The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
Happy Independence Day!
Good news! My diaper issues are resolved for now. I know – that's what was most on your mind this 4th of July.
I read all of your advice (yes, all those dozens of comments! thank you so much!) and tackled the laundry question.
So far the change that I have made is to wash with more water and to add Borax. I had already been doing hot water, yes, and already had been doing two rinses. But I realized that I could set the load to “extra large” and get more water into the mix; my normal instinct is to be as frugal as possible with water use, so it was good that you pointed this out to me. And I had been wondering whether Borax would be okay for the diapers and sensing, vaguely, that it might help, so I'm glad you brought that up, too. I honestly didn't expect that we had hard water issues, since Manchester supposedly has very high quality water. But apparently that was part of it!
I didn't really alter the amount of detergent that I use – I've done a little less and a little more on different loads (testing out some of the conflicting advice given), and I haven't noticed yet that it makes a difference.
Crucially, there hasn't been one leaky diaper since making these changes! Yay! All that cloth is also smelling a bit fresher, too.
As for the logistics question, I've decided (after taking your input into account) that it works fine for me to just stow a few diapers aside, along with a makeshift changing pad (usually on our master bed) and wet bag, during Finnabee's nap times and early bedtime. I think, after all, that I don't need a full-blown second changing station.
But! Don't sign off yet, cloth diapering experts! I have another question for you!
Those extra few diapers arrived – the BumGenius ones I mentioned that I had ordered with a gift card (I would have gotten Smartipants had they been an option). And now I'm wondering if I should go ahead and toss them in with my Smartipants batch or if I should decide to get hung up on the fact that they're a different make. After you all talked laundering to such extent, it struck me that maybe I would prefer to have my diaper lot be as homogenous as possible for the purposes of streamlining the diaper routine; that maybe having the odd BumGenius diapers in there would throw off my laundry groove, as it were, and I'd later wish that I had just traded them for more Smartipants-s.
So what do you think? Look into trading my brand new, unopened BumGenius diapers for some more Smartipants diapers, or just toss them altogether and not give it another thought, trusting that they'll all wash similarly enough? (They are all the same style: AIO/pocket insert.)(Part of me is curious just to try out the BumGenius ones.)
If I do decide to trade them, opinions on the best way to go about that?
And to answer some of your questions – in case it helps – I have a top loader washer in my kitchen; it is not HE; I don't have space enough in my bathroom for a changing station (although that would be lovely, wouldn't it!).
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
On another note – switching gears here – the other night I made this tart.
- Does it strike you as a bit much to keep going on about this topic? Are you of the opinion that it'd be better to move along with our lives and let others live theirs? Maybe obsessing about it strikes you as unseemly and those who do seem… unbalanced. Well, Mark Steyn writes here about the consequences of Going with the Flow.
- One way that I've formulated this in my own mind is to recognize that “let's just do our thing and let them do theirs” only works if it's a two-way street. It would be quite naive to think that they (“they” being the powers and the money behind the movement, if not our immediate friends and acquaintances with whom we disagree) want to let us do things our way.
- A sort of {b&p} within your {b&p}: Jurisimprudence from Essays in Idleness. An essay with some of its own valuable links included.
- Auntie Leila approves this list of books for boys enough to intend to add it to her original Library Post.
- For fans of Flannery O'Connor (I can't say I number among you): Stamped but not Cancelled. According to my mother, “Flannery might not be amused. On the other hand, she usually got amusement out of such things, so maybe I'm wrong about that.”
- It's not hard to process veggies for the freezer!
- Ask Auntie Leila: “I don't want to be ‘yelling, screaming, crazy mom.'”
