patty-leigh on earth: zoe

Thursday, March 24, 2011

wake up and snack

maybe i should let her wake up a bit before offering snacks. unfortunately, she lives on dominic's schedule.

sometimes people ask me about using cloth diapers. i haven't blogged about this because there are already so many great blogs and blog posts about cloth diapers that i didn't think there was anything to add! but in case you're interested, here's a little summary of me and my lovely cloth diapers!

i love cloth diapers! i've been doing it since dominic was 3 or 4 months old and it would be easy to be addicted and spend too much on cute diapers. i have to restrain myself, actually. and washing them takes up my time but it's worth it. the main reason is that i really do save money using them. every time i have to go to the store and fork over $30 for a box of diapers , i'm just disgusted! and i love never having to run out late at night because i didn't buy more in time.

here are the details:

the stash -

not all my diapers lasted through dominic to zoe, but some did. so zoe has a lot more than dominic did! i have got

- 3 bumgenius all-in-ones, medium (all that remains from dominic's 12)

- 12 bumgenius one-size (my favorites!)

- 5 kissaluvs fitted, medium (great fitted)

- 9 premium prefolds (cheapest, classic, easiest to wash)

- 12 infant prefolds

- 4 motherease fitteds (decent, absorbent)

- 4 berryplush hemp inserts (super absorbent)

- 4 bummis super wrap, large and medium (BEST diaper cover)

- 1 berryplush wrap

- a bunch of dappi nylon covers (basically plastic pants, cheap, effective but not as easy to use)

- 1 thirsties cover (used to be dominic's)

the system -
1) change the diaper
2) clean out the poop if necessary (more on that below)
3) toss the dirty one in the pail (large garbage can fitted with a large waterproof bag)
4) three times a week i do laundry:
   a) warm rinse
   b) hot wash with rockin' green soap
   c) rinse + extra rinse
   d) dryer for an hour and a half, except in summer when i can hang them outside first
5) fold 'em up! unfortunately, this takes me way to long.

before:

after:

i had a hard time finding the right soap. if i used regular detergent or some other kinds of "environmentally friendly soap" i had too much soap sticking to the diapers which makes them stink eventually. and if i rinsed them too often, they got worn out too fast. finally i found the rockin' green and it really does rock!

hanging them in the sun makes a big difference. if there are any stains, the sun takes care of them!

yes, there are some disposables there. i keep them for traveling, or whatever. also i often use them for night-time, although there are ways to use exclusively cloth at night.

the poop - (skip this section if you are grossed out by it)
yes, this is the worst part. you can't wash solid poop in the washing machine (wha..??!). you can put diapers with infant poop in the washing machine, before they start eating solids. but once your baby eats solids, you have to rinse the poop in the toilet before you put the diaper in the pail. the best cloth diaper invention ever was the toilet sprayer, something like this:

unfortunately, in our move here, i packed it away and have not found it! argh!! luckily, zoe poops in the potty more than in her diaper, so whew!

overall, i love doing cloth diapers. i think they're cuter and funner. look - zoe loves them too!