I feel like such a horse’s ass. I just did the biggest facepalm. I live in one of the hottest states in the country with lots and lots of sunshine and I’ve never thought of de-staining whites! I am such a goof! I hope it works for tomato stains!

Pfft, I meant ‘de-staining whites with sunshine’. GOOF.

we assumed we would get a sprayer too, but when time came we were cheap-solid poo rolls off mostly and that that does not gets a dunk or two , thrown into a nearby plastic bag if really bad and into the laundry pail….by then you are so used to washing all the time it isn’t really all that bad…like breastfed poo was jsut there to break you in.

that was a really informative piece really enjoyed it. gave me the idea to maybe cloth my next one always thought about it but thought it was much more complicated then that. thanks

@ Rea – Hee hee, no worries. Now you just gotta put that sun to good use! It should ork for any stains. =)

@ catherine – Iiiiinteresting. Well maybe we won’t need one after all!

@ saundra – Glad you liked it. I hope you do give cloth a try – it’s so rewarding!

Eee love this post! What an inspiring setup!

We made our wipes out of old sweatshirts. My husband changed jobs so we had a couple with his old logo, 2 sweatshirts go a long ways plus you get the smooth t-shirt type side and the soft/scrubby side. They were my favorite wipes until I started making my own out of bamboo materials.

We just put up our clothes line! I finally got the diapers out there last week and it really does help with the stains. It only took me nearly 2 years, but better late than never, right?

We hated our diaper sprayer and actually just passed it on to a friend that happens to love them. For us they seamed to make more mess than it was worth. The water comes out a pretty good velocity and will splash off the diaper with tiny bits of poo getting around the toilet area (maybe we just do it wrong?!?) so it was a big hassle to clean up after cleaning up. My son, at 2 still has those darn squishy PB consistency poops (a sign of good health, but I’m so over it) so we rarely get the “ploppers” but if you use pocket diapers the real poop will come off much easier. We have a utility sink in our basement and have found that works the best for cleaning up messy diapers. Good Luck!

With baby #4 on the way, the hubby and I are looking into a cloth diaper service for the newborn stage.

I exclusively used disposables for my first 3 boys (now ages 14, 12 and nearly 9) and would really love to finally give cloth a go. But with 3 school aged kids (high schooler, middle schooler and elementary), my job and graduate school around the corner, my household is already SO busy! With a wee little one added to the mix, I don’t know how I will find time to keep up with diapering laundry

This is where the diapering service fits our needs. They will drop off clean diapers (trifolds) once a week, cart off the dirty ones and provide diaper covers. My hopes is to avoid laundry ‘burn out’ early on and give cloth diapers an honest try. Once I get the swing of things again, we cancel the service and wash our own diapers.

I am concerned about what chemicals they use, which I plan to inquire about this week.

I am completely amazed at the de-staining with sunshine. I’ve definitely heard of it before but always blew it off with a “crazy hippies” eye roll (not that I don’t love me some crazy hippie solutions, but sometimes I just want something that’s easy and works!). But I guess you showed me…

I’ve resisted line drying for a long time because it just doesn’t feel clean to me. What if birds poop on your clothes, or dirt or something blows into it? And won’t they feel all stiff and hard? But if the sun really has that much bleaching power, then maybe it really can dry clothes cleanly… this has given me something to think about, as always!

Great post, we have no spawn yet, but when we do I’m sure your creativity will inspire us!

We use a very similar set-up for our daughter (also in our room, since we share a family bed) and I also found that once she started solids, it became easier — most of the solids can just be flung off into the toilet; no sprayer needed. The occasional toilet dunk is required…but I didn’t find that to be a big deal.

ps: I think if I had the space, it would be most ideal to have the change table in the bathroom — as this would prevent having to find a safe place to put baby down so I can then walk across apartment to do my cloth-diaper-toilet-fling. Alas, in our tiny home there is barely room to stand in the bathroom…let alone add extra furniture.

A cheap rubber spatula (clearly labeled *poo*) has be really handy. It scrapes, it swirls diapers in the loo, it cleans easily… The sprayer was icky to me too because it just kinda splattered the mess-even in the bucket. Of course our toddler poo is kind of icky because my guy has a dairy allergy. (We don’t do milk, but the protein casein is even in many ‘vegan’ products-like Chocolate Decadence because of shared manufacturing equipment So, we still get yucky poos on occasion.)

