Cloth diapers are diapers made of cloth. You put them on a baby and the baby poops and pees on them. And then you wash them. And then you put them back on the baby. And then the baby poops and pees on them. And then you wash them again. And then you keep doing this.
Over the five years that I’ve kept doing this, I’ve come to know the good things and the crappy things.
And this is what they are…
The Good Things About Cloth Diapers
Now you might think I’m about to get on my grass-fed, sustainably raised, antibiotic-free high horse about environmental stuff but I don’t really like riding horses. Especially high ones.
Nah. Let’s be real here.
I cloth diaper because they look cool and come in pretty colors.
I can’t even tell you how excited I am when the mail carrier brings me a box of colorful diapers.
They are pretty! And soft! And come in fruity colors and patterns!
And my baby will poop on them and be so happy!
Also?
I’m lazy.
Slap a diaper on him and he is all dressed:
Insta-outfit. Minimalist.
A similar outfit in a disposable diaper would never work on him.
Because of this:
They come off too easily.
Snaps on cloth diapers are awesome. Like tiny padlocks that keep the poop locked up.
But cloth diapers aren’t just good at poop containment!
They are also good at making friends.
I can use cloth diapers in the same way that a single guy uses a puppy. To get noticed:
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hit on by other moms because of diapers. <–That is a very creepy sentence if taken out of context.
But they aren’t just a homing beacon to like-minded mamas, they also protect my baby.
I’m serious.
Cloth diapers are like little padded helmets for his butt:
His big smooshy butt is pretty cute too.
And after my baby outgrows them:
I sell them. Cloth diapers retain their resale value better than cars do.
Buying a car? Skip it. Buy cloth diapers.
And did I mention they come in fruity colors?
The Crappy Things About Cloth Diapers
It goes without saying that the worst part about cloth diapering is that it means more laundry. I hate laundry. Laundry can go and die.
But diaper laundry doesn’t bother me any more than regular laundry does.
No, what bothers me is something else.
It is that putting the diapers in the washing machine causes him to poop:
This means that I’m stuck with a poopy diaper and no wet bag to put it in. It sits on my bathroom counter on top of a plastic bag. This makes for some bad potpourri.
After the laundry is done? This diaper goes in the clean bag, festering at the bottom until I do the wash again.
Yuck.
And you know how I mentioned those fruity colors?
Yeah. He likes those too.
But only orange.
This is yet another example of my own parenting tricks backfiring on me. I used to convince him to let me change his diaper by saying, “Come on! You can pick the color!” Bad idea.
But perhaps the worst part about cloth diapering is dealing with poopy diapers.
We have a diaper sprayer attached to our toilet.
I love this thing because you simply spray the poop off into the toilet.
But actually I hate this thing.
I hate it because sometimes I turn the valve just a teeny tiny bit too high.
Which transforms it into a water laser:
The water laser blasts the poop into a million miniscule pieces, carried by water droplets all over the toilet, floor and my barefeet.
And that is the crappiest thing about cloth diapers.
—————-
I mention some diaper brands we use in my FAQs. I’ve always used either DiaperSwappers or DiaperPin for selling outgrown diapers.
Also, I know that some of you don’t use cloth diapers. That is okay. I don’t care.
I’m not a diaperist. Some of my best friends use disposables.
PS – if you liked this post, then you’ll definately, probably like my new book: Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures
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I LOVE that you know about the #1 law of cloth diapering… As soon as diapers are in the wash, the next diaper is a blow-out!! And a super duper smelly one too!
I thought this was only me. YAY I’m not alone!
That just happened to me this morning. All diapers in the wash then a poop one on the bathroom counter!
An extra wet bag is good for when the other is washing or drying. 😉
This is why I had TWO bags for the diaper pail.
Like any good military logistics personnel and Mom will tell you, when it comes to backups, two is one, and one is none!
totally have to have two wet bags then it’s no big deal.
LOL! I thought this was only me too!
Haha!! Me three! Or four:) its like its an automatic response programmed in that no one told us about or gave us directions to change!
Yes yes yes! Me too! I now have 2 wet bags! For this reason and also because they are cute. Owls cute. 🙂
Or a brand new, just opened, diaper. It’s like they know. And they poop in it within 5mins…
yep, I agree, if baby hasn´t pooped in a couple of days, all you need is to put a brand new diaper with a matching top and baby goes in those 5 mins
For us it’s either my favorite diaper, or our most expensive, that warrants instant poop lol! (I bought ONE ragababe, one time, and I don’t even like it that much, but it’s a guaranteed poop!)
Diaper laundry takes me at least half a day, so I have two diaper pail liners. By the time the first one is dry, the second one has 4 or 5 diapers in it.
Every. Single. Time.
I had to stop reading this post to change a poopy diaper while the diapers are in the dryer. Happens all the time! But I’ve given up on washing the wet bag every time. I just wash it when it gets really gross, which isn’t too often.
yup! same here! I have 2 liners for the 2 pails (1 upstairs & 1 down) and 2 travel wet bags for this reason!
EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. How do they know??? I definitely made good use of the second diaper bag, but that doesn’t solve the fact that there is now a poopie diaper festering for two days!
Happens EVERY time! Every. Single. Time!!!
Sign me up for the “every single time” club. I often joke that the surest way to get the kids to poop is to throw in a load of diapers.
And the sprayer. That stupid sprayer. #1 rule with the sprayer, the trigger is on the finger side, not the thumb side. I’ll trust in your inference abilities to imagine what happens when you forget that simple fact.
Hubs made me. Cool bucket, he cut out the bottom, got some big clips and we put it in the toilet. Helps with the fall out and we can leave the diapers clipped to drip some.
AND they always break in the new diapers by pooping in them right when you put them on.
Just happened. I had to post the comic on my facebook. I have an extra wet bag, but still. Just started solids a few weeks ago, and this is her biggest poop yet. As soon as I put the diapers in the wash! It’s the universal law of cloth diapering. All babies seem to know it.
I know right lol
My daughter doesn’t wait for wash days, she waits for her overnight fitted.. I had only 2 and had to buy more when she would fill both in one night, every night.. before going to sleep 🙁
LOL, great post as always!
Haha, right there with you. Except my son always wants “yellow”, which is the word he uses for all colors. And I normally pick the wrong “yellow” diaper for him because “yellow” isn’t consistent. Also, he prefers to poop in the brand-new diapers, not the ones that are 2 years old.
I have this happen! I get a nice new diaper and he poops in it… everywhere, not just on the soaker but all over the cover… sigh.
Its not a new diaper unless it has been “initiated”
I’m an old timer.I used pins,plastic pants,and diaper pails.This sprayer deal is news to me!You ran the pins through your hair to make it easier to slide it through the diaper.I’ve never heard of colored cloth diapers,unless giving them grape juice qualifies!You put Dreft in the diaper pail with water.It never occurred to me to use rubber gloves until about 6 mo.before I finished diapering my fifth child.The main reward was the smell of clean didies fresh off of the line.And,it was cheap.I would let them build up,unrinsed,for the day,and kneel at the toilet in the late afternoon to rinse them all at once,then wash a couple days worth the next morning.We double diapered them after they were about 3 months old.The tough days were when they’d be crying for something,while i was rinsing dipes,and my husband coming home grumpy!Glad those days are over!It really does pass eventually!
I’m an old timer, my favorite thing about cloth diapers was the folding, it was my relaxing time…worst was when a kid ran through & knocked over my stack of nicely folded diapers. Glad they’re back in!
Ahh, I totally want to use cloth diapers because they’re so cute – especially in photos. But I never wanted to admit that, because I didn’t think anyone else thought that. I almost bought one just to put my son in for his first birthday photos, but I chickened out at the $17 price tag. Plus then I’d actually have to use it for a diaper and clean out the poop and such. I’m still tempted by their cuteness though – especially now that you mentioned that.
Love how Moms hit on you because of them too. Too funny.
You could always buy a pocket nappy or AI2 and take out the inserts, then use it as a nice cover over disposables.
If you are just balking at the price, you can subscribe to Mamabargains, and every so often the deal of the day is a great price on cloth. I bought two Fuzzibunz just to use as swim diapers and got them ridiculously cheap on mamabargains!!
I did a cloth diaper trial when we switched from disposables to cloth diapers. It’s a great way to take the diapers for a test run without having to buy them first! You get to use them for 3 weeks and then at the end of the trial you can send back the ones you don’t like for a refund! I did a trial from Itsy Bitsy Bums, which is run by an awesome work-at-home-mom Abby. Her customer service is top notch and she often has great sales/freebies/giveaways/contests. 🙂 (I don’t work for her, I’m just a happy customer.) http://itsybitsybums.blogspot.com/2010/04/cloth-diaper-trial-packages.html
We have a newly adopted 14 year old daughter who is starting over and she is in the regular pin on cloth diapers with adult size rubberpants[plasticpants] 24/7.We got the rubberpants in both pastels and babyprints and she likes the babyprints better than the pastel ones.I use just a regular diaper pail as she only wets in the diapers and poops in the toilet.I use regular baby powder and lotion on her along with desitin diaper rash ointment.We are catholic and are baptizing and christening her on july 10 as an infant and are having a cute infant style gown and bonnet made for her and she will wear lace anklets and white shoes with the gown.We are having ruffles sewn across the back of a pair of her white rubberpants and she will have new cloth diapers under them with a tee shirt as her top.
To Clarice A.-Our daughter is 13 and newly adopted also and we are using the cloth pin on diapers and rubberpants on her 24/7 also! We use the Gerber flat cloth diapers in the 24×27 in.size and her rubberpants are adult size in pink and nursery prints.
Check out sunbabydiapers.com. Best prices I have ever seen. Around $5 each. Also they come in size 1 for skinny babies and size 2 for normal to chubsters. I love these diapers and have used them for 3 yrs. With all three of my kids. A plus would b that my two oldest potty trained at age of two. Which seems to be average age for cloth bummed babies. Age 3-4 for most dispossible bummed babes.
I bought my cloth diapers for $3 a piece.
Fuzzibunz and BumGenius and all that jazz is made in China and India. The makers of them sell the same biz on ebay for $3 a pop. I have 24 diapers. total cost about $60 or so. plus I bought a crap ton of fitted prefolds on craigslist for $50 too. shop around you can find good deals.
I know a lot of people tout earlier potty training for cloth-diapered children, but it’s not a given unfortunately. My older son wore disposables (I was young and intimidated by having to clean up poop), and potty trained at 3.5, and only then because I ended up in the hospital for several weeks, he stayed with my parents and was actually WILLING to sit on the potty for my parents. My younger son has been cloth diapered since he was about 6 weeks old and was finally big enough for the few newborn diapers I had (he wore preemie disposables until then.) He is now just over 3 and I’m lucky if he’ll pee in the potty once a day. Starting to think he will be in diapers longer than his brother!
People really shouldn’t worry if their kids don’t potty train before three or four. At least, this urologist highly recommends waiting: http://www.babble.com/toddler/toddler-health-safety/dangers-potty-training-early/
Dude. You need more wetbags. Go ahead. It’s almost as fun as fluffy mail.
LOL, really all I need is an enabler for this. You are right, I do need another one! 😉
Yes, you need at least two big wetbags and like five or six of the small or medium. And they come in super fun patterns! Go on, buy some!
I would love to send you Amber 🙂 You can never have enough wetbags it seems!
