Help me with poop (long)

babydontforget

I recently started trying cloth on my sons, and I'm finding myself faced with an obstacle: poop.

My sons get a mix of formula and breastmilk, so I can't just toss these dipes into the wash. And it happens that they both are save-it-up types: They poop relatively infrequently (every 2-3 days; when they were on bm only it was once a week), and when they finally poop it's a doozy. And these poops aren't easily dealt with. They're thick, like peanut butter.

I tried liners. With liners, I had to fish through the poop to grab the liner in order to dispose of it, and then there was still poop all over the dipe that I had to deal with, with a sprayer and/or with dunking and swishing. And that didn't even really work.

I tried no liners and just the sprayer. As with above, it just didn't work well. This poop is thick. It just doesn't come off easily.  

Also: wipes. When I use disposables, I can stick all the disposable wipes into the disposable diaper and then fold the whole package up and dispose of it in a tidy fashion. When I use cloth dipes, I have to just throw poopy disposable wipes into the trash, which makes the room smell. OR cope with cloth wipes. Do you rinse off your poopy cloth wipes before putting them in the wet bag? There was so much poop on them I felt I should, but...it was such a mess to try and rinse off poopy cloth wipes. 

Long story short, every poop we've dealt with in cloth has been horrible. My husband and I are both really bummed about it.

Any ideas? Also, at what amount of solids did your kids' poop get more solid, such that it just peeled off? Mine aren't even on solids yet, but maybe it would help to have an end in site...

yellowbabybuggy

Well I don't want to bum you out more but my toddler's poop is rarely just plop in the toilet poop.  They sit on it and it gets smashed in.  I use disposable liners and swishing for him. Yes I swish the wipes if they are really poopy.   Maybe try scraping the poop off then rinsing.  Poop is poop.  It isn't going to be fun..

Allie30

 I don't know what to tell you. My baby gets a mix of formula and breastmilk ?She's also a ?save it up? type?and I just throw her diapers in the wash without rinsing. I do one cold cycle without detergent (or sometimes even just a cold rinse) followed by one hot cycle with detergent followed by an extra rinse. I occasionally get shadow stains but they come out with sunning. As for the wipes i.e. occasionally use cloth wipes and just throw them in with the rest the laundry?no rinsing first?or I'll use disposable wipes and throw them in the laundry and then toss them when they come out of the washer.

babydontforget

Thanks. :-(

I don't need it to be fun, but I do need it to be more manageable. Last night my boys both had blowout poops at the same time. I spent 45 minutes trying to cope with it, and ended up with poop water all over myself and my bathroom. Ugh.

mrs.jlsprouse

FF and BF poop are both water soluble.  No need to rinse or spray until they start solids.  If E has a poop that isn't ploppable I leave the diaper folded over in the bathroom for an hour or so until the poop has hardened and then it peels right off when I open it.  If not I just dunk in the toilet.  Sometimes I will use the cloth wipe to scrape off the diaper and then dunk that in the toilet, that way I have something to hold the wipe over to the pail.  I much prefer the cloth wipes to disposables because I can just toss them in the pail with the diapers and wash at one time. 

yodasmistress

I use disposable wipes and we "store" the dirty ones in a diaper champ to minimize smell.

babydontforget

mrs.jlsprouse:

FF and BF poop are both water soluble.  No need to rinse or spray until they start solids.   

Really? I swear, if I scraped off this poop and put it in a measuring cup, there'd be 3/4 cup of poop. Can't imagine just putting that in the washing machine. 

Sam78

mrs.jlsprouse:

FF and BF poop are both water soluble.  No need to rinse or spray until they start solids.  If E has a poop that isn't ploppable I leave the diaper folded over in the bathroom for an hour or so until the poop has hardened and then it peels right off when I open it.  If not I just dunk in the toilet.  Sometimes I will use the cloth wipe to scrape off the diaper and then dunk that in the toilet, that way I have something to hold the wipe over to the pail.  I much prefer the cloth wipes to disposables because I can just toss them in the pail with the diapers and wash at one time. 

Yup - except I use a plastic knife to get under one edge.  I agree that putting loads of poop in the washer is probably not the best plan (though I have done it if totally rushed), but you also don't have to worry about getting every bit off, so just get the biggest chunk off using the method above and go on your merry way!

Dr.Loretta

My sons get a mix of formula and breastmilk, so I can't just toss these dipes into the wash

Yes you can. DD was exclusively FF, and the poo is still water soluble. Just toss that stuff in the wash!

You can also dunk the diapers. That's my thing now that DD is on solids. Sometimes they sit in the toilet for a bit, but it comes right off.

I don't rinse poopy wipes. They go in the diaper pail and get washed. I've had zero problems.

It took maybe 2-3 weeks for DD's poo to solidify. But it changes with new foods. Nothing we can't handle though.