It has been almost 4 1/2 months since I began cloth diapering...and I am very happy to report that I am still really liking it.
As I mentioned in my first post about cloth diapering, if anyone had told me a few years ago that I would ever do this, I would have thought they had lost their ever-lovin' minds. One thing I've learned over the past 8 years of being a parent: Never say "never".
I've gotten my methods and flow down over the past few months, and the whole thing has fit into my life more seamlessly than I ever imagined it would.
I wash the diapers ever other day. There are normally about 14-16 dirty diapers when I wash them, so the 24 diapers that I purchased allow us to still have some clean ones available while the dirty ones are being cleaned and dried.
Here is the process I use to wash them:
- Cold rinse cycle, highest water level
- Cold wash cycle, highest water level - with only a small amount of detergent
- Cold rinse cycle, highest water level, to ensure all detergent has been rinsed out (leftover detergent in the cloth would make it repel moisture instead of absorbing it...not good)
Then we (I'm using the royal "we", I actually mean one of the children) hang the diaper covers and inserts out in the backyard to dry. It apparently would be fine to dry them in the dryer (I have a friend who does that with this brand), but I like to use the sun's bleaching power on the diapers.
I have not had any problem with staining. I have not yet (much to my surprise) had to "strip" the diapers.
And also much to my surprise, poo-ey diapers are really not a big deal. I thought I would purchase liners (like these) to help with the poo..but now I know I don't need to. Even though G sometimes has more than one poo diaper a day now, it just really hasn't turned out to be a big deal.
After the diapers are dry, "we" stack them up, and I put them away.
Since Gabriel is still sleeping in our room, his clothes are in mine and Jason's closet...and his clean diapers are stored on some shelves right underneath his clothes.
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| Yes, that is Jason's hunting gear in our closet...don't ask. |
The covers go in the white basket on the top shelf, and the inserts are stored on the bottom shelf.
And anyone who knows me will not be surprised in the least to know that I use the FIFO inventory method with G's diapers. (FIFO - "First in, First out" Never thought I would apply this to cloth diapers when I learned that in accounting back in college.) The stack of newly cleaned covers is placed under the ones currently remaining in the white basket...and the new stack of inserts is always placed on the right side of the bottom shelf, and the rest of the inserts are shifted to the left.
One thing that I have changed since the beginning of this cloth diapering journey: Where the dirty diapers are stored until they're washed. I was using a "wet bag", but that had one flaw, in my opinion.
When I wanted to wash the wet bag - which I did every time, because it stank! - I then had no where to put dirty diapers while the bag was going through the wash/dry process. After reading how some other cloth diaperers handled this, I decided to buy a bucket with a lid. And then I remembered I already had a bucket with a lid:
Yes, this bucket originally held 50 pounds of Organic Wheat from the Breadbeckers. But now it holds dirty cloth diapers. I've been very happy with this switch. The lid holds the stink in. Once I dump the dirty diapers into the washing machine, I just immediately spray some cleaner into the empty bucket and clean it. Voila - my bucket is ready for more dirty diapers in about 30 seconds.
Based on my calculations, we've already hit the break-even point with these cloth diapers. Love that!
And because of the utter-adjustability of these covers, they will fit Gabriel until he potty trains. We've already had to change which snaps we use to adjust for the increase in G's height and belly circumference...which is only one more reminder that our baby is getting bigger. (sniff)
