Leaking? Let troubleshoot!

Diapers that are put on incorrectly can leave mom with telltale spots!

Damp pants, damp shirts, crying baby, sad mama, and frustrated daddy.

These are the downsides of cloth diapering with a bad fit.  Leaking can plague even the most experienced of cloth diapering families.  I personally struggled with leaking issues for months before I figured out what the problem.

What was my problem you ask?  I had a heavy wetter and my absorbency wasn't up to the challenge. I was using the microfiber inserts and they were not up to the task.  Once I put hemp and bamboo inserts into my pockets my leaks stopped.  Then Homeboy outgrew the diapers.  I was thrilled.  I got to buy more!!  Shhhhh....it was my first....don't judge.

So if you are struggling with dampness try these tips before you give up!

Is your diaper or insert completely saturated when you change the diaper?

• This means you probably need more absorbency.  Try a natural fiber such as hemp or bamboo or try adding a doubler to your diaper.
• If you waited longer than three hours to change the diaper, try changing every two hours.  Babies need to be kept dry so most diaper experts advice changing every two hours.

Leg gap on a Diaper Rite Bamboo Pocket

Are there gaps around the leg when you hold the leg up?

• Try tightening the leg by snapping the leg snap tighter or decreasing the elastic size in diapers like Fuzzibunz.

Is the dampness happening on the front of a stomach sleeper?

• Try using a diaper with a PUL front flap with your insert tucked underneath the flap.

Is the outside of the PUL completely wet and the inner not saturated?

• Did you prep the diper completely?  If not, keep washing.  The diaper might not be ready to use yet.
• Are there cracks in your PUL?  Does it look like a peeling sunburnn? If so, this diaper is your new swim diaper unless you can figure out how to rewaterproof your diper.  This can be caused by bleaching or harsh wash routines or just age.  If the diaper is relatively new this may be covered under your manufacturer warranty.  Be sure to call and ask.    

  

  Incorrectly fastened Thirsties Cover.  Tuck it back in!

• Did you make sure that the lining of the diaper is not showing when you put it on?  If you can see any of the diaper liner it can allow moisture to get around the PUL.

Do your diapers smell like ammonia?

• Try stripping your diapers.  Build up can cause your diapers to repel water.  This also means that you need to alter your wash routine.  Try adding more soap and an extra rinse.

Have you used diaper rash cream?

• Most diaper rash creams are not cloth diaper safe and since they are designed to prevent urine from sitting on skin, they can actually waterproof your diaper causing it to repel liquid instead of absorb.  Look for cream or yellow streaks on the diaper.  Use Dawn dishwashing detergent and scrub stains with soap and a toothbrush.

Are the diapers repelling liquid?

• You may have detergent build up from using too much soap.  Try washing several times with no detergent.  You will see soap suds during these washes due to the excess washing out.  Use less detergent in your wash routine to fix this issue.

Diaper Prepping

I got some new fluff mail today! 

Kittens, the Blueberry and Me exclusive for July got here this past week.  I justified the purchase for a few days and finally pulled the trigger.  I woke up Thursday to find out it was out for delivery.  Hurray!  Perfect timing since it was diaper laundry day!  Prepping Kittens will started asap.

Prepping diapers correctly is as important as fit.  A diaper that is not well prepped can leak and repel water.  I used a partially prepped diaper a few weeks ago and ended up with pee all over myself. 

Prepping involves washing and drying a diaper to increase its absorbancy and to wash out the ickies that it has picked up during the manufacturing process.  Natural fibers need to be washed up to 10 times to reach maximum absorbancy whereas synthetic fibers just need to be washed once, however, decent absorbency is achieved after about 5 washes so I begin to use them partially prepped.  Let's be real.  Who can really wait ten washes to use the cute little diapers?

On to prepping.  Here are some general things to remember.

1. First. DO NOT prep natural fibers with synthetic.   Natural fibers have an oil that washes away with the first few washes and that oil can coat your synthetic diapers causing them to repel liquids.  Once the diapers are prepped it is fine to wash them together, but the first few washes need to be separate.  This includes a diaper such as a pocket that has a natural insert.  The pocket will need to be prepped separate from the insert.
2. Second.  You don't need to dry most diapers between washes with one exception.  Cotton.  Cotton needs to be dried between each wash since drying helps fluff the fabric which increases it's absorbency.
3. Third.  Prepping does not require much detergent.  Use a minimal amount.  Save it for when the diapers actually have some poop on them.

So here is what you need to do.