Yes, but then you have the same problem…dirty diaper at the bottom of a clean wetbag.
At least it’s not sitting on the counter though. 😉
I just ordered my second wet bag…. It’s almost a life changing event! go ahead get yourself something pretty! 😉
I have FOUR wetbags!! And I STILL manage to have them all in the laundry at the same time with poopy diapers waiting on my counter : (.
Yeah, a 2nd laundry hamper sized wetbag made me so much happier, and for less than the cost of one more diaper.
Ditto!
when i can’t justify another cute diaper, i find a way to justify another cute wet bag. no, really. i’ll use it as a gym bag after the kids are potty trained. i swear.
Or to put wet swimmers in when they start lessons/ go to the beach.
Yep! you NEED 2 pail liners and AT LEAST 2 travel size wetbags – 1 to wash and 1 to use, because they will always, always soil the one they’re in once it’s too late to add it to the current wash load (my kids traditionally wait for the spin cycle).
The medium wetbags really are great for the swimming pool, they fit the swimsuit AND the big, soggy towel. We’ve used them for that already – proof that I’m not just hoarding them for the pretty fabric prints 🙂
I agree! I have 5 wetbags (for daycare) and 3 pail liners (the third was an accident) so I’m never out! When I had 2 pail liners, I just put the new one in when the first one was in the wash. AND I usually can manage to get a free diaper out of a wetbag purchase. A wetbag, a little Cjs, haha free diaper! 🙂
Do you not have nappy buckets (as we call them, you might say diaper pail)? I have 2 lidded buckets that snap shut nice and air tight, they cost $5 8 years ago and are still going strong after 3 babies, and my mum’s nappy buckets were still in use in my dad’s pottery business when we were teens.
I hit on a mum at the park the other day, checking out her clothie, and I don’t even have a child in them any more!
Yep, nappy buckets all the way!! I have two, for those days when it’s just poop city, and I just give them a hose out and some sunshine every few days! I also have several super cute wet bags, possibly more than I need…did I mention they’re super cute?!?
I love the instant connection clothies give you to other mums of fluffy bums! And I totally luurve showing off my babies fluffy bum!
(I mean, it’s ALL about the environment and looking after sensitive skin. Not at all about me looking for compliments on my baby’s bottom. All about the environment…!!)
I just use a bucket, it’s cute, green with Elmo on it, has a snap-lock lid, but I don’t use the lid, because it contains the smell, which sounds like a good thing, until you open the lid to put a nappy in and get punched in the face by wet/pooey nappy stench. I don’t think it has ever gotten poo on it, but i rinse it out with hot water and vinegar, and put it in the sun till the next nappy change. Also, we have a front loader, so the second you press the button, it’s too late to add any more
I have this same bucket! and it’s lasted 2 kids with no liner without ever smelling too bad. I just give it a rinse when I empty the dirty duds into the washing machine.
Wet Bags? I use a five gallon pail from the hardware store…am I missing something? It is certainly NOT cute…but can be used right after the diapers get washed.
The great thing about wet bags is they go in the laundry with the diapers, so there’s no bucket to clean out. You can use the big wet bags as a liner for the bucket or just hang them from a hook or door knob. I just got my first one, and it’s a sanity AND mess saver in our house.
While I agree about the convenience of chucking the wetbags in the laundry, and I do have a couple, I find that hosing out the 5 gallon bucket with scalding water and a tiny bit of dish soap, then dumping it in the toilet leaves it clean and nice with minimal work involved.
Hilarious! My kid poops the instant I start the washer too, but I thought maybe I was imagining it. Guess not! And the poop aerosol is exactly why I don’t use the sprayer, haha.
I have The Potty Pail™ Bucket, which takes up room in the bathroom, but is a spray-all-over-the-place lifesaver!!! http://www.pottypail.com/order.php You should get them to be a sponsor as well so you can try one out 🙂
I second The Potty Pail! They are a great WAH mom and dad and the spray bucket saves me and the bathroom from getting soaked by the toilet sprayer. I loved your post too!
…and face. AND. FACE. For reals, was spraying out a poop diaper (ok, let’s be honest, a day or two worth of poop diapers because we have no time and they all get dropped in an “I’ll get right back to this once I get the baby settled down NEVER.”) and the spray ricocheted and I felt moisture. On. My. FACE.
BLarchgh.
Otherwise, yes. And never having to feel angst about getting a good deal or having the right coupons saves me so much agony.
Oh man! Lol. So glad I’m not the only one to have a few diapers that need to be sprayed in a “I’ll get back to this later” pile. And yes, if the water pressure is a teeny bit too high, it sprays everywhere. 🙁
Yes. This. And that is why I have FOUR daycare diaper bags. incase I have no time to empty them out and find a “surprise” that was not marked on the daily poop chart!
I worry that thre I’ll be a C.S.I moment in my bathroom one day (let’s not ask why!), and when they get out their U.V light, all my shoddy poo spraying will be discovered…I’m certain it’s all over the roof, invisible to the naked eye in my poorly lit bathroom.
And the face… First time I used my diaper sprayer, right in the face. There was a certain amount of shrieking at first. Now I just close my eyes and hope for the best!! 🙂
Oh, my, yes! “There was a certain amount of shrieking at first.” Sigh. That soooooo describes much about parenting.
I have my twins (16mo) and stubborn 3yo in them still. I too felt the rush in the beginning. I went to my meetings, etc. However I am now disillusioned and ready to be over it. I think I worte a post a while back after I got sprayer spray back in my eye. It was a dark, dark day.
I am SO with you! I am on CDing hiatus due to laundry overload.
Everything about this is so true, and so funny the way you put it! I used to LOVE fluffy mail. And all the rest 🙂 My youngest recently toilet trained and I kind of miss our cloth diapers…
LOL, so true, so true! We have the diaper laser, too… I’ve also found that after the laser treatment, I spray the diaper down with a good dose of Bac-Out, and that whole ‘festering’ situation is totally under wraps. We’re now expecting kidlet #3, which after 2 boys I’m secretly hoping/fearing is a girl. Possibly just so can get those other cute diapers I’ve seen….
That is a really good idea, we have bac-out but I’ve never thought to pre-treat that way.
We have a spray bottle of diluted Bac Out that I use to spritz each poopy diaper after it’s been sprayed with the diaper sprayer. keeps stink & most stains away!
YES! We reuse our BumGenius pail spray bottle with diluted Bac-Out!… 4 years and going strong!!
Also, I do the diaper-selling-as-funding thing, and with the Bac-Out, I’ve never had a stain to report. 😉
What is Bac-Out? I am in Australia and have never heard of it.
Yep, my daughter takes a poop the second the washing machine goes into rinse. But I have TWO wet bags. One goes in the wash and hangs to dry, the other one lines the pail as soon as the other one is removed. Although the craptastic diaper still sits at the bottom of the nice clean pail. Having a girl doubles the outfit potential too, I can buy every print out there. No need for summer clothes, she’s got flowers on her butt already.
I had NO idea cloth diapers came in fruity colors. Now I kind of wish I had used them for my children.
… actually no. The problem of your kiddo wanting only orange would *undoubtedly* have manifest itself in my extremely opinionated daughters.
Ah well.
I also had no idea diaper sprayers existed. That was one part of cloth diapering I was never quite sure about.
This was a very educational post! (And, of course, a funny one. I’m sure that goes without saying. But just in case — HA HA HA!!)
LOL
I think that’s the crappiest part of diaper sprayers 😉 I haven’t hooked mine up yet because LO is 6months but no where near ready for solids, so his poop is still all watery-breastmilk- washer-safe. Yay! I’m kinda excited at the idea of a water laser…. but the idea of a mess isn’t so cool. But we’re doing EC and so far his daily poop ends up in the potty anyway so maybe I’ll never need that nifty 50$ laser I convinced Hubs was NECESSARy 4months ago….
We use our sprayer to clean out poopy potties. Can’t live without it!
O.M.G.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve been wondering how to clean out the potty! I’ve been using wet wipes but that’s a PITA plus wasteful (we use cloth for diaper changes).
I just use plain dry toilet paper, myself..
We don’t have nappies any more but the sprayer has stayed, it is awesome for cleaning up puke and mess, and if the toilet gets clogged with a whole heap of toilet paper, you just laser it into tiny bits and it goes away!
An Indonesian friend had them installed (turning the tap way down to low pressure, it just means the toilet fills a lot slower, or you can turn it down just to spray then turn it up again) to use for bottom wiping as they were used to bidet-style cleaning instead of toilet paper!
Haha! You nailed it! I too use the diaper as a full outfit, and love that it doubles as a bum protector when they fall down. And yes, my kids also have to poop the moment I put a diaper load in the wash! The only other thing not mentioned is the price – I LOVE not having to pick up $30 (or more) worth of diapers every week!
Well this works as long as you don´t get become a diaperholic and spend way way way more in cloth diapers than you would have spent to sposie diaper a half dozen kids.
And as long as you don´t get hooked in super cute wool, and then handdyed wool, and needles, and patterns…
At least my stash justified having another baby to use it 🙂
I used to wish I had a diaper sprayer. Now I’m pretty sure I’d do the water laser thing all the time, since I almost always end up with a splash in the eye when I drop the poop into the toilet and forget to NOT hold my face directly above the bowl!
PS> Love your blog, and love AppleCheeks!
Oh I always hated that with diaper laundry, as soon as they were in the wash or hanging on the line is when we get hit with poo-mageddon! lol!
poomageddon. Snort.
My coworkers are looking at me like I’m insane because I cackled maniacally at the water laser part.
I love crappy baby’s cute behind! Being a person of maturity (read: over 50) I remember as an older sister and babysitter using old fashioned cloth diapers WITH SHARP POINTY objects, called “Diaper Pins” to secure them. Worse part of those was A: trying to secure the diaper without securing the baby’s tummy with it, and B: in fear of pinning the diaper to the baby’s skin, not pinning it tight enough to prevent poopy from coming right out of it, or having it fall off, and C: having to scrape the poopy of and swish the diaper in the toilet and then letting it soak in a gross diaper pail until wash day. Soooo…when I became a mother myself, I was thrilled with the invention of disposable diapers. If they had invented the cute cloth diapers of today when I had my kids, I might have actually used them! Then, maybe my third child would not have been able to take of her poopy filled disposable diaper in her crib and proceed to redecorate everything in her reach (including herself) with poop.
It is so true, the cloth diapers available now are so different. I was cloth diapered as a baby and my mom marvels at how lucky I have it with my fancy pretty diapers.
My mom & grandma both love my girls’ cloth diapers. My grandma calls them “H’s Fancy Pants” and especially likes the ones with ruffles on the bum. 🙂
Oooo… which brand comes with ruffles??
Doodle Dypes has some of the cutest ruffle dypes ever!! But they’re really hard to get =(
We have several ruffled bum diapers from Upsies Diapers (on Hyena Cart and Facebook). Love them! They are All-in-twos so you can change out the insert and keep using the adorable cover for several changes. She also makes matching girls tops. adorable!
My grandmother used prefolds, pins and plastic pants for her kids, and now is sooo interested in all the options available today. She bought most of LM’s diapers and hung out at the local diaper store for two hours with me checking out everything.
I love this post. It’s amazing to me how many people cloth diaper. I had no idea until I started that there were others! Thanks for the great post!
