It's a learning process, though. I'm glad I decided to transition to cloth. For starters, I'm learning that if you don't put them on the right way, they will leak. But the same goes for disposables, too - It will just take a few tries to figure it out. I'm also learning that it takes a certain amount of...finesse...to remove the insert from the dirty diaper and get everything (diaper, insert, and wipes) into the diaper pail without getting baby poop on the diaper pail opening - or, for that matter, your hands (eww). Practice makes perfect, though, and Lacey's giving me plenty of that!
I'm also having a little trouble with the cloth wipes. I bought the Hosie Naturals Baby Wipe Solution Concentrate, and followed the instructions to mix it with witch hazel and put it into a spray bottle. The idea is to spray your baby's bottom, and then wipe with a dry cloth (I have some really cute flannel cloths). However, they're doing a poor job compared to the disposable wipes I have. Hosie also listed instructions for soaking the wipes in the solution, so I think I'll try that next.
This morning, I did my first dirty diaper laundry load. It was really easy getting the diapers into the machine by unzipping the bottom of my diaper pail. We have a high efficiency washer that uses very little water, and since you need to rinse in LOTS of cold water, I have to do a cold water soak before I wash them with detergent using hot water with a cold rinse. It seems like a lot, but it's just pressing a few more buttons. Oh, and I do have to use a special detergent that's free of dyes and fragrances. I'm using Charlie's Soap, and I like it a lot so far. As soon as I get my clothesline set up, I plan to hang-dry the diapers and inserts, but it is okay to put them in the dryer on low heat. I can't use any fabric softener or bounce sheets though, as they'll ruin the diapers by decreasing the absorbency. The result? The diapers came out very clean and stain-free. The inserts were not so lucky. They were clean, but stained. I believe direct sunlight will bleach them white again, but since the insert goes into the pocket of the diaper and isn't seen, I'm not going to worry about the stains, as long as they're getting clean.
I do have a few cloth diapers in Isabelle's size, but I've decided to wait to start cloth-diapering her until we get a diaper sprayer (kind of like a kitchen sink sprayer, but it attaches to your toilet so you can spray and flush solid poop).
As you can see, there are some things about cloth diapering that are challenging - but overall, I'm really happy and excited to be doing it. This may seem strange, but switching to cloth makes changing diapers kind of...fun? I'm so thankful we have a local cloth diapering company like eLeMeNO-Pee to help not only with my cloth diapering needs, but any questions or problems I have! I still have a lot to learn about how to make cloth diapers work for me, and I can't wait to share more of my experiences with yall!
