Diapers: Kickin’ it Old School with a New School Twist
by FireMom ~ January 11th, 2008. Filed under: Parenting.Like what you're reading? Subscribe to our feed.
I’ve been getting some messages from various awesome Mamas asking, “So, how is cloth diapering going?” I haven’t written about our experiences yet, almost expecting something to go wrong. But to be honest, nothing has gone wrong. (Of note: I just knocked on wood.) So, let me set you up with our setup.
We’re exclusively using Fuzzi Bunz (though I did just jump on the Goodmama bandwagon and order one and a few small Thirsties covers; I’ll review those soon). We waited to put LittleBrother in cloth until we were home from the hospital and all of the meconium had passed. For those who don’t know, meconium is some nasty, tarry like poo that would basically ruin the nice, stainless fleece of cloth. Once that phase was over, we moved him into his cloth.
Small Fuzzi Bunz said that they were good for seven pounds and up. To be honest, I was worried about the transition. You see, LittleBrother was born with FirDad’s legs: skinny, skinny. No thighs at all! When I first strapped him into his first cloth diaper, I was one-hundred percent sure that anything coming out of him was also coming out of the leg hole of the diaper. I was pleasantly surprised. Everything stayed where it was supposed to stay. I was stoked.
You see, even when BigBrother was a newborn, he peed through disposable diapers. Some times it was a size issue, his green parents not knowing when to move up a size. Other times? Well, it goes back to the reason that we moved BigBrother to cloth at night: he pees a lot and pretty darn hard. Disposables couldn’t keep up with him. From the time he was very little, I was washing sheets with ridiculous regularity. Not so with LittleBrother and cloth diapers and, trust me, he can pee just as much and just as hard.
So, now everyone wants to know: what about washing?
It should be noted that LittleBrother is exclusively breastfed. Breastfed poop is something special! All you need to know is that it is water soluble. And so, my washing routine goes something like this: twenty minute cold soak cycle with some baking soda followed by a hot wash cycle (with cold rinse). During the hot wash cycle, I use about half of the recommended Purex Free & Clear for a large load, a capful of Calgon Water Softener because we have very hard water and a few squirts of Dawn Original Dish Soap. (More about cloth diapers and detergent here.) If I’m thinking that the load was exceptionally dirty, I will do another wash cycle on cold after that one is finished. Then, since it’s winter and drying outside isn’t possible, everything gets thrown into the dryer on low. And everything comes out clean. We’ve had one stain stay after a hot wash. Thankfully, it was a random sunny and warm day. I put it out on the back deck with a little bit of lemon juice on the stain and “sunned it out.” It was fine after that!
Of note: We have twenty-seven diapers. (Soon to be twenty-nine.) I was washing every day because I was panicked about running out of diapers. I’ve slowly worked myself into an every-other-day routine. Washing every other day is easier on the diapers but makes stains a concern. I always make sure to check for staining before I toss diapers in the dryer. (Drying a diaper that has a stain will set the stain. Always check first!) Still, washing every-other-day for over two weeks now, we have only had one diaper that needed to be washed a second time. I think we’re doing just fine!
And then everyone wants to know: Do you always use cloth?
Yes. I don’t even know what size LittleBrother would wear in disposables now. It’s much easier just to throw the diapers and a wetbag in the diaper bag and go. I even used them when we got snowed in on TheFarm over New Years. I just simply ran them through the wash at my Mom’s and, voila!, everything was good. (Of note: she now keeps some Calgon and some Dawn on hand for me.)
Obviously, cloth diapering may not work for everyone. We’re lucky in the fact that I work from home. We’re also lucky in the fact that FireDad is not phased by poop, pee or cloth. When he saw how well cloth worked for containing BigBrother’s pee issue, he got right on board. The Grandmas have been quick to learn how to change a cloth diaper and the Great-Grandmas are impressed at the advances made in cloth diapering since their day. (Speaking of advances, check out this article in Time!)
Not only are we saving money by going the cloth route, we’re also doing something good for the environment. And, quite frankly, with our gas-guzzling SUV, it probably wouldn’t hurt for us to do something nice for the Earth. Oops.
If you’re interested in cloth diapering, don’t hesitate to ask me a question. I also can’t say enough about DiaperSwappers.com as a great place to get information as well as find diapers or diapering accessories at greatly reduced price.
January 11th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Hey, I did cloth for a while, too. I will tell you that when they start eating food, you must, must, MUST get liners. Like, the rice-paper poo liners (sooper soft). Also, I have a friend (Little Turtle Knits) who sells wool soakers, which are knitted covers. She also sells the patterns. She taught me how to line with fleece, what to wash them in so as not to ruin absorbancy, etc. I swear by the wool soakers.
