Diaper Service

Lately been wondering when we can have our own diaper service one-stop center? I'm pretty sure one day you'll find worn out velcro, falling snaps, problematic fleece layer of the pocket diaper, torn PUL layers, loose elastic... and lots more... which I think it is possible to be repaired rather than throw away or sell as second, huh?

I'm facing this problem inside the PUL pocket diaper... it looks like there is one layer is slowly "peeling off" from the PUL cloth...

I'm not sure whether this can be repaired and where to send to for such service?

Time to toss it? So sayang lah... This is also one of the problem when you have it as the favourite diaper or if you don't have a big stash to rotate often... *Sigh* Mind you, I only have 8 pocket diapers in total to rotate on 7 days...

The first batch of Drybees OS Bamboo fitted diaper

I was very shocked when I found out there are some pinkish spots on the Drybees OS Bamboo fitted. Due to it is not an absorbent fitted diaper for my gal... I stopped using it for almost 4-5 months and when I last checked on it ... I was so heartache as I looked closely, the fabric is like been "eaten up"!

Especially at the wing snap area...The most serious part and I realized the pinkish spots started spreading to the other part of the diaper after I checked it again after a few weeks!

It looks so horrible but I really have no idea what to do as it was washed and kept the same way and same place with all the others fitted diapers. One obvious difference is I don't use this diaper anymore for a long long time and am not sure whether this is the cause? This is the first batch of Drybees bamboo carried in last year July when US first launched. I still remember I per-ordered it through Miabambina.

See the affected fabric? I don't dare to wear it on my baby anymore... it feels "geli". I discussed this problem with Miabambina as that time this diaper still not even 1 year old yet! Luckily there is a 1 year warranty and Miabambina sent me a brand new one! Hurray!

Thanks alot to Miabambina and I hope all the CD sellers in Malaysia can provide clear information and guidance about what we, the CD mamas can do if we have defected diapers. Always check whether there are any warranty for the diaper... you will never know...

Unbearable Smell

After using cloth diapers for more than 1 year (Oh... not forgetting surveying and trying non-stop too...) finally I think I know the reason on why the ammonia smell can be so strong. Remember this post?

First of all, thanks ladies for sharing with me about the possible causes and solutions. After trial and tested on my own... and I really mean it (as I did all the laundry by hand or machine wash while there were no maid at home for more than a month). Thank goodness that my gal is not "producing" more diapers to wash nowadays, I can really can take my time to explore and experience more.

These are facts:

1) Once baby/toddler is introduced more to variety of solid food, the urine smells stronger.

2) Baby/toddler who is lack of fluid (best describe my gal!) produces terrible ammonia smell.

3) Diaper that is not clean throughly really double up the smell (imagine old and new urine combined... Yucks!!!) Well, it is possible to clean the diaper by handwash with extra rinse and I mean no machine wash here (of course for minimal amount of diapers) :P

4) Too little (using not enough) or too much (rinsing part need to be more) of detergent does affect the cleanliness of the diaper and insert.

5) Microfiber retain ammonia smell much more than natural fiber insert such as hemp, cotton and bamboo. Therefore, I'm reluctant to get more diaper with microfiber insert and will think twice if it's (microfiber insert) a sewn in AIO!!!

6) Soaking the insert will cause more work on washing and rinsing to get rid of the smell. So, soaking is not necessary! (I'm taking into consideration on those who handwash as well)

Anything to add??

Elastic Problem

See any difference between this two BG Onesize pocket diaper? I bought the yellow one earlier than the pink one and of course both of them were in action very frequently among other cloth diapers. Being washed and wriggled too much by my maid... eventhough I told her countless time not to wriggle cloth diapers when washing. Arrgh...!

Alright, both of them have loose leg casing elastic, especially the yellow one. It can't be used now as it will leaks most of the time and I'm really looking for help!!! Can anyone share with me where to get good quality elastic to replace them? Some WAHM suggested to use elastic for swimwear but I really have no idea where to get it locally (within Malaysia)?

I mentioned about the GAD pocket diaper too whereby the lastin all owrn out and my mum and I tried to replaced them with elastic for our normal garment but it doesn't work. The diaper still leak. Therefore, I have more than one pocket diaper waiting to be repaired... it just I need to get the right material first.

Confuse and difficult decision making

It's about how practical to use fitted diaper on newborn or young baby? What will be the best solutions? I started to use cloth diapers when my girl was about 10-11 months old and therefore is clueless about CDing a newborn or younger baby. Is it:

For daytime and outing
- Flat cotton gauze (lampin) with diaper cover?
- Fitted diaper with or without a diaper cover?
- Pocket diaper?
- AIO?

Question: Averagely how many diaper changes needed for daytime?

For nighttime
- Fitted diaper with wool cover?
- Pocket diaper?
- Fitted diaper with normal diaper cover?
- What else?

Question: What is the average interval time to change a newborn or young baby at night?

