Meconium - cloth dipes vs. disposable

942 Views 15 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Past_VNE, Jun 7, 2005

asianmama

Discussion Starter · Jun 4, 2005

Hi Everyone,

I'd appreciate your opinions on this topic! Dh and I are planning on cloth diapering baby when s/he gets here (in 1.5 months). However, I have read on some boards (maybe here? I don't remember) that the meconium baby first produces can be really sticky and difficult to clean off of cloth.

I am wondering if you experienced mamas out there can tell me if you think it would be more convenient to use disposables at first, and then switch to cloth after all the meconium has passed.

How long does it take for all of the meconium to pass, anyway?

If you think it will not be too hard to clean meconium off of cloth diapers (we're going to use chinese prefolds), do you have any tips on extra steps we can take to get them clean?

Thanks!

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PatchyMama

· #2 · Jun 4, 2005

we cloth diapered willow from birth... we had absolutely no meconium stains. I do have a minishower... so we sprayed diapers, then just threw them in the pail and washed normally. Didnt have a problem. I'm not sure if it was because of the mini sprayer or not. I also had meconium on the shirt I was wearing when I gave birth and that came off just fine (no stains) and we didnt spray that. I wouldnt worry about it and just use the CPFs

You could always throw the diaper in the wash right after you take it off and give it quick cold rinse.. then just let it hang out in there till you have a full load. I think we had meconium for a day and a half? not much longer than that.

HTH!

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eclipse

· #3 · Jun 4, 2005

my dds breastmilk poop diapers stained worse than the meconium - in fact, i don't think the meconium stained at all. If you're really worried, you can buy a yard of cheap fleece and cut pieces to line the diapers - then toss those when they are nasty.

TiredX2

· #4 · Jun 4, 2005

I had the same plan (disposables until meconium was passed). Well, DS had meconium in the water and then POOPED when he was just out (splattering me & DP) so we cleaned it up and it was on so much stuff. The midwife said it came out really easily so we just started w/cloth right then and she was right. Absolutely no stains.

FatherArn

· #5 · Jun 4, 2005

Here's another thing to think about ... the meconium can also be very sticky on your babies bottom ... we were told by our midwife to use olive oil on baby after every change as it keeps the meconium from sticking to baby's butt ... it worked great ....

... you can also use Bert Bee's apricot oil ....

BTW ... we did use disposables for about 4 or 5 days and then switched to cloth. So I'm not much help as far as how it would go with cloth but I thought I'd share a tip with you the was so wonderfully shared with us.

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Jes'sBeth

· #6 · Jun 5, 2005

We were going to use disposables until meconium passed too but in the end I couldn't find a package of newborn diapers that had less than 70 diapers and there was no way i was going to waste any and I didn't want to put my little one in disposables for that long. i used the kooshies flushable liners until the meconium was through but I have to say that there was really no need. we had one diaper that got a bit stained but by the time it had been through the wash a couple of more times, the 'stain' was gone (and I didn't do anything special with it...!) Next time, I won't bother with the liners.

The PP who said that meconium sticks is right. it was way harder to get it off of Annie's bum than it was to get off the diapers. Next time perhaps I'll try the oil trick

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AngelBee

· #7 · Jun 5, 2005

Used cloth. Washed out great!

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LEAW

· #8 · Jun 5, 2005

We used 'sposies at the hospital, somehow *they* can get small packs of diapers - only 24 in the pack I think?

The mec was all gone before we went home. Ended up giving 1/2 the bag to a new mama in the neighborhood to use, we put her in her first cloth dipe the moment we got home.

MamaSpruce

· #9 · Jun 5, 2005

Lots of good replies already, but I'll chime in that we had no problems with cloth either. Our son's mec got on just a few dipes the first few days and we rinsed them in cold water right away. We didn't diaper him the first 3 days (we just wanted to be naked, skin on skin, together for awhile) actually, just had him on a diaper, so we knew right away. Olive oil on the butt worked great here too! Crazy stuff, though! So sticky, its like an oil slick.

kamesennin

· #10 · Jun 5, 2005

Just wanted to add my 2 cents--we used cloth from birth and had no meconium stains at all. I didn't soak or anything, just washed on hot (large load) with the other diapers. We had meconium for 2 days and that's it. One thing that helped were velour wipes--I sewed remnant pieces of velour to pieces of flannel and they worked great to "grab" the sticky meconium. I just wet them first with some water. You can buy nice velour wipes online too, if you don't have time to sew. Congrats on your upcoming birth!

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asianmama

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jun 5, 2005

Wow, lots of really great replies! Thanks for your help everybody! I appreciate you telling me about your experiences, and also for the cleaning tips (both for the dipes and also for babe's butt)! Sounds like the meconium is really not such a big deal to clean off of cloth, so I guess we'll pass on the disposables.

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alegna

· #12 · Jun 5, 2005

2

All cloth here from day one. Wouldn't do it any other way

I can't imagine putting those delicate newborn bottoms in icky crunchy plastic paper and chemicals....

the meconium washed out fine (we didn't even rinse first...)

-Angela

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Carolinamidwife

· #13 · Jun 5, 2005

I wish meconium didn't have such a bad rap! It never stained anything I have... nothing stains like a breastmilk poopie!

The olive oil is a good suggestion. Also, add some oil to your wipes solution for the cloth wipes, that makes mec clean-up a breeze. Sposie's suck, they don't belong anywhere near the delicate skin of a bitty.

sbgquilt

· #14 · Jun 5, 2005

dd is 6 weeks old and had some question as you did before her birth. Ended up deciding didn't want to put disposables on delicate newborn bottom. She swallowed a ton of amniotic fluid at birth so first diapers were mix of muconium and amniotic fluid so not sure if that made a difference. We didn't even use dipaers the first day -- just had her in a rag or towel and everything came ot of that. Then we used really cheap cloth diapers -- more like spit rags the next couple of days. We ended up throwing one of those away b/c it was just too overwhelming to deal with what came out of her, but in retrospect we could have washed it. Now we have washed tons of diapers and lots of poop and things aren't as overwhelming anymore. I say don't be afraid of the cd from minute 1.

pixiexto

· #15 · Jun 5, 2005

Just chiming in as another who sees NO big deal about meconium and cloth from birth. We've use chinese prefolds from day 1 with both girls, and no stains at all.

.... ok, no *meconium* stains..... we've got the odd breastfood poop stain, the odd ink stain, a stray-red-sock-in-the-wash pink stains.... but no meconium! :LOL

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Past_VNE

· #16 · Jun 7, 2005

We got a pack of disposables for the baby shower. I wish I had posted this same thread, because I would have returned them for a credit somewhere. I used a few of them, HATED them and wish, to this day, that I had done cloth immediately.

The olive oil on the bum is a GREAT suggestion. It worked very well for us.

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