Cloth diapering: The prefolds

Hana will outgrow her diaper covers soon and I’m eyeing the econobum one sized diaper cover which comes with a one size prefold. I don’t really understand why the prefold has to be one sized, but I suppose the prefold is specially designed for the diaper cover it comes with. Check this out, doctors talking about cloth diapers!

I’ve been using a wide open basin as a “potty” for Hana as she was too small to sit on a potty. Now as she’s bigger, I’ve bought a little potty for her. The potty above is S$25 from Baby Bjorn. I bouught her a S$8.90 Farlin potty that looks exactly the same from Kiddy Palace yesterday. Today my 11 week old baby pood and peed in her potty on cue. It was really cute. The pee was after a morning nap, which is a really good time to catch a pee. Just like adults, babies always feel like peeing after awakening from sleep. The poo was when she was fussing at the breast. That saves me two diapers to launder! I tried to catch another pee after her long afternoon nap as she had a dry diaper for 2.5 hours. But she was too sleepy and was half awake, refusing the potty. I didn’t force it onto her and just carried her around while she slowly took time to awaken. She finally wet her diaper and woke up in surprise. In general EC doesn’t work well if you or baby are tired or both! I’m feeling optimistic about this whole EC thing as from just a catch a week, I’ve gotten to at least one a day.

 

Meanwhile I’ve been cooking a little, just not photographing much. I’ll be having some friends over soon so I hope to do some food blogging soon!

Cloth diapering: A 9 week old

The China diapers fit her now and they’re a pretty good basic diaper. The only thing is the insert isn’t very absorbent as it is a little thin, but it makes for a trim diaper.

Hana managing a half roll from her back to her tummy, I thought she was going to go all the way. 

But it seems like she couldn’t figure out what to do with the arm trapped under her body. It was quite funny watching her try to wriggle the trapped arm out.

The blue mat she’s lying under is her changing pad and I let her go diaper free a few times in the day. After a few months of elimination communication on and off, I’ve managed to catch a grand total of THREE pees. Yup, the first pee was caught at about 7 days old, I think that may have been a coincidence.. The second was when she was 6 weeks old, she peed on cue when I brought her to her little pee basin. (A potty is too small to catch the pee and she’s too small to sit on it so I use a wide open plastic basin) The third was a couple of days ago. Lately its been a little tricky as somehow, Hana thinks that peeing should happen as soon as I open her diaper. What happens is that her diaper is dry in between changes, sometimes for 2-3 hours, so I offer her a pee break. As soon as I unsnap the diaper, she lets it go before I can cue her over the basin. This happens so consistently, almost every single time I undo her diaper that its really not a coincidence. The good thing is that she has control over her bladder and waits to pee only when I open her diaper. The bad news is that I don’t keep that diaper dry to use again as I have no time to hold her over the basin. I guess I should read a little more or try to figure this out in some elimination communication (EC) forum.

 

I’m still pretty amazed at how a little baby can keep herself dry and hold her pee till a pee break. Its given me confidence to keep her diaper free not just when she’s lying on the changing mat but also when I carry her around the house. I put on a pair of pants on her and carry her around for short periods of time. I’ve actually never had an accident. I guess this whole EC thing is a journey and as time passes things get clearer and clearer. Its all about using diapers as a tool and not a necessity! As with all my parenting endeavours, if its not fun or it gets too pressurizing, don’t do it!

Cloth diapering: Outside the home!

I bought a dry sack  from The Planet Traveller at Marina Square to store her soiled cloth diapers. Its a cool bag, waterproof and hopefully odourproof too! Its light and can be tucked away in a compact shape into your diaper bag. You can unfold it, fill it with diapers then fold it down to size. You can then hook it onto your bag or pram.

 

I started cloth diapering out of the home out of necessity as currently Hana is getting a rash with disposable dipes. I’m in the midst of searching for the right diaper for her as I can’t live without disposables! I need them at night and they’re just convenient when we go out. I’m currently testing out a few brands and will keep you updated. She’s never had this problem before so I’m a little puzzled.

