Laundry

The long-awaited laundry post. Since I started cloth-diapering, I've had a bit of a laundry odyssey, and I feel like I've finally come to a less adventurous stage of the journey and can breathe a little easier. Getting here was not always fun, but I sure learned a lot.

I first started washing the diapers in bumGenius cloth diaper detergent. It was the lowest priced cloth diaper detergent at my local cloth diaper store. It seemed to go well for a while, but after about a month, it seemed like the diapers were starting to lose their absorbency. I experimented with some of the pocket diapers and found that they were repelling. No! That's the opposite of what I want!

My first strategy was to strip the diapers. After washing, I washed them again on hot with a squirt of blue Dawn dish detergent and then rinsed until all the bubbles came out. This appeared to do the trick, but they were stinking and repelling again less than a month later. I did not want to have to strip the diapers once a month, since it took more than a day to do all the necessary rinses, not to mention the waste of water! I poked around a bit in the washing machine and upon opening the (never used by us) fabric softener dispenser, I found big globs of leftover fabric softener from the previous owner. Fabric softener is horrible for diapers! I was worried.

I researched a little and came across Charlie's Soap, which promised to strip washing machines of gunk as well as get clothes and diapers super clean. I ordered, received, and started using it. It got the machine sparkling, and the clothes and diapers seemed quite clean. The instructions said it would be pretty sudsy while it got old residues out of everything but that eventually it would be low-sudsing. I waited and waited and if anything, it seemed to get MORE sudsy. I started having to do multiple rinses on the diapers and they would still be shedding suds. Furthermore, stains on clothes and diapers alike seemed untouched. I was using Oxyclean on everything and was starting to feel adrift. What was I doing wrong?

Gradually, I came to embrace the great importance of one variable over which I had no control: the water. Though I live in the same town I've lived all my life, my address is now unincorporated and we actually receive water from a neighboring municipality. And it turns out, Chicagoland water is actually quite hard! And this neighboring municipality's water seems to be quite a bit harder than in the city proper. Detergents act differently when the water is chock full of extra minerals. That's why Charlie's still sudsed up like crazy; that's probably why the diapers would start repelling every few weeks.

Finally, I ordered a few samples of Rockin Green detergent, Hard Rock formula. I rocked the soak. I started washing the diapers full time in it. And? Months later, I have not had to do any stripping. Stains come out. The diapers never repel. They are just now starting to get a little extra stinky (the ammonia singes the nose hairs a bit), but I've been experimenting with water levels and rinses and they inadvertently got dried with a dryer sheet recently, so either of those could be the culprit. I expect a soak to knock out the stinkies, and if it doesn't, it's an excuse to try the new Funk Rock for ammonia stink.

I decided that this detergent is just a little too expensive to use on all our laundry, so I've gone back to liquid All Free & Clear with our clothes, as liquid works better than powder with hard water. I often use Rockin Green for towels and sheets, though, and they come out super fresh and clean. I'm considering using the leftover Charlie's to strip our machine from time to time, as it's gotten rather gunky again.

My laundry odyssey has made me more familiar with detergent, water, agitation, rinsing, stains, absorbency and stink than I ever thought I'd be. And I actually enjoy it way more than I ever thought I would. Your stains and stinks are no match for my arsenal!

State of the Stash

News flash: I still love cloth diapering. Especially now that I have laundry figured out and it isn't an ongoing puzzle, I just get a warm and fuzzy feeling from putting something warm and fuzzy on my daughter's bum. A few weeks ago, she had an uncharacteristic rash, which put her in sposies with rash cream for a day. This led to a rare moment when all the diapers were clean and neatly stacked, so naturally I took a picture:

So very beautiful.

So here's the line-up:

Upper shelf, back left quadrant: Three Happy Heinys one-size pocket diapers, usually used during the day; three bumGenius one-size pocket diapers, double stuffed with microfiber and hemp/cotton doublers for nighttime use; one bumGenius all-in-one diaper, size Medium, stuffed with hemp/cotton doubler for nighttime use.

