I'm doing a little of both, and even went all hippy and sewed a couple of diapers myself. What can I say, I live in Austin.
Anyway, yeah, that vinegar rinse is putrid. But, can you imagine what the crap would have smelled like if it was formula? Those diapers are nasty. Just one more reason to stick with the ta-ta juice.
No kidlets here... but when I do have them, I'm seriously considering gDiapers (http://www.gdiapers.com/).
The insert is flushable and/or biodegradable.
Our washer empties into a washbin/slop sink as well, and I don't think I could deal with that either.
yeah, I'm really looking forward to what happens when he starts eating solids.
That description of what you saw and smelled just made me throw up a little bit AND singed my nose hairs. Nicely done, J.
So glad you mentioned that because I always wondered about the washing of those things. Our boys are 2 years out of diapers, and we always used disposable because I couldn't imagine putting a load of our laundry in after crap had been floating in teh bin and then squeezed through the perforations. Yuck. And, do you not use the basin for any household chores? That's out the window now I imagine.
I'm not touching that basin until I can get a priest to cleanse it with some holy water and hail marys.
I also have always wondered about using the same washer to wash your "regular" laundry... I know in theory all the crap gets washed out... but come on, putting piles of shit in the washer and then washing your clothes in it? There's gonna be some overlap. EW. I like the environment as much as the next person but my horror of a washing machine filled with baby poop trumps any ecological concerns so far.
Awesome!
Ultimately, Katrina, it doesn't matter WHAT you use. It really helps if you think poop is funny.
We're only two months into our cloth diaper experiment, and our son has had nothing but the sweet boob juice, but his poop is hardly as offensive to the rest of our laundry as some of you fear. One cold rinse cycle gets the nasty stuff off of the diapers, and one hot wash cycle flushes out whatever nasties may be left over.
Roughage may change things, but that's a while off, and besides, one can easily rinse off diapers using something like this.
Also, natural resource consumption arguments aside, most city codes prohibit the disposal of biological wastes into the normal garbage stream. That's what the sanitary sewer system -- which is what your washing machine is hooked up to -- is for. Not that this is really enforced, but one might as well use the system in the way for which it was designed.
amen, brother.
i love the theory of cloth, and i applaud everyone who uses them. but all my love for all things eco goes right out the window when i consider that i would be the one to have to do those washes. i have a pretty strong stomach but the smell of shit gets me every time. blech.
That makes me so glad that I don't have to actually SEE any of the washing process of our cloth diapers once I throw them in the washer. New things to be grateful for every day.
The Boy just started solids last month, and I actually think the wash is less gross now. TMI ahead: We roll the fairly solid poop into the toilet, flush, and then spray (with one of those nifty sprayers they sell) any excess off . So it is pretty much just pee going into the wash now. Not bad. Except for the time that I sprayed the sprayer UP instead of down. (Clean) toilet water rained down on my head from the ceiling. You only make that mistake once.
We've used cloth for both boys probably 90% of the time, but had a sweet, sweet service before we moved. Now I wash them all. My eldest turned two in March and how do I say this....well, his solids are like my solids. It ain't pretty.
Unfortunately, he has shown zero interest in the potty, something I pray for every day.
Don't fear the solids, guys. It's actually so much easier because you just have to shake the dipe a little over the toilet and flush the poop away. There is not nearly as much (if any) poo in the wash once the solids go in.
And also? The poo marinating in urine for a week? We tend to wash about every two days. Which cut down on the combination stink quite a bit. If we go longer between washing, we notice.
I love cloth diapers. We've only used one pack of Huggies (free from the hospital) in seven months so far, and I have absolutely no regrets. Next time, maybe avoid the laundry room until you know for sure that first rinse is over. Good luck!
Biding my time through contractions with baby #2... you had me at the licensed-character free, bold colors bit. I was like hmmmm... maybe I could do this cloth diaper thing second time around?
and then your apocalyptic laundry scenario just killed it. Guess I'll be Pampering it once again.
Try using the flushable / biodegradable diaper liners. This way you dump all the solid waste into the toilet very easy and all that is left is a urine soaked diaper with the slight stain. I never notice any foul smell when it is dumping into our sink... Also make sure to do the vinegar pre-wash. My daughter had a case of thrush on her bottom that kept coming back till I realized the detergent and hot water alone did not sterilize the diapers. The simple white vinegar pre-wash does...
yeah the marinating for a week thing was an exaggeration. we only bought enough diapers to go maybe two or three days.
I know it's like a broken record, but that was just stupendously well written.
You should get a bigger drain, and maybe a ceiling fan. And an airlock.