We had the Poop Knife. Never confuse the Poop Knife with something you might want to use, ever again, for any other purpose. It was a regular plastic knife. Little did it realize when we swiped it from some restaurant that it was going to end up its life endlessly scraping poo out of fetid diapers. I never did try the Poo Sprayer because I knew I would end up getting a Poo Shower, which was something I always tried to avoid.
My least favorite part about cloth diapers was the hemp inserts, which sounded all hip and groovy and sustainable, but only ended up making people wrinkle there noses and wonder why my precious baby smelled like old bong water. Which of course I only know because I went to college, naturally. And then the endless rinsing and rinsing and rinsing because we use a fancy, low water front loading washer, which just didn’t get the soap out, leading to Bong Water Diapers. My mother HATED our cloth diapers. Cute, but robustly foul smelling. Until we started using less detergent and rinsing mightily.
So grateful my diaper days are forever behind me. Nyuck nyuck nyuck.
Poop Knives & Bong Water Diapers! LOL
OMG, Amber thinks I said something funny, I’m so high right now. Oops maybe it’s the Bong Water Diapers…
Bong water diapers???
LMAO, thanks I just woke up the LO laughing.
We love our hemp inserts though??? And I swear he doesn’t smell like bong water.
We have a poop scraping spatula, so as not to confuse it with a regular cooking spatula I wrote LAUNDRY in big letters all over it. I am still petrified that my forgetful and unobservant husband will accidentally use it to cook.
I bought a very ugly bright orange spatula from the dollar store to be my poop scraper, so as to never confuse them. Although when we moved my MIL didn’t understand why there was a spatula in the bathroom until I explained, although she knows we CD 🙂
Ok, one of you needs to put a knife or a spatula in a new package for cloth diapering and market that. Because that is a BRILLIANT idea!
My friend uses a spatula, too. She calls it a pooptula. Possible marketing name? 🙂
I don’t have babies. Or a strong stomach. Luckily “my” kids came 4 years old, one of each, bottle broke and potty trained. (just kidding. We are heartily trying to give the twins EITHER a brother or sister. At my age I couldn’t do both) However I love Summers blogs. Someone needs to market the spatula! But please! Call it the “splatula”.
Once again you have succinctly summed up my life in one blog post. And yeah, I totally relate to falling for the cuteness factor too. And the minimalist dressing. And the stinky diaper on the counter. And our diaper color of choice is blue. 🙂 Luckily I have a ton of those.
My two-year-old is in cloth and *loves* his “elediddy” and prefers it over all others. It has colorful elephants on the outside and minky on the inside; that would be my choice, too! I cloth diaper because I’m cheap, and I’m a photographer and I love the cuteness. I admit it has nothing to do with being green!
Yay! I love cloth diapers, too! And I love when a well-known blogger like you gives them the attention they deserve. Nice post!!
Your favorites are mine too! My son would fall on his bottom at the park then get up and run off, people think he is tough, nah just well padded. Now he goes in the potty which I guess is great, but not nearly as fluffy and adorable. Thanks for the tips on where to sell. I need to get on that.
Oh yes, the water laser! My favourite part of cloth diapering!!!
I used to find the laundry (minus the water laser part) therapeutic. I loved hanging them on the line (I was even one of those weird people in the USA who used a rotary clothes line in my yard, but that might be explained by my being Australian), and I loved sitting and folding/stuffing them while watching TV.
I miss those days… Well, maybe not…
I have colorful diapers blowing in the breeze as I type. There IS something therapeutic about that part, maybe something about slowing things down, doing it the old-fashioned way? Not sure.
I have totally dealt with the poop splatter water… it is gross and definitely not fun for a nanny… it usually makes me think I don’t get paid enough 🙂
Two words – Flushable. Liners. No sprayer.
I tried 2 brands of those (years ago though) and both were too scratchy. Do you have a brand you like?
Bummies Biosoft liners. get the large size.
The Imse Vimse ones are great and you can re-use them. In our house we call them Poopy Catchers and couldn’t live without them. Although on the rare occasions one of us forgets to put one in, DS usually counters with a sticky mess of peanut butter poop. At times like those I’ve been tempted to toss the diaper right into the trash but never could bring myself to do it….
The Bummis ones are so soft and nice, far superior to the Kushies ones which are stiff and scratchy.
I haven’t tried them, but your sponsor Applecheeks makes some flushable liners. Maybe they will send you some to test. 😉
The Applecheeks liners and soft and lovely!
I like the GroVia liners…ImseVimse is a little scratchy.
I use the GroVia liners as well and I really like them…they are super soft and when you have the diaper on a smaller setting you can cut them and make one last for 2 diapers! And I use cloth because it’s cheap (and because it keeps my daughters bum from having horrible diaper rash!)…love the post by the way and I only have one pail liner myself so I totally get the stinky on the counter!
So very true! I’m on my second child in cloth diapers, and I’ll let you in on something I wish I’d known about with the first: Bio liners. They look kind of like dryer sheets, and you line the diapers with them. When the baby poops, the liner catches it and then you flush it down the toilet. Totally biodegradable. They are awesome! You can get them on Amazon, a roll of 100 for about $8, and some are less expensive than that. The GroVia ones stay dry enough that I even transfer them from one diaper to the next if she only peed. No more diaper sprayer!!
I haven’t tried those, I tried some liners (about 5 years ago) and they were so scratchy that I sorta gave up on the idea. I’m sure they are better now, just might have to try them for this last lag of diapering.
I live in New Zealand and I bought a huge cloth nappy pack (a ‘real nappies’ birth to potty pack) which had everything including several rolls of the poop liners. Ours are not scratchy at all and keep the evil of poop away – apparently they are made form corn!? (so says the packet). I love cloth nappies – my son does massive, epic, huge shits and completely destroys disposable nappies. But I have only ever had ONE cloth nappy breach. I too am a bit of a freaky OCD mum and like soaking/folding/hanging out to dry nappies. People always ask me how I have time to do it but I have friends who bottle-feed and I reckon I spend less time on nappies than they do on bottles.
I bought some Real Nappies in a Christchurch Earthquake Appeal auction. I love the covers, but just wish they made the liners out of bamboo, so they wouldn’t be so thick and stiff. I am from New Zealand too, but living in Australia.
I’m recovering from some chest cold from hell and that post literally made me laugh so hard I couldn’t breathe- TWICE. Thanks for keeping it real, as always.
LOL i love his strainy-poo face…also a creepy sentence if taken out of context 😀
lol
and I love it that in the time it took me to think of something clever to say and write it, 23 other women had beat me to it. Amber Dusick, you are an unlikely rock star, but damned if I don’t stop whatever I’m doing to read whatever you post, the instant you post it…
It is a universal law of nappies – washing machine goes on, baby poops. It’s a sixth sense. Or else they like messing with our heads. It’s the latter, I’m sure.
The other law of nappies is that poop happens at home, not at creche (childcare). We give our 18 month old instructions every morning – “we pay enough for childcare, please make use of ALL their facilities, especially the nappy changing ones. In other words, do your poop there”. The childcare workers then gleefully report each afternoon “no poop today. Only wet nappies!”. It’s like they pay him to hold it all in until he gets home. We then arrive home, and, on cue, he poops. Usually just after I’ve put the nappies in the wash.
Fluffy mail is the BEST. I love parcels at the best of times, but parcels with nappies is one of life’s ultimate pleasures. Sometimes, they’re too nice to put on a butt!
Oh, and if links are allowed, I’m terrible about keeping up with a blog but this is why you should own a wetbag for going out and about. And I still don’t.
http://hurricaneranch.blogspot.com/2011/01/smells-like-thursday.html
I don’t even know why I don’t follow this blog yet. Every post I read is me all over. I opted against a diaper sprayer for that very reason, every time I use a friends, it means cleaning their bathroom, too….and really, isn’t there enough cleaning to do? Love it!
OMGoodness! I swear I’m reading about my own life! LOL. I cloth diaper my son and can relate to this! Love your blog!
My daughter ONLY wants to wear her Hello Kitty diaper, and unfortunately, I only have 1! Other moms have approached me not for cloth diapering, but because of my Ergo!
haaaaaaaaa………I am a cloth diaper pro. I have read all the blogs, reports, reviews out there. No information concerning cloth escapes me. But this….this shit is FUNNY! You made my day with many a grand chuckle. 🙂
These pictures are HILARIOUS! I’ve never used a cloth diaper…perhaps I should so I can see some of these pictures in real life. Hmm…
This is so funny….so true. I love the colors, the “padlock” effect, and the “fwoomp” when her bottom hits the floor. Plus, disposables aren’t work free…it’s not like they’re driving themselves home from the store. But I can’t imagine reselling the disposables…those inserts are already pretty “gray” and she’s only 14 mos…
whoops, I mean reselling the cloth diapers…
Reselling the disposables is pretty unthinkable too! lol
Did you know you can get a spray shield for when you spray your diapers?! http://www.spray-pal.com/ This is what I use, it’s awesome, just clip your diaper in and spray down the hole. and it folds flat and small. No matter how strong the spray is, I spray my whole bathroom/baby/self… so I need this thing!
Wow, they think of everything!
Seriously, what will they think of next? And to think that until just now I thought I was the only one that sprayed poop all over the entire bathroom once (sometimes twice) a day.
I just use a little bucket and the previous nights’ bathwater (cause I’m a hippie that way) and let it sit for a few hours. Lift out diaper, poo stays in bucket, diaper goes in big bucket.
I know what you mean about the poop flying everywhere. This is how I avoid the issue: A laundry sink! If you have the space for one, it’s totally worth it. I attached a typical kitchen sprayer to the laundry sink and I spray the poo off right into the laundry sink. There is a big opening for the poo to go down the drain, and then I can just leave the diaper in the laundry sink! Awesome.
We used a cloth diaper service, and not having to wash the diapers was wonderful. But they did have to sit in the house for a week while we waited for the next pick up/drop off. And, kind of like putting the diapers in the wash, as soon as I would send the full bag of dirty diapers out, we would get a super nasty poop that got to sit at the bottom of the hamper for a week! We were not supposed to rinse the diapers out, only shake out what we could…and wouldn’t you know it, we almost never could shake out the poop in those ones.
And 1 more great thing I think about cloth compared to disposable. We had 2 kids using disposable around potty training time and the last one used cloth. She potty trained so much faster. It took her big brother and sister a few months, but she was set in about 1 week!
I LOVE your stories. I agree with everything about your post. I like to think I cloth diaper because it’s good for the enviroment and good for my wallet. That’s garbage, CD are definitely costing me MORE money. My LO is almost 2 and I have held off on buying some since December because he’s going to grow out of them soon I think. BUT we want another baby so they will still be used! I just finally reaching a point where I realize I don’t need them!
Lol all if this is so true. Only my sprayer sends to have only one strength, which is string! Still trying to figure it out, we just started to need it.
YES. All of this is spot on. The only difference is we use them because we are cheap, and I hate to spend money on something that will be crapped on and thrown away.
Cloth wipes are equally as fun!!!
I can’t wait to begin cloth diapering! My first is over 2, and our 2nd is on the way, and we can NOT afford disposables for another 3 years! I just wish cloth wasn’t sooo expensive to start… we’ve slowly been gathering the accessories, and are finally ready for the actual diapers, but ouch! We have to save up! I love the Poop Knife idea…. We can’t attach a sprayer to our toilet (weird fanshy plumbing).