Upper shelf, back right quadrant: Two Bumboo bamboo fitted diapers, rarely/never used (they're difficult to put on, don't fit well, etc.); two Flip stay-dry/microfiber inserts.

Upper shelf, front right quadrant: ~19 GroBaby snap-in soakers (one is actually already stuck inside a cover on the other side)

Upper shelf, front left quadrant, top to bottom: Seven GroBaby covers, some converted from aplix to snaps; two Flip covers (grass green and sky blue) for use with Flip inserts and small prefolds; two Thirsties duo covers, size 2, one velcro (tree print) and one snaps (green) for use with larger prefolds.

Lower shelf, left side: 12 infant prefolds, used by folding in thirds lengthwise and laying in a cover.

Lower shelf, right side: 6 standard prefolds, used by wrapping around baby and fastening with Snappis (the "old fashioned" way, except no pins) and then applying a cover.

By my count, that's about 46 diapers that get used regularly. That's a bit more than the 2-3 dozen that the experts recommend, but I think it's the perfect number. With the number of diapers I have, I could get a little behind on laundry/sorting/folding and still have some diapers readily available. 

It also means I virtually never have to use disposables. As a result, I've acquired an aversion to using disposables, even when traveling. When we recently made the mad scramble to get out of town for a few days for Thanksgiving, we had to do last minute laundry so that (a) we wouldn't leave dirty diapers to rot at home and (b) we would actually have enough diapers to last the trip. The call of the sposies was strong, but I resisted. Erich later commended me for my dedication to the environment. That comment was tongue-in-cheek, because we both knew that wasn't it at all. I resist disposable diapers and stick to my cloth because it's what I know. I don't have a knack for seeking out places to throw away a stinky diaper, and I'd rather not bother when in someone else's home. Yes, cloth takes up more space and I actually have to carry the mess around, but I'm in the habit of doing that and it's just normal.

Add to that, cloth is better for my baby's skin, and laundry is kind of fun. Cloth wins!

Mother of the Year: Sticker

I won't be surprised if this becomes a series. All the reasons I totally deserve the "Mother of the Year" award... NOT.

This past Thursday, Lily enjoyed some avocado. I mean, she really enjoyed it, eating up to a quarter of it, feeding herself with a spoon and all. Yay!

On Friday, Lily and I went to Kohl's to use a coupon. I got a few tops for myself and then went to the baby department to get some new sleepers. Our little porker is busting through her 12-month size sleepers already! I also thought it would be good to stock up on socks before the weather turns cold. I selected a package and handed it to my curious little baby in the stroller. No harm, right?

Five or ten minutes later, she starts coughing. It sounded like she just swallowed her drool wrong. But she gasped a few times, so I checked her mouth. Nothing. I picked her up so she could recover and she quickly returned to normal. The situation was slightly alarming for about 15 seconds, but I didn't think a whole lot of it after it passed.

Sunday night, she had a poop that made me determined that we need a diaper sprayer. Evidence of avocado is all I will say.

Monday, Erich left town for one night. Lily caught up on sleep from a weird weekend, which was great, but she was in worse and worse moods when she was awake. I started wracking my brains trying to figure out what I ate that was so offensive because it really seemed like she had the "dairy crazies." Sure, I had a little bit here and there, but I thought it was acceptable levels. She was way too crazy for acceptable levels of dairy.

Yesterday, I gave her some sweet potato, but she wasn't at all interested in eating. It was our first real miss in the solid foods department. I thought it was weird, but she wasn't sleeping well at all and so that could have been the culprit. Erich came home and validated me: the baby was crazy, and gassy.

This morning, another poop. Horror. I wiped with another diaper and took them to the toilet to swish, whereupon I discovered something unmistakably inorganic. I unfurled the little circle and could just make out some words:

cushion

foot

.

..

...