Rebecca says
Hi – just wanted to stop by quick and say Bum Genius are my favorite diapers- I don’t think we had one leak with them 🙂 we are expecting #5 now and I am trying to convince myself to try some other brands ( we gave some of ours away to friends) because I loved them so much! The laundry soap from cotton babies ( where we purchased most of our diapers) for the Bum Genius Diapers is great too 🙂
Blessings! Rebecca
Melanie says
I use bum genius too. 🙂 I would probably keep them, because it is the mark of long time cloth diapering to gradually acquire this mish mash collection of “stuff you have tried”…rather like homeschooling books. Don’t fight it. 🙂 I started out, for financial reasons, with cotton prefolds and inexpensive dappi velcro covers…this was with my second baby. Partway through my third baby’s babyhood, I bought a couple dozen fuzzi buns. When my fourth was born, and my third was still in diapers, I decided to get a different brand. Fuzzi buns are “one size fits all”, but you have to adjust the elastic to fit different sizes, and I certainly didn’t want to do that with each change, nor did I want to try to figure out which cover was sized for which baby….and since I only had two dozen I really needed more for two babies anyway. So I bought two dozen bum genius. Then with my fifth baby, I had this collection of all sorts of diapers, lol. I find myself reaching for the bum genius the most.
Melanie says
to clarify…I bought the bum genius so that one baby used fuzzi buns and one used bum genius…it was easier to tell brands apart than sizes of the same brand. Clear as mud?
Rachel K says
Definitely keep them! I have quite the hodge podge of brands/styles and don’t run into any issues. I wash them all based on which ones need the most vigorous wash routine (my bumgenius microfiber AIOs) and we haven’t run into any problems 🙂
You might find you prefer one type over the other for different situations as well-like one may work better for naptime, or if you use a carrier, one type might leak because of that, etc, etc. I love having different options for different times.
MacKenzie says
I’d keep them. You never know how a baby will grow and certain diapers have fit my different babies better/worse at different stages. And I wash all my diapers together and I use prefolds, fitted and pockets – and now I want to try flats when my new one arrives in a few months.
Anna says
You can’t become an expert at cloth if you don’t at least try bumgenius. Besides that, if you commit to one brand exclusively you will likely end up spending more money, especially if the plan is to CD through many children. You will probably need to supplement your stash eventually and when the time comes you have lots of sale options, you could look for good deals on gently used diapers or you can try your hand at making your own.
Rosie says
We’ve got a mishmash of cloth diaper styles and brands after nearly 6 years at it – I’d keep them and use them for a while to see how you like them, and you can always sell pretty easily if you don’t 🙂 I liked our bumgenius for a while, but they’re not great for poop containment and the microfiber doesn’t last as long as I’d like.
Be careful with the Borax – we started using that in homemade detergent (BAD idea) and it ended up making our diapers repel and give blistering rashes every time the babies peed. BUT we have very hard water and homemade detergent isn’t recommended for cloth diapers to begin with – if you’re just adding it to your regular detergent, you’ll probably be fine 🙂
Mama Rachael says
I’ve got a mishmash collection of diapers. I know that different brands can fit different babies… the bumgenius fit my Little Man really well, but I know of other babies that they didn’t fit at all (Like my sister’s kids). A mishmash of diaper types can be nice when you’ve got various sized and shaped babies moving through them.
Glad you figured out some of your issues. I think we all go through them as we figure out the relationship between our detergent, water and time. and of course, what bothers on baby won’t bother another.
You might check out http://www.paddedtushstats.com/cloth-diaper-statistics/ for info on lots of different types of diapers.
Faith says
love the links! Can I propose another worthy read from Jen Mackintosh? Very Lawlerish, in my mind.
http://wildflowersandmarbles.com/2015/06/30/truth-beauty-rebuilding-culture-by-doing-the-next-thing/
Becky says
I would keep them. I was partial to blueberries- at the time they were the only 1 size that used snaps rather than velcro. The velcro didn’t hold up nearly so well and when Megan would be crawling around in a sundress, the velcro would snag on the carpet and she would lose her diaper. Anyway, in addition to the blueberries, I also had BumGenius and kissaluvs for the newborn stage and then a few random ones. At any rate, the only time I ever ran into any trouble is that the hemp inserts tended to need stripping more frequently than the microfiber so I would sometimes pull the hemps and strip them separately but otherwise I threw them all in together. I am a fan of approaching washing cloth diapers much like I approach “dishwasher safe,” there is a point where convenience outweighs the occasional “oops.” 🙂
Katherine says
I think I am in the minority. I would get rid of the bumgenius. We have been using our Mother-Ease for 7 years (four kids) and I just recently got rid of our random bumgenius/swaddlebees/fuzzibunz.