I hv found quite a few people giving away cloth diapers on Freecycle and the free sections of Craigslist and Kijiji. All the best with #2!
I’ve been cloth diapering 4 years and I love it. Never have had a diaper sprayer. I just take some toilet paper and scrape the poop off and throw that in the toilet and then I rinse the rest off in the utility sink…. and always, always is there poop when diaper wash has started :-\
Wouldn’t change cloth diapering for the world, though. :o)
I love your posts!!! It really gets me thru my workday 🙂 It’s good to know that other mommy’s have the same trials and tribulations that I do 🙂
This is a great post! I used to get water everywhere but I think I’ve about got it down now. I hold the diaper facing the back of the toilet really low down and spray the water at a downward angle hahaha then if it gets water on the toilet well my toilet needs cleaned with 6 people living in the house anyways.
Problems solved: Two wet bags and Rubber Gloves. 😉
Once again, you got Everything Right. My 3 year old is always walking around in just her underwear, because she’s never had a chance to get used to pants. It is kind of handy to have no pants in the almost-but-not-100%-potty-trained stage though. And I’m really enjoying the break from the diaper sprayer until #3 starts solids in a couple months! (And I agree with whoever said you need another wetbag. Or three!! I hate packing smelly wetbags in the diaper bag.)
You forgot to mention how much money you save when you cloth diaper!!! Talk about motivation. I’ll suffer being sprayed with lazer poop if it saves me that much cash.
My son is familiar with the laundry/poopy diaper rule, too. I finally bought a second wet bag. Very good idea. Go me!
And that last point is why I just can’t bring myself to use cloth… Ewww!
We use disposable diapers and I swear that she only poops after I have put on a clean diaper. And ONLY after I have put on a clean diaper. I tell her that she is high maintenance but she just smiles at me. And then I tell her to go find her father while I run and hide and pretend to not know that she has a dirty diaper.
We have a rule: whoever smells it, changes it. Sometimes when I’m pretending not to smell it, I look over and see my husband pretending not to smell too, but can’t say anything, because that would mean admitting that I smell it too
I used Chinese prefolds. Loved it when they came in the mail, they were huge. Loved the first wash, they got all shrunk up, soft, cuddly. I dunked in the toilet, using bare hands, my kid poop, so what? Hung like flags on the laundry line, talked about them with neighbors. Never felt changing diapers was a drudge, and it thankfully kept my inlaws from trying to keep my baby too long, because their daughter used paper diapers and it was “so convenient!” it’s been over 10years since I had a babe in diapers, and I still covet a dozen or so toddler diapers in the basement. Not ready to give them up, just yet…
You need a potty pail…go here: http://www.pottypail.com/
Worst thing about cloth diapers for twins…DOUBLE all that you just typed up there…DOUBLE! And yes….its about the colors, or prints. That’s why I like cutiepoops!
I have cutiepoops on my list of must buy diapers! Are they the only brand you use?
THIS! Exactly this!!! But you said it way better than I ever could have!!!!! Except I never had a diaper sprayer.. I had to scrape and/or dunk.. that was fun. not.
I’m dying! Hilarious! ….can totally relate.
Have you ever heard of the Spray Pal? Not my company or product or anything and this isn’t a shameless plug. I own one though, and that thing is freaking awesome. Check them out on facebook, just search Spray Pal and it should come out. Clean diapers and no little itty bitty particles of poop all over your bathroom and feet!!
I use cloth diapers too, I love them! Except, my daughter has just turned 2 and she has learned to use the snap feature quite well. Unfortunately her new favorite pastime is to unsnap them just before nap time and I dont realize this until she is awake…. and everything is soaking wet. I was putting laundry away today and noticed that not only did she unsnap them, but she took the insert out…. and was cuddling with both. Gross!
you can try putting a pull-on wool or fleece soaker/cover over the diaper for naps- double benefit: keeps little ones from being able to strip and adds another layer of leak-protection
I know nothing about clothes diapers (am a disposable diaper mom) but reading this almost makes me want to try them out- except for that water laser poop blasting part. love your writing! congrats on the award.
But diaper sprayers can be soooo wonderful too! We traveled to India this summer and they have what amounts to a diaper sprayer attached to ALL of their toilets. They use it to wash their bottoms after using the restroom. Total WIN! We came home and installed one immediately despite the fact that my DS was EC’d and nearly 2. No more using 1/2 roll of toilet paper to get clean… No more skid marks in underpants… Really, it’ fabulous! Dry off with a designated towel afterwards and wash your hands. Toileting has never been so clean! You should totally try it :-)! And then write a super cute blog about it :-P.
Isn’t the water freezing cold??
I have tried to use our diaper sprayer as you described. The water IS freezing cold. All I can say is…ow! They had them everywhere when I lived in Sudan, but there the water was only cold late at night or early in the morning.
Yes, colourful padded protective goodness! love it. and, oh mama, ditch the sprayer and get the biodegradable liners. They’re the best things ever.
Oh, and P.S. LOVE the drawing of crappy baby’s bottom!
….and that is why I don’t own a diaper sprayer! Just plop it and toss the diaper in the wetbag- no ricocheting poop particles 🙂
You have GOT to get a Potty Pail! Best diaper sprayer accessory EVER! Also great once they are potty training for those yucky poop accidents. Great post! 🙂
Seriously it’s like you read my mind to write this blog post. I’m glad I’m not the only one. XD Great stuff as usual.
And after you’ve blasted your bathroom in poop water, you then have to carry the dripping thing BACK to the bedroom where the wet bag is waiting. (I know I could put the wet bag in the bathroom, but I need it in the bedroom for when I’m tossing wipes in).
I like lining my dipes with fleece (buy a sheet from a fabric store then cut it up into pieces the size of an insert). It’s cheap, reusable, and the poop doesn’t stick to them! I very rarely need to spray.. the poop just falls off into the toilet! Also keeps stains away (which is good since I don’t do laundry nearly as much as I’m supposed to).
Yep. We, too, have the diaper sprayer (and it looks like the same cloth diapers), and I’m always amazed at how it can become a high-powered poop atomizer and nail just about everything in a five-foot radius. ICK!
a spatula (for the kitchen but never to be used in the kitchen!) will do a much better job of getting poop off dipes without spraying it everywhere. Never had a sprayer and never found I needed one! no dunking either 🙂
you forgot one of the best things about cloth diapers: less blowouts! that elastic can keep almost anything in!
Love it! I just started using cloth diapers, and I have no idea why I didn’t do it before! Everyone should be let in on this secret club! Thanks again.
i use gcloth gdiapers and the poo just rolls off into the toilet. that sprayer thing never appealed to me for the exact reason you hate it. get gdiapers and be done with that thing!
I didn’t know that cloth diapers came in stylin’ colors! Learning things here, and that is why I love this site. I come, I learn, and I laugh. And then I spend the rest of the day thinking in “crappy pictures”. Thanks for sharing your talent. You rock.
As a fellow cloth user, I LOVED this post. I am glad that you are spreading more cloth awareness! I have two pail liners and a few wet bags and never smell the diapers (besides when emptying into the washer…wow, that smell can knock a person out).
I love using flushable liners…and Bac-Out on anything that may remain.
I also wait anxiously for “fluff mail” and have sold diapers so easily. Best choice I’ve made for my son 🙂
I love my cloth diapers! I have to say my “favorite” is when I start laundry with 2 or 3 diapers in reserve thinking “I can make it on these through one wash, right?” Yeah, that’s when he decides to poop 5 times in a row, or spit up all over them (because they do truly make an entire outfit!) and so you’re sitting there watching the dryer doing the “come on … come on” dance, lol. But I do love my cloth diapers, poo and all.
Oh, and head to the fabric store and buy some straight up white fleece and pinking shears … poop doesn’t stick to that! It just rolls right off to head to Nemo (or so my 4 yr old son tells me when I flush little brother’s poo)
I always did wonder why crappy baby had such a large and colourful butt in your posts.
Over here across the pond in Ireland, we don’t have anything posh like water lasers, although they sound like they have lots of potential for when your husband is annoying you? I have fond memories (not) of the rinsing out the liners from the nappies (diapers) both my kids used. You can’t beat a little rectangle of fleece put inside, means the poop can be taken out and rinsed, without needing to do the whole nappy. Unless of course they do an explosive one which was when I silently cursed my green conscience and wondered while I didn’t just use disposables like (nearly) everyone else!
Can I just confess that after we moved and the sprayer was in the bathroom farthest from the laundry (ours is technically a handheld bidet), I started to shake out whatever I could, then removed inserts and just went to town in the sink. I know it’s super gross, and I wind up having to sanitize the sink right away each time, but to me it seemed less gross than the poopy spray in the face.
“Laundry can go and die.” My feelings exactly.
I so desperately long for the days when I washed my own clothes only, like once a week. There is never a time I can lean back and enjoy a job well one because it’s never freakin’ done, LOL!
I love this blog! I’m a non-mom and read this for the good laughs and glimpses of truth into mommyhood. One question though, how does one deal with poopy cloth diapers in public places?
You have a plastic bag, or better yet a reusable wet bag that fits a couple of dirty cloth diapers. Change the diaper, put the dirty ones in the bag and deal with the whole thing when you get home. You can shake poop out into public toilets if it’s convenient, but I find it’s usually not.
Small, clean wetbag. If I was in a bathroom, I’d flush the liner and then roll the rest up into a small package: fold the diaper up towards the velcro tabs (or snaps) first, then roll the whole thing down towards the other end (the tummy part). Fasten. Put into small, clean wetbag which is ALWAYS restocked later. I had several small wetbags just for my backpack. If there is no bathroom nearby, include everything in the rolling up and make sure it’s dealt with ASAP when you get home, lol. I also had several heavy duty Ziploc bags of various sizes in the backpack. You never know when you might need one!
Diaper sprayer? They sell something like that for your toilets over there? Here in Finland practically all modern toilets have hand held bidet showers which is lovely in general but also very handy if you use cloth diapers on your kids 🙂
I don’t actually use a wet bag but a plastic container (with a lid) for used diapers. I simply rinse the diapers first and then put them in the container where they’ll wait to be washed. 🙂
I found your blog a couple of days ago and I’m SO HOOKED now. What a wonderful, hilarious blog. You have so much talent 😀 Thank you for all the laughs!
Yep, our “diaper sprayers” are your hand held bidet showers, just with different packaging/marketing. But yes, same exact thing.
The pooping as soon as you start a load of diapers is so true! And if you try to outsmart it and wait until baby poops, baby doesn’t poop and you run out of diapers!
You don’t need a toilet sprayer. You just need to not mind putting your hand in the toilet water and dunk the dirty diaper in the water (the poo will loosen right off with no scrubbing required). Which, really, is hygienically no different than handling a baby wipe with residual poo on it. But 9 times out of 10, the poo just rolls right off the diaper without having to get it wet at all. Then I stick it in a pail of water with a bit of vinegar in it. It doesn’t smell or fester, that way.
OmG a diaper sprayer that attachs to the toilet? Thats fantastic! Im from New Zealand and never heard of them! To be honest i think id rather wasterblast poo spray on my barefeet than stinky poo under my fingernails after the toilet paper slipped! Yuck!
Love!
Love the pic of crappy baby and his little bare bum. Why are baby bums so cute? Don’t know but they are. Thanks for another great laugh!
