My lazy mistake

I am not a cloth diapering Nazi. It doesn't happen often, but if need be, I put my girls in disposable diapers. This is usually just during a fast-paced vacation or if I misjudge laundry time.

Earlier this week, I ran out of time to dry the diapers. Okay, okay. I actually was just too lazy to get off the couch Sunday night to switch them from the washer to the dryer. I could have even hung them to dry and by Monday morning we would have had plenty of fresh diapers. But I didn't. I let them sit in the washer all night.

So Monday morning came, and I turned them over to the dryer. I should have waited before I left the house. They don't take too long to dry. I rushed to get to the store, however, trying to beat the heat and rain that I thought might come. I put both girls in the leftover disposable diapers I had from our recent weekend getaway.

Oh, if I could go back in time.

No one likes to talk about poop, but when we are discussing diapers, there really isn't a way to avoid it. My nursling is still EBF, and she doesn't poop everyday. In fact, the baby only poops about every 4-5 days, so when she does get around to business, it's a ton. And then some.

Unfortunately for me, Baby Girl picked Monday to be the day. Sweet as she is, she waiting until after we left to get started. If you aren't a cloth diaper lover, you might be thinking, "What's the big deal?" If you know how great cloth is, however, you know where I am going.

Two separate times, my daughter had completely blow outs in the disposable diapers. And although I changed her quickly both times, she still ended up with a bad diaper rash. Blistering bad. And this kid has never had a rash before (she has only used disposable diapers a few times).

Even with the massive amounts of poop that my child has at once, we never have poop leaks with my cloth. Never. And it never lets her bum get red. 

Thanks to my Sunday night laziness, I ended up with more poopy laundry and a red, red bottom. It would have been much easier to just get off the couch and switch over the laundry. Lesson learned.

People ask me all the time how I can handle washing poop. It's easy. I'd much rather wash poop off of diapers than out of clothes.

Sharing IS caring

People ask me all the time: How long will cloth diapers REALLY last?

The answer is actually very simple. And complex.

Depending on the care of the diaper, cloth diapers can last a very, very long time.

My Lily is wearing FuzziBunz sized diapers that have gone through at least six babies. Six. Seriously. FB are just darn good diapers.

With a sized option, you have to realize, however, that the diaper is getting limited use during a very specific time period. While Lily fits well into her size smalls, the rise is growing short and the diaper will soon be too small for the 4 month old.

My precious BG 3.0s have closures that have been replaced, and are awaiting on elastic that needs replaced. This was after two TOUGH years of tough daily use. And tough (almost) daily washing. My BG went through all the wrongs of CD care -- Dreft, fabric softener, bleach, the dryer. Neglecting to use diaper tags. Diaper creams. You name it and these BG went through it. Call it growing pains on my part.

We are also using plenty of prefold diapers that have been used and used and used. I don't think you can ruin these diapers. Seriously. They stay fresh and clean, but never seem to get fully dry in the sun.

So the answer to the question is really up to you. Are you buying a one size diaper that will be used each day for two years? Are you going to follow the instructions and recommendations?

Flats Challenge

I used a flat diaper for the first time yesterday.

In fact, I used eight of them. I joined up in a modified version of the Flats Challenge from Dirty Diaper Laundry, and the little one has been in Flat diapers since yesterday.

I was nervous to use them. Instead of the origami fold, I am simply folding them to be like a prefold newspaper fold and laying them inside my Flip covers. So far, it is working extremely well. Maybe even better than prefold diapers.

Instead of buying actual Flat diapers, I bought flour sack towels at Target for $3.99 for a pack of four. I already have the Flip covers, so I only spent 12 bucks on the diapers.

This is just a simple reminder for how affordable cloth diapers can be. And they are extremely affordable!

There are greener days ahead

Announcement: I just got an email from Barbara Frierson, the project manager for the 2011 Sustainability Fair in Charleston, W.Va.

This year's Fair will be Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Columbia Gas Transmission Building on MacCorkle Avenue. It is near the University of Charleston. 

I am waiting to get the paperwork, but Diaper Parties by Rachel is planning to attend! Mark your calendars because it should be really good!

What is in your Pampers?

A friend and fellow Diaper Parties consultant recently contacted Pampers to see what is in them.

They wouldn't answer, and told her to have her pediatrician contact them with a list of her child's allergies to see if her child would be allergic to the diapers. WHAT?

Read the full  Pampers' response here.

Rockin Green, well, rocks. And so does this giveaway.

I love Rockin Green. I love all the scents, even though it took courage to try them. We are simple "scent-free" people around my house. Thankfully Rockin Green has a "scent-free" option, too.

But now I pick a new scent each time I grab a bag. I have never been disappointed.

Haven't tried Rockin Green for your diapers yet? Now is a fabulous time to try it. Head over to The Cloth Diaper Fairy for a wonderful giveaway opportunity. I did!

Broken dryer...

I will start with this: It really could be worse.

Yesterday, my dryer died. Really died. It has been dying for awhile. It started with a person having to hold in the "start" button extra long before the dryer kicked on. And then, for about two weeks, a person would have to manually move the inside of the dryer around for a bit before you could get it to kick on and work. But yesterday, I tried these amazing techniques only to smell smoke. And have a pile of wet clothes.

The smell made me nervous, so I manually kicked the breaker. And then opened a window.

And then, hung my clothes up to dry. When was the last time you have done this?

Well, I do it often, but not with clothes. Diapers are great to hang in the sun. It's a natural bleach, and makes them smell so good. The sun whitens the diapers while killing bacteria.

But I have a confession. Since I have had two kids in diapers and the days are still with limited sunshine, I have only had a few opportunities to get the diapers out in the sun. Even then, I have had to toss the inserts into the dryer because they aren't quite dry when I need them. I have plenty of diapers for both kids, but not that many.

I still have plenty of clean diapers, but by tonight, it will be wash time. Hopefully they will dry overnight if I hang them up. I may just have to use the hair dryer on a few for the morning;)

But still, it could be worse: It could be the washer that is broken.