Potty training update

It’s been a month now since I started potty training.  Mr. Bug is doing wonderfully.  He lets me know when he has to pee.  Sometimes he will take his underwear off and go without telling me.  I find out because he needs help getting the underwear  back on.  About 50% of the time he poops in the potty on his own.  We still have accidents there, but he’s getting better every day.  I leave underwear on him at night, and we have only had three night time accidents this month.  I am so glad to be done changing his diapers.

Speaking of diapers, Squeaker is back in disposables most of the time.  He has a hard time rolling over or getting up onto his knees when he’s in the cloth, likely because they’re so bulky.  Two days of disposables, and he’s starting to do that pre-crawling thing where they get up on their knees and rock back and forth a few times before flopping down.  I’ll start using the cloth more regularly again once he get the hang of the whole crawling thing.

 

Dirty Diaper Decisions

So we’re cloth diapering full time.  Not.  We still use the cloth diapers, but it’s more intermittent now.  I don’t have a very big wet bag, so we use disposables when we’re out because the one that I have is way too small for both kids diapers.  We also use disposable at night.  With Squeaker it’s just easier to change him at night with disposables.  With Mr. Bug it’s because he typically poops first thing in the morning, so it’s one less poopy cloth diaper that I have to deal with.  We also use disposables when we go out of town.  I’m just really not big on traveling with cloth.  Some people do it.  I don’t.  And on diaper wash days we use disposables, which is about 2 days out of the week.

So now I find myself wondering if it was worth it.  I mean, the main reason I switched was to save money on diapers.  But as I’m still using disposables fairly regularly, I wonder if the savings is worth the cost.  I’m not really sure how to figure it out, and there’s not much I can do about it now.  Oh well.  I think we’re using cloth diapers often enough that it still saves us money.  Just not as much as originally anticipated.

Word to the wise for anyone considering cloth.  With disposables, you’re paying for convenience (0bviously), and sometimes, that convenience is actually worth the price.  The cloth diapers really did help clear up Mr. Bugs diaper rashes though.

Traveling with a toddler and cloth

It’s Independence Day weekend.  We will be joining the masses of people traveling to spend time with family and friends.  Luckily it’s not to long of a trip for us;  just shy of three hours.  As Mister Bug has gotten older and more active it’s become more difficult to keep him entertained in a car seat for that long, so we leave a little after nap time.  He sleeps for most of the trip this way.  If he does wake up, Lego blocks will usually occupy him for a decent amount of time.  If he gets too fussy we hope it’s close to a rest stop so we can let him out and run for a bit.  This extends the trip by at least half an hour, but it’s better than having a screaming toddler in the car.

Of course traveling messes with his sleep schedule.  Especially if he naps for the whole three hour trip, he goes to bed later than usual.  But then, for some reason, being in a new place almost always makes him wake up earlier than usual no matter how late he goes to bed.  So he’s fussy and tired the next day well before nap time, but if we put him down for his nap early, then he’ll get up earlier and be ready for bedtime earlier etc.  It also doesn’t help that when we go visit our family and friends, we’re out most of the day every day.  It’s amazing how busy and tiring a vacation can be.  So the last several times we’ve gone to visit I’ve just let him sleep whenever, and we fix it when we get home.  Thankfully he seems to adjust back to his normal routine fairly quickly once we do get home.

This will be our first time traveling with nothing but cloth diapers to use.  I only started cloth diapering about four months ago, and it wasn’t till one month ago that we had enough cloth diapers to use them exclusively.  I’ve picked up two small wet bags which are bags with a water proof inner liner that you stuff your diapers in while your out and about.  They’re quite useful for swim stuff after it’s gotten wet as well.  This will also be the first time that I’ll be changing cloth diapers while at other peoples homes.  So this will be a learning experience for how to do the whole cloth diapering thing on the go.

So with that, we’re off , to enjoy a weekend of family, friends, and fireworks.