Cloth diapering:Prefolds

The thing about cloth diapers is that there are so many ways and options. What works for you might not work for someone else. I also find that how I cloth diaper differed when Hana was younger and now as she approaches 2 months of age. I initially wrote a very bad review for prefolds. As a tiny infant wets small amounts and very often, I struggled with Hana when she was in prefolds and I ended up not using them very much. Then again, different babies have different thresholds to that wet feeling so perhaps another baby wouldn’t fuss so much when their diaper is just a little wet. I knew that Hana HATED that wet feeling so I avoided the prefolds unless I was feeling super energetic and in the mood for frequent diaper changes.

As Hana grew and started wetting less often but in larger amounts, I started using prefolds again as she was dry in between pees. I also started practicing elimination communication with her or natural potty training. I’m really amazed at how it teaches you to read your baby. It really really helps you understand your baby. Like babies will not poo and pee while eating, just like adults. If you’re a mother, you would notice that babies “fuss” when feeding or “pop on and off” the breast latching and unlatching. For my baby, unlatching during a feed and eye contact is a definite sign that she has to go. With a prefold and diaper cover on, you can feel the warmth if your hand is on her diaper at the exact moment when she wets. To observe other signs that your baby needs to go, diaper free time  is essential.  Thats when I usually use a prefold just flat and under her. I then go thru our morning routine of bath time, then a massage and some books, flashcards and physical exercises. She has at least an hour of diaperfree time per day and I watch her poo and pee signals then. I offer her the potty when I notice this signs, at each diaper change, after a long breastfeed, after a nap and when I notice her diaper is dry.

This is my favourite way to use a prefold now. I just fold the cloth in thirds, stuff it into a cover and velcro it on.

Hana with her Bummis diaper cover under her Fisher Price mobile.

Cloth diapering: Photos!

Thanks for all the comments and saying hi! Its nice to be in touch with old friends as well as make new ones!

 

Here are some cloth diaper updates.

She outgrew the smallest setting on her Fuzzi Bunz small sized pocket diaper pretty fast! I hope they last till she’s 8 kg as the diaper claims it will..

When she’s in her cloth diaper I need to make sure I’m using bigger, or at least longer rompers. How the pocket  cloth diaper works is that you can adjust the absorbency by stuffing the pocket in the diaper with “inserts”. You can adjust the absorbency of the diaper by putting multiple and different thickness inserts according to your needs. I find with the thinner inserts that the Fuzzi Bunz came in, I had to change her after I’m guessing 1 pee which means a change every 1-2 hours depending on how much she feeds in that time. I use the Bumwear thicker inserts and they seem to last longer perhaps 3-4 hours.

The China diaper! They seem ok.

They’re just waaay too big for her so I’ve gotten loads of leaks! I’ll have to wait for her to grow into it. This is NOT a one size diaper as it claims. My Bumwear one size diapers fit her as they have so many buttons and ways to adjust its size. My only issue with the BUmwear dipes are that they’re still not absorbent! When I called the store, they said use adult detergent without fabric softeners as the Pigeon baby laundry detergent is not suitable for cloth diapers.

I’m confused, aren’t babies supposed to use clothes/dipes washed with only baby detergent ??

Things I’ve learnt

-its much easier to cloth diaper a 1 month old than when she was younger. When she was younger she wet small amounts and often. Now that she’s bigger she wets a larger amount but not as often so her diaper is dry in between pees. This means less diaper changes

-I wrote off prefolds too early. I’m actually using mainly prefolds in the morning when I’m more energetic and up to diaper changes. I realize that prefolds are the key to early potty training. I’ve also deviced better ways to wear a prefold and it seems to work for me. I will post more about this with photos.