I'd hate to think of my laundry room smelling like stale demon-scent instead of perfumey detergent.
Yeah, I've cloth diapered for about 4.5 years now and I wash about every two days. When the little chap switches to solids, you can use flushable liners or just shake the solid bits off into the toilet.
Also, I run a short cold wash (with a bit of detergent) before running a hot wash (with detergent) with an extra rinse. I figure after that, the washing machine is clean as are the diapers. If cold water and soap gets hands clean after using the bathroom, all that washing and detergent should get diapers clean, too.
Good luck!
I laughed so very hard at this. I could see (and hear!) the demonic voices. Cracked me up.
Is there any way you could post what brand cloths you are using? Or the website you bought them from? For our (not conceived yet...just planning ahead) 2nd we are considering using cloth diapers. The reaction from 99% of our friends and family is "ARE YOU INSANE?!" I'm so glad I now have a positive firsthand account of them in use.
Don't scare the people! Cloth diapers is way easier than I thought it would be. We eased ourself into it with a diaper service for the first 12 weeks, invested in a front-loading washer (less water, way more efficient) and it's working really well. The key is the flushable liners because damned if I'm going to crouch by my toilet and rinse off diapers. Flushable liners! And no looking at Blues Clues/Elmo every few hours.
Well, I was cloth diapered (with rubber pants) but that's more because I was born in the 3rd world and they didn't have any over there. If it's any consolation, my parents claim that on the 'ship they had me pee-trained by 7 months and completely potty trained at little over a year, which is more or less standard (a little longer for boys). I have a feeling not wanting to deal with solid foods cloth diapers really incentivizes it over there.
I have no idea how they did it-but I told them I'm calling them in as reinforcement if Posterity ever squelches out of my womb.
AHAHAHAHAH!! Nothing beats a good, ole-fashioned poop story 
Okay, you win. That HAD to be the BEST diaper blog post I've ever read! Your way with words never ceases to amaze me.
Thanks for sharing your world this way!
A few more incidents like this, and you'll be writing judgmental posts about the benefits of Elimination Communication. 
To the poo averse: Humankind survived the Middle Ages. Think about it.
@Catherine: Beautiful
Wow. So, I've been cloth-diapering my 7-month-old in a combination of prefolds with wool covers and pocket diapers (and disposables at night and when we're out) since she was born. We even handled the transition to solids just fine, despite all the people who said that would make us quit.
The whole thing has seemed like no big deal to me from the beginning. I don't rinse the diapers in the toilet, or spray, or anything. Just shake the solids in the toilet, flush, and wash the whole bag of dirty diapers every 2-4 days. I grant you, the smell of them sitting there is putrid, but you get a nice air-tight container, and you're fine.
However. We just moved to a new house, our first house, in February. We also have one of those basins that the washer empties into; something I hadn't ever experienced before. I've never had the pleasure of walking down there in the middle of a diaper wash, but I have during a regular clothing wash and thought, "Wow, that's fairly nasty."
I think you have just unlocked the mystery for me of why our basement occasionally smells rather sewer-like. Here, I was blaming the cats.
Luckily, we will be remodeling a utility room over the next several months to move the washer and dryer to the first floor. I will make DANG sure there is no basin involved in that set up.
Thanks for the laugh! For the gazillionth time, though the first from me, you're a gifted writer and I heart your blog so much!
If I witnessed something like that in my laundry room, I'd have to move.
Perhaps I should stop trying to get pregnant.
Yes! Nicely done. I'm going to be thinking about this all day and thanking my lucky stars that my youngest is 17.
Okay. I admit it. I'm a 44 year old father of a four month old baby girl. If I had stumbled upon the scene you so vividly and wonderfully describe, I would have hurled enough and as hard as my little Kate has shown us she's capable of! I yearn to be eco-friendly, but I'm too much of a clean freak to deal with the poopies beyond wrapping up the disposables and dropping them in the Champ!
I use Bum Geniuses for my 8 month old son. We used disposables for a week while he was on antibiotics (we were waiting for the fabled Penicillin Poo that never came) and I thought they stunk worse in the trash then the cloth ever did.
Also, I don't think I have quite the horror of poo that other people seem to. The thought of my clothes being washed in the same tub as his diapers doesn't bother me in the least.
In case anyone wants to tell me how disgusting I am, I also let the dog lick dirty dinner plates sometimes.
I've been trying to get pregnant, and have always planned on using cloth diapers. I don't currently know anyone that uses them, so it's nice to hear someone's opinion that isn't trying to sell the product to me!
