More from the Abbys Lane Newsletter. This is a good one!!

Often we get e-mails that go something like "My 6 month old is leaking through all of her diapers almost overnight it seems. I have read this is due to detergent buildup, so I have been washing with Dawn, scrubbing them with an old toothbrush, adding vinegar and Calgon, and sun-drying them to help freshen them." My goodness, I am ready for a nap after just reading about all that work. Honestly and truly, odds are you do NOT have detergent buildup is the diapers start leaking on you, with absolutely no other problems going on. True detergent buildup can and does happen, don't get me wrong, but it isn't an "overnight" occurance. It is a gradual process, one that involves stains being left behind, stink issues, problems getting the diapers fresh, slow leaks on some of them, leading up to gradual leaking on all of the diapers. For it to get that bad though, you would have to overlook some pretty serious stink, the diapers really will smell before they get so bad they are repelling completely. I can promise you, from our three girls in cloth, to chatting with thousands of customers now, babies really can become heavy wetters overnight. Something just "clicks", their little bladders start holding more fluids for longer periods of time, and then releasing it all at once. You may not even have a heavy wetter, you may have a "fast wetter", which can flood the diaper before it has a chance to absorb and distribute the wetness.
Please, please, please, do not rely on the "dripping water" test. Many mamas will get a nasal aspirator or a bulb syringe, and drop water onto a diaper. It doesn't absorb quickly, so the vicious cycle of "stripping" begins. This is not an accurate test, what presses urine through diaper fabrics is the pressue of the baby on the diaper, I can take my 4 year old pockets in great condition and try the water-drip test and it will fail. Here is what you look for:
-Is the leaking right away, as in 5-10 minutes of wearing it, and it is running out?
-When it leaks, how wet is the insert or prefold? Wet just in the middle, the back, the front, or saturated all over?
-How old is the child, and what inserts are you using?
-Do the diapers have any odors either out of the dryer, or once re-wet with fresh urine?

These are the questions that help you troubleshoot these problems. If your diaper runs out liquids, doesn't even get wet within 5 minutes, you either have a fit issue, you haven't broken them in (like a natural fiber, hemp, cotton, velour, etc..), or it is true buildup. If some time goes by before it leaks, inserts or prefolds are getting wet, your baby is 6+ months and you only have a microfiber insert in your pocket, these are all absorbency issues. We have been duped by the disposable companies into thinking trim fitting diapers can hold your toddler. Not true with cloth. Older babies and/or heavy wetters will need more absorbency=more layers=usually more bulk.
The easiest way to test this, add more absorbency. Use what you have on hand before buying new things, try doubling up on your inserts, use your prefolds trifolded in your pocket diaper, even try a thin handtowel inside your diapers to see if it helps. If it does, you know you are ont he right track, if it doesn't e-mail me and we will figure it out. Truly, maybe 5 times or less in over 5 years of this business have we seen detergent buildup that bad to the point of all diapers leaking without stink. It was due to some very natural soapy detergents that are on our "no-no" list and did a number on the diapers that quickly. Even then, it was still an easy fix to get the diapers clean. Remember, as long as you don't set them on fire, any diaper situation can be fixed ;)

  Okay, we've been doing this for 5 weeks now and I'm not sure we want to continue to CD.  I mean, I DO want to continue but our recent energy bill was ridiculous and the diapers are doing nothing but frustrating my husband.  We are both on the fence in terms of what we want to do....

I was trying to find some reasonably priced OS diapers and I'm not having much luck.  GMD Snug-to-Fit seem okay and we'd just need covers, my husband seems to like fitteds best.  It's just the prefolds he's not really keen on.  And add on top of that a $100 energy bill (excluding gas) and we're really considering going back to disposables.

Any advice on how to evaluate costs of what we're spending to wash these things versus how much disposables will cost us?  I mean, yes I'd like to do my part for the environment but I also don't have a ton of money to spend on washing.

Any recommendations on economical OS diapers would be welcome cause I'm thinking if we can just plop some money down on the OS then when we see the energy bill each month we won't feel so bad because that will also include washing regular laundry, showers, occasional dishwasher runs, etc.

Ack, just help a girl out!?!?!

Has any one tried Swaddlebees Merino wool covers or their ABC covers? Are the wool worth the price?

i know this has been asked, but silly me for not paying closer attention or perhaps my sleep deprived brain simply can not recall advice. my apartment, well entire city really, has hard water. this is causing my diapers to not get clean. it sucks to have to go to the parents house for every other day washes, which they don't appreciate and darn it i am a hair away from thirty. i have been running a half cup of baking soda with the detergent, country save. should i try using more detergent? would more baking soda help at all? i keep missing the beginning of the extra rinse cycle when i would throw in vinegar but would this help anyways?

oh yeah. my goal for a regular wash is; 1 pre-rinse, 1 super wash on hot/cold or warm/cold, 1 extra rinse. i tried adding an extra wash cycle this weekend and that didn't at all resolve the issue. i use prefolds and covers, and occasional fuzzy buns, she's growing into them.

is there a better detergent for hard water? i am thinking maybe i need one of those harsher less prefold friendly detergent.

My little guy is gaining weight like mad and eating ALL THE TIME. I'm hoping that in not too long he'll be big enough for the Goodmama diapers we have. However, it looks like he's not going to be a round chubby baby. Of course, this may change, but his growth goes up and then he fills out some. He's going to be a long lean little guy.

For those of you that babies built like mine and have tried GMs, did you find that they still fit well? Did your babe have to wait until a few pounds over the (approximate I know) 10 lbs before they fit well? What was your experience?

(cross posted)

Hi, I just read about benefits of cloth diapers from this woman's livejournal recently shortly after my DD's 1st birthday, and wished that I would've known about it. I always thought it would be too much of work/nasty to do cloth diapers. That's what I get for not doing a research myself. I usually do research, but just not on cloth diapers.

Anyway, my DD is going to be 14 months old soon. I was wondering if it's too late to switch to cloth diapers? I'm also trying for Elimination Communication, as I just found out about it. I swear, with future kids, I'm so going to do Elimination Communication and cloth diapers. Anyway, I tried looking at websites to buy cloth diapers and accessories, but...I'm so lost. I'm confused by different name for cloth diaper. Which should I get? How do I wash them? Is there a book for Cloth Diapering for Dummys??

Thanks in advance, Mamas. :)

Okay, I feel really dumb asking this stuff, but I've never CD'd before so here it goes:

Right now all we have are 6 infant prefolds, 12 regular prefolds and 12 premium prefolds as well as 6 fitteds made from prefolds that are a newborn size, 6 newborn prowraps and 6 small BSWW covers.  DS's umbilical stump just fell off today so that will make me less nervous when diapering him.  

My biggest questions are, for night time, do I need to be checking him/changing him each time he wakes up?  I mean I guess I wouldn't if he was in a disposable but it seems like the moisture would be right against his skin with a prefold/cover situation so I guess that's what's worrying me.  I'd love to get a good night time diaper but we just don't have the funds right now.

Also, since we only have the 6 infant prefolds and the 6 infant fitteds I'm doing the diaper wash a lot more than I'd like to because the regular prefolds are GIGANTIC and I didn't think they would be.  Any advice?  Can I just use the regular prefolds and he'll just have an enormous butt?  I mean I know I CAN but it seems so ridiculous.

Any advice, kind words, etc are appreciated.  TIA Mamas....

X-posted to clothdiapering

Has anyone tried these? What's the verdict? The NB/small size says they fit 5-20 pounds. My guy is 6 1/2 pounds and narrow, think they'll work?

TIA