Washing Diapers in a Twin Tub Panda Washer

I've seen several inquiries and google searches about washing cloth diapers in a Twin Tub Panda, I'm no expert, but have been doing this for a year, changing routines, adapting to new situations and battling ammonia, so I'll see if I can answer your doubts to the best of my abilities.

Is it possible to wash diapers in a Twin Tub portable washer?
Yes. It takes more time than doing it on a regular and you have to do it more frequently, but it can be done.

How often should diapers be washed?
Depends on the number of diapers being used and the age of the machine. When it was newer, I could wash 10-12 diapers at a time, which allowed me to go for a couple of days without them accumulating if I had only one child in diapers (I had 2 for several months). Since it has been losing power due to barring and over use (and abuse), I do 7-8 diapers now, so I can wash twice every three days.

Should I spin the diapers inbetween rinses?
I do, just like in a regular machine, because it gets rid of more soap and more ammonia, but if you have good results skipping that step, good for you. This machine is extremely flexible, you control the time, the ammount of water and how many times you wash and rinse, there is no automatic cycle you have to adapt to.

Do diapers come dry out of the spinner?
No. But they dry much faster when you hang them than coming out of a regular washer. Polyester fabrics come almost ready, it takes a couple of hours, natural fibers are usually dry overnight, depending on humidity conditions.

Can I use a different detergent for my regular clothes?
Yes, I do that all the time, just give a rinse to the tub before you start filling it up.

Can I drain the water in the bathtub, will it overflow?
Yes, you can. It fills about 1/5 of the bathtub when you drain and it empties out in a couple of minutes. It is much safer than draining in the bathroom sink and pumping water in the drainage.

Do diapers get ammonia when washing them in a small portable setting?
Like any other devise, they might. In order to wash the ammonia buildup away, you need a combo of temperature, detergent and time washing. I use a ton of soap, hot water and 12 minutes in the wash and that keeps it down. I actually have an easier time dealing with ammonia with the Panda than with a regular Maytag.

Will my diapers get stained?
They might, I get less stains than in a regular washer, but if they do, I just hang them by the window and they are good as new after 2 or 3 washes (stains do not affect the diaper's funcionality).

What do I do if the washer starts walking?
Your spin drier is out of balance, open it and reaccomodate the clothes on top, trying to put them evenly and flat.

I like my puffy prefolds, can I get puff in the spin drier?
No, you need an air based drier for that. Time also helps, sometimes prefolds I haven't used in weeks appear fluffy later on.

How long does it take to get the diapers clean?
50 min to an hour according to my routine. About 2/3 of the time, the machine is doing its job by itself, no need to stay and babysit.

Can I leave the tub filling and come back later?
Yes, the machine has a hole on top that keeps the water draining into the inner tub and out, so it won't overflow (you still need to save water).

Can I leave the tub draining and come back later?
Yes, but there is no timer in the draining pump, so I wouldn't recommend leaving it on for  an undetermined period of time.

Can I leave the washer and/or the spinner working and come back later?
Absolutely!

Will my diapers get damaged if washed in the Panda?
I've been using diapers for more than a year in a very limited stash. The Fuzibunz look good as new and so do the Tots Bots and the Blueberries. The Grovias do look wasted in the leg elastics, but I bought those used already.

How many times should I wash/rinse in the tub to get them clean?
As many as you seem appropiate. I do 4 (3 min hot rinse - 12 min hot wash - 5 min hot rinse - 3 minute cold rinse) and do not spin between 1 and 2. That's the equivalent to 2 cycles in a regular washing machine but with hotter water.

Can I use Dawn or Oxyclean in the Panda?
I do. Much safer to use Dawn in a Panda than in a regular washer.

Do diapers get moldy if left inside the spinner?
Depends on how long, the only times I have had mold issues the diapers were inside a bag damp for several hours, it was only the Grovias. I would still recommend not leaving them overnight in the spinner (no problem with leaving them soaking in the big tub).

I hope this helps, feel free to ask more.

Different Brands for Different Situations

Over the past year, I've used cloth diapers almost exclusively. I got different brands at different times and they have more than paid for themselves at this point.

I have different brands and my stash is definitely small but varied. Anyway, this is a comparison of what I have and what works better for different situations.

I have Blueberry Econappi, Simplex and prefolds. Grovia AIO, Bumgenius Freetime, Tots Bots AIO, Fuzzibunz OS Elite, Flip OS Covers, Real Nappies covers, Flip organic inserts, Unbranded prefolds and Kissaluvs hemp fitteds.

The Confy One.

My favorites are Fuzzibunz. They have the best fit, they always look perfect, they dry fast and there's always one ready to use. I generally grab the diaper and a couple of inserts and in 10 seconds stuff it, it takes me no time to put it on and the three snaps on each side and waist adjustment make them a total winner.
My second choice is Blueberry Econappi. Not as fantastic fit as the Elites and not as dry due to being all natural, but the bamboo inserts last longer and are less bulky, I just love those diapers.

The Outsider

Econappi most likely will be my diaper to go, and Grovia AIO will be my diaper on the bag. Fuzzibunz tend to have compression leaks in the car and the inserts don't last as long because they are polyester. Econappi will last longer. Grovias are the least bulky, great for tight pants and for bringing in my tiny purse or in the baby carrier, just in case Tiny Guy needs a change and the ordeal is longer than 3 hours.

The Daddy-doer

This one is tricky. If they are ready, the Fuzzibunz are the best choice, and he always put them right. Also a great choice is a prefold in Real Nappies covers, since they are velcro, there is no room for making mistakes, and he doesn't mind that they are not a pocket or an AIO.

The Daddy Impromptu

If there's nothing prepared ahead of time, the Freetime is the one that I've seen best placed on Tiny Guy from all the AIO for a person that doesn't know what he's doing. The snaps are the easiest to put and press and the 2 flaps are easy enough to figure out.

The Trim One 
Grovia AIO. Period. I don't think disposables would look as trim, even before the gel fills up.

The Night Cruiser

Trifolded prefolds "girl mode" as inserts of an Econappi. My boys are not heavy wetters, several things and combos work for night time, but that one is the best of them all. Rash free and durable.

The Cutest Print

Tots Bots New York. The only diaper I have bought because the print was just perfect for a baby boy.

The Baby Model

On my sister's wedding day, the photographer went to the house for the dressing part, she saw the baby and started taking shots of him. He was wearing a prefold with a snappi. I immediately went and changed him. Grovia AIO was my first choice in the rush.

The Baby Proof

Fuzzibunz Elite. Why, I don't know, but Tiny Guy has yet to take that one off. He has disposed of every other one.

