Bleachin'

I bleached my hair.  What does this have to do with cloth diapering or even babies you ask?  I'll get there.

I've colored my hair dark in the past, but I've always wondered what my hair would look like bleached out.  So I finally did it.

Big.  Mistake.

I thought it would be a fun new change, and it was a change alright... but fun is not the descriptive word I would choose.

After the salon, I went out to dinner with my husband and my parents for my birthday.  My scalp was burning.  Pain is beauty though, right?  Everyone knows bleach burns.  Well, I thought I might just be a wimp, because this was seriously hurting...

After a long night of itchy burning scalp-ness, the next day finally came around.  My husband was in and out of the house that morning, and saw me at various times.  Well, around 3:00, after he had been home for about an hour and we had been chatting for a while, he gets an I-just-saw-an-alien look on his face and asks, "What's happening to your face?!"  Awesome.  That shouldn't induce immediate panic.

I run into the bathroom, and sure enough, my forehead is swelling!  I called the salon (no help), then went right in to my doctor.  Come to find out, the girl had left the bleach in for WAY too long and I had a chemical burn on my scalp (it was oozing.. yummy right?), and I was having an allergic reaction.  I went on antibiotics to prevent infection on my head, and I also had to go on a steroid pill to reverse the swelling.  For five days, I looked like this:

If you can't tell, my forehead is actually a fivehead here^^ (see the crease above my left eye?)

This one is on day four or five... fivehead went down, but my eye is still sad:

The unfortunate part about the whole event is that I wasn't supposed to nurse little man while I was taking the steroid.  He was 10 1/2 months old, so it wasn't too terrible.. but we really wanted to make it to one year.  He sure didn't want to stop any time soon (to say the least!).  Good thing he looks so cute drinking from a bottle :)

So, now to the cloth diaper portion.  Formula is stinky.  It's stinky as a powder, it's stinky when made into milk, it's stinky when it gets left at the bottom of a bottle in a diaper bag for two days, and it's REALLY stinky when it goes through a digestive system and out the "other" end.  I had the whole poop thing down fairly well when little man was breast fed along with eating solids... now that we introduced this formula stuff, BAM!  It sucks...  So I've discovered my new favorite invention.  Even  better than sliced bread IMHO:

These little babies are thin pieces of material that get laid right on the diaper, and when baby poops, it hits this instead of clinging to the diaper fabric.  No more spraying, swooshing, scraping or rubbing... just lift a clean corner of this and drop it straight to the toilet.  *flush* and it's gone.  I thought that these may defeat the whole money-saving-going-green portion of cloth diapering, but these come cheap and there's next-to-nothing to them.  If you're tactful, you can even cut them in half and get twice as many out of a roll.  I don't think I'll ever go without these on hand ever again.  I'm in love, and...

CLOTH DIAPERING JUST GOT SUPER EASY!

Seriously though, I don't hate on anyone using disposables (little man is in one right now because he ate something that caused a rash... most rash cream doesn't go well with cloth diapers), but if you've ever considered trying out cloth diapers, do it!  It's an adjustment, but it's kind of a fun challenge and it feels good to do something that saves money and helps out the planet (and they're about a trillion times cuter).  Now that I've worked out some kinks and found some beautiful inventions to help the process out, I don't think it's any harder than using 'sposies! (aka disposables)

Laundry problems

I had an issue with stinky diapers. I was washing them every 2-3 days, but for some reason they'd come out of the washer and still smell bad. When I was POSITIVE little man had pooped because he was so stinky, I'd change him and find nothing but a wet diaper!  I was blown away. 

I wasn't sure what to do... I found a group on Facebook (seriously, there's a Facebook group for EVERYTHING!) specifically for cloth diaper laundry questions. 

From this group I learned that most smells are due to soap residue build-up. What I was advised to do was to "strip" my diapers by rinsing them in plain HOT water as many times as it took before I could look in the washer and see NO soap bubbles during the cycle. After that, I was to wash once with a Tbs of Tide original powder (yet another laundry detergent added to my collection) and 1/4 cup bleach, followed by two cold rinses and one more hot rinse (just for good measure and to be sure they didn't smell like bleach). 

Ta da! It totally worked. It took a lot of water, which to me kind of defeats the whole "green" aspect of cloth diapering, but stripping should only be done when diapers are smellin' funky anyway. Hopefully that's not too often. 

Cloth diaper laundry is different for everyone. Some people have the hardest time with this part of cloth diapering because there is no textbook answer. Some factors that change your washing experience are: hard or soft water? top or front loading washer? agitator or not? high efficiency or old school? What kind of diapers? How many diapers/inserts? Is baby breast fed, formula, solids etc? What kind if detergent are you using? Have you used a diaper cream on baby?

