Hook & Loop Care

It’s no secret that I’m partial to hook & loop/aplix. It’s actually a necessity with my alligator boy. But hook & loop doesn’t hold up to wear and tear like snaps. There are a few things you can do to help keep your hook & loop diapers stay strong. The most important thing you can do is to make sure the hook & loop is firmly put together on the laundry tabs before putting it in your diaper pail. Don’t put it together all wonky-like. Any hook left unattached has the potential to snag on other diapers in the wash, which will then pull apart from the loop. So not only will your hook & loop show wear faster, but they will also “eat” at your other diapers. Making sure the hook is secure on the laundry tab also prevents lint build up. This can be a pain to clean out, and keeps your hook & loop from being very “sticky”.  Another thing you can do to keep your hook & loop from wearing too quickly is to line dry. This keeps it from tumbling and potentially snagging other diapers while in the dryer. Line drying in general will also help in keeping your diapers from wearing too quickly. The lint you clean out from the lint trap is fiber from your clothes. Having a good size stash also keeps your diapers from wearing too quickly. You may only change 8 diapers a day, but constant washing, drying, and wearing is hard on the hook & loop closures and your diapers as well. {Minimum stash size is 24, if you're wondering.} Basic diaper maintenance and care in addition to using the laundry tabs properly will give your hook & loop a longer life. Yay!

Thirsties Duo Wraps, Fitteds, & Diapers have excellent laundry tabs that work well to keep the hook & loop “sticky”. I have Thirsties in rotation that have been used for over a year and still work great. GroVia has laundry tabs plus a loop to tuck the hook part and keep it hooked. This is a major improvement over the older GroBaby shells. I used to use a lingerie bag with my GroBaby shells inside to keep them from attaching to everything else. It made diaper chains obsolete. I highly recommend a lingerie bag if you’re having issues with your hook & loop diapers making diaper chains in the wash. It will help minimize wear and tear on your entire stash. And a lingerie bag is a must when washing your Bummis Swimmi. It’ll keep your suits from catching on the hook & loop. {Learned that lesson the hard way. Bummer.} At this time I don’t have any use for the lingerie bag for my diapers, but I do use it for BW’s bibs. No more snagged shirts & shorts when I do the boys’ laundry. My sister gave me that idea, and I remember she used a bag to wash tiny baby socks to keep the washer from eating them. So many uses for more than your lingerie.



Thirsties Duo Wrap with Aplix



Thirsties Duo Diaper with Aplix



GroVia OS Shell with Hook & Loop



I have little desire to convert to Team Snaps. Hook & loop is the best choice for me. Even though BW tries to take off his diaper when he’s pantless, he’s mischievous busy like that, it makes diaper changes so much easier for me. A little extra effort to make my diapers stand up to constant wear and tear if definitely worth it. And if I’ve totally turned you off to hook & loop, no worries. I agree with you that snaps are awesome. We don’t do naps & nights without them. I may love the ease that hook & loop gives me when changing a diaper, but I’m not a fool to think that BW would never make a poo masterpiece if given the chance. If you’re a snap lover, Thirsties makes their entire line in snaps {the Duo Diaper in snaps is their newest addition}, GroVia Shells, Newborn, and All-In-Ones come in snaps, BabyKicks 3g & Fitteds are only in snaps, and of course the entire FuzziBunz line is snaps. And if you’re a fan of hook & loop, Thirsties entire line and GroVia Shells come in hook & loop. The choice is yours. Feel free to mix and match to suit your diapering needs.

Perseverance Pays Off

My garden is showing some progress. And by progress I mean SPROUTS. Yippee!! I have melon sprouts, bean sprouts, squash sprouts, and random old seeds that have decided to sprout. I can almost taste the fruits and vegetables. I’m so excited. I know there is a long way to go before there’s anything to pick, but just seeing green in the brown dirt makes me hopeful. I’m so glad I didn’t give up. Stubborness Perseverance pays off.



Zuni Basin Method...Melon Sprouts in a Ditch



The last 2 posts have been laundry related, and I can’t help but to once again connect my garden to washing diapers. I have experienced setbacks with both my garden and my laundry routine. And I have worked with other moms that have experienced the same thing {laundry issues, not green thumb issues}. The best advice I can give is to not give up. Things change as your baby grows, so flexibility when washing is helpful. Some examples of situations that will change your wash routine are when baby begins to sleep longer at night {more ammonia in the diapers} and when baby begins eating solids {transition between EBF poo and food poo}. More ammonia and more poo will mean rinsing diapers in the toilet is the first step to rinsing away stinkies before the pre-wash cycle. Less urine and poo left after the pre-rinse will allow for the wash cycle to do its purpose…wash with soap. If you are still fighting ammonia {a very common problem for nighttime & toddler dipes} using Funk Rock or Thirsties Pre-Wash in the pre-rinse cycle may be just what you need. It is worth buying either product to help battle the stinkies. Let me tell you from experience, it sucks to have a wash finish and find that there is still stink. Talk about wasteful when you have to rewash the load…waste of water, electricity, soap, and time! A little Funk Rock or Thirsties Pre-Wash is worth using when you know that your diapers are going to come out clean! For any newbies reading this, I hope I’m not making it sound like washing diapers is difficult. It’s easy, and with washing anything sometimes adjustments need to be made. {Think about the stains that didn’t come out of a shirt, so you end up having to rewash.} When it comes to washing diapers, it is as easy as pressing buttons on your machine!!