The Staywet

Blueberry Simplex OS. If it is not wet with urine, it is wet with water. It takes so long to dry and my stash is so short, that it spends more than two thirds of the time wet.

The Staydry

Tots Bots AIO is the dryest. It takes a couple of hours after the spinner and it does not need stuffing.

The Explosion Container

Believe it or not, Grovia AIO has contained every single explosion, even when it doesn't last that long for regular wetting (I change it within an hour). None other holds such an honor (although explosion leaks are very rare in general).

The Leak Proof

Freetime has so far proven to be beyond leaks and in a class of its own on that regard.

The Rash Free

Fuzzibunz Elite and Tots Bots are my to go every time Tiny Guy gets a rash, they disappear by themselves with daily baths and

Overcoming the Stink Monster of the Uncovered

The only item I got with my first order of diapers a year ago was a small wetbag. I was washing every day with 2 boys and a tiny bag. Eventually I got another 2 (one of them a little bigger) and closed my non diaper budget.

I was very aware that a dirty diaper had to go in a place that would keep it safe and sound until washing time, and the smell away. My 3 wetbags have seen a lot of washes and traveled all over the place.

But when I started having stinky problems, realized 2 things:
1) My dirty diapers were smelling through the wet bags, creating a smelly monster that I didn't have space to place.
2) Being in a closed area without much air to breathe was not helping the ammonia wrecking when getting wet.

So, whatever was the motive or the discussion, I started dumping the dirty diapers in the dirty clothes hamper, with all the dirty clothes, dirty towels and dirty sheets. Result: less stink.

By no means the stink monster disappeared, but the dirty clothes are much better at hiding the 2 day old urine than the wet bags with one miserable layer of PUL, and even in my second home, where the hard water makes it more difficult to clean, the overall smell is almost negligible compared to the stay away from me wet bag.

I still use them, they are great for outings and travelling, but for inside the house, nothing like dirty clothes to keep the smell at ease.

Oh, the dirty clothes have not expreienced any change once they are clean, they have my favorite scent when out and dry: nothing.

The Ugly Pocketling II

I have a clean freash ready to use orange Fuzzibunz Elite OS in my hand. 48 hours ago that was not the case. After looking at it and feeling it, I must say Thereson Dupuy deserves a monumnet, cause I don't know what other diaper would be like that after what it went through (Grovia AIOs definitely wouldn't).

But let me go back a little bit. I know it will sound gross to you, but among all the little things I've done to accomplish my no-stink life is the no wet bag. You heard it right, I don't use a bag, a pail or any other device to shield the diapers from the outside world. I throw them in the dirty laundry or place them on top of the hanging rack. Sure they smell if you approach too much, but otherwise, the overall odour in the house is safe to breath.

However, poop complicates this arrangement. If there's a poopy diaper (which, thanks to bf, doesn't happen on a daily basis), it gets sprayed with the hand held shower into the toilet and further into the sink until there's practically nothing but stains left. Of course, I'm left with a very dripping diaper that can't go anywhere but a wet bag and a tub. Sometimes I just leave it in the sink and do a load of diapers right after, but anothers, well, it goes into a wet bag and then a hanging tub in the bathroom wall. It hides it pretty well.

As you can imagine, I think I hid it too well, so much that next time I washed diapers, I totally forgot there was a poopy hidden one. And the next time, and... I can't recall.

One day it stroke me I hadn't seen the orange FB for a while. My stash is so varied in color and so small, it's easy to notice when a diaper is missing. And it hit me: I could look inside the white tub. Yep. There was a wet bag there. It was late at night, so I decided to do something next morning.

I took the bag and plain emptied it directly in the washer with another load. Then I left it soaking in Murphy's oil soap. Got it washed with another load of clothes again (I didn't care about detergents or fragances, just wanted the diaper clean!). Rinsed, spinned, I put it in the sun. Inserts, wet bag and all.

Next day: a clean diaper!!! Of course I needed to strip the oil soap, but there were no signs of mold anywhere, or any other residuals of any kind. I tossed it with the regular diaper wash (which includes a couple of drops of Dawn in the rinse cycle) and it was good to go and smeling like a clean diaper smell: nothing.

So, if you happen to forget a dripping diaper, please, make sure it's a Fuzzibunz!

Reasons for using disposables

In the past couple of days, I've found several posts of people that see cloth diapering mothers as nazis, that think it is not worth it and no money is saved, which they use as pretext to go back to disposables.

Instead of getting angry and answering them, which others have, I want to approach the subject as saying: YES, using disposables is allowed, at least in my book, and no, I'm no better than other parents just for using cloth.

But if they choose disposables, I think there are valid reasons out there, instead of trying to pretend that you don't save money or the environment (neither of which were my reasons for switching), I'd like them to be honest. Here are real situations in which it is valid using them:

• Because you want to. I know it would be obvious, but for me cloth is a choice, and it is not all or nothing, I still have some disposables around, although the last bag has spent some 3 or 4 months in the closet. It is not up to anybody but the user to decide, and it is way more valid than attacking cloth. A lot of moms won't want to get bothered, or get overwhelmed, or simply think disposables are cute.
• Rashes. Yes, certain babies do better with disposables. Although many people switch the other way due to sensitivity to chemicals, it happens. I did almost quit once for Little Guy, until I found a way to keep him from getting burned. Sometimes there is no perfect washing detergent, or water, or routine and the need for constant creams and ointments makes them a necessity.
• Droughts. I go to the sink, water pours. We're connected to the city system, sometimes certain activities like watering your garden, can be restricted, but in general we take it for granted when it comes to laundry. Not everybody has this situation. A lot of houses in rural areas have their own wells, and sometimes they need to be extremely careful or they run dry. Yes, I don't spend extra water, I do less baby laundry, less flushes, and fill the washer with the water that is spilled waiting for the hot to kick in during a shower, but not everybody has those choices.
• No washer. Yes, I did the Flats and Hand Washing challenge, yes it was doable. Yes, I'm not working out of the house, yes, it took some 30 minutes a day and not everybody can afford such a luxury. There are plenty of hand operated washers, but they save no time. Portable ones like mine are great, but they are unknown, even for the cloth diapering community. I know that some use the laundromat, but then it becomes more expensive than disposables. It is doable, but not easy, and I wouldn't hold anybody responsible for not going cloth on that one.
• Economy. Wait, isn't it cheaper on the long run to use cloth? Yes, but the initial investment can be impossible for some. But even if they use the cheapest diapers out there, or get them donated, or use their old t-shirts, sometimes the water bill comes too high and low income families can get free disposables from diaper banks. Those banks will tell you over and over that cloth is not a viable option (if our cleaning lady in Mexico clothed nine babies and worked full time, anybody can!). Water bills can be the turning point for low income people and diaper banks. That's the reality.
• Laziness. Moms like what they see other moms use. Being innovative and exploring different approaches is not the common ground. I still see a lot of my friends using formula, strollers and cribs. They are happy, it works for them. They don't want to take the time to explore different options, research and come to a conclusion, having a baby is demanding enough. I could not stand disposables and that's why I took the time to research, but a lot of moms like them, they work for them and they don't mind the explosions and spendings. As long as they keep their babies safe and happy, they are doing a good job, and in many aspects I am a lazy mom myself (which is why I co-sleep, breastfeed and cloth diaper, it is easier for me).

