Remember how I said I was all for changing to cloth diapering. I’m taking it back. All of it. As it turns out, cloth diapers are designed to destroy me and make my life a living hell.
I was all enthusiastic about making the big switch to those funky little cloth diapers. I was totally suckered by the cute prints and lovely colors so I went out and got a bunch of Bumwear for Tru. For a few days, he strutted around with his bottom colorfully clad in softness. “Look Mom, no pants!” So I sat back, admired the work of art and gave myself a nice big pat on the back for saving the earth.
Its really not that cute when you take it off
Thats when I started noticing little patches of water on my living room floor, which upon closer inspection, turned out to be pee. It was like a trail that Hansel and Gretel left behind, except that instead of crumbs, it was pee. So I thought, silly me, I must have worn it too loose and the urine was leaking out and proceeded to tighten it by a notch. Tru was squirming when I adjusted it, but being the trooper that he is, he didn’t make a big fuss over it but started walking around with a mysterious limp. The pee continued to leak and when I changed him the next round, there were button marks on his little tummy cos it was so tight it almost gave him a hernia.
But that’s all cool too. What’s a little pee everywhere? I could deal with that in exchange for the cuteness. And THINK OF THE ENVIRONMENT. Whatever it takes to save you, mother earth. I’ve gotta be patching a hole in the ozone at least.
Then after a couple of days, I started noticing a trend. Every time I changed him into his Bumwear, he would produce a pack of poop. I thought it was a coincidence, because how can he possibly crap every single time he wears it? Even I don’t have that much crap. But I think it’s gotta do with the softness of the fleece against his little bum. It’s poop inducing. Which translates into a WHOLE LOT OF SHIT SCRUBBING for mama. And I’m generally unfazed by most stuff but scrubbing shit, that’s a whole new level of non-coolness. Because it sticks to the cloth and I have to pick it out with my hands.
And you must be thinking, just use a liner, dumbass. That solves the scrubbing. Except it doesn’t. Whenever I use the liner, voila, no poop. Only when I remove the liner, poop appears. It’s like a miracle. Or the opposite of a miracle. So I figured, in a way, it’s good that he’s crapping so much, because it’s better than being stuck inside, but after a few weeks of scrubbing, I’m throwing in the towel. He’s going back to disposables, because I ain’t doing this no more.
I may regret this in 100 years when the ice caps melt and submerge us all, but I’ll probably blame it on the neighbor for using too many plastic bags.
Elaine on Baby talk
San on Baby talk
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
My girl used to leave pee puddles all over the floor too and she was like crawling and slipping all over the pee, hands patting, playing and wiping the pee puddles. Yes, gross. I also tried buttoning her up tighter but it didn’t help.
I asked a fellow blogger mum about this problem of leaking pee, and she said it’s because the fleece layer needs to be stripped clean of those fabric conditioners/waxy build up from most baby detergents. You might wanna read http://www.bumwear.com/shopping/clothdiaper/pages/bw-washncare.htm. Need to use dishwashing detergent to strip off the waxy buildup.
Personally, I prefer disposables anytime. Hate cleaning poo off cloth diapers. When I feel brave, after my kid poos, I put on a Bumwear on him ‘cos chances are he won’t poo right after having just poo-ed.
I find Bumwear useful when I wanna toilet train my toddlers. They can feel the wetness more than when wearing disposables, so it’s great to let them see the cause and effect.
FYI, there are cloth pads too for our periods! Imagine having to wash the bl**dy mess….
@Sheri, I’m wondering if anyone from Bumwear can comment on this since i think the founder is locally based?
@Daphne,
I think u can always call or email them. Rita the boss does reply emails and answer calls. :)
OMG LOL over here at my desk this afternoon! Thanks for the images stamped in my mind now! HA! Just stopping by to say hello from SITS! Have a great day! :o)
I used the toilet spray to get rid of the poo before rinsing by hand. If I don’t do that, I’ll skip cloth diapers altogether! =p
@moo, Yes that’s what I do too, although i’ve read somewhere that you don’t actually need to (i.e. the washing machine takes care of it) but I just can’t bring myself to chuck the whole thing in there with the rest of the clothes, LOL.
@Daphne, Oh man, that sounds really gross! Can’t imagine having to pick up the bits and pieces of the poo after the wash?!! =p
Cloth diapers are a thing of the past, back when disposable diapers were a scientific experiement or cost around $50 a bag. Cloth diapers are yes, a bit more comfortable when they are Dry which isnt the case 80% of the time because diapers are there for one reason- to be peed on. Aside from the obvious drawbacks when it comes to cleanliness and maintainance, your children are more prone to rashes because the urine soaks longer with a cloth diaper compared to disposable ones.
When I was still pregnant with our daughter we had decided to use cloth. Nothing whatsoever was going to change our minds. We bought two boxes of disposables for the first couple of weeks (for closer fit and because the cord would get irritated by the high -waisted cloth diapers) and then spent $300 on cloth pocket diapers.
And we wouldn’t have it any other way. In the beginning I threw the poopy ones in the wash with the non-poopies and that was pretty gross. So now I wash the poopy ones separately and splash in a bit of bleach (even though everyone says we are not supposed to) and everything is working out beautifully. I wash diapers every third day and it is no inconvenience at all.
Her diapers have velcro closures and elasticised backs, so even when they are fastened very snugly, there is stretching room at the back. (Button closures suck. Bigtime.) She used to leak every so often, but not anymore: we just put in an extra insert to soak everything up and we change her often when she is awake and moving lots. At night she can go twelve hours in a cloth diaper with zero leaks. We just have to put in an extra pad.
And might I say that if she were leaking and had gotten to the point where she was slipping and sliding and patting and playing in urine, it would mean I was not watching her. And if I can’t be bothered to watch my child, then I definitely should give up cloth diapering and try to improve my parenting skills.
I typed “against cloth diapers” into Google just to see what views were out there and this was pretty close to the top, so I think it is important to add this comment (however late) to say that it CAN work, and work very well. We are very happy with our choice and are glad we have stuck with it. I do not think this one decision will save the planet, but I am glad we are not adding to the problem.
OMG thank you for defending cloth diapers! lol I LOVE cloth diapering and have NEVER had a diaper rash, but when i was using disposables, my daughter would get rashes all the time. And i agree, if your child is playing in the floor in their own pee, then you need to keep a better eye out and change them when they need to be changed. And before using cloth diapers, you are supposed to pre-wash them. did you do that? anyways, i love cloth diapering! and maybe you just didn’t do enough research before you stepped into the world of cloth diapering.