Great post! Glad to see another place for more people to learn about cloth diapering too. The downsides are so easy to overcome, i.e. making sure you buy enough supplies (like wet bags)
Finally someone tells the truth about cloth diapering!! Most of the websites I’ve seen are either so pro cloth diapers they don’t tell you the down side or so anti cloth diaper that they don’t give any of the positives! I also have a diaper sprayer attached to my toilet but luckily my husband was able to get one that you didn’t have to adjust the water flow so its perfect everytime so I haven’t gotten poo on me yet <3
wow… this is like a whole new world got revealed that I had no clue about! I never considered even for a fraction of a second using cloth diapers, can’t deal with the laundry required. Although I thought most people that used cloth diapers used a laundry service (whatever that means!). But I agree that there must be more research done on bio-degradable disposable diapers.
I hope Applecheeks being one of your sponsors means that they’ll do a giveaway with you soon. LOVE our Applecheeks diapers!! You should get them to let you giveaway the new LE color that they are releasing next month. 🙂
Also can add another benefit to cloth diapers- keeping chemicals off of baby’s bum! My girls have sensitive skin and do so much better with cloth diapers than with disposables. And cloth wipes work SO much better than disposable wipes.
They sure are doing a giveaway! 🙂
This may have already been mentioned but just in case it hasn’t – Imse Vimse disposable/flush able/reusable (as in, wash with your diapers til they disintegrate or #2 happens) are the best addition to cloth diapers. No spraying, just dump and flush. Safe for septic systems, don’t clog toilets and a pack of 200 can last a really long time. And hats off to you for sticking with it – something to be said for a clear conscience and less outflow from the wallet for using cloth. For potty training, I highly recommend Super Undies!
I’m actually sorta jealous of your water laser. Our water pressure isn’t high enough, so the water just comes out in a dribble and does NOT get the poop off the diaper. It’s so disappointing.
I never had a toilet sprayer, I just used the detachable showerhead on a low stream setting. 🙂
I LOVED Mommy’s Touch AIOs, and I would buy cute, patterned covers just to make my son look spiffy (not for functional use at all, haha!).
Also, my DIY “wet pail” was a plastic trash can with an airtight seal lid with a water/vinegar/baking soda solution inside to soak the diapers until wash day. I added lavender essential oil to make it “smell pretty”. Easy. Breezy. Lazy. Lol!
yup, the crappiest thing about cloth diapers is in fact the crap:) I’m a dunk and swisher myself…what’s a little poop on your hands right? I figure washing my hands beats washing the toilet and floor and wall everytime I have to dump poop in the toilet…
We’re super lazy. We use a lockable trash bin with a step-on pedal for our diapers. Diapers go in the wash, a clorox wipe swipes the inside clean, and tah-dah! Ready for the poppy diaper that will happen two minutes later. No sprayer for us, either. I didn’t want to carry dripping diapers out of the bathroom. We clean ours with tp and dump them in the bin. Like I said, lazy. Plus, dry=less stinky.
This is a great post! I loved the graphics!
People think dealing with the poopy cloth diapers is disgusting…truth is, they contain blow outs waaaaay better than ‘sposies. Poop up the back and in the hair of my baby? Now THAT’s disgusting.
I’ve found this to be true too, I’m always whining when we travel and this happens!
This is very true (at least for the first 9-10 months), but at the same time, the way I dealt with it was through carrying extra clothing for my daughter and taking advantage of warm water sinks in public areas. With a bit of warm soapy water, a quick fluff with a towel we always draped on top of the stroller, and then a re-diapering with her new outfit, everything was just fine. Of course, I breastfed, so I hear that the blowouts aren’t nearly as bad when you do that.
Smelly smelly smelly
My diapers stink – and I’ve tried the whole stripping thing but to no avail. I prefer prefolds vs. all-in-one. And good old sunshine to bleach the stains and smells away. But where I live its 7 more months till we get a week of summer and then its back to winter.
If you tried stripping and your diapers still stink, you should try a different stripping method- lots of super hot water washes, original blue Dawn, RLR, or bleach and then tons of hot rinses are a few ways to strip. Good luck!
not sure if we’re allowed to provide links, but since this is a blog and not a store I’ll post it (ie I’m not directing business away from a store). here is a link to several stripping methods (from my fav cloth diaper store): http://itsybitsybums.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-strip-diapers.html
(Amber, I love your blog! So sorry if you don’t want links. feel free to delete this post if I broke a rule.)
It is great to share resources! Of course I don’t mind!
We have 2 of the FuzziBunz hanging wet bags to use at home and love them because they unzip on the bottom to dump diapers out. If you need an excuse to get a couple of hanging wet bags, just say that you’ll use them as hampers for the kids when the little one is out of diapers. Hang one up in each child’s room and take a full bag to the laundry room on wash day. 2 kids, 2 bags. Hmmm… maybe you’ll need 4 then. One dirty and one clean for each kid’s room and 4 cute prints for you now!
Ah yes, the water laser. We have one too. (shudder)
Another downside is that the diapers give your kid a HUGE butt. Makes it difficult to fit pants over them.
We went to get my son photographed at 3 months, and the photographer saw his huge padded butt and said, “ugh, he’s wearing a cloth diaper, isn’t he?”
So, they also apparently ruin photographers’ visions at times, too.
aww, I love my girls’ fluffy bums! I just put her in cotton or fleece pants instead of jeans, but that was also because as a baby she was a super-chunk. Carter’s makes what looks like baby maternity jeans- they have the soft stretchy elastic band at the top. fit great over my daughter’s cloth diapers. and more comfy on her belly than the waist of regular jeans.
One word: liners. No spraying, no dumping. Just tip the diaper and liner into the toilet and be done with it.
This is hilarious! One of my “crappiest” things about using cloth is when you go to do fluff laundry and you’re out of the $28 specialty detergent :/
I’m getting to that point and seriously considering using the Tide I have in my laundry room… I mean how bad could it really be?
Patsy, I’ve used Tide on my cotton diapers for ever. I use half the recommended amount. No problems. I’ve heard it’s not not goot for PUL though, so it might be worth a try depending on what kind of system you use.
I nearly died at the dipe spraying graphic…it’s why I prefer to swish. But I can come up with a few crappy reasons why that isn’t super awesome though…
Ah, the spray hose. I have one of those and let’s just say that it is both useful and dangerous.
I am one of those who uses cloth diapers because it is cheaper in the long run, but if I could afford it, I would completely switch to disposables. I hate cleaning poop off diapers.
I was totally anticipating the toilet picture. Thanks for that! Brought back some memories. I remember all the time I spent ‘researching’ cloth diapers and the many kinds we ended up with. Maybe you can do one on wool covers? My crappiest thing about wool covers is that if you accidentally forget it and it goes in the laundry it becomes a wool cover for a doll. That maybe plus points if you ask my kids.
Ugh, that happened to a beautiful pair of wool longies we had. Yep, doll longies.
“Laundry can go and die.”
You’re my hero 🙂
Such an ongoing battle…but at least you are able to share a laugh about it!
That last part about the poop spraying everywhere is exactly why I gave up on cloth diapering after doing it for over 2 years with my first and over a year with my second child. Switched to sposies. Couldn’t be happier. And what ever became of my own obsession with cute fluff? It has been redirected toward buying totally cute kid outfits. Mini Boden is my new friend.
That’s why I only wash at night, right after she goes to bed. By the morning everything is dry and ready to go!
Thanks for the laugh, and the truth about cloth diapering!
I wash at night too, only I wash overnight so that in the morning I just do a final rinse and then can hang the diapers on the clothesline if it’s nice out.
I just laughed out loud!! This is my favorite post ever. I’ve cloth diapered three kids. I just use a giant hunk of wadded up toilet paper to get it into the toilet, then flush it. I think that nobody talks about this part because they really don’t want to scare you away from cloth diapering. I always wondered about those sprayers! Thanks for the review. I’ll definitely wonder less now! I’ve made a few friends through the cloth diapers, but they mostly inspire curiosity, and people tell me how hard it must be, and how much work. It’s still a conversation starter! Our daughter is wearing dinosaur diapers that her brothers grew out of. Girls in dinosaur diapers are cool.
Now I want to have another baby just so I can buy cute cloth diapers and a nappy pail. I think I’ll look at your drawing of poop getting sprayed everywhere again.
Pros of using disposables:
1) My husband will actually change the baby (if he had to rinse out poopy diapers? Never!)
2) I’m not afraid to go out and about (and I don’t have to cart around big smelly used diapers that will simply remind me that I will have to do all that yucky work later).
3) I don’t have to get up close and intimate with my toilet. EVER.
4) I work full time outside the home and get precious little time with my daughter in the evenings and weekends. The more quickly I can take care of her diapers, the more time we have to do actual fun stuff.
5) I can get fairly good diaper deals by waiting for sales or using diapers.com, so it’s not THAT expensive.
***********
Now don’t get me wrong, my mom cloth diapered my siblings as well as myself. We all potty trained early (even my brother), but that was back in the day of cloth diapers with pins and stuff (the mid 80’s). I know that diapering in cloth is different today, but I still can remember the countless hours my mom spent washing diapers out in the toilet before dumping them in the bleach-filled diaper pail and all I can say is “NO WAY.” I don’t think my dad ever changed even ONE diaper, but then again, my mom was a stay at home mom, so it was really her “job” to do all the “gross” stuff.
Yeah…I know that being a mom can be messy, but honestly, it’s really up to your own personal style and how you prioritize what is important in your parenting style. I just figured I’d post a counter perspective!
Really, in the end, all that matters is that our babies have clean bottoms! XD
Oh, and by “washing them out in the toilet” I mean that she kept the toilets bleach-white at all times and would get down on her knees with the big blue rubber gloves and scrub/wring out the diaper while flushing it at the same time. The “spin cycle” from the toilet’s flush would be enough to wash out most poopy diapers and all urine diapers within a couple of minutes. Then she would wring them out and dump them in the diaper pail in the garage. I just don’t like the idea of sticking my upper arms into the toilet, especially since I only really get to clean it out once a week and my husband has an explosive butt of his own….>_>
It always makes me laugh when people think CD’ing moms (even the FT working career ladder climbing moms like me! 😉 are afraid to “go out and about” with a baby in cloth! Cloth has come a long way baby!
Totally. I travel with cloth because sposies seems too difficult! How do you properly dispose of them? How do you pack them? Do you go to a store at your destination? What do you do with a blowout?
What makes me laugh is the whole husband excuse. My husband changes diapers period. There’s no negotiation.
I have an all in one changing table with a pocket for diapers and wipes on each side When I pull the diaper off, I tuck it under my daughter’s butt, do a half fold over with one hand/flick of the wrist and then tape the sides closed over it like a little present. Then it goes in the trash. 🙂
I have seen cloth diapers being used- it’s just too time-intensive for me and the upfront cost is too much. Most people who talk about how “easy” it is to just use diaper services, also make a lot more money than I do, and while I do think it’s a matter of choice, I also think that acting like disposable diapers are a bad idea is just kind of closed minded. Even my mom (who was 100% pro-cloth diaper) used to use disposables while at parties or other events that required quick changes.
I guess I’m just not cut out to be the trendy sort of mom who inhabits the average internetz. >_>
Just an FYI… You do realize you are supposed to “get up close and personal with your toilet” when it comes to disposables too? Read the instructions on the bag, it says to flush the poop and not throw it in the trash.
