High Efficiency Front Loading MachinesThese machines require much less detergent than a top loading machine (use too much and beware of stinky diapers!)
Hard Water vs. Soft Water
Switching from hard water to soft can present a challenge since you're accustomed to using slightly more detergent (detergents don't work as well in hard water). In soft water, detergent goes a long way! I also found additional rinses were not necessary.
Diaper Sprayers
A cloth diapering MUST HAVE! Not having the diaper sprayer meant I needed to find an alternative solution: Shake solids into the toilet and then wipe the rest with a bit of toilet paper. For those of you who are brave and do not have a diaper sprayer, I admire you. I am a wimp when it comes to poopy diaper!
Additional thoughts?
Do use cloth! After considering not using cloth while I was staying in someone else's home because I was concerned with the wash factor, I thought about all the benefits of cloth and decided cloth outweighed my washing concerns.
It was good to bring extended family/friends into my ‘world of cloth diapering’ and now they too have had a positive experience in seeing cloth diapers in action. I got a lot of comments about how cloth diapers have changed and how cute they are! I know that I now won’t be the only one trying to get others to do cloth diapers; I have ‘converted’ others!
--By Andrea S.
11 comments:
I have done many a load of diapers at my parents, in-laws and even brother-in-law's houses. They all live out of state so when we visit, it is at least over night, normally two. Therefore there is always diaper laundry to do. And I agree with Andrea, now that I have a diaper sprayer, I can't live without it and hate being away from home with poopy diapers.
I am visiting my in-laws and she is so supportive of us using cloth diapers! I always sent a box ahead of time via UPS that has all our clothes, cloth diapers, etc. This eliminates having to check in luggage (especially with 3 kids) at the airport. I even have some laundry detergent that I keep down there so I don't have to worry about detergents. I do use the Bummis Flushable liners to make cleaning up messes much easier. This REALLY helps!!
The only other place I've done diaper laundry is at my parents. They have a top loading machine and it worked wonders with less work than our front loader! We recently visited some friends at the beach and I took sposies-not knowing how they would feel about me doing diaper laundry at their house. They were sad I hadn't brought all my cute diapers- and so was I!
Interesting about the soft and hard water. I was not aware of that just figured if you had hard water your diapers wore out sooner. Our water softner hasn't been working correctly and I've been wondering about this. Thanks for the information.
I have a "diaper spatula" which is just a large spatula designated for diapers only. It lives by the toilet in a little bowl.
Anyway, we'll be making a trip to see family in a few months and I'm not certain if we'll do cloth or disposables. I'll need to speak with our hosts to see if they'll have any issues with our cloth diapers.
I'll definitely pack the spatula AND my roll of flushable diaper liners! I don't know if I'll flush them, depending on the toilet flow (wouldn't want to clog!) but it ought to help with clean-up.
I am staying in a hotel for a week, so I can't wait to see how that will work out. Things went well for us on vacation too. I never thought about some of those concerns, but they are valid.
I have never had to worry about doing diaper laundry away from home because well, we don't go too far from home but I think it would be cool to show people cloth diapers in action in THEIR home- that way they can see how doable it rally is!
Maybe I will have to make a visit to my sister in law's house- I have been trying to convert her for a while now, but so far have had no luck. :(
I have done our diaper laundry at other people's homes. While we were on vacation. So far I have never had a problem. I pretty much will do laundry anywhere but I will not use sposies. :)
Only done laundry once away from home, thankfully there was a lone sample box of tide hidden in the back of the laundry cabinet. Not my favorite but it had to work.
I forget about my diaper liners. I still have a pretty good stash of them from before I got my sprayer. I will definitely have to remember to pack those on our next trip.
your comments on soft vs. hard water are interesting. I honestly don't know what I have - how to tell?
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