1. Determine your fiber type using the following chart.

Synthetic Fiber	Natural Fiber
Microterry	Cotton
Microfiber	Bamboo
Microfleece	Hemp
Minky	Wool
Suedecloth	Birdseye
Zorb

     2.  Separate your diapers into two piles.  Natural and synthetic.

     3.  Wash

• Synthetic: Wash synthetic fibers with minimal detergent between one and three times before using. Drying is not required between washes. 
• Natural: Wash natural fibers at least five times before using with a normal amount of detergent.  If you choose to use before at least eight washes, don't use the diaper for nap or overnight.  You will most likely get leaks.  If the diaper leaks, don't write it off, wash a few more times and that may just do the trick!

Cloth Diaper Storage

Cloth diapers take space.  The cute diaper storage bags that hang on the crib or door knob just doesn't work for cloth.  I made one thinking I could make it work and it worked ok, but it wasn't ideal.  So for the past few months I have been looking something that could organize the cloth diaper clutter that is in my room.  This past weekend I set out to organize the mess.

I have a pottery barn changing table (Craigslist score for $50) that I have used for several years and it includes two small sock drawers and two large clothing drawer plus a pull out for a diaper pail and a small slide out tray.  I use the drawers for clothes so I am left with just the slide out tray for diapers which is crazy because cloth is bulky.

Target to the rescue!  I found a curio shelf with nine bins that were just the right size for cloth diapers.  Hobby Lobby supplied the wire bins to contain the extra fluff and accessories and my new diaper changing station is ready to go!

My new station can store 50 complete changes of cloth diapers with ease in addition to disposables and accessories such as CJ's butt spray, Desitin, snappis, boingos, and my spare wet bags.

What does your diaper storage look like?  Do you have any ideas to make mine better?

The Magic of Sunning

My mom used to say we needed sun to grow as she shooed us out the door to go play.  She didn't need any sun apparently because she was already grown (nice mom real nice).  The magical Sun is what grows our, food, runs the tides heats our ocean, and whitens our dipers....stop...what?

Diapers?


You becha! The sun can make what looks to be a ruined diaper with stain not even bleach can take out and make it look brand new.  You doubt?  Well look at my icky diaper that I currently have.

Now look at it after it just one hour in the sun.

Magical.

Just Magical.

So now before you ran and just toss out all your ugly diapers in the sun, WAIT let me tell you how to do it.

First you need to wash your diapers as usual and then take them still wet outside and lay them flat exposing the stained side to the sun.  Check on them periodically and when the stain are gone just finish drying them in the dryer if they are not all the way dry.  So easy!

Do you have some stained diapers? How well did sunning work for you?

The case for prefolds

My husband eyed the ivory colored prefolds that I was folding.  You could see the puzzled look in his eyes.  He finally asked "Is that really a diaper?".  I laugh thinking about it, but my mom used prefolds on some of my siblings so it isn't something that is totally outlandish to me.  My husband on the other hand had never seen a prefold before.  All he could see was a puffy piece of cloth that looked nothing like a diaper to him.

Prefolds are the cheapest option for cloth diapering.  They are also the ones that bring about the most fear.  A rectangle of cloth somehow magically gets tied on the baby and becomes a diaper.  The faint at heart would probably reject the idea right there.

If that is you, wait!

It really isn't a big deal.

They really are so easy.  Some might argue they are the easiest way to go.  I can change a diaper in about 1 minute using a prefold.  A disposable takes me about 45 seconds.  Not really a big difference. It just takes 3 special steps (Thank you Paw Pilot :-) )

1. Fold the prefold 

2. Place Prefold under baby

3. Use a Snappi or other fastening device

Done!

So in case you are still dubious, let me lay out the benefits of prefolds.  Let's look at the cost comparison for a newborn using the most cost effective diapering options using the following assumptions.

1. Baby was born at 6 lbs
2. Gains 1/2 lb a week
3. You change 16 diapers per day/night for the first 10 days and 10 diapers per day and night thereafter.

Using the cheapest diapering option which is Parent's Choice (Walmart Brand) you can expect to spend $174.70 in diapers over the first four months of life.  This covers the baby from newborn to 16 pounds. The following purchases would have been made:

1. 2 boxes of 40 Newborn Diapers
2. 840 Size 1 Diapers
3. 560 Size 2 Diapers

If you were using the cloth options you would have made these purchases

1.  6 Tiny Tuckable Covers from Assunta at 5.99 each
2. 36 Newborn Cotton Prefolds from Diaper Rite
3. 25 Small Cotton Prefolds from Diaper Rite
4. 2 Size 1 Snappis from Diaper Rite

The cost differential is astonishing.  $80 vs $174.  That is a significant amount of savings especially considering that you can use the newborn and small prefolds later folded as inserts into pockets and covers.  If you were to use these diapers on a second child your cost would be cut in half.  AMAZING!

