Daytime routine

On my original tjrramblings blog I wrote about how I went from being a Melrose Place Girl to a cloth diaper advocate http://tjrramblings.blogspot.com/2009/02/influencing-and-changing-behavior-case.html. I felt I had more to say about CDs so I started a separate CD blog.

I've had a couple of friends ask more about my routine. It is clearly overwhelming to figure out what type of system you need in the beginning. But again, once you get over that hurdle it really is easy to CD.

Anyways, if you are still an expectant mom it is going to be hard to figure out which diapers work best for you because one of the main pieces of the puzzle is still in your womb. This is the reason so many diapers are for sale on craigslist. Mom's either bought diapers that don't work for them, their baby or their lives. Or they gave up on CD.

I still advice buying one or two different types to test them out on your little guy/gal. A number of online stores are offering trial programs.. But here is what works for us and our long lean little guy. Anyways our daytime routine includes diapers, liners and covers.

Diapers

• mother-ease. This is our favourite for everyday. I have a large collection of one-size and of sandy's (we have now moved to the large size). I really like the one-size. The snaps are easy to figure out (even for my husband and his boy fingers). It is also great not having to buy a new set as my guy gets bigger. The Sandy's are a fitted diaper also with snaps - I got them on craigslist as part of a buy with some other mother-ease. They both work well with minimal messes or leakage, although as my little guy is getting older I'm finding I need to add an aborbant liner.
• GoodMamas - I also recently splurged on some Good Mama diapers (they were on sale post Christmas). These one size diapers with snap in liners are fantastic. They fit and absorb well. Plus they give my skinny little guy a great little bubble butt. I use these when it will be longer between changes or when we might be going out for a while.
• All-in-ones - I have about 6 mother-ease all-in-one diapers. These are my go-to diaper when out and about. One of them fits really easily into one of my Good Mama wet bags and it is one less step when you are changing a toddler in a public bathroom. (these also work great as a pull up type diaper - just do the snaps up a bit looser and you can just pull them up and down like underwear)

Covers

• I have waaaay more covers than I need. We seemed to go through tons of covers when we were using the service so I prepared myself a little too well when we switched to using our own diapers. I really liked my bummies when he was younger - they fit really well around the legs and worked well for his lean torso. But the velcro doesn't seem to be wearing as well so now I use my mother-ease more. I prefer the velcro closing versions, but as my guy is starting to learn to open the velcro I also have snap versions too. Both bummis and mother-ease have the nice little double elastic on the legs that minimize leaks and spills.

Liners

• disposable bio-degradable. I used to use the disposable liners to catch the poop. Worked well, but a bit scratchy on his bum.
• mother-ease stay dry liners. A friend gave me their collection and I switched from the disposable - one less thing to throw away. They wick the moisture away from the little bum, are nice and soft and wash well. The poop comes off them easily and I don't really care if the stains don't come out perfectly. You will need a lot of these as you use them in every diaper everytime.

Absorbant liners

• Only just having to add these to our daytime diapers. I guess as the little guy gets bigger he pees more - makes sense. The one-size mother-ease diapers have snap in liners, but you need to size the diaper larger. So I just stick them in without snapping them. I think most of mine are mother-ease, but I did just buy a couple of new ones at Hip Baby that are really soft and absorbant. (I do use these a lot at night though)

The other stuff - The other elements of my daycare routine are:

• cloth wipes (although I do use wet disposable wipes for really messy clean-ups). I bought most of them from our service, but some also come from jamtots. (bought fleece to make my own - don't know what I was thinking - but found it was going to be much work and gave it up)
• spray bottle - I have a spray bottle (got it at a dollar store) filled with distilled water and a bit of a diaper lotion. Little guy LOVES to giggle when we spray him directly - although we usually just spray the cloth first.
• diaper bin - bought a big white one at zellers. Doesn't have to be fancy, just work in your space.
• mesh bag - generic mesh diaper bag from Hip Baby. Washes with the diapers.
• baking soda - box lives in the bottom of my diaper bin (be careful though and make sure your husband doesn't toss everything from the bin into the laundry. If your husband is really sleeply like mine in the am then it will eventually happen - it will take 3 washes to get all the cardboard mash out of your diapers).
• deodorant disk - lives at the bottom of my bin. Would probably work better taped to the lid.

Again, this is just the system that works for us. It probably seems overwhelming, but it is now just second nature to us (although I will admit to using label on my diaper bins to keep my husband straight).