Cloth Diaper Carnival V - The Hubby and Cloth

Welcome to another installment of the Cloth Diaper Carnival brought to you by Cloth Diapering Bloggers and hosted by Kim at Dirty Diaper Laundry.  This Months topic is "Hubbies/ SO and Cloth Diapers".  Make sure to visit other blogs participating by following the Linky (if I can get it up) or by grabbing the link at Dirty Diaper Laundry :)

Since I decided to use cloth diapers when I was pregnant with my first, I never had to go through "the change" with the hubby.  He was not used to disposables, just as much as he was not used to cloth diapers. Now, don't get me wrong, he had changed a couple of diapers in his day using disposables, so he wasn't totally a diaper newbie.  Actually, when it came to cloth diapers, we were equals in the changing department- both of us having no experience.  Anyway, it didn't phase him one bit when I told him cloth diapering was the way we where going. Until I told him how much money we where going to be saving. Then he bragged to everyone how smart he was to use cloth diapers. Ha Ha Ha.

It has been three years since we have started our cloth diapering journey, and the hubby has had his share of opinions and suggestions along the way.  He doesn't like snaps. They are hard for his big fingers to maneuver, so he goes for the Velcro dipes in our stash. He doesn't like pockets, as he can't fit his hand in the pocket to stuff them. He likes the old school pull over covers better than the Velcro or snap wraps as he sucks at making sure the diaper is fully covered.

Overall, I just make sure our stash is diverse enough to accommodate him in the rare instances that he changes a diaper. OK, to give him credit, he changed his share of diapers with Logan, our first. However, with Sophie, he changes maybe 5 diapers a WEEK. And if he ever had to WASH them, I don't even want to think about what he would do, or what would happen to my poor diapers!

Make sure to visit all the blogs participating in this carnival!!!!

Cloth Diaper Carnival 4 - How it all started......

Welcome to Cloth Diaper Carnival 4 organized by Kim over at Dirty Diaper Laundry, who also happens to also be our Cloth Diapering  Bloggers'  head honcho ;) .

This months topic is:
Where did you first see or hear about cloth diapers?

Honestly, the first time I ever heard of cloth diapers was from my mother. I remember her using old school pre-folds with safety pins and rubber pants on my little sister, and yes, this was in the late 70's. When I was preggers with my son over three years ago, I just knew I was going to use cloth diapers, and this is how I thought I was going to do it. Imagine my surprise when I got on the internet and saw how different cloth diapering is now!!!  No longer is there the need to use pins, when Snappis can be used. I am an accident prone klutz, so not having to handle sharp pointy objects is a plus!! No longer is there the need to use pre-folds when fitted diapers with snaps and Velcro can be used. And rubber pants? What a surprise when I saw some diapers didn't even need a cover at all!!

Cloth diapering was a whole new world to me. I knew NO ONE who cloth diapered, besides my mom- over 30 years ago. And she used a diaper service, which are now non-existent in my area. Everything I learned about cloth diapers I learned from the internet, from sites like Diaper Pin, and Diaper Hyena. I did research, research, and more research. The more the research, the stronger the feeling that cloth diapering was for me. 

Actually, now that I am thinking about it, it's amazing how much has changed in cloth diapering in just the 3 years since I have started! There are now even more styles and brands of diapers and covers, and a gazillion more sites to get information from! I can even go to a store and buy cloth diapers today, which I couldn't 3 years ago! The use of cloth diapers is spreading. Several mommas have caught the fever from me. Who knows, maybe 30 years from now my daughter will laugh with disbelief when I tell her that once something existed called a disposable diaper!

Until I get the Linky up, please visit Dirty Diaper Laundry to connect with other blogs participating in this carnival!!

Let's Talk Dirty....

....dirty diapers, that is!


This Blog is part of the Cloth Diaper Carnival hosted by Kim at Dirty Diaper Laundry. Topic- What is your wash routine?

"Eewwww, I could never cloth diaper! Poop is sooooo grosss!". Heard it a million times when people found out I cloth diapered. Obviously from people who never had kids. Or whose kids were old and they blocked out the memories of poop-plosions, and diaper changes so messy poop gets under the nails. Poop happens whether the baby is cloth diapered or wears dispsosies. With disposies, how ever, the poop is discarded with the diaper, never to be seen or smelt again. So not the case with cloth diapers. At least in my case.

I am on my second kiddo in cloth diapers. Sophie is flying solo with the diapers now that Logan has been using the potty for about 4 months (YEAH!!! Toddler poops are THE grossest!), so I feel I have FINALLY found my perfect routine.

When I first started cloth diapering (almost 3 years ago) I used the wet pail method. I found the perfect trash bucket with handles and a cover. I filled the pail about 1/2 way with water and added about 1/4 cup baking soda. The problem with this was after a day or so of diapers, the bucket became too heavy for me to carry down the stairs to the basement. I'm not a wimp, but after a C-section it wasn't working. So dry pail it is. Oh, and FYI, I actually had to write "Dirty Diapers" on the cover of the pail after a couple of house guests mistook it for the actual trash bucket- cause I'm the crazy lady with the 28 Qt trash bucket in the bathroom.

So, here is the journey of the dirty poopie (I admit I had to spell check this word, several times, and refuse to use poo- pie) diaper. First, soiled diaper is swooshed in the toilet bowl. When done while flushing, there is extra water power to get off the soil. On a side note, I have not yet admitted to the hubby that the accidental flushing of cloth liners is why the toilet now clogs, so hold on tight ladies! Wet diaper is then tossed into the properly labeled "Dirty Diaper" pail. When pail is fairly full, or when I run out of my favorite diapers, it is brought down stairs to the washer.

Now here ladies, is where I consider myself lucky. My house came with 2 washing machines!!! The previous owner did not want her husbands dirty work clothes washed with the rest of the laundry, so they had their own washing machine, which now belongs to the diapers. SWEET! I put the diapers in one by one to even out the weight in the machine (learned if I don't do this the machine falls off the plank it is on). I add Charlie's Soap, which is in fact, NOT soap. LOVE this stuff. First detergent I found that left kiddos rash free. Sometimes I add about 1/2 cup of Borax or Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. Both of these help with stain and smell. I put the dial on Super load and leave the hood up so they can soak for about 1/2 an hour before I close the lid and let the machine finish doing it's thing.

Now here is where I get a bit obsessive about the rinsing of the diapers. I then take them out of that machine, and put them in my new front loader where I rinse and spin them again. This actually helps lessen the drying time, as the front loader spins the heck out of them, leaving them less wet then the top loader. Then I toss them in the dryer. Yup, dryer. I am a germaphobe and no matter what people say, I don't see how the sun can kill all the yuckies on the INSIDE of the diaper. I am better convinced the dryer will cook them.

And that my friends, is the journey of the poopie diaper. In my house anyway. Now click on the blue "Click here" to get links to other Momma Blogs to see how they talk dirty. Ha, Ha, I'm cracking myself up....

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