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January 11th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Thank you! I’ve been so interested in cloth diapering and have seen minimal posts about it. My daughter is 20 months now and soaks her sheets at night, so this might be a good alternative until she’s potty trained. And something I’d love to consider from the newborn stages with the next baby. So glad this is working out for you.
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January 11th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Jamie; Oh yes. BigBrother was soaking the sheets EVERY NIGHT at right around 20 months. Washing sheets EVERY morning was getting… frustrating to put it nicely. We weren’t about to cut back on his water consumption either! The kid loves water and why would we want to stop that!! For him, at night, we double stuff a Fuzzi Bunz with a regular liner and one hemp liner. No laundry every morning. WOO! For him we have just six diapers. Now that we’re washing Little Brother’s every other day, it’s not an issue. Prior to that, I would use all six (rinsing them out in the morning to help the ammonia smell by day six) and wash before bedtime on that day. (He rarely poops in the middle of the night.)
January 11th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Babylegs: Adorable.
I totally am jealous - I wish I’d gotten into this with the boys - there are so many options now!
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January 11th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
what a great post - are these AIOs or do you have a diaper inside with a cover?
also, i appreciated your comment on my blog the other day, but i couldn’t get blogger to let me email you back.
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January 11th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I think this is the baby-related thing that I most look forward to. I love cloth diapers!
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January 11th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Hooray for cloth diapers! I applaud anyone who tries them. Really, they’re not all that different from disposables when it comes to convenience, but people don’t seem to understand that. We have a diaper service (which I love), but I’d probably do cloth even without it.
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January 12th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
A question since I’ve found so much conflicting information on this.
Some sites say NOT to use Free & Clear detergents because they damage the diapers.
Other sites specifically recommend them.
I’m Confused!!!! Help?!?!
January 12th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Katie; You will find conflicting advice on all things washing all over the internet. It basically comes down to finding what works for you. All Free & Clear did not work for us. Purex F&C does. It’s very individual when you consider water type, etc. We’ve had no damage. The link I provided in this post gives Purex F&C three stars our of four and mentions that many mothers have expressed satisfaction with it.
January 12th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Marth; They are actually “pocket diapers.” They have fleece on the inside and a PUL lined outer (making them waterproof). There is a “pocket” in which you stick whatever liner you prefer. The liner can range from microterry to hemp to a prefold. The best thing about pocket dipes is that you can stick more than one liner in if you have a heavy wetter. For example, for BigBrother, we stick in a microterry and a hemp for overnights.
January 13th, 2008 at 2:50 am
Here is the link to a site where I purchased irregular Fuzzi Bunz.
http://fuzzibunzseconds.net/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=Medium15-30lbs
They have some for as little as $10.00 each. I never noticed any difference in performance from those ‘perfect’ ones.
January 13th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Wow! What an inspiration you are! (Though, I’m glad to say that my two kids are well past the diaper stage. I’m a gagger, so I don’t think I would like cloth diapers, but I would feel too guilty to use disposable anymore.)
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January 14th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I feel vindicated!!! I had my babies in the late 1970s and early to mid 80s. I was one of the few people I knew who used cloth outside of my fellow La Leche Leaguers. Most people thought I was crazy! I must say that the covers and liners have really improved over the last couple of decades.
January 16th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I just want to say that your success has convinced me to give cloth diapers a try! Well, that and the possibility of saving some money in the long run. I ordered a couple Fuzzi Bunz to try out on my 9 month old daughter. I like the idea of the snaps, since it would be harder for my daughter to undo them. I have a question though- are the snaps a pain?
January 16th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Heather; The only time I have a trouble with the snaps is when I have him in a white diaper in the middle of the night. The snaps are white so white on white at 3am (without glasses or much light!) has been troublesome. So I save white diapers for daytime.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I checked out the website that Deb posted and I think I might buy a few from there. My question: they do not come with inserts. Can I get some advice on inserts? I thought I had heard somewhere one time that someone used those shammy things people use to dry cars with as inserts. Ever heard of this? Any recs for inserts? How many inserts do I need? The same as number of dipes or more?
Thanks!!
January 17th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Marci; We use inserts from Rainforest Babies as our normal/everyday/daytime insert. At night we use a Babykickz Hemparoo Joeybunz insert along with the RB one. Hemp is uber-absorbent and therefore we don’t have any leaks at night. (If I forget or if he falls asleep earlier than normal the RB ones RARELY leak with a six/seven hour time span at night.) There are LOTS of options for inserts on the net. Google-around.