Cloth Diaper BMs

[MaritimeMummy]

These are the kind of diapers the DCB I have uses. I don't remember what brand they are but there are snaps on them to accommodate growth. The liners though are inside the diaper rather than on top next to baby's skin so any waste is on the diaper itself but the liner I think is just there for extra absorbancy. not positive though.

This is the first time in 20 years I have ever been asked to use cloth diapers for a DCK. Honestly, I would actually prefer that ALL my families used cloth diapers so that I don't have so much waste with all the disposable ones but so far, I have only had just this one little guy use cloth.

That is a one size pocket diaper, designed to grow with a child from usually around 8lbs to potty training time. The liner, called a "soaker pad" or "insert" is made of either microfibre, cotton, hemp, bamboo, sometimes even wool. They fit on a child in pretty much the same fashion as a disposable diaper. :-) VERY user-friendly. No pins or flat sheets or covers.

Because of the ease of use, the fact that it's pretty much all one piece and designed to grow with your child, they usually cost quite a bit of money (with the exception of work at home mom types). That's why there is such a big deal made about proper washing/stripping/no creams or powders, etc. Keep them pristine and they do not depreciate in value much, meaning you can make pretty much all of your money back when it comes time to sell them. :-)

[Blackcat31]

That is a one size pocket diaper, designed to grow with a child from usually around 8lbs to potty training time. The liner, called a "soaker pad" or "insert" is made of either microfibre, cotton, hemp, bamboo, sometimes even wool. They fit on a child in pretty much the same fashion as a disposable diaper. :-) VERY user-friendly. No pins or flat sheets or covers.

Because of the ease of use, the fact that it's pretty much all one piece and designed to grow with your child, they usually cost quite a bit of money (with the exception of work at home mom types). That's why there is such a big deal made about proper washing/stripping/no creams or powders, etc. Keep them pristine and they do not depreciate in value much, meaning you can make pretty much all of your money back when it comes time to sell them. :-)

Thanks! That is actually really useful info! I almost wonder if a provider couldn't purchase the diapers and use them on the kids, basically providing diapers for the kids I have in care and still get a lot of use out of them? Do you know the average life span of a well-cared for diaper?

I could transfer the cost of the diapers, laundering and the needed replacements onto the parents of the infants/toddlers with a slightly higher rate for the ones who I provide diapers for.

Hmmm.....now I am going to have to do some serious thinking here.

Recently my DH and I have really gotten into recycling and being as eco-friendly as possible. Last year I spent $976 on garbage services just for our daycare. This year we have recycled EVERYTHING we can and have spent a total of $16 for garbage runs to the dump between BOTH my home and my daycare. Being such an avid recycler now, I kills me to throw these disposable diapers away.

[MaritimeMummy]

I've had my bunch of 36 diapers go through 2 of my kids, my older child is 3 now, if that helps any!

Anyway, why not look into using a cloth diaper service? You pay a fee, they deliver freshly laundered cloth diapers to your door, come pick them up, launder them (in industrial, sanitizing washers), and give you clean ones.

[Country Kids]

I used cloth on 3.5 of my children. By #4 we could afford to use disposables more.

I first started using them 19 years ago-now I'm crying because I just relized my first baby will be turning 19 here in a few weeks. I'm so emotional lately-:confused:

Anyway, I washed them all myself and dried them. They lasted through pretty much 4 children (8 years between 1st and last) and many car dryings, dust cloth uses when they were being done being used for diapers. So mine have last 19 years!

[Country Kids]

Thanks! That is actually really useful info! I almost wonder if a provider couldn't purchase the diapers and use them on the kids, basically providing diapers for the kids I have in care and still get a lot of use out of them? Do you know the average life span of a well-cared for diaper?

I could transfer the cost of the diapers, laundering and the needed replacements onto the parents of the infants/toddlers with a slightly higher rate for the ones who I provide diapers for.

Hmmm.....now I am going to have to do some serious thinking here.

Recently my DH and I have really gotten into recycling and being as eco-friendly as possible. Last year I spent $976 on garbage services just for our daycare. This year we have recycled EVERYTHING we can and have spent a total of $16 for garbage runs to the dump between BOTH my home and my daycare. Being such an avid recycler now, I kills me to throw these disposable diapers away.

Our dump is free and everytime they want to start charging us, everyone goes into an uproar. It would cost me so much to have my garbage picked up it wouldn't even be funny!

I would love to recycle more but hubs says it all gets in the way (we really don't have anywhere to put it) and he doesn't want to stop and have to do it at the dump. Especially in the winter when all it does is rain, rain, rain!