Arrrggghhhh!! Glad I live in a baby-free zone! Yuk!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Have you ever considered writing a book, because you are a fantastic writer. Anyone who can illustrate the perils and trials of cloth diapers the way you just have, is quite frankly, amazing. I showed this to my parents who also used cloth diapers for my brother and I and they laughed until they nearly peed their pants, sighed and said: "thank god that's not us anymore..."
Awesome!
We cloth diapered our babe for the first year (we used sized-pocket diapers and when it came time to by the next size up we just didn't ...daycare refusues to use them so what's the point for 1-2 evening diapers each day?) and washing never seemed that bad. Excecpt for when she ate blueberries or corn. That was just nasty.
Huh. I didn't have as violent a reaction to that as folks above. I mean, it's gross, but okay, it's just poop. We wash things with blood and semen and spit up and snot on them with the rest of our laundry. Anyway, law requires you dump poop out in the toilet before you wash cloth or throw away disposables, so it's not like there's a mountain of shit going through the machine, more... the smell - I think people are confused?
wow, that sounded so snotty. um... i'm sorry. i was just sad to read so many people feeling so adamant about using disposables (which is also gross - all those landfills with plastic, poop and urine fermenting in them and never never biodegrading? near low income neighborhoods? yuck. Okay, still snotty). And north americans are so squeamish about bodily functions, so i guess it hit a sore spot. Maybe I should move to Portland now?
I'm glad you posted. I think I'm a long way off from reproducing, but I'd like to use cloth diapers if I ever have a child. I was eager to hear your experience.
Reading the comments I've already learned so much about how cloth diapers work, but one question lingers: what do you do when you need to change a diaper and you are out of the house? Do you do your best to dump the solids in the toilet, then stick it in a Ziploc and bring it home to wash?
you're hilarious.
we use both. and she's never had a serious rash. cloth diapers are great. only the ones i got are pretty bulky, which was fine before she could really move around in them.
anyway.
I know you aren't into logos or "cartoon characters" on your kids clothing and such...but I saw this Chalie Chaplin t-shirt and thought of you:
http://maggiesthreads.com/produc...product/
24.aspx
I commend you for using cloth and what a hilarious post. I have to admit, I had to look up "Charybdis" on Merriam-Websiter.com
@dm: Wet bags, similar to these, work well.
Fecal Charybdis. I will never flush the same again.
Also, Green Mountain Diapers pretty much rocks as a place to get diapers. With your first order, they even include a series of photocopied pages of questions and answers that my wife and I affectionately refer to as "The Bible." Some of it is available here.
Us too--we used disposables for Maggie and decided to go cloth this time.Our wash empties into a basin too and thank GOD I have never experienced what you did. What kind are you using? I picked up some Wonderoos and bumgenius used on Craigslist and want to try others.
My problem is getting the bum genuis de-stanked. Ugh.
Heh heh. In our NYC apartment, we are lucky enough to have a washer (in which we wash our cloth diapers). It empties into . . . the kitchen sink.
Chew on that one!
What I think is grosser than washing diapers is the possibility of toxic chemicals in disposables. Just Google "toxic chemicals disposable diapers" to see what I mean.
Oh boy...that would suck! I didn't use cloth diapers with my kids--they're 8 & 11 now, but when they were babies I didn't really know anything about cloth diapers. Now I do, and I feel guilty about using disposables. That said, If I had, and if what happened to you would've happened to me, I probably would have quit.
Used a diaper service. It was heaven. Put a bag of used diapers on the front porch, hours later, a bag of fresh clean diapers appeared.
If only all of life were like that.
I *loved* the Portland and Charybdis comments! I live in the Portland area, and I confess to using disposables. At the time, maybe due to a wee bit of post partum issues, I decided it really wasn't fair to make new mothers save the environment until they forced men to stop driving Hummers and other gigantic SUVs.
If I had another baby, I'd use cloth, so don't hate me!
I don't understand how a basin washing machine works. Can someone explain it to me????
Me and my hubs just got a brand new front-loader and I love it! Washes the cloth diapers like magic.
Hey, whats up with Portland? I am not from the US so I don't understand. BUT I have noticed that most of the crafty/eco/upcycle/am self-employed blogs happen to be by people who live there. Is it like a massive counter-culture city or something?
I feel humbly unqualified to reflect on the subtle mechanics of modern fecal disposal techniques. I am also old, of certain Eastern European lineage, and accordingly prone to enjoy suffering by the measure 18 on the Dostoevsky's scale.
