Long time no talk...and completely un-Blythe related...

Please excuse my flippant use of proper punctuation.

I'm going to post a few little tips and truths that I've found helpful to know about parenting. We've been in cloth diapers now 100% for about a week (so I'm totally an expert). There's certainly a learning curve, but we're becoming a lot more adept at it.

First, cloth diapering is one of those things that people become OBSESSED over...and I'm not one of those people. I think cute prints are cute,  but I'm sure-as-shit not going to spend $40 on a diaper with monkeys on it. My child shits in these things. Not to mention WEARS CLOTHES OVER TOP OF THEM. I don't think everyone should cloth diaper. It's not a life altering experience or anything. In fact, at first, it's a total pain in the ass. We didn't do it for the first 6 months of his life because I wasn't going to spend a bunch of money on diapers that he'd grow out of. The all-in-one one sized diapers look amazingly stupid on children 15 pounds and under. I'm still trying to get used to how funny his butt looks in them now that he's almost 18 pounds. So yeah, we have about 20 all-in-one one size diapers (don't EVER call them "dipes" in front of me unless you're being facetious) and 3-4 Thirsties diaper covers that I've just been using with a prefold or diaper insert/doubler from the other diapers. I'd like to mention that I lied about him being 100% in cloth. He actually wears a pampers 12 hour disposable at night because he almost ALWAYS poops in the early morning and I don't want to deal with a crib full of poop. If he poops in a diaper I don't want it to be my precious and clean cloth ones. Yellow poop stains are totally weird. They come out, but I want to have a super easy experience with cloth. Plus, I was always sort of intrigued by the fact that the amount of disposables we use as Americans can make it to the moon and back 30 times or whatever. I'm not going to rob SERIOUS SCIENTISTS of that fact. I'm sure tons of research and testing went into that theory. Who am I to save the rainforests?

So...20-24 cloth diapers should be fine for once a week laundry if your child isn't a newborn. Also, don't ever buy a cloth diaper full price. You can always get them for a percentage off. I won't buy used diapers because that's gross (IMO). Check sites like mamabargains.com, babyhalfoff.com, babysteals.com, greenbabybargains.com, and minibargains.com daily. They always have cloth. Check in the morning though. Nickisdiapers.com also has sale diapers all the time.

Get a flip lid trashcan at Target/Walmart/whatever. Get a Planetwise diaper pail liner or hanging wetbag (again, on clearance). We have the liner.

So you have your diapers. Here's how we do it. I'm sure there are even easier ways, but I'll be the first to say I dedicated zero time to research because I have better things to do than pour over info on pooping and peeing. Here's my whitetrash method:

1. When diapers are dirty shake the insert out into the pail and dump the liner in there too.
2. When pail is full dump the whole thing in the washer (pail liner/wetbag too).
3. Set your washer on a hot wash with a second rinse and a presoak.
4. Add detergent. They make special detergent for cloth, but that's stupid in my opinion. It's expensive and you always end up with stinky diapers anyway. We use powdered Tide. The 2nd rinse gets rid of residue and we've never had a diaper rash...ever. I'd like to mention my kid has super sensitive skin.
5. Dry inserts on medium heat and hang covers to dry on a line. You can dry everything on low heat, but it might take 2 tries.

That's it. Seriously.

We also do cloth wipes. My mom made us a million of them out of bamboo material. You can also just use flannel or baby washcloths (which I have a million of). Surge the edges of whatever size square you want. Make solution out of a half cap of apple cider vinegar and 1/4 aloe per 2 cups of water. I store it in a squirt bottle that I got from the hospital postpartum. I put the wipes in a cloth wipe warmer that I got from my mom. I used to think those things were ultra dumb, but it turns out babies hate cold wipes. I don't blame them.

That's basically it.


Rhys's quick tip:
Don't forget to- "//cc5oiooi.pxq/z"