Help with Cloth Diapers!

[benshelpmeet]

Well it's been almost 23 years since I used cloth diapers, I know how to put one on, and pin it, but any other helpful tips or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Washing

Pre treating

Good creams to use, ''I know white sticky Desiten(sp) creams put a coating on the diaper thats not good.''

Homemade wipe recipe?

Any other helpful advice.

[lisa]

Hi Sister Darlene,

Here is a recipe that believe it or not I got it out of our cook book!

Baby Wipes

1 1/2 c. boiling water
3 Tbsp baby bath
1 Tbsp. baby oil

Cut 1 roll of Bounty paper towels ( I have a friend that uses soft flannel) in half. Remove center cardboard. Place upright in an airtight container and pour mixture over towels. Cover tightly and it's ready to use in 30 minutes. The wipes can be pulled up from center and torn off at any length. Note: may use soft soap instead of baby bath, and skin so soft instead of baby oil.

[katpants]

I have some homemade sanitary napkins that are diaper material and they really are more absorbant if you let them airdry and don't use fabric softner. I'd guess that goes for diaper material?

Kat

[moseshelper]

One thing my mother-in-law figured out is that in order to actually get them clean, they have to be washed in COLD water (as with any organic stains such as blood, etc.) Then to keep them white, she would occasionally wash them with hot water and bleach AFTER they had been cleaned with cold water. However bleach, could irritate the babies skin. You have 2 options, either live with greyish diapers or re-wash and rinse in vinegar after you bleach.

Also, keep them wet until you wash them to keep stains from setting. Keep a lidded can with enough water to cover in the area you change the diapers or the laundry area. When you have enough diapers for a load, just dump the whole container in, then rinse out the container and fill with fresh water.

[Donna]

There are two methods of holding the diapers until they are washed
Wet Pail method
The wet pail can get quite heavy and smelly keeping the diapers submerged until wash day
Dry Pail method
This is the way I went. The wet diapers are put into a pail. The poopy diapers are shaken off into the toilet, rinsed if desired and placed into the pail. It is said that breast fed poop doesn't even have to be shaken off. Unfortunately, I don't know about that.

On wash day: Put the soiled diapers into the wash tub with cold water. Run a very short cycle (no detergent) Drain and then wash in hot water with a very very small amount of liquid detergent (I used between 1-2 TBS)
I used 2 rinses to insure that all the suds were removed. Bleach will disintegrate the fabric over time. The sun will take care of the stains.
I used to be amazed how a freshly laundered but still stained diaper would dry and be totally white again under the power of the sun.

Many cloth diaper sites will warn against using actual soap as it will eventually make the diapers less absorbent. I always used the cheapest liquid detergent I could find that didn't contain any brighteners, bleach, etc.

Some people use a disposable or even a cloth liner in the diaper to prevent the stains on the diaper.

HOMEMADE WIPES: I never had any luck with keeping the wipes in a solution until I used them....they would get moldy. I simple square of flannel double thickness makes a great wipe that can be thrown in the wash with the diapers. Water is the best cleanser.

I found the best powder to use to prevent diaper rashes is Redmond Clay. It is a type of bentonite clay and would heal any rash that did form on the bottom.

I am so excited for you and the new little one.... Feeling the baby move was one of the greatest joys a mother can ever know

Donna

[benshelpmeet]

Thank you ladies! I am so excited about using cloth this time. I need to try and start stocking up on them. Where is a good place to shop for them? I use to have ton's but have gotten rid of them over the years.

I'm so rusty with all this. but I'm very excited about using cloth diapers again.

I wonder why wipes mold so easy?

The baby is moving in my womb right now. Precious baby.

[BillysWife]

Since we have moved, I have started using them again. Not fulltime until we get a washer, but during the day I use them. One thing I have found quite helpful is putting borax in the water to soak them--my diaper pail doesn't even smell like a diaper pail! I think you use 1/4 cup per gallon or something like that (the box will tell you).

What kind of diapers are you wanting? I do have a few small flannel prefolds I was going to send you. (speaking of which, I haven't forgotten about the baby things, I may actually go through them today if I get a chance since I am at my in-laws and the boxes are in their garage).

I'm not sure where is a good place to get diapers, I made my own as it seemed cheaper at the time. I do have a friend that bought diapers for $4-$6 a piece, I think. I will have to find out where she got them.

[moseshelper]

The Gerber Diaper Service cloth diapers are the most durable that my MIL found (but their quality may have gone down in the 12 years since she had her last) they can be purchased for $11 per 6 from Target. She found that these lasted her for 2-3 babies whereas the others barely lasted one.

[benshelpmeet]

Thank you ladies for all the helpful replies!

Dear Lisa,

Thank you for the wipe recipe...I will use it and it sounds like a good one.

I read somewhere that home made baby wipes mold...is that true, if so what can you do to avoid it?

Flannel sounds good too, or maybe baby wash cloths. You could apply the solution to cloth as needed.

Thank you!


Dear Crystal,

Thank you for the good advice! Also on where to buy good sturdy diapers. We have a Target close by. 22 years you use to be able to have a diaper service come buy your house and pick up used diapers and drop off fresh ones, we couldn't afford it, so we never tried it out. I do not think anything like that even exists anymore.

Thank you!

Dear Donna,

All this information is such a help and a blessing to me...I'm glad I started this thread. I'm going to use it as a ready reference.