So, please, don't bear with me but explain which law, and all of its stinky alinea, prohibit you from dumping your son's aromatic production right into the toilet? Admittedly, I am basing my bold suggestion on the limited experience of raising a child in Bulgaria back in the dark ages, circa 1991. There were no diapers. May be there were four diapers in the whole country, courtesy of a sudden benevolent gesture of USAID, but I was too class-conscious to wait in line for the American Government hand-out. Hence my ignorant question.
Enlighten us!
Is it the cloth? Where is the problem Waldo?
We used cloth for two years and loved it. Then one day our daughter (who was spending a lot of pants free time) refused to put them on. I guess the distinction between no pants and cloth diapers was too much for her. Too bad she wasn't ready to dump diapers completely.
just get a hose to attach to your toilet. it's like magic. truly. you rinse the poop/pee what have you.... throw a pile into the tub, or whatever receptacle you have on hand for the day. end of the day or 3 you just drop the load into the wash....
no more nasty pant rinse cycle.
like magic, i tell you.
Upon reading your story and several comments, I just had to write this. I used cloth diapers years ago as well as disposable. Not once was there any fecal matter bouncing around in the washer. You are supposed to rinse out the diapers in the toilet bowl. Then you soak them in a solution of water and soap until it's time to wash them in the washer. You should never let the diapers soak in an urine brine. Hope this helps y'all. You are right about the absence of rash ....no rashes with cloth diapers.
tzena, since newborn poop is pretty runny, it either sticks to or is absorbed by the diaper, whether it's cloth or not. When you wash it, it just dissolves away in the first rinse, which is much less trouble than trying to get it off in the toilet, even with a sprayer.
I love my cloth diapers. The handful of packages of disposables I've bought in 2 years make me cringe--I feel like I'm throwing money away.
I've never thought to watch the washer's water dump into the utility sink--now I'm curious!
Someone wanted to try more gently used diapers. Go to diaperswappers.com. Lots of great diapers for sale.
And to remove permastink? Wash with a tiny amount of the cheapest dishwashing soap you can find.(Original Dawn is recommended) Then rinse several times. The stink comes from detergent build-up in the diapers, which holds in the smell. The soap strips it out of the diapers. You'll probably have to strip the diapers every few months or so.
I've only used disposables on my child twice--in the hospital and on a three day road trip. And I hated them so much I refused to ever use them again, nasty leaky things. We've taken two more trips since then, and just brought a REALLY big ziploc to carry them home in.
Karyn mt Echo, 17 months
oh lordy - your posts are so awesome. Next life, you guys should move to Portland. And get some crazy family bikes (wagon fronts) and live in our crazy utopia.
We did cloth and a few disposables and I have to say the best thing about cloth, aside from the great colours and cute factor, was being able to walk right on past the disposables section at the supermarket. Seriously, I used to get such a rush of pleasure at not having to spend money on something with foul Disney Pooh Bear plastered all ever them. Highly recommend rinsing out the nappies before washing or soaking them - either with a sprayer in the toilet or just under the tap in the laundry tub. We'd soak in something we can get here in NZ specifically for nappies, it's essentially an enzyme that whitens, brightens and sanitises. They can get pretty whiffy in summer without rinsing/soaking (gag). If you're using the pockets with the waterproof layer then watch vinegar and/or baking soda - good for de-whiffing but can be hard on the waterproof factor. Have to put in a plug for Fuzzibunz and Swaddlebees, we were very satisfied customers.
Would it be obnoxious to ask for the brand?
I think this whole thing would work better if we lived by a stream and could just wander down there. Doing laundry by machine is such a hassle.
aw when he gets more solid poo it will be easier. shake those suckers out into the toilet and no poo in the washer! you can try the liners too. i don't prefer them though.
I am a cloth diaper baby. Back in the 80's my hippie mother used them on me. I turned out ok.
But she wasn't nearly as brave as you. She had a service that would come and pick up the dirty diapers *insert time here* and drop off new ones.
I think washing them yourself would be a major, major brave jump. Oh and that smell. Uhg. Yeah. Thanks for the description.
"The humid perfume of pickled baby shit that had marinated in a brine of cold urine."
Beautiful prose that had me chuckling with glee and digsut in equal proportions.
note to self do not read sweet juniper when you have a hangover
Thanks that was great.
I'm about 7 weeks pregnant and have been thinking about cloth diapering. I love the idea of not using disposables. I have a washer at home but no dryer, I hang dry everything. Do you think it would be possible to hang dry cloth diapers?