I work full time and go to school full time, and my husband is a stay at home dad. He changes cloth diapers no problem, and I can’t believe how many moms I hear say that their men won’t change diapers- even disposables. Seriously? Do people let their male partners get away with that?
I guess I’m the odd freak out who’s fighting to stay in housing and to feed her family, both of us overextended without any social network or help from others. Who has no time for potty training because we’re working our asses off all the time and we’re both completely exhausted by the time the weekend comes and heck she doesn’t seem to be interested in it at all, regardless of how much she follows me into the bathroom when I have to go.
Yep, I guess we can just chalk this all up to me being an inferior mom that all of you can gloat and feel superior to because you have the privilege and the means to be “better.”
*sigh*
I hope nobody was trying to insinuate that you are an inferior mom for choosing disposable diapers. Diapering is a personal choice, you need to do what works for you and your family. I think people were mostly saying that some of the reasons you wouldn’t consider cloth diapering didn’t make sense to them personally. Like for me, I have no problem carrying used diapers around with me when we are out and about (which is all the time!) because once I zip them into my little wet bag, there is no smell at all. Also, I find doing diaper laundry therapeutic, not “yucky work”. But like I said, it is a personal thing and we should each do what is right for us!
Also I just wanted to add that I started cloth diapering because I could not afford disposables in my weekly budget as a single mom at the time. Yes, the initial start up cost is higher (but really not too bad if you go with prefolds/covers or inexpensive brands like Alvas or Sunbabys) but then you are all done, no more weekly diaper expenses. 🙂 Anyway, I am not trying to talk you into cloth diapering, just trying to share my personal responses to your reasons not to cloth diaper.
I wasn’t saying that at all. I am far from privileged. I make minimum wage- we have $246 a week for income, that’s it. We get food stamps and WIC, but no cash assistance from the government. Once our bills are paid and gas put into the car, we literally would not be able to afford disposables. I don’t care if you want to use them, it seriously doesn’t affect me at all, I was just saying that it’s more than possible to be poor as hell and cloth diaper, and in fact that’s most of the reason that we personally chose to do it. I was more confused at the though of a father not being willing to change their baby’s diaper. It’s something that I hear from a LOT of moms, and it blows my mind.
It is entirely possible to cloth diaper on a budget. I started with a package of prefolds and 2 covers that I bought new for under $30. I have slowly added from there about $20 at a time as I have found them listed on Craigslist and have a good stash built up for about the price of one months worth of diapers.
OMG the poop face! I’m now glad I’ve never used a diaper sprayer and we have the “no I want that one” issues too. *sigh*
Bahahahah! I am loving this. My husband and I use cloth diapers, and I my favorite thing is all the money we save…duh! My least favorite thing…the fact that the pee actually smells worse then the poop!
Jenna
callherhappy.com
I rinse pee diapers too and we have no smell! If the diapers stink right after she pees, you might have ammonia buildup and should strip them.
As a disposable convert to cloth … It was such an easy switch. My husband even changes them without grumbling. We follow the “dirty handoff” system in our house where if you trick your opponent into gaining possession of baby in a poopy diaper, you win!
I have like 20 diapers coming in from a diaper co-op where they were only 2-5 bucks a dipe, so can’t beat that!!!
Haha, too funny! I especially like the water laser and the demand of a specific diaper. So, so true.
You need to get a Potty Pail. It’s a five-gallon bucket with a hole in the bottom that you set on top of your toilet bowl. It provides a deeper area in which to spray so that the poop doesn’t fly all over. Plus, it’s got hooks inside the bucket so you can let the diaper dry a bit before putting it in the pail, if you want. I <3 my Potty Pail and couldn't imagine CDing without it. http://www.pottypail.com
This was so awesome… I haven’t gotten to the point of my son asking for different colors. I do hate the sprayer– you are so right about that! I have to change my clothes every time I use it because I”m afraid I’m covered in poop : (.
Oh, I forgot one thing… I now use them just because I like them and they look cuter then sposies– the environment? huh? they are darn cute!
the sprayer is all about angles (as a former math teacher, I’d like to point out that math is everywhere! 🙂 even diapers). As long as the diaper is held low enough (not way up in the air) and the sprayer is pointed down, I don’t have a problem with the poop spraying out.
Love the bare bum picture!
You need a Spray pal!
This is awesome! I was the same way while ordering/recieving the diapers. It was like Christmas. I don’t use a toilet hose thing but I find it pretty easy to shake the poopy diapers upside down into a trash, I use Diaper Geenie to try to keep stink out, and the poop just rolls off the fleece fabric (I use Fuzzi Bunz). I totally use it as an outfit too, and a conversation topic 🙂
I love your blog!
I hope you mean you shake the poopy diapers upside down into the toilet, not trash, right??
Great post! We are a cloth diaper family too. I’ve got 2 in CDs although my 2 year old is nearly done with all diapers. I agree with another poster – a 2nd pail wet bag is so nice. I’m actually kinda spoiled because I have 6 pail liners – 2 for each diaper pail location. And I’m a dunk and swish kind of girl 🙂
So true!! I wanted a sprayer for my toilet so badly, but had to dunk and swish instead. Somehow it seems that stuff is like clay and just won’t come off! Gave up cloth when I had two in diapers, though it was fun while it lasted. I got to feel all crunchy and green for a while.
Hi,
Well done, but I believe you missed the most important point. Tots in cloth diapers feel it when they pee, so they are much more aware of their bodily functions and thus way ahead when it comes time to potty train. Disposables are for bedtime and car trips.
And, yes, sunning the diapers is the only way to get cloth diapers white.
Another for the “good”column….my son recently had a potty training break-through and is now wearing undies all day. He’s doing great with the peeing. Pooping? Not so much. However, since I have experience with cloth diapers, cleaning out poopy underwear doesn’t really phase me.
I was all ditto, ditto, ditto until the spraying-poop-mist because I was remembering when I use to let the unsprayed diapers pile up and figured that was the worst. Now we’ve been in ‘sposies for months while I fight the yeast became STAPH infection of never ending doom.
I LOVE cloth diapers!!! We found some on e-bay that wound up being about $5 each, and they have lasted over two years so far, and still work great. I’m passing them on to my sister when we’re done! We have the ones that you have to pin as well, and my husband wouldn’t use them, but the all-in-ones are so great. We never did get the toilet attachment, but have a pretty powerful shower head, so just spray the poop off in the shower, which means we probably had too much crap go down the drain, but it gets them clean. I always rinse with vinegar, and found that if I put a little squirt of oxi-clean power gel in the washer when I run the diaper load, it gets the smell out pretty well. Anyway, great to see all the other cloth-diapering moms out there! 🙂
Just this morning my 9-month-old pooped just after the diapers went in the washer. If he hasn’t pooped in a couple of days, I either need to do the diaper laundry or put him in a new diaper–both of those things seem to work well for making him poop.
why are you all spraying your diapers? don’t you have flushable paper liners in the US? once past newborn, they really catch most of the poop & you just flip that down the toilet. then into the diaper bucket – mine’s a Tots Bots brand, which came with 2 mesh liner bags. And the cover locks down so little ones can’t get into a full bucket!
I love seeing a humorous post about cloth! Sometimes I feel like we take it all so seriously! I love your blog. Thanks for the 2 am laugh while baby nurses!
#1 law of cloth diapering ~ happens in our house EVERy wash ;-/
Ooh, poo shrapnel… That last picture created quite an image in my mind!!!
leaving my own best and worst:
worst thing about cloth diapers…spending approx $1100 over a few months to have a complete stash We started when our first child was 3mo old and never looked back. I have had to replace some leg elastics in our pocket diapers but for a dollar’s worth of elastic I can replace 8 diapers worth of leg elastics.
best thing about cloth diapers…..only spending approx $1100 to diaper 3 children :O AND I was able to pass quite a few to a friend having a new baby about a year ago, now that our family is complete.
It was originally all about the money for us. As the years have gone by we’ve also appreciated the environmental “pros” too and of course I had tons of fun buying colors and prints (my favorite is still the bright lime green diaper).
This article made me laugh. LOVED IT! Especially liked the artwork 🙂 Very cute. Will FB and tweet this link for sure.
My daughter is trying to get pregnant ASAP. Thank you, her MOM.
Sides hurting..still laughing…though we love our cloth diapers – so true! Especially about the freakin’ sprayer – I just LOVE the sight of poopy water droplets all over the bathroom. And the poop face on the toddler…my son is a control freak, so of course, even before we’ve even begun to THINK about potty training, we’ve had to work on the fact that he’s been holding in his poop. So in our house, the poop face always has to be followed by a grand round of “Woo-HOOO!!! YAYAYA!” and the “caca” dance now (sort of like like a chacha) so that pooping is a seriously positive thing, whether he’s just passed a couple of rabbit turds or had a full-scale blowout. AND THEN we wave bye-bye to the poop going down the toilet…whatever have we become???
You could always get a second wet bag. That way one is always ready for the next diaper. 🙂
Ha- great post! I agree with getting a second bag so you can alternate. As for washing the poop off- we use Imse Vimse flushable liners from Amazon on top of the cloth diapers. That way, when they poop, most of it is on the liner and we just take that off and throw it away. Voila! No soaking or spraying. If the liners just get peed on we wash them with the diapers and use them again (just once more though).
The poop shouldn’t be going into the garbage. It goes in the toilet.
Oh the liners don’t go in the trash. They break down in the toilet water. You just knock it all off (liner & poop) into the toilet and flush! 🙂
skip it and buy diapers (car) – LOL! I have said the same thing to my husband! I said – “well, we don’t have any equity in our house, but I just sold diapers we used for a year for $2 more than what I paid for them.’ diaper equity 😉
haha I just used my new diaper water/laser sprayer, how do you turn down the water volume!!! yipes… it got me. I wanted to add, for me a new cloth momma, I some how always forget a key item in cloth diapering when I am out and about. like my wetbag or a cloth refill, or an extra pant…. lots of fun stuff!
Thanks for the laughs! CD’ing is fun and crappy! I so enjoy your illustrations too (especially the diaper sprayer poop bits – it awesome when it shoots in my hair, lOl)!
Ok, so this is super unrelated, but the purple dress you’re wearing in your “about me” section is amazing. It looks super comfortable, too. Do you happen to know the brand/store you got it from? Also, I love your blog and I’m not even a mother (yet).
I totally want a diaper sprayer, but now that it’s coming on spring, the water in the toilet will no longer be just above freezing temp, swishing won’t be so bad. Sometimes it even just plunks in now, no swishing required. I love it when she eats enough solid food to negate the runniness caused by breastmilk.
Haha great post, and all so very true… nothing nicer than a big box of fluffy mail arriving… nothing nastier than the poop spray!
My husband likes to say our bathroom walls are covered with particles of fecal matter. It sounds gross, but we have four little boys, so the walls are also covered in every other possible excretion that their little bodies produce. So, a little diaper sprayer splash doesn’t bother me. Except when it gets on my clothes. Or my face. Cause I don’t always have time for an extra shower.
Bwahahahahaha! SOOOO true! Especially the will-poop-when-washing part.
