When I wrote that post we were only 3 weeks into our journey with cloth diapering and I am now happy to report that we made it through the journey which is almost over for my 1st and have successfully been on that journey for the past 4 and half months with our 2nd.
Somethings have changed quite a bit and others have not changed at all. My diaper of choice for daytime is still the 4.0 or 5.0 bumgenius pocket style diapers.
Nightime Diaper Solutions
As my oldest grew however those diapers didn't really cut it for nighttime use. I tried doublers including hemp ones to add absorbency but it still wasn't enough. I tried Best Bottom diapers which have snap in inserts for awhile but they weren't my favorite. I still use them from time to time though. A friend of mine whose son was a heavy wetter told me about Grovia O.N.E.S and that is now my nighttime diaper of choice. They are so awesome but are a little bit pricier than others. I'm glad we have them though because my 7 month old is a much heavier wetter than her older sister was so she is already using the Grovia O.N.E.S at night.
Wash Routine
One big change to our cloth diapering since that last post is the wash routine. This is one that I wish I would of changed much sooner. My biggest advice on this subject is to find a wash routine that works for your washer and the water that you have in your town. The website Fluff Love University is the most awesome resource for figuring out how to wash and care for your cloth diapers. I didn't realize that we had hard water and I was washing our diapers completely wrong for over a year. My oldest started getting rashes all the time that would go away when she wore disposables for an extended amount of time. The diapers had also developed a barnyard smell that never seemed to go away. I ended up having to strip the diapers which you can also read about on the Fluff Love University website. I now have a completely different routine and I use good old Tide in the powder form now. It works great and the diapers no longer smell.
Spraying Diapers
When I wrote my original post on cloth diapering we were quite a long way from having to spray diapers. I bought a diaper spraying when Lyla was about 5.5 months but didn't end up having to really use it until she was about 7.5 months. Lyla only ate solids at dinnertime until about 8 months. I tried to feed her at breakfast time before then but she always refused. Because of this her diapers really didn't end up needing to be sprayed for awhile. Ana has been eating 2 meals a day of solids since about a month ago so her diapers needed to be sprayed much sooner. I really recommend having a diaper spray for when your child starts solids. Some deem it unnecessary but I find it useful. It is also great for cleaning off blowout clothes from daycare and has really come in handy during potty training as well for when Lyla has an accident.
Extra Absorbency
Like I mentioned earlier, Ana is a much heavy wetter than Lyla. She just pees a lot I think. In the hospital almost every time we changed her wet diapers she would pee when her diaper was off. It happened so much that we had to have the nurses bring in extra bassinet covers several times while we were there because we kept running out. Flour sack towels are a solution for lots of people because they are absorbent, natural, dry quickly, and are cheap. I bought 24 of them from Target. I don't feel like taking the time to fold them every time I wash them so I decided to sew them into inserts. The drying time will be a little longer but should still be pretty fast. I used this tutorial to make the inserts.
Overall my diapers have held up really well but many of them had elastics that were really shot. Because of this I couldn't really use them on Ana because she had much skinnier legs than Lyla did. The elastic on the bumgenius diapers is actually pretty easy to replace, it's just tedious. It took me a good 2 months to finally finish all of them because I only did a few at a time. This video tutorial really helped me.
Cloth Trainer
Many of the cloth diaper companies make cloth trainers as well. They cost about as much as a cloth diaper though and I couldn't justify spending that much on something that would be used for such a short period of time. For day training I did naked training with Lyla and then I went straight to underwear after that. She still isn't nap or night trained so she wears pull ups for nap (although she hasn't worn a pull up for nap at daycare in a few months and has only had a handful of accidents) and up until recently Grovia O.N.E.S at night. When Ana started needing the Grovia diapers I decided to try to make a few cloth trainers. I used this pattern called Sanity Saving Training Pants.
Well that is all for now! Next time I will be sharing some decor projects with you either in the family room or the living room depending on which one I finish and put up first!
No comments:
Post a Comment