Thanks
Naturally, about two weeks after writing my triumphant, hippie, anti-disposable, our fuzzibuns began to S-T-I-N-K. We've tried just about every method of stripping under the sun (including the sun - although we'd never tried dishwashing liquid, that's interesting...) and they still smell like ammonia as soon as he wets.
What helps in this is that we hardly ever leave the house, so it doesn't matter... and they're not as bad as they were. I do wish, though, that we could get them back to how they used to be. Although - I never did a pre-rinse, which was kinda dumb - I think maybe that was a part of the problem. And it has helped to store the pee-soaked inserts in a seperate covered bin than the overpants.
Anyway, they're still so damn cute, it's worth it. I think I'd still use them even if they smelled like curried lobstershell compost.
err.. that would be my 'triumphant, hippie, anti-disposable blog post'.
Sorry, it's hard to type while scratching out my eyeballs (Evan's watching the g-d doodlebops at the moment).
We're using cloth diapers, too, and the other night I had this dream:
I was trying to get into a night club, carrying the big baby tote bag, but the bouncer at the door told me I couldn't take it in with me. Just then I realized that I was wearing a cloth diaper (with the snap cover that I don't particularly like, no less) and that I was WET.
"Can't I just come in to change real quick?" I pleaded. But he wouldn't let me in.
Sheesh! Either I'm identifying waaay to much with diapering, or I've got some new Freudian complex.
(Good thing Juney didn't see the "Fecal Charybdis" episode -- it may have been more, um, impressive than the diarrhea song)
I'm planning to use gDiapers with my future kiddies. They sound like the best of both worlds (I hope).
Alli- The 'basin' washer method is used in older homes and basements where there is no waste line set up for the washing machine.
We set up our washer next to a utility sink in the basement that has a pump to run the water UP to the waste line, since gravity is working against it.
So the wastewater line from the washer empties into the utility sink so we only have to have 1 water pump down there.
I can't tell you how much that disgusted me, considering diapers in general gross me out.
Perhaps this is also why I have no kids of my own, and instead rely on my friends and my brother's & their wives to spit out babies for me to play with.
What kind are you using?
eeew. I did what my sisters had to do back in the day when there were no throwaways: rinse the cloth diaper in the toilet while flushing and then I'd throw it in a sealable bucket full of water/Clorox sitting in the tub. Nothing fermentable would survive this kind of "prewashing."
We are planning to cloth diaper our child when he arrives in a couple months. This post made me laugh out loud so hard I almost choked. Once again, Dutch makes me choke!
Feelings of ickiness for the washing process went out the window when our son was only a few weeks old and my husband was changing his diaper on a friend's floor. Suddenly our boy started to poop and there was nothing under him, so my husband caught it in his hands while we all watched.
We have been cloth diapering since Jasper was born (he'll be 2 next week) and we do w/ our newbie, Finlay (almost 10 weeks). I LOVE them...we use prefolds and for Fin prowrap covers, For Jasper whisper wraps w/ snaps. I double rinse and put a little white vinegar in the bleach compartment. Our runoff goes down to a sump pump in the floor which makes examining the contents much less fun. But I swear, they wash just fine and when it's sunny, I stick the diapers outside for a few hours and they completely bleach (not that poop stains bother me, they are, after all, just going back on the kid's ass). Here's the best thing going: the Imse Vimse FLUSHABLE diaper liners. They collect a good amount of the stinkiest toddler poop you can imagine and the best part: when it's just a pee, you can wash them w/ the diaper, unfold them, dry them, and use them again. I never knew I would have this much to say about cloth diapers. I do not make my own soap, I still have caffiene while breastfeeding, and I enjoy celebrity gossip blogs.
Here's to us smug non baby boy circumcising cloth diaperers!
Tory
Thanks for making me feel a little bit better about my contribution to America's landfills.
Good for you guys. I plan on using cloth diapers when I have children.
So, I don't live in Portland, but fit all the other stereotypes of the hippy blowhard. Cloth diapers, organic food, Bike, yoga.... and, I ask, is there anything wrong with that? I got back from a weekend in GR, Mi, and one of my cousin's said to me "You don't actually eat organic food, do you?," voice dripping with disdain... It does cause me to question my upper middle class hippy values... and I do wonder what the problem is? Is it because we're often too preachy or "perfect" or in our earnestness, set ourselves up to be mocked? Is it because we haven't thought about the global ramifications of being a localvore, or the gentrification of our neighborhoods? Or maybe think too much....Interesting. Would love to see a post on this "counterculture"....
To be honest, I am a little sick to death of "perfect parenting," even though I aim for it myself. Will watching Elmo cause my toddler to be struck by lightning? Of course, this post is coming straight from the middle of counterculture, where Elmo is a dirty word.
