Diaper Diaries, Day 3

Well, I lived through my worst nightmare...laying in bed last night, about to close my eyes, I sat up and said, "Shoot, I need to put the diapers in the dryer."

That's what really made me hesitate about doing the cloth thing, the idea that diapers would end up being on my mind 24/7.  However, diapers are on my mind now pretty much 24/7 anyway, disposable or cloth or burlap sack be darned.  Being tuned in to the bodily functions of a teeny little being is just part of the mommy job description.  The going up and down for one little load is a little annoying, but I think I can get used to it.  I'm telling you, the stairs are going to give me a great workout. 

I didn't end up getting up last night.  I realized that since I was going to use a disposable and I still had two unused cloth left, I could just dry them in the morning.  Thank goodness, because there was no way I was getting out of bed. 

Here's the wash routine I settled on (because, yes, I googled how-to-wash-cloth-diapers like crazy, too).  Since my diapers are basically Fuzzibunz knock-offs, I just decided to follow their website instructions.  I'm doing one cold cycle with no detergent, then restarting a hot wash/cold rinse cycle with 1/4 of the amount of detergent the bottle recommends for a small load.  It seems like such a crazy small amount, but I guess that's all you need!  If I need to, I'll do a cap full of bleach once in a while, or try vinegar.  I'm using Arm and Hammer Free and Clear, because Fuzzibunz recommends it.  I use All Free and Clear for the rest of our laundry, but I read about a lot of issues with it for cloth diapers.  Arm and Hammer used to have issues too, but apparently this new kind rinses totally clean.

The diapers came out clean and fresh and lovely.  I didn't have any dirty ones in though, just wet, so we'll see how that goes.  I'm planning to eventually get some diaper liners that can be flushed, although that would kind of defeat the comfy factor I think.  They are so soft and dry against her skin!

We did have another leak today, again at the leg casing.  I'm telling you, there is NO WAY these diapers would go on a baby under 10 lbs, unless maybe the baby was built like burrito- really short and really chubby!  I didn't have the diaper snapped as tight as possible though (thinking it was too tight) so that was probably part of it.

So here's something all of the diaper blogs fail to mention.  Doing a little load of diapers requires me to go up and down the stairs about 4 times; once to put them in for a cold rinse, once to wash, once to put in the dryer, and then once to re-run the dry cycle because the inserts don't dry quickly.  It's not time-consuming, but it is thought-consuming and makes you feel awfully married to the laundry room.
But I'm saving so much money, right?  And the landfills?  That's what I keep telling myself. 

Share