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Author Archives: Maria
Storing Dirty Cloth Diapers Until Wash Day
I’ve talked about where I keep my clean cloth diapers, but what about the dirty ones? You can’t throw them in the trash or the diaper genie, but it’s not like it was for your Mom or Grandmother. She may have scrubbed cloth diapers in the toilet, then put them in a bucket of water and bleach (you definitely don’t want to soak your cloth diaper in bleach, and we now know that a wet pail can be hazardous to children.) You have a lot of options and I promise your visitors won’t smell your dirty diapers! In fact, I think my house smells better with dirty cloth diapers around than it did with disposables (probably since most of the poop is flushed instead of sitting in a trash can!) Speaking of trash cans, many moms find that a kitchen size trash can works fantastically as a cloth diaper pail. In my experience, leaving it cracked to allow air circulation actually results in less smell than sealing it up tight, but you can get a lidded or “step-on” trash can if you prefer, or you can get an actual cloth … Continue reading
“So Long” Newborn Diapers
As I closed the box and applied the shipping label with my friend’s address on it, I felt a twinge of sadness that I may never have another tiny, squishy baby to put in this itty-bitty fluff. But more than that, I felt excited to be sending my newborn cloth diapers along to my best friend. She is expecting twins in May, and wants to cloth diaper for the first time. Baby #3 was a surprise, and when they found out that baby #3 was actually 3 and 4, the savings of cloth diapering was definitely attractive. Add that to my friend’s worsening chemical & fragrance sensitivities, and it was a no-brainer. I don’t think she’d be able to tolerate changing disposable diapers at this point. She doesn’t quite believe that she will need the newborn diapers, but I keep telling her that twins are probably not going to be as big as her girls were. She is used to skipping over the newborn clothing & diapers entirely! It feels really good to think about all the disposable diapers that aren’t/will not be in the landfill, as well as saving … Continue reading
Don’t Put All Your “Eggs” in One “Basket”
When I make a purchase, I research like crazy, reading tons of reviews, and weighing the pros and cons of each product or brand. When I looked into cloth diapers, I approached it the same way. I thought that I could find the “best” diaper and buy a whole stash and be done with it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work that way! A cloth diaper review can point out the details and features of the diaper, but not everyone likes the same features in diapers and different diapers work on different babies. You can read the pros and cons of sized vs one-size diapers, aplix vs snaps and microfiber vs natural fibers, but until you’ve used them, you really won’t know if you prefer pocket diapers over all-in-twos. I bought a diaper here and there and slowly figured out what I liked. I have a very diverse stash, and I don’t have more than a handful of any one diaper. This comes in very handy since what you like can change over time as your child turns into a streaker and you suddenly prefer snaps over aplix, or when your … Continue reading
Where am I Supposed to Keep All This Fluff?
When I first switched to cloth, I only had a handful of diapers, and since I was washing constantly, they didn’t sit long before being used again. I didn’t have too much trouble cramming 3 pocket diapers into the small basket that previously held a big stack of sposies and a refill pack of disposable wipes. When I started to build my stash, I needed a new place for them, so for a while, I had them sitting on a ledge by the couch in the family room. After about a year, my stash was too big for that arrangement, and I ended up grabbing a milk-crate size basket at Target to store them in. Yet another year later, that’s still the primary storage area for my 2 1/2 year old’s diapers. I also have specially stuffed night time diapers in my son’s pajama drawer, along with a handful of regular diapers, wipes and a bottle of wipe spray in another drawer. I keep a Planet Wise Wet/Dry Bag with a few one-size pocket diapers, a travel bottle of wipes spray, and a Planet Wise Wipe pouch in the car. … Continue reading
I Finally Get to Use Newborn Cloth Diapers
I’ll be honest, when I found out I was expecting baby #3, I was pretty excited to get to use newborn cloth diapers! My son was 4 months old before we switched to cloth and while I’d won some newborn fluff in giveaways, I had never gotten to use any! I started picking diapers up here and there as I could, and even found a way to do newborn cloth diaper reviews without a baby! By the time my son was born, I thought I knew which diapers I’d like, but I was actually wrong. The GroVia newborn AIO turned out to be one of my favorites for the fit, absorbency, ease of use (and cute-ness), despite the fact that I typically prefer pocket diapers and stay-dry inners. This baby surprised us by being born at under 7 pounds, so there were very few newborn diapers that would stay below his umbilical cord. I’ve heard some people say to just put the diaper over the cord, but that prevented his cord stump from drying out, even when we changed very often and use diapers with stay-dry inners. He also surprised … Continue reading