So take a look at prefolds....they really are pretty cool and easy!

Lalabye All in Two Cloth Diaper Review

Lalabye diapers have developed quite a reputation on cloth diaper boards.  You either are a lover or a hater.  The haters claim that they are just custom China cheapies.  The lovers say they are quality diapers produced in a dedicated facilities that just happen to be located in China.

I was intrigued.  Which one was it?

I was looking for a diaper that had a natural fiber insert and would ensure that Homegirl's skin would not touch the TPU because skin sensitivities run in my family so I didn't know if the Best Bottoms would work for her or not (they did).  The Lalabye diaper fit my criteria so on Earth day I bought 9 from Nicki's diapers.  They took a week to come in and then I had to wait another month for her to be born. Plus another three weeks for her to start fitting them.  I was an impatient Momma by the time she was big enough to try them.

So after all that waiting, I finally got to try them!

Overview
Lalabye diapers are a hybrid of a pocket and AI2 (All in Two).  Meaning that you could choose to reuse the shell if you lay the inserts on top of the stay dry lining or you can use it like a pocket and stuff the insert inside the diaper.


These diapers are designed to fit babies from 8 to 35 pounds.   The interior of the diaper is made of microsuede which is a wicking fabric designed to keep the baby feeling dry.  This diaper also feature a TPU waterproof outer shell.  TPU is basically a biodegradable version of PUL.  So if the environmental impact of the diaper once you are ready to dispose of it matters to you this might be the diaper for you!

Inserts
There are two inserts that come with every diaper a newborn insert that can later be used as a doubler and a one size insert.  Both snap in place on the inside of the pocket.  Both inserts are made of four layers of bamboo rayon with neatly serged edges.  Since the inserts are made of bamboo they are incredibly thin, soft, and naturally anti microbial.  No more ammonia smell in your diapers!

Snaps
This diaper has the signature, color coded waist snaps that make diaper changing super simple.  Once you know what color snap your child is on, you don't have to double check to make sure the sides are even.  You know you will get a great fit each and every time no matter who is changing the diaper.

Pocket Construction
One of the difficulties of pockets is that many pocket diapers are difficult to stuff because the opening isn't wide enough for larger hands.  The Lalabye diaper has an extremely generous pocket opening that is open at both ends of the diaper so that instead of wrangling the insert with one hand you can actually use two and it makes stuffing a breeze!

Care
Prepping these diapers is easy.  Just wash in hot water and air dry the covers and toss the inserts into the dryer on a medium/low heat.  You can use these diapers after just one use, but because bamboo is a natural fiber it will continue to increase in absorbency up to the 10th wash.

Actual Use
Homegirl began using these diapers around the same time that she started fitting into her medium Best Bottoms at 3.5 weeks old.
I found that her belly was too wide to use the crossover snaps so we started off at the blue waist setting and the smallest rise (see how easy it would be to tell somebody how to change diaper?). From the start we actually got a pretty good fit and I was thrilled that these diapers had a hip snap which made wing droopage a non issue.

So far we have just been using the one size insert and we have not have any leaking with the exception of one poop leak when I was experimenting with the waist sizes.  Once we got the correct fit we have not have any leaking.

This diaper would fit the bill for a "trim" one size diaper as even on a newborn the diaper is barely bulkier than a disposable.  I find that the absorbency is well beyond what my little 6 week old baby can put out.  I wonder how well this diaper will do with a toddler size urine output even with the booster, however, we aren't there yet so I can't put that to the test yet.

We did not use the diaper as a AI2 because frankly I don't see how hygienic it would be to reuse the cover since for certain the stay dry lining cannot be wiped clean like the typical cover can.  So for me the AI2 feature is a bust.

I do like this diaper.  I love the fact that it makes jeans wearable for my cloth diapered baby.  I think that for a diaper that is constructed in China it is a bit on the pricey side, but I find the quality to be much higher than that of the regular Chinese cheapies.  Honestly I would rate the quality to be on par with my Blueberry diaper.

Affordability
These diapers run $19.95 per diaper regardless of the website.  Right now you can get a 10% discount on the retiring contrasting snap diapers which I find adorable.  There are exclusive prints released periodically so check out their Facebook page to find out when and where the new releases will happen!

The best price I could find on the diaper is at Dream Diapers at $15.95, but they only have one color left (pink) and I am sure it will be gone quickly.  Ordinarily when they aren't discontinuing a color line, you have to wait for a sale which only occurs Earth Day, Black Friday, and occasionally you can find a sale on Lalabye.com for a holiday weekend.