Ditto rinsing solids out in the toilet. So easy. So much less stinky. I also find that with child #2 I am not squicked out by poo, etc., like I was with #1. Anyway, it's not like with disposables you don't experience baby poo, because you're always wiping it off the kid's back and ears. You'll be fine!
double rinse, baby. Double Rinse.
"But then I'd have to go to early-morning yoga classes and move to Portland and shop for local organic produce. By bike."
Honestly, seriously, that was my morning today. Except for the part about moving to Portland because I already live here! And then I came home and put away the freshly laundered cloth diapers. Good for you for giving them a chance.
@Jinxy: Drying cloth diapers in the sun is a great way to get rid of any stains -- it's like magic -- but they do end up being more stiff than they would be if they were dried in a machine. A nice compromise is drying the diapers for 15 minutes, then letting the sun do the rest of the work.
But even without that, I don't think it really affects the baby's perception of comfort or the diaper's ability to absorb.
that's one descriptive, awesomely, brilliantly, supremely descriptive paragraph, dude. if there was an award for best ever descriptive paragraph, you'd win. right on.
I love BumGenius and will be using them for baby #2 shortly....
We had a cloth diaper service for three months with each kid, it was great. The paper seemed to stiff and crunchy to put on those tiny brand new little butts!
Note to Olivia (above):
We use cloth at home and the gDiaper when we travel. Trust me, cloth is better. gDiaper is waaaaaay messier and more of a pain in the *ss to use. (But still better than disposable.)
we used cloth for about a week, then switched back to disposables because our daughter developed a serious rash, which she never has had with the disposables. i'm pro-environment, but my daughter's comfort comes first. any suggestions?
to aaron:
the rash could be from the detergent you used to wash the diapers. Anything that touches your baby's skin (blankets, clothes, sheets...) should be washed with delicate detergent that is as scent and additive free as possible ("for sensitive skin" -- kind of soap). Use a small amount of soap then do a double rinse to make sure it's all out. If there is irritating soap residue on stuff and your child sweats or pees, then it can cause a rash.
experiment to find a good bleach or borax or something to disinfect the diapers that won't cause irritation later. again, it's usually a question of not overdoing the amount of cleaning fluid and then thorough rinsing. speaking from experience
@Aaron: I agree about the detergent. You might want to try making your own. Check out the "Laundry Detergent" recipe listed here. We use something similar for our baby's diapers and our clothes, and it works well. We also throw a little oxygen cleaner in the mix.
Why am I chortling with throaty delight?
I do cloth too. I love them. I use cheap prefolds and kushies.
I tried the gdiapers and they clogged every toilet in our house. They also leaked.
The only couple of times I used disposables was when we were traveling to see family. My sister in law didn't seem thrilled about washing poop diapers in her washer and I wanted to visit family instead of spending all my time at a laundromat.
@Jake
Thanks.
I think I'm definitely going to use cloth when I have my little one.
I was laughing at your post up until you said you didn't move to Portland and buy organic produce or whatever it is you said. I'm from Portland. I buy organic. Wait a minute, I love my early morning yoga! I guess that makes me a hippie. I heart my cloth diapers.
Oh, and you can dump the poop into the toilet and even wipe the remaining poop up with a little bit of TP. That way there's not any chunks of poop in your washer (nasty).
Moxie
"But then I'd have to go to early-morning yoga classes and move to Portland and shop for local organic produce. By bike."
Yes, yes you would. So glad you understand that... but I think we should work in something about cultivating compost piles and sipping micro brews.
On another note: disposable diapers NEVER decompose. They stay in the landfill forever. Poop is not supposed to be thrown into landfills, there are laws against it actually, but no way to enforce them. So those folks who don't want to deal with the poop, who want to just wrap it up and forget, are perhaps breaking the law.
You really need to bleach out that sink after you wash diapers. It could have all kinds of nasties in it.
I'm just writing this to see if I can get a post about diapers to top 100 comments.
For everyone concerned about the turds floating in the washing machine and suggesting we flush the poop before it goes into the washer, remember gram is only three months old and still breastfeeding, so his poop is always runny and soaked into the diaper itself---there is nothing to flush.
we are bracing ourselves for the day he goes to solids and we have to flush all the poo in the toilet.
please trust that there are no turds floating around in the washing machine.
BumGenuis makes a sprayer so the solids can be sprayed off into the toilet once the baby is eating food other than breastmilk.
100.
