Dude! This stuff STINKS!!!!!

So today is our first full day of cloth diapers! Unfortunately my bathroom stinks pretty bad right now. Here are some tips I found on Facebook for keeping the house smelling ok.

1. Leave in an open or vented container
Putting soiled diapers in an enclosed space makes them stink worse! Leaving them in an open wet bag, diaper pail, or bucket seems to help the smell. Also, someone suggested a mesh bag in a laundry hamper. (sounds like it would leak nasties on the floor but that's just me)

2. Rinse before setting them in a container
A quick rinse should help cut down on the nasty, old urine smell. If you have a fancy diaper sprayer you can rinse straight into the toilet without having to contaminate any of the sinks in your house.

3. Put the container of soiled diapers outside
Ok this would not be my first choice seeing as we live in a two story house and I am too lazy to walk it downstairs and outside. Another reason I probably wouldn't do this is I have neighbors. They probably don't want to smell it either. But hey, if it works for you, cool! More power to ya. (And honestly if I can't get my house smelling better soon the bucket might go outside)

4. Wash often
This might work better for you if you have a small stash. If you wash everyday then the smell is not that bad and you could just throw them straight into the washer after they get soiled.

5. Use a deodorizer 
Ok, this is what I did for our pail when I was using disposables. I have one of those Febreze Stick & Refresh things in the lid. This works pretty well at masking the smell. One girl on Facebook said to put some Sentsy pacs in the pail. There are also various natural kinds of deodorizers on cloth diapering websites that you can buy. And honestly I'm sure there is a tutorial on Pinterest somewhere on how to make your own. (When I find a good one I'll post it)

So those seem to be the only options. If you find one that I missed please leave a comment! I am learning as I go here :)

Learning as I go

I think I mentioned earlier that I did almost no research before making the switch to cloth diapers. Well today is day 3 of our adventure and Little C spent half of yesterday and today in disposables. Why? Because I mistakenly thought that two diaper covers and 9 prefolds would last me. Guess how long that lasted. Half a day and through the night :/ Then I had to was them and dry them. Which would take too long if the covers didn't need to be air dried.

Getting rid of the poop

I wish it was that easy. I didn't take into account that my sweet daughter would poop eventually.

Poop CAN NOT and SHOULD not go in your washing maching. Therefore how do you get rid of it before you wash the diaper? Sometimes its super easy. Just tip the diaper over the toilet and it rolls right off! Other times its not so easy. Sometimes you get the sticky, super gross kind. Ewww!

Dip and swish!
Sounds kinda like something from Harry potter... Anyway, you could dip the diaper into the toilet and swish it around until it is poop free. Or not! Gross, right?

Diaper Sprayer!
Have you heard of a diaper sprayer? Me neither! Fantastic invention because honestly, how many people want to dip and swish poopy diapers in the toilet? Over the toilet spray until the diaper is poop free.  Here are the sprayers I have found so far; one for $60, one for $55 and a DIY one for about $30 on Pinterest. Here is the link. I'm not sure which directions my husband is following, the you tube video she includes or the link to Gidget Goes Home but he has been to Lowes at least 4 times so far and the sprayer is still not installed. Oh well. Lord willing it will be installed by the end of the day because I have a poopy diaper sitting upstairs that needs to be rinsed.

Deciding to go cloth

So as I mentioned before we decided to go with cloth diapers because in the long run it saves you money. But that was as far as I got. I had no idea that there were so many different kinds of cloth diapers! I honestly thought there were MAYBE two or three different kinds. Boy was I wrong!

Normally I research something to death before I make a change in lifestyle. I had been thinking about making the switch for awhile but never got started on the research because I thought that the switch would be further down the road. Today is Monday and Saturday we ran out of disposable diapers. I am now doing some panicky research trying to figure out what everything is and how it works and what the heck all these acronyms mean! I have one, count 'em ONE friend who does cloth and she very kindly showed me all the different kinds that she has. She has been sending me links to information and adding me to groups on Facebook. She is being so patient with me as I send message after message of "is this a good deal?!?!" and "how does this work?!?!" and "what the heck does this mean?!?!" She took me to a store, RG Natural Babies, in a neighboring town Saturday to purchase some covers. They sell new and used diapers, among other things. I got two. I already had some prefolds at home because I used them to make some pretty burp rags for Little C when she was born. So Wa La! I am a cloth diapering Mama!

Starting off

Recently we have had some major financial struggles. As a result I have decided to make the switch from disposable diapers to cloth.

Before our "financial downfall" I would shake my head at "those moms". you know the ones. The baby wearing, make your own organic baby food, cloth diapering hippies that are out to change the world one baby at a time. I am confessing my sin of pride here just so you know.

After I had Little C last year I thought I had it covered. I then realized how expensive babies were! I decided that I was going to breastfeed Little C at least until she was one. (More than that kinda freaked me out) Then came the time (about 3 months old) when her Dr said it was time for solids. "Ok" I thought "lets go see what is at the store." Oh My Goodness! Baby food is expensive! I decided to make my own. Later I will share the links to blogs I found that have good baby food recipes.

I have a two different kinds of strollers. A massive one from Graco that is great for picnics and park play dates. Pretty much any were that you would bring the GIANT diaper bag along with all of the ESSENTIALS in it. And an umbrella stroller for traveling and shopping. Then I was given an Ergo Baby Carrier as a gift! Oh my goodness! That thing is amazing! It is comfortable for me and Little C! It makes it so much easier to go on walks, go fun shopping (like a the mall) and grocery shopping! It is also great for when she is being needy and clingy after a long trip. I can still get my chores done with her on my back!

I have used most brands of diapers. Huggies, Pampers, Luvs (cringe) and the Target store brand Up & Up. Actually just 4 different brands. I love Huggies and Pampers but Oh are they EXPENSIVE! My personal favorite are the Pampers Swaddlers. So I tried Luvs for awhile because we lived right down the street from a Walmart and they were the cheapest ones I could find at the time. Little C constantly had a diaper rash with those but I really thought that was normal until we switched to the Up&Ups. The Target Up&Up brand is my new favorite brand of disposable diapers. But unfortunately we no longer can afford to buy them. So cloth diapering it is!

This was the path to becoming one of  "those moms." It also has been my path to humility. Don't get me wrong. I am not very good at being humble. But God has been very gracious to give me trials in my life that are getting me closer to being humble.