It's Day 3 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry! Things are going well so far! I'm really liking flats! I told my husband I might just switch to flats full time! They are so easy!
Today is open topic day and we can blog about anything we want related to the challenge. So of course, I decide to talk about the poop! Poop is what people ask me about all the time when they find out I use cloth diapers. Everyone wants to know what you do with it and how you get poopy diapers to come clean! With flats, I was worried it would be even more of a challenge since they are so, well flat. With my pockets I can usually just dump the poop in the toilet without a big mess but would flats do the same thing?
So far I'm not having a terrible time with the poop. It's not pleasant, that's for sure, but it's not the worst thing I've ever dealt with either. The flats do like to fall apart right as I'm dumping, but I've found that if I leave the diaper in the cover and then dump it doesn't make near as much of a mess. I don't have a diaper sprayer so it does take some swishing sometimes but, like I said, it's not the worst thing I've ever dealt with.
To get the poopy diapers really clean while hand washing it takes a little extra work, but doesn't hand washing in general? I make sure to use the hottest water I can get. Our water gets pretty hot so I'm thankful for that. First I fill the pail of dirty diapers with hot water and let them soak for 20-30 minutes.
After the first soak I agitate the diapers with my plunger. This is like the rinse cycle of my washing machine. This gets anything I might have missed off the diapers and just rinses them out. I then dump that water and add about a tablespoon of detergent to the diapers and then fill it back up with hot water. I agitate again with the plunger for about 10-15 minutes. This is my "wash cycle". It's a good workout! My four year old likes to help with this part too!
I really have found that it is not as difficult as I expected. I thought it would be really tough to get the diapers clean by hand washing them, and I'd constantly be worried that they weren't clean. But I kinda feel like they may be just as clean, if not cleaner, than when they are washed in the machine. Mostly because I can determine how much hot water I need, how long they need to soak, and how much agitation they need. It's actually pretty cool!
If you are doing the Flats Challenge how is your wash routine going? What do you do to ensure your diapers are coming out clean? If you have any questions for me that you'd like for me to address in a blog post let me know in the comments!
I'm thoroughly rinsing each one after every pee or poop, then letting them soak in my diaper pail (filled with water and a bit of detergent). Then to wash, I'm filling with hot water and detergent and agitating, then rinsing again. It's definitely an arm workout :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ruth: it's much easier to rinse a poop right away and let it soak a bit! I love that your son is helping in this picture :). I also have a picture today with my oldest helping!
ReplyDeleteI've been washing in a small bucket, because that's what we'll have for camping. I'm also not using a plunger because baby is EBF and honestly I find the plunger to be much worse than anything that comes out of him! I love the idea of using a trash can as your bucket though- it looks like it fits really well in the tub.
I'm not doing it, but one of our Cloth for a Cause board members is. She seems to find that it's working best for her if she just stays on top of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I did it last year, I was scared they weren't clean too! But, then I was reassured for the same reasons you listed--being "in control" of the washing criteria! The only downfall for me was lack of sun. Sounds like you're having a blast!! :)
ReplyDeleteI love that you have a "helper!" I've been washing one or two at a time ... no bucket, no problem ;) lol
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