Yes I wash my Diapers by hand sometimes, for fun... yes I said "for fun ! "

Yes I wash my diapers by hand, for fun... yes I said "for fun ! "

Every year in he merry merry month of May a lot of people in the diapering community participate in a flats and hand washing challenge. For those who don’t know flat diapers are what most people picture when the words "Cloth diaper" are uttered in conversation, a large square of fabric usually 30''x30'' attached with a pin or snappi. Mine are  flour sack towels from Walmart. I frequently use then at home with out a cover (with an insert folded in for extra absorption.) and inside a cover to get a trimmer diaper when running errands. The challenge puts people to washing for a week. I like to do this every week at least once a week to demonstrate that it is a real option for people who dont have a washer. 
 I have said before  I have a Breathing washer I won in a giveaway. It is a really cool amazing thing! It looks like a plunger and a salad spinner got together and had a baby! I got my husband to buy a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot a few weeks ago and oh boy what fun it is to wash my diapers with this thing! But If you don’t have one and cant buy one a sink plunger from the dollar store is just as effective (drill a few holes in it if you can) A broom or mop may also work.

here is the washer and bucket and my feet, I have fun socks! 

THE WAY I "HAND" WASH Diapers.... flats and microfiber inserts, wipes and covers are best. This works for pockets and aio/ai2 as well as hemp or baby clothes too.

Instructions for 5 gallon bucket washing 3-8 items, depending on size. Items should move freely when agitated in 4 gallons of water.

1- Remove any solid waste (my baby is EBF so this step isnt necessary to me yet 

2- Rinse with cold water either with a toilet sprayer or a shower or sink sprayer. NOTE if you spray in sinks or shower stalls bleach the area after to avoid bacterial contamination. 

*Alternately if you cant spray or rinse, soak in cold water for about an hour agitate for 3-5 mins drain refill with cold and repeat agitation. 

3- Fill bucket with 3-4 gallons very very hot water and 1-2 TBS Cd safe detergent , if hot water isnt available do this twice with cold water and add 1 tbs of bleach to the second "cycle"  in place of the detergent and add items to bucket after its full

AGITATE ITEMS FOR 15-30 mins

4- Rinse, either in running water until clear or by filling with 1-2 gallons of cold and agitating for 5 mins until no bubbles are present and the water remains clear after agitation 

NOTE * your diapers may appear to be more stained after a "hand" wash they are still CLEAN! if you are using enough detergent and water and agitating them until they smell Clean and the water rinses clear. BABY POOP STAINS, even in an electric washer my items come out with stains occasionally

5 Ring as much water from the items as possible being careful not to stretch elastic on covers or pockets too much, I find rolling them in a towel and applying pressure after a good squeeze helps. 

6- FINAL STEP. Hang to Dry in a sunny area, any stains should disappear with in an hour. 

TA DA Just like in the days of old you have washed your diapers, Plus I feel this is good exercise! 

I sometimes just fill the bucket with water and detergent and keep baby in flats, rinsing as he uses them then adding them to the bucket and agitating as I walk through the room. this allows me to do whatever else needs to be done and facilitates had washing in addition. 

Call me crazy but its super duper convenient and fun!  

BabyKicks Premium pocket diaper.... to the rescue!

          I have won and been given a most of the diapers I use on baby Ray, almost all of the diapers I have are Pocket Diapers. I just am not a big fan of them.
           Dont get me wrong... I like them I like that they are convenient, I love the look and they are pretty easy to wash, Microfiber inserts are very very easy to hand wash! As an advocate for cloth I promote them because the concept of pockets are great for sceptical parents dipping a toe in to the cloth is cool pool. But my Baby seems to no like the way wetness feels on the microsuade and fleece in them Enter BabyKicks Premium Pocket diapers! I recently got the opportunity to try a BabyKicks premium Pocket diaper, Well I am changing my tune has changed here! The inside of these are different than anything I have ever seen in a Modern Cloth diaper,
This from the babyKicks site...
 

• Natural fiber inner lining is incredibly soft Bamboo Velour (against baby’s skin) made of luxurious 30% Certified Organic Cotton and 70% Rayon made from Bamboo. The material will remain soft, absorbent and silky wash after wash

and I tell you what, it really really makes a difference, My baby had been circumcised a few days before and the normal pockets were not comfortable at all for him so I was using flats and disposables, every single time he peed he was getting upset. so I said "ok I will try the New diaper" he was obviously more comfortable and wore it for a couple hours, the diaper was so absorbent and soft on his skin that there wasn't even a hint of Urine left on his skin.