I need all the help and good advice I can get.

Thank you!

Dear Naomi,

Thank you for your post, I use to use Borax in the diaper pail, but I forgot until you mentioned it. It really does help with stains and smell. Also I think I use to put 1/2 cup Vinegar in the rinse water. This made them fresh and soft.

I am going to use pre folds. I can hardly wait! I love cloth diapering.

Thank you!


May the Lord bless each and every one of you dear ladies.

Love your sister and friend, ~ sister Darlene ~

[Tammy]

Sister Darlene, how are things going with your cloth diapers? When we were expecting our last baby, we were blessed with a box of Bumgenius diapers, which has the diaper covers with microfiber cloth inserts. I am enjoying using them on the baby, and they have saved us a ton of money!

[benshelpmeet]

Dear sister Tammy,

We used disposable diapers at first for convenience, then we started using small pre fold cotton diapers and dappi vinyl diaper covers ( I bought them from GVS) The diapers a friend gave me and I found more at a pregnancy center back in the town we moved from, I get them for .10 cents a piece believe it or not...shocking but true. I love them they are small and do not look to bulky on my little baby. This week I had to start using cotton inserts for night time.

I wash them out with Fels Naptha, if its just pee pee I just rinse them out, I put them in a 5 gallon pail of water 1/2 full, with 1/2 cup of Borax mixed in, the diapers are practically clean when I go to wash them. It does save alot of money!

I love cloth diapers, so does baby Melody. When she use to pee pee in disposable diapers she would cry, we just thought she didn't like a wet diaper. Now that we use cloth she does not cry anymore. She actually likes cloth diapers, and even when wet she is happy. I think maybe a chemical must have been released when she would go pee pee, and it caused her a burning sensation which made her cry, that's all I can figure.

For bottom cream we use A&D ointment, I read that the white creams put a coating on the cloth diapers that is hard to wash out, and can cause them to become less absorbent.

Happy cloth diapering!

Love, ~ sister Darlene ~

P.S. We just started washing by hand on Tuesday and we absolutely love it. We have been using the close line instead of the dryer since last summer, we even used it all winter and added a large close line in our basement. Now that's really saving us money. We all enjoy washing buy hand and using the clothes line. I got my wash board from a Mexican store. Zote laundry bar soap from the Mexican store is great to wash with , just cut it in half.

[Tammy]

For several months I made my laundry soap using shredded Zote and washing soda. I started noticing that my whites were not so white anymore, and there was a ring in my washer tub! I know it wasn't from the washing soda, so it must have been the Zote. Maybe I was using too much of it, I don't know.

But now I've made some powdered laundry soap using washing soda, borax, and the Fels-Naptha soap you sent me, Sister Darlene. It works wonderfully, rinses out clean, and it smells nice, too! Thank you so much for it.

[benshelpmeet]

Dear sisters,

I love cloth diapers! I use a wool cover that goes over the cloth insert ( it Velcros in front), I only have two, I wish I had more. I do not even know where to look, mine are Biobottoms made in Japan, but it says California, she is wearing size B 14-18 lbs...I love these.

Does anyone else use Diaper covers instead of plastic pants? What do you use.

I really like using A@D ointment (I use WalMart brand) it has Carrot Oil and Cod Liver Oil, if Melody's bottom gets red and irritated I put on this ointment and by the next diaper change it is healed. It's great stuff.

I was going to melt down Shae Butter, Cocoa Butter, Bees Wax and make a bottom cream, but I do not need to now that I have A@D ointment, it's great stuff.

Tammy,

I use to use Zote to wash with but also switched to Fels Naphtha, I sent you both, but I figure you would not be able to find Fells Naphtha in Guatemala, but you can probably find Zote since it's a Mexican type soap. I use Zote for spot cleaning, it works great it even takes out stains on babies shirts.

We use Vinegar in the diaper pail because it takes out the oder, we use to use Borax but we did not like the results and Vinegar works great....We thoroughly wash and rinse out diapers before putting them into the pail.

I want to start making baby wipes, I wonder if you could fold baby wash cloths and put into wipes bucket and put solution over them and use the washcloths instead of paper towels, it would be less waste and they can be rinsed out and washed with diapers. Just a thought.

Love, ~ sister Darlene ~

[Tammy]

Sister Darlene, I have a stack of washable baby wipes made out of plain cotton flannel! You could cut up old receiving blankets and make these; just run a zig-zag stitch or serge down the edges. They are nice, and I just throw them in the wash with the diapers. Great idea, sister, to put them in a plastic container and simply pour your homemade solution over them! I keep mine dry, and put the solution in a spray bottle. Squirt the baby's bottom, and wipe.

[benshelpmeet]

That's a great idea Tammy. I'm going to do it that way.

My brother James and sister Sarah are in their 20's James wife had their first child Aug 24th a little girl ''Emily Kay'', and Sarah had a little boy named ''Hunter James'' on Sept 1st the day before Nana passed on. Birth and Death this is life. We rejoice with my brother and sister. They are both young James and Sarah's husband haven't been getting 40 hours a week, they have been finding odd jobs to fill in the blanks. They both tell my daddy jokingly ...... ''we have to buy wipes'' ;D I'm going to tell them how to make their own.


Squirt,Squirt...Wow mama what was that?