Cloth Diapers

Once Avett was out of his NB stage, we started him in cloth diapering and used them for the first ten months of his life. There was a lot of trial and error to figure out the best way to manage the soiled diapers and nothing ever felt sterile or efficient. We started off using a short but long Tupperware to store them in under his dresser. And at some point we switched to a small, double stacked Tupperware. I can't remember why we thought that would be more effective, but both were gross and cumbersome to clean. After the diapers were dumped into the washer, we'd spray the containers with bleach, scrub them, rinse them and then leave them to air dry in the sanitary tub. Having to grab the cold, soaking wet diapers out of the Tupperware to put in the washer was also gross. Thinking about it makes me cringe. And there has never been a solution to deodorizing the container. 

This time, as we readied ourselves for Haddie to transition into cloth diapers, I did a little more research. I found a blog where the woman had trialed numerous garbage cans and provided a list of pros and cons and ranked her favorites. I decided to give her number one recommendation, the Diaper Dekor Plus  a try. She liked it because unlike your ordinary garbage can, it is specifically designed to keep odors in with a better sealing system. It's larger and can reportedly hold about two days worth of the bulky, cloth diapers (which is perfect because we had to launder our diapers every two days before we'd run out). She also reported that loading the can liners was easier than others. I like it because it can accept normal garbage bags instead of expensive, garbage-can-specific bags. They also offer garbage bags that are essentially just one long tube of bags, allowing you to cut and tie off the bags as needed. This is more economical for those days when your garbage isn't full but it is stinky - saves on waste. But the best part is that they offer a polyester lining that acts basically like a giant wet bag. You can literally pull it out of the can, take it down to the washer and dump everything in without having to touch the gross diapers. And since the garbage can is lined, it doesn't require a wash down! 

She also recommended making your own deodorizer which consists of 1C of baking soda with 6-7 drops of a citrusy essential oil mixed in. Just add one tablespoon of the mix to the garbage can every time you change the bag or whenever it becomes ineffective! Such a cheaper option in comparison to the arm and hammer discs I would buy for Avett. 

Our garbage can just arrived today so I just started Haddie on her cloth diapers. I am looking forward to seeing how the garbage can, liners, deodorizes and Haddie hold up!