Each persons laundry routine will be unique based on the list above. I was lucky to find my "balance" fairly quickly! Just because that routine worked for me, doesn't necessarily mean it'll work for you too (hate to break it to ya... However if you're curious, I have an old school top loader [best kind for cloth diapers!] and soft-ish water)

I've got a good idea now of what people should do based on what I've read.. So if anyone out there in cloth diaper world is dying to get the stink out, I can try to help you out :)

Under Cover

Got my first mail order of diapers! I got some really cute prints, but I ordered a few of the wrong styles... Whoops!

I have two thirsties all-in-ones that I'll keep for sure, then I got two thirsties duo wraps, which come to find out is JUST the waterproof exterior.. No absorbency whatsoever inside. I guess some people use the old school cloth diapers (pre folds, flats, etc) then use a wrap or cover to put over and make it waterproof. Hmm.. Seems like a lot of extra work to me. I was also sent a cover from another brand for free, so I'll try that one out first to see if I want to keep the others.

The plus side is that you use the same cover (or two and switch back and forth) all day, and only trade out the insert when it gets soiled. Saves money, but I think I still like the pocket idea best. The all in ones seem nice, but they're expensive!

*UPDATE*

Just before his nap, I had put little man in the cover with just an insert inside (a new one that I got from Apple Cheeks that's microfiber on one side and something else on the other. All I know is you can't put microfiber directly against baby's bottom because it so good at absorbing moisture, that it'll take all of the good moisture from your baby's skin too!).

I just got him out and changed him and I would highly recommend NOT using diapers that way. Poop all over the insert that didn't just plop off into the toilet like with the Sun Baby pocket diapers, and poop all over the cover! A big stinky mess to say the least.. Thank goodness it all stayed IN the diaper though :)

Looks like I'll be returning the other two covers that I purchased. I'm sure they would work better with a prefold or fitted diaper underneath, but I already know they would be too much work for me. I'm a convenience kind of girl..

Here are the AIOs I'm keeping. One with snaps and one hook and loop (aka velcro).

Cute huh??

Delayed shipment

Ugh, my package of diapers STILL hasn't come. I called the company and they said it should be here by now... They'd check on it and call me back.

I never got a call back, but all of a sudden the tracking info is updating! Looks like they must have found it lost in the store or something. I'm so excited to try out another brand, it's killin me to wait!

Diaper Doodie

Aka laundry day.

I was a little nervous to wash cloth diapers for the first time. I didn't want to ruin my new collection of beautiful, expensive, fluffy diapers. I knew I had to use a detergent without specific ingredients, and that it's better to line dry diapers than toss them in the dryer. I knew I couldn't use bleach or fabric softeners. I didn't want to wash them with anything else because of the... well, remaining content that could potentially be floating around.

When I had purchased those used diapers from the lady nearby, she also had a spare wet bag she was willing to part with. I had gone to Walmart earlier this week and purchased a "step can" so that the smell would at least be partially contained in little man's room. I fitted the wet bag in the trash can and tossed all of the dirty diapers in there.

We were going through our small diaper collection fairly quickly and down to our last two clean diapers. Also, I had read its best for the diapers to be washed about every-other day to avoid them marinating in baby waste for days on end. I put little man down for a nap, then took that stinky step can into the laundry room. I had been advised to take the absorbent inserts out of the diaper right after changing my baby, and before tossing them in the dirty laundry basket (trash can). This is good advise. Use it.

I have a lot of laundry detergents. Gain apple mango tango is my favorite detergent I've ever used. It smells SOoo good! I love getting my clothes out of the dryer and just smelling them :) Unfortunately, it's filled with chemicals that aren't good for cloth diapers.. so that one was out of the running. I also have a laundry detergent that's free of fillers and fabric softeners, but come to find out, has a small amount of optical brighteners (a no no for cloth diapers). I ALSO have a half used bottle of All, Free and Clear which come to find out isn't really completely free and clear of all of the ingredients I needed it to be. But don't fear! I have a fourth variety of laundry detergent in my laundry room... Back to The Honest Company where I used to buy Eco friendly disposable diapers, I had purchased their laundry detergent along with a few other environmentally happy home products. This one was on the good list for cloth diapers.

I filled my washer with warm water and dumped in the detergent. I pulled the wet bag out of the step can and flipped it inside out, emptying the contents right into the water. The nice thing about the wet bag is that it too is machine washable. I tossed it in with the diapers. I didn't have to touch a single old soiled diaper (score!)

When the wash cycle finished, I took the diapers to my backyard where I had made my own clothes line (Yarn. Tied between my two peach trees. Not the highest quality, but it served its purpose). I draped the diapers and inserts individually across the yarn to dry. It worked well, but my next purchase will be clothespins to keep them in place.