Bottom line: I've had much more success not saying anything and letting my diapers speak for themselves. Being judgmental won't help to spread the awareness. Being dishonest and stating that they are not as green (due to a faulty study) or not as economical (using expensive detergents and old washers) won't help anybody's cause and will make you look like a bad mom.

Moldy Grovia: The Real Thing This Time

I traveled back from Mexico with half a stash of diapers soaking wet, due to my Grandma's slow system.

Once I arrived here, I put everything on my spin dryer, I was amazed at the amount of water that my diapers still had after an hour of drying attempts and unfortunately a Grovia AIO could not stand the moist and developed mildew.

So, what to do? Well, I washed it in the regular load, sunned it, washed it again twice with oxy clean added to the detergent and sunned it and sunned it in between those washes. Finally got the courage to use it. No problem. It still looks mildly stained, so I keep sunning it after every wash, getting whiter every time, but I have seen no problem in Tiny Guy, so it is safe to use.

I could have used bleach or boiled it had it been a prefold or an insert, but with AIOs, one has to be more conservative and be aware of the TPU that can delaminate in high temperatures.

But more than anything else, let's keep washing frequently, specially sprayed diapers in this exceedingly warm summer

Flats and Handwashing Challenge - The Good the Bad and the Ugly

I have to say, I admire all those blogging moms that on top of their regular activities, washed all their diapers by hand and blogged about it. That last part was too much for me. So instead of a daily report on my adventures, I'm writing a single post that sums them up.

For unfamiliar people with such challenge, here is everything you wanted to know about it and never dared to ask: http://dirtydiaperlaundry.com/3rd-annual-flats-and-handwashing-challenge/

Why Bothering?

I learned about the challenge when I started reading Dirty Diaper Laundry, about the time I decided to make the switch to cloth (about 7 months ago). Although I saw the point, I never imagined myself doing it. Here are my reasons for not doing it:

• We're broke. Not only do we spend more than I earn, but whatever money I make is taken away before I see a penny due to my disabled husband's child support obligation. So I really could not have the luxury of buying a whole set of inserts and a hand operated washer, cheap as they are.
• I'm wimpy. I have the weakest hands ever. Playing piano and dancing ballet since early childhood may have improved their strenght, but all and all, they are still weak. On top of that, I have arthritis in the shoulders, so any repeated motion like pumping or turning that involves them results in severe pain.
• Tiny Guy doesn't like prefolds. He gets wet too fast and starts screaming. Having him in cotton 24 hours around the clock I thought would result in some 10 changes or more per day. (that was my weakest argument, due to stay dry fabrics).
• My husband is disabled. That means I have to take care of 3 people and try to make and save money at the same time. This was a big burden I did not have to put on top of my shoulders.

So, on May 19th, at 10:30 PM, I went on and signed for the challenge, without preparation, without any purchase and without any useful connection (did it from my smartphone, pointing to the window and holding it high, because the 3G barely reaches here). Was I crazy? Yes, I've always stated that I am. So here's my reasoning for doing it:

• I may be broke, but I am not poor. Those two things are different. In Spanish we have 2 different words for the verb to be. One is for a temporary status, like I am broke. The other describes you: I am Mexican, I am tall, I am a mother and I am not poor. The house I am at the moment ( I  live in an apartment) is fully equipped with a handwashing station in the basement. My husband has several old t-shirts that he cut the sleeves off and uses around the house, and they are almost in rags, we need to replace that stash at some point anyway, and I did have covers and snappis with me. So I really did not need to spend any money.
• I was behind in laundry. Diapers take a whole day for washing, I have to make at least 4 trips to the basement to wash them and the washer is barely used, so there was some buildup in it. I started noticing smells on them and rashes on Little Guy, so I needed to do something different while we stayed here.
• We have a salad spinner that we never use (I buy pre-washed leafy greens), and we miss our spin dryer badly, so I wanted to test if that could be a substitute.
• When hurricane Sandy hit us, I spent almost an hour the day before buying diapers. That was one of the decisive moments that made me switch to cloth. But although we were stuck and locked in for several days unable to get out due to gas shortages and the subway being closed, we only lost power for a couple of hours. We were extremely lucky, my husband's family in New Jersey was powerless for close to two weeks. I do not want to be panic shopping and I do not want to be helpless if power goes down. So I decided to improvise given those situations and diaper my boys with whatever I could find.I did also set myself to use less water than I use for the washer and tried to find creative ways to do so. I will later post about water and why it concerns me. 
• As a last thing, I'm very active online and dragged some moms into doing it, how can I convince somebody else to do something if I don't do that myself? If a wimpy mom with two children and a disabled husband can diaper her boys with no money, anybody can!

My Own Goal

From midnight May 20th to midnight May 27th follow all the DDL challenge rules linked above plus minimum water usage and no money or donations (improvise with what I already have).

The Stash

8 t.shirts, 2 boxers, 1 pair of small baby pants, 1 table individual mat, 2 snappis, 4 white velcro covers, 3 pockets and 3 thin square white face tissues.

Tiny Guy is diapered full time, Little Guy only at nights.
1 Salad spinner, 1 hanging rack, 1 Dr Bronner's bar soap.

The Good

Anything can be a diaper. I used some 6 or 7 very old t-shirts, a couple of my husband's boxers, an old and stained pair of baby pants, some white face tissues as liners (my step daughter had used them as chain links to rescue Rapunzel and tied them all together). I was tempted to use an old set of sheets for twin beds, since we don't have any, but it was not necessary. .

The Jo fold for T-shirts is fantastic. It looked trimmer than my AIOs, I don't think anybody outside of the house could tell he was wearing cloth. And they last for a while. Unlike prefolds, he doesn't seem to be uneasy with the moisture and the only rashy part was his legs, due to the fitting inside the cover.

I still remember how to hand wash. I ended up just doing it the old fashion way, with a bar soap and the tremendous help of a high pressure hose and an amazing hot water boiler that we installed 3 years ago. 

