Wool- the Perfect Diaper, Day or Night

If you've ever had to deal with leaky diapers, especially during the night, you'll appreciate and possible fall in love with wool diaper covers.  Wool is such an amazing, natural solution for diapering that has been used on babies for centuries!  It seems odd that a natural fabric without any type of plastic or laminate can really be waterproof, but it is!  We have never experienced any leaks using wool.  It breaths very well, which helps prevent most of the overnight ammonia smell that can occur during the night hours.  Wool's breathable nature also makes it ideal for preventing diaper rash, or for times when baby is recovering from a rash.  The best thing about wool diapers is the luxuriously soft, fluffy baby bottom!  Seriously, wool must be grandma's best kept diapering secret!

I use cotton prefold or flat diapers attached with a Snappi fastener under the wool cover.  You can find wool covers in several styles.  Soakers are typically underwear shaped, just covering the diaper itself.  Shorties have longer legs, fitting like a pair of shorts.  Longies are basically wool pants, coming down to baby's ankles, which are nice for cooler months.  Additional clothing should not be worn on top of the wool, because the clothing will likely wick the moisture out.

The one thing that initially held me back from trying wool diapers was the washing process.  However, after trying it, I wish I had started using wool earlier.  It's really easy to wash wool and they only need to be washed once every 5 days or so!  When wool diapers start to smell a bit like ammonia or you feel a bit of dampness on the outside of the cover, it's time to wash.  If you have several covers to rotate, you'll really only need to wash once a month or so.

In a bowl of lukewarm water, mix about 1 Tbsp of wool shampoo and a pea-sized amount of lanolin.  Swish to melt the lanolin in the water.  Leave the diaper to soak in the water for a while, approximately 20 minutes.  I usually wash wool at bedtime, then leave them soaking overnight.  After soaking, gently squeeze the majority of water out of the diaper, and roll the diaper in a towel to eliminate even more water.  Lay flat to dry.  The lanolin boosts the waterproof quality.  Some wool shampoos come with lanolin already mixed in.  If there's solid waste on the diaper, do a quick pre-wash with just the shampoo, no lanolin or soaking.

Washing wool diapers is quite easy!
  I use Imse Vimse Wool Shampoo and Lansinoh HPA Lanolin (the same lanolin that's great for new nursing moms). 

Ready for bed in her wool shorties.

Cloth Diapers: Aplix vs. Snaps

After recently having to make a change in our cloth diaper stash, I thought I'd give a quick, personal review of cloth diaper closures- Aplix vs. Snaps.  I've tried several different brands and styles of diapers over the years, but the closures all had the same issues regardless of brand.

SNAPS:
Snaps are by far my favorite closure type because of their durability.  Typically, they will outlast the PUL lining and the elastics.  I've only had two damaged snaps...  One popped out of the fabric of a Bum Genius 4.0 pocket, but the diaper remained very functional.  The other one, on a Thirsties Duo wrap,  refused to snap together.  Both of these issues occurred after a crazy amount of use, however.  Snaps are typically harder for a baby to open, keeping the diaper on baby.  This closure type can be carelessly thrown in the hamper, without closing laundry tabs.  I find that I still get a great fit around the waist with snaps, too.  The only downfall I've personally had with snaps (and I've heard the same story from other moms) is that grandmas, childcare providers, babysitters, etc. have a much harder time with snaps.  They look more confusing & less like disposable diapers, so people tend to get turned off by them.  If they don't secure them with a proper fit, you will get leaks and more dirty clothing.

APLIX:
Although I prefer Snaps, Aplix closure definitley has had it's purpose in our stash.  Aplix gives the best fit around the waist for babies, especially small babies.  When poopies are still runny, this helps tremendously.  Aplix is also quicker to secure, making it easier to put on a squirmy 5 month old!  This closure looks a lot like the typical disposable diaper, so grandmas, childcare givers, babysitters etc are not so intimidated by the cloth diaper.  There was also a time I used aplix closure diapers on my potty-training son.  I had such horrible luck with trainers leaking and was very tired of the messes.  Since he could open the aplix closures and sit on the potty when he needed to, it worked great!  No, it didn't work as a "pull-up", but I'd always go to the bathroom with him anyway & putting his diaper back on wasn't much trouble for me.  (I have tried to refain from stay-dry pockets during potty training, preferring prefolds & flats so he can feel the wetness).  It is easy, however, for an 8 month old to remove his own diaper too.  Finding a diaper laying amongst the toys near a baby in a puddle of pee is not good!  Snaps fixed that!  Aplix closures also need to have the laundry tabs secured before washing, to prevent damage.  Aplix, in any brand we've tried, is far less durable than snaps- closure tabs will often be curled and no longer sticky when the PUL and elastics are still in great shape.  Repair kits can easily be applied by some sewing mommas or by hiring a seamstress.  Although my husband repaired one of our aplix pocket diapers, I didn't feel like it was worth the effort to keep repairing them all.  

