Modeling the FuzziBunz in Grape
I’ve been meaning to do a post on our experience with cloth diapering, but with all the insanity over here, I haven’t gotten around to it. Until now!
Maggie napped off and on this morning until 11, ate, and then…just hung out. This is a baby that for the last two weeks has cried if while awake she’s not being held. I couldn’t put her down for more than ten minutes if she was awake. Today, she hung out in her swing! I turned it up full speed and she just looked all around the kitchen while I got the stew ready for the crock-pot. She hung out while I washed a few dishes and made some bottles. She just hung out for like 35 minutes! It was amazing.
We took a walk around the block, and she fell asleep in her stroller. I brought her in the house, and I discovered a trick. She loves the stove’s exhaust fan. Seriously. I park her in the kitchen in her stroller and turn on the exhaust fan, and she stays asleep. We came in from our walk nearly an hour ago and she’s still sleeping! I think she also likes 80′s pop hits on Pandora. Who doesn’t?
I almost don’t know what to do with myself. So I decided to post on cloth diapering.
We decided to go with the pocket diapers from FuzziBunz. They are expensive, but easy to use and wash. They come with extra elastic for the legs, as well as two inserts, a newborn and a regular one.
We bought 12 to start with, but realized pretty soon after bringing her home that it wouldn’t be enough, so we bought six more. With having 18 diapers, we wash about every day and a half. When we get down to 3 or 4, one of us starts a load to wash.
The FuzziBunz say you can use them with babies as small as 7 pounds, but some of the reviews said to wait until the baby was a bit bigger. So we used disposable diapers for the first month. At her one month checkup, she weighed a little over eight pounds, so we decided to give them a shot. Also, she had been developing a diaper rash, and I was worried about it getting worse, so I wanted to switch over.
We also stopped using disposable wipes at that time too. I think they were too tough on her skin and contributed to the rash. I bought about 20 of the cheap baby washcloths from Target (they’re listed there as 3.99 for six, but they were on sale for 1.50 for six when I bought them!). They are nice and thin, and great to use for cleaning her up. I spray one end with water from a spray bottle, clean her up, then use the other end to dry her off.
Since she still had diaper rash when we switched to the cloth, I wanted to use something on her skin as a protectant, but I knew that some diaper ointments ruin cloth diapers. I found two, and I like both of them.
- The Baby Bee diaper ointment was recommended by a friend with two girls, and it is really good. It is a zinc oxide cream, but it has essential oils in it, and it smells really fresh. I started using this when her rash was worse, and I use it now if she seems to be more red than normal. A little goes a long way with it. We bought ours at Target.
- The other one that I found, and use every time I change her (unless I use the baby bee balm) is the Diaper Lotion Potion by Kissaluvs (maker of cloth diapers). The lotion potion is a spray. After I dry her off, I do two sprays on her butt, then wait a few seconds and close up the diaper. It’s got witch hazel in it, and its meant to soothe any irritation. It also smells really good, and lasts forever. Sometimes I spritz the diaper pail with it between washings.
Things were going pretty good with the cloth diapers until about a week ago. Before that, she had some leaks, but I figured that’s because she’s not ten pounds yet, and they won’t be as frequent when she weighs more. But, last week the poop explosions started.
The formula she had been on was making her constipated, so we switched to a newborn formula. After a few days on the new formula (which is all milk-based, as opposed to the other, which was milk and soy), she started having, rather than constipation, explosive poop. At first it was only every other day or so, so not too bad. But then, last Wednesday, she had three in one day! I was worried that she might be getting sick, so off to the doctor we went. She didn’t have any signs of illness or dehydration, so we figured it is the formula.
This poop, its so hard to clean off the diapers, even with a sprayer. It’s everywhere, and so messy. So, we decided to switch back to the disposables until we get this figured out (we had some on hand because I keep disposables for the diaper bag when we’re out). We’re still using the cloth wipes, but also some disposable wipes for the really messy ones. The poor thing is having all these poop issues. She’s taking it like a trooper. Her mom, not so much.
Anyway, the cloth diapers are great, and I can’t wait to get back to using them all the time, so I hope these poop problems get resolved soon.
If you use cloth diapers, what kind do you use? Have you been happy with them? There are so many varieties out there, I’d love to know what kinds others have used and liked!
We don’t use cloth diapers but I wanted to ‘say’ that I am so glad to hear that your little girl is maturing and starting to give you a break.
Hope you find the right formula soon.
I don’t know what kind of consistency of poop you are dealing with, and I’m pretty sure I freaked you out when I said I don’t rinse my diapers before storing them, but you probably don’t have to worry too much about not getting all the crap off. I almost NEVER rinse my diapers, and they always come out of the wash fresh and clean with no stink. I’ve also run across several other people who do it this way too. Now, I don’t know if formula will make this not work, or if solid foods will change my tune, but yeah.