As for the wringing, believe it or not, I just did it and it was not a nuisance as I thought it would be. 

I caught up on laundry, which was piling up. Even did some bedding wash and some curtains too.  

I like my improvised liners. Unlike the flushables, I can wash them in 2 seconds by hand, and I can use any diaper rash cream (yes, purists are going to scream to the roof, but I have never had a problem using zinc oxide with a liner).

No stinkies! Even with some ammonia build-up due to my wimpy washing, I just took the soiled stuff downstairs and almost washed everything immediately. No wet bags dancing around.

I did spend the week as any other. We went out, visited thrift stores, went to friends' houses, had guests, it's not like I did not have time to enjoy my life because of the challenge. Quality time with my bundles of joy is always a priority. 

I did not feel like I was overtired or that it was a huge amount of effort. Certainly the diapers were not as sparking clean as they should have, but my washer here is not doing better than me. I did not want to stop at day 2 and just took it as it went.

The Bad

I have to say it: I don't like handwashing. Which is why I got a tiny washer in my appartment. Before my Panda, I used to put all my skirts, blouses and pants in a laundry bag and bring them here every time we came. 

I was all ready to use the salad spinner, but it just didn't work. The disk's attachment to the lid is not strong enough to hold when more weight is put into it and kept getting off. I tried several combos and approaches but I ended up just using it to soak mostly the poopy diapers.

I started to have ammonia build-up by day 5. So I'm not as strong as of taking those things away by scrubbing. I need to figure out a way of stripping without a washer if I ever find myself in a 2 weeks without power situation.

Little Guy got a rash from the only point in which the liner was not touching his skin when using a pocket as a cover. Thin cotton liners are easier to wash than attached cotton velour ones.

My index finger on my right hand, just where I scrubbed the most, started having wrinkles, peels and everything else. 

I fell behind yesterday because my lovely husband closed the main faucet without telling me, so most of the day there was no water downstairs. 

I had a couple of morning leaks, one was definitely because I had decided to experiment on a new fold and it backfired. Another was plain and simple wetness, because I put the night diaper on an hour before bedtime instead of when he was already asleep.

The Ugly

One simple word: poop. 

I am very fortunate that Tiny Guy is a very light pooper. I also should consider myself one since he started with solids and most of it comes in one single piece, although a very sticky one. But, there is still a lot of watery colors coming from this beautiful sack of potatoes.

So, after a very uneventful first day, to which I had said to myself: "yeah, I may be able to do this for more than a week", Tuesday came, and a big fat explosion accompanied. I'm glad to say that it was all contained, and he was wearing a pocket as a cover, so I had more fun stuff to scrub! 

I took it down and hosed it pretty good. Then I took the bar soap and did some general scrubbing, followed by spot targetet. I left it soaking with Murphy's oil soap. 

Later that day, I came back. No change. More scrubbing. Murphy's directly on the spots. More soaking.

Next day, no change.Some stains would become lighter, but still be there. I just forgot about the problem and left it soaking in clean water until new notice.

Tiny Guy pooped again on Friday morning, but it was a much smaller one and it all came off with one scrubbing and a tiny little spot was sunned away.

On Saturday, I decided to sun the rest of the spots and it did not come out totally clean, but it was good enough for usage the next day.

So, guess what? same shirt, Sunday morning... KABOOOOOOOMMMM yep, as of 5:09 PM on Monday (a.k.a. right now), it's still soaking. I still have some 2 t-shirts to catch up with, so I would say, I'm not totally done with the challenge.

The other ugly part was the noise Tiny Guy was making when being changed. He was like a little mandrake! And not only I had to change a diaper, it was putting on a snappi that he would take off within 3 seconds and then putting on a velcro cover that he would pull in 3 seconds more and finally a pair of pants that would prevent him from the prior 2.

The Cute Stuff

Most of the used t-shirts had something on them, some drawings were by ink, but others were glued and ironed in. I didn't want Tiny Guy's bum to get rashes because of it, so I used those shirts inside out. That ended up showing the tag just where a nice designer diaper would be: centered in the back.

The t-shirts were primarily white and dark grey. But there was a pair of boxers with blue squares that looked adorable (sorry, no pic for that one). By the way, old boxers make great flats, and old baby pants make fabulous doublers.

One of the t-shirts was grey with a Spider Man stamp on it, but I just couldn't figure out a fold that would show it properly,


The Flaws

First, I must confess, one of the diapers ended up in the washer by mistake. I made it up by hand washing the Sunday night ones (still used flats because I didn't know where I had left the cotton usual stuff). If that disqualifies me, it does. It was not intentional but definitely my mistake (I was actually looking for it all over the place not realizing it was in the washer getting a good agitation).

As for the not spending money part, well, I would not have survived with my covers and snappis. Certainly, I did not buy them for the challenge, but they are CD items nontheless, so I cannot say that you can "fully diaper a baby" without those two. You can indeed function without a snappi, using pins, laces, knots with the clothes, or the cover itself; that's another story. You can leave your child coverless at home, but nights and outings are hard without a waterproof layer. The only available option is to improvise with waterproof materials at home, which won't be very breathable (shower curtains, plastic bags, etc) and those would have to be kept away from baby's mouth.

What I Learned

I learned to improvise with whatever I can find and make a diaper out of it. Anything and everything can be a diaper.

It is empowering to set us up with seemingly impossible tasks just for the sake of it.

Believe it or not, T-shirts work better without sleeves  The t-shirt fold using sleeves for fastening gave me trouble all the time. The Jo fold with the sleeveless turned upside down (the waist behind and the top on front) worked much better.

The older and thinner the cotton, the faster it dries (plus you don't worry about stains that much) and the less stinky. Plus, if you don't have a hand operated washer, scrubbing hard to get the ammonia out will eventually create holes, so it only makes sense to use old t-shirts for diapers and the new ones from the thrift-store for what they were originally created to.

Salad spinners make terrible hand.powered washers and wringers (or at least MY salad spinner).

Everything is easier when you are part of a community supporting you and doing crazy things at the same time.

Blogging every day' is extremely hard when you don't have a hi-speed connection.

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I enjoyed your stories, your folds and the community environment', but I won't switch full time.

See you later beautiful ladies.

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.

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

What to do with Too Small Disposables

Due to several lost battles in the rash war, I had to give up on nighttime cloth diapering.

But my inventory of disposables was 2 bags of size twos and one single pull-up.

Then I wondered: could and should I use those little baby disposables on my big toddler?? mmm... wouldn't hurt to try....

So I went ahead and placed the small diaper inside a Real Nappies cover, just placed it all open on top, like an insert. Next morning, there was a lake around Little Guy, but his rash was much better (I may add we're using antibiotic and antifungal ointments). The diaper was completely full though.

