Anyone else losing steam on CDing the newbie?

[SortaCrunchy]

:

Or is it just me?

This is my first time to CD a newborn. We started cloth when DD1 was 8 months old. It just seems like so much more WORK now. I feel like I am constantly changing diapers (DD1 hasn't PLed yet), and DD2 takes wonderfully long naps, but almost always wakes up with wet leaks - and forget about overnight (she sleeps 5 hour stretches at night). The only poopie blowouts we have had have been in sposies, so that isn't the problem.

I don't know. It just seems a lot harder right now than it did with an older baby.

Anyone else feeling burned out?

Encouragement? Advice?

Thanks, mamas.

[IntuitiveJamie]

Oh good, a thread to gripe about cloth diapering. I was going to come and write one myself!

I am WORE OUT friends!! CD'ing two is exhausting. It seems to be one of my biggest challenges having two kids. It doesn't help that ds1 is a poop machine. And I'm a dunker. I don't leave that shi!! (literally) on my dipes. My dh only wipes it off though..eeeww
Anyways, I'm not kidding about my first son. He poops anywhere from 3-10 times a day. (apparently dr. sears says this can be normal, but I think it's due to food allergies I haven't figured out yet).

So now add a newborn to that and voila, you have two loads per day of cds. Not to mention the sorting and putting away of dipes. Oh yeah and the folding of the newborns flat fold dipes and prefolds.

Wow, just even writing that out made me exhausted. :
It's gotten to the point where half the time the dipes don't even make it to the drawers or folded up. I pull them one at a time out of the washer and throw directly in the dryer!
Anyways, I feel your pain, and thanks for letting me share my cding pain too.

[SortaCrunchy]

Bless your heart, mama! If my oldest had that many dirty diapers a day, I would be insane. Two loads of diapers a day! EEEEK! I am quite sure you are far more exhausted with it all than I am . . .

[*jeanine*]

what dipes/covers are you using? i got some aristocrats wool covers that i use at night and I LOVE THEM! no leaks! granted, they are $$$$, but they supposedly go up to 20 pounds (for my kids that's a little over a year old). if they last half that long they will have been well worth the $$.

[beemama]

i am so thankful i only have 1 in diapers!

takebirthback~ mini shower! they make such life so much easier!

[Plaid Leopard]

Originally Posted by beemama

i am so thankful i only have 1 in diapers!

takebirthback~ mini shower! they make such life so much easier!

Or those flushable liners!

[ATD_Mom]

Ohmygosh, you guys! I feel so badly you're worn out by diapering!

We are having a fine and easy time with it. What sort are you using?

• We use side-snap fitteds, which I made with only a couple thin layers (for quick drying).
• Inside of each we use a newborn-sized prefold as a soaker.
• Covers are long pants or shorties made from felted recycled wool sweaters.
• We have no leaking or blow-out issues whatsoever.
• Go through 10-12 dipes a day. Do one load a day, just so we have time for them to air-dry. If we used the dryer only, we could wash every other day.

We tried just using prefolds only one day - no fitteds, no covers - to let DS's bum air-out. This was a complete pain, as I realized then the kid pees approximately every 15 minutes. I had no idea until then! I wonder if you are using a similar system?

[SortaCrunchy]

I guess I am just picky. I don't like the look or fit or trifolded pfs in a cover, so if I use pfs, I have to pin or snappi them on. And with a kooky toddler always needing something (and still having major jealousy issues) I just don't have time for a two-part system . . . I am mostly using pockets right now. I love pockets, but we are having a lot of leaks at the leg. DD2 pees fast and strong . I know I would probably have better luck with pfs and covers, but I have tried and tried to make them work and just can't seem to get it down. I think it would be a lot better if I didn't have two in dipes right now.

[thewaggonerfamily]

Originally Posted by takebirthback

Oh good, a thread to gripe about cloth diapering. I was going to come and write one myself!

I am WORE OUT friends!! CD'ing two is exhausting. It seems to be one of my biggest challenges having two kids. It doesn't help that ds1 is a poop machine. And I'm a dunker. I don't leave that shi!! (literally) on my dipes. My dh only wipes it off though..eeeww
Anyways, I'm not kidding about my first son. He poops anywhere from 3-10 times a day. (apparently dr. sears says this can be normal, but I think it's due to food allergies I haven't figured out yet).

So now add a newborn to that and voila, you have two loads per day of cds. Not to mention the sorting and putting away of dipes. Oh yeah and the folding of the newborns flat fold dipes and prefolds.

Wow, just even writing that out made me exhausted. :
It's gotten to the point where half the time the dipes don't even make it to the drawers or folded up. I pull them one at a time out of the washer and throw directly in the dryer!
Anyways, I feel your pain, and thanks for letting me share my cding pain too.

Have you considered having a CD basket. Take the dipes out of the dryer and put into basket and set basket by changing station and just get them out of there and don't fold or put away. It should make it a little easier. A load or two of extra laundry a day doesn't bug me since we did 4 load a day before baby came. Now I am trying to do a baby load a day, either dipes or clothes every other day. Its the putting away that I hate. (Although I don't mind folding cute little baby stuff!) I'm actually itching to CD more, but we are trying to use up the 'sposies before he outgrows the ones that were given to us. He was 8lbs 5 oz at birth and is 13lb7oz at 6 weeks.

