Dirty diaper storage

This is one topic that I have not devoted a post to yet that I think is fairly important.  So just where do you put all of those smelly dirty diapers?  Well you will need a waterproof bag of some sort to hold the diapers, and a trashcan.  This doesn't have to be an expensive ordeal, but think about what room the dirty diapers will be stored in.  I put ours in the kids bathroom.  The reason being, is that if a diaper has poo, I spray out the diaper into the toilet and I want to put the diaper in the pail as quickly as possible.  But if you have a new born who is breastfeed it is possible to keep your pail in the baby's room, because these poopy diapers do not need to be sprayed out unless you want to.  If your baby starts formula or on solids you will definitely want to spray out their poo in the toilet. 

There are 2 types of home diaper storage solutions that I will tell you about today.  One is the hanging bag.  The hanging bag will hang on a door handle somewhere, thus there is not a need for a trash can.  Here is the one that Planetwise offers for $29.99.  This is a pricey bag but they offer cute patterns that you could match to your child's nursery.  The second type of dirty diaper storage is using a pail liner inside a trash can with a lid.  This is what I use.  I found a trash can with a lid at the grocery store for $7 and my pail liner by a company called Bummis for $16.  I have heard wonderful things about Planetwise's pail liner and theirs is $16.50. 


So think about where you are going to place your dirty diapers, and what solution will work best for your house.

Now there are some smells that can escape from your dirty diapers occasionally.  A good way to knock out those smells is to use an additive to your pail, like Rockin Green's pail freshener.  I have heard wonderful things about this product.  I have not tried it yet though.  Right now I add 1/2 cup of baking soda to my pail, and that works wonderfully.  I buy a huge bag, 13.5 lbs, from Costco for cheep cheep, that lasts us for a very long time.

Our pail with the Bummis liner full of dirty diapers

The Bummis bag has a draw string.  This is the size Large bag for $16

Striping your Diapers

Now what do you do when you have finished washing your diaper and they are coming out of the wash still smelling, or the moment your baby pee's there is an overwhelming smell of ammonia, or worse yet, your child gets a horrible rash? Then you might to use more rinse cycles. Or your problem could be build up. If you are not using a detergent made for cloth diapers you might have to strip your diapers.  Striping your diapers refers to washing/soaking your diapers to remove build up left from detergents or water minerals. Some detergents work better than others, which is why I chose Rockin Green.  Rockin Green gives you the choice of 3 different formulas.  The formulas are designed for either hard, soft or regular water.  In San Antonio we have hard water so I use the Hard Rock formula.

If you decide to purchase Rockin Green then you will probably want to strip your diapers right away. You could purchase Rockin Green's new product formulated especially for striping out that amonia called Funk Rock. This will ensure that your diapers are free of any detergent or ammonia build up. I have not had any ammonia issues since I purchased my first bag back in May (2010). Before Rockin Green I was striping my diapers once a month. So what you will do if you dont have Funk Rock, you can use your Rockin Green detergent to strip your diapers, what the company likes to call Rockin a Soak. Here you can either use your washer if it is a regular washer, or your bath tub if you have an HE washer. In your regular top loader add 3 table spoons of detergent and put your CLEAN diapers in, and fill your washer up with hot water and let that sit for 3-6 hours. Then wash your diapers like normal with out using any soap. Then do a cold rinse. And dry your diapers like normal.

If you do not have any Rockin Green you can buy samples for $.75-.80 which has 4 table spoons in each bag, with $1.00 shipping.

Things to remember:

• Do not use fabric softners in the washer, or drier sheets in the drier
• You can use a dryer ball
• Do not use a diaper rash cream, or medicated ointments with out a barrier like a flushable liner, Kushies, IMSE liners, Grovia
• Or if you do use a diaper rash cream make sure it is for cloth diapers like this one Magic Stick
• Wash your diapers every 2-3 days.  Any longer than this you will have build up issues.

Line drying

So now that spring has arrived and, summer is looming, I was inspired to try out line drying. I hadn't really considered it, because our climate tends to be rainy, but we definately have some sun shiny days. I picked up a retractable 8 foot line and clothes pins from the grocery store, for a few dollars the other day, and decided to give it a go. I hung the line in the corner of our yard and screwed it into the wood posts.

I was thinking that line drying will be yet another way to cut costs. With our summer heat comes very high electricity bills, so the use of the drier 2-3 times a week for the cloth diapers will help to reduce costs.

Another benifet of line drying is getting rid of staining on your diapers. I dont really have problems with stains because I use a diaper sprayer on those poopy diapers. But that new born poop will stain and the sun can fade a lot of that out.

So far so good with the line drying. My prefolds are not going to be quilted and fluffy like they are when I use the drier. Rather they will be flat and stiff. But in the end it doesnt really matter how stiff they feel when you use a fleece liner on top of the prefold, for wicking away moisture.