Second night, I placed a prefold in bikini fold on top of the cover, so that it would catch the urine once the diaper was full. Total Success!! His rash is rapidly disappearing and he woke up dry as a grain of sand in the desert.

That gives me a relief. Tiny Guy was going to outgrow those diapers soon and I was going to be stuck with them taking space, now I know I can use them anytime I need a disposable for whatever reason.

He is taking a nap and I made a different experiment. I'm using a pocket with a trifolded prefold inside, covering the mini disposable. Wish us luck!

Free of Chemicals? Not so Sure

I've been battling a chronic rash in Little Guy. It is incredible that he has it, given that he spends most of the day dressed in his Angel Costume wearing more hair than clothes.

I had to totally give up un cotton and start using pockets with him for nights and naps, which makes it harder to keep up on laundry since I only have 17  (including 5 AIOs) for Tiny Guy to use, and I can't use the Fuzzibunz on him because they are a little on the small side and it would require me sizing them back and forth all day long. I also can't use the GroVias because, as I've said, I've given up cotton on him, so that  leaves me to the Ecconappi (sad face).

So, how come Little Guy's butt is all burned if he's wearing diapers with "no chemicals"?

Well, here's the catch: no such thing.

Ammonia

First, and most important, is the pee itself, which is a very complex compound. Which is why I'm wearing a layer to take it away from his butt. The problem is that, contrary to what people may think, it is very hard to clean. Some fabrics tend to retain urea crystals, no matter how many times you rinse, and over time, the amount grows and decomposes to ammonia, to a  level that will at any contact with liquids and on some occasions  burn the skin.

Detergents.

No matter how hypoallergenic the stuff is, or how "free and clear". It needs cleaning agents. Period. No cleaning agents, no urea removal. If someone uses plain water to clean diapers, it would take some 20 washes or more every time. And those chemicals will, again, build up and leave residues in the fabric. Next thing you know, in the best case scenario you'll have repelling. In the worst, rashes again.

Water.

There's no place on earth in which you will get plain H20 from the tap. Not only it does not exist in nature, but as a solvent, it grabs whatever is there, so it would be impossible to keep it pure and clean. Some places do better jobs than others in keeping it free of toxins and adding a balanced combination of stuff to make it potable. Others have wells and water takes whatever is on them. In any case, water will mostly come with chlorine and fluoride and some other salts. That means that you can not trust your washing routine to work on a different location and that those salts will build up too. For some hard water places, the easiest solution seems to be Calgon. I'll tell you my experience when that happens. Right now I have extremely soft (and not good at removing soap) East Coast water.

--

So far, no detergent has proven to remove all the crystals and leave no residue with just a couple of rinses regardless of location and water composition. We can only do the old fashion trial and error and do our best to keep those bums as chemical free as possible. As always, with cloth it's our choice and our chore, not a corporation's.

The Chinese Trap

So, tons of cloth diapers are made in China. Some of them are made by Chinese companies and sold in Ebay for a very small price, others are companies from different parts of the world using their manufacturing facilities and testing and importing.

But there's another way of getting the first ones. Seems like some people thought it was a good idea to buy these by the bulk and sell them here. So, I don't see anything wrong with that. You buy from a local family, this family makes a little money and you get your diapers within the week, instead of waiting for a package that comes from the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

Why then is it a trap? because, a lot of these family business are trying to make the diapers look like they were made here by a very dedicated WHAM.

They post in craigslist, give you a website that has an online store, and tell you the story of how a beautiful mom started this "innovative" business. They offer you a wide variety of prints and tell you how wonderful and cheap their products are. All they do is buy by the bulk and then sew a tag with their "brand" on them. That's what makes them a trap and that's what bothers me.

If you want to sell them, pay taxes, pay copyright licenses and state where they are from and what materials are used. Then I might consider the option. But as long as I am lied in the face with pirate products, don't expect any sympathy from me.

So, this is the equation:

Craigslist + cheap pockets = China

It's Not Mold,It's Lint!!

2 or 3 weeks ago, I noticed dark spots in one of the FuzzibunzElite. It has a very light color (like eggnogg, cream, vanilla yougurt or something to that effect), much different to the rest, which are much brighter ones.

Anyway, I was washing and asked my husband if he new what it was, it did look like mold, but it was way inside the 3 snap triangles that I could not reach it, just in that place that access is extremely complicated.

So, the first thing I did was hanging it by the window and leaving it there for full 48 hours to get as dry as possible and as much sun as possible, I needed to keep it from growing.

Due to my limited stash, I had to use it at some point, I didn't see the dark matter grow, but it did not go away either. After my experience with Murphy's oil soap and having discovered that it would not ruin the diaper to soak it in, I considered that option, but decided to just keep doing what I was doing and take it from there.

Several times I washed it, it looked clean, but you could see the "dark matter" through the light. I used it as little as possible and always let it dry in the window for at least a couple of days. Same results.

Finally, 2 days ago, I took a different approach and tried to access the dark matter. It turns out it was not between the 2 layers of fleece but between the fleece and the PUL, which makes it much easier to reach. And, once my little finger got a hold of a little and pulled it out...IT WAS LINT!!!!

So I kept it going and got as much as I could out of there. So no, my beautiful Fuzzibunz are not prone to molding.

According to what I've read from Fuzzibunz and other gossip sites, the company has had  lot of manufacturing problems and has moved constantly. The ones I have are from Turkey. That means, that the PUL has very good quality, but the fleece leaves residues all over the place (including the baby). So what happens is that some of that residue gets trapped in this snapped area and, with a light and translucid polyester, it looks dark just for being opaque.

So, if you are as inexperienced as I am, and you are using Turkish Fuzzibunz, don't worry, it's not mold.

My Working Washing Routine

I have been cloth diapering for around 3 months. Has it been honey over flakes?* not exactly. Has it been better than disposables? In a lot of ways, yes. Of course, it would be better to have a leak proof diaper that you can reuse and doesn't need to get washed, but in a perfect world, we wouldn't need diapers at all (we wouldn't need toilets either and sewage wouldn't exist, right?).

The biggest problem hasn't been washing them, I have my panda twin tub that works like a champ. It is the behaviour of the fabrics once they've been washed.

Turns out I didn't have much problem at the beginning, but with time passing, I got a horrible cumulation of ammonia in the prefolds. The smell was so untakeable I needed to change diapers on Little Guy almost every hour.

I mentioned before that battle, and it seems I've won it finally. But I changed the routine and the devices for washing until I came up with my own formula. It may have ingredients not recommended, but, as everybody says, do what you have to do and what works for you. I use these things a lot, my stash is short, and whatever they last, they already paid for themselves.