For those of you worried about clogging toilets with your flushable g-diapers, consider composting the wet ones. Our organic garden is flourishing this year because of them.
everything i never wanted to know about cloth diapers...
but it is amazing isn't it how once we can extend ourselves to imagine another person's life for a second.. the judgment tends to melt away...
Fantastic post. You are truly poetic.
We used a diaper service for my daughter until she was around 9 months - then they were so bulky, that I switched to the Fuzzi Bunz. Wow, I adored those adorable things. I used hemp inserts and they were as thin as disposables.
I must make a plug for the best nighttime dipes I've ever seen - we literally never had a wet bed with these! We used these organic wool soakers from tinytush.com. I would use two of the diaper service dipes and later 2 hemp inserts. The wool can absorb something like 3x its weight in pee, and my daughter always woke up dry.
I miss our cloth diaper days.
Double rinse, white vinegar. We rinse the wicked bad ones in the toilet (I can't do that first thing in the morning though, or my whole day is tainted). Hippy-schmippy, cloth is a good choice. I rarely give it second thought any more. We also have the wash basin issue yech, I think the white vinegar makes our wash basin output reek extra bad, but then they come out fresher in the end!
OMG
"I'm not touching that basin until I can get a priest to cleanse it with some holy water and hail marys."
Totally fell apart laughing!
latierra, isn't there a movie about that? Soilent something-or-other?
I kid. But only secretly because I deal with a lot of psychic trauma knowing the damage I'm doing with my kids diapers, splattered with Elmo (among other things) as they are. I live in Portland and realized cloth wasn't going to cut it for me when the salesperson started describing the "swishing bucket". Newperoo on that. Especially since my 2 2/3 year old boy shows exactly zero interest in learning how to dispose of his own waste. There isn't enough swishing in the world...
Another quick story--I used Motherease cloth diapers for my E--hand me downs from our nephew. I also occasionally used disposables on the road.
I soaked with a bit of detergent 2-3 days between loads. And I line dried them with ease.
E got rashes only when on the road or in disposables for more than a day without her cloth ones.
I highly recommend it for the eco friendly side, as well as wallet friendly.
But man, I can remember the smell of a few days gone by...phew. And I had a cadaver lab to get my degree.
I used them with both girls (don't know which brand - something I bought on ebay), but with a mix of disposables for trips, babysitters, etc. I have to say they were pretty gross. Watch out for when you start feeding the little bugger solid food.
Oy.
Hey, watch the stereotyping! I'm from Portland and I can tell you that not every Portlander cloth diapers, does yoga, and bikes to get their organic produce. I WALK to get mine. Hee hee.
Brilliant post. Thanks! [Oh, and for those that don't get the Portland reference, maybe this will help. I went to graduate school in Vancouver, BC and the Canadians were jealous of my fair city...I think that says it all!]
Oh my gosh, I totally did not need that image in my brain. Can you put a warning in front of these types of posts? I was drinking a butterscotch-tinted brew while reading this. Ick.
Sounds like you're using fuzzi bunz... do not use vinegar! Just follow the washing directions. Whenever we get stink, we run an extra rinse at the end and hang them in the sun. I love them. I’m sorry for the years I spent on a diaper service and then my purchase of pre-folds. They aren’t natural fibers but they never leak and they rock. I would sing there praises from any mountain top. I just wish we had enough to keep both kids in then 24/7.
We also have a washing machine that empties into a tub. The rinse cycle can be horrific. The perk is being able to see the wash rinse cycle and if the detergent is all rinsed out.
What grossed me out more than your post or my laundry using the same machine as my diapers is that people compost diapers and then out that compost on their garden. That means they are growing food from human compost (assuming it is composted properly.) That's akin to washing diapers in a dishwasher. ack.
6 words... stong glove, fleece nappies, sprayer thing.
Seriously, get the cloth nappies with the fleece insides (like fuzzibunz for eg.) and the crap just rolls off once they're eating a bit of food. We have a spray thing in the bathroom that deals to any super grotty ones away from the tub. Then you can soak just to get the stains off, without fear of floating poo.
I wouldn't want to bathe in it, but our rinse cycle doesn;t look that bad.
I'm not a fanatic. But I prefer washing the nappies to dealing with great heavy smelly rubbish bags of stored crap each week! Nice on the wallet too.
IT'S NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK!! (If you haven't tried them that is!)
Sorry. After following the newsletters of friends working in the Guatemalan hills, SUV's and plastic diapers don't make me laugh. Climate change and oil prices (which affect everything else) aren't remotely amusing either.
My 7 month old is cloth diapered since around 3 weeks. I wasn't sure if I would adjust to it, but it's really not that bad. Lots of benefits, environmental (no disposables in landfills), financially (in the long run it can be cheaper than disposables) and healthly (no toxic chemicals next to baby).
