CBS News/ November 9, 2010, 1:02 PM

Cloth Diaper Challenge: Day 1

By Natali Del Conte-Morris

I don't have the wet bag, diaper pail, or diaper spray yet, but I still started my 30-day cloth diaper challenge last night. I received a few samples from SoftBums, which I concede are super cute. I may have gotten a little overzealous, so I put them on my little boy even though I don't have all the proper gear yet.

I'm only two diapers in, so I have a cursory impression to share. First, it was not as easy as I had hoped. I had to watch the instructional videos two or three times. I was confused with the extra insert that the babies in the videos have between their legs. I finally concluded that those pieces of fabric are there to protect the private parts of the baby models from the prying eyes of perverts, right?

Another question: what do you do with the poopoo diapers? Do you throw those in the wetbag too? My son did soil past the shell. Are you supposed to dump the inserts, the shells, and the wetbag into the washing machine at once?

These may seem like simple questions, but I figured that if I have them, other moms must have them too, so I might as well learn in public.

Also, cloth diapers are a lot more bulky than disposables. My husband walked in on me diapering and said, "That's the biggest diaper I've ever seen." Do you buy baby clothes one size up to compensate for this?

I did notice that my son's skin inside of the diaper was not shriveled and red like it normally is when I remove a disposable diaper. I attribute that to a lack of synthetic material that is meant to dry out everything around it. That is certainly comforting.

And of course, these things are adorable! I didn't understand what the blog commenters meant when they said that cloth is cuter until now. These things are way cute! And I have to think they feel better on my baby's bottom than spongy paper.

My son fell fast asleep in the SoftBums Echo System. This all has me thinking: I'm a high tech reporter who reviews gadgets for a living. How did I come to be reviewing diapers? A crap job but someone's gotta do it! :)

Note: This post was originally posted to my personal blog, Mommy Beta.

Natali Morris On Twitter »
Natali Morris is the host of Loaded on CNET TV and other CNET podcasts. She also contributes technology reports for CBS News.

17 Comments Add a Comment

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diaperfairy says:: Natali, I was happy to see that you looked into using a diaper service before you decided against it because of storage space. I am going to sound different than all your other posters but I think you should try the diaper service. They will size you, they will hopefully demonstrate for you and when you take that diaper off you just toss it in the bag lining a hamper and the service will take care of the rest. You will need to rinse out covers but if you use the snappi and practice, it will get easier everyday. And then if you can commit to this, you can trial and error the home washing as you get into a routine. Diaper service doesn't need you to do anything to the diaper...shake off solids if you have them but breast fed squish can stay. I have started many a nervous, timid family and they do fine and they may even move on to washing their own.....keep saying diaper service....do you really think the storing bucket is any worse than what you are doing now???; reply

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vetsmom_rgv says:: GreenDiaperDemos... send me an email about your "Green Diaper Demos!"
my username (at)yahoo(dot)com; reply

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vetsmom_rgv says:: Yes... it will take a while. I mean, my hubby still gets confused as to how to put on the gdiapers... it's so funny! But we are here for you Natali! Go over and read some blogs, I will be posting tips, stories and more on my blog (http://cjrthemommyblog.blogspot.com). And feel free to send me any questions as well!; reply

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tjosban says:: There's a lot of good reading over at forums like DiaperSwappers. I recently switched to cloth and spent a couple of weeks reading everything I could about it before I took the plunge. I'm using mostly pockets and all in ones, but I think I'm taking the plunge into prefolds and covers soon. It does get much easier once you get over that bit of a learning curve. Luckily there is a wealth of information out there.; reply

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diaperladies says:: Hi There, I own a cloth diaper company in Canada called Canada's Diaper Ladies and we would be more than happy to send you a DVD as well as some diapers to try out. They are very trim fitting, easy to use, easy to wash, affordable and very straightforward. Good Luck, and be sure to let me know if you would like a few more diapers to try out info@canadasdiaperladies.com.; reply

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momnixon says:: Haha, this cracked me up. It's a lot of the stuff we thought when we first started. We alternate between disposables and cloth, we use bumGenius most of the time (disposable while washing) and haven't had a ton of fit issues. Sometimes jeans have been too tight, but that's it.

It's awesome that you could see a visible difference already!

hee hee, they are cute and addicting. I only had boys so I've been able to keep it in check. I can't imagine all the diapers I'll want if I have a girl!