So here it goes:

Prewash

I dump diapers and bag inside the washing tub. I fill it to the top. If there's poop, I throw some baking soda, otherwise, I don't. Then I leave it washing for 4-5 minutes and drain.

Wash

Turn on the hot water, fill the tank up. Put 10 drops of Free & Clear detergent plus 2 drops of blue Dawn plus 2 drops of Dr Bronner's peppermint soap plus one teaspoon of OxyClean plus half a teaspoon of Baking Soda in the detergent's lid. Aim the shower hose to it and let it drop on top of everything else. Set the timer to agitate for 7-8 minutes

Spin

Take all the stuff to the spin drier and let it spin for about 1 minute, while the tub drains. This gets rid of tons of soap.

Rinse

Fill with half a tank, or just enough to cover the diapers with cold water, let it agitate for 3 minutes, drain.

Re-rinse

Repeat rinse procedure but only for 1-3 minutes

Hose

Pass the pieces one by one through the high pressure of the shower hose to remove any remains of soap in the surface and drop them in the spin dryer.

Spin dry

Spin dry for 2 minutes

Hang

Hang the diapers in the clotheshanger. If there are stains (usually the Grovias are the only ones that remain stained after such an adventure), hang them by the window in the baby clothes hanger so that they get sunlight. Pockets just need to be put from the middle, prefolds require holders and shaking.

It may not be perfect, but it's working for now in preventing the ammonia from coming back and keeping my boys' butts all nice.

It is also very different than other moms due to my peculiar washer and my having the laundry room inside the bathroom, but I'm here to demonstrate that one can cloth diaper a child in a laundryless apartment and under a budget.

__________

* Mexican expression meaning perfect, beautiful and romantic.

How do you kill a purple elephant?

I heard that joke when I was 15 and always loved it, silly and childish as it is.

Here's my version:

How do you kill a purple elephant?	With a purple elephant gun
How do you kill a pink elephant?	Tie his nose so that he becomes purple and shoot with a purple elephant gun
How do you kill a white elephant?	Make him drunk so that he becomes pink Tie his nose so that he becomes purple and shoot with a purple elephant gun
How do you kill a green elephant?	Scare him so that he becomes white Make him drunk so that he becomes pink Tie his nose so that he becomes purple and shoot with a purple elephant gun
How do you kill a blue elephant?	Roll him in the grass so that he becomes green Scare him so that he becomes white Make him drunk so that he becomes pink Tie his nose so that he becomes purple and shoot with a purple elephant gun
How do you kill a yellow elephant?	With a yellow elephant gun
How do you kill a red elephant?	Don't be silly, red elephants don't exist!

This joke has been very helpful to me and to others, not only it explains recursiveness, it also teaches you several important lessons:

• For an imaginary question, goes an imaginary answer.
• For a silly question, goes a silly answer.
• You can complicate matters tremendously to fit a solution for a problem that you know, when in reality you can simply get an easier one.
• One solution can fit several situations.
• If you live in this country, it's highly improbable that you'll find yourself in a situation in which you have to kill an elephant in the first place.
• When programming recursive loops, you cannot mess the order.
• Sometimes you need to do something extra before the last step.

Anyway, this whole theme came up because I may have to use a babysitter soon, and because my husband is not exactly swift when disposing of diapers. So, due to the different types we have, I have something similar to the elephants:

I must add, I don't use a pail, but a hanging bag instead.

What do I do with a wet or soiled with soluble stools AIO?	Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with messy stools AIO?	Take the shower head, use the massage option, flush the mess away in the toilet with it and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with solid firm stools AIO?	Toss the stools in the toilet and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a wet or soiled with soluble stools Pocket?	Take the inserts out and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with messy stools Pocket?	Take the shower head, use the massage option, flush the mess away in the toilet with it, take the inserts out and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with solid stools Pocket?	Toss the stools in the toilet. Take the inserts out and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a wet or soiled with soluble stools AI2?	Put the velcro flaps in the laundry tabs* and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with messy stools AI2?	Separate the insert from the cover, take the insert and the shower head, use the massage option, flush the mess away in the toilet with it, Toss it in the wet bag. If the cover is dirty, do the same flush, then Put the velcro flaps in the laundry tabs* and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with solid stools AI2?	Toss the stools in the toilet. Put the velcro flaps in the laundry tabs* and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a disposable diaper?	Toss it in the trash.
What do I do with a reusable diaper that does not need washing?	Don't be silly, red elephants and reusable diapers that don't need washing don't exist!

* Skip step if cover uses snaps 


So there you have it. I will print this table and display it in my bathroom anytime I get a sitter or if I leave the house for longer periods (what I do with my husband is leave the baby wearing an AIO or a snap AI2).

My little Angel

Little Guy is in potty training mode. Yep, it means most of the day spent like God brought him to the world.
My Botticcelli  angel is in no way lessening the load, he still wears diapers at night and at naps, still 3 prefolds a day.
The problem is that he refuses to use underpants. And, if he is wearing a diaper, he doesn't bother to go to the potty, but if he's not wearing anything, then he goes to the potty, takes the cup to the bathroom and dumps the stuff in the toilet, and cleans it!
So I'm confronted with the dilemma of allowing him to be free or starting to push the usage of regular underwear, which I don't know the outcome (is he gonna use them properly or  pretend they are a diaper?)
In the meantime, he's surely enjoying his newly found freedom and doing his part on keeping it that way. It's been 7 days.

My Twin Tub Panda Washer Review

This post will be a review.  Let me tell you a little bit about how I got it first.

When looking for a washer, I was almost getting ready to buy a small 5lb capacity countertop and a spin dryer. It was then that I ran across twintubs. My husband said it only made sense to have both units in the same piece.

Twin tub washers are apparently very common in the UK, but mostly non existent here. After wondering in Amazon for a while unsuccessfully, I switched to Ebay and the Twin Tub Panda mini appeared. (Update: Amazon is selling it now, click here for the listing)

It was everything I needed. A nice tub, a spin drier and a drainer! not having to drain manually was a huge plus, and the price was right, it was cheaper to buy this beauty than to buy a spin dryer and any small washer. The catch? it was just released into the market and no reviews were made.

When buying online, you rely on what others' experiences are. If you lack that, it becomes a little dicey, but I went with my guts and after not being satisfied with anything else, I made the purchase.

Since there are still no to little reviews, here's mine.

