They Work!
Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Even though I was reluctant yesterday to put one of the all-in-one cloth diapers I'm saving for my own baby on the little boy I babysit, I ended up doing it anyway. We had plenty of disposables, so it wasn't out of necessity, but I was just really curious to see how they hold up in real life. In theory, they should work fine, but I'm not that confident in my ability to make absorbant leak-proof diapers yet. I purchased the pattern from Darling Diapers, and I have read great reviews about their patterns, so I shouldn't have had any doubts.

I put the diaper on him at about 2:00 or 2:30 yesterday afternoon and changed him back into his disposables @ about 4:00 before his daddy came and picked him up. I was relieved (and actually a little surprised) that it didn't leak at all. He even laid on his side while taking a nap for a while, and there were no signs of leakage. He didn't poop, so there's where the test ended. Maybe I'll put one on him during his early nap next time so there's more opportunity for poopiness.

The next test was with the dryer. I was afraid that it would take forever to dry since it was one of the true all-in-ones w/ the absorbant soaker layer sewn inside. I washed it with a regular load of laundry with just a tiny bit of detergent, since too much detergent can cause build-up on the fibers and affect its ability to absorb properly. If it would've been poopy, I would've washed it by itself or with some towels after running it through the rinse/soak cold water cycle once, since I don't have other dirty diapers to wash with it. It took 2 dryer cycles to get completely dry, which isn't too bad, I guess. I'm glad I made most of the diapers w/ a separate lay-in soaker layer. Also, you are never supposed to use dryer sheets or fabric softener with cloth diapers for the same reason you don't want to use too much detergent: filmy insoluable residue can make them repel liquid instead of absorbing. They will also begin to hold odors if there is a lot of build-up. Nobody wants a clean diaper to smell like pee and crap!

As you can see from the photo, the diaper was just BARELY big enough for his cute little chunky bum. He weighs about 30 lbs and I think this size small diaper is meant for 10-25 pounders. I made sure the elastic around his thighs wasn't too tight and fastened the velcro on the largest possible setting. It's good to know that in a pinch, I could use the size small on a chubby 30 lb baby.

Labels: babysitting, cloth diapering, sewing

posted by Unkempt Mommy @ 9:30 AM,

3 Comments:

At Wed Aug 02, 02:39:00 PM CDT, Sorlil said...: so cute! glad they worked - you've obviously made them really well
At Sun Aug 06, 11:12:00 AM CDT, Danielle said...: The diaper looks really nice. I would suggest that you get a dryer rack, that way when you do end up doing an entire load of dipes but some of them still need more time, you can just put those oddballs on the rack and not spend more money on electicity. If you have an outside area you can put the rack outside to sun out that poopy stains. Clothes are great (I love mine) but if you don't have room for one, the drying rack can be portable inside to outside. Plus the less you dry your dipes in the dryer, the longer they will last.
At Sun Aug 06, 11:12:00 AM CDT, Danielle said...: I meant to say "Clothes lines are great" in my last post.