11 – Storing Cloth Diapers

Aug 8,2011 / By Maria / 1 Comment

Well, we almost didn’t have a Mailbox Mondays this week! Here I am, just dying to answer your questions, and I didn’t get a single submission. For shame! 😉

Questions don’t have to be cloth diaper related, just email maria at change-diapers.com with “Mailbox Mondays” in the subject, or fill out my contact form for readers, which you will always be able to find on my Contact Page.

Catherine came to the rescue and asked:

I was wondering- after my babe outgrows her dipes, is there something I should do before I store them so they don’t get stinky?

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Cloth Diaper Advice – Mailbox Mondays 7/11/11 – Black Spots on Diapers & Cover for Fitteds

Jul 11,2011 / By Maria / 8 Comments

Do you have cloth diaper issues? On Mondays, I answer reader submitted questions, and ask my readers to weigh in as well.

Questions don’t have to be cloth diaper related, just email maria at change-diapers.com with “Mailbox Mondays” in the subject, or fill out my contact form for readers, which you will always be able to find on my Contact Page.

Sarah says:

I am puzzled at what this is and why I started getting them. Little black dots in some of the diapers. Not like a stain, but just little black dots. What is this and how can I get rid of it?! It just started in the past month or so. My diapers are in such good condition besides this. I would send a picture but I am not sure how using this form. Thanks!

Sarah

Hi Sarah. It’s hard to say without seeing them, but the first thing that comes to mind is mildew.

Is it all of your diapers or just some? Is it on the inserts and diapers, or just the inserts? How often are you washing? What is your wash routine? How are you drying the diapers?

I’d suggest washing no more than every 2-3 days, consider keeping your pail or wet bag open, use hot water to wash (I’m sure you already do!) and make sure the diapers get dry fairly quickly. Hang (or lay) them in the sun if you can. If you have a bathroom that won’t get steamy while you’re drying the diapers, consider hanging them in there so you can turn the exhaust fan on to remove humidity from the air.

Has anyone else experienced back dots on their diapers? What was it? How did you get rid of it?

Laurie says:

Maria,

I have recently started using fitteds with covers as the overnight diapering solution for my one year old daughter. I bought two Mother-Ease one size fitteds with an air-flow cover and they work great. I also bought a Kissaluvs size 2 fitted which I love. However, I didn’t buy a Marvels diaper cover–I assumed the Mother-Ease cover would work over the Kissaluv fitted. It really doesn’t. Neither does an unstuffed Bum Genius or Econobum cover. The Kissaluv fitted is awesome for absorbancy and softness, so I don’t want to give up on it. Any thoughts on what cover (or unstuffed pocket) has the widest dimensions to cover any potential fitteds I might use?

It seems like the trend in cloth diaper covers is to make them trim, for use as an all-in-two system with inserts or trifolded prefolds (like the Econobum.) However, this means they don’t really work well over fluffier fitted diapers.

The most generously sized PUL cover I’ve used is definitely the Smartipants Smart-Fit Cover. I was able to fit it over my fluffiest fitted diaper with ease (see the last three pictures in that review!) The Thirsties Duo Wraps and Thirsties Covers as well as the Bummis Super Whisper Wrap seem to have a more generous cut to fit over fitted diapers.

For night time, I highly recommend a wool cover. They are breathable, have some stretch and give to them, and fit very well over fitted diapers!

I know there are fitted mamas out there, what is your favorite cover to use over a fitted diaper?

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Cloth Diaper Advice – Mailbox Mondays 6/13/11 – Night Time Diapers for a Super Soaker

Jun 13,2011 / By Maria / 3 Comments

Have a cloth diaper problem? On Mondays, I answer reader questions, and ask my other readers to give their advice too.

Questions don’t have to be cloth diaper related, just email maria at change-diapers.com with “Mailbox Mondays” in the subject, or fill out my contact form for readers, which you will always be able to find on my Contact Page.

Suki says:

Hi Maria, I had left a comment on your wall about my daughter potentially having diabetes. Well, it turned out that she doesn’t. She just hit that toddler stage where she pees a ton more. What I’ve done to keep up is to double stuff everything. That works during the day and diaper changes are about every two hours.

What I’m having trouble with is nighttime diapering. She is almost 18 months and drinks 16 – 32 ounce of milk each night and so I have to change her diaper once or twice at night or I get leaks. She’s a super duper heavy wetter at night.

I’ve tried a Super Do with a Loopy Do and that lasts maybe half the night. I’ve tried a combination of hemp and microfiber inserts (as many as I can without the leg opening gaping!). I don’t want them to be too bulky so I thought maybe some hemp flats?

I’m willing to spend some money but I want to increase my chances of something that would work.

Thanks!

I’m so glad to hear she doesn’t have diabetes! That much fluid intake will definitely soak a night time diaper! Since the Superdo (and a Loopydo, wow!) didn’t cut it, my next suggestion would be fitteds with wool. Fitteds are great because the whole diaper is absorbent.

When I was searching for really absorbent fitteds, I found the Guerilla Fluff Utilitarian. I had mine made with all the extras, like added Zorb in the soakers, and a wool precision doubler (I don’t believe she uses wool anymore though.) If you can do it without a leg gap, try adding a natural fiber (like a hemp blend) insert, doubler or prefold inside as well. Top it with an extra-thick, well lanolized wool cover. In the winter, I also used fleece PJ pants for an additional barrier!

If that doesn’t do it, you may need to continue to change her at night, until she is old enough to limit her fluids a bit before bed!

So how about the rest of you? Have you dealt with an epic super-soaker? What worked for you at night?

