your diaper posts! I LOVE learning from others and would love to hear any and everything you think I need to know about pregnancy, breast-feeding, childbirth....etc! I am only 10 weeks right now....so I still have a long way to go and TONS to learn! :)
May 11, 2011 at 1:43 PM
Love that your watching out for how big her bum looks:)Your turning in to quite the teacher of all things Mommy. Fun to read, and informative;)
Keep up the hard work!! Love ya!