I Washed a Disposable!!!

2 nights ago, I restored cloth diapers at night for Tiny Guy, but still used a covered disposable for Little Guy. Last night, Little Guy wore a trifolded prefold with a cover, and woke up without rash and without ammonia smell. All was well and good. I had a ton of diapers to wash this morning, so I emptied the bag, collected Little Guy's and tiny Guy's used for the night and started the "soapless" prewash agitation. Later on, I came to drain and fill with hot water, when I noticed small "drops" like cristaline, in the diapers. Didn't pay much attention, but then, I realized the water was not getting drained and the pump was suffering. All of a sudden, I saw that cristaline thing again, and then, surprise surprise, it was SAP!!!!!!! I located the diaper that Little Guy had used 2 nights ago, I totally forgot to toss it in the trash and totally forgot that he had used one, just had taken the cover and tossed it in the wet bag. My nightmare was just starting. I had a tub, a stash of diapers, and a bathtub full of SAP in my hands!!!!! I started with the tub. Passed all the diapers to the spinner and turned the drainer back on. Fortunately I have paper towels at arms reach from there, so I started getting all that gel out with them. Boy, that mass is sticky and hard to reach. The gel was preventing the water from draining, so the water itself was making my life harder. Another thing is that I didn't know what SAP would cause in the drainage, but I was in no interest to find out, so I put the hair stopper in the bathtub, so that it would not make it there. I had to go through the whole thing, fold a paper towel and clean all the edges, and not leave a single bubble of gel around. By that time, I was already exhausted, the kids were relentless and my husband was wondering what had happened to me. So I came back to the leaving room, told him what had happened and saw his face of "poor little thing, you have a lot on your hands". Believe me, I would have much rather had him saying "ok, I'll take care of the bathtub, just finish the diapers", but no such luck. So, after having taken a brake, came the cleaning of the diapers. I decided that the better and faster way would be to hose them. So I placed them in a plastic bin, right besides the washer's big tub. Took the shower hose, placed it in high pressure and turned it on. Started with the inserts and wipes. One by one, making sure there was no trace of gel in any of them. By the time I had done like 5, my shoulder was already hurting and the tub was already full. It was going to be a loooong day, so I took another break. Repeated this a few times. The situation got a little more complicated with the wet bag, then came the dreaded pockets and the Simplex. I had to hose them, hold them and turn them upside down and hose again. One by one, the wet bag too. I was done after 6 PM with severe arthritis pain and still a bathtub to go. I left it sitting for a couple of hours and made sure the tub was out of water and then went for the easy solution: the vacuum cleaner. It was a tough bet, since gel is not solid nor liquid. After 4 minutes it started smelling weird and I topped, it did most of the job, but I don't know the consequences as of yet. Finished with a paper towel. Took the vacuum cleaner out, there was a big black spot on the rug, so now I'm washing the rug too. Diapers seem ok, had to use some dawn and extra stripping. As I've said, it was a very long day, don't try this at home.

The dreaded little hands

I've mentioned before that due to rash problems in Little Guy, I've been using disposables at night.

As a lazy mom, I say that anything that makes your life easier, do it. Well, I wish I was back using cloth then, because there have been some leaks, but on the other hand, I don't have to wash diapers every day and I got rid completely of the ammonia smell and the rashes.

But now, I have a new problem with Tiny Guy, one of the reasons actually for any parent to switch to cloth: his hands!

Since he's almost 6 months old, he moves around and has found independence to be his biggest ally. He can push himself with the left leg and roll, he can even stand up and hold his whole body in the play pen.

And yes, he can reach the disposable diaper and pull the tabs, so he can wake up diaperless, and take it off anytime. I have to literally wait for him to fall asleep to put it and the rash cream on, otherwise he'll last 10 minutes. I hope his brother starts using underwear any time soon so that the rash wars are over and I can go back to all day cloth with him.

My Twin Tub Panda Washing Achievements

Before I bought my washing machine, we used a laundromat for all cotton stuff. They came, took a bag of dirty laundry and brought a bag of clean one.

For everything else, I would wash in our vacation house, 450 miles from here. I would get all the clothes in a huge laundry bag and come back with everything clean. That worked only when we went there every other 2 months, however, that is not always possible.

With a new baby, explosions every 3 hours became the norm, and I didn't have my husband available this time to hand wash those. I would leave them in the sink only to find them in the very same spot and remembering he's not able bodied like he used to be.

So, the idea of the washer was to help me with those delicate items that I wouldn't send to the laundromat, as well as those baby clothes that needed immediate attention. I never expected to wash absolutely everything in this little thing, but I just couldn't stop.

So far, in the 4 months that I've had it, the list includes:

• Baby clothes
• Cloth diapers and wipes
• underwear and socks for all the family
• pants and t-shirts
• jeans
• tons of towels
• sheets
• blouses
• sweatshirts
• a silk shirt
• a knit sweater
• a polyester blanket
• an army jacket
• a pillow (already bulky)
• bathroom mats
• a mattress cover
• a full size thick bathrobe
• courtiains

Since I have way more control than with a regular Maytag, I can put another cycle, regulate the water level and temperature, leave the clothes soaking after the agitation, etc. So everything can come cleaner than with an automatic. The trick is not to overload the washing tub and fill the spinner all the way to the top. Ah, and using very small amounts of detergent