Cloth Diapering Question - Lake Oswego, OR

I use a simple human stainless steel kitchen trash can, it has a step on flip top and a removable inner can which I carry to the laundry room with me and spray it will bleach water and apple spray with each wash- works great, better than any diaper genie contraption which I tried. I bought the can at Bed Bath and Beyond
good luck

Yay for cloth diapers! :D

I always used a dry pail. It was so much harder to deal with lugging the pail around and draining it if it had water in it. I'd throw the diapers in the dry pail (just a trash can with a lid that lifts when you step on a pedal; aka a "step-can"--the insides of those are a bucket with a handle) and leave them there for several days with no ill effects. Even the wet ones that I'd rinsed poop off of. I washed my diapers twice a week.

The LiveJournal clothdiapering community is a great resource. You can sign up for LiveJournal for free at www.livejournal.com and then apply for clothdiapering membership at http://community.livejournal.com/clothdiapering/profile., The people in that community are super knowledgeable and helpful in all aspects of cloth diapering.

I used cloth diapers with my son who is now 4 and we had a diaper pale with a deoderizer in it and the diaper service came and picked them up twice a week. I would keep the pale outside the front door. They say you are suppose to rinse out the diapers in the toliet to eliminate the odor.

I use a diaper pail liner from Happy Tushies that zips closed and it really keeps the smell in the liner not he whole room. You can get it on thier web page or do a search of other retailers that sell them. Call before you dirve to a local one because I drove from West Marin into San Francisco to Natural Resources to find out they had Happy TUshies products but not what I wanted. I wash every 3 days but I also have 2 in diapers. You might want to get two pail liners for once a week washing.
H.

Hi A..

It has been 6 years since I did diapers, but I also lived in an apartment at the time and only did them twice a week. I kept all diapers (poopy and wet) in the same pail. I'd rinse the poopy ones in the toilet quickly just to get the solids out and then drop them in a pail with just a little bit of water and about a tablespoon of bleach. I got the measurements by searching under cloth diapers on the net. There are plenty of sites that will give you instructions.

Anyway, on wash day, I would dump the whole thing in the wash, water and all. I'd wash in hot water with a very mild detergent, then just throw them in the dryer. It was fast, easy, my baby never got a rash, the diapers remained soft and didn't deteriorate, and there was nothing left in the machine at the end of the wash. It really isn't hard at all, but I would look up the instructions on the net. Good luck to you. Cloth diapers are really the best choice for babies in my opinion. Hope it works for you.

A., I am glad you are switching to cloth diapers. I raised three children with cloth diapers, but of course with the first two, most people did. I always thought they were more comfortable if nothing else. So to answer your question, get a diaper pail....just any plastic type container that has a lid. Then put at least a gallon of water in it, cover and just toss diapers in when you need to. The worst thing will be rinsing dirty diapers before adding to the pail. We all used the toilet but you might want to do something different. You will want to add some kind of disinfectant to the water. Most of us used bleach but there are other things available as well. At least we have it easier than our grandmothers. My grandmother said she only had a dozen diapers, with no running water in the house. When she had dirty diapers, she had to scrape off the poop, and washed diapers everyday. Good luck.
A.

My son is in cloth. I wash diapers every 3 days. I store soiled ones in a diaper 'pail' (not really a pail!) with a lining sack from cotton babies, I think it was. I also use de-odorizing disks from the same website. I bought a spray that works quite well, but seems to cause the poop stains to set in, so I've stopped using it so much now. I use flushable liners so the poop goes straight in the toilet - I think that is the most important thing for reducing the smell.

At 3 days you can definitely smell the ammonia from the urine, so i wouldn't go more than that without washing.

I wash 1x on cold then 1x on hot, with extra rinse. A tiny bit of detergent - if there's too much and it doesn't come out he does get a rash. I add a few drops of tea tree oil to the second wash, although I often don't notice the difference.

I tumble for 15-20 mins because it helps make them softer, then line dry. The cloth diapers I use are quite thick and take a while to dry - I wash in the evening then hang them outside. They are usually dry around lunchtime or mid afternoon, depending on how hot it is. In the winter I might tumble all the time. Actually, drying them more slowly outside, ie on cooler days, they are softer - quick drying in the sun makes them hard. For some odd reason tumbling before you put them out makes them softer than tumbling after they are dry to soften them up!

Hope that helps,
E.

PS Check the instructions for the type of diaper you pick. Seems like a lot now don't recommend a wet pail. I do have a pail with water (a pedal trash can for the bathroom) that I drop my washable wipes into, because they do get poop on. I add a 1/2 scoop of oxyclean to that. The wipes are just a pack of 10 face cloths from target ($3 for the lot, I think it was) that I cut into 1/4. I've been using them for about 6 or 7 months now - much more economical than disposable wipes :D

Dear A.,

I'm sure everyone of a certain age has written and told you that you store dirty diapers in a diaper pail. These are plastic containers that you should be able to buy at any good baby store. Rinse out the dirty diapers in the toilet first and wring them out and put in the diaper pail. Wet diapers can just be thrown right in it. Put the top on. These diaper pails are very useful later on for storing clothes in (last year I finally threw out my 26 year old son's diaper pail last year after it cracked completely)! Also, air drying is always best...but the rainy season will cut down on that.

E.

