Disposables Uncovered: They are garbage!

Please feel free to laugh at my expense :


Sometimes, my own tiredness (or lazyness) overwhelms me and I fail to do things that I know I should. Last Friday was one of those times. I usually wash Chlo's diapers ritually every three days. I hardly ever miss a wash day. I don't have enough diapers to go longer than that really, and even if I did......I'm afraid of what the house would smell like. Yuck? But last Friday I came home from work and I was so tired from the week and so happy to have Scott home for a night of relaxing, that......I got lazy and didn't do it.

Now, I'm not going to sit here all high and mighty and act like we've never used a disposable. We have, on occasion. Little miss has a sensitive bum, and she gets diaper rashes really easily. We tried disposables a time or two to see if it helped clear the rash up. Guess what.....it didn't. We used disposables for times that we wanted to try diaper creams to help with rashes, and didn't want to ruin our cloth diapers. But, creams don't help much either. So, we rarely use disposables and don't know much about them. And I'm happy about that. On with the story......

By the way, if you don't like reading about poop, then you might as well click your back button right now and save yourself. This story is full of it. Literally.


Friday night, after being lazy and trading in shlepping diapers to and fro for relaxing on my couch and watching movies with the fam, I put the last clean prefold on Chloe's bum for bedtime. We all went to bed peacefully and happy (ok, that's an exaggeration, Chloe screamed her teething head of for an hour first, and we all went to bed stressed and grumpy). Saturday morning rolled around, and we all got up and started figuring out our standing plans to go to Del Osso Farms for the day. Meanwhile, I had no clean diapers left. My choices were to drag diapers over to the laundry room, pray for an open machine, and spend the next three hours doing what I should have done the night before, OR say forget it and use the disposables we happen to have on hand. I took the path of least resistance and decided on disposables. I'm still kicking myself for this!

Saturday morning proceeded like usual, feeding Chloe her yummy breakfast of home made baby food (pears and oatmeal). Did you catch that? Pears? Pears. It's a glorious food for helping a baby keep things moving. I give her pears just about every other day to ward off any constipation that she may have from the various foods (and formula) she eats. It's worked wonders. So many wonders.......*sigh*

After her pear meal, and a little bit of play time, I tried to finish feeding her the formula she still had left. She started eating, but began to squirm a bit......then suddenly freaked out. And I thought, what the heck!? But chalked it up to teething. Until my nose informed me otherwise......

I took her in to change her, and as I was taking the disposable diaper off, I noticed something odd. No poop? As I unwrapped the diaper, I didn't see any poop at first glance and there was NO WAY that smell could have just been gas. As I began to lift her bum, I started to get a clearer picture of the mysterious vanishing poop. There was poop alright............but not in the diaper. It had traveled backwards and outwards. There was poop on her onesie. Yuck! But I wasn't phased by this.........we've had minor blow outs in cloth. But the odd thing was, the blow outs usually happen at the leg in our cloth diapers, never up the back. As I began to pull away the diaper I thought, sheesh that's not much poop, I hope it isn't going to be one of "those" days. The kind of day where your kid poops 800 times in a row instead of one or two larger poops. But as I started to peel off her onesie, I realized there was more poop. A lot more poop. The poo had traveled COMPLETELY up her back, all the way up to her NECK!!! It was even in her hair!! How in the WORLD did this happen?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I was actually horrified. I was holding her out as far away from me as possible, completely disgusted and in shock! I yelled for Scott, and I have no idea why. What was he supposed to do? Get a hose? Call the hazmat crew? I was stunned. This was the most disgusting blow out that has ever happened to us. Ever. To top it off, when Scott walked in the room to see his naked child covered in poop from head to toe, she laughed! She actualy giggled when he walked in the room. She was pretty proud of herself!! Scott didn't even have words.....it took him a minute or two to understand what he was looking at. It took us both several minutes to decide how to clean her up without getting poop all over the house. The thought actually crossed my mind to take a picture of this event because it was so horrifying! Don't worry though readers. I will spare you the gag reflex. I didn't turn this into a kodak moment, and even if I had, I wouldn't subject you to images of that toxic spill.

This was a major lesson to us both. Being lazy does NOT pay off when it comes to diapers. As I mentioned before, we don't have much experience with disposables, so I don't know why it happened or if that's a common problem. And honestly, I don't care to know! I have never had that massive of a problem with my cloth diapers, I am a master of the jelly-roll fold my friends! OI can honestly say I would much rather swish a million pooped on diapers in the toilet than clean up the aftermath of a disposable. At least the poop stays where it belongs (mostly) in our cloth dipes!

Bonus section:
I decided to do a little math on weather or not cloth diapers have saved us any money, just out of curiosity. To date, I have spent $375 bucks on cloth diapers. That includes the two months I paid for diaper service. My stash consists of 12 DiaperRite prefolds, 6 various covers, and 17 various "modern" cloth diapers. And I also included the laundry detergents. Yep, 375 bucks for 6 *almost* 7 months of diapering. What would I have spent on sposies? Well lets see.....if I were to use disposables full time I would strictly use chemical free (cuz I'm a damned hippie freak) and I would have to go with Tushies I think. Not even Seventh Generation is chemical free.
So with Tushies, here's what I figured, keep in mind Chloe is 206 days old today:
12 diapers/day for 30 days = 360 diapers = $99.29
8 diapers/day for 176 days = 1408 diapers = $511.93
Rough total for Chem free = $611.22 not including tax and shipping.