If you want to see the machine and all its features (which I'm too lazy to write) watch the video by the manufacturer:

REVIEW

Performance
Y Y Y Y Y

The machine works beautifully, it is quiet and highly efficient. I have washed bathrobes, blankets, even an army jacket, and it gets dirt out of those things amazingly well. I just wish it had a "light duty" selection in which it wasn't as strong. I've found my delicates and stretchy clothes to lose elasticity; so, when I'm washing those (which is why anybody without a washer would want one of these in the first place), I just use less water than the level, therefore the machine itself loses strength, and I only run the wash for a minute. I also wish the drainer had a timer, sometimes I forget to go back and turn it off, which is a waste of electricity trying to keep the pump running. The more water it has, the more swiftly it works.


Price
YYYYY

This beauty costs what a spin dryer would cost by itself. No way you can beat it.


Maintenance
YYYYY

I've had this machine for over 3 months now. It works just like the very first day. The requirements that it has is cleaning the tub, which takes 5 seconds, specially if you have a towel hanging in front of your face, some cleaning of the lint trap (which is useless pretty much), and cleaning below the joints once in a while.


Diaperwash
YYYYY

Go to My FAQ for washing diapers on a Panda!

Honestly, I don't know if I could do cloth diapers in a regular laundry setting. This machine won't drain unless you switch the rinse knob so I can forget that I left clothes on it and they won't get sour. I toss the hanging wet bag into the tub. It takes several filling and draining, but I only have to walk 10 steps in order to do so (did I mention I have it inside my bathroom?), and I can leave it filling, washing or draining (if I forget that it was filling, it won't flood the bathroom, the excess water will drain itself).

 The only problem is that it doesn't have the capacity to wash more than one day's amount of diapers (with 2 kids), but I don't have the budget to have more than a 2 day stash anyway. The spin drier leaves them to the point that the covers are usable within the hour, and the cotton stuff within a few hours, and that's considering that it's winter time in the East Coast.





Overall
YYYY

I got this machine because I was drowning in dirty clothes. Not only has it washed all the clothes I would usually not send to the laundromat, it washes everything. If it had a timer in the drain, I could appreciate it, as well as a not so strong cycle. Otherwisye, it's decently sized and hard worker. I love this product!

 Before you buy

Be aware of certain things, I got this washer because it is EXACTLY what I needed, but it's not what other people may need.

• It is heavy. Not as portable as the smaller ones, and it does not come with wheels. I can lift it and put it in the closet if the super comes (no, I don't think it would qualify for breech of lease contract, since I don't pump water in the drainage or have any plumbing directly installed into it, but still, I avoid the debate). But it's not as easy to bring, put water and then put away. Mine is always in the bathroom.
• It's short. When it arrived, we didn't have space in the bathroom yet (first we switched the orientation of the door and now it opens to the outside) but in the meantime, I was washing in the hallway. Bending to pour water, bending to pick clothes, bending to put the drain hose in a bucket, it's a lot of bending, and it can turn into a pain in the back (literally!). We had a custom made bench, 15 inches high, to place it and that seemed to be the ideal height for me. Now I operate it as if it was a regular size machine. Plus, the drainer works better and the pump is faster, even when I forget the hose inside the tub and the water reaches the top level, it automatically drains into the bathtub without the need of the pump, thanks to that lifting.
• It's not automatic. Washer and spin dryer come with a timer, so they turn off by themselves, that's it. For a regular load, you need to fill it up with water (it comes with hoses, but I use the shower hand held hose), set up the timer, then come back, drain, fill it again, set the timer again, drain again, transfer clothes to the spin dryer and set the timer again. I don't mind it since my bathroom is 10 steps from the living room and I just leave the shower head filling and do other things. I also start filling up a bucket while it drains and save time.
• It can be noisy. Spin dryers are super powerful. If the load is unbalanced, the whole washer will start dancing all around (you can use it as a vibrator too)  Just wait until it catches full speed and if it makes horrible noises and moves like crazy,  open it and reaccommodate the last piece of clothing and the disk. Contrary to the washer, the more you fill it and stash it, the better it works and the less noise it will make. And remember always to put the disk with it, otherwise the noise will bother you and it won't work .
• It creates lint. I admit I would be happier if I had a clothes dryer. The lint trap in this washer doesn't work very well (that's an understatement, it is a total joke), and sometimes I get lint lines in cotton clothes. I can remove them with a vacuum cleaner or a lint remover, but still. I usually put a trap in the drain to keep stuff from going in and throw it in the garbage instead. It still does marvels with my bathroom mat (just need to clean the bathtub afterwards). What has worked best is to separate clothes and wash cotton towels and mats apart from anything else, and use like colors in those.
• It can get very moldy. That's been one of the biggest problems. It has a compartment in which you cannot reach to clean, and it can create a limitless supply of black and beige little friends, that will make your clothes stink more than they did before they got into the washer. In order to keep it low, I try leaving the tub dry and open overnight, and I run a wash with only hot water and bleach about once a month, plus my high pressure hose (aka shower at massage mode) can get a lot of it out by pointing the water at it directly. 

The Chinese Dilema

If you go on Ebay and type "cloth diapers", you enter another dimension you didn't know it existed.

I go there to find good deals in used Pockets or AIOs, although lately I've been disappointed to see that they go almost for full price (they are THAT coveted).

But then, you see tons of prints and low prices in Buy it Now for as low as a single buck. So how come there are brand new diapers that are sold for 20 times less than the high brands? Answer is simple: China.

Wait a second, aren't Gorvias, some Swaddlebees, Charlie Bananas, Real Nappies and who knows what else made in China too? why then are these considerably cheaper?

Mainly, because there are big factories selling the product directly, sometimes the same diaper that they make for American companies. Should you buy it? well, I'm not anyone to tell you that you shouldn't, since times are hard and the initial investment is high; whereas with these, one could put some $60 and get a full 2 day stash.

Some people argue that they are infringing copyright laws, others that they are not tested for quality control or that they may contain damaging chemicals. Others say that working conditions in China are slavelike and if you buy from them you are contributing to slavery. Finally, other group says that they just are cheaply made and won't offer the guaranty or customer service that their counterparts here will.

Certainly, they are not paying taxes, neither are you. They are also not paying importing primes, neither are you. As for the working conditions, everything we buy these days, from electronics to clothing including musical instruments, is manufactured overseas. If you are concerned about it, well, don't go to Walmart again.

Anyway, asides from quality, which tons of parents claim is just as good (and others claim otherwise), my reason for not going that direction is very simple.