Oh dear. Shame. Head is hanging. Mother of the Year. Those socks, five days ago, had a sticker on them. A removable, eatable sticker. That's what she gagged on. That's what gave her the "dairy crazies." And I was the one who handed it to her.

In conclusion, I'm going to buy a diaper sprayer today.

Oh, and there was a mouse in our kitchen. But that's another story!

Cloth Diapers: Making It Work

So I have all these diapers--35 now as I just got a new Gro Baby shell and three more liners. They stay nicely folded and prepared on the shelves under the changing table. From there they get snapped or velcro-ed onto my daughter. Then she soils them. So what next?

• Cloth wipes. I have a variety. Five of them came with a Happy Heinys starter set I was given. Those are a bit thick for me. A friend gave me about a dozen, which are handmade and two layers with flannel on one side and terry on the other. Then I got a bunch more at my local cloth diaper store which are just plain cotton flannel squares, and we like them. They are easy to grab and manipulate and they're most like 'sposie wipes. The very great advantage of cloth wipes is that there's no need to separate them from the cloth diapers to throw them away. To prep them, I fold them interleaving (sometimes feels over-the-top, but it sure is convenient when changing a diaper!), soak them in water with a few drops of tea tree oil, squeeze out the excess moisture and store them in a wipes warmer. A good friend clued me in to that method. Lots of cloth diaper companies make a spray to use with dry wipes, but I don't think it's worth it. It just never feels wet enough to get baby's bottom clean enough.
  
• Wet bag. We have two size large totes to alternate. Right now we put it in the Diaper Champ, but it doesn't work very well for cloth diapers, so we intend to get a simple step can to help contain smells. Since Lily is totally breastfed, there's no need to involve the toilet in this stage. We just fold the diaper and pop it in the wet bag. On laundry day, everything goes in the washer, wet bag included.
• On-the-go Wet Bag. I got this as a gift and I loooooooove it. It's a must have, really. It makes it not gross to have wet and poopy diapers in my diaper bag. We also have a small one which I use to pack cloth wipes on the go.

As I said, there is no need yet to involve the toilet. (Hey, did you know that per disposable diaper package directions, you're supposed to dispose of solid waste in your toilet?) But when Lily starts eating solid foods in a few months, we won't be able to just throw everything in the washing machine. That's where flushable diaper liners or a sprayer might come in handy. We'll have to try different things to see what works, and I'll get back to you.

So, laundry! Really not that big of a deal. It's maybe an extra 2-3 loads per week. So the diapers are in the wet bag and ready to be washed. I throw them in the washing machine and do a rinse cycle. Next, I run a full wash cycle on hot (my machine does only cold rinses) using cloth diaper detergent. (I'm going to try different detergents in the future, but it's important that they're additive-free.) It's recommended to use only a little bit of detergent, and no one is kidding when they say that! I've had the problem lately where the diapers smell fine coming out of the dryer, but they smell horrible when they're wet or soiled, the culprit most likely detergent residue (or maybe too much tea tree oil on my wipes? not sure). I had to strip them, putting through the rinse cycle multiple times with a little bit of dish detergent. This has mostly helped, but I still have some problems with my bum Genius diapers repelling moisture. I'm still learning this laundry schtick, but I promise it's not much trouble at all!

After the full wash cycle, I do another rinse to get all the residue out, then I put them all in the dryer! The end! Clean diapers to fold and stuff and otherwise prepare, just like hanging and folding freshly laundered clothes.

So that's cloth diapering. Not any more gross than 'sposies, no multiple extra bags of heavy, stinky trash to drag to the curb each week, they're more comfortable for baby and free of rash- and burn-causing chemicals, they're way cheaper in the long run, and they're CUTE. That's win-win-win-win-win. And I didn't even mention the environment.*



*I wouldn't call myself an environmentalist, but I think we can all agree it is a good thing to waste as little as possible. Disposable diapers account for a LOT of trash, y'all.

