Mailbox Mondays 10/18/10

Oct 18,2010 / By Maria / 1 Comment

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Every Monday I will answer user submitted questions. They don’t have to be about cloth diapering! I’ll always answer questions via email, but if you would like your question to be answered in a Mailbox Mondays post, send an email with the subject “Mailbox Mondays” to Maria at change-diapers dot com.

I’m looking for MM submissions for late October and beyond!

Marah says:

I am so sick of leaks overnight! What is your solution for overnight cloth diapering?

Marah

This is a pretty common dilemma, and one that caused me a lot of trouble! Sometimes, it’s as simple as the right fit and the right insert. I was stuffing my Bumgenius diapers so thick that I had to size up, and was having leg gap issues.

Make sure the diaper fits snugly at the legs, and that the inner of the diaper and the insert are all tucked in. Also make sure no clothing is tucked into the diaper! I’ve accidentally had my son’s shirt stuck in the back of the diaper before!

If your diaper fits well, but you don’t have enough absorbency (the insert is completely saturated in the morning) try adding a second full size insert, a hemp doubler, or what really worked for me, a Knickernappies Superdo insert.

If you still have trouble, bring out the big guns. Super absorbent fitteds with wool soakers are an awesome combo. I’ve had great luck with the Guerilla Fluff utilitarian. Make sure your wool soaker is well lanolized, and look for soakers designed for night time, since they have extra layers in the wet zone. I love our Mobums Night Night Wool Soaker.

Now that it’s getting cooler, putting your child in fleece pajama pants will give you another layer of wetness protection! Like wash routines, overnight diapering is annoying since as soon as you figure it out, something changes! Once I finally had our routine down pat, my son stopped wetting as heavily!

Nancy says:

Here’s a question for Mailbox Mondays: What are the best soaking, washing and drying methods to keep your diapers clean, soft, and absorbent?

Nancy

Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for this! It depends heavily on your water, your machine, how often you wash, how many diapers you wash at a time etc.

For me, a cold wash with no detergent, hot wash with a tiny amount of detergent, with an extra rinse works well.

I hang my shells to dry and tumble the inserts in the dryer.

About every other month, I soak all of my diapers and inserts overnight in RLR, then rinse until the water is clean. Then, I wash only the inserts with a dab of bleach, then rinse until the water is clean and I don’t smell bleach.

I spent a lot of time playing with wash routines and detergents. Right now I am using Tide HE powder, but I use only about 1/4 of the lowest load line for a full load of diapers.

How about you gals? Did you have trouble coming up with an overnight solution? What have you tried? What works for you?

How about wash routines? How do you wash & dry? What detergent do you use? How many detergents did you go through before you found the right one? Do you strip your diapers or treat them? How often? What do you use?

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Mailbox Mondays

Mailbox Mondays 10/11/10

Oct 11,2010 / By Maria / 5 Comments

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Every Monday I will answer user submitted questions. They don’t have to be about cloth diapering! I’ll always answer questions via email, but if you would like your question to be answered in a Mailbox Mondays post, send an email with the subject “Mailbox Mondays” to Maria at change-diapers dot com.

I’m looking for MM submissions for late October and beyond!

Rebecca says:

Hi Maria-

I’d love to hear your thoughts about one size diapers. Are they really worth it? Can you get them to fit well? I am using sized diapers right now.

-Rebecca

This is a great question! When I was expecting my daughter (about 6 years ago, wow!) an acquaintance gave me information on cloth diapers. I did some research and settled on FuzziBunz sized pocket diapers. When I started adding it up though, it seemed awfully expensive. I didn’t know what I know now, and I didn’t know how to get the information.

I was assuming I would need 25 or so diapers in every size: extra-small, small, medium, large, extra large etc. That would put the cost to cloth diaper equal to, or greater than, disposables. That, combined with feeling overwhelmed at the idea of washing diapers in addition to learning to care for and breastfeed a newborn, made me forget the idea altogether.

Now, I know that I could have used Extra-Small and Mediums alone and been just fine! In fact, my daughter could probably fit in a medium FuzziBunz now at 5 1/2!

With my son, I decided on one-size diapers. He is also tiny like my daughter, and is still in mediums. I only have a few sized diapers, but I like them since they are so trim.

I am able to get a good fit with one-size diapers, and they really aren’t that bulky. Most don’t fit well until 10-12 pounds though (there are exceptions to that) so if you cloth diaper from birth, you will still need to buy something else for the newborn stage.

