Question for CD'ers?

[DDowning]

I haven't made up my mind yet as to whether to go cloth or disposables when the time comes but I have a general question I need to ask for those that use cloth as to what do you do when you are out traveling with your babies? When you need to change the diaper, is there something you especially do? Do you have to flush out the stuff in a toilet. What if you're out and there's not a toilet around? How do you store it in the diaper bag and contain any smells?

TIA for any thoughts!

[KathyO]

For trips of three (even four) days or less, where we're not hopping on and off planes/trains/etc., I bring the cloth diapers along, and just stow the used ones in a garbage bag until we get home. You'd be surprised how little odour there is. I don't do this because I'm some kind of inflexible fanatic... I just found it was pretty much as easy as travelling with disposables.

For trips where I need to travel light, or for longer trips, I go disposable. What's weird is how HAPPY I am to get home and go back to the cloth!

When it comes to dealing with poop "on the road", I tend to do less than I do at home. I'll slosh and wring the REALLY messy ones in my toilet at home, but that's because I figure it's all family germs, and I know when it was cleaned last! I've never done that away from home. I peel out the paper liner, and drop that into the toilet, which takes care of most of it, and then just bundle up the rest. By the time I get home, it's usually dried enough that it just "flakes" off the diaper. And then any remaining soaks and dissolves off in the wash, and you're back to square one.

A lot of folks are concerned about the "smelliness" of cloth diapers. Honestly, I find that they smell less. When I take the cover off my diaper pail on wash day, the dominant odour (such as it is) is not poop, but ammonia from the urine... and it's pretty moderate. By contrast, try taking the cover off a disposables diaper pail and taking a good deep whiff. When disposable-using friends visit, and put used diapers in the trash, I am always startled by how penetrating the smell is... I have no idea what the reason for this is, but it's what I've noticed.

Hope that all helps!

Cheers,

KathyO

[egoldber]

When we are out and about during the day and Sarah poops (which doesn't happen veyr often any more) I just roll the whole thing up, stick it in a ziplock and deal with it when I go home.

When I travel, if we are flying on vacation, I use disposables. If I am taking a short car trip, I use cloth and pack cloth. If I am taking a long car trip, I use disposables on the road and pack cloth.

HTH,

[C99]

Hi Deidra!

As you know, I'm using CDs almost exclusively on Nate. When he's in daycare or I'm out and about around town, we use cloth (except when we're going to the ped, in which I case I put a 'sposie on him for consistency's sake. I don't swish diapers at home, so I don't swish them when I am out either. I simply put the diaper and any wipes in a red Bummis bag that sits within my diaper bag. The bag has a drawstring tie and is waterproof. It holds about 6 diapers, but I've never stored more than 3 or 4 in it at a time. IME, breastfed-poop diapers don't really *smell* like an adult poop smells.

However, I'll be using dispoables when I go to California in 2 weeks.

HTH

[Calmegja]

Well, I don't deal with the diapers when we're out. I have an adorable set from http://www.HappyTushies.com (completely unnecessary, but completely darling- she does beautiful work, and it makes me feel so hip). If we change when we're out, the dirties go into a zippered bag, and I deal with it when we get home. I've even taken the plunge into cloth wipes when we're out. I pack them dry, and I carry a bottle of wipes solution in my bag. I squirt wipes or baby as needed, and stick those in my zippered bag, too!

I'm not a dunker, or much of a scraper. If there's poop (which has been less and less lately), I shake off whatever I can, and then stick the diaper in the pail. It works for us.

[DDowning]

Thank you everyone! Your comments have been very helpful!

[AngelaS]

I've found that going out and about with cloth when dd was a newborn was really much easier than taking her out in a disposie.

Why?? Because a simple CPF and a Proraps cover do a MUCH better job of holding in that runny BF poop that ANY disposable!

Breastfed poop is so runny, that almost any time my dd would poop in a disposable it would go up the back or the front and out a leg hole or two. Then I would have not only the diaper to change, but poop up her back and front, down her legs, all over her onesie, her clothes, sometimes my clothes or the stroller or the Bjorn and THAT was mess to clean up. :P

All of a sudden, simply rolling up a poopy diaper to take it home to wash doesn't seem like so much work, huh? LOL

[mama2be]

Based on someones recommedation I bought a bunch of baby powdered smelling bags from Walmart (super inexpensive) they are made by SASSY and I use those when out. I too don't scrape or anuything but Tristan is only 10 weeks old so there is no clumpy poop. I have purchased a spackle/drywall plastic scraper from Home Depot to use when his poops get bigger (another recommendation from here)...

Good luck and hope that helps...