Baby Ray is 6 weeks old and Weighs 10lbs he is Tall and some of his diapers are still loose to fit his skinny booty, NOT the BabyKicks the Amazing hook/and Loops adjusted to both make him fit in the waist and took up the slack in the booty that cause a gap in some diapers. I was actually shocked at how well the diaper fit Raylan, it didnt look bulky and while I have NOT yet put pants over the diaper, I have no doubt that it was trim enough to look normal in his correctly sized clothing. THe Adjustability is such that a baby much smaller than Ray would fit in this diaper, I believe a 6 or 7 lb baby would be just as "Fit" and trim in the Premium pocket.

The Adjustable hemp insert fits in the diaper and Unlike other popular pockets is inserted into the front so the folded over part, (folded over for smaller babies) doesn't slide around and bulk up the front of the diaper. Hook and loop closer actually helps in this because the wide loop section keeps the diaper and insert where it belongs!Another thing about the Hook and Loops, they are not like velcro in other diapers it has shorter more organized looking hooks and the laundry tabs actually work to keep it from sticking, I prepped this bad boy with towels and with diapers and it stuck to Neither!
I am very curious about the Side Snaps on the other BabyKicks Closer. I Never have tried it but as a person who normally picks snaps I fear I have fallen too in love with Baby Kicks H/L to order them! Whats a Mom to do??

THe only even remotely negative thing I can think of so far is that the fleece "Air Gussets" seem to have some pilling after laundering a few times, I am going to take some scissors and fix this later and The Air flow seems to agree with my baby so dispite the pilling I am a fan of the "air gusset" technology and I wish other diapers would employ a similar style!

I am hope to be trying a LOT of babyKicks products in the next year and I will be surprised if any are  as Cute as the Premium pocket I got this month but I am looking forward to the quality that I am experiencing with this diaper!


BabyKicks Diapers are available at a lot of online retailer, and on the BabyKicks Website
Disclosure I was given a babykicks Premium Pocket diaper to try, however this review and the opinions expressed here are my own from the experience and are in no way influenced by BabyKicks

Circumcision and Cloth diapers... a Touchy Subject

Circumcision is a topic of serious and dire debate and not only in the Cloth diapering community.
Most boys Globally are no longer circumcised as standard procedure, many regard it as a unnecessary cosmetic procedure and barbaric. However many boys are still Circumcised  everyday for a variety of reasons including malformation of the foreskin and other medically necessary reasons and a percentage of those boys, Including baby Raylan, are Cloth diapered. The aftercare of the procedure site is covered in petroleum jelly and every cloth diapering parent knows that Petroleum and Cloth are not compatible.

So What the heck are Cloth diapering parents to do with their Childs bum in the days following a procedure like this??? Well Lets explore the options.

1 My son is 6 weeks old, he was circumcised last Monday. I have no wish to discuss why our child was circumcised to protect his future privacy This is meant to help parents of children who need to care for a procedure area after the fact. I respect and applaud those of you with Intact boys and rest assured our decision was not made for athletic reasons in fact I prefer the natural look of the uncut male body . Please do not send me articles and comments about NOT circumcising for whatever reason. This is for help not judgment.

2 I have only purchased One Package of disposable diapers, I put them on baby at night (he is very sensitive to wetness and wakes up every time he is even slightly damp)

3 Vaseline is used on the circumcised penis, it keeps the open area protected during the healing of the skin.  IT CAN COAT CLOTH DIAPERS AND CAUSE REPELLING ITS BAD BAD BAD FOR CLOTH DIAPERS!

My sons doctor told me to put Vaseline and gauze on the area
I decided to use disposables the first day after but I couldn't see buying disposables for days of throw away diapering, so here is what I did.

I used mostly flats to minimize the petroleum exposure and to be able to boil if needed
We received dry disposable wipes from the hospital, these are made by pampers I think, I cut them into liners, viva paper towels also make good liners for this.
I also have taken the precaution to put a small amount of Dawn, on any area I think may have had petrolium on it.

I also put the hottest water I can in with my diapers to break up any possible residue.