3rd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge: Day 1

With all the things that need to get done lately, accepting this challenge almost seemed ridiculous... just one more thing on my daily to-do list, the list that seems to expand by the minute!  However, I feel like the benefits of using cloth diapers should be known and appreciated by everyone and therefore, I want to help in this awareness effort.  Plus, I just like to stay super busy!

The 3rd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge is to raise awareness of the economical & easy option that cloth diapering can bring to nearly every single family, whatever their situation might be.  One in three families struggle to provide diapers for their babies.  Disposable diapers can be so expensive (especially when you have more than one child in diapers at once), and they fill up your trashcan extremely fast, stinking up your house.  The long list of chemicals used to make disposable diapers is another issue all together!  I've been cloth diapering consistently for a little over 2 years now. About a year ago, I tried using flat Birdseye diapers & I fell in love with them!  They are so versatile, & work just as well as my prefold diapers, microfiber inserts, all-in-ones, etc.  Flats and covers are inexpensive, wash up very clean, and dry quick!  Actually, a flat hung outside usually dries quicker than any clothes in the dryer!

Green Mountain Flat Diaper, size small, pad folded in a zinnia Flip cover on second rise setting.  Perfect!

Challenge Contestant - Little G, 10.5 months old- in her Flip & flat.  :)

Line drying clothes and diapers indoors is an essential back up to an outdoor clothes line, especially when heading out for the day.    Rain or playful stray dogs are not an issue this way.

Read more about this awesome challenge here:
Dirty Diaper Laundry 3rd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge

Making Laundry Detergent

One of my most recent frugal efforts has been making our own laundry detergent.  It's really easy & usually done while watching a movie.  After making a batch a liquid detergent that I thoroughly disliked, I decided the powder form was for me.  The liquid detergent was gloppy & solidified to a hard gel after a while.  Even shaking the bottle didn't help.  The powder form is easier to make & stores much longer, even in our drafty, old house.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Here's the recipe I use:

1.  Grate 1 laundry bar soap.  Felz Naptha works great for us.  I tried Zote, but it didn't seem to clean the clothes at all.  I read that you can use Ivory soap, but I haven't tried it yet.  I think choosing the base soap is a matter of trial & error.  Everyone has different water types and levels of dirtiness.  Our water is rather hard and all of our clothes tend to get pretty dirty by the of the day.  (Dirt, oil, grease, dirt, food, kids' paint, boogers, did I mention dirt yet??)

2. Place grated soap in a blender and add 1 1/2 cups of Arm & Hammer All-Natural Super Washing Soda & 1 cup of 20 Mule Team All-Natural Borax.  Blend it for about 30 seconds, until it's an evenly mixed fine powder.
I have an old blender that I no longer use for food, only for making the detergent.  The blending step could be skipped if you're concerned about possibly breathing in the borax.  I just try to be very careful, & never do it around the kids.  I like to blend it because it gives each scoop an even mix of all 3 ingredients.

3.  Then pour it into a container & you're done!  I store ours in an empty rice container with a lid and use an old scoop to measure.  I use 2 scoops (4 Tbsp), but like I said, our water is hard and our clothes are always really dirty.

The detergent WILL NOT make lots of suds/bubbles in washer & it's not supposed to.  It works great on all our clothes, even my husband's really dirty clothes and my baby girl's clothes.

One thing I'm wondering about though.....
We use cloth diapers and using borax on them is a big No-No.  Supposedly it wears the cotton & hemp fabrics down really bad.  For the diapers, we use different diaper-safe soaps, like Bum Genius diaper detergent, Rockin' Green Hard Rock soap, and Nellie's All-Natural Laundry Soda.
If borax is bad for the cotton/hemp diapers, is it not bad for the cotton clothes?  I've been using our homemade laundry detergent consistently for about 5 months now and haven't had a problem.  Has anyone had any problems using borax on regular clothes??