Holy cow - I am such a mom. Using words like "poop" in every day conversations. Reader beware: this is long, probably boring, and discusses poop.
Okay, there's really nothing special about the way I use cloth diapers. I'm sure it's not much different than other moms out there. I mean, most of what I do is from things I learned from other moms on the Internet. But I guess I just want to share how much I love cloth diapering and write down our routines, which will help me know what information to give my little sister when I pass the diapers down to her someday (if she wants them, of course).
First off, we use Bumgenius diapers. I used 3.0's with the boys, and now I have Becca in both 3.0's and 4.0's one-size. I was perfectly happy with the 3.0's for the boys, but now I'm finding that I actually prefer the 4.0's. I like how the stuffing comes out so they dry faster and fluffier. I also like how they come with snaps instead of Velcro. (I removed the Velcro and added my own snaps on the boys' diapers. which was a lot of work.) Once the boys were old enough, it was really easy for them to figure out how to take the Velcro diapers off, plus the Velcro started to fray in the wash after a while.
For newborns, you're supposed to fold a flannel wipe in half to help liquids absorb faster so they don't leak. We did that for a while, but for some reason we stopped. I think it might have been that I didn't make enough wipes to last until wash day, so I would run out too soon. So I haven't found the time to make more wipes, plus I'd like to have a better coverage now that she'll be starting solids in a month or two, so I went ahead and ordered some of the Bumgenius liners, and they're on their way to us now. Liners are also good for collecting poop when the baby is on solids. See, you can put breastfed poop straight in the wash machine without rinsing the diaper, but once you have "real" poop, you need to rinse it in the toilet before putting the diaper in the laundry. When you have a liner, you only need to rinse it instead of the whole diaper, which is much easier.
I never used special laundry detergent on the boys when they were in diapers, which is probably why I had problems. I did look up which "normal" detergents you can use on cloth diapers, but the boys kept getting rashes with whatever I tried, so I ended up just using bleach on them, which, broke down the waterproof layer on the diapers. I had to throw them away and buy a whole new set after about a year of using them. Not the cheapest way to diaper, I can tell you that. So this time I did a little bit smarter research, and we now use Nellie's All Natural Laundry Soda for both our diapers and our normal laundry. I buy it from cottonbabies.com, because they ship laundry detergent for free. I love how Nellie's gets things clean, and it doesn't leave a detergent smell on our clothes. Plus, Rebecca doesn't get any rashes from it, and I don't have to use bleach. I do, though, use 1/4 cup of bleach once a month to rinse away any ammonia build-up, which is recommended by Bumgenius.
I wash a load of diapers every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, doing the 1/4 cup of bleach on the first Monday of every month, because there's a bigger build-up of dirty diapers over the weekend. Speaking of which, I really don't know how many diapers I do each load. We have 12 of the 4.0's (bought during a buy 5, get one free sale) and about 10 3.0's, and we always have some left on Mondays. I do a hot/cold rinse on the diapers, then add the detergent and do a regular hot/cold cycle. A lot of moms do a rinse cycle after that, but I've found that we're doing just fine without it, so then I put them in the dryer, and then when they're done I turn the 3.0's inside out and hang them to finish drying, and fold the 4.0's and put them away. Okay, to be honest, about 40% of the time the diapers just stay in the laundry basket until they're needed, but I do try to get them hung up or put away most of the time.
Oh, back to the wipes. When we started cloth diapering the boys, I bought all sorts of wipes, trying to get the best and the softest. We tried bamboo wipes, velour wipes, and flannel wipes, and I can honestly say that I like flannel the best. I also prefer to make my own, not just because it's cheaper, but I like to make them nice and big.
And last topic: stuffing. Bumgenius 3.0's are designed extremely similar to a disposable diaper. It has its stuffing sewn in, so you can use it just like a disposable, but it also has a pocket that you can add extra stuffing to for more protection. The 4.0's are just a pocket diaper - basically a shell with a pocket that you stuff the fluff into, which is one of the reasons they dry faster. You pull the fluff out of the diaper before putting it into the wash. Right now for normal diapers, I put in just one stuffing, but for overnight, I add in a newborn insert along with the stuffing.
So there you go. A very long post on cloth diapering stuff you never thought you wanted to know. Congratulations if you made it this far - I know I wouldn't have before I started to use cloth. You know, I never thought I would use cloth, but now that I do, I absolutely love it. I love not having to run to the store when we're getting low on diapers, and I really do love the feel of cloth on my babies.