I've tried prefolds, fuzzibunz, happy heiny's and monkey doodlez. A local mom got me started, she took the time to talk things through and make sure I had all my questions answered and products I needed to make it easy for myself, husband and my daycare. A great resource for diapers, www.green-bebe.com.
forgot to add, this was a great story, just made me laugh. would like to hear more about your adventures in cloth diapering, I'm sure you have them!
I can't possibly read all the comments here, but just in case nobody said it I have a suggestion. When my mom was raising my brother and I she used cloth diapers and rather than toss the whole thing in the wash she would hold the diaper in the toilet and let it flush before tossing it in the diaper bucket. Way less smell and way less mess. Of course if you have a super strength toilet be careful!
We use Fuzzi Buns and love them!! I think they are easy and they are better for my RIDICULOUSLY sensitive skinned baby. I also love that they are cheaper and better for mama earth.
Oh ya, can't forget the smug pleasure I get at play dates when the other moms talk about blow-out diapers (never had one).
I use one of those wet bags in the diaper bag and we have one hanging in the hall... booby juice poop barely even smells. Not like that formula poop - good lord!!!
Best cloth diaper EVAR...
Pocket Change from Montana's diaper store.
(NAK'ing and can't link on mac w/ one hand)
If someone had told me three years ago that not only would I be using cloth diapers, but LOVING them I would have asked them to pass the doochie. And washing the diapers can't be any worse than washing my 14 year-old son's sheets. Egads.
We also use Fuzzi Buns for our 9 month old twins and LOVE them. You can imagine with twins eating solids 3 times a day how many disposables we were going through. It was like $20 a week and emptying the diaper champ every day. They're expensive at start up but we figured itup and after 8 weeks we would start saving $. We bought the second quality diapers and just bought a microfiber towel that you wash your car with for the insert. I just sewed the inserts so I wouldn't have to fold every morning. We wash them in Simple Green and washing soda and have had no issues with the washing machine being gross. All of the poop gets flicked into the toilet anyway. It's quite entertaining. Plus they're breastfed so the poo is not all icky. It's nice not to have to smell poo in the diaper champ all day long. The cloth diapers also keep the poop smell in better than disposables. We do use diaposables at night 'cause my little dudes sleep 12 hours. One of my sons had really dry skin on his butt for like a month and that's gone since we've been using the cloth diapers. I don't know how that works but it did!
Oh, you mad me laugh so hard! Thank you!
How about trying cloth diapers for twins? I did. I did however wash the soiled diapers out in the toilet before putting them into the diaper pail. Of couse with twins I washed a couple of times aday so didn't have the smell you seemed to have had.
Love the story of Juniper and her first time in the "girly" bathroom.
Stay at home dads ROCK...
Happy Fathers Day to you!
Happy Father's Day, Dutch!
Super late to this post, but as a cloth diaper veteran (until 6 mos), I gotta ask your readers: what do you do about the poopstains, especially on "do not bleach, EVER" diapers like Fuzzi Bunz? We never seemed to get our diapers really spotless in the wash, whether we used oxi-clean, borax, or any other natural/gentle soak. This was pre-solids, so I can't imagine what the stains would have looked like later on ...
We have a trousseau of small and medium diapers waiting for #2, but are on the fence about using them. Solving the poopstain problem would be a big, big help.
Doc, have you tried "sunning" them? Lay the wet diapers (freshly clean) out in the nice sunshine to dry, usually whitens them right up.
Or start buying diapes with black fleece liners.
We used a mixture of cloth and disposable with our two girls. Find yourself a good quality cloth nappy liner, they are indispensable. Then all you have to do is flick the shit (literally) off the liner, we had great ones that nothing stuck to. Bright Bots nappies were a good quality coloured nappy (Australian brand), we still use them today (10 yrs later) as rags. Oh, and if you can find Napisan with Eucalyptus Oil in the States, it's great for getting out any stains.
I love hearing when people use cloth diapers. When I was 10 years old, I would change my brother and sister in cloth, and I can't imagine using anything else. My Mom was able to stay at home with us becuase she started a cloth diapering business in Portland, Oregon, which is going strong 19 years later. I am so proud of you all who "took the plunge", so to speak.
Been there, done that and you describe is so hilariously!! I'm gonna link to you b.c. I love your flare.
we use cloth, too. Once I opened the washer during that rinse cycle to toss in a diaper I had forgotten. It's amazing, really, that they ever turn white again, isn't it.
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