I’ve also heard several people say that one-size diapers didn’t really fit their larger babies through potty training, so they had to buy some larger diapers later on.

I guess it’s really just a toss up based on what you prefer. There are also a few companies (like Thirsties) that make two size diapers, so you can get the best of both worlds. The size 1 and size 2 should truly take a child from birth to potty training with 3 size adjustments each.

I hope all of this made sense, I tend to talk in circles sometimes! 🙂

A question about “the other cloth”:

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else in your family uses cloth wipes (i.e. Mama cloth)?

LF

Initially, the idea freaked me out a little bit. The more I read, the more interested I was. I’ve looked at WAHM made mama cloth (like the ones made by Addicted) and it looks great! Cute designs, luxurious materials; definitely better than the alternative. I hate the crinkly paper feeling, the trash etc. Hopefully I will get to try some soon (which sounds weird to say!)

Family cloth: I would definitely do family cloth for #1, I’d love to find some soft, affordable wipes to use, and maybe a smallish wetbag to keep in each bathrooom for them. I’d be a little afraid they’d get thrown in the potty by accident though, and I’m not brave enough to use them for #2 yet!

Reusable Tissues: Better for Grownups has some awesome reusable tissues that I can’t wait to try, once I have the money to spend!

What do you guys think? Do you use sized, or one-size diapers? Ever used any “other” cloth?

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Mailbox Mondays

Mailbox Mondays 10/4/10

Oct 4,2010 / By Maria / No Comment

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Make sure you check out the “Year of Fluff” post for all of the upcoming giveaways. There are two active giveaways right now, and three more coming this week!

Every Monday I will answer user submitted questions. They don’t have to be about cloth diapering! I’ll always answer questions via email, but if you would like your question to be answered in a Mailbox Mondays post, send an email with the subject “Mailbox Mondays” to Maria at change-diapers dot com.

I am looking for submissions for late October and beyond!

Heidi says:

What’s the best natural fiber doubler that is inexpensive and effective?

Heidi

For natural fibers, I like hemp. Very absorbent and naturally anti-bacterial. Bamboo/cotton blends are also great!

Unfortunately, natural fiber products are also more expensive than their microfiber counterparts, and natural fiber doublers aren’t as easy to find as full-size natural fiber inserts..

A small Baby Kicks Joey Bunz Hemparoo (13.5″ long and 6″ wide at it’s widest) retails for about $5.00. I really like the organic cotton/bamboo doubler that came with my Blueberry Bamboo diaper, but I don’t think the doubler is sold separately. The one size insert and doubler sell for $8.00.

Bethany says:

How many scoops of Tiny bubbles do you have to literally use on dirty diapers with an older washing machine?

Bethany

Tiny Bubbles is designed for cloth diapers, so I would suggest using the recommended amount (not 1/4 or 1/2 like you would with a standard detergent.) I believe that would be two scoops in a top load washer with normal water (use less if you have soft water.) If you don’t already, I’d suggest doing a cold wash (without detergent) first to rinse the diapers, then a hot wash with the detergent.

So how about you guys? Have you used Tiny Bubbles? How much do you use? Do you have a favorite natural fiber doubler?

My post on The Village of Moms today is about my experience with baby wearing. I’d love for you to check it out!

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Mailbox Mondays

Mailbox Mondays 9/27/10

Sep 27,2010 / By Maria / 9 Comments

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Every Monday I will answer user submitted questions. They don’t have to be about cloth diapering! I’ll always answer questions via email, but if you would like your question to be answered in a Mailbox Mondays post, send an email with the subject “Mailbox Mondays” to Maria at change-diapers dot com.

Please note: My intent is to get a queue of questions for the next several months, so it may be some time before your submission is posted. If you would like me to email my response so you don’t have to wait until your question is posted, let me know!

Carrie Says:

Maria,

What are your thoughts on the detergent debate? I’ve been reading some manufacturers (like rumparooz) saying use detergents like tide, because they have enzymes, and what seems like most everyone else saying no to tide and other conventional detergents.

Carrie

This is a bit of a hot button issue for me; as I’ve mentioned before, detergent was the sole reason I waited so long to start cloth diapering my son. There were no “5 star” detergents available to me locally, and it would have been far to expensive to have one shipped.

The different “cloth diaper detergent charts” had seemingly conflicting information, and every diaper company had their own ideas. If your stash consisted of all one brand, it would be simpler, but I don’t recommend putting all your “eggs” in one “basket” when it comes to cloth diapers.

