Conquering the Beast

Let’s talk poop. It’s a beast but everyone does it, including babies. Since we’ve started to cloth diaper on an island in the Caribbean things have gotten trickier than in the states. There has to be a way to do it and I am determined to find out how.

Captains log Day One: The island received me with open arms, but I didn’t tell her we were going to cloth diaper. So far we are still on good terms. We’re easing our way into things. The island universe hasn’t caught on yet that we’re transitioning from disposables to cloth, so no known horrific incidents occurred. We’ll hope this continues.

Day Two: My diaper sprayer doesn’t attach to our British toilets. $50.00 just went down the drain (pun intended). It wouldn’t be such a big deal, but I thought we were safe and forgot to put liners in the diapers… twice. Poop everywhere. Oh the horror! The carnage! Poop water was everywhere! I had a ten month old clinging to my leg as I struggled to swish and shake that nuisance out of my gorgeous Bumgenius 4.0 in Mirror. Something so beautiful should never have to go through something like that. I then watched in horror with my hands soiled in the miscreants morning load as that said miscreant reached for the toilet. It was all in slow motion but I couldn’t move fast enough. I couldn’t stop him. I scrubbed his hands down to the first layer of the epidermis after and stored that demon diaper in it’s wet bag. I’m determined to concur. I will avail. “Never give up, never surrender.”

Day Three: Another pooh incident. After “letting” the baby play in the toilet for a bit and washing his hands with two different kinds of soaps, I set him in his crib to finish the dirty job. I then had to clean the bathroom to get all that poo water off of my walls and floors. Yes. It was THAT BAD. I’m at a loss as to what to do. I used a liner this time, but with how wiggly he is it shifted and poop still got on the diaper. It’s sticky and I’m pretty sure it hates me. I’m bringing in the big guns and using gloves this next time. This swishing in the toilet is just plain messy and unrealistic.

We also did diaper laundry on the island for the first time! Yay! That didn’t go so well either. My inserts from the poop massacre the other day would not go away, even with sunning them. I used twice the amount of recommended detergent and still had to wash it a second time with yet again, twice the amount of recommended detergent. I then went to the grocery store to see if they had the original tide, and to my relief they did! Before I commenced my happy dance I glanced down at the price. For a container that could wash 16 loads, it was $44 EC! That is nearly $20 USD! Now I must search this blasted island for a detergent that won’t void my warranties, although I may have no other choice but to use my All Free and Clear. Oh, joy.

Day Four: I’m ashamed to admit we used disposables for the majority of the day. But I wasn’t too bummed that he pooped in a disposable and that made for easy cleanup. Huzzah! Hashtag SorryImNotSorry. We shall see what happens this week.

Day Five: I’ve gotten smarter. He took the kids to the pool two times today. The first time they all used their towels. The second time they used their towels only a little bit and got water all over the seats in the car. That’s code for: he pooped twice today. The first time the poop landed all on the liner, the second time only a little bit got on the liner and the rest on the diaper. But, just as I said, I’ve gotten smarter. I used rubber gloves this time. Minimal splashing and the poop was successfully expelled. I’ve gotten smarter. I am so happy right now. And the stains from the other day went away with an extra wash and some good old sun. On another note, but slightly related, I have a ninja baby. May God have mercy on my soul.

Summary: Always be smarter than the poop.

Bio: I am a mother of one adorable boy. My husband is attending medical school at St. George’s University on the Caribbean island of Grenada. After shipping a bunch of disposable diapers for the first term, running out, and then spending 4 times the amount on diapers here than in the states, I decided to pick up some cloth diapers while visiting the folks for the holidays. Little did I know that I would get addicted and buy a bunch of adorable patterns and colors. I tried it out while we were in the states, but cloth diapering is a bit different in a third world country. And by that I mean it’s practically the same.

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