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Sustainablebabyish Knit Underwoolies – Wool Cloth Diaper Cover Review

Jun 9,2011 / By Maria / 4 Comments

I don’t enter many giveaways anymore, so it’s not surprising that I don’t often win! I do enter giveaways that are easy to enter, don’t have a ton of entries, and of course it has to be something I want to win!

Most recently, I entered to win Sustainablebabyish knit underwoolies (a wool cloth diaper cover) from Merrimack Valley Diapers and the Cloth Diaper Retailer Cooperative. I don’t have a lot of wool since it is rather pricey (and I was initially afraid of wool!) but I do have a Kissaluvs Kissa’s Wool Lover Diaper Cover, a Mobums Wool Interlock Night Night Wool Soaker and a Little Beetle Little to Big Wool Cover. Wool is much easier to use and wash than I thought, and it was our savior for night time when my son was in a super heavy wetting stage!

I’ve been eyeing Sustainablebabyish (A.K.A. sbish) since the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt, when I spent hours and hours on their site looking for that darn diaper, LOL!

Imagine how stoked I was when I won!! Especially since wool is expensive! The underwoolies retail for $34.00, so this was an awesome, generous prize from Merrimack Valley Diapers. (They have a note on their home page that they’re going out of business, which is stinky, but you might be able to catch some good sales!)

The Sustainablebabyish tag is made out of wildflower paper that you can plant, how cool! There was no real “packaging” to speak of, but I really like their tags.

The underwoolies come in size 1 (5-18 lbs) and 2 (18-37 lbs.) Since it was free, and my son doesn’t really need anything, I chose the size 1 for someday newborn diapering. I think it may have just barely squeezed on my 23 pound son, but not over a fluffy fitted!

The craftsmanship is amazing (inside out above to show the seams) and it’s such a simple, but gorgeous cover. I haven’t gotten to really use & review it, but I don’t doubt that it will perform as well as the other wool I have! Of course now I want to try a Sustainablebabyish fitted to go with it! 🙂

FTC compliance: I won the pictured item in a giveaway. I was not asked to write, nor was I compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Real Nappies Cloth Diapers & Covers/Wraps Review & Giveaway (CLOSED 5/26)

May 19,2011 / By Maria / 19 Comments

Real Nappies makes quality cloth diapers and covers, swim diapers, training pants and accessories at affordable prices.

I received the Real Nappies “Top up Pack” to review. The top up pack retails for $39 and contains 6 cloth diapers (100% Indian cotton prefolds, 6 diapers retail for $19.99-$29.99 separately, depending on size) and 2 snug wraps. The wraps in the packages are available in white only, but sold separately for $12 each, you can get them in red, blue or pink!

The diapers and covers come in 4 sizes. Newborn (6-13 lb), Infant (11-20 lb), Crawler (17-30 lb) and Toddler (29-40+ lb.) Even though my son is almost two, I chose the crawler size based on weight.

As I expected, the prefolds shrunk a good bit in length after washing & drying (before on left, after on right.)

They did not shrink noticeably in width.

Cloth diapers (no matter what kind) look so pretty stacked up after washing!

The snug wraps are high quality PUL, and you can reuse them for several diaper changes.

They do have laundry tabs for the Velcro closures, but I do wish they were a little bit bigger!

The covers have gentle (but effective) elastic at the rear and legs.

Here is the crawler size measured both folded and stretched. The elastic isn’t super tight, so it doesn’t have tons of stretch.

There is a flap of PUL at the front of the diaper:

Though it seems to be calling out to have the prefold tucked under it, don’t do it! The flap is there to prevent any wicking through where the Velcro strip is sewn on.

To use the system, simply fold the prefold and place it in the cover. The guide included with the pack includes tips on how to best fold for boys, girls etc. I was thinking it was going to look really bulky the way I folded it, but it didn’t!

Here’s the crawler size on my 22ish pound almost 2-year old:

I think it fit him quite well, and the prefold was very absorbent! (They also sell boosters to make them work better at night!)

Real Nappies has tons of packages available, from a $15 intro pack (1 cover & 1 prefold) to a $499 birth to potty pack. For $69, you can get 12 diapers, 3 covers and 100 liners in the Essentials Pack. That would get you in cloth full time (though you would be washing a lot!) for about the same cost as a month of disposables!

Definitely note that even though these are affordable, Real Nappies has a Two-Child Guarantee. They guarantee that you’ll be able to use Real Nappies Cloth Diapers and Snug Wraps for at least two children, and will repair or replace a diaper or cover that fails before your second child outgrows it! Now of course, there are caveats (click the link to read all the details) and in order for the guarantee to apply, you have to wash them no more often than every two days, using at least the minimum recommended # of diapers. So, you can’t wash them 2 times a day (like I did with my first 6 diapers) and have them replaced.

Giveaway: Real Nappies is offering one reader an intro pack in his/her choice of size (ARV $15.00.)

Here’s how to enter: All entries go in the form below. I love comments (great way to remind yourself you entered) but comments do not count as entries.

Mandatory entries include your name, email address and what size Real Nappies you would need. You may receive a bonus entry if you “like” The Real Nappies USA page . They are giving away a $150 prize pack when they reach 1,000 fans!

I will accept entries until Thursday, May 26th, 2011 at 9:00 P.M. Eastern. I will select a winner using random.org’s true random number generator and notify him/her by email. Winner has 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is chosen. View my giveaway rules page for complete details. This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S.

# of entries received as of giveaway close: 302

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FTC compliance: I received the pictured items at no cost in order to review them. I was not otherwise compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

Disclosure: This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, nor associated with Facebook. By entering, you release Facebook from any responsibility and understand that the information entered on this form will not be disclosed to Facebook.

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