newborn diapering help?

469 Views 10 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Undercover Hippie, Jun 5, 2005

nitemarehippygirl

Discussion Starter · Jun 5, 2005

levi is almost a month old now, and we've just about used up all the sposies we got from the baby shower (gees, i can't believe we've gone through like 8 packs of diapers in a month!), so i have been transitioning over to cloth the last few days.

so far, i'm having a few dilemmas. i'm hoping some of you more experienced mamas can tell me what i'm doing wrong.

i should say that in the interest of keeping things cheap and simple, i'm presently using infant size cpfs, and nb proraps. also, the baby is mostly bf (i'm having to supplement a little,) so his poops are of the messy yellow gooey variety.

the first thing is that he poops at just about every diaper change, and somehow it always gets on the cover. i just bought some more covers off the tp, because at this rate, i don't have enough (i had 7 that fit him). i thought you were supposed to be able use them a couple of times before you had to wash them. fwiw, i've just been folding the diaper thirds, and laying it in the cover. he's awfully squirmy, and he pees on everything before i can manage anything more complicated than that.

secondly, he's pretty small (around 8 lbs,) and by the time i fold the dipe down to fit him, he looks like the michelin man. is that what he's supposed to look like? lol. frankly, i've never seen a newborn irl wearing a pf, so i don't know.

finally, the diaper pail is pretty ripe smelling. i've been using water and baking soda to soak the dipes until i wash them, but it's smelling pretty yucky, even if i wash the dipes every day. how do i keep things from being so funky?

thanks for any help.

btw, even with the above mentioned problems, i have to say that i like cloth better already. somehow, none of the sposies exactly fit him, and he also pees so much that he was soaking through them onto his clothes at almost every diaper change. so far, even with my novice attempts at cloth diapering, we haven't had any leaks.

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ChristiansMomma

· #2 · Jun 5, 2005

Do you have a snappi? I used pf and covers with my first and we didn't use a snappi. We had poo on every cover everytime! Maybe that would help.

With this baby, we only use fitteds and we have never had a poo leak.

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kenzie&wyatt'smom

· #3 · Jun 5, 2005

If you can get a snappi and fold them on him that may save your covers. As for the diaper pail. try washing them out in the toliet and keeping a dry pail with a tight lid. You can also use a few drops of tea tree oil in the pail to help control odor it has really helped us. I actually ended up just putting a wet bag in his bedroom now and moved the diaper pail to the laundry room. HTH

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mommy2noah

· #4 · Jun 5, 2005

*disclaimer - I have never CDed a newborn, so I'm not speaking from experience - just what I've heard other's say.*

The only way to keep your covers poo free is to actually try one of the different folding methods and snappi'ing/pinning it on. I've heard the jelly roll fold is great for BF poo, but I don't have a link to instructions so maybe another mama could help you out there.

And I'd say that inf PFs on an 8lber are going to be a bit bulky at this point, but he'll most likely quickly grow into them. Hang in there.

And I'm not sure what to say about the pail situation. I have no experience with a wet pail. Maybe try getting a mini shower and spraying off the poo as best you can and just keeping the dipes in a dry pail.

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Ok

· #5 · Jun 5, 2005

I never could do the tri-fold in a cover. I always did a quick basic fold and used a snappi. Snappis are wonderful for this age child. When my babe was a nb/small, I used to just put him in a diaper and leave him coverless on a waterproof mat. Since most of the time he was just hanging out with me anyway, I'd have him right beside me, nice and airy w/ a prefold. For one thing I was amazed at how often he was pee'ing :LOL I counted 6 diapers in a 1.5hr period one day

Not sure about the diaper pail if you're washing every day or every other day. Maybe the diapers need a good hot washing and stripping. (did you buy them used? could they have detergent build up?-- that could make them "ripe")

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herc

· #6 · Jun 5, 2005

k first, poo on the covers is going to be a fact of life with a nb breastfed baby-- in my experience anyway. If you have a small stash, rinse the poo off in the sink and hang it to dry. I firmly believe that fitteds are the ONLY way to keep poop off a cover, and that really doesnt work all of the time, lol.

