So, now I've got my CD, what do I do?

[Melanie2]

I've read that depending on the fabrics, you should wash them in a special way before using them? The ones I just rec'd are my bumkin's all in ones, but I will be getting some unbleached cotton fitteds and a cotton/hemp fitted.

Also, some people mentioned spraying something (bac-out) on poopy diapers then putting them in the pail until you wash them. Do you do this? Where do you get it?

When you say you add stuff to your diaper pail for order (tea tree oil, baking powder) do you just throw it in the liner with the diapers?

Thank you ladies!


(aka Melanie - who's very glad she wasn't the only one who couldn't
figure out how to log in)

[BethG]

Bumkins AIOs should be ready after 2 washings in warm or hot. You should dry them in between washings.

Hemp may need 2-4 washes on hot, again being sure to dry in-between washes.

Unbleached cotton, I have read, can take many many washes on hot to prepare them. Some people need to turn up their hot water heaters to adequately prepare them. This is one reason I ordered my unbleached prefolds from naturalebaby.com, since you can get them pre-washed for free if you buy a dozen. If the unbleached fitteds happen to be Kissaluvs, they will be ready after about 3 hot washes.

I use liners, so I usually don't pre-treat. If for some reason the poop missed the liner (it happens) and it was messy, I spray the diaper with Zout (which is a miracle product as far as I'm concerned). If Sarah happens to have diarrhea, I don't TOUCH them, but I then add Biz to the wash cycle and let them soak for a couple hours. My washer has a soak cycle you can turn on, but you can do the same thing by lifting the lid after it has agitated a few times and just let it sit a couple hours. My diapers are all very clean. When washing, make sure to NOT USE TOO MUCH DETERGENT. This is deadly to your diapers and causes more problems than almost anything. I use 1/4 of the recommended amount of Tide and have no trouble.

I don't add anything to my pail. I used to add a 1/4 cup baking soda, and I got too lazy so I stopped. :) If the pail really stinks, I wash. It's usually not bad.

Happy CD'ing!,

[sparkeze1]

I washed my Bumkins AIOs once before using them and I don't know if it really mattered. Make sure you secure all the velcro tabs, and they will last longer if you wash and them then inside out (fasten them backwards).

Hemp needs to washed on average 6-8 times before they reach full absorbancy. Of course you don't have to wash them that much before you use them for the first time, but probably twice will do. Just realize that they won't be at maximum absorbancy yet. One thing that you can do with hemp that you can also do with unbleached diapers is boiling them. One boil for about 10 minutes should help out a lot. Most places that sell unbleached diapers say that the hot water heater needs to be turned up when washing them, and they need to be washed several times with the extra hot water. Boiling them should help break down the coating, then you should probably wash them in the washing machine a couple times.

Detergent, detergent, detergent...we have been having a big problem with soap buildup! We were using 1/4 cup of All F&C but now we're down to 1/8 cup. Hopefully that will help with that problem, but I would suggest to you that you use very little detergent! As Beth said earlier, you don't need a lot.

If you use baking soda, tea tree oil, or some other means for odor, you can just sprinkle it in the pail liner. With tea tree oil, only use like 2 drops. It smells really strong and a little goes a long way! There are also recipes for making your own deodisks online. I haven't done it myself but if you did, you would tape those to the inside of the pail (not liner).

[BethG]

Welcome back! :)

[sparkeze1]

Oh and the Bac-out, you can get it at a lot of health food stores, otherwise I know Earthbaby.com sells it, and I'm sure there are other online sites.

Are you CD a newborn? My DS has about 1 poop every day or two so I rinse them out by hand, then put it in the pail so I don't use anything (sometimes Zout though! :)). For a newborn, almost all dirty diapers are poopy though...

[sparkeze1]

Thanks! I did what you suggested and it worked! Yay!!:)

[Melanie]

First off, Thank you thank you thank you for all of the suggestions! The only people I know IRL who CD'd is my mom, and you know it's changed quite a bit since then.

I'd prefer not to turn up my water heater for safety reasons, so I may try the boiling thing. I don't have too many that I've ordered, so it shouldn't take too long.

Wow - 6 to 8 times! I think I will try the boiling tips for the unbleached & hemps. Do you think this is a bad idea if they are fitteds, though? I'm wondering about the other materials used in them like elastic, snaps or velcro.

