Anyone cloth diaper their baby while at wdw?

[crunchymomma]

Both of my kids have been cloth diapered. With ds, we only took a day trip to wdw while he ws in diapers, so no problem. We are going for a week and I really HATE the idea of washing diapers in the hotel washer. Any suggestions?

 

[bumbershoot]

If I were in your shoes (we only did one day trips to Disneyland while DS was in dipes, and we stayed at my brother's place, so did the wash in his washer), I would have to figure out if I hated the thought of washing in a public washer more than I hated the thought of using disposables.

For me, it's clear cut, as I despise disposables. Others have different feelings. You just get to decide which way YOU feel!

Good luck!


editing to say...excellent username!

 

[crunchymomma]

Thanks..I <3 my username and it fits me perfect. DH calls me a hippy! (I take it as a compliment) I was thinking about trying g diapers. I have some of the covers and love them, but have never used the inserts. They are all natural and have no chemicals and can be flushed or composted. I need to do some more research.

 

[moparop]

I am planning to cd (I think) when we go in January. We'll be there for a week as well and I am pretty sure I can get by only washing diapers there once. I will have time as we will be taking breaks every day while my youngest naps.

I have heard gdiaper inserts are a MESS, especially if you use regular CDs. What about 7th gen sposies?

 

[tonilea]

I have never cd'ed at WDW, but I view disposibles like most people do paper plates. I wouldn't want to use them every day, but some times they come in handy!

I have cd'ed on short trips, but WDW is my vacation too! I don't think I would want to wash diapers while in the land of Mickey!

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks..I <3 my username and it fits me perfect. DH calls me a hippy! (I take it as a compliment) I was thinking about trying g diapers. I have some of the covers and love them, but have never used the inserts. They are all natural and have no chemicals and can be flushed or composted. I need to do some more research.

They might have changed in the year I've been going from mothering dot com, but when there were massive discussions there about the gdiapers, the conclusion was that most CDers found them MORE of a pain than CDing. There was something involving a special stick that you need, to poke and swirl the flushable part, to make it break up before flushing? Would NOT want to carry THAT around!

I think it's super-easy for me to think of washing dipes on vacay b/c I had THE most simple routine ever. A bit of Simple Green, a bit of washing soda, one hot wash, MAYBE an extra cold rinse, Dry. Every time I tried to jazz up my routine with extras I would start wicking (er, the dipes would, not me), or they would smell, etc.

I just had to wash clothes on our 2 week vacay 3 or 4 times...OK well DH did the wash at Paradise Pier and HoJos, lol, but I had to do the wash in the spooky basement at my dad's house. If DS were still in dipes it wouldn't have been any skin off my nose to throw in one more wash.

 

[LadyShea]

We used disposables while visiting WDW, Tushies, to be exact which are made from wood pulp and cotton so gel free, chlorine free etc.

I still dumped solid waste in the toilet, and left the diapers open when putting them in the trash can.

I don't mind washing while traveling, I didn't want to carry dirty diapers around the parks though.

 

[tanyaandallie]

We use cloth at home but sposies at Disney. I have no desire at all to cart around cloth dipes or spend tons of time washing while on vacation. Like someone else said, I prefer cloth but there are times when sposies come in handy!!

 

[Colinsmom]

We're probably 95%+ cloth at home but always sposies on vacation. Why? I have my washing routine down to a science at home, and fear that washing in different water on vacation will screw me all up and leave me with stinky dipes (either build-up or not-clean-enough). Oh, well, I figure that we keep so much out of the landfills by using cloth most of the time that we're allowed a little extra waste for a 10 day vacation every other year!

 

[crunchymomma]

Thanks for all of the replies! I bought a pack of g diaper inserts today. I am NOT carrying the swish stick around,but i figure if they work for us, I am ok with just throwing away an insert w/out chemicals as opposed to a sposie. I Love cd'ing and don't mind the extra laundry, but I too am worried about the hard water in Florida. My parents have it (they live in northern Florida) and I have to dishwasher strip the dipes everytime I wash down there! I really don't want to tote dirty diapers around the parks either! I'll check out Tushies and Seventh Gen too. Thanks again!

 

[Camno's Mama]

Okay...so, I'm really glad that you posted this. And I'm sorry to hijack your thread, but my CD's smell. I can't stand the smell...it's not a urine-y smell...just kind of gives ds a smell that isn't his sweet smell, you know?

I pre-wash in cold, hot wash with Sun Detergent and dry in the dryer. I do put baking soda in with the pre-wash as well. Any recommendations? I use Tide Coldwater with all of my other wash, so I only buy the Sun for this purpose. It was recommended on some of the cd'ing boards I read initially. Do you think that's it?

As far as WDW...sposies all the way for me. It is a vacation and I do not enjoy cd'ing overall...sorry to say! It's not that it's that hard or gross...I just would rather not bring all that stuff on vacation. Just a personal preference.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We always cloth diaper in Disney. We are DVC members, so we make sure to stay in a 1BDR with a washer/dryer. I think it would be a pain to wash them in the laundry rooms if you're staying in a regular hotel room, though. I would probably resort to disposables (BLECH!) if I weren't in a DVC unit. I hate disposables, so it takes a lot for me to say that

FWIW, I live in FL and I hardly ever have to strip DD's diapers. I am stripping a load as I type this, and I can't even remember the last time I had to do it!

