100 Days of Pregnancy: Day 46

There is a lot of hype around cloth diapers and the mess that people think they can be. Cloth diapers really aren't that messy and the cleaning isn't bad at all once you find a routine.

We have 3 wetbags. One I can throw in the diaper bag, one large one for the diapers that are just wet and a medium size one for the poopy diapers. The reason why I have a separate bag for the poopy diapers is because I leave the wetbag with the wet diapers in it open. Sounds crazy, I know, but what is even crazier is leaving the bag closed and being knocked off your feet every time you open it and when you go to do laundry because of the ammonia smell. Ammonia loves the chance to grow but if you leave the bag open, you can stop it. And believe me when I say your room won't stink either. We keep the bag in our nursery with the door closed 100% of the time and it doesn't smell. I was scared to try it when someone told me to do this to help with the ammonia smell...I'm sure glad I took her advice.

A lot of people spray off their poopy diapers with a toilet sprayer. I don't do this because Applecheeks says to leave the diapers dry until wash time because over time the water will wear away the water proof protection on the diaper. So poopy diapers have their own bag that I do keep closed.

Another bonus of having the two separate bags is I can just turn the wetbag with the wet diapers inside out and dump everything straight into the machine without having to touch them and throw the wetbag in at the same time (the ones I have are supposed to be washed inside out). As for the poopy diapers, I rinse out any poop that is still on the diaper (the disposable inserts are great but I find a lot of the time, poop still ends up on the side of the diaper). I think scrub the poop stain with Buncha Farmers Stain Remover stick. I just rub it on the spots where the poop was and toss it into the wash.

Since I have a front loader, I used to soak all of my diapers before throwing them in the wash to trick my machine into thinking it's a heavier load. Now, instead of doing that, I run a cold rinse cycle. It serves two purposes. It not only gets all the diapers wet, but it rinses out a lot of the pee before the actual wash. Once the rinse is done, I add my detergent (regular powder Tide) to the one line (if it's a bigger load, I measure to the two line). I run a normal cycle set with hot water, heavy soil, high spin, and an extra rinse cycle. My diapers have always come out clean. I then hang everything to dry.

Diaper covers hanging to dry (I have lines set up in my laundry room)

Inserts hanging to dry (I would invest in the $2 to buy these sock hangers...they are awesome for inserts!! I have 2)