Got a good dunking technique?

[veedeep]

So...we've had some gross poopy diapers lately (DS is 12.5 months and eating quite a bit of food these days). I've dunked in the toilet several times now - whenever we don't have a flushable liner in to help catch things, or when the liner shifts around and there's still a lot of poop on the diaper itself.

The dunking part is fine - a lot of the poop comes off the prefold. However, I'm then left standing there with a sopping wet poopy prefold (there's still a "layer" of poo on/in the cotton after dunking). I've been dragging my whole diaper pail into the bathroom, but I still need to sort of use my hands to ring/squeeze a lot of the water out before pitching it into the pail - both to keep from putting an extremely wet diaper in the pail and to avoid dripping on the floor, edge of the pail, etc. Ew.

Any suggestions from experienced dunkers about how to deal with the super wet prefold post-dunking? I figure someone out there has a slick technique or tool they can share.

TIA

[rlmueller]

Sprayer on shower head into a bucket. My cousin bought one of those sprayers that attach to the toilet. So cool!

[Everrgreen]

Oops double post!

[Everrgreen]

Yep, been there, pretty gross!

My best piece of advice is to try and pay attention when he's pooping and change right away. If he hasn't had a chance to sit and mush the poop into the diaper it should fall right off with no dunking/swishing required.

But, I know that's not always easy. And I often have to swish the diaper and wring it out - blech! Although, when I swish the diaper it generally gets all the poop off - no layer of poop left, just some discolouration.

I actually own a diaper sprayer, but I don't know how to install it

[averlee]

If you dunk in the toilet, keep something right there in the bathroom to transport it- I use a plastic sand pail or a plastic mixing bowl. I hold the sopping diaper over the toilet and bring the pail right under it, so no drips on the floor.

[KristyDi]

fleece liners.

The poop seems to come off the fleece easier and if dunking is necessary, fleece dosen't hold water like the prefold does.

You can buy half a yard or so at a fabric store ($3-$5) or reuse a fleece jacket or blanket from the thrift store. Since fleece dosen't ravel you can just cut it to size.

[veedeep]

I have done the "container to transport" method a couple of times (with a little plastic basin that came home from the hospital when DS was born). I was concerned that adding a diaper to the pail that was THAT wet would cause some sort of funkiness/swampiness (esp. as hot weather approaches). Now that I think about it, I guess the other non-saturated diapers in the pail would just absorb the extra liquid...so that might be my new system.

As for the layer of poop business: DS's poos are sometimes quite solid (so I can see where catching it right away would help), but they're more often really sticky or really slimy. So, there's no getting it all off the diapers, even with dunking. My goal is just to get most of it off so it's not going into the washing machine. Oh the poo stains on these prefolds! They'll be hanging on the clothesline to de-stain all summer at the rate we're going.

Fleece liners: I have problems with fleece at my house. I've tried diapers with microfleecee, and I immediately have repelling issues. I think it's due to the laundry detergent I use for the non-baby laundry. It's plant-based non-toxic etc. detergent, but it includes citrus oils. That's the only thing I can think that could be causing the problem. I'm reluctant to change that because I really like the detergent and I have skin allergies myself so I don't want to mess with my routine. The result: no fleece in our diaper stash. I think if I tried fleece liners we'd end up with pee leak problems.

Thanks for the suggestions...keep 'em coming!

[lifeguard]

I just drop it in the pail all wet like.

And as gross as it sounds I have found letting the dipe dry a little before dunking makes it easier sometimes - the poop will sort of peel off.

[veedeep]

Originally Posted by lifeguard

I just drop it in the pail all wet like.

And as gross as it sounds I have found letting the dipe dry a little before dunking makes it easier sometimes - the poop will sort of peel off.

Interesting...maybe I'll try that. The poopy diapers smell SERIOUSLY bad, but now that we're getting into open-windows weather I might be able to let the dipe sit around for a while before dunking.

[veedeep]

Has anyone tried this Diaper Duck thing? Might make the wringing-out part easier...It's hard to tell if this would really work or if it's one of those gimmicky things that's a waste of $$.

http://www.borntolove.com/catalog7d.html

[Katie T]

Originally Posted by veedeep

Interesting...maybe I'll try that. The poopy diapers smell SERIOUSLY bad, but now that we're getting into open-windows weather I might be able to let the dipe sit around for a while before dunking.

I will set in the diaper pail like normal and it still dries out. Like the diaper soaks up the moisture out of the poop. Then when I think about it I take it to the toilet and peel the poop off.

[Llyra]

Ew. I can't imagine dunking. Why?

I cloth diapered three kids until potty learning, and never rinsed or dunked. I always just pushed off whatever was solid into the toilet, and let the washing machine do the rest. Sometimes you wind up needing to do a second wash cycle, with a particular load of dipes, but they get just as clean without the extra step. And stains sun out nicely, and are no big deal anyway. I think dunking is kinda nasty.

[veedeep]

Originally Posted by Llyra

Ew. I can't imagine dunking. Why?

I cloth diapered three kids until potty learning, and never rinsed or dunked. I always just pushed off whatever was solid into the toilet, and let the washing machine do the rest. Sometimes you wind up needing to do a second wash cycle, with a particular load of dipes, but they get just as clean without the extra step. And stains sun out nicely, and are no big deal anyway. I think dunking is kinda nasty.

If the poop were more solid, this is what I would do (just push it off with a wad of toilet paper). However, it's usually really sticky and kind of smashed into a large area of the diaper.

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by veedeep

If the poop were more solid, this is what I would do (just push it off with a wad of toilet paper). However, it's usually really sticky and kind of smashed into a large area of the diaper.

Oh, we had those. I would just run an extra prewash, and it would get clean just fine. Just pail the whole mess.

I didn't mean to jump on anybody who does dunk. But I think it's important for mamas to know you don't have to. The washer really will wash it all off, gunk and all. At least, mine always did.

[veedeep]

I agree - I don't want people thinking you need to dunk ALL the time. I don't always do it.

This maybe TMI, but we've had some instances lately where there were bits of food (carrots, to be specific) that were undigested in the diaper. Picking food bits out of the washing machine was NOT fun! Sometimes, dunking needs to happen.

[Llyra]

My perspective on the picking the food out of the washer was that it was nicer and more pleasant to pick it out once it had been sanitized by two hot washes, and was all nicely free of smelly gunk. I'd rather clean washed grape skins, etc., out of the washer than deal with a smelly dirty diaper. But I guess each of us has to decide what works for us... I get worried though that new mamas will be turned off by the idea of dunking and thus decide not to use cloth. I wanted to put it out there that you don't HAVE to dunk. And the picking bits of food thing was not something we had to do frequently.