Riot and Frolic

Warning!  This post talks extensively about #1 and #2.  Pee and Poo.  The Diaper Twins.  Whatever.  Consider yourself warned…

We use cloth diapers.  The G and I had talked about it a little when I was first pregnant and I researched the idea a little on the interwebs.  I found a brand that seemed easy ("seemed easy"-from the girl who had never changed a diaper before she had her own kid). I found a retailer in the cities and then I fetched them.  

After tracking down the right kind of detergent, I washed and dried the buggers three times, folded them up and waited for someone to come around and pee on them.  

Luckily, we had V soon after.  

Here's our diaper station.

It's only gross if I actually think about it: a large can of sewage sitting in my kid's room.  

If you're interested in doing cloth diapers, here's what we do:

I bought Bummis.  I got a starter kit which had a couple "wraps" (the outside, Velcro-y thing), about 2 dozen "diapers" (the part that gets peed and poo'd on), and these nifty "liners" (more on these soon).  

• The wraps look just like a disposeable diaper, except with real Velcro instead of that magic tape that's on disposeables.  Well, and the wraps are cloth.  Thickly woven, waterproof cloth.  
• I'm 99% sure the diapers are called pre-fold.  They are very thick and absorbent.
• The liners?  Ooo, the liners.  These are fancy.  Apparently, back in the day, one would get a poo-y diaper and "shake it out" in the toilet.  Let me tell you: shaking doesn't always work.  It is often more labor intensive.  Let's not think about it!  When you have these liners, you make a little open-faced diaper sandwich when diapering your kid: wrap on the bottom, diaper in the middle, and liner on top.  So when little Bratt-ski goes #2, you just take this dryer-sheet-looking-liner off and throw the whole thing in the toilet!  No shaking!  No close interaction with poo!

We also bought a big garbage can and a little garbage can, each with a liner and a lid (I found them at Target).  The big one gets filled halfway with water and some OxyClean.  That's where we throw the soiled diapers.  The little one is just for dirty diaper wipes.  

The diaper station is in Mae Cake's room right now, which is adjacent to the bathroom.  It's great if a bathroom is close by, so you don't risk dropping "anything" when carrying a dirty liner to the potty.  

On the minus side, the diaper station is in Mae Cake's room.  Which means it's two flights of stairs from the laundry room.  When the large garbage pail is full of loveliness, one of us pulls out the garbage pail liner (it's very sturdy) and carries some awesomeness down down down to the washing machine.  Heavy.  Stinky.

I won't go into how to use and launder the cloth diapers because A) they come with directions B) that's what the Googles are for and C) everyone does something a little different.  I will say I use Charlie's Soap and love it.   I've never had any problem with it, besides finding it (hint: check out Peapods if you're in the city, or order it online).

With three kids, I have never bought new diapers, just larger wraps as the girls got older.  I probably spent $200 on the starter kit, extra wraps, and liners over the years.  Liners are the only thing I buy regularly and the roll lasts forever.  

At night, I put two diapers in the wrap, just to be safe.  Then I laugh as Mae Cake tries to walk without looking like a cowboy.  It doesn't work.  

We didn't choose cloth diapers for any environmentally-friendly reason or for a financially-responsible reason, both of which are valid and normal.  We just did it.  It's not that much more work than disposable diapers, especially when we use the liners.    We do use disposables when traveling and with our new babies (the cloth diaper just seems too huge for their little butts). 

What do you think?  Disposable or cloth?  Any questions?  I can go into more detail, but I'm not sure how much more I can discuss poo without losing the audience for today.  Leave a comment; I'll add on there!