Mummies who started cloth diapering babies from newborn is welcome to share your experience and comments. I really would like to know how you work out the numbers and the solutions. Oh yes, a new baby will be greeting the world this coming October. That's why I'm stuck in whether to add more stash or maybe just use disposable... sometimes it's quite tiring to do so many researches and "investment" though...

Ammonia Smell in the room? What did you do?

I wonder what you moms use or put or attach or... whatever... to get rid of the urine smell in the room? I'm referring to the smell from cloth diaper especially on a toddler. How to eliminate the smell if the diaper is to be worn overnight?

Sometimes, hubby or myself is awaken by the urine smell. Especially early in the morning... the whole room was like... Arrgh! Please share with me what's your tips??

She's wet at midnight!

I knew I shouldn't use PUL cover on the fitted
I knew the fitted is not fully primed yet
I knew I should change her right after she fell asleep
I knew I shouldn't dozed off earlier than her...

Encountered dd's pyjamas was half wet from the buttock (up till tummy and down till knees area) at 3.30am early in the morning. Quickly change her with a whole new set of pyjamas and into BG pocket diaper. Pocket diaper is always standby for emergency access.

Lesson learnt (also a reminder for myself):
- Never use unfully primed fitted as night diaper if you have a heavywetter. However, it is alright for day time use.

- Avoid using PUL cover if you realized it is not fully cover the whole fitted (as fitted is more bulky especially with boaster and so on therefore has small gap that will lead to leaking)

- Use wool cover for leak-free protection as wool will absorb the wetness instead of the cotton pyjamas to absorb the wetness

- Be more caution when your child take in some amount of fluid / milk right before bedtime.

I wish I have wool longies to replace wool soaker and cotton pants...

Grown back into M size??

Was wondering why my dd's GAD size L pocket diaper becomes so loose? Tried back size M and she still fit in the largest setting (the most outer snaps) of it! Amazing??!! Not really I suspect she lost some chubby fat around her thigh, perhaps? Waistline still tight... well, not really tight but very fitting in M size.

Now I understand why the OS fit all diaper can last till the child is 3 years old but this really depends on the child's body built from time to time. If I have a child who keep on growing bigger, I think that's another story.

Later, I found out the leg casing elastic of the GAD diaper in fact are getting loose! No wonder the thigh area is so wide even I use the most inner snap. I check back all the diaper stash and I found there are some still with very good leg casing elastic but not all. BG still in great condition even it's the first CD I bought.

So, basically reasons baby can downside:
1) baby already slim down... growing taller
2) bigger size is still big on her
3) elastic loosen and this is true at particular area like leg casing and waistline (this is where you will encounter why there's always leaking issue)


Wondering:

1) Whether stuffing too many inserts can cause the elastic to become loose faster? I stuff one GAD microfiber or large microfiber with GAD hemp in largest setting for pocket diaper.

2) Do you stuff inserts inside pocket diaper to be prepared for use even they are lying inside the cabinet/drawer? And will this contribute to loose elastic at leg casing?

Leaking again!

I'm not sure why but it's already 2 days reported by MIL that the BumGenius that I wore on my dd leaked! She ended up awake from her sleep due to the wetness on the bed!

BumGenius was my trusted pocket diaper for nap or those 3-4 hours before dd wakes up from her sleep. Normally I will change her fitted and wool soaker around 6 or 7am and she is still sleeping. I used to put her on pocket diaper latest by 7am and that will last her till 10am for her bath. All the while this system work and we never have any leaking issue... until 2 days ago!

Ok... the insert I used were the GAD microfiber and GAD hemp both in large setting. Seems like not the fitting issue and I suspect should be the absorbency is not enough. I'll try to change her from pocket diaper to the daytime fitted diaper and see how it goes...

Meanwhile I think I have to do strip wash on BG pocket diapers...

Running poo that's not advisable to use cloth diaper

My dd was on antibiotic after being admitted to hospital few days back. Paed told us the antibiotic will cause diarrhea. I was not aware that the running poo can stain on the diaper so badly! It's definitely gave us hard time in washing the cloth diapers.

The poo stained the diaper alot and I experienced the explosive diarrhea. Encountered this situation a few times and the affected diapers are GAD, BG and bummis SWW with cotton babies sock. The stain can't get off the suedecloth or stay dry doubler easily. The stain even penetrated into the insert!!! It took me a few rounds to make sure it's clean and germ-free since dd was infected by virus.

First rinse the diaper with lots of running water. Then soak in detergent and I used the solution from Scarlett Secret on the stained area. Oh yeah... my maid told me she used it before I did on the insert. She just know the logic for cleaning purposes... Sandra, I have to let you know that it's not 100% working in this case. I even let it soak for overnight. This is the first time I encountered such a stubborn stain with stubborn color which refuse to come off easily. Next got to soak a while in dettol and little bit of detergent to kill germs.

Dry them in clothsline after wash. Yet it's not even stainless! I have to repeat the steps again and the second time need to wash in hot to get rid of whatever of germs, stain, smell,... It took me about 2-3 days to get them all clean. My maid washed on behalf of me yesterday and it was clean! I'm surprised how she did it and I do suspected that she might be using abit of bleach which I told her is a prohibited item to use on cloth diapers.