Our changing ‘table’ is on the dryer We used a pad like the one in the picture and all of our diapers/wipes/oil is on the shelves about it. We don’t use the dryer for much really, though sometimes I’ll run a load in there in the winter to warm the room up.
It’s especially handy for us because our washer/dryer are in the bathroom. So, I can wet a wipe at the sink, toss poo in the toilet, drop diapers in the washer on laundry day. When our son was little, I’d just wet the wipes before laying him down so I didn’t worry about him rolling. I also keep a bit of almond oil on the shelf for sticky poos.

I use Charlie’s soap, and we really like it! I’ve heard it depends on your water, but we use it for all our laundry. We bought the 100$ 5 gallon pail when our guy was 3months old, and we’re only halfway through it (22 months later…). I also use a oxygen cleaner (now that his poo is more serious business) and vinegar in the final rinse. I found that if I used vinegar before the diapers were mostly clean, it interacted with the acids in his pee/poo and they got smelly. Hydrogen peroxide soaking cleared the smells up, though. Despite all this, the laundry part has never seemed like that big of a deal. We do a little under a load a day since we only use cloth napkins/wipes/rags in our house, so it’s just part of the morning/evening routine. Toss whatever load in at night, hang it up in the morning.

@Callie-My drying line is under trees (here in shady central FL), and I’ve only ever had bird poop 1 time. There’s not much surface area for it to land on, I think. Most people suggest avoiding trees, though. Also, the diapers are stiff, but they soften up once they’re snapped when you take them down, folded, and stacked. I imagine other people have other suggestions on that too.

A word of caution about tea tree oil-a couple of drops is fine, I’m sure (and I used it too), but I’ve heard recently that tea tree oil can interfere with male sexual development (http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/jan2007/niehs-31.htm) But, I haven’t read what the usage rates were in the study.

Oh, man-I really need to get an outlet for all my nesting talk. Excuse my logorrhoea! <3

I totally agree, don’t put all your eggs in one diaper pail, aka don’t buy all one brand before you have a kiddo. Even if you love one diaper say when your kiddo is newborn, by the time they are a toddler, your preference might change. I have two in cloth, 2.5 and 1 year old boys. I use g’s with prefolds primarily, even when we are out of the house, and bum genius at night. There are a lot of factors at play, like when and how you launder, is stuffing too time consuming?, are some better for over night then others?, is your kiddo a heavy wetter even in the daytime? Most cloth mommas have a stash, of all different kinds and often some are purchased and then resold immediately.

I use Country Save detergent, and I love it for all my laundering.

I don’t use a sprayer in my toilet but bought a “pet” sprayer for my faucet in my utility sink. I drop the poop in the toilet and spray the mess into the sink and drop the diaper into the pail.

A note about G’s. I totally hear what you are saying about them leaking. Every diaper leaked when I bought them for my oldest and I used them for 9 months with the disposable inserts. I gave up. Then I was prego with number 2 and I wanted to use cloth but I had lots of g’s. I couldn’t justify not using them (especially when I realized I could use cloth-g’s weren’t selling cloth yet). I had to commit again to using the g’s, it wasn’t an option. Well, now I am a pro, give me any newborn to toddler and give me a g and I can get it on them and not have it leak. I just needed experience and as per my child, change them frequently enough. Now, I have no leaks, on either child at any age.

Also, julliandrawers.com will give you a sampling of all different kinds of diapers and let you keep them for 21 days to use and you can keep all or just the ones you like. At that time you can ship the others back and order more of the ones you like, of course they are new but alas, it makes cloth a little less intimidating and more convenient.

My son is 6 months old and I change him on the floor. No worries about him rolling off anything then. We have used cloth since day 5 and I love them. I use Charlie’s soap, an oxygen cleaner, and the sun, and biokleen bac-out for smells if needed. It works great! The ladies at my daycare always comment on how clean his diapers are. He is the only baby in cloth there and probably one of 3 or 4 in our community. The laundry has never been a big deal for me and I love the simplicity of it all. Thanks for a great blog!

