Fighting a losing battle with cloth

[Rebaby]

Following on from my thread Too long over on the dark side? we're still really struggling with cloth

It seemed our main problem was wicking, which we were sort of dealing with by a. not using our issy's any more (even though they were previously our most favouritest reliablest nappies ) b. double stuffing all our pocket nappies and c. changing really frequently

We were still having some leaks/wicking whatever you want to call it really- wetness where it shouldn't be but not as bad as before and i was beginning to think we could make it work when we started having a whole other problem in the form of POO!

No longer are Toby's poos solid things that will catch in a liner and can be easily flushed away, he's back to having mushy poo explosions and some days almost every nappy is a dirty one. It's just too much to cope with. Now even if a nappy doesn't leak chances are it will be filled to the brim with poo and it's so difficult to rinse them off and then store them until wash day, by which point they stink and for the first time in a long time we've got stains. I can't wash any more frequently than i do, i struggle to keep up with the washing anyway as we don't have a tumble drier (and our house is a little on the damp/cold side so things take ages to dry on the airer and the weather obviously isn't good enough to line dry )

I am guessing his mushy poos are due to an increase in his fruit intake (he's really into it at the minute) and also teething (he's really suffering at the minute) but there's nothing i can really do about that. The disposable liners are neither use nor ornament

When it was just the wicking/leaking that we were struggling with, that was one thing. Now we have this whole other thing to deal with i am very very close to quitting. We bought 2 huge boxes of pampers the other day from asda and he's already in them and it's so much easier. I feel terribly guilty from an environmental point of view but it's a relief to know when i put him in his pram that he won't be soaked through if he pees while we are out, or that if he does a particularly nasty poo-splosion i can just through the whole thing away

Has anyone managed to get through a phase like this or are we coming to the end of our cloth days? We've been in cloth since he was a few weeks old so i don't think we've done bad...

 

[Jetters]

Hello you

Firstly, sympathies! I went through the same thing with the poo a while ago and started a thread on how to cope with it. I LOVE my nappies and they never leak but the poo makes me want to give up every time he does one Luckily for me he started weaning so harder poos sometimes now, yay! Unluckily for me that now means he poos more than ever, booo

So! What helped me was trying loads of different types of liners (Eala and Rach_C sent me different brands). My fave by far are the tots bots ones here https://www.fill-your-pants.com/nappy-liners/tots-bots-nappy-liners.html. I lay two in each nappy at each end, with an overlap in the middle, on top of a fleece liner. It doesn't catch all the poo but it catches most of it. That helps a LOT. Also, I can't cope with cleaning a pooey bum and then scrubbing out a nappy, it's too much, it makes me sick, so I put the poo nappy in a nappybag and tie it up tight and just deal with it later on, usually after he's in bed. The smell isn't half as bad then, the poo is hard so it's easier to get off, and my stomach has had a break from the gagging I also have Poo Gloves now! Large marigolds that I use for scrubbing, and keep in a tupperwear box afterwards.


If you want to give up I wouldn't blame you. Coping with poo is hard enough but poo AND leaks is just horrible. I really hate leaks, there's nothing worse. I've finally got stash happy with nappies that don't leak (I can ONLY rely on BG organic AIOs, that's IT) but I remember the first 4 months of trying nappy after nappy and just constantly having a wet baby. It sucks. Just remember, you've done AMAZINGLY, the environment thanks you and every nappy you saved from landfill is a HUGE deal!!!

 

[Rachel_C]

I think all of us have thought about giving up at some point. Could you maybe alternate nappies, one cloth and one sposie (and always use a sposie if you think he might poo!) to give you a break for a while? There's no shame in that, or in using up the sposies you've got and then thinking again about what you want to do. You might just need a rest while he's pooing so much!

 

[jenstar]

When my first son was about 10 months old or so it was summer (it was also hot!) and he discovered drinking from a cup. A tots bots bamboozle was dripping wet, literally dripping, in under 2 hours. He also started moving about and that caused problems too, nappies moving about etc. After a few weeks of this, I did put him in disposables for a while. (One large box worth.) I started again, and to be honest his nappies never lasted as long as before but I just wanted to use cloth. I used dispoables at night from them on so they were always there if I had ever needed them, but I didn't.

It is still fantastic that you have saved so many disposable nappies from landfill! And you can find a way to save loads more in future too!

Do you think it is a problem with your nappies or is it just that your son's "output" is too much for anything to handle atm?

