In the last installment of the saga of Maren's bottom, she had the diaper rash from hades. She cried every time we changed her diaper, and you would too if your bottom was so raw that it bled. We had spent a ton of money on expensive bum pastes, expensive antifungal creams, and expensive tubes of antibiotic ointments.
The good:
* NO MORE DIAPER RASH. That is, in and of itself, a good enough reason to do it.
* We paid about $95 for the seven diapers we have, and I'm sure that we've already saved money, even supplementing with the pricey unbleached disposables, when considering that a big tube of triple paste is $10, a tube of antifungal cream is another $7, and a teeny tiny tube of bactroban sets us backc $10.
* She does look dang cute in the cloth diapers. There's something about an exaggerated little bum on a baby that is totally adorable ("I like big butts and I cannot lie...")
The bad:
* Maren looks so darn cute in the cloth diapers that she often ends up wearing only a diaper. The downside? The cloth diapers are MUCH easier to take off than the disposables (or else she's just getting smarter) so she's constantly taking the diaper off.
* She wants her diaper changed as soon as she pees. Maybe that's why she doesn't get a diaper rash anymore (I used to wait to change her until there was a noticeable odor or droop to the drawers). We probably change her an average of 7 times a day now, as opposed to 4 or 5 when she wore regular disposables.
* Luvs (our old preferred brand) advertise themselves as the diapers that "hold like the Hoover Dam." The cloth diapers, well, not so much. She wakes up with a wet bed a lot of mornings. Lyn loaned me some absorbent pads to fit in the diaper, and they've improved the situation, but I'm weaning her off the nighttime drink. I'd just put her in one of those expensive brown disposables for bed, but they're really not any better.
* While the rash on her bottom is gone, sometimes it's replaced by chafing on the upper thighs where the velcro rubs if it's not placed exactly right.
* I feel like I'm always doing laundry, especially since the diapers need to run twice. With seven diapers, I end up doing a load just about every other day. If diaper-washing falls on regular laundry day, I do a rinse of just the diapers, then toss in my whites for the second run-through. Otherwise, I just do the diapers by themselves, whichc seems like a waste of water and hot air.
The stinky:
* We found a step-on bathroom-sized garbage can for our laundry room to work as a diaper pail. But our laundry room sort of stinks a lot of the time. The smell isn't nearly as bad as it was before we got the diaper pail, though.
* I haven't found where to buy any lavender or tea tree oil, and I've heard that those can really help with the smell. Today I used a towel at the gym that I had dried with the diapers, and it smelled, well, like a wet diaper.
* I need to do some research on stripping, because I think mine need it.
* I think I have given my husband one more excuse for not doing laundry.
The bottom line (get it?):
They're kind of a pain and definitely odiferous, but I think we'll be sticking with cloth.
13 comments:
Whew!
I'm glad the absorbent pads helped a little (hopefully...). We have 6 more we're not using if you need them.
I'm going to try stripping my diapers with Dawn later this week - the blue Dawn dish detergent reportedly works the best (and supposedly it needs to be Dawn and only the Blue Dawn - sounds kind of like "only during a blue moon at the first sound of the howling coyote..." but hey - we'll try it).
My massage therapist does a lot of aromatherapy - I'll have to ask her where she gets her essential oils.
Oh - one other thing....we use "deo-disks" in our pail. Kate's diapers aren't stinky yet (only breastmilk in there), and so all I smell is deo-disk - I'm not sure how well they would mask a toddler's smell. I have a bunch - you can have one to try out(I don't need a used deo-disk back!!)
I buy my TTO at Target.
Good luck! I'm psyched to start up with cloth again once we're settled in the house.
I'm glad it is working for you. Poor Maren to have a sore butt for so long. I'm also glad that I never had to do this!
Did my last comment come off as rude? I just meant that it sounds like a lot of work (which you know is something I avoid at all costs)
okay, the last cloth diaper i changed was on the bum of my 31 yo brother. i'm sure they've come a long way since then. we pinned on the diaper with big safety pins, and then put plastic pants on top. i'm sure they leaked, but i wasn't on laundry duty for another 2 years at that point.
if a miracle ever happens and i manage to have another kid, i'll probably check into cloth...just to save money. i didn't have onsite laundry with my 1st two...so cloth would have been a nightmare (and we couldn't afford a service).
i have no idea how you get by with only owning 7 diapers. i also have no idea what you mean by stripping. but i'm glad maren's bum is better. that's gotta be a relief!
♥
i get my tto at walmart. in the suppliments aisle. and i use flats and safety pins and rubber pants now too. i never thought i'd be all about them. but they are pretty dang easy.
cloth diapering is so addictive. and so much fun. i have to agree about the cuteness of a baby butt in just a cute lil' cloth diaper.
You can get TTO at any organic health food store. Same with lavendar oil. For TTO, I prefer the ones from Australia. They're expensive but concentrated and you do need to mix it with some water.
For odor, have you tried Lysol surface disinfectant spray? I use those on all garbage cans (sealed diaper pails included) and the odor is gone!!! Walmart, Target, Sam's club. They all carry the latter.
Glad to hear Maren's diaper rash is history.
As for the laundry, try Tide with Febreeze, or, a small cup of baking soda with each load. The former works best for me. Good luck.
How are things with running after the time off?
I just did 3 miles without any real pain--a HUGE accomplishment for me!!! ;-)
Yay, Sarah. I think I might post today about returning to running. Thanks for the inspiration.
HEB or Whole Foods both have essential oils. HEB's are in the health food section.
I always rinse the diapers, even if they were just peed in. Then every time I wash the diapers, I wash out the hamper.
1/4 cup of vinegar with each load helps with the smell and acts as a fabric softner. Don't use fabric softner, the diapers won't absorb as much.
you can get anything online. if you don't have the time to look for your local organic store (almost nonexistent where i live) shopping on amazon is a blessing. you can find anything on there. and it can save you big on time spent driving, on gas and on your stress level. so, go online and get yourself some essential oils. i am going to try cloth diapers the next time i have a baby. since we've struggled with both of my kids with major yeast infections on their bums, i'm hoping it will help when #3 comes around. antifungals never helped their bums either. good luck with the laundry!!!
Shelah - Patience's sister here... My husband and I are going to use cloth diapers with this new baby coming - to get rid of the stink (for ANYTHING that I have that's stinky) I use a product called LA Totally Awesome. Not only will it get your clothes white again (took cherry soda out of a shirt that had been washed, dried AND Ironed...) it will also eliminate the stink - and it's cheaper than tea tree oil... good luck!
As for the diaper rash... Butt Paste (5-10$ at Fred Meyer or any other grocery store) is a miracle worker for the worst rash! Clears up even a nasty rash in under three days! (and it smells good too! :))
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