I am hoping that we will not have any issues with our diapers now that the area is healed up I have heard people using make up sponges cotton balls and other things to cover the area, I would love to hear your ideas. I think the paper towel liners are a good idea and if you want to use disposables during this time its not a bad plan

Breastfeeding up date: Breast is Best...but its hard and I am hungry

I previously wrote a post about how I wanted to breastfeed and do it right this time,
I was delighted when in the recovery room after my Cesarean My 8 lbs baby was handed to me and nursed for 15-20 mins like a champ! In the hospital we roomed in and he picked up the nursing very well. After a week we started pumping a bottle a day to help get Dad in on the action EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT!

Then I started eating my normal diet and HORROR everything I like gives my baby gas. In the wee small hours of the morning (1-3am) my sweet happy boy turns into a fuzzy restless gas factory who cant get comfy or sleep I have been doing trial and error, mostly error, with my meals. It appears that only my dinner selections are to blame so here is a list of things I can no longer eat that give my baby gas or rash

Beans (this is all beans except green which I hate because I think they taste and look like canyons)
Tomato sauce, any thing containing it is out except for small amounts of ketchup apparently and pizza seems ok in moderation
Onions.... I didn't even attempt onions on my own my Husband put them in and I didnt realize until it was too late!
All of the above are components of my favorite weekly meal CHILI (good bye chili see you next fall)
also included are is spaghetti but I am not too upset about that as I dont really care for it! |
I am not a person who Likes raw fruit nor do I eat veggies through out the day it is our custom to eat a hot veg with dinner and we consume salads in mass for our 5 a day and generally I eat a salad for lunch or w dinner (all through the pregnancy I went weekly and twice weekly to Sweet Tomato aka Soup Plantation) NO MORE CANT DO IT Salad is out
I love spicy food and I cant have any of that
Garlic is out
I completely forgot about the amount of Caffeine I regularly consume and so cutting back to 3 coffees and a caffeine free soda is a complete system shock!
I am in a funk trying to figure out what to eat.
I am sleep deprived because my husband both works full time and doesn't have milk glands

The Nipples on the bottle we choose are apparently too long to be compatible with my breasts and baby's latch so after a very frustrating couple of weeks wondering why we were struggling to latch in a comfortable manner I think I got it figured out by switching to a shorter wider nipple.

BUT the baby is getting fatter, other than gas he is healthy and happy and doing well with breast feeding all the issues we have are with my struggle in this venture
I am frustrated and tired and having occasional anxiety issues that I cant take my Medication for because...
benzodiazepines have not been studied in breastfeeding babies there for could be excreted in breastmilk.
Plus I am really hungry and cant figure out what the hell to eat that is healthy and wont give baby "booty toots"  Every baby is different so I have to keep with the trial by fussiness .

I will not give up! My baby is doing well so I will find a way to do better with this!

I am now gonna go try to eat some spinach and hope for the best !

A month in cloth!

Its been 1 month and diapers are easy. I am washing every other day. My baby is EBF so I am not doing any rinsing or spraying.
I am doing a full cold cycle w no detergant in my top load standard, then a hot cycle w a quarter cup of EcoSprout, extra cold rinse! Once a week I use calgon and I did a 1/4 c of clorox in the middle of the month
Sunning covers and most other stuff. I fluff in the dryer on low of or no heat w woolzies dryer balls.
I love the colors and prints and I love peoples reaction...the UPS man was real impressed! I saw another cloth diaper
Mom at target and was really excited. I am so happy to be diapering him for free! Plus look how cute!

A dirty confession,SHH! I hate cloth wipes

WHen we decided to Cloth diaper, it was a NO BRAINER that we would use cloth wipes, or so we thought...


I have made wipes, won wipes and wash cloths for wipes, I have warm water and a peri bottle, a jar, a spray bottle, wipe cober and several different wipe solutions containers for wipes....I have watched Dirty DIaper Laundry how to make your wipes pop...found  here

Boldly we went forth into the cloth diaper journey at the hospital! I even packed some cloth wipes but the baby wipes in the hospital were very soft and chemical free so we used them instead,I actually brought the diapers as an "If i feel up to it" thing so I fully prepared to use sposie wipes while admitted. I got home and when the last disposable wipe was finished (day 5) I pulled out my baby cloths and soaked them down and proceeded down our crunchy path. OH NO there was a road block! I HATE THE CLOTH WIPES. One they are ruff on baby (the softy soft sposie wipes are much more lux) They are too pretty and poo looks not right on them... I know that part sounds strange but nothing is as weird as newborn poo on the face of a little fishy wash rag or on the bright yellow of a WAHM flannel wipe.