Unfashionable Frugality

I've been thinking a lot about saving money, especially in light of cloth diapering, and all the fun ways to do it. Repurposing items around the house can be fun. We're planting a vegetable garden this year--fun and we get to eat the harvest! I'm even considering baking bread.

There are many other ways of saving money that are harder to brag about. (And really, one should never be boastful about these things anyway, but if it's about sharing fun, what's the harm in that?) Like our dented, uncomfortable old Buick that's hard to move the car seat in and out of. It is by no means a "sweet ride," but it's paid off, it runs, and it saves us money. Same goes for the old manual transmission Ford Focus. It has relatively good gas mileage, gets us from Point A to Point B and, most importantly, it's paid off. The imaginary van I'm drooling over will have to wait for another year because we don't yet NEED another car, and we can get by on what we have, Joneses be darned.

Take also the stroller. I paid nothing for this stroller. My mom scored it at a garage sale and didn't ask me to pay her back. It also came with an infant carrier and two car bases for said carrier. We got a new car seat/carrier (actually a gift) for safety reasons, but it fits with this stroller. But they don't match! The stroller is scratched and dirty! And they don't match! The print is not completely to my taste!

But: Who cares? It works and it was free. We did not have to buy an expensive stroller so that I could push my baby around.

I read this post shared on my Google Reader yesterday. It is so very true. I don't have to listen to or worry about the people who would judge me for driving around an unattractive old car or pushing around an unattractive old stroller. The thing is, I don't hear anyone passing judgments. They might do so silently and I really can't care about that. What's harder to ignore is that voice in my head that says I'm not quite good enough if I don't have nice, clean, new gear. Is that because I might unfairly judge someone else in my exact situation? Or perhaps I'm too harsh on myself. It's not others who can't let go and for whom I'll never be good enough, it's me.

What I would add to The Simple Dollar is that it isn't You against The World. You don't need to imagine that everyone is judging you for driving a beater, for living in a tiny apartment, for not eating out on a regular basis. And you surely do not need to make excuses to them--or yourself!--for making wise decisions with your money. The end!

I resolve to do the same. My infant carrier and stroller do not match. No excuses necessary.

Cloth Diapers: Growing the Stash

Now that I am a mother to an outside-baby and my piano student load is reduced to nearly nothing (really--I currently have one student, and that is just fabulous with me), I consider it an important part of my job as a mostly-SAHM to save money wherever possible.

Two of the ways I do that is by breastfeeding and using cloth diapers. So far, baby has not come with much extra regular expense. That being said, we are still building that cloth diaper stash, so that's a bit expensive until said stash is really complete. And then there's the fact that a lot of cloth diapers are really cute and fun to buy, so I have to be careful not to drop too much cash on them. (Babies also need more and more and more clothes and other important supplies, but I shall not further digress in this post.)

So, cloth diapers. They've come a loooong way since I was a baby, and even a long way in the past few years, so if you're first reaction is "Eeeeuuuwwww, why would you do that to yourself?" then read on. And definitely read on if you have or intend to have a baby and would consider the fun and thrift of cloth diapering.

About midway through pregnancy, I starting considering cloth and researched like CRAZY, often spending way too much time Googling and seeking out information on how this works, what you need to do it, etc. I posted inquiries on internet forums, I emailed everyone I know who uses or has used cloth diapers to get their input. Everyone told me something slightly different, but the recurring theme was that it's good to try different things and see what works for your baby.

I've been slowly accumulating my stash since October-ish, and now that I feel pretty set, Lily is outgrowing her smallest diapers. The adventure continues!

