Sun Magic (The Scoop On Poop)

If you are breastfeeding I'm sure you've realized by now that your little bundle pees poop. They probably will until they are on solid foods. Ideally a breastfed babies stool should be runny and yellow. If it is green then they are most likely getting too much fore milk and not enough hind milk. That can happen if you have an oversupply. Off topic, but a tip for that is to hand express or pump a small amount before putting your baby to the breast. That way they can get more of the hind milk(the good stuff). Any who that runny yellow stuff may be an easy wipe up, but it is most definitely not an easy wash up. I'm talking stains. M was down to about one pair of socks without stains before I learned the power of the sun.

It was getting time to cloth diaper her since she was almost 10lbs and it hit me that these things will be sick with stains. It took twenty socks to realize 'hey this isn't coming out.' So I looked around for ideas on how to remove poop stains. This is good for formula fed babies as well. Poop is poop. The sun is a natural bleach. It is seriously magic. It does what bleach and detergent can't. I know this because once a month you need to throw in some bleach with your wash to fight odors. It does nothing for poop stains.

So here is what you do, and it's so simple I can do it. Buy a drying rack or clothes line. I chose drying rack because my husband didn't want a clothes line to deal with. Plus he thinks they are trashy. I think they look old school and environmentally friendly. I got a drying rack from Wal Mart for $9. You can find it here: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-23.5-Drying-Rack/15819208 It's rated three stars. There's a reason for that. It sucks. Set whichever one you chose up where it will get direct sunlight. Let them dry. That's it. Watch your pesky poop stains magically fade.

Fluffy Mail!

There's nothing like new diapers! It's odd how cloth diapering can become such a wonderful addiction. Who would of thought that I'd be counting down the days until diapers would come to my doorstep. We started off with twelve Bumgenius One Size diapers to test the waters of the cloth diaper world. Since we've tried them and fallen in love (well I have) we decided to order twelve more. Twenty four diapers are the recommended amount for newborns. I was so glad to get these in because washing diapers every day was getting old.

We've gotten a pretty good system down for diapering in the past few weeks. There is a trash can with a lid and foot peddle next to her changing table for the diapers. After I take off the soiled diaper I take out the insert and toss it in the pail. We use a reusable pail liner from planet wise. http://planetwiseinc.com/
Now that we have twenty four diapers I can start washing every other day. As for wipes I still use disposables and put them in our bathroom trash. You would think being out and about would be tricky, but really it's not bad. I keep a wet bag also by planet wise in her diaper bag. When she has a dirty diaper I put it in the bag and separate it later at home.

Washing is also pretty simple. Prewash cold and then a regular cycle on hot with a small amount of detergent. Once that cycle is done do one more rinse. I've been doing the rinse on hot as well. The colored "shell" part of the diaper has to hang dry, but they dry quickly and are ready in no time. I through mine over my shower. Your inserts tumble dry which for my dryer takes about thirty minutes.

Something new I'm trying today is sunning the diapers. I've read multiple articles that say setting your diapers out in the sun will take out the stains. I'll post back on whether or not this works. As you can see I don't have a very ideal spot for sun. Judging by this picture it looks like they're all pretty much in the shade. Damn.

This post wouldn't be complete without cute pictures of M in her cloth diapers! You can also see her new love the seahorse.