When you use the clothes dryer for the non-wool diapers (cotton, unbleached, hemp, AIOs) what setting do you use?

I also use All F&C...I will make a note to use barely any. I believe we have hard water here (just moved), so I don't think I'll be trying any of the natural soaps. Do any of you use vinegar and/or baking soda at some point in the cycle?

I will check the local HFS for the bac-out. I wonder if they charge more for tea tree oil than Target? Right now I'm not sure what we're going to do for a pail, since I Have the diaper champ which should work for cloth dipes anyhow, but we're doing a mix of cloth & disp. I am also an avid Zout user, but I'm worried about the soap build-up in the diapers b/c I tend to over use it.

Ds is 14 months old today! He's 97% BF and just begun embarking on the world of finger foods (he's picky about textures and would never eat baby food) so he's barely pooping these days even with probiotics.

Mommy to Jonah

[egoldber]

Which diapers did you get specifically? We can give better advice then. My unbleached Kissaluvs and unbleached Motherease diapers just needed regular washing in hot about 2-3 times to be "ready". Unbleached fitteds tend to be made form fabric that has already been pre-washed to some extent and don't require quite as much preparation as unbleached prefolds do.

My water is moderately hard. I found that All F&C was "OK". I used Tide when I was at my in-laws over Thanksgiving and found that worked MUCH better, so I switched to Tide.

I do two wash cycles. I do a regular cold wash with 1/4 the recommended amount of detergent. My washer has a soak option, and I set that option, which inserts a two hour soak. I then do a second hot wash cycle with just a smidge of detergent. If the diapers have a strong urine smell when I put them in the washer, I add a 1/4 cup baking soda to the cold wash. If I still notice a smell after the cold wash is done, then I add a Downy ball with vinegar. This seems to happen about once a week or so.

Zout is not a soap/detergent, so don't worry about build up. If I notice any stubborn stains, I add a half-capful of Biz and that works really well.

HTH,

[sparkeze1]

As far as boiling fitteds goes, I just bought several fitteds from Jen at Mom & Me Creations (you should check them out, I got one early and I wish I could start my stash all over again!) and she told me I could boil these fitteds, which are made of hemp topped with microfleece, to get maximum absorbancy quicker than several washings. So I imagine the elastic, snaps, etc would be okay.

My wash cycle is not as complex as Beth's...simply because we use coi-op machines! Otherwise I'm sure I would do everything she does. It's also why we probably have a bigger problem with soap buildup since I don't do an extra rinse. We wash on hot with a little All F&C and 1/2 cup of baking soda. We have very hard water and it seems to help. Then we dry on the regular setting, which I think is hot. With the soap build-up lately we washed everything on hot twice with no detergent and it was all smelling SO much better! So I'm thinking that if I'm just going to go on one rinse I'll have to do this periodically. But maybe the reduction on detergent will help too, we'll have to see. I do want to switch detergents though - I'm thinking Tide myself.

If your DS is barely pooping...well CD will be easier! But the poop gets a little grosser the more solid foods they eat. My DS is probably about 90-95% BF on the average day and even with that small amount of solid food the poop changed! Once he ate way too much banana and got constipated and then the poop was really gross...but that's another story! :)

Are you planning to slowly phase out the disposables or continue them part-time? I continued to use disposable at night for the first month but after getting used to DS's huge butt it was weird to see him looking so skinny! But one night I took the plunge and no leaks! So we decided to go completely cloth. I think we may have a few disposables laying around somewhere but we haven't used them in weeks.

[Melanie]

I have/ordered:
Bumkins AIO
Cotton & Hemp "Cricketts" fitted
Organic Cotton Fleece Crickett Doubler
ME Unbleached Sandy & Liner
ME Unbleached One-size
ME All in one (says unbleached liner)

Do you have to 'prepare' covers, too? Do you treat your covers (aside from wool) specially? I ordered an ME rikki wrap & air-flow, neither I can find what they're made of (I'm still waiting for shipment).

Thank both of you for the washing tips!

I put Ds in the Bumkins today just to see how they fit and they look perfect, not at all bulky like I thought. Had to take him out, though, b/c they're not washed yet and I don't need any leaks deterring Dh!

Mommy to Jonah