OK, no one responded to my last post. On the fence about CDing. Couple questions.

kyoto · August 2009

I ordered a trial pack of Gro Babys and I've been testing them out on my baby. So far, so good - no leaks, even overnight. I only have enough diapers to use 4 times a day, and no poopy diapers yet. Nervous about that...

However, they are not as soft as they were at first. I have hard water and I'm using All free and clear. I know it's not the best for cloth, but I'll switch to Planet or Tiny Bubbles once we decide if we're going to go to cloth or not.

So, what can I do about hard water?

Second part - Husband is a little weary of poop sitting in a bag for 2 days, and also of washing them in our machine. He's a SUPER neat freak and doesn't like the idea of stains on the diapers. What can I do to ease his mind? He's also concerned about how 'puffy' the diapers make our daughter. Her outfits now barely fit over the diaper. Other than these issues, he's on board to switch to cloth.

Help please? Any other info for a newbie that can help us make this decision?

JimsBride08 · August 2009

I've never tried those, but I have seen people talking about using Calgon for hard water.

My diapers have yet to stain. Sun is awesome! As far as poop, it's really not that bad. DS had so many blowouts with disposables, the poop was all over his clothes. So it's kind of like what's worse-poop on the clothes or on the diapers? I chose diapers.

The puffy is cute! We had to go up a size in clothes but that wasn't really a problem. I would just keep trying them. We are now using 1/2 the amount of garbage bags as we were with disposables.

luvlieK · August 2009

Sorry I didn't see the other post.

We used Planet for a year and LOVED it. We use Mountain Green now and love it as well. We have hard water and decided to use just the detergent. We have a lot of BGs and when I contacted them about an additive like calgon or RLR, they said it would nullify the warranty to use it. We haven't had any real problems.

Don't worry about poop. If you are eBF, then the poop can stay in the bin. If not, I would scrap or get a diaper sprayer and put the majority into the toilet.

mrsmikey · August 2009

For hard water you can add RLR or Calgon to the wash.

For stains, 99% of the time you can sun them out completely. Easy and cheap. If he's afraid of poop in the machine, it's going to happen whether or not you CD. DS has to use disposables at daycare and he comes home all the time with poopy clothes from diaper leaks.

Buy bigger clothes or find trimmer diapers. Sorry if that's a smartass comment, but really?

luvlieK · August 2009

Oh and I forgot to add that a good wash routine is the most important, experiment with that.

nkintzel · August 2009

haha, sorry. Your post made me laugh a little. The fluffy butt thing is one of the cool things about CD's, especially when they start to walk! I really appreciate when DS falls down and has a pillow to land on!

Ok, so stains. usually stains will sun out. You can put your diapers out in the sun,and they will literally disappear. This is more so for BF poop, though. Since we've had DS on solids, some of the stains (mostly on our Organic cotton velour) haven't sunned out. But, um, they're diapers. So, whatever. Its just one of those things.

You diapers will get less soft over time. That's just what happens.The All Free and Clear isnt' the worst, but it will build-up some in hard water. We have REALLY hard water, and the only thing I've found that works for us is using Vaska detergent and occasionally adding some Calon to the wash cycle.

mrsmikey · August 2009

luvlieK:

Sorry I didn't see the other post.

We used Planet for a year and LOVED it. We use Mountain Green now and love it as well. We have hard water and decided to use just the detergent. We have a lot of BGs and when I contacted them about an additive like calgon or RLR, they said it would nullify the warranty to use it. We haven't had any real problems.

Don't worry about poop. If you are eBF, then the poop can stay in the bin. If not, I would scrap or get a diaper sprayer and put the majority into the toilet.

I have heard that Cotton Babies say pretty much ANYTHING will void the warranty on their diapers.

papagena · August 2009

I can't answer the hard water issue, so I'll leave that be, but...