-I figured out my diaper laundering system. I use the wet pail method because Hana is still young and there is no drowning risk like that with crawling babies and toddlers. This is what I do and works for me. I bathe Hana in her tub in the morning and keep her bath water. I then use the bath water throughout the day to rinse out her wet diapers. I then put the rinsed out diaper in a pail which has water and detergent for a presoak. If the diaper has poo in it I use a diaper sprayer or bidet (the hose by the toilet bowl) to spray off her poo and then give the diaper a good rinse. I rub detergent on any stains if there are any remaining and put it in the wet pail. I then run the whole load in the machine with her clothes and swaddle blankets, towels, sheets etc. every other day. I’ve presoaked and prerinsed the dipes so I think its ok to run it with her other stuff (Some may not agree with me here). My machine has 3 rinse cycles so my dipes end up really clean. I hang them out on a rack in my balcony to dry. So far I’ve not had any stink or stain issues. With only 10 pocket diapers I’m forced to use my prefolds and practice elimination communication with Hana. So far I ration my pocket diapers to be used only towards the evening when I’m really tired. I’ve never actually run out of pocket diapers this way. The other thing is that they dry really really fast. So after just a couple of hours on the rack they are ready for use. The inserts take longer though, thats why its advised to buy 2-3 inserts for every 1 pocket diaper.

- I’m still using disposables when I go out and at night. When I go out I don’t want to be bothered with diaper changes, its already a lot trying to handle her with everything else going on. I use disposables at night because H does the diaper change and its too many buttons to button up if we use the pocket diapers. There is a long row of buttons from her feet up to her diapers of her sleep suit which H takes some time to unbutton and do up. If I were to cloth diaper at night I would buy velcro tabbed pocket diapers rather than snap closures.

-so far my disposable usage has remained at about 1 pack (about 50 dipes) lasting 18 days thats about 3 dipes per day.

Cloth diapering: 3 weeks on

So you know about my cloth diapering system, prefolds and some pockets.

 

I currently have 26 infant sized prefolds with 4 diaper covers.

 

And I hate them! I love my pocket diapers so much more. Perhaps I’ll grow into them when Hana grows out of the newborn period. My issue with the prefolds are that when she wets, she really feels wet and cries and needs to be changed immediately! Usually this happens after I’ve fed her and taken so much time and effort to rock her to sleep. So imagine what happens when she wakes up wet and crying, I have to change her, feed her again, cos anyone who cries feels thirsty, and I have to rock her all over again! I feel like it triples my work as a new mom! It drives me mad.

So I just use the prefolds when I’ve used up my pockets which is pretty quick since I have 4 pockets, actually 6 but my 2 Bumwear diapers are still not in use as despite prewashing them a few times (new diapers are not absorbent and need to be washed before use) they’re still not absorbent! I have to call up Bumwear to ask them whats wrong with my diapers! Anyone has any ideas? My Fuzzi Bunz were functional after just one wash and I’ve washed my Bumwear at least 8 x

I still use disposables at night, going out as well as when guests come (to save me the diaper changes). So far Hana is 23 days old today and I’ve used about 70 disposables, thats about 3 disposable diapers a day. She goes thru about 8-10 changes a day so I guess though I’m not entirely cloth diapering, doing it part time still means less disposables. There’s still room for improvement, I’ll eventually use the prefolds more when she’s a little bigger when I can try elimination communication as well for early potty training. In the meantime I’m accumulating more “fluff” or more cloth diapers and I’m trying out a china brand from ebay called coolababy (photo above). I was skeptical at first, but since Julie (another cloth diapering mom and friend) seems keen to share a package with me, I’m trying 4 diapers first. They’re really cheap at S$10 per diaper compared to S$35 for more established brands. I have no idea about the quality, like I said, I’m a little skeptical but some reviews on the net were good, so I thought of just giving it a try. If they don’t work out, I’ll probably get more Fuzzi Bunz, I’m quite happy with the performance of the dipe so far.

