The Diaper Saga Continues

For the few of you who may be gleaning information from this blog for your own cloth diaper adventures, let me tell you about what has happened since the issues we had with Simon's "area" last week. We used disposables at night for a few nights to help him clear up while I worked at fixing up the diapers. I didn't do much differently, I just used more detergent in the wash and an extra hot cycle to make sure they got a good hot rinse as well as a good hot wash. The smell of the diapers was much better, no lingering smell in the diapers after washing. In my opinion, THIS IS KEY. If your diapers smell AT ALL after washing, they're not clean!!! That includes smelling of detergent, because it means there's detergent left behind which can be irritating to your baby and can cause build up on the diapers which can cause leaks. I'm not that concerned about detergent build up on our diapers because we use Charlie's Soap, which is a clean rinsing detergent. For the ammonia problem we were having, more of the same detergent (which was really just a full tablespoon instead of half) and an extra cycle solved our problem.

We've been using the cloth diapers again at night and he's doing better. So, I think we're okay with the cloth again (*sigh of relief*). All the while we were trying to clear up his nasty bum issues, he was also displaying the rash portion of Roseola or Baby Measles, which was a little confusing because we weren't sure what was causing what.

Another change I've made to our regime is taking the lid off the diaper pails. I know this sounds ludicrous to some of you because poop is stinky. And pee is stinky. And certainly dirty cloth diapers are stinky. Well, they are. But if they don't get a chance to air out, then they just stay stinky and get stinkier. I have not noticed our home smelling any more of pee or poop since making this change and, in fact, I think it smells a little less. I haven't had my "sensitive nosed" sister for a visit since making this assertion, but I'll let you know what she says the next time she comes to visit.

As a little side note, whenever we come home from being away for a few days, I always smell deeply when we come home. Not so much because I'm drinking in the fragrance of home, sweet home, but because I always wonder what visitors smell when they come to my house. Does it smell like stinky diapers? Does it smell of that time I made that wonderful curry dish? No, it mostly still smells of new home smell, new carpet and paint, not so much of diapers or cooking smells, at least after a week or weekend away.