The laundering was not a problem. Rather, I just had my Mother-Ease that I liked a lot and would get to the bottom of that and be sort of stuck with Bumgenius (which consistently leaked– again, I am in the minority because most people I know LOVE Bumgenius). It finally occurred to me that I didn’t particularly like them and reached for Mother-Ease every time, so why hold on to the kind I didn’t like as much?
I like to keep it simple and one brand is as simple as it gets for me. My two cents:)
D jones says
I loved them for my first, but found they did hold up for baby #2…so I’m not a fan either.
briana says
I always used a good bracing vinegar wash for my diapers, it made them softer, more absorbent, and fresh smelling, also. Yes on the extra large load with extra water, and an extra rinse.
I am a luddite. Even if I had to do it all over again, I would still use the large rectangle cloths, with the nylon pants or knit soakers.
There’s a way to fold them and pin them that just make them supersoakers, and it’s such a nice tight, easy fold.
briana says
Also, the thing about the rectangle cloths is that you never need to buy any other size. so they’re a money saver that way, also.
Adele says
I love my flat and prefold diapers. They dry so much better and faster and I feel like they get so much cleaner. Also snaps are the way to go for the long haul. Velcro sticks to itself and to the diaper and makes a mess in the wash. Snaps are also necessary in the stage where babies must take their diapers off all the time. We did use the bum genius for our first daughter and they were lovely but velcro so they didn’t hold up well.
Mrs. B. says
I just wanted to say Happy Anniversary to Rosie and her husband, because I think July 4th is also their wedding anniversary, right?
Steyn is always brilliant, but boy do I find him depressing….
Rosie says
Aw, thanks, Mrs. B! You’re so sweet to remember!
Suzette says
Here’s my comment on the cloth diapers.
Our first child was (and is) a petite little thing. Flip covers with prefolds worked best. My next two have been super chunky and totally different. The Flip covers didn’t work at all with the boys – the boys are the chunky ones. Anyway, that’s my two cents. And I prefer cotton prefolds, because, I love being able to bleach freely when the stomach bug hits! Good luck! I love your love of France. Have your read: A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse? It’s fabulous! Your tart could be a part of the book. 🙂
Mrs. C says
For anyone who might be interested on this Independence Day weekend, Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical on the nature of human liberty in 1888.
I found such prophetic gems as these
“…these followers of liberalism deny the existence of any divine authority to which obedience is due, and proclaim that every man is the law to himself; from which arises that ethical system which they style independent morality, and which, under the guise of liberty, exonerates man from any obedience to the commands of God, and substitutes a boundless license. The end of all this it is not difficult to foresee, especially when society is in question. For, when once man is firmly persuaded that he is subject to no one, it follows that the efficient cause of the unity of civil society is not to be sought in any principle external to man, or superior to him, but simply in the free will of individuals;”
“given a code of morality which can have little or no power to restrain or quiet the unruly propensities of man, a way is naturally opened to universal corruption.”
“The empire of God over man and civil society once repudiated, it follows that religion, as a public institution, can have no claim to exist, and that everything that belongs to religion will be treated with complete indifference.”
