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My son has started a little bit of solid food so far. I bid a fond farewell to exclusively breastfed poop, which washes right out and does not need to be rinsed.
When babies are older, you can just flip solids into the potty and wash the diaper as usual.
However, if you have been through solids, whether your baby was cloth or disposable diapered, you will feel my pain here. Sweet potatoes go in and, well, sweet potatoes come out. Only with an even less pleasant consistency.
So what the heck do you do in that gross, in between stage? Well, I’ve heard of quite a few methods. Some people keep a scraper handy and scrape solids into the toilet and/or “dunk and swish” the diaper in the toilet. This makes me shudder for many reasons. One is because of the tablets I use in our toilet tanks to prevent the lovely stain at the water line that reappears hours after I’ve scrubbed the toilet. I don’t want that junk on my toilet! Not to mention putting my hand and his diaper in a cesspool of germs. YUCK! No offense to those who use this method, it’s not for me.
Some people use a
diaper sprayer. It’s like a hand held bidet, looks like a hand held shower head kind of. You have to have a flexible hose on your toilet’s water line to attach it. You then hold the diaper in/over the toilet bowl and use the sprayer to blast the poo off.
This works for lots of people. They’re a little spendy, but if you google you can find instructions to make one with parts from a hardware store for about half as much.
I have a lot of concerns about this though. I believe it takes some practice to be able to spray without making a big mess. There is an
interesting invention to get around this, but it wouldn’t fit in our tiny half bath.
Which brings me to my next concern. Whatever solution I use, it needs to be on the first floor, since that’s where I change most of my diapers. Our half bath is the bathroom we (including my 4-year old) use most, and the bathroom our guests use. So I am concerned about there being anything smelly, weird looking, or too tempting in there. By that I mean, I don’t want a curious preschool-age guest flooding my house in a “what’s this do” moment. Then there’s always the concern of it failing, since sprayers we have in sinks are not usually under constant pressure.
Which now leads me to my current arrangement. I have a utility sink in my laundry room.
The sink has a pull out sprayer.
It has normal water flow
That turns into a spray when you push the button on top.
We have kind of lame water pressure overall, but it seems to do OK.
Is spraying my dirties off in here gross? It’s not like we’ll be preparing food in here or anything, and doesn’t it all end up in the same place? *shrug* For now, It’s working! Of course this is with my son eating a tablespoon or two of food, when it gets even grosser, I’m sure I’ll have to do some pre-scraping, even if I continue to spray in here!
Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 18, 14 and 11-year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. 