Standard national brand:
12 diapers/day for 30 days = 360 diapers = $119.96
8 diapers/day for 176 days = 1408 diapers = $327.92
Rough total for standard diapers $447.88

If my math is wrong please let me know. I actually probably underestimated on the number of daily changes after newborn. We did 12 diapers a day for about a month and then 10 a day for about another two months and then 8 a day. And of course, there's fluctuations. I would guess those numbers are undershot. And they don't include any tax. Or account for coupons you may or may not have. But I'm guessing it's a good average. So there you have it. Our diapers have already paid for themselves, and are now saving us money. Cloth diapers for the wallet win!!

And holy crap, have we really changed 1,768+ diapers?! good grief!

Because of my lazy laundry lapse, I am going to giveaway a laundry sampler kit to a lucky reader!

Test Post

I'm testing to see if my comment numbering code was effective. Please disregard! :)

100 fan giveaway (Laundry Sampler Kit Giveaway)

I wanted to announce my next giveaway for you since it seems we may hit the next goal before the current giveaway is over. I am going to giveaway a laundry sampler kit when I reach 100 fans! If you haven't settled on a detergent yet, or are curious about trying one of these "made for cloth diapers" detergents, OR battle stinkies from time to time, this giveaway is for you!

The Laundry Sampler Kit includes
2 packets of RLR laundry Treatment (this helps with stinkies and so much more)
5 packets of Country Save Detergent
5 Packets of Rockin Green Detergent in your choice of available formulas and scents.
1 package of Bummis Biosoft Flushable Liners in size small

Overall value is $20.71!

This is enough to "strip" your diapers at least twice, and wash at least 10 loads of laundry! More if you have and HE machine. And I threw in the flushable liners to help you get the poop off before throwing in the diaper pail! This contest will open when we reach 100 followers on the blog. All rules and information will be posted when the contest opens.

Blog Kick Off Giveaway! *CLOSED*

Ok, the moment you have all been waiting for. Now that you've read my review, you are probably wanting to try this diaper out! So here we go.....

Since this is my first contest, I am going to run it for two weeks to see how it goes. It will start today, October 7th, and run until 11:59 p.m. (PST) October 21st. I will draw a winner as early as possible on Friday October 22nd. Mark your calendars! Save the date! I will ship this item directly to you from Diaper Junction within one business day of claiming your prize.

The Prize:
One Bum Essentials Bumbino diaper with one set of Terry Towel Bum Pads. (basically, one diaper).

Rules:
This contest is open to anyone in the continental U.S. You MUST be a follower of this blog to enter. (you've probably already met this requirement!)

Mandatory entry:
1.) Comment below and tell me why you want to try this diaper, and what color you would pick if you won.

Extra Entry:
1.) "Like" me on facebook, and comment back here to tell me that you did.
2.) Tweet about this give away. (you can do this once per day for the duration of the giveaway. copy and past your tweet in the comments)
3.) Comment on ONE of my other blog posts, and come back here and comment so I know you did. (you only get one entry for this)

Super Entries:
1.) Become a member of my blogfrog community, and comment here to let me know you did. This is worth 10 extra entries! (comment back here, blogfrog 1,2,3....etc.)
2.) Start a discussion, or join an existing discussion in the community for 10 extra entries.
3.) Earn 10 entries for every $25 you spend at Diaper Junction through my affiliate link (link bellow) during this contest. Comment bellow with the dollar amount of your order, and the order number so I can verify.




If any of this was confusing, contact me on facebook and I'll help you out!

Tweet

Bum Essentials Review

*all closed up on the medium setting. We just went into this size and my girl is 16 lbs. So these will fit for a loooonnng time!



*The two pads snapped together. Still very thin, and very absorbent. This allows for a nice trim fit with no added bulk!



*Fully open and diaper shell (the color is pretty accurate in this picture. At least on my screen anyways!)



*Nice soft lining on the inside



*Close up of the Classic Bum Pad



*Close up of the Terry Towel Bum Pad.



* The two separate pads. They snap together so the newborn pad stays in place.

I found this diaper when I was searching through Diaper Junction's package deals. I saw the Bum Essentials A-Z kit, and thought, why not? Two diapers, an extra pad, and a wet bag for $47.99? Sounds like a deal to me! So I took a chance and bought it. Turned out to be a great decision!