We use bum genius, which you already know, but they are awesome.
I bought her a little potty today because I want to start trying to do a bit of EC (elimination communication) with her. I don’t think I’ll be patient enough to get her completely trained so early (you can train newborns to do this!!), but I’m hoping to get her used to it so when the time comes to potty train for real she’ll already have toilet experience.
Haven’t used cloth diapers myself. but I enjoyed reading about your adventures.
Hi Sarah! I’m surprised that you wash the poop off the diapers, even with a sprayer… We have never had a sprayer, but simply tossed the diaper in the pail when LB had newborn poop, and now that he’s a toddler we shake off whatever we can and toss the rest in! We don’t have any problems with staining or poop in the washing machine or…. anything! Anyway, I’ve always wondered why people get a sprayer since we don’t seem to need it. What are the pro’s of having one, in your opinion?
Oh, and my favorite diapers for LB are babykicks! (www.babykicks.com)
I have nothing useful to add – but I do want to say, I love the grape-colored diaper! It’s adorable
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And I’m so happy for you that you had a moment to write about said adorable diaper.
I am another non-rinser, at least until solids are started and the poop gets more formed. I never have diapers that don’t come clean, either.
All babies are different, but I am not sure the explosive poo thing is that unusual. Both of my kids have had about 3-4 explosive poos per day until they’re about six months old, at least in Maria’s case. Henry we’re still waiting on. Maria hit this magical point at 6 months when she only pooped once a day, and then shortly after that began eating baby food, which bumped her to every other day. Perhaps the new formula is easier to digest, like breastmilk, so it just comes through Maggie faster. I hope you get things figured out soon!
I never used cloth with a newborn, but I will be when our new baby is born in April.
Right now I use Kawaii diapers (a less expensive pocket diaper that is similar to Fuzzi Bunz) for our 2 year old and I love them! After 2 days of cloth diapering, I realized that rinsing my son’s horribly messy poopy diapers was no fun and there had to be a better way. I checked out bio-degradable inserts on amazon and at my local cloth diaper shop, but it was 1 more disposable thing and I am super cheap, so I didn’t want to spend the money on something I would have to buy again.
I ended up going to wal-mart and buying 2 strips (1/4 yd each) of cheap fleece. Total cost was $1.50. I washed the fleece 4 or 5 times so it wouldn’t be linty on my Lil’ Man’s bum and then cut them into strips that are the width of his diapers. When I stuff my diapers after they come out of the laundry, I also lay a strip of fleece on top of the inside of the diaper and it catches 99% of the poop. Instead of having to rinse the entire diaper, I roll anything solid into the toilet from the insert and then I swish just a the insert. It is soooo much easier!!!! I might have given up on cloth otherwise!
I really wanted Fuzzi Bunz, but I couldn’t afford them. I found Kawaii and I love them! They are restocking with new prints for 2011, so they don’t have there full line in stock right now, but my SIL just bought 12 fun prints with snaps for $6.08 a piece + free S&H. You may want to look into them! You can get them from http://www.theluvyourbaby.com cheapest (they make them).
Dude. Cloth diapers. You’re a godess!!! No advice here!
We use BumGenius and prefolds, BumGenius for overnights, out of house, Grandma’s house etc, and prefolds when we’re kicking around at home. I tried other kinds, including Fuzziwhatever and Happy Heinies, and HATED them!
I also tend to be a non-rinser, especially with BF baby newborn poop, it just washes out. I imagine formula is a little different however as the poop is different. When older, I would just shake the poop off into the toilet unless it was really, really nasty THEN I would rinse it.
On a side note, I’m heading into my 3rd baby with the same set of cloth diapers. I’m getting to the point where the velcro on some of the BumGenius need replacing (which I got replacement kits for free… booyah!… now if only I could figure out how to sew them on…), and some of the prefolds (maybe about 30% of them) are getting tattered and needing replacing, but at $35.00 a dozen I’m not too heartbroken. I also recently scored some Bummis whisper wrap covers from our local thrift store for $3 for 4 of them, barely used, which is good because some are starting to break down from being laundred so much.
I figure my $600 up front investment 5 years ago has saved upwards of $5000 (my oldest took a long time to potty train), including factoring in the cost of laundry (which for me is about $0.50 per load if I line dry, and about $1.00 if I use the electric dryer). I generally wash 2-3 times a week mostly due to the smelly factor, because I have a gazillion prefolds and could probably go a week without washing LOL!
Oh yeah, and Snappis… best. invention. ever.