What to do with all that poo: Part two!

First, I have to share how excited I am to have found cottonbabies.com. If you click on their clearance section, you can find a delightful selection of seconds--items that may have a tiny aesthetic flaw so they can’t be sold at full price but they are still perfectly usable. I bought four all-in-one diapers for $40 total when they’d normally be more than $25 each. 

I’m also excited to try the wool soaker that I recently purchased.  My sister introduced me to the idea of wool soakers when I was pregnant, and I thought "I'm having a baby in July--don't you think wool is a little much?" However, I have since learned that wool is breathable, so it allows baby's bottom to stay at a consistent temperature. It also holds 30% of its weight in liquid before it starts to feel wet, so it's great for diapering baby overnight. The kicker is that unless there is poo on it, a soaker only needs to be washed every few weeks with Eucalan wool wash and lanolin. I learned how to lanolize this weekend via greenmountaindiapers.com (which also offers seconds!), and it is probably the simplest thing ever. I’ll put the soaker to the test during the overnight hours and let you know.

One thing I did not write about last time was storage. You have a wet, stinky diaper--what do you do with it? You’ll need a wet bag and a plastic trash container or diaper pail with a lid on it. First, let’s talk about the wet bag. I bought two Kissa’s Antibacterial Pail Liners so that I could have one in the diaper pail and one in the wash. When it’s time to do laundry, I don’t even have to touch the diapers--I simply pick up the wet bag, tote it to the washing machine, and dump in the contents. I also wash the bag to reduce odors in the living room, which is where I change the baby. As for the diaper pail, we bought Safety 1st Easy Saver Diaper Pail. The Kissa’s pail liner fits nicely into the Safety 1st pail, and I can fit one and a half to two days of diapers in it. The pail has a button-activated flip top and a built in deodorizer. I’ve never walked into my living room and thought “Hmm, I smell poo,” so it must work!

When you’re on the go, you’ll need a travel wet bag. This one obviously won’t be as large as the one you keep in your home, but you’ll want something that can hold several diapers at a time. They come in all sorts of designs and colors, so that only you know that you’re carrying a bag full of poo in public. Everyone else thinks, “Cute tote!”

The other thing I didn’t discuss is wiping baby’s hiney. To  be as economical and environmentally friendly as possible, I also use cloth wipes. You can go to a cloth diaper retailer and buy special wipes, but I found eight-packs of face cloths on sale at Target for $2.99 each, so I bought four packs and they do a great job. I wet them down with a squirt bottle before wiping baby’s bottom. When I’m done, I throw it in the diaper pail and wash it with the diapers. 

If you choose to cloth diaper, I highly recommend investing in a drying rack. During nice weather, I usually hang my diapers outside to dry in the sun and then fluff them in the dryer for about 10 minutes to give them that soft, quilty feel. The sun is the best bleach for cloth diapers. Honestly, I was skeptical at first, but I put some pretty stained diapers out in the sun, and by the end of the day, the stains were gone. I also dry my diaper covers on the rack instead of the dryer to prolong their life. 

Tip: If you use the drier to dry your cloth diapers, be warned that you should not use dryer sheets with either your diapers or any other laundry. Dryer sheets can leave a waxy residue on the inside of your dryer, which then transfers over to your diapers. Residues can cause odor and wetness issues, so you want to avoid them like the plague.