You should try to consider them high tech diapers. ;)

Anyway, good luck, sounds like it's going great already!; reply

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youngbookworm18 says:

Hey Natalie,
Cloth diapering can be very overwhelming. It took me many months to wade through all the different information. When you wash cloth diapers that have all those pieces you do wash them all together and you dry them in the same load as well. With newborn poop diapers or at least with breastfeeding poop diapers I would just throw them in the washer as is as the end of the day. I did wash them once with soap, by the way only use a 1/4 of the soap that you would use for a small load so that the soap doesn't get trapped, then I would wash them again without soap to make sure that all the soap came out. If there is too much soap and it gets trapped in the fibers of the diaper then the diaper will "wick" or start to smell funny. Now if your baby is on formula you may have more solid poops, in that case I would plop whatever would come lose in the toilet and then wash.
I know how you feel about the cuteness factor. I am waiting on my second baby and I just got a load of firetruck diapers from Rumparooz. Cutest things you have seen in your life. I can't wait to hear how you feel about this brand, I never had a blow out. It sounds like you had a little bit of leakage from this first day. No worries, it gets better.
-Elizabeth
P.S. be sure to take the insert out of the diaper before washing. To make it easy to get out put the insert in so that the tag is near the opening, if it has a tag.


GreenDiaperDemos replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; Just to clarify, you only need to pull the insert out of pocket diapers where they are no advertised as ones that fall out in the wash by themselves. Since SoftBums has a snap-in insert, you don't have to "pull" anything out. Some pocket diapers like Thirsties and Smartipants have a pocket opening in the front and back which allows the insert to fall out on its own in the washer machine. --Great selling point for my husband!

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violinwidow says:: some diapers are bulkier than others. best bottoms and grovias are pretty trim but absorbency w/out chemicals does mean more bulk. hang in there, it does get easier!; reply

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GreenDiaperDemos says:: Hi, I already commented on your mommy beta blog and posted answers to the questions you had in your Day 1 blog. I just wanted to add that SoftBums are a very well made diaper (made here in the US by Minnesota moms!). I am super excited that you are giving it a shot since cloth diapers do get such a bad rap (as you husband commented on in his video blog). I see that you mentioned breast pump so I think it is safe to say that little Mo is breast fed. You don't have to rinse out a thing before throwing it in the wash then (even if Mo does take some formula, if the poo is runny and not solid, don't worry about it. You will only need to remove the poo when he starts on solids since it is the food particles that are not watersoluable and can end up stuck inside the washer drum -sorry for the ick factor there). The non poo rinsing should make it a little more attractive to your hubby. This has already been posted for sure but it is an interesting fact that you are supposed to dump the poo out of disposable diapers before throwing away as well (says it right on the package).

Here is a tip for later if you do decide to stay with cloth once Mo starts on solids. I have a regular size wetbag but also a mini one. If out and about and my little one has a poopy diaper that I am not near a toilet or is too "squishy", I place in the mini wetbag so I don't have to hunt for it amongst the other pee-only diapers once I get home. Again, sorry for the ick factor but it is helpful!!!; reply

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SteffeClark says:: The way we handle poop, is flip the diaper upside down over the toilet and rub the poopy parts together (not touching, holding on to the outside) and the poop plops into the toilet. We live in a small apartment and our shower head actually reaches to the toilet. If we have a really messy one, our shower head can spray it for me, eliminating the need for the sprayer. Then just plop it in the wetbag in the can.

Note: Before we got a diaper pail liner, we were using a Diaper Genie. We put our cloth in there, and just dumped out the cloth diapers from the genie bag into the washer on wash day.

Clothes: The only problem we had with clothes is girl pants are tight around the tush. Leggings, stretchy yoga pants, knit pants, and active pants I have no problem buying the normal size. Jeans we have to go up a size. And the one piece PJs we need to go up a size.

Some diapers are trimmer than others. I know you have a whole bunch of different dipes coming your way and you'll see the difference. Generally speaking BULK = ABSORBANCY Disposables get around this with chemicals. If you don't have a heavy wetter you might be able to get by with a thinner dipe.

Cuteness factor goes up a million. I've known people to buy diaper covers to go OVER disposables just to try and steal some cuteness.

The first week is the hardest, you'll get the hang of it and be a pro by no time!

Thank you for showing some people just what cloth diapering can be!; reply