Awesome as always!! Thanks for all the amazing information and pictures.

I have a non-diaper but baby related question. I live in Portland and am looking for a good midwife that offers water-birth and accepts major insurance. I read your birth story and it inspired me so much to go through a midwife but I’m finding it a little bit difficult to find one that I’m comfortable with. Don’t get me wrong, my current midwife is very nice but she’s not exactly what I had in mind and I figured word of mouth is one of the best ways to find someone I like. I’d ask friends but they all just went through Dr.’s at major hospitals. I’d *greatly* appreciate any references/information you have.

Much love to you and yours!

Sarah: totally brilliant idea about the spatula! I’m going to start with one tomorrow!

I know this is a long ways off, but when do you plan on having Waits sleep in his own room/bed? 2? 3? 18?

I really like the idea of co-sleeping, especially with nighttime feedings, but I’m curiouse as to when the transition will be made if at all? and how? or am i jumping ahead?

My husband and I have six kids. Just for fun, we did a rough calculation and we figured that by the time our youngest (22 months) is out of diapers, we will have changed around 20,000 diapers in our parenting career. We have diapered our darlings’ derrieres with disposables and cloth. There is something so satisfying about cloth diapering. I love knowing that we are taking care of our babies and the earth at the same time.
Sayward, thank you for the helpful tips in this series of posts. I am a big fan of line drying. Living in Florida, we have an abundant supply of sun pretty much year round. I love to look out the window and see our little man’s cloth diapers hanging up. So cute!

WOW, there is some amazing information being shared here. Thanks so much for all the comments everyone! You’ve collectively pretty much talked me out of a sprayer, haha.

@ J – Alternative Housewife – Yay! So glad you liked it!

@ theresa – Love the sweatshirt idea! I’m totally doing that next time I make wipes!

@ April – You can do it! Diaper service is a good idea to ease you into it. Bt once your body is a bit healed up and your household is used to having the wee one in the mix, I bet you’l be able to take care of the laundering without any trouble. It’s more just always thinking ahead and remembering to do it – the actual time it takes s not so bad at all. Luck! Let me know if you need any help!

@ Callie – Haha, I’ve never had bird poo issues but I have found the occasional bug. =) No biggie, I just brush it off. After a day on the line the clothes can get a bit . . . *crispy*. But 5 minutes in the dryer will soften them right up, and wastes a LOT less energy than doing the full load!

@ Heather – Awesome, that’s very promising about the solid poops! Also, changing station in bathroom = brilliant!

@ Sarah – Ohmigod spatula! Love it! I’m totally doing that, thanks for the tip. And please, bring on the nesting talk. We love it!

@ farmingtheburbs – I’m jealous of all you ladies with your utility sinks! Also, I know what you mean about the gs. I’ve been sticking with mine and I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. So maybe it’s just got a much steeper learning curve than the others!

@ Heidi – Floor changing makes so much sense, I totally do that too sometimes. =) And you’re welcome, so glad you liked the post!

@ Cedar – Well, my only experience is with the midwife team at OHSU. I LOVED them, all of them. THe great thing about that route is that the midwives are extremely qualified and you have the awesome blend of cutting edge, state-of-the-art technology, with the philosophy and practice of traditional, holistic, non-intervention care. The down side is that the midwives work as a team and so whoever happens to be on call when you go into labor is the one who will deliver you. So you may not actually deliver with the woman who you have the closest relationship with. But still, I’d recommend that program to anyone in a heart beat. I had such a great experience there.

Feel free to email me if you want to chat about it more! info@bonzaiaphrodite.com

@ Emily – I think the plan is to take his cues. Supposedly children raised under ‘attachment parenting’ will naturally exert their independence, and it’s healthier for them to do it on their own schedule, when they are ready. Of course we can gently urge him, but right now we plan to follow his lead. But we’ll see how it goes – who knows what will happen!

@ Melissa – 20,000 diapers! Ahhhh! That’s amazing, I love hearing about your big brood. Maybe some day I’ll catch up to you, ha!

Thank you so much for your response! I was actually browsing through their website the other day and had considered making an appointment with them. I really appreciate the feedback and if any other questions come to mind regarding midwifery, I’ll shoot you an e-mail.

Thanks again!