Size--- you can get preemie refolds or 2x6x2 infants if they are just way too bulky. Preemie prefolds are cheap and can be used later as doublers. I actually might have a dz FS if you are interested (also lots of other fitteds, covers, wool, etc)-- need to decide what I am going to keep from my nb stash. FWIW I never used the preemie, but my babies start off bigger-- 9lbs 4oz at birth, and abt 17lbs now at 7 weeks. I would say the preemie prefolds would work up until abt 12-14lbs.

I never use a wet pail--- that is probably adding to your uck factor. Try just sprinkling baking soda in the pail periodically on top of the diapers, and also getting a pail that the lid forms a pretty tight seal. If the dipes get stained and it bothers you, give them a soak in oxygen bleach and hot water overnight.

hth a little!
heather

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crysmomofthree

· #7 · Jun 5, 2005

Hello! from the may due date group. Glad everything is going well with Levi

here is a link to different folds for your prefolds http://www.thediaperhyena.com/diaper_folding101.htm I think it is normal for the poo to leak onto the cover when you are using trifolded prefolds, we are mostly using fitteds and we haven't had one yet, but then again Lauren is a once a day pooper so it isn't such a problem.

In the link above it shows the newspaper fold with the extra folded in front, but if you want it to be really trim I fold the extra in the back before I lay her down on it then there isn't as much bulk in the front. as for the diaper pail, I use tee tree oil, and a super large pul drawstring bag and I don't notice much stink at all, I have to say I don't really like the wet pail idea
crystal

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mackysmama

· #8 · Jun 5, 2005

another good site for fold diagrams - and you can just use your covers instead of pins or snappis to try them out and then get some snappis if you like.

http://www.dy-dee.com/html/Folding/folding.html

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staceyshoe

· #9 · Jun 5, 2005

I agree with getting a snappi. I've only had poo get on a cover twice in 10 wks. Considering how many times he poos a day, those stats are pretty good! I thought I would love the ease of just folding a pf in a cover but actually prefer to snappi. It helps make it trimmer (though any pf will be bulky on a nb). I find it easier than double checking all the edges to make sure a folded pf is all tucked in the cover.

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nitemarehippygirl

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 5, 2005

hey, thanks for the tips everyone. i gather the wet pail must be a bad idea. i'll start over in the a.m., sans water, and see if that's better. i guess i need to go to the health food store and get some tto, also, since it seems to be a staple for everyone. the dipes were new, so it isn't funk buildup, or anything like that. it must just be the water.

i did buy a couple of snappis, i just hadn't been brave enough to use them yet. i did just now manage to put the baby in a bikini twisted pf (thanks for the links, btw.). i'll see how that works. at any rate, it looks less bulky. lol, i'm going to have to learn to move faster, though. my first attempt, the baby peed all over the clean diaper, while i was trying to get it folded onto him. :LOL we only have had little girls in my family until now. i'm still trying to get used to having to move mega fast before i get sprinkled. dh somehow manages to get peed on several times a day....hahaha

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Undercover Hippie

· #11 · Jun 5, 2005

Another person suggesting folding the PFs instead of laying it in.

I thought folding PFs would be a nightmare (and avoided it like the plague) but after a day or two of practice it gets much easier. Amazingly enough I actually like it now!

When we had breastmilk-only poo, and even at the beginning of solid foods before there were really any "chunks," we never did anything to our diapers except throw them dry into an open diaper pail. No lid, no spraying or dunking, no tea tree oil, nothing. It had a very mild breast-fed-poo/sour-milk smell but nothing that I even noticed unless I walked right by the pail. I washed every day or two at that time and didn't notice much odor problem.

Hopefully the constant pooping will slow down by 2 months or so, it seemed like it did with my kids. Actually at 2 months my DS began pooping only once a week, which was great for the first 5-6 days but was really awful on that one day when you knew a huge explosion was coming! :LOL

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