Explosion...it happened!

Everyone said the day would come. Actually, our pediatrician had been warning us that over time Greta would have less poops each day, but the ones she will have will be all over, up her back etc. Not very exciting I know. I have felt very lucky, she has kept things "contained" for the most part, and considering she will be 5 months next week, we've done pretty well. Today, as Chris would quote Joey Lawerence "WHOA" (up her back, through her clothes, through the sheet, through the mattress cover); an early bath ensued!

I guess this brings me to bring up laundry as I mentioned yesterday. I may be of a rare breed, I enjoy doing laundry. Something about the instant satisfaction and results just feels good! So when people were nay-saying about cloth diapers "You aren't getting a service?" "We will see how long this lasts...". I knew that laundering was not going to bother me (mind you, her poops are not solid yet so I don't have any "work" to do yet, again time will tell if my view changes).

Cloth diapers are really easy to launder. Stick the velcro on the launder tabs, pull out the insert if you have to (FuzziBunz doesn't require this) and throw them in a wetbag. When it comes time for laundry day (about every 2-3 days), I throw the whole caboodle in the wash with an extra rinse and Voila! clean diapers. When I can I hang them in the sun (natural bleaching agent...who knew!!), most of the time they go in the dryer.

As for laundry soaps, this is frustrating for me! Chris and I have been trying to live with as little chemicals/substances in our lives for as long as I can remember. As we are not perfect, every little bit helps and I don't mind spending a little extra for good ingredients. Many cloth diapers recommend cloth diaper friendly detergent, so I was happy to read that the Ecos brand I had been using was good to use, not the greatest but good to use! (**note: while writing this post, I just checked the chart and they updated it last month with new information that Ecos is not cloth diaper friendly, especially in hard water- THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING) Needless to say, I didn't change my detergent and things WERE going great.

Around 2-3 months old, Greta started getting a diaper rash, Bummer! We had used California Baby Diaper Creme, which I usually buy from Target or BuyBuyBaby with a coupon! The smell is great and is made by a mom in CA. This was great until her rash kept getting worse. I wanted to use stronger rash cremes, but having to be careful with cloth diapers, I didn't know what to do! I had heard about Grandma El's, safe to use for cloth, but had no way to buy it (online or special boutique's) while we were on vacation (Road Trip to Michigan) and her rash was just getting worse. My friend had told me about Triple Paste, which she swore by, and finally I said that the baby's bottom is more important than saving a cloth diaper, this mom was desperate. So I started to use Triple Paste and it was working, yay! Then, I began to think about all the money we spent on cloth and I was scared that I was ruining all the diapers! ughh..So I googled and googled on the road, thanks to Chris's IPhone and found Nell's Natural Baby. Nell had just had a baby and on her website stated that you had to make an appointment to shop her store. I emailed and she was a SAINT, I met her and bought Grandma El's. She also sells EarthMamaAngelBaby, which I have since heard wonderful reviews about but have yet to try. So I tried Grandma El's and used this for the remainder of vacation. Oh boy!

The internet can be our worst enemy at times and this was one of those time. "Diaper Rash is not normal" "You have to determine the cause of the rash"......ugghhh, if I knew the cause I could treat it better! This is when I thought maybe the prefolds weren't working well, because they kept her skin too moist. I later had to admit that I thought it was my detergent, especially since numerous diaper cremes weren't helping completely. The only thing we hadn't considered was the detergent. I started doing research and learned of Rockin'Green, Charlies Soap (mixed reviews so I wasn't going to try this) Allens Naturally. Decisions, I didn't know what to do! While in Rochester, NY for a visit, I stopped at Luvaboos to pick up some backordered items and learned that others had repelling issues with the use of Ecos. I purchased Allens Naturally, switched detergents after stripping my diapers and things have been GREAT! I didn't think of our hard water issue (we purchased a water softener when we bought the house).

All in all, I only have 2 diapers that still have leaking issues at the seam from the use of non-diaper friendly cremes. Not too bad of a loss. (Most diapers, check manufacturer's websites, don't recommend use of diaper cremes at all). The use of strips of fleece against baby's bottom when using cremes can also be helpful to protect the diaper, I had known this, but somehow in the drama of "not knowing what to do", it slipped my mind :(

The only advice I have at this point on laundering is use a cloth diaper friendly detergent up front, the chart listed above, is a great resource and educates the why's not just a list of good detergents.

So, I am certain at this point there will be more explosions in the Colquitt Household's future, but at least I am feeling better about laundering properly!

div>**On my wish list (may be moved to my Christmas list) is Nellies Soda (yes, it is safe for cloth and I fell in LOVE with the retro tin).