Haha! We’ve used cloth diapers for the past year or two and this post made me laugh a lot. 🙂
Also, probably 50 other people have already mentioned this, but to make poopy diapers a non-issue I just cut rectangles of fleece (you don’t have to do anything to the raw edges) and set them on top of the inside of the diaper. The poop goes onto the fleece, then, when you clean the diaper out, the poop falls right off of the fleece. We’ve never had a diaper sprayer because the easy fleece method works so well. But maybe our diapers are different?
Anyway, you are funny. The end. 🙂
Will somebody please send this woman a second wet bag? LOL, you need one!
Have you tried alvababy diapers? they are the same as most pricey brands but only $5 a diaper 😛
As I was reading this post, I heard my hubby say: Daniel just peed. And he’s not wearing the diaper! We cloth diaper in the day and sposy at nicht, and he had just gotten his post-bathtime sposie on before ripping it right back off. When i sas your drawing, I nearly died lauhging. We live in Africa and have no
AC power, so no washing machine. You get my drift? Luckily, we do have a housekeeper to do the washing. She’s worth every penny she makes for washing out those siapers.. I have twins. Poor woman had no idea what she signed up for when she started working for me…
Hehehe… i just realized your spray lazer drawing could be coupled with a caption CD version of “when the shit hits the fan”.just can’t think how to phrase it…
EXACTLY! You did a fantastic job summarizing my sentiments on cloth diapering. I love cloth diapering my bub and I LOVE the way they look as well as the benefit to the baby and the earth but the diaper sprayer is a blessing and a curse. That f’ing thing has gotten me more than I care to admit. I guess it could be my fault for not being more careful but I doubt it. The other thing I hate is the ammonia issue. Other than that, I love it love it. gDiapers are my favorite.
Insert evil-that’s-horrible laugh at the diaper sprayer! Oh dear god. At first I was envious of it until the over spray illustration. I’ll stick to liners thank you very much! LOL
And YAY Apple Cheeks!!! They are my number 1 go-to cloth diaper. As a fellow Canadian… woot woot!
On that… yes, I love me some cloth diaper fashion. And now that I have a daughter… I can’t wait for summer to show them off!
Pretty colors and designs were the same reason I started cloth diapering! I was lusting after the Daisy print Fuzzibunz.
I cloth diapered back when disposables were just becoming the thing to do. Because we were poor lol. I would do it now because there are way too many diapers hitting landfills. Anyhow. Love the stories and want to share one of mine. We bought a vineyard when my son was about 18 months. During harvest time, we used to pick by hand and then stack the boxes to be loaded later. I would find my baby standing by the boxes eating grapes, bunch after bunch. Boy did he love them! New mom, I didn’t understand the consequences, he never ate grapes in that quantity before. Euwwww. Purpley brown blowouts, out his leg holes, up his back….and smelled sooooo bad….gross. gross. gross. At one point, I gave up and threw several of them away, there was no hope of ever returning them to their original whiteness lol. And he was not allowed to do that anymore. If we could catch him at it.
I don’t like grapes anymore either. Not even to smell them.
Haahaa! It is soooo true what you say! I do have two pail liners so I don’t have to deal with the frustration of the poo after I put the load in. I love my diaper laundry and hate my regular laundry. It is rewarding to think something so gross can get so pristine! The sprayer – you nailed it! Love it and hate it at times 🙂
bahahaha….pmsl when i read this….too funny!!!!
Doing diaper laundry is the best cure for constipation! Prunes? Phooey!
I’m not a parent but I’ve worked as a nanny for years and I’m using cloth diapers for the first time with the particular family I’m working for now. I have to say the folding and fastening the prefolds and then putting on the covers is a giant pain in the ass. Especially because the little guy I’m taking care of absolutely HATES diaper changes and screams and thrashes like a fish on land. I wish my employers would use the all-in-one types. Actually, I REALLY wish I could just throw the dirty diaper in the garbage and be done with it. But I respect the parents’ wishes, etc etc etc.
It’s nice that you don’t care that I use disposables. It’s also nice that this is still hilarious even though I can’t totally relate.
But REALLY what this comment is actually about is how your blog is NOT controversial because you are NOT a bitch. I enjoy this. SO many mommy blogs are so full of controversy and bitchiness. And I get it, mommying is important, so there are “arguments”. But in the end, what is MOST important is what is universal about mothering, that is: it’s really hard, and it’s really awesome. And your blog is exactly that! So thanks for being AWESOME!
*lol* I am glad we have enough cloth diapers to have a few spare when the rest are in the wash. We also have 2 large wetbags as well as one small one, just in case. 🙂 And no shower nozzle here, just fleece liners so the poop peels off nicely. I had a few suedecloth ones, but I quickly sold those.
I keep wondering how much 4 year old Bum Genius 3.0’s will sell for… 😉
Using cloth diapers have its advantage and disadvantage. This is comfortable, fresh, comes with different color and not easy remove. Ad if the baby outgrows them it can be sell them. The worst part about cloth diapering is that it means more laundry.
My mom and I made cloth diapers for our little one. The teeny ones were done from a flannel sheet that had seen better days and the inner soaker pad is a dollar store brand “sham-wow”. Those puppies can hold some liquid! As far as the poops go, when she was still breastfed I used Kushies flushable liners, but once she got on solids her poo was really solid and just kind of rolled off into the toilet. Now she tells us when she needs to poop. The larger sized diapers were made from super expensive flannel with little bears or kitties and puppies because it had to look cute. That was all grandma. I was totally ok recycling another sheet considering what it is being used for. Total cost, maybe 30 dollars in material, another 25 in shamwows and 6 hours of sewing.
Score!
Yes! When I do the wash, the baby poops! I keep those in the garage in a backup diaper pail. 🙂 And if I think the baby might be getting constipated I just do the wash.
We use cloth diapers also, but we have a utility sink in our laundry room. We have a diaper pail in the utility sink. We have s diaper sprayer on the faucet of the utility sink that we spray the diapers off with. We use our wet bag in the diaper bag for on the go. We use those colorful disposable bags that come in a dispenser. We only use the wetbag to keep all of the wet or dirty diapers all together, do they aren’t scattered all over in the diaper bag. & they all make it out of the diaper bag, & into the diaper pail or washer.The wetbag is also so that if any of the plastic bags were to accidentally leak, that the wet or dirty diapers are kept seperate from clean stuff! You might want to order an extra wet bag, if you are going to use them st home to contain the diapers instead of using a diaper pail. Also, we use tea tree or lavender oil in the pail to deal with odor, which some pails come with a carbon filter in the lid to absorb the odor. We use borax in the pail to freshen & whiten the diapers, so no stains either! Hope this helps! If you use the dprsyer
sprayer in a utility sink, the water doesn’t spray all over you, the floor, the toilet. Just in the utility sink, which we clean out with orange oil frequently. It leaves the laundry room smelling fresh!
You always make me laugh!! I loved to have my son in just a cloth diaper, it was adorable! But they could not contain enough liquids for us, no matter what we did!
I can’t say enough how much I love this!! I too love cloth diapers. And I too have a child who thinks pooping in them right after I put them in the wash is a good idea (I generally avoid this by washing them after the boys go to bed, which helps but sometimes I just can’t wait all day). And I too have a love/hate relationship with the diaper sprayer. It makes my life so much more pleasant, as long as I don’t turn it up too high (or my boys figure out how to work it). And I find it amazing how many different people ask me about my cloth diapering! Even the male nurse at the ER asked me about it the other day when I had to take my son in. Its a great conversation starter. 🙂
I disagree about the cheapie diapers being made by the same companies as Fuzzibunz etc, I have seen both and this is not true. That said, it is very easy to diaper on a budget by signing up for various deal a day sites, buying from seconds quality sales at various manufacturers, or buying used.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hit on by other moms because of diapers. <–That is a very creepy sentence if taken out of context.
Yes, yes it is. lol.
awesome crappy pictures (but they are getting less and less crappy everyday), seriously and congrats on the bloggie!
This post got me sick to my stomach. Ughh. Lol. If we had used cloth diapers, I’m sure my daughter would have been picky about the color too.
Bahaha! This is awesome. We have 3 wetbags-1 large and two small ones. And I don’t use diaper sprayers. EVER. lol
Diapers are great padding. I remember when both my kids landed on their butts the first time without a diaper. It probably wasn’t nice to laugh while they were crying…
We are about to have our first in a few weeks, I have had so many parent-friends laugh in my face when I’ve said we’re doing cloth. Besides being hilarious, your post and the ensuing comments really make me think we are going to be just fine. 🙂
I am dying, rolling on the floor laughing at this post. You are so funny!
I wash my cloth diapers at night once the kids are in bed. Then all diapers are clean for a few hours. that’s all.
Ok, I almost peed my pants reading this cartoon…too funny! And oh, how accurate!!!
You need a potty pail! So worth it. No more poop splatter. http://www.pottypail.com/order.php?pp100734
Thank you! This is hysterical! I have tears right now.
RICE PAPER LINERS save us lots of headaches–especially with the nasty poopy diapers! Flushable and cheap. Perfect!
Hoorah! A cloth nappy post! (Yes, I am English.) And I’ve never heard of a diaper sprayer. My god, that would change my life. I’m holding the bloody things down the loo and flushing the poo off them. Clearly I’m doing it wrong.
We have Poo Pot Pourri too. Plastic bowl, window sill of the bathroom, whenever the nappy bucket’s still downstairs because I’m doing a nappy wash.
Oh yes, poop water droplets and bare feet!! Yucky… probably why my husband doesn’t change the diapers, leaves all that yuck to me!!! Thanks for the the heads up in not suggesting a choice in picking of the color/patterns, I’ll be avoiding that drama!!
This is hilarious!
I LOVE the pics!
Never knew about those water sprayers…nice idea, although I think I’ll skip it, b/c you’re right, backfire would be crappy…
The only crappy thing about a box full of brand new diapers, is that my son is going to deuce every one of them as soon as his butt comes into contact with them. But it’s still worth it!
Reading all your posts about cloth diapering peer pressured me into trying it out with my own toddler (again). This time, I went about it secure in knowing that I would be easily able to flush all his poops thanks to the giant 100 sheet roll of flushable liners. But… today, my toddler showed me why those things are a total joke because his super massive, super soupy poops manage to flow throughout all layers of the diaper (under the paper liner, under the cloth liner, and throughout the entire cover). Thank god the cover does its job. Simultaneously, I was able to experience the very same phenomena you talked about in this post: That all toddlers must poop after the load of diapers goes into the wash. Sadly, this comes after I have now (again) denounced cloth diapering and will have to do a double wash on a single diaper. At least, because of you, I see the humor in this! Thanks for being so funny.
Oh my gosh, this had me laughing out loud. =D I love the pictures that go with it too. Classic. =D
I have a total of ONE cloth diaper … I’d love to get more and be a cloth diaperin’ Momma, but I never have the capital to get a whole bunch at once.
so don’t get a whole bunch at once. Buy one at a time! AND look for second-hand diapers. Try diaperswappers.com and your local craigslist. I’ve found some decent ones at rummage sales, too, so check the paper as sometimes those are listed in the rummage sale ad.
Here’s an article on transitioning to cloth one diaper at a time. I haven’t read it, so if it’s not good or offensive, please don’t hold it against me for sharing it.
http://realdiaperevents.org/archives/transitioning-to-cloth-one-diaper-at-a-time
Why is it that whenever you put the diapers in the wash they have to have a massive poo! I didn’t know others had that happen too! lol.