Hi A.,
I store wet and soiled diapers in a dry pail. I wash a load of diapers every 3 days (the washing machine can wash 24-30 diapers in a load). I use a deo-disk in the lid of my pail which prevents odor problems. If you only plan to wash diapers once a week you'll probably want to rinse the diapers before putting them in the pail to prevent strong urine odor. Using flushable liners in the diapers helps reduce the mess because you just flush away the solids, you'll still want to rinse though if wash day is more than a couple days away. Sprinkling baking soda in the pail helps control odor and is safe for diapers. I tried the wet pail method when I diapered my first daughter 12 years ago, I found it to be messy and unnecessary (it can also be a drowning hazard if baby can reach the pail). Avoid bleach as it's harsh on sensitive baby skin and reduces life of the diapers. Tumbling dry the diapers for 10 min will keep them soft, hanging them in the sun to finish drying disenfects and brightens them. Check out www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com and www.diaperjungle.com for best laundry detergents and washing tips. Hope this helps. Best wishes in cloth diapering, K.

I also lived in a apartment when my son was a baby, he is 36 now. I had a large Diaper Pail( do they still have those?)
With 1 cup of vinegar, and filled half the pail w/ water. I also used what they called diaper liners, that looked alot like Handi wipes, but smaller and thinner, poopie diapers, just take out the liner, flush down the toilet, throw diaper
in pail, when pail was full, I would pour excess water down toilet, throw diapers in bath tub, rinse w/ water wring out
take to laundry room. Those diaper stayed bright white, thru both kids, son potty trained at 17 mo,daughter 2 yrs 2 mo.( Had a set back due to a eye surgery) I had alot of incentive to get them out of diapers. Both kids were allergic to disposable diapers, So that wasn't an option. Husband was in military, couldn't afford them anyway. Good Luck G'ma C.

I tried the wet pail system in an apartment with my first baby and it DID NOT go well, lol.

I now dry pail, much easier. Also, know that breastfed babies diapers do not need to be rinsed or sprayed off before washing, the poo dissolves in the wash. Only when you start solids at six months, do you need to remove the poo before dropping the diaper in the pail. Sometimes a rinse is appropriate to prevent stains at that point.

Make sure you have enough diapers to last until you get to do laundry. Then it's no problem.

All you need is a diaper pail. You can keep the in a dry pail or a wet pail. If you are going to be washing say every 3 days i would use aa wet pail so that sains don't set in. I don't use a pail at all since i wash every day but i have a machine and a frequent peeier. I am sure you well get all kinds of responces.
A.

I just bought a big plastic hamper and I toss 'em in it when they're soiled. (They smell less if you rinse them a bit first.) It's best to wash them every couple of days but if you have to stretch it out to three or four days, you might want to rinse them in the bathtub with some vinegar, which gets rid of the ammonia from the urine anyway.

Line drying helps the diapers to last longer, too - although I've found that it's hard to keep enough dry diapers around during winter. I once put a couple of diapers on a cookie sheet and heated them dry in the oven on low heat...

To store the soiled diapers until laundry day, get a diaper pain and fill it with cold water and a little pine sol. Put the soiled diapers in there until wash day. On wash day, empty the entire pail into the washer and put it on spin. Once all the water spins out, wash as usual. You may want to re-think the air drying - I know that when I air dry clothes, they are very rough. Wouldn't be comfortable for a diaper!

I found that storing dirty diapers in a closed pail made them smell really musty so now I wring them out if they are soaking wet and hang them on my clothesline. You may not have one in a an apartment but maybe you have a balcony or other area with sun? If not, I'd say try to do laundry as frequently as possible (I wash our diapers with all the other laundry, but some may think they should be a separate load.) because once they get musty it is hard to get the smell out without bleach.
Also I use this soap called Charlie's which is really mild but effective and doesn't leave build up which will eventually make the diapers less absorbent. Most "natural" detergents leave some kind of residue or build up.
Good luck and congratulations on the move to cloth diapering!

hi A.!
prefolds work well with G-DIAPER covers
i switched to lite wrap and wisper wrap covers once the baby got bigger, found those work better with a boy

an must are LINER sheets, get them online (TINY TOTS) or at natural resources, they catch the solids and are flushable, makes changing a dirty cloth diaper so easy!
pee rinses out easily and you can re-use them to go absolutely green :)

i agree with moms who recommend dry storage - convenient and no problem to wait with the wash if solids are dumped in toilet before, add a scoop of non-toxic oxygen power from Trader Joe's to wash, i'd most definitely stay away from bleach.
also, i used a diaper service (TINY TOTS) which makes it very easy, because esp. with line drying there is a little extra work - but that said i have done that as well and it is absolutely doable and cheaper (but the commercial services are probably saving water...)
just rub the dry diaper between your hands a bit before putting it on, it will soften easily that way
my baby NEVER had a diaper rash and he is toilet training at 16 mo now - it is amazing
check diaperfreebaby.org
and EC (elimination communication) - so amazing, he used the toilet with a baby insert at age 5 mo
and now he mostly tells me when he needs to go!!!!
GOOD LUCK, great choice,
C.

A.,
I used a dry pail, regular diaper pail that you stepped on to open the lid. I kept a trash bag in it and just twisted it closed after putting in the dirty diaper. I always added vinager to my rinse water, old trick my Grandma and Mom taught me. It kills the amonia in the diaper and cuts the amount of rashes down.
Great job going cloth!!

It is so great you are using cloth diapers. I use Melaleuca products which are also helping the environment. The advice I got from the Melaleuca quick reference book is to be sure to use a pail with a lid for soiled diapers. Cover the diapers with a combination of water a 1 capful of Sol-u-mel, 1 1/2 oz of MelaBrite and 1 1/2 oz of Melapower. Soak them overnight before washing with 1/8 cup of Melapower and 1-2 capfuls of Sol-u-mel. For whiter diapers sdd 1/8 cup of Melabrite. Treat the pail with Sol-u-guard Botanical to disinfect. These products are all nontoxic for the baby.

I hope this helps.

S. M

I'd love to know the answer to your questions. I'm thinking of switching to cloth diapers too...