Is your DD EBF? If so, there's not a big deal to letting the poo sit - it's so watery anyway, the likelihood of getting any appreciable amount off is pretty slim, I'd think. And what would you be doing with disposables? Wouldn't they be sitting in a bag? Granted you could take them outside after awhile, but you could do the same with cloth (at least get it near the washer and keep a smaller bag upstairs). I never found nb poo to be very stinky, to be honest. EBF poo is entirely water soluble, and I've never had a problem with it remaining in the machine. Once your LO is on solids, you end up taking a lot of the poo out of the diaper before it goes into the pail, so you don't have a ton of poo sitting around. We use flushable liners or fleece liners (which are a tad easier to get semi-plopable poo off of than the diapers) to help with this process.

If you line dry in a sunny area, that will really minimize stains, although it will add a bit to the crunchiness of your diapers - you can put them in the dryer after they're mostly/completely dry to help soften them, or add some vinegar to a rinse, or even soak on occasion in oxyclean (wouldn't do this often, and rinse really well afterwards). Sunning diapers is a great way to get stains out. I've heard that someone rinses with some lemon juice to help combat stains, as well.

As for the extra fluffiness, there are trimmer diapers out there, but in general, cloth is fluffier than disposables, because it doesn't have that gel to trap the moisture - it relies on the quality & amount of fabric. It hasn't been a huge issue for us. You can just move up a clothing size, or for jeans, get some boy jeans - they have a bit more room in them anyway.

HTH a bit!

mrs.a.butler · August 2009

i missed your last post sorry I will try to answer to the best of my ability....

There is something you can add to your hard water to help....some kind of water softener, not sure what it's called hopefully someone else will chime in

If your dd is ebf, then you can get a diaper sprayer (it attaches to the back of the toilet) and spray off the diapers when they get poop on them. when they start to get more solid you can do that or get flushable liners, so all you have to do is drop the liner in the toilet and the poop is gone And as for stains, hanging diapers in the sun will "bleach" the stains out. I didn't believe it until i tried it the first time and I have yet to have a stain on a diaper

one of the things with cds is they make for a "fluffy butt". I've never had issues with clothes fitting ds. although i have heard certain brands run smaller than others (like gerber runs real small). a lot of girls on here also use fitteds and/or prefolds with wool, so you wouldn't use pants on top of those, you only need shirts.

mh2t · August 2009

I haven't CD'd yet, which is why I did not respond the first time. No idea on your first question. On your second, I guess you and your DH need to decide whether the pros of CDing are worth the cons. From lurking on here, I've learned that a good wash cycle plus an occasional line-drying in the sun will get out all stains. I currently have in my stash 11 used diapers that I bought online - none of them have a single stain.

And it's true that cloth is always going to be "puffier" than disposables. I agree babies might not look as cute in cloth as in trimmer disposables (when they're under clothes, anyway; disposables are pretty ugly IMO), but for me, that's really secondary to the benefits to the baby. We're going to CD because I do not want yucky chemicals next to my baby's skin, period, and because it's cheaper (hopefully ... I am getting sucked in to the diaper-buying addiction already!). My DH is on board because it makes me happy and because he likes the idea of being more EF.

Don't know whether this is what you were looking for or not.

luvlieK · August 2009

mrsmikey:
luvlieK:

Sorry I didn't see the other post.

We used Planet for a year and LOVED it. We use Mountain Green now and love it as well. We have hard water and decided to use just the detergent. We have a lot of BGs and when I contacted them about an additive like calgon or RLR, they said it would nullify the warranty to use it. We haven't had any real problems.

Don't worry about poop. If you are eBF, then the poop can stay in the bin. If not, I would scrap or get a diaper sprayer and put the majority into the toilet.

I have heard that Cotton Babies say pretty much ANYTHING will void the warranty on their diapers.

true, you can pretty much only use a recommended detergent, dawn, bleach

But I really haven't had problems with my hard water and BGs. Also I fully respect it because they have a great warranty and completely replaced my diapers after 11.5 months

mrsmikey · August 2009

luvlieK:
mrsmikey:
luvlieK:

Sorry I didn't see the other post.

