We've been cloth diapering for 2 1/2 weeks and seriously I am not looking back. I've gotten over any fears I had about poop, leaks, washing, smells, and all that jazz. I'm turning obsessed, because I'm matching Ellie's shirts to her CUTE diapers and letting her run around pantsless!
First things first, I want to give some advice on some accessories that I now deem 100% necessary!
#1. A diaper sprayer. I don't know what I would do without it. Our diaper sprayer was made using this tutorial, and it cost us about $35, about $10 less than the legit sprayers you can get on the market. However, I think buying everything in Utah, you can make it for A LOT less, it's just that the parts were more expensive here. It is necessary because it does exactly what it's called, sprays the poop off the diapers. On its own it's great, but I would ALSO suggest that you spend another $10-$12 and make your own Potty Pail, which is #2 on the list.
#2. Potty Pail. What is a Potty Pail? Basically a 5 gallon bucket that has a hole in the bottom, hooks to hold the diaper and a place for your sprayer to rest. Why is it necessary? Well, if you don't have it, you're basically spraying poo water ALL OVER your bathroom, and I'm not even exaggerating. I was never able to contain the mess without a Potty Pail, and now I'm SOO glad I don't have to disinfect the ENTIRE bathroom after taking care of a poopy diaper. You can buy a legit one here but to be honest, David put this together in less than 20 minutes (without using a drill) so don't waste your money, and make it yourself! It will take even less time and look better than ours if you own a drill.
View of our PottyPail
#3. Somewhere to put your diapers while they wait for the next wash. Right now, I'm just using our Diaper Dekor with a cheap trash bag that I change out every once in a while. Because I wash every other day, to every two days, I haven't ever noticed a smell. I prefer to separate my inserts and covers BEFORE I put them into the Dekor, because then I don't have to do it after they've sat for a day or two. Trust me, this is the better method, because usually a diaper isn't all the way wet at the back of the insert where you pull it out after changing your baby's bum. BUT if you let the diaper sit for a while, the
#4. A good cloth diaper detergent. I started out using All Free & Clear, then I read so many bad things about it, and I also noticed that it wasn't rinsing out very well, and I had to run additional washes/rinses, and that was annoying. It's not a HORRIBLE choice for cloth diapers, as it doesn't have perfumes or dyes, but it does have some things that are on the no no list for cloth diapers, like optical brighteners. I ordered Rockin' Green in the classic formula and I really like it. I had to use more of it than I thought, but since I figured out a good washing method, it's a great choice!
#5. Somewhere to line dry the diaper covers. I know some brands say they can be dried in the dryer, but I line dry my covers, and it takes seriously maybe a couple of hours, so no biggie there. I bought a retractable clothes line from Home Depot for like $12 and it was a great investment for me, especially since we live in such a humid climate and drying outside wouldn't work well because of the humidity!
What is NOT necessary:
#1. Liners. Liners are no good if your child climbs, walks, or moves a lot (and I've read TONS of reviews to back this up) so don't waste your money on them. I stopped using them all together, because they really don't keep the poop off the diapers because after Ellie runs around for a while, the liner is just a wad in the diaper, and that's annoying and I'm sure it's VERY uncomfortable, too!
I don't have anything else to add to that list, ha ha! I just feel very cheated that I thought my liners would work...they work BETTER if you use 2, but then the price per liner is more than I want to spend, and I was trying to get away from the whole buy something disposable and waste money thing.
The washing routine:
You can spend hours, and I mean HOURS trying to research *how* you should wash your diapers. Trust me, I did. But this is what works best for us:
1. Put everything (liners, covers, doublers) in the washer run a short wash on cold/cold with NO detergent. I usually only have 7-10 diapers to wash at a time, and with this first wash/rinse/whatever you want to call it I set my load size to small. This make sure the diapers rub up against each other and really get a lot of the nasties out during this first wash.
2. After the cold rinse is finished, set the load size to medium (yes, I even do medium with only 7 diapers in the load, I will explain why later) set the temperature to hot/cold and set the extra rinse option to on. I add about 2 Tbsp of Rockin' Green detergent and let the washer do its thing.
3. After the hot wash, I give EVERY single cover a good sniff before I hang them up on the clothes line. Your diapers should smell like nothing. IF there is a smell, you have a problem. I had a problem of having the coupe of diapers I knew were pooped in smell like poop still, so that to me said they weren't clean. After doing a lot of research, I figured out I wasn't adding enough water OR detergent, which is why I set the hot wash to medium even with such a small load. After I sniff them and they pass the test of my nose, they're hung up and the inserts are put in the dryer and dried on low with NO DRYER SHEET! Dryer sheets will ruin your diapers because they will leave residue.
4. After everything is nice and dry, I stuff the diapers and put them where I need them.
There is a learning curve to cloth diapers, but once you figure the routine out, it's not really hard, scary, gross or anything else you may be afraid of!
I just wanted to add that on the days when I've run out of diapers and had to put Ellie back in disposables, she's gotten a rash, but as soon as I get her back in a cloth diaper, the rash is gone SO FAST! That right there is motivation to want to cloth diaper.
We are still only using bumGenius 4.0 diapers with snaps, and I don't know that I'm going to try any other kinds. They're awesome, and on the times when Ellie has had huge explosive poops, they have contained it, when we STILL have problems with disposables not containing poop.
There you have it! I hope you can appreciate my tips and that you find what works for you! Ask me any questions you may have, and I'm happy to answer them, even though I'm still a newbie to cloth diapers!
