As you all know, this is my 3rd
baby. I have never in my life considered cloth diapers until now. I
can honestly say I'm not sure if the appeal if the money saving
factor, the “natural” part, or the lowering of waste coming from
my home. Could be all three.
I have good girlfriend I refer as
“Mother Earth”. She has cloth diapered both of her children.
Currently, she too is pregnant with her 3rd and will cloth
diaper again. I remember sitting with her and her 2nd
child one day at their home. I was so bewildered by cloth diapers. So
she showed me how easy it was. And a small, teeny tiny, light was
lit. I wasn't sure why at the time. Mr. and I were no where near
having another baby. But it stuck in my mind. For a long time.
Not to mention my sister-in-law. She
discovered cloth with her 2nd child and plans to do it
again with her baby due next week! She had a few challenges, but was
determined to make it work. She's even brave enough to try to sew her
own!!!
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So here I am now, 29 weeks pregnant,
wanting to cloth diaper my baby. Though there are many, many
challenges ahead of me. I have never cloth diapered in my life. Nor,
have I truly witnessed the process of cloth diapering A Day In The
Life. So really, short of my snapshots, if you will, I am blind.
I have rediscovered YouTube within the
last month or so. It has become my quiet obsession. I watch videos
from moms who CD, but non are in my current situation. All them have
a washer and dryer at home. And here is where my true challenge lies.
How do I cloth diaper using a laundry mat???!
I have yet to truly find an answer to
this question. It's almost as though people don't take on the
challenge. I know there are some why hand wash and hang to dry. I
know this would probably be too much for me to handle.
So my true question is:
HOW DO I SUCCESSFULLY CLOTH DIAPER
AT THE LAUNDRY MAT?
Currently, I have
a once a week routine in place to go to the laundry mat. If it
doesn't work out that week, I have to suffer through 2 weeks for
folding. I hate that. So I do my very best to maintain my once a week
schedule.
Is is possible to
not wash CDs more than once a week? I'm not sure. My thoughts are
that if they are at least rinsed daily and allowed to dry before
putting them into the diaper pail, they should be fine. PLEASE
CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG.
So to all the
CLOTH DIAPER GURUS out there... IS IT POSSIBLE OR AM I FOOLING
MYSELF?
If you have any
advise, comments, vlogs, blog posts to help my cause please, PLEASE,
leave them in the comments section.
Miracles & Blessings,
From what I remember from my CD days, I don't think it would work. Perhaps you could borrow a few cloth diapers & do a trial run now before making the investment? Also check out the Laudry Pod -you would be able to wash the diapers at home :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Laundry Pod suggestion, C-Joy. I'll check it out.
DeleteI'm seriously hoping you're wrong. (I say this with a concerned face.) I have to believe there is a solution out there. I was just thinking the other day about cloth diapering services. They do a once a week pick up. I guess I just figure, if they can do it, why can't I?
My desire to CD this time is overwhelming. There's gotta be a way....
If I remember correctly, it is possible, but with modifications. Most moms have 2 or 3 doz diapers to get them through 2 or 3 days. Most diaper services give you 80-100 diapers for the week. I would suggest checking out info on the Flats and Handwashing challenge. That may be a workable option for you. If not, get your 80-100 diapers (I still suggest flats in this circumstance.) and a few covers. The covers can be hand washed or put in with other laundry. (that's what a diaper service would have you do) Get a few heavy duty wet bags and use those to transport your diapers to the laundromat. You'll also want to invest in deo disks. I am more off to check out this laundry pod that c-joy mentioned. Good luck to you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Amanda. I am definitely sure I will be cloth diapering. Still trying to figure out the process. But all things considered I am finding out I may be able to do the once a week washing. I do think though I may do a daily hand wash though. I might take them all the to laundry mat clean or not and give them a good washing in the machine once a week.
ReplyDeleteI found this response from sondramama in regard to the washing topic on www.diaperswappers.com.
ReplyDeleteRe: Washing pocket diapers once a week?
i wash 1x's a week. i WAS going to hand wash, but did more research on doing laundry 1x's a week.
no matter what kind of diaper it is, pocket, prefold, day time, night time, etc ... i rinse it all in the tub with the shower head [or others use the toilet sprayer attachment]. i rinse until the water is super clear. it takes time from me, but my diapers do NOT stink.
also, when the diapers are wet, i hang them on the outside of the dirty diaper laundry bin until dry then toss it in the dirty diaper laundry bin. if i stack wet diapers on top of wet diapers for a whole week, i'm sure mold will grow. but tossing dry on top of dry ... i'm good =]
as far as stains, i pre treat with shout. but, i would advise against that. thats the only pre-treater i had around the house. i am going to get a more CD friendly stain treater.