Bumgenius- week one

Well,

I want to update on how my first week of cloth diapering is going.

I must say- it's much easier than I had originally imagined...

however I have encountered a few,er, shall we call them surprises??

1. I think if you are going to cloth diaper, BUMgenius 3.0 is the way to go! (not that I would know.. I have zero experience with any others..) however I don't plan on needing to try any others. These are JUSTTHISMUCH like regular diapers. I'm thinking as close as you can get. The one I got is a one-size-fits-all (OS) and it's a "pocket" diaper. (versus an all-in-one) MEANING... it should fit your baby from 7-37 lbs., and 2. you put the "diaper" part into a pocket sewn into the diaper.. (see pic below) it doesn't just come ready to go. (aka: all-in-one)

but we'll get to that.

who knew I'd need to learn an entire new language to figure out this cloth-diapering thing???

My one and only problem so far is that my baby is getting rashes (extremely mild). Maybe I'm not changing him enough.. he never feels wet to me. (it's very hard to tell if he's wet or not...) disposables get a nice mushy-ness to them. I can't even tell the diaper is wet until it's OFF OF him, and it has "cooled down" from the body temp so I can tell it's cold!

-that's a good thing because it does a great job of pulling moisture away from the skin.

-it's a bad thing because I'm thinking I don't change him enough?

-it's an in-between thing because I might figure this out over time?

Another interesting fact for those of you who have never done this before..

organic materials used in cloth diapers need to be washed 6-10 times before you can use them as a diaper. (aka: cotton, bamboo, hemp, etc.) Good thing the Bumgenius comes with micro-fiber mix materials on the inserts that only need to be prewashed once. :)
(the snaps are to adjust it as your baby grows. But the good news is you also get a newborn sized-one if you purchase the all-inclusive diaper packs..) and that means it won't be hugely bulky on your itty-bitty baby.

**starting to sound like a bumgenius ad. But I'm just keeping it real - they sold me. what can I say? **

Next, you need a place to store the dirty diapers. I guess the regular old diaper pail doesn't work, because they need to VENT, and NOT SMELL at the same time. tricky eh? You buy something called a wet-bag, which is waterproof for anyone who is using the type of cloth diaper that needs to soak after use. (this one does not recommend soaking). I just purchased this in black (although I adored lots of the other colors, but it's visible from my living room so simple is best..) it's a wet/dry bag. and I throw my dirty diapers in it.

Now washing-

you need to wash them every-other-day. (or it voids the warranty. 1 year on these..) but also- you don't want to have urine-soaked-diapers in your home longer than that anyway right? This was the part I was the most worried about.. well this and POOP. But I'll get to that too.

You need to buy a special (and somewhat expensive!) brand of detergent. There are lots of options. I got this.

I haven't used it yet. (I borrowed rock'n green from a friend. It's working fine as far as I can tell.)

but you only use a few tablespoons at a time. From what I've read- you need to actually measure and use the amount recommended. umm.. I never do this yet. But I plan to. :)

I just run my diapers on prewash-cold cycle. then a regular washing cycle (Hot) that includes the spin and rinse.. and then I dial it back one more time and rinse it again.

It takes about 30 minutes.

These diapers ALL, including the covers, can go in the dryer!! and they dry THISFAST. (the covers do..) so I do two medium heat loads. After the first, I get out the covers and then send the inserts through. (remember what inserts are? covers are the diaper itself... with the velcro that you stick the inserts into. just a quick reminder).

But I also have a drying rack for some outside drying on sunny days. (it is supposed to help with sanitizing, stains and smells. none of which i have needed to do at all whatsoever yet so I'll have to keep you posted on that..)

When that's done, I bring the laundry in and STUFF THEM ALL. (takes a few minutes. like 30 for 20 diapers. I'm not very good at it yet... or maybe it will always take this long..

That way I have a bunch of ready-t0-go diapers. I'd say I spend an extra hour/week with these diapers so far. Honestly I run about a load of laundry a day anyway.. so that part is no big deal. here is an example of the end result. (mine are all stacked on top of eachother..)

Now the poop part. He's only gone #2 3 times since I've been using these. And the flannel-type fabric inside that takes the brunt of the poo. (part of the COVER or diaper itself..) makes it easy to just turn the diaper over and drop it in the toilet.
I have a spray for smell minimizing too but so far I haven't noticed any smells.
If your baby is breast-fed, that poop you do nothing with. Just wash it. Who knew that our washers and dryers do such a good job sanitizing now adays? :)

and I do nothing special to wash them... I stick the velcro to the tabs.. but I don't even pull out the STUFFING or the insert. it comes out on it's own. so I just throw them in the wash all-together and they come out all-apart.

There. whew.
If anyone has any questions.. let me know. I'll update as I go but I think I'm sticking with these.
The price is good, the colors are FUN! (other types of diapers have more color options. But I knew I needed velcro. My baby hates being changed...) But with all the different things I purchased to get started.. I honestly spent almost 500.00 bucks. (OUCH!)
so keep that in mind!




Plus I bought the bumgenius 20 pack (boys) (and the more you buy the better the overall deal..)
the end. wish me continued luck. :)

back on the bandwagon

I know it's been forever.
I kind of ran out of things to talk about.

Or at least I thought I did.

It turns out I was wrong.

I don't need to do a confessional anymore because I think it's repetitive in a few ways. And I still need to just write today and hope that maybe some of you can relate or maybe you have your own problems.

So here's mine.

This is huge people.

I hit a huge emotional wall this week. A HUGE ONE. The fluff and fuzz of motherhood wore off, and the thought of having more kids in the future knocked me over a little. And I had to come to a traumatizing conclusion.

I don't want more kids. (nope. that's not it.)
I married the wrong man. (ha! imagine. If I make it though my married life without HIM ever thinking that it will be an accomplishment.. love you babe.)
I need to keep my house clean.
(that was really it.)

I mean... AYE need it. (YOU try and capitalize "I" for emphasis.... well.. okay then!)
For the first time in my entire life, If I were home alone I have realized I would need my house clean for my sanity.
I am 30 1/2 years old and I now need a clean home for my peace of mind and sanity. And it happened just, some week in May once.

Maybe it's just a midlife crisis.

But I'm off to do laundry.

Oh. and I'm starting to cloth diaper my baby. It all started with the documentary "food, Inc." and it just snowballed from there. Plus I really want to save money on top of the whole organic is best attitude I've adopted. (however you won't catch me stuffing those cloth-diapers with anything but in-organic highly-absorbent poly-mixes...)

yeah. it's a mid-life-crisis.
(or 2 years worth of diapers for 350 bucks..) :) or both.