Cloth Diapering Success

I have been cloth diapering for 1 whole year now. 

Go me! :)

gross just gross

As a mom I deal with poop.  Lots of it.

I cloth diaper Q so sometimes I come up close and personal with poop.

Today as I prepared to wash out a stinky diaper with my diaper sprayer, I discovered a foreign object in the diaper.

Mr. Potato Head's mustache covered in doo doo. 

I had a decision to make.

Did I want to carefully clean up the mustache in order to salvage it?

Sorry Mr. Potato head, no facial hair for you.

Soap Nuts...Say What?

When you start to cloth diaper you realize that detergent is VERY important.

The Wrong Detergent = Build Up

Build Up = Less Absorbent Diapers

Less Absorbent Diapers = Pee Pee Everywhere

Pee Pee Everywhere = One VERY UNHAPPY MOMMY

So, as I said, detergent is important.  Most of the time I use Rockin' Green.  I really like that detergent.  One day, I was visiting a cloth diaper store in another town.  The owner was really nice and gave me a sample of "Eco-Nuts" to wash my diapers.

I smiled, took the sample and thought "I'm never gonna use these."

Then my detergent got back ordered.

So, I did what I had to do.  I broke out the Soap Nuts.

I did a little research first. 

They are dried fruit shells from a certain type of tree.  All natural and all that good stuff.

They come with this dandy little cloth bag. 

You just slip about 5 of the soap nuts into the bag and close it tight.

Next you toss it in the wash with your diapers.

It's that easy.

When the wash is done, you just take the little bag out and let the shells air dry.

You can reuse them 5-6 times in hot water and more in cold. 

Everything smells and looks clean and soft.  The tough stains could use something stronger from time to time but I all in all I think these are a pretty stinkin' cool.

Pull ups? Nope, Antsy Pants.

When we started using cloth diapers with Q we decided that we might as well use cloth pull ups with our potty trainer.  I researched different types and settled on Antsy Pants.  They are awesome!  We only need them for night time now.  If we were using them full time, we would definitely buy more.

Check them out...

Our baby wears cloth diapers

When Q was about 4 months old I decided to give cloth diapers a try.  One of my dear friends was planning to cloth diaper her baby and I had been listening with intrigue.

Here is what I have learned about cloth diapering so far...

There are tons of types of diapers and you have to find the best ones for you.

At this point we are loving the Flip Diaper System.

Here are the covers...

Here is the insert...(we chose the organic cotton insert)

You fold it one way...

Then the other...

Then you take the cover and lay it out like this...

Then you slip the insert in and tuck it under the flaps...

TaDa...a cloth diaper with fancy snaps and everything!

Next find your squiggly, wiggly baby and put it on him...

Then attempt to take pictures of him in the cloth diaper while he crawls away...

Try again but this time he will crawl towards you...

And into your lap...

Okay, here is the deal.  If your baby pees in their diaper all you have to do is take the insert out and throw it in a wet bag.  Then you replace it with a fresh insert.  But if the dreaded number two has occurred, you pull out the big guns. 

Behold, the Diaper Sprayer...

This handy contraption keeps you from touching poo.  You just hold onto the diaper and spray the poo off into the toilet and flush.  Then you place the diaper (cover and all) in the wet bag.  This time you replace with a whole new cover and diaper.  Important note: do not install this diaper sprayer where your children use the potty.  Put it in your master bathroom.  Trust me on this one.  Even the tiny one thinks it would be a fun toy...

Here is that awesome wet bag.  It is an important tool in cloth diapering.  Now that you have filled that bad boy up with yucky diapers it's time to wash. (For us that is every other day) So, here is what you do...you simply unzip the top of the bag and turn it inside out dumping everything into the washer (including the bag).

 Next, you do a cold rinse with no detergent.  Then you use detergent specifically made for cloth diapers.  Then run the cycle that does a hot wash and cold rinse. 

Then you hang the covers to dry and throw the inserts in the dryer to tumble dry.

I didn't mention the cloth wipes.  They just make sense.  This way you reuse your wipes over and over again.  You might as well.  You are already washing the diapers.  (My favorite so far is the fuzzibunz brand).

So, tell the truth...you think I'm a total hippy now don't you?