So, here’s my take: What good is a “safe” detergent if your diapers stink and/or aren’t getting clean? Use trial and error to find a detergent that works for you, and stick with it. Obviously stay away from detergents with fabric softeners and optical brighteners, which can build up on your diapers. If a detergent isn’t working for you, if you have buildup or stink, strip and try again.

But what about warranties? I don’t really know, that’s a personal decision. For me, I will use the detergent that gets my diapers clean without damaging them or irritating my son’s skin. If a company decides not to honor their warranty because I used Tide or didn’t use Tide, shame on them. Stink isn’t covered under diaper warranties, so what good are warranted diapers washed in “safe” detergent that you can’t use?

Ashley says:

What are the most useful type of training pant? The ones on most cloth diaper sites are so expensive, I’m not sure if they’re worth the buy.

Thanks, I never see much input on blogs about training, just diapers.

-Ashley

I am still several months away from potty training/learning, but rest assured I’ll be reviewing trainers soon enough!

From what I remember from potty training my daughter (she is 5 1/2 now!) we initially just needed a diaper that we could pull up and down to try to go potty, but she was basically still in diapers. My plan with my son for that stage is to use any side snapping diapers I have (which isn’t too many!) as pull up type diapers.

Next was that in-between stage where she wasn’t really ready for undies yet, but she didn’t always need a diaper either. That’s where the trainers come in. The Little Beetle Learner is definitely on my “to-try” list. They are absorbent, but are made from organic cotton, so baby will feel wetness. They snap off to make accident clean up easy. I love the idea of a pocket trainer (like the Happy Heinys pocket trainer), where you can use them with as much or as little stuffing as you need based on “where they are” in the learning process.

Encouraging my daughter to use the potty full time wasn’t too bad, but I’m hearing that boys take longer and are more stubborn, so we shall see!

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Mailbox Mondays

Mailbox Mondays 9/20/10

Sep 20,2010 / By Maria / 3 Comments

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Every Monday I will answer user submitted questions. They don’t have to be about cloth diapering! I’ll always answer questions via email, but if you would like your question to be answered in a Mailbox Mondays post, send an email with the subject “Mailbox Mondays” to Maria at change-diapers dot com.

Please note: My intent is to get a queue of questions for the next several months, so it may be some time before your submission is posted. If you would like me to email my response so you don’t have to wait until your question is posted, let me know!

Kristina says:

Hi, I am interested in trying out Wool Covers. What can you tell me about them in terms of care and usage. Thanks!

Kristina

Wool is fantastic! I was initially a little afraid of wool, but it was so much easier to take care of than I imagined. I have Kissaluvs, a Mobums and a Little Beetle cover. The Mobums review has step by step photos demonstrating how I wash the covers.

I rarely have to wash them, you know you need to when they start hanging on to a urine smell (or if they are soiled.) Otherwise, just air them out between uses.

I use liquid lanolin that I found at my local organic store to lanolize when they don’t seem to be as absorbent, but there are any number of lanolizing products out there. Using a lanolin containing wash (like Eucalan) will greatly reduce the frequency with which you need to lanolize.

Wool was my lifesaver (over a super-absorbent fitted) for night time, when my son was a super soaker!

Does this answer your questions? What else do you want to know? How about my readers? Do you use wool?

Crystal says:

Maria,

I have been having stink issues with my hemp gDiaper inserts. I have tried just about everything, including stripping multiple times, a little bit of bleach in the wash, I switched to Rockin Green detergent, and I wash at least every 2 days. And I have tried sunning (all day in Florida heat) when I have the time, which I try to find the time at least once a week. The smell isn’t ammonia, it’s just a funkiness, and it comes out of the washer and dryer smelling this way. We have no rash problems cropping up, just the smell. Any ideas on something else to try?

Thanks,

Crystal

What have you been using to strip? It seems that sometimes adding things make stinkies worse. I would try running the inserts through several cycles on hot, with water only; no detergent or additives. See if you are getting any suds or residue in the water.

I know you said you already tried bleach, but after you’ve made certain they are rinsed clean, try 1/4 cup of bleach in the bleach dispenser with only the inserts in the wash.

Do you have hard water? It may be mineral deposits causing the funk. Try the Rockin’ Green hard rock if you haven’t already, or try adding calgon water softener.

Sorry I wasn’t more help, you have tried most of what I would have done already!

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Category : Mailbox Mondays

Mailbox Mondays 10/18/10

Mailbox Mondays 10/11/10

Mailbox Mondays 10/4/10

Mailbox Mondays 9/27/10

Mailbox Mondays 9/20/10

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