I feel so old fashioned with my cloth diapers and hanging things out to dry, but I kinda like it! It makes me slow down during the day, and life seems more simple. I feel all warm inside because I know I'm saving money and doing something good for this place we call Earth. I'm beginning to not only think I can "handle" cloth diapering, but that I might actually enjoy it.

Who would have guessed? Not me!

Poop

How did it go you ask?

Let me tell you:

I unsnapped that beautiful blue diaper and found what I had been dreading inside. Poop. I've been a mom for nearly ten months now and this isn't the first time I've seen poop... But this time I knew I couldn't just fold the diaper up and toss it. I had to DEAL with the poop.

I set the diaper aside while I wiped my baby clean. I reached over to set the wipes in the diaper when I realized that's gotta change too. Where do cloth diaper people put the dirty wipes?? If I just stick it in the garbage, it'll stink up the room and no one wants to see poopy wipes sitting on top of a trash can.. But I can't fold them up in the diaper because the diaper isn't getting tossed. I'm not sure I can handle rinsing out poopy cloth wipes AND poopy diapers just yet... I guess that'll be something I'll work out later. For today I rolled them up and buried them in the garbage.

I snapped a new super cute diaper on my super cute squirmy baby (already easier this time though) and then faced the dirty diaper... Hmmmm.

I'd read two things online. Some people invest in a sprayer that connects to their toilet water line. I guess they just hold the diaper over the bowl and spray the poop off. You know, like after dinner when you rinse the food off of your plate... but this time it's poop and you don't want to touch it and you might be gagging while you're doing it. I had also read horror stories of people turning the knob just slightly too high and the sprayer turning into a laser and poop flying all over the bathroom. I wasn't ready for that yet.

The other option: use a plastic knife/spatula thing to simply scrape the poop off into the toilet, then flush it away. This sounded much more simple to me.

As I took the problem across the hall to the restroom, little man crawled right behind. He wasn't about to miss this. I lifted the lid and seat of the toilet and while I was focusing on the issue at hand, little man crawled out of no where and put his MOUTH on the toilet bowl (fail #1). I moved him away and while I used one leg to barricade my child, I balanced on the other and started scraping... Lets just say it wasn't as easy as you'd think. That fabric is made to hold things in, not let them just slip off. During the process, the diaper touched the edge if the bowl and got poop on it (fail #2) AND as I was juggling my child, I grabbed the wrong spot on the diaper and got poop on my finger (fail #3). Needless to say, I'm getting a sprayer tomorrow.

Since then, I've changed a few wet diapers and they're easy-peasy.

As far as diaper functionality goes, these ones work great. I haven't had any leaks and little man's bum doesn't have any redness or irritation. The microfiber insert holds all of the pee, and the whatever-it-is fabric against his skin stays pretty pee free, keeping his skin dry as well.

I love that these diapers are one size so that I can adjust them as he grows rather than purchasing a whole new supply of diapers. These are "Pocket" style diapers, meaning: the part that absorbs the pee inserts into a pocket between the soft fabric touching his skin, and the waterproof fabric protecting the rest of us. At night or if your kid pees a lot, extra absorbent pads can be inserted into the pocket.

They're the Sun Babies brand from China and they're a lot less expensive than the American made ones. I like supporting American businesses, but at the tone of 5x more expensive, I waiver occasionally (guilty).

Fancy Pants

I couldn't stop thinking about the cloth diapers that should be coming in the mail this week, so I hopped on the local online classifieds to see what people were selling. One woman in my city had posted a whole bunch of really cute boy prints with some inserts that had never been used. She was only asking $4-$5 for each one! (Normally $15-20+) So, naturally I went over and fell in love and came home with 2/3 of her collection :) Happy Earth Day! I did something green.



Little man had just pooped after his nap so I figured I had dodged that area, and it was perfect timing to try out his first cloth diaper! I would have picked out my favorite one, but I love them all, so I just grabbed the closest one and strapped it on. How do I feel so far?

Well, in my extensive cloth diapering experience... ;) Here are my first impressions: The snaps will take some getting used to. Little man likes to wiggle and crawl away when he's getting his diaper changed, but I'm sure it won't be an issue once I've practiced and know what size he needs. Also, it's much more poofy than a disposable diaper. I haven't actually tried to put pants on over it yet, but I'm sure he'll have a nice little bubble butt when I do (that's partially genetic though.. he can thank his dad for that one).

As I'm sitting here typing this out, little man is crawling around exploring his bedroom.. That's fine and all, but he keeps pausing and staring with a glossed over look That doesn't mean he's looking closely at something, that means he's working on something. Something fun for mom. Looks like he wants to really see what these diapers are worth!

I'm nervous....