Diaper Update!

So we have had our cloth diapers for a week now and I LOVE them. I wish I had some funny or entertaining story but the truth is that cloth diapering is easier than I thought it would be. Here is what I have learned in the last week.

1) Use the right detergent and DO NOT use very much. I know it sounds counter productive but it's true. I started out using Tide Pure Essentials lemon and after 3 days I started up the wash with the diapers in it before I added the detergent and the water started bubbling up like I added 1/2 the bottle. I had no idea that the diapers were absorbing all of that soap and it wasn't getting rinsed out! So after about 4 laundry cycles w/ 2nd rinse on I was satisfied enough to toss them into the dryer. So here is what I learned to do by trial and error: I run the diapers one cycle in warm water w. Arm and Hammer FREE of perfumes and dyes and I only put in the detergent to just under the #1 line. Then I run them in a 2nd cycle w/ 1/2 C of vinegar only. This disinfects them. The smell of vinegar is completely gone by the time they are done drying.
(I use Arm and Hammer b/c it already has the baking soda in it and we all know what baking soda does- neutralizes odors.)

2) Flushable liners are a MUST. At least for me. You see, if you don't get the flushable liners you get to spend some time washing poo off a diaper before you put it in your washer. I don't know about you but I like to spend the least amount of time possible w/poo. These inventions are GENIUS! All you do is dump the liner w/the poo into the toilet! It's amazing. $12 for 200 liners. The best part is the poo is gone it's not sitting in the garbage or diaper pail, it's gone.

3) If you are gone all day and you choose to cloth diaper you have to carry your dirties around w/you. I would suggest if you are going to go through more than 1 diaper other than the one baby has on (2 total) I would bring along disposables. On the same note bring along a freezer ziploc bag to put the dirty one(s) in. The only problem I have w/carrying around dirty diapers is that after a couple it gets bulky. The ziploc bags hold in the smell fine.

4) If you know your baby is wet...you have to change the diaper. This is what disposables have over cloth. The moisture will stay right on baby's skin which will equal rash in no time. Because you have to change baby more often I would recommend 6-8 diapers/day. We are still using disposables at night because of the rash issue and we only have 5 diapers. Also if you have a heavy night wetter cloth may not hold it all. I have read that you can purchase microfiber or fleece liners to keep the bum drier (microfiber absorbs and holds more fluid and fleece will wick away the moisture. After we get more cloth diapers we'll start working on the extras.

The bottom line (hahaha bottom) I wish I had done this sooner. Obviously we haven't totally given up disposables but I have used less than 7 disp. diapers in the last week, which from my estimation is down from about 45/week. Yay, us! We'll use even less when we have more cloth dipeys. It's taken Sean a little longer to adjust (cloth diapers require instruction which typically is not a mans best friend) but he is becoming more familiar. He even took over the washing for a couple of days when I was hit with the flu. So now that I am the local cloth diaper expert I would be more than happy to show them off and answer any questions. I will post some cute pictures of Olivia and her new dipey's soon.