I feared the diaper sprayer and so didn’t get one for forever. I let the prewash in the machine rinse out the EBF poo. 😀 BUT I did find THE ONE THING that WILL be used when I use the diaper sprayer with all future babies….The SPRAY PAL!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBaK_Z81QLI) If I had enough money, I’d give it to all of my friends as a baby gift!
I will have to keep in mind the “wash diapers, get baby to poop” trick for the next time DS is constipated. 😉
Cute blog post, thanks for sharing!
I had this note in my previous entry, but it didn’t stay since I put it in the HTML tag identifiers. :-S
I am not part of the Spray Pal family or business, nor am I a paid endorser. I am merely a happily satisfied customer!
great post! so many of us feel ya’!
Gotta say, the GroVia poop liners are the most economical and awesome. Still have poop clean up issues sometimes, but so so much less. Also, the foot-pedal trash can I use for a diaper pale is invaluable. I don’t use a bag liner at all but just wash out the trash can removable pale each time I do the diaper wash (every other day). keep on clothing!
OMG girl, you just got this post quoted at Huff Post!
So true! I love my FuzziBunz but hate scraping off the poops. Liquid infant poops you don’t even need to touch, solid poops just roll off. But those sticky, squishy ones I try to scrape off with cardboard and end up getting it all over me? Nasty. Especially when you can see everything she had for lunch.
My -grandaughter in law posted this web site and I just had to go look and read. Loved it. I didn’t have disposable diapers when raising my two (think they were out there but couldn’t afford them). The storys are funny now. But there are more helpful things to get thru the diaper stage. diaper liners, spray for the toilet….gosh ya’ll have it easy. no dryer either just a clothes line and inthe winter they froooooze dry. Enjoy your babies. They soon become adults..URG!!!!!
I can SO relate to all of this! Great post from a fellow diaperist!
hey, i’m a 72 y/o male ! i got sucked into this jargon and couldn’t quit ! i am a retired pediatrition/GP father of 18 kids & my wife was a RN but “no wife of mine is going to work” she’s a stay at home mom,LOL ! loved the reminiscing ! Thanks . now I’m loading up on the NEW stuff for my 48 & counting grand kids
,
.
So true for us too… finished with diapers now but a couple of the covers were so cute we kept them for doll diapers. (Handy to have girls, we accumulate dolls of all sizes.) Yeah, even the smallest of the cloth diapers are too big for most of the dolls but that was the only excuse I coud come up with, and I couldn’t bear to give up that silky one with the abstract blueberries printed on it.
I used cloth diapers for many years. I used the plain old white ones and pins, with colorful rubber pants.
I didnt have a cool sprayer, I used to dunk them, over and over, like our ancestors would have down by the river… ( as I always imagined they would have, anyway.)
but I DID like all the money I saved NOT buying disposables.
Both of my girls did the same thing(one still does!)
I love my diaper paper liners – in the garbage if only pee or flush them for number two- save on the sprayer.
I do love my sprayer for cleaning the potty chair!
I love this!! I must add, that i handwash EVERY SINGLE DIAPER, EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!! LOL!! And your poop law pertains even still… so i have decided to put him in a disposable while i do my bi weekly machine washing. And as for keeping my inserts unstained, i double stuff. I also use liners… wasteful, but lifesaving… and when i change a poo i wash them, dry them, on my shower curtain rod with a fan, and put a stained insert on top of a non stained diaper every single time. So half my inserts are like new. And half are stained… small step to ensure high resale value on half my stash… lol??
Don’t forget the BEST part! When you have a full load of diapers in and it’s not even past the “swishy” first part of the washing…..and the washer DIES!!!
What a FUN day! Especially the part where the repair man says “and the washer needs to be empty when we get there”!
Break out the buckets and shop vac!!! Yippee!!!
Plenty of volunteers to take the baby…NO volunteers to help me though! I guess I would have run too.
awesome! We CD both of our children and had a great experience but of course, there were low points in the process! thanks for hitting the nail on the head!
Just a thought. Working in various residential homes everyone wanted me to do laundry. I’d learned in SCIENCE CLASS about the law of hydrogen peroxide on biological/organic matter. Poop, milk, blood. Anything from our bodies or earth peroxide will eat. It tool old stains out of bed covers, ensure stains out (similar to milk and formula) and it was a must have for bed accidents! My residents laundry was always fresh, stain free, never bleached out, and no chemical smell. Try it on your white cloth diapers. Check for color bleeding on an old colored one. It’s way cheap and I just kept my “secret weapon” in a utility spray bottle. Plus there is absolutely zero odor left behind. No poop or pee. Nothing. I always used it as a pretreater for their whites. When I moved on to the transitional living homes I had teens. A whole new world I stains. Food, grass, blood, snot. Once again, hydrogen peroxide to the rescue! Pit stains and dingy socks too! Those guys I bleached their clothes but peroxide saved many a good shirt from mopping up a bloody nose and tons of jeans from grass stains! The only things I couldn’t get it to work on was really nasty pizza sauce and kool aid type dyes.
Hilarity!
Oh My Gosh! I can totally relate to this! We have the nappy sprayer (ours is called a little squirt) and the amount of times I have sprayed poop on myself!! GAH!!
Love your blog!
Elimination communication from birth here, so thankfully after the first 2-3 weeks with both kids I never really had to deal with poop and my eldest age 2.5 is 100% independent and has been since 17 months and my 8.5 month old is in undies during the day and dry and at night he wakes to go potty so soon I will be putting our stash back in storage. They still look new as they’ve really only ever been peed on. Poops where rare. I am so glad I have done this. When I do decide I’m done having kids they will have held their resale value very well. I am a total addict to those gorgeous prints though… maybe I will keep those.
I’ve read this before….but today I needed a laugh, so I’m re-reading all of your blog… Apparently I didn’t pay close enough attention the first time I read it…because I’m now dealing with a toddler who ONLY WANTS TO WEAR THE BROWN ONES!! Had I listened to you, I would never have started letting him pick his colors…my trickery too, has failed me.
“cloth diapers, the good things and the crappy things – Crappy Pictures” was
indeed a really awesome posting, . Keep composing and I’ll continue to keep browsing! Thanks for the post -Karina
You need a Spray Pal!!!
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Now I know what my parents went through. This is fascinating! This would be good to go back and show them when they become an asshole teenager.
Our parents were using cloth diapers and there was now possibility to just throw the dirty diaper in the garbage and be done with it.
Only nowdays everythign has changed so much and our lifestyle has improved big time. Huge respect for all the mums and dads, who did a brilliant job rising us all!!!!!
Cleaning a diaper with a high volume hose is way worse than anything a pet could do. Dis.Gus.Ting.
You know, in the UK there are Nappy Libraries, where you can BORROW cloth diapers to try out for free, or for just a deposit or whatever. Awesome! https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210790892075311005303.0004c9cf0c87b3ebc4c89&msa=0
HA! I immediately fell in love with the toilet sprayer thing up until you mentioned the water pressure being too high. Ish. Well like cloth diapers, all good ideas have there own fallacies.
Argh… finally someone else who has the poo sprayer! I swear I have to wash the walls and behind the toilet and my legs every second day. EUUURRRGLLHH.. Hate it – but most of the time have it down to a fine art of nappy and spray angle. Excellent blog btw..
I agree with the poop everywhere on the water sprayer. Mine does the same thing. I got an awesome wake up call after Bub#3 done a doosie for me one morning while i was half asleep (no coffee induced wakefulness yet). I was happily (as happy as you can be spraying poop) spraying the nappy and BAM, backfire! Poop in my eye. Not a chunk…but enough to give me a sore eye for 3 days…
btw – cloth nappies are my home business. I make lovely embroidered poop catchers (mainly for boys). 🙂
Nice replies in return of this issue with firm arguments and describing
everything regarding that.
I know this is an older post but I just had to tell you that I laughed so hard reading this. We do the cloth diapers too. Because they are pretty. I still don’t think hubby has them figured out. He tries, poor man.
But no diaper sprayer for us. Oh no. We use the *swish swish* in the toilet method.
I like reading through your web sites. Appreciate it!
I have a solution for the diaper sprayer/poo shower! I also tried one of these (as both a diaper sprayer and bidet, but I won’t go into what an icy wake-up call that was). Solution: Those little flushable inserts. You dump them in the toilet with the poo, and your diaper is clean enough to wash without leaving peas, corn, etc in your lint screen. I couldn’t do cloth diapers without those inserts or a washing service.
I also love the fashion statement of cloth diapers 🙂
A couple pieces of common sense for you.
Get another diaper bag. We have two. The clean one goes in the bin as soon as the full one comes out.
When spraying the diaper, point the sprayer into the toilet while opening the flow. Adjust the flow before pointing it at the diaper.
I just started using the diaper sprayer last week. If I hadn’t read your post first, I probably would’ve cried. Instead, I calmly wiped down the toilet, stripped off my shirt and pants, picked up the rug in front of the toilet, and threw everything in the washer.
My LO used to blow out his diaper every time I put the dirty diapers in the washer. Luckily, he stopped doing that once he started eating more solid foods.
We did cloth for a bit, the super cheap Terry towels you fold yourself. Next baby gets the persuaded ones. We swapped to disposable ones once we couldn’t keep our daughter still long enough to get one on. Today she has discovered how to get completely naked. Uh oh, glad the postman is late and didn’t arrive to see a naked 18mo dashing around the lounge!
Upgrading your own cosmetic within about half the time without spending more money!
Don’t know if anyone else has told you (and you probably know this anyway) but you can get flush able liners that you just flush when baby poops. Not that it makes much difference now that crappy baby is toilet trained but maybe next time (if there is one 🙂 )
The solution for the poop spraying- THE SPRAY PAL!!! I am serious! I refused to spray diapers until I got one. Now, it’s impossible to spray myself or the walls with poop!
http://www.spraypal.com
Hi Sara,
You are awesome for sharing our site! It’s actually http://www.spray-pal.com as some Italian artsy spray painting airbrush already claimed the spray pal without the dash, lol. But thank you for spreading the word!
Jen
I second the Spray Pal! You never have to worry about the water/poop laser again. You can turn the valve as high as you want and not worry about a mess 🙂
Lol, this post has been shared on our FB wall quite a few times. If you are still struggling with your diaper sprayer, I would be happy to send you a Spray Pal to review. This was the exact reason my husband and I invented it! Now we can use that water laser to blast all the poop particles without worrying about cleaning up the toilet and bathroom after. 🙂 Cheers to no more poopy splatter!
I have been using “Just Simply Baby” brand cloth diapers for 6 months now. THEY ARE MY FAVORITE!!! They are affordable and work just as well, if not better, than the expensive name brand diapers. I would recommend these to anyone if you are going cloth diaper. I have never had any problems with them. They have all kinds of adorable prints, they ALWAYS have good deals and sales, and they have a 30 day money back guarantee, so they are deff worth a try! The double gusset diapers are my favorite, and you can save some money by doing a package deal if you are needed to buy a few. I also have a coupon code for a 10% refund on your first purchase. And it doesn’t expire!
Heres the code: JSBAR197
Here is their website: http://www.justsimplybaby.com/?Click=581
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You need a Spray Pal!!!! I wouldn’t cloth diaper without it.
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So funny and true. I’m currently CD’ing baby #6 and havent used new things like sprayers, and I still use a pail so baby doesn’t need to poop while doing laundry. He does need to poop when ever I put in my favorite diaper though.
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