This is not a pocket diaper. It's not an AIO. It's an AI2. Similar to GroVia, in that it has a snap in pad for absorbency, and an outer shell that can be reused. The outer shell is made of a soft and flexible waterproof material that stretches and moves, giving a perfect fit. Inside the diaper is a soft micro fleece liner. The leg elastic is never TOO tight, but always tight enough. There's elastic in the front of the diaper where the tummy rests. This is great because it keeps messes in. Especially if you have a tummy sleeper like I do! The tummy elastic helps keep the micro fleece from rolling outwards to prevent wicking, and keep any blow outs that may travel to the front from leaking out. There's two types of pads to chose from. The "classic" Bum Pad is soft and made of a bamboo cotton blend it's smooth and very absorbent. The "Terry Towel" Bum pad is also very soft and made of bamboo, cotton and polyester. It's also very absorbent, with texture more like a wash cloth. The pads snap in right in the front of the diaper away from any sensitive parts. Once the diaper is used, you can just snap out the soaked pad, and then let the shell air dry and snap in a new pad. This diaper is a one sized diaper that fits from 8-35 lbs.

I gave this diaper 4 out of 4 stars.

1.) Quality/Durability. This diaper has both! It's obviously made well, and still looks brand new after a few months of use. Even the velcro looks new still! I know I can use this diaper for at least one more child. And possibly donate it or give it to a friend when I'm done! If you have multiple children, then this might be what you are looking for.

2.) Do they work? Yes! This diaper is just as great as it claims to be. I have never had event the smallest amount of poop escape the elastic legs, waist or tummy! It REALLY contains those messes. Never had any wicking problems either. The stretchy outer shell means that this diaper is going to fit well every time with no fuss. It's so easy and fool proof that these are the first diapers that get used by my hubby. I have also sent them over to my dads house when he's watching my little one, and he never has a problem with them. If grandpas and hubbys like them, you know you have a winner! The pad is really easy to clean off, and they hardly stain at all. The best part? THEY DON'T STINK! Of all the troubles I've had with microfiber, I have NEVER had a problem with these organic pads!

3.) How cute are they!? Very! These are very trim, and fit well under clothing. I really like that because I am able to put cute little jeans on my girl without her looking funky! They also come in 4 colors, red, blue, yellow and green. I like the choice of primary colors (plus green) because it makes the whole set gender neutral. If you have a boy and a girl, you wouldn't have to worry about a print or color that you couldn't use for your boy. Which would mean less diapers to drag around in the diaper bag! I would guess though, that BE may come out with new colors in the future to add to the cuteness. Don't know for sure.

4.) Overall value. Worth every penny! One diaper on it's own rings in at $19.95 and extra soakers are $9.50 a piece. This puts them on the higher end of the scale, but we ARE talking organic materials here. We are also talking about quality and ease of use! But hey, you can get the A-Z kit for 47.99 and save yourself some cash! $10.40 to be exact.

All these reasons are why I am very happy to give away this diaper. I love it, and I want you to love it too!! SO down to the fun stuff...............

I like this diaper so much I'm give one away for my Blog Kick Off Giveaway!

Tweet

Blog Kickoff Giveaway revealed....

Since we hit the halfway mark here on the blog, I am going to reveal what the giveaway will be! I'm very excited to be giving away this product because I use it and LOVE it. And I think all of you will love it too, so I wanted to give someone the opportunity to try it for free.

Drum roll please......

The 50 follower giveaway (a.k.a the Blog Kick Off Giveaway) will be.....

A Bum Essentials Bumbino Diaper with a Terry Towel Bum Pad, in your choice of available colors!


*photo from diaper junction*

If you haven't used this diaper before, it's awesome. It has a lot of great features wrapped up into one neat little package. Elastic in the front to prevent gaps, snap in inserts and a reusable shell, neat trim fit that fits well under clothing, and so much more. Find out more about this diaper by clicking here.

As I said, I'm really looking forward to this giveaway, so if you aren't already a follower, be sure to jump in! Since this will be my first giveaway, I'm going to be offering lots of ways to play. This will be fun, so tell a friend!

***************************************ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY HERE*******************************************

Tweet

More help with the cloth diaper laundry battle

I compiled a few more tips for those of you who may be having a hard time with diaper laundry.

Don't use too much soap. If you aren't using a detergent that's meant for diapers, then use about 1/4 of the manufacturers recommended amount. They tell you to use more so that you will have to buy more! It will also cause stink. If you have stinky diapers after washing, you may be using too much detergent. Wash them again, and check during the rinse cycle. If there is suds, then you need to wash them again with no detergent.

Still stinky? I don't mess with baking soda and vinegar and all that jazz. I haven't needed to yet. Try a product like Bac-Out. You can actually buy Bac-Out at most major grocery stores now.

Repelling? If you're like me, and have to wash in communal places, you might get build up from other peoples dryer sheets. I haven't had this happen yet, but if it happens to you, heres some tips on stripping diapers.

Diaper chain? Make sure you are fastening all your laundry tabs before washing. That's why I do this step before I even throw the used diaper into the pail, then you don't have to touch it later.

Stains bothering you? Sun Dry them. Seriously, it works. I couldn't believe my own eyes! Lay them out in the sun for a couple of hours, and that's it! Most of the stains, if not all were gone! The sun is also an antibacterial agent. So you get three for the price of one when you line dry (drying, stain removal, and sanitation!)