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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

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The Laundry Game Changer

Remember those lovely days when your baby was still exclusively breast fed and his or her poop didn't really stink? Remember when washing your baby's diapers was no biggie at all because you just stuck the whole shootin' match in the washer and didn't worry about getting any solids off first? Those were the good old days, huh? It reminds me a little bit of how newborns act all sleepy and cuddly for the first few days, to lull you into thinking that this is going to be an easy baby to care for... and then a few days or weeks later, they wake up into their collicky selves! Newborns are sneaky for sort of reeling you in with all that cute, sleepy, easy-poop stuff. And then bam! A few months later you still haven't gotten more than three hours of sleep at a time and then a few months after that, comes "The Big Change" in their diapers.

Gone forever are the easy days of poop that doesn't smell that bad and doesn't need any special treatment before washing. But, in my opinion, what is worse than the poo smell (which is basically gone after you finagle the monster down the toilet) are the ammonia fumes that arise from older baby or toddler urine. It's standard to wash diapers every other day; and somehow diapers that were just an easy "pee-pee diapey" yesterday have marinated together with all the others in the pail into a knock-out force of collective ammonia fumes when you go to put them in the washer.

This was when laundry day became a real challenge to me. And not me only... cajoling/guilting daddy into putting the diapers in the wash was like, "fuhgettaboutit."

And then the real kicker came - first trimester pregnancy smell sensitivity! Holy cow, let me tell you what. Thank heavens there was an exterior door in our laundry room. I would take a huge inhale, frantically unstuff and throw into the machine as many diapers as I could before passing out, stumble out the door, gasp a few deep recovery breaths, retch a few times, and then repeat the process until all the diapers were in the wash. The first trimester nose is no joke, man. It's a killer!

Then I thought, "Surely there must be a way to make this easier." (Cue lightbulb above head and angelic choir singing, "Ahhhh!" in the distance.) Why don't I just pull out the insert right when I change the diaper and then I can just dump the bag in the machine and run?! It sounds like, "Duh. Why didn't I think of it before?" And I'm sure that's what many of you already do and are thinking about me right now! However, for me it has been the number one game changer in the laundry department. It took a few rounds before dad got into the new routine of pulling out the insert (you know, you have to touch something wet with pee and it takes .5 seconds longer) but now he'll put the diapers in the wash without complaint! And that is worth a lot to me!

So the new routine is: Start the washer. Take a deep breath and hold. Quickly dump out bag and turn inside out before adding that too. Shut washer and exit room before running out of air! Take a deep breath in and congratulate yourself that you have made this process a LOT easier on yourself and your pregnant nose.

13 comments:

Deltaflute said...

Newborns sleep? Lucky you, I guess. My kiddo didn't sleep much when he was a newborn. Stayed up all night long.

Yeah, preggo smells suck. Although poo has never bothered me (strange I know). Food does and so does perfume smells. I hate kitty litter. I really don't want to know what they put in that stuff to make it smell that way.

Unknown said...

why bother unstuffing?

I never unstuff my pocket diapers. My spin cycle of the first cold rinse unstuffs for me. The only things I ever need to unstuff manually are my Happy Heiny Pocket Trainers, and that's because they're contoured and not flat.

Unknown said...

I never thought to take the inserts out ahead of time. LOL Great idea!

Brittany H said...

hahaha Funny post and Good advice. Who knew that would make such a huge difference?

Lindsay said...

That's how I do it, its so nice to be able to just dump and run :)

Julia Shober said...

I completely sympathize with the first trimester nose! Mine lingered until 17 weeks...and even after that many smells were no joke! Worse for me than laundry day was actually changing a poopy diaper. I had to be completely prepared to vomit after each change. Most pocket diapers can be shaken free of their inserts, to make it easier on you & hubby! Our stash is comprised mostly of BumGenius, and those are super easy to shake out, but we also have some tiny tush, babykicks (both slightly more challenging, but can be done) and fuzzibunz (IMO the hardest to shake out due to super sticky PUL). Good luck, and congrats on both your new discovery and new baby. ;)

Amanda said...

I wish I would've thought about the liners! My 2nd pregnancy kicked my butt with the smell sensitivity...and it last all 14 weeks, unlike my 1st...just a piddly 2 weeks. And I totally understand with the 'what's up with all the stench?!' Just this week I told my husband my bathroom keeps smelling worse and worse each week (where we store the dirty diapers after spraying). Looks like I need to experiment with some baking soda and/or essential oils! :)

Cece Gutierrez said...

I pull my inserts out already so we are in a good habit. I am not looking forward to stinky poop and spraying, etc. I enjoy the EBF poop right now.

Chanie P. said...

Ha, that is a really funny article! I'm glad you figured it out. :)

Jelli said...

Good tip! I don't think I would have thought of that.

Lea Marie Ruiz-Ade said...

I agree with Julia Shober! Bum Genius pockets shake out really well - even well double stuffed and Fuzzibunz are more of a challenge. I never could bring myself to just dump EBF poo in the pail, I've always rinsed. And I don't know what mutant washing machine Christine has, but I would never get away with not unstuffing. I have a front loader, which makes the dump and run a little more challenging. It is more like open the exterior door or at least its window, inhale, flip the top of the Planet Wise pail bag over so the elastic doesn't grab the diapers, grab a bottom corner of the bag and punch/shove the diapers out as I flip the bag inside out. Hopefully I don't run out of air. It's also harder with the front loader because you're squatting through this process. :-) I wonder what that is going to be like in second and third trimester.

Chris said...

I just wish I could go back to the day when all I did was unstuff right away (never imagined doing it later, when the pee is cold - yuck). Now I unstuff and rinse/wring out each pee diaper in the sink and then throw it in the pail. Works like a charm for keeping ammonia stink away on my toddler who can even make a sposie stink like ammonia by morning.

Christoria said...

I can't imagine not unstuffing right away. Sounds gross. I just wish I could go back to the day with that was all I did. Now I rinse out each pee insert in the sink before throwing it in the pail. Works like a charm for keeping ammonia stink at bay. My toddler has the ability to make even a sposie stink by morning.