“they [followers of liberalism] demand for themselves and for the State a license which opens the way to every perversity of opinion; and on the other, they hamper the Church in divers ways, restricting her liberty within narrowest limits,”
” it is contrary to reason that error and truth should have equal rights.“
“For, in allowing that boundless license of which We have spoken, they exceed all limits, and end at last by making no apparent distinction between truth and error, honesty and dishonesty. And because the Church, the pillar and ground of truth, and the unerring teacher of morals, is forced utterly to reprobate and condemn tolerance of such an abandoned and criminal character, they calumniate her as being wanting in patience and gentleness, and thus fail to see that, in so doing, they impute to her as a fault what is in reality a matter for commendation. ”
“it is absurd the citizen should respect the Church, while the State may hold her in contempt.”
http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_20061888_libertas.html
Caitlin says
I am also cloth diapering my first baby and have to agree with the minority opinion here. I like having a streamlined stash and have no interest in starting diaper collecting as a hobby. Being home all day, I am the one doing most of the changes, but I don’t want my husband to be confused about how to use all these various styles of diaper and which one to grab for which occasion… And then they might have different washing instructions, fits, rises, storage, etc… It’s just too much for me, especially considering I really, really like what we use (GroVia all in two’s). A friend who cloth diapered all her 4 kiddos uses only GroVia, so that was good enough for me! I got some prefolds and covers,too, and they just sit in the closet because I never feel,like trying them out. Now the baby is too big for them!
I don’t see why it would be more expensive to have only one kind of diaper. I got all of mine used. And if they don’t fit the next baby, I can sell my stash and try something else. My $0.02! 🙂
Emily G says
I’ve never tried bumGenius diapers. I love my hole-y prefolds and Thirsties with a few hand knit soakers thrown in there, and 6 kids in, I’m not changing. But you know, it’s just your second baby, so maybe you should experiment a little more to find what you love best?
Don’t take offense, but I am mildly amused at your dilemmas about diapering stations because it sounds like me several years ago. I had the perfect cloth diaper changing table setup. I had a mini one on the other floor of the house. Now, I have a shelf in my bathroom closet. It has the stack of prefolds and a row of small plastic shoe box sized tubs, two for the two different sizes of covers, one for wipes, and a small basket for snappies and rash creams. I grab what I need (or send a kid to get it) and whatever kids need changing get it wherever. And if I’m really busy, the diaper might get tossed on the brick hearth for a little while before it makes it to the bucket. It’s more relaxed this way, I don’t have the changing table taking up space, and honestly, I think it works just as well. Or maybe my standards are just slipping after 6 kids in 6 years, 3 of whom are in cloth diapers currently.
Emily says
I’m in the I-have-lots-of-different-brands camp. My four babies have been very different shapes and sizes (my son was a chunker and my third was an off-the-bottom of the growth charts beanpole), and different diapers fit different kids better. Since I’ve had two (and even three!) in diapers at various times, it was nice to have a variety, and they all worked well enough that if my husband put the “wrong” diaper on the “wrong” kid, it still worked well enough. (Results were better than when someone in the church nursery accidentally put a size 4 disposable on my 3 month old…)
But if I’m reading you correctly, you just have two different brands of AIO/pocket diapers, so I think you’re pretty streamlined. I don’t wash my various kinds (AIOs, pockets, prefolds/flip inserts, covers) any differently. They all go in the washer and they all go on the line (though prefolds do turn to cardboard texture on the line). I guess when I fold, I put my pockets and my prefolds in different piles. I have 4-5 different brands of pockets, and I stuff them indiscriminately.
Jennifer says
I guess the questions is basically answered and I am late to the party, but Bum Genius are my favorite diapers, too. I have a smattering of other similar diapers and wash them all together. I think if they are the same style of diaper it doesn’t matter much. Although, I do wash my prefolds with the AIOs and everything is hunky dorey. I keep the prefolds as back up diapers mostly or if we are going to be out for many hours because they take up a lot less space to pack. The detergent I use is Nellie’s Washing Soda. I have had no problems with it and you only need a very little bit (half a scoop). Another great diaper is Kawii baby (I think I spelled that wrong) they sell nighttime diapers that are excellent for when the baby gets older. The best part is they have designs on the nighttimes so you can tell them easily from the solid color day times.
Mary says
I use Bumgenius too (Elementals and some Flip covers/prefolds) and they are great. No complaints about them! The fact that I have wiggly baby and I can just slap an AIO on him like a regular disposable is really simple and works well for us.