 

So in summary the lessons I’ve learnt are

- do not use cloth diapers in the first few days of life as the meconioum tarry newborn poo is almost impossible to clean off

-disposables at night means more sound sleep for both baby and parents

-disposables when guests come means you will look like a slightly better parent when your baby is not wailing every half hour needing a diaper change

-I’ll eventually need a “wetbag” for storing wet cloth diapers when going out because there was a time I forgot what diaper she had on and she came out with a cloth which I had no idea how to store when soiled

- cloth diapering is more difficult than I thought it was. Oh, and labor. And breast feeding. And parenting. hmm..

Cloth diapering: A 1 week old

First thank you for all the lovely comments! I tried replying to all of them but time for a new mommy is really precious. I appreciate every single one though and apologize if i didn’t reply to yours.

 

As you probably know, I am cloth diapering my little one. You’re probably wondering how thats working out! My system is that of prefolds. I use the smaller infant size which is on the lower left corner with the green edging.

And waterproof pants:

She started of life wearing disposables from the hospital. When she came home, I started diapering her with cloth diapers. A newborn starts slow, with 1-2 poos and 3-4 wet diapers a day for the first 2-3 days of life. I can’t remember the exact numbers, I apologize but the basic thing was that she started slow. So most of the time her diaper was clean and dry.

 

When her system started running, she started wetting and pooing more. Since infants tend to be night owls due to the hormone prolactin (which increases milk supply) which peaks at night, they feed A LOT and wet A LOT at night. The nature of cloth diapers is when they’re wet they’re really wet and she cries as soon as she’s wet. A disposable is so absorbent that I can’t tell when they’re wet unless I pinch the outside and it seems a little springy/spongey. Or I smell them. Yup thats what mummies do I suppose, or maybe just clueless ones like me. Its such a learning curve! By day 6 of life I was literally crying when she was as I was up the whole night feeding, then she peed, I changed her again and she cried, I fed her again and she wetted, she felt wet and she cried.

 

So we switched her to disposables at night as she cried whenever she felt wet with cloth diapers and this occured practically all night long. With the disposables, we only change her when she poos. When shes wet she’s still comfortable as the disposies are really very absorbent! That’s apparently the reason cloth diapered babies toilet train faster.

 

The other thing I found out was that in the first few days, babies pass this dark tarry meconium poo which is almost impossible to wash out of the cloth! In the end, after googling, I was pouring boiling water and rubbing baking soda into the diapers to wash out the stains. Considering how much pain I was in at that point of time, I was ready to dump the whole idea of cloth diapering.

 

Then my mom’s Indonesian domestic helper came along and she’s such an angel. She’s a young grandmother at 42 years old and is so good with the baby. She also believes in the “kampung” or village way of raising babies, cloth diapers, co-sleeping, exclusive breastfeeding. No one in the village ever suggests to a mother that she doesn’t have enough milk or she needs to supplement with formula. She took one look at the disposies and says, these are hot, we should cloth her. And she does all the laundry (i have to figure that part out later!!).

 

I hope to eventually switch to full time cloth diapering when my stitches feel and it doesn’t feel so sore when I walk or use the toilet. I will start using pocket diapers:

I bought some Fuzzi Bunz in size small and hope to use them soon as night diapers.

They are apparently as absorbent as a disposable and the absorbency can be customized by stuffing inserts into the back pocket. Also apparently poo doesn’t stick to the lining and can be washed off easily with no stains. I bought the Fuzzi Bunz size small as they were going at a good price on whoopiekiddies and I felt that getting a sized diaper (compared to a one size which aparent can fit a newborn all the way till they’re toilet trained) would make her bum look trimmer. The other issue I have with cloth diapers is that they are bulky compared to a tiny newborn.

 

I’m hoping the road will be smoother after she’s 30 days old as she’ll stop having the 8-10 poopy diapers a day. The wet diapers are not an issue, its just the poo which is more difficult to clean.

 

I used the word “apparently” many times in this post as I’m still learning and figuring this whole thing out. A lot of information I know is still in theory and not in practice yet. Till the next update!