 

[Aunty E]

Oh dear, that does sound horrid You could certainly stop for a bit and go back to it when he was reliably having solid poops, and wetting less. And you can reuse your ittis with the next one, so they're not gone forever

Have you thought about trying a two part system? Even when Mog had the screaming poos last week with a norovirus, we found that Motherease terry BTP, with a little lambs booster and a disposable liner, covered by a motherease wrap, reliably contained poop explosions (especially if I heard it and got her out of the thing quickly, it was like acid and burned her botty horribly). But even the getting over it mushy poops came off the liners easily and washed out of the nappies happily. We only have leaks if the nappy itself is dripping wet, and they come out of the machine practically dry. We tumble, but could dry on an airer easily if I wasn't so lazy. You could pick up one and a wrap for notverymuch on ebay https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MOTHEREASE-o..._Baby_Changing_Nappies_LE&hash=item41563e6f4a and you probably have boosters already! We never bothered buying the pop in ones, the little lambs fit nicely, and for night we can put a hemp booster in as well. The thing to make sure is that you tuck the nappy in nicely so it's not resting against the edging on the legs, then you don't get leaks.

 

[lynnikins]

my 2 1/2 yr old gets really soft mushy poos when i dont watch his diet properly and am lazy with food for him, but keeping an eye on his diet certainly does help, teething on the otherhand is horrible and both my boys seem to be having some fuss in that area which is making nappies fun but ive only got my youngest in cloth at the moment as we are slowly potty training my eldest and i havent yet had the chance to buy training pants and poppers require me laying him down to undo them and do them back up

 

[kate.m.]

I would also recommend trying a 2 part system. Its the only thing that has never leaked with us (poo or wee). Like you & issys, we used to love blueberry onesize, but got wicking as he grew & it broke my heart to have to sell them. I finally just gave up with pockets. & ive found a nice new addiction with fitteds! You can get cheap or expensive, plain or pretty, practical or posh! We use motherease wraps, but ive also heard good things about thirsties. For the actual fitted nappy we mostly use tots bots bamboozles, but for prettyness we have holdens landing, hollow oak, luscious little somethings, muttaqin, fluff n stuff!

 

[twiggy56]

i got fed up with anything with a cotton outer wicking...issys, mini la la's etc...

Have you tried Flips? Find them very good for explosive poo and also i havent ever had one wick?

 

[Rebaby]

Just wanted to stop by and say thank you for all the support and advice

We've been using disposables since i started this thread but today is our 1st day back in cloth. The teething and mushy poo continues but i figure i could be waiting a loooong time for all his teeth to come through and for that to calm down dohh: ) so this morning i sort of felt like it was now or never really and we're giving it one final shot

OH is very much on board and even keener than i am to continue using cloth until potty training (not that i'm not keen you understand, it's just i'm the one doing the washing ) so hopefully we will find a way to make it work.

I am in the process of selling a whole heap of stuff, (it's actually mainly to raise funds for car repairs and a toddler bed for Toby) but i am hoping i could treat us to a couple of pre-loved fitteds with some of the pp funds so we can see how they might work for us. We have used TB stretchies with ME wraps as a night nappy in the past (although more recently switched to WNNN and wraps) so we do have a couple of those anyway and i am planning to use them for long car journeys. I wouldn't mind getting rid of a few of our pockets to fund some fitteds and wraps but a. i wouldn't really know where to start with fitteds as we've never used them and b. i am really worried about bulkiness

Thanks again anyway, i will keep this updated as to how we get on i think.

 

[jenstar]

Getting started with fitteds:
you are at an advantage because

by now you know if you prefer poppers or applix (or want to try nippa)

you already know that bamboo is slimmer than terry/ cotton which is slimmer than microfibre for the same absorbency, and from your own experience you know what will suit you best and how long each type will take to dry in your house

you know you can pick up a plain preloved nappy that does the job and you also know you can spend a bit more on a nice patterned one if you want to.

So once you've those decided your choices will be narrowed down considerably.

On a one year old I didn't find fitteds noticably more bulky than pockets or AIO's. (A lot of fitteds brands only come in 2 sizes compared to 4 sizes of AIO's so I did find them bulky when my babies were small and just into the size 2's.)

 

[gills8752]

I havent ever had a problem with flips even if I've not noticed a mushy poo for an hour or so..by that point is almost runny with the extra pee (erghhhhh sorry) but it have never ever leaked. I swear by flips with stay dry inserts!
Plus they are easy to shower off - my lo is going through a mushy poo stage just now - I just hold the top of the nappy with the wrap holding the insert, shower off, shove in my dry pail (just a normal silver bin) and hang the wrap on the radiator. dont need to wash the wrap as its already been rinsed by shower.