 

[bumbershoot]

Okay...so, I'm really glad that you posted this. And I'm sorry to hijack your thread, but my CD's smell. I can't stand the smell...it's not a urine-y smell...just kind of gives ds a smell that isn't his sweet smell, you know?

I pre-wash in cold, hot wash with Sun Detergent and dry in the dryer. I do put baking soda in with the pre-wash as well. Any recommendations? I use Tide Coldwater with all of my other wash, so I only buy the Sun for this purpose. It was recommended on some of the cd'ing boards I read initially. Do you think that's it?

As far as WDW...sposies all the way for me. It is a vacation and I do not enjoy cd'ing overall...sorry to say! It's not that it's that hard or gross...I just would rather not bring all that stuff on vacation. Just a personal preference.

It's been awhile since I washed dipes (we did a final wash and put away all the dipes when DS was 2), but it sounds like a diaper stripping is in your future.

Also, some detergents just don't work for some people.

This is a good page. http://www.sunshinediapers.com/cloth-diaper-university/choosing-a-detergent/

And down at the bottom, you can see what I ended up using our last year of CDing DS, the Simple Green/washing soda method. So easy, and I never had stinky (clean) diapers again.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Okay...so, I'm really glad that you posted this. And I'm sorry to hijack your thread, but my CD's smell. I can't stand the smell...it's not a urine-y smell...just kind of gives ds a smell that isn't his sweet smell, you know?

I pre-wash in cold, hot wash with Sun Detergent and dry in the dryer. I do put baking soda in with the pre-wash as well. Any recommendations? I use Tide Coldwater with all of my other wash, so I only buy the Sun for this purpose. It was recommended on some of the cd'ing boards I read initially. Do you think that's it?

As far as WDW...sposies all the way for me. It is a vacation and I do not enjoy cd'ing overall...sorry to say! It's not that it's that hard or gross...I just would rather not bring all that stuff on vacation. Just a personal preference.

How much detergent are you using? You really only need a tablespoon believe it or not! I'll bet that your diapers have detergent buildup. Try stripping them with 2 tablespoons of Dawn, and then try the wash regimen below:

Use vinegar to balance the pH if you are already using baking soda. My wash routine is cold rinse (or cold soak if I'm feeling really ambitious), hot wash with 1 tablespoon Dawn (used to use Sun, like Dawn better), 1/2 cup of baking soda, and the fabric softener dispenser full of white vinegar. I dry them in the dryer. No problems with stink here

 

[emh1129]

We cloth diaper but not while on vacation. I'm sure it wouldn't be too much of a pain but I just enjoy getting a break from laundry and dishes and everything, so disposables work for that purpose.

 

[Colinsmom]

How much detergent are you using? You really only need a tablespoon believe it or not!

Not necessarily!!! We have pretty hard water, and I need almost a whole capful of Tide Free HE (we have a front loader). When I try to cut back, my diapers stink coming out of the washer, which means that they aren't getting clean. With a tablespoon of detergent, I might as well skip washing the dipes - they'd be so gross. Now, if we had soft water, that would all be different, so I'm not saying that it isn't true for you, just not for all CDers.

That said, the PPs dipes may very well need stripping from using too much detergent.

 

[Camno's Mama]

I do think I'm using too much detergent. I thought I might be, but I just thought it couldn't do that much damage!

So, I will definitely try using less...do you think half a capful? Also, for those of you that have stripped your diapers in the dishwasher...how did that go and how did you go about doing it?

I've read to just put them in there after you wash them and don't use the heated dry?

Thanks for everyone's help! Hopefully this will make cd'ing a little more fun again!

 

[LadyShea]

Wow I am lucky with my water I guess. I use cold water, double rinse, Melaleuca Eco Sense detergent and once a week vinegar in the final rinse. Never had a problem with build up or anything.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Not necessarily!!! We have pretty hard water, and I need almost a whole capful of Tide Free HE (we have a front loader). When I try to cut back, my diapers stink coming out of the washer, which means that they aren't getting clean. With a tablespoon of detergent, I might as well skip washing the dipes - they'd be so gross. Now, if we had soft water, that would all be different, so I'm not saying that it isn't true for you, just not for all CDers.

That said, the PPs dipes may very well need stripping from using too much detergent.

Every diapering website I've read says 1 tablespoon and no more, though I was using like half a capful of Sun when I first had DD, and I had buildup issues. Our water is fairly hard (although better than at our last house). We don't have a front-loader, though. That does change things, but I'm not sure how. If you use more detergent, do you do an extra rinse at the end of the load or something?

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

I do think I'm using too much detergent. I thought I might be, but I just thought it couldn't do that much damage!

So, I will definitely try using less...do you think half a capful? Also, for those of you that have stripped your diapers in the dishwasher...how did that go and how did you go about doing it?

I've read to just put them in there after you wash them and don't use the heated dry?

Thanks for everyone's help! Hopefully this will make cd'ing a little more fun again!

I think I'd start with a tablespoon and go from there if it proves to be too little. You need to make sure that there are no bubbles in the rinse. I remember reading that the detergent should just break the surface of the water in the wash cycle. Any more foaming that that means you're using too much detergent and you're risking buildup issues.

You need to strip the diapers of buildup before you start the new wash routine IMHO. I've never dishwasher stripped, though. Is that easier than stripping in the washing machine? I'm game to try it if it's easier/takes less time. I really don't strip the diapers very often because it takes so many loads to do it.