Today is the first day of my daughter wearing cloth diapers. Well, she's wearing her very first one right now and I have yet to change it, but I just had to share my first thoughts. Already, I love them! With the cloth diaper on, her little tush is so soft! Unlike the annoying crinkly paperness of the disposables. It's something so small, but it's amazing what a difference it makes. Just holding her wearing the cloth diaper makes me 10x happier. Who knew?! Maybe it's the cloth fiber vibes whispering "No more disposables in the landfill. Hooray!" haha!
It's taken me awhile to get our little girl into cloth diapers. I've been buying a small batch every paycheck until I've been able to build up enough to hopefully have some for a few days. Then I had to find the right detergent (unfortunately, my homemade stuff won't work). And finally, I had to wash and dry them 3 times to get them absorbent - just like you have to wash new towels a few times. I was a little nervous putting on the very first cloth diaper. Was I ready? Was I going to have a headache scrubbing the first messy diaper? Where am I going to put the soiled diapers? (Our apartment is much smaller than our last place...) Are they going to stink up my house? Was her diaper going to be completely huge and bulky? Questions to be answered shortly, I'm sure.
Well, I started to put the cloth diaper on - backwards. I laughed at myself and started over and even though my little girl was fussing and squirming I got it on and... it was beautiful! Hooray! Now maybe I'll get my husband to do the first cloth diaper change. Heh heh heh.
HOW BEAUTIFUL!!!
ReplyDeleteI feel the same happiness you do as I put a cloth diaper on my girl. I can't figure out what it is but it just makes me feel good inside.
Today I bought a drying rack, and dried them outside for the first time. I had the same feeling the whole time they dried outside in the sun.
Oh by the way I learned that you can dry the covers in the dryer, but the elastic, and PUL will last longer if you don't.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you can't use your 'home brew' of detergent, but I think you'll still find you save a bundle. How're you doing with a nappy bucket? Perhaps the ideal place to have that would be near the toilet so you can put dirty things in right away. Have you watched 'the nappy lady' on YouTube yet? Do it.
ReplyDeleteGreat photo of Mairi's pink-clad bum :-) I still have six weeks to go before I see my little princess-- is it weird to daydream about changing nappies? I never thought I would look forward to that part.
Oh, here's what I remember (haven't put it into practice, yet): if you have a diaper bucket, you can have a mesh bag lining it. After you've sprayed liners, you can put them in the mesh with the soiled diapers. Then, when you go to the washing machine, you can just close the mesh bag and put the whole thing into the machine with other items-- and don't have to touch the dirty diapers again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR2QvXirdfs
ReplyDeleteOK, the inexperienced mom will stop here. :-)
Amber - Thanks for your comment. It is a wonderful indescribable feeling, isn't it? Maybe it's just knowing you can do it yourself is what makes it feel so great.
ReplyDeleteKatherine - Thanks for the advice! I don't mind that your inexperienced. You're doing research, just like I am, so any other perspectives are great. The mesh bag idea sound good! Right now I'm just using an old, beat up open clothes hamper. I've been rinsing everything out and letting it air dry on the side. I'm not afraid of touching the diapers, but the mesh bag makes it sound so easy!
Oh, and I got three different types of liners for the diaper cover - StayDry liner, Indian tri-fold, and the organic tri-fold. So far I'm really liking the StayDry liner! I think it's a lot less bulky than the others.