Duh!! I think I've been using my Diaper Champ wrong this whole time!!

[peasprout]

Someone please tell me where you're supposed to put the bag! I've been inserting the bag, opening it up to fit around the rim of the Champ, then pulling the blue piece over it to keep it in place. DH (who finally got tired of the smell coming from the resulting gap) looked at it today and said I was doing it wrong. He thinks you're supposed to put the bag in, thread it through the hole in the blue thing, then close the lid. The chute is then what keeps the bag in place. This makes sense, but could I have really been doing it wrong for the past 18 months?! Please tell me I'm not the only one that's done this,...I feel like an idiot! Who would've thought you had to read the instructions for a diaper pail! (were there any?)

JP- mommy to Ally & Zach
(11/02 & 4/04)

[amp]

Um...I don't think you are an idiot at all, buuuut.....I do it like your husband is telling you.

[mommd]

Your husband is right. There were instructions, which I almost threw away but I had to look up how to put the bag in. Don't feel like an idiot, it is not obvious how the bag goes in. :)

[Momof3Labs]

I've been doing what you used to do, and haven't had any problems with the Champ.

[cimberdog]

I guess I'm an idiot because I've been doing it like you do it! Whoops!

[jd11365]

Me too! When the baby gets up from her nap, I can't wait to try it your husband's way to see if it helps with the smell!

Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
5-1-03

[JennyLynn]

OK I do something totally different! I don't use regular trash bags, just plastic grocery bags. I loop the handles over the blue "arms" on the Champ, and when the lid comes down there is a pretty tight seal. I haven't had any odor problems but DS isn't stinky yet, still exclusively breast fed.

Jenny

[babymama]

Goofy me! I've been doing this the same way you were doing it. THanks for letting me know how to cut down on the stink!
I swear I read the instructions and I remember them not being very specific...or anyway, not specific enough for my preggo brain at the time. Well, I guess you *do* learn something new every day!

Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03

[jasmine_bay]

I read the instructions on the Diaper Champ and figured out how to put the bag in... but I can't get the handle to turn. I'm at my wits end and about ready to take it back to Babysrus and either ask for a demo or return it as a defective product. Am I doing something wrong? I'm due in 5 weeks with my first child, so this is all new to me. :-)

[justlearning]

DH, bless his heart, has usually been the one who has taken the bags out of the Diaper Champ and replaced them. Unlike me, he does read directions so I believe he did read how the Diaper Champ is supposed to work.

We use garbage bags and do thread them through the blue part and then usually put the outside of the bag over the Diaper Champ outer edge (so it just barely shows when closed) to hold it in place. If I don't want the edges to show, I don't put it over the outer edges (just over the blue part) and that works fine too.

I'd guess that DS has the stinkiest diapers any baby's ever produced, and the Diaper Champ does a great job containing the smell. Every time DH or I change out the bag, we always spray the inside of the Diaper Champ and the top diaper chute part with Lysol and let it air out awhile.

Don't feel like an idiot, though... My first time trying to change out the bag I couldn't at all figure out how to even open it up and had to wait for DH to show me that night! :) BTW, to the other poster who's having problems turning the handle, just move the handle from the front to the back or from the back to the front rather than trying to twist/turn it. If that doesn't work, then maybe yours is defective or the bag's in wrong. The only times that our handle won't move is when the diaper champ is too full.

HTH!

[Smiles81]

Well I do it both ways and I don't think either one is better or worse. JMO though.

[dr mom]

Just wanted to say THANK YOU for posting this, apparently I am part of the Idiot Club too, because I have been using mine wrong for the past 4 months. Hopefully this will solve our ongoing problem with the lingering stink of poo...

-Cindy

[MomtoRowan]

Count me in club. Guess I should have read the instructions! Going to change it as soon as I get home!!

Shellie
Mom to Rowan - 2/19/04

[milesmom]

I know I am late on this and maybe no one will read it but ... I just put a box of baking soda in the bottom (the kind for the frig) and it is really adding to the effectiveness of my Diaper Champ.

Michelle

DS - Miles 6/02

[jlcana]

Let me join the "DUH" club-I've been doing it wrong for months and was about to go buy another Diaper Genie because the smell of the Diaper Champ was getting to me! Thanks to BBB for enlightening the brain dead in our house- I keep asking DH, "how many college degrees are in this house and how many does it take to figure out the Diaper Champ??"

Putting the bag up throgh the hole in the blue piece instead of under it made a huge difference! Thanks again!!!

Lisa
Christopher 3/18/02
Another boy EDD 9/20/04