Washing your Cloth diapers (Updated 8/10/10)

Video of using a diaper sprayer
Making a diaper sprayer: here is the link to making your own diaper sprayer. I did find that this sprayer fit only on ONE of my toilets. The other toilet was older and would have needed a larger T fitting to fit properly. Which you won't really know until you get home to set it up unless you are a master plumber and you know the size of the connection to your toilet supply line. Most likely it is 3/8" but it could be larger. Now if the idea of finding the parts for this sprayer makes your head spin there is another option but it is more expensive. The do it your self option cost me roughly $12-15 to make, or you can purchase one for $40-50.
Another sprayer from Rockin Green detergent
Bum Genius diaper sprayer (this is the one I am currently using)

Next I will talk about washing those dirty diapers. Now this was the scariest part for my husband and I. When we began this cloth diapering journey we did not start out  using a diaper sprayer and just used one those eppi bottles you get from the hospital after having a baby. Which works ok if you are on the go or on a short vacation, but not full time. Anyways I never felt like I was getting those diapers completely clean in the washer either, until I did months of trial and error.  Here I have instructions for washing your diapers in a regular top loader, and also in an HE machine. 

Washing

Regular washer

• 
  
  Step one is to put your dirty diapers in a diaper pail. Make sure that you spray out any poo into the toilet using a diaper sprayer before puting the diaper in the pail.  I use a bag made out of PUL by Bummis in size large as a liner in my pail. This size holds 2-3 days of diapers no problem. I put this bag into some kind of pail with a lid, like this one from Sterilite that I got from the grocery store for $7. When your pail is full take out the drawstring bag full of dirty diapers and take to the washing machine.
• I then dump the dirty diapers into the washer and turn the wet bag inside out so that it can be cleaned too.
• The first rinse cycle is short using just warm water  This will give the diapers a good rinse and will rinse out any particles left behind. 
• When the first cycle is completed, lift the lid of the washer and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of laundry detergent made for cleaning cloth diapers. You will want a detergent made for cloth diapers so that your diapers will get as clean as possible.  My recommendation is Rockin Green.  They have 3 formulas to fit your water type.  In Houston and San Antonio we have hard water so I use the Hard Rock Formula.  Also here is a blog that has a great chart of many types of detergents. They are rated as to how well they work for cloth diapers. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO NEVER USE A FABRIC SOFTENER ON YOUR CLOTH DIAPERS!
• After you have added your detergent you will do a hot wash. I set this wash to be long and include a second rinse.
• And if you seem to be having ammonia issues try adding one more rinse cycle. 

HE Washer instructions:

This is a direct quote from Kim, the creator or Rockin Green detergent.  I agree with every word.  I had an HE washer and I learned pretty fast that you have to use a lot of water to truly get your diapers clean.  I would even add to her directions, to use your diaper sprayer for every diaper, wet or poopy.  This will get out a lot of the pee that sits on the diapers until wash day.  Also this helps with smell. 

"Don’t skimp on the water!!!!! If you have a front loader, replace the word “Rinse” with “Wash”. For example, if you have a top loader, you normally do a rinse, a wash, and a rinse. For a front loader, I would suggest a wash, a wash, and a wash. You are still not going to be using the same amount of water as the top loader folks, but you really need to have the water because that is where the ammonia buildup comes up for the most part. For example, if you are washing 15 pocket diapers in a front loader, each insert will hold about 8 oz sometimes 15 oz, and if you think about it that is a lot of urine in each insert. Let’s say each of the 15 inserts holds about a cup of pee, you put the diapers in and your inserts in the front loader a lot of times the front loader does not put that much water in, so you are washing with a 50/50 mix of water and urine. That will not be rinsed out all the way, so if you do the 3 washes you will be more likely to get the urine flushed out. So, Wash Cold (no detergent), Wash hot (w/ detergent) and Wash Cold (no detergent). The first wash will get most of the urine, so your next wash you will be washing in clean water. This is what I suggest when someone is having stink issues with a front loader, I believe to attack it at the front and not the end."

Drying

• When this cycle is completed put your inserts and prefolds and all in ones in the dryer and set to medium-high heat. And depending on the amount of diapers you have in the dryer will depend on how long you will dry them. I usually have to do a 45-50 minute cycle on a 3 day load. NEVER USE A FABRIC SOFTENER SHEET IN THE DRYER WITH DIAPERS!  But you can use  a dryer ball.  Hang dry your covers, pocket diapers and your wet bag to drip dry either in your laundry room or out in the sun, and they should by dry in the sun in the amount of time your inserts are in the dryer. All three of these have PUL that are exposed to direct heat and will warp and not last as long if they are put into the dryer.
• Some people choose the hang dry all their diapers, including inserts, in the sun. Which will do 2 things. 1. If there are stains on the diapers the sun will bleach them. 2. This will save you the electricity. Your prefolds will not be quilted looking if hung dry but will still be just as effective.