Washing Tips

My last post was about washing routines, care, and instructions. Now I’d like to discuss some tips that I’ve learned when it comes to washing & drying cloth diapers. A common theme that runs through all the tips will be trial and error. It’s normal in the beginning to have washes not turn out clean diapers. Find what works for you! Different machines, water types {hard/soft}, detergents, and diaper brands will all create different wash routines for different people. And from my experience sometimes even a good wash routine may fail. My biggest problem…broccoli. The boys love it, but when served at dinner, I expect horrid diapers in the morning. I now know that a pre-rinse with the sprayer before putting the diapers in the pail does a lot of good. And I also can tell when our water softener needs more salt, because more soap is needed. So be flexible with your wash routine, and hopefully these tips will make wash day so easy it won’t even feel like a chore!

·         Detergent Amount: Use enough detergent. How much is enough? Your diapers should not have any stink smell when coming out of the washing machine. If they smell stinky, re-wash. It’s also a good idea to check if there are any suds in the final rinse cycle. Too many suds means too much soap. Run another rinse cycle, and use less soap next time.

·         Proper load size: Too many dirties and too few diapers will create havoc. Too many and they won’t come clean. Remember, HE machines don’t use a lot of water. Too few diapers, and they can’t “scrub” against each other very well when washing. There isn’t a magic number, but 18 diapers is a good number to work with. Have I washed more than 18 and less than 18 in loads? Yes. It’s all about being flexible. Adjust soap and wash cycles as needed.

·         Rinse: Rinse the poo! A diaper sprayer is a must. Rinse all the poo off that you can. Less poo on the diaper while in the pail, means less poo in the pre-rinse cycle, and hopefully no poo in the wash cycle. {Please note that breastfed poo is exempt. This rinses away without the need to spray in the toilet.} Rinsing also helps to keep staining at bay. {Confession Alert! I rinse during naptime and after bedtime. Too many “helpful” hands and people in the bathroom while I work. I flick what comes off easily into the toilet and close the diaper up until rinse time. Gross, but effective.}

·         Trick your washer: I have read about, but never used the “Towel Trick”. It consists of adding a towel in your load during the sensing part of the cycle {the beginning} and removing it before the water & soap is added. I have often times poured large bowls of water over a load before the pre-rinse to make the diapers heavier. HE machines go by weight to determine how much water to use. My reasoning is that half dry diapers are only half as heavy. So pouring large bowls of water will make them heavier, and then more water will be used by machine. It’s ok if the water drains out, this is just to get your diapers wet and heavy not to add water to the cycle.

·         Hang dry: Hang drying means less wear and tear on your diapers. Lint is the breaking down of fabrics. Anything that is microfiber hang dries in my house. No need for it to be soft and fluffy since it never touches skin. Pockets and covers are also air dried. Anything that is cotton and touches skin gets dried on low heat for 15-20 minutes before hanging out. Or a good shaking out helps soften up the fabric after air drying.

·         Sun: The sun is the best sanitizer and stain remover. Be sure to Practice Safe Sun.

·         Large Stash Size: This is probably the least mentioned and most important tip when it comes to washing diapers. It is essential to have a good size stash {over 24, closer to 36 + diapers} to keep your diapers functional. Repeated washing of a small stash will wear out your diapers faster. I guarantee it! You will not save money by having a small stash, because they will wear out quickly and you will have to buy more. A large amount of diapers will keep them rotating through less frequently, and will make them last longer. The diapers will then wear and tear at a slower rate, and since they will last longer you will get your money’s worth. They’ll be sure to last for more babies or will be acceptable condition to sell to others. As with any fabric, repeated washing & drying will wear out the item. Think of your fav shirt. You’ve probably had it for years and wear it in high rotation in your wardrobe. Does it have holes? Is it frayed? Is it super thin and faded? Yes, yes, and yes. You love it, but it’s not a “functional” shirt to wear outside of the house. At least mine isn’t. The same will happen if you have too few diapers. Be sure to invest in your diapers and make them last through potty learning and then some!

~~Tonya~~

Wash Routines

Different cloth diapers call for different wash routines. I think the best thing for a cloth diapering mom to do is to stick with one or two brands of diapers. Unfortunately, I can’t follow my own advice. Everything I sell, I use. I have a lot of washing instructions to follow! But here’s my secret to keeping it simple…a cold pre-rinse {to rinse out pee & poo}, a warm/warm wash, and a cold rinse at the end. Why a warm wash and not hot? Well, I recently added GroVia AI2’s and AIO’s back to my stash after passing along my old GroBaby and DreamEze diapers. GroVia doesn’t recommend hot washes, so I wash everything in warm. And it works. The majority of my other diapers can be washed in hot, but why do separate loads when warm does the trick? Everything still comes out clean.