[danaalex]

i'm worn out of cloth too. we've been cloth diapering since 2001 and i am just plain tired of it i used to spend a lot of time doing diaper talk, but now i'm not online that much anymore and i am no longer interested in sitting and talking diapers, i am not buying new diapers at all, and disposables just seem SOOOOO easy!!!

we have a great and easy system, and i only wash like every three days, but i'm wanting more convience. i have 8 AIOs in xs size and that is what i am loving these days. i use wool covers and i'm tired of damp pants and compression leaks, etc.

i used to LOVE cloth diapering. i am hoping that my feelings will change soon

[flowers]

I was obsessed with ds #1 and on a mission. He is in underwear now so 2 isn't the issue.

I was excited when I was pregnant and started collecting new fun stuff but sposies are playing more of a role now. He is really sensitive and needs his cd changed as soon as it is wet and I am just not into that! So I have been doing cd from 9-5 when we are home for the day but when we leave the house I am using 7th generation and feeling pretty good about my hybrid compromise!

[Plaid Leopard]

I use the natural sposies every now and then. Just makes life easier sometimes.

[lactivist]

Confession time! I am so sick of cd'ing my older son that I have decided to put him in sposies for a couple weeks to give me a break. I am LOVING cd'ing Dahlia and we are doing some EC too and that is going great. If I could get my older baby out of diapers I would be just fine with it all. I am totally over dealing with his stinky poop and really over washing his diapers. They just aren't cute and fun like Dahlia's. I feel so frustrated with him most of the time that I am trying to do anything to make it a little easier for me to deal with him. I will probably feel guilty really quickly and he will be back in cloth but for now I am taking a break. :
Wendi

[Plaid Leopard]

Lactivist-

How often do you "pee" your little one? Are you trying to catch poops too?

I've been doing a bit of EC with Yann, but not consistently (is that bad?). He seems to understand when I put him on the potty to pee, and sometimes I can catch poops. Other times I can tell he needs to poop but he has to work on it for a LOOOONG time...

I'm unhappy with my diaper supply because it is such a mish-mash of different styles ofdiapers and covers from my other kids, or bought 2nd hand or was given. I wish I could afford to start over and only have one type of diaper and one or two types of covers. Oh well.

[lactivist]

I give her an opportunity to go every time I change her diaper. I also pee her if she seems fussy for no good reason and I get a "potty" feeling. That has worked really well. It is fine to do part time. I don't even change her diaper at night because she mainly sleeps through. I have been catching anywhere from 1-5 pees per day and about 4 poops a week. I think it is going great. She seems to love it and smiles at me when I put her over the potty. When she seems to be working up to a poop I will give her a chance to go and then lie her down on a prefold and waterproof pad and then when she fusses again I potty her again. I have caught a few poops this way now. My dh (who has been rather unsupportive of the whole thing) actually potty'd her and got her to poop yesterday. I think he is impressed that it seems to be working and we are actually washing less diapers. I have all Fuzzi Bunz and they are working really well. I would be frustrated with a mish mosh of diapers too. I figure any pees or poops I am catching is just one diaper less to wash.
Wendi

[IntuitiveJamie]

Waggoneer- Thanks for the suggestion. I think a cloth basket to just throw everything in is a great idea for the lil one's things. And instead of sorting my oldests I'll just throw his in the drawer...which I do sometimes anyways. Dh will just have to deal (he prefres it to be neat so he can figure out what the heck he's doing).
The hassle I'm having is in part due to Wyatts (newborn) stash being flats that have to be folded. I loved them at first, now they are a pain. Once he gets into mediums I have all AIO's, which i prefer.
I did sew some more dipes (aio's) for Wyatt. So having a few mixed in with the prefolds and flats in making for a nice lil break.
But reality is I'll have to deal for awhile.
I've got to the oldest potty trained!

[RachelSerena]

I feel ya! I am doing EC with DD2 (also did this with DD1, but started at 6 mos. ) and I still am getting tired of all the diapers!

Newborns pee so often! But it seems the EC is paying off a bit - she can go 6 hours at night and still be dry, which is much improved - I used to change her 4-5 times a night!

[jmhammond]

My problem is with the covers. I have 2 newborn Bummis whisper wraps which are almost too small, and about 10 proraps. The lining on the edge gets WET and wicks out onto the outfit EVERY TIME. It drives me NUTS!! I guess maybe I'm not changing diapers enough, but seems silly to wake a baby to change them...

I can't wait until this baby is big enough to fit into the medium fuzzibunz that were my main stock for DS1. We didn't start CD with him until about 4 months. I am a FB fan for sure!!! I only have one small...

[danaalex]

yeah i know most of my issue is coming from the covers aspect. we have always used wool exclusively ( except when we first started 6 yrs ago). but until this fall i was home almost all day long unless we had a special outing or playgroup date. NOW, i am NEVER home. i am in the car the majority of the day and running errands, taking kids to and from school, visiting friends, etc. so, the babe is in her carseat a lot of the day. even when we are home she usually naps in there because we have somewhere we have to be soon LOL.

if she is asleep in the car or carseat i won't wake her to change her diaper, and then with the wool we get compression leaks and what not. PLUS, most of our winter 0-3 mo clothing has a onesie or is a onesie. so, if we use the wool we have issues and the only way around that is using one of the 3 lite wraps we own. blah!

i am hoping that things will get better in the next couple of months. i hate spending money on sposies!

[ATD_Mom]

Just wanted to post a couple thoughts I had yesterday ...

1. Holy Crap, you guys fold your diapers? Whoa. We toss them in bins. One bin for fitteds, one for prefolds, one for covers ...

2. I completely understand now, with the diapering two kids! A mom at LLL the other night changed her almost three-year old (in sposies), and I about vomited! I have never changed any baby besides my own little six-week-old EBF one. That big-kid poop was sooo stinky and grody! I, too, think I would lose steam changing those and a newborn.