[Blackcat31]

I've had my bunch of 36 diapers go through 2 of my kids, my older child is 3 now, if that helps any!

Anyway, why not look into using a cloth diaper service? You pay a fee, they deliver freshly laundered cloth diapers to your door, come pick them up, launder them (in industrial, sanitizing washers), and give you clean ones.

We don't have a cloth diaper service in my area. We did once, about 20 years ago but the I think the gal who owned it just missed the mark since cloth diapering wasn't such a big trend back then...that was bakc when diapers were just coming out in pink and blue so everyone wanted those

Our dump is free and everytime they want to start charging us, everyone goes into an uproar. It would cost me so much to have my garbage picked up it wouldn't even be funny!

I would love to recycle more but hubs says it all gets in the way (we really don't have anywhere to put it) and he doesn't want to stop and have to do it at the dump. Especially in the winter when all it does is rain, rain, rain!

Our dump is NOT free here. You have to buy a ticket for $50 and each 30 gal can is worth one punch. I think the ticket has 10 punches on it. If you have anything recycleable, you can dump it for free but you have to do the sorting yourself.

In my home and in my daycare, I have 4 cans. One for paper products, one for glass, one for plastic and one for tin/metal. Any further sorting is done by the guys at the dump. So really recycling is easy peasy and good for our environment!

[MarinaVanessa]

I havn't had a chance to read the previous posts so I may repeat something that has already been said.

I only provide cloth diapering if the parents supply pocket diapers. I don't provide flat cloth diapering services. I require the pocket diaper, inserts and a wet/dry bag. I also suggest (but not require) disposable liners so it's easy to pull the liners off after the BM and then just dump in the toilet. If they don't use disposable liners then I just turn the cloth diaper over the toilet and the BM plops into the toilet.

I do not scrape, rinse or wash the cloth diapers. They just get closed up and placed in the wet/dry bag and returned to the parent at the end of the day and they wash and clean them. For me flat diapers (the kind that you fold yourself) are too flimsy, not as absorbent and harder to use. Pocket diapers are just as easy as using a disposable diaper.

[MaritimeMummy]

We don't have a cloth diaper service in my area. We did once, about 20 years ago but the I think the gal who owned it just missed the mark since cloth diapering wasn't such a big trend back then...that was bakc when diapers were just coming out in pink and blue so everyone wanted those

Okay, in that case investing in some cloth might be a good idea, BUT, you should look at washing the diapers in a laundromat, high temp industrial washer to really do a job of sanitizing them.

The thing with cloth diapers is that not only can they get build up in them from improper washing, BUT if your child has any kind of yeast in their diaper area, it lingers in the diapers even after washing. It's not uncommon for parents of babies with thrush to end up stripping their diapers about 2 or 3 times a week just to keep their baby from getting reinfected. Or, they might just strip one time and then switch to disposables while battling it. So, some things to consider.

(stripping diapers is a real headache, btw, haha)

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I have a new DCB too who wears cloth diapers. My rule is I will shake the waste into the toilet. Whatever does not fall off stays. I don't swish, swirl, scrape or anything else.

From what I understand that is how cloth diapering is suppose to be handled because you can't touch feces and you can't rinse anything in a sink you use for food prep or handwashing.

I send the entire balled up diaper home with child and his mom says the washing machine set on second rinse is enough to get all the waste off of it and sanitize it too. She doesn't scrap, swirl or swish either and does not expect me to.

Here are a couple other threads about cloth diapers: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...=cloth+diapers

I was also told that you can't really use product on the bottom of kids who wear cloth diapers because the product gets stuck on the fabric and creates a barrier so that liquid and feces doesn't soak in and away from the babies bottom...sort of like having the diaper scotch-guarded. I have no idea if this is true or not but that is what my DCM said.

That is EXACTLY true. No diaper creams, ointments, etc. that are thick/petroleum based. It will make the fleece (liner/pocket diaper/AIO) or the actual diaper repel water. That is the OPPOSITE of what you want it to do!
If there is a big, old rash then layer on the cream and put that kid in a disposable diaper for a short period of time.

Mom could even use cheapy washcloths as liners if she wanted to. Fleece just lets the moisture travel THROUGH it and into the diaper making it more "disposable diaper" like. The moisture isn't right next to child's skin.

Toddler/Preschooler stink is horrendous. I use the cheapest cloth diapers (trifolded prefolds in a Thirsties cover) for my Preschoolers and save the good stuff for my own family. I just put in a small amount of bleach with my prefolds to help knock out the ammonia.