I come from a shoemaking capital. Although I'm not involved in the business and never was, I know a considerable amount of people there that is. Ever since Chinese products started infiltering the system, the economy went down. Now, last year, the taxes imposed on Chinese merchandise were lifted, so you can go and buy a shoe made in the other side of the world for a third of what you pay for a shoe made in your own block. It is impossible that, with the cost of materials and wages, we can match those incredibly ridiculous price tags. That's their goal. They wan't to break our economy and lower their prices to the max, losing money for a couple of years, just so that they get rid of the local competition. That is unfair trading, my town is fighting heavily to bring back the regulatory tax and have a chance, if nothing else.

Seems to me that these diapering companies are doing the same. They don't want people in here working in factories, they want our market and they want to sell as much as they can, with little to no regard of who goes bankrupt.

This is a virgin unexplored industry in which there are no big corporations. It's glowing and growing at a steady pace, improving the lives of thousands of people, even if some are manufactured in China, the companies are here, paying taxes and licenses, testing quality and safety, employing people for handling, for online stores, for shipping and customer service and local retailers. And then add to the list the ones that do manufacture here. In my humble opinion, if I am going to not spend around 1200 in disposables, I can afford to spend 300 in cloth, specially if I use a credit line and I'm paying by the week with the money that would go in the landfills otherwise.

So there you have it, I'm boicoting companies that lower their prices on purpose. That's my reason and my reason only. As I've said before, this blog is not a manual or a Bible, just a simple mom's point of view.

Synthetic vs Natural

With the new trend and the newer designs, comes the usage of new fabrics.

In our baby times, our moms (or grandmas if you're younger) used birdseye cotton. That's it.

Now, with the new cloth diaper industry, designers have come up with a variety  never seen before.

But what is best? what do we put in our little ones' butt?

As a newbbie, I went ahead and bought whatever I found in good price, and a 2 day stash of prefolds and covers. That got me organic cotton, bamboo and 2 forms of microfiber for the absorbent core, and microfleece and cotton velour for the stay dry layer, so I can't compare all types.

I also have not tested the absorbency with a measuring cup and a scale, I can only talk about my experience dealing with them. IMHO, the answer is simple: get both.

Natural

I like organic cotton and love bamboo. They absorb fine and compress when wet. They tend to keep what they absorb. This is an advantage for leak prevention, but a disadvantage for drying. Prefolds are not expensive, but you need covers, bamboo is a little more pricey, so I only have 4 inserts, but I have never had leaks with it.

When it comes to contact with the baby, my Tiny Guy cannot stand feeling wet, so, when I was using prefolds, I needed to change them almost every hour, even less, or he would be screaming. That's why I mostly use pockets with him, he needs a stay dry feature.

Another issue I've had with prefolds (that I use now with my Big Guy) is the washing. Since they tend to retain more, that translates to ammonia pretty well. I've had horrible rashes due to ammonia buildup and it has escalated to the usage of blue Dawn in every wash. I may even bleach them one of these days.

Then it comes what I love the most: organic cotton velour. It is the only thing I use at night with Tiny Guy. He sleeps all night without any problems. He  wakes up with the diaper all soaked, I change it first thing and take the soakers off. The main problem with it is the price. Oh, and the drying time, which, although not exactly slow, takes a few hours hanging in the inside.

And lastly, stains. For some reason, my main stain concerns come from the Grovia AIOs, with cotton soakers. I just hang them near the window and let the sun take care of things.

Synthetic

I'm not in love with microterry, but I do use it, and I do love mink. I like microfleece as well, but not as much as cotton velour.  Microfiber absorbs like crazy, but just like it absorbs, it dries. That means, any contact with it will release water. Translation: LEAKS.

I may say that 95% of the leaks I've dealt with have included microfiber. The worse ones were with Fuzzibunz, that gave in to 2 explosions, one in the middle of the night, staining my blanket while I was nursing, and the other one while I was out and my beloved husband used Murphy's Oil Soap to wash it.  Only one #2 leak has occured ever since (and very minor).

Changes that involve exclusive mink have to be within 2 hours, and if Tiny Guy is sitting in his bouncy chair, wetness will still come sometimes. Just squeeze a little and voilá, wet leg at 9. On the other hand, once out of the spin dryer, they are ready to use within an hour of hanging. No waiting time required!

As for the staydry of my pockets, it gets grummy after a few washes, and leaves residues all over, but it does keep him happy and moisture free (to a nice degree). The Fuzzibunz pockets dry extremely fast, so you can just keep using them.

And for stains, the question is: "what stains?" really, dump the dirty stuff in the washer and you won't have any souvenirs after they're dry.  Plus: the inserts are cheaper than bamboo and the pockets cheaper than cotton velour.

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So, I would say, give variety a try. You may like hemp and suedecloth as well.  and yet more options for covers.....

The Choice

Cloth Diaper rabid advocates got mad and cried all over the place when Pampers published a claim attacking them, saying that there was no ecological difference from one to the other and that kids in their diapers lived in a wonderland in which they pooped in recycled material that used hardly any water to be created and was going to biodegrade maybe in 350 years instead of the dreadful 500 that their counterparts proclaimed.

That post quickly disappeared from the American website, but not from the British one. I didn't find it offensive, they attack something that they don't know and take them as if they were flats with rubber pants and the methods for washing would require boiling them and raising them over and over and over.

At the same rate, advocates for cloth attack the big corporations making the assumption that you will change a diaper some 15 times a day and will buy weekly the most expensive brand there is, so I don't really know why they get so offended.

Reality meets somewhere in the middle, I was lucky enough to spend $30 for an 8 week supply of pull-ups some 4 months ago (just before Tiny Guy was born), and before that I had gotten some other deals. I never just went to the store to buy whatever I could find. I searched online, hunted sales, joined online stores, etc. Always trying to bring the cost down. I was very successful on some occasions.

But when we make the "cloth" choice, then we have to keep making more and more choices, natural or synthetic  tumble or line dry, CD specific (an expensive) or general detergent, 12,24 or 36, prefolds, pockets or AIOs.

 I remember a joke about a man that wonders if taking a cab or a bus, and the 2 possibilities of sitting or standing inside the bus keep having 2 more possibilities with one of the picks again and again, and he gets so overwhelmed that he just decides to take a cab.

Big diapering companies claim that 95% of parents "choose" disposables. I tend to disagree, I would say 5% choose cloth, and a large percentage of the other 95 doesn't know that cloth exists. They take disposables for granted, ignoring their possibilities.

The question is if they ignore them because they want to or because really nobody has told them. But, in any case, if they go that route, the conventional one, they are free of making decisions, they are set to a standard of quality, performance and environmental impact. They don't want to be overwhelmed with possibilities, they just take the cab.

So, don't be judgmental, don't overwhelm people and don't get offended by their claims. You choose what you think is the best, and just because it was what you decided, it is correct.  We are polluting the planet anyway.