We used Planet for a year and LOVED it. We use Mountain Green now and love it as well. We have hard water and decided to use just the detergent. We have a lot of BGs and when I contacted them about an additive like calgon or RLR, they said it would nullify the warranty to use it. We haven't had any real problems.

Don't worry about poop. If you are eBF, then the poop can stay in the bin. If not, I would scrap or get a diaper sprayer and put the majority into the toilet.

I have heard that Cotton Babies say pretty much ANYTHING will void the warranty on their diapers.

true, you can pretty much only use a recommended detergent, dawn, bleach

But I really haven't had problems with my hard water and BGs. Also I fully respect it because they have a great warranty and completely replaced my diapers after 11.5 months

That's good to know. If I had problems, I guess I just wouldn't tell them I used it! I also have hard water, and it does cause problems. My diapers repell if I don't use a water softener. So I use Calgon with every wash and also use vinegar (it's not approved either) in the rinse and I haven't had any issues with mine. I've had them for about a year now and they're still in great shape.

kyoto · August 2009

Thanks for the info so far.

What is RLR?

And yes, I realize that fluffiness is part of the charm of CDing. It's a valid concern for us, so I don't see the point of the snarky comment (to one of the PPs). But anyway... Seeing as I'm coming from using disposables on my older daughter and for 3 months on this one, it's a big change. He even asked 'are you doing it right? Is it supposed to be that big?' so I thought I'd ask. I have no other CDs to compare it to. 3 days ago is the first time I ever tried cloth.

Yes, from time to time, some poop makes it into the washer. We've been really lucky though, only a few blowout leaks and not so bad. THose get washed in the sink in the laundry room before making it to the washer. That's his concern. He wants to rinse out all the diapers in the sink before they go into the pail. I just don't want to have to deal with that. She is EBF.

nkintzel · August 2009

kyoto:

He wants to rinse out all the diapers in the sink before they go into the pail. I just don't want to have to deal with that. She is EBF.

This would be an enormous waste of time and water. If she is EBF, just throw it in the washer. Really. My husband and 15 year old daughter were really concerned about this when I had DS. One load and they were totally over it.

Besides...why is it less gross to wash poop down your sink than to throw it in the washer where it'll get all agitated with hot soapy water and drained away? I mean, don't you like, brush your teeth and wash your face in your sink? To me that would be a way grosser poop/human interaction than in my washer.

I seriously didn't mean that to sound snarky, its just an honest observation and maybe a point you could make to your husband. Its all psychological. He wants to wash it down the sink just so he can SEE it, it seems. Whereas, in the washer, you can't SEE it getting washed away. Otherwise, why the difference?

kyoto · August 2009

nkintzel:
kyoto:

He wants to rinse out all the diapers in the sink before they go into the pail. I just don't want to have to deal with that. She is EBF.
This would be an enormous waste of time and water. If she is EBF, just throw it in the washer. Really. My husband and 15 year old daughter were really concerned about this when I had DS. One load and they were totally over it.
Besides...why is it less gross to wash poop down your sink than to throw it in the washer where it'll get all agitated with hot soapy water and drained away? I mean, don't you like, brush your teeth and wash your face in your sink? To me that would be a way grosser poop/human interaction than in my washer.
I seriously didn't mean that to sound snarky, its just an honest observation and maybe a point you could make to your husband. Its all psychological. He wants to wash it down the sink just so he can SEE it, it seems. Whereas, in the washer, you can't SEE it getting washed away. Otherwise, why the difference?

Thanks. Yeah, it makes total sense to me, but not to him. He's weird like that. I guess because our clothes go in there too. I know the poop isn't there anymore, but seriously, he's strange.

Thanks for all the info. I'm really excited about going to cloth. I just need him to get on board.

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OK, no one responded to my last post. On the fence about CDing. Couple questions.

Re: OK, no one responded to my last post. On the fence about CDing. Couple questions.

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