The inside scoop on cloth and poop

Warning:  In case you didn’t figure it out from the title, I’ll be discussing baby poop at some point in this post.  Maybe it’ll be TMI for you, maybe it won’t.  In any case, you have been warned.

We started cloth diapering about 5 months ago.  I had thought about it when I was first pregnant, but I never took initiative to actually get started.  The start up cost seemed too prohibitive at the time, and frankly, I felt confused by all the information out there. For the record, cloth diapering really is simpler than they make it sound.

We’re cloth diapering because it’s cheaper.  It’s a nice side benefit that it helps the environment, but that didn’t really factor into our decision making.  Disposables and wipes cost around $1000 dollars a year.  Maybe a little more, maybe a little less depending on the brand you use and how often your kid needs to be changed.  You figure most kids are in diapers for about two years.  Cloth diaper start up packages are usually around 300-500 dollars.  And you’re done.  You don’t need to buy more.  I’m not sure how much extra you’re spending in water and detergent, but we do a load of cloth diapers about once every three days, so it’s not very much extra laundry.  So far, I’ve been able to start cloth diapering for quite a bit less than the average.  I started with a pack of six pre-folds and two covers for $35.  I didn’t go for a big start up package because a) I don’t just have several hundred dollars lying around that I can spare, and b)  I didn’t want to spend all that money just to change my mind after spending it.  This was a safe way to try it out, and see if I liked it.  I did, so I picked up more pre-folds with covers, and a few pocket diapers with inserts.  I got them used at a local consignment shop.  So far I’ve spent about $200 total.  This is partially because I’m buying a lot of things used, and partially because that local consignment shop needed a little extra help in store and is letting me work for store credit now.  I’ve even been able to use that credit to buy new stuff, which is nice.

Now for the poop.  The good thing about poop and cloth is that cloth diapers and wipes get the poop off the baby really well.  I mean I have to use 1-2 cloth wipes where it would’ve taken me 5-6 regular ones.  Cloth diapers don’t smell as bad.  We’ve also had a lot less of a problem with diaper rashes.  The bad thing about poop and cloth is that now you have to get the poop off the diapers.  I’ve had plenty of moms tell me that it’s not a big deal, and it’s not much more difficult than disposables.  Well sorry, I disagree.  It’s more time consuming than disposables, and it’s dirtier.  But it’s still easily worth the savings. Hear are the options.

Some moms just throw the diaper in the wash, poop and all.  I don’t like doing this for two reasons  a)You’re putting poop in the wash.  That can not possibly be good for the washer.  Plus, sometimes toddlers don’t completely digest what they eat.  Corn for example. Moving on.  b) That means that I’m leaving a poopy diaper in the diaper pail until wash day.  Is that sanitary?

You can use a diaper sprayer to spray it into the toilet.  I do not have a diaper sprayer, although I may pick one up next time I have the spare cash, just to try it.  I tried using our shower sprayer, but the angle was all wrong to get the poop into the toilet, and I’m not ok with spraying it down the shower drain.

Finally, dunking the diaper in the toilet.  This is usually peoples least favorite option, but it’s actually my favorite.  It’s a lot less messy than I thought it would be.  If you’re lucky, you have a child with sorta solid poo that you can just shake into the toilet and you’re done.  My kids poo is more peanut butter consistency(I warned you), and no amount of shaking is getting it off.  So dunking it is.  You can use rubber gloves if you want to, but after doing it a few dozen times, I realized I didn’t need them.

Bottom line is, when it comes to poop, disposables are easier.  You just toss the diaper and forget about it.  However, dealing with the poop is not as bad as you probably think it is, and you only get better at it with practice.  Also, in addition to the initial cost savings, once you are done with the diapers you can consign them if they’re not too badly stained from years of use.  So you get a small portion of your investment back in the long run.

And that’s my experience so far with cloth diapers.  If anyone has found a better/easier way to deal with the poop, please let me know.