Diaper details
It has been suggested to me that I run through my diaper routine since no two diaper routines are the same.
Starting out we only had 12 one-size (OS) Fuzzibunz (FB) pocket diapers and one day pack of Flip's with 2 covers and 6 inserts. So we did diaper laundry every stinking day (no pun intended). It wasn't too bad. We had our system down where we did diapers as soon as we got home. Our wash routine hasn't really changed since we started. I admit we do disposables at night just out of convenience and to try to use up all the diapers that we got at baby showers and as hand-me-downs from my advisor's kid who's a couple months older.
We put all the inserts in the washer for a cold pre-wash without soap. Then all the covers and the wetbags go in with the insert and a small amount of Charlie's Soap. Everything gets a hot wash and cold rinse. Every few days I add a few drops of tea tree oil to the wash since it's a natural disinfectant and smells nice. After the wash everything goes to the dryer and is dried on low heat. On weekends when it's nice out side, I try to dry everything on the drying rack outside so I can dry them without heat every once in a while and also sun out any stains and general funk that may have built up.
We eventually doubled our stash of Fuzzibunz and are slowly adding more to the bunch. I bought a small bunch of randoms off of craigslist and some were duds that neither Stuart or I like, some are newborn size that even my tiny monkey can't fit into, but some are pretty cool and a brand that I have heard great things about. A couple that Start absolutely hated turned out to be awesome for overnights. I have no idea what brand they are and I have a hard time even describing them but they work. And it turns out my craiglist purchase wasn't totally a waste, it was a cheap way to test out Velcro closures on diapers.
I would like to share my experiences with the Velcro closures. Are you freaking kidding me?!? Who thought this was a good idea? This is the most annoying and flawed design idea on a cloth diaper! It sounds like a decent idea...until you have to wash those suckers. Sure they have handy little flaps on the Velcro tabs so that you can clsoe the tab on itself while it washes. Great planning. Kind of. Sort of. No, not really. The Velcro itself gets every tiny little piece of lint that comes off your diapers stuck in its angry little teeth. Not a big deal one may think. Until you try to wash it. Then those tabs full of lint don't close so well and pop open while washing and Voila diaper chain that is 15 diapers long because the stupid Velcro tabs have caught every other soft thing in there! The tabs on the diapers I have couldn't be steamrolled flat enough to not catch on everything. I cleaned the Velcro teeth to make sure the tabs stayed closed but as it turns out, they stay closed just fine. The corners of the tab curl up and nothing can be done to flatten it out. So I have learned that I am huge fan of snaps. If the diaper doesn't have snaps on it, I am uninterested in trying it. (Which is a lie because I am always willing to try a new diaper because as previously mentioned I am always on a mission to find the perfect diaper.)
We have recently been experimenting with cloth at night. Something even veteran cloth diaper mom's tend to shy away from. Let's face it, a trained monkey can get a disposable on the baby in the middle of night. It's easy, and at 3 am, with bleary eyes and a crying baby, easy wins every time. Especially if you luck out like we did and have a baby that will sleep through the night most nights. The last thing in the world you want to start is cloth diapering at night. It sucks. There is a VERY steep learning curve and changing the crib sheet in the middle of the night is not what I want to deal with. Why in the world would you start messing around with your nighttime routine with a baby that sleeps blissfully through the night? Because you have crossed over to the dark side. You have mastered the challenges of cloth diapering in the daylight and now you need a challenge. Most say it can't be done. Few success stories are heard and those are more complicated than Differential Equations. But it's a challenge, you love a challenge. You need a challenge. And when you succeed, you will become the Queen of Crunchy!!! Bwahahahahahaha!
Ok so maybe that's a little melodramatic, but seriously it becomes an addiction and to be able to successfully cloth diaper around the clock is a goal I want to achieve. We seem to be doing pretty well with it so far. Now that we've learned that Emma's daytime OS FB's are NOT rated for bedtime, she hasn't woken up in a puddle since Christmas! I still wuss out at 4 am sometimes when she wakes up and wants a dry diaper and use a disposable but it's a process and I am trying to get in the routine of having a set of nighttime diapers stuffed and ready to go so that I can grab them instead of the disposable.