For now, this is what I have. Category #1 is relatively inexpensive basics:

• 12 Unbleached Chinese Prefold Diapers. These are diaper service quality diapers, so they hold a lot more than the package of Gerber diapers found on the bottom shelf at Target. They are inexpensive and useful for when we're just hanging around the house, so I consider them the rice in the greater diaper dish.
• 3 Thirsties Duo Wrap covers. All three are size one, but as Lily is quite long for her age and weight, I will need to get the larger size soon. I usually just lay a folded prefold in the cover then put it on her. The wrap keeps the diaper in place; no pins required! The velcro enclosure and double leg gussets ensures no leaks. Really, even big poops and heavy wets never, ever leave this cover. The same cannot be said for most disposables we've used. I have found that I'll probably want more than three in the next size.
• 1 Kissaluvs Contour diaper. I don't love this one, which is why I haven't bought any more. It may need still a few more washings to get to full absorbency, but it doesn't seem to hold a lot and the contour shape is kind of unnecessary and just makes it harder to put on.
• 3 Snappis diaper fasteners. I just bought these last week, and don't need them much since the covers hold the prefolds, but they work well with the contour. And it's nice to have them on hand when they're called for. Putting on a prefold with a Snappi under the cover ensures the cover will not get soiled, but it adds a complicated step to the diapering process, especially now that Lily immediately thrashes her legs joyously as soon as she's un-diapered. We may need them when she becomes more mobile; we shall see.

Category #2 is Pocket Diapers. Pockets are great but closer to the expensive end of the spectrum. They consist of a PUL shell sewn onto some kind of moisture-wicking fabric that goes against baby's skin. It is then stuffed with some sort of absorbent liner, usually microfiber. Pockets are fairly versatile in that you can add a doubler easily to increase absorbency and the fact that you can unstuff it for laundering means it dries relatively quickly. However, unlike prefolds and covers, the entire diaper is done once soiled--there's no reusing the cover. But pockets are very Daddy- and babysitter-friendly and way easy to use. Here's our stash:

• 3 bum Genius 3.0 pocket diapers. These are our favorite pockets. They can get completely soaked and never leak. They are easy to use and fit just like disposables, only better. And they are one size, which means Lily can wear the same diapers through toddlerhood, thanks to easy snap-down sizing.
  
• 3 Happy Heinys one-size pocket diapers. (Link goes to snaps, we have velcro.) These were a gift and are almost as good as the bum Genius. The velcro is a little harder to get just right and the laundry tabs don't work very well, leading to a chain of diapers in the dryer. I'm very glad to have these, though.
• 4 Fuzzi Bunz size small pocket diapers. These were another gift and I like them. Lily will outgrow them soon, though, and I don't think I'll replace them with a bigger size. They are the only cloth diapers she's blown out of more than once, and I think it's because it's difficult to get that perfect fit with the snaps. Snaps will last longer than velcro at the cost of good fit, unfortunately.

Category #3 is fancy primo diapers:

• 1 bum Genius size medium All-in-One diaper. Just like the pocket only sized and the absorbent part is sewn into the diaper. There's still a pocket for adding absorbency. I got this diaper for free with a coupon. I love the color, but my only experience so far is that it takes FOREVER to dry. I put it on Lily for the first time this morning and she immediately pooped in it. So... I think she likes it!
• 1 Flip diaper with stay-dry liner. I love the idea of Flip, a system that's essentially all-in-two. It's from the makers of bum Genius, so the moisture wicking is great. However, the cover leaves much to be desired and the more I use it, the less I like it. The liner tends to slide around in the cover. Poops inevitably get all over the cover, so I have to wash it too often for my taste.
  
• 3 Gro Baby one size diaper system. We also have two extra 2-packs of liners and one extra package of two boosters for extra absorbency. So that's three shells, 5 boosters and 7 liners. We LOVE Gro Baby. They have never, ever leaked or blown out. The aplix allows for a perfect, unique fit. The liners soak up a lot and snap into the shells. If they get wet or soiled, you can remove them and reuse the shell. So easy and the best of everything when comparing prefolds, all-in-ones and pockets. If we wanted to, we could get disposable liners for the shells, but I don't see the point. I would never compost my diapers, and regular 'sposies are cheaper. But it's a great system, and all future additions to the stash will most likely be Gro Baby. It's more expensive than Flip, but it's a better system overall.

And that's the stash for a total of 32 diapers. Next up: accessories and laundering!