 

[Jetters]

Good luck giving the cloth a shot rebaby

And if you can, try a itti bitti boo- they are the same size as regular itti's so the tiniest fitteds i've ever used, but SERIOUSLY absorbant. Or a WNNL- they're like WNNNs but without the extra boosting. Good luck! xx

 

[Rachel_C]

^WSS, I love bitti boos. Or Dunk N Fluff fitteds are pretty good, especially if you can find them with added zorb, and there are often some for sale preloved on CNT.

 

[pinkclaire]

We've been having the exact same problem as you! I'm trying to so hard to perservere but finding it difficult! Its not just the extra nappies to add to the wash it's the constant clothes changes as well.

I find flips are my best pocket, but james is so wriggly I'm not sure I could cope with 2 part systems, at the moment it's bad enough getting 1 part on him.

 

[Rachel_C]

I find flips are my best pocket, but james is so wriggly I'm not sure I could cope with 2 part systems, at the moment it's bad enough getting 1 part on him.

2 part systems take a little more time to put on but you get used to it. When my LO is particularly wanting to get up and run away, I often just put the fitted nappy on her and let her run off. Half an hour later, I'll grab her again and put a wrap on her, or you can put them in fleece or wool trousers instead of a wrap so it's just the same as getting them dressed after a nappy change anyway. When I do want to put a wrap on her straight away, I find it best to have the nappy and the wrap opened out with the fitted laid inside the wrap. Then I put both under her bum and do them both quickly. Aplix fitteds are quicker than poppers

 

[Rebaby]

Just thought i'd do a little update...

We're still in cloth and managing to avoid wicking/leaks almost all of the time

The poos are still a troublesome thing though, we'll have a couple of days where it's just normal solid poo to deal with and then a day like today where every nappy is an explosion, and that has lead us on to another problem really- nappy rash

Toby's nappy has been changed almost hourly today due to constant pooping, i'd say the longest nappy he had on was during/after tea (he was changed before tea) so it was probably on 2.5 hours maybe, maximum, and the rest of the day he'd been changed a lot more frequently than that even, but even so he has still ended up with THE most horrendous nappy rash from all the horrible poo. He was screaming this evening when i was trying to get him cleaned up and i just felt terrible for him

I'm considering a day in disposables tomorrow so that i can slap the sudocrem on and get it under control (He did have nappy-free time today too but it seems to have made little difference) but i was wondering if there's a way to keep him in cloth and use the cream without ruining our nappies- would a disposable liner work? He rarely has nappy rash so when he's had it in the past i've always just used disposables for a day or so to be honest, but i'm really trying my best to keep in cloth at the mo...

Any ideas?

 

[Jetters]

When I want to use bepanthen (don't use sudocrem so don't know if it's the same) I use a disposable liner on top of a fleece liner, then none of it touches the nappy, and just scrub the fleece liner in the sink before putting in the bucket.

 

[Rachel_C]

We've never had a problem using cream and a fleece liner. I don't like disposable liners much as they seem to stick to LO's bum with the cream but it's worth a try to see if it works for you. To be honest, I don't think a few days of cream would do much to the nappies if you use a liner; I think the "DO NOT USE NAPPY CREAM" stuff is more aimed at people who use it as a preventative measure. I'd just make sure that when you put it on, you rub it in as well as you can then leave the nappy off for a few mins for everything to dry out a bit. That must be better for LO anyway cos the skin will get to absorb all the cream rather than the nappy taking some of it. When we've used cream, I just make sure to wash the nappies extra thoroughly and if a strip wash is due any time soon, I do it when we've finished with the cream.

Have you tried camomile tea? It worked wonders when LO had some rash a while ago. I made up a cup of tea with it (it's just the normal camomile tea from the local shop) and then added a splash of olive/vegetable oil and a tiny bit of baby wash. Then I put it in a spray bottle and sprayed it directly onto LO's bum when I changed her, then wiped her with a wet cloth wipe. After she was clean, I gave her an extra spray and let it dry. Or you could try using a camomile soaked fleece liner instead of bum cream - just soak the liner and squeeze it out but leave it damp and lay in the nappy.

 

[Mynx]

When Evie has nappy rash, we'll use cream and a fleece liner.. we have had to switch to disposables sometimes when her rash is particularly bad - she's been cutting 4 teeth over the last fortnight and also not long got over a cold so her poos were quite bad for a while! What we did was put her in sposies at night instead of all thru the day, with a fleece liner (to help reduce wetness against her skin) and plenty of cream .. seems to do the trick!

 

[Elphaba]

When Xavier has nappy rash, I tend to alternate between sposies and cloth (so he'll have maybe three of each in a day); change him every two hours rather than every three; and use sudocrem - just being slightly more heavy handed with it when he has the sposies on.

I haven't tried the camomile tea but like the sound of it so might give that a go next time he has a sore bum.

Hope Toby's poor bum clears up soon