The “Yuck” Factor

So many people have asked me in my year and a half of cloth diapering, “But what do you do with the poop?”  For those of you who are wondering, but were afraid to ask, here’s your answer.

Maybe some of you remember your mom using cloth diapers on younger siblings (my mom was having her kids in the ’80s and disposables weren’t quite up to par just yet).  I know I remember, and that was one reason I swore I would never use cloth on my kids.  I remembered my mom sticking her hands in the toilet and scrubbing those diapers silly to get the mess off and I swore I would never be caught dead doing that.   You know what?  I still swear I won’t be caught dead scrubbing diapers in the toilet….I don’t scrub them….I spray them!  Thanks to somebody’s genius idea, there is now a handy contraption called a “mini-shower sprayer” that attaches to your toilet plumbing (very easily, I might add) and never again will anyone have to stick their hands in the toilet to clean a soiled diaper!  It looks kind of like the spray hose on your kitchen sink, only it has a little more power and it works great at getting off the last bit of soil that won’t fall into the toilet on its own.  I think I payed around $30  for mine and I really love it!  It takes a little getting used to at first, but it is really not that big a deal. 

For those of you who are still skeptical, here’s some more info for you about the “yuck” factor: 

• “The extra step seems like too much work.”  Most disposable diaper packaging, until recently, had instructions on it directing you to dump solids into the toilet.  Turns out the trash is really not the best place for human waste.  We have all sorts of codes for sewer and septic systems, but when it comes to dirty diapers in the trash, it seems like people just look the other way.  I don’t know why these instructions have disappeared from diaper packaging.  My only thought is that they figured nobody was doing it and it makes disposables seem less appealing, so they took it off.   Really, the extra step should be taken whether or not you are using cloth, and while it does add an extra minute to a diaper change, it is only a minute! 
• With the exception of one mom I know who throws away soiled clothes, most people still scrub out their child’s clothes if a diaper has a blow-out or if their potty trained child has an accident, so in terms of dealing with your child’s messes, you will likely be doing it anyway.  And really, once your kid is on solids, their dirty diapers should just knock off into the toilet most of the time anyway, no spraying required.  Cloth diapers also come with the added bonus of less blow-outs than disposables.  I can honestly say I have had much fewer messes in cloth, and the messes I have had in cloth were usually due to “operator error” or a size getting too small.
• Ready for the shocker?  My husband prefers cloth over disposables.  He says disposables smell horrible (something we have noticed: that a soiled disposable smells worse than a soiled cloth diaper.)
• Exclusively breastfed babies (that is, those that take no formula and no solids) have dirty diapers that do not require any rinsing in the toilet first.  Breastfed waste is water-soluble, meaning it will come out in the wash.  So for the first 6 months or so, you won’t be doing any rinsing!  Just take that diaper off and throw it in the diaper pail!
• Wash day requires no touching of yucky diapers.  You will use a diaper pail with a lid (can be a tall kitchen trash pail with a lid) and you will put either a plastic trash bag in or a “wet bag” (a special washable bag specifically for diaper pails).  When you are ready to wash, simply lift the bag out of the pail and dump contents into the washer.  If you are using a wet bag, just drop that in on top of the diapers and wash (post to come on how to clean and care for your cloth diapers).

I hope that helped to clarify the “yuck” factor.  I truly enjoy using cloth on my baby and I want to help others on their journey as they grow to love using cloth on their own babies, so if you have any other questions about anything, please email me.  kd_2006@hotmail.com

For my diaper specs see:

“Cuddly Newborn Cloth” and “All About My All-in-Ones”  and keep watching for those nighttime diapers I told you about!

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