On their site its about $9.50 for 3 oz which will make about 60 cups of wipe solution. I found mine on DS for about $10 for a medium deli container. It has lasted me about 2 years and I am half way through- maybe. (not sure what the oz are I have...) but I have found that I can use one of the "bits" and then dilute further for longer use. It doesn't seem to affect anything. You can also just put a tiny bit of liquid soap in water and put that in your wipes warmer or your stray bottle.
~Wipe warmer, or spray bottle to spray wipe solution on wipes before use.I use a warmer. No cold butt for my boy! I like to have my wipes ready and a bottle is just another step to me. I make up my wipe solution and fill a bottle (mine is glass from goodwill cause it was pretty :) and have it next to the warmer for when the wipes run out.
~UPDATED: Diaper Sprayer. I use the one from cotton babies website but you can make one using the directions here. This is good for spraying on stuck on poo. (Who knew I would ever write that line!) Note: New Born BREAST MILK poo need not be strayed. It is water soluble and can be put right in the washer, where it will be completely washed away.
~UPDATED: Bio soft diaper liners. I used these too for helping to catch the poo. They are flushable and very easy to use. There are a variety of brands and textured and I am pretty sure I tried them all. I like these the best as they feel like cotton and are very soft and thin. You can also use a fleece liner you make but that was more work to me and I had to spray still. Might as well not bother in my world.
ALSO: Don't use common diaper rash cream (desitin, A &D etc) on cloth diapers without a liner! It can ruin them and hinder the absorption. I use lansinoh (like for breast feeding...) or a natural cream of the like. Burt's Bees makes a great one.
~For in the diaper bag I use flushables wipes mostly but I am trying to get better about carrying a small spray bottle and dry wipes. Fingers crossed.*Separated diapers- if you use a pocket diaper you will need to take out the inserts for washing for them to be properly cleaned.The hardest thing I have found about cloth diapering is finding a diaper bag big enough to hold them and all the junk I seem to accumulate. I made this one
and I love it but it still isn't big enough. I am a pack rat so that might have something to do with it. I bought the pattern for
this one but considering its called the
WEEKENDER it might be a bit much... neahh.
To buy diapers I love these sites:
www.punkinbutt.com
www.cottonbabies.com
www.loveydoodle.etsy.com ~that is my diaper site. :)
The sites I love for diaper making fabric are varied. I use minky in mine so I either get it from a coop on yahoo.com (will list below) or from
The Fabric Depot which is local to me but they have great sales and are online too. If you get their email announcements its often 40-50% off. And they have a ton of minky. Don't use dot minky, its a pain to sew with and the dots get all wonky. PUL (the plastic coated outer layer in most cloth diapers) has to be obtained from a cloth diaper supply company or a coop.
www.verybaby.com ~my snap press is from here. I make one size diapers so this is necessary otherwise you can get away with out one. great for snaps (if you have this press- many are NOT compatible with others) and touch tape
www.sewdiapers.com ~this is the chat site for the very baby site. Much useful information here!
www.celticclothswholesale.com ~great hard to find fabrics, decent prices
www.neptunefabrics.com ~a large selection of PUL and good sales
www.clothdiapersites.com ~a place to search out something that you can't find specific to cloth diapers. though it is an advertising sight so you may have better luck searching on google and changing your search a few times.
A coop is a group where one or a few gals take every ones money and order and put it toward designated purchases to get the best price available for everyone. The ones I am listing here are ones I have personally used with no ill effects. These are people who I trust but make sure you do your own research and keep good records of where you send your money so you can make sure to get things coming to you. Coops can take a LONG time so be sure you are willing to wait and know that just because they say it will be here in a month doesn't always mean a month. There are many steps things take before they get back in your hands and if anyone of them is lagging it can take longer. That said many are pretty fast. If you are still interested in coops (LOL) here is the info: (Please tell them Jaimey Buquet sent you so they know you are not a spammer)
This End Up ~Denise the owner of this coop is AMAZING! She was so generous with me after I found out about Jonathan (her son's name she later told me) she held an auction on her coop and raised $600 for my family and another $150 for Now I lay me down to sleep. org. She has never met me or talked to me on the phone. She just felt a heart tug and had to help and we are still awed by her generosity and forever grateful for her kindness. I have done many coops with Denise and she is by far my favorite and the most organized.
By the yard and more ~ often has PUL and minky.
Cloth Diaper Fabrics ~Angie has been great and I highly recommend her as well. I have only bought once from her but super easy and fast.
Cloth Diaper Supplies ~ Stacey gets a bit grouchy sometimes but she runs a good coop and things are always great quality.
SMD Presales ~Okay, this one has a story. But let me preface it with the fact that I was on here for over a year buying fabric with never even a slight bump. Apparently, before I was on her coop she had
some problems. I don't know anything other than what I have read. This is a use at your own risk and definitely don't do too many buys at once just in case but Again, I never had a problem and I would estimate I did at least 10-15 coop buys with her without incident.
Okay, I guess the only thing left to mention is my washing routine. I know if you have stumbled on this blog and you a FT cloth user you are probably shaking your head at my fumbling around but most of my friends that are interested in this are very new to the whole cloth idea so its good to be very general. Thanks for bearing with me!
I have a top load washer. I use do a COLD quick wash to get out the main yuckies and pee before the main wash. In this cycle I put a 1/2 scoop of oxyclean and a few "rounds" (round the rub while squirting) of
Bioclean- Bac Out I get it from Punkinbutt.com because I love the owner, Audrey and she is local but also because she will refill my gallon jug for cheaper. After the cold wash, I run a HOT wash for the normal time I wash everything else, on my machine its 10 (I guess it stands for minutes though I never really noticed if it is that long or not) with it I put a scoop of
Charlies Soap (laundry powder- also on a coop for about half the price) and two rounds of bac-out. When that is done I do a final rinse to make sure everything is out.
I rarely have any issues with ammonia but when I do I strip the diapers by washing in hot water for two cycles. (if they are dirty you still need the cold wash first) When the water is done filling on the first cycle, add a few rounds of DAWN dish soap the plain blue one. Do this until it just starts to make bubbles. Then for the next cycle do nothing and rinse until the water runs completely clear. Ammonia build up means there is something "sticky" in your diaper fibers for the ammonia attach to.
I tend to do an abbreviated version of stripping about every third time I wash, which means I just do the DAWN in place of Charlie's and rinse until clear.
You can either line dry or use the drier for most diapers. I use a dryer cause in the Pacific NW the line really isn't an option in the winter. In the summer or anywhere warm year round, the sun is great at bleaching out those tough to get poo stains that might accumulate.
Okay!? Still with me in this novel?
That's all I got to say about that. (forest gump)
If you have any questions feel free to
email me...