Other more important reasons, I can’t find a solution I like, I run out of solution at strange times (3am much, I am a poor planer) the idea of pre-moistening them seems wasteful for some reason or wrong to me like they will mildew, I however never seem to get enough butt wash on the wipes, also and HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON... my baby had a rash as soon as I started using them. I dont think they get his booty clean enough. Am I doing it wrong? I dont think so. As soon as I switched back to pop up sposie...Soft nice smelling sposie wipes! My baby’s booty is clean and not RED, Now I have a different set of problems

I sometime forget to remove the sposie wipe; it gets in the diaper wash and LINT CITY!

I got pilly lint fluffies all over my pockets and Flats its FLUFFING RIDICULOUS!

This makes me want to scream!  Also they are MAD EXPENSIVE they are like 3 cents each and my baby goes through a pack a week, thats $3.00 a package! My husband gladly buys them but I feel guilty for using them, THey are sneering at me from the wash My pretty baby cloths sit idel and unused in the box by the changer and I am at a loss

Torn between hating cloth wipes to wash baby and hating spoise ones for everything else!

I will update yall if I kick the pop up habitl

Diapering New Born... FLats are where its at!

I saw a great Meme before I had the baby
One that perfectly described my diaper stash

True! in fact the only sorta diaper I dont have for Baby Ray is a contour diaper, I just nevbiger have been given them any place nor have I received one for the Foundation so far so I havent actually encountered one! 

    So with a magical amount of Beautiful diapers I ventured into the world of CLoth diapering and I was so so excited to do so I brought my two nb covers and a couple different kinds of Once size pockets with me to the hospital, I before mentioned my Husband is a large man, and he was 14 lbs at birth, It was estimated that Baby Ray would weigh about 10 lbs (I imagined 9lbs at the least) so Imagine our shock and surprize when we had a healthy  but normal 8lb Newborn The NB covers fit great, as do the Grovia shells that use hook and loop. I used Flats on the day I brought home baby... they were trim, I was worried about a floppy new born in a tight car seat with a puffed up booty! I havent used many disposables at all (In fact I took back the ones I got at the shower and got store credit!)  Most One size diapers don't fit him well in the legs and the take him over! I have 6 Older Style Fuzzibunz that Look and fit him very very well and they are very cut,e as are the 6 Moraki and our LONELY Best Bottoms Shell which truely will fit a newborn! none of these are super fluffy. I was so so Excited Last week when my cousin pointed out that his Bumgenius diapers would fit him now! they did fit and he looks really cute. the are a little puffy and super Cute.... but here is the thing I forgot about newborns after 8 years with out a new born. THEY POOP ALL THE TIME! Ray Poops when I feed him, He poops when he is done eating, he poops when he sleeps, he poops right after I change his poop and twice he has pooped while I am changing his poop! Well the Point here is that all the pretty fluffy diapers are on his butt for about 20 mins or at the most an hour he pees a lot at night and sleeps for a few hours so there is a brief period where his most attractive diapers get to be worn for a good stretch under him night night clothes where no one can see them!

You know what works best, the only Diapers I have Paid for! THe flour sack Towels I purchased from Walmart for emergencies, washer dies, power outage zombie apocalypse! WELL I have Pad folded, kite folded, Origami folded and as of yesterday folded them in a big fat triangle the way my Mother in law did them on my Husband! I have used all the super cute Diaper Pins my Father In Law got me with Monkeys and frogs and bananas on them! I even tried snappi baby diaper closers and I couldn't get them to grip the FLour sacks but I tried them!
I can actually use one or two diaper covers all day with the flats

The Flats are easy to wash

the flats dry quickly on the rack in the sun or in the dryer
The Flats go in the flats go out

The sun bleaches the flats poops stains out (in like 20 mins I tell you!) 

I love my Best bottoms shell, and the grovia shells and the thirsties cover and I dont like the prorap NB cover but I do love the one I won from Zookaboo ( which was Raylan's first real diaper) 

I cant wait until I can get him to wear cute OS diapers long enough to show people how cute and easy cloth is, I personally think the flats are super easy but people get all freaked out by them for some reason. 

I am freaking out too, over how much I love flats. They will alway be the diapers I wore the diapers Hubs wore and the first diapers our baby wore!

I plan on keeping them in the rotation as long as I can, If I need to buy more they are $5 for 5 and I worth so so much more!