A moment of truth about poopy diapers

[mommylamb]

So when DC poops, what do you do with it? Be truthful.

[candaceb]

totally TMI, but you asked about poop...

my kid tends to have very mushy poops. Those get wrapped up and put in a plastic bag and tossed in the kitchen garbage. The couple of times a week that he has solid poops, I dump them in the toilet and he takes great pride in flushing them. We are working on potty training so hopefully there's not too much more of this in my future.

[AnnieW625]

With DD1 was just folding up the diaper like normal and putting it in the Diaper Champ. Then when G Diapers first came out and she started getting horrible rashes from Pampers Cruisers in early 2007 I thought about trying them out and watched the video and the light turned on and I was like "I should be putting the poop in the toilet." So except for the newborn stage with DD2 (when we had diaper service) all poop has always gone in the toilet since DD1 was about 10 months old.

eta: mooshy non solid poops still often go straight to the trash can if it happens in a disposable. In a cloth diaper it soaks in the toilet for a bit.

[KLD313]

I'm not scraping mushy poop off of a diaper. If it's formed or even mostly formed I will throw it in the toilet.

[Mommy_Mea]

My kids only have mushy poops, so into the diaper pail it goes!

[maestramommy]

Into the toilet, every time. If it's runny, I hose it off.

[mommylamb]

I voted that I sometimes do it. I know I should do it more (all), but I don't. I know it's bad.

[JMS]

I'm out of the poopy diaper phase but tried to flush as many poops as possible when my kids were in diapers. This is kinda a spin-off - what about dog poops? I walk our dog, pick up his poops in a baggie and throw them in the trash. I pause and think about this often! Anyone have any thoughts or advice? :)

[wellyes]

A year of cloth diapering conditioned me to use the toilet, at least sometimes. It also convinced me that when it comes to really sticky mushy poop, disposables are glorious.

[trentsmom]

I'm not scraping mushy poop off of a diaper. If it's formed or even mostly formed I will throw it in the toilet.
:yeahthat: If it drops off easily, into the toilet it goes. If it clings, into the trash it goes.

[elliput]

With DD I was using sposies, so garbage or toilet depended on consistency. DS was in cloth so that all went in the toilet, obviously.


I'm out of the poopy diaper phase but tried to flush as many poops as possible when my kids were in diapers. This is kinda a spin-off - what about dog poops? I walk our dog, pick up his poops in a baggie and throw them in the trash. I pause and think about this often! Anyone have any thoughts or advice? :)

If the dog had an inside accident, I would flush just for ease of disposal. In general though, I have always tossed dog poop in the garbage.

[queenmama]

DD is still EBF so her poo goes in the wetbag and washes right out in the machine. Reeeeeally not looking forward to having to scrape or spray hers into the toilet when she starts solids.

If she's in a sposie I just throw it away since there's no way to scrape runny poo into the toilet.

Lara

[SnuggleBuggles]

My mom always told me to flush and I never listened to her...it sounded so gross! But, I tried and it made a world of difference wrt smells and its the right thing to do- win win.

[123LuckyMom]

I always throw it away in the diaper. Nobody ever told me not to do that. Why is it better, besides avoiding smell, to flush it? Poop is biodegradable, though the diapers aren't, and flushing uses water. Please clue me in!

[mikala]

I flush whatever rolls off. I cloth diaper most of the time so it's habit. If I'm not near a toilet I occasionally throw poopy disposables directly in the trash but I always feel guilty about it.

This page links to the background of why we should flush.
http://realdiaperevents.org/archives/all-about-poop-the-dirty-secrets-of-diapering

[wellyes]

I always throw it away in the diaper. Nobody ever told me not to do that. Why is it better, besides avoiding smell, to flush it? Poop is biodegradable, though the diapers aren't, and flushing uses water. Please clue me in!
Landfills aren't designed to prevent contamination from human waste (what isn't absorbed by the diaper) and the septic system is.

http://www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/default.htm?id=1189
This site talks about both diapers and "adult incontinence products" and honestly, I do hope adults who use those products do flush what can be flushed! I guess from a disease perspective, babies & toddlers aren't that different.

[wencit]

We are out of diapers here, but when my kids were in them, I always tried to flush as much of the poop as possible. If it was a messy one, I'd take some toilet paper and try to scrape off as much as I could. The less poop that stayed in my Diaper Champ, the longer it would go without smelling.

[Cam&Clay]

:yeahthat: If it drops off easily, into the toilet it goes. If it clings, into the trash it goes.

:yeahthat: That's what I always did.

[123LuckyMom]

Well, you learn something new every day! I'll be flushing from now on! Thanks for enlightening me!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

I voted for the first option. We did cloth diapers for almost 3 years, so there was no other choice anyway. I used liners to get most poop off and a mini shower to spray it off.

[edurnemk]

We CD, so always in the toilet, but even when we use disposables I shake it off in the toilet. Of course with newborn poop it stays in the diaper.

[lizzywednesday]

Flush at home, when solid/formed or mostly formed; toss when runny and daycare tosses it in the trash, so the rooms where diapered kids are tended STINK.

It wouldn't have occurred to me to flush if all y'all 'round these parts hadn't pointed it out ... or if we'd never done any cloth diapering.

[SoCalMommy]

I always liked the idea of throwing it in the toilet, but we use disposables and the thought of carrying a poopy diaper (formed or not) through part of the house to reach the toilet isn't worth it to me. Not to mention that I would have to place it on DC's dresser (ick!) while I put on the new diaper and re-dress. With a toddler who often moves around a bunch, it is not worth it. Once the diaper is rolled up, away it goes!

[BayGirl2]

We cd and even if using disposable inserts they are compostable, and poop gets flushed. Diapers with messy poop get dipped upside down in the toilet, so my hand does not even touch the poop or water.

As for carrying through the house - we have a small bin on the changing table that dirty diapers get put into. After baby is changed I carry it into the bathroom to dump poop and go into the dirty diaper bin. I have to go in there anyway to wash my hands so its no extra steps.

Dirty disposables in our trash smell way more than dirty CD's. And poop/pee contained in a diaper is one of the less gross things I've had to deal with as a parent. I find the idea of really old poop triple wrapped in plastic sitting in landfills totally horrifyingly disgusting.

[SnuggleBuggles]

As for carrying through the house - we have a small bin on the changing table that dirty diapers get put into. After baby is changed I carry it into the bathroom to dump poop and go into the dirty diaper bin. I have to go in there anyway to wash my hands so its no extra steps.

That's what I always think- you are heading that way anyway.

[Tinochka]

I used cloth diapers with both my kids, saved lots of $$, all the poop was going directly to the toilet after spraying.