Cloth Diaper Experiment: I Put Them on Her BUTT!

This morning I sat on my bed and nursed my daughter. I felt something slightly wet on my thighs and realized her diaper was leaking.

Yuck. I thought. Well, maybe it's a good thing I'm switching to cloth.

I had put cloth diaper covers over my baby quite a few times to see how they looked, and measure them for size. I also had tried the flushie liners in the gDiapers to get a feel for a different type of diaper, and to get used to dealing more with poop. But I had never actually full on put a cloth diaper on my daughter's bottom and let her go to the bathroom in it.

Just a few months ago I blew my nose in a wash cloth because I couldn't find a tissue, but then didn't have the nerve to wash the wash cloth. Instead, I threw it away (eco-fail, I KNOW!). I'm definitely not one who is good at dealing with bodily fluids, so I've been a little chicken to give these a try--to say the lease. Nevertheless, today was the day I set to do it! ALL DAY, no matter what.

I grabbed the white Sprout Change diaper cover/shell first, stuck an organic insert under her bottom and buttoned her up. The inserts did seem to get a little smaller after washing and drying them a few times. Before they would have been hanging over the edge. Now I only fold them over a little.

I ended up only doing the wash/dry cycle twice. They may not be to their maximum absorbency yet, but I guess they'll get there soon enough.

Getting the diaper on was easy. It actually didn't take much longer to put the diaper on than it does for me to put on a disposible, which was a plus.

Then I got her dressed for the day. I put her in a onesie dress from Piggies and Paws and worried it wouldn't snap close over her fluffy bottom. But it did!

I went downstairs and set up my webcam for my MomTV webshow. Not long after I stared broadcasting I her the dreaded sound "BRRRMMMMPP!!!" The dreaded first crap in the cloth! I knew I'd have to experience it sooner or later. Now was my chance.

I waited until my show was over, but luckily it was only another 20 minutes or so until I got to change her, and she was glad to get out of the mess! The first thing I noticed was how soaked the insert was. So she was definitely feeling the wetness. Which I guess is good for both of us. One of the main reasons babies get diaper rash with disposibles is because the diapers aren't changed often enough. With cloth you really HAVE to change it when it's wet. Which I suppose is a good thing. And there's not much guessing. You know it's wet.

Second thing I noticed was the poop didn't contain itself to the insert. This I was bummed about because I only have 8 reversible shells and I'm hoping to use only 3-4 a day so I can go a day without washing. Seeing that the shell got poop on it too made be worry I'd have to change the shell every diaper change.

Now, I had read some of the comments in my last post suggesting I hang on to the insert and flush it in the toilet. I opted not to do this because we have toilet cleaner in there, and I'm not sure it's a good idea to mix that with the diapers. They'd probably turn blue.

So what did I do? I threw it in the bathroom sink, turned the water on and poked it. Yes, with my finger. I know. Ew.

I have no idea what I was thinking but I was hoping if I ran enough hot water on it for a few minutes the poop wouldn't stain. And all I could think was 'please don't stain the pretty shell, please don't stain the pretty shell!!'.

Meanwhile my daughter is kicking laughing, and I'm praying she won't pee or poop again before I get another diaper on her.

I let the water run (I know, not so green. I'm thinking about getting a toilet sprayer soon) while I grab another diaper. This time I try the microfleece. (Which is like microfiber stuff on one side, and cotton stuff on the side that goes up against her butt). Maybe it's more absorbent? And a pink cover.

I'm in a hurry now. We're getting ready to drive up to Ikea, then go to a friends house. When I packed my diaper bag I added 3 more covers, about 6 inserts and a couple of plastic grocery bags to stuff the wet diapers in. Hey, I put my dog's poop in them, I figure they'd work for people poop too.

I know I was overpacking but you just never know! I purposely didn't pack any disposables because I wanted to force myself to go through this the whole day using only cloth (of course I already had a few stuffed at the bottom of my bag from before though).

We made it to Ikea, shopped, and when we left I nursed and changed her in the car. She was wet, and only pooped a little. The shell didn't even get wet. It was perfect! I pulled the insert out, and since I don't have a wetbag (a bag people use to keep wet cloth diapers in while they're out) I just stuffed it in my grocery bags, and set it in my car. Adding another cloth insert was a piece of cake, and her bottom never had to come out of the diaper shell the whole time. Snapping it back up was easy peasy and we were set to go.

I think I could argue cloth diaper changes (at least with this system) are faster than disposable changes. Of course I haven't gotten to the washing yet, but I'm just talking about the changes now.

We drove down to my friends house to play dressup and take pictures. I told her about cloth diapers and showed them how they worked. I'm not sure if she's a believer yet--Heck, I'm not sure I am yet--but she seemed intrigued like I've been. It was different being on the other side of the fence. Being the one telling someone why they're cool, and I'm not crazy.

I changed my daughter again while I was at my friend's house, and again, she didn't wet the shell so we were getting back on schedule to how long they're suppose to last.

I bagged the insert and put it in my plastic grocery bag. ... Who needs a wet bag when you've got grocery bags?

When I got home I told my husband how the experiment was going.

"We haven't used disposables all day," I told him proudly.
"Oh yea? You've been using cloth?" He asked.
"Yea," I beamed.
"Where'd you put the diapers when you were out?"
"In these bags." I held up my makeshift wetbags.
"That stinks." He lied about the smell.

I say he lied because they didn't stink. They weren't even poopy.

"It's just pee," I told him.
"Well pee stinks."
I put them to my nose to make sure I wasn't loosing my mind. "Whatever, you can't even smell them, put them in there," I pointed to our diaper champ, which was now being used to hold these cloth diapers.

He opened the container and looked inside. I was waiting for him to smell the big poopy diaper from earlier.
"So you want to put the diapers in here?" He asked.
Yay! I thought. He didn't smell it!
"Yep! That's where we'll put them" (see where I'm going with this?) "So tomorrow, when you change her, you just take this part out of the diaper, stick it in the pail, and put a new one under her." I instructed.
"How many of these do we have?" He seemed to be going along with this.
"Thirty."
"Cool."

Cool? Is he being serious right now? He's really on board! That was easy!

Then the light went off. I could see it on his face.

"This is going to effect me more than you." He realized.

This is true, but I had to make it not seem that bad.

"Yea, but I'll get a hose for the toilet and you can just spray it and set it in the diaper champ. I'll wash them when I get home."

This seemed to satisfy him, and he agreed to doing a diaper changing lesson later.

So day 1 in the diapers has been a success. We only needed two covers and about a third of the inserts. I am interested in seeing if the poop comes out of the white shell since it got all in the sides. I'm tempted to try spraying Shout on it before washing but people seem to be very picky about what products they suggest using on cloth diapers so I need to look into that a little more.

I think I'll get a toilet sprayer (it looks like the hose on your kitchen sink) off ebay for like $20 this week. A few commenters mentioned it in my last post. I hear it's nice once the baby begins solids, which we'll be doing in a month (cereal). It could maybe also help with giving the diapers and extra rinse.

I'm also trying to decide if the cloth diapers make my daughter's butt too hot. We DO live in Texas, and it's adding quite a bit of fabric down there. She never had rash before, and I haven't noticed any now, but I'm keeping my eyes open to any developments. I bet it's nice and comfy, especially in the winter, but I am sorta wondering if it's a little uncomfortable in the summer. I dunno.

Overall, day 1 of wearing the cloth diapers went well. I didn't experience much poop besides the first change. Baptism by fire I guess. Tomorrow is daddy's turn!