Starting out we only had 12 one-size (OS) Fuzzibunz (FB) pocket diapers and one day pack of Flip's with 2 covers and 6 inserts. So we did diaper laundry every stinking day (no pun intended). It wasn't too bad. We had our system down where we did diapers as soon as we got home. Our wash routine hasn't really changed since we started. I admit we do disposables at night just out of convenience and to try to use up all the diapers that we got at baby showers and as hand-me-downs from my advisor's kid who's a couple months older.
We put all the inserts in the washer for a cold pre-wash without soap. Then all the covers and the wetbags go in with the insert and a small amount of Charlie's Soap. Everything gets a hot wash and cold rinse. Every few days I add a few drops of tea tree oil to the wash since it's a natural disinfectant and smells nice. After the wash everything goes to the dryer and is dried on low heat. On weekends when it's nice out side, I try to dry everything on the drying rack outside so I can dry them without heat every once in a while and also sun out any stains and general funk that may have built up.
We eventually doubled our stash of Fuzzibunz and are slowly adding more to the bunch. I bought a small bunch of randoms off of craigslist and some were duds that neither Stuart or I like, some are newborn size that even my tiny monkey can't fit into, but some are pretty cool and a brand that I have heard great things about. A couple that Start absolutely hated turned out to be awesome for overnights. I have no idea what brand they are and I have a hard time even describing them but they work. And it turns out my craiglist purchase wasn't totally a waste, it was a cheap way to test out Velcro closures on diapers.
I would like to share my experiences with the Velcro closures. Are you freaking kidding me?!? Who thought this was a good idea? This is the most annoying and flawed design idea on a cloth diaper! It sounds like a decent idea...until you have to wash those suckers. Sure they have handy little flaps on the Velcro tabs so that you can clsoe the tab on itself while it washes. Great planning. Kind of. Sort of. No, not really. The Velcro itself gets every tiny little piece of lint that comes off your diapers stuck in its angry little teeth. Not a big deal one may think. Until you try to wash it. Then those tabs full of lint don't close so well and pop open while washing and Voila diaper chain that is 15 diapers long because the stupid Velcro tabs have caught every other soft thing in there! The tabs on the diapers I have couldn't be steamrolled flat enough to not catch on everything. I cleaned the Velcro teeth to make sure the tabs stayed closed but as it turns out, they stay closed just fine. The corners of the tab curl up and nothing can be done to flatten it out. So I have learned that I am huge fan of snaps. If the diaper doesn't have snaps on it, I am uninterested in trying it. (Which is a lie because I am always willing to try a new diaper because as previously mentioned I am always on a mission to find the perfect diaper.)
We have recently been experimenting with cloth at night. Something even veteran cloth diaper mom's tend to shy away from. Let's face it, a trained monkey can get a disposable on the baby in the middle of night. It's easy, and at 3 am, with bleary eyes and a crying baby, easy wins every time. Especially if you luck out like we did and have a baby that will sleep through the night most nights. The last thing in the world you want to start is cloth diapering at night. It sucks. There is a VERY steep learning curve and changing the crib sheet in the middle of the night is not what I want to deal with. Why in the world would you start messing around with your nighttime routine with a baby that sleeps blissfully through the night? Because you have crossed over to the dark side. You have mastered the challenges of cloth diapering in the daylight and now you need a challenge. Most say it can't be done. Few success stories are heard and those are more complicated than Differential Equations. But it's a challenge, you love a challenge. You need a challenge. And when you succeed, you will become the Queen of Crunchy!!! Bwahahahahahaha!
Ok so maybe that's a little melodramatic, but seriously it becomes an addiction and to be able to successfully cloth diaper around the clock is a goal I want to achieve. We seem to be doing pretty well with it so far. Now that we've learned that Emma's daytime OS FB's are NOT rated for bedtime, she hasn't woken up in a puddle since Christmas! I still wuss out at 4 am sometimes when she wakes up and wants a dry diaper and use a disposable but it's a process and I am trying to get in the routine of having a set of nighttime diapers stuffed and ready to go so that I can grab them instead of the disposable.
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