My usual wash cycle is as pictured below. The Bulky Cycle & the Sheets cycle uses a lot of water. Mix it up and try to find the cycle that uses the most water. Every now and then I use a cycle with less water to allow the wash plate {at the bottom of the barrel} to “scrub” my diapers. After I do that, I make sure to rinse a couple of extra times since less water is used. My washer seems to be a rarity, a top loading HE. I love it though, especially after it was fixed.

In addition to working out a good wash routine, it is essential to use the right kind of detergent. Most laundry detergents in the grocery store are either too harsh for cloth diapers or contain additives that can harm your diapers. Free & clear soaps, are often free & clear of scents and dyes. Optical brighteners are in a majority of detergents, and these are made to coat fabrics to make them appear whiter or cleaner. So, these will coat your diapers and cause them to repel liquids, which will lead to leaky diapers. Currently, I am using GroVia’s Tiny Bubbles. It’s made for GroVia diapers. When I had GroVia’s out of rotation, I used Rockin’ Green Detergent with much success. Both detergents work well, but to keep my diapers in good condition I make sure to stick with what is recommended by the manufacturer. Recently, Rockin’ Green came out with a Remix formula. I have heard though the Facebook grapevine, that Grovia will be testing Rockin’ Green to see how well it works on their diapers. Many other cloth diaper companies recommend Rockin’ Green. So be sure to follow what is suggested. Green Baby Elephant carries Tiny Bubbles, Rockin’ Green, and Thirsties Pre-Wash and Super Wash.

You have invested money in your cloth diapers. Make sure to use the correct wash temp and detergent to make them last. I’d hate to see a client buy a stash of diapers and ruin them by using a “bad” detergent or washing improperly.

Since each diaper company has different wash routines, I thought I’d make it easy to find what is recommended in on place. So below are links to each company’s washing instructions.

BabyKicks

Bummis

FuzziBunz

GroVia

Thirsties

If you’ve gone through and read all the different washing instructions, you’ll see there are similarities as well as differences. Some say wash hot or warm, others use vinegar or not use vinegar, and baking soda can or can’t be used. So really, I think pick a brand or two and stick to them. Make cloth diapering simple from wash to wear.

If you’re lucky enough to live in the Tucson area, I’m more than happy to meet with you to help you decide on what cloth diapering brand(s) to use. It’s so much easier to look at the diapers in person before you buy. Not only will you save hours of time researching brands online, you’ll will also be more confident in using cloth diapers. I will work with you {even if you don’t live in Tucson} to find the diapering system(s) that will work best for you and your baby. Spend your diapering budget wisely by scheduling your private consult or diaper party with your mommy friends today!

Perseverance

CW playing in my 1st garden. Yes, I grew that honeydew!

I am currently experiencing a major setback with one of my favorite hobbies, my garden. After two years of successful and productive summer gardens, I have nothing but dirt outside. I won’t get into details about what’s been going on, but I will focus on how disappointed I am. It bothers me so much, that I hate to talk about my garden or anyone else’s garden. I hate taking the trash out, because then I have to walk by the desolate ground. It’s a huge failure, and I hate failing. But it’s time to stop wallowing in my personal pity-party and get back out in the dirt. This past week, I spent time “working the land” as I like to call it. Really, I was just tilling it with a metal rake, and then flooding the garden with a lot of water. I was working to get it back to a good starting point before I begin again. Sunday morning, I replanted. This is my third time planting since March. *sigh* So depressing…so much work and nothing to show for it! Anyways, it’s been replanted, and I’ve been spending a lot of time making sure the ground isn’t drying out. {This may have been one of many problems this season.} Now I’m optimistic. I feel good about this replanting. It’s difficult to pick yourself up after failure and trying again.

BW staring at the 2 lone squash plants.

Cloth diapering for me has been a lot like my garden. I’ve had good experiences and have also faced a setback. My washing machine was broken for quite some time, and it took me and Mr. GBE awhile to figure out what the problem was. While the machine was broken, it took forever to wash diapers. I’m talking 4-5 hours. I dreaded wash day. Some of it was inexperience: not using enough soap, using too much & not rinsing enough, and forgetting to pre-rinse. But the main culprit was not enough water! I would take buckets of water and pour them into the washer during the pre-rinse, wash cycle, and rinse cycle. It was insanely time consuming. It was unbelievably frustrating. *Ack* Looking back, the only thing that kept me going was my stubbornness to make cloth diapers work. I just loved them so much, even with all the work I had to do. Thank goodness Mr. GBE realized this was crazy to spend so much time washing diapers. He watched me do laundry one weekend and called the repair man as soon as they opened on Monday. Once my machine was fixed, my wash routine was so simple. No sitting around and waiting for the right time to add water in the cycles. I felt liberated by my free time! I’m so glad I stuck it out during the rotten time. Wash routines are meant to be simple!

I’ll be discussing wash routines next, as well as keeping you all updated on my garden. For my local followers, we used Authorized Technical Services {520.903.141} to repair our washer. And for my gardening buddies, I’m working with Westwind Seeds to rehab my patch of dirt. Neither one has asked me to pass along word of their businesses. I am just pleased with both, so I thought I’d like to share with you all.

~~Tonya~~