Cloth diapers... questions!

[sgmom]

My daughter will be one year old this month, and I wanted to up the ante with the whole "potty training" thing.

I've decided to switch back to cloth full time, change my EC methods (already done), and am DREADING the poop.

We use prefolds here (bummis). Infant sized ones (newspaper fold) with the diaper cover, or toddler ones with a snappi and no cover.

We recently switched back to disposables for 3 reasons.

1. She's outgrowing her size 4's and I wanted to use them up.
2. She cut 6 teeth and was pooping a tsp of diarrhea on an hourly basis (ew).
3. The velcro on my cloth diaper covers was failing so I'm waiting for new snap covers to arrive.

I LOVED cloth, but I always has issue with the poop. If I use a liner, it seems like such a waste. I throw away a liner on an almost hourly basis (when she pees), and she only poops once per day, sometimes once every other day (or rarely, once every third day). I would save SO much money if I didn't have to use them.

Her poops are quite firm, so I don't worry too much about it if I forget the liner (often I won't use one), but occasionally she'll let go a really mushy poop. And I HATE HATE HATE rinsing a poopy diaper.

Question #1: What do you guys do for the softer stuff? Do you soak? Rinse in a toilet? Just dump it in the pail?

Question #2: I'd like to start using them at night. The problem is that lately she's been sleeping for 12 hours straight, and waking up with a HEAVY diaper. You could break a window with this thing.

Question #3: We've always done disposables out of the house. How difficult is cloth when you're out and about? Are there tricks? She WILL use her potty in the car if I offer it on a regular basis, so she often comes home in the same diaper we left in.

I had debated doing nighttime EC, but to be honest, I value my sleep. Can you suggest a way that I could approach this?

I would LOVE to put her down at 8 or 9, then wake her (to pee) before I go to bed at 10 or 11 (or if I wake in the middle of the night), but she will have NONE OF THAT. If she's half asleep and you sit her on a potty, she'll wake the neighbors with her scream, arched back, clenched buttcheeks, etc.

Before the diaper covers failed, we used cloth full time, on a part time basis at home (NEVER disposables at home - and I LOVED them), but those few little details always bothered me.

So... Full time cloth, and upping the EC ante.

Suggestions?

[lisavark]

For the rinsing, get one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Shower-Bi.../dp/B001OIVDE4. It's a toilet sprayer and will make it easy for you to rinse poopy diapers out in the toilet without, ew, putting your hands in there. I don't actually have one...we've had so few poopy diapers in the long-term that I just never got around to getting one. But I will definitely get one before the next baby.

For nighttime, honestly, I've never done it. DD is 18 months now and often wakes up dry, but I usually put a (cloth) diaper on her at night just in case. It seems like every time I don't, she pees on the bed (like last night, when she was nakey-bum and peed at around midnight), and she wakes herself up and upsets herself. I never wake up enough to notice signals at night; I'm a heavy sleeper!

Out and about, I think cloth is awesome, but I've never used sposies. But I don't imagine that it's really any different. Just get a little cloth diaper bag--one of those reusable waterproof ones that you can use as a diaper pail liner, but the little kind that's meant for going out with. Stick wet diapers in there and you're done. I use cloth wipes at home but keep a few disposable wipes in my bag for out and about, just in case of a poop. If she does poop in her diaper while we're out, I just shake the poop off in the toilet, wrap the diaper around itself so any stain is contained inside, and toss it in the bag. Then after I get home I dump it out, soak it in water with Bac-out, and wash it with the rest of the diapers.

But of course...the easiest way to deal with poopy diapers is to avoid them altogether by catching poops! My daughter also poops once a day/every other day, and I've just become very, very alert about catching poops. Frequently she'll fart a little before she needs to poop and it's smelly, so that's often a cue that she needs to go. Also, if she starts to poop a little bit in her diaper, I always take it off and take her to the potty to finish. I try not to do it in an urgent way that will scare her, but there's definitely a bit of urgency for me, because I hate poopy diapers too. All my friends at playgroup laugh at me, because I'm *always* the first person to notice if *anybody* in playgroup needs to poop/is about to poop/has pooped. Seriously. I smell it before anyone else. Because I'm always on the watch for it.

[sgmom]

Thanks Lisavark!

Disposables are fantastic for roll em up and toss em out when you're not at home. But since she more or less remains dry, I think I'm going to try 100% cloth.

I love the idea of that toilet attachment. I plan on cloth with my next baby, so that might be a wise investment, assuming it works well. I have the wet bag already (which I use for her travel potty inserts, and clothes for when she gets car sick - if you could stop this I would love you FOREVER ).

Perhaps I just need to be more on the watch for stink! I'm a WAHM, so I often have to watch her from a distance. Needless to say, we have a lot of misses.

[curiouscanadian]

I second the diaper sprayer. I actually found a DIY online tutorial and had DH build me one...hmm, here it is: http://gidgetgoeshome.com/2008/08/25...iaper-sprayer/

Something else you might want to try (if you're not already), is encouraging a morning poop. It's really common in India apparently and they call it the morning cleanse (or something like that).

When we were getting started I found DS would often poop sometime in the night (argh!) so on the advice of a wise friend, I tried taking him first thing in the morning. Now I find that if he doesn't poop at the same time as his big morning pee, if I potty him again before dropping him off at the babysitter's, he's good until dinnertime. And if he doesn't poop sometime before bed now he won't settle, so it's a good routine all 'round.

I'll be watching what others might suggest for the night-time EC though. Currently we use BGs at night, and I've been contemplating just layering all the fitted crib sheets over waterproof layers so I can remove as needed, but am not quite that brave yet!

[marija_jane]

I am going to go against the current here, I think diaper sprayers are totally unnecessary. If the poop is solid enough it will fall off into the toilet, otherwise just let your washing machine do the dirty work. I always just throw everything into a trash can that I have a pail liner in, then dump everything into the washer and the pail liner too (just dump the stuff out holding the outside of the liner). I think that the whole idea of diaper sprayers and especially, the old-fashioned toilet dunk, are the biggest deterrents for most people who end up thinking cloth diapering is too gross.
Also, in regards to the throwing away of liners, there are washable liners available, or you could use a cloth wipe as a liner. Again, just throw them in the wash, no rinsing needed.
Also, if you can't/don't want to invest in new diaper covers, I was thinking a very cheap thing you could do would be to put your prefold inside a pair of bloomers or shorts, and this will eliminate the waterproof barrier and help you increase your awareness of her patterns as you are going through this process of refocusing on EC.
In regards to nighttimes, I always think that getting sleep is important, and being responsive to your child's needs is the key. I would never wake a sleeping baby to potty, but I believe that if she wakes up and tells/signals you that she needs to go you should take her (otherwise it would be sending mixed signals).
Good luck!

[Michigan Mama]

I'm just starting out with ec with ds2, but we have cd'ed both so...

For the flushable liners, there are a couple kinds. Bummis are softer, but cannot be reused if baby only pees on them. The imse vimse ones are a little stiffer, but they hold together for several washes, so if baby just pees, you can wash them with your diapers until they get too thin to reuse.

We actually tend to use microfleece liners. The poop comes off them much easier, and you don't have the waste of throwing them away each diaper change. I've never bothered with a diaper sprayer, the liners work well for us.

When I'm out, I just toss everything in my wetbag and deal with it when I get home.

At night, you can use two prefolds, a prefold and a hemp doubler...even pocket diapers can work with the "right" insert combo. My fave nighttime solution is a snappiable fitted I made with an extra insert and a wool interlock cover.

Good luck!