Precaution on washing in Hot!

Please read instruction from manufacturer on how to wash the diaper even it is suggested to wash in hot. Some will suggest initial wash in hot but NOT every subsequent wash in HOT too!

Washing in hot too frequent will cause the diaper to wear off faster, meaning reduce the life span of the diaper. So, be careful and check again and again if you have a few different types of diapers from different manufacturers/brands.

Help!

Can anyone advise how to sew back the velcro? This is Snuggle Hugz sherpa fitted. I can't imagine how this could happen to me! Hand sewing?


Up close

Solution for Heavywetter (Night Diapering)?

Came across a few mamas with doubts or headache about using cloth diaper on their heavywetter baby / toddler. Well, I'm also one of them. So, I'm going to share a few possible solutions that I'd gone through here and you may find some your own solution that works for you and the little one too. So, keep on exploring and don't stop after you read my blog.

First of all, let's clarify about some terms used in cloth diapering. I'm not expert but I understand the term in my own word, so what I'm writing here is from a layman explanation. If you have doubts, feel free to ask me or any cloth diapering mama or guru you know.

Insert - normally refers to insert that used in stuffing the pocket diaper. It comes in a few material:
- microfiber
- hemp (very absorbent)
- bamboo (very absorbent)
- wool
- cotton

Boaster - additional insert that added to the pocket diaper or fitted diaper to boast its absorbency. It can be another smaller insert. Made of same material as Insert.

Clock wise from top is cotton babies sock, GAD hemp insert, microfiber insert and normal towel (yes, you can use it as boaster too!)

Note: I like to use cotton babies sock with hemp insert and regular microfiber as boaster and place it in Bummis cover. Alternative of using pocket diaper. This is only suitable for day time if you have heavywetter.

Ok, let's see how...

If you prefer pocket diaper:

1) hemp insert as addition to microfiber insert
-Microfiber absorb liquid fast but hemp store much more liquid than microfiber. So, if you combine them you have better absorbency than microfiber alone.
- My experience with my DD who is a heavy wetter found out this combination can last for max 5 hours. Different baby have different results, so test on your own for confirmation.

2) use 2 hemp insert
- this can be quite bulky and if you don't mind and you can add one small boaster (made of cotton or mirofiber) on top of the hemp which will be the first layer underneath the suedecloth/microfleece of the diaper. Remember microfiber draw the liquid faster. It is also not a problem if you don't add the small boaster.

3) use fleece pocket diaper
- I have one Drybees fleece pocket diaper for night time use. Fleece pocket is a better solution for heavy wetter as fleece is more breathable than PUL. Again I find it's bulky especially if I use No.2 as insert. (Somehow I still use this solution alternate day for my dd)
- the reason is fleece is able to allow the wetness in the insert to evaporate and therefore baby won't soak in wetness for the whole night sleep. I experienced that and when I checked on the hemp insert inside the fleece pocket, it became dry even it was like soaking wet before.

I found out this accidentally as I was about to change DD at one midnight since the hemp were all soaking wet but somehow due to too tired I slept back. By the time I woke up again and checked on her, my finger came out dry from the fleece pocket. How amazing! Therefore, I believe fleece pocket diaper is breathable otherwise the insert will still remain wet inside.

This solution works fine on my DD for 6-7 hours, so you got a good night sleep without checking all the time. Imagine I woke up at 3am every night for 2 months just to change my DD's cloth diaper, I nearly give up!

if you prefer fitted diaper

I would consider this as ultimate solution but you will need a cover for fitted. This is where I ended up now. Fitted diaper is more absorbent that any pocket diaper as the whole body of the diaper is absorbent.

1) Look for absorbent fitted diaper... we have quite a number of choices locally now! Happy Hempy is one good solution for heavywetter, it has opening to stuff insert, it's fitted pocket diaper.
Try to get the sewn in / internal soaker which is made of hemp/bamboo or consists of many layers such as Swaddlebees One Size Organic Velour Fitted or BabyBeehind. You definitely will need snap in / lay in boaster to add the absorbency. BTW, you can always use the hemp insert or little weeds in trifold as boaster in fitted diaper. As for stay dry feeling, use stay-dry doubler.

Example of snap in soaker - this is the Baby Greens Growing Green Hemp fitted

2) Use fleece or wool cover if possible. You still can use PUL cover such as bummis or imse vimse but I found that wool cover or fleece works wonder with fitted diaper. We also have fleece diaper cover locally, wool cover soon to be available.

Some good fitted that we have locally now is BabyBeehind, HappyHempy, Tot Bots and Cute Tooshies! I'm drooling over all of them becuase I'm a lover for fitted diapers! (wish to know more, feel free to browse through the list of online e-store on the left of the blog!!)

Anyhow, fitted diaper may stink if you don't wash well since it's more absorbent meaning it absorb alot more liquid but so far I try they hardly stink at all provided that you rinse once before the actual wash. So, let me know which one is your solution??

Contributors: Dewi, Sandra & Rebecca (thanks ladies, I learn alot from you all)