Cloth is Back

So we cloth diapered Isaiah from the time he was two weeks until eight months old. It was surprisingly easy, and I really came to love cloth diapering. The benefits: 1) you don't have to continually buy diapers and wipes; 2) no pee leaks or poo explosions, ever; 3) no diaper rash, ever; 4) no harmful chemicals; 5) cloth diapered bums are so darn cute.

Caring for the diapers wasn't hard, especially once we got a diaper sprayer that attached to the toilet. I never dunked a diaper or anything sick like that, I found that cloth diapering really wasn't any more disgusting than regular diapering. After all, with either method your baby still craps in his pants and you have to clean it up. The difference was that I flushed gross stuff down the toilet rather than wrapping it up in a diaper burrito and putting it in a pail that I (ok Brett) had to later throw in the dumpster.

Well we were only able to make it for eight months. That is because all of a sudden, around eight months of use, the diapers would smell rank after just getting wet. It was positively, eye-watering-ly, disgusting. And Isaiah started to get the nastiest diaper rash I have ever seen. He had never had a rash prior, and this rash was much worse than Isla had ever had. The rash he was getting was actually more of a chemical burn. He had blisters that would peel. It almost looked like a sunburn, nothing like regular diaper rash. I tried stripping the diapers a variety of ways but I couldn't get anything to work. I researched and kept trying different things, but in the end I bought some Huggies and gave the cloth diapers a rest for a while. As it turns out we had an ammonia build-up problem. So after letting the diapers sit unused for months, I boiled them, soaked them overnight with the ammonia removal stuff you use for live pet fish, and then washed them again. And you know what? It worked. So cloth is back in our house.

Oh and in case you are wondering, I use primarily Bum Genius 4.0s. I also have Flip covers which I use with Flip inserts and Bumboo fitteds.

And on a different note, I finally gave Isla her birthday present from Brett and me. I bought it so long ago (can't even remember when) and I have been saving it in my closet, waiting to give it to her. I am so jealous.

Disney princess dress up set: five dresses, two pairs of gloves, capelet, light-up glass slippers, and Rapunzel hair. We have to invite her girlfriends over soon. Today she didn't want to wear regular clothes. She is currently dressed as Cinderella. I can see how this may save me a lot of laundry in the near future. But we may also die of glitter inhalation.