[MaritimeMummy]

One thing everyone should consider when dealing with cloth diapers and the "disposable liners" is that they are not as disposable as one would think. For example, I am not on a sewer system. I have my own septic tank. I am not supposed to flush disposable liners down my toilet because it can clog the lines.

Some municipalities around here on sewer systems do not want residents flushing anything but toilet paper down the toilet.

It just doesn't break down as easily as one would think. If you are in an area where it's frowned upon to flush tampons down the toilet...think twice about flushing liners.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Never bleach.

But, I use mostly pre-folds with covers. It's the easiest system. They are just thick but ordinary prefolds.
The parents wash them in their own detergent, some wash them in special detergent. (Rockin Johnny or something) They dry them like they would towels. But, we don't use a diaper cream.

They strip them in Dawn dishwasher detergent (if needed) and very hot water.

Other than that, it's just a normal wash day. Nothing special at all.

One kid just recently brought over a big set of "Charlie Banana" diapers from Target, and I'll admit, I kinda love those things.

It's Rockin Green.

You can also use cheap detergent on cloth diapers as well. Sun with powdered bleach in it from the 99 cent store works quite well as do soap nuts.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

One thing everyone should consider when dealing with cloth diapers and the "disposable liners" is that they are not as disposable as one would think. For example, I am not on a sewer system. I have my own septic tank. I am not supposed to flush disposable liners down my toilet because it can clog the lines.

Some municipalities around here on sewer systems do not want residents flushing anything but toilet paper down the toilet.

It just doesn't break down as easily as one would think. If you are in an area where it's frowned upon to flush tampons down the toilet...think twice about flushing liners.

I don't flush ANYTHING but toilet paper anyways. Not even the flushable wipes. I just throw everything away.

[Countrygal]

I just send them home.

Suggest that mom look into either a)flushable liners or b) go to fabric store, buy fleece, cut into liner-shaped pieces, line each diaper with them. Then you just take the fleece liner and more of the poo drops off because it doesn't stick very well to fleece. Easy peasy.

Having used cloth diapers for most of my kids and for gs, I like the suggestion of fleece liners. But I would just sent them home. As for the Unflushability of liners, I never used them for this reason - but if I did, I would treat them just like disposable diapers - wrap each in a plastic bag and dispose of. They are much more environmentally friendly.

I LOVED cloth diapers! Does anyone know how long a diaper takes to break down in the dumps and how many are put in the dumps each day???? They are some obscene figures!!! I tell all of my parents I actually PREFER cloth diapers!

As to the RASH - it is almost guaranteed to be from 1) a fabric softener or 2) washing machine detergent. Cheap detergents ALWAYS left a rash on my kids. With one of them I had to buy a scent-free detergent. The rash, I'd bet my "bottom" dollar (pun intended ) is from one of the above - or possibly a rinse agent if they use one. Suggest they try Dreft or Ivory and cut back on the amount of detergent, add a small amount of bleach to disinfect OR use very hot water in the wash cycle, and no fabric softener at ALL.

Hope this helps! If you want my references - I started using cloth diapers in 1978 and used them through 2010. ::::::

[MaritimeMummy]

As to the RASH - it is almost guaranteed to be from 1) a fabric softener or 2) washing machine detergent.

Children can also be allergic to the type of fabric. I know plenty of chlidren who can't use microfleece, which is what the majority of pocket diapers are, by default, made from.

Suggest they try Dreft or Ivory and cut back on the amount of detergent, add a small amount of bleach to disinfect OR use very hot water in the wash cycle, and no fabric softener at ALL.

NO NO NO NO!! I am sorry Countrygal but Dreft and Ivory are some of the WORST detergents to use with cloth diapers. These are two of the most notorious detergents for causing build up, mainly because everyone just assumes it's okay for cloth diapers if it's okay for clothes.

NOT true. Laundering cloth diapers and laundering baby clothing are worlds apart.

You'll notice from this very comprehensive detergent chart that those two detergents actually do contain fabric softeners already in them, which is what you had (correctly) said you should never use. :-)

You NEVER use bleach. consider all those harsh chemicals that then sit next to baby's bum...sort of defeats one of the purposes of using cloth, since disposables are made of so many different chemicals. I cloth diaper, and personally, given the choice between a pure, cloth diaper washed in Ivory Snow and bleach, or a chemically developed disposable diaper...I'd choose the disposable diaper every time.

http://pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm

[Angelsj]

A rash that will not go away is likely to be a yeast infection. I would mention that to mom and ask her about it. The diapers should probably be stripped, and you can safely use a probiotic powder from inside capsules directly on the bottom (just open and sprinkle lightly)