Flushable liners - Not-so flushable?

Big thank you to a Milton Mom who linked me to a discussion about what wipes and “flushable” liners do to our water system.

It’s known that regular wipes shouldn’t be flushed, although I’m sure most of us are guilty of flushing the odd one. But who would have thought that many of the products advertised as flushable shouldn’t actually be flushed?

The test I read about is that if it can not easily rip, it shouldn’t be composted either! If it can be ripped apart like toilet paper, it is OK for either flushing or composting.

Products like baby wipes and even those “flushable” toddler wipes can cause serious problems not only on your plumbing end, but at the treatment facilities also.

Since starting cloth we have been using more cloth wipes (actually just cheaper face cloths that have been designated to be bum wipes), they just go in the laundry with the diapers, easy, cheap and better for the environment! Yay!

As for the liners, I am still affected by the ick factor of poop. Other than to keep your diapers a little cleaner, I’m not sure about the purpose of using reusable liners. I really do like being able to dispose of most of the mess so easily.

I’m still re-organizing my change area to be cloth friendly, I have bigger storage for the diapers, a new shelf to hold everything out of T’s reach and the cloth wipes nice and easy to grab. I have been using a Diaper Champ for my disposables and I haven’t quite figured out how I’m going to deal with waste collection. I would love to hear any tips that work for you!

Some unpleasant lessons learned!

Since Friday morning I have been using the 7 cloth diapers I have on both the boys. My mom and step dad were visiting, they think I’m crazy (diaper crazy!)…J has known this for a little while now.

So I have done diaper laundry every night so I can use the 7 every day. Did I mention that our rental house has a cheap washing machine that doesn’t have a rinse cycle! So I go down and start the wash, then I go back and stop it, add soap and change to hot water and run a full wash. Once that’s done I go back down and run the end of the wash cycle again. This wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have to guess where to stop and start the machine; I have new respect for a proper machine.

We got through the first two days with no leaks! The next two were not as lucky but that is what I expected of our first few days on cloth. I’m LOVING the inserts (absorbent part) from Go Green, I think I may actually like them better than the BG inserts!

I had a hard time with stains but a longer cold rinse and a hot wash (followed by another rinse), and the diapers were like new! A note for new diaper-ers: flushable liners are recommended for older babies, but I would tell you to use them for exclusively breastfed babies also, it just makes for easier clean up.

Now that our company has left I can spend more time on all the great ideas I have for posts! We’ve had a busy weekend but it was interesting and I made lots of notes of topics I’d like to discuss/share. So I’ll have lots more to come in the following days, please check back!

Swim diapers

With the warm sun shining I can’t stop thinking about trips to the splash pads all over the GTA and day trips to Centre Island. Last year I made some of those trips with my little guy in my belly, I can’t believe how much has happened over the last year!

Today on my new favorite deals site (http://www.babyhalfoff.com/) they offered Monkey Doodlez swim diapers. I have not put much though into what the boys would be wearing in the pool or splash pads, I always used the disposable swim diapers. A friend linked me to a site discussing cloth swim diapers and the option of using regular cloth diapers as swim diapers (without the absorbent liner). The purpose of a swim diaper is to hold in the poop messes, so a pocket diaper cover would definitely get the job done.

In the splash pad I would not want to use a diaper without the liner…I don’t want to have to guess if it’s water running out of the cover or pee!

I’m not sure I’m ready to see what the chlorine in our local pool will do to my brand new cloth, but I would love to hear from anyone who has used either cloth swim diapers or covers for swimming.

Show-and-tell!!

Are you new to cloth? Are you curious about cloth?

Are you a long time cloth user looking to see what’s new?

Make sure you “Follow” my blog for details on an upcoming mommy get together to discuss and have a show-and-tell of cloth diapers!

Please comment and let me know if you are interested in participating or attending and what diapers you have to show-and-tell!

My diapers are on their way!

With my newborn asleep next to me, (he is supposed to be having tummy time but he falls asleep like that) I am venturing into the world of blogs. Why? Over the past 10 months I have been having the cloth debate in my mind and with my husband, although he really doesn't care as long as it's easy for him and I'm doing all the cleaning. I've finally decided to commit to cloth and I've made my first few purchases! So now I wait...impatiently!
I have already purchased a Bum Genius All In One (Sized diaper S,M,L - liner is attached to inside of the pocket) and a One Size(one size birth to potty training) , but it's hard to be motivated to use just 2 cloth diapers. So now I just received a second BG OS as a gift and I've ordered 2 Apple Cheeks (thank you http://www.babyhalfoff.com/). I also have a G Diaper and two Go Green pocket diapers on their way from the states. I’m so excited to get these diapers and get going on my cloth journey; clearly my new cloth addiction has already started!

My piece of advice to share for now is to make sure you follow washing instructions closely. Detergents are important despite what some discount diaper companies may say, and rinse, rinse, rinse! I am looking forward to line drying my new diapers now that we’re getting into warmer weather. Not only is line drying economical, it will also do wonders for getting out those poo stains (so I’m told).