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Cloth and meconium

19K views 15 replies 13 participants last post by  carmel23  
#1 ·
I see a lot of people worried about meconium staining their cloth diapers so I figured I'd start a new thread for us all to talk about.

My experience:

I CDd DS from day one. His first diaper was a kissaluv 0 and a prorap cover. He only had meconium for two days and then moved onto breastmilk poop.

Meconium does NOT stain diapers. Yes, it's tarry and sticky and is a PITA to get off...just do a rinse before you wash your diapers and it will come out, I promise.

BREASTFED POOP STAINS!!!! Oh the stains! Oh the humanity! I longed for meconium poop...I hated breastmilk poop stains...luckily they sunned out, but finding the sun in the winter is hard for some mamas to do, so I know a lot of people suffer with stains until spring. Oxy clean is supposed to help get stains out, but I don't know...I'm not familiar with oxy clean or oxi clean, however you spell the word.
 
#2 ·
I have to say, I swear by the stuff. When we bought baby clothes for the girls, I would say that 95% was bought from garage sales. Dang, clothes for 2 babies gets expensive! There were stains from the previous occupants, and letting the clothes soak in the washer with the oxyclean got out old old FORMULA stains!!! (You just have to make sure that you fully dissolve the oxyclean in hot water before you add the clothes.) We used oxyclean when we washed the baby clothes after the girls were here, and never had any problems. It rinses quite clean!
What about using a liner in the CD? I know there are a few companies that make them, or just using 4-5 sheets of tp in the butt area to catch the poo, so it's easier to put in the toilet?
 
#5 ·
Thanks for posting this. I was worried about it and trying to figure out what to do.

milk_maker-- what exactly do you mean by doing a rinse before washing a meconium diaper? Just rinse it out or soak it or what?

Does everyone here use a dry pail method?
 
#6 ·
Hi! I'm in the July 2007 club but I saw this post and had to reply. I hope that's okay...
I use a dry pail. I had some stains with the BF poo, but it was never a big deal b/c the stains seemed to fade or disappear after a few washes anyway. I never sunned or used OxyClean or anything.

With DS, I did use sposies until the meconium was gone last time (mistakenly thinking it would be a nightmare to wash out), but this time it'll be cloth from day 1. We do use a sposie at night as I think it helps DS sleep longer at a stretch
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#7 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by ATruck View Post
Thanks for posting this. I was worried about it and trying to figure out what to do.

milk_maker-- what exactly do you mean by doing a rinse before washing a meconium diaper? Just rinse it out or soak it or what?

Does everyone here use a dry pail method?
Nothing special. I just throw all the diapers in the washer and do a rinse/spin before doing a wash cycle. Once your babe starts eating solids you have to worry about knocking poo into the toilet and rinsing the diapers, unless you like picking rehydrated raisins out of the washer.
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I never messed with liners...it just wasn't necessary.

ETA - yeah, I use a dry pail.
 
#9 ·
I am planning on CDing from day one, too, and my friend, who also CDs, suggested cutting up old T-shirts as liners if you are worried about the meconium the first couple of days. She said that's what she did and it worked great. So, I am thinking of getting out all my old T-shirts from my rag pile and cutting up a few of them. Just thought I'd offer that suggestion!
 
#10 ·
I was going to make fleece liners or something similar but have just decided to not worry about it. We started CDing DS when he was about 2.5 weeks old last time so we skipped the meconium phase. I'm pretty sure his was gone by the time we left the hospital (2nd day postpartum).

I'm hoping to have one more baby after this (crossing fingers) so I'm not planning on reselling for top dollar or anything...so a little staining doesn't bother me if it does happen. The sun works to lighten/get rid of a lot of staining anyway.
 
#11 ·
I agree, BF poo (especially after eating solids) is what really causes stains. I have a mini shower sprayer that hooks to the toilet that is GENIUS!!!!!!! You can see it here... http://www.thestorkwearhouse.com/minishower.htm Then we use a dry pail method and wash my own.
We will CD from day 1 here too. Can't wait to use the Kissaluv's size zeros!!

Oh.... and raisins are GROSS (for you first time mama's that don't know what is coming....
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#12 ·
I also did cloth with ds and never had a meconium stain. I do believe we put a liner on top of the prefold, but honestly I don't remember - dh did the first 2 weeks of diaper changes for me.
Just thought since this is a post about meconium I would put this out there. Something my midwife taught me that really helped with the meconium diapers is to put almond oil on their bum and it makes it super easy to clean off with a washcloth.
 
#13 ·
Thank you for starting this thread because I started a thread in the diapering forum about it. I really want to cloth diaper from day 1 but I was worried about meconium.Thanks for calming my fears.

Question: How do I make fleece liners? I heard that I can get fleece from Walmart, should I just cut it the size of the inside of the dipe and put it in there? Do I need to double it?

Chelci
 
#14 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by CTH3989 View Post
Thank you for starting this thread because I started a thread in the diapering forum about it. I really want to cloth diaper from day 1 but I was worried about meconium.Thanks for calming my fears.

Question: How do I make fleece liners? I heard that I can get fleece from Walmart, should I just cut it the size of the inside of the dipe and put it in there? Do I need to double it?

Chelci
Cut fleece to the size of diaper, put in diaper, done.