Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Cloth Diapering - Confessions

I can't say that our cloth diapering journey hasn't had a couple bumps in the road. Our little guy has uber sensitive skin and unfortunately gets diaper rash on occasion. Normally cloth diapers can work wonders for kiddos with sensitive skin because it's just plain ol' cloth - no harsh chemicals or perfumes against the little one's bum. Often because of cloth diapers your little ones can go diaper rash free even (there's a whole big article on that subject here). But with our little guy there's the moisture issue which, for him, can lead to diaper rash. Unless he has frequent cloth diaper changes (which I'm able to keep on top of as a stay-at-home-mom), it's too wet against his skin. So, overnight is a no-go since it's too long without a diaper change.

Remember how I said cloth dipes on-the-go were totally easy (a few all-in-ones (AOI's) or pocket diapers in your diaper bag along with a wet bag for the dirty ones)? Well I wasn't lying, it IS totally easy (and if your little one doesn't have diaper rash issues I really encourage you to do it), however we recently had to give it up (because of the moisture/diaper rash issue). It's a  bummer...but it brings me to my next point: cloth diapering doesn't have to be all-or-nothing. Do what you can. I just came clean about my own family's cloth diaper dilemmas after all! I desire to cloth diaper 24/7 but it's just not possible given our little guy's sensitive bum. Whenever we're at home: cloth diapers. At bedtime: a disposable. Running errands, road trips, and anytime we're away and our little guy cannot have a prompt diaper change: disposables. Anytime we're leaving our house to go some place where we know we're going to be for awhile: we try to plan ahead and bring a cloth diaper supply. Not 100% green, but most definitely a greenish approach to diapering. If you can cloth diaper around the clock, good for you! If you can't, do what you can. One less disposable in the landfill is one less disposable in the landfill.

Okay, one more confession. In my washing instructions post I said I'd share what seriously made me question cloth diapering. Well, here it is: what made me seriously question cloth diapering was when our little guy went from being solely breastfed to starting solids. Oh the horror! The horror where you can't believe something so little and sweet could produce so much horrible smelling and disgusting looking poo. Think of the scene in Daddy Daycare where the little guy has smeared poop all over the entire bathroom, or, better yet, the scene from Slumdog Millionare (you know the one). That's the kind of horrible smelling and disgusting looking poo I'm talking about. I ended up posting something about it on Facebook, just so I could get some advice from my fellow cloth diaperers, and the conversation that followed was pretty comical (more comical than helpful really). So without too much help from my friends (thanks anyway friends) here's how I stayed strong cloth diapering: patience, a strong stomach, and a pretty strong-willed determination to keep on keeping on. Honestly, the first few transition poops were the absolute worst (something about a gut that was only used to digesting breastmilk now having something new in it's system I think). And, when worse came to worst, a diaper scraper. Thank goodness I haven't had to use that thing in a long time...but in retrospect it really wasn't that bad (I'm saying that now, but in the moment, I was not very happy about it!). What would have really helped had I purchased them sooner: Bummi's bio-soft flushable diaper liners. You put them in your cloth diaper of choice and you can just lift out the sheet (poo and all) and flush it. These are a little spendy, though, so I wouldn't recommend putting them in every single diaper you use. Going back to what I said about it not having to be all-or-nothing, though, if you have to switch to disposables to get through that HORRIBLE transition poo, I wouldn't blame you, just don't give up on cloth diapering forever! I didn't. Or, try the Bummi's liners...or a diaper sprayer even (I've talked about how we don't have one of these, but I'm still curious and interested in some nitty gritty details on how they've worked for you, especially pertaining to transition poo!).

2 comments:

  1. We have the exact same problem as you! We have also gone to disposables at night, which has made a huge difference. The other thing that really helped us is baking soda! Our doctor recommended it, as she said the problem was from his acidic urine getting in contact with his skin. So we put 2 tablespoons of baking soda in his bath, and have a little spray bottle with 1 cup of water and 1 teaspoon of baking soda in it. After a nappy change, we spray the mixture on then let it air dry for about 5 mins while bubs runs around. It seems to be enough to raise the pH next to his skin and prevent the rash.

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  